Nostalgia:

Salt Lake City, Utah

Max

Sunday mornings at the E House, when we knew it was Sunday anyway, Jeb would come over sometimes before he totally betrayed us, and we'd make pancakes. It was always a mess. The mix got everywhere and once Gazzy poured almost a whole bottle of syrup on Iggy's head. It was so cute.

Now we were using backpacks as pillows while hiding out on in an old shed. Things change, I guess. I hadn't slept well and eventually sent everyone to sleep and did the watch myself. It had been an endless night and all I wanted was to stop remembering, to stop feeling guilty for leaving the flock.

Fang was curled up closest to me and I reached out to nudge him. He turned to face me and yawned. "Hey," he whispered and smiled.

The world was brighter. "Hey."

He didn't say anything, but I wanted to do something, anything other than think. "Let's go get everyone breakfast."

Fang got up with me and we stole out of the shed. I ruffled my feathers, happy to stretch out my aching muscles. Fang pulled me close and kissed me deeply. "Good morning," he whispered and kissed my nose.

I kissed him back. Everything seemed better with Fang's arms around me, except for my jittery need to be active. We swooped down the mountainside in minutes. Flying did the trick to clear my mind, just like it always does.

We landed outside of a deserted gas station. Money was scarce but we managed three dozen donuts. The burned out guy at the counter didn't even bat an eyelash. It was kind of nice actually to not stand out. Fang took two boxes and I balanced the other while opening the door. We'd have to fly slowly back up to the shed, but that was okay.

Outside the station a pickup truck piled with newspaper bundles had pulled up. The guy who owned the truck was slapping bundles down to the concrete as we walked past. He didn't notice us and that was fine too. I glanced down while we passed and nearly dropped my donuts. I was looking at me and this time it wasn't Maya.

Fang frowned and followed my gaze. No reaction there. Typical. The delivery man leaned into the bed of the truck and I took the opportunity to lift the top newspaper from a stack. Fang didn't comment, though he was a little surprised. I don't like to steal generally, but this was a big deal.

We flew back up to the shed each lost in our own thoughts and I stopped before going inside to read the front page news.

"Oh no."

I gaped at the captions and the headlines. It was good Angel couldn't hear my thoughts because all the profanities in the world couldn't cover it. Vance and his girlfriend sold us out. There was an exclusive interview with fellow avian hybrids, but no mention of the School, our torture, or the fact that we were unwilling subjects. There was plenty about our connection to Angel and the nobility of the research she supported. Tracey couldn't shut up about the groundswell of support for what they're calling the Angel project.

I was furious! This wasn't supposed to help Gen 77, it was supposed to stop them. We had messed it up so bad. Fang had been reading over my shoulder the whole time. "This is bad," he stated the obvious and I glared at him.

He continued coolly, "Everyone will recognize your face today."

I hadn't even thought about that. So much for laying low. I stomped back into the shed, where everyone was still somehow asleep. It seemed too mean to wake them up just yet so I sat cross-legged on the ground and focused on the picture. My face was clearly recognizable and even though it was a little stiff, I looked happy because I was flying. Fang was in the background, but he wasn't as easily recognized, unless you knew him.

I never had a picture of us before. On the other hand, I wanted to rip the whole newspaper into pieces, then find Tracey and do the same. Fang had come in quietly after me and now he handed me a donut. "Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"No," I said, surprised, "Just going to kill Vance and Tracey."

"I'll help." Fang sat down next to me with his own donut, "You look cute in the picture though."

"We've never had a picture of you and me," I pointed out.

Fang shrugged and bit into his own donut. I let it go and focused on savoring every bite of my donut with sprinkles, alternating between thinking about what I would do to Vance the traitor and reflecting that Fang's wings were beautiful even in a bad newspaper picture. But it was past time to wake up the others.

Just like at the E House, I got to go around and wake everyone. I didn't know what was making me so nostalgic, but it was kind of nice to rub Gazzy's back and coax Nudge into wakefulness. Once everyone figured out there were donuts, it wasn't hard at all. Dylan was still sulking and Maya was a bit unsteady, but now her eyes were right. I didn't know what else to do for her anyway.

Nudge had already commandeered the laptop and everyone was yawning, crowded around the donut boxes and passing around the newspaper. I sat back against the wall and leaned my head on Fang's shoulder. At least one good thing had come out of last night. No more hiding. Fang felt the same. He kissed the top of my head and somehow Iggy knew to wag his finger and shout, "PDA!"

That's Ig for you. We ignored him and everyone else was too concentrated on their sugar highs. Once everyone had three or four donuts, I cleared my throat and got back to business. "So we have a problem, obviously. Or several, I guess. The article didn't work out and Angel has been very successful."

"Vance seemed so nice," Nudge said for the fiftieth time, sending Gazzy into another x-box lament.

"To get back to the point, we need a plan," I had to raise my voice over the din.

Silence. So that was how to do it. "Nudge, did you figure out when and where Angel's demonstration is?"

"Yup. It's in Deer Valley at 7:30. Doesn't that sound like a cool place? Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater. Maybe we'll actually see a deer in Deer Valley," Nudge chattered away.

"So! We have all day to figure this out. We definitely need a better plan than last time," I cut in over Nudge.

"Max, Maya, and I should lay low today," Fang said.

"Why me?" Maya protested.

"You look like Max and her face is plastered all over the front of a newspaper."

Maya scowled. I didn't blame her, because I didn't like it either. "Fine, Fang, but we also need to know what we're walking into here. We have nine hours to do that."

Fang seemed to think he knew where I was going with this and he was going to argue with me. There wasn't time for that. "We surround the amphitheater. No Fang, no one sees us because we hide. Gaz and Iggy, get your stuff ready. We'll try to grab her at the right moment, like we did with Higher Solutions."

Did Fang like the plan? I couldn't tell. Gaz and Iggy were on board if they could blow things up. In any case, it was a start. Everyone gathered up their stuff and Fang found time to sneak in a kiss behind Iggy's back and whispered in my ear that he thought it was a good plan. I don't think he really thought that, but it was nice of him to say it.

Then we were up in the sky, headed to Deer Valley and, I hoped, a rescue.