Maximum Ride Saves the World
Chapter 1
I could feel the desert sun beating down on me. My wings felt like they were being cooked. We were almost to Dr. Martinez's house. I guess I'm still not used to calling her "mom." I looked back at my flock. I could tell that they were uncomfortable too. Angel carried Total while they were arguing about whether or not we could have a singing dog. I get annoyed at Total when he's talking. If he sang I would have to ditch the pooch myself. "You wouldn't really do that, would you Max?" Angel asked me. Sometimes her mind reading was inconvenient. "No, I guess not," I muttered. It would hurt her too much and I would never hear the end of it. She smiled to herself. The flock looked mildly confused about our internal conversation, but were used to it. Well, except Fang, who was too caught up in his blog to pay much attention anyway. In the end, he probably wouldn't care. Nudge was flipping threw the pages of her recently acquired Seventeen magazine which she got at our latest pit stop. Thanks to Gazzy, we had to stop 5 times for those kinds of pit stops. I told him not to eat Mexican food before a 6-hour flight. Gazzy was now trying to toss candy into his mouth. Straggling behind was Iggy. It took all of his concentration for him to figure out where we were flying. Gazzy had to occasionally point him in the right direction. When his candy ran out, Gazzy asked the infamous question, "Are we there yet?" I sighed. I hadn't seen my recently discovered family in a while. I answered, "Almost."
"Max!" my half-sister, Ella, squealed. "Ella!" I said. I landed and embraced her warmly. "Everyone is here already," she said while she led the flock and I into the house. "Everyone" is not a lot of people. It's just the flock, Jeb, Dr. Martinez, Ella, and me. We've met other people, but they aren't exactly what you would call "good company." We've met plenty of Itex people, but that would really kill a party if the guest of honor got into a full-blown fight. Speaking of parties, I couldn't believe the sight when I walked into Ella's house. Everything was simply dripping in pink. Pink streamers, cute pink doves, and pink glitter covered everything in sight. In the center of attention was a four-layer cake covered in pink frosting. The pink icing read "Happy 1st Birthday Mox!" Whoever had written this had misspelled my name. In reality I'm fifteen, but this is the first time I can celebrate my real birthday. I blushed as pink as the room, Ella stood beaming at her masterpiece that was my party, Angel stared in wonder, Total, Nudge, and Fang laughed at the pure irony, and Iggy demanded to know what was so funny. Fang stopped laughing long enough to whisper to Iggy what the room looked like, and soon Iggy was laughing hysterically, too. I told the guys to knock it off. I didn't want Ella to be hurt. She seemed unaffected. Dr. Martinez then walked in with a huge tray of freshly baked cookies. "Oh, Max, you're finally here," she said. She placed the tray down and kissed me on both of my cheeks. Jeb walked in. He had a cookie in his hands. "Good. The party can finally start."
Of coarse, Dr. Martinez made a mountain of food. And of coarse, we ate it all in a matter of 5 minutes. We played silly games, like Apples to Apples, and watched movies with a lot of action. Angel, Ella, and Nudge skipped out on that, but they managed to do something else. At the end of the whole shindig, it was time to open presents. Since the flock didn't have birthdays we would celebrate freedom days. We would count the years that we had evaded the School and escaped from the cages of which we were raised. But that was just Iggy making a cake. My present was a single envelope from Ella, Jeb, and Dr. Martinez. In the envelope were tickets to Sydney, Australia. I viewed this as redundant.
You can't go. The time to save the world draws near. Only you can save the word.
Jeb, aren't you the one who gave me the tickets.
Jeb can make the voice, but he isn't me. You don't have time for these social events. Get out of there NOW! The others are already on their way here.
I would get "here" faster if I knew where "here" was.
But of coarse, since the voice was the voice, it was already gone. My flock and family were looking at me as I held my head in my hands. They were waiting for my reaction to the tickets. "Uh... Thanks, but aren't I still sort of busy. I need to save the world still," I said apologetically. Everyone groaned. "Lighten up, Max," Fang said as he hugged my shoulders. The next thing I knew, I was being pushed onto an international plane. I vaguely remembered the seating arrangement discussion. Ella and Nudge. Fang and Angel. Dr. Martinez and Jeb. Iggy and Me. Gazzy would sit alone. He had Mexican food again. Everybody was doing his or her usual thing, but I was too pent up. I hated flying on planes. I sat next to the window, looking out pretending like I was flying. I imagined my flock flying beside me. I looked out the window and I saw a flock of something. They looked liked birds, but they were wearing clothes. I rubbed my eyes. Flying a few feet from the plane was a flock of bird-kids. The petite female, who was obviously the leader, got right next to my window, pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue. I gaped in surprise. She laughed and flew off to catch up with her flock.
