Angel (Maximum Ride 7)

“Hans!” Jeb said under his breath, “I told you she’s not ready for that.”

“Not ready for what?” I asked, just as Angel’s eyes got big and she slipped off the arm of the couch where she’d been perched.

She put both hands to her cheeks and said, “Oh, no. Not that! You have to be kidding!”

I mentioned the whole reading minds thing already, didn’t I? It sounded like she’d read Jeb’s.

8

“NOT THAT, WHAT?” I demanded, hands on my hips. Jeb and Dr. Hans were looking at each other guiltily, as if they were sending each other telepathic messages. I guess they could have been, but Angel would have ratted them out by now.

“Just tell her,” Angel advised, sitting back down.

“We don’t have to discuss it now,” Jeb finally said unconvincingly.

“Time is running out,” Dr. Gub-Hub said.

“She’s fourteen!” Jeb countered.

“Fifteen,” I reminded him. Everyone in the flock had had a birthday not that long ago. We’d all gotten a year older at once, like racehorses.

“That’s still way too young!” Jeb snapped.

“Too young for what?” I was practically shrieking now.

Dr. Hans turned to face me. “Max, you know that we think something catastrophic will happen to our planet, and soon,” he said. “And that only some people will survive. And that you will lead the survivors.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard all that,” I said. “So?”

“Well, what happens then?” The doctor looked at me intently.

I looked back at him. “We all live happily ever after?”

“No. Say you’re the leader. We don’t know how long your life span will be…”

Ouch. Call a spade a spade, why don’t you? Many recombinant life-forms have built-in expiration dates, when they just suddenly die. The flock and I assumed that we did too.

“Yeah, so?”

“So what happens after you die? Chaos? War? A struggle for power?”

Who the heck even thought that far ahead? I sure didn’t. I was still kind of stuck on the whole “save the world” thing at the top of my to-do list.

“Maybe an election?” I offered.

“Elections work in stable societies,” Dr. Hans said. “History has shown that emerging societies function better if there is a consistent ruling hierarchy. That’s why kings and queens played such prominent roles historically. Only very recently have some countries been able to elect leaders, and even so it hasn’t always been successful.”

“So what are you saying?” I demanded. “I’m going to be queen?” I tried hard not to picture myself wearing a tiara. It just wouldn’t work with the shabby jeans and hoodie look.

“Yes,” the doctor said. “In a manner of speaking. And we intend for you to found a dynasty. And that dynasty will rule society until it has progressed enough to—”

“Overthrow the dynasty in a revolutionary, blood-filled coup!” Iggy said eagerly.

We all looked at him.

“Just saying.” He sheepishly took a bite of cookie.

“Okay, you lost me,” my mom said. “What exactly are you getting at?”