Yay for school starting today! Everyone applaud me for no longer being a freshman in high school, but now a sophomore! lol Anyway, as previously stated multiple times, updates will be little to none per week starting today, but i did manage to spew out this chapter. So i present chapter 30, where we get back to action, R&R and enjoy!
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30
Ella stumbled through the darkness, trying as hard as she could to find a light switch, a lantern, anything! But there was nothing in this endless hallway, so tears streamed down her face as she continued on, not daring to look back in case the men that had come into her house were following her. Mommy, where are you? She kept saying over and over in her mind that her mommy was safe, but in the pit of her stomach she knew something was horribly wrong.
After a minute or two, Ella stumbled on something in the dark and tripped forward, barely catching herself with her hands. It felt cold, and she immediately knew she was on a stone floor instead of a wooden one. She groped around for a moment and finally found the wall again…and a light switch. Taking a moment to recover and stand back up, Ella flicked the switch, and immediately a wave of white light flooded the hall.
"Mommy! Mommy, are you down here?" Ella whispered as loud as she could. She didn't want to be found by the men in the house, but she hoped her mom was down here and could make her feel better. "Mommy?" Ella turned from the hall to see that she was standing at the entrance to a massive laboratory. Above her arched a high ceiling of stonework and shelves upon shelves of test tubes, beakers, and cages. "Mommy?"
Then she saw something. Over in one corner of the room was a figure slumped over a desk. Shadow hid the figure, completely obscuring their back, except for the white coat they wore. "Mommy?" Ella whispered, inching her way slowly towards the figure.
Suddenly she heard a short gasp as the figure's head flipped upwards. There was a stifle of a sob as the figure said, "Yes…dear?"
"Is that you, mommy?" Ella came closer to the figure until she was just a few feet away. On the desk, she saw a bunch of papers and documents scattered around. And on one of the papers she saw a black and white photo of a girl with wings. She gasped. "Mommy? Is that…Max?"
The figure started sobbing and turned around, bringing its face into the light. Dr. Martinez cradled her head in her hands as she whispered, "I'm so sorry Ella."
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I flew ahead of the flock a ways so I could make sure we were going the right way. I recognized a chasm I remembered falling into after being shot a few months ago, and immediately knew we were on the right path. What a nice landmark.
"How much farther do you think it is?" Fang asked, flying in close to me.
"Yes, I'm starving, and breakfast was disgusting!" hollered Total from where he was nestled in Fang's backpack. We all laughed. Breakfast hadn't been much, just a few granola bars we found in the pockets of Fang's bag, but to Total it must have been nasty. I'm sure he would have preferred a dead rat or something.
"Probably just a few more minutes," I said in response to Fang's question after the laughing had stopped. "Wanna go back and inform the rest of the flock? Tell them it might be easier if you guys hovered above the house for a while. I'll go make sure Ella's okay with all of us being there, then I'll come get you." Fang nodded and flew back to join the flock.
Everything was going perfect. The wind whipped through my hair and feathers, and for a moment I completely forgot what we were going to Ella's house for, blinded by the sheer beauty around me. Gotta stay on mission, I told myself. We were here on serious business, and although I loved the thought of seeing Ella again, I knew this visit could answer a lot of things that had been left unanswered.
But as we got closer and I finally caught sight of Ella's house, I realized everything was going wrong just like that. I stopped for a moment then circled back and motioned for Fang to come to me. When he was closer I whispered into his ear, "Can you come with me? Something's wrong. We'll tell the others to hang out in the trees below." Fang nodded and we went back to the flock. "Guys, can you stick around in those trees down there?" I pointed to a patch of forest that rested on a hill directly underneath where we were. They all nodded and Fang handed his backpack to Angel, and then they shot straight downward, Gazzy helping Iggy find his way. When they were out of sight, I motioned to Fang again and we glided towards Ella's house.
"So what's wrong?" he asked. I pointed towards the small cottage as we drew closer, and it became clear exactly what was wrong. Three police cars were overturned around the house, all emitting flames and black smoke, and another was cracked in half against a tree close by. Policemen were scattered among the ground, one even on the roof, and whether they were dead or not wasn't really a question, especially when we spotted six massive Erasers lumbering out the front door.