I was totally, totally shocked, and stood there like a snowman until Dr. Gobbledygook's lunge forward made me jump. He swiftly pulled a syringe out of his white coat pocket, and, twirling it expertly, he injected it straight into Maya's limp arm.

There was chaos, all at once; Nudge was screaming, both Fang and Dylan had surged forward as one to stop the doctor, but it was too late; he was already smoothly withdrawing the needle from her arm.

"What are you doing?" Fang yelled. He glanced from me to Maya, looking, for maybe the first time in his life, utterly confused. He wasn't the only one.

Everyone looked puzzled, and staring at me accusingly as if I should be dropped dead. I finally tuned in to what Jeb was yelling.

"You're the clone, Max," he said to me, simple as that. "Maya's the original copy."

I opened my mouth; everyone was silent for a long time. Finally, I gave the appropriate response to this: "What?"

Jeb launched, quickly, into speech, probably sensing my freaked-out anger building. "When we made Maya, she didn't have to qualities we wanted in a leader- she had several flaws. Everything else was according to plan, so we cloned her and attempted to put something more into you. Mostly, that experiment was a failure. We kept both of you, for a sort of social experiment; Maya in isolation, under close observation, to see how she ended up living her life alone; and you, with others like you, to see how you ended up living your life with other avian hybrids."

"I'm... a clone?" I managed to get out. "Why do I have an expiration date then-"

"You both have the tattoo of the date on your neck," Jeb interrupted rudely, "but only one's genes have been weakened."

"Maya's," Dylan said, looking as if the truth had dawned on him. He was looking from me, to Maya's unconscious form, and back. He turned to Hansey, who looked as if he had had an epiphany as well. "Is Maya going to be okay? What did you do to her?"

The doctor, although still looking slightly bemused, held up an empty vial. "I injected her... with a serum."

This brought me into speech. "What the hell? You put a condition on me, but not her?"

"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "This is very temporary. Her telomerase is beginning to deteriorate- this simply stopped it for the time being. A weaker form of the real serum. She'll last only a few weeks- unless she agrees to do what I ask." I had no doubt about what the condition he'd set on her was.

I noticed my flock was looking at me weird, and that Dylan was leaning at Maya's side now, looking tender and worried. I realized with a jolt that this new development meant that he was meant for her, not for me.

Because I was a clone.

I jumped up, not able to bear this any longer. Everyone looked at me. "Going for a fly," I announced in a false, cheery voice. "See you later." Without looking back to see everyone's reactions, I launched myself into the wide, blue sky.

You may hate me for this, but this is what happens in my story. Sorry if you really dislike the change of events. :-(

Anyway, Max's gone to have some alone time- little does she know that a certain damn hot person is following her. (!)

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