The Angel Experiment Part 9

Boom! Only it was more like Only it was more like ba-ba-boooooom! ba-ba-boooooom!

The two boys recoiled from the blast, tumbling backward in the air from the shock wave. The Gasman righted himself, eyes wide, as a fireball ten yards in diameter rose from where the cabin had been.

He was speechless.

After the fireball from Big Boy disintegrated, the cabin burned brightly, its old, rotted wood consumed as instantly as kindling. Flames reached for the sky, licking at the green trees nearby, snaking along the ground as brittle brown pine needles caught fire.

G.o.d, it was beautiful.

"Well," Iggy said after a long while, "that takes care of them. them."

The Gasman nodded, feeling sick. One dark body had flown upward in the blast, falling back to earth as a glowing coal. The other Eraser had crawled a few feet away from the cabin, a burning silhouette that had collapsed, its outlines blurred by flame.

"Unless they escaped," Iggy added.

Of course Iggy hadn't seen anything. The Gasman cleared his throat. "No," he said. "They're dead." He felt slightly queasy, guilty, and dirty. Then he remembered Angel, how she'd shared the last of the ice cream with him three nights ago. She was so small, and G.o.d only knew what horrible things they were doing to her. His jaw hardened.

"Take that, that," he muttered. "That was for my sister, for Angel, Angel, you sc.u.m-sucking jerks." you sc.u.m-sucking jerks."

Then he saw the black Hummer, its hood crumpled, driving fast toward the burning cabin. An Eraser was leaning out the pa.s.senger window, looking through binoculars.

"Come on, Iggy," said the Gasman. "Let's get out of here."

37.

The bell clanged jarringly, and rough hands pushed Angel forward. She stumbled, catching herself at the last second before falling onto coils of razor wire.

Angel wanted to cry. She'd been doing this all day-it was late afternoon by now.

She was starving and light-headed and every muscle ached-and still they made her run.

It was a maze, Angel knew that.

They had made it in a huge gymlike room in the School's main building. They rang a bell and pushed her forward, and then she had to run as fast as she could to find the exit. Each time, the maze was different, the exit in a different place. If she slowed down, she got an electric shock so strong it scrambled her brain, or red-hot wires under her feet burned her. So, eyes blurry with tears, Angel ran forward blindly, taking this turn and that until she finally stumbled out the exit.

Then she would get a sip of water and a five-minute rest while they redid the maze.

Angel sniffled, trying to keep quiet. She hated this! If only she knew beforehand-if only she knew, knew, she could run through fast and not get shocked or burned. she could run through fast and not get shocked or burned.

Angel sat up, a tingle of excitement running down her spine. She closed her eyes and tried to listen to what the whitecoats were thinking.

One of them wanted to let an Eraser loose in the maze, have it fight with her, see how strong she really was. One of them thought they should increase the heated wires so she always had to run on them, whether she was slowing down or not. Then he could study the effect of stress on her adrenaline levels.

Angel wanted them all to burn in h-e-double toothpicks forever.

One of them was designing the next maze, the creep.

Angel concentrated, trying to look as though she was resting. Someone gave her another sip of water, and she sucked it down fast. She could see the rough plan of the maze! It was in her mind because it was in the whitecoat's mind. Deliberately, Angel breathed in and out, looking spent, but she felt a new surge of possibility.

She got it. She knew what the next maze would look like. Blinking tiredly, Angel sat up, keeping her eyes unfocused. In her mind, she was reviewing the maze's layout: a quick right, then another right, then a left, skip the next three rights and take the fourth one . . . and so on, till she saw the exit.

She could see all the traps, the dead ends, the paths that led nowhere.

She could hardly wait to blow their minds. This would be fun!

A whitecoat grabbed her, made her stand in front of the new maze's entrance.

The bell clanged.

Someone pushed her.

Angel took off. Running as fast as she could in case all the wires were hot, she took a quick right, another right, then a left, and so on. She raced through with record speed, with no hesitation. She didn't get shocked once and never felt a hot wire under her feet.

She burst out of the maze's exit, then collapsed onto the cool wooden floor.

Time pa.s.sed.

Words floated to her: Amazing. Cognitive ability. Interpretive skills. Creative problem solving. Dissect her brain. Preserve her organs. Extract her DNA. Amazing. Cognitive ability. Interpretive skills. Creative problem solving. Dissect her brain. Preserve her organs. Extract her DNA.

A voice said, "No, no, we can't dissect her brain just yet." The speaker laughed, as if it were funny. His voice sounded . . . like she'd heard it in a fairy tale or something, like at night, or at home, or with Max. . . .

Angel blinked and swam toward consciousness. She made the mistake of looking up. An older man was there. He wore wire-rimmed gla.s.ses and was smiling at her. She got no thoughts from him whatsoever. He looked . . .

"h.e.l.lo, Angel," said Jeb Batchelder kindly. "I haven't seen you in a long time. I missed you, kiddo."

38.

Nudge didn't know exactly what Fang expected to see. Max, flying toward them? Max, standing on the ground below, waving her arms to get their attention? Max's body, crumpled-Nudge shut that thought down. She would just wait. Fang was older and really smart; Max trusted him. Nudge trusted him too.

How far back had Max separated from them? Nudge couldn't remember. She and Fang had been flying in ever-widening circles for hours. How did they know Max hadn't pa.s.sed them somehow and was waiting for them back at Lake Mead?

"Fang? Do you remember where we left Max?"

"Yes."

"Are we going to go there?"

Pause. "Not if we can help it."

"But why? Maybe Max is hurt and needs help. Maybe we need to save her before we go save Angel." It was hard, keeping these missions separate. First Angel, now Max, then Angel again.

Fang banked to the left, tightening the angle as they'd seen the hawks do. Nudge followed him. Below them, the ground looked parched, with only occasional roads, cactuses, brush.

"I don't think Max would have gotten hurt all by herself," Fang said slowly. "She's not going to fly into a tree or crash-land. So if she's late because she's hurt, it probably means that someone, a person, hurt her. Which means that someone knows about her. We don't want that someone to know about us too. Which they would if we went to where Max is."

Nudge's jaw dropped.

"And if Max is late because she's busy, then our going to her won't speed things up-she'll come when she's good and ready. So for right now, we do a general look-see. But we're not going all the way back."

Nudge heard Max's voice in her head: Think before you speak. Think before you speak. So she shut her mouth and thought. She had no idea how Fang could So she shut her mouth and thought. She had no idea how Fang could not not get Max, even if it meant they might get captured or hurt themselves. They get Max, even if it meant they might get captured or hurt themselves. They all all might get captured or hurt saving Angel, right? Why was Max different from Angel? Max was more important than Angel, Nudge thought, feeling guilty. Max took care of them, helped run their whole lives. might get captured or hurt saving Angel, right? Why was Max different from Angel? Max was more important than Angel, Nudge thought, feeling guilty. Max took care of them, helped run their whole lives.

She snuck a look at Fang. Fang was good, if not very warm or huggy. He was strong and handsome and capable. But would he stick around to take care of everyone if there were no Max? Or would he take off and go live by himself somewhere and not be bothered with them? Nudge didn't know what Fang was really thinking.

Suddenly, Nudge was brushing tears out of her eyes, swallowing down the lump in her throat, feeling her nose clog up. Oh, G.o.d. She couldn't bear it without Max. Blinking, she tried to clear her vision, tried to think about something else. She saw a white truck down below and focused on it, forcing herself to wonder what it was carrying, where it was coming from. Like any of it mattered.

She drew in deep breaths and held them, refusing to cry in front of Fang. She might have to start being very strong, very soon. She might as well practice now.

The truck headed toward an intersection that had signs marking a junction. Nudge blinked and looked as the signs became clear and she could read them. One said, California Welcome Center, 18 miles. One said, Las Vegas, North, 98 miles. One said, Tipisco, 3 miles.

Tipisco! Tipisco, Arizona! Where Nudge was from! Where her parents had been! Oh, G.o.d-could she still find her parents? Would they want her back? Had they missed her so much all these years?

"Fang!" she shouted, already beginning the descent. "It's Tipisco, down below! I'm going there!"

"No way, Nudge," Fang said, flying closer to her. "Don't get sidetracked now. Stay with me."

"No!" said Nudge, feeling daring and desperate and brave. She hunched her shoulders and tucked her head down, feeling herself lose alt.i.tude. "I have to go find my parents! If Max is gone, I'm going to need someone."

Fang's dark eyes widened in surprise. "What? Nudge, you're crazy. Come on, let's talk about it. Let's find a place, take a break."

"No!" said Nudge, tears coming to her eyes again. "I'm going down-and you can't stop me!"

39.

"We're pretty safe, unless the Erasers catch our scent," the Gasman whispered to Iggy. The two of them were tucked inside a narrow fissure in the side of a cliff, up high. Scraggly bushes obscured the opening. The Erasers would have to rock climb to get them, or use the chopper.

Iggy kicked back and rested his hands on his knees. "Well, this is a total suckfest," he said grumpily. "I thought with those two Erasers taking dirt naps, we'd be free and clear, at least for a while. They must have sent for backup even before they attacked the cabin."

The Gasman ground dust between his fingertips. "At least we took two of them out." He wondered if Iggy felt as weird and bad about it as he did. He couldn't tell.

"Yeah, but what now? We're kinda all dressed up with no place to go," Iggy said. "There's no way we can go home-they're probably everywhere. What are we supposed to do with ourselves? And what if Max and the others come back just to fly into an ambush?"

"I don't know," the Gasman said in frustration. "I hadn't thought beyond just blowing them the heck up. Maybe you you should come up with a plan." should come up with a plan."

The two boys sat in the semidarkness of the fissure, breathing the stale air. The Gasman's stomach rumbled.

"Tell me about it," Iggy said, resting his head on his knees.

"Okay, okay," the Gasman said suddenly. "I have an idea. It's risky, and Max will kill us when she finds out."

Iggy raised his head. "Sounds like my kind of idea."

40.

Never in my fourteen looong years have I felt the slightest bit normal-except for my day with Ella and her mom, Dr. Martinez.

First, we ate a real breakfast together, around the kitchen table. On plates, with forks and knives and napkins. Instead of, like, a hot dog stuck on a barbecue fork, burned black over an open flame, then eaten right off the fork. Or cereal with no milk. Or peanut b.u.t.ter off a knife. Beanie weenies from the can.

Then Ella had to go to school. I was worried about the jerks from before, but she said her teacher was good at keeping kids in line, and so was the school bus driver. A real school bus! Like on TV shows.

So it was me and Dr. Martinez. "So, Max," she said as she unloaded the dishwasher.

I tensed.

"Do you want to talk about . . . anything?"

I looked at her. Her face was tan and kind, her eyes warm and understanding. But I knew if I started talking, I would never stop. I would break down and start crying. I would freak out. Then I wouldn't be Max anymore, wouldn't be able to function, take care of the others, be the alpha girl. To save Angel. If it wasn't already too late.

"Not really," I said.

She nodded and started stacking clean plates. I fantasized about actually being friends with Ella and her mom long after I left here and went home. I could come back and visit sometimes. . . . Yeah, and we could have picnics, exchange Christmas cards. . . . I'm so sure. sure. I was totally losing my grip on reality. I had to get out of here. I was totally losing my grip on reality. I had to get out of here.

Dr. Martinez put away the clean plates and loaded the dirty ones into the dishwasher. "Do you have a last name?"

I thought. Since I didn't have an "official" ident.i.ty, there wasn't anything she could do with the information. I rubbed my temples-a headache had been creeping up on me since breakfast.

"Yeah," I said finally. I shrugged. "I gave it to myself."

On my eleventh birthday (which was also a day I picked for myself), I had asked Jeb about a last name. I guess I was hoping he would say, "Your name is Batchelder, like me." But he hadn't. He'd said, "You should choose one yourself."

So I'd thought about it, thought about how I could fly and who I was.

"My last name is Ride," I told Ella's mom. "Like Sally Ride, the astronaut. Maximum Ride."

She nodded. "That's a good name. Are there others like you?" she asked.