“Like a starfish,” said Maya, nodding. “Cool.”
“Yeah,” said Fang. “But slightly less cool when you think about how many times they cut him open before the potion actually worked.” Fang glanced across the room at Holden’s scarred arms and shuddered.
“And the girls, Kate and Star, were injected at the same time, but apparently with different stuff. Seems like the whitecoats screwed with their DNA, just like they did with ours. You wouldn’t think it to look at her, but Kate’s, like, wicked strong.”
He nodded at Star, who was pouring a supersize bag of chips down her throat. “We think Star’s part hummingbird or mouse. She can move like lightning, but she burns through about a zillion calories in the process. She must have double the fast-twitch muscle fibers we do since they spliced her genomes.”
Maya smiled at him. “I love it when you talk all sciencey.”
Fang almost laughed despite himself. He hated talking to people, but maybe with Maya he could just hang. Maybe she could be like Max for him. Like he and Max used to be. Before things got… complicated.
It would be just like before.
31
“MAX! THE MAXALATOR! Maxime! Maxalicious! Maxster!”
Total raced toward me as soon as I landed, wagging his tail. (Oh, just a reminder. Yes, we
“Total! Hi! How was your honeymoon?” I was actually glad to see him. Things had been kind of quiet without him. Relatively.
“I see Mr. Perfect’s still hanging around, eh?” he said, drawing together his pointy black Scottie ears. My face flushed as I took a step away from Dylan.
“And Angelkins!” Total licked Angel’s face when she squatted down to pet him, bracing his front paws on her lap.
“Hi, Total,” Angel said. “Whoa! Your wings are looking good!”
Total extended his wings proudly, fluttering them a little. “They are, indeed, are they not?” he agreed. “The honeymoon was fantabulous.” His eyes got a little misty. “You see before you the happiest of dogs. My Akila and I had a truly magical time. Now she’s off visiting her folks, but I missed you, one and all.” He looked at me and frowned. “And, of course, I got here just in time to see that everything took a turn for the worse when I left. Everyone looks terrible! I’m gone for a week and—”
“I’m hungry,” I said, heading toward the house. “You have any pictures from your honeymoon?”
“I have video!” Total said, happily trotting beside me.
Inside, the flock was a little… different. Besides the limbs in casts and stitched-up wings, everyone had bruises, black eyes, and assorted scrapes, but no one looked at me when I walked in.
“What’s going on?” Dylan whispered.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” said Total. “Have they been taking freak pills? Because they’re all acting strange.”
“Hey, guys,” I said, a little too loud. “Everyone okay?”
Nobody moved, not even my mom, who, of all people, I thought I could count on to lead the Max welcoming committee.
“Mom?” I said, walking over to the couch where she was resting. “How’s your arm?”
She looked at me, and I felt… empty. I mean, my mom was the person who had taught me that people really can show love through their eyes. Maybe I was imagining things, but she just seemed… different.
“It’s okay,” she said. “How are you, Max?” She sounded like she didn’t care much one way or the other.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry I stayed out all night. We decided to try to spy on the Gen 77 school, and—”
“Did you find Hans’s body?” she said, interrupting me.
“No. We looked, but we ended up finding these spider-eyed ’noid kids, who—”
“That’s great, honey. Can you scoot over a bit? I’m trying to watch the news.”
Angel, Dylan, and I looked at one another, like
Nudge, covered in bandages, was lying quietly on the floor by herself, looking miserable.
Gazzy was sitting at a table playing with Ella’s old Legos. He was making little people. Not making houses and then exploding them, not blowing things up. Just making little people. Quietly.
