Okay, I'm weak. I can't stand to update only once a week. I need to get my story out there. I think that once a chapter gets a satisfactory amount of reviews, I will then update the next morning. I think that's a nice middle ground between once a week and nine times a day, wouldn't you say?

Chapter 3

Jewel had us sedated. I felt the sensation of being on a tiny, rocking rowboat, but it may have been that I was just seriously stoned. When I awoke, Gazzy, Angel and I were in a cell made entirely out of stone. There were no shackles, and the bars were thin and easy to slip through.

I never felt a moment of optimism. If Jewel thought this was a good place to imprison us, then that's precisely what it was. I inspected the place.

The stone walls were… breathing.

"Well, that's the freakiest thing ever," I commented aloud.

"Hey, kids," said a small voice from outside the bars.

"Hello, Brigid," I said in my coldest voice. And that's pretty damn cold. I probably could have out-snarled Max if I had ever tried.

"Fang, I'm sorry," she said. "I felt you deserve an explanation."

"Uh-huh. Go ahead."

"This cell you're in is made of genetically-engineered stone."

"Genetically-engineered stone?" I repeated. "Stone doesn't have genetics."

"This one does," she says. "It's a hybrid of certain living things and certain kinds of rock. If you escape, it will swallow you and return you to the cell. The urns in the corner of the cell contain a specially-designed acid that only attacks genetic material. So you can pour it on the walls of the cell, that'll dissolve them efficiently enough, but after you do that the acid is guaranteed to harm you as well." She smiled weakly. "Contrary to his claims, Jewel is into theatrics, or else he wouldn't have put the substance there."

I considered that. "That wasn't the explanation I was looking for," I said.

She looked confused.

"You're really not comprehending what I want to know?" I snarled at her. "What kind of genius are you? I want an explanation about YOU. I thought you were one of the good guys."

"I am, Fang," she said. "I've always thought you and the flock were all incredible people, and… well, especially you, Fang. This may sound sick, but I kind of… fell in love with you, a little bit."

I grimaced. "You WHAT?! Yeah, you better believe that sounds sick. What the hell?"

"You didn't know?" Brigid said.

"No, I didn't know," I snapped. "Blecch! Now I understand why Max didn't like you. That's… that's awful."

"Anyway," Brigid said uneasily, "I do care very much… for the planet, for you kids."

"You didn't seem like you cared that much when Iggy and Nudge were getting chopped up into little pieces and thrown overboard."

"They were never chopped up into little pieces," Brigid protested. "They were just… snapped into several pieces."

The living stone surrounding me made a loud puffing noise, filling the room with warm air, and I aged about thirty years. Damn freaky thing.

"Marvelous," I said furiously. "What's your motivation, Brigid? What the hell are you up to?"

"My motivation?" Brigid said, fuming suddenly. "Blowin' in the wind, that's my motivation! Some truly awful shit is happening to the world, and I would like to live through that, thank you very much! Mr. Chu gave me a good chance of surviving, then Jewel gave me a better one. Mr. Chu's dead now anyway, so Jewel it is. If you can give me a better deal than Jewel—a better guarantee that I'll survive the end of the world—I'll side with you. Okay? I'm looking out for me. Is that so wrong?"

I nodded. "I suppose not. It doesn't say much about your strength of character, though, Brigid."

She shrugged. "Whatever. If you need somebody to talk to, I'm here. You know, it's because of me that you're alive."

"I know," I said. "You asked Jewel not to kill us. Nice favor."

"I do like you guys," she said. "I really do."

I gritted my teeth. "Fuck you, Dwyer," I said, turning away from her. My sharp senses told me that she didn't move at all.

I touched the wall of the cell. It was hard as stone, but I could feel it expanding and contracting like a lung.

I remembered the puffing sound the cell had made. I tried to remember the context of that moment… there must have been some kind of trigger. The cell was alive, but was it aware? Even intelligent, perhaps? It could swallow its escaped prisoners, but then why wasn't it swallowing Brigid, her hands plainly touching the exit? I'd have to figure this out.

"Brigid?" I said.

"Yes?"

"How much of a 'living thing' is this cell?" I wondered.

"Living enough," she said grimly. "Enough that everyone that's ever come near it is terrified of it."

The cell inhaled slowly, its walls thickening. It reminded me of someone puffing out their chest in pride. Could that be exactly what it was doing?

"Yeah, but can it hear me and understand me?" I asked.

Brigid frowned. "I don't think so."

"No?" I said. "What if I said that a living cell was the dumbest idea I've ever heard of?"

The rhythmic breathing stopped suddenly. The walls contracted slightly.

"Interesting," I said quietly. Aloud, I said, "Probably just the remnants of some trash that the bad guys didn't know what else to do with."

The cell huffed.

"I think it knows what you're saying, Fang," Gazzy said nervously. "Can you stop trash-talking it? Every time it takes a breath I start wishing for my expiration date to pop up."

"Sorry, Gazzy. That was just a test. Actually, I do think that this thing is, in fact, the pinnacle of artificial life-forms. Quite pleasing on the eyes, well-adapted to its function."

The cell relaxed, continuing to breathe as normal.

"You like your job, don't you?" I said to it. "Well, I guess we're doomed then."

Time for a convoluted scheme. "You know something, Brigid?" I said. "I… I think I've ended up in a good place."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

I came close to her, sticking my arm through the gap in the bars. "Now that I think about it, I do sort of love you," I said. "Max… I mean, she was really controlling. It was like I never had a chance to be myself—I could only be what she wanted. I didn't like it. Didn't like it at all. And now she's flown off to locales unknown and you and I… are right here. Together."

I interlaced my fingers with hers. It was sickening, but I could tough my way through it if it meant we were gettin' outta here.

"Really?" she said.

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, ever since the day we met, everything I've done, I've done to get closer to you. Because you… are the most beautiful, amazing thing I have seen in my entire life."

"Really?" Brigid breathed. "Wow, you're… are you trying to sucker me into freeing you?"

That had never been my intention, but I milked that assumption. "Is it working?" I said innocently, giving her my best steamy eyes.

"Well, I mean, I do… I do… well, I've always thought you were special and wonderful… and holy crap, you're so handsome. All the fan-mail you get every day could never compare to what I think of you. But I can't let you escape, Fang, you have to understand. No one else is guarding you. If you get away, Jewel will know it was me. And even if you manage to defeat him and his guards… I couldn't possibly. Jewel will kill me, and frankly I'd rather live."

"I understand," I said. "I don't need to be free to be with you. I'm content now to just reach through the bars, and touch you, and kiss you…" I moved my mouth toward the gap, and she hesitantly kissed me. I wasn't sure if that bit was necessary, but a bit of extra padding couldn't hurt the ploy.

I retreated toward the cotton bed in the back of the cell, the very image of abject misery. Glancing at the two little kids, I saw Gazzy staring at me, apparently starting to think that I meant it. Angel, obviously, knew what I was up to, and Gazzy nodded as she telepathically explained it to him.

I could see in their eyes that neither of them thought it would work.

Time to play my last card. I might have been completely wrong—this would determine everything, the fate of the world itself. "Can you tell me a story, Brigid?" I asked pitifully.

"A story?"

"A story about you," I said. "Your life, your journeys. There's no better story to tell."

Brigid blushed. "What… what do you want me to talk about?"

"Tell me about when you decided you wanted to be a scientist," I said.

"Well… that would be the day that I discovered that I was a genius. Funny, huh? It was the first grade… I could figure things out. I corrected all of my teachers' spelling errors, their scientific mistakes. It felt like I knew everything. That might sound immodest, but that's what it felt like."

I eyed Angel and shot her a clear mental message: This is gonna work. Get ready to run. We just need to keep her talking.

"I knew it was a gift," Brigid continued. "And I knew, then, that I should use it to do good things in the world. And I thought, well, what's wrong with the world that I could change? Overall, the world is a good place to live, but I never stopped thinking about how I—me, Brigid Dwyer—could make it better. It is, after all, the only planet we've got. Until there's a reasonable alternative, we need to take care of Earth. And I could make a difference in that area, I always knew I would. So, once I was finished with high school, I started…"

Suddenly, the bars of the living cell broke apart in a gaping yawn. "Go, go, go!" I yelled.

Angel and Gazzy bolted out, barreling past the stunned Brigid. I came out after them, knocking Brigid on her butt.

"Fang?" she said, awed. "How… how did you know the cell would yawn?"

"Because," I said. "That's the reaction any coherent creature would have to one of your stories, Brigid. You're the boringest bitch I ever met."

I ran after Gazzy and Angel.

"Awesome, dude," Gazzy said. We pounded our fists together.

I looked over my shoulder at Brigid. She kicked the cell. "Stupid, incompetent ROCK!" she screeched.

In response, the cell swallowed her. Well, hopefully, that would make Jewel realize that it wasn't Brigid's fault and he wouldn't kill her. Hopefully. If it didn't turn out that way… well, what are you gonna do? Either way, I would never shed a tear over Brigid again.

As I ran, I laughed uproariously. The little kids laughed along with me. And laughing felt pretty darn good.