Max
I stifle my scream with my fist, jerking upright. Fang is by my side in seconds, his arm around my shoulders. I take deep breaths, willing the dream to go away. It doesn't work, but I pretend it does, for the younger ones. They're stirring now – I've woken them up.
"Let's have some light," Fang tells me, and I nod. A fireball appears in my palm. It illuminates seven grubby faces – six of us; and Total, our talking, flying dog.
You might be a little confused. When we were young, scientists in a lab called The School grafted bird DNA into us … resulting in giving us wings, raptor vision, raptor hearing, and various powers. We escaped … they brought us back and experimented on us … we escaped … you get the picture. We're on the run at the moment.
"Dream?" Nudge asks me, her voice thick with sleep. It's the shortest sentence I've heard her say, ever. She's a motormouth. She can ramble on for hours on one subject.
I nod. I see Angel wince at my mental pictures: experiments, pain, whitecoats (this is our name for scientists), and erasers. I throw up a mental block so our mind reader won't have to see the residues of my dream.
"We're free now," asserts Gazzy, with the stoic comfort of an eleven-year-old boy.
I just nod again.
"You're turning into Fang," teases Iggy. He's our resident blind pyromaniac. I swear he can make a bomb from anything.
I roll my eyes, relaxing a little. Total jumps onto my lap and licks my face.
Suddenly all the sounds around us are magnified. I look sharply at Iggy, because one of his powers is control over sound.
He shrugs. "I thought we could use some warning if anyone was creeping up on us." His sightless eyes focus on the spot from where my voice came.
"Okay," I say. Then very quietly, "And thanks."
Everyone looks at me.
"Goodness, it must've been a terrible dream," says Iggy, grinning. "The great Maximum saying thanks? Unheard of!"
"Shut up," I say, grinning back. He can hear the smile in my voice, or I wouldn't say it. I don't want him to misinterpret it as an unkind
"I'm tired of this," says Gazzy suddenly. "The running, the … just everything," he says.
"You know," I say, the fireball flaring with my excitement. "I think you're right. We should take a break. Be normal – well, as normal as we can be."
Nudge has been half-asleep, propped up on my other side, but she sits up at this. "You mean, like, get a house and go to school? That would be so cool! I hope we get a big house. Can I have my own room? I want it to be decorated in purple and mshgrr-"
Iggy's hand cuts her off mid-rant.
I breathe a sigh of relief. "Yeah, a house, and school." I grin. "Sound good?"
Fang, true to his nature, only nods, but the rest are almost shouting in excitement. I smile again.
"What about boarding school?" Angel asks.
I blink. "What?"
"It'd be easier," she says.
"It'd be harder to hide our wings," says Fang quietly.
"We could go to one with a cottage," says Nudge, "and do you think they'd let us decorate the cottage? Would there be cottages with enough rooms for all of us?"
"I don't know," I say. "We can find out."
"Okay, Max," everyone choruses.
"Let's try and get some more sleep before morning," Fang says. "I'd say it's around midnight. We'll get going at six."
I extinguish the fireball, and the camp lapses into silence once more.
In the morning, the others wake me up carefully. They know they could get a fist in the face if I'm surprised. Gazzy sends air swirling around me, brushing over me.
Max, wake up, Angel says inside my head.
I start upright. "What's going on? Are we under attack? Is it Erasers?"
The School creates these Erasers. They're human-wolf creatures, and very nasty. They're not smart, but their strength lies in numbers.
"Breakfast?" Fang asks me.
I relax and nod carefully. I notice Gazzy grinning at me, and look at him. "What?"
"It was funny," he says, "to see you freaked out. It's not very usual."
"It might've been necessary," I grumble, slightly embarrassed. I don't like looking stupid in front of Fang … I mean, in front of everyone. Angel grins, and I realise I've forgotten to put up mind blocks. I scowl at her. "Don't you say anything," I tell her.
She nods and laughs slightly.
I block my mind. Angel described mind blocks once from her point of view: "like rubbery walls. I can still tell that your mind is there, I just can't influence you or tell what you're thinking," and, needless to say, I was desperate to learn how to put up mind-blocks. It was partly to save myself some embarrassment, and partly in case we came across another mind reader. It was about a one in a million chance, but I insisted everyone learn.
I help myself to a rabbit, sitting down between Fang and Nudge. We eat a lot. We're not sure whether it's the bird DNA, or the exercise we get, but we never gain weight.
I sigh as I eat the rabbit. It's really good. I give a bone to Total.
"Thanks," he says, gnawing on it.
"School," says Nudge – an ambiguous statement with no inflection, but one that makes everyone sit up straighter.
"Let's go," says Gazzy, unfurling his wings and jumping up.
I've finished my rabbit, and Fang creates a hole and we dump the bones, skin and guts into it. He closes over the hole and smooths the earth. He snaps his fingers, and grass grows over it.
Oh yes: for those of you who are confused, Fang's powers are invisibility, control over earth and plants (as just demonstrated), and breathing underwater.
Maybe I should just make a list.
Okay:
The Flock
Maximum (that's me): age 15 – Powers: super speed, control of fire, and breathing water.
Fang: age 15 – Powers: invisibility, control of earth and plants, and breathing water.
Iggy: age 15 – Powers: control of sound, breathing water, and enhanced hearing and smell.
Nudge: age 13 – Powers: control of metal, and sensing emotions and thoughts of people who've touched what she's touching.
Gazzy: age 11 – Powers: farting toxic gas, and control of air/wind.
Angel: age 9 – Powers: mind reading, mind control, control of water, breathing water, and talking to fish inc. sharks.
Understand? Good, 'cause I won't be explaining it again. I yawn and put the fire out. Grass grows in the ashes, and it looks as though we've never been here.
I take off my hoodie and unfurl my wings. Our shirts have slits in them specially. Total spreads his. Usually they're hid under his fur.
"Where are we going today?" asks Iggy. He pulls off his hoodie too.
"We're enrolling in boarding school," I say, and leap into the air.
