((Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or any of the characters in this book. They all still belong to James Patterson, well, they still did when I last checked. Enjoy!
But I do own the plots, so PLEASE respect this story and the author and don't steal the plot(s).))
Chapter 4: Vulnerable
"So, you can see him now?" Iggy almost sounded upset. Gazzy, Angel and Nudge followed them in, crowding the door. The room was now very crowded. Max's mum pulled out the needle whist I was distracted.
"Ok, I'll take these to the lab, then come back and fix you up." She walked out of the room after a quick hell to everybody.
"So, Fang. What made to want to turn visible again? Max's mum?" I scolded at Nudge.
"No. I didn't turn invisible. I just blended into my surroundings." She cocked an eyebrow my way. "I didn't want to, it just happened. I can't explain what happened." Nudge's eyebrow was still up her forehead. I hoped it would fall off.
"Maybe, you did do it, but you didn't know." Everyone looked at Angel. Max nodded, thinking the possibilities over in her head. Possibly even to the Voice. Stranger things have happened.
"Look, I don't know why you blended into your surroundings, whether you wanted to or not, I don't know. But the Voice just pointed out a likely fact to me." Yep, the Voice was involved. Stupid thing. We waited for her to go on. "It said that this was a glitch in your system. The Voice said that maybe it meant a new skill was on your way. I didn't know," she sat on the end of my bed. She was getting herself comfortable when her mum walked in holding a bucket of something.
"Wait, what's that?" I looked into the bucket, see only white, milky stuff.
"It's plaster. For your leg." I looked at her. Was she kidding? I wouldn't need that stuff.
"No. I'll be fine," she looked angry and tired for a second then rolled her eyes. She reminded me of Max and I saw Angel smile.
"You need this stuff Fang, trust me. Even being a bird kid you still need it. It'll take 6 weeks for your leg to heel as good as it was before, or as close to it as possible. Even being a bird kid." I sat on the bed, completely vulnerable to attack. I hated this. I nodded, not looking in anyone's eyes. She left the room again.
"Max, I hate this. I feel so…vulnerable. I hate it." I spoke in a whisper so the rest of the flock wouldn't here me. She nodded.
"I know Fang. We'll get this done, then we'll go on with the plan. Ok?" I nodded. Max's mum came back in and told me to lay down. Max jumped off the bed and sat cross-legged on the floor out of the way. The kids followed her over.
And hour or so later, Max's mum handed me a pair of crutches.
"I would need them, I can fly." She frowned at me and held them out for me. I shook my head. Then I saw she looked just like Max when she was angry and I decided not to push it. I grabbed them and leaned them against the bed.
"Ok, we all ready to go? Thank you mum for doing this. He might not show it, but Fang is thankful as well. We better be off. Bye." Max's mum hugged her daughter and we all headed out, me limping all behind.
"Oh, come on Fang stop scowling at everything. She was just trying to help." I sighed at Max. I tried to flip her the bird but I almost landed flat on my ass, so I gave up. Max laughed, delighted that I was weak. He frowned at her. If looks could kill. She laughed again and as hard as I tried, my frown softened. Damn Max.
We took flight and I had to hold the bloody things in my hands. Several times someone tried to take them off me but I hit them with the crutches. Iggy took one and started poking me. It was annoying the heck out of me, but it was funny.
"Hey guys. There's a shop down there that has a dumpster out the back. And guess what? It's full of food." We dived down landing perfectly on the edge on the dumpster. I had being practicing the moves I'd learnt off the birds of pray flying around. It was pretty cool, I had to admit. We got all the good stuff we could then shoved it into our packs. We ate what we needed to then left, leaving nothing eatable behind.
A while later, it was getting dark and we were almost at Vancouver. Iggy had always wanted to go to Canada, so I was flying with him telling him everything.
"And down there is a massive casino, you'd love it. Imagine the inside!" Max heard us and flew down to see what we were doing. Possibly checking up on us.
"So, enjoying the city view?" Iggy nodded, spreading his arms out before him.
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my whole life. Thank you so much Max for letting us come here." His voice was sarcastic.
"Well, maybe it's the snow?" Iggy paused mid-air.
"What? There's snow. Why didn't you say so," he motioned down then grinned. We all knew what he wanted. The fact that he could see against white made us all smile. We flew down to Earth and landed on the rooftop of an abandoned block of flats. We flew down into deferent trees in a small park then made our way to a big red building on the corner of the street. Iggy brushed pasted it on our way.
"Fang, is this building here red?"
"Uh, yeah." I heard him mutter cool but didn't respond. I was enjoying the cold air in my face was a women hurrying to a near by taxi bumped into me. She almost feel to the ground but I stuck out my arm.
"Are you ok?" I looked her up and down. She was about 30ish and wore black tight jeans and a black singlet. She had long wavy black hair that fell half way down her back.
"Yes, sorry. I'm sorry. Excuse me." I looked into her dark eyes and saw something there, but couldn't place it. She looked back at me as she got into the taxi, and smiled at me. It was something about her smile that hit me. It was all to familiar, to same-ish to something. But I couldn't place it.
"Fang? Where'd you go?" Iggy stopped and looked around, which was pointless.
"Yeah, I'm here Ig." Max had seen the whole thing and had fallen beside me to talk.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Max nodded, wanting to know the same thing.
"I..I don't know." Max frowned.
"Who was that lady? Did you know her?" I shrugged.
"I think I did, you know, but I can't place it. I don't know. She reminded me of someone, but I've got no idea who. Maybe someone whose tried to kill us in the past?" That didn't sound right, but it was a guess. Max didn't think was right ether, judging by the expression on her face.
"No, that's not right. I've seen her before."
"Yeah, so have I." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm rolling my eyes Iggy." He snickered at me, almost walking into a lamp-post. I pulled him away at the last minute. Nudge stopped and turned to us, Angel and Gazzy in tow.
"Are we going to stay here tonight? I hope with will, it looks so awesome here. Maybe we could go out for out dinner? That would be cool, hey Angel? Oh, we have to go to this museum thing I-"
"Please Nudge, can it." They all looked at me like I had confessed to the most evil sin. I rubbed my head, drowning in the thoughts spinning around in there.
"Fang, don't say that. Yes, Nudge we're going to stay tonight. And yeah, we could go out for dinner if you promise to behave. Ok?" Nudge nodded, avoiding my eyes. I sighed, willing the pain in my head to go away. Max looked up at me.
"Maybe we should find a hotel first. It's only about 5, we should have a nap first." Nudge nodded and looked around.
"How 'bout that one?"
"No, Nudge, we're not staying at the Hilton." Nudge pouted, disappointed. Iggy laughed. In the end we found a small hotel that was cheap and had spare rooms. Again, the guys got one room and the girls got the other. I was beginning to heat up again, so I offered to stay behind. Max shook her head.
"I want us all together. I don't want to be spilt up and on the run in a strange city." She had a point. "Are you ok Fang? What happened today?" She waited for an answer.
"I don't know. That women looked so familiar, but I can't place it. It's annoying me. And I'm getting a fever or something. I feel hot." She looked away, then back again.
"Ok, here's the deal. I don't know about that women, if we can trust her. She's familiar to me to. But as for dinner, you'll come, but we would stay long. We'll eat, then be gone. Ok?" I nodded. She smiled and walked out. I heard Gazzy and Iggy out in the hall, and I closed my eyes.
I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until Gazzy came in and woke me up. I was still lying on the bed, sprawled out on my back. I jumped up and locked the door behind me. Max, Angel and Nudge were already out waiting in the foyer.
"Hey, Fang, you should turn invisible again and steal food out of the kitchen for us. That could work. Or you could raid the desert tray! That's a better idea, although they're both cool. What do you think?"
"No, Gazzy. That wouldn't work. Can you imagine what would happen if someone saw a floating roast whiz by their heads? It would work." He sighed.
"You're right. That wouldn't work at all. Unless you turn the food invisible as well! That'll work!" He grinned up at me, and I couldn't help but grin back. Max saw and smiled.
"Bonding are we? What is he sucking you into Fang?" Again Gazzy grinned at me.
"He wants me to turn invisible and steal food from the kitchen or desert table."
"Oh. And anyway, we'll be eating there so we don't need to steal."
"But you know, for later." Oh jeez, when this kid wanted something, he was really going to try and push it wasn't he?
"Angel, you're quite. You ok?" Angel looked up and nodded.
"I'm just thinking thanks Max."
"About?" I knew Max was worried that Angel might be figuring out a plan to make Gazzy's work. Angel shrugged.
"Nothing." Getting all innocent didn't work on Max.
"Oh, ok." I almost choked. That evil little kid! Angel smiled up at me. I growled back. Nudge and Angel laughed, and Max threw in a 'down boy' for good measure.
Inside the restaurant, it was dim, which was ok by me. We ordered and our food came almost straight away. Only a 5 minute wait. Man this place was good! I ordered 2 steak plates, a glass of coke, a large plate of chips and a large bowl of salad. Max had the same, Nudge ordered 3 plates of spaghetti and a whole garlic bread stick and a glass of red cordial, Gazzy had a large platter of wedges, a small seafood platter and a glass of spite. Iggy had a large seafood platter, a large bowl of chips and a glass of coke and Angel had 2 plates of fish and chips, a salad bowl, a glass of coke and some fresh crab. The waiter looked at us weird, but served us our food. We'd finished it all in 20 minutes. Angel had left some of her fish and chips. She pushed it away and I grabbed it before Gazzy even realized. Max laughed and the conversation became really casual. We all ordered more drinks and half a chocolate cake each. I had mint on mine, and so did Angle.
"You know Fang, I've been thinking." Everyone stopped to look at her, all of us wondering why she had been so quite, and what she was about to say. "Remember that lady we saw? I was thinking that she might be, like, your mum or something. I mean, she looks the same as you. That's why everyone thought they'd seen her before. In fact, we were staring at the reason the whole time. I think that's pretty cool Hey? Anyway, can we have more cake? But Fang still hasn't finished my fish and chips yet, so we'll wait for him. It that ok?" Angel looked around at 5 faces, gaping like fish out of water. We all started as if she'd said she had just killed the president. Then all these emotions washed over me at once, making my head hurt. I got up and walked out of the restaurant, heading towards the hotel. I sighed to myself, thinking over what she'd just said. The more I thought about it, the more likely it was. Had I meet my own mother and not even recognized her? Was that possible? Surely there had to be some indication? But there were. She looked the same as me, even I had to admit that much. She was about the right age, I think. And those feeling when I saw her. She had to be her, didn't it? I made a mental note to tell to Max later.
Back at the hotel, I went back to my room and lay down on the bed, not bothering with anything else. I didn't even open the curtain. A while later, there was a soft tap at the door and I turned to see Max come in.
"You awake?" I nodded, sat up and moved over so she could sit down with me. She seemed pleased at this gesture and sat.
"Are you ok Fang?"
"Do you think it's her Max?" She looked in to my face for a second then looked back down at her dirty sneakers.
"I don't know. Angel has a point. Maybe she is, there's no real way to tell thought, is there? How do you feel about it?" I sighed.
"A little weird," I admitted. "I'm not sure what to do. We'll just go on living our lives, forget the whole thing. I don't know if I what to see her again, if it is my mother. Didn't she give me up to the school?" Max shook her head.
"I don't think so. I think the school took you, from memory. She was only a teenager when…" She trailed off. I thanked her for it.
"She looked about 30. How old am I? How old are you and the rest of the flock? It's all so much, so stupid. We shouldn't have to deal with this." I was lost for words. I didn't need to tell Max that. She put her arm around my neck.
"Fang, I know what you're going through. When I first found out who my parents were, I was scared. When I was little, I used to wish Jeb was my dad. And now that he is…it's not what I thought it would be. When I first met mum, I wanted her to be my mum and Ella my sister. But when I found out, I didn't want her to get hurt, being so close to me. There were a lot of mixed feelings Fang. I sorted them out and decided that a) I can't trust Jeb, but I have to listen to him, and b) I did want Ella and mum, despite the consequences. It took me a while, yeah. But I got there, in the end. That's what's life's about. Win some, lose some, you know? I just say 'oh well' and try and move on. Like when Ari died. I mean, yeah it was tough, but I just tried. And when you got hurt. I thought you wouldn't survive. But I kept trying, always pushing myself to make it better." Max lowered her voice. "I try and remember the good, not the bad. It usually works. Like when the flock split. I remembered everything good we've ever done and pretended the bad things didn't happen. It worked some, I guess. But you do what you thinks best ok? Come and see me in a little while if you want to talk. Ok? Will you be ok?" I nodded and we stood. I pulled her into a hug and we stood there for what felt like ages. I hoped she understood that I was trying to say thank you for everything. Finally, even though I knew we both didn't what to, we pulled apart.
"We'll always be here for you Fang, and you'll always be here for us," Max whispered, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. I sighed and lay back down on the double bed. I was asleep in seconds.