This chapter was very hard, because it's in Iggy's perspective. Challenging, yes, but I'm happy with what I've written. It was interesting, writing with the other senses.
Iggy listened as Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy debated what to do.
"There's a park near here. We'll stay for the night," Fang said.
There was a rush of feathers ruffling. "Is it far enough?" Gazzy asked.
"Maybe. We'll just have to see."
"Do you think Max is okay?" Nudge asked. She brushed Iggy with her wings to let him know when they altered course. "I mean, what if something terrible happened to her? And do you think she found Angel? What if…." She trailed off, presumably as Fang began to ignore her.
"She's gotta be fine," Iggy said. He wasn't sure if he believed it. Max wouldn't just disappear and leave a bloody sneaker behind. But Nudge's yakking was agonizing. "And so must Angel."
"Yeah," said Gazzy to his left. His voice sounded slightly dejected, but who could blame him?
Suddenly, Iggy heard a gasp from him. He raised his eyebrows. "See something?"
"Iggy, there's something down there…" said Nudge.
"Circle down." Fang sounded as unaffected as ever.
Iggy had no choice but to follow. "What's there?" He couldn't help being annoyed that they could see whatever it was and didn't feel like telling him.
"Ig," said the Gasman quietly. He flew closer, obvious by the sound of a whoosh and more feathers brushing Iggy's. "It looks like… that laser plane."
Iggy blinked. "The laser plane?"
"Yeah."
Iggy didn't understand. "Is the plane coming after us?" He felt sure he would have heard the engines roaring like last time.
"Um… no."
"Then what?" he asked, irritated.
"Well, it looks sort of crashed." Gazzy sounded half terrified, half excited. And just like that, Iggy realized what he was thinking.
"You want to check it out?"
"We're going to," said Fang. "Too big of a chance to miss. Might be a company." He brushed by Iggy as he dove down into the forest.
"What if…" Nudge started, but Iggy cleared his throat meaningfully and instead she led him down after Fang.
The forest floor smelled nothing like those pine tree air fresheners inside cars. It was wetter, and definitely earthier. Iggy wouldn't have minded living in a place like this, but Max probably wouldn't have liked it. No, she absolutely wouldn't have.
Iggy felt his feet sink into the leafy ground as he landed. He folded his wings along with the others.
"What do we do?" Nudge was asking worriedly.
"Search," Fang replied. "Fast. We can't be caught."
There was the crunching sound of the others going off to look at the plane. Iggy touched its side. It was warm and silent. The metal was crumpled unnaturally, as though it had crashed. The Gasman has said it had earlier.
Iggy ran his hands across the plane's broad surface. He could still remember the sound of the lasers, just like some space science fiction movie. He had been stunned to almost knock Max and Gazzy out of the air by accident.
Iggy was jolted out of his thoughts by the irregular but precise carving on the side of the plane. He felt the symbol. A company?
"Guys!" he called. "I found something."
Using his hands, he created a mental picture of the symbol. It seemed to be a circle with more etchings in the center.
"It's not Itex, is it?" Nudge asked, coming over.
"Of course not," said Gazzy. He leaned on Iggy's arm. "Is it?"
"No," said Iggy slowly. "You tell me."
He moved to the side so they could see the logo.
"The Institute for Higher Living," Fang read. He continued sarcastically, "Ever hear of that?"