Chapter 37

"Everyone ready?" Fang asked, opening the front door. Nudge ran up to him, tugging on his shirt. "What about Jeb? Shouldn't we tell him where we're going? He could help us find Max!"

Fang shook his head. "Jeb's at work. Besides, we'll be fine."

"Well, let's go then!" Iggy said in an irritated tone. "Max could be in trouble and you're just standing around talking."

Fang nodded. "Right." He picked up little Angel and led the way out the door, then unfurled his wings and turned to look at the rest of the flock behind him. "Come on."

"Let's go find Max!" Gazzy yelled, spreading his wings and taking off. Everyone else followed his lead, and soon they were soaring high up in the sky.

"Where are we going?" Nudge yelled over the wind.

Fang sighed. "I'm not entirely sure."

"You don't even know where we're going?" Iggy groaned. "Some leader you are."

Fang rolled his eyes, then thought to himself, Where would Max go if she was in trouble?

In his arms, Angel started singing, "Old McDonald had a farm!" Fang chuckled softly, then looked around at the rest of the flock. "Any ideas?"

Angel's singing got louder. "And on that farm he had some cows! Eeieei o!"

Fang frowned. That wasn't helping him concentrate very much.

"Angel, I hate that song!" Gazzy yelled at his sister. "It doesn't even make any sense!"

Angel stopped singing, looking up at Fang. "Farm!" she said happily. "Cows!"

Fang sighed. "Angel, we'll go to the farm later." He wondered how Max could stand leading this crazy bunch of kids all the time.

Then suddenly, he had an epiphany. "Wait. Angel. The farm, right?"

Angel nodded. "We can go to the farm with Max!"

Fang nodded back. "Where's the farm?"

Iggy sighed. "I think Fang is losing his mind."

Fang ignored him, as Angel pointed in the other direction. "Farm over there!" she exclaimed, then went back to singing. Fang nodded, very thankful for Angel's mind-reading powers right now. For a three-year-old, she was incredibly smart.

"Alright, I think I know where to go," Fang told the flock, turning to face them.

Iggy frowned. "Fang, I'm sorry to break it to you, but we don't have time to go milk cows or anything."

Fang sighed in exasperation. "No, Max is on a farm! That's what Angel said."

Nudge, Gazzy, and even Iggy (well, kind of) gave him strange looks. "Uh, okay," Nudge said, raising an eyebrow.

Fang shook his head. "It sounds crazy right now. But just trust me." Angel was right…Fang wasn't sure how he could tell, but he knew she was right. "We're heading east."

Fang could only hope that Max wasn't in too much danger right now.

~~::~~

"These are great," I said, finishing off what might be my ninth pancake. Caroline – the lady who lived here, remember? – just smiled as if that wasn't weird at all. I set down my fork. "Thanks. But I really need to go now."

Caroline shook her head. "No, Max. I don't think you should….um, fly yet. Why don't I give you a tour of the farm?"

My eyes widened. "Farm? You mean, with actual cows and horses and stuff?" Man, Nudge and Angel would love that. But they weren't here. I needed to get back to them. "No thanks," I added quickly, standing up. "I feel better already."

Caroline frowned. "But you are very injured. Perhaps-"

"I heal quicker than the average person," I told her, crossing my arms over my chest. Then I realized it probably wasn't the best idea to give out any more information and shut my mouth.

Her eyes widened. "Max, may I ask….how exactly did you become like this?"

I shook my head, frowning.

She sighed. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"No!" I yelled at her, my fists clenching. "You don't understand! And you never will understand anything about me!" I pushed past her, running to the door and shoving it open and burst out into the fresh air. I took a deep breath, smiling slightly as I extended my wings and prepared to get a running start.

But just as I started running, someone grabbed me. I turned to see a bearded man in overalls – some sort of farmer guy, obviously – holding my arm tightly.

"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking at him. These people probably worked for the School – that's why they wouldn't let me leave! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Caroline with her hands over her mouth, probably still in shock at my wings. I guess I tended to have that effect on people.

"You'll hurt yourself," the man said.

I shook my head. "No! You're wrong! I said, let me go!" I managed to yank my arm out of his grip and ran forward before they could catch me again, then leaped into the air and began frantically beating my wings. Except I only got a few feet off the ground before my wings crumpled with pain and I fell to the ground, groaning.

"Max!" Caroline yelled, running up to me, followed by the farmer guy. "Max, are you alright?"

"I've been better," I muttered, slowly pulling myself up off the ground.

"Max, you can't do dangerous things like that!" Caroline said, putting her hands on my shoulders. I shrugged them off.

"I can do whatever I want!" I told her, frowning and crossing my arms over my chest

Caroline just shook her head. "Please don't try that again. You'll only hurt yourself more." She smiled a bit. "Now how about a tour of the farm?"

I looked away from her. "Whatever."

"Great!" she replied, apparently not understanding that I wanted to be left alone. "Now over here is the barn…"

I looked up at the sky, frowning. Maybe if I waited a couple hours until trying to fly again… I needed to get back to my flock as soon as possible.

~~::~~
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer!" the Gasman belted at the top of his lungs.

"Faaaaang, I'm hungry!" Nudge whined.

Iggy groaned. "Nudge, you ate all of our granola bars and you're still hungry?"

"Take one down and pass it around!" Gazzy continued to sing.

"Maybe we could stop at a McDonalds," Nudge said, frowning.

"Yeah, if we had any money!" Iggy retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!" Gazzy screamed.

"Everyone shut up," Fang muttered, annoyed at the rest of the flock.

"At least I'm not singing Old McDonald had a farm," Gazzy pointed out.

"I want to go to McDonalds," Nudge begged.

"Maybe you can ask Max when we find her," Fang said, gritting his teeth.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah! Great idea!" Then she looked like she was going to start crying. "I miss Max!"

That made Angel start crying too. Fang sighed. This was worse than that road trip they took to California. He had to put up with these four annoying, hungry, tired flock members.

"All there is around here is empty land," Gazzy said, looking downward. "And some farms. Are you sure Max wasn't at any of the farms we passed?"

Fang shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she's not. Angel would've said something."

"Angel isn't a human GPS," Iggy sighed. "She's three years old."

"Guys!" Nudge yelled, pointing. Fang frowned. Nudge probably found a McDonalds or something.

But when he looked where Nudge was pointing, he saw tiny people down below on a farm. Normal humans wouldn't be able to make out the faces of the people, but the flock wasn't exactly normal. Thanks to his raptor vision, Fang could tell who it was.

He nodded. "It's Max. We found Max."