A fierce joy swelled inside me. She was alive! She really was!
And she was going to stay that way, at least while I was on this planet. No matter what, I would never, ever let her out of my sight. We would never be separated again.
56
MY BRAIN WAS on a drunken loop of joy, disbelief, shock, ecstasy.
This is really my Angel, my own Angel….
The others crowded around and tried to touch and embrace her, so they, too, could truly believe what I was still trying to absorb. But I wouldn’t let go of her.
“We need to get her out of here,” Dylan instructed, gently pushing his way in close to help me lift her body. I hardly registered Fang’s irritated look. Nothing in the world mattered to me at that moment except keeping my little girl safe with me.
I stood up and carried Angel upstairs, into the light. Someone had padlocked her in that underground room—there would have been no way for her to get out. Someone had left her there to die.
“Max?” Her voice was barely a breath.
“Yes, sweetie,” I said, trying not to leak tears on her. “I’m here. We’re going to get you somewhere safe, get you all patched up, good as new.”
Her small head shook. “I’ll never be as good as new,” she whispered weakly. “They messed up my eyes. They clipped my wings.”
“What?”
“I’ll never fly again,” she whimpered sadly. Tears slowly streaked the dirt on her face.
Quickly I traced down her primary feathers to her flight feathers, fanning them gently in my hand. They looked fine.
“No, your feathers are okay,” I reassured her, understanding the kind of crazy confusion the whitecoats’ drugs could cause. “You’ll be fine—I promise. You’ll be flying in no time. We’ll take care of you.”
Her eyes opened slightly and she looked into the sky, past my head. “They experimented on my eyes, Max.”
A cold fist grabbed my heart and yanked. “What?”
“Like Iggy,” she confirmed, and I was seized with fresh horror. “Jeb was here—he said it was for my own good.” Her voice was weak—it was hard to make out what she was saying.
“Tell me, Angel,” I said urgently, pulling Gazzy to my side. “Who is standing right next to me? Tell me. Don’t tell me you’re blind.”
“I—I—” She blinked. And blinked again. We were all holding our breath. “My brother… Gazzy…” She breathed. “Is that you?”
Gazzy threw his arms around her and sobbed.
“Everything is kind of a blur,” Angel whispered as Gazzy pulled away.
“Shh, sweetie,” I said. “Don’t try to talk. You’re waking up from a drug-induced nightmare. We’ll make sure you’re okay. We’re going to take you home now.”
Again she shook her head, opened her eyes. She peered up at me anxiously, her eyes not quite focusing. “Max, your mom was there. I saw her. Dr. Martinez. She’s… she’s one of them.”
I looked up to see the flock recoiling in shock.
“No, sweetie,” I said, my mind reeling. “You’ve been hallucinating. Your feathers are fine, and my mom isn’t one of the baddies. It was all just weird hallucinations.”
Angel shook her head. “No. Your mom was there. She helped them. Dr. Martinez is on their side.”
57
I TRIED TO keep my emotions under control as we flew home, but sometimes I could barely see through the tears.
Angel weighed so little that it was no problem for Dylan, Iggy, Fang, and me to take turns carrying her on the flight. We also picked up Total on the return trip. I knew he’d want to see Angel right away, and I was right—I’d never heard him bark so wildly with joy.