"Smart girl."

So that's exactly what we did—Johnny led us back to the ally where we found him, and I created a dark green minivan. We eventually came to the conclusion that I could create, not duplicate, like we had thought at first. Fang ended up driving after much . . . debating. His argument was that we didn't want another situation like last time. I couldn't argue with that. So we all hopped in, and started off toward New York City.

Key word: Started. We stopped a million times for food, bathroom breaks, breakdowns, directions, etc. Directions? You ask? Well, I'll tell you. Roads do not go in a straight line. Our internal guidance systems direct us in straight lines. Thus, utter confusion. We ended up in Mansfield, Ohio—surrounded by people waiting to get a glimpse of some wax figures posed in religious scenes. Apparently, we had followed the wrong signs. Considering none of us could read properly (except Johnny who had no concept of geography) we pretty much just had to rely on instincts. Which, like I said, brought us to Mansfield, OH. I decided to try to contact the Voice.

Hello? Voice, you there? We're kind of lost here. Any suggestions? . . . I guess not. Now I feel stupid. Well, then. Be that way. The Voice still hadn't answered, and I was getting desperate without a plan. I waited for one of my famous snap-decisions to come to me, but none did. Okay, time for problem solving. I turned to the Flock.

"Okay, so the Voice has no suggestions, and we're officially lost since we're not in the sky. Johnny's too heavy to carry, so unless we leave him, we have to keep going by car. And . . . that's about it. Ideas?" Everyone looked surprised that I would ask for opinions, but hey. They might as well learn to figure things out for themselves, with a bonus of giving me a break. Sweet. Fang looked content to let everyone else figure it out, but the rest of the flock (including Johnny) had their faces screwed up in concentration. Eventually Iggy spoke up.

"What if we don't go to New York? I mean, we could just use one of our questions to get the voice's name. Why do we actually need to meet him in person?" Hmm. I answered this one.

"Well, I want to go to New York and meet the Voice. And by the way, who said it was a guy anyway? I guess we could have a vote to see if we should go. I didn't really ask you all in the first place, so I'm sorry. Vote?" Everyone nodded. I noted that now we had an odd number of people, so there wouldn't be the ties there used to be.

"Okay—me first. I want to go to New York City and meet the voice. You next." I pointed to Fang.

"Uh, me too. I guess. New York." I was glad I had someone on my side. Well, it could have been that death glare I sent him . . . Angel interrupted my thoughts.

"Well, I want to go to Dr. M's. That was the plan before, and I thought that's what we all wanted to do. And I haven't changed my mind. So there. Like, why do we even need to see the Voice anyway? I like Iggy's idea of just using one of the questions." Iggy voted next.

"Yeah. I think I'd rather go to Dr. M's too. Sorry Max." I just shook my head and looked to Gazzy, who seemed to be chatting internally with Angel. Uh-oh. He suddenly cackled maniacally, and immediately agreed with Them.

"Oh yeah. Count me in for going to Dr. M's!" I can only imagine what Angel said to him. Now I need Nudge on my side. I looked to her, and she shrugged.

"I think I want to go to New York. I mean, there are a million places to shop, and we all need stuff. Remember last time when we got makeovers? That was so much fun! Maybe we could do that again. Plus, seeing the Voice would be cool. And we could always just go to Dr M's after anyway. So, yeah." Yay! She agreed with me! Now it was Johnny's turn. He looked uncomfortable in the hot-seat. Oh well.

"Before I, uh, vote, I should probably know who Dr. M is." Oh, right. To all of our surprise, Fang spoke up.

"She's Max's mom. And she always let's us stay with her and stuff. So that's where we go when we have a break from Erasers and stuff. Plus side of being there is food, clothes, showers, and all that jazz. If we go to New York, we'll most likely be eating out of dumpsters, and sleeping outside." Johnny looked surprised.

"Hmm. Well, dumpster diving doesn't sound good, but we could go to Dr. M's later, like Nudge said, and I think that we should go to New York because it sounds important." Interesting vote. Well, I'm not complaining. Now we get to go see the Voice!

"Alrighty folks! Looks like we're going to New York. Now the problem is transportation. I don't think we can drive. That useless GPS thing is driving me crazy! Ideas?" Nudge was (of course) the first one to speak up.

"Well, I don't want to drive either, and I know you said flying wasn't an option, but what if we found a way to share his weight? I mean, we are inhumanly strong, and we have carried Total before. How much difference can there be?" Her face. Along with Angel's, suddenly fell as they remembered how Total chose to stay with Akila. A picture of Johnny in a hammock carried by two of the flock drifted into my brain. Hmm. A slight variation might actually work.

"Okay, we can try that. We just have to fly higher to avoid suspicion. I have a funny feeling that birds carrying large objects isn't exactly common." Everyone nodded.

"Alright! Let's do this!"