VIII: Study Break
The sun was dipping closer to the horizon with every minute, but Max decided that it was still worth a shot to find a library we could use to look over the flash drive. We were headed north instead of east to throw off any more surprises Hell might send after us; that was also Max's idea. She was probably trying to assert her authority or some kind of bossy bullshit. I didn't care. Actually, I was trying not to care.
That stupid smile of Max's had lodged itself in my mind and was staying there no matter what I tried.
It just seemed… wrong. She was supposed to be the mean, bossy girl who once slammed my head into metal bars because I wouldn't give her French toast. That sappy grin had no business being on her face at all. It was driving me insane trying to figure it out. Was she happy about the flash drive and possibly locating her parents? Did she finally have respect for me after seeing me kick ass? Or did she-
No. No. That was impossible. Totally impossible. There was no way that could be true of her. She was obviously in a good mood because of the flash drive and the fact that I wasn't useless. Yeah, that was it.
But some part of my brain couldn't help saying You're just distracting yourself from the simple truth that-
NUCLEUS, RIBOSOME, MITOCHONDRION, CENTRIOLE… I mentally shouted at the top of my lungs the first thing that came to mind that had nothing to do with Max. …LYSOSOME, VACUOLE, CYTOPLASM… I stopped. My mind was quiet. I exhaled out of relief.
Don't worry Ed! Your secret's safe with me! Angel's cheery voice sounded in my head. I forgot to flap and briefly fell before I started beating my wings again. I glared at Angel. What do you mean, my secret?I thought.
It's okay. I won't tell Max. I won't tell you about Max's secrets either. But she doesn't even know she has them. Max never likes thinking about feelings. Or talking about them. I think that's why Fang loves her so much.
I glanced at him. At the moment, he was saying something to Max that made her laugh and lightheartedly smack him with her wing. He smiled.
You're kidding. He actually has a crush on her? I was only joking back in Hell when I told Max he liked her.
She mentally giggled. Oh, he does! Ever since Jeb took us out of the School, he's been thinking about her nonstop. But she only sees him as her best friend and kind of her brother. Fang's been waiting for years for her to like him too.
I suddenly felt very guilty.
What about Iggy? Does he like her? I asked. I didn't know why.
A little. She liked him for a little bit just before the Erasers took me from home. I think the only crush Max had was on Thor about a year ago. She only liked you a little at first because you kinda reminded her of him, but now she- Angel paused. I said too much. Please, please don't tell Max I said that…
I bowed my head in shame. I promise.
Max looked up at me and smiled. "Hey, Ed! I think I see a library!" She dove, folding her wings in and spiraling downwards. It was amazing to watch.
Uh-oh. CELL WALL, CILIA, FLAGELLA, NUCLEOLUS…
The library had a group study room that was perfect for us to use. Max was reading through the flash drive's contents on the computer she was using, with the rest of the group reading over her shoulder. I was using another computer, directly across from the one Max was using, to read about Itex's offices and labs in New York (and science articles on Wikipedia when I got bored). Max had told me that she'd get my attention if she found anything interesting.
"He definitely put every file on us in this thing," muttered Max. "I wish he could have organized them a little at least."
"Like how?" said Iggy.
"There's like a billion files on this thing and they're not named according to their contents or put in folders or anything." She clicked the mouse twice and frowned. "See, like this one is named 63gh00xkcd, but it's results from a test of Ed's, um, muscular strength… how the hell are those numbers that high?!" She whipped her head up and glared at me. "You weren't genetically engineered there like me and the flock! How is it that you're stronger than us?"
"Oh, they let me use their gym when they weren't testing me or reverse-engineering my limbs," I said, not even looking up from the page on nuclear fusion I was on.
Her mouth hung open slightly for an instant before she looked back at her screen. "Oh. Um. Okay. Uh, this next one is called 671fk00xkcd, and it looks like some kind of unfinished blueprint for your metal leg. Nothing helpful there."
"Wait," said Fang. "Are there other files that end in 00xkcd?"
"Um… yes, tons of them."
"See if they're about Ed too. If they are, then the files are named after us, but in code. Like, 00xkcd would mean a file's about Ed."
She clicked the mouse a few times.
"They are! You're amazing."
He allowed himself to smile. "I know." Now Max had that stupid smile on her face again. I directed my attention back to a graphic description of heat and pressure at the core of the Sun.
Max and Fang quickly figured out the chunks of text that corresponded to the rest of the group. Meanwhile, I switched back to reading about Itex. "Hey, Angel," I said. "When you overheard the Demons thinking about the R&D firm in New York, did they say New York City or New York State?"
"They just said New York. I thought they meant New York City, so that's what I told everyone," she said, confused. "Why?"
"The only Itex branch in the city is a tax-preparation and financial planning office. I think the R&D place might be upstate."
Angel walked over and unsuccessfully tried to look over my shoulder before she settled for standing beside me. "Is that a map of Itex places in New York?" she said anxiously.
"Looks like it. There're mostly factories out west, except for a dairy in the middle of nowhere and a water-treatment facility on a canal near… Rochester. I don't… ah, there they are. There are thirteen R&D firms in the eastern part of New York."
Nudge and Gazzy joined Angel beside me.
"This first one is the Carroll Automotive Research Institute, located near Pow- poughkey-" I swore under my breath at the trainwreck of a name. "…that city right there. Doesn't look like they have anything to do with Hell- oh wow, it says that they're close to a breakthrough on a practical steam-powered car! And it also says here that they're working on a three thousand horsepower motorcycle engine! That's so cool! And then this says that they sold a vegetable oil-powered design to Honda for $3 million and…" I continued like this for a few minutes before I noticed Max roll her eyes.
"Go to the next place and stop boring everyone," she said. "Science geek."
Automail geek.
The phrase flashed through my head almost reflexively. I tucked it away for later analysis and went to the next one, feeling embarrassed.
"Uh, the next one is in… Modena. It's an agriculture center with an emphasis on pest-resistant crop development-"
"Ed! Ed! That's it! That's the one! That's the one in the middle right there!" squealed Angel, literally jumping up and down with excitement.
"The… Hitchens Organic R&D Center?"
"Yep!"
Max looked up from her computer. "Are you serious?" Angel nodded.
"The site describes the place as 'a friendly science-oriented workplace, voted "Best Employer In New York" four years in a row, a leader in organic printing technology'- whatever that is- 'and home of the most productive genetic research lab in the Western Hemisphere'. I think that's our place," I said.
"Well, good to see your work led us somewhere. This… crap is nothing but a bunch of technical data and test results. It might as well be written in Swahili," Max muttered, her hopeful expression turning into a pout I couldn't help but find cute. Angel giggled. Don't you dare tell her that, I thought.
A female voice blared from a speaker in the ceiling. "The time is now 8:20… the library will be closing in ten minutes. Computers will automatically shut down in five minutes. Thank you!"
"It is getting late," Max added. "We should probably leave so we can find a forest or something to sleep in."
"But Max…" whined Nudge. "It's been weeks since we've slept in beds! Can't we find a hotel or a motel or something? Pleeeease?" She added Bambi eyes to her plea, which made absolutely no difference.
"Nope. We can't take a chance on the School tracking us. Plus we don't have any money."
"Um, we do," said Iggy, pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket. "Remember Mr. Jerk at the ATM and green-haired Ari scaring the crap out of him? Gazzy and I spent some of it on food and bomb-making stuff, but there's still some left, I think."
Max's mouth hung open silently before she took the cash and counted it. "Thirty… forty, fifty, seventy, seventy… seventy-nine dollars. Not enough. We can't all share one hotel room."
My eyes wandered from Max's stubborn pout to the Wikipedia tab on nuclear fusion, to a plastic bin filled with waste paper, and finally to a torn flyer on top advertising a sale at Rico's Jewelry. And suddenly I had an idea.
I checked the ceiling for cameras- there were none- and then walked over to the bin. I placed my hands together and felt an oddly familiar sensation inside my head, like a key turning in a lock and making tumblers fall into place. "Okay, I'm about to do something slightly illegal, so you just go ahead and look the other way for a second." The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, but I concentrated on what I was about to do anyway before placing my hands on top of the pile.
The familiar lightning traced a path from my hands to the paper, and the pile seemed to collapse in on itself. The paper condensed into a watermelon-sized ball and slowly shrunk as objects dropped out of the bottom. I pushed the power more and more until the ball was all gone.
Lying at the bottom of the bin was a pile of gold rings, bracelets, and necklaces. I reached in and grabbed a handful and held it out to Max. "We can find a pawn shop or jewelry store and get some money for these so we can stay someplace decent." I smiled Max's trademark shit-eating grin, making her blush angrily.
"…Fine. Let's get out of here at least," she stammered, and ripped the flash drive from the computer. I closed the browser window with a smile on my face and scooped up the rest of the gold.
Three hours later, we were staying at a Marriott, with me, Max, and Fang in one room, and the rest of the group sharing an adjoining room. I was on the couch, writing the day's flashbacks in my Memory Journal and trying to stay awake to complete the task. Max was on one bed, doing inventory and packing the bags as efficiently as she could. Fang was on the other, moodily staring into space (and at Max when he thought neither of us was looking). The door to the kids' room was open, and I could hear a television.
It had been a long emotion-filled day, and the rest of the group probably thought so too. I couldn't hear any voices coming from the kids' room, except for the ones coming from the TV, which meant that the kids were probably asleep. Fang's eyes were closing, and every so often Max's head would drop before she would wake herself up and try to continue. I finished the last sentence in my journal as she stuffed the last blanket into a backpack. She turned to Fang and me with a weary smile.
"I'm gonna go to bed now," she announced. "I hope we can get those files in New York tomorrow."
Fang said something in a low voice that put a smile on her face. "I hope so too," she said. "Good night, Fang."
She turned to me. "Um… good night, Ed."
I forced a smile through my drowsiness. "Good night, Max. See you tomorrow morning."
She stammered for a second before her face turned red. Suddenly she got up and made for the door. "I'm… uh, I'm gonna go flying for a bit, be right back." She ran out the door and slammed it behind her.
Girls… I'll never understand them, I thought before I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
