“Next!” Ari growled.
Another member of his team morphed and sprang into the circle with him, his own bo at the ready. Ari went into attack mode, the blows of the heavy staff sending shock waves up his arms.
He had clocked Max at more than two hundred miles an hour. He’d also seen the de
light on her face, seen her hair whipping around her head like a halo.
Jeb just kept giving the flock more gifts. And what had he given Ari? Unnatural, painful, heavy wings. He’d thought he wanted to fly, to be more like the flock. But having wings grafted onto an Eraser’s body wasn’t even close to what the flock had. Gall rose in Ari’s throat, burning him, and with a roar, he smashed his bo down on the other Eraser’s head.
He would do that to Max, he thought. She was fourteen, and he was only seven, but he was three times as big as she was. He had huge muscles and a wolf’s power—a wolf’s nature too.
Jeb had said it was necessary. Jeb had said to trust him. And look where that had gotten him. He had huge painful wings. And Max was still laughing at him. Well, those days were over.
Soon he would be the golden boy, and Max would be a distant memory of an experiment gone bad.
It had been approved by the higher-ups.
It was a done deal.
“Next victim!”
35
The first two addresses in Washington hadn’t panned out, but Fang’s map code was still the only thing we’d been able to come up with. And we had found that photo of the Gasman at the second address. At least, I was pretty sure it was Gazzy. So maybe it hadn’t been a complete waste.
At any rate, we had two more addresses to check out. No information about me or my possible parents had turned up yet. I tried not to mind.
“Wait, Total!” I said, as I pulled on my new jacket. It had big hidden slits for my wings, and I wondered where Anne had gotten it. Bird Kids “R” Us? Total kept trying to leap into my arms, determined not to be left behind.
“Total? Maybe it would be better if you stayed home,” I said, zipping up. “You know, maybe guard the house or something.”
Total stood still and looked at me. “That is so condescending,” he said.
Angel went and put her arms around him. “She just meant because, you know, you’re so fierce and stuff, and have great hearing and those big teeth,” she said soothingly.
Inwardly I rolled my eyes. “Yeah—not just because you’re a dog or anything.”
Total sat down, looking just as stubborn as Gazzy did sometimes. “I want to go with.”
Fang smirked at me over Total’s head. I breathed out heavily.
“Fine,” I said tightly, and Total leaped into my arms and licked my cheek. I was gonna have to talk to him about that.
Five minutes later we were airborne and headed to DC.
“So, Angel?” I said, looking over at her. She was gliding through the night sky, her eight-foot white wings looking like a dove’s. “Have you picked up anything from Anne, about anything? Anything off?”
“Not really.” Angel thought. “From what I can tell, she does work for the FBI. She does care about us and wants us to be happy. She thinks the boys are slobs.”
“I’m blind,” Iggy said irritably. “How am I supposed to make everything all tidy?”
“Yeah, because you’re so handicapped,” I said sarcastically. “Like—you can’t build bombs or cook or win at Monopoly. You can’t tell us all apart by the feel of our skin or feathers.”
Gazzy giggled next to Iggy, and Iggy frowned.
I turned back to Angel. “Anything else?”
“There is something she isn’t telling us,” Angel said slowly. “But I don’t know what it is. It’s not even clear in her mind. Just something that’s going to happen.”