Chapter 22

When Iggy and I walked into Mr. Robin's office, he was sitting in his chair, with his back turned to us.

"Maximum Ride," he said, turning to face us. "I have been waiting for you."

Despite my fear and my concerns that our principal wanted us dead, I had to laugh. What movie did he copy that from?

Mr. Robin frowned. "Maximum Ride, is something…..funny?"

I quickly stopped laughing. My fist clenched. "No."

Mr. Robin smiled, but it was more like an evil smile than an I-want-to-be-a-nice-principal smile.

Then before I knew what was happening, three Erasers dropped down from the ceiling, snarling, their teeth bared at us.

"Crap!" I yelled as they lunged at Iggy and me.

"Erasers?" I heard Iggy shout, but I didn't have time to answer him because I was too busy trying to yank him out of the prinicipal's office.

Too late. An Eraser was blocking the door. "Going somewhere?" he asked with a laugh, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes!" I yelled, roundhouse kicking him right in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards, right into the door, which smashed it off the hinges.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an Eraser slamming his fist right into Iggy's stomach.

"Iggy!" I screamed, right as one of the Erasers pinned him to the ground and another kicked me, right in the chest.

I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I stumbled backwards. Then I surged forward, leaping right at the Eraser and punching him hard, right in the face. He barely seemed to flinch, then raked his claws down the side of my face.

I winced, taking deep, shaky breaths, and then despite my pain, I kicked him right in the spine, finally causing him to crumple.

I spun, looking for Iggy. He still pinned to the ground, and the Eraser was punching him over and over again. Iggy looked like he was about to pass out.

Quick as lightning, I hurled myself towards the Eraser that had Iggy pinned down.

"Get away from my friend!" I screamed, grabbing a potted plant off of Mr. Robin's desk and bringing it down, right on the Eraser's head.

It distracted him for a second, and that was when I grabbed Iggy, yanking him away from the Eraser and towards the now-smashed door.

"Go! Go!" I shouted, holding on tightly to Iggy's hand as we ran down the hall.

"Where are we going?" Iggy called as I ran up a flight of stairs.

"The roof!" I yelled back. They wouldn't be able to get us from up there- looking behind me for a split second, I saw we were being pursued by Mr. Robin.

I reached the top floor, running as fast as I could towards the door that led to the roof. Pushing it open, Iggy and I burst out the door.

"Stop right there!" Mr. Robin yelled.

"Yeah right," I muttered under my breath, running to the edge of the roof, pulling Iggy behind me. My lungs were aching and my legs were burning, but I didn't stop.

"What now?" Iggy yelled. Blood was running down the side of his face.

Silently, I let go of his hand. "Count of three," I told Iggy. Of course, that really meant count of one.

He nodded.

I took a deep breath – and then, I leaped.

Mr. Robin was right behind us.

~~::~~

I'm not sure Mr. Robin knew it wasn't smart to jump off four-story buildings if you didn't have wings. Or maybe he was just consumed by the desire to capture us.

Either way, long after the ambulances left, Iggy and I climbed down from the tree we were sitting in. Were the Erasers still passed out in Mr. Robin's office, or had they disappeared? I wasn't so sure I wanted to check.

Iggy was grinning. I gave him a look. "Why are you so happy?"

He laughed. "Max, we did it! Mr. Robin's dead!"

I arched an eyebrow. "Uh….he's not dead. I'm pretty sure he just broke his neck. And both a million other things."

Iggy shrugged. "Okay, okay. Whatever. He's not coming back anytime soon!"

Slowly, I smiled. "Yeah…you're right! We did it!" I threw my arms around him in a hug, but he winced.

I quickly moved backwards. "Ig…. are you okay?"

He nodded. "Oh. Yeah, I am." His face was covered in now-dry blood, but other than that, he didn't seem to hurt too badly. "Are you?"

"Huh?" I nodded. "Yeah. You're sure you don't have a broken nose or anything?"

He laughed. "Max, seriously, I'm fine. You're the leader, not my mom."

I frowned at him. "Fang's the leader, remember?"

Iggy sighed. "Max, you're the leader. No one else. I mean, you don't see Fang taking on three Erasers at once, right?"

I laughed. "Yeah…. I guess."

Iggy smiled. "Come on. We have a class to get back to."

Of course, that was when the bell rang, signaling that class was over. Kids came rushing out the door, laughing and smiling. Nudge and Gazzy were two of them.

When Nudge saw our faces though, her eyes widened. "Oh my god! What happened?"

"Are you guys okay?" Gazzy asked, his big blue eyes looking very concerned.

I smiled, which probably just looked gruesome, what with all the blood. "Don't worry. It's okay."

"Is everything alright?" Nudge asked. "Because we could call Jeb and go to the hospital, and how did you even get like that? Did you fall off of something? Or what?"

I laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Mr. Robin's gone. And don't worry, we're okay. Everything's going to be just fine from now on."