Dylan and I were flying in tight formation, moving our wings with split-second precision so we wouldn’t crash. I wondered if Fang had noticed or if it bothered him. I still noticed Maya. A lot. Every time I saw her, it was like getting salt water in my eyes all over again.
Suddenly, I realized that Dylan had shifted his position to fly barely two feet above me, matching me wing stroke for wing stroke.
“What are you doing?” I asked, craning to look up at him.
“I like this view,” he said.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I like watching your… power,” he said. “You’re a beautiful flyer. Your hair is streaming through the air like silk ribbon. The sun is shining on your feathers. And I’m just glad to be here, with you. Even if we are trying to stop mass destruction.”
My face burned. Once again, when I was feeling at my most vulnerable, Dylan was somehow there, saying exactly the right thing, reading my mind—
“Can you read minds?” I asked.
“No,” Dylan said. “Not that I would tell you if I could.” He gave me an infuriating smile and then rose higher in the air, looking graceful and strong.
Everything was so messed up.
Max!
I almost looked around but then realized that I was hearing Angel’s voice in my head.
Angel? I thought, studying the crowd anxiously. Where are you? Are you okay? What’s going on?
Danger, Angel told me. Max, such enormous danger, I can’t even tell you. We’re in the sewers, beneath the city. We’ve never faced anything like this. I’m scared, Max.
My heart pounded in my chest as I scanned the city streets below. Where are you?? I thought.
U
nder the Place de la Concorde, Angel told me. Her thoughts were fuzzy, indistinct.
Just then, my eyes focused on a small black dot, right outside the barricades around the plaza. It was an open manhole cover, maybe two feet in diameter.
Angel was there. I was sure of it.
I tucked my wings against my back, angled down, and shot toward the small opening at a hundred miles an hour.
I’m on my way, I thought.
70
TRYING TO FLY through a target that small was like trying to spit from the top of the Empire State Building to hit a nickel on the ground below. But I’d done it before, and I knew I could do it again. I just needed to focus. And for everyone to stay the heck out of my way.
Max, maybe you shouldn’t come down here. I don’t know if we can fix this, Angel’s fuzzy, troubled thought said to me. There’s just too much. This might be… the end.
I couldn’t even think as I plunged downward. I tucked my wings back tight, pointed my hands forward, and dove into the darkness.
As soon as I was through, I tucked myself into a ball and flung my wings out wide. I hit a hard concrete floor and tumbled, scraping my face and hands, but my sneakers and my wings helped me stop. I skittered forward, slightly out of control, and halted just inches from the narrow canal that flowed through the sewer system.
Whew, I thought, then heard a whoosh. Something big and heavy plowed into me from behind and shoved me right into the water.
“Augh!” I said, as it followed me over the edge and landed in the water with a splash.
I could see Dylan well enough to whack him hard on the shoulder.
“Thanks! A girl always loves to take a dip in the sewer!” I said.