Chapter 10

This might be surprising to you, but flying when you've just had a finger shot off and are still bleeding with no end in sight isn't that easy. The first time I tried to take off, I hit the ground again after being airborne for only a few feet.

Fang gave me a look that said, "You sure you can do this?" He and the rest of the flock were already in the air, hovering above me. Or in Iggy's case, way off to the right of me.

I gritted my teeth and tried again, and this time I made it. I was not going to weigh the flock down anymore.

"Okay…Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, Iggy? Any of you remember which direction we came from?" I asked. I knew that Iggy would without a doubt remember, what with our natural feeling for direction and the fact that feelings, whether mental or physical, were completely what he lived by, but he remained silent.

"I think we flew north-northwest to get here," Nudge said. "What island do you think this is? We could tell it was an island from the air. I don't think there are many buildings. I guess that means there isn't any shopping. We're still going to that island Fang found, right?"

Sometimes - no, all the time - I have no idea where that girl gets all her energy from. I mean, yeah she eats a lot, but Fang eats more and you sure don't see him bouncing off the walls and then practically shattering said walls with the sheer amount of talking he's doing. Actually, if Fang ever did that I would know that the world was about to end. Sort of like if the Wicked Witch of the West knitted herself a pink sweater with hearts all over it and went skipping down the road from house to house with an entourage of fuzzy woodland creatures, giving out gifts and singing "If You're Happy And You Know It." I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty darn scared if I witnessed that.

"Max, why do you keep kissing people?" Angel asked, flying up beside me. "Isn't it icky?"

I almost cracked up. It's times like these when I remember she's only six years old.

"Hey, six isn't that little!" she protested. "Stop laughing at me. I can tell you're laughing inside."

Once again, sometimes I hate that power of hers. "It isn't icky, sweetie. When you're a little older I bet you'll think so too."

"Maybe…" she pondered. "I guess if you don't think kissing is gross then that guy from school might be okay, but Fang and Iggy are like…your brothers! What if I kissed Gazzy?"

"Um…Angel, that's kind of different. You and Gazzy are related by blood. That would be gross. Anyway, where did you guys get that gun?" I quickly changed the subject, feeling uncomfortable. And besides, I really did want to know where they'd gotten it.

Angel grinned, well…angelically. "I asked a hunter if we could have it and he said yes."

"You mean you used your mind to make him give it to you."

She shrugged. "Yep."

Okay, was this the time to give her the ethics lecture? Whatever. She saved my life. And Fang's. I'll give her a break for now. "I wonder what he was hunting," I said out loud, mainly just trying to distract myself from the fact that I was feeling woozy.

Gazzy zoomed up next to me on the other side. "I wanted to blow the guy up to make sure he wouldn't remember us, but Angel said we shouldn't." Yep, that's the Gasman for you. And Iggy when he's himself.

"Gaz, you can't just go arou - " Woah. I put my hand to my head as a wave of darkness rolled over me, then passed. I had broken out in a cold sweat and felt weak all over.

"Are you okay, Max?" Gazzy asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm probably just tired," I lied. I glanced at Fang, who was slightly ahead of us having his ears talked off by Nudge. He seemed to be coping fine, his face as impassive as ever. No, Max, you are not going to worry him right now. If anything actually happens, it'll be the time. But you're gonna be fine.

Great, now I was even lying to myself. Bad habit much? Okay, if you answered no to that question you should be on a funny farm. Then again, this is coming from the girl who hears a Voice in her head. So I should probably be right there with you.

Just then another wave of darkness came, and this time it lasted longer than before. There is no way I'm going to pass out. I don't have time for that right now. Like that really mattered. Damn it! Stupid Ari with his stupid gun!

"Max, you're lucky Ari hit your finger," Angel said quietly, reading my mind.

I wanted to scream at her but I didn't, 'cause she's Angel. How the heck could she possibly think I was lucky?

"He would've killed you but Fang shot him and the bullet wasn't aimed right anymore," she explained.

"Oh." Wow. Okay. Fang saved my life? Again?

Angel veered off, and then it was just me and Gazzy. Well, I mean, the rest of the flock was there too, but Gazzy was the only one in my immediate vicinity.

"So how'd you guys know that we were captured and all that, anyway?" I asked. My vision was fading slightly, greyness creeping in from the edges, and I still felt sick. But I was not going to create a problem for the flock.

"Iggy had another one of those vision things," the Gasman began, "and he saw you all tied up so we - "

I listened to him ramble on about how they had figured out where we were as my vision got darker and darker, the cold sweat covered me even more, breathing became slightly hard, and I kept feeling weaker. His voice faded out and I k new then that I was about to black out.

"Get Fang," I mumbled. I wasn't even sure if I was coherent.

Gazzy stopped talking. "What?"

"Get…Fang." And with that my wings folded and I started to fall.

-

"FANG! FANG!" Gazzy's panicked voice cut in on whatever Nudge was telling Fang. Truth be told, he'd started tuning her out a while back. Fang whipped around as fast as he could in the midmorning air to see the Gasman hovering several yards back, pointing down urgently at an object that was swiftly losing altitude. Max! He shot down in a steep dive, calculating the exact angle he would need to fly at to intercept her body. I knew it was a bad idea for her to fly! I should have made her let me carry her! He opened his dark wings fully again with a whoosh, preparing for the extra weight that he was about to acquire. He snatched Max out of the air, falling slightly before he quickly regained the lost altitude.

She was completely unconscious, limp and covered in sticky sweat. Her hair was sticking to her beautiful face and blood was dripping from the soaked bandage around her hand.

"Flock! Land now!" he yelled up at them. He let himself drop more slowly now, ready to scan the horizon for any sign of land. But he didn't need to, because directly below him was the coast of a good-sized island. He could see boats out in the water in some places, but there was a stretch of beach that looked clear. Please be okay, Max, please.

Fang touched down hard on the sand, stumbling a little because he hadn't slowed down enough. The rest of the flock dropped down around him. He carefully laid Max on the sand, then set to work peeling away the useless bandage. If he'd been the squeamish type, he probably would've thrown up. But luckily, he wasn't. The stub of Max's ring finger was still bleeding freely, bone and muscle clearly visible. There was no way this was going to take care of itself.

"She needs stitches," he noted.

Max's eyes opened slightly. "Not…hospi'l…"

"We can't go to the hospital," said Nudge. "We don't even know where one is."

"They'd ask questions," Iggy said quietly - the first words Fang had heard him speak since before Fang had come upon him kissing Max. If Iggy had said anything else since then, he hadn't been there to hear it.

They were right about the hospital. But… "Never said anything about a hospital, just stitches. There's a bunch of boats anchored north of here. I need you guys to find a sewing kit or something." He heard Nudge gasp but didn't look up. This was the only way. "Go!" He heard the rustle of wings as they took off.

Max was limp again, her eyes closed. He gently pushed the strands of hair off her face and used a spare t-shirt from his backpack to wipe off the sweat.

"You have to be okay." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

-

"There's a bunch of boats anchored north of here," Fang said. "I need you guys to find a sewing kit or something."

Iggy heard Nudge gasp beside him as she realized what Fang meant to do. Because of course Fang got to do it because Fang was the hero. Fang was the important one.

The rest of the flock was motionless around them until Fang said, "Go!" Iggy heard Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel take off but stayed put himself, settling down onto the sand. He didn't feel like going on a treasure hunt while Fang stayed here with Max. He, Iggy, should be the one doing that.

Except he wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough for Max, who had chosen Fang over him, and who he'd heard ask Gazzy to get Fang when she'd been about to faint. He wasn't good enough for Gazzy, who had immediately called for Fang to rescue Max. He wasn't good enough for his own parents, who had wanted to take advantage of him to get money. He hadn't even been good enough for the whitecoats, who had made him blind while trying to improve him. He was just Iggy, the stupid sightless mutant freak who was always overshadowed by Fang. Fang the fighter, Fang the keen-eyed, Fang the island finder, Fang the oh-so-romantic.

Iggy realized with disgust that Fang was now crooning, "You have to be okay," to Max. And then he picked up the soft sound of Fang's lips kissing Max somewhere on the face and wanted to throw up. That should be him, not Fang.

"Get a room," he said.

He heard Fang move in a startled way. Fang probably hadn't even realized he was still here.

"What are you doing here, Ig?" Yep.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Iggy asked bitterly.

"I told you to go find a sewing kit," Fang said impassively.

"Three people plus Total is more than enough for that," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm staying here with Max. Besides, I'm probably not good enough to find a sewing kit, " he added on sulkily.

"What are you talking about?" Fang demanded. "You know you could be helping."

"Oh no, I'm blind remember? I'm not as good as Fang The Almighty."

When Fang answered, there was a definite edge to his voice. "What is your problem? This is Max's life we're talking about. If you have issues with me, save it 'til later. You're not helping her by doing this."

"Sorry, Your Highness."

With some satisfaction, he heard Fang's fingers dig angrily into the ground. There was a little part of him that was telling him to quit being such an idiot, but he ignored it. What did it matter if he was being stupid if he wasn't good enough for anyone anyway?

-

Stressed out as he was about Max's condition, Fang was about one more sarcastic statement away from punching Iggy in the face. Sure, he knew how Ig must be feeling right now, but Max could die.

Luckily he was saved by the sound of wings beating as Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel landed on the beach. Nudge let Total spring out of her arms, and he trotted over to Fang and spit out a slobbery sewing kit. Fang made a face. Blood and gore was one thing, but dog slobber? Yuck.

He opened the little kit as fast as he could, pulling out a needle and a spool of blue thread. He snapped off a long piece of thread and tied a small knot at the end. Sewing 101, here I come. He'd never sewn anything in his life and here he was about to stitch up human flesh. He squinted to get the thread through the tiny hole in the needle and took a deep breath.

"Nudge, take Angel and Gazzy over there," he said, pointing to the left. No one needed to see this who didn't have to. He didn't bother saying anything to Iggy because he would probably just get another sarcastic comment.

When the younger kids were far enough away, he stuck the needle into Max's finger, thankful that she wasn't awake to feel this. This is gonna hurt…

Author's note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! School and writer's block and all that…please review if you want more! Seriously, I am way more motivated to write when I know that people are actually enjoying my story. Or if you find something wrong about it or something you don't like, I'd appreciate knowing about that as well.