Chapter 19
"Max, where are we going?" Iggy asked as I practically dragged him up flight after flight of stairs.
I laughed. "I told you, it's a surprise."
"I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to-" Iggy started, but I cut him off.
"We're here," I proclaimed quietly, opening the door to the roof.
"Um…Max? We shouldn't be up here," he told me.
I grinned. "Who cares? Since when have you been afraid to break the rules, anyway?"
He smiled. "Right. So, what's your big plan?"
Silently, I unfurled my wings. Iggy heard, and his face lit up.
"We are not ditching the field trip," he said, but it was clear that he wanted to leave. His expression said so.
"Oh, we are," I said, letting go of his hand and leaping off the roof of the building, beating my wings hard to stay aloft. Iggy was right behind me.
"Where are we going?" he yelled over the wind as we soared higher.
I laughed. "Anywhere!"
"I'm good with that!" he called back.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. It felt like forever since I'd been up here in the sky, flying and doing what I was made to do.
After a few minutes, I looked back at Iggy, who was following close behind me.
"Having fun?" I asked, grinning.
"Oh yeah!" he yelled over the wind. "So much better than some dumb field trip!"
"That's for sure," I called, looking downwards. We were high over some city.
"Hey, let's go have some more fun!" I added, grabbing Iggy's hand and pulling him downwards. "Follow me!"
"Where are going?" Iggy yelled, but I ignored him for now, swooping downwards towards the city below.
I landed behind a huge building, glancing around as I carefully folded my wings in and zipped up my jacket. A few seconds later, Iggy did the same.
"Where are we?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I dunno." I peered around the corner of the building, then pulled him after me. "Come on."
"You don't know where we are?" Iggy was asking in an annoyed tone, but I tuned him out as I headed towards the front of the building.
Looking up at the letters on top of the building, I realized it was the mall.
"Awesome," I muttered. Of course we had to end up at the mall, which was one of my least favorite places in the world.
"Where are we?" Iggy repeated.
"Mall," I told him, frowning.
He rolled his eyes. "The mall? I thought you hated the mall. Is Jaz rubbing off on you or something?"
I shook my head. "Whatever. Let's get something to eat. I bet there's a food court around here or something."
People gave us weird looks when we walked into the mall, probably wondering what two weird-looking kids were doing in the mall in the middle of a school day.
That was when I spotted the food court.
"I smell French fries," Iggy said, grinning. "Smells much better than our school lunches."
I laughed. "Oh yeah." I practically ran up the escalator, dragging Iggy behind me.
"Okay. Take your pick," I told Iggy when we got to the top, describing all the places to eat. There was a McDonalds, a pizza place, some Chinese restaurant, Baskin Robbins, and a Subway.
Iggy smiled. "Can we get ice cream for lunch?"
"Duh!" I responded, heading over to the Baskin Robbins counter.
"Do they have cookie dough?" Iggy asked, and I nodded. "Mm hm."
He grinned, then looked at the lady at the counter, who had an extremely bored expression on her face. "I'll have four scoops of that."
"Okay," she muttered, scooping ice cream onto a cone very, very slowly. I rolled my eyes and started humming the Jeopardy song. Iggy started cracking up.
"Here you go," the lady said, handing the cone to me. I gave it to Iggy.
"Anything else?" she added in her monotone voice.
"I'll have the same," I replied, wondering if it would take her an hour to scoop the ice cream or something.
After I got my ice cream, the lady rang us up. Iggy had already eaten half of his ice cream by then.
"That will be ten dollars," she told me.
That was when I realized something pretty important. "Um… I don't exactly have any money?" I offered.
She narrowed her eyes, then reached out and swiped the ice cream from our hands. "Then leave!"
I gave her my best glare. "Fine, we will!" I shouted, grabbing Iggy's hand and marching away.
"That ice cream was good," Iggy whispered as we walked away. I started laughing again, until I noticed a very familiar man standing across the food court.
"Crap," I muttered, pulling Iggy under a big table.
"What?" he asked. "Erasers?"
"No," I replied, shaking my head. I peered out to see if Mr. Robin was still there. He was. "It's our principal."
"Maybe he'll give us candy," Iggy said hopefully, and I smacked him. "Ow!"
"Don't draw attention to us," I hissed.
"Right," Iggy muttered. "Because nothing draws attention like two kids ditching school and hiding under a table in the food court of a mall."
I smacked him again.
Mr. Robin was heading our way with a tray full of McDonald's food. My stomach rumbled.
"He's coming," I whispered.
"Let's run!" Iggy hissed at me. I held him back. "No! He'll see us! We'll get detention for life!"
I heard a chair scraping on the floor, and before I knew it, Mr. Robin was sitting right at the very table we were hiding under.
"Crap," I repeated in a low voice.
"Is he the one sitting there?" Iggy whispered.
"Yeah," I whispered back, trying to figure out an escape plan. Maybe we could run while Mr. Robin was distracted with eating his food.
Then a phone started ringing. It was Mr. Robin's.
"Hello?" I heard him say. A pause followed, to which he replied, "I told you, I'm working on it!"
"Working on what?" Iggy whispered.
I elbowed him. "Shhh!"
"Yes, I understand," Mr. Robin was saying. "You will receive the subjects soon. Give me some time."
My eyes widened. What was he talking about? I glanced at Iggy, who had gone completely still.
"Alright, goodbye," Mr. Robin continued. I heard his phone snap shut, and then I saw him stand up and walk away.
I pulled Iggy out from under the table. "Do you know what this means?"
"That some fat old guy practically put his feet on my face?" Iggy replied.
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "No! It means…." I paused. "It means Mr. Robin is one of them."