94
"Max!" It was Fang. Immediately I zoomed upward and burst through the treetops into the open sky above. He was up there, fighting three Erasers at once. I streaked over and chopped one right where his neck met his shoulder. He cried out, and then I grabbed his wings and pulled them together, hard, in back of him. He shrieked in pain and started to drop like a rock. It was a little trick we'd learned back when we were first starting to fly. I'd forbidden us to do it to one another.
That Eraser crashed down into the trees below and disappeared from sight.
"Where's everybody else?" I called to Fang as I moved in.
"Gone-Total too," he said. "This is all that's left." He circled up to the right and then fell down sideways, landing hard on an Eraser's wing. Their wings were heavier than ours but not nearly as smoothly integrated into their bodies. This one folded also and fell clumsily downward. He tried to get aloft again, but just as his wings extended, he hit the trees. We heard him screaming all the way down to the ground.
"That had to hurt," said Fang.
"Should we go-," I began, but just then Ari shot out of the trees and smashed right into Fang at full speed. He wheeled around surprisingly quickly and hovered in the air, facing us.
"We end this now!" he growled.
"I agree," said Fang in a low, deadly tone, and he rushed Ari.
Remembering what had happened when they'd fought on the beach, I got ready to fling myself between them, but Fang zipped in like a hawk and managed a snap kick to Ari's chest so hard that Ari started coughing. Before I could even say, "Good one," Fang had circled and chopped the side of his hand down on Ari's neck. Ari dropped about ten feet because he momentarily forgot to flap, but then his face set in anger and he surged upward again. His wingspan must have been eighteen feet, because he was a full-size Eraser. I could only imagine how hard he had to work just to stay aloft.
Fang whirled in a tight circle, like a hawk ballet, and flew in sideways before Ari could even react. His fist crashed against the side of Ari's face, and I saw Ari's nose start to bleed. I guessed Fang was remembering the beach incident too.
Ari roared and came right at Fang, claws slashing the air, teeth bared, eyes burning. He had power, hatred, and Eraser strength on his side. But Fang was fast and nimble, and had a truckload of resentment and hunger for revenge.
It was a pretty even match.
I wanted to jump in and help, but I sensed it was one of those boy things and I should stay out of it unless Fang was really getting his butt kicked. So I hovered nearby, scanning the horizon, hoping the rest of the flock was safe at the bat cave. No other Erasers seemed to be around, amazingly, and choppers didn't suddenly appear. It was just your basic one-on-one mutant-vs.-mutant fight.
Which Fang seemed to be winning. I mean, let's hear it for resentment and revenge. Even though Ari was probably actually stronger than Fang, Fang was so quick and so, so mad.
I winced as I heard the bone-jarring crack of Fang's fist against the side of Ari's head. The blow spun his head sideways, and Fang darted in with a fast side kick right to Ari's ribs. I saw Ari's grimacing face and hoped this would be over soon, before he got in a lucky hit.
Again Fang swung a hard left punch. Ari turned at the last minute and caught it right in the muzzle. Blood started dripping out of his mouth. "You-," Fang said as he punched him from the right. "Quit-" Ari tried to back up, but he was clumsy with his wings and ended up dropping several feet. Fang dropped also, with precision, and rammed an uppercut into Ari's ribs. I heard Ari's breath leave in a whoosh. "Attacking-" Finally Fang drew back, gave one big beat of his wings, and shot forward, feetfirst. Both feet connected forcefully with Ari's stomach, and Ari wheezed for air. "Us!" Fang finished, delivering an uppercut to the chin that literally made Ari spin backward through the air.
And he kept tumbling. I got a glimpse of his battered, rage-filled face as he fell toward the treetops, sixty feet below. He tried to catch himself, working his wings, but it was too late. He crashed into the greenery, and we heard branches snapping from up where we were.
He'd hardly managed to touch Fang.
I looked over at Fang. He was panting, sweating, watching Ari's fall with a look of cold satisfaction.
"So-working out some issues here, are we?" I said.
He gave me a dry look. "Let's go find the others."
95
Fang and I kept a lookout all the way to the bat cave. We had no way of knowing if someone was tracking us with a telescope or whatever. But we took a complicated, mostly hidden route, and ended up shooting quickly in through the overhanging vines at the cave entrance.
"Max!" Nudge said, jumping up to give me a hug. Then we were all hugging one another, and Total was jumping up and down with excited little yips.
"Are they gone?" Gazzy asked.
"For now," I said. "Fang kicked Ari's butt."
"Way to go!" Iggy said, holding up his fist. Fang bumped fists with him, trying not to look too pleased with himself.
"He has issues," Nudge whispered knowingly out of the side of her mouth. I laughed.
"Okay, guys," I said. "New agenda. Forget looking for our parents. We've hit a dead end. And besides, I don't think I could bear to give one of you up again right now. How about moving on to saving the world?"
"Yeah, let's get out of here," said Total, looking up at me.
"But where to?" asked Nudge.
"I've been thinking about that," I began.
"Florida," said Angel.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"I just feel like Florida is where we should go," Angel said, shrugging. "Plus, you know, Disney World."
"Yes! Disney World!" said Gazzy.
"Swimming pools, sunshine-I am so there," Total agreed.
I looked at Fang. He shrugged. And actually, I didn't really have any other plan.
Go with the flow, Max. Ride the flow.
After that pithy nugget from my Voice-turned-travel-agent, I said, "Well, okay, then. Florida it is. Grab your packs."
PART 5
"I see. You had a plan." Jeb poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Yeah," Ari said sullenly. He wasn't sure if Jeb was mad at him or not. Sometimes Jeb didn't seem mad, but then it would turn out that he was. Ari hated that.
"You were going to steal Max for yourself."
"Yeah."
Jeb took a sip of his coffee. "And why were you going to do that?"
Ari shrugged. "I just want to have her to myself. I'm tired of chasing the others. I don't care about them."
"But you care about Max. How old are you now?"
"Seven." Which was another thing. Jeb never remembered his birthday. "But I'm big. Bigger than you."
"Yes." Jeb made it sound totally unimportant. "Ari, I'm proud of you."
"Wh-what?"
Jeb turned and smiled at him. "I'm proud of you, son. I'm impressed that you made a plan for yourself, and that you chose Max."
Ari felt like the sun was shining warmly on his shoulders. But-was this a trap? He looked at Jeb warily. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yes. You're only seven, but you're thinking like a grown-up. It's incredibly interesting. Tell you what-I want to see where this takes us. We're going to find out where the flock has gone, and when we do, you can put your plan into action again."
"My plan?"
"Yes, your plan to steal Max. I'll help you make it happen. We'll take out the rest of the flock, but you have to grab Max. Where were you going to take her?"