* Not sure why, but suddenly Fanfiction won't accept my .doc I had to copy and paste. I guess there's no difference, but it's annoying. Thanks to the very few of you actually reading. I think Maximum Ride has worn out her welcome, especially since Katniss came on to the scene. I haven't read the new book. Anyone else?

oooOOOOOooo

Entry # 24

We've been with the new flock for a couple of weeks. Max is the leader of the them, but it seems to me that the little one, Angel has more actual power, though. She may be the key instead.

So far, everyone seems to have accepted us. Making a few close ties shouldn't be difficult. I have sent word to Dr. Gunther-Hagen that I have made contact.


"What?" Iggy whispered.

Dani froze. She didn't say anything. Maybe he was just talking in his sleep. She watched him from the other side of the coffee table.

"Why are you staring at me?" he whispered.

"What?" she whispered back. "How do you know that? How do you do that?"

Just then they heard a small click of a door handle and pretended to be sleeping. Iggy could barely hear Fang's footsteps as he moved past the living room to Max's room. Then they both heard the almost inaudible click of her room's door handle.

Dani lifted her head to see if anyone else was awake. She turned toward Iggy.

"I think that must have been Fang," she whispered.

"Yeah, it was," he answered.

"How do you know? You couldn't see him."

"I could hear him. And I could tell which doors were opened"

"But how? I want to know."

Boy, she was persistent.

"It's like using The Force," he giggled.

"What's The Force?" she asked.

"You know, from Star Wars?" he questioned. When she didn't respond, he continued, "It's a movie. Star Wars. You've never seen it?"

"No," she replied. "We didn't watch too much t.v. Or go to the movies. What's The Force?"

"It's like-" he stopped talking when he heard Nudge roll over and mumble something in her sleep. He waited until he thought she was still sleeping before going on. He was struggling to describe it to someone who had absolutely no reference point. "Wait, I'll show you."

He very slowly got up and motioned her to follow. She worried that he would step on someone but he navigated through the sleeping bodies unerringly. She, however stepped on several blankets and a finger, she thought. When they got to his door, he pulled up on the handle and turned it. It opened silently.

"Hmm. I guess you sneak in and out of here a lot," Dani laughed.

Iggy turned Gazzy's lava lamp on for Dani. There were posters all over the room of people fighting with blue, green, purple or red sticks of light.

"Gazzy's Star Wars posters," he said. "Somewhere he has a book. It's got pictures and captions and it tells about the legends in Star Wars." He couldn't remember where Gazzy kept it. "Anyway, most of the people in the posters are good guys-Jedi- and they use The Force to guide them. One time, Luke had to fight a droid blind folded. He had to use The Force to figure out where the droid would strike." What a freakin' geek I am, he thought.

"Whatever you say," Dani said.

He decided to try a different strategy. "Haven't you ever just felt like someone was watching you? You could just feel it somehow? Or that someone was near you even though you couldn't see them?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But you do it all the time."

"Close your eyes a minute," he suggested.

He put his hand up in front of her face, then slowly moved it closer. In a couple of seconds, she swatted it away.

"What are you doing?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"How did you know my hand was there?" he asked her.

"I don't know. I guess I just kind of felt it. And I could sort of make out a shadow through my eyelids."

"That's kind of what I do. I've just been doing it so long I'm really good at it. And I've learned to see things by touching them, too. Like in the kitchen, the salt feels different from the pepper. Stuff like that."

"That's so cool," Dani said.

"Anybody could do it. You don't need to 'cause you can see."

Dani laughed, "I couldn't. I rely too much on seeing things. Especially when I'm painting."

"Sure you could. Well, maybe you wouldn't be able to tell what color things are, like me." He paused. "Close your eyes again."

He got a book off the shelf and placed it in her hand. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Well, that's easy. It's a book," she said proudly.

"What kind of book?"

"How am I supposed to tell that?" she asked.

"Feel it. Leaf through it. Smell it. Taste it if you have to."

"Eeew. I am not tasting it." She started to feel the edge of the pages. "The pages are wavy."

"Think about why they might feel that way," he prodded.

She got serious and concentrated. "Maybe they got wet at some point."

"Good. Now open the book and feel the pages."

She leafed through and let her fingers run across the pages. She touched something bumpy. She wrinkled her nose.

"What is that?"

"You tell me," he offered no hints.

"It feels powdery, but hard and crunchy too. Something is dried on." She held the book up to her face and smelled it tentatively. She smiled, "I think I know what kind of book this is. It smells like vanilla. Is it a cook book?"

She opened her eyes to see that she was right.

"See, I told you you could do it. Now all you have to do is walk around with your eyes closed and practice," he laughed.

Dani's smile faded. "I'm sorry they did that to you," she said softly.

"It's okay. It makes me unique," he said, trying not to drag the conversation down. "I can still do most things I want anyway. Gazzy describes stuff for me, too. I used to be able to see so I can make pictures in my head."

"Is it weird not knowing what you look like? Or what your friends look like?" she asked. Iggy liked that she didn't try to pretend he didn't have a disability. She was a little forward, but most of these new kids were.

"Oh, I know what they look like-sort of. I remember some and I can use my hands to feel the shapes of things, anything, faces too, and make a kind of a picture in my mind. I guess the flock looks different from the last time I did that," he said.

"Do you want to know what I look like?" she asked

"Uh. Okay," he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.

He started at the top of her and moved his fingers around her hairline, the sides of her face and down her jaw line. He began describing what he was doing.

"I like to first figure out the shape of a person's face, then the features. It's easier to put it in perspective that way." He paused, "Close your eyes. I don't want to accidentally poke them."

He moved his fingers over her eyelids and across her eyebrows, down the length of her nose and over to her impossibly high cheekbones. When he touched her lips, he slowed down and traced them with one finger.

"Your lips are different than everyone else's, a different texture. They're a lot like Nudge's, but fuller."

"That's because I'm black silly."

"What do you mean? You're like Nutella, remember."

"I mean I'm African American. Mostly anyway. A different race than everyone else. Except Nudge. She's, like, half black," she explained.

"What's her other half? I thought she was like cinnamon toast."

She wasn't sure if he was making a joke or he really didn't know what she meant. "You know people come in different races and colors, right? The rest of you guys are all mostly white."

"Yeah, I guess so. But it doesn't really matter to me. We're all bird-kids. We're our own race," he smiled. "Whatever you are, you're beautiful." He had the feeling that he was pink right then.

She giggled, "Thanks."

Silence.

"Do you want to know what I look like?" Iggy asked.

"Um, I already do," Dani answered.

"No. I mean my way," he said.

She hesitated, then said, "Okay. What do I do?"

"Just close your eyes and do what I did."

She moved her hands around the frame of his face, then started back up at the top. Her fingers stopped on a small scar on his forehead.

"Is that a scar?" she asked.

"Uh huh," he answered.

"Where'd you get it?"

"I don't remember. I've had the snot beat out of me so many times I could never count. We heal up pretty well, but if we get a really deep wound, it leaves a little scar."

She frowned, "You guys have had it rough, huh."

"We survived," he shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. She couldn't imagine getting beaten up. And John cried when he got hit once.

She continued to move her hands down his face. Finding another small scar between his eye and eyebrow, she didn't say anything about it. When she touched his lip, she found another one.

She couldn't help herself, "Do you know how you got this one?"

He tensed a little at the memory. "Yeah, that one I remember," he said quietly. "It was after Jeb abandoned us. They kept sending new enemies for us to fight. The flying erasers caught us off guard. Especially Max's brother."

Dani took her hands off his face and opened her eyes. "Max has a brother," she asked. "Where is he? Why isn't he here?"

"He's dead. He tried to kill us more times than I can remember. He helped Max in the end, but it split us up for a while. It was the worst. Me, Fang and the Gasman left. We couldn't forgive and forget the way Max did. Ari had a built in expiration date and just keeled over one day."

"Oh, that's awful," Dani said.

"I guess I feel bad for him now. At the time I didn't. But it wasn't his fault. Jeb did it to him. Or let it happen."

Dani wasn't sure what to say. She was sorry she asked about his scars now.

"I didn't mean to make you think about such awful things," she finally said.

"It's okay. You didn't know."

She gently touched the scars again. "I didn't even notice them before. I guess looking isn't everything. Thank you for showing me a new way to see."

"Keep practicing," he said.

Her gazed lingered on the scar on his lip. "You must be really brave," she said. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I can't say for sure if I'll answer it," he laughed.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" she asked without embarrassment. He didn't know how she could be so bold.

"No," he swallowed. "I haven't met too many girls, as you can imagine." He was embarrassed that at sixteen or so, he had no real experience with girls other than the girls in the flock. And he considered them sisters.

"Me neither," she giggled. "I only know Fang, Jump and John. John is way too young and Jump is, well, he can be a jerk sometimes. And Fang is seriously taken." She quickly added, "Not that I like him or anything. He acts like he's our dad or something."

There was a long awkward silence before Dani finally spoke again. And when she did, she actually stammered for the first time.

"Can I . . . Would you mind . . .umm." She finally decided on, "Would it be okay if I kiss you?"

"Oh," she caught him completely by surprise. "Okaaay," he said slowly.

Dani leaned in close enough for Iggy to feel her warm breath on his face. She closed her eyes and then put her lips together. Iggy leaned the rest of the way to meet her and gently pressed his mouth on hers. It was about as innocent as you could get as far as kisses go. But Iggy thought it was fifteen seconds of heaven.

She glanced at the clock. It read two-thirteen.

"It's really getting late," she said.

"I guess we better go to bed or we won't be able to keep up in training," Iggy said. "You want to be on top?"

"Excuse me?"

"Bunk. You mind the top bunk?" he laughed. "I sleep on the bottom."

"Oh," she felt her ears getting warm, embarrassed by what she thought he meant at first. She climbed up the ladder and lay down. He waited for her to settle before turning off the lava lamp.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Iggy touched the scar on his lip.


Just before dawn, Iggy was awakened by the sound of the window being opened. Fang was not-so-stealthily climbing in. He came to a dead stop when he saw Iggy in his bed, propped up on one elbow.

"And where have you been all night?" he asked Fang.

Fang ignored the question and started to climb up to the top bunk.

"You can't sleep up there," said Iggy.

"Hi," Dani lifted her head and said with a smile.

Fang looked at Iggy, then at Dani, then back to Iggy and scowled.

"We'll be talking about this later. Throw me a pillow."

He took the pillow Iggy threw him and lay down on the floor. "Go back to sleep. We've got training in a couple hours."

oooOOOOOooo

Entry # 25

Learning more and more about Max and the others. They all seem to have a lot more special abilities than us. Especially Angel. Even though he hasn't been training nearly as long, Dylan is the best fighter. Plus he can do things none of us can. I like them. They don't seem evil. I still can't tell who's side Jeb is on. He's always helping out and doing things for all of us. But Max and the others told us about the way he attacked them, supposedly to prepare them for saving the world. And they told us what he did to Max's brother. Max said her mother, Dr. Martinez, trusts him. I'm not sure how he'll play into all of this. I'll need to be prepared whether he's with us or against us.


By seven a.m. The sun was streaming in through the window. Fang stretched and rubbed his neck.

"Iggy. Wake up," he said as he reached up and shook the bed.

Iggy yawned and hit the bunk above him. "You up Dani?" he asked. There was no answer.

"Dani?"

"She's not up here," Fang said as he looked up on the bunk. "Hey, what the heck was going on in here last night?"

"Seriously? You sneak out all night and you're questioning me?" Iggy said indignantly. "We were talking. About . . . Star Wars and other stuff." He ran his hands through his hair trying to get rid of the bed head.

"Fine. I'll use my imagination."

"Really. Nothing was going on. We really were talking about Star Wars part of the time. She wanted to know how I get around without being able to see. And I was joking about The Force and-didn't you even let them watch t.v?"

"You are such a dork," Fang laughed. "You get a girl in your room all night and that's all you do?"

"Well, not all of us have girls hanging all over us," Iggy snapped. "And not all girls sleep with every guy that knocks on her door." He immediately regretted saying that. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Fang's fists were clenched. He realized that was probably what everyone was thinking about Max. Nobody knew just how hard it was for her to open up-how many times he showed her how he felt before she finally gave in.

"Not that it's any of your business, but that's all she and Dylan did-sleep. And we-well, there was only one time. She's not like that!" He was practically yelling.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Iggy tried to calm him down. "I really didn't mean that. You know I love Max. I wouldn't think anything bad about her. I was just mad because you were making fun of me." Then he paused. "So, you and Max? For real? Wow."

"Wow is right," Fang said with a goofy smile on his face.

Iggy put his hands up. "Please, I don't want to know."

"Yeah," Fang cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have teased you. Were you really just talking? All night?"

"She did kiss me," Iggy said sheepishly. "Just a little one."

Fang shoved Iggy's shoulder. "All right, Ig."

"For some reason, she seems to like hanging out with me. Go figure. She's cool. She has lots of hobbies, but no, like, super powers. Beyond our usual ones anyway."

"Sure she does," Fang said.

"Huh?"

"She seems to have the ability to see people for who they are, not what they are," Fang said thoughtfully.