Chapter 38
In no time, we were over the Irish Sea (yeah, I looked it up, turns out it's just a sea, nothing fancy). We would be across before the sun went down, and by the time darkness fell, we'd be right on top of the Survivors.
I tried to keep a good head count. There were eleven of us flying, and I took it upon myself to make sure nobody fell behind.
Airy glided easily. Not a bad life of hers, all things considered. I wasn't permitted to fly when I was three. And nobody could fly as well as Airy could. Sure, there were moves she didn't know, but I had a feeling that she could learn them instantly.
While most of us were gliding on the wind, Imogen's giant bat wings were beating rapidly. I counted the up-and-down cycles; she was flapping twice per second. She was sixteen years old, I pondered. That would qualify her as a major success. She and her flock were too similar to us to have been made by somebody else… what was her purpose?
"Hey, Immy," I said. "You don't have to beat your wings like that. We've got a nice east wind blowing us the right way."
Imogen watched me glide and tried to imitate it, but rapidly began to drop. "I can't do it, Max," she said.
I stared. "I don't know how you can flap like that and not get tired," I said.
"I don't know how all these bird people can keep their wings so still," she replied.
I shot her a gun-hand. "I can last as long as you can, dude."
She returned with the peace sign. "Likewise, me friend."
I scanned the rest of the group. Below me, Fang and Sean were still swapping threats, but there seemed to be no real anger there anymore. As far as I could tell, it had become a game between the two of them, both of them trying to come up with the more disturbing image. If that was the case, I had no clue who was winning.
"How about I sever your hamstrings and cut out your liver with my letter opener?" Fang was saying.
"How about I smash yer skull with yer own foot?" Sean replied.
"How about I send you to a taxidermist, have you mounted in the corner?" Fang suggested.
"How about I cut yer throat with me shaving razor?"
"You shave?" Fang mocked.
Sean gave him the finger. "Keep goin'," he growled.
"Mmmmmmkay," Fang said thoughtfully. "How about I saw off your feet and leave you in the middle of a forest?"
"How about I cut out yer eyes and yer balls, and put yer eyes in yer ball sack and yer balls in yer eye holes."
Fang laughed. "The Pick of Destiny!" he said.
"Yeah!" Sean said, delighted. "You know the D?"
"I love the D," Fang said.
The two of them sang together: "I love ya baby, but all I can think about is—kielbasa sausage, your butt-cheeks is warm. I check my dipstick, you need lubrication honey, my kielbasa sausage has just got to perform. Now get it on!"
"What the hell is that?" I demanded.
Sean looked up at me and smirked. "That's Tenacious D," he said.
"My turn?" Fang said.
"I believe so," Sean said.
"Okay… how about I put you in a sack filled with rocks and dump you into a lake."
"How about I chop ye up into little pieces, then put ye in a sack of rocks and dump ye into a lake."
Fang laughed. "Nice! Okay, how about I chop you up in little pieces and use them as fishing bait."
"How about I chop ye up in little pieces… and put 'em in a pot of chili and feed it to yer flock."
"Hmm, let's see… Okay, I chop you up into little pieces—"
"Oh, God, enough!" I snapped. "Where are you guys getting this emo crap?"
They shrugged. Well, emo crap or no, at least they were bonding.
I saw Gazzy next. He was staring straight ahead, looking grim and determined. I hated seeing him like that. I needed my cheerful little boy back.
I confronted Jacqueline and Falon. Gazzy was deliberately flying as far away from them as possible, so I was certain he wouldn't overhear.
"I hope you two know what you've done to him," I said.
"Yeah? And whassat?" one of them said casually. That one was wearing blue, the other black.
I gripped the backs of their necks. "Gazzy is a nice kid," I said. "Okay? He did not enjoy being seduced. Now you've left him feeling weak and abused."
"Well, sorry," the one in blue said sarcastically. "We 'ad no idea. We're terrible people. Ligh'en up, would you, Max? We jus' 'ad sex. Our firs' time, 'is firs' time, and we're free to go. It's fair. No big deal."
I stammered. I was certain I had never heard such an evil statement in my entire life. The School, the Itex Corporation, the Director, the Uber-Director, Mr. Chu, Jewel, it was as if all of them were erased from my memory by the words of whichever twin that was.
When I finally managed to speak, it was through gritted teeth. "Just… sex?" I growled. "No big deal? What kind of person are you?"
The bitch-in-blue rolled her eyes and veered off. I couldn't comprehend that. Sex had become a routine part of my life, but no matter how many times Fang and I did it, I felt like it would always be special, that there could never possibly be such a thing as "just" sex…
I turned to the twin wearing black. "And you?" I growled.
She scoffed. "I'm no' gonna lie to you, Max. Me and Jacqueline, we're the same. Bad girls. Always 'ave been."
"That would make you Falon, then?" I said, just to be sure.
"Uh-huh. Anyway, Jackie and I fink alike, we come to mos' fings mu'ually…"
"Sorry, what was that last word?" I interrupted.
She paused. "Mutually," she said.
"Oh. Right, go on."
"Yeah. And I'm no' gonna deny, I 'ad one 'ell of a good time seducing Gazzy. Bu' now… now I fink maybe me and my twin 'ave reached a poin' of con'ention."
I stared. "You and your twin have released the what?"
She rolled her eyes. "Reached a point of contention," she said slowly and clearly. It was jolting to hear her speak that way. You'd swear she'd spent her entire life in Nebraska.
"There, see now, why don't you just talk like that all the time?" I demanded.
"This is my na'ural voice!" she said. "I'm no' gonna pu' on an accent jus' so I can be understood."
"I'm saying, it'd make things easier."
"I tell you wha', you try bein' Irish for a full day, and maybe I'll fink about tryin' to sound American when you're around."
"Okay, okay, point taken."
"Wha' I'm tryin' to say, Max, is that… well, I fort 'e was enjoying 'imself as much as we were, and now I see I'm wrong, I… I am very sorry." She shrugged. "I don' know why Jacqueline doesn' feel tha' way. We always agree…"
"Well, hey, don't apologize to me," I said. "Gazzy's the one you should be talking to."
Falon turned her head to look at Gazzy, at the exact opposite end of our loosely-defined formation. She slowly edged across the breadth toward him, but as soon as she was near, Gazzy swooped downwards rapidly and came back into the formation next to me.
"Gazzy," I said. "She was trying to—"
"I know, Max, I heard," he said. "I don't care. I'm not taking any apologies."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Just as I'd predicted, we reached the island of Britain at around sundown.
"Any minute now, guys," I said.
Iggy scooped up Nudge in his arms; she stopped flying and they began to make out on the fly. I didn't judge them quite so much anymore. They had their version of savoring the moment… sometimes I almost wished I had the courage to be as wild as they were.
As it was, I only reached for Fang's hand, and planted a small kiss on his lips before resuming the flight. We were there.
Looming up ahead of us was a tower made of black stone. It fit perfectly into the English countryside, like one of the ancient castle ruins.
But this one was brand-new. And filled to the brim with the most evil people existing in the world today.
"Let's go for it," I said.