Two Schools Out - Forever

136

In the middle of the chaos and screaming, a crashing sound made our heads whip around. Unbelievably, the old Max, Maximum Ride, dropped through the ceiling vent into the room. Where had she come from? She was supposed to have been taken care of!

But here she was, and she looked sooo mad.

"My invite must have gotten lost in the mail," she said venomously. "But I don't mind crashing this party."

In that instant, the rats, the spiders, and the cage disappeared. While everyone else blinked, looking around-giving new meaning to the word dumb-I cursed under my breath. A fine time for the big guys' latest super-top-secret holographic virtual-reality system to crash. This-along with the untimely arrival of my charming predecessor-was going to make my job a little more difficult.

"Max?" Ari asked, staring at the other Max.

"Max!" Nudge shouted.

"Yes," we both answered.

The other Max looked at me, and her eyes narrowed. "They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," she said snidely. "So I guess you're really sucking up."

"Who are you?" I gasped, my eyes wide. "You're an impostor!"

"No, she isn't." The little creepy one, Angel, turned to look at me. Her arm was still bleeding where Ari had bitten it. "You are."

I swallowed my anger. Who did she think she was, her and her stupid dog? I gave a concerned smile. "But Angel," I said, sincerity dripping from my voice, "how can you say that? You know who I am."

"I think I'm Angel," she said. "And my dog isn't stupid. You're the stupid one, to think that you could fool us. I can read minds, you idiot."