Enjoy.

"We clear on Plan B?" Max asked. This had to be the seventh time Max asked about 'Plan B'. 'Plan B' this and 'Plan B' that. One day, I want to kill 'Plan B'. Instead of saying yes, which would be pointless over the roar of the wind, I just nodded. Max got that look in her eyes she always gets when I don't say anything, probably thinking, God, he sure is silent.

"Uh-huh," said Nudge. "If we get separated somehow- though I don't see how we could, unless maybe one of us gets lost in a cloud or something- do you think that could happen? I haven't ever been inside a cloud. I bet it's creepy. Can you see anything inside a cloud- We meet up at the northmost point of Lake Mead." Personally, I don't mind it when Nudge rambles. It's refreshing to have the silence abolished and I don't have to speak.

Max on the other hand... "And where's the School?" Max asked.

"In Death Valley, eight miles due north from the Badwater Basin." Nudge looked like she wanted to add more but a look from Max stopped her short.

"You got it," Max replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Good job." As we flew into the sun Max's hair whipped about her, I liked her hair. It was a dirty blonde and smelled like nature. Although I would never tell her that. I glanced at a cloud in the distance and let my thoughts carry me on.

The last confrontation with Iggy hadn't gone so well, he didn't even come out of his room to say goodbye to me. The Gasman on the other hand, had stayed in his room but had also hugged me goodbye. I'll never admit it, but I like hugs, only from family though.

Slowly Max flew towards me. "On the plus side," she began, "flying is just really, really cool." I smiled at her, well, as smiling as I can get. The reason I did like Max was because she understood the little things. Like flying. "On the minus side, we're mutant freaks who will never live a normal life." Oh, did I forget to mention she's a complete pessimist? The opposite of me. Yeah. That's right. I'm an optimist.

"Win some, lose some," I answered. Max smiled and I knew she was still upset. Usually she would have laughed, or at least given a quiet chuckle. She glanced at Nudge and I wondered what she thought of the 11 year old girl. Then she glanced at her watch, her mouth turned down and her eyes grave. Still worried.

I was the only one who noticed these things about Max, another reason why I'm second in command.

"Max?" Nudge started. "I was thinking- I mean right before we left? I looked at Jeb's old files, you know?" That surprised me. I thought I was the only one who had looked at his files. "And some were about us. Or me. I saw my name on a page, my real name, Monique, and then, like some people's names, and then- Tipisco, Arizona. Tipisco is right on the Arizona-California border- I found it on the map. Real tiny town, it looked like. Anyway, I was thinking, none of us ever knew our parents, and, you know, we've always wondered, or at least I mean I've always wondered, but I guess the rest of you have too, like, whether they gave me up voluntarily or whether-"

For the first time, I'm glad Max interrupts Nudge. Where did Nudge find those files? I've searched everywhere for clues to who our families are and Nudge finds the one with hers in it? "Nudge. I know how you feel. But those names might not have anything to do with you. We don't know if we were just test-tube babies or what. Please. Let's focus in rescuing Angel."

Nudge has that sad, desperate, stubborn-in-a-Max-way look on her face.

"Nudge?" Max asked.

"Yeah, okay. I was just thinking." Yeah, thinking about how to escape and find that address. Max was thinking the same thing.