Chapter 7
"I don't like California ham!" exclaimed Nudge, choking and spitting out a little pinkish lump. Eww.
"Well," Gazzy said with his mouth full," I love it."
I rolled my eyes, picking at my toast.
"So, it looks like the Itex building should be right around here," Fang said, holding out a map. I looked at it. He was circling a wide expanse of LA with his finger, where none of the buildings were labeled. I nodded.
"Is everyone done eating?" I asked, standing and half unfurling my wings comfortably.
"I'm never done eating," sighed Gazzy," But yes."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the computer. I selected Google Earth and found the address on the map near where Fang thought Itex was.
"Does…this look like an Itex building?" I asked. Angel shook her head, even though her back was turned away from me. She must have seen it in y mind. I scrolled through a bunch more zip codes.
"How about this one?"
"Nope."
"This?"
"No."
"What about… this one?"
"I-" Fang stopped, and they all looked at me. Nudge hurried over and put her hand on the corner of the screen.
"I can remember the address," she said, pulling it off. Ooookay then, she had, like, uber perfect memory.
"Let's go," I muttered, grabbing my bag and folding in my wings.
Iggy glanced -blindly- at Angel in alarm for a moment and then relaxed. They followed me to the lobby, where I got an extra keycard for everyone. Then came the problem.
"This place is, like, totally populated. How are we supposed to fly? Are we walking?" asked Nudge. I sighed.
"We're taking the bus. Come on," Fang said. I looked up in surprise; I'd been thinking the exact same thing.
Angel.
She was probably just screwing with me.
Fang led the way to the bus stop, where six hobos, two hookers, an Asian dude with a laptop, a group of teenage girls and their boyfriends, and a pregnant woman with two kids holding her hands were sitting-and, in two of the hobos cases, sleeping.
Fang glanced around, his eyes pausing on the hookers. Iggy reached out and grabbed his arm in a flash.
"Two hookers, six homeless guys, a laptop dude, teenagers, two kids and a pregnant mom," Fang said.
"And soon, six homeless bird-kids," Nudge added.
"Hookers?" asked Gazzy. I shook my head with a Fang-will-tell-you-when-you're-older expression.
"Hookers," Iggy repeated, but in a… different voice. Sexist-
Don't think pig, begged Angel in a small voice in my head. Why? I thought in surprise. Max always thought that. You two are so alike, she told me, sniffling. How random was that?
"We are now boarding," and electronic female voice said as the bus doors slid open. We shuffled in with the pack of teens, melting into their group unnoticed. They kept chatting and talking on cell phones, totally ignoring us as they paid. A wallet slid to the ground. I bent over and picked it up. I know what you're thinking, but I'm not that needy. I pulled out a handful of quarters and slid it back into the guy's pocket.
The bus driver held out his arm in front of Angel, who was last, cutting her off. I froze.
"Are you under seven?" he asked. She nodded angelically.
"Six and a half," she said sweetly.
"No charge, go ahead," he pulled his arm back. But I caught a flicker of green under the hat that was setting a shadow across his face. Can you say suspicious? I looked around.
There it was. The sign that clearly stated No charge for children under five years. Five, not seven. Just as I realized this, the doors slid closed.
Well, shit.