Angel

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 glass 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 crap, 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!” 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!”