The frail human skin was soon covered with tough fur; ragged claws erupted from his fingertips. Morphing had hurt at first-his lupine DNA wasn't seamlessly grafted into his stem cells, like the other Erasers'. So there were some kinks to be worked out, a rough, painful transition period he'd had to go through.
But he wasn't complaining. It would all be worth it the moment he got his claws on Max and choked the life right out of her. He imagined the look of surprise on her face, how she would struggle. Then he'd watch the light slowly fade out of her beautiful brown eyes. She wouldn't think she was so hot then. Wouldn't look down on him or, worse, ignore him. Just because he wasn't a mutant freak like them, he'd been nothing to her. All she cared about was the flock this and the flock that. That was all his father, Jeb, cared about too.
Once Max was dead, that would all change.
And he, Ari, would be the number-one son. He'd come back from the dead for it.
4
By dusk we'd crossed over a chunk of Pennsylvania, and a thin spit of ocean twined below us, between New Jersey and Delaware. "Look at this, kids, we're learning geography!" Fang called out with mock excitement. Since we'd never been to school, most of what we'd learned was from television or the Internet. And, these days, from the little know-it-all Voice in my head.
Soon we'd be over Washington DC. Which was pretty much where my plan stopped. For tonight, all I was worried about was food and a place to sleep. Tomorrow I would have time to study the info we'd gotten from the Institute. I'd been so thrilled when we'd hacked into the Institute's computers. Pages of information about our actual parents had scrolled across the screen. I'd managed to print out a bunch of it before we'd been interrupted.
Who knew-by this time tomorrow we might be on someone's doorstep, about to come face-to-face with the parents who had lost us so long ago. It sent shivers down my spine.
I was tired. We were all tired. So when I did an automatic 360 and saw a weird dark cloud heading toward us, my groan was deep and sincere.
"Fang! What's that? Behind us, at ten o'clock."
He frowned, checking it out. "Too fast for a storm cloud. Too small, too quiet for choppers. Not birds-too lumpy." He looked at me. "I give up. What is it?"
"Trouble," I said grimly. "Angel! Get out of the way. Guys, heads up! We've got company!"
We swung around to face whatever was coming. Fast!
"Flying monkeys?" The Gasman called out a guess. "Like The Wizard of Oz?"
It dawned on me then. "No," I said tersely. "Worse. Flying Erasers."
5
Yep. Flying Erasers. These Erasers had wings, which was a new and revolting development on the Eraser front. Half-wolf, half-human, and now half-avian? That couldn't be a happy mix. And they were headed our way at about eighty miles an hour.
"Erasers, version 6.5," Fang said.
Split up, Max. Think 3-D, said my Voice.
"Split up!" I ordered. "Nudge! Gazzy! Nine o'clock! Angel, up top. Move it! Iggy and Fang, flank me from below! Fang, ditch the dog!"
"Nooo, Fang!" screeched Angel.
The Erasers slowed as we fanned out, their huge, heavy-looking wings backbeating the air. It was almost pitch-black now, with no moon and no city lights below. I was still able to see their teeth, their pointed fangs, their smiles of excitement. They were on a hunt-it was party time!
Here we go, I thought, feeling adrenaline speeding up my heart. I launched myself at the biggest one, swinging my feet under me to smash against his chest. He rolled back but righted himself and came at me again, claws slashing the air.
I bobbed, feeling his paws whip right past my face. I turned sharply just in time to have a hard, hairy fist crash into my head.
I dropped ten feet quickly, then surged back up on the offensive.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Fang clap both hands hard against an Eraser's furry ears. The Eraser screamed, holding his head, and started to lose altitude. Fang had Total in his backpack. He rolled out of harm's way, and I took his place, catching another Eraser in the mouth with a hard side kick.
I grabbed one of his arms, twisting it violently in back of him. It was harder in the air, but then I heard a loud pop.
The Eraser screamed and dropped, careening downward until he caught himself and flew clumsily away, one arm dangling.
Above me an Eraser lashed out at Nudge, but she dodged out of the way.
Max? Size isn't everything, said the Voice.
6
I got it! The Erasers were bigger and heavier, their wings almost twice as long as ours. But in the air, those were liabilities.
Panting, I ducked as an Eraser swung a black-booted foot at my side, catching me in the ribs but not too hard.
I zipped in and dealt out some powerful punches of my own, knocking his head sideways, then I flitted out of reach.
Compared to the Erasers, we were nimble little stinging wasps, and they were clunky, slow, awkward flying cows.
Two Erasers ganged up on me, but I shot straight up like an arrow, just in time for them to smash into each other.
I laughed as I saw Gazzy roll completely over like a fighter plane, smacking an Eraser in the jaw on the turn. The Eraser swung a hard punch, landing it on Gazzy's thigh, and Gazzy winced, then launched a side kick at the Eraser's hand, which snapped back.
How many of them were there? I couldn't tell-everything was happening at once. Ten?
Nudge, my Voice said, and then I heard Nudge cry out.
An Eraser had her tight in his arms, his fangs moving toward her neck. His teeth were just starting to scrape her skin when I dropped on him from above. I wrapped one arm around his neck and yanked hard, hearing him gag and choke. Grabbing my wrist with my other hand, I yanked harder until he let Nudge drop away from him.
"Scat!" I told her, and, coughing, she swooped away from the fight. My Eraser was still struggling but starting to weaken. "You better get your guys out of here," I snarled into his ear. "We're kicking your hairy butts."
"You're gonna fall now," I heard Angel say in a normal voice. I swung my head to see her gravely watching an Eraser who looked confused, paralyzed. Angel shifted her gaze to the dark water below. Fear entered the Eraser's eyes, and his wings folded. He dropped like a rock.
"You're getting scary, you know that?" I said to Angel, not really kidding. I mean, making an Eraser drop right out of the sky just by telling him to-jeez.
And Iggy, said the Voice. I veered off to help Iggy, who was in tight hand-to-hand with an Eraser.
"Ig!" I called, as he grabbed the Eraser's shirt.
"Max, get out of here!" Iggy yelled, and released the shirt, letting himself fall quickly out of reach.
I had time to think Uh-oh, and then the small explosive Iggy had stuck down the Eraser's shirt detonated, leaving an ugly gaping hole in his chest. Shrieking, the Eraser plummeted heavily downward.
And how did Iggy manage to stash his seemingly endless supply of explosives on his person without my even having a clue? Got me.
"You... are... a... fridge... with wings," Fang ground out, punching an Eraser hard with every word. "We're... freaking... ballet... dancers."
Take a deep breath, Max, said my Voice, and I obeyed without question.
At that moment, I felt a blow to my back, between my wings, that knocked the wind out of me. I rolled, belly-up, using the oxygen I'd just gotten, trying to suck in more air.
Whirling, I snapped both feet out in a hard kick into the Eraser's face, then froze in shock. Ari!
He wheeled backward and I floundered away, wheezing and hoping I wouldn't pass out. Ari! But he was dead-I'd killed him. Hadn't I?
Ari lunged at Fang, just as I yelled "Fang!" Ari managed to take a swipe at Fang's side, shredding his jacket.