Angel (Maximum Ride 7)

I sighed.

“Let’s hear it,” I said.

65

I ALMOST DIDN’T want to let Fang join us in our hotel room. Part of me was tempted to say, “I think your gang is waiting for you on the next floor.” But if we were going to battle the Doomsday Group, we all had to work together. So I gritted my teeth while he went to get the others, and then we all crammed into the room that Nudge, Angel, and I shared.

“But—she’s seven,” I heard Star whisper. “Why does she have a plan?”

I didn’t bother to explain.

“Okay, we’ve seen that the Doomsday Group is made up of young people,” Angel said, pacing back and forth. “Like, really young people. But… I’m the right age to actually join them.”

“Join them?” Nudge asked. “How?”

“Let myself be recruited,” Angel said, leaning against one of the beds. “They’re way less likely to suspect anything from an innocent-looking little girl. Teenagers aren’t innocent-looking, ever. And as an actual member, I could get much deeper. I could really get inside and find out much more, I bet.”

“But…” Holden looked around. “Maybe an older kid should do it. It’s probably pretty dangerous.” I didn’t mention the fact that he looked about ten himself.

“I can deal with pretty dangerous,” Angel said, not bragging, and Fang’s gang looked surprised.

I sat there, straining to keep my mouth shut, which just goes to show that a person can change. I was having my typical knee-jerk reaction, which meant I wanted like crazy to keep everyone I cared about safe, nixing ideas and squashing risky plans to make that happen. Clearly, this was a risky plan. I wanted to squash it. I wanted to squash it really, really bad.

But I wasn’t going to.

The old me, dealing with the old Angel, definitely would have. And for good reason. But… I’d changed. And so had Angel. And the changed part of me felt that I should probably, against my better judgment, let Angel do what she wanted. And I believed that the changed part of Angel might not sell me down the river while she did it. Lately, she’d been like her old self, the trustworthy old self. The nonbackstabbing old self. And maybe she needed to

prove that to me right now. And maybe I needed her to prove that to me.

Slowly I nodded, forcing words out of my mouth. “I think… that’s a good idea,” I said, shocking everyone. “You’re the perfect mark for their indoctrination, and an insider could get a lot of useful information. Yes, it could be a real danger fest, but, as you said, you can handle that.”

Angel looked at me with shining eyes, and I got a nice warm feeling inside.

“Wait a second,” Ratchet said. “She’s a pip-squeak! Those are seriously crazy people! There’s no way this should happen!”

“I agree,” said Kate.

“I’m pretty tough,” Angel said mildly.

“But, still,” Kate protested.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Maya, though no one had asked her opinion. At all. She nodded at Angel. “You can pull it off.”

Angel looked at Fang. She didn’t need his approval. But it would be nice to have—they both knew that.

“Yeah,” said Fang, running a hand through his shorter-than-I’m-used-to black hair. “Good idea. Just be careful, ’kay?”

“ ’Kay.” Angel beamed, first at him, then at me.

“Um,” said Holden, “I just don’t think—”

“Look, Holden,” I said. “You have special powers. So do I. So does everyone in this room. This kid”—I pointed at Angel—“flies, can breathe underwater, can read minds, can control people, and can fight like Chuck Norris. She’ll be okay.”

Holden shut up and sat down.

And oddly, while I was reassuring him, I’d reassured myself. I grinned at Angel, and she grinned back.

Now, if only she wouldn’t completely betray all of us, we’d be golden.