dry and mournful eyes. “If we haven’t found her body yet, then she’s still alive,” I said.
He sat down, took my hand in his. Slowly, he shook his head. He looked like he’d aged about ten years in the past twenty-four hours. His face was drawn and gaunt. His hair and clothes were still caked with grit and blood. He shook his head again, slowly.
“No, Max,” he said. “Probably not.”
I wanted to scream, “It’s your fault! You’re the one who left her!” But it wasn’t his fault. Because I had left all three of them.
“We’re… taking off,” Fang said.
I knew my face was splotchy and tear stained; my clothes were filthy and covered with soot and blood and dust; my hair was matted with ash and grit.
“What?” I asked dully.
Nudge had been sleeping against my shoulder, and now she roused and blinked groggily.
Fang gestured toward his gang waiting several feet away. They looked whipped and dirty, and they had new, sad, firsthand knowledge about some of the awful things that can happen in the world. Strangely, seeing them warmed my heart a little. They were starting to look like they belonged with us.
“We’re going to take off,” Fang repeated. “The cops got some of the DG organizers, but not whoever or whatever was supposed to be the One Light. Gazzy filled me in on what he and—on what he’d learned at their headquarters. So we’re going after that. It doesn’t sound like Mark was the kingpin—he was only a servant of the One Light.”
“Huh,” I said, unable to offer more of a reaction.
“We have to kill the plant at the roots,” Fang said, “or it’ll just grow back.”
His face was lined and grim, his voice flat. He’d always loved Angel so much. Like we all had.
“Oh,” I said, and I got wearily to my feet, feeling old and hollow and like I would never be happy again. I don’t even know what I was expecting, but Fang and I sort of came together in a brief, awkward hug. I clung to him, relishing the milliseconds in his arms like they were hours, then I stepped back.
“So I guess this is it,” I said almost incoherently.
“Yeah,” Fang agreed, and my heart sank. I’d actually hoped he’d just say
Maya waited with the gang, and I knew I owed her. I went and stood in front of her, watching as her eyes met mine.
“Thanks,” I told her.
She nodded. And that was it—we were too alike to need anything more.
“Take care, guys,” said Fang to the rest of the flock. “I’ll post anything I find out on my blog.”
More tearful good-byes, and then they were gone. I blinked uncomfortably, feeling grit in my eyes, then turned to the flock. I swallowed hard. “I need to find Ella,” I told them. “And my mom. And maybe even Jeb.”
Slowly, one by one, they nodded. I let out a deep breath, wondering if I could even get myself airborne.
Dylan came up to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and took one of my hands in his. His hand was large, warm, and comforting. I looked down at it, and again, hot tears pricked the backs of my eyes, then ran down my face, making tracks through the sweat and the blood. I let them fall.
I looked up at him and nodded, and then we got ready to fly.
EPILOGUE
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“You’re very superior, Angel,” said a voice.
Angel heard the voice, heard other muffled sounds, but she couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t move a muscle. She tried to still her panic, tried to calm down enough to figure out where she was, what was happening.
Her head was killing her, and she could tell some of her hair was matted with blood. Her feet were bare and cold. She had electrodes taped to her, all over, and as she realized this, panic washed through her. She heard a machine start beeping as her heart beat faster. Not again. She couldn’t go through this again.
“It’s okay, Angel,” said the voice. Angel couldn’t tell if a man or a woman was speaking. It sounded like it was coming at her through many layers of cotton. “You’re among friends. Even admirers. We’re going to take care of you.”
