Fang

26

IT WAS HOURS later when Iggy jolted us out of Dr. Hans’s Fun House.

“What’ve you guys been doing all this time? Online poker? You sure are… into it.”

“Playing a video game,” Fang answered, hiding the document on the computer desktop. Even though the other kids had seen a lot of freaky stuff in their lives, it was still our instinct to protect them from anything that might overload their quota of nightmares.

“You’re lying through your fangs,” Iggy accused.

Fang tried to play innocent – but “innocent Fang” is an oxymoron, so it didn’t work.

“That reminds me,” Angel called over to us from the couch. “I have a video for you, Max!”

She skipped to her bedroom and brought out a backpack that she turned upside down. Out dropped a clogged travel-size hairbrush, an iPod Shuffle, and a CD in a linty transparent sleeve.

“I found it in my bag a few days after we got back from Africa. It has your name on it, but I don’t know how it got there – I swear.”

I didn’t have a good feeling about this, but curiosity got the better of me and I popped the CD into the computer right away. I’d drill Angel later about why she “forgot” to give it to me until now.

When I clicked “play,” my not-good feeling got much, much less good.

My favorite finger-chopping foe smiled at me from the screen.

“Hello, Max,” Dr. Gunther-Hagen began. I braced myself, as Fang stood behind me with his comforting hands on my shoulders.

You ran out a bit quickly today, and I was so excited to be demonstrating my work that I never had the opportunity to give you some of the more important reasons why I know you would find it very rewarding to work with me.

As I’m certain was apparent from what you saw and learned of my limb-regeneration project, I am the world’s leading expert on stem cell research, bar none. Growing an organ in a dish and implanting it is rather an elementary process for me and my team compared to limb regeneration. In fact, I’ve been successfully implanting organs grown from subjects’ own tissue for a number of years. Were you to join forces with me, doors would open up for you and your flock.

He paused dramatically.

“For example, wouldn’t one of your boys love” – he reached to his side and slid a cloudy jar into view of the camera – “a brand-new pair of these?”

He picked up the container so the camera could focus on it.

Floating inside was a human eyeball.

27

THE NEXT MORNING I SET the kids to working on independent studies, and I did more computer research about genetic-recombination theory and stem cell science. I knew they had incredible potential to help humankind. But what became clear to me was that the doctor was experimenting way too fast on humans. All my research had done was upset me.

So now I was emerging from a long shower that was supposed to be therapeutic. I started dragging a comb through my brown hair, getting caught in snarls. Really and truly stuck. I got lost in the ritual of trying to untangle the tangles – contemplating Dr. Hans and Iggy and the possibility of new, healthy eyes for one of the people I loved most in the world – as the moisture on the mirror slowly began to dissipate.

That’s when I spotted an Eraser in the mirror, looking out at me through the fog.

Reactions were faster than thought, and I whirled, one fist raised to strike… an empty wall. A fast look showed that unless the Eraser was paper thin and stuck to my back, there was no one in here but me.

I sat on the edge of the tub, heart pounding.

This had happened once before, ages ago. I’d looked in the mirror and seen an Eraser version of Max looking back at me. But Erasers didn’t even exist anymore – they’d all been “retired.” I peeped up over the edge of the mirror. The steam had cleared, and I saw my human face, my brown eyes.

What was happening to me?

28

SWEARING UNDER MY BREATH, I searched the bathroom, opening cupboards, feeling under the sink. I examined every inch of every wall and ran my fingers around the window frame. If there was a camera hidden in there, I didn’t find it.

A tap on the door made me jump like a deer.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me.”

I unlocked the door and let Fang in. Grinning, he shut the door behind him. Then he saw my face. “What’s wrong?” He glanced around. “You have that ghost look again.”

I let out a breath. “Nothing.”

“Then why is a comb stuck in your hair?”

Crap. I slowly pulled it out, trying to get through the worst of the tangles.

From down the hall, I heard raised voices and a crash, and I tensed.

“The kids are taking a little break,” Fang said.

“But everything’s okay out there?” I tried to sound casual.

He shrugged. “I think they’re getting cabin fever.” He stepped forward and put his hands around my waist. “But enough about them,” he said, and his voice sent chills – good ones – down my spine.

I wanted to forget about everything and escape into Fang’s kiss. Don’t think, just feel.

“Where’s Max?” I heard Gazzy say out in the hall, and Iggy responded.

“Wherever Fang is, of course.” They laughed.

I pulled away from Fang. Even this was being ruined.

“They’re okay,” said Fang, bending his head again.

A second later I nearly jumped out of my skin, though. “Oh, Fang, you’re so haaandsooome,” I heard. It sounded like me – standing right next to me.

That was Gazzy, doing one of his absolutely perfect impersonations. He also had a gift for throwing his voice.

“Max! Let me take you away from all this! My darling!” If I hadn’t been holding Fang – and also hadn’t known that he would never say something that corny – I would have sworn it was him. Cackling laughter.

Fang and I leaned our foreheads against each other.

“Whoa – watch it!” There was a loud crash, and I practically pushed Fang into the wall. Yanking the door open, I strode down the hall.

“What’s going on out here?” I demanded, hands on hips.

“Nothing,” Gazzy said, smirking. “What’s going on in there?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and my face burned. Then I saw it: a pile of broken dishes and leftover food all over the floor.

“Who did this?”

“It was me,” Gazzy said in Nudge’s voice.

“Hey!” she said. “They were wrestling.” “You’re supposed to be studying,” I snapped.

“Oh, while you get to make kissy-face with Fang in the bathroom?” Iggy sneered. “I don’t think so.”

I was so mortified I was speechless for a second. Then I stamped my foot and said, “Get back to your books!” Which was, of course, a huge mistake.

29

THEY JUST STARED at me for a moment, then Iggy’s face contorted into anger. He yanked off his iPod earphones and threw the whole thing across the room. “I can’t take it anymore!”

“Hey!” I said sharply. “Those are expensive!”

“I can’t help it!” he shouted. “I’ve been listening to how the Roman Empire fell, and all I can say is, it didn’t fall nearly fast enough!”

“You’re, like, totally sucking the fun out of the first kind-of vacation we’ve had in ages and ages!” Gazzy whined, his arms crossed.

Even Nudge, my peacemaker, chimed in. “I listened to an hour of French history this morning, and I thought my head was going to explode,” she said. “It’s just, army this, invader that, conquering whatever. We have to learn, and I love learning things, but there has to be a better way. Like at a school!”

I was shocked – Nudge had always been my most loyal supporter.

Well, I wasn’t going to stand for this. I was the flock leader! I was going to restructure our lesson plans, I was going to start issuing demerits or other teachery things, I was going to…

I was going to stop being such a hard nose.

I had an idea, and I like to think it actually came from my own brain and not from the Voice or from Angel. And it’s so sad that I even need to clarify that.

“You know,” I said slowly, “I’m going to be fifteen tomorrow.”

Blank stares. I guess I hadn’t made the smoothest segue in the world.