Chapter Fourteen– Could be us.
"I want to do something fun for Mouse today." I told Fang as the two of us sat around in the branches of a tree, the kids still fast asleep opposite us. "Tomorrow's D-day, so I want to do something special for him."
"We could go to a restaurant or something, let him order whatever he wants." Fang said.
I nodded. "I still think he deserves a little something more; I just don't know what."
"Why don't we wake the kids up, and we'll go for a wander, see if we find anything." Fang asked, and I found myself nodding.
"Alright then; you start taking camp down, and I'll get the kids up and ready."
Fang nodded, and I pulled myself to my feet before heading over to Angel, and gently shaking her awake, her blue eyes; after her it was little Mouse, who seemed a little more than reluctant to wake up, and then The Gasman. The three of them pulled themselves to their feet, complaining that they were hungry.
"Breakfast on the go." I announced, pointing across the square to a stall selling roasted peanuts. The kids cheered, obviously happy at the prospect of food, and I grinned a little to myself; in a way, it was sad that it took so little to make them happy, but it also made my job a little easier than if I was looking after three spoilt brats that wanted everything and gave nothing.
Though, if they'd been like that, I might of just killed them myself.
It took only a few moments to pack our stuff out and extract ourselves from the close-set branches of the large tree and reach the floor; I just had to settle for being grateful that there was no-one was around to witness our rather magnificent efficiency at leaping from branch to branch without so much as wobbling.
Must be a bird thing.
"What are we going to do today?" Mouse asked gently, holding my hand as we headed towards the vendor.
"It's completely up to you, little man." I smiled at him. "Today's your day."
"Really?" Mouse grinned, his eyes filling with excitement as I nodded.
"Really. Now, let's get some breakfast."
"This place is so big." Mouse commented as I held him on my hip. He'd been complaining about aches in his legs since we'd finished breakfast, so I'd resolved the issue by carrying him. The Gasman held my other hand, Angel holding Fang's.
"You're not joking." I commented as the street that we were walking along ended, splitting into four different directions. "I don't know how people get around. Which way?"
Mouse nodded left, so that was the way that we went. Mouse was clearly enjoying himself just seeing the sights, but something didn't feel right to me; I was glancing around nervously when I first saw them.
Two model-type men, walkie-talkies strapped to their belts, their eyes trained on us.
"Erasers." I hissed to Fang before breaking into a run, dragging The Gasman along with me as he struggled to keep up. Fang appeared next to me, Angel crying in his arms; he risked a glance behind us.
"Four of them." He reported.
"Eight." Angel corrected, peering over Fang's shoulder.
I glanced wildly around, we needed to either lose them, or find somewhere to take off; they were gaining on us much too quickly for my liking.
"There!" The Gasman said, pulling me into the midst of a large group of kids that were being herded into Central Park Zoo. Realising that his plan might work, I set Mouse a little lower down on my hip and ushered The Gasman into the middle of the crowd, Fang and Angel close at my back. I just had to pray that we got let in.
"Pass, pass, pass…" The guard at the entrance said, waving at us without looking at us, and then. "Excuse me, you can't go in there."
Fang and I froze, thinking that he was talking to us, and I was relieved to see when I turned that he was talking to an eraser that had been trying to sneak up on us.
"School day only. You need a pass."
The eraser snapped something at him, but retreated to stand with the others - nine of them, now, watching us go with fire in his eyes. I couldn't resist flipping him the bird as we slipped inside safely.
"What now?" Fang asked as we glanced around.
"Can we have a look around?" Mouse asked, tugging on my hair. "I've never been to a zoo before."
The look in his eyes had me nodding, despite the fact that I knew enough about zoos that I knew I was going to hate it. He wriggled in my arms, and I settled him down as he bounced over to look at a polar bear. The enclosure was large, containing a big bear and a little one, so I had to give the zookeepers their props there; unfortunately, in my life, cages had become a symbol of everything bad and I found myself shuddering.
Fang pulled me into his side a little as the two of us followed the three kids, rubbing my shoulder gently.
"Want to split?" He asked, noting the way that I was shivering.
"I promised Mouse that he could do whatever he wanted." I reasoned, trying to keep the memories at bay as Mouse led us to yet another cage; this one roofed due to the tropical birds inside. The image of wings batting at bars was almost enough to send me over the edge, and I had to fight back a wave of nausea. "It's just… this could be us. We could be on display, like these poor animals…"
"Guys," Fang called.
"Fang, don't!" I hissed, shaking my head furiously despite the fact that it was feeling strangely light.
"You look like you're about to pass out!" He hissed back, and then. "I have it all under control, trust me."
The kids wandered over, stopping for a few moments to watch a male lion as it yawned, exposing its sharp teeth.
"It's almost dinnertime." Fang told them gently, which I was surprised to find was nothing short of the truth. "So we're going to head out and find a restaurant. Mouse's pick, alright?"
The kids nodded fiercely, excited despite the fact that it meant leaving the zoo behind, and I felt myself almost sighing with relief. The five of us headed out, my shaking lessening a little as we left the zoo in our wake and erasers didn't pounce on us the second that we stepped out of the confines of the monstrosity of a tourist attraction.
Fang gripped my hand tightly as the two of us pushed through the crowd, Mouse once again on my hip, and The Gasman holding onto my jacket tightly. Fang had been forced to scoop Angel up again, and the young girl was dozing lightly on his shoulder; her face was serene, reminding me that although it was sometimes easy to forget with her level of maturity, she was only six years old.
"How about this one?" Mouse asked, nodding to a large, expensive looking restaurant.
"Are you sure?" I asked, hoping that he'd see something else; instead, he nodded and I sighed, knowing that we were going to stick out in our ratty clothes, but knowing that I couldn't turn him down.
Fang exchanged a pained glance from me, and woke Angel up as he led the way, and the five of us slipped into a vacant table. I could feel the stares from the other patrons on my back, and quickly wiped the dirt off the kids faces with the sleeve of my jacket, trying unsuccessfully to make them look a little less out of place.
Mouse was glancing around earnestly, and tugged on my sleeve happily when the waiter headed over.
"Are you waiting for your parents?" He asked, his condescending tone making my hands clench under the table. Fang's hand unclenched my right one under the table, and he slipped his own into it, lacing our fingers together.
"No." He said calmly. "They're on a business trip, but they gave us the money to eat here as a birthday present for Matthew." He nodded at Mouse, who looked a little bewildered at his sudden change of name, but thankfully remained silent.
"Alright then. Are you ready to order?"
I nodded, and the five of us reeled off our extortionately large order. The waiter (who's name tag read Jason)'s eyes were so high up his head by the time that we were finished that I began to wonder if they were going to just disappear beneath his hair, or perhaps fall off all together.
"This is a lot of food." He said, re-reading the list to himself. "Are you sure that you're going to eat it all? That you're not just being a little greedy? That you can pay for it?"
"We haven't eaten all day." I said between clenched teeth. "And yes, we can pay for it."
The waiter nodded, but he was shaking his head as he headed into the kitchen. I glanced at Fang, flexing my fingers in his – silently asking him what was going on even as he released them.
"I thought you were going to deck the poor guy." He said, grinning a little.
"Hardly," I laughed. "I just hate being treated like I'm five."
I glanced around, taking in possible escape routes as we waited for our food, and the kids and Fang began to snack on the bread rolls in the middle of the table. Another waiter headed over with our drinks, but even he was frowning at us as he delivered ten glasses to our table of five.
I was just taking a long drink of my cola when the first waiter returned with a second man next to him, wearing a name tag that read: "John Carey: Manager."
Great.
"Can I help you?" I asked, forced sweetness in my voice.
"Yes, actually. I wanted to talk to you about the extortionate order that you and your… family placed."
"Is there a problem with it? Did the kitchen run out of something?"
"Not quite. It's just that we'd rather not be wasteful with food, and you've ordered an extraordinary amount of food for five kids."
"We're hungry." I sighed, Fang taking both of my hands in one of his own under the table. "Look, we have the money. It seems to me that we should just order our food, eat it, pay for it and leave. Wouldn't that be best for everyone?"
"It's alright, Max." Little Mouse frowned, leaning forward. "We can go to a different restaurant."
"The child's right, Max. I think you'd be more comfortable in a different restaurant."
"Jason thinks that you're full of hot air and that you're really a sissy." Angel said interrupted sweetly, frowning as the manager turned more and more red in the face. "Max, what's a bimbo?"
Fang choked on his drink, that he'd been trying to casually slip and tried desperately not to laugh at poor Jason's predicament. Obviously, Mr John Carey wasn't going to believe that we had a six-year-old telepath, so he was pretty much up the creek without a paddle.
"We're fine here," Fang said, clearly enjoying the way that the manger's face darkened. "We'll even forget that this discussion ever took place if you just bring us our food."
I realised that this wasn't about the food anymore for Fang, just about winding the manager up. I couldn't really blame him; I allowed a small grin to split over my face, and then police officers burst through the two doors, and the kitchen.
I swore loudly, attracting even more attention to our table, before pulling Mouse out of his seat and into my arms. Angel and The Gasman were on their feet in a heartbeat, eyes wide and panic-stricken. I was in a state of disbelief; we'd just wanted a nice, peaceful meal, and instead we'd been stuck without someone calling the police on us.
We had such bad luck.
"They've got all the doors covered." Fang muttered, and I found myself a little surprised when he slid his jacket off and took Mouse from me so I could take mine off, too, scooping my backpack up from the floor and sliding it in, along with Fang's as I passed him his black backpack. The police officer at the front, who I was slightly happy to see was female (there wasn't nearly enough high-position women in the world) was saying something, but I wasn't really paying attention.
"Only other options the skylight." Fang continued as the kids hurriedly pulled their own jackets off and passed them to me to shove into my backpack. The Gasman and Angel both leant in opposite directions, grabbing two un-touched bread baskets.
"Come forwards slowly." The police officer yelled, and I found myself grinning.
"Up and away guys." I said calmly. For a second, no-one moved, and then Fang was launching straight up from the floor, whipping his wings out and flying straight out; the kids were right behind him, as I brought up the rear, quickly overtaking them to crash through the skylight.
In less than a minute, we were home free.
"Well," I said pleasantly. "Wasn't that fun, kids?"
"I don't want to walk back to the park, Max. My legs hurt." Mouse said, tugging my hand as the five of us headed through the emptier than ever streets.
"Alright," I sighed, rubbing my head where a headache was beginning to form. "Why don't we catch the subway there, that'll be faster, and it's not far from here. Alright?"
Fang nodded, and I switched directions easily, spotting the entrance to the subway.
It was empty when we reached the ground floor, so we simply hopped over the barriers and walked down the stairs to the first platform that we came across. There was still no-one in sight other than a man at the far end of the platform, who kind of looked like he was sleeping.
"Is it closed, Max?" Angel asked earnestly, coming up on my other side, tugging on my jeans a little.
"I don't know." I muttered, turning to Fang. "The subway closes?"
He simply shrugged, and I sighed, rubbing my temples. An arm wrapped itself around my middle and Fang pulled me into his side, rubbing my back as I found myself tucking my head under his chin despite myself. Angel, The Gasman and Mouse gathered around our legs and I found myself blinking back tears of frustration; I'd let Mouse down.
I'd just wanted to make his last day great, and instead I'd had us chased by erasers and then ambushed by the police.
"Way to go, Max." I thought to myself bitterly.
"Max, did you hear that?" Mouse asked, the cap shifting on his head as his ears moved. "There's voices, from inside the tunnel. What are they doing there?"
"I don't know." I frowned, pulling myself together, and away from Fang, glancing at him. "You think it's worth checking out?"
"Can't do any harm," Fang shrugged, and I nodded, relieved to have a plan again. There was something reassuring about it.
I surged forward eagerly, dropping carefully onto the tracks below me and regarding the "Beware of the third rail" sign with discomfort as Fang lowered the kids down, dropping them into my arms one-by-one. They seemed to be finding the whole thing amusing, like some kind of game, and the three of them were giggling when Fang dropped down.
I grinned at him, before leading the way into the tunnels.
"Fang?" I heard The Gasman ask. "What do they mean by 'Beware of the third rail'?"
"They mean that there's seven hundred volts running through it." Fang tried to explain from the back of the group.
"What does that mean?"
Fang sighed, and I found myself stifling a giggle. "Touch it, and you're human popcorn." He replied eventually.
"Oh."
No-one said anything after that, the kids' attention too absorbed by actively avoiding the third rail; finally, the tunnel opened out and the sight before me almost took my breath away. Along one side was what appeared to be an abandoned platform, raised from the floor; along the far wall were high, concrete shelves, people sitting and lying on them. Others were spread across the platform itself, some crouching over fires in metal trash cans, some talking quietly.
"Wow," I muttered. "It's a city beneath a city."
All eyes were suddenly on a woman by the edge of the platform, closer to us than any of the others, and she made a strange hand movement that I assumed meant that we were safe, since everyone went back to what they'd been doing without another word.
"What do you say that we just stay here?" I asked Fang, and he shrugged. It wasn't as cosy as the park that we'd spent the night in before, but at least with our messy hair and bedraggled clothing we finally fit in somewhere. "Alright." I sighed, heading forwards.
Fang overtook me at the last moment, hauling himself up onto the platform without so much as a grunt, shaking my head good naturedly at him, I passed the kids up one-by-one, and they headed off to grab a section of the long shelf that wasn't being used. Fang held his hands out for me, and I frowned for a moment, unsure whether he'd be able to pull me up, before taking them.
My weight didn't seem to bother him, and he pulled me up without a sound; just before the sounds of a train sounded its approach, and it roared past. Apparently I'd been right in thinking that the Subway didn't close.
The two of us headed over to where the kids were, and I got the three of them settled on the concrete, using jackets as pillows and blankets. Finally, they dozed off, leaving just Fang and I.
I should have been dreading going to sleep, or, rather, what tomorrow would bring, but my head was thudding painfully and my eyes kept drifting shut.
"Sleep, Max." Fang said gently. "I've got first watch."
I nodded carefully, curling up, using my hands as a pillow. Fang sighed, shifting me so that my head was in his lap – which was a lot more comfortable than my hands - and I muttered a thanks as I began to doze off, the feeling of Fang's hands running through my hair lulling me to sleep.
A/N: Wow, over 100 reviews and only twelve chapters reviewed! I'm so blown away, honestly :) So, a double update for my awesome reviewers, and because starting college is making me sloooow. Sorry about that!
Alright, so, this review, tell me about... your most embarassing typo/speaking mistake!
Mine: Having an MSN conversation with my two best friends, Rozzee and Sam and it goes like this:
Me: So, Rozz, what you doing?
Rozz: Nothing, you?
And here, it was supposed to read,
Me: Same.
But atually read...
Me: Sam.
Can you say embarassing?