One last thing I beg you please just before you go
I've watched you fly on paper wings halfway around the world
Until they burned up in the atmosphere and sent you spiraling down
Landing somewhere far from here with no one else around
To catch you falling down
And I'm looking at you now
I can't tell if you're laughing
Between each smile there's a tear in your eye
There's a train leaving town in an hour
It's not waiting for you and neither am I
((OMIGOD! I'm really excited! I'm going downstate this weekend to stay in a condo with a bunch of family friends and the boys basketball team!!! I'm so wound up now there's no word for it! It's just going to be my sister and I, no little brother or mom or dad!! –screams- WOOT!!
Thanks to: Someone aka Me, LovinaHolmes ))
Polo
Great. The infamous Home. When the truck/van stopped, we all slid into the wall. Again. I half landed on Eli, and we struggled to untangle ourselves. Her hair brushed against my face as we squirmed away, and I caught the intoxicating scent of oranges. Yum, I thought, then scolded myself. No! Not yum! She just freaked out at you, you just ruined her life, stopstopstop. But even as she pulled away, I couldn't help but take a last, unnoticed breath.
The doors opened, and I noticed with slight relief that it was dark. It was winter in Maine, the sun sets at about four thirty. The sky was clear and, though the moon hadn't risen yet, I knew it would be a full one. I know, there's only one full moon and two others that look like it, but I think of it as the three full nights. It added the perfect touch to this story, a full moon on a cloudless night filled with wolf men. Ironic how things work out like that. ((A/N: I couldn't help it, I had to have a full moon. They're always in stories, and I couldn't resist. ;D sorry.))
Two erasers roughly pulled out Karma and Eli, and Molt took care of me, slinging me over his shoulder like a sack with a harsh laugh.
"Hope you enjoyed your day of freedom!" he cackled. "It'll be your last!"
"Okay, Molt. Whatever you say," I said in a perky, happy tone. I earned a bang against the doorframe for my wit.
It wasn't until we got inside that things got scary. It wasn't even the experiments that got me worried. It was that the erasers went in separate directions, Molt and I in one, Karma and Eli in another. At least Eli had Karma for comfort.
"Miss your cozy cage?" Molt sneered. I snorted.
"No."
"Good, 'cause you're not going back there yet. You've got to give us your story." My spine tingled. That didn't sound good.
He walked right past the room with my cage in it and took me down an unfamiliar hall. There were six doors, all different. They all had different colors, and each had a single letter etched into it. 'M', 'F', 'I', 'N', 'G', and 'A'. He carried me toward the 'A' one, at the end of the hall. It was white, and something was digging at the back of my mind. Something about the letters seemed familiar. Frustration: when you're a mutant freak in a lab being taken to an ominous room and you can't figure out what's so… familiar about the doors in the hall.
Molt tapped on the door three times. There was a pause, but apparently he heard something, because he twisted the door handle. I was met with a voice I was sure that I'd never heard before, but it still felt vaguely familiar.
"Molt. What do you want now?" The speaker was clearly a female, and sounded resigned and despairing. "Who's this? Another poor soul you want me to interrogate?" I got my first good look at her.
She had curly, golden-blonde hair. Her eyes were big and blue, and she had the sweet look of a little girl. I wondered what she was like when she was little. She was seated on a bed with light blue cover. The entire room was soft colors, mostly gentle blue and white. On the walls, puffy clouds were painted with beautiful white and blue, looking incredibly realistic. She had a white desk in a corner with a little light blue laptop, and a bookshelf coated in books. A little, sad looking pillow sat in the corner. It was white and lambskin-looking, like a doggie bed. A name was stitched onto it, but I couldn't read the cursive, loopy words from my spot. Her brow furrowed for a moment.
"Oh. Hello, Polo. Don't worry, I won't harm you, no matter what this buffoon says," she said gently, glaring at Molt.
Then I saw the wings.
They were hanging limply from her back, as if they were exhausted. Pure white and huge, they finished her angelic look. That's when I realized who this must be.
Yup, you got it.
Angel.
Eli
The erasers took Polo in another direction, and I wondered what they were going to do with him. All my dreams of the flock rushed back, and I immediately felt bad. And to think, the last things I'd said to him was 'leave me the hell alone', and given him dagger glares. Pity and something more bubbled up in me as I helplessly watched at Molt carried him away. Good job, Eli. Brilliant, I thought sarcastically. At least Karma was still with me.
The erasers dumped us into cages. Karma was practically trembling, and I was surprised to notice that I was, too.
"I can't believe it. This is soo not good, we're in a lab. Oh God, hurry up Carlos. You're lucky, you don't have any idea what it's like here," he murmured.
"No, I know what it's like at the School," I whispered back. He gave me a strange look.
"Whaat?"
"Have you heard of that new book, 3XP3R!M3NTAL: Maximum Ride?" I asked. He looked confused.
"Who hasn't? Of course, we were shocked by it. Carlos's face went so white when he saw it, I thought he was going to pass out. Why? Have you…" he paused looking very puzzled, then surprise and shock on his face. "No. No way. Not you, is it?" he gasped. I nodded solemnly. "Oh… Okay, then. Well. So we're screwed right now, aren't we," he said.
"Pretty much."
He opened his mouth to reply, probably some creative swearing, but an eraser approached our cages.
"We will take you to interrogation when Polo is done. Do not try anything," he said blandly. I rolled my eyes. When he walked away, I turned to Karma.
"Interrogation?" I asked. He nodded.
"Usually it involves torture, but Polo will be fine. It's mostly electrocution, nothing deadly," he assured me. I nodded. Great.
I lifted my hair off my neck, taking a deep breath. I was really hot, and it didn't help. I took off my hoodie, thankful that the erasers had been nice enough to untie us when the put us in the cages, and leaned against the cool bars, closing my eyes and ignoring the worried look Karma gave me. Ugh.
Angel ((A/N: Angel uses good vocabulary and such because she can read minds, and she's really smart, since she doesn't have much to do except do stuff on her laptop.))
"Angel?" Polo gaped. I gave him an angelic smile.
"Yeah. I'm eighteen, and no, I'm not here on purpose. I want to leave just as much as you do, if not, more," I said, answering his next few questions before he had a chance to ask them. I didn't even have to look into his mind, everyone asked those questions. Actually, I hadn't tried going into his mind yet. I was just about to when Molt burst in.
"What do you mean, you're not going to?" Molt snarled. I raised an eyebrow.
"Are you going to make me?" I said coolly, regarding him calmly. His face reddened, and he stammered to retort. I used that moment to go into Polo's mind.
At which point my eyes rolled back and I almost blacked out.
I pulled out instantly, heaving for breath. What was that?!? That'd never happened. Molt's mind was still crystal clear, but Polo's had a mist around it. I tried to go in again, tentatively and slowly. Again, I was assaulted with dizziness, nausea, and it made me feel like I just flew around the world twice. I slumped against the headboard of my bed, breathing heavily.
I realized that Polo had staggered slightly, both times.
"What was that?" he asked, his voice high-pitched and constricted. I shook my head.
"No… no idea. What did you do?" I replied.
"Nothing. I just suddenly got really dizzy. Why? What happened to you?" he said, noticing my bedraggled and shocked look.
"I… I just tried to get into your mind, and it was like…" I paused, searching for the right word. "I don't know. I got really dizzy, my eyes rolled back, and I almost passed out." He looked confused, and I suddenly perked up.
"Molt, you can't interrogate Polo. I can't get in his mind," I said brightly. Molt had just been standing there during the whole episode, looking lost.
"Whaat?" he crowed. I grinned.
"Nope. It just about killed us, you saw it. Vamanos!" I said, opening the door and herding them out.
"Hey, wait! I've got a billion questions for you!" Polo cried, flailing as I guided/pushed him out. I shook my head.
"Later," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. He nodded, walking out. I closed the door behind them both and sighed, sliding down it to sit on the floor and put my head on my knees. This sucks.
Karma
Holy crap. Things were about as bad as they could get. Eli was sitting in her cage, looking worse by the moment. She was covered with sweat, her breathing was labored, and her eyes were moving under their lids, lips moving silently. It was creeping me out.
Meanwhile, Polo still wasn't back, and I had a bad feeling about it. If there was one thing I'd learned from Missy, it's to trust my instincts. And right then, they were screaming, Something is not right! Nothing is right! Do something! If I could do something, I would.
Just as I was about to start tearing my feathers and hair out, Polo was escorted in and shoved into a cage. He looked barely better that Eli, his face pale and hands shaking. He flopped down on the floor or his cage, looking exhausted but content.
"Wha'happened?" I said quickly, and he looked up at me.
"You know, you're the second person to ask me that in the last ten minutes," he said snickering. When I didn't laugh, he became more serious. "Okay. Brace yourself," he warned, and I nodded fast, my head practically vibrating.
"I saw Angel." I took a moment to take it in what he meant.
"Whaat? You mean… Angel Angel?" I gaped. He nodded.
"She's their interrogation system, but she's there against her will. I think the whole flock is here," he whispered, and went on to describe his whole episode.
All I could do was stare. Angel? The flock?
"She couldn't get in, but they're coming for you or Eli soon. Angel might not be able to get into my head, but you or-," he broke off, looking at Eli in surprise. "What's wrong with her?" he asked urgently. I turned, and saw that she hadn't gotten any better.
"I don't know. She's been like that for a while, since a few minutes after you left." He swore explosively, and I jumped.
"Shit! Something is really wrong with her," he muttered. I rolled my eyes.
"Well, duh."
"No, I mean more than this."
"More than this? She looks like death," I pointed out. It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"Thanks. That's encouraging."
"So, what else is wrong with her?"
"She wrote a book."
"Yeah, Maximum Ride. She told me." He looked surprised for a moment, then I saw something else in his face. Anger? Jealousy?
"She's some sort of mutant."
"Yeah, sh- what?!?" I cried, eyes blasting wide open.
"Apparently, if she gets too angry, her hair and eyes go dark red, and she gets weirdly fast, strong, and has amazing senses. She just found out today, I guess," he explained. "And her teeth get too sharp, and her fingernails become… claw-ish."
A long pause followed as we both thought, broken only by a faint whispering sound coming from Eli.
"Well, this is strange. What do you get when you put the flock, the flight, you, Eli, erasers, the Home, and a book that wasn't supposed to be written?" I said. Polo shrugged.
"What?" he replied.
"No clue. I'm adding two and two, and getting eleventeen." He didn't smile, just stared at Eli, his face inscrutable. I sighed and hoped the flight was coming soon.