"We lost her in the mob of zombies at the school," I reported. "My mom and Jeb need to go back and get her while we deprogram Iggy."

Total shook his s.h.a.ggy black head. "Not long after you left, your mom and Jeb disappeared. Nudge and Gazzy didn't even seem to notice they left-both of them are still here."

"They left? Where did they go?" I asked. "Did they take the car?"

"That's the weird thing," said Total. "They walked out. After a couple minutes, I thought, 'Hey, maybe I should check on 'em,' you know? So I went out. The car's still here, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I even flew around and searched the whole area. It's like a s.p.a.ceship picked them up or something."

I looked into his bright black eyes and saw worry there.

"c.r.a.p," I said and went inside. In the living room, Nudge and Gazzy were sitting on the couch watching news stories that featured-you guessed it-the Doomsday Group. After one brief mention yesterday, the Doomsday Group now dominated the coverage on every news channel.

"One Light," Iggy said serenely, reaching toward the TV.

"Okay, we've got to get him back from never-never land," I said. "Angel, can you get in his head, sort of do a reset?"

Angel sighed. "I told you. I've been in his head. It's jumbled up, just like the minds of the rest of those kids at the rally. Everything's a mishmash. I don't even know how to untangle all the weird thoughts."

"What kind of weird thoughts?" Dylan asked.

"It's more like pictures, like dreams, sort of," Angel tried to explain. "But as soon as I try to follow one thing, it slips away."

"Kill the humans!" Iggy yelled.

"Those kind of weird thoughts, apparently," I said. "He's just too way out right now. In the movies, they always throw people in cold showers to make them calm down. Think that'd work?"

Angel gave me a look. "Max, when has Iggy ever been docile about taking a shower?" She had a point, but it was worth a shot anyway. We didn't exactly have a backup plan.

It wasn't pretty. It took all three of us to get Iggy into the tub and turn on the cold water. Then Iggy went haywire. He bolted like a wild horse and tried to leap out. Dylan and I grabbed him, using all our strength to wrestle him back under the shower.

"What are you doing?" Iggy wailed in a voice I'd never heard before, as if the water were acid. "What are you doing?"

He seemed terrified, but the three of us fought to hold him under the shower while he thrashed around.

"Stop! Stop!" Iggy yelled, tears running down his cheeks. He was drenched, like the rest of us, his reddish-blond hair flopping to one side. Tiny water droplets clung to his eyelashes, and his cheeks were flushed. "What's happening?!"

"I don't know!" I shouted.

"You're killing me!" Iggy shrieked, hardly sounding human. He writhed and moaned, wrenching his body back and forth.

"I'm dying!" Iggy wailed, his hands clawing at the side of the tub. "I'm dying!!"

I was seriously freaked. I mean, all the kids hated taking showers, but I'd never seen anything like this.

Then Iggy suddenly slumped down in the tub, his eyes closed.

"Oh, my G.o.d!" I panicked. "Turn it to warm water, Dylan-now!"

"I'm getting in," Angel whispered as the water temperature rose. "Lines of communication are opening up, and if I work at these crazy knots of death thoughts, I can break through to him. He's still freaking out, but there doesn't seem to be the same level of resistance."

Then he twitched.

"Iggy..." I held my breath.

He blinked slowly and shook the water out of his eyes.

"What... what are you doing?" he asked, sounding kind of groggy. Groggy... a lot like the old Iggy.

My eyes brightened, and Dylan and Angel and I all exchanged hopeful glances.

"Iggy?" I asked again.

"Yeah?" He blinked, wiping his face with one hand. "What are you guys doing? If you wanted me to take a shower, all you had to do was pay me ten bucks, like you usually do." He ran one hand through his hair, making it stand up in wet peaks.

I let out a deep breath and looked at Angel: her face was beaming. She looked at me and nodded-his thoughts were back to normal.

"So what's going on?" he demanded, sitting up a bit.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Like a wet dog," he answered irritably. "What's wrong with you guys?"

39.

"I WON'T DO IT," Star said.

"Then I guess this whole trust exercise has failed," Fang said mildly. The gang had fun together earlier-he'd forgotten how simultaneously repulsive and delicious Cheez Whiz could be-but within minutes they were all at each other's throats again.

Max used to threaten and bully people into working together. But that approach quit having the desired effect long before Fang had left. He needed to do something different, something better.

So, he Googled "team building." Which, he discovered, really meant a rousing little game of Never Have I Ever.

"I don't even know how to play," Holden Squibb complained.

Ratchet cackled. "That's 'cause you're a baby, Starfish, even if you can regenerate limbs and stuff. What are you, like, twelve?" Holden glared at Ratchet.

"Cut it out, guys," Fang said. "Look, we're six really different people. But we need to work together as a team, or we'll all end up dead." The surprise on their faces made Fang think that maybe the word dead dead was a bit too strong. But he knew what he had said could possibly be true. was a bit too strong. But he knew what he had said could possibly be true.

"All you have to do is say 'Never have I ever...' and fill in the blank. Then anyone in the group who's done it has to raise their hand, including you, if you've actually done it. If you want to reveal something about yourself, say something you've done. If you don't want to reveal anything personal, say something that you think someone else in the group might've done. Cool?" Fang sighed. He felt like a camp counselor or something. It was exhausting.

But to his surprise, everyone formed a circle, even if they did roll their eyes.

"Great. I'll start," Fang said. He sure hated being the leader all the time. Why did Angel always want this job so much? Why did Angel always want this job so much? he wondered. "Never have I ever... played a team-building game as stupid as this before." Maya smiled, but everyone else's eyes shot daggers at him as he raised his hand. he wondered. "Never have I ever... played a team-building game as stupid as this before." Maya smiled, but everyone else's eyes shot daggers at him as he raised his hand.

"Never have I ever... gotten mistaken for a ten-year-old when I was almost fifteen," Ratchet said, and no one budged.

Star shoved Holden into the center of the circle. "I think that's you, squirt."

"Never have I ever... owned a designer bag," Holden quipped in response, and Star glared, raising her hand.

Fang made himself count backward from twenty by threes.

"Never have I ever... had Cheez Whiz up my nose, in my hair, and between my toes at the same time," Maya said. Everyone laughed, and they all shot up their hands.

"Never have I ever... played down my strength so no one would look at me funny," Kate said, holding up her hand.

"Never have I ever... been seriously hungry all day every day because I can't get enough calories to sustain energy," Star said, raising her hand along with Fang and Maya.

"Never have I ever... accidentally chopped off my finger and watched it grow back," Holden said, and mimed hacking his finger off, resulting in a few chuckles and a cry of "Yeah, Starfish!" from Ratchet.

Maya spoke up, her eyes shining at Fang from across the circle. "Never have I ever... felt the wind whip through my hair as I soared twenty thousand feet up with only my wings to carry me." They both raised their hands.

"Never have I ever... been thrown out of my house for being a freak," Ratchet said quietly and raised his hand. Across the room, Star raised her hand too, and they stood like that for a few seconds, just looking at each other.

"Never have I ever... been injected with hypodermic needles and locked in a cage," Fang said. Every single hand went up, and as they looked around the room, everyone seemed to really get each other for the first time. They had all been abused, and they all needed the same help.

"Never have I ever... received a message telling me that I had to help save the world," Maya said, staring deeply into Fang's eyes. He looked back at her, and she nodded almost imperceptibly. His hand slowly went up.

No one, not even Max, knows about that.... He felt a faint shiver run down his spine. He felt a faint shiver run down his spine.

"So... you want to do something about the Doomsday Group, or what?" Holden asked.

Fang nodded. "I read that they're holding a big rally in San Diego, starting tomorrow," Fang said. "It'll be at Comic-Con, that huge convention. I don't know how the DG will fit in with that, but I think it's the first thing we should check out."

"If it means we can get to the butchers who experimented on us, who cut us up, I'm all for it," Kate said.

Holden nodded, rubbing the scars on his arms.

"Let's take 'em down," Ratchet said, and Star actually smiled.

"So... San Diego?" Fang asked.

"San Diego!" the gang agreed.

40.

AFTER A DAY of zombified culties shrieking about wiping out the human race and an hour of hysterical panic holding Iggy down while fighting for his mind as he writhed in the bathtub, I'd aged about five years, and I swear I got my first gray hair from that ordeal.

However, we were now back on track. We were six normalish birdkids, one of whom had recently endured a freezing cold deprogramming experience, and a small black dog thrilled that he'd escaped a bath. Together we sat, a little freaked out, around the table, trying to plan our next course of action.

"Dr. Martinez, Jeb, and Ella are still gone," Dylan said, and Gazzy countered with, "Well, duh. duh." I was glad to hear the Gasman sounding almost back to normal after the whole not-talking-for-two-days thing, which I hadn't really had time to deal with.

"Do you want to saddle up, go back, and get Ella?" Dylan asked me, ignoring Gazzy.

"That's my first instinct," I said slowly, thinking. "But I'm really worried about what this Doomsday Group is up to. If it's something serious, we might have to try to stop it. Fast. This thing is spreading like the plague."

"It's just so weird that-" Nudge began, then stopped after a harsh look from Angel.

"What?" I said.

Nudge pressed her lips together and looked away. Total coughed meaningfully.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Just tell me. Obviously, it's about Fang." I was amazed I could even say his name without having to curl up into a little ball afterward.

"Well, it's just so weird that we're dealing with the Doomsday Group here, and Fang is going to California to do the same thing," Nudge said quickly.

I'd seen mention of the Doomsday Group on the TV in the little stomach-turning video I'd seen of Fang and his Max stand-in but didn't know it was more than that.

"Fang mentioned them in his blog?" I demanded.

"Yeah," Nudge admitted.

I sat down at the laptop and called up Fang's blog myself, for the first time since he'd left. It was painful, just seeing the words he'd written. I was aware of Dylan, who'd gone across the room and was sitting moodily on the sofa, flicking through TV channels.

" 'So, Comic-Con!' " I read, as Total stretched up to my lap. " 'I've always wanted to go! Looks like I'll get my chance-the Doomsday Group is holding a huge rally there. Why, I don't know, but the Fang gang is on its way. Feel free to drop by! I'll be the one with real-not strap-on-wings.' "

I looked up. "No one was going to tell me about this because..."

Nudge looked uncomfortable. "You made us all promise never to mention his name," she whispered, and I winced as that sentence came back to bite me in the b.u.t.t again. "Plus, you were busy dealing with Iggy who was, you know, brainsucked," she said.

I sat back. "So the DG is going to have a big rally at Comic-Con."

"We are so there!" Total said. "I'm definitely getting Tricia Helfer's autograph!"

We all turned to look at him. "What?" he said. "She's hot. For a human."

"If the DG is having a huge rally, we should go," Dylan agreed, which was big of him, especially since he knew Fang would be there too.

Inside, my heart raced at the thought of possibly seeing Fang again. Did he know how much he was hurting me by advertising the new Fang gang? Was he really that cruel, to post videos of himself with his Max stand-in? Was he deliberately trying to hurt me?

That didn't sound like Fang. But I didn't know what to think.

"But what about Ella and my mom and Jeb?" I asked.

"I've been thinking about that," said Gazzy. The serious tone of his voice made me look at him sharply.

"What's up, Gaz?" Nudge asked.