47.

"STOP! STOP!" ELLA sputtered. "You're killing me! Please! Please! Stop!" tears flowed down her cheeks as she shrieked and thrashed and tried to kick Dylan and Iggy. Stop!" tears flowed down her cheeks as she shrieked and thrashed and tried to kick Dylan and Iggy.

I would never get used to this.

We didn't know whether the cold shower had made Iggy vulnerable during his deprogramming or if Angel had just gotten really good at mind hacking, but in the absence of a glacial stream in the middle of the desert, we figured that dousing Ella in a natural hot spring couldn't hurt. Dylan and Iggy were struggling to hang on to Ella's hands, and their faces were flushed and damp from the steam. I'd tested the water first-no reason to scald my half sister or cook her like an egg-and I knew it was pretty dang hot.

"How about now?" Iggy panted. "She's not made out of cotton b.a.l.l.s, you know-my arm's tired."

"Hang on a sec," Angel said, looking worn-out herself. "I'm almost done."

Ella suddenly slumped into the water, all fight gone.

"Here she comes," I said, watching her.

Slowly Ella raised her head, blinking and shaking water from her face. I nodded to Dylan, and he and Iggy brought her over to the fire we'd built.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Ella asked. She was sopping wet from head to foot, her long, dark hair plastered to her back. She wiped the water from her eyes and stared at me, confused. We continued to watch her.

She blinked and looked around. "Where are we?"

"Middle of the desert," I said, biting into an apple.

Ella blinked hard, studying each of our faces. "Iggy? What's... going on?"

"Sorry about the hot spring," he said, putting his arm around her. He eased her closer to the fire, then wrung water out of her hair. She looked disoriented and upset but definitely like herself. Iggy brought her up to speed.

"Where's Mom?" Ella finally asked, looking at me, and I took a deep breath. My eyes met Dylan's, and he stepped forward, kneeling in front of Ella.

"Your mom and Jeb left the house while Max and I were gone. They didn't tell anyone where they were going. They didn't take the car, and we can't find them."

Ella's eyes grew alarmed. "Were they kidnapped?"

"Maybe," Dylan said hesitantly. "Or maybe they're being influenced by the same thing that influenced you and the others." He spoke gently, slowly, giving Ella time to absorb what he was saying. I was... impressed.

Ella started crying, and I put my arm around her shoulders, mouthing "Thanks" to Dylan. And I meant it.

He gave me a smile, not quirky and crooked like Fang's, but open and sincere. And, weirdly, I felt my heart skip a beat.

"I'm so sorry, Ella" I said, rubbing her back. "I know it's hard. It's hard not knowing who to trust or where to turn. My life has been so weird that I pretty much expect to be betrayed, expect weird things to happen. But I know it's different for you."

"I can't believe it!" Ella sobbed. Iggy stroked her hair, which had started drying in the warmth of the fire.

"Listen," I said, "I was thinking. How about we take you to your aunt's place tomorrow after a good night's rest? I'm sure Tia Cita will let you hang out there till we figure out what's going on with Mom. We're going to find Mom and Jeb and get the real scoop. Maybe we'll be surprised. Maybe we'll need to rescue them. I'm not sure."

"No!" Ella said, her face still streaked with tears. "I'm going with you! I'm staying with you and Iggy!"

I shook my head. "I wish you could, but we're going to be flying. I promise we'll come back for you. Okay?"

Ella didn't look like it was okay, but she nodded yes and wiped her eyes. We sat there together in the moonlight, sharing food we had "acquired" from Ella's friends back at the campfire. Almost everyone I cared about was here, all in one place.

With a couple of major exceptions.

48.

THE CROWD WAS so loud, Fang almost jumped. The kids were all on their feet now, and Fang motioned to the others to stand up. Reluctantly, Fang's gang joined the chant: "Save the planet! Kill the humans!"

"Whoa!" Holden said next to Fang, scanning the crowd. "When we got here, everyone looked weird and happy, but pretty normal, you know? Now look around."

Fang quickly studied the gathered a.s.sembly.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Maya said slowly. "Where did they come from?"

"I guess they must have been drawn in by the crowd," Fang replied. "They must have been hiding their... freakiness, at first. Kind of like you and I hide our wings sometimes."

"We're different, but we're okay," said Star. "But these guys..."

"What happened to them?" Kate asked. "The same thing that happened to us? Will we become like that?"

One of every ten kids in the audience was... genetically altered. Growing up in the School, trapped in their dog crates, Fang and the flock had seen lots of genetic combinations that didn't turn out as cute kids sporting big wings. And he was seeing it again, right here.

They weren't horrible disasters-they could breathe and walk and talk. Some of them even looked pretty human, except for, say, scaly skin or lizard eyes or claws for hands. But others were definitely freakish, and a bunch of them looked as though their combinations were not meshing entirely and breaking down.

"Will you join me in a song?" Beth asked over the frenzied roar. She stood center stage and began to sing. Gradually, the audience stopped chanting and began singing.

"I didn't know where I was going "I didn't know where I was goingI didn't know where I'd come fromBut then one day I got the messageThat I could save the world.The One Light has shown me the way.Because we're Gen 77The skies will be blue, the seas will be greenBut to get there, the blood must flow red.We will become less, we will become moreWe'll kill all the humansAnd we'll save the world."

"Cheerful little ditty," Fang said. Maya nodded solemnly as she sang along. Then a noise overhead made Fang look up, in time to see thousands of colorful flyers dropping out of a helicopter. One floated close to him and he s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of the air.

"The Enhanced People's Manifesto," he read.

All around him, the crowd began chanting: "Save the planet! Kill the humans! Save the planet! Kill the humans!"

Onstage, Beth beamed lovingly.

49.

BACK AT THE hotel, Fang pored over the manifesto.

"I can't believe they're saying this stuff in black and white," Kate said, her eyes wide.

"Can't they be arrested for this?" Holden asked.

Fang frowned. "I don't know. They could say that it's just talk, not an actual threat. There's no evidence that they're really prepared to do any of it."

Maya waved the manifesto in the air. "Do we need more evidence than flyers saying they're going to kill everyone? It's all right here!"

Fang sighed. "I know."

The manifesto fit on the front of a single sheet of paper, but it was a doozy. It stated that the Doomsday Group planned to take over several countries, kill their populations, and then repopulate them with enhanced people, the so-called Seventy-seventh Generation.

It said that the apocalypse was coming-no news there-and offered tips about what to do when it hit.

It talked about a dark period of chaos and peril that would give way to a paradise in which all enhanced people would live together in peace and harmony.

"I'm so sure," Maya said. "Not unless everyone's going to be tranquilized forever."

"They just might be," Fang cautioned, and she frowned. "If they've managed to brainwash this many people, then who knows? They could easily tranquilize whole populations."

"Look at this," Star said, pointing. "They really do mean only enhanced people. It says here that people who fly shouldn't risk landing on top of tall buildings."

" 'Those of you who might lay eggs,' " Kate read, " 'will need to prepare a safe incubation container. Go to our website for sources.' Oh, my G.o.d. These people are crazy!"

"There were truckloads of those Gen 77 kids at the rally," Ratchet said. "I've never seen so many freaks in one place."

"Welcome to my world," Fang said. "Okay. We need more info. Like, when is all this supposed to happen, for instance?"

Maya rested her head on her hand. "Do you think Armageddon can wait till morning? I'm wiped."

Eyes closed, brown hair tousled around her shoulders, Maya looked more like Max than ever. But... Fang could now see minuscule differences: the way Maya tilted her head, the way her voice dropped instead of rising at the end of a question. True, Max and Maya were much more alike than they were different, but Fang was starting to think of Maya as truly being a unique person in and of herself, instead of as just a copy of Max. It was weird. Fang had loved Max for so long that it almost disturbed him to think about any other girl at all.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling bone tired and confused. He'd thought taking out this Doomsday Group would be a good mission, a worthwhile project for him and his gang. And he was right. But after today, he had to admit an uncomfortable truth: As much as he'd wanted to operate on his own, this mission was way too big for him and five new crew members, only one of whom had any real fighting experience. Preventing the destruction of whole populations of people was simply beyond the scope of his gang.

That left him just one option.

Fang opened his bleary eyes, scanning the room until he found the clock. Past midnight. Getting yelled at by Max would have to wait until morning.

50.

I WOKE UP, feeling warm on one side and cold on the other. The warm side rested against Dylan, and the cold side faced the open desert, which was aglow in pink from the sunrise.

I decided to get the fire started for the others. I untangled myself from Dylan, feeling the usual embarra.s.sment and confusion that I often had about him. But I'm great at not thinking about mushy stuff, so I pushed it out of my mind and scooted over to the fire. Automatically, I did a head count, like I'd done just about every day for as long as I can remember.

Gazzy, Nudge, Dylan, Angel, Iggy, Total... Ella?

No Ella.

I jumped to my feet and surveyed the area. No Ella. Her footsteps led away from us, but the desert wind was so efficient and the ground so hard and dry that her trail disappeared. I cursed under my breath.

"Max?" Angel said softly. "What's this?" She pointed to the ground, where words had been scratched into the hard dirt: I was meant to have wings.Ella "We should have hobbled her," Total said, getting to his feet. "Or at least tied her shoelaces together."

Then it hit me.

"Oh, my G.o.d! She's going back to the facility!" I said. "Come on! If we hurry, maybe we'll reach her before she finds those kids again-or before she gets lost and ends up frying herself in the desert. Let's go!"

My team was mobilizing when my hip pocket vibrated. "This might be her!" I said, and flipped my phone open.

"Max?" said a voice, and my breath caught in my throat. "Don't hang up!"

Numbly, I brought the phone down from my ear and closed it. Then I sat on a rock, my blood so cold that it moved sluggishly through my veins.

Nudge said, "Max?"

Dylan came and sat next to me and put his hand on my knee. I pushed it off. My phone rang again, the dull vibration sounding like a buzz saw in the silence.

"Max? Who is it?" Nudge asked. "What's wrong?"

"My guess would be Fang," Dylan said, his voice flat.

I looked up to see Nudge's surprised face. Iggy, Angel, and Gazzy all looked at me sympathetically, like they expected me to wuss out.

My phone vibrated.

Gritting my teeth, I flipped it open.

"What," I said tightly.

"Don't hang up!" said Fang.

"In the middle of something here," I said. "Is this important?"

"Only if you consider the end of the world important," said Fang. "Which, I guess, usually you have."

I didn't say anything.