"No I didn't!" It was the first thing that came to mind, thus the first thing I said. I knew who I thought I was, and I / Max would have never killed Angel.
"She turned us in," Iggy continued talking for Fang. "She gave us to the School, and in return they took away her expiration date. The expiration date isn't triggered by DNA unraveling. It's a poison. The school gives experiments a very small dose. It kills them over time. Our powers were caused by the poison hitting different points in us. Jeb eventually cured each one of us. He had snuck a little from the lab and injected into us when we were sleeping. Angel was too little for it though. She was too young to have the poison and the antidote fight within her. Jeb left before she was ever cured. That's why she had the most powers."
I tried not to focus on how he put Angel in past tense. "Why does Olli have powers, if they are caused by the poison?" I asked.
"The poison changes us on a genetic level," Iggy explained. "That's why you, Occi, and Olli have them. Your parent's genes were changed."
"I have a power?"
Iggy smirked. "What is the weather going to be like tomorrow?" He asked.
"Fairly sunny, fairly warm. A little windy." I responded instantly. "Oh. I can predict the weather." It was better than a jab in the eye, but not quite as useful as my old super speedy flying. "How do you know about poison?" I asked.
"Jeb told us." Iggy replied crisply. Something was off about his tone, he was 26 years older, but I could still tell.
"What about Jeb?"
"It's nothing, it's just – just he died. That's all."
"That's not nothing." Despite that he had been a backstabbing traitor I felt a sort of pang. He was my dad, er, grandfather.
"He let us out of the cages at the school. After that you, Fang, Gazzy, and Max went to find Angel, to try to reason with her. Jeb, Nudge, and I left with Occi and Olli. We got into a fight on the way out. He died saving Occi. He took a bullet for her."
I glanced at Olli, and the grimace on his face told me he remembered it, despite that he was three when it happened. No wonder he didn't love his power.
Iggy continued. "Besides that we all escaped safely. I didn't witness what happened with you guys and Angel, but I've heard enough about it. Angel tried to mind control Max to kill you. She didn't like that. There was a fight, and like with Ari, Max didn't completely mean to kill anyone. She took Celeste from Angel's office, and gave it to Occi."
For a minute I wondered why she didn't give it to me. But deep down I knew. If I had killed Angel I wouldn't want something that reminded me of her so close.
Suddenly I realized how tired I was. It wasn't just that I had been up all night; sleep just seemed to be an easier alternative to trying to process everything that had happened. Fang seemed to be able to read my expression.
I clumsily got to my feet and brushed away a few stray tears. Fang held my shoulder, and both of us sent a glance back at Angel's grave before heading inside.
I was led up a flight of stairs, then into a medium sized room. On the far wall above a window were wooden letters colorfully painted with stripes and dots. They spelled out Nina's Room.
"This is your room," Fang muttered awkwardly and redundantly, then stepped outside and shut the door.
I looked around. On the wall to my right was a long desk and a bookshelf. To the left was a dresser that I assumed to be full of clothes. A bed with a red quilt over it was pushed against the back wall. Little origami cranes had been hung from the ceiling on fishing line. Above the desk a sun fish a little smaller than my hand was mounted to the wall. My First Fish was written below it.
I sat down on the bed and tried to think, not through my memories. I tried to completely block out the past, and think solely with my mind.
I went over to the desk and pulled out the bottom drawer, grabbing all the junk inside and throwing it onto the ground. With my fingernails I pried out the fake bottom that I knew would be there.
It wasn't like I remembered putting it there. I had Nina's mind, not Max's. I only had Max's memories, so when I asked myself where I would hide something, I got Nina's response.
Below the board was a little book. It was titled The Wizard of Oz, but I wasn't fooled. Sure enough, when I opened it the pages were filled with slanted hand writing. I could tell that the pages to The Wizard of Oz had been taken out, and blank ones had been hot glued in.
I flipped through it. There were stories of adventures my mom and I shared, tales about my fishing expeditions with dad, games I played with Occi and Olli, and times Aunt Ella and I would curl up by the fire place and read. Angel and Jeb were never mentioned.
I thought about it and knew that I wouldn't put my deepest thoughts with stories about my pet fish. I also knew that I would have written them down somewhere.
I searched the room, checking above the curtains, under the bed, the books on the shelf, a hidden board that might come up beneath the light blue carpeting. I searched between the clothes in the dresser and behind the painting I must have made in school that were hanging on the wall.
Finally I just lied down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. And I saw the cranes. I pulled the chair out from the desk and stood up on it. Carefully, I took down bird made out of light green paper, cut the line binding it to the ceiling, and unfolded it.
Mom and I went on another trip. As usual, we were searching for Occi, and we finally found her. I had always thought that she got lost, that she had been trying to come back the whole time. But she was fine, and happy. She didn't want to come with us. Mom tried to tell her she had to, but of course it didn't work. I tried to convince her later. I told her I missed her. We had never gotten along that well but I still wished she was there. She didn't believe me. I told her that her parents missed her. I told her about Olli. How he would cry. I thought she might have been swayed. But instead she punched me. We got into a fight, and in the end she took out a pocket knife and my arm got in the way. Sometimes it still bleeds if I move it too much.
Occi is really gone. She doesn't want anything to do with us. Was it not enough to lose Aunt Angel? Then Grandpa? I miss them both so much. Katy says they went to Heaven. Whenever I ask mom about it she says she is not sure. Katy had told me that Total hadn't gone to Heaven because he is a dog. Does that mean I can't go, cuz I am part animal too?
I put down the paper. According to the other diary, Katy was a friend of mine from boarding school. Did she miss me? Had she forgotten me? There were so many things I didn't know about my own life. I curled up on the bed, and tried to remember yesterday, when I hadn't even heard of Nina.
Next chapter won't be from Nina's point of view. A virtual bunny goes to who ever can guess what will happen!
Pls review!
