But what could I say to him? What could I offer him? What could I promise? How could I know what to say when I hardly even knew what to feel these days?
God help me.
I kept myself high enough in the sky so that people wouldn’t necessarily spot me right away. But I could still see everything, and I almost skidded to a halt when I saw firsthand the damage Dylan had done.
The town was in chaos. It looked like a tornado had streaked through, wrecking everything in its path. There were dented cars stopped on Main Street, store owners talking angrily to police, people sweeping up glass and reattaching signs. It was like Dylan had woken up today and decided to play Godzilla.
I let out a slow breath, understanding the implication: The measure of damage that Dylan had caused was probably about equal to the amount of pain he might be in right now.
Because of me.
My heart in my throat, I kept scanning the streets, but what I didn’t see was Dylan. I went high, way high, to give myself a broader view, but saw not a feather. I scanned treetops, the roofs of buildings, other places suitable for hiding out and seething, but he had disappeared.
And when he came back—if he came back—how would things be then? Would he still be the sweet, vulnerable Dylan I had begrudgingly come to rely on, to even like?
To more than like. I couldn’t admit to myself just what that feeling was, but it was something that had started to work its way deep inside me.
I’d been trying for so long to ignore his adoring looks, to distance myself and push him away.
So if I’d finally succeeded, why did it hurt so much?
61
HE’S HOME.
That was my first thought when I was rudely jolted out of a restless sleep that night. For the second time in just a couple of weeks, Iggy’s alarm system was sending wails and automated warning messages through the house in the middle of the night.
Be angry, I told myself as I bolted from my bed. He shouldn’t have taken off like that, shouldn’t have caused all that damage. You’re furious. But I couldn’t stop the feelings of relief and elation that swept through me as I headed for the door.
“What is it? Who’s attacking us?” Gazzy yelled from his room. “Should I bring the bombs?”
“Max?” Angel whimpered, stumbling out of my way sleepily as I rounded the corner and ran down the hall.
“It’s okay, Angel. Everything’s fine. Don’t worry, guys,” I yelled over my shoulder as I started to unbolt the locks. “Iggy! Cut the alarm! It’s just Dyl—”
I breathlessly threw open the door, and a sea of glowing red eyes peered at me out of the frigid darkness.
Behind me, Nudge sucked in a breath—there were a lot of eyes, and they were feral, bloodthirsty: Erasers.
I swallowed, my words dying on my lips. “Of course,” I muttered, trying not to show how overwhelmed I was by the sheer numbers, how unprepared I’d just been caught. I had opened the door to these mongrels, without any weapon or plan. I had practically invited them in.
I cleared my throat and stepped right out onto the porch. I could hear breathing and shuffling in the darkness, animal sounds that sent chills down my spine. You’d think I would be used to it by now. “So,” I said loudly, “is there a specific reason you flea-bitten wolves are attacking? Or is it just my lucky day?”
“Just your lucky day, sis.”
I knew that voice: bitter, deep, like a bunch of rocks being rattled in a can. Ari.
The crowd of Erasers parted so he could walk through, and he stopped just ten feet from the bottom of the stairs. My stomach turned somersaults—somehow he looked even bigger and wolfier. Maybe he had been “enhanced” some more.
“This is the end, Max,” Ari said, stepping into the beam of the porch light and showing his yellow fangs. “I promise.”
“I stopped believing your promises a long time ago,” I said. I felt just a tiny bit sad, remembering the cute kid he had once been. My half brother.
The other Erasers were moving forward now, ever so slowly. Every single one of them was staring fixedly in the same direction. At the same person.
And it wasn’t me.
“We’re here for you, Fang,” Ari said, looking into the hallway behind me and grinning toothily as he cracked his meaty, hairy knuckles. “We’re here to kill you, and trust me—this is one fight you bird kids can’t win.”
Fang came out to stand beside me, his fists clenched, his face tight with anger. “I wouldn’t bet on that.”
“Your funeral,” Ari said, shrugging. He held up one hairy fist, ready to give the signal to his army.
I tensed, settling my weight as I prepared to leap off the porch. I didn’t know if these Erasers could fly, but regardless, I was not going to start this fight on my feet. I was ready. I’d been ready for this for a long time. And my plan was to ignore any and all pain until every Eraser was gone.
But you know, things can always, always, take a turn for the worse.
“Just say the word, Dad,” Ari called out.
So there you go.
62
OUT OF THE shadows stepped the one, the only, the despicable Jeb. And get this—he was actually wearing a white lab coat. And a small frown.
“Wait, Ari,” Jeb said firmly. “I need to explain things first.”
For a moment, I thought Ari was going to ignore the command and just attack us anyway—that was what he would have done just a few months earlier. He hated and resented Jeb as much as he did us.
But after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded and slowly lowered his fist, though he never took his rabid eyes from Fang’s face.
Jeb moved closer to the porch. I kept my face expressionless, staying in battle mode. My muscles were coiled, my heart was pumping, and every sense was hyperalert. I knew that my flock—even Angel, who was still so fragile—was ready, just like I’d trained ’em to be. Just like Jeb had trained me.
“Max, Fang,” Jeb said, sounding urgent, “I need you to understand.”
Behind him, Ari shifted, and all of the red Eraser eyes in the darkness shifted along with him. They were muttering now, and I heard twigs snapping as they moved around impatiently. I had no idea how long Ari or Jeb could keep them in check.
“Save it,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “We don’t need to listen to any more of your lies.”
“No, but you do need to know the truth, Max. The truth about why Fang must die.”
I laughed coldly. “That actually sounds like something we absolutely don’t need to hear,” I replied. “It sounds totally irrelevant, actually. Because Fang isn’t going to die. You may have created us, Jeb, but you do not get to decide when we die. The only expiration date that’s approaching is yours, the second you try to get any closer to him.”
I saw the rest of the flock out of the corner of my eye, moving to stand next to me on the porch in support. Iggy stepped protectively in front of Fang and crossed his arms.
“Max, you don’t understand.” Jeb looked up at me. “I don’t want Fang to die, any more than you do. But he needs to. If the earth is going to survive, Fang must die.”
Fang stepped forward from the shadows and let out a long breath. “Go on,” he said, watching Jeb steadily.
I reached out and took his hand, holding it tight.
“When you were in Dr. Gunther-Hagen’s lab,” began Jeb, “he took samples of your tissue, did all sorts of tests on you, on your skin and muscles and organs. And eventually he made an amazing discovery. Fang, your DNA is indestructible. Infinitely regenerative.”
“We all heal quickly,” I ground out.
“No, Max, sweetie.” Jeb shook his head slowly, ignoring the look on my face at the word “sweetie.” “Fang is different. His DNA holds science’s key to immortality.”
Okay, I did not see that coming.
63
“I’M SO SORRY,” Jeb said sincerely. “But now you understand why Fang must be eliminated.”
I scowled at him. ??
?No, actually, I can’t say I do.”
“If my DNA is so special, wouldn’t that make me useful to keep alive?” asked Fang dryly. “For science?”
“Yes,” Jeb agreed. “And that’s exactly why Hans wants you alive—for that very reason. He intends to lock you up in his lab and put you into a permanent vegetative state. You understand what that means, don’t you? You would be just a body, unable to move, think, eat, talk. A body that Hans intends to perform live experiments on forever.”
I stared at Jeb in shock. Imagining Fang like that made me want to throw up.
Jeb paused, looking positively misty-eyed. “I myself would end your life right now, to save you from that endless nightmare. I created you, Fang. I could never let you endure that.”
“He wouldn’t have to endure anything,” I said briskly, my mind racing. “We’d protect him. And if you loved us, you would, too. Take him somewhere safe. Somewhere Dr. Hans would never find him. We’re good at running from idiots—as you well know, Jeb.”
Jeb coughed and looked at the ground. When he looked back at me, his eyes were pleading, but apologetic. “It’s not just Dr. Hans, Max. News travels fast in the world of science. Believe me, if I know of the discovery, many others do as well. And for something of this magnitude… They would come looking, more and more. You couldn’t protect Fang forever”—his lips curled into a sad smile—“and I’m afraid that’s how long you’d need to. What happens when you die, Maximum? Have you considered that? Who will protect Fang then?”
I clenched my fists but didn’t answer. My mouth was dry, and I felt empty and hollow.
“I can take care of myself,” Fang muttered. “Especially if I’m immortal.”
Jeb shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid you’re not immortal, Fang. We’ve determined that your DNA holds the secret to the pursuit of immortality. There’s a difference. You’re a critical link in the next great step in human evolution.” He cleared his throat. “But this is not just about you, kiddo. This is bigger. It’s about saving the whole world.” Jeb looked at me. “It’s what you’ve been preparing for all this time, Max.”
“Wait—what?” Fang and I said at the same time.
My mind reeled as I tried to get a handle on this scenario. And Ari and the Erasers were having a harder time than I was—they were clearly bored out of their pea-sized minds and were visibly salivating, shivering with anticipation as they waited anxiously to tear into Fang.
Behind me, Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel shifted their feet and unfurled their wings in case things got ugly in a hurry. It looked like they might.
Jeb went on, “Immortality might sound like a good thing, but as soon as it can be genetically engineered, we’ll have a disaster on our hands. If people live forever, their numbers will increase exponentially—like a cancer metastasizing across the earth,” Jeb said earnestly. “This is why I truly believe in the 99% Plan. The planet only has a chance if we take people out of the equation.”
“Oh, come on,” I scoffed, but Jeb was looking at Ari, who was moving toward his army of Erasers.
“It’s okay,” Fang said to me, trying to look reassuring. “They can’t hurt me. I already cheated death once. I was pretty much resurrected after I was thrown from the cliff.”
“Lose your God complex, my friend,” Ari sneered. “When we get through with you, there won’t be anything left to resurrect.”
“I created you, Fang. I created a… well, a monster,” Jeb said. “And now it’s my duty to destroy you, before Dr. Hans and those like him can torture you forever. Before your DNA can destroy our planet. I’m so sorry, Fang!”
He nodded at Ari: Take him out.
64
BOOM!
I whipped around and saw that Gazzy had produced a bunch of homemade bombs—yes, from his pajamas—and started hurling them into the crowd. There were three fast explosions, and each one took out at least six Erasers. That’s my boy, I thought proudly—
—and that thought cost me, because at that moment a huge, hard fist collided with my jawbone, rattling my brain and smashing my teeth together painfully. I rose into the air, fast, moving on instinct. As I took off I spit blood down on the crowd and moved my jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken. I shook my head to clear it.
A hundred to six—by far the worst odds we’d ever faced. But I wasn’t going down easily, and neither was Fang—I’d make sure of that. I set my aching teeth and dive-bombed the mass of writhing, hairy bodies.
“Max, duck!”
I obeyed the order instantly. A bird kid streaked past me and rammed the Eraser I’d been aiming for. I had one startled second to glimpse sun-blond hair. Caribbean-blue eyes flashed at me and then turned their focus back to the battle.
“Dylan!” I half shrieked as I slammed my cupped hands over an Eraser’s ears. His eardrums burst, and he howled in agony. “What the—Are you insane?”
“Later!” he yelled back. “I’m sorry!”
So am I, I thought, and then grabbed an Eraser’s thick wrist and twisted, snapping it and stopping the Eraser before it got to Nudge. But three more were already after her. And three more were coming for me. I dodged them and did a quick spin to get my arm around one of their necks.
Suddenly I heard a loud roar: Ari had Fang in a choke hold. Fang’s wings were pinned against his body, and Ari outweighed him by about a hundred pounds.
I headed toward them but as I did a claw raked my leg, making me gasp, and then several paws grabbed my ankle and pulled me downward. My sneakers hit dirt, and then I was whaling, punching, chopping, and kicking faster and harder than I ever had before. I had to: This fight mattered more than any other fight. Fang’s life hung in the balance. It was do or die for real this time. Possibly both.
I dimly heard another battle cry and from the corner of my eye saw Dylan drop onto Ari, deflecting him away from Fang—a move that made my heart hurt.
Dylan soared upward, into the black sky, and Ari roared ferociously, following him with hatred in his eyes.
My breath caught in my throat: This would be a fight to the death. I knew it would.
65
MY IRRATIONAL DESIRE to join Dylan in combat with Ari was interrupted when a heavy hand on my shoulder made me spin, ready to attack.
Jeb quickly held up his hands.
“Don’t touch me!” I spat.
His face fell, and in that moment, a thousand different memories flickered through my brain: Jeb taking care of us when we were little. Jeb leaving us. Jeb’s face outlined by the fluorescent lights of the School. Jeb taking Angel, Jeb hurting us.
Jeb trying to kill Fang.
Harden your heart.
I put my fists up and narrowed my eyes.
“Max, please—just accept this.” I still knew that voice so well. “Fang has to die. One man sacrificed for the greater good—it’s the right thing to do, sweetie.”
Sweetie.
“Don’t—you—ever—freaking—call—me—that!” I yelled, and then I kicked Jeb, the man who’d raised me, in the chest, hard enough that I heard multiple ribs cracking.
“Ohh,” he moaned in surprise. He staggered backward, and then his face went white and he collapsed in a dead faint on the porch, his head hitting the ground with a thud.
I aImost felt bad, almost moved to help him. Almost. Then I reminded myself that he wanted Fang dead.
I turned from Jeb’s limp body and jumped right back into the fray without a second glance.
There were probably about forty Erasers left, plus Ari. We’d made huge progress, but the six of us were at our breaking point. All of us were bloodied, with black eyes, broken noses, split lips. My arms ached from punching and being punched, and the spot on my leg where the Eraser had clawed me was burning and hurting so badly that I couldn’t put weight on it. There was no way we could last much longer.
Iggy was above me, with four Erasers circling him. It looked like he might have a broken ankle, which was preventing him from kicking out at them. All he coul
d do was keep them away from the rest of us and hope to get in a lucky swing.
Gazzy was trying to keep the Erasers away from the house and distract the ones that were after Iggy, but one of his wings was slightly crumpled, and he couldn’t get off the ground. Several Erasers had him pinned up against a tree at edge of the woods.
Nudge was screaming like a madwoman, pounding her sneaker into the face of an Eraser who held her by the ankle. But two more were coming up on her from behind.
I didn’t know who to help first. And I had at least ten Erasers taking turns diving at me. As I smashed my fist into another one of their disgusting faces, I realized that I had just gotten Angel back… but I might be about to lose someone else.
Or everyone else.
66
CRIES AND GRUNTS overhead caught my attention. Dylan and Ari were both bloody and bruised, like the rest of us, and I couldn’t even tell who was winning.
Dylan quickly landed five lightning-quick kicks to Ari’s stomach, making him double over and wheeze. But Ari straightened almost immediately and swung a huge taloned paw through the air. I bit my lip as he sliced Dylan’s side to ribbons, sending blood splashing thirty feet below to spatter the trampled, icy grass.
Ari had done that to Fang once. Fang had almost died.
I watched, holding my breath, as Dylan abruptly turned and hurtled toward a tree. He grabbed a strong branch, snapped it off as if it were a twig, and dove back toward Ari. Dylan swung the branch in a deadly arc… just as something collided with my head so hard that I gasped and stumbled. Immediately, I felt blood trickling down my cheek.
Watching the fight above had cost me.
I jumped to my feet and almost fell back down as a wave of dizziness hit me. Wiping blood out of my eyes, I made like a windmill, fists swinging in hard punches that jarred my shoulders, feet shooting out in kicks that were backed by every ounce of my weight. I could hardly tell which way was up or down, but I wouldn’t give up. I could hear someone yelling in pain in the distance. My flock needed me.