Epilogue

Not That Bad


Gosh, that just kept happening, didn't it?

I got up immediately and looked around. We were in the same place we had been when I'd made the whole stupid wish in the first place. I saw the rest of the flock getting up too and -- wow -- saw their wings. I felt mine as well and grinned. Sure, I was confused as heck on what had just happened, but my wings were back! What's that saying -- 'you don't know what you got till it's gone?' That is so true, I cannot tell you.

"Max? What's going on?" asked Nudge, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "How did we get out of that? Jeb?"

On her words, I noticed him coming towards us and became wary.

"I don't know -- let me talk to Jeb, okay?" The rest of the flock nodded, and he and I walked a couple feet away. It was still dark, apparently still night... it could have been five minutes after I'd made the wish.

"I need to talk to you, and I'm not talking no for an answer," I said.

There was a pause, and then --

"Well, no. You wouldn't," he said, smiling. "I figured you'd have ten million questions, which I can answer this time."

"This time?" I asked, confused. "I thought you weren't the Voice for this little experiment."

"I was once."

Okay...

"Do you remember the time you found the laptop? That was me. I just needed to do the Voice once, to tell you it was a test. When you first woke up without wings, Jack told you that it wasn't, but I had to tell you it was."

"So that was it? Your only role in this?" Somehow I didn't buy that.

"Hardly," he said, chuckling. "Max, I got you out of it."

Ohhh. Well, that would explain it.

"How?" I asked.

"I just used the same technology used to bring you there," he replied.

"What did my... wish have to do with it?" I asked, masking my embarassment.

Jeb laughed. "Max, how many Disney movies did you watch at your mom's house?"

I stared daggers at him.

"Anyway, it was a test, the whole thing was a test. I didn't start the whole thing, but I turned it into one of your tests. Once you had passed, I got you out of there. I wouldn't let you die, like Jack and the Director wanted."

"So what was the test?" I asked, picking up a rock and throwing it as far away as I could. "How to deal when everyone around you has a one-digit IQ?"

Jeb smiled a bit. "There were many lessons involved," he said. "One was that you aren't meant to be normal. I think you knew that, but it's especially important now."

I wanted to ask why, but decided to shut up and listen. You know, for once.

"Another, which goes hand-in-hand with the first, is how much you need your friends. Max, you don't have to do this alone. Let others help."

Well. I had no response to that.

"The last was the one that you did realize, about the choices. Action vesus non-action. That ended the test."

I saw a flaw in that logic, though, and spoke up: "But even if I passed this test, they're still out to get me. I'm still not safe. None of us is. This is just one thing."

"Don't look at the big picture. Right now, it's the little things that matter," said Jeb.

That reminded me of something the Voice had said, but I couldn't remember exactly what. I was silent for a moment, remembering how Jack had doubted Jeb being the Voice. Yeah, right. He sounded exactly like it. Evil geneticist liars and whatnot. I decided to ignore it.

"So we're back to where we started? None of this happened?" I asked.

"Not exactly. You'll all remember it, though the girls at your 'school' won't, and neither will your mother or Ella or the kids Jack took to create the mutants. It happened but didn't happen, if you understand that."

You want to know the really sad part? I did understand that. Just goes to show: be careful what you wish for, people!

"Okay," I said. I wasn't looking at Jeb, who was my father, I remembered. That was too weird.

But everything that had happened in the last few days had been too weird. Why should this be any different? I wonder.

I was about to tell him goodbye and go back when I remembered something.

"Jeb?"

"Yes?"

"You weren't... well, Jack said... pretending to be you, that is... he said that you were in love with my mom," I said, nervous but not showing it. As you can tell.

There was silence for a little while, and I couldn't pick anything up from Jeb's expression.

Finally he said, "We were at school together. And apparently you still would exist even without being an experiment. I like her a lot, I really do. But that's all it is."

The miniscule but still present girly part of me didn't believe it. But I knew how annoying it was to be... well... annoyed about that, so I didn't say anything.

"Like father, like daughter"? Don't tell me that's what you're thinking.

"Okay," I said, awkwardly breaking an awkward silence. "I -- we should get back."

He looked at me on the word 'we,' and I saw the emotion in his eyes, looked down, and started walking.


When I got back to the flock -- the people I was now positive I could not live without -- I told them the whole story.

"Wow," Nudge breathed. "I always thought about being normal. I thought it would be great, bcause I'd have loving parents and friends and all, but that wasn't what I'd expected."

"Well, I doubt your real life would include a plan to save caged mutants and beat up actors and a mad scientist," I began, catching Fang's eye and grinning, "but yeah, you're right. It sounds crazy, but we're better where we are."

"How are you, Iggy?" Nudge asked. "With... not being able to see anymore?"

God, that kid just went straight to the point, didn't she?

"It's fine," said Iggy, surprising us all by smiling. "Let's face it -- we're freaks. The weirder the better. And since I'm just freakier than the rest of you, that makes me better, which makes the whole thing okay, really."

Only Iggy could come out with that, quote unquote, "logic." I grinned anyway, and stuck out my hand. We did our stack, and I felt so happy I felt like flying. Which, hmm, I could do...

"Wanna go fly around for a while?" I asked to general agreement.

"But we need a plan, right?" Iggy teased.

"Something to make us useful," Gazzy said in the same tone.

Fang and I looked at each other. I smiled.

"So what now?" Angel asked, bringing us back to seriousness.

"I want to have a funeral for Ari. I think he deserves that much," I said, slowly and avoiding Jeb's eyes. I'd almost forgotten he was there; he'd stayed out of our way, which I appreciated. It brought me so close to trusting him that it hurt.

"And then?" asked Fang.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully.

And maybe, just maybe, that wasn't the worst thing in the world.


Author's Note:

And that's a wrap! I'd love a review from everyone, even if you usually don't, just to give overall thoughts and opinions on the story. And if you're nice, you'll just... er... forget the fact that I forgot Total in this story. Ha ha. Don't get me wrong, I love that dog, but I just didn't have a use for him in this story. I'm disgusted with myself for forgetting him, because I hate when people do that!

You can insert book four here! I tried to make it as compliant with both three and four as is humanly possible (no pun intended there). This is why I sort of skated -- let's say, glided -- over the Jeb/Voice thing. That confused me, too... guess we'll have to wait to find out.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank everyone who's read and/or reviewed, because it means so much, I cannot tell you. I'm not quite done yet, though -- Author Alert will keep you in the know of new stories and ideas from me.

Sincerely,

The ever-subtle Melissa :D

(melissaeverlasting AT yahoo DOT com)