Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of it's characters. I do however own Carolynne, Nick, Derek, Harshad, Tabitha, Raina, and Avel.
Chapter 14: Thoughts You Can't Decode!
Max
I left the closet with a new sense of accomplishment. I was going to find out the truth. I was going to confront Fang once and for all. This may be a little random, but have I mentioned that I'm Maximum Ride? Yeah, you probably know, and I don't have the best of luck. As soon as I walked out of the closet it was about seven thirty so, Tabitha, Derek and Raina had come back for Fang. I walked in on her teaching him his slight Italian accent.
"-yes. Ah, your name is Nicolas Greco. Speak it with the accent. Greco. You must let your tongue roll with the r," Tab said. She can't do it either without sounding like she's from New Jersey. I wish you could hear it. It's was very funny.
Fang was trying but absolutely failing. "Nicolas Greco."
"Ni-cole-laas Grr-eh-co! Say it loud and proud Fang, dear."
I flinched at the word "dear" and things had started to come back to me. I suddenly remembered my dream and was admittedly feeling a little light headed. I sat down on a bed, and they were very soft. That horrible man did something to me; I don't know what it was. His name was "D" and his presence terrified me. He didn't seem to care about Nick, or what happened to him. He was being used as his Shell, his messenger. Only because D was too scared to show himself to me. He's a coward and I will take him down. No one tries to make me a Shell, or whatnot, without getting a serious butt kicking.
It's just wrong. What do I know about him? I know that he uses Shells, not helpful. I know that he tried to make me a Shell, not helpful. I know that Nick is a Shell, again not helpful! This guy really knows how to conceal himself. The ultimate evil villain! No villain is too much for us; we will get rid of him. The only question is: how? I pondered on the fact for a few minutes. I was disturbed by Tab's talking.
"Ah, you're useless. I can get you the voice but the accent in itself is unique," she threw her arms in the air in anguish. Then she turned to face the rest of us.
"Don't fret. You all are just as important," she started handing out clothing to us all. Was, her accent was getting thicker, or was that just me? The way she talked sounded less American and more United Kingdom-ish.
"Your alibi is that you all are all American transfer students. We need you to investigate for us. I have a few suspicious people we need to investigate."
I objected. "How are we supposed to get close to them?"
"Easy. For example, Angel's person is Viktorya Yurah. We have arranged it so that she is her roommate, as we have done for some of you. Clever, yes?"
I wanted to room her with Nudge, or at least someone she knew. But if this is the way to get it done …"Yes, but what about Gazzy and Angel? They are too young to play high school student."
"You didn't think I thought of that? I was thinking Angel can she can shift into an older her and for Gazzy I was going to have Der give a go," Derek waved. Hi.
"Okay, I'm on board. When are we starting?"
"In a day or so, but Fang has to come today; he's already enrolled as Nick." She grabbed Fang and dragged him away. All the while he grew bigger and into Nick. Derek sure knew how to work some magic. He looked very uncomfortable and I watched as he was whisked away.
"An exciting start to a brand new day." I was sitting up now.
Angel replied "Sure but what do we do now?"
"You could practice changing if you want." She looked excited and soon her face began to morph from small to bigger and back again. It was pretty repetitive and I stifled a yawn. I am still tired from that fight. Maybe I should go to sleep. Nudge and Gazzy were on the Internet and Iggy was staring into space. I hate when he gets like that. He looks so sad and lonely. I would talk to him but I can barely stay awake right now. I put my head down and drifted into a fitful sleep.
Fang
Tabitha is so energetic. Where does all her energy come from? Just looking at her makes me tired. She pulled me up the stairs and along the hallways. We stopped at a bathroom and she shoved the clothes at me. Momentarily confused, I glared quizzically. She put her palm to her forehead and let out a sigh, like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "Go change! Do I need to point everything out for you?"
I entered the bathroom and went into a stall. The uniform she had given me was a dark color. The bottoms were navy blue and the top was cream colored. There was a burgundy tie, a black belt, a navy vest and a navy jacket. I put everything on, except the vest. No man is ever caught dead in a vest. Maybe that's my male ego but I don't care. I held the vest in my arm and walked back out.
I walked back out and Tabitha gave me thumbs up while taking the sweater. "You are looking sharp! Let's go now. Raina will take you there to the principal's office I have to go."
Tabitha handed me of to Raina. She soon disappeared around the corner. We walked and walked and I couldn't help but wonder how big this school was. There were millions of hallways and flights of stairs. You had to be in the best of shape to get through this gigantic thing they call school. After what seemed like hours of wandering the halls we finally stopped at a scary looking office of sorts. I say of sorts because the door was very gothic looking and scary. It was painted a navy blue color despite its previous state of color.
When you stepped inside it was a whole other story. The insides were very cheerful in a too-much-school-spirit kind of way. We sat in the chairs in front of the preppy desk and somehow noticing our presence, a woman appeared out of the back room. "How did she kno-"
The woman made her entrance and Raina immediately shushed me. "Nice to see that you're back Nicholai. I thought for a moment, that you had changed schools on us."
The woman was very tall and had long brown hair, all pinned up into a messy bun. She had cold gray eyes and a very skinny face. Her clear, rectangular frames cast a small glare in my face. She looked like the definition of an evil headmistress. You could say that her height and lack of kindness in her voice and perma-scowl on her face wouldn't help her case. I would say that she was in her mid thirties. After a moments silence she spoke again. "Aren't you going to tell me why you were late? Why I shouldn't drop you from this school and take the next smarter kid I see?"
Man, was she scary. I felt beads of sweat form on my brow. Who was she? As if sensing my discomfort, Raina whispered a few words into my ear. "That's Miss Sera."
After Miss Sera shot a death glare at Tabitha I made up an excuse. In all my years on the run, I have learned how to lie; I am a master at it. So I said," Miss Sera, I was on vacation in America with friends. We all bought plane tickets to go back but there weren't enough seats on the plane. I had to go on a separate flight that has caused me to come at a later time," without breaking another sweat.
She didn't look convinced. "So, what time did you get here?"
"About five a.m. this morning." I shot back. Is she interrogating me?
"What state?" she asked.
"Michigan," I said.
"What city?" she spat at me.
"Ferndale," I replied. I wasn't sure if this was the city but I saw a sign for it on the way to Chicago. Am I the master of lying or what?
"What airport?"
I know that one; the flight attendant said it. "The Metro."
Her face still read disbelief. She was a hard lady to please. Suddenly, the expression softened and she looked about ten years younger. A smile stretched across her face. "Great. Now hurry up and go to class. Here is your dorm key."
She handed me a key with the schools logo on it, a banner reading "Education is key to success." The word were so small , it took a bird kid to read. We promptly left and were walking down the hall, to class. "How'd you like Sera?"
"She was very scary," truth be told.
"She'll do that at times, but she's nice. The best Head, or principal you'll ever meet." She had a strange twinkle in her eye. She actually liked her. I couldn't help but think she was having mood swings. She comes off as a mean principal but is actually nice. That is just about the best alter ego on the planet.
"Hey, I never got to ask one thing."
"What?" she looked at me.
"Remember when we were fighting that day, in the alley?" I never had wanted to remember it but I had a question about it. She nodded. I continued, "What was that stuff that was on your skin. It looked like an aurora."
She didn't even think; the information just started pouring out of her mouth. "That is energy. Sometimes if you really focus then you can borrow energy from your surroundings, nature. This energy takes the form of an aurora on skin because that is one of nature's most natural forms of it. "
She paused, waiting for a reply. I remained quiet, wanting her to go on. " For example, you're going to the North Pole. If you are lucky you will see the gathering of the swarming vitality overhead. It takes numerous forms and is used in many living things, which explains why it is so colorful, and differentiated. What I do is I channel this energy, draw it close to me. I can feel the strength and the presence of the previous organisms as it seeps into my skin. I use a small amount and it replenishes me."
"How are you able to do this?"
"My race has a strong connection to the past and can therefore draw energy from it. We also learn the importance of giving this energy back because it is for everyone. Energy has a mind of it's own at times. If you keep it within you, it will overwhelm you and could possibly bring madness. Keeping energy for a extended period of time is dangerous."
"How?"
"Have you heard of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity?"
"No." I never knew she was this smart. All these explanations were making me feel very stupid. What was the Integrated Data Sentient Entity anyways? It sounded complicated and painful.
"It's a theory that I use when looking upon the universe. In this theory, the universe is a sea of data. In the sea there were beings that were apart from it and created us. They also are known in many parts of the world as, God(s). They exist as data, have no corporal bodies and cannot be detected even with the most advanced optical devices. As our universe expanded and evolved, this(these) being(s)expanded and evolved us and the galaxies. They created organic life forms, also known as life on Earth, and humans. We have rapidly begun to evolve and grow and have been granted evolutionary powers to certain peoples, one of them being me. They created it so that in the end, we could not grow more powerful than his being. These being created us so that we could exist happily but also, have a limit. We are taught to respect this limit. We are all taught that theory and although not all of us believe it entirely, we go by it in our lives. There lie problems with every gift though so we have to be careful." Her tone was suddenly grave and very serious.
"I don't understand. " I really didn't. Maybe I should invest in school (the normal kind).
"That's okay; I'll explain better later. You have class right now." She shoved me into a classroom and a teacher greeted me. He was short and had gray hair sprouting from his head that was balding. His eyes were a watery blue and he had slight smirk about his face. I turned around but alas, Raina was gone.
"Late again, Nicholai?" Why do people keep calling me that? Is it like an adult people nickname? I sighed and sat down next to Carolynne, who was waving me over.
"How do you like school?" she whispered.
"Let me see. Miss Sera, and Mr. Whoever-that-was reprimanded me. Plus, I got my head talked off about some kind of data entity by Tabitha, that I didn't understand. Not so good, Lyn," I whispered back.
"After class I need to talk to you. More school rules and things, F-Nick." I guess she gets our joke now because she was smiling to herself as we learned about history. No one could find the history of Russia this enlightening. I know I don't.
Iggy
When does my time come? I have been sitting in this room all day. I bet Fang is having a good time. At least he is talking to people. The only company I have had all day is Gazzy. Nudge has been very talkative and obsessed with the Internet. She has been looking at music videos and talking to Angel. Gazzy and I built a few bombs but even that has gotten boring. I am the proud owner of eighteen miniature explosives. Angel has been perfecting her look.
She is now a tall, skinny, blond haired, blue-eyed teen. It took her all day to perfect the look. She can hold it for about two hours.
I am not even sure what time it is. We were brought dinner hours ago and I have been up ever since. Everyone is still sleeping and I am bored out of my mind. I still can't fall asleep. I feel drowsy but my find is full of activity. I can't get to sleep. I still cant get Max's soft weeping out of my head. If I could sleep, it would give me nightmares. I suddenly felt the need to walk around. I walk to the other side of the room. There were a few small chairs stacked on the other side of the room. I made my way to them, slowly. I didn't want to wake anyone up no matter how much I had wanted to.
The whole thing made me feel sad. I found myself wishing for sight. I wanted to see Max's face as she walked out of the closet. I wanted to see how my song made her feel. I have known Max all my life but my only memories of her face were when she was little. She was cute then but what about now? Was she beautiful, or even stunning? Were her eyes still that lovely shade of brown? I could go on forever with these questions but of course, I would never know. I would never know.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice where I was walking. I had ignored the vibrations running through my feet, and fell. My face hit the ground with a loud smack! I sat up and rubbed my cheek. Where Fang had hit me was healed, great. The rest of the bruises on my body were almost gone too. That made start to think about that day. I wondered if I hadn't fought with Fang, maybe Nick would still be here. In a way this was his fault but in a way it was mine too. I shouldn't have been cocky. I should have waited to see if she really did like him. I guess it's too late now. She did kiss him after all, so it's over.
I'm hopeless. I tried my best to woo her, but it didn't work. My efforts were in vain. I wanted to just punch something repeatedly. To relieve me of my anger, to relieve me of this pain. Max has always loved Fang, and that's the way it's supposed to be. I do wish I could've taken those guys because then I would've had something to gain out of this experience. Instead as the piece of walking bad luck I am, I have nothing. I lost the girl. I lost the fight and I lost everything. I silently rose and made my way back to my bed. I was emotionally tired.
I flopped onto the twin-sized mattress with a loud thunk! I lay faced down while emitting a sigh. No one could hear me; the mattress contained my anguish to the full. My mind was full of thought and sleep wouldn't dare enter my mind. I hated this! I couldn't sleep; I couldn't rid her from my thoughts. I sat up and let out another quiet sigh. This time I heard humming among the sounds in the room. A sound besides the deep breathing of Angel, the content snores of Gazzy and the constant tossing and turning of Nudge.
The sound was a light hum, not like that of the laptops, but that of a person. There was a tune to it and the pitch was high. I noticed the tune also and found myself singing quietly along to it. "I swam across. I jumped across for, you and all the things you do. 'Cause you were all yellow."
I heard some movement across the room, near the wall with the pictures. "Iggy, are you awake?"
"Yeah," I reply.
"…"
"… …"
There was some silence for a minute or two. I couldn't blame her. I couldn't blame myself. It felt awkward because I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to think. "Iggy?"
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you choose that song?"
Oh, I don't know, because I love you? Instead, I give her something more accustomed to the situation, something very simple. "It felt right."
She was quiet for a moment more. "…"
I wanted to ask about her song but I knew what the answer would be. No. So, I leaned against the wall and started humming to myself. I figured I would take Nudge's advice. I would hum a song to make me feel better because there was no lower feeling than what was tugging at my heart. I chose a song by Paramore. I have a soft spot for girl rock bands, some of them are pretty good. While I softly hummed the tune I thought about music. I loved music. It's like art for the ears. I don't think I could carry a tune but I love to listen to all the varieties and find the differences. I liked to listen to indie, techno, heavy metal and alternative rock. They all were rock but with slight but enjoyable differences. I liked the electric piano, and the different guitar riffs and rhythms. When you listen to them, it's relaxing.
"Is that Paramore?" Her voice sounded both wary and excited. She shifted on her bed and I heard the mattress creak.
"Yeah."
"I like Paramore," she whispered.
"Me too," I say back. That was a dumb answer. She knows you like Paramore; you were just humming it.
Max starts laughing, so lightly I almost couldn't hear it. "What's so funny?"
"You know that's the most cliché song, right?"
My cheeks burned bright red. Thankful she couldn't see it, I retorted. "But that's the best part about it."
"No, it's not. The best songs to sing are the loud, and not so popular ones," she said, holding back more laughter.
"Why?"
"So you can look cool singing it. duh, Ig."
She hasn't called me Ig in a since we came back to the flock. That's a good sign, right? "So what song should I sing, Max?"
"Yours is okay. Since no one's awake," she said happily, a hint of sleepiness in her voice. How does she fall asleep so fast? I leaned back against the wall, and started humming again, and to my surprise, she started humming with me. We got through the whole song before she spoke again.
"Now I'm going to have that song in my head tomorrow. Thanks a lot."
I smiled. "You're welcome."
We sat in silence, no sounds penetrating the air. Except for the hum of charging computers and breathing. It was quiet and peaceful. Max started singing this time, the same song very muted "How can I decide what's right, when you're clouding up my mind? I can't win your losing fight, all the time."
I was still, listening to her sing. Her voice was restful, but pretty. I was in awe, listening to her voice, lapping up every word. It was nice to just hear her, a singing voice new and unknown to me. I jumped in on the second verse. "The truth is hiding in your eyes, and it's hanging on your tongue, just boiling in my blood but you think that I cant see what kind of man that you are, if you're a man at all."
At the sound of my voice she jumped and joined back in on the screamo part. "I'm screaming on my own. My thoughts I can't decode. How did we get here? I used to know you so well, yeah. How did we get here? Well, I think I know."
I got up, mid stride and continued to sing. "Do you see what you've done? We've gone and made such fools of ourselves. Do you see what we've done? We've gone and made such fools of ourselves."
We sung together. "Yeah…!"
Max started up again. She started walking around, hands waving for emphasis. "How did we get here? Well, I used to know you so well, yeah. How did we get here? Well, I used to know you so well."
I jumped in again, with her, in unison. "I think I know. I think I know. Ooh, there is something I see in you, it might kill me, but I want it to be true."
The song was over and I started breathing heavily. I sat on a bed to catch my breath. Max was next to me, breathing ragged breaths also. When we were okay, she turns to face me. "That was fun."
"Yeah." How come that's all I can say today? I noticed that our faces were close, just like when we were outside. This time there wasn't Fang or Angel to stop me from kissing her. What should I do? Do I take the chance? That was decided for me. Max leaned forward, and her lips crashed onto mine. I didn't kiss her back. I remembered that she was mad at Fang. Was that why she was kissing me, to get back at him? I am not a rebound or that guy who will make you feel better. I am Iggy, the guy who you should love, no matter what.
I pulled away and I could feel my mood as it darkened. There was a pang in my heart. It grew and grew. I abruptly got up and lie on my mattress, sleep just a moment away. Max has disappointed me. I don't know what to believe. I was tranquil and secluded so that she wouldn't feel my disappointment. It was over. It was definitely over. I felt a thousand times worse than before. I didn't want her to kiss me because of Fang; I wanted her to kiss me because of me.
