I grabbed his hand and we ran around to the back of the mall, then took off fast, racing toward the shadows at the edge of the parking lot. We stayed high, looking down to see two squad cars zoom into the lot.
We turned and headed toward Anne’s house, and I made sure the tips of my wing feathers brushed against Iggy’s on every downstroke.
“We’re your family,” I told him. “We’ll always be your family.”
“I know.” He sniffled and rubbed his sleeve across his sightless eyes.
“Let’s go fast,” Total said.
38
“What is this?” I said without thinking. “I mean—looks good. Smells good.” I sat down at the table and held my plate out. “Is that broccoli? Yum.”
Anne put a big spoonful of some casseroley-type stuff on my plate. I could identify peas and a possible carrot and something brownish that was probably of the meat persuasion.
I picked up my fork and put a smile on my face. “Thanks for making dinner, Anne,” I said, taking a bite.
“Uh-huh,” she said, giving me a wry look. “At least I made a lot of it. I’m learning.”
“It’s fine,” I said with my mouth full. I waved my fork in the air. “’S great.”
Fang passed Iggy his plate and tapped the table by his fork. Unerringly Iggy picked up his fork and started eating. I’d kept my eye on him since last night, but he’d been pretty okay today. At least, he hadn’t blown anything up or set anything on fire, so that was good.
All of us cleaned our plates. Twice. We’d gone hungry too many times to be picky eaters.
Then, to add to the American domesticity of the scene, Anne brought out an apple pie.
“I love apple pie!” Nudge said excitedly.
“Do you have two of them?” Gazzy looked anxious, already mentally dividing it.
Anne brought over another one. “I told you, I’m learning.”
Gazzy punched the air. “Yes!”
“I’d like to talk to you guys,” Anne said, dishing up the pie. “Sort of a family meeting.”
I kept my face blank, wondering whose family she thought she was talking about.
“You’ve all done beautifully here,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “You’ve adjusted better than I thought possible. And I find I’m enjoying it more than I ever imagined.”
I started to get a really bad feeling. Please don’t let her say something horrible, like she wanted to adopt us or something. I had no idea what I would do if that happened.
“I think we’re ready to take the next step,” she went on, looking around the table at us.
Please no please no please no—
“So I’ve enrolled you in school.”
Whaaat?
Fang burst out laughing. “Whoa, you had us going there for a minute,” he said.
“I’m not kidding, Nick,” Anne said quietly. “There’s an excellent school nearby. It would be perfectly safe. You could meet other people your age, interact with them. And—let’s face it: Your education has been spotty at best.”
Or nonexistent at worst, I thought.
“School?” Nudge asked. “You mean, like, at a school?”