A/N: Sorry about the super long wait. I've been having a whole bunch of school problems, and I officially hate high school. I can't wait for college. If I go to college. But there is also this other school I want to go to, called Academy of the Arts, and it specializes in art stuff, (obviously!) But I want to go for drawing (which is my passion,) and creative writing (which is my second passion.)
This chapter is longer, and it's in Morta's POV. So, I hope you enjoy. I also hope to be better about updating… sorry about making you guys wait too long. Anyways… Please review!!! I need the support!!!
Copyright: I don't own any of James Patterson's characters, but I do own Morta, Ian and Jared... I think that's all.
Chapter 5
"Alright, everybody up!" The shout penetrated into my sleeping mind. I lifted her weary head to see Max kicking the huddled forms of sleeping kids all around. She passed over me, I guess not wanting to kick the new kid.
"Jus' 5 mo' minu's…" Nudge's voice followed another shout from Max.
"Nudge, c'mon! We got to go!" Max walked over, delivering a slight prod with her boot to the tired child.
I sat up, the sleepiness in my body dissolving. I quickly flattened my hair, knowing how bad it looked every morning, and un-rumpled my shirt, smoothing it out. "Good morning!" A little face popped into my vision, surprising me a little.
"Um, hi?" I wasn't entirely used to having someone greet me as I woke up.
The blonde girl smiled, looking happy at my response. "Are you coming with us?" She asked.
"I don't know." I answered truthfully. "I guess it depends on what your leader thinks."
At those words, Max looked over at us. She must've been listening to the conversation. She casually strolled over, and I could see every muscle in her body was tense. "I don't know, Angel." She sighed.
"Why?" The little girl asked innocently.
"C'mon. I'll explain later." Max redirected her course away from me, with one hand on Angel's shoulder. I looked around, seeing the blind kid was on the lookout perch, Nudge was just rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and their dog was sniffing around the base of some trees. I shook my head, wondering how I got to be here. I was so used to being nicely alone, not a care in the world, but that vanished, slipping in-between my fingers like a puff of smoke.
I looked down, trying to figure out what I should do for food. I assumed there was a store nearby, and though I could hunt and eat wild animals, I wasn't entirely in the mood. I stood, stretching my wings, and feeling the effect of cold air surrounding them. The blood started to course through them, and they seemed to beg to me that I should go for a fly. I looked around again, wondering if I should tell anyone about my quick flight, and I walked over to where Max was having a hush-hush conversation with Angel. I picked up "Tried… kill… unsafe…" before Max spun around, facing me.
"I'm just going to-" I tried before she cut me off with a wave of her hand.
"You don't make very good first impressions, do you?" There was venom in her question.
"Not really. I'm going for a quick fly. Will you be here when I get back?" I shoved in before she could stop me.
She studied my face for a moment. "Maybe. Depends on how I feel. Just go."
I gave her one last look, and returned the little wave that Angel gave to me, before I spun around and beating my wings hard, took off. The wind was amazing for my stiff wings, and soon I was completely comfortable with soaring through the sky.
I headed where the sound of people was greatest, and was soon high above a small town. I tucked my wings in and felt the wind rushing by me, faster and faster, until I was closer to the ground. I snapped them open, catching the wind and making my wings pull back. I had aimed carefully for the border of the woods near a small grocery store, so I would be concealed by the leafy canopy. I was a pro at landing in forests, so I managed to squeeze between the branches and leaves, without a scratch, and landed softly on the forest floor. I was picking out a twig out of my wing when a shadow moved. I froze, ready for a fight, when out stepped Fang.
"Morning." He grumbled cheerfully.
"Hi." Was all I could manage out. I was too embarrassed to speak much, all because I mistook him for an enemy.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Food." was my only reply. I liked keeping answers short and sweet. It was a habit I developed when I used to be paranoid.
He smirked, and the memories from the previous night rose to the top of my mind. I could feel my cheeks heat as I remembered how vulnerable and childish I had been. I quickly averted my gaze to the forest floor. "I see you've… changed." He whispered.
"I was foolish last night. I let a stranger into my life, let that stranger know everything about me. I'm sorry." I replied.
"Ah. But that no longer makes them a stranger." He parried. I looked up to see a faint smile on his face.
"Maybe… maybe your right." I thought. "Now I'm hungry. If you'll excuse me, please." I turned on the spot, only to be stopped by a strong hand on my shoulder.
I looked up to see him studying my face with his dark eyes. "I don't think of you as a stranger." He said quietly.
"But your friends do." I told him, unwanted sadness in my small voice.
He let go, and I turned back around again. I didn't want to look at him any longer, knowing how he was right about some things. I hated admitting I was wrong, and I really was hungry.
I ran out into the bright sunlight, getting away from the darkness of the woods, and faced the grocery store. I looked at how small it was, and decided I shouldn't steal from this place. I never stole, unless it was necessary, and the business was big. So I just waltzed in, and took out a wad of bills from my pocket. I went to the food aisle, and walked slowly. Suddenly, a cloud filled my vision, blocking out everything except the scene playing in my eyes. A figure, with a black coat, with the hood pulled over his eyes, would appear in this aisle in 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
The grocery store flooded back into my eyes, and I knew that the figure that would soon appear would have some form of importance to me. I prepared by putting down the bag of pretzels back on the aisle, and facing the direction he would come. I remembered when the Lab scientists explained my unique ability. They said that once I had complete control over it, I would be able to turn it on and off at will. But for now, it just showed up when something important or significant was going to happen. It didn't show me very far into the future, but was still handy.
After waiting for a short time, my vision came true. A figure appeared, and froze when he first caught sight of me. But he quickly returned to acting casual, and I knew I had to see who this was for future reference. I walked up, and asked cautiously, "Um, excuse me? Eric? Is that you?"
He shook his head, and my brain did floppies trying to figure out what to make up next. "You can't fool me, Eric. Take off the hood. I know it's you."
He violently shook his head again, and turned back to the food. I gave a 'humph' noise, and turned, crossing my arms. I had to admit, I was a good actress, because the figure soon placed a hand on my shoulder. I spun around. He lifted his hands, removing his hood, and I gasped.
It was a scientist from the Lab. The one who gave me my name, the one with the nice face. "Hello Morta." His voice was more gruff since the 6 years I had seen him last. His black hair and beard was streaked with grey, and his face had gotten paler and wrinklier. "I'm not here to take you, just making sure you're still alive. A friend asked me to check up on you. He misses you dearly. If you come with me, I'll take you to him."
I was frozen on the spot, gaping up at him. I suddenly found my voice again, and spit out, "No. I have somewhere to be."
He was shocked at my dismiss, and made that clear. But I just didn't want to see him. He was a reminder that the Lab was still out looking for me, and he was probably just here to take me back. "Morta, wait!" He called out behind me.
"No. Sorry, but I don't know you." I called back.
"Yes you do."
"No! I don't even know your name!" I shouted, maybe a little too loud.
He looked down, and I continued walking. "My name… is Ian."
"Hah!" I didn't bother turning around. "You think I'll believe you?!"
"Jared did."
My mouth closed. I could also feel my throat closing, too. My heart sped up faster then it already was, and my head was reeling. No… no… it must be another Jared. My Jared would've tried to find me, would've gotten out of that blasted place.
"He wants to see you." Ian said, not easing my racing mind at all.
"Really?" I spat. "Does he work there now? Work with you? Well, you can tell him that I do want to see Jared. The old non-evil Jared. Goodbye, 'Ian'." And I ran out as fast as possible, my hunger overwhelmed by my other emotions threatening to explode my brain.
I kept running, for as far as I could, into the woods, until I didn't know where I was anymore. I didn't mind. My sense of direction was excellent, and if I did get into trouble, I had wings. I kept walking, the darkness helping me think a lot. Then I remembered the "flock" was waiting, if they were still there.
I calmed down a bit, and took off into the air. My eyes stung, but I didn't let one tear fall, even in the air. I soon was able to find the clearing using my smell and sight. I swiftly landed among the trees, and looked around.
Empty. They had left me. I went and sat on a log that faced the dark forest. I closed my eyes, thinking hard. I didn't know what to do now, and I did miss Jared. But I wouldn't believe Ian, because he was from the lab, no matter how nice he was. I was never going back there, not even to see Jared. I had made up my mind.
It was then that I heard the beating of wings. My eyes snapped open to see the littlest one, Angel. She looked at me, probably wondering what I was doing, just sitting here.
She spoke then, voice small but powerful. "Why are you here?"
"I don't know." I answered, honestly.
"You should come with us. I like you." She chirped.
"You guys left. I'm not desperate enough to oversee that message." I stated the obvious.
"We didn't want to leave." She widened her eyes. "We were ambushed. We left by orders from Max. There were a lot of Erasers."
I stood, my brain whirring. "Erasers?" I asked. She nodded, blonde curls bouncing. "Is everyone ok?"
"Yep!" She said, enthusiastically. "C'mon, I'll take you to where we are."
She started to turn around, small white wings illuminated by the sun filtered through the trees. "Wait." I said, and she turned back. "Are you sure Max wants me?"
She bit her lip a little, which made her look cute. "I do. And so does Iggy, and Gazzy, and Fang. Oh, and Total."
"But not Max." I stated.
"She just takes a while to warm up to people. But I know you're a nice person, because I can read your mind and all." She smiled warmly.
I thought quickly, making up my mind. I did enjoy their company, and they weren't very mean or suspicious. So I nodded, outstretching my wings. She smiled widely, before turning around, her white wings catching the light. Her name was obvious, because she really did look like a little angel. If she really was so angelic, I wondered why she liked me so much. I'm not really a great person, and I thought that angels only liked great, giving people. I shrugged off my annoying thoughts and looked around at the empty space once more.
"Are you coming?" Angel said, jerking out of my thoughts.
Without a word, I merely unfurled my dark brown wings to their full size, and beat down the air with them. Angel smiled before copying so that we were soon both in the air. We cleared the canopy of leaves easily, and I looked down at the ground below. I saw little people going in and out of the store that I met up with Ian, and tried to block out the memory of the conversation.
"He reminds me of Jeb." Angel said suddenly. I looked up at her to see her face was thoughtful as she looked back at me. "He was the guy that helped the flock get out of the School. We thought he died when he later disappeared, but we found out he was just back at the School. He left us."
I looked back at the ground far below. "I didn't even know Ian's name until today. And now he's saying that I should trust him, and that my friend is still alive. I don't know whether to believe him."
"Well, he is the one who gave you your name." She smiled, and I realized that she found out all about me and Fang's conversation with her little power. "But I think you should stick with us. I think you're cool."
I actually smiled back as my short brown hair fell in front of my face. "Thanks. You're cool too."
She smiled even wider and twirled in the air. She then watched me fly. It was then I noticed that we flew differently. I flew to conserve energy but also to go faster, while she… I didn't even know how to describe her methods. It was certainly different. "You have to teach the flock how you fly like that!" She said enthusiastically.
"Like what?" I asked.
"You fly like you're a bird. As if you have been for all your life!"
"I have been. Weren't you born with your wings too?" I asked.
"Yes, but back at the school we couldn't fly a lot." She twirled again. "So you have to teach us how you fly without beating your wings so much, but you still go really fast!"
I looked at my wings, which looked black on the underside because of the shadows. "Alright. I guess I will. Later."
She smiled at my promise, and I knew what that meant. It meant that I would have to stick around with their group for a while longer. But to my surprise, I was happy about it.