don't freak out.

but it's the second-to-last chapter.

disclaimer: don't own maximum ride.

36. so. now what?

"Seriously? How slow can a van be?" I groaned, sitting back on the hood of the car. Almost instantly it honked, making me jump up in surprise.

"Get your ass off my car," Con said irritably, and I turned around to glare at where he was sitting in the front seat, picking at a pre-ripped hole in his jeans. We'd made a quick stop to pick up some new clothes-there'd been cash in the glovebox, and our old clothes had started to, well, reek-and yet Max and them still weren't here. It was getting kinda boring.

"I thought we went over this?" I said to Con, and he looked up. I smirked. "I called it, so it's mine. And I'll do whatever I damn well please with it." I sat back down on the hood and stuck my tongue out at him.

Con's eyes narrowed and he growled out, "So nice to see you're feeling better."

I deflated some. "Oh, come on. You've. . .you've done what I did before. Didn't you. . .freak out?"

"Not a chance," he said lightly, going back to pick at his jeans.

I frowned. Unable to think of a retort, I crossed my arms and glared at the sidewalk in front of me.

All right. So maybe Con was different. Maybe he felt nothing when he shot someone. Perhaps he had no soul.

Or maybe he was just lying off his ass.

"Heads up." I looked up and barely got my hand up in time to catch a can of soda that was flying my way. Then I ducked so a second can could sail unhindered at Con.

Cracking open his own drink, Sy walked around and leaned against the passenger side door, saying, "Haven't destroyed each other yet, I see."

"Not yet," Con replied. Then he frowned and set down his soda in the cupholder. "I don't like Sprite."

"Then don't drink it," Sy suggested. Con glared at him, but it went unnoticed.

"Where'd you even get this?" I asked, inspecting the Pepsi in my hand before glancing at Sy; he shrugged.

"When I went inside to check the time of the show I saw a room set up for the kids," he explained. "Nobody was there, so I took some stuff. They should really guard their food better."

I snickered. "You're such a thief."

"One of the many things you like about me, right?" he asked, glancing back at me with a grin.

"Actually, I find it one of the many things I dislike about you," Con interjected. Sy rolled his eyes. "Because if you're going to steal pop, you might as well steal the good kind."

"I did steal the good kind." Sy brandished his Dr. Pepper and added, "I just didn't give it to you."

Con paused for a second, then leaned across the car and smacked the can out of Sy's hand. It bounced to the ground, spraying carbonated beverage over everything knee-height or lower. I did my best to stifle the laughter that automatically bubbled up in my chest as Con sat back in his seat with a funny little look of satisfaction on his face.

Sy let out an irritable breath and put his hand to his head. "Think it's a bad idea to kill a guy with so many witnesses around?"

"Maybe," I chuckled. "Better wait 'till he's wandering down some random alleyway at midnight."

"Noted."

"Oh, come on, what's the big deal, Sy?" Con said, rolling his eyes. With a smirk, he picked up the Sprite that was sitting in the cupholder. "You can have mine."

"Drop dead," Sy started to say, but then a car's horn cut him off. I glanced at Con, but his hands hadn't moved. So we all looked around and watched as three similar black creeper-vans pulled up to the front entrance of the arena. They'd barely stopped when their doors burst open and unleashed eighteen monsters that were probably hyped up on too much relief and sugar.

The attack-I mean, reunion-lasted for about ten happy, confused minutes before some CSM people came out to rush us inside to prep for our air/water show. (Apparently we were running late. Darn those vans. . .) Multiple times my name was called so it could be made sure I was still there; for some crazy reason they all wanted to make sure I stayed with them as we moved from place to place. Like I was just gonna go off and disappear! Psh! How possible was that?

Oh, sarcasm. How I missed you so. . .

Over breakfast in the break-room place they'd set up for us, I learned that it had only been three days we'd been gone. And I was very surprised at that fact. Only three days? It had felt like so much longer. But I guess I hadn't exactly had a normal sense of time since Leander had kidnapped us-I'd been passed out for a while, and then there was all the psychological shit he pulled on me that made me just stare off into space for who knew how long. So maybe it made sense, three days. A little over two days with Leander, and the rest of the third day (plus a lot of last night) driving back here to Sydney.

It was a couple minutes before the show was due to start that Max asked the million-dollar question.

"So who exactly kidnapped you, Spark?"

I instantly tensed up, my hand jerking so that the aluminum can I was just about to recycle missed the bin entirely. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Con and Sy look at each other, exchanging wary expressions.

"Spark?" Max said my name again and stepped to my side in concern. "Are you okay?"

I pondered my possible answers. If I said I was fine, she'd probably think I was lying to her and get mad about it. And if I said I wasn't, she'd get all flustered and try to comfort me. Neither option sounded very attractive, so I went for a compromise.

"I. . .don't exactly know yet," I told her, carefully avoiding all eye contact by picking up the trash I'd dropped. "I just need some time to adjust."

I could sense that her eyes were narrowed at that (so she got mad anyway. Shocker), but I lucked out and didn't have to answer any more questions 'cuz Max's mom came to get us for our part in the show. I let out a mental sigh of relief, but didn't get to relax for long-Max sent me a look that said, "We'll finish this later."

As the rest of the kids filed out, Con, Sy, and I all hung back.

"What are you going to tell her?" Con asked casually, eyes fixed on the pen he was spinning in his fingers.

"I know it's a crazy idea, but I thought I might tell her the truth," I replied. He glanced at me and I rolled my eyes. "What other choice do I have? It's like she has a sixth sense, she'll know if I'm lying or holding back."

"Not if you come up with something before she asks again," Sy pointed out. I looked at him and he shrugged. "This whole thing was messed up, and I really don't think any of us want to re-live it by talking about it. We'll back you up if you want to lie."

Con scoffed at that, but I ignored him. "Thanks, but I really don't see a reason why I should lie."

"Doesn't mean you have to tell the whole truth," Con reminded me.

I nodded. "I know."

"What are you guys doing?"

We all looked up and saw Blaze sticking her head back into the room. A quick glance behind her showed Iggy was there, too, which I thought was a little strange.

Both Sy and Con looked at me to answer her, so I raised an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "We're rounding up elves and baby unicorns for the midget rodeo," I told her. "What's it look like we're doing?"

Blaze scowled at me while Iggy laughed in the background. On either side of me, Sy chuckled and even Con let out a noise that may have been a snicker.

"You do realize you three only just got back from a kidnapping," she said flatly. "Everybody's freaking out."

"Yeah, so you should come on before Max blows a gasket," Iggy interjected. The door opened a little more as Blaze stepped aside to let him talk to us. "She's already mad Blaze and them are flying with us, so she's not really the happiest little ray of sunshine right now."

"Since when are we flying with you?" Con demanded, crossing his arms. "We're not even supposed to be here right now."

"Well, because of your little abandonment stunt, we're here anyway," Blaze said snippily. "And it's not like we're doing anything else. Look, all we have to do is fly around and get paid to do it, so suck it up and come on." She abruptly turned and started stalking away, Iggy close on her heels.

"Huh," Sy said, scratching his head. "I didn't know Blaze wore the pants in the family."

Con glared at him. "Shut up."

I started to laugh a little, but once Con tried to turn that glare on me I quickly stopped and cleared my throat. "Well. Guess we better go. Wouldn't want to deprive Max of the joy of yelling at me."

"Can't have that," Sy agreed, taking my hand and leading the way. For a second Con didn't look as if he'd come along, but before we got too far I reached out and nudged him. Reluctantly, he followed.

After that, it was a blur. Sy and the fish kids swam around in a giant tank, and me and the flock and Con and the anti-flock all flew around in the sky (minus the colorful smoke trails-there weren't enough for all twelve of us), and then Max's mom gave her environmental awareness speech and that was that. We got to rest up in the break room for a few hours before our second show, and then we piled into the vans and drove back to the hotel.

Well, most of us piled into the vans. Con refused to abandon "his" white Cadillac, so me, Sy, Iggy, and Blaze all joined him in that.

And after Gazzy asked to go to the hotel arcade, Dr. Martinez escorted the dozen younger kids downstairs and left the rest of us to talk in the room. And by "talk," I mean me, Con, and Sy relating the tale of our kidnapping to Max, Fang, Iggy, Blaze, Wave, and Kyla.

Don't you just love story-time? I do. Especially when the story is about me and my ventures to the edge of my sanity.

"It sucked," I said bluntly. "He got me with a tranquilizer as I was heading to the bathroom, and when I woke up I was. . .there."

"Where's there?" Max asked.

I shook my head. "No idea. Some weird house out in the middle of nowhere."

"Everything was white," Con said. "Walls, ceiling, floor. Everything."

"Even he was white," Sy added.

"Who's he?" Blaze asked.

"Leander," I said quietly.

I told the rest of the story (with occasional input from Sy and Con) while staring at my hands, which were constantly in motion. Clasped together, lacing and un-lacing my fingers, drumming my fingertips against each other. And since I was looking at that, I didn't see anybody's reactions to the story.

I was surprised at how easy it was to talk about it. I only had trouble talking about the things he'd made me see, and when I. . .well, you know.

I took a deep breath and finished with, "Then we jacked his car and left. Drove most of yesterday and last night, and then met up with you guys." I felt myself smirk and added, "And since nobody's going to come looking for it, I think Con's gonna want to keep the car."

I waited for him to interject, but strangely he was quiet. I glanced over at him and was startled to find his elbow propped on the armrest of the couch, his head in his hand, and his eyes closed. He'd fallen asleep. How adorable.

"Guess he's really tired," Max said, lowering her voice so as not to wake him.

"I don't see why," said Iggy. "Judging from the story it didn't sound like he'd been put through the ringer much."

"The way we were imprisoned didn't allow for much comfort," Sy told him. "The first sleep we got was last night, and that was only for a few hours in the car."

"I was passed out for a while after I got shot," I said. "But other than that I didn't really sleep, either. I think we're all just fried."

"Shh," Blaze shushed me. "He's pissy when people wake him up."

"I'm pissy when people talk about me like I can't hear them," Con said crossly. We all looked at him in semi-guilt, but he was still in the same position as he'd been in before. "I'm right here, you know."

"Whups. Sorry, Sleepin' Beauty," I said, faking sweetness.

"I wasn't asleep," he snapped, but judging from the way he rubbed his eyes I suspected he was lying. "However, I am about to pass out, so if someone could direct me to a free bed I'd be less 'pissy.' "

"Well, Fang and Iggy had their own room, so I guess you and Sy will just have to share with them," Max said. Turning to me, she added, "And Spark, you can share with Blaze."

"I'd forgotten what true bliss felt like," I said thoughtfully.

"Ha, ha," Blaze sneered. "But just for your information, there's a free bed. We're not sharing the same one."

"Oh." I blinked, then smiled. "Sweet. Good job on scoring a room for yourself," I said, holding out my fist. Blaze hesitated, then leaned forward to bump her knuckles against mine.

"Now, let's all just wait a second," Wave said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her and the smile curling over her lips. "Since the boy to girl ratio is more evened out. . ."

Max groaned loudly. "Not this again."

"Not what again?" I asked.

"For the last time, no," Blaze said firmly.

"What?" Wave blinked her eyes innocently. "I'm just trying to make things more fun."

"What are we talking about?" Sy asked slowly.

"Well, now that you guys are back, there are five girls and four boys," Wave explained. "Excluding Max because she's a prude-"

I couldn't help but laugh as Max's jaw dropped indignantly. "Prude?"

"-that means we can go boy-girl," Wave went on.

"Exactly," Kyla added, smirking. "So it'll be Wave and Fang, me and Iggy, Con and Blaze and Spark and Sy. There. Everyone's happy."

Con, Sy and I all glanced at each other in confusion; the rest of them just rolled their eyes and grumbled incoherent things. I assumed this had been an ongoing battle, and couldn't help but wonder why Kyla and Wave were so set on hooking up with the bird boys. Maybe since Sy had been their only guy growing up, and now he was taken? I dunno.

"This isn't happening, guys," Fang said calmly. "Dr. M would flip."

"Oh, come on," Kyla whined. "It's just to sleep."

Max let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, right."

"Unless you don't want to sleep, that is," Wave said, throwing a wink at Fang. I snickered. As idiotic as this conversation was, it was rather entertaining.

"Look, ladies, as much as I'd love to have you, I think the majority outvotes us," Iggy said, beginning to play along. Both Wave and Kyla sat back, crossing their arms and pouting comically. I chuckled again. "Our potential love will have to wait until another time."

"Yeah, like until after the majority falls asleep," Blaze said. The comment earned her some looks and she just stared back. "What? You can't stop what you don't know is happening."

"She's come to the dark side," Kyla stage-whispered.

"I haven't sided with you on this," Blaze snapped at her. "I'm just stating the obvious. After everyone's asleep, you can do whatever the hell you want."

"So long as you're quiet," Iggy added. Blaze's head whipped around so she could glare at him, but of course he couldn't see it.

Judging from the look on Con's face, I guessed he, too, was starting to suspect something. Blaze and Iggy sure were acting weird. . .

It was oh, I don't know, perhaps ten-thirty when I was so rudely awoken by the answer to my earlier suspicion.

By the time the sleeping arrangement argument had ended, it was only about seven o' clock. A little after that, Dr. M brought the kids back from the hotel arcade and things started winding down. It'd been a big day. Everyone was out before eight.

Well, almost everybody.

Blaze had directed me to our room before leaving, claiming jet-lag was going to keep her up for a while. I'd assumed she'd gone to watch TV or something, but somehow I now doubted that was the case.

Unfortunately I'd chosen the bed closest to the door, so it was my bed that they fell on in their blind stumblings. The door had already woken me up, but due to what happened next I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. Not there, at least.

"What the. . .?" I lifted my head and dragged my hand across my eyes. I stared for a second, then repeated the motion.

But the sight I didn't think I'd really seen was still there.

Blaze.

And Iggy.

Together.

. . .Kissing.

Well, kissing is actually kind of an understatement. It was more than that.

And it almost made my head explode.

"If you want to do that, do it somewhere else!" I snapped, turning around and aiming to kick them out of my bed. "I'm trying to sleep here!"

But nooo, they weren't about to let me win at that, now were they? Of course not! So before I could kick them Blaze reached out and scared me away by brandishing fire in my face.

"Dah!" I jerked away from the flames and hit the floor hard; when I tried to get up I cracked my head on the edge of the bedside table. Just wasn't my night, was it?

"Ah-ha-hooooww," I moaned, cradling the back of my head. I sat up fully and glared over at the two dirty little deviants, but they. . .weren't exactly paying any attention to me. Picking myself up, I angrily kicked the bed. "You guys are bitches and I hate you!"

"Just leave," Blaze managed to reply, just before Iggy. . .caught her attention again.

"Ugh." There was movement from the other bed and a small black shape jumped to the floor, heading for the exit. As should be obvious, Total had gone for the one room whose comfortable beds weren't completely overrun with children. "Like I'll be able to sleep through that."

"Yeah, let's find somewhere else," I muttered, following the Scottie out of the bedroom. "We can take revenge by exposing them in the morning."

Total snorted. "Let's hope they don't do anything too naughty."

I choked back a laugh-we were just passing the room Max and her mom were in, too.

"And since the Bible is the only thing this hotel stores in any of its drawers," he went on, "I think we can rest easy knowing the word of God may serve as some form of protection."

I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that, but the word "protection" set me off. I clapped a hand to my mouth and stood, practically motionless, in the center of the suite and struggled to stifle the sudden onslaught of hysterical giggles for nearly five whole minutes.

I was more tired than I'd thought.

Once I'd calmed down, I let out an uneven breath and completed the journey to my intended destination. I paused at the door and listened within: silence.

"Wait, don't tell me you're gonna do it too," Total said, looking up at me accusingly. I scowled.

"If Iggy takes my room, then I take his," I said. "It's just a trade, you dirty-minded little dog."

"I don't have a dirty mind," he said defensively. "I'm just aware that teenagers aren't children and act as such."

I snorted. "Sure." Then, with careful silence, I turned the knob on the door and pushed it open. It creaked and I froze, waiting for someone to wake up, but no one did. I let out a tiny sigh before creeping as quietly as I could possibly creep over to the bed furthest from the door. I crouched down at the head of the bed while Total hopped up to the other one. I pulled back a section of covers and poked at the exposed shoulder.

"Sy." He didn't move, so I poked again. "Sy, wake up." Another non-response, another poke. "Syyy-yyyy."

At least that time he stirred, but he still didn't wake up. So, annoyed by now, I pinched him and whisper-yelled his name. "SY!"

He jerked and swore. "Ow!"

"Sh!"

I waited as Sy blearily looked at me and tried to see who I was. When he finally got it, he sounded confused. "Spark? What are you doing here, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I said, keeping quiet so as not to wake Con and Fang. "But Blaze and Iggy kicked me out and you're the only one with a free side. Can I sleep here?"

"What? What d'you mean, Blaze and Iggy?"

"I don't know, maybe they hit the mini-bar or something," I said, and he smiled. "But they wanted to be alone so they kicked me out. Can I sleep here?" I held my hands under my chin. "Pleeeaaase?"

He stared at me for a second, and I took the chance to stick out my lip and make my eyes all big and pleading. Sy laughed once before turning back over, saying, "Yeah, fine. Whatever."

"Yay." I poked him in the side and he twitched. "Now move over."

"What? No, I'm already warm here," he said. "Go to the other side. And quit poking me, it tickles."

I grinned and (of course) poked him again. Because really. You don't tell people when it tickles. That's like an invitation to future tickle attacks. Open season on the ticklish. "Come on, don't be a baby. Move."

"Go to the other side."

Another rejection, another poke. "Please?"

He didn't reply, probably deciding he'd just ignore me until I gave up.

And I thought he knew me.

I smirked before I attacked. I poked my fingers at Sy's sides, both of them, fending off his hands as he tried to bat me away. But years of sneak-attacking my human friends who were similarly ticklish had me winning this battle: I was like a poking ninja. Sy started to shake with laughter, each poke making him jerk further away towards the other side of the bed.

"No, Spark, stop!" he protested. "Stop it, stop, come on, quit it!"

"Pipe down!" Total suddenly snapped, and we both froze. "I'm not moving again, so shut up and go to sleep."

Sy and I both laughed softly, and I crawled into the empty space on the bed. Sy just groaned in defeat and shifted all the way over.

"Mwa-ha," I whispered, shutting my eyes and huddling into the warmth from where Sy had been lying. "Victory is mine."

"You're impossible," Sy said back, and then all of a sudden the pillow beneath my head vanished. "And I'm taking my pillow."

I tried to keep my laugh quiet as I grabbed the pillow from the other side. "Fair enough."

All right. Now, I may not have been on Kyla and Wave's side earlier, but they'd had a point. It was just a bed. And contrary to what they would have tried, we were just going to sleep. And it's not like Sy was a stranger. He was my friend.

Besides, I was not going to sleep on a couch if there was a Spark-sized hunk of mattress lying around. If Con or Fang had been the one with a free side, I probably would've done the same thing.

". . .Hey."

I opened my eyes and looked up. Sy'd propped himself up on his elbow and was staring at me; but he wasn't looking at my eyes, and he had a weird look on his face. I followed his gaze and looked down.

And before you get any ideas, grow up. He's not perverted. He was looking at my necklace, which had fallen out of my shirt in the skirmish. I glanced at it, then back at Sy. "What?"

"It's different again," he said, frowning a little. He reached forward and touched the little teardrop pendant. "Back at Leander's, it was a scratched-up diamond. But this one's the original."

". . .Oh," I said. "Right. About that."

He looked at me expectantly, and I explained the whole thing with Colette. How she'd given it to me, then switched it for a diamond so I could cut through my chain. And how, when we'd been getting our new clothes earlier that day, I'd taken the diamond one off and put back on the aquamarine.

I didn't mention that I'd kept the diamond one anyway, sort of in memory of Colette, but he didn't ask, so the subject dropped.

"Why'd she help you?" Sy asked, leaning his head on his hand. "She worked with him to kidnap us."

I avoided his gaze. "I think she just felt sorry for me. Leander probably tricked her into coming with him, and she didn't want him to hurt another girl."

"Oh." He was quiet for a second, then said, "Did you know he shot her?"

I nodded, my eyes burning. "I was there. He was taking me to his room, then just stopped, opened her door, and shot her."

Sy's hand slid over and covered mine. "I tried to save her. Sorry."

"It's fine." I hurriedly dragged my hand across my eyes. "It's over now. Let's not talk about it. Like, ever again."

"All right." It got quiet again, and I thought he'd drifted off, but then he asked, "Did Blaze and Iggy really kick you out?"

I scoffed. "No," I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. "Actually I paid Iggy to not sleep here. I couldn't resist you. Hold me!"

I just barely got through that with a straight face, and Sy started cracking up halfway through. I think Total had fallen asleep, because he didn't tell us to shut up, but then all of a sudden Con groaned from the other bed. And that in itself would have been funny enough, but then he also snapped, "Oh, my God, shut up!"

I stifled a snicker as Sy stage-whispered, "Sorry."

Con started grumbling incoherently (probably insulting us under his breath), then cursed colorfully when Fang sat up a little and looked over to our bed. "What's going on?" I felt his eyes on me, so I turned over and waved. ". . .Why's Spark in here?"

"Why's it matter?" Con cried exasperatedly. He angrily pulled the blanket over his head; his next sentence came out slightly muffled. "I'm trying to sleep, God damn it!"

"Don't you have your own room?" Fang asked over the sound of Con's irritated moan.

"Well, yeah, but Blaze and Iggy kicked me out of it," I explained.

Even Con surfaced long enough to stare at me. In unison with Fang, he said, "What?"

I smiled and repeated, "Blaze and Iggy kicked me out."

"Wait, wait." Con shifted so he could really stare at me; I raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Blaze and Iggy?" I nodded. "You're not serious."

"Why else would I be here?" I demanded. "I was perfectly fine in my own bed until the two of them came in all over each other and almost literally kicked me out."

"You're not serious," Fang said, echoing Con.

"I think the current theory is they broke into the mini-bar," Sy said helpfully.

"Despite how it happened, it happened." Total said suddenly. Both Con and Fang looked down, noticing the Scottie in their bed for the first time. "And while they decided to get it on, we decided to come here, where it used to be quiet."

"Get it on?" Fang said.

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Con said, laughing.

"Everyone was fully clothed when we left," I said quickly. Then I smiled. "But, you know, Iggy's. . .uh. . ."

"Horny?" Con finished.

The ensuing laughter was so loud that someone from the next room woke up and felt the need to chuck something at the wall.

"Shut up!"

But it was late, and we were tired, so we kept laughing. Albeit slightly quieter.

i just couldn't resist the whole cliche hotel scenario thing where the boy and the girl have to sleep in the same bed X) it allowed for iggy/blaze to happen, and it just seemed like something spark would do.