Remember - Max is writing this to Ella!

Journal NOT a Diary!

Max's Journal

November 16, 2010

My life flashed before my eyes as soon as the bomb went off. It was enough power to send me flying. I caught myself with my wings and landed in the woods, but I can't say I caught Mom. I didn't even see her. Her yard was destroyed and her house seriously damaged and on fire, but I really didn't care. I cared more about Mom then starting a forest fire. (Wow, where have I gone lately?).

After half an hour of searching, I didn't find her. Leaves of a tree were brushing towards the flames, and I knew there was only a matter of time before all the woods of Mesa were in flames.

Wow, remind you of anyone?

Being forced to retreat, I notified the fire department and flew back to the hospital where most of my flock was waiting. What would I tell Fang? That Scar Dude and Dragon Guy set off bombs all around Mesa? There was no proof of that. It could have been terrorists. Or maybe the FBI turned against us. (Wow, if all of America exploded, it'd seriously mess up my week's plans.)

Fang was silent for a minute after I told him. "Max, we need to leave. Go to Asia or something."

"Your vision said we'd leave," I reminded him. "And Mom would commit suicide."

"There's no way she could survive a bomb exploding under her." He paused and glanced at the floor, where Nudge and Iggy's beds would have been if they hadn't been taken off for tests. "Didn't that man say he wouldn't stop destroying America if we didn't leave?"

"He sure knows how to hold a grudge. He said Kelsey, that doesn't mean us. There could have been other successful bird hybrids."

Fang sighed. "No, Max. There were other hybrids, but they were all destroyed years ago. And none of them had the name Kelsey."

"That doesn't mean there couldn't have been another hybrid in those years."

"Maybe it is someone else." He adverted his eyes and laid back in his chair. "I've just got a feeling that it's..." His eyelids fluttered as he glanced around the room. Slowly he drifted into a deep sleep, like that person in that story -

Wow, I've GOT to stop watching Disney movies.

It took me a while to fall asleep. Thoughts clouded my mind... of Mom... and you and Angel...

Suddenly I sat straight up. "Fang!" I yelled, shaking his knee. He shivered and glared at me through tired eyes.

"What now?" he asked.

"Remember what Nudge said? Ella and Angel were with Mom! I found her in Mesa, they must be there, too!"

His eyelids flew open and he said up, wide awake. "Max, you didn't hear anything from Angel. And you said all of Mesa blew up, they couldn't have survived."

"Angel might not have been listening for me! And - and - Mesa is a big city. They could have been separated from Mom. They might have gone into another city where bombs weren't planted. It'd be super hard for those men to blow up all of Arizona right after those airport explosions in Chicago and Phillie."

"Maybe," he said, scratching his head, "they had helpers. If Cindy was manipulative enough to get all those poor people in that candy shop in New York, she could have taught them. The could be just as - if not more - manipulative. It wouldn't be that hard for them to get more slaves."

I thought about how I didn't care if I started a forest fire in the Mesa woods, that I just wanted to save Mom. I was not only doing what they would do (not that they would care about Mom, but they would have let the woods catch fire), I was being influenced and used by them.

"You're right." I didn't even know I had said those words. They slipped out. I didn't want to believe that, or that I had smirked in the face of my save-the-world-or-everyone-dies plan that had been in session for over a year and done the complete opposite.

I grabbed up the TV remote and switched it off. Arizona News was still on, which meant the station was still there. The station was just outside of Mesa.

Slowly the weather report came to an end and Marley Brown (I recognized her from that crowd after the grocery store where I first met Cindy) popped back on the screen. A Breaking News sign circled around her.

"We just got updates on our earlier story, about a bombing in Mesa. It's still unclear who may be responsible for this terrorist attack, but investigators think it may be connected to the hospital shooting" - It showed a picture of the hospital Fang and I were in where this whole thing crashed down - "and the airplane bombings in Chicago and Philadelphia" - pictures of exploding airplanes popped up - "but it's still unknown."

"Officials have been searching for bodies, firefighters trying to put out flames, and ambulances gathering the injured. There has been an estimated 200,000 deaths and over 100,000 critically injured. Thousands were away for Christmas holidays, thankfully, but over five-sixth of them will not have a home to come to. There has been no reported damage other then fire outside the Mesa city limits. We will notify you when more information is available."

I flipped the TV off and turned to Fang. "If they weren't in the city limits, they'll be okay!"

"We don't know that they weren't."

"Do you want to find them, Fang?" I felt those little worry lines appear on my forehead. "Cause right now it doesn't look like it." Sure, it's not unusual for Fang to be pessimistic, but this was too much, even for me.

"Of course I want to find them!"

"Well, Mesa is only a teeny tiny fraction of America. It's not likely that they were in Mesa when the bombs went off."

"Then how do you expect to find them?"

He had a point. I had no idea how I would find Ella and Angel. "Well, I'm not sure. But I know one thing, I'll start with the cities around Mesa."

"Well, I'll go with you."

"No, you need to stay here in case Iggy or Nudge needs us." I didn't want to tell him that I didn't want him to go. Why? I had no idea. Oh my goodness, I'm turning more and more like Cindy's punks! Great. "If they wake up and neither of us is here, they'll freak."

"Like you said, Mesa is just a teeny tiny percent of America. You'll need help. Plus, it's not like we're leaving tonight. We can wait until they're awake and tell them."

Well, of course they wouldn't oppose an idea/search for you and Angel.

-Maximum