PART 5

BACK TO SAVING THE WORLD

96

"I see. You had a plan." Jeb poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah," Ari said sullenly. He wasn't sure if Jeb was mad at him or not. Sometimes Jeb didn't seem mad, but then it would turn out that he was. Ari hated that.

"You were going to steal Max for yourself."

"Yeah."

Jeb took a sip of his coffee. "And why were you going to do that?"

Ari shrugged. "I just want to have her to myself. I'm tired of chasing the others. I don't care about them."

"But you care about Max. How old are you now?"

"Seven." Which was another thing. Jeb never remembered his birthday. "But I'm big. Bigger than you."

"Yes." Jeb made it sound totally unimportant. "Ari, I'm proud of you."

"Wh-what?"

Jeb turned and smiled at him. "I'm proud of you, son. I'm impressed that you made a plan for yourself, and that you chose Max."

Ari felt like the sun was shining warmly on his shoulders. But-was this a trap? He looked at Jeb warily. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yes. You're only seven, but you're thinking like a grown-up. It's incredibly interesting. Tell you what-I want to see where this takes us. We're going to find out where the flock has gone, and when we do, you can put your plan into action again."

"My plan?"

"Yes, your plan to steal Max. I'll help you make it happen. We'll take out the rest of the flock, but you have to grab Max. Where were you going to take her?"

"A place."

"We'll work out the details later. In the meantime, get some rest, eat something. I've already got people tracking the flock."

Slowly Ari turned and left the room. If this was true... An almost painful burst of joy exploded inside him. Dad was going to help. Dad had said he was proud of him. He was going to get Max all to himself. It was like Christmas and his birthday and sort of Halloween, all rolled up into one.

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