Chapter 9: Check In At Motel 6

I didn't know what Ember was going to do, but I couldn't pay too much attention to it since I had to dodge about five different punches to my body. I saw Angel freeze and then shout at me.

"Fang, Ember's going to-".

And then we heard an Earth shattering BOOM coming from the clearing that we were in earlier. Everyone stopped and looked down, watching the scene unfold.

"Was that one of MY bombs?" Iggy asked in astonishment.

"Yeah it was...and it was TOTALLY AWESOME!" said the Gasman, who punched the air with a grin on his face. Nudge rolled her eyes, even though she had a deep gash on her shoulder, but I glanced at Angel, who had a stricken look on her face.

"I can hear her thoughts, but it's very faint..." she said to me in thought. I felt my muscles go rigid but was knocked back to my senses when I heard Nudge grunt and then say, "You little..." before kicking a Flyboy in the face.

That resumed the fighting, and we were back to kicking, dodging, and punching. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw something purple coming towards us. It was that same purple hand that I had seen catch Total.

"Amscray!" I yelled to the others, and we bolted higher into the air just as the hand came. I watched as it collected every single Eraser and Flyboy in one fell swoop, then the hand closed into a fist. I could hear the muffled cries only for mere seconds before the hand slowly disappeared to reveal what was left. The Erasers had no heads left on their shoulders; their bodies made their way to the ground, and the Flyboys were definetly scrap metal. I shuddered to myself quietly and assessed the flock. Although they looked like they were almost beaten to a bloody pulp, everyone was here...except one.

I glanced at Angel, already knowing the look that I would see on her face.

Grief.

I looked down at the clearing, my stomach in small knots, feeling the color drain out of my face. "Lets go" I said quietly in an emotionless voice. The flock hesitated, looked at me, glanced down once more, then followed behind me.

For once, Nudge had nothing to say.

O::O::O::O::O::O

We decided to at least catch our breaths at the closest hotel we could find, which, let's face it, 200 miles wasn't close. We were literally on the verge of sleep when we landed in the hotel parking lot. I saw the look the guy at the desk gave us and I couldn't even look at him with an evil eye; I was that tired. Angel went up to the desk, her angelic face still amazingly adorable considering how tired she was.

"We want a room for as long as we want, we don't want to pay for it, and we absolutely DO NOT want anyone to bother us about not paying" she said with an exasperated smile. The man at the desk had a confused look on his face before he nodded slowly, turned around, and turned back to us while giving Angel a room key. "Thank you" she said in a slightly perky tone before passing the key to me.

Sometimes I forgot how scary Angel could get.

"Oh, and can you bring us some First-Aid kits? Like eight of them? Because they're so small?" asked Nudge. The clerk nodded again and I hurried everyone to our room before they asked for anything else. As we settled into the room, and we all took a well deserved shower, washing off the dirt that we had cultivated on our skin. This gave me a chance to check everyone out properly. The whole gang mostly had bruises and scratches, or what we called "scratches"; nothing life threatening seeing as how they would heal in a day or two, but it would still be annoying if they got an infection or something.

Nudge was hungry, Gazzy and Iggy were quiet considering the newest bomb that they had created had killed someone that we could have possibly trusted, Angel was miserable, Total was infuriated, and I was slightly ticked that I still had Ember's laptop in my bag, but it was locked, YET AGAIN, with a new password.

"First, she saves my life. Then, she goes on being the hero and gets herself KILLED!"Total ranted as he paced back and forth on the floor.

I clenched my teeth together. The only info that I was able to get before all of this happened was the news on Max. The bird-girl who used to be my best friend, our supporter, our team leader, turned out to be an "Oops-I-didn't-tell-you-that-I-was-working-for-the-stinking-whitecoat-scientists" robot. It was all a test to see if we could differentiate the real from the fake and we failed miserably. All of those years that we grew up together at the School, I always noticed the faintest hint of a metallic sound in her voice, but I always pushed it aside, thinking nothing of it. I trusted her, but it meant nothing. So I was glad when I found out that she got scraped, terminated, died. Glad, but still hurt.

But this...this was different.

For the short week that we knew Ember, it seemed as if she made things...easier...well, as easy as easy can get when you're talking about us bird-kids, but still.

Not having her here was...weird, I guess. I couldn't even explain it. I just wished she were in the same room with us so that we could play the "Let's-stare-you-down-because-I-slightly-don't-trust-you" contest.

OK, think, Fang, think. What do we do from here... I asked myself. Just then, we all heard a knock on the door and a high pitched voice call out, "Room service".

I was instantly on guard, even though I knew we were supposed to be expecting someone to drop off our First-Aid kits. I glanced at the flock, who hadn't moved an inch, but I knew that they had already found all of the escape roots. Ok, so kick the window open and up and away... I thought to myself as I slowly opened the door.

And there she was, with her back leaning against the wall opposite the door, one foot on the wall. She looked up at me and I saw blood running from her forehead on the left side, her cheek with some scratches, and her right arm slightly burned. But she had a smirk on her lips as she strolled up to me with the First-Aid kits that we had asked for.

"Thought you might need these" Ember said as she gave the First-Aid kits to me. I opened the door wider for her, beyond shock, and she walked into the room so casually, as if we all weren't on the run. "Hey guys" she said in a laid back tone of voice.

The flock looked at Ember for one second before they all jumped up and basically tackled her. First, it was Total, who jumped in her arms crying big wet tears, then it was Angel as she held on to Ember's waist, then the rest of the them just kind-of came on her like a big blob.

I was the only one left out but I couldn't help but smile at her surprised expression. "Jesus Christ, choking, not breathing!" she gasped from under them and they quickly came off only to huddle close to her, asking a whole bunch of questions. She looked at all of them, her eyes practically popping out of her head, then looked at me with pleading eyes. I only shrugged and gave her a smile, which seemed to catch her off guard for some apparent reason, because she blinked once then scowled at me. I could tell she didn't like attention at all and I could feel "you're no help" vibes rolling off of her.

Finally, Ember sighed and said, "If you will all be quiet, I can give you something nice". That seemed to shut them up and she walked past them through the door, which I had just realized was still open. She came back a couple of seconds later with what seemed like 10 or 15 bags of McDonalds.

This time, Nudge was the first one to jump up and run to Ember. I guess she feared she would make Ember drop all of the bags on the floor and not get anything to eat because she didn't tackle her this time. I remembered to close the door as she sprawled the bags on the floor and started passing them out. Nobody asked how she got it because they were too busy stuffing their faces. After what seemed like forever of shoving food down our throats, we all started asking her questions, even though it clearly made her uncomfortable.

"How did you get all this food?!" Gazzy asked as he swallowed a chicken nugget whole. She sighed before taking a drink.

"I guess when you see a bank getting robbed or if you see a bad guy running the streets, the only thing to do is turn them in and collect the money. Then save it for when you need it" she shrugged before taking another sip of the soda that she had stashed in her bag.

"What was that purple hand that you used to catch me with?" Total asked as he looked up at Ember. He was quite content sitting on her lap, and for a few seconds, I felt a slight pang of envy. For what reason, I don't know.

"Do you really have to ask that question?" she asked with a slight frown on her face.

"Yes, I have a right to know these things, especially because you had me scared and made me think you were dead!" Total said in a commanding voice. She sighed again and moved her right arm so that she could rub the back of her head. I guess she forgot about the burn because she flinched slightly.

Have to fix that... I immediately thought to myself as I listened intently to her explanation.

"Well..." she began. "I'm kinda, sorta...psychic...".

Gazzy's eyes opened wide. "As in you can see ghosts and talk to dead people and stuff?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him and chuckled.

"No, nothing like that. But I can control some elements, like fire and water. I can also control stuff around me to a certain degree and can basically make a purple human life figure. But this requires my full attention and it takes a lot out of me, so I don't do it too often" she said before she abruptly shut her mouth. Apparently, she revealed more than she wanted to say.

So she doesnt like attention AND she's introverted...and the fact that she's psychic explains a lot... I thought as I smiled to myself.

Then it was Nudge's turn for her eyes to be wide.

Oh, here we go... I thought.

"So that's how you made the ice wall when we first met?" she asked.

"Yep" replied Ember.

"And that's how you change the password without typing anything?".

"Yep".

"And that's how you made that huge purple hand come out of nowhere to crush the Erasers and Flyboys?".

"Yep".

"Can you say anything but 'yep'?".

"Yep" replied Ember. She shot Nudge a playful smile before asking, "What are Flyboys?"

"Those metal Erasers that we fought today" Iggy answered, a scowl forming on his face.

"Huh. I call them Flywolves. And although I'd prefer them dead, I think I like Flyboys better..." Ember said to herself absentmindedly.

"How did you survive? After you used that hand thing, your thoughts kinda faded away..." Angel asked. Her voice drifted away as she finished the sentence, remembering what happened only a couple of hours ago. I glanced at Ember, who looked as if she was debating with herself on whether or not to tell.

"You might as well say it. She'll find out sooner or later" I said, taking a big swig of my 4th can of soda. She scowled at me slightly and I couldn't help but grin under the can.

I seem to be smiling a lot around her... I thought as she started to speak.

"I don't know exactly what it is, but the best way to describe it is when I pass out from exhaustion or something; when I use my powers too much, I disappear. Like, out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. But it has its disadvantages. I wake up in the same spot and I'm very disoriented. Speaking of that, Gazzy, Iggy, your bomb was amazing!" she said as she looked at Iggy and Gazzy.

Their faces lit up with pride, or it could have been that they had stuffed their faces with fries; I couldn't tell.

"How did you know it was ours?" Gazzy asked.

"Well, for one thing, I stole a few from Iggy's bag, and I found this when I woke up". Ember reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with the sides burned a bit.

"What is it?" Iggy asked, sounding irritated. He hated it when he was the last one to know things.

"Hope you die, you dirtbags! I. and G." Ember read, a chuckle escaping her.

"I hope they saw that" said Total, who I thought had fallen asleep in Ember's lap.

"But that blast was just, wow...I'm glad I got away in time" Ember said.

"So if you got away, then how did you manage to get that on your forehead?" I asked. Ember looked confused for a second before bringing her uninjured hand to her forehead. She flinched as she touched the spot where the blood seemed to come from.

"That probably happened when I flew face first at full speed into a tree after I woke up..." she mumbled, bringing her hand back down to inspect the blood on her fingers.

There was a moment of silence before everyone burst out laughing. Ember scowled at us and we tried to stop when she pushed Total off of her lap, but we couldn't stop laughing.

I was actually rolling on the floor I was laughing so hard.

Ember stood up from the bed and rolled her eyes. Nudge got herself together as best as she could to say something.

"Could you...turn the computer on..." she asked, gasping for breath before going back into another fit of laughter. Ember crossed her arms as she looked us over. I had regained my composure a bit until I was actually able to stop the tears from coming. The rest of them were still giggling, or trying to catch their breath, or both.

Ember rolled her eyes again before saying, "Whatever". She walked to the laptop, which was already turned on, and quickly typed in the password before going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

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