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"Wow." I whistled. "That's pretty bad."
"Pretty bad?" Aphrodite asked venomously. "It's a lot more responsibility than you have. Or me, or anyone."
"Sure whatever." I said patronizingly. Zoey's life is a walk in the park compared to mine. I had to do way more than her, and I wasn't living all cushy and protected, was I? I have to protect the Flock—my throat closed up again and tears sprang to my eyes. My Flock.
What were they doing right now? Were they crying and forgetting to take care of themselves? Did Itex already kidnap them again? Were they being experimented on test after test after test?
I need my Flock. Without them, I'm like a mother bear without her cubs. Lonely, Heartbroken, and irritable.
Then my depression transformed into anger. Why did the tracker have to mark me? Why couldn't they mark someone who didn't have, well I dunno, wings? Bad choice world. I let out a dry laugh and balled up my fists. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but why aren't there any Erasers attacking? We thought they were tracking me before I got that stupid chip removed or Total. But what if the whole Flock was chipped? They could be tied up and gagged right this moment. No, worse, they could be in The School right now.
My breathing quickened and I clenched my fists even tighter. Go, go, go, I have to find the Flock. I need to protect my Flock. My feet carried my across the room and I opened the door.
"What are you doing?" Aphrodite's disapproving voice jolted me out of my panic for a second. After that, the Voice decided to pay me a little visit.
Calm down, Max. The Flock's fine. Heartbroken, but safe. You know they can take care of themselves. Aren't you the one who taught them how to fight and survive? You're just overreacting again. Just take a deep breath and let it out. The Flock's fine.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths to calm my breathing patterns. The Flock's fine. I thought. They're safe. No need to overreact. It's just my own paranoia again.
That's right, Max. Just calm down. The Voice answered.
But my paranoia is what kept my—the Flock safe for all these years.
Maximum. The Voice replied. You're always jumpier when the Flock's separated.
I nodded and glanced at Total. He shook out his fur and rolled his eyes at me. Then he sniffed a cat that I didn't notice before and barked like a real dog. "No, Total. You can't chase Zoey's cat." I said in a commanding voice so it'd make him seem like just another dumb dog. Total glared at me in disgust and trotted away with his chin up.
"First time I've seen a dog with an ego." Zoey muttered.
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." I said impulsively.
"What do you mean by that?" Aphrodite asked suspiciously. I'm beginning to think that I shouldn't have said that.
"Well." I said to buy time. "Total is a very…er weird dog." I heard a 'hey!' in the distance that probably meant Total had heard me. But luckily, Zoey and Aphrodite only have human hearing. "For some strange reason he hates generic dog food and only eats human food."
"Dog with an ego." Zoey repeated.
I laughed and then forced my not-so-normal head to think of a safe topic to talk about. "So…are the rest of your friends scared of me? Or are they going to counterattack or just ignore that?"
Zoey laughed. "I don't think they'll hold a grudge against you. They'll all very nice people."
Aphrodite smirked at Zoey. "Well, I think that the nerd herd will hate you. What do they call me? Oh yeah, they still call me a hag bitch from hell."
"Well you don't seem like an angel either." I replied airily.
"What did you say bitch?" She snapped.
"What do you mean?" I smiled innocently and tried to assume an Angel-like expression.
Before Aphrodite could hit me—or try to, Neferet walked, scratch that, glided in gracefully and smiled. Her expression hardened when her gaze landed on Zoey and Aphrodite and she glared for a split second, but then her gaze returned to me and she was all gentle and perfect.
"Here's your schedule." She practically sang. Ugh, ugh, ugh, she's too perfect. I resisted the urge to rearrange that perfect face.
Neferet's eyes flicked to my mark, that didn't have anything covering the sapphire wings.
I'm screwed.
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