I DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR PERCY JACKSON. IF I DID, WOULD I BE OBSESSED WITH THEM? YOU TELL ME! ANYHOO...

PREVIOUSLY: "Yep." I smirked. "He's my half-brother on my dad's side. Only slightly older than me."

"Your half-brother?" the flock chorused as one.

It was silent for a minute, until seven whitecoats entered the room. Flanking them were sixteen Erasers.

"Oh, joy," I muttered. "More 'testing'."

"All right." A whitecoat checked her clipboard. "We'll need Subjects Six and Sixteen." I looked at Angel in horror as the two of us were dragged out of our crates.

Control their minds, she suddenly thought at me.

Aw, hell, yeah, I thought back. We both turned toward the whitecoats and Erasers, and spoke in unison. "You want to let us go." I directed my power toward the whitecoats. All seven of them blinked and suddenly looked dazed. I then turned my attention to the Erasers while Angel held the whitecoats in check.

"You would absolutely love to let us go," I said, suddenly reminding myself of Piper and her charmspeak. "You want to walk us to the door and watch us fly away without doing anything."

"Yes, ma'am," the Erasers said as one.

"Unlock their cages," I ordered, pointing to the five birdkids still in the crates. In a minute, we were all cage-free and walking down the hall, flanked by sixteen Erasers and seven whitecoats. Once at the door, we took off one by one. I was the last, seeing everyone else off first. Then I threw myself into the air and began to fly. I had never flown before, but it felt natural, and apparently I was flying like I'd been doing it for years.

Gazzy flew closer to me. "So you're a daughter of the sea god, Poseidon."

"Yeah, why?" I already knew where this was going, but it was more fun this way.

"Do you really have water powers?"

My eyes narrowed, and a stream of water from the lake below us hit Gazzy in the face. Angel and Nudge burst out laughing. "To answer your question, Gazzy," I said innocently while Gazzy spluttered and spat out water, "yes, I do have water powers." With that, I flipped over and pulled my wings in, free-falling. Hitting the surface of the lake with absolutely no splash, I sank out of sight within seconds. I decided to prank them and didn't come up. I could breathe underwater just fine, so no worries there. I could see the flock flying over the surface of the water, looking for me. I grinned. This is fun.

"Having fun?" a bubbly voice spoke from behind me. I whirled around, ready to attack, but it was only Angel.

Angel, I thought at her, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Underwater! Not the easiest thing to do, that.

Sorry. She smiled apologetically. It was kind of funny, though.

I grinned. No real harm done, Angel. I used my powers to create a geyser of water on which I stood, then shot up behind Max, unnoticed by anyone until I said, "Looking for something?"

As Max whirled around, I snickered at the expression on her face. "Gabi, your clothes, you're - what?" Her gaze landed on my left arm, where the worst cuts had been. "You're healed!" It was true. My skin was unmarked (except by those goddamn freckles). I was even wearing different clothes: jean shorts, combat boots, and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Even my jewelry was back: My camp necklace, with the five different beads for five different summers, and my snake ring, which transformed into a dagger.

"Daughter of Poseidon," I said simply. "It has its advantages."

"I'll say," Max muttered.

"And," Fang noted. "You're not even wet."

"Powers, remember?"

"Let's go, guys," Max said. "Where to, Gabi?"

"Long Island, New York."