Maximum Ride: Unforgettable

Chapter 4

"Max." A gentle voice says. I sit up in bed and stretch. "What's wrong?" I ask. I open my eyes slowly to see Nudge's face looking at me.

"What did he mean?"

"Huh?" I asked yawning.

"What did he mean, I'm not normal?" She asked. Silence is between us for a long time.

I try to think of the easiest way to tell her. I stand up and release my wings from behind my shoulders. I'm not sure how long its been since I stretched out my wings, but it feels amazing.

Her mouth drops and her eyes grow wide.

"You're like me, Nudge." I say slowly. She quickly unfurls her wings. Her beautiful, tawny colored wings, are almost as long as mine.

"Can we fly, like in the movies! That would be so cool, are we like birds?" She rambles excitedly.

"Come on." I say. I pull her over to the window and open it up carefully. I wonder what Jeb would say? Then I remember that I don't care.

I stand on the sill of the window. "We're jumping?" She asks. "No, we're flying!" I say leaping out of the window. I fall about 20 feet and then the wind catches me. Nothing feels better than flying. After a few seconds she jumps too, with a high pitch scream.

"Its okay, just move your wings up and than down." I tell her as she starts to get the hang of it. Our feathers brush against each other after every stroke.

"My blouse is going to get all wrinkled after this." She says.

Of all the things she would be thinking about while we're flying, she is thinking about her clothes.

And that's how I know. I know she is Nudge. My Nudge.

"We should go inside before Jeb realizes we're gone." I say, after a long while. Nudge climbs into the window and I follow after her. A few seconds later Jeb walks in and looks at us curiously. He probably noticed our crazy messy hair. He shakes his head disapprovingly.

"We need to go now, girls. We're going to be late unless we leave now. The van is outside." He says as he rushes out of the room.

We walk outside the building to find a large white mini van, with Jeb in the front seat. It looks like a kidnappers car, how ironic. I sit in the back next to Nudge. I do not want to ride sitting in the front seat next to him. We ride in silence until we come to a stop.

I look out the window to see a school with kids running around. "I have to go get some files, stay here." Jeb says with a wink.

Chills go up my spine as I think of Fang. I need to save him, somehow.

I open the car door to get fresh air. I search through the crowd of children. I see the one little girl I've saved so many times in the past.

Angel.

She can't know about any of this. She will only get hurt. Then she sees me. Her blonde curly hair bobs up and down. Her big blue eyes wide.

"Max! Max is that really you?"

She sends the message into my head. My little mind reader.

"Yeah Angel, its me. I'm fine." I lie. I hit my head against the head rest. I'm so stupid, of course she knows I'm lying. She can read minds.

I clear my head and concentrate to put up a wall in my head, to conceal my thoughts. I can't get her involved in this mess. I can't afford to lose her again.

Angel looks at me again, looking for answers. Then she gets lost in the crowd of people.

I take in a shaky breathe, hoping that is not the last time I will ever see Angel.