"Soooo…we're going where, exactly?" Total asked for the twentieth time. I looked down and gave him the stink eye as I ignored him.
"Quiet before you do your own version of flying," I growled, rubbing my temples. That shut him up. The whole flock wondered where we would go now that Itex was out of the picture. I had to find us a safe place for us to start over, to be at peace at last. Easy, right?
NO.
Hi. My name's Max. If you're just tuning into the story, I suggest you go out and buy yourself the first couple of books because I'm not going to explain everything we've been through. I will go over the basics.
I'm Max, leader of my flock of mutant birdkids. Fang is my best friend, he's my age, 14, and considered second in command. Then there's Iggy; he's 14 too, and blind. But somehow he's able to do really incredible things; like cook, make explosives, the usual. Nudge is 11, chatterbox is putting it mildly. Then there's the Gasman (his name's self explanatory), who's 8, and his younger sister, my baby, Angel, who's only 6.
Oh, did I mention we all have wings? Yeah, note said birdkids. That'd be us. Except for Total, who was a talking dog currently zipped up in my jacket.
Fang drifted closer to me, studying my face. I looked at him and sighed, shrugging.
He knew I still had some weight left on my shoulders, even though most of it had been lifted. Like the flock's new home, for example, had become a much unexpected weight.
"Don't worry," he said quietly to me, his wing bumping mine gently. "I'm sure you won't make us live in a total dump." I scowled at him and he formed a very small, quick smile before catching an air current and drifting away a little. His big black wings gliding effortlessly though the sky. I stuck my tongue out at him even though he couldn't see and then shot ahead of the rest of the flock.
We'd been circling all over the United States, trying to find a good place to settle down. But with six different kids in the group, there were many arguments and nobody seemed to agree on one spot. It was extremely irritating.
I looked down through the clouds and gasped, stopping in my tracks—uh, flight.
"Don't tip over so far!" barked Total as I leaned to look down, scurrying deeper into my jacket, muttering something, again, about not having wings.
Fang noticed me stop and had motioned to the rest of the flock. I saw Gazzy tap Iggy's hand twice as they all veered towards me.
"Bombs away!" I said once they were all there, and with that I shot straight down going as fast as I could.
"Max! Be careful with Total!" Angel cried from above me. She was clutching Celeste, her stuffed bear that was dressed as an angel. I put a protective hand around Total, who was yelling at the top of his lungs, and rolled my eyes.
"Suck it up. You're the one who wanted to ride with me," I reminded him.
"I didn't realize at the time that you were suicidal!" he cried angrily as we spiraled towards the ground. I laughed and pulled up about a foot from the ground to Total's disapproval.
I quickly and smoothly dropped to my feet and Total immediately leapt out of my jacket.
"Hooligan!" he hollered at me. The rest of the flock made less-risky landings and Total immediately ran to Angel and looked at Iggy and Fang meaningfully. Fang was suppressing laughter and Iggy was just cracking up. "From now on, I'm riding with one of you two," Total told them.
"'Kay," Iggy said nonchalantly. He stood very still, very quiet, trying to take in his surroundings.
"Max, where are we? What made you stop? Wow, this place is pretty though. I read on the computer that this one little cottage was set deep in the woods with a waterfall next to it. Do you think we could try to find that after this, Max?" Nudge kept going and going and going. I smiled at her.
"Let's just see what happens here first, ok?" Nudge nodded and she and Angel went off to sit under a big tree a few feet away. I smiled at them and then walked out a little just as a gust of wind caught my blond hair. I closed my eyes and let my wings loose. I felt someone next to me and opened my eyes to see Fang standing there. I smiled at him.
"What made you stop here?" he asked, looking around.
"It looked pretty from way up there. I figured it had to be better on the ground," I told him, closing my eyes again. This was so peaceful. Gazzy came up behind me and pulled on my sleeve quickly.
"Max, Angel found something in the woods." He told me.
"We should check it out," Iggy said, coming up behind him. He was holding something small…a time bomb.
"Where do you keep those?" I asked. Iggy just smiled and followed Gazzy's footsteps. I looked at Fang and motioned with my head. "Move it or lose it," I told him with a quick grin. He followed me and we went with the rest of the flock into the woods. Nudge came up excitedly and squeezed my hand. I smiled down at her and continued following Iggy.
"Max, Max!" Angel called excitedly. Total was bouncing along next to her, giving me a dirty look. I smiled at both of them and I saw Total soften up a little. I bent down and Angel ran to me to give me a huge hug.
"What'd you find, sweetie?" I asked her. She released me and grabbed my other hand. Her and Nudge were pulling me forward now. I couldn't help taking in breath as we approached it.
There, hidden in the trees, was a cabin. And it wasn't like, teeny. It was on the medium size, plenty of room for, oh, say, 6 kids whose wings were around 14ft long? I walked towards it, feeling like I was walking into a dream.
"Isn't it perfect?" Angel said happily, obviously proud of herself. Her small hand squeezed happily into mine.
"You did so good, Angel," Fang told her, since I was still looking at the cabin. It really was perfect. Too perfect, my instincts told me. I gave Angel's hand a little squeeze before letting it go. We were a few yards away from the cabin, and smartly, none of the flock had gone investigating. We'd been trained to be cautious about everything, and even though the cabin looked deserted, it could be a trap. That was my job—to make sure it wasn't a trap.
"Stay here," I said quietly as I inched forward by myself. I felt something brush against my hand and smiled when I saw Fang would be coming with me. He nodded and followed me in cautiously. "I'll check out the back," I whispered, making my way slowly through the dining room that had a love seat and a regular-sized couch. Excluded and furnished? Again, warning bells went off in my head, but there didn't seem to be anything here.
Fang had done his sweep and met up with me in the kitchen, where there was no food source and a broken refrigerator. There was dust on everything; the windows, the furniture, the sink—even the dust had dust. I wrinkled my nose and sneezed.
"Well," Fang said slowly, a hint of a smile on his lips. "Home sweet home. Good job, Max."
Ok, well this is obviously my first shot at a Maximum Ride fanfic. Flames welcome, as always, I hope you all liked it! Review review review!
Falling Rose Petals
