I swallowed. I was dying to tell him about Eraser Max but was too afraid and ashamed.
“Fang—if I’m changing, if I’m turning into something . . . bad—will you deal with it?”
He was silent, his eyes on me.
I took a deep breath. “If I turn into an Eraser,” I said more strongly, “will you deal with it? To protect the others?”
Our eyes met for a long time. He knew what I was asking him. If I turned into an Eraser, it would be his job to kill me.
He looked down at his feet, then up at me. “Yes. I’ll do what has to be done.”
I breathed out in relief. “Thank you,” I said quietly.
Fang stood up and squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll be okay,” he said again. He leaned down and quickly kissed my forehead. “I promise.”
Then he was gone, and I was more confused than ever.
31
“Bombs away!” the Gasman yelled, right over my head.
I looked up, startled, and saw Gazzy flying low over the pond. He tucked his wings in, curled into a ball, and dropped, cackling maniacally. I winced as he crashed into the water, sending up a huge craterlike wave.
Soon his blond head surfaced, a smile splitting his face. “Did you see that?” he crowed. “That was so awesome! I’m going to do it again!”
“Okay,” I said, grinning. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“And don’t hurt me!” Nudge yelled, as Gazzy clambered out of the water. “Watch where you drop! You almost landed on me!”
“Sorry,” Gazzy said.
I was glad that he and Nudge weren’t letting their disappointment get to them too much. Fang and I had told them about our fruitless search for our parents in the city. It had been one more false lead.
I typed in ano
ther command and shielded the screen so I could read it. Yes, this was the ticket, going wi-fi out by the private pond. I’d pulled over an Adirondack chair and borrowed Anne’s laptop, and I had lemonade close at hand. It was a tough life, but someone had to live it.
The search results popped up on the screen. I scanned them and frowned.
Ten kids had gone missing in the DC area in the last four months. Had whitecoats taken them, as fodder for their experiments? I could only imagine what the families were going through. What had happened when we had gone missing? Our parents had cared, hadn’t they? They’d missed us, right?
Hmm. That was a thought. I typed in a new Google search.
Angel’s head popped out of the water. “Max!” She’d been under about ten minutes. Even though I knew about her ability to breathe under water, it still took all my self-control not to leap in after her when I didn’t see her come up for a while.
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“What’s the best way to catch a fish?”
I thought. “Well, I guess it depends on the kind of fish,” I began.
“No, what’s the best way to catch a fish?” Angel asked again.
Oh. “I don’t know?” I said warily.
“Have someone throw it to you!” Angel laughed, I groaned, and, next to me, Total chuckled.
“Good one,” he said, and I rolled my eyes, looking around for the voice-throwing Gasman.