Dylan and I grabbed some snacks from a nearby store and began stuffing our faces back in the hotel room.
"So...Whats the plan then?" He asked shouveling cheesy puffs into his mouth.
"I'm not sure. I'm getting a little tired of being here, near to Fang. Makes me feel angry all over again." I confessed. He gave me a short nod and drank his soda.
"Do you wanna go back to the flock then?" Dylan suggested. I thought about it for a moment and nodded.
After we finished up eating, we stuffed some extras in our pockets for the flight and checked out.
"I enjoyed being here. It was different." He smiled at me as we left the hotel.
"Yeah definitely." We laughed. We took our time getting home as the flock were not expecting us back until tomorrow. I figured a slow flight it will probably take up most of the day and probably the night.
"What are you going to tell the flock when we get back? Are you going to tell them what happened?" He said challenging the wind.
"I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I'll just tell them... Fang is happy." I sighed. He looked over at me and suddenly gave me a reassuring smile. It warmed my heart when he did that.
My hair danced around in the wind as we flew at 130MPH through the sky. Dylan seemed to be much better at flying too. He flew like he'd been doing it for years.
"Admiring my flying skills are we?" Dylan said grinning. I bet he felt so proud.
"Yes actually. I was. Your doing pretty good now." I said.
"I did learn from the best, didn't I?" He smiled.
"Yeah you did." I nudged him with my elbow.
"Even though you pushed me off the roof." Dylan laughed and I bumped him harder. He bumped me back and started a bumping war. Of course he held back not wanting to hurt me, but I didn't, giving me the winning hand. Or elbow.
"Where abouts should we rest up for the night?" Dylan asked after a few hours of constant fighting.
"I don't think we'll need to."I said.
"What do you mean we don't need to?" He asked frowning.
"Look were almost into our state now just a little longer and we can make it." I said pointing ahead of me.
"Oh your right. I guess time sure flies when your having fun." Dylan laughed.
"Yeah luckily time doesn't fly as fast as us or else I'd have wrinkles by now." I joked.
"Oh yeah, well what's that weird mark under your eyes?" Dylan asked with a serious look on his face.
"What? Where? Your kidding me?" I screamed feeling under my eyes for any signs of old age.
"Gotcha." Dylan began laughing hard and I stuck my fist against his arm making his wail out in pain.
"Ouch! I'm sorry." He said still laughing.
"You'll be sorry." I spoke grinning like a Cheshire cat. I'll get my own back when he least expects it.
A couple more hours passed by seemingly quickly and we began to see the house in view.
"Wow we made great time." Dylan whooped.
"Yeah we sure did. Must have been all that thinking I did on the way that made the journey go really quick." I smiled thinking about my plans of revenge.
"Same." He said and we both looked at each other. What was he thinking about?
Neither of us spoke again until we reached the house. Jeb was sitting outside with Angel when we arrived.
"Oh my gosh your back! Max!" Angel screeched running to me and giving me the biggest hug of my life.
"No Fang then?" Jeb said and I stood up.
"Fang is happy where he is." I said. I looked down at Angel and smiled.
"Alright then. I believe you." Angel said, luckily not searching my mind for what happened.
"Everything go alright?" Jeb asked.
"As alright as it could be I guess." I said.
"Fang is with his own flock now. We didn't see them but, well, we know Fang isn't alone. He's happy." Dylan spoke for me.
"Well I suppose that's alright then.
"Max! Dyl! Your back early. I just made some food if you want some?" Iggy said appearing from inside the house. I saw Nudge wave from the kithen gesgering me to come in. I walked in and gave her and the rest of the flock a big hug. It was good to see them again.
"I'm so glad you didn't decide to stay with Fang. We really miss you around here. It's not the same without you. It's so quiet and everyone just does as they want, although Jeb has been trying to keep the boys in order." Nudge rambled. I smiled. I missed her too. Even her senseless rambling.
"I made some vegetable soup with added spices. Hope everyone likes." Iggy said dishing it out.
"It's good to be home." Dylan said digging in to his soup.
"So... Did you guys share a room or..." Jeb asked. I felt my face turn pink.
"Yeah." Dylan said before I had the chance to say anything. I buried my face with my hair and ate my soup.
"Oh that's nice. Double bed or two singles?" Jeb asked again and my face felt hot.
"Oh double." Dylan said between sips. Forget pink. My face felt as red as a tomato.
"Oh that's nice." Jeb said again.
It occurred to me that Jeb seemed a little too lenient with the sharing a bed with Dylan thing. Usually he would be giving me a lecture about it but he seemed strangely fine with it. Maybe he just wanted to ask to see if I was getting along with Dylan.
"Maybe indeed..." A familiar voice sprang in my mind. And what does that mean?
"Jeb has his reasons for being concerned about the welfare of his daughter."The voice practically said right after I asked the question. Something else unusual. Although it doesn't seem like Jeb to be asking...that. He's acting suspicious.
"So you have noticed." The voice said. Well it is hard to miss, seeing as he is hiding his face from everyone and he is talking in a tone which does not suit him. It suggests he is hiding something.
"If that is what you believe. You will find out soon enough if you are right or wrong." The voice finished. I was going to ask it to just tell me if I'm right but I don't think it will answer. Only one way to find out then I guess.
I began peering over at Jeb sitting opposite me. His head was still buried in his food, much like me when Jeb first mentioned me and Dylan sharing a room. I sat looking at him, waiting for him to say something else. But he didn't. At least not about that anyway.
"I'm glad your back Max. The boys were begining to be quite a handful." He said looking over at Gazzy with a suspicious eye.
"Gazzy was trying to invent things." Angel said.
"Let me guess...Iggy was helping?" I said looking over at the oh so amazing cook.
"Possibly..." He said trying to act innocent.
"Max, I know you and Dylan just got back, but I found out some rather interesting information I think you might want to hear." Jeb began and everyone went silent.
"What kind of information? Who is trying to kill us now?" I said in my 'not so surprised' voice.
"Well first of all, an associate of mine in the north tipped me off about an inhuman group obsessed with achieving power. My associate knows more details but I fear that you 6 are their prime targets." Jeb explained twisting bread between his fingers.
"Okay then, so what do we do?" I said looking at 5 worried faces. 6 including Jeb.
"We travel asap to where my associate is staying. We will get more info of her." Jeb said.
"Her. I thought it was a guy?" Angel said.
"No, you assumed it was a man but in fact it is a woman." Jeb said. My curiosity peaked when Jeb looked straight over to Dylan when he said that. Something was definitely going on with that man.
"Maybe you should ask him." The voice suddenly sounded in my head.
"Why did you look at Dylan when you said that?" I asked. He paused for a few moments.
"The other news I have to inform you is that I have recently found out where the 'origional' Dylan came from." He said and we all stayed silent.
"What? Where?" Dylan said excited. Jeb smiled and looked at me. I had a feeling that meant I wasn't going to like it. Please don't tell me he was raised on a zoo or some place with scientists.
"Oh I'm affraid it is worse than that."The voice said. Now my heart was beginning to race in my chest. Worse than scientists! What could be worse than that?!
"Yakutsk." Jeb said and all out faces went blank.
"Bless you." Angel said. The flock chuckled.
"Yakutsk is a remote city in Eastern Siberia. It is famous for two reasons. One, for appearing in the classical board game Risk. Two, the fact that it can claim to be the coldest city on Earth." Jeb said.
"Coldest city on Earth!!" I yelled. Everyone knew how much I simply loved the cold. The voice was right. Being in the worlds most coldest city WAS worse than scientists!
"Oh dear." Angel said probably feeling my anger about this.
"Max, I know you don't like the cold but we have to. We have to get more information. We will take the jet there and stay inside. You will be fine, I promise." Jeb said. I didn't feel reassured. I felt 6 eyes lock on to me, waiting for a decision.
"Why can't you just call her or email her or something?" Iggy said.
"Because we are half way across the world, phoning is out of the question. As for email, it is unreliable. I would rather speak to her in person. Besides I'm betting Dylan would like to go?" Jeb said looking at him.
"Well sure. I want to see where I came from." He said looking over at me.
"Oh alright! But as soon as this is over, you take me to the hottest place in the world to make up for it." I said defeated.
"If we leave Siberia alive..." Gazzy piped up.
"You want to go to Ethiopia, Dallol, where there is an active volcano and frequant Earth tremors? Not to mention temperatures that can reach up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, 63 degrees Celsius, in the sun?" Jeb said.
"Oh, when you put it like that.. No." I said. The boys laughed.
"Well that's a relief. Plus it's a desert so not much fun." He said.
"When do we leave?" Dylan asked almost impatient.
"Tomorrow morning."
"That's a little sudden don't you think? We don't exactly have the right clothing to go to the coldest place in the world." I said pointing to my thin hoodie, tank top and jeans.
"Max has a point. We need proper winter gear." Iggy said.
"Shopping??" Nudge gasped and we all laughed.
"Well Jeb?" I said. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.
"You expect me to pay for this?" He said. We all nodded.
"Oh for heaven's sake all right then." Jeb said reaching into his wallet and pushing his credit card across the table.
"I shall know how much you have used and if you try and use it again without my permission I shall know about it." He said seriously. The younger kids nodded but I smiled. Having Jeb's credit card in my hand made me feel kind of powerful.
Luckily the shops we wanted didn't close for another 4 hours. But I figured it would take as long as that just to get what Nudge needed,
We didn't waste any time and began flying to the closest town not too far away.
"Remember when you came here before? The lady in the shop with her hands all over Dylan?" The voice reminded me. I felt a surge of jealousy hit me and without realising I flew closer to Dylan.
"You really are starting to come together now aren't you." The voice told me as though it was proud.
"I am. It is only a matter of time before you really connect." It said.
Wait what does that mean?..... Figures.
"Max what shop are we going in first?" Angel said.
"I say we go into that shop with all the winter gear, its expensive but its all really good stuff." Nudge said without rambling.
"Oh yeah that narrows it down doesn't it Nudge." Iggy said.
"You mean Millet's Nudge?" I laughed.
"That's the one." She squeaked.
Once in town, we found Mullets and it was a good thing it was big. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy ran to the young kids section of clothing whilst Iggy, Dylan and I began searching through the young adult section.
We picked the warmest, furriest coats we could find, along with thick gloves, woolly scarf and a long hat to cover the ears. The coat alone was $250.
"Hey Max check out these funny looking snow boots." Iggy said.
"They look warm." Dylan said. Next to them was some more decent looking pair made from real animal fur. Angel wasn't going to be happy about this.
"They cost $280." Iggy said looking at the price tag.
"Lets get them." I said suddenly adding them to the cart.
"Jeb is not going to be happy about this." Iggy laughed. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy came over showing me what they wanted. I checked through to see if what they had chosen would be warm enough.
"Looks pretty warm. Don't forget an extra pair of gloves though." Dylan said.
They ran off to find a warm pair of gloves to wear underneath the thick ones.
"Nice Angel, matches your eyes." I said.
At the counter the woman behind the desk finished scanning our items and put them all in separate bags according to who they belonged to.
"The total is $8,560 please." The woman said. She looked sceptical like we wouldn't be able to afford it.
"Lets hope Jeb has enough," Angel whispered as I plugged in the card.
"Jeb is going to have twins!" Iggy whispered bending over with laughter.
The machine accepted the credit card and the woman smiled giving it back to me.
Everyone picked up what belonged to them and we headed home.
"I think Jeb will sprout wings when he sees how much we spent." Gazzy said slapping Iggya high five.
"You could buy a car for that price!" Dylan laughed re-adjusting his bags on his shoulders.
"Lets not tell him how much it cost okay. Let him figure it out later." I said and the flock agreed.
Jeb was standing out on the porch in his usual place when he saw us come into view.
"My word did you buy the shop!?"Jeb said alarmed when he saw how many bags we were carrying.
"Not quite, but we have what we need. Hopefully."He replied.
"Well put them on lets see what you look like." Jeb laughed ushering us into our rooms.
"Hope you've got your moneys worth Jeb." Iggy said laughing through the house. Jeb looked at me and I quickly vanished into my room before he could even ask.
"Oh my god I look like a retard." Iggy said waddling around the lounge.
"No you don't. I do!" Gazzy said also waddling.
"Don't be silly, you look fine." I said although I felt a little uncomfortable myself.
"We've each got fleeces, thermals two sets of almost everything so I think we should be able to manage." I said. I noted how Dylan looked unusually cool in his winter wear.
"Looking good Dyl." I said.
"Thanks. This feels strangely normal for me." He said.
"Well this is your home. Sort of. Maybe your used to the cold." I said.
"Yeah maybe."
"Alright everyone. Glad I got my moneys worth. Make sure you pack your bags with everything you can. Your going to need every layer over there." Jeb said.
"Well guys, I guess we better get an early night, considering what time we have to be up in the morning." I sighed.
"Exactly what time is that?" Gazzy asked.
"4am." I sighed again.
"Your kidding...right?" He said and I shook my head. He disappeared into his room cursing under his breath. I'll talk to him about that later.
I folded everything into my suitcase and zipped it up. I left my clothes for tomorrow on the chair and decided not to sleep in any pyjamas as I would only have to re-pack in the morning.
I climbed into bed with nothing but my boxers and tank top on, admiring the warmth while I still could.
I wrapped my arms around my pillow and shut my eyes when an arm snaked around my waist startling me. I looked behind me and Saw Dylan looking up at me.
"What are you doing?" I said surprised.
"I wanted to sleep with you. I kinda got used to it the other night and you keep me warm." He said. I pulled the covers up to my chest and lay with Dylan next to me, holding me. I saw a skinny tall shadow pass by the door and realised it was Jeb.
"Goodnight you two." He said in a cheerful voice. Obviously he hasn't found out about how much we spent today.
"He knows I'm here?" Dylan asked and I shrugged.
"Go to sleep. Big day tomorrow." I said and he quickly leaned over to kiss me.
"Your not going to push him away anymore are you?" The voice said loud and clear. It took me a while to think about what it had said, all the while I was begin kissed.
No. I thought.
I kissed Dylan back surprising him that he let a loud groan escape his mouth. He pulled away from me and with my raptor vision I could just make out the blush across his face.
"Sorry." He said and gave a little laugh. I smiled and turned over, feeling the familiar warmth of him on my back. I was the one hoping he would keep me warm tomorrow night...