A/N: Hey. I just wanted to know if you knew…
A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS
This story I brought to you by Dozen-Glass-Roses, a beta whose work is like the early morning when it's still cool in the summer and the grass sparkles with dew. Let's everyone give a hand to Miss Rose.
(canned applause)
Disclaimer: JP's beta is not as awesome as mine.
Just like that, everything in the yard focuses like I've adjusted the lens on a camera. I don't tense, because if I move, some part of my body is going to fall off. Maybe multiple parts. But my eyes follow Ari as he stalks across the ground to Max, who is deep in thought. Her head snaps upward as he leans over her, bracing himself with one hand on my cage. I resist the urge to reach out and snap his hairy, bony finger. The other hand goes over to Max's cage and he sticks his fingers through, wiggling them.
"Got your running shoes on, piggy?" he asks, sneering. "Feeling like a little exercise? Wanna race? Wanna play food fight?" He puts his face right up close to hers, baring his long, slimy, yellow fangs. "You're the food!"
Max's bruised face splits into an awful grin. I think Uh oh. Then she leans over and sinks her teeth into his hand. Ari's eyes widen, and he sucks in a breath. Then he howls like the dog he is, and the hand on my cage flies off and wraps around his other wrist, tugging. He whips his arms around, shaking the cage violently. My crate wobbles dangerously, sending pain shooting through every fiber of my being. My eyes widen and my hands brace against the sides, not that that does anything at all.
Below me, Max is really taking it - her whole body shaking and her head getting snapped around. The other whitecoats are yelling at her, and Ari is swinging his Italian boot into her crate, sending shock waves up to me. Then, Max let's go. Ari's hand comes flying out of the crate, and his next kick shoots Max's crate out from underneath mine.
My whole body plummets. My stomach gets left up in the air, and as the crate slams into the ground, I bite my tongue so hard I almost pierce it. When it hits, every single muscle, every cell, every fiber screams in agony. I close my eyes for a second, and when I open them, Max's crate is upside down next to Angel's. She unlatches Angel's crate with shaking fingers.
"Go! Go! Don't argue!" she yells, and Angel, looking determined, edges the door open and squeezes out, clambering up on top of Nudge's crate, out of reach. Nudge reaches up and squeezes her fingers.
Next second, Ari slams down sideways into Max's crate. The whole thing goes careening away, tumbling over the dirt. I press myself against the crate, so intent on somehow, somehow, getting to her before Ari does, that I don't see it. But I sure hear it. It's a kind of fwooshing noise, almost like the tide, or could it be…?
My head whips up to see a hundred wings beating. I see a storm cloud of hawks circling above us, blocking out the sun, whipping up a huge, violent wind. I stare for a second before I see the other thing - two figures standing over on the roof; one crouching, one standing tall and heroically.
I grin to myself. They probably practiced that, I think. Then a shriek makes me look down. Max's crate has a gaping hole in it, and Ari's covering his head, yelling, as he gets dive-bombed by hawks. Max is tearing toward us, her face wild and determined. Two whitecoats are right on her heels.
"Angel!" she yells. "Get out of here!"
She slows for a second, elbowing one of the whitecoats into the other. They fall to the ground. Then she jumps up, and in midair, grabs Angel by the waist, and throws her into the air before hitting the ground. Angel's pure white wings unfurl and she shakily rises into the air.
Then she comes for me, her hands fumbling on my latch. The door swings open, and my knees tumble out. I'd like to take some time slowly getting to my feet, in stages, like I have arthritis or something, but time is something I don't have. I'll be sure to add that to the grocery list, I think, and spring out of the crate. For a second, I don't think I'll be able to actually move, I'm hurting so bad. I almost fall. Then I regain my balance. I grab the nearest whitecoat and pin him to the cart. His eyes go wide with terror, and I pull back and punch him with everything I have. His eyes go back in his head, and he sags in my hand. I drop him, and he crumples to the ground.
Then I look around. Revenge is my next step, and I see Ari fending off the hawks. Perfect. I sprint over to him, and the hawks flutter off of him. Ari begins to get up, but I smash the top of his head down, and he curls up into a crouch. I kick the side of his body, covering his skin with blood from my shoes. Whether it's mine or his or someone else's, I can't tell. Max is shouting stuff behind me, but I don't look back. Instead, I punch his face again, hearing a satisfying crack. Then I grab my crate and shove it over his head. Ari is even bigger than me; and the door barely fits over his shoulders. They're going to have to cut it off of him.
I hear a shriek. Then Max yells, "Fang! Iggy! Gazzy! Let's go! Go, go, go!"
I stick my fingers through the bars of Ari's cage and give him a good, hard poke. Then I snarl at him, pointing at my teeth. He flinches. Then I spring on top of his crate, and, using my momentum, unfurl my wings and jump into the air.
Oh, man. My wings creak and groan, but I'm relieved and happy. I thought I'd never fly again. I keep my face smooth and blank as Iggy and Gazzy silently call the hawks away from their last few bites and scratches. They swerve into formation, swerving upward as easily as if they were one body. Max does a head count, and a smile spreads across her face without her realizing.
"Fang! Get Angel!" she calls, and I see Angel, struggling to stay aloft. Gazzy flies over to help me with her, supporting her left while I take her right.
"I got her," I tell him, and lift Angel into my arms. Gazzy stays flying near her, every so often reaching out to touch her blond curls like they're a precious, rare gold.
It's then that I hear it.
"Max!"
I swoop to a halt. Looking down, I see Max maybe ten feet below me, her wide wings blocking whoever it is. I edge to the side, and see Jeb, his shoulder torn and bloody, staring up at Max with an expression I can't place. I wonder what expression he would make if I was tearing out his stone cold heart through his throat.
"Maximum! Max! Please! This was all a test! Don't you get it? You weresafe here! This was only a test! You have to trust me - I'm the only one you can trust! Please! Come back - let me explain!"
Max was looking down at him, her hair partially covering her face, so that I couldn't see her expression. But she was silent for about ten seconds, and the whole world held its breath. Then she shook her head slowly, turning her head to the side and closing her eyes.
"I don't think so," she says tiredly.
Then she pushes down hard, and soars up to us. Nudge gives Jeb a cheeky little wave as she follows Max, and the rest of us turn and fly away, into the wild blue yonder.
Angel reaches up to touch my cheek. Her hand is soft, warm, like a baby's. It feels like heaven. All of the tension flows out of me with that little touch: because Angel's here, she's safe, everyone's okay. And for the first time in what feels like forever, I know that everything is going to be all right.
**!**
"You have to do what?"
Max nods unhappily. "But don't tell any of the others yet. Okay?"
I look away from her, back at the flock. Iggy's carrying Angel, and all four of them are chatting happily, a little distance behind us.
I look back at Max. She's looking at me uncertainly.
"Saving the world," I say finally.
It's her turn to look away. She watches my wings whoosh up and down, her eyes unreadable.
"That's what Jeb says," she says, still not looking at me. "He told me that that's why I was created."
"And the rest of us?"
Max is silent, then: "I don't know."
We're quiet all the way to Lake Mead and the shallow cave. The hawks are there, lining the caves, like a homecoming committee. We all land in the opening, and Angel collapses, Max next to her. I turn and face the canyon, the orange and brown and yellow rock contrasting heavily with the blue sky.
"I thought I would never see you again," Angel says from behind me, and I catch her voice, memorize it, analyze it, hold it close to me. "They did all kinds of stuff to me, Max. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible."
"I would never quit trying to get you back," Max says, her voice choked with emotion. "There's no way I would ever let them keep you. They would have to kill me first."
"They almost did," says Angel. Her voice cracks, and there's a rustling as Max pulls her in close and holds her.
"This is how it should be forever," Iggy says unexpectedly. "All of us together."
I feel Max's gaze on my back, and turn. She's got Angel curled into her chest, her hand splayed on Angel's back. She holds out her other hand in a fist, and looks me square in the eye. I allow a tiny muscle in my mouth to slip past formation and curve upward as I make my way over and place my hand over hers. It's warm and smooth. I squeeze a slight bit. Then my hand is covered by four others, and Max taps the stack.
"I'm just...so thankful," she says, and Nudge looks at her, surprised. I look right into her eyes. She swallows and starts over, now looking at the ground. Her eyes dart up occasionally. "I mean, this made me realize how much we all need one another. I needall of you. I love you all. But five of us, or three of us, or two of us isn't us. Us is all six."
I look at my sneakers. Was it just my imagination, or did she look at me when she said "I love you all"? Iggy taps his fingers on his leg. But Nudge throws her arms around Max.
"I love you too, Max! I love all of us too," she says into Max's shoulder.
"Yeah, me too," Gazzy says. "I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together."
I stay looking at my shoes. If there's one thing I can't handle, it's emotions. But I take this scene, and lock it away in my heart, so that I can open it up later, and hold it, and play it over and over again, and then lock it safe back up inside me.
Soon, the flock drops off. I stand guard outside the cliff until it begins raining. The flock wakes and stands outside in the rain, washing it all away. Blood. Dirt. Grime. The smell of the School, and the despicable memories. The rain pours down on our heads, dripping through our hair, falling on our souls and erasing everything until we start to get cold. One by one, the flock heads inside, until it's just the older three standing on the ledge.
Max shivers, and I stand behind her and rub her shoulders. She looks back at me, and I look out over her head. She leans back on me the tiniest bit, but her touch is comforting.
"Jeb knows our house," she says quietly.
I nod. "Can't ever go back. Guess we need a new home."
"Yes," she says, closing her eyes. She leans even more into me. The rain drips off her eyelashes. I look over at Iggy, illuminated from behind by the stars, his white baggy shirt plastered to his chest, the water shining on his face like liquid silver.
"East," says Max. Her mouth is open slightly, and water drips into it. Her face shines like I've never seen it before; her hair is wet and dark, flat. Behind her eyelids, her eyes are still. "We'll go east."
So I have a question. I was wondering…would people like it if I responded to reviews? I mean, some people do, so…
And….that's it. R&R?