With a final, wrenching, earsplitting screech, Ari forced the bars apart, making an Eraser-sized hole in the cage wall.
“Ready.” Fang’s voice was deadly quiet in the screaming chaos around us.
We all tensed, ready to spring out as soon as Fang took Ari down—but instead of coming in after us, Ari backed away quickly.
“Come on!” he shouted. “Get out of there! We’ll hold these guys back!”
Wha?
“He’s on our side!” Angel yelled from above. “He’s with me! He’s getting you out! Ari! Release the secret weapon!”
Ari fumbled with his jacket, and a small coal-colored shadow popped out of it and began to race around, growling and snapping.
Was it—could it be?
“Move it or lose it!” Total shouted. “Let’s go, go, go!”
54
Fang shot through the hole in the cage, grabbed Total, and was up in the air before three seconds had passed. Amazingly, Ari stood off to the side and let him go.
I shoved Nudge through next, and she took a running leap, faltered for a moment, then stroked hard and rose into the air.
Still Ari stood back.
Watching him closely, I pushed Iggy out. “Four steps, up at ten o’clock,” I hissed. He nodded, then followed my instructions.
“Come on, Gasman, you’re last,” I said, and practically threw him out of the cage, wincing as the torn metal scratched him. A minor concern at this point.
Ari watched him go.
Angel was keeping the humans at bay, and it was my turn. Ari and I had a troubled history—okay, we usually wanted to kill each other, and one time I did kill him—but I couldn’t worry about it right now. I leaped from the cage, took a step on the ground, then snapped my wings out and was up in the air within one breath.
Oh, God, it felt so good to be up, flying, away from a world that held only pain and death for us.
“I’m so glad to see you guys,” said Total, sounding a little choked up. “I thought you were dead! I didn’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Glad to see you again too,” I said, surprising myself by actually meaning it.
Below us, Angel dropped the metal bar and zipped upward, streaming like a comet, her small face serene and beautiful. I blew her kisses through the air, my faithful partner in deception, and she beamed at me.
It was at that point that the executioners arrived and started shooting at us. I saw Jeb grab one of their arms, trying to mess up his aim, but the guy just clubbed him down with his gun, then kept firing.
We wer
e already out of range. They would need a missile launcher to hit us now.
“Nyah, nyah, nyah,” I said quietly, looking down at them. I sucked in sweet lungfuls of night air, counted my flock, and took a moment to focus my direction, feeling where we were, which way was north, where we should go.
Then I saw Ari, still on the ground. The men with guns were running toward him.
“Ari!” I suddenly screamed without thinking. “Get out of there! Come up! Come with us!”
“What?!” Fang exclaimed. “Are you nuts? What the heck are you thinking?”
Ari probably couldn’t hear exactly what I said, but when he saw me waving my arms, he must have understood. He ran clumsily, a seven-year-old freak in a huge linebacker body, and forced himself into the air. A bullet grazed one of his unwieldy patched-on wings, but he kept flying awkwardly, rising upward slowly but steadily.
“Max, you are way out of line,” Fang said furiously. He tossed Total through the air at Gazzy, who gave a startled cry and grabbed the little dog. “There’s no way he’s coming with us!”