Chapter 21: London's Calling

Gazzy POV

We headed off the evening after Will left. None of us really wanted to stay, and Max said it was too close to the Facility. We went into the city first, too pick up supplies. We had decided we were going to do a tour of England. We all agreed we needed a break.

In town we picked up a sightseeing map from a tourist office. Angel instantly declared she wished to see the Angel of the North first, and from then on, we would head down the country, ultimately ending up at the White Cliffs of Dover, where we would fly over to Europe.

In town, Max picked up a news paper, with the image of what looked like 3 large birds flying in the sky, with the Headline reading: FLYING KIDS SPOTTED OVER BIRMINGHAM

"Uh oh." She said quietly to Fang, showing him the image.

"Well, we knew this was going to happen. I suppose we can take solace in the fact that it was important enough in the end." He replied. We all stayed silent after that, wallowing in the awkwardness.

Later that night, we had landed in the middle of nowhere, half way to Newcastle, in the countryside. We had considered flying through the night, Iggy saying we were more likely to be spotted in the daylight, and we didn't want to raise our profile anymore, but Max said no, saying no one would notice if we flew high enough. Besides we were all quite tired.

I couldn't help thinking about what Will had said to me. That if I was in his shoes, and if it were Angel, would I have done the same. At first I was going to reply to him, no, as I knew that Max and the flock would all try, that last time she was taken, we had all gotten her back. Now though, I wasn't sure.

If I was in his shoes, I wouldn't have had any experience of a situation like that. I would have just wanted to get home to my parents, my sister with me. To do that, I would do whatever was necessary. He told us he had been kept in isolation for a whole month, learning how to use his ability, and I would think he would have been thinking about nothing other than getting home.

While I was thinking about this, Fang came over and sat down next to me.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." I replied flatly.

"Everyone I've asked that to today has just said 'I'm fine.'" He smirked. "Come on man, talk to me."

I hesitated for a moment, before I found my mouth moving without thinking. "It's just about what Will said to me. About if I was him, and it was Angel. And I keep thinking that I would have done what he was done. He doesn't know how to react to a situation like that. He hasn't had to deal with anything like that before. He did what anyone who had been put in that situation would have done." I pondered. "But none of that matters anyway. Even if everyone agrees that, he still betrayed us. He should have told us, and we could have figured out a way to get her back together."

"Wow. You have been thinking about it haven't you?" Fang replied jokingly.

"Yeah, I have." I chuckled. Fang gave me a quick smile back. It was the first time in over a year I had seen him smile properly.

"Come on, you should get some sleep. It's been a long day." He said, patting my back warmly.

"Yeah I really should." I yawned. Fang got up, and went and sat next to Max, as I lay down my head on the grass, and surprisingly, drifted off to sleep almost straight away.

Iggy POV

We had been travelling around England for little over a month now, seeing the sights. Now I know what you're thinking. How much sightseeing (emphasis on the words sight, and seeing there) can a 15 year old blind guy actually do? Well, not much, but it was nice to have a break, and to be out.

That's another thing, turns out; unbeknownst to us, 4 of us had had birthdays without even realising it. So now Max, Fang and I were 15, and The Gasman turned 9. We figured out it was about a week till Angel turned 7 as well.

Now, we had been all over England. Turns out, the place is tiny! Like, really miniscule. In the time it takes to get from one side of USA to the other, we could fly from the top to bottom of England about 8 times. So we had to pace ourselves, and spend a few days here, and a few days there. We had been to Stone Henge, Manchester, Land's End, The Angel of the North, The Fens, Hadrian's Wall, among others. And we had saved the best till last.

We were in London.

"So, where do you guys wanna visit first?" Max asked us, on our first day. "We got Tower Bridge, Madam Tussauds, St. Pauls Cathedral, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Tower of London, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Zoo, The London Aquarium, The London Eye... Wow there's loads to do in London!"

"We could do two things a day. Make a week out of it." I suggested.

"That sounds cool." Nudge commented.

"What's the London Eye?" Gazzy frowned. "Is it actually a really big eye?"

"No, it's kind of a really, really big Ferris Wheel, that takes an hour to go around. You can see for miles from the top of it. Look, you can see the top from here." Fang explained.

"Whoa! That's humongous! But couldn't we see most of London anyway, by just flying over it?" he pondered.

"Not without being seen we couldn't." Max said.

"Can we go to there first then? See what it's like to be that high without flying?" Nudge piped in.

"And can we go to that aquarium too?" Angel asked.

"So long as you don't get any of the fishes to start a revolt, that's fine too?" Max laughed.

"Well, their right next to each other, so that works well." Fang said. He had been put in charge of the map. If we got lost, it would be his fault.

"Okay, we'll do The London Eye first, then The Aquarium. That okay with everyone?"

Max asked.

We all agreed and then headed of towards the "really, really big Ferris Wheel". I had a feeling I might get bored, pretty quickly.

Two hours later, we ran aboard our "pod" as the attendant had called, having to run as the wheel never stopped spinning. We had to share our pod with about 15 other tourists, but we had expected it.

"You know, I don't feel claustrophobic at all." Max said to us about 15 minutes in. "Being in this small space for an hour would usually send me freaking out, but, it's so open, and bright. I don't feel enclosed at all."

"How far can you guys see?" I asked them.

"Oh about 10, 15 miles, easy. It's a really clear day." Gazzy replied.

"Hey, excuse me; can you take our picture for us?" I heard Nudge ask someone.

"Of course." An unfamiliar voice replied.

"Come on Iggy, get up, group photo." Nudge said, pulling me up from the bench.

"Okay." I sighed. "Which way am I looking?"

"Straight ahead." She replied, lining me up.

"No bunny ears!" Max snapped and I heard Gazzy scowling next to me.

"Okay, you guy's ready?" the stranger asked. "3, 2, 1! Cheese!"

"Cheese!" We all said with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I heard the click of Nudge's camera.

"Thanks' a lot!" Nudge said, going over to the person to get her camera back.

I was sat back down on the bench, listening to the younger ones "Oooohing" and "Ahhhhing" at the view, intensely bored. Max sat down next to me.

"You alright Ig?" she asked me kindly. "You look bored."

"Three guesses why." I smirked.

"Well, the kids are enjoying it. At least when we're in the aquarium, you can put your hands in the water and feel the fishes and stuff." Max said, trying to cheer me up. "I know these last few weeks have been pretty lame for you. Sightseeing probably isn't high on a blind persons to do list, but you have to admit, we needed this. We needed time to just chill out, take it easy, and explore a bit."

"Yeah, I suppose." I mumbled.

"Hey, don't worry Iggy." Max said comfortingly, putting her arm round me. "Things'll get more exciting soon."

"You've got that right." A voice behind me said, milliseconds before something large and hard connected very fast with the back of my head. I fell off the bench, and landed in a heap on the floor, the back of my head instantly throbbing.

"WHAT THE...? OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" I shouted angrily, getting up. I felt two taps on the back of my hand, and moved towards the sound of the flocks breathing.

I heard growling, and groaning on the other side of the pod, a few people screaming too.

"Oh great, this is just what we need." I heard Max sigh to my right.

"What, What is it?!" I shouted agitated.

"Erasers." Fang said calmly to my left.

"A lot of Erasers." I heard Gazzy gulp behind me.

"Brilliant." I sighed.

Max POV

"WHAT THE...?" Iggy shouted incredulously. "OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" he stood up and I tapped the back of his hand twice, and moved towards us, slotting in between me and Fang, on my left.

I was watching the man though. I hadn't gotten a good look at his face before, he started to morph. People on the other side of our pod began morphing too, about 10 out of the 15 of them.

"Oh great," I sighed. "This is just what we need."

"What? What is it?" Iggy asked frantically.

"Erasers." Fang answered calmly. As he said that, maybe 10 or 15 more winged Erasers came from nowhere, outside the pod, hovering outside the windows, circling us.

"A lot of Erasers." Gazzy said behind us.

The few people left in the cabin, who hadn't morphed were screaming or shouting for help. One merely stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before suddenly shouting "WEREWOLVES!!" and then tried to hide underneath the bench in the centre.

"How are there Erasers?" Iggy asked. "Max said they had all been exterminated."

"Yeah well I was apparently wrong." I snapped. That had to be one of the few times in my life I had admitted to being wrong.

The Erasers had fully morphed now, and they were tensing their bodies, and baring their teeth, snarling at us.

This was where our Fight or Flight instinct kicked in. Literally.

"Guys? U and A?" I said to the flock, keeping my eyes on the Erasers, who were slowly creeping towards us.

"Yep. Fang replied. "I don't fancy our chances all too much."

"Yeah. U and A." Nudge replied.

"Okay then. On three." I said calmly, glancing up at the thickness of the glass.

"One!" I shouted, and we all unfurled our wings, jumped and pushed ourselves up. The whole glass in the pod shattered, and the wind caught us, almost sending us crashing into the next pod along, which was full of tourists staring at us and taking pictures.

"GO GO GO!" I shouted, as the flying Erasers quickly converged on us. We all quickly headed east, as we agreed to do if we were being chased. Going 80mph, high above the city, we quickly lost the Erasers, who couldn't go nearly as fast.

We landed on a small island, in the estuary of the River Thames, and checked ourselves out. We had some cuts and scrapes from the glass, but we could have come out a lot worse if we had fought.

"Aw man, I wish we had some more bombs, we could have just blown them all to hell." Gazzy moaned.

"I think bombing a major London landmark is the point in which it just becomes terrorism Gazzy." I replied jokingly. "And besides, I told you! No more bombs! Angel, did you get anything from them?"

"Yeah, it was strange. They weren't sent by the Whitecoats. They found us on their own." She said.

They were sent by themselves? So what they had gone renegade?

That's exactly right Max. Oh hey voice, nice of you to join the party. You mid shedding some light on this, you told me they were all dead.

They were supposed to be all dead Max. These ones have slipped the net. They deserted when they found out they were due for extermination. They are hoping that if they can capture you and the flock, and hand you over to the Whitecoats, then they'll be allowed to live.

"Max? You okay?" Fang asked me, looking at me strangely. "You went off into your own little world there for a moment."

"The voice popped in for a visit is all." I told him. "It said that those Erasers ran away when they found out they were going to be killed off. They want to capture us, and hand us in, in exchange for our lives."

"So now, we don't just have The School, Ari and their Whitecoats and Flyboys chasing us, but we got a rag tag team of Erasers past their sell by date?" Iggy said sarcastically. "Sweet."

"I take it we aren't going to be able to go back to London then?" Nudge said sadly.

"Sorry guys. But all those people taking pictures, our faces are bound to be over tommorows newspapers." I explained. "We should leave England altogether to be honest."

"Well only real place to go is France. Then from there?" Fang said thoughtfully.

"We'll figure that out later. Now we should just go." I said finally. And with that, we took off, heading down along the coast towards The English Channel.