58.
"STEP RIGHT UP and see the amazing superkids!" Fang shouted to the pa.s.sersby as he shook a tambourine.
Behind him, Kate was juggling a cinder block, a locked safe, and a marble statue.
"Find something too heavy for her to lift!" Fang called. "She"ll juggle anything you bring over!"
Fang had spent the first fourteen and a half years of his existence trying hard not to stand out. He"d developed a habit of extreme stillness that allowed him to blend in with whatever his surroundings were.
So this was not coming naturally to him.
Ratchet was listening in on people"s conversations from ten yards away, then offering to "read their minds" when they came to check out the hubbub.
Star was racing around and sneaking up behind people, catching them unawares. They rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
And Holden? The fast-healing boy was breathing fire. He"d been practicing for almost an hour now and was doing pretty well, having set only two trees ablaze by accident.
"Fang! Check this out!" He took a swig of the flammable liquid and started burping his ABCs-in flame. "Ayyy, Beee, Ceee," he belched, fire shooting out of his mouth.
A crowd started to form where Fang"s gang was putting on their show, not far from the amazing gla.s.s pyramid in the courtyard of one of the world"s most famous museums, the Louvre. As soon as they"d all landed at Paris-Orly airport, Max and the flock had taken off to carry out their part of the plan. Fang"s objective was to bait whatever DG scouts lurked throughout the city. They"d peopled their rally with Gen 77 kids and were probably on the lookout for more. So Fang and his crew were out in public, being as obviously Gen 77 as they could be.
Fang and Maya held hands, ran about twenty feet across the plaza, and launched themselves into the air. They spread their wings wide as people gasped and started taking pictures. While Ratchet and Holden pa.s.sed the hat down below, Fang and Maya did acrobatic maneuvers, loop-de-loops, somersaults, steep dives, and whatever else they could think of.
By the time they landed, a crowd of at least a hundred people had gathered, taking photos, clapping, and talking excitedly.
"We"ll be here all week!" Fang said, pa.s.sing the hat. He was amazed at how many people were tossing in euros. They might be able to quit stealing all the time. "Merci! Thank you! Thank you! Merci! Merci!" said Fang, bowing. When he straightened up, a girl about his age stood there smiling at him.
"That was quite a show," she said in English.
"Thanks," said Fang.
"I"d like to invite you and your friends to another kind of show," she said, "the day after tomorrow. At the Place de la Concorde. Do you know it?"
"I"m sure we can find it," said Fang.
"Excellent," said the girl. "Here"s a flyer. See you then!"
"Okay, see you then," said Fang.
After she walked off, he and the gang read the flyer. "Yes!" Fang said. "We did it!"
Let the One Light make your dark days disappear! Join us at the Place de la Concorde and experience the love and acceptance of the One Light. Be part of the solution! We"re going to save the planet! Rejoice!With love, from your friends at the Doomsday Group
59.
"WHY ARE WE HERE?" I asked. "Typically, we don"t do very well in places like this."
For some reason, we were meeting Fang and his gang at a fabulous restaurant in a superfabulous hotel-the Georges Cinq. It was decked out in a beautiful, opulent, unbirdkid-friendly, gray and gold interior. We usually tear up places like this, which is why I had lobbied for the McBurger on a little side street.
Fang nodded. "I know, but this is everyone"s first visit to Paris. Possibly their last. I wanted to show them something special. Plus we found something that I think-"
"Actually we found something," I interrupted. "Something major. But let"s get settled first." I hated how I was acting, trying to one-up him. We didn"t actually have anything real. We"d just overheard something that we couldn"t figure out.
The maitre d" must have been used to rock stars and child actors and other reprobate types, because he didn"t bat an eye as he led us to a long banquet table in an isolated corner. The thirteen of us sat down, all on our best behavior. Total, of course, was thrilled to pieces to be back in Paris, one of the few places on earth so civilized that dogs are allowed in stores and restaurants.
"Oh, my G.o.d. I can already smell the vichyssoise," he rejoiced, inhaling deeply.
"The what?" Gazzy asked, peering at the menu. "Um, this is all in French. I want a burger."
"Try the boeuf hache, boeuf hache," " Maya recommended, and I remembered Angel telling me that Maya had lived mainly in Europe since she"d been liberated from her cage in New York.
"So, what"ve you got?" Fang asked me while we waited for them to bring our drinks.
"Hm?" I asked, keenly aware that Maya was looking at me expectantly. Dylan raised an eyebrow, ready to come to my aid if necessary. "Oh, it"s nothing." I coughed. "Just... we kept hearing all this stuff about D-day-like, the world ends day, we think-but people were pretty tight-lipped about it, so we don"t know when this whole shebang is going down."
"Plus, we got a smidge caught up in sightseeing around ol" Paree," Total said, oblivious to my sharp glance. "Twelve patisseries, three parks, and four museums." He put his paws on the table and drank some water from a gla.s.s.
"Really," said Fang.
I paused, trying to frame our activities in a positive light. "We just went to as many places as possible where people might meet, where kids might want to go..."
"It may have been thirteen patisseries," Dylan added unhelpfully. "But we also hit a lot of schools. We saw at least two DGers hanging out at schools, scoping out the students."
"Checking the schools was my idea, since they seem most interested in kids," said Gazzy, helping himself to more bread and b.u.t.ter. In France, plain old bread and b.u.t.ter were just about the best things on earth. "The patisseries were Max"s idea."
"Of course," said Fang, but I didn"t react.
"Dude, quit playing with her," Ratchet said. "Are you gonna tell them what we found or not?"
Fang c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at me, and I scowled.
Maya took a flyer out of her pocket and unfolded it so we could read it. "Yeah, we actually already knew about the D-day thing," she said. "But we got the inside info."
Fang smirked, and I kind of wanted to punch him.
Instead, I tried to act mature while reading the flyer, calmly seething. "Day after tomorrow," I said, shocked. "That"s... soon."
We were all solemn as we pondered that thought. Until Gazzy broke the silence with, "No duh. duh."
"We"d better make plans..." Fang began, but he didn"t get very far.
Boom!
60.
BOOM! THE WHOLE restaurant was suddenly rocked by a huge explosion that seemed to come from right beneath our feet. People screamed, the lights went out, and we heard gla.s.s breaking and walls crashing down. THE WHOLE restaurant was suddenly rocked by a huge explosion that seemed to come from right beneath our feet. People screamed, the lights went out, and we heard gla.s.s breaking and walls crashing down.
"Stay together, everyone!" I yelled. "Let"s get out of here!"
Carefully, we began to edge past hysterical people, relying on Iggy"s extraordinary sense of direction, since most of us couldn"t see anything through the smoke.
Le Cinq had a big freaking hole in its outside wall, and we made for it. I pulled my shirt up over my nose and mouth and kept hold of Nudge"s arm. I also held onto Angel"s hand as she yelled, "Calm down! Follow us! We"ll get you out! No pushing!"
People around us were panicking, climbing over tables, screaming. But I heard one unmistakable voice above it all: "Max!"
In an instant, I felt his breath on my neck, his hands on my shoulders. "I"m okay, Dylan," I called. "Get a grip." I found myself shrugging off his touch. At least he gives a c.r.a.p, At least he gives a c.r.a.p, I thought. Unlike someone else, who was, mind you, out of sight. I thought. Unlike someone else, who was, mind you, out of sight.
Together we climbed over the rubble and through the hole, into the street. Sirens were already wailing. I quickly counted heads and felt a weird twinge when I saw Fang doing the same. All of us were safe.
Gazzy sniffed the air. "That"s explosives. It smells like Christmas!"
Okay, so we"ve had somewhat untraditional Christmases. With explosives.
Suddenly, there was another explosion from deep within the building. The blast made us stagger, even from across the street. Down the block, the hotel"s front doors opened and people poured out, panicked and screaming.
"We"d better move back," Dylan said. "The whole building"s going to collapse."
"Au secours!" a voice wailed.
"That means "help," " Nudge said, looking around quickly. "Over there!"
Thirty feet away, a woman was pinned beneath a large chunk of building. I tried to lift the huge piece of rubble but couldn"t budge it. Kate, one of Fang"s gang, the girl who looked like a supermodel, hurried over.
"We need a crane or something!" I told her.
"No..." Kate bent her knees and placed her hands carefully to get a good grip on the boulder. I tried not to roll my eyes-at least she was making an effort.
In the background I heard another scream, a woman"s voice, yelling for help too, but we could only do one thing at a time.
"We really need something big-" I began, then stared as she easily shifted the enormous piece of debris. She didn"t even grunt or anything.
"Max!" Nudge yelled, then ran over.
"Help me!" I told her, and she and I carefully moved the woman out from under the rubble.
"That was amazing! amazing!" I told Kate.
"Max-" Nudge began.
Kate shrugged and blushed. "DNA splicing will do that for you," she said.
"Yeah, no kidding." I was still looking at her in awe.
"Max!" Nudge broke in again. "Angel"s in the hotel!"
61.
"NO SHE ISN"T," I said. "She came out with us!"
Nudge shook her head. "She"s trying to save someone-she flew up to the top floor and went inside!"
"Mon fils!" a woman cried nearby, pointing.
I gaped at Nudge, my mind reeling as she pulled me toward the hotel. Nudge pointed to the spot Gazzy was staring at: there, on the top floor of the hotel, a small boy was leaning out an open window. One window over, flames were lapping out, eating the expensive silk curtains. The boy was crying and shouting for his maman, maman, reaching for her. reaching for her.
"Aidez mon fils!" the woman screamed, pointing.
"Angel!" Gazzy cried.
Maya and Fang were already up there, hovering outside the window. Angel was in the room with the boy, but he was terrified and wouldn"t listen to her. She kept gesturing to the window, but he wouldn"t budge.
"Why doesn"t she just control his mind?" Gazzy asked, watching fretfully.
"The kid might be too upset," I said, not taking my eyes off Angel.
The little boy looked about four. I watched Angel talking to him earnestly. Then I saw flames enter the room and whoosh across the ceiling.
"Get out of there!" I shrieked.
Fang and Maya were beckoning to Angel and holding out their arms. A fire truck rounded the corner just then, sirens blaring, lights flashing.
Now the fire was very close to Angel and the boy. He was sobbing. On the street, his mother was wailing and wringing her hands. Then a billowing cloud of thick smoke rolled through the room, hiding the boy and Angel from us.
My mouth gaped in horror as I shot out my wings and started flying toward the window.
Fang and Maya were coughing from the smoke.