An Uneasy Alliance:

Island Park, Idaho

Max

We were so screwed! Sure we could play the 'oops we're lost kids who thought this was our cabin' card, but if he recognized me or Maya there was no explanation for that. And Gaz was still holding an x-box controller!

Vance Howard scanned the room. He wasn't threatened by us, just confused by the mass of children in his cabin. But then his eyes locked on me. "You!" he pointed and fear came into his face.

Fang casually took a step so he was in front of me. Vance's eyes darted from me to Maya. "Two of you?" he squeaked.

Vance Howard really did look confused. So far he hadn't acted like any white coat I had ever experienced either. There wasn't any arrogance in him. He wasn't ordering us around or treating us like non-humans or talking down to us. He was afraid of us.

I stepped forward, so I was next to Fang. "Why aren't you in Texas?" I challenged him.

Vance Howard's eyebrows rose when he asked, "Who are all these kids? How did you find me?"

He had an edge of hysteria in his voice, but he hadn't threatened to call the cops or, worse, threatened us with Erasers or anything. And we were breaking and entering here. I crossed my arms and gave him my best menacing stare, "You work for the bad guys."

"Huh?"

"You work for a company that does experiments on kids."

"No, I don't."

"You worked for them in Texas!"

"I was contracted for a few weeks' work in Texas. I live here. You were the only kid I saw and they told me you had psychotic episodes."

Oh. That explained the visible fear in his face. I made a quick decision, not to trust him, but to come sort of clean. "That company experimented on me, on us all. I'm not psychotic."

I slowly unfurled my wings. Vance Howard looked like he was ready to wet himself. "This is what that company did to me. Now you answer our questions."

Vance didn't consider that for even a moment. "How about you all leave?"

"I don't think so," I replied, "I think you know something I want to know."

Vance Howard crossed his arms, not taking his eyes off my partially extended wings. His face was part terror, part pure fascination.

"Can you fly?" he asked abruptly.

"Uh, yeah. Duh."

Fang was glaring at me, wanting to have been out the door five minutes ago. I shrugged at him and asked Vance, "How about an exchange of information? I tell you some things about us that will blow your mind and you tell us about the company you worked for and why this address came up in their files."

Now Fang was practically apoplectic. We don't share our secrets, they tend to get us hurt or nearly killed. Someday they might actually kill us. Vance considered and dipped his head once in agreement. He was curious. Vance stepped fully into the crowded living room. He surveyed all eight of us and said, "I guess, uh, make your selves at home?"

This one had a sense of humor. Fang pulled at my arm. "Uh, Sis? Can we talk please?" He said through clenched teeth.

"Sure, bro."

I followed Fang out the door. Fang turned almost immediately and whisper-shouted "Have you lost your freakin' birdie mind? He's a white-coat! Erasers will be here in minutes. We have to get out of here now."

"Yeah Fang I'm aware of that. This is not our first rodeo here. But this guy doesn't act like a white coat. And we need the information."

"Not from him!"

"Then where from genius? We're basically at a dead end here."

"You are insane!"

"Too bad I'm in charge then."

Our voices had been steadily rising. Iggy popped his head out of the door. I could already hear the explosions from the TV screen. Gazzy had made himself right at home as directed. Iggy grinned evilly, "Uh, Mommy? Daddy? The children don't like it when you fight."

Iggy giggled like the fiend he is. I glared at him. Fang glared at him. Then we both realized this was a totally useless action on our parts. "Well, Son, unless you want to be maimed by my laser death glare, you better get back in that house. Or you're grounded!" I snarled.

Iggy kept giggling as he went back inside. I turned back to Fang ready to chew him out, but the anger of the moment was gone.

I tried again, going for reasonable this time. "Look, I know the risks here. Give it tonight. We don't drop our guard, maybe we find something."

Fang agreed by tersely nodding and adding, "But we be really, really careful."

"Yeah."

We went back inside together. The flock had wasted no time in making themselves comfy. Iggy was exploring the kitchen. Dylan and Gazzy were glued to the x-box reign of destruction they had going on. Holden and Maya sat uncomfortably on the couch, watching the others play the game. Vance was sitting in a kitchen chair, staring wide eyed at the chaos around him.

Fang and I joined Vance at the table. "How about chili for dinner?" Iggy called out.

I licked my lips in anticipation, "Sounds good."

"Who are all of you? Runaways?" Vance asked me bluntly.

He'd had some time to think, to try to rationalize away the houseful of children he now had. I shook my head. "Not runaways. We were kidnapped or sold as babies. The company you worked for does genetic mutation experiments. That's my wings. I'm 2% Avian."

"Are all of you…"

"Most of us. That's Dylan and, uh, Zephyr playing x-box. Then Tiffany-Krystal, Maya, Jeff's in the kitchen. That's Holden and this is Nick. I'm Max."

"There's a lot of you."

"We escaped. There's more that don't."

Vance whistled through his teeth. "That is really hard to believe. But then again, here you are with wings."

It was time for me to get some answers. "What did you do in Texas?"

"Just x-rays for a couple of weeks. I was a temp for the usual guy. It was mostly adult males. You were the only kid, like I said. Now that I think about it, the one weird thing was that I didn't see the x-rays. I just ran the machine. Now I guess I know why. Then the place was damaged – did you do that?"

"Well, Dylan over there did."

Vance whistled again. "Anyway, that ended my contract and I came back up here. How did you find my cabin?"

"The address was in a file. You were part of a project."

I didn't want to say that it was the Apotheosis project, not yet anyway. Vance looked confused anyway, "if I was, I didn't know it."

Vance looked around and decided he liked us, though in the back of his mind I think he still thought of us as regular runaway children. "You can stay the night at least."

Gazzy crowed. I glanced at Fang. He gave me an almost imperceptible nod. I said it for us all, "We'll do that."

Vance probably regretted the offer an hour later. Nudge was laid out in the armchair with our laptop on her knees, surfing the Internet. Maya, Dylan, and Holden were upstairs playing a loud and raucous game of Life. Iggy was banging pots and pans in the kitchen while making the chili. Vance had objected to the blind kid cooking, but we all shouted him down. Now Vance was watching Iggy work, clearly surprised at Ig's dexterity.

Fang played x-box with Gazzy for a while. I watched Vance watching Iggy. No, I didn't trust him. I kind of wanted to, but I knew better. Then Iggy started cutting into an onion and Vance switched Fang out to appease Gaz's appetite for virtual destruction. The smell of the onion was strong. It made my stomach churn.

I sprung up and ran for the bathroom. It was small and I barely got the door shut before I yakked. I swished toothpaste around my mouth and flushed the toilet. Everything had been so crazy lately; I hadn't really gotten a chance to think about my baby. My baby. When did I start to think of this as 'my' baby? In the mirror I lifted my t-shirt. My belly was still flat. It was incredible and terrifying to think there was something in there. Something that was part of me.

Then, around my reflection in the mirror, there was a dark shadow. Fang. I yanked my shirt down and spun around. "The door wasn't locked. You were sick again?" he asked quietly, his stare penetrating, "There's something wrong with you isn't there. Something you're not telling me."

I froze. He asked again, "What else did they do to you?"

Iggy banged together a few more items in the nearby kitchen and we both jumped, remembering where we were and who might be listening. The onion smell still hung in the hair, making me nauseous even though pretty much everything had to be out of my stomach by this point.

Fang wasn't going to take no for an answer, not this time. "You're really pale. Want to go outside and get some fresh air?"

I did, but I did not want to have the conversation I knew was coming. Fang made the decision for me though, gently holding my hand and pulling me through the kitchen and out the back door. We walked a little bit into the forest. The air was better for me. I didn't feel quite so sick.

"Max, tell me," he asked.

I didn't know what to say.