Chapter 9:
Angel POV
I opened my eyes. It was dark, and my vision was blurred. I couldn't see a thing.
"Angel?" my brother said, touching my shoulder. "Are you okay?" I tried to answer, but I couldn't speak.
I'm fine. I think. I projected into his thoughts. Didn't want him to worry too much. I couldn't see or speak, everywhere hurt, and I had a terrible headache. Are you okay?
"I'm fine. Everyone else is asleep. I was hoping you could tell me how we got here." Here? I searched his mind. We were in a cave.
I wasn't part of the escape. I kept blinking, trying to get my sight back.
"Well you look a lot better. Before I went out, you were swelling up and…" I searched his mind again, finding the pictures he obviously didn't want me to see. I had looked like death. And now I just looked like one of those zombies from that old movie.
Angel, they're coming. My voice said.
But they already came.
You can't let them take you. Wake everyone up.
Gazzy, we have to get everyone up. I told my brother. He just nodded. I tried standing up, attempting to hide the flinch of the pain.
"Five more minutes." I heard Nudge yawn.
"What is it?" Fang said. I pointed to the mouth of the cave. I blinked some more. I could make out the darkness swelling there. And then it was everywhere.
Zoey POV
I searched for Max for about an hour before I decided that she'd just gone out for a flight. So not a good time! I needed to warn her, or hide her or something. I didn't know what exactly was going on but I knew one thing. Max being in that cage has something to do with the war in that poem. Okay, Aphrodite said no shit to that, but it's a start. And it also means that we need to keep her out of a cage!
"Everyone to the auditorium!" Neferet's voice erupted from the intercom. She sounded upset. "Emergency assembly!"
Max POV
I woke up in darkness. I didn't really know what to make of it. I knew I wasn't at the School. No antiseptic. I stood up, trying to search for an exit. As I walked forward, I ran smack dab into the bars of a cage. The cage I was in. I could hear voices outside. Neferet was talking. Oh god, what was going on?
I turned to the sound of a very familiar nasally laugh. The director.
"I thought I got rid of you." I sneered. The darkness seemed to split. She laughed, shaking her head.
"I told you I'd get you Maximum." Then the curtains opened, and there was light everywhere. There were a few gasps from the audience of students. I felt a shock, coursing through me, and down my wings, causing them to pop up from their secure hiding place against my spine. Cue more gasps.
"The evil from Kalona has not left us!" Neferet said. What? "There are more like him, like her! Created by humans, given a tattoo to evade our security! All those murders they tried to pin on us, it was just them the entire time!" she paused, looking at me with a smirk only I could see. She turned back to the students. "Well if they want war, I say we give it too them!" speeches are part what you say, and part delivery. And that delivery caused cheers to erupt throughout the room.
I could just imagine the triumphant smile she had plastered on her too-perfect face. She wanted to start a war, and she was using me and Itex to do so. I was told I was created to save the world, and now I have a feeling that that was about as likely as…as Jack suddenly claiming to like girls.
The top of the cage wasn't attached properly.
A U and A should do it? But wait, they'll just shock me. You trying to kill me?
The second I thought that towards my voice I realized how accurate it really could be…
It's the cage shocking you. There may be a small jolt. Without hesitation, I jumped up, crashing through the top of the cage. A 'small jolt'? It was more like the first shock I received! But I managed to get out of the cage and fly up. Now, too get out of this room…do I need to break a window? I circled at the top. Many people were screaming and throwing things at me.
I looked down, spotting Zoey and the others. Zoey was smiling, the others just looking up in awe. Glad to see they didn't believe a word that came out of that conniving bitch's mouth. I saluted them, before flying straight at one of the oversized windows. I crashed through, and I heard the screams and sounds of people scattering as the glass fell.
I took a breath of relief in the cool night air. Then I promptly collapsed in a tree on the other side of the wall.
Zoey POV
I ran after Max. Of course, I used the door. Her escaping was good. The fact that everyone now knew that she had wings and thought that she was evil was bad. Very bad. But she couldn't have gotten too far. I mean, I'm sure she's aware that if she does she'll die…who am I kidding? I'll be lucky if she's still in the state!
"Zoey!" I looked up and saw Max climbing onto the wall. Well I guess it's my lucky day. I turned at the tap on my shoulder.
"Could you please explain to us—" Erin started.
"Why you never tell us anything important?" Shaunee finished. Max jumped down from the wall.
"Well this time I asked her not to. She wasn't even supposed to know." Max said.
"I'm just going to go out on a limb an guess that Neferet was lying." Aphrodite said. "So could you please explain to us how you have wings?"
Max POV
Well that was an easy one. "I'm a genetically enhanced avian hybrid." I said. Almost adding a sarcastic 'duh' at the end. "Grew up in a cage at a place called the School. Scientists experimented on us and we escaped."
"We?" Aphrodite said.
"My flock. They showed up at the last family visit day." Oh my god. And they were probably still at the school right now being torture by those monsters! "I have to go." I said.
"Wait, Max. You can't leave! If you aren't around the adult vamps—"
"Well then find an adult vamp we can trust, go somewhere that's not here, and I'll find you." And with that, I jumped up, spreading my wings. I flapped a couple times to get over the wall, and then I went into warp.
Angel POV
I lashed out on the blackness, succeeding in hitting nothing. I tried to find a conscious mind on them. It was robotic. I was useless. I lashed out into the darkness again. It was so cold, but I had to try!
I heard a bomb go off. "Yes! They're robot! Fries their circuitry!" Gazzy said. More bombs went off.
I backed off, trying to separate myself from the cold that seemed to surround me. Nudge squealed as another shadow exploded. I blinked, trying to see everything clearly. I could see Fang, actually fighting them off. Things were exploding everywhere. Nudge was…she put her hand through and it exploded.
The shadows were coming towards me. "Hold on Angel!" Gazzy yelled. More shadows exploded. One of them was coming towards me fast. I threw my hands in front of my face. It flew across the room, going through the wall. Was that me? It came back. I smiled, and tried again. I threw my hands up. This time, it flew into a wall and exploded.
My sight was clearing up, and more were coming. I put my hands up, and tried something else. They all smashed together. A cold sliver wrapped around my throat. I choked, trying to grasp it. My hands went right through. Fang came up from behind it and pulled it off me. How did he touch them? There was another explosion.
"Well, that's the last of them." Iggy said.
"Oh my gosh I'm so excited! New powers! I overloaded their electronic chip thingies by touching them! But it was weird since we go right through them when we touch them so there's like no force required. Except for Fang who can touch them for some reason. Are they as cold on the outside as they are on the inside? 'Cause they are really cold on the inside for sure. It was colder than ice, but what's colder than—" Iggy put his hand over her mouth.
"My ears! They bleed!" he said. Nudge pouted and crossed her arm.
"I think we should go find Max." Fang said. I nodded.
"She's probably freaking out right now. I'm sure her voice told her we were gone."
"Then wouldn't she be on her way to the school to break us out or something?" Gazzy said.
"Max can be dull sometimes, but I'm sure she's not that stupid." Iggy said.
He he he… Max is that stupid. =P