“Children,” said Jeb when he was close enough. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s have it be different. Let us out of the cage!”
He pressed his lips together, giving his head a tiny shake.
Next it was Anne’s turn. Inside the cage, we were practically vibrating with tension.
“Do you know what’s really sad?” she asked.
“That pin-striped pantsuit?” I guessed. “Those sensible shoes?”
“We gave you every chance,” Anne said.
“No, see, giving us every chance would be opening this cruel and inhuman cage and letting us out,” I said, ready to explode. “That would be every chance. This way, you’ve only given us some chances. You see the difference?”
“Enough!” ter Borcht barked. “Dis is pointless. Ve’re just vaiting for de executioners. Say your good-byes.”
“Good-bye,” said a sweet little-girl voice.
And then a shiny metal bar swung through the air and smacked ter Borcht’s head with a sickening, melonlike splat.
53
Well. It certainly got exciting as heck after that.
“Angel!” Nudge screamed, echoed closely by Gazzy. Fang and I threw ourselves against the cage bars, shaking them hard, searching for weak points.
Angel nimbly bobbed and weaved, her white wings beating as fast as my heart. She dive-bombed the group of scientists, who scattered, screaming for Flyboys to come to the rescue.
“I can’t break it!” Fang said, slamming his fists against the cage.
“But I can!” The gravelly voice from behind made us spin in time to see Ari do a full morph into a good ol’ old-fashioned Eraser. I’d forgotten how wolfish he could get, and his face, with its full snout packed with yellow, dripping teeth, was horrible up this close.
“Get back!” I shouted, pushing the flock away from him. Two ragged-clawed paws gripped the metal bars, and Ari lunged at us, fangs snapping.
I gasped as his teeth crunched down on the bars—and then, with grisly twisting-metal sounds, he started to chew through.
Outside, Angel hovered like a demonic hummingbird, swinging her bar, keeping everyone and everything away from us.
“She’s going to let Ari eat us!” Nudge cried. She braced herself against the cage and clenched her hands into fists. “But it won’t be easy for him!”
Time-out. Okay, now, tell the truth: When’s the last time you had to decide to make it hard for someone to eat you? That’s just the zany, roller-coaster life of a lab rat on the run.
It was time to spill. “Angel’s not a traitor,” I said. “She and I agreed that she would do this so she’d be on the inside and could get us out if anything happened. She’s been my spy.”
Time halted as four dumbstruck bird kids turned to gape at me.
“We came up with this plan in case the worst happened,” I said fast. “Which it did, of course. Angel’s not a traitor—never was.”
Smash! Time sped up again as Ari managed to gnaw through one of the bars. It was stomach churning to see—the ripped metal cut his mouth up something awful, and blood mingled with foul Eraser spit was flying everywhere.
Crack! Ooh—Angel had whacked another whitecoat. Like ter Borcht, this one dropped like a stone. In fact, ter Borcht hadn’t gotten up—he was rolling on the ground, moaning.
Riiip! Ari broke through another bar of the cage, and his unnaturally strong arms began to wrest the surrounding bars apart. His face was a repulsive bloody-meat picture as he snarled and grunted with the effort.
“I’ll take him out,” Fang whispered tensely in my ear. “Then you grab the others and get out of here.”
I quickly tapped everyone’s hands twice. They caught my eye and nodded, and we all braced for Fang’s move.