Chapter 21~Ellie
So, a few people were staring at us after Lily and Max's freak out in the parking lot. No biggie, but apparently the Flock doesn't like attention. Max stepped up to the register to order, but I tuned her out, thinking. I really need to get Lily to stop messing with Max. She's usually really nice, but she has a mean side, and it's pretty bad. But maybe she was just blowing off some steam in the parking lot. We have been kind of stressed, worrying about rescueing Alex and Emma, getting the Flock to trust us, which she was not helping with, at all, and other things. Our year is pretty crazy. We're at Hogwarts from September to June, visit our family for a week before we go to camp, and then see them again the week before we go back to school. So we're home a total of fourteen days a year. Plus the holidays. And we're only thirteen and fifteen, that's a lot to handle. At least Lily got her O.W.L.s over with.
"El, what do you want?" Lily asked tiredly. She looked beat. I can't wait until we're back sleeping in our own beds.
"Uh... Double cheeseburger, medium fries, coke." I told her, only glancing at the menu.
"Ok." I barely heard her order, thinking again. How to get her to stop picking a fight with Max... Maybe if I just talk to her about it over lunch, just get her to be civil towards her. She doesn't even have to talk to Max, I can do that.
"Lets find a table." She walked over to a booth, set the tray down and slumped into the seat, exhausted. I sat down across from her and separated my food from her's.
"Lil, listen. I know that you and Max don't work well together, so how about you just don't talk to her. I can do the talking, and you can be in charge of Ryan and Liam, kay?"
"Sure, she just irritates me and I hate to see her giving orders like she's better than everyone."
"Look, we only have to work with them until we get to the school, then it's back to camp where we're totally awesome!" I told her with a smile.
"Yep! Can't wait!" She replied cheerfully, perking up.
"What you guys talking about?" Ryan asked, walking over.
"Girl stuff," Lily responded nonchalantly.
"Ok then." He replied.
"Admit it, you're dying to know," I said teasingly.
"Ok, fine, tell me."
"No. Freaking. Way." Lily said.
"Girls," he muttered.
"Are awesome!" Liam finished his sentence.
"Thanks! You are now an official member of our club, we need to come up with a nickname for you!" I said.
"Yep! Lima, Li, Lia, Llama, Lycas." Lily agreed, testing out names.
"Lycas?" Ryan asked, curious.
"I miss Lord Lycas, so you shall now be Lycas!" Lily declared.
"Lord Lycas?" Liam looked confused.
"Long story," I told him. "Maybe another time."
"Yup, cause we have company." Lily said, glaring around the restaruant.
"Hot male models?" I asked. "What's so wrong about that?"
"Well, for one models don't eat, and two..." She glanced at the Flock, who looked tense. "They seem to think they're trouble, and they probably know who's good or bad better then we do." Max suddenly looked straight at me and our eyes locked. Her expression clearly said 'run.'
"Count of three, we slowly head for the door." I whispered. We got up and pretended to talk, threw our trash away and just got out of the door when all Tartarus broke loose. I saw the Flock running to the car, and I gave a shrill whistle. The Pegausi cantered over and halted directly in front of us.
"Everybody up!" Lily yelled. We jumped on and took off immediately. I glanced down to see the van speed off beneath us. It almost hit a trailer. Then it swerved off-road into a cornfield. I quickly turned to follow, in case they needed help. Lily flew right next to me, staring down at the van.
"They're gonna crash! Down, down, down!" We all dived and the second we landed they hit a minivan head on. I saw it as if in slow motion, they had just started to speed up when they hit the road, and the minivan was right in their way. The hood of the van crumpled and the side of the minivan was pushed in. Oh. My. Gods. Lily was at my side, running towards the wreckage. We heard Max weakly say 'Report.' Fang and Nudge said "Okay here."
We were closer now.
"I feel like, like pudding," Iggy groaned. "Pudding with nerve endings. Pudding in great pain."
"I feel sick," Gazzy said.
"It's ok, guys, we can get you-"
CRASH! People, very hairy people with claws and fangs, were smashing the windows. Without thinking, I immediately turned into a snow leopard. Beside me, I saw a flash of white fur. Lily had turned into a white tiger. I heard a few gasps, but ignored them, leaping at the nearest wolf-man. Lily snarled and swiped at a wolf-man with her long, deadly claws. I bit into one's arm, tasting it's foul blood. My reaction was to let go, but I held on, sinking my teeth in deeper and clawing anywhere I could reach. He let out a strangled shriek and fell to the ground. After a few minutes of clawing and biting, I looked around. There we too many. Lily must have realized this too, because she turned back to a human.
Turning back too, I looked at the wrecked van. Iggy and Gazzy were no where in sight, and Max, Fang, and Nudge were being dragged out of the van. They stared at us in shock.
"It's almost like you don't want to go back to School." A wolf-man growled at Max as we raced over to them, I could hear Ryan and Liam right behind us. As soon as we reached them I hear the sound of a helicopter, and our arms were pinned behind our backs. I probably could have turned back into a leopard and got away, but I couldn't leave everyone.
"What a touching scene," The wolf-man said. "We're all going home, just like old times."
"Alex, Emma! You're here!" I said, relieved.
"Yeah, but it's not that great." Emma replied. Max was talking to the little blonde girl in the cage next to Alex, Angel. Oh yeah, did I mention they put us in cages? Like animals! Well, it's fitting enough for me and Lily, but still, how degrading!
"You guys came! I knew you would, I just thought you'd be here to rescue us, not be stuck too." Alex told us.
"Yeah, wasn't part of our plan either." Lily replied ruefully. "Did you guys get attacked by wolf-men too?"
"Erasers," Emma nodded. "We couldn't fight them, they're not Greek monsters." She explained.
"So, what's with the cat business. Been to the school before?" Max asked suspiciously.
"Nope, this is our first time, and it hasn't been a very pleasant experience." Lily replied.
"We're animagi," I explained. "We can turn into any animal at will."
"Awesome!" Liam said. "I've always wanted to be an animagus, I would want to be a lion, or a bear, or a wolf!"
"Well, it's pretty complex, but Ellie and I were smart enough to figure it out." Lily told him.
"Legally?"
"No way, we'd be watched like hawks! We did it the marauders' way." I responded.
"Awesome! Well, you are related to Sirius, so it makes sense."
"Yep!" Lily said proudly.
Max looked really confused, as did Ryan, Nudge, and Angel. Fang was sitting in his crate, arms around his legs. He looked like he wasn't even there. Maybe that was his way of protecting himself. Alex and Emma, of course, knew about this. Everyone in camp does, they've seen us running around and training as animagus's too many times to count.
"Well, it sure came in handy today," Max told us. "But there were too many, it's not your fault, you did the best you could. Thank you."
Lily looked surprised but smiled and said, "No problem, we couldn't just let them take you."
Suddenly we heard footsteps on the floor and Angel cowered. Max looked furious, narrowing her eyes and getting ready to spring out of her cage. A man bent down and peered inside. Max fell back, stunned.
"Maximum Ride," he said. "Oh, I've missed you so much."
Max glared at him as she seemed to come into more control of her emotions. He bent down and unlatched her cage. Lucky. Apparently Max didn't think so, she seemed tense as she stood up, and didn't look at any of us or say a word. As they walked away, she put two fingers behind her back. After they left I turned towards Fang, Nudge, and Angel.
"What's up with the two finger thing?" I asked, confused.
It means wait, a voice said in my head. AM I GOING CRAZY?! You're not going crazy, it's me, Angel. Oh, ok then. She can read minds/send thoughts. Good to know. Who was that guy? I asked, trying to direct my thoughts at the little girl.
Jeb, I saw her shudder slightly in her crate. He rescued us from the School four years ago. Two years later, he disappeared. We thought he died, but I guess not. Don't trust him. I won't. He doesn't seem very nice. Especially since he's here and wearing that ridiculous lab coat.
What to do now... Wait. I heard Angel's voice in my head once again. Ugh. That is soooooooooooooooooo boring. I know, just hang in there. There isn't much else we could do. Well what about. Uh, The obvious thing, escape. We already tried. I guess I'll just have to do what the magic conch told me to do, nothing. Huh? Angel asked, confused about my magic conch comment. Oh, nothing. Please tell me! Angel pleaded. NO! Sorry, not happenin. It was at this point I concentrated on singing the "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" song. The most amazing way to annoy people. Or get them away from your head. I mean, who would want to listen to that song unless you are part of it. I would! Angel said in a singsong voice. Oh my gods, are you ever gonna leave my head? Maybe... Wow. Thanks a lot. No problem! Gahhh! I continued singing the song, and Angel sang along while I looked around the room.
Lily was next to me, talking to Emma and Alex. Angel was next to them, moving around to the song as much as she could in the small space. Liam and Ryan were next to her, talking quietly. Nudge was staring off into space, quiet for once. Fang was in the very back of his crate, showing no expression, but his eyes gave him away. He was worried, angry, and a little sad. I'm pretty good at reading people's eyes.
The room itself was pretty big, with white walls and a white, tile floor. It was full of cages, some of them containing... experiments, I suppose. By the time I was done memorizing the room out of boredom, we were at 20 bottles of beer on the wall. I just realized that this song isn't completely appropriate for a six year old, but I guess she's been through too much to not be allowed to sing a catchy song about beer. About five minutes later we finished. Ok, I'm not singing that song again for at least a month.
So... I won't go into much more of my boredom, cause, well... It's boring. When Max came back, she seemed... angry, shocked, really angry, betrayed, angry. That's about it. Jeb locked her cage again after she crawled in.
"You ok?" Angel asked her. Max glanced at Fang and Nudge.
"Yeah, everyone hang tough all right?" She replied, looking at Emma, Alex, Lily, Ryan, Liam, and I also. Fang kept watching her, and I couldn't read his expression. After that... Well... More boredom. I'm so bored, that I'm bored of being bored! Can't be more bored than that.
"Bored, bored, bored. I'm so bored, bored, bored." I sang. It was actually kind of catchy. I kept repeating that, and soon everyone joined in. We were all getting into it when the door burst open. Three whitecoats and an Eraser entered.
"Very good," One of the whitecoats said, surveying us. The Eraser walked over to Max's cage and kicked it. "Hi Max, miss me?"
"Is the Director sure about this?" A woman asked. "It seems such a shame, there's so much we can learn from them."
"Yes," the third whitecoat who had not yet spoken said. "But it's too risky, especially with all the trouble these three have caused." He gestured towards Angel, Alex, and Emma. Max gave Angel a thumbs up, and she grinned.
"Not to mention their horrible singing," the Eraser added. "They were really off key."
"We were not!" Lily exclaimed. Here we go. "I'm sorry that none of us have taken voice lessons and aren't amazing singers, especially not after we haven't had water in about twelve hours," she practically snarled. "An I'm sure you're don't have an angelic voice either," she added, smiling sweetly at him. He growled at her and rocked her cage. "That was fun! Like a roller coaster!" She told him, and he kicked the door, bending the metal. Whoa, he's pretty strong. Then he picked up her crate and swung it onto a cart. It landed with a crash, and Lily gave him her death glare, which is so frightening that I can't even describe it. Soon we were all not-so-gently loaded onto the cart.
"So, where are you taking us?" I asked him conversationally. "A toy store? A candy shop? A park?"
"Sure, a park." He agreed.
"Cool, are we gonna play catch?" I asked.
"Yup, catch the mutants," He replied with a grin. Dude, two words: Tooth. Brush. I'm tired of calling him 'him' and 'he,' so he shall be... Squishy. And he shall be my squishy. Has anyone else seen that movie? Finding Nemo? Just me? Ok.
"Sounds fun Squishy!" I told him cheerfully.
"Squishy?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Yeah, I needed to give you a name so I don't keep calling you 'he' and 'him' in my mind," I explained slowly, as if talking to a two-year-old.
He frowned at me, looking confused as one of his wolf-man friends started to push us down the hall. I waved my fingers at him cheerfully, and Alex gave me an odd look. She obviously doesn't know us. Cause that's just how we roll. I enjoyed our three minute ride to outside, humming the Star-Wars theme song. Angel giggled from her crate. She obviously found my thoughts amusing. Come to think of it, I do too! Wow, we are so alike! I mean, my thoughts entertaining when I'm bored, so it must be the same with her. Unless I'm going crazy, that's always a possibility... then again I've had the suspicion I've been going crazy for a while now... Enough rambling. BACK TO THE STORY! Yay!
We were outside in this weird courtyard thing surrounded by a tall fence and barbed wire. Max seemed to be taunting Squishy. Then she bit down on Squishy's finger.
"No! Squishy!" I sobbed.
Squishy turned to look up at me when Max let go of his finger and she took that time to rush out of her cage. Suddenly, a large shadow fell on us from overhead, and we all froze and looked up. Tons of hawks. And two of them were Iggy and Gazzy! Realizing that they were helping us, Max ran over to Nudge cage and got her out, and they proceeded to open all of our cages. Once we were free, I immediately turned into a snow leopard and launched myself on an Eraser. After beating him up pretty badly, I glanced around. The whitecoats and Erasers were all unconscious, and the hawks were gone. I turned back to a human and walked over to everyone.
"I know you'll fly, but how will we get out of here," Lily was saying angrily to Max.
Max was about to retort when her eyes widened, staring behind Lily. Apparently not all the Erasers were unconscious. Lily spun around to late, and the Eraser swiped at her shoulder. I heard a snap, and I figured that he either broke her arm or dislocated her shoulder. Oh no he didn't. Well now he has me to deal with. Even though she was hurt, Lily stupidly turned into a tiger and started clawing him as much as she could, I joined her, and eventually my fangs met his neck, clamping down and killing him.
"That's what you get," I told his lifeless body, phasing back. Lily was sitting down, with her arm hanging limply by her side, her face pale as a sheet. I quickly examined her arm. Dislocated and broken. Styx! That's not good. "Someone get a stick or something. Now." I snarled, and Ryan handed me a stick. "Lily? I need you to bite down on this while I pop your shoulder back in, ok?" She nodded weakly and took the stick, bracing herself. I grabbed her arm above the break, and quickly pushed up, and her shoulder was back in place. She had let out a small scream, but looked better now. "Her arm's broken, what should we do?" I asked the group.
"Here, let me," Max said, taking her jacket off. She cut a large section off, and grabbed a nearby stick. A few minutes later, Lily's arm was in a crude splint.
"Thanks," Lily told her, and Max grabbed her hand, helping her up. She stumbled and had to lean on Max for support.
"Now how are we gonna get out of here?" Ryan asked, watching Lily with a worried expression.
"I can carry Lily," someone said. WAIT! It was MAX! Oh my gods. I was gonna say she could ride with me but... OH MY GODS!
So, with that settled (though I didn't get why Max wanted the responsibility of Lily) we all took off and made for Lake Mead.
A/N: So, here ya are- Chapter 21. I'm so so sorry for the long wait. It has been utterly busy. We will try to finish over Christmas, because we're almost done. Weird. But I give no promises. Please review! Until next time-llamasandsnickuhsbahrs.