Chapter 20

We flew a bit further south, attempting to put some distance between us and the weirdness of a few moments ago. Down below us the population of beach houses and cottages diminished as the coast of New Jersey narrowed. I remembered seeing advertisements on the boardwalk for Cape May and I believed us to be flying over it. We dove down for a closer look.

Ten minutes later we were behind what looked to be a remote, uninhabited beach house. Oh so carefully, Iggy picked the lock on the balcony of the 2nd floor – within two minutes we were in. Immediately Angel and Nudge began exploring their new surroundings while Gazzy helped Iggy gain his bearings. Total flew over to the kitchen area and began to muzzle through the cabinets. I heard him mumble something about a nightcap. That left Fang and I in the living room – alone. Ugh. I still did not know what to make of us and I did not want a repeat of earlier.

"I'm going to go see what Nudge and Angel are up to," I blurted out quickly and raced up the stairs. I found Angel in a third story bedroom jumping on the bed.

"Max!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper as I peered in. "This place has five bedrooms! We could almost all have our own room! Could I have this one? Please?!"

I looked around at the "princess at the seashore" décor. Great. There were mounds of animals tucked away in the corner just like Angel used to have at our old house in Colorado. Dolls and seashells lined the shelves. A pink canopy topped off the seashell shaped bed. I could see why Angel desired to make this her home for the night. And while I did not want to spoil her evening, I quickly explained how we should probably all bunk in the same room what with the reemergence of the flyboys.

"It would just be easier to keep watch," I informed her.

"Well, why don't we all sleep in here then?!" Angel suggested.

Hmmm. Fang and Iggy sleeping in a seashell bed surrounded by cute fluffy animals and walls that looked like a bottle of Pepto Bismol exploded. Both Angel and I burst out laughing at the same time.

Suppressing laughter, I asked, "How about we all sleep downstairs?"

"Alright, I guess," Angel replied. I could tell she was not totally thrilled but she was being a trooper about it. I ran my fingers through her long blond curly locks.

"How about you choose one of these nice big ones to sleep with?" I suggested pointing to the pile of stuffed animals. "But just for tonight… we'll need to return it tomorrow."

That seemed to placate her and we continued on through the house searching for the rest of the flock. We eventually discovered them in the living room. Iggy was kicked back on a rattan sofa listening to his IPod, Total curled up in his lap. Nudge was helping Fang sift through the pantry in the kitchen, restocking our backpacks with all the food they could find. Gazzy had raided the cookie jar and was stuffing his face full of Oreos.

"Max!" Nudge exclaimed as she eyed me walking in. "Look at all this food they have! There's tons of ravioli and cereal and I know you guys aren't crazy about vegetables but there are so many! We are in hog heaven!" She continued, "So… what's the plan for tomorrow? Are we going to keep flying south? Maybe we could go back to Florida?" By the time she finished she had reached Angel and me. I produced a brush and started brushing through her dark mangled hair as she took a seat in front of me.

"Florida would be nice but-," I started.

"We should go to Disney World again! I bet they're not closed in February!" exclaimed Gazzy though a mouthful of cookies.

"Yeah! Florida!" Angel agreed excitedly.

Fang and I locked eyes momentarily. I drew in a deep breath and said hesitantly, "Maybe… we'll talk more about it in the morning." I glanced around at the flock. "Let's get some sleep – we may need to log some serious flying time tomorrow."

We all completed our hand-stacking night time ritual and began to settle in. Iggy and Gazzy sprawled out on the couch. Angel and Total curled up together in a white oversized papason. Nudge drew into a recliner. They were all out within minutes. It had been a very long, exhausting day for all of us. I turned around to head to the kitchen area and right there in my face was Fang. He really needed to quit sneaking up on people like that.

He stared into my eyes with that "we should talk" look. No thanks. I was so not up for a round of exchanging mushy feelings – not until I sorted them out in my own head. Nope. Not tonight.

"I'm beat," I said quickly, not looking at him. "Do you mind taking first watch?" I didn't even let him answer as I started punching out a pillow and curled up on the floor beneath Nudge. Was I tired? No. Was I going to sleep a wink? Probably not. Anything to avoid a conversation – or worse – with Fang.

I narrowed my eyes to slits and watched Fang. He didn't move for a long time – just watched me, watched the flock. Eventually, he slid over to his back pack and pulled out his laptop. My raptor hearing picked up his soft typing on the keys, undoubtedly updating his blog. The low drone of the computer had a hypnotic effect on me and after about ten minutes, I had drifted off to sleep.