Okay, now I was mad all over again. I hated it when Fang and I fought, but I hated even more him thinking that I—you know, wasn’t able to save the world by myself.
I’m sure a lot of you girls out there worry about the same thing, huh?
“Next you’ll be telling me you’ve got a Voice in your head,” I said sarcastically, standing up. I balanced on the roof, holding my wings out for help. Like a squirrel does with its tail. Only thirteen feet across.
“Maybe,” he said coolly, not looking at me.
I was speechless. Which is, as you know, very rare.
“Fine. You’re on second watch,” I muttered, and jumped down from the roof. I landed in the soft snow and went around to the porch.
Inside, Ari had not ripped everyone’s throats out while they slept. It occurred to me that Angel was telepathic, and she would have picked up on any evil intent that Ari had.
I was pretty sure, anyway.
I made the rounds, checked on the sleeping flock, then positioned myself in an armchair right next to where Ari slept heavily on the floor. That way, if he moved, he’d wake me up.
I was burning up over Fang. I couldn’t believe how full of himself he was. Him and his blog. Fine! Let him save the world! I still had my mission.
You both have hard decisions to make, Max. Decisions that will affect the whole world, your future. Everyone’s future.
Oh, good, so no pressure, I thought. I punched the cushion of the armchair into a better shape and closed my eyes.
I wasn’t going to sleep a wink.
62
In the morning, Fang and I broke up.
And just to set the record straight, I left him. A split second after he left me.
He told me he wanted to do his own thing, follow his own mission, as he put it. He wanted to act on leads that people were sending in to his blog.
I stared at him. “You’re basing your plan for human salvation on e-mail?”
He looked back at me. “You’re basing yours on a Voice inside your head. A Voice that isn’t actually just you talking to yourself. Right?”
Well, when he put it that way...
I just couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
And then we had to tell the kids. I went over a hundred conversations in my reeling head. What would they say? How could we explain this?
“I’ve decided to go my own way,” Fang told the flock abruptly. He cast a glance at Ari, then went on. “Almost anyone’s welcome to come with me.”
Go with him! Over my dead body.
“I think we should all stick together until Fang comes back,” I said calmly. Because if any of you pick him instead of me, I’ll kill you.
Four pairs of flock eyes, one dog, and Ari stared at us, back and forth.
“Holy crap,” said Total.
“You guys shouldn’t do this,” said Nudge, looking worried.
I shrugged, my face flaming. Fang was the one doing it.
“You crazy kids,” Total muttered. He paced back and forth on his short legs, then went and sat on top of Angel’s feet. She reached down absently and stroked his head.