Two Schools Out - Forever

91

I shot toward the ground at two hundred miles an hour. It was a total rush, over in a split second, and then I was braking, snapping my wings out to catch the air. I began running before my feet hit the ground, and came to a stop fifteen feet from the Terrible Trio.

Aware of the Erasers at my back, I walked up to Anne, Jeb, and Ari.

"Well, looks like the gang's all here," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Anne, meet Jeb. Jeb, meet Anne. Oh, sorry... looks like you two already know each other really well!"

"Hello, sweetheart," Jeb said, gazing at me as if I held the secret to the world. Oh, wait, I guess I did.

"I'm not your sweet anything," I said.

"No-you're mine," Ari spit, pacing angrily.

"In your nightmares," I said, sounding bored, and he lunged at me, snarling. Jeb shot out an arm and held him back. Anne looked at me with concern.

"Are you all right?" she said. "I got a call from the school-"

"I bet you did," I said. "Their school emergency plan went to heck in a handbasket. Well, they were too rigid anyway." I turned back to Jeb. "What do you want? Every time you show up, my life nose-dives. And believe me, it's not that far till I hit rock bottom."

"You got that right." Ari sneered.

"Shut up, dog boy," I said. I felt sorry for the seven-year-old Ari who'd been victimized. This creature shared no part of him.

"Max, as always, I'm here to help," said Jeb, channeling sincerity. "This... experiment isn't working out. I'm here to help you get to the next phase."

"You're out of bounds here," said Anne angrily. "This is my situation."

Jeb's anger flared. "You don't know what you're doing. Max is a multimillion-dollar, finely tuned instrument. You've almost ruined her. She's not a lapdog! She's a warrior-the best there is. I made her what she is and I won't let you destroy her."

"Whoa," I said, holding my hands up. "This is getting a little dysfunctional, even for me. I have an idea: How about the three of you take flying leaps off a cliff? That would solve most of our problems right there."

"That would suit me just fine," Ari snarled. "Then it would be just you and me."

"Please. The way you fly? There wouldn't be enough left to fill a garbage bag."

He lunged at me again. Both Anne and Jeb stopped him.

"I'm going now," I said, "and I'm going to stay gone. If I see any one of you again, I'll take you out. And that's a euphemism, by the way."

Jeb sighed and shook his head. "It's not that simple, Max. There's nowhere for you to go. This whole planet is one big maze, and you're the rat running through it."

My eyes narrowed coldly. "That's what you think. You and your psycho-scientist pals can play out Act Three by yourselves. As far as I'm concerned, this experiment, this training scenario, is over. Way over. Don't come knocking again. I mean it."

"The decision, unfortunately, isn't yours to make," Jeb said patiently. "But you don't have to believe me. You can ask my boss, the one who's pulling all the strings."

"Jeb...," Anne said, a warning tone in her voice.

"Yeah, right." I sneered. "Call him on your cell phone. I'll wait."

"I don't have to. She's right here," Jeb said with a gentle smile.

Well, the only other "she" around was Anne.

She was his boss, the one who was running things.

The one who was running me.