“Max! In here!” I saw Sam twenty feet ahead, standing in the doorway of an empty classroom. He motioned urgently with his hand. “Come on! Through here!”
But was he starting to look kind of Erasery around the edges—teeth a tiny bit too long, hair a shade thicker? I couldn’t tell and couldn’t take a chance.
“You can trust me!” he said, as I saw the Gasman rush out of his room, almost running into Nudge.
Sam stepped forward as if to intercept me, but I made one of my famous split-second decisions. I plowed right through him, knocking him to the ground.
“The thing is,” I said, “I can’t trust anybody!”
“Max!” Fang shouted, standing at the exit doors. The four of us raced toward him, and together we burst through to the parking lot. Behind us, the whole school was in chaos—kids filling the halls, people screaming, yelling, running around.
Looks like school’s out, I thought.
“Up and away!” I shouted, hearing a car’s engine race. The rest of the flock took to the air just as I realized the headhunter’s fancy car was screeching toward me at full speed. He was going to run me down—if he could.
I ran straight at the car and, right before it crashed into me, I jumped into the air. As my wings gathered wind beneath them, I kicked hard, shattering the headhunter’s windshield. Then I was ten, fifteen, twenty feet in the air, looking down.
Within seconds the headhunter had lost control of his car, and it squealed, sliding sideways right into several parked cars.
“Cool!” said the Gasman.
Pruitt spilled out of his wrecked car, his face almost purple with insane rage. “This isn’t the end of this!” he screamed, shaking his fist up at me in time-honored custom. “You’re accidents, stains, mistakes! And we’ll get you!”
“If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that,” I said, shaking my head.
As we rose higher, teachers poured out of the school, pushing aside screaming kids, who cowered and tried to hide. Some of the teachers were clearly working for Pruitt, while others looked terrified and confused.
Then I saw an all-too-familiar gray van careen into the parking lot, spitting gravel as it leaned dangerously around a corner. Sure, let’s add some Erasers to the mix! The more the merrier! Were they in league with Pruitt or had things just gotten interesting?
“Go!” I said to the flock, and surged upward as fast as I could. Ari and some of the other Erasers could fly, but we had a head start. I saw Ari jump out of the van, barking orders, swearing, watching us escape.
“Later much,” I said, and we soared into the sky, right into the weak autumn sun.
88
“Where to now?” the Gasman asked. We hovered in midair, our wings beating rhythmically, just hard enough to keep us in place. We’d kept a steady lookout, but so far no one seemed to be after us.
“We need to go back to Anne’s,” said Angel.
“Yeah, just real quick, to get some stuff,” Nudge agreed.
“Actually,” I said, “I hid our packs in the bat cave a few days ago. Just in case something like this happened. And I didn’t forget to lift one of these,” I added, wagging one of Anne’s countless credit cards in front of them. “She’ll never miss it.”
“Great,” said the Gasman in relief. “That was really smart, Max.”
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” I said. It was taking everything I had to not yell I told you so! But now wasn’t the time. Later, when we were safe, then I would rub it in.
“We still have to go back to Anne’s,” Angel said urgently.
“Ange, we just can’t take the risk of saying good-bye,” I said.
“No,” Angel said. “Total’s there.”
Oh, crap. I took two seconds to judge the likelihood of Angel leaving Total behind, which was none, and then Fang and I looked at each other and sighed.
“We’ll try,” I said, and saw relief flood her face.
“Oh, thanks, Max,” she said. “We’ll make it fast, I promise.”