Life of a Winged Teenager

Chapter 1

Fwish! Bullets whizzed past my ear as I crashed through thorny bushes and stumbled over twigs, rocks and dead leaves, my heart hammering in my chest. I couldn't let them get me. I could run faster than them for a while, but the only thing that could totally save me now was a clearing. I glanced sideways in a panic as Fang came crashing through the bushes, too, Erasers dangerously close, no clearing in sight. Wait, Fang?!

I jerked awake, breathing heavily. It shouldn't have been a big deal, that was the dream I kept having, over and over, every day, since I left the School and Jeb Bachelder gave us an escape. Always the same one, running from Erasers, lungs aching for air, fear of being caught and hauled back to the one place that God forgot, that facility in California. The School.

But it had always been just me. Never Fang. I remembered that wave of terror that was practically enough to make me heave, knowing that Fang was with me. They could take me. They could torture me, even. But I wouldn't let them take Fang. Sappy, right? I know. All this running from those evil scientists wanting to do MORE genetic mutations on us must have royally screwed me up in the head.

I looked over at Fang, asleep and leaning against the cave wall, mouth hanging slightly open. I gazed for a moment at the tall, dark haired boy, the one who'd always been my best friend and right hand man. I gave a small smile, one no one else could see. My eyes then jerked to the rest of the flock, Nudge, the small eleven year old, leaning against the tall, pale, strawberry-blonde and sightless Iggy. Angel, the youngest at the age of six, had her head in her brother, the eight year old Gasman's lap.

Silently praying that Angel hadn't "heard" my dream, I looked back at Fang. I know I hadn't liked it when he was kissing that girl, the Red-Haired Wonder, in Virginia, and there wasn't anything that suggested that he would ever be more than my "brother", my closest friend. But his invading my dreams, my awaking in terror, for the fear of his life? It was all too much, and I buried my head in my hands.

I sat in that position for a few minutes, thinking over the last few seconds and whatever else was on my mind, even replaying the last few months, from our days at the E-shaped house, to New York, to Anne's house in Virginia. Did I mention the stress of saving the world? It gets to you sometimes. I'm sure they sell the manuals at Target for that sort of thing.

After what seemed like a decade, I picked myself up off the cave floor and walked over to Iggy, tapping him twice on the back of his hand, to wake him up and let him know that he was in charge until I returned. He lifted his head, knowing it was me, because Iggy has a gift like that. He is the blind kid, after all. His sightless eyes didn't quite meet mine, and he gave a small nod, sitting up straighter so that he wasn't in Nudge's death grip.

I knew that he understood, so I took a running start and launched myself off the small cliff and unfurling my wings, out in the open air. I sighed and went into hyperdrive, which is what we call it when I go two hundred miles an hour. I didn't worry about getting lost, because of my built in sense of direction, and I was flying over the entire Grand Canyon before very long. My eyes watered a bit, already seeing Dr. Martinez and Ella in my head, already smelling the chocolate chip cookies, already feeling their warm hugs. After the voice had finally been straight-forward enough to tell me that she was my mother, I couldn't wait to see her again.

I had flashbacks all the time of when I first stopped at their house, and I can't believe it was just a chance that we would meet and Dr. Martinez would turn out to be my mom. And she was, like, the coolest mom ever. I was more than a little jealous of Ella, knowing that she got to spend all her time with our mom, and she was her own child that she had carried for nine months.

I perched myself on the edge of yet another cliff and watched the sun rise for what may have been a few minutes, or several hours, all the while contemplating this. I decided that Ella deserved to have our mom. She would never have wings. When I flew back to the flock, I saw that they were already cooking whatever canned food we had over a campfire. I swooped in and plopped myself down next to Fang and Angel, and she offered me a few marshmallows. Not bothering to ask where they were from, because I knew they were stolen, I stuck one on the end of a plastic fork and we ate breakfast in the usual way. Oh, yeah. Life. Is. Good. -You can practically feel me rolling my eyes here, I know.-

Everyone ate in peace for a moment, and no one spoke. It wasn't awkward silence, it was just that no one had much to say. Nudge was combing her tangled and dirty hair, in desperate hope of reviving it some, and Angel was cheerful as she ate a hot dog without a bun. Fang was more silent than usual, if that was possible. He'd been so quiet around the rest of the flock since Virginia, it worried me. In a few minutes, however, Gazzy had one of his little "episodes", a special gift of his, and, needless to say, we packed up everything, put out the fire, and were in a hurry to get a little fresh air, ending my pathetic worrying about Fang.

Watching the Grand Canyon shrinking behind me in the distance, I flew with my flock for a while, Nudge chattering endlessly about how we should shoplift from Wal*Mart again, painfully aware that we had zero money, Angel helping Total fly with his little chicken wings, Iggy and Gazzy yelling over the wind to each other about materials to make bombs for "safety" when we all knew they wanted to blow something up more than I wanted a long, hot shower. And if that doesn't say something to you, hell, I don't know what will.

And then Fang, doing that quiet annoying thing of his, where I know he's watching me, was behind me on my right. –Seriously, when I say "right-hand man" I'm not joking.- I don't know what he thinks about, 'cause he's an obvious thinker, when he's not updating the blog or punching an eraser square in the face, just observing everything with those big, dark eyes. Mmm.

Stop it! Bad Max! There are children here!

I don't think Angel heard me, she was too busy teaching the dog how to fly.

"He has wings, Max."

I just about froze. Angel's little voice carried across the wind, if that was possible, either that or I'm super uber paranoid. But I wasn't. Because then Angel said "What were you thinking before you called Total a dog?"

But I didn't have to answer. Because Total chose that exact moment to holler loudly "I am not a dog!" and go on with his usual rant. Man, I love Total sometimes. Have I mentioned that? No? Hmm. Maybe because he's a dog, Angel? She then frowned at me as if it were a great insult.

It was times like this that most of us chose to block Total's silly rant out. Since it happened every time we didn't give him a plate, or put him on a leash, or he peed on a fire hydrant. But he never got past those first five words, because there, on the ground in front of a cute little house, were Ella and Dr. Martinez, whom I almost knocked over from flying into them. The rest of the flock was kind of on guard. They had said we needed a home. They had said to forget the mission, and I wouldn't have it. We were going to continue the mission and live here. That's a great idea, I thought, we can save the world by going to school and wearing fuzzy slippers and eating chocolate chip cookies. There was a touch of resentment right there. Fang had gone along with this.

My thoughts were cut short as my mom introduced herself and Ella to the rest of the flock, who let their guard down a tad when they saw the homemade –you guessed it- chocolate chip cookies. "Mom" had learned some, she must have made about a hundred. I refrained myself from drooling –after all, all I had for breakfast was a few marshmallows- and put on my "couldn't care less" look.

We were walked all through the house as she took us to Fang, Iggy and Gazzy's room, then Nudge and Angel's room, and being her own daughter, got a room all to my own. Which I was partially happy about. But I wasn't about to give Fang the hint that this was a good idea. What if -you know what, I'm just going to call her mom- Mom got hurt because of us, or the world got destroyed because we couldn't save it? This wasn't wise, and the Voice agreed. But what was I gonna do? Go save the world without them? They were my family. Not to mention Fang.

I was brought back to Earth as Angel gave my hand a small squeeze. I froze. Did Angel know how I thought about Fang?