Chapter 9

Well, there was a bit more spring in Fang's step now. His kung fu was still pretty subdued, but there was new enthusiasm. We would get some worthy practice now.

Iggy is a miracle worker. I'm so glad I caught him before anyone else did. Then again, I was the one who had started dating first. I had dated Aaron… Aaron, who was probably dead, unless for some bizarre reason he was many miles from the school building when Jewel attacked. I wondered what Iggy would say if he knew how sad that made me.

Danny poked his head into the arena. "Hey, kids," he said. "There's a special guest here for you."

A tiny black dog trotted in. "Yo, yo, yo," he said. "Reporting for duty."

"Total!" Angel said happily.

"Total?" Iggy said. "That's your idea of a special guest? That's no special guest. That's not even stunt casting. Hey, if that's what we're scraping for guest stars this season, our ratings are going straight to hell. We are so cancelled."

"I don't like that, Iggy," Total said. "If the flock is short one member, you need me, don't you? Come on. I'm every bit as tough as Max."

"Sure," Iggy said. "If Max was made out of gelatin."

I giggled appreciatively.

But Total wasn't the only guest—Dr. Martinez and Ella filed in after.

"Good evening, everyone," Valencia said.

"Mom!" Iggy blurted. "I mean… sorry, I didn't… I wasn't thinking…"

"You can call me whatever you like, Iggy," Dr. Martinez said gently. "You know I love all of you."

"Right," Iggy muttered. "You know, last time I called somebody Mom she in return called me big bucks, so, I'm just a bit uneasy about that."

"Hi, Iggy!" Ella said cheerfully.

I instantly regretted what I had said to Iggy the previous night. Did I have a competitor now? I suppose I would have deserved it if I did.

"Well, I'm heading back to the honeymoon suite," Total said.

"Oh, you married Akila?" I asked. "I thought you wanted Max there for it."

"With Max gone, we wanted to get it done quickly," Total said apologetically. "Apocalypse and all that."

"Makes sense," Fang said.

"Anyway, she's in our room and I've got a bit of lipstick I need to put away, if ya know what I mean," Total said, scurrying off.

"Total, my good man," Fang said solemnly, "I wish to God that I had no clue what you mean."

Dr. Martinez scanned the room. "Where is Max?"

Abruptly, Fang rolled up into a ball, covered his face with his hands, and screamed.

"Fang?" Ella said, concerned.

"Don't make him explain it again," I said. "It kills him a little bit more every time. Suffice it to say that… Max left. She'll be back, but she left."

Ella gasped. "What about the baby?"

Fang muffled another scream.

"Max has the baby," I said. "She wants to keep her safe."

"Oh, poor Fang," Ella said. She hopped down into the arena and wrapped an arm around him. "Are you okay?"

He looked up at her. "You have the same eyes as Max does," he noted.

"Mom's eyes," Ella said, nodding.

"That's cool," Fang muttered. "I wish Airy had those eyes. Completely came out with mine. Most disappointing thing that's ever happened to me."

"You really love Max, don't you?" Ella said. "That's so sweet. I can't imagine how you're feeling right now. I've known her for so little time, and I love her more than I love anyone else. This must be absolutely unbearable for you, knowing her and loving her your whole life, huh?"

"It's crazy," Fang said. "It's like… I had to quit her cold turkey. I went from seeing her constantly, every second of the day, to… never seeing her at all. I may never see her again. You know, who's to say that I'm gonna survive until she comes back? I feel sick to my stomach. I'm falling into a depression, man. It's like nothing can make me feel better."

"Oh, come on, Fang, buddy," Iggy said. "This is a bit of an overreaction. You'd better be this torn up when I abandon you."

Fang shot a glare at Iggy, which was followed promptly by the mandatory "I'm glaring, Iggy."

Dr. Martinez came down to Fang's other side and held him as well. "Fang, this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but… there are bigger things going on than you and Max."

"Ain't that the truth," Fang murmured. He raised his voice furiously. "What do you want me to do?! I'm just Fang! All right? I'm not Max. I'm just the boyfriend. Half of a couple. The half that's useless and stupid, the half that the entire world really ought to entirely forget about entirely. I need to just start cutting grass right now. I could cut Jewel's grass! Maybe he'd let me do that. Cut his grass. I don't know. That'd be a good way to survive all of this. Don't you think? He'd probably think that would make me valuable. Doesn't have to be grass. Any household chore will suffice, really, if you think about it, that's all I'm driving at…"

"Fang," I said with wonder. "Fang, this is incredible. This has never happened before."

"What?"

"You're babbling."

He started laughing. "I guess I am."

A ninja star whirled by Fang's head, killing a monster horsefly that was sitting on the wall. Iggy laughed to himself.

"Wow," Ella said. "How do you do that?"

"Well, it's not like I can hit a target," he admitted. "There needs to be something that makes noise. Nothing moves in total silence, so I can hit pretty much any kind of creature."

"That is super-cool," Ella said.

"Thanks," Iggy said. "I like the appreciation. It's old news to the flock."

What if that had worked out, I wondered? If I had never approached Iggy; if he had gone for Ella. It's cute. Ella is nice. She would totally love Iggy. And she didn't have any baggage like I did…

"I still think it's super-cool, Iggy," I offered weakly. "Can I talk to you privately?"

He hopped up to me and we left the gym. "Iggy, I've been thinking… I mean, you've always wanted a girlfriend and you never really seemed to consider me. I'm wondering, now… do I deserve you?"

He thought. "Interesting. Well, I think that if you want me, then you absolutely deserve me. 'Cause you deserve exactly who you want."

"Yeah, it's just that… you weren't my first love. I dated Aaron. I'm just wondering if that ever bothers you."

"Fang and Max had relationships before," he said.

"Yeah, but those were just little flings. Fang wasn't in love with Lissa, Max never really trusted Sam, and even if they did, that couldn't have lasted, because there were secrets. Aaron… Aaron knew exactly who I was, and… well, I was very attached to him."

"Okay. You were in love with Aaron, granted. But I don't mind, okay? If you're feeling regret over this, you're totally forgiven. Here, in front of me now, do you love me?"

"Yes."

"And I love you. Need we say more?"

"I feel like it should be more complicated than that," I admitted.

"No," Iggy said. "Nothing has to be complicated." He paused. "You know what I dreamed of last night? Your face. Nothing but your face."

I clutched my heart. "Oh, Iggy, that's sweet."

"Yeah, and keep in mind that I haven't actually seen your face since we were little. But in my dream, I saw your face, clearer than I've seen anything before. The way it looks now… and the way it'll look far in the future. I didn't know if I was there with you, but I didn't particularly care, because I could see you, and you were happy."

I considered that, then hauled myself up to give Iggy a kiss. He's so friggin' tall. You practically need to be able to fly to kiss him.

"You know what I think, Iggy?" I said. "I think this was in our design somewhere. Maybe we were built for the purpose of being together."

He scoffed. "Oh, that's just silly. You can't build someone just to fall in love with someone else. Love isn't something that can be harnessed and controlled like that."

"You don't think it's possible?"

"No. You can't build someone to be your soulmate. Because a soulmate happens in your… um… your soul."

"Nice."

"I know, I know. But I'm saying, we were built, yes, but that was only our genetics. Who we are has absolutely zip to do with that. You can build someone's genetics all you want, but you can't build a soul."

"Wow, Iggy. That's… that's deep," I said.

He laughed. "Well, I do a lot of thinking. When I'm not thinking about sex, bombs, and food I delve into some very deep existential stuff about the human soul."

"That's really cool," I said. "Chalk up another reason for me to love you."

That discussion is kind of my prediction on the outcome of the role of the character Dylan in the upcoming sixth book. Just a guess, you know. I think it's the truth. You can't build a soul.