Oh, my gosh. I'm writing the epilogue as we speak and I'm all emotional because I don't want it to be done but it is now so…I'm just gonna stop drabbling and let you read this chapter. TT_TT

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Max

I couldn't believe what I was seeing on that screen. That was my baby. That thing on that monitor was actually inside my body. I couldn't believe it. I watched it move around a little. It's arms and legs kicked sometimes. I felt some of them, but others I didn't even notice.

"Isn't that amazing?" I asked Fang. He squeezed my hand.

"Yep. Pretty awesome," he agreed. I turned to look at my mom.

"And you said it has wings?" I asked her. She nodded.

"It looks like it. I'm not surprised, since you both have the 2% avian DNA in your bodies," she explained. "If one of you didn't have that DNA, I wouldn't have guessed that it would have wings, considering it would have only 1% avian DNA, and it probably wouldn't even be significant."

"Oh," I said, though pretty much everything my mom had said pretty much blew over my head.

"Still, it's pretty cool," Fang said, gesturing to the monitor. I smiled.

"Yeah, it is," I agreed.

My mom finally agreed to let us go home after a little more looking around. I still hated that sickly smell of antibacterial stuff and the whole squeaky-clean feeling that hospitals had. We hurried out of the building and back into my mom's van. She drove out of the parking lot and back towards home.

The second the door opened, Nudge jumped up and ran right over to us and grabbed my wrist.

"Max," she said, guiding me toward the couch. "You should take a look at this."

She sat me down on the couch and took a seat next to me. She held my hand, and I could tell by that gesture that this was not good. Very not good.

A tall, thin woman with long, very straight, dark hair and mocha-coloured skin came on the TV screen. Underneath her, a little bar said Company Deceives Public: A secret corporation discovered and destroyed.

The woman, introduced as Naomi Fitts, began to speak. Behind her was a blazing building.

"I'm standing in front of a building known as 'The School,' which was discovered and set on fire early this morning," she explained. I raised my eyebrows. The School had been set on fire? "A group of children, who have asked to remain anonymous, reported the whereabouts of this building and of the truly revolting purpose it served. It is said that the School was a secret organization of scientists participating in illegal genetic mutations, primarily on humans. The projects were led by Roland ter Borcht, who's location is currently unknown, but he is being searched out as we speak."

A picture of ter Borcht popped on the top right of the screen. Crap. Ter Borcht was on the loose again?

"Firefighters have searched the building for survivors, but found it completely empty, save one body that was found trapped in a metal dog crate. He has been identified as Jeb Batchelder…"

An image came up on the screen, just like it had for ter Borcht. It was Jeb. Really, truly Jeb. And they'd found his…dead body in the burning School! My hand that wasn't holding Nudge's flew up to my mouth. Naomi Fitts was still talking, but I couldn't hear her anymore.

"Oh, my God," I said into my hand. My stomach churned inside me.

"Max?" Nudge said, looking over at me."Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I think I'm going to be sick," I told her. I got up and walked robotically toward the sink, where I puked my guts up. My hair was pulled away from my face, again, and once I thought I was finished vomiting, I turned around and collapsed in Fang's arms.

"Max," he said soothingly.

"He's gone," I stated, my voice staying steady, even though my throat was full with choking tears. "Like, he's really, actually gone."

"That's what it looks like," Fang said. I noticed how he avoided directly agreeing with my statement.

"You don't think it's true?" I asked him, pulling away from his chest and looking up at him.

"I think there's something suspicious about it, yeah."

"What do you think we should do?" I asked him. He considered that for a minute.

"I think we should keep an eye on it," he said. "Maybe do a little investigation if we need to."

I nodded. I just hoped that didn't mean I was going to lose him again.