I SOON REALIZED that we had a conference to go to, so I filled everyone in, and hustled them to the right room. Even Total wanted to tag along. It was a conference room, all right. But it looked as if it was only used by the hotel staff for their meetings. I guess the scientists had to do some bribing. As we walked in there were tons of chairs set up. We decided to take up the entire first row, because, that's the way we roll.
I know, stupid and totally unoriginal, but not important.
There were only five scientists standing there. Two of them were women, and three were men. For a split second I was worried that Fang was going to go crazy over one of the girls just like in Antarctica. But just as I was thinking it Fang squeezed my hand as if to say, don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything stupid. He knew me way too well.
I could tell they were anxious to get started, and I wanted to make it known that we were, too.
"Okay, guys, you brought us here. Now go ahead and give your little presentation so we can all get back to our lives. Because I can guarantee you that we could all be doing more important things right now." They all glanced at each other for a moment, then one of the men stepped forward.
"Actually, Max, there's absolutely nothing more important for me to be doing right now. Nothing." The tone of his voice was so serious that I was actually regretting speaking up. "My name is James Kendall. To my coworkers I'm known as Kendall. I want to make it perfectly clear that you are not to call me James." This guy was a lunatic, but I sent a message to Angel telling her to tell the rest of the flock not to push this guy's buttons. No need to cause trouble. Yet.
"Since none of you know why your here, I'll let my mentor Professor Pots fill you in." Kendall started towards the doors while his mentor took his place.. The guy was about as old as Jeb, but already had a mustache that was graying.
"You'll have to excuse my student. He's a little upset that we delayed his skiing day. You six-" He stopped short, noticing an extra in the group. "Who are you, young lady?" Crystal looked slightly scared.
"Crystal. I'm... with them. And yes, I'm... like them, too" Nice answer. Must have been scared silly. Professor Pots turned on a PowerPoint presentation thing that looked more like it was going to be videos.
"You are all here because of the death of several people. Some being family of myself and my fellow scientists." I noticed the solemn look on a few of their faces. "In the past two weeks, we've had over ten avalanches on the north slope. Usually high winds, earth tremors, and other factors are the cause for avalanches. There hadn't been any wind here since the avalanches started, nor any tremors." He paused as we watched the video on the wall. It showed people getting buried by the huge mass of tumbling snow. It really was scary.
"We'd like you all to help us in determining the cause of these avalanches. I personally think its global warming, but the others have different theories. I've read that you've been to Antarctica to study global warming, so I assume your familiar with it?" We all nodded in agreement.
"Then, Maximum Ride, will you help us?" I turned towards my flock of six - well, Total makes seven - and every one of them nodded. Well, Crystal looked skeptical, but she'd get over that.
"As long as we all get some time to rest up, then yes." Relief flooded that man's face when I finished.
"Thank you, Max. And all of you." He smiled brightly. "You will have the rest of the day to yourselves. Although I must point out that I will not let the three youngest ones assist you when on the slope itself. Its just too dangerous for them.
"Look, Mr. Pots," I started, feeling my anger rise up, "they're gonna be fine. They have just as much experience as the rest of us." I paused, remembering Crystal. "But I will be nice, for once, and think about your proposal." I made the mistake of glancing at my flock. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel had looks that ranged from shock to heartbrokenness. Fang just looked confused. I turned away and looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost six, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.
"Now, if you don't mind, we've had a long day, and we'd like to grab something to eat. We can continue this thing tomorrow." I started towards the door, my flock following me. Mr. Pots said something, but I didn't hear what he said. We were soon standing back in the main lobby, where my mom and Ella were waiting for us.
"Here are your room keys." She told us. "Your room all connect to each other, so you can get from one room to another easily. We're just across the hall from you guys if you need anything." She hugged me one last time before we all headed towards the elevator. I knew we'd have to discuss keeping Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy off the slopes. There was no way I was getting out of it.