so very sorry. i was really rushing to finish my nano story. (guess who can write 7,743 words in six hours? that's right, me!) plus, my keyboard broke, so i'm forced to use a stupid one with big clunky keys and a tiny backspace button. it takes some getting used to. . .
and i'm sorry this chapter is short, too. but i decided i had to update with something or else you'd all come after me with torches and various farm tools as weapons.
disclaimer: don't own maximum ride.
29. last chapter
High in the air somewhere over the midwest United States, if you had binoculars (or really, really good eyesight), you'd be able to see seven oddly-shaped birds. So oddly-shaped, in fact, that you might go so far as to say they're. . .why, children with wings.
If you're not retarded, you have figured out that I am talking about myself, Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Total was taking a break in Iggy's arms, and nearly everybody was in a good mood.
If you ask why, I may have to throttle you. It's 'cuz we've figured out who our parents are, silly!!
"So how are we going to go about tracking all these people down?" I asked, tilting my wings toward Max. She shrugged.
"Not really sure. My guess is that we start in the area Itex had them last, find a phonebook and see if they're still there, and if so, great. If not, go to their old neighborhood, ask around, see what happened to 'em."
"Oh." I was quiet for a second, looking down at the roads beneath us. Every time I saw a blue Explorer (of which there were a surprising amount), I couldn't help but think of Sy. Like, where was he? What was he doing? Was he still free, or had he gotten himself captured somehow?
"You miss him, don't you?"
I jumped at the sound of Angel's voice and looked around. She was flying just above me now, smiling sadly, reading my mind. I quickly tried to wipe said mind blank.
"I knew him what, a day?" I said, trying to be all casual. "How well can you know someone in a day?"
"Enough to miss him." Angel gave her wings an extra flap and surged ahead of me, joining Nudge and the Gasman in an excited conversation about parents.
Why you. . .
We were heading for Angel and Gazzy's parents first. Then we'd circle around Philadelphia for Fang, then back across the States to Nudge and Max. (Iggy's thing was he'd already met his parents, and they'd been jerks, so we were skipping them.)
As for me, well. . .hopefully, I'd finally be able to go home. To my real family. I wasn't looking forward to the goodbye scene with Max and the rest, but I couldn't stay with these guys forever. Maybe I'd go visit every once in a while. Or something.
I flicked hair out of my eyes and looked ahead. My hand drifted down to my necklace, a little black rock tied to a string that I'd had since before I can remember. It was the one thing (besides my stolen items. . .most of which were going in whatever river we came across first) that still connected me to Blaze, Con, Swift, Shadow, and Avi. And Dr. Julian Newell, whoever that was. My memories of him were still a tad foggy. But maybe that was a good thing--that I had the necklace, I mean. It'd always remind me, no matter where I was or what I was doing or who I was with, that I'd escaped from a horrible place.
I dunno. Roots are an important thing for me, I guess.
Oh, and speaking of roots, I should tell you what we did with the anti-flock's files:
We erased them. Both coded and de-coded versions. Did a quick once-over for any powers they might spring on us if we ever ran into them again, then hit delete. Then we went to the recycle bin and hit empty recycle bin. (Because if you don't do that, it's like it's still there.)
You may think this rather spiteful and mean of us, but need I remind you just how badly I got beaten up by those creeps? Go back and read chapters fourteen through eighteen if you've forgotten. If you haven't, then, well, you should understand where this hatefulness comes from, and understand why I deleted those files. If I was to keep this computer, then I didn't want any other reminders of them.
Down on the roads below, another blue Explorer sped by, and I frowned slightly. Where are ya, Sy? Maybe I'd go off and find him first, just to explain why I'd ditched him. And to apologize for it. And to ask what he was gonna do now that he was free.
Hm. Free.
Such a lovely word, isn't it?
"Track. Her. Down," Con said tightly, gripping the back of Swift's chair so hard his knuckles turned white.
Swift rolled his eyes, fingers tiptoeing across the keyboard to the new laptop on the table in front of him. The loss of the personal files had been a blow, as had the trashed hard copies, but nobody really cared about that right now. What was important was finding Spark again. Now that they knew they could track her chipped necklace, that was the easiest way to find her. And that was what Swift was trying to do now.
"Well, she's moving," he said quietly, scrutinizing the map on the computer screen. A little blue dot was blinking, showing Spark's location off in the middle of the United States. "She's somewhere over Nebraska, heading northeast."
"Then why are we still here? Let's go!" Con whirled around and stalked out of the room, followed closely by Shadow and Blaze. Swift sighed, shut down the computer, and made to follow when Avi held him back.
"Swift. Wait."
"What is it?" he asked, glancing at the door. Whatever she was gonna say, it'd better be quick. Con would be pissed if they didn't leave, like, right away to find Spark.
Avi hesitated for a moment, then blurted, "I think she cracked her file. Spark, I mean." Swift's eyes widened a tiny bit, asking a silent question, and Avi babbled on. "Well, at least I think she is, because last night I sensed that she was really, really happy, and, well, she wouldn't be unless it was something big, right? So I thought that 'cuz she's such a good code-cracker and all, she might've seen the files, and the others, so they might be heading for one of the Cali group's families, and. . ."
"Swift! Avi!" Con yelled. Both of them jumped. "Get your asses in gear and let's go!"
"So I think we should try to find out where their parents are, y'know?" Avi said quickly, following Swift as he went out the door and turned down the hall. Con was waiting impatiently at a window, while Blaze and Shadow were nowhere in sight. Probably already outside. "Narrow down the search?"
Swift shrugged his backpack from his shoulders and put the laptop inside. "Maybe. Tell Con later, when he's not pissed off."
"Okay. Thanks, Swift. I needed to tell someone."
The talon-footed bird kid shrugged again, slinging his pack back onto his back. Then he clambered out the window and jumped, spreading his wings and flapping them hard to catch up to Blaze and Shadow, who were circling a good thousand feet up. Avi followed, and Con was last.
The five members of the anti-flock turned their wings northeast and took off, once again on the quest to find Spark.
