“C’mere.” I yanked him into a fierce bear hug, squeezing tightly until he started coughing. Then I held him at arm’s length, looking him over.
“You scared the crap out of me!” I shouted, jabbing him in the chest.
“Whoa, take it easy!” Iggy put his hands up defensively.
“I thought you were dead!” I shoved him. “Do you have any idea what that does to a person? Do you?”
“It’s not my fault! Dylan spread the rumor!” Iggy protested, but now he was laughing as he blocked my jabs. “Besides,” he said, flashing a wry grin, “how much more do you love me now that I’m not dead?”
I rolled my eyes and mussed his shaggy blond hair in exasperation, but the truth? A lot more. Or at least I was a lot more appreciative of my weird, lovely little flock than I ever had been.
I hugged Gazzy and Total, too, my face muscles constantly quivering between sobs and smiles. It was definitely an emotional reunion, to say the least.
“How did they say I died?” Gazzy asked eagerly.
“You got blown up.”
“Cooool.” His eyes lit with morbid delight, and when I pursed my lips, unamused, he cackled like a maniac. “And also totally bogus you would believe that, Max. Do you have any idea how much I know about combustible materials and the rate of conflagration?”
“No, I don’t,” I said, trying not to imagine all the times Gazzy’s experiments had come close to blowing us all up in our sleep. “And for that I’m incredibly grateful.”
“Well, jokes aside, I’m incredibly grateful to be alive,” Iggy said. He clapped Dylan on the back and pulled him in for a hug. “Seriously, man, I don’t know how you pulled that off, but thank you.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.” Dylan blushed.
“Not a big deal?” Nudge echoed in disbelief. “I almost died of shock! I could’ve done without waking up to Total slobbering on my face, but you saved all of our lives, Dylan!”
Dylan smiled, but his eyes flicked to mine and Angel’s and his smile faded.
He didn’t save all our lives. He didn’t save Fang.
“An act of heroism to rival any of the classic demigods,” Total was gushing. “Achilles…”
Suddenly my chest hurt and my throat ached. “Okay,” I said, and coughed. “So what’s the deal with the kids at the camp? Why are we here?”
76
“I TOLD YOU. We’re here to fight a war,” Angel said. She looked out across the crowded field. “And that’s why we brought an army.”
I watched Angel’s face, trying to figure out what was different about her. She seemed removed from the group, somehow. Apart.
“Gasman and I just got here a couple of days ago,” Iggy said. “But Nudge has been chatting everyone up for the last week, pulling together their stories.”
“We’re pretty sure the Remedy detonated nuclear warheads on every continent,” Nudge reported. “Maybe close to a hundred.”
“That’s insane,” I said in horror.
“No, what’s insane is that there’re over four thousand left, stockpiled here in Russia,” Gazzy said. “And this wackjob has full access.”
I thought of the flattened cities I’d seen. The caved-in homes, mangled bodies, burned flesh. Then I imagined one man, alone in a room, pushing a button to make that happen.
Then pushing it again. And again.
A hundred times.
“It’s time to end this,” I said through gritted teeth. “Now.”
“Supplies are low anyway,” Iggy agreed.