The Final Warning (Maximum Ride 4)

“I got bathed!” he grumbled.

“You look lovely,” I said with a straight face. I patted his back. “You’re all fluffy and soft.” I left him while he was deciding whether to be appalled or flattered.

Fang was standing by a front window, gazing out from behind a privacy curtain.

“Anything going on out there?” I asked.

He flicked a glance at me, shook his head, then took a longer look. “What happened to your tan?”

“It was dirt.”

He grinned, one of his rare grins that make the world spin a little faster. As if he didn’t know what he was doing, he reached out and touched my hair where it lay on my shoulders. “You look . . . like a girl.” His voice held bemusement.

“There’s a reason for that,” I said seriously.

“No, I mean like a real —” He seemed to catch himself, shook his head, and looked back out the window.

I crossed my arms. “Like a real what?” Watch your step here, Fang, I thought, or I’ll flatten you.

While he hesitated, Nudge came up. “Ooh, Max, you look great!” she said, admiring my clothes. “That top is totally hot! You look like you’re at least sixteen!”

“Thanks,” I muttered, now feeling embarrassed. Since my usual attire is ancient and usually bloodstained T-shirts and jeans, I guess I did look a little different.

Okay, Max.

My eyes flickered when I heard the Voice inside my head. (You mean you don’t have one? You can get ’em at Target.)

This meeting is very important, so no funny business. Just remember your mission, keep your mind open, and listen to what they have to say.

Yeah, whatever, Jeb, I thought. Save the world, yada, yada, yada. You can go now.

I’m not Jeb, said the Voice. You were wrong about that.

Huh? I thought blankly.

You have part of the picture, Max, said the Voice. Not all of the picture. Sometimes when you’re at your most certain, that’s when everything you know is wrong.

Oh, God, not again. I wanted to scream. My whole life was taking two steps forward and one step back. Would I ever just get ahead?

You’re making progress, the Voice assured me. You’re a couple steps ahead.

Just then Jeb came into the room. He rubbed his hands together as if he were cold. “Time to go, kids.”

8

YOU’VE ALL SEEN the Capitol Building in Washington DC, like on postcards, right? It’s the big white one with the dome on top that isn’t the White House. Anyway, it’s gigundo. We drove up in our black limousine, feeling like celebrities. Inside we were led through a series of hallways and stairs until we were in a large conference room with a great view of some gardens.

In the conference room, about twenty people sat around a big wooden table. Some of the people were in military uniforms. Everyone sat up and turned to stare at us when we came in, surrounded by Secret Service agents. I didn’t even know I wanted to hold someone’s hand until Mom laced her fingers in mine and gave a squeeze. Suddenly it all seemed better.

“Welcome. Thank you for coming.” A tall man in an olive green uniform came forward and solemnly shook hands with Jeb, then Mom, then all of us kids. “Please sit down. Would you care for something to drink? We have coffee, tea, soda, ice water . . . Oh, and I see you brought your dog. A cute little Scottie.” He smiled uncertainly, as if wondering why someone had let an animal into the building. I bit my lip, wondering if Total was going to mouth off. But he didn’t. He just seethed quietly and hopped up onto his own chair by Angel’s.

The next hour was like, “This is your life, mutant bird kids!” They didn’t have any pictures or film of us when we were little and still living in dog crates at the School. But the past six months were decently documented. They had films of us flying, way overhead, and footage of various fights with people, Erasers, and the latest heinous incarnation of enemies, the Flyboys. There was some footage of us just chilling at Anne Walker’s house in northern Virginia. It made me tense up and get mad all over again.

Last, there were about three minutes of choppy, grainy film that had been shot inside Itex’s picturesque German headquarters. It showed me squaring off against Omega, poster boy for pathetic losers. It showed the riot that some of the clones had started, and the crowd of angry kids breaking through the castle wall.

It showed Ari dying.

The film stopped, and the dimmed lights brightened. Shades lifted automatically, revealing the large windows again.