"But I can!" The gravelly voice from behind made us spin in time to see Ari do a full morph into a good ol' old-fashioned Eraser. I'd forgotten how wolfish he could get, and his face, with its full snout packed with yellow, dripping teeth, was horrible up this close.
"Get back!" I shouted, pushing the flock away from him. Two ragged-clawed paws gripped the metal bars, and Ari lunged at us, fangs snapping.
I gasped as his teeth crunched down on the bars-and then, with grisly twisting-metal sounds, he started to chew through.
Outside, Angel hovered like a demonic hummingbird, swinging her bar, keeping everyone and everything away from us.
"She's going to let Ari eat us!" Nudge cried. She braced herself against the cage and clenched her hands into fists. "But it won't be easy for him!"
Time-out. Okay, now, tell the truth: When's the last time you had to decide to make it hard for someone to eat you? That's just the zany, roller-coaster life of a lab rat on the run.
It was time to spill. "Angel's not a traitor," I said. "She and I agreed that she would do this so she'd be on the inside and could get us out if anything happened. She's been my spy."
Time halted as four dumbstruck bird kids turned to gape at me.
"We came up with this plan in case the worst happened," I said fast. "Which it did, of course. Angel's not a traitor-never was."
Smash! Time sped up again as Ari managed to gnaw through one of the bars. It was stomach churning to see-the ripped metal cut his mouth up something awful, and blood mingled with foul Eraser spit was flying everywhere.
Crack! Ooh-Angel had whacked another whitecoat. Like ter Borcht, this one dropped like a stone. In fact, ter Borcht hadn't gotten up-he was rolling on the ground, moaning.
Riiip! Ari broke through another bar of the cage, and his unnaturally strong arms began to wrest the surrounding bars apart. His face was a repulsive bloody-meat picture as he snarled and grunted with the effort.
"I'll take him out," Fang whispered tensely in my ear. "Then you grab the others and get out of here."
I quickly tapped everyone's hands twice. They caught my eye and nodded, and we all braced for Fang's move.
With a final, wrenching, earsplitting screech, Ari forced the bars apart, making an Eraser-sized hole in the cage wall.
"Ready." Fang's voice was deadly quiet in the screaming chaos around us.
We all tensed, ready to spring out as soon as Fang took Ari down-but instead of coming in after us, Ari backed away quickly.
"Come on!" he shouted. "Get out of there! We'll hold these guys back!"
Wha?
"He's on our side!" Angel yelled from above. "He's with me! He's getting you out! Ari! Release the secret weapon!"
Ari fumbled with his jacket, and a small coal-colored shadow popped out of it and began to race around, growling and snapping.
Was it-could it be?
"Move it or lose it!" Total shouted. "Let's go, go, go!"
54
Fang shot through the hole in the cage, grabbed Total, and was up in the air before three seconds had passed. Amazingly, Ari stood off to the side and let him go.
I shoved Nudge through next, and she took a running leap, faltered for a moment, then stroked hard and rose into the air.
Still Ari stood back.
Watching him closely, I pushed Iggy out. "Four steps, up at ten o'clock," I hissed. He nodded, then followed my instructions.
"Come on, Gasman, you're last," I said, and practically threw him out of the cage, wincing as the torn metal scratched him. A minor concern at this point.
Ari watched him go.