A/N: Okaaayyyy...How is everyone? Hopefully melting less than I am. I live in New England, and temperatures here recently sky-rocketed to ninety degrees. Gah. It's cooled down a little, though. Yesterday was awful, but today was better. Anyway, you guys probably don't want to listen to me rant about my lack of air conditioning, so I'll get on to the story now.
51
"Hey, I think she's waking up."
A girl's voice…but whose? It sounded vaguely familiar. My eyelids fluttered as I tried to shake away my fogginess.
"Okay, you two, let's give her some space."
Another voice. This one was female, like the first one, but older…and suddenly I knew whose it was…Dr. Martinez's. But what was she doing at the School?
I opened my eyes, determined to find out what was going on, and saw…Fang?
"Oh, thank God!" I exclaimed. "You're okay!" And then I did something I insanely regretted almost immediately afterward…I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.
"Uh…" He did the usual rock formation impersonation. "Yeah, I'm fine." He leaned back and pulled me off. "Are you okay?"
I realized what I'd just done and turned a furious shade of red. Turning slowly on the spot, I saw Dr. Martinez and Ella watching me. Ella was grinning, and even Dr. Martinez had a small smile on her face. Crap.
"Er…hi," I said. "What's going on? How'd you get here?"
Dr. M's smile vanished, and a worried frown appeared between her eyebrows.
"Are you sure you didn't mess with her brain as well as her arm?" Fang asked from behind me, and I couldn't tell whether or not he was serious.
"I really don't think so," Dr. M replied. "Maybe she had an unusual reaction to the Valium? It's never been tested on avian hybrids, after all."
Valium?
And then it hit me. Valium was that stuff that Dr. Martinez had given me when she'd operated on my arm. It'd made me loopy and say stuff I insanely regretted. And Fang had talked about messing with my arm…What the hell was going on? Why was I suddenly back here?
"Max," Fang said slowly, coming around in front of me. "What are you talking about?"
Just to verify things, I said, "So, you just took the chip out of my arm?"
Dr. M nodded. "Yes, Max. I had to knock you out because you started struggling too much during the operation, and you've just woken up."
I shook my head a little. "Weird."
"What's weird?" Fang asked.
I looked at him. "You don't remember being at the School again?" His eyebrows went up, and I knew he had no clue what I was talking about. Still, I kept going. "The flock got captured in the canyon where we left them and we followed them, and the School got us all. Then they told us that we'd never left in the first place and we had always been there, they'd just made us believe we'd escaped and actually lived." His expression remained completely nonplussed. "You seriously don't know what I'm talking about?"
"Max," Dr. M said. "I think the most likely possibility here is that the Valium reacted oddly with your brain, and it caused you to have a very vivid, very real dream."
"I…but…" I stared around at them. I was so confused. First our life was a dream, and now them telling us that our life was a dream was a dream? I groaned and sank back down onto the couch where I'd woken up, my face in my hands.
"Hey." I peered through my fingers to see Fang crouching in front of me. "Just forget about it, okay? We're not at the School, we're free. Don't let a dream ruin your day."
I sighed. "If it was a dream. It seemed so real…" I trailed off at the look on Fang's face. "Right. Forgetting about it."
He grinned. "Good girl."
"Still," I said, "can we go back to the flock and make sure they're okay?"
"We probably should get back," he agreed. "Even if they're perfectly safe."
Ella pouted. "But you guys just got here."
My sense of time must still have been screwed up from my strange dream, because I was having trouble making my internal clock match up with what Ella had just said. How long had we been there, again?
"What would you two think about coming to live with us?"
The question was so random, it took me a minute to comprehend it, but when I did, I was rather shocked. I looked up at Dr. M in amazement.
"I mean, you don't have to," she added hastily. "Just an idea. And you could bring your, uh…your flock, too."
"I…wow." I stared at her for a minute, then, coming back down to reality, shook my head. "We couldn't. I'm sure you don't have room, and we eat a lot of food, and, most importantly, I'm fairly certain we're still being chased by Itex."
"Oh, we have plenty of room," Dr. M said, smiling. "I don't think the food would be too big of a deal either. And as for the danger part of it–"
"It's not even a problem."
I looked at Fang in surprise. I certainly hadn't expected him to support this. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged. "Well, we were looking for a home anyway, and the Erasers seem to have vanished…I don't think we've really got anything to worry about."
"Oh." I didn't know what to say. So I said the first thing that came to mind. "Okay, then."
52
Fang and I flew quickly back toward the canyon where we'd left the flock. Our parting with the Martinez's had been easy knowing that we were coming right back. I still couldn't really believe they were doing this for us. I mean, we barely knew them. Heck, the rest of the flock had never even met them.
Fang glanced over at me. "What're you thinking about?"
"Just thinking how amazing this is," I replied. "Totally unexpected, but way awesome, you know?"
He nodded, smiling ever-so-slightly. "Yeah. I'm right there with you."
A thought struck me, and I decided to voice it, however unpleasant it may be.
"Um, Fang?" I asked tentatively. "Did I…say anything? While I was on the Valium?"
Fang frowned. "No. You were unconscious. Why?"
I just shook my head. "No reason."
So I'd dreamed about that incredibly embarrassing situation. Huh. Why would my subconscious put that in my dream? Then again, why would my subconscious put any of that dream in my dream? Maybe it was a desperate plea to be recognized by my subconscious fears of having my life be a lie. But then, that would mean that the Embarrassing Incident must be a subconscious…
No. I wasn't going there. That path led to bad, bad places, I'm sure.
53
When we got to the canyon, we found the rest of the flock safe and completely unharmed. Thank God my dream hadn't been some kind of freaky premonition.
I skidded into the camp with my usual bravado, spraying dust everywhere. Fang touched down gently behind me, shaking his head. I knew he was shaking his head at me, but decided to ignore it.
"Hey, guys," I said cheerfully. "What's up?"
Iggy shrugged. "Not a lot. Did you guys find us a home, then?"
I nodded, grinning. "We sure did. Nudge, do you remember when you, Fang, and I were flying cross-country to Death Valley to save Angel? I stopped and went to save a girl from some bullies?" Nudge nodded, and I continued. "Well, her and her mom took care of me when I got shot then, and Fang and I have just been to see them again. Dr. Martinez took the chip out of my arm, and then she offered to let us live with them, and I said yes."
My speech was met with an excited yell from Gazzy, high-pitched squeals from Angel and Nudge, and a huge grin from Iggy.
"Wow, Max!" Nudge exclaimed. "This is amazing! I can't believe it…We have a home! Is it a nice house? What color is it? Do they have a pool? What about a pool table?"
"Whoa, Nudge, slow down," I said, laughing. "It's a very nice house, it's blue, and there's a pool but no pool table."
"Oh my God!" Nudge squealed. She turned to Angel, grinning. "They have a pool!"
I smiled. It was so good to see them so happy. I looked at Fang, and he grinned his special grin at me, making my world spin a little.
"Okay, flock!" I called over the noise of the celebration. "Let's go home!"
You would not believe how amazing it felt to actually say that.
"Pinch me," I told Fang. "I must be dreaming." Still grinning, he complied. Rubbing the spot, I complained, "Ow."
He smirked, and took off into the air after the rest of the flock. I followed, grinning my fool head off.
A/N: So, er...reviews?