4. Destination
Angel POVI woke up screaming out all the air in both my lungs and my air sacs. The Cullens came running in to see what was wrong. I curled into a ball and cried and I felt Esme's loving arms wrap around me. She pulled me to her and rubbed soothing circles between my wings, just the way we like.
Finally, when I was calm enough to speak, I told them what I had seen. "Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy were sitting in separate cages, and Nudge and Max were nowhere to be found. I could hear all their thoughts as if I were there. Gazzy was trying to be tough even though deep inside he wished he could talk to me, just to know that I was all right. Iggy was curled into a ball, hiding his face, and wishing that they'd just get it over with. But deep down inside I knew he really just wanted Max to get them out of there like she always does. Fang was lost in thought, thinking about whether or not he could look after the flock if something happened to Max. Then two Flyboys came in carrying an unconscious Nudge. But that wasn't the worst part."
I paused and tried to keep my breathing steady. It was up to me to tell them everything I knew so that we could figure out what was going on and what we were going to do. They'd already agreed to help me and all that we needed now was to figure out what we needed to do and where we needed to go.
"Nudge had a large purple bruise on her cheek, which we can only get when someone hits you really hard. And she had burn marks in her shirt from multiple tasers. They threw her in her cage and she hit her head on the floor, but when she woke up, she got into a sitting position and put on a brave face. It didn't really convince Fang, but he thought she'd be all right. Then he started thinking about… the other night… and then Nudge started feeling lightheaded and I saw all the blood…"
I felt fresh tears well in my eyes and I had to pause to calm my breathing yet again. "She cried out and Fang saw what was going on. He started ramming against the cage and screaming, trying to get to Nudge. She passed out and Fang called for help and screamed for Nudge to wake up. Iggy and Gazzy were trying desperately to get to her, too. But no one came and they couldn't get to her and…"
I calmed my breath and held the tears in long enough for me to finish the story. "…and that was all I saw." Then I burst into to tears, right there, in front of everybody.
In the last few days, I've turned into such a crybaby. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. I had no time for tears. I had to get Max and the rest of my flock out before something else happened like what had happened to Nudge.
I calmed my breath and thought about when Max used to tuck me in at night and we had no worries, but whether or not the cable would be working in the morning. I thought about Total and Akila and about all the fun they were having right now.
And then I let go of Esme and looked at Alice. "Do you have a computer?"
She was back with a top quality laptop before I could say please.
"Thanks, Alice. Now can anyone here hack a website?"
Alice sat next to me and I gave her the computer and allowed her to hack into Fang's blog. Then I posted an important bulletin for all the viewers to read:
"The flock has been taken. By who, I don't know. That's why I need you. They are all in danger and I would appreciate anything any of you can tell me. Fang has been kidnapped, along with Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge, and Max. We came to Seattle to see a show and the Flyboys caught us there. I managed to get away, but when Nudge and Iggy tried to follow, they shot them out of the sky. All around them was chaos as people tried to get away from the Flyboys so I couldn't see much from my hiding place in the tree. But there was a van. It was blue and it had no license plate. There was a cracked window in the back that looked like a 13-legged spider. Now all I need is for anyone of you who has seen this van or may see this van to tell me where it is or where it went. If any of you saw Max or anyone else please contact me immediately and label your message as important. I will check them constantly and please, try not to do anything stupid like trying to save the flock on your own because it will only hurt you and my flock.
Thanks so much.
Love,
Angel "
I posted the bulletin and turned back to the Cullens. "Edward? You can read minds right? Do you think if I showed you a picture of the van in my mind then you could draw it and I could post it on Fang's blog?"
He nodded. "I think I could do that. Or at least give it a basic overview and Alice can draw it."
I nodded. "Is this the only computer you have?"
"No everyone has one." Alice said immediately as she looked at Edward's drawing. "Draw that line darker and thicker."
"Could each of you get your computers and look through the messages to see what people have to say? It would really help me a lot."
They nodded and each one went to their separate places to check through the messages. I looked to see what Alice and Edward were up to and I was surprised to see Alice was already uploading the photo, and it was identical to what I had seen. "Wow. That pictures amazing."
They both smiled at me. "I posted a bulletin with the picture on it and you already have…over six thousand messages. Wow. Fang has a LOT of viewers."
I smiled. "He always did love that blog, and he thought it could solve everyone's problems. And maybe he's partially right. They do tend to solve a lot of problems. And are those all from Washington?"
"There are some from Washington, others from Oregon, and even more from California. Southern California, it seems is the most common."
My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Oh, no. Not there. I closed my mouth and tried to swallow. "Angel? Angel do you know where they are?" I looked at Edward and nodded.
"I think they took them back to the school. The place I saw…the cages…they were all the same ones from back at the school."
Alice nodded. "Let's go. We should be able to get there in a couple of days if we drive fast enough. We'll use Carlisle's car, since we'll need the dark tint in the south. And we can use Bella's car too, if Edward doesn't mind."
He nodded. "That's fine. We'll leave as soon as we get Angel something to eat. Though all she wants is to save her family, that doesn't deny the fact that she needs to eat, and with her metabolism, it's a wonder she'd gone this long without eating already."
I blushed. He was right. I had been neglecting my hunger this whole time, but I wasn't going to be any help if I starved myself the whole way there. I needed to eat and be strong so when the fight started, I would be able to hold my own and not have to rely on the Cullens or my flock to look after me any longer. I was going to show everyone that I was the strongest and smartest six-year-old around.
"Esme's down stairs now, preparing a meal for you. It should be ready in an hour, and by then we should have everything ready to go and we can head out as soon as you're finished eating."
I nodded. "Thank you. All of you, for all that you're doing for me. You have no idea how much it means to me that you took me in even after I broke into your house and tried to steal your food. Even after you saw my wings and what a freak I was, you still accepted me and promised to help me. It means so much more to me than anyone else would ever truly understand. Thank you, all of you, for everything. Thank you, Carlisle and Esme, for being the parents that I've never had and likely never will have. But I can't allow you guys to be in danger. I won't let you endanger yourselves or your way of life just to help me get my family back. You've shown me so much kindness and I'll never forget the love you've shown me. But I have to save my family and I won't endanger another family, even if they are vampires."
And with that small sentiment (and my complete stupidity in wanting to go into this alone even though I didn't even consider all the guns and robots and mad scientists that were going to be running around as I tried to save my flock) I flew into the sky and towards the dreaded school that I had tried to avoid all my life and that had been my person hell on earth since the day I was born. Thank God, Max wasn't around to hear me say that.