I breathlessly threw open the door, and a sea of glowing red eyes peered at me out of the frigid darkness.
Behind me, Nudge sucked in a breath—there were a lot of eyes, and they were feral, bloodthirsty: Erasers.
I swallowed, my words dying on my lips. “Of course,” I muttered, trying not to show how overwhelmed I was by the sheer numbers, how unprepared I’d just been caught. I had opened the door to these mongrels, without any weapon or plan. I had practically invited them in.
I cleared my throat and stepped right out onto the porch. I could hear breathing and shuffling in the darkness, animal sounds that sent chills down my spine. You’d think I would be used to it by now. “So,” I said loudly, “is there a specific reason you flea-bitten wolves are attacking? Or is it just my lucky day?”
“Just your lucky day, sis.”
I knew that voice: bitter, deep, like a bunch of rocks being rattled in a can. Ari.
The crowd of Erasers parted so he could walk through, and he stopped just ten feet from the bottom of the stairs. My stomach turned somersaults—somehow he looked even bigger and wolfier. Maybe he had been “enhanced” some more.
“This is the end, Max,” Ari said, stepping into the beam of the porch light and showing his yellow fangs. “I promise.”
“I stopped believing your promises a long time ago,” I said. I felt just a tiny bit sad, remembering the cute kid he had once been. My half brother.
The other Erasers were moving forward now, ever so slowly. Every single one of them was staring fixedly in the same direction. At the same person.
And it wasn’t me.
“We’re here for you, Fang,” Ari said, looking into the hallway behind me and grinning toothily as he cracked his meaty, hairy knuckles. “We’re here to kill you, and trust me—this is one fight you bird kids can’t win.”
Fang came out to stand beside me, his fists clenched, his face tight with anger. “I wouldn’t bet on that.”
“Your funeral,” Ari said, shrugging. He held up one hairy fist, ready to give the signal to his army.
I tensed, settling my weight as I prepared to leap off the porch. I didn’t know if these Erasers could fly, but regardless, I was not going to start this fight on my feet. I was ready. I’d been ready for this for a long time. And my plan was to ignore any and all pain until every Eraser was gone.
But you know, things can always, always, take a turn for the worse.
“Just say the word, Dad,” Ari called out.
So there you go.
62
OUT OF THE shadows stepped the one, the only, the despicable Jeb. And get this—he was actually wearing a white lab coat. And a small frown.
“Wait, Ari,” Jeb said firmly. “I need to explain things first.”
For a moment, I thought Ari was going to ignore the command and just attack us anyway—that was what he would have done just a few months earlier. He hated and resented Jeb as much as he did us.
But after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded and slowly lowered his fist, though he never took his rabid eyes from Fang’s face.
Jeb moved closer to the porch. I kept my face expressionless, staying in battle mode. My muscles were coiled, my heart was pumping, and every sense was hyperalert. I knew that my flock—even Angel, who was still so fragile—was ready, just like I’d trained ’em to be. Just like Jeb had trained me.
“Max, Fang,” Jeb said, sounding urgent, “I need you to understand.”
Behind him, Ari shifted, and all of the red Eraser eyes in the darkness shifted along with him. They were muttering now, and I heard twigs snapping as they moved around impatiently. I had no idea how long Ari or Jeb could keep them in check.
“Save it,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “We don’t need to listen to any more of your lies.”
“No, but you do need to know the truth, Max. The truth about why Fang must die.”
I laughed coldly. “That actually sounds like something we absolutely don’t need to hear,” I replied. “It sounds totally irrelevant, actually. Because Fang isn’t going to die. You may have created us, Jeb, but you do not get to decide when we die. The only expiration date that’s approaching is yours, the second you try to get any closer to him.”
I saw the rest of the flock out of the corner of my eye, moving to stand next to me on the porch in support. Iggy stepped protectively in front of Fang and crossed his arms.