Chapter 14: A Shout, A Scream and A Splash
Max PoV
As soon as I sat down to breakfast I realised how hungry I was.
"I made you extra," Iggy said, "We all ate loads when we came home yesterday. You haven't eaten for almost twenty hours, and even then you only had a sandwich.
"Mmmph," I said through a mouthful of food.
"What did she say?" Iggy asked, looking slightly disgusted.
I swallowed, "Thanks Iggy, you're great."
"I know."
I rolled my eyes before going back to attacking my bacon. Five minutes, ten pieces of bacon, eight sausages, six pieces of toast, thirteen eggs and a cup of hot chocolate later I was done.
I stood up; only to have a knife fly right passed my ear, towards the living room. I caught it.
"Nudge! What have I told you about making cutlery fly around the house? If you want a knife, get up off your lazy ass and get it! You almost cut my ear off!"
"Sorry Max!" Her voice carried through from the living room.
I sighed. She would do it again tomorrow. Her and her stupid magnetic powers. They were getting stronger by the day. Everyone's were.
Angel could now change into any member of the Flock, which I had forbidden her from doing. Gazzy had made a checkout girl pass out when he let off in the supermarket a few weeks back. Nudge could move anything metal perfectly through a maze and could instantly tell you everything about something by touching it with her finger. Iggy could see perfectly against white, and could tell shades by touch. Fang could stay invisible if he moved slowly. Me? I could fly at three hundred miles an hour.
But how will this help us all? I thought. How will these things help us save the world and be home in time for tea?
I walked through to the living room, my eyes sweeping round. Everyone was sitting watching TV. I sat down next to Fang.
"Max, why would someone do that?" Angel climbed into my lap, looking up at me with her big blue eyes.
"Do what honey?"
"Clip birds so that they can't fly. I mean that's so nasty! Imagine if someone clipped our wings. I would hate it. We're like designed to fly. If we couldn't it would just be wrong! Hey, Max, are you alright?" Nudge slowed, a worried look crossing her face.
I was shaking, my breath coming in short gasps. I closed my eyes, leaning back into the couch.
Not be able to fly. Never again. All that pain, for nothing.
Images from my dream flickered across the back of my eyelids. I snapped them open, shying away from the horror.
It took a second to register the fact that the Flock were all watching me closely.
"I'm fine," I insisted, "Who wants to go for a fly?"
This was met by a lot of enthusiasm. I grinned at everyone then ran out of the front door, launching myself into the air.
"Max?" Gazzy called, "What about school?"
"I thought we would have a day off." I called back to him, getting many cheers from the Flock.
"You'll have to face Jessica again sometime," Fang said, flying over me so that we had one shadow.
"I know. I just want to think first."
He nodded, looking somewhere below me. "Hey, there's a beach."
He was asking if I wanted to go. I bit my lip, thinking.
It won't hurt. Give the Flock some down time.
"Hey, guys! Going down!"
I angled myself downwards, heading toward a forest. I landed, the Flock close behind. We all pulled on our jackets, making sure our wings were hidden.
Nudge, Gazzy and Angel raced to the beach, Iggy running behind them. Me and Fang followed, slowly.
I smiled as I watched them splashing each other.
Looking round I noticed a huge cliff hanging out above the ocean. Being me I decided to see what the view was like.
I climbed up the cliff, something that would be suicidal for a normal person. When I got to the top there were some people standing on the edge, staring out across the water.
"Oh!" I let out a small noise of surprise and they jumped and looked down at me.
Their eyes widened as they saw me pull myself up and onto the grass. I stood up, brushed the dust off my knees and turned to see them staring at me.
"What?" I asked. "It's rude to stare you know."
They closed their mouths and the biggest of them stepped forward. It was then I actually registered their appearance.
They were all about eighteen, really tall and tanned. They only wore cloth shorts, leaving their chests uncovered. There was something about them that made me uneasy. I looked at the guy on the right. He seemed pissed off about something.
"Who are you?" I turned my attention back to the leader. "How did you climb up that cliff? It's almost impossible; you could have got yourself killed!"
"I'm a good climber." I stated simply. The guy on the right scoffed. "What, you think just because I'm a girl I can't climb?"
"Look, kid. Even I couldn't climb that cliff, so you must have some skill."
The last guy said this. I liked him. He was looking at me with admiration.
"Thanks." I smiled at him.
"I'm Jacob," He smiled back, "This is Sam and Paul." He gestured to the leader, then the scoffer.
Sam nodded at me, smiling. He opened his mouth to say something but just at that moment Angel pulled herself onto the grass.
She grinned at me, before looking over the edge and yelling down.
"I win!"
"You cheated!" Gazzy's voice carried up. His dirty blond hair appeared followed by his big blue eyes. He turned to scowl at Angel. She smiled innocently at him.
"OMG! That was like, so fun! We should do that more often! Can we Max? please?" Nudge's brown curls were next to appear. She turned around and gasped. "Look at the view…"
I smiled as the three younger members of my family stared out at the glistening waves smashing quite violently into the sharp rocks below. I would not like to go swimming down there.
Iggy's strawberry blond head came up after that. He cautiously felt around for something to grab on to. "Max?"
"Here, Ig." I pulled him up by the hand.
Fang was last to come over the side. His eyes landed on the group of guys behind me, narrowing slightly as he took them in.
"Wow! Dude!" Jacob looked deeply impressed, "Max, you gotta introduce me to all these people."
I grinned at him. "This is Ariel, Jason, Tiffany-Krystal, James and Nick. They're my family."
"So you're a family of circus freaks who climb really well. Next?" Paul's sarcastic comment stung. We may be freaks, but we have pride.
"Your just annoyed 'cause a six year old girl can climb better than you could ever wish to." Oops. Angel was pretending to be eight. Oh well.
"So I don't spend ages climbing. I have better things to do. You wanna make something of it?"
His stance was aggressive. There was something abut him. I couldn't quite place it.
He looked slightly… wolfish. An Eraser.
"Yeah, maybe I do," I said, buying us time. He snarled at me.
He couldn't be an Eraser, they're all dead.
"Paul!" Sam's warning tone seemed lost on him.
Suddenly Angel gasped behind me.
"Max! They're wolves!" Her shout confirmed my suspicions.
Paul growled low in his throat. He was morphing, his mouth changing into a hideous snout. Fur was spurting from every inch of his skin. He more than doubled in size.
Before anyone could do anything I kicked Paul's head, making it snap to the side.
A car pulled up, skidding on the gravel road. The door opened and Edward Cullen burst out. I glanced at him, distracted for only a moment.
A moment was enough.
The Eraser grabbed my shoulders, throwing me away from the road. I soared through the air, and my heart leapt in panic as I fell over the cliff.
Max, your jacket. The Voice cleared my head. I fought to get rid of the layer of cloth that was covering my wings.
Fang shouted, Angel screamed and I got it off, just as I splashed into the water.
