Fang (Maximum Ride 6)

How could he have known how much I loved chocolate chip cookies? I glowered at him. “Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Hospitality,” I said, and walked right by the cookies. An incredible smell wafted from them — they were fresh from the oven.

In the living room, everything seemed normal — Gazzy and Iggy were playing a video game, Nudge was curled up with my mom reading a fashion magazine, Jeb was surfing the web on his computer, Total and Akila were asleep on the floor in the sun. And Fang was …

“Max! Did you find Angel?” my mom asked.

“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “Angel’s decided to stay with Dr. Guntha-Munka and help him with his research. She thinks that will give her the best chance.”

“But she’s okay?”

I nodded. “As okay as a crazy little monkey can be. I mean, she seems to be staying there by choice. She wouldn’t come back with me.”

Everyone was silent. I glanced around as they digested this info. “Where’s Fang?”

“He’s in our room,” said Gazzy. “He’s going to play the winner of Crash Test Four. Which will be me.”

“I don’t think so!” said Iggy, affronted. I guess Iggy had really been progressing in his “vision lessons.”

I headed down the hall to talk to the one person who could make me feel better about the Angel situation.

I tapped on the door to their room, then opened it. The beds were empty. The door to the bathroom was open and the bathroom was empty. The window was open.

Then I saw the note. And my heart seemed to thud to a stop.

74

GIVE THIS NOTE TO MAx was hastily scrawled on the folded piece of paper. Fang’s writing was always hasty, always scrawled. A beautiful mess. I opened it up.

Hey. Not sure what’s going on — gonna go find out. Be careful and don’t do anything stupid. Don’t come after me — you’re better on your own. See you. F.

I sat on the edge of the bed, holding the note.

Okay, so Fang had looked up vague in the dictionary, and this was what it had said to write. It could mean anything. So why was my heart thumping with fear?

Nudge came in. “I can’t believe Angel’s really gone,” she said. “She’ll come back; I’m sure of it.” Then she saw my face. “What’s wrong? I mean, what else?”

I handed her the note.

She read it and frowned. “He left? He’s gone too? When is he gonna be back?”

“Don’t know,” I managed to say.

Okay, if you’ve been reading about our adventures all along, you know me by now. You know that even in the face of the worst danger possible, I keep my head together and often manage a tart quip besides. It’s part of being a leader.

But this note had really thrown me. I was so freaking sick of people leaving me and leaving little notes behind. And what did he mean, I was better on my own? On my own, like, without him? Was he crazy? Who was he to make that decision?

I felt frozen except for the burning hot tears starting to leak out.

“Max?” Nudge asked, sitting next to me. Her coffeebrown eyes were wide. She was used to seeing me leap into action, and my just sitting there looking like a stunned turtle was shocking enough, but she almost never saw me cry. No one did. I was tough. I was strong. I was a rock.

Meanwhile, I sort of slid sideways on the bed, looking at a tilted world.

I felt Nudge get up, heard her run out of the room and down the hall. “Dr. Martinez! Come quick! Something’s wrong with Max!”

In a few seconds I felt my mom sit down on the bed, felt her cool hand on my burning forehead.

“Max, honey, what is it?”

Then the room was full of people talking in hushed tones. My mom was stroking my hair away from my face, and I kept wincing as her hand got caught in the tangles.