A/N: Err….right. I need to address this—like, now. People have been asking me on and off "Can you read this and tell me what you think? I want to make it a book." Well, simple answer to this: I'll read it. I'll criticize it, and tell you my thoughts, gush the way I usually want people to gush when I let them read the Prologue and First Chapter of my Hopefully-Soon-to-Be-Published-Book-Immortality. Now, how are we going to go about this? Well, on my profile, there's this little link that says "E-Mail" right at the top. Click it. Go through all the instructions and send me whatever you want to send me of your also Soon-to-be-published-book. I really feel honored when you guys even ask me about this. Now I've been getting a lot. From my friends. And from my readers (whom I love and adore in a non-stalker like way :D). So, this chapter of Dark Blue is dedicated to all you guys who make me feel very important by letting me read your stories and trusting me not to leak it or talk about it with anyone else. ^-^
Okay, mushy stuff over. On to the next chapter!
Chapter 19
Dark Blue
Tally walked over to the fire, her steps as muted as her voice, and warmed her hands.
She hadn't slept.
She hadn't been able to sleep for more then four hours for a while now. She had a lot to think about too. The fact that Nudge had suddenly discovered that she was able to attract metal and things while they she and Tally went to get things from a convenience store... And a quick call to Dr. Martinez who had Jeb there to explain to them that they were likely to start self mutatating…
It was just a whole bunch of unnecessary complications added to their lives.
Her lips quirked when she saw Max looking at the sky and getting up to "affectionately" kick the rest of the Flock awake, tossing a bag of popcorn Tally's way.
She caught it, of course, and half considered reaching for a stick and impaling it to roast it over the fire, but then thought better of it and did it the usual way. How do you cook microwaveable popcorn? Easy, ask Max. She's the queen of knowing how to "cook" (or burn) things that make obnoxious machine gun like sounds.
And of course, Max attempted to wake up Iggy…which ended like it usually did. "Ugh…bite me."
Max sent Tally an evil grin before kicking Iggy again, "Nah, that's more of Tally's thing, Igs."
And at that point, Tally could feel her face getting extremely warm.
"And then she says that I'm gross…" Fang muttered, materializing at her side.
Max!!!! Is it really fair to pick on someone who can't spit a witty retort back!!! Talon turned away from everyone and opened a bag of popcorn, placing another one to cook.
"What's that sound?" Iggy asked suddenly.
Tally instantly looked up, cold dread slipping down her spine, What fresh hell is this?
She turned her eyes to the place where Iggy was pointing at, bracing herself. Sure, it could just be us finally loosing what little marbles we have, or acquiring some of the rocks that Fang to infamously has in his head. Maybe it's a bunny? Hippity hopping and making a loud fuss to make us freak the heck out? Then again, that would make sense if this was some normal little wimpy human living their normal lives, not the life of a genetic mutant on the run from only who knows what.
And then she heard it—loud thundering sounds. Not the usual buzzing of flyboys or the snarling of Erasers.
Shit!
She sprinted for her pack and got her wings out, the whole Flock looking at them both oddly.
"What's wrong, guys?" asked Max, looking at them both oddly, cautiously.
Tally turned to them, incredulous, and eyes frantic. How can you not hear that?! Thundering sounds! No thunder clouds in sight! Hello! Have you guys gone deaf?!
"What do you mean what's wrong? Something is coming this way, I don't recognize the sound, and Tally obviously doesn't either," Iggy said bitingly, shouldering his pack. "So we're doing the logical thing, and doing an Up and Away."
Why aren't they moving?! Have they got some urge to watch the grass grow?! Talon thought, miffed.
Max seemed to be having a battle with herself, so Talon gave her brother a pleading look. Lets get out of here before we become kibble bits, or canned bird kid spam, like, NOW!
"It—it sounds like a thunderstorm…" Angel said uneasily, regarding Talon and Iggy with her glazed eyes. She's listening to the sound through our heads?!"But there aren't any thunderclouds…"
Little blonde Angel, Max's baby, walked up to the fearless leader and pulled on her sleeve, yanking Max out of any conversation she was having with the Voice. "We should leave. It sounds like a lot of whatever those thing are, are coming."
Max nodded, picking up her pack, "Let's do a U and A guys, I'll explain what the Voice said once we're out of these things' range."
Iggy, of course, was completely on edge, even as he and Tally just jumped right from where they were standing, eight feet in the air and forced their wings to get them in the air quickly.
Tally's hands were twitching as she turned her head this way and that, scanning the air for anything that might get them noticed. They never left the cover of the tree tops though, that would be like putting a big bull's eye on them, right between their wings.
Iggy's sightless blue eyes flickered to and fro, turning his head as well to better grasp where the sound was coming from.
Talon waited a bit as the rest of the Flock got up to their altitude, and brushed her hand against the side of his face.
Nothing, she thought at him. He would know what she was thinking, with his odd ability. Something that was akin to how Max and Fang through little secret and knowing glances at each other…but bordering on something like Angel's eerie mind reading power.
"Which way?" Max asked Iggy, giving the sky a sweep much in the same way that the raven haired bird girl had done.
Iggy tilted his head one way, looking like a puppy hearing a new sound, before point the opposite way.
And they flew in silence, without Nudge's chatter, or Total's whining.
This is dangerous, Tally thought. Way more danger than we're used to. This is like putting a blindfold on all of us, and deafening the Flock…just what are we dealing with? Flyboy Version 2.0 with super ninja stealth skills?
Tally's hands twitched again, Need to calm myself down before I blow something—or someone up…
She slowed down, looking directly behind them as the thundering drifted away.
"Tally? Where are you?" Iggy asked, accidentally having flown away with the rest of the Flock when she slowed down.
She gave a low whistle, fogged over eyes flicking over everything. Something's not right here.
"What do you mean Tally?" Angel asked her out loud.
Tally placed one long finger against her lips in a shushing gesture, and then motioned them to wait. She hovered in place for a second before flying a few feet back the way they came.
And then she caught it. A hulking shadow moving under them, weaving through the trees.
Oh crap!
Quickly, Tally did a sort of barrel roll and flew right at the Flock, thinking very strongly, Let's get the hell out of here! Now!
Which just seemed to be the story of her life—"get the hell out of here," which usually was caused by some new experiment or prototype or man hunter sent after them…
They gained altitude, above the clouds, when Max began to talk.
"The Voice said that whatever they were sending at us was going to be harder to beat than anything the Flock as ever faced…" she said clearly, a twinge of fear in her eyes. Fear for the Flock: she never cared much about herself, and Talon knew that by now.
"Anything else?" Fang asked, seeing as the rest of the Flock was too shocked to say anything. (His sister didn't really have a choice on the matter of speaking, though)
"Something about a bunch of countries pinning for us…and the usual 'Connections Are Good, Maximum,' with some stuff about sticking close, and some coordinates."
Well, that's straight forward. It didn't give you any fancy mumbo jumbo? Just coordinates? Does it want us to pick up its dry cleaning or something?
"Talon, what did you see that freaked you out so much?" Max asked, using her I'm leader and I want some answers voice.
Fang's sister gave a grimace before reaching up to brush her hand against Max's ankle, sending her the less than pretty picture.
Shadows jumping around in the forest at mind boggling speeds, the blood red gleam of a robotic eye before the lumpy figure dashed away, its mouth stitched shut into a permanent smile.
Max looked at Talon oddly. "Was that a robot or something morphing?"
Tally shrugged her shoulders.
"And it had its mouth sort of stitched shut…"
Connections…what could the voice mean by that?
-
They settled down in another remote place, completely ignoring the Voice in a typical Max move.
Not that Tally actually minded being in a motel instead of the usual dirt and pebbles that consisted of her mattress, sometimes adopting Iggy as her personal pillow.
It was especially nice that by the time she had checked in (Jacking that witch, Anne Walker, for everything she's worth, Tally thought with a wicked grin, scaring Total) they gad put out the continental breakfast.
And with seven Avian Americans in the same room as a free breakfast buffet…well, it's safe to say that not one dish was left un-tasted by the ravenous Flock.
Max had actually chosen a bit more wisely and steered them away from everyone else in the room so that they could stuff their faces.
They just needed to relax some…
Well, not really relax, 'cause then we will end up killed if we're relaxed, dead like…er, a dead person? Maybe a tree or something. But aren't trees alive? Dang. Something that doesn't grow…which would be a dead…A ROCK!
Wait, shoot, Fang has a bunch of those in his head so they can't be dead…
Tally impaled a pancake that had been drowned in maple syrup, strawberry jam and butter and stuffed it in her mouth.
"Pass me my juice, will ya, Tally?" Iggy asked her, as close as 'Please' and 'Thank You' as he was going to get. Manners weren't high on the priority list when you were on the run.
Sure Ig… she thought.
And he gave a start. "Did you just talk, Talon?"
The whole table suddenly went silent, forks and knives clinking against porcelain. "What do you mean, Iggy?"
Tally regarded him calmly, he was doing it again. Picking little quips from her head.
"Tally just said, Sure Ig, right Tally? Tell them!" he said a brilliant smile getting on his features.
"Did you, Tally?" asked Fang.
She shook her head, tapping Iggy's hand no.
"But I heard your voice! It sounds sort of like Fang's and a bit low, but Idunno, more girlish!"
Tally blinked before calmly motioning Gazzy to hand Iggy his juice. Was he going nuts?
He sighed before grabbing the cup, then frowning. "Not my cup. Mine's is the green one."
And once more, the table fell into stony silence when they realized that no one had told Iggy what color his cup was.
Tally frowned, What is going on? Did we walk into the Twilight zone by accident? Or maybe who ever governs teenage mutant (ninja) bird kids is just screwy and far too hyper?
How do you know your cup is green, Iggy? She thought, taking a sip from her apple juice.
"I just do, Tally," he said, taking a sip from his cup. Which caused everyone to start looking between them like they were wackos.
"Which green cup, Ig? Light or dark?" Max asked casually.
"Dark," he said.
Everyone was silent, and then Iggy frowned. "Huh, did you guys tell me what color the cups were?"
"Nope," Max said quietly.
And I didn't send him a picture.
"Quit talking about me as if I'm not sitting right next to you, Tal," Iggy said.
Then he seemed to glare at the table, and then shook his head, "I'm still—I still can't see squat. No vision. Nothing." He reached out his hand until he touched his cup. "But this cup is green."
Gazzy pushed over another cup, "What's this one?"
Iggy felt for it, then closed his hand around it. "Yellow?"
"Yeah," Fang said. "How about this?" he handed Iggy a napkin.
"Blue?" Iggy asked. "It feels blue."
No one said anything as they digested that.
Self-mutations. That's what Jeb had told them all.
Nudge timidly reached her hand out and a fork went flying to her hand.
"Have you guys been playing in toxic waste again?" Fang asked severely.
Nudge giggled. "No."
"Bitten by a radioactive spider?" Fang went on. "Struck by lightning? Drink a super solider serum?"
"No, no, no," said Iggy, reaching for things around the table, and his hand landed on Total, who had been hiding in Tally's windbreaker and had come up to see the outside world. "You're black."
My clothes, or Total? Tally thought, a smile dancing on her features.
"Both," Iggy said.
"Iggy got two new powers," said Angel from Max's side. "Tally doesn't have a new one. Iggy's just really in tune with her, he can nearly hear her voice, or what he thinks it would sound like, and practically read her mind…"
Which means you are going to be listening in on my random spurs of rambling? Tally thought, distressed. Ah shucks, now I got more people digging through my head.
Iggy snorted, "You betcha. How do you think I feel? Imma be listening g to your girly thoughts all day long."
Tally smacked his arm, completely ignoring whatever the Flock was now discussing and settling for brushing her lips against Iggy's cheek.
Girly, pssh, was he loosing his marbles?
A/N: I didn't completely solve Tally and Iggy's problem with the non-communication thing. Which you will see later. So no yelling at me for waning it down. Anyone like this chapter? I've been rereading the most sarcastic things I could find to get back into this, and eating lotsa icecream to sound hyper like I usually sound when I write this.