I have everyone asking me whether Dylan and Max are going to 'mate'. My answer is... GOD NO! Thought I should clear that up.
It was midnight- the other kids had gone to bed. Fang kicked the wall, feeling frustrated. Max and Dylan were still in the room with the doctor, and he felt... he didn't know what he felt. But it was an ugly feeling that made him want to stab Dylan straight in the heart.
"You love her."
Fang looked quickly to the side, and to his surprise, he saw Angel standing there, cute as ever. "Angel. I thought you went to bed."
"Couldn't sleep," Angel replied. Well, that made two of them. "You love her," she repeated.
"Who?" Fang asked without thinking. He cursed himself.
"Both of them. Max and Maya."
Right. Angel could read minds- he'd forgotten.
"No, no," Angel said, her eyes wide and innocent. "I didn't read your mind right then. I... remembered."
Fang leaned forward eagerly. "You remember stuff? From before?"
She nodded solemnly, golden curls bobbing. "I just remembered it now. But when I read your mind..." she frowned. "You love Max, and because of that you love Maya."
Fang didn't say anything.
She turned around and toddled away. "You've got some stuff to work out," she added over her shoulder.
Fang silently agreed.
~~~
I'd made a decision a couple hours after Dylan and Dr. Gunther Hagen left, and I'd worked out my feelings. Kind of. I didn't want to have kids. I was only fifteen. I couldn't. That much I'd figured out. So did I want to 'mate' with Dylan, or... die?
Hopefully, neither. If my plan worked.
I silently entered Fang's room- I'd stolen Holden's key, poor sap- and paused, allowing my eyes to adjust in the darkness. There were two beds. Both were filled, I realized, as I came closer. But it was just Ratchet and Holden. There was a blanket on the floor, though, and it looked as if someone had been lying in it. Except they weren't there anym-
I ducked. A whistling sound over my head told me I'd just escaped being caught in a strangle hold. I turned swiftly, hands up, my heart pounding.
It was Fang. He realized it was me at exactly the same time, and we both relaxed. Slightly.
"What are you doing here?" He asked in a low voice, sounding curious but... wary. I felt a pang of something I couldn't identify.
I crossed my arms. "Grab your bag. We're leaving now."
His dark eyebrows went way up. He was looking attractive as usual, wearing his usual black and not looking as if he'd gone to bed at all. I wondered if he ever slept anymore.
"I'll explain on the way. Please come," I said, almost- but not quite- begging.
"Just us two?" Was his only comment.
"Yeah."
"What about Loverboy?"
I gritted my teeth. His little nickname hit a little too close to home, considering what the doc had just told me.
"He's staying here. I left him a really vague note telling him we went scouting or something. He'll watch over the flock while we're gone." I didn't elaborate any further. Truth was, I'd rather go with Dylan, considering the tension between Fang and I lately. But if we got in a bad fight (and with my crazy plan, that was all too likely) and it came to that, I knew I could trust Fang to leave me there. Not Dylan, because he was too attached. He'd try and save me, and possibly get himself killed in the process. Fang, I knew, would get out of there if I told him to.
Plus, I was uncomfortable with Dylan after hearing the Hanselator's words. I didn't want him getting the wrong idea about me and Dylan going out for a few days.
Fang just stood there, staring at me.
"Trust me," I said in a small voice. "Don't you trust me?"
There was a slight pause, and he nodded his yes.
"Then come on," I said, and opened the window. I turned back to Fang, who was loading up his pockets. Then I grinned, tossing Holden's key to him. "You might want to give this back to Holden."
He gave me his customary crooked smile that made me want to melt. I jumped out the window so he wouldn't see me blush.
~~~
"Yo."
His quiet voice broke me out of my reverie. We'd been flying for about ten minutes, me leading the way.
"Right," I said briskly, getting right to it. "The doc says he has some sort of weird antidote. For my expiration."
His eyes widened almost imperceptibly, his version of total shock. "What?"
I explained quickly how he and the others weren't going to expire, what the antidote supposedly did, and that Dr. Scary had put a condition on it. I didn't tell him the condition, and Fang didn't push it right then.
"So I say screw the condition. I'm thinking we can go to Hansey's lab and snatch the serum," I finished. "I'm pretty sure it would be in his house. Remember it?"
He nodded. "Might take a day or two to get there."
"Right," I yawned. "I just didn't want to go in the middle of the day. Because then Hansey would be warned about it, right? And he might tell his goons to move it, or something."
"You think he won't know what we're doing?" Fang gave me a get-real look.
I hadn't thought of that. "Well, we'll have a head start," I said lamely.
Fang remained silent, likely doubting my sanity.
"Look, the point is, I want to try," I said. "If you don't want to come-" I was screwed if he didn't come- "then don't. But I'm doing this."
I waited. Fang didn't turn around and head in the opposite direction, which I took as a good sign.
After a long period of flying, in which I tormented myself with what-if questions, and wondering if the flock would want me to have kids with Dylan if it meant me staying alive, Fang said, "The condition's that bad, huh?"
I didn't look at him. "It's pretty sucky."
"Are you planning to tell me what it is?"
"No."
Fang fell silent again. I knew that wasn't the end of it. Dylan might leave it well alone, but Fang would try and find out what the condition was.
I wasn't sure how he'd take it if I told him.
R & R guyz! We're in very roughly about the middle of the story now, in my mind. Unless plans change. Every review counts!