Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Epilogue

When I saw them at last, on a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, I almost couldn't speak. Nudge, Total, Angel, and I coasted to a landing on the beach, feeling the sand squeak under our shoes.

There was a line of gnarled oaks at the top edge of the beach, and I looked through them, then checked my watch.

"You're late."

Fang stepped out of the shadows, eating an apple. He was dressed in black, as usual, and his face looked like a lumpy plum pie. But his eyes shone as he came toward me, and then I was running to him over the sand, my wings out in back of me.

We smashed together awkwardly, with Fang standing stiffly for a moment, but then his arms slowly came around me, and he hugged me back. I held him tight, trying to swallow the lump of cotton in my throat, my head on his shoulder, my eyes squeezed shut.

"Don't ever leave me again," I said in a tiny voice.

"I won't," he promised into my hair, sounding most un-Fang-like. "I won't. Not ever."

And just like that, a cold shard of ice that had been inside my chest ever since we'd split up-well, it just disappeared. I felt myself relax for the first time in I don't known how long. The wind was chilly, but the sun was bright, and my whole flock was together. Fang and I were together.

"Excuse me? I'm alive too." Iggy's plaintive voice made me pull back. I wiped my sleeve across my eyes, then turned and hugged Iggy hard, and Gazzy, and then we were all hugging one another and promising never to split up again. Basically we just got caught up, and ate doughnuts and apples, which the boys had thoughtfully provided.

"Well, what now?" Gazzy asked, as I tried to smooth his sticking-up hair.

I let out a deep breath and looked at my flock.

"I need to go to Arizona," I said.