Of Birds and Wolves II

Leara's POV

“We'll be safe here.”

Those words rang through my head as I had a dreamless sleep. Somehow, I knew that “safe” didn't exist in my world.

My thoughts proved true when a shrill scream woke me up. Instantly, I was up and out the door. To my surprise, the scream wasn't the bloodcurdling scream I thought it was. Instead, it was a shriek of joy as I recognized Kaylee tackling a tawny-feathered, mocha-skinned bird-kid.

Even though most of the people in my flock were thrilled to see the other flock, two people had some other thoughts. Fang, even though he wasn't technically in my flock (even though he was), sunk back and quietly conversed with Iggy. I, on the other hand, was approached by Max and I had to bite my tongue to keep from cussing her out.

“Taking refuge at my mother's house? Surely it wasn't your idea,” Max hissed in my face.

Clenching my fists as my blood boiled, I replied through grinding teeth, “Nope, it was Fang's.” A tiny hand grabbed mine, Toronto looking up at Max with an angry look.

“Stop making her angry. She's done nothing wrong,” Toronto said calmly. Max looked taken aback until Angel grabbed her hand and growled, “Then make your unstable friend stop making Max upset. It's not Max's fault at all.”

Shocked, we watched as the two psychic kids stared at each other with pure hatred. A few minutes passed until a car pulled into the driveway.

“Mom!” Max cried, throwing herself into Dr. Martinez's arms and knocking the bags out of her hands.

“Max, what a surprise!” Dr. Martinez returned the hug. “Is everything alright?”

Slowly, Fang came back to my side and whispered into my ear, “Something isn't right here. Keep your eyes peeled.” Of course something isn't right; Max is here.

“Almost everything, but we need to talk. Now.” Max's gaze never left her mom's as she spoke.

Quickly glancing at the other kids, Dr. Martinez nodded. “Alright. Here, Fang; have her take each of these vitamins. Max and I will be out here if you need me.”

Herding everyone inside, I caught the look on Max's face. Looking directly back at me, there was a gleam in her eye that I'd seen before. A gleam that took the place of the evil smile that should've been on her lips.

Tugging on my shirt as soon as the door closed, I leaned down so Toronto could whisper in my ear. He had tears running down his pale little face as he tried to catch his breath. “She's going to kill you.”

Max's POV

“Mom, I need to talk to you about Leara,” I turned to her as soon as the door shut behind “the bitch”.

Looking at me in the eyes, my mother said seriously, “If this has anything to do about her and Fang, I don't want to hear it. I haven't had to deal with teenage drama for years and I'm not about to start now; especially like this.”

“This isn't about Fang,” I sort of lied. “Mom, didn't they tell you? Leara is bad news. She's gone haywire, totally psycho because of all the mixed DNA. She's a ticking time bomb. It's only a matter of time until she explodes on us all.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mom asked, “But I still don't understand. What's going on?”

“We've got to get rid of her, so she can't hurt anyone. Somehow, we have to get the white-- err, scientists, to her so they can take her back and euthanize her. If she stays here much longer, she could end up hurting someone here, like you. I'd never forgive myself if she hurt you while I let her stay here.”

“You aren't letting her stay here, Max. Fang came here with her and asked for a place to stay.”

Mom had her arms crossed, but she dropped them as she looked at her home. “But I don't want to see anyone get hurt either. Isn't there another way to do this, Max? She seems so nice; it's hard to believe that she could hurt anyone.”

I rolled my eyes while Mom wasn't looking and held back a scoff. Instead, I sneered, “And she's not. Trust me, Mom. She traveled with us for a week or two. Really, she's a rude back-stabber and doesn't listen to orders. There isn't another way. In other words, the best place for her is the afterlife or heaven or whatever.”

Leara's POV

After calming Toronto down, he fell asleep in my lap in the huge rocking chair. Fang sat in the chair next to mine while he held my hand over the end-table between us.

“Leara, what did Toronto mean by that?” Lacey questioned. For now, it was just my flock in the living room as Max's flock (minus Max) conversed quietly in another room.

“I don't know, Lacey,” I replied sadly. “I truly don't. Just keep on your toes.”

Fang had already forced me to take some pills, even though all I wanted to do was spy on Max. But Toronto wouldn't have any part of it and pinned me into the rocking chair, crying his little eyes out. Eventually, I had rocked the poor kid to sleep, so everyone could calm down.

Surprisingly, Kaylee, Bryce, Kiera and Pigeon all sat silently through the whole ordeal. Soon, they turned into a little circle and whispered amongst themselves.

From what I could pick up, their conversation was about they thought was going on. My heart squeezed when I heard them change the subject to my safety.

It struck me how close I was to this flock already; it was almost as if we'd been together our whole lives.

“Kiera, what do you mean?” someone hissed as a loud whisper.

“You know what I mean. She's starting to get dangerous. Maybe whatever Max is up to is for our own good.”

“How can you say that? She's been so good to us. We need her!”

“Yeah, if it wasn't for her, we'd still be rotting in a dog crate!”

There were other comments whispered until Kiera spoke over them. “But she was with Max. I'm starting to think Max might be the better leader. Her flock is so organized.”

“You're only saying that because you want to be with Iggy. Seriously think about this, Kiera. Her life depends on it,” Bryce scoffed as he removed himself from the circle.

Looking back at Fang, his eyes were locked into mine. By the look in his eyes, I knew he had heard the conversation, too.

“Leara!” Max called through the door as it swung open. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as she walked up to us. “Could you excuse us for a minute, Fang? We need to talk.”

Fang gave me another serious stare as he took the sleeping Toronto out of my lap. “Eyes peeled,” he mouthed as he walked away.

Standing up, I looked Max in the face. We were pretty much the same height, which made it pretty easy for me to look her straight in the eyes and try to read her expression that she was hiding very well.

“Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot. I really think you and I should get to know each other a little more. My mother and I agreed it would be best if we could get along better for the sake of the flocks. How about a flight?”

This shocked me. After almost two months of hostile comments and poison-dart glares, she was trying to make friends? Something wasn't right.

“Well,” I swallowed all the nasty comments that wanted to escape. “I suppose.” Might as well let her do what she wants. I'll figure out what she's up to and get the heck out of there.

Outside, the sun was starting to set, creating a beautiful scene along the horizon with mixes of red, orange, pink, blue and purple. But my heart was pounding too fast, my mind racing at dangerous speeds, so I couldn't focus on much around me.

Max was flying happily, pulling stunts I'd never seen, like spiraling loops and huge dives. I wondered what she could be so happy about.

The flight was pretty silent, until we reached the canyon where we all spent our first night together. Odd place to go.

“I thought maybe we could sit here and talk for awhile,” Max said as she landed on the lip of the entrance to the cave. Landing right after her, I waited for her to start the conversation.

“Well, the only thing I really have to say is... Good-bye.”

Bright lights from the sky came down blindingly. We were surrounded by helicopters and vehicles were all around the edge of the canyon.

“Keep still, freak,” an Eraser cackled. “It'll be all over once we take you home.”

I turned to yell at Max, but she was already in the air. Rage boiling inside me, my thoughts were all turned to Max.

I lurched myself into the air after her. “You bitch! I'll kill you!” I found myself roaring these words, not really paying any attention. It felt as if someone else had control over my body and
I was just a spectator.

When I was about 50 feet from her, a couple flying Erasers came out of nowhere and tackled me, pinning my arms behind me. “Why are you letting her go? What the hell?! Let me kill her for you! I'll do it with my bare hands!” I was ranting on and on, too focused on my anger over
Max to realize that they were tying me down and shoving me into a cage. I could only see Max flying away. She was getting away with my murder.