28

Inside the Headmaster's (whose name was Carmela Hart) office we were being examined by a stern-looking woman with kind eyes. She was a friend of my mom's mom. She had iron-grey hair flecked with black dots here and there.

"So, Valencia, nice to meet you again." They shook hands then laughed and hugged. "This is your daughter? Maximum? And this is her… family?" she said, inspecting all the ranges in skin-tones and hair/eye-colors. Kem was looking like a carbon copy of Lupe again, and no one could talk her out of it. Will of iron, that's what she had.

"Yeah," I said, internally cringing about the fact that we'd gained two extra packages. But, if we hadn't gained those two, then we'd be one short. So I was pretty dang happy about them two.

"The Miracle bird Children," Ms. Hart practically sang.

Yup, that's us. …I guess.

"Uh, yeah. We kinda have two more, though," I said, somewhat sheepishly. We were going here, for free, and we'd brought two more people along for the ride.

"It's alright. They can board with you in your rooms. Let's see… yes, he can board with the boys and her, the girls. Good, we have an even number still. Total can, uh, talk, so he'll stay with the girls in their room." Great. "Um, I'll need your name's, you two." She rifled around in her desk, and pointed to Lupe and Kem after she'd pulled out a red book, bursting with papers.

"My name's Kimberly and this is my brother. Lucas," Kem said sweetly, smiling and gesturing to her and Lupe in turn. Wow, easy to remember, much?

"How nice. So I'll just give you guys your room assignments and you'll be on your way…." She handed us all papers and we all grabbed a bunch of bags and headed to our destinations while Mom talked it up with Ms. Hart.

"I noticed Lupe didn't talk," I said casually to Kem as we walked down the hallway and out the building.

She glanced down at her map, glanced around only to see a swarm of people in normal clothes (it was the weekend, so normal clothes are allowed today) walked around us, sighed, then tapped her teeth.

Oh, yeah. The whole fangs thing.

"Oh, yeah. I think my mom might be able to take care of that. File them down. But will they stay like that?" I said. We were walking to out rooms and Nudge and Angel were gazing around in wonder at all the buildings. Campus was obscenely huge.

"Thanks. Yeah, unless he yanks them out, which he won't, they'll stay like that for about four months until they fall out and are replaced," she said. "Hey, is that room 145 or 148? I can't tell; the print's too inked-up," she asked, pointing to her paper.

"Uh, I think it says 145, but I'm not entirely sure." I wasn't.

We made it there and Kem helped all of us shove the stuff through the door and into drawers, shelves, and into more drawers.

We all collapsed onto the beds that were given to us. Nudge was on the top-bunk of Kem's bed and Angel was on the top bunk of mine.

"Well, guys, we're here again," I stated, quite obviously.

Kem gave me a look that said, Again?

"Yeah, I guess so. But I hope this time'll be better. Last time didn't end too well, what with the whole Erasers at school thing-a-majig," Nudge said, sighing.

"Okay, I'm lost," Kem said, seeming to force herself to sit up. Her sleepless night was apparently starting to wear on her.

"Long story, short. We'd tried school and we blew the school up. Twice," I said, still flopped-out on the sheets.

She chuckled a little at that and asked, "Lemme guess, the Gasman and Iggy did it?" She was right on the money with that one. I sat up.

"How'd you know?" Angel asked. Nudge was peeping over the frame on her bed at the top of Kem's brown-haired head.

She gave a sly look at Angel and switched her eyes to me for a split second. "I had an epiphany."

Talk about an Iggy/Gazzy complex; she'd had a heart-attack and was cracking jokes.

"The kind of epiphany that cause heart-failure, I'm sure," I muttered, rolling my eyes. Her mouth quirked to one side in an expression I'd seen on Fang so many times.

She suddenly smiled at me, and I was wondering what she was going to do. Sigh; I brought this on myself.

29

So the guys came over after an hour and Iggy spared us all my cooking (or finding out if Kem had a knack for it) and made us all scrambled eggs for dinner. The fridges in both rooms are stocked full of milk, eggs, butter, and bottled water; the cabinet above the fridge has about three different types of cereal in it. Bowls and junk like that are in the shelf above the cereal. There were also various types of canned foods in the other various shelves around the room, but we hadn't fully explored that frontier yet. We had an electric hotplate in both rooms, and a small sink and dishwasher. I took this as a sign that we must eat like civilized people in front of all the impressionable other students here.

"Oh, my, God," Kem was saying around a bunch of egg, "I haven't tasted eggs in, like, years."

"Ditto," Lupe said from behind the end of Kem's bed.

"Really?" Gazzy asked. He was a wearing a shirt that said "Yes, I Am a Pyro. Need a Light?" with a lit match in the corner.

"Yeah, I forgot it was so good," Kem said happily, putting her dirty plate in the small sink and rinsing it off. She put it in the dishwasher and proceeded to do the same with everyone's dirty plates.

By the time she was done, everyone, except for Lupe, was looking at her oddly.

"What?" she asked, tossing one of the icepacks from the small corner freezer of the fridge to Lupe. He caught it with a mumbled "thanks" and pressed it to his right temple, wincing.

I'll ask about that in a second. "Uh, cleaning much?"

"I'm fine with dirt and twigs and messy outside, just not inside. Call it a cleaning impulse, I don't think about it I just do," she said, slapping Lupe's hand lightly and moving the icepack farther up his head.

"Hm, well lord knows the guys could use that," I muttered, shooting a withering glance at Fang. His mouth quirked to the side just like Kem's expression earlier.

"It was worse in New York. I was ready to rip something apart, all the garbage in the streets. We stayed there, though, because all the electronics helped weaken and scramble the signals given off by the tracking bracelets. The library there was a huge bonus; I like to read. I taught myself how to add and subtract in one day there, then I taught Lupe one night when we couldn't sleep. Okay, why does it feel like your head is splitting open?" she snapped at Lupe.

"You can feel that?" Lupe asked through clenched fangs, one eye open and looking at Kem. His hands were gripping his head with one covering the icepack pressing it tighter to his head. He's getting' a brain explosion, too?!

"Pain falls under the emotion category, and it's killing me. Tell me what's doing it. Oh, yeah. Where's Total?" Kem said.

"With Akila somewhere," Iggy muttered.

"Wait! Do you hear a strange Voice inside your head?" I asked Lupe.

He opened his eye again and stared at me with it. "Are you OK? No, some little dipshit's going crazy with a Dog Whistle." He winced again, muttering a curse.

"I'll make your head hurt even more if you don't stop it with the cursing," Kem threatened. Lupe groaned and moved the icepack to the other temple, his jaw tightening.

"A… Dog Whistle?" I couldn't help giggling. Need some Advil, Fido?

"Har, har. It freaking hurts," he snapped back.

"Your range of hearing is going make your ears bleed. We have some Advil in the bathroom. Hold on," Kem said, walking into the bathroom. She came out with a white bottle. She popped it open and poured out six and gave them to him.

He took them wordlessly and dry. He gulped them and stumbled to the bathroom a second later. We could all hear retching noises coming from in there.

Kem shoot me a look that said, Sorry, so sorry.

We heard the toilet flushing and then Lupe sauntered out, looking like death.

"Can't keep nothin' down," he muttered, slurring slightly. Kem handed him six more pills. He took them dry again. He resumed his place at the end of Kem's bed, clutching an icepack to his head.

We were all talking more quietly then. After about an hour more, Lupe handed Kem back the icepack and said he needed to lie down. He headed out the door and Kem followed. So did everyone else 'cause they wanted to see the guy's room.

They all walked out with me and Fang bringing up the rear. But before I could walk out the door, Fang closed the door, closing us both in this room.

I was in a room, the door closed, the rest of the flock walking to a different building.

With Fang.

May the lord have mercy on my soul.

Yo guys, it's me!!!! I wasn't planning to have this moment at the very end, but I swear to God, my fingers (phalanges) have a mind of their own!!! So, I leave with this bit of info, Max will NOT RUN AWAY!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!! Enjoy =)

30

"Max, I need to talk to you," Fang said the moment everyone's footsteps had faded down the hall. Well, crap.

"Fang, I'd really like witnesses," I said coolly, but my guts were in knots.

He chuckled darkly once. "I'm not going to tear you to shreds." He moved closer, sitting down on the end of my bed. "I just need to talk to you."

I was at the other end of the room, wound tighter than piano keys. "About what?" I asked like it didn't really matter much.

"Us," Fang said, getting up to stand in front of me. I was frozen in place, just staring at his midnight eyes.

He gently cupped my chin on one of his rock-hard hands and brought his lips to mine.

It felt like my brain had just stopped working.