Two Schools Out - Forever

by James Patterson

  Pruitt spilled out of his wrecked car, his face almost purple with insane rage. "This isn't the end of this!" he screamed, shaking his fist up at me in time-honored custom. "You're accidents, stains, mistakes! And we'll get you!"

  "If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that," I said, shaking my head.

  As we rose higher, teachers poured out of the school, pushing aside screaming kids, who cowered and tried to hide. Some of the teachers were clearly working for Pruitt, while others looked terrified and confused.

  Then I saw an all-too-familiar gray van careen into the parking lot, spitting gravel as it leaned dangerously around a corner. Sure, let's add some Erasers to the mix! The more the merrier! Were they in league with Pruitt or had things just gotten interesting?

  "Go!" I said to the flock, and surged upward as fast as I could. Ari and some of the other Erasers could fly, but we had a head start. I saw Ari jump out of the van, barking orders, swearing, watching us escape.

  "Later much," I said, and we soared into the sky, right into the weak autumn sun.

  88

  "Where to now?" the Gasman asked. We hovered in midair, our wings beating rhythmically, just hard enough to keep us in place. We'd kept a steady lookout, but so far no one seemed to be after us.

  "We need to go back to Anne's," said Angel.

  "Yeah, just real quick, to get some stuff," Nudge agreed.

  "Actually," I said, "I hid our packs in the bat cave a few days ago. Just in case something like this happened. And I didn't forget to lift one of these," I added, wagging one of Anne's countless credit cards in front of them. "She'll never miss it."

  "Great," said the Gasman in relief. "That was really smart, Max."

  "That's why they pay me the big bucks," I said. It was taking everything I had to not yell I told you so! But now wasn't the time. Later, when we were safe, then I would rub it in.

  "We still have to go back to Anne's," Angel said urgently.

  "Ange, we just can't take the risk of saying good-bye," I said.

  "No," Angel said. "Total's there."

  Oh, crap. I took two seconds to judge the likelihood of Angel leaving Total behind, which was none, and then Fang and I looked at each other and sighed.

  "We'll try," I said, and saw relief flood her face.

  "Oh, thanks, Max," she said. "We'll make it fast, I promise."

  It took three minutes to fly to Anne's big, comfortable farmhouse, where we'd lived for almost two months. Where at least some of us had felt relatively happy and safe.

  Where at least thirty Erasers were swarming over the land, the orchards, out of the barn, all around the house.

  Jeezum, that was fast.

  Meanwhile, Angel was peering down at the yard, looking through the trees in the orchard.

  Please don't let Total be snoozing in front of the fire, I prayed silently. Let him be paying attention.

  "There!" said Angel, pointing over to the pond. Sure enough, Total's small black body was racing excitedly around the edge of the water. An Eraser was chasing him, but Total was amazingly fast on his short legs.

  Angel tucked her wings in and dived.

  "Fang!" I said, and Fang immediately went after her.

  The sound of an engine made me turn, and I saw Ari's van tearing up the long driveway.

  Over by the pond, Angel was rocketing down. Erasers nearby were shouting for backup and starting to run toward her. Fang was right on her tail, ready to attack if necessary.

  "Total!" Angel shouted. "Come!"

  Instantly Total raced toward her, and when he'd gotten up speed, he bunched his small muscles and leaped into the air with all his might. I saw him sail upward as if he'd been shot out of a cannon, higher than any dog had ever leaped. Fifteen, twenty, almost thirty feet into the air, the height of a three-story building. Angel swooped down, scooped him into her arms, then surged upward, her beautiful, pure white wings working with hard, smooth precision.

  The Erasers roared below. Fang took Total from Angel, making a "yuck" face as Total licked him happily. They rejoined me, Nudge, and the Gasman.

  "About time you got here," Total said, wiggling against Fang. "I thought I was going to have to bite some ankles!"

  89

  "Okay, guys-it's time to get the flock outta here." I'd been wanting to say that for ages.

  "Wait-," said Nudge, watching Anne's yard.

  "No, we have to go," I said more strongly. "Ari and the rest will be after us any second. Let's get a head start." For once.

  "There's Anne," said Nudge, pointing.

  Sure enough, she was on the front lawn, striding toward an Eraser. Not something most humans would do. She shouted at Ari, waving her arms angrily, not afraid of him.

  A nondescript black sedan pulled to a stop by the house. A black sedan. What a cliche, I thought acidly.

  The door opened and Jeb Batchelder stepped out. Wonderful. His arrival added the perfect touch of anguish that had been missing from this picture.

  Jeb walked up to Ari, who was now yelling back at Anne.

  Anne, get out of there, I thought, unable to look away. True, I didn't think she was totally on the up-and-up, but she didn't deserve to get her throat ripped out. She was holding her own, though, even poking a finger into Ari's chest. With a loud snarl, he grabbed her hand and twisted, making her cry out. Jeb smashed Ari's hand away. Anne stepped aside, rubbing her wrist, looking furious.

  Jeb pushed Ari, forcing him to back up. Ari looked crazed with fury, his jaws snapping, beady red eyes burning. He kept pointing at us, high up in the air, and seemed to be arguing with Jeb. I was torn-I wanted to race out of there, put as much distance between us and the Erasers as possible. But, as usual, seeing Jeb created all sorts of mixed emotions. Rage being the primary one.

  Jeb, Anne, the Erasers, Pruitt, the other teachers. They were all parts of a bigger picture, but right now the picture looked as if it had been painted by drunken monkeys-nothing added up.

  "Look, we just have to go," I began, when a voice behind us said, "Yo."

  In case you're wondering, it is in fact possible to jump a foot in the air when you're already hovering in the air. Gasping, heart pounding, I whipped around and gaped.

  "Oh, my God! Iggy!"

  90

  "Iggy! Iggy!" All of us were shouting and trying to rush him at once. He made a wry Iggy-face that I interpreted as deep happiness to be here. I edged closer and tried to hug him without getting our wings tangled. We managed sort of an arm's length air kiss. The boys slapped high fives with him, and Nudge and Angel managed air kisses too.

  "I went by the school," he said. "They seem to be having a bad day."

  I gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, you could say that."

  "Do I hear a ruckus down below?" Iggy asked.

  "You do indeed," I said, then I realized that he was here. "Oh, no-Iggy. What happened?"

  "Well," he said, his face grim, "they didn't mind the wings. In fact, they loved the wings. Especially since they got eight different publishers and magazines into a bidding war for the all-exclusive rights to my life story, complete with photographs and interviews with the freak himself." His voice was indescribably bitter.

  "Oh, no," I said. "They were going to tell people?"

  "They were going to turn me into a sideshow freak," Iggy said. "I mean, a really public one."

  I beat back the rush of joy I felt at having him here and let my sympathy get some air.

  "I'm so sorry, Ig," I said, reaching out to rub his shoulder. "I thought they were the real thing."

  "That's just it," he said, anger showing on his face. "Maybe they were. I don't know. Maybe they weren't. But they felt like the real thing, and the real thing wanted to make money off me."

  I couldn't help reaching out to touch him again. "I'm so sorry, Iggy, really. But I'm so happy you're back."

  "I'm glad to be back too," said Iggy. "Even before they went nuts on me, I just missed you guys too much."

  "This is great, and we'll h
ave a group hug later," Fang interrupted, "but can we pay attention to what's happening below?"

  Oh, right. Way down below, Jeb, Ari, and Anne were still shouting at one another. Teams of Erasers were starting to report back, since obviously we weren't on the premises. Several of them shaded their eyes to look up at us, five hundred feet in the air.

  "Hmm," I said. "Something's missing down below. Some important puzzle piece. Oh, I know: It's me. Hang on, guys." I folded my wings and aimed myself downward.

  91

  I shot toward the ground at two hundred miles an hour. It was a total rush, over in a split second, and then I was braking, snapping my wings out to catch the air. I began running before my feet hit the ground, and came to a stop fifteen feet from the Terrible Trio.

  Aware of the Erasers at my back, I walked up to Anne, Jeb, and Ari.

  "Well, looks like the gang's all here," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Anne, meet Jeb. Jeb, meet Anne. Oh, sorry... looks like you two already know each other really well!"

  "Hello, sweetheart," Jeb said, gazing at me as if I held the secret to the world. Oh, wait, I guess I did.

  "I'm not your sweet anything," I said.

  "No-you're mine," Ari spit, pacing angrily.

  "In your nightmares," I said, sounding bored, and he lunged at me, snarling. Jeb shot out an arm and held him back. Anne looked at me with concern.

  "Are you all right?" she said. "I got a call from the school-"

  "I bet you did," I said. "Their school emergency plan went to heck in a handbasket. Well, they were too rigid anyway." I turned back to Jeb. "What do you want? Every time you show up, my life nose-dives. And believe me, it's not that far till I hit rock bottom."

  "You got that right." Ari sneered.

  "Shut up, dog boy," I said. I felt sorry for the seven-year-old Ari who'd been victimized. This creature shared no part of him.

  "Max, as always, I'm here to help," said Jeb, channeling sincerity. "This... experiment isn't working out. I'm here to help you get to the next phase."

  "You're out of bounds here," said Anne angrily. "This is my situation."

  Jeb's anger flared. "You don't know what you're doing. Max is a multimillion-dollar, finely tuned instrument. You've almost ruined her. She's not a lapdog! She's a warrior-the best there is. I made her what she is and I won't let you destroy her."

  "Whoa," I said, holding my hands up. "This is getting a little dysfunctional, even for me. I have an idea: How about the three of you take flying leaps off a cliff? That would solve most of our problems right there."

  "That would suit me just fine," Ari snarled. "Then it would be just you and me."

  "Please. The way you fly? There wouldn't be enough left to fill a garbage bag."

  He lunged at me again. Both Anne and Jeb stopped him.

  "I'm going now," I said, "and I'm going to stay gone. If I see any one of you again, I'll take you out. And that's a euphemism, by the way."

  Jeb sighed and shook his head. "It's not that simple, Max. There's nowhere for you to go. This whole planet is one big maze, and you're the rat running through it."

  My eyes narrowed coldly. "That's what you think. You and your psycho-scientist pals can play out Act Three by yourselves. As far as I'm concerned, this experiment, this training scenario, is over. Way over. Don't come knocking again. I mean it."

  "The decision, unfortunately, isn't yours to make," Jeb said patiently. "But you don't have to believe me. You can ask my boss, the one who's pulling all the strings."

  "Jeb...," Anne said, a warning tone in her voice.

  "Yeah, right." I sneered. "Call him on your cell phone. I'll wait."

  "I don't have to. She's right here," Jeb said with a gentle smile.

  Well, the only other "she" around was Anne.

  She was his boss, the one who was running things.

  The one who was running me.

  92

  I should have known.

  Maybe, deep down inside, I had known. Maybe that was why I had never been able to trust Anne, to relax. Or maybe that had just been my total paranoia coming in handy again.

  "You're the lead dog?" I asked Anne, then shook my head. "No, I can't even pretend to be surprised. Nothing you guys throw at me could surprise me anymore."

  "Let's put that to the test," Ari said tightly. His whole body was rigid, his eyes bloodshot. His ragged claws were curling up into his palms over and over.

  "Down, boy," I said, expecting him to snap at any second.

  "It's not like that, Max," said Anne, her face sincere and concerned. "I wanted to be part of your becoming. You're not just an experiment. To me, you're almost like a daughter." Her eyes were warm and pleading. I thought of all the nights she'd tucked us in, the many disastrous attempts to put dinner on the table. How she'd bought us clothes, books, art supplies. She'd held Nudge when she cried, she'd patched up Gazzy's skinned knees.

  You know what? I'd done all that stuff too. And I was better at it. And, bonus, I wasn't evil.

  "I'm guessing that almost is the operative word here," I said. "Part of my becoming? Congratulations. You're part of my becoming pissed off." I realized how crushed Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel would be when they found out Anne was in this mess even deeper than the spawn of Satan, Jeb himself. Suddenly I'd had enough, more than enough. I shook my head, subtly loosening my wing muscles. "You can't even make decent cookies," I told her, and then jumped straight up into the air, the way we'd practiced so many times. With one bound, I was over their heads, and then I unfurled my wings and pushed down with all my might. I almost clipped them-I have a thirteen-foot wingspan. I soared up to where my flock was waiting.

  "Vamonos," I said. "There's no one here but people to leave."

  93

  That would have been too easy, right?

  Within seconds, Ari's control broke. Even as I was speeding away, I heard him shouting orders. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a swarm of heavy, clumsy Erasers rising darkly into the air. Only-hello-these weren't that clumsy.

  "Uh-oh-this is a new batch, guys," I called. "These Erasers can actually fly. Move it!"

  "Through the woods!" Fang called, and I nodded.

  "Rendezvous at the bat cave," I added. "Make sure you aren't followed!"

  The six of us dived into the trees, effortlessly slipping among the branches and trunks. We'd practiced moves like this hundreds of times, and it was exhilarating, like playing a video game, only, you know, in real life. In less than a minute we heard crashes and yells behind us. Several Erasers had already misjudged their wingspans and almost ripped their wings off on unforgiving tree trunks.

  It was pretty funny.

  "No one touches Max! She's mine!" I heard Ari shout, and thought, Oh, brother.

  We split up, each leading a bunch of Erasers on a crazy zigzag path. Together again, Iggy and Gazzy flew in tandem, with Iggy able to mimic Gazzy's moves within milliseconds. Angel was a blur of white through the green and brown of the forest. I knew Fang was holding Total and hoped that didn't cramp his style too much.

  "This is where it ends," I heard Ari snarl, surprisingly close. I took a split-second look back and saw that he was barely thirty feet behind me. Okay, time to pour on the power. I sucked in a deep breath and surged forward, putting some of my newfound speed into action.

  And practically almost killed myself, because trees were popping in my way faster than I had ever practiced. Get it together, Maximum, I told myself grimly. React faster. You can do it.

  Concentrating fiercely, I aimed myself like a bullet through and over and between the thick trees and scrubby undergrowth. All sound faded away as I focused intently on finding a path for myself through the woods. Again and again I flipped sideways, shooting through impossibly narrow gaps. Several times I clipped my wing tips against something and even ripped some feathers out, making me hiss in a breath.

  There was no way Ari could keep up with me at this speed, being such a bad flyer, with patched-on wings. I slowed, and tim
e slowed with me. Sound reached my ears again-I was far away from everyone. Uh, too far, actually. I turned around and headed back.

  I came up behind Ari, all stealthy wings, where he was perched on a branch.

  "No! I told you-she's mine!" Ari was shouting into an earpiece. "This time no one's going to stop me. You take care of the others. I'll find Max."

  He tapped his com unit off and took out a small pair of military binoculars. He peered through them, and I was practically holding my sides to keep from laughing. Finally he turned enough to see me-a hundred miles wide, filling his vision.

  "Ah!" he cried in surprise, and dropped the binoculars.

  Then I laughed. "So, what plans do you have for me, dog boy?"

  I expected him to snarl and lunge, as usual. But he sat back on his branch and looked at me, seeming almost calm and roughly in the neighborhood of sane.

  "Plans," he said. "I don't want to kill you. But I will if I have to. If you don't cooperate."

  "Cooperate? This is me you're talking to."

  Ari reached behind him and took a large, lethal-looking knife out of his pack. "I'm going to ask you once, nicely. What happens after that is up to you."

  What was he up to? "Uh, okay. Ask away."

  "You come with me. The two of us disappear. We never have to deal with Jeb and the whitecoats and everyone else again."

  "Disappear where?" You know what they say: Curiosity killed the mutant bird kid. But I couldn't help myself.

  "A place I know."

  "And I would be stuck there? With you as my guard? I have to tell you, this isn't among my top-ten offers."

  "Not as your guard. As your friend."

  "You and me." This was throwing me for a loop-and then I remembered Angel telling me that she'd picked up on Ari actually loving me. In a hateful, twisted way, of course.

  "Yes. This is your one chance."

  "Uh-huh." I couldn't for the life of me see where this was headed in his mind. Unless-ick. "Ari, I can't leave the flock," I said, straight out. "Not for you, not for Jeb, not for anyone."