“Oh, my God,” I said as soon as we were outside. “Why didn’t you warn me? Is it just me? They’re totally giving me the cold shoulder, aren’t they? Are they trying to punish me?”
Angel shook her head. “Don’t worry, Max. They’ll get over it. They’re mostly just exhausted and in shock from everything. Something happened between Gazzy and Jeb out there, and I think Gazzy’s still reeling, but he’s okay.”
“But even my mom…”
Angel cocked her head as if she knew something I didn’t. “Yeah, something’s kind of up with your mom.” I tensed, but Angel continued. “I’m way more worried about Ella and Iggy, though.”
“Yeah,” I huffed. “Could they be any more annoying with all that puppy-eyed sappiness? It’s like a barfwich in there.”
“No, it’s more than that,” Angel said. “But I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s just—I can always dip into their minds. Not that I do, of course,” she added quickly.
“No, of course not,” I said.
“They just don’t feel like themselves. I mean, they haven’t been replaced with clever replicas or bots. It’s definitely them. But they’re a little—off.” She frowned.
“Okay,” I said, “Let’s find out what the deal is with the Stepford Flock.”
32
“MY FRIEND WAS on TV earlier,” Ella said, all up in my grill.
She licked peanut butter off her fingers and handed a paper towel to Iggy.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, backing up. “Which friend?”
“Someone from school,” she said. “They had this huge rally with all the schools from the district. We talked about the earth and everything that was wrong with it and all the changes that needed to be made,” she said, breathless. “You would’ve loved it, Max. Then we had to stand up and make a pledge if we cared enough about the world to take action, and I stood up, and then they paired us with new friends, and my friend was the best. He told me everything was going to be okay if we just followed his lead, and I believe him, Max. It’s going to be beautiful.”
“Hey, you know I’m all for fixing the planet,” I said. But Ella seemed a little… fanatical all of a sudden.
My mom looked up. “Was that the friend who brought the flyers by?”
“What flyers?” Dylan asked.
“The flyers are an invitation to change,” Ella said earnestly.
“Yeah, I can see you’ve already RSVP’d,” I said, eyeing her.
“It’s really amazing, Max,” said Iggy, waving a couple of bright sheets of colored paper at me. “You have to trust the message and take action. We need to hand these out to everyone we know, so they can join the cause.”
I raised an eyebrow. Cynical Iggy wants to “join the cause”? I was officially creeped out.
Angel, Dylan, and I all looked at each other.
“Yeah?” I said, feigning interest. “Let’s see ’em.”
“Sure,” said Robo Iggy.
I unfolded the magenta paper to find pictures of smiling kids and these words:
We know you’re special! We know you’re one of us.
We care about you. Come join us and learn about the message of the One Light.
Brought to you, with love and caring, by the Doomsday Group
“ ‘Love’ and ‘caring’ and ‘Doomsday Group’ don’t seem to go together,” Dylan said, leaning over my shoulder and making the hairs on my neck stand up. “Who’s this Doomsday Group, and what are they selling?”
“Basically, they make it sound like a big, ecofriendly glee club,” I said. “But it seems a little over the top.”