Maximum Ride : A Second Forever

5

Her lips parted, and the corners of her mouth betrayed the smile that she was holding back. She sighed, and the clipboard she had in her hand (from an office in the hospital, I'd guessed) clattered to the floor.

"Max?"

A tear dripped down my cheek, and I let out a combination gasp-cry-laugh sound. She ran forward and leaned down, our embrace less-than-satisfactory with the whole me-being-in-a-hospital-bed thing.

"Oh my God, mom, I can't believe it."

"Me neither." She paused. Then, "I'm a grandmother?"

I let out a desperate laugh to keep from crying again. "Yeah... she's mine and Fang's."

She put a hand to her mouth to cover up yet another smile. She shook her head, cleared her throat and picked up the clipboard. "Okay," she began, "down to business. Um, Max?"

I held her gaze evenly, beginning to understand how serious this was. I immediately started to mentally make up new swear words. My massively crass vocabulary apparently had no expression for what I felt. My new word-inventions mostly stayed along this idea: well, crap. I sighed and said,

"Just give it to me straight."

My mom glanced down at her clipboard and spoke carefully.

"Uhhh..." she cleared her throat again. "Okay. Max, you have some scar tissue inside your lungs. The radiation in Africa damaged them. Luckily, there's no shortage of possible donors, and a microscopic sample of lung tissue donated by Fang has allowed me to clone the cells, and I attempted to fix the damage. The damage has been greatly reduced, but you still have to rest."

I stared at her blankly, my brain still processing "microscopic."

Fang managed to put my thoughts in words. "She'd like you to explain it to her in English."

My mom sighed. "The radiation from Africa damaged your lungs. Fang donated lung tissue, and I made copies of it to fix some of the scars. Your lungs are okay, but you have to rest from the surgery."

My eyes widened as I realized what she was implying. "Um..." I swallowed hard. "Will I... can... can I fly?"

My mom bit her lip, and I could see the gears in her head turning as she heavily considered the question. "Normally, I'd say no..." I could see her thinking back to Cancun, when I had been shot in my wing. I couldn't fly for a week, and while I was turning green and growing a warty nose under my black hat, the rest of the flock toured Mayan ruins. I hated it. "But I know you. You can fly, but you have to stay low and you can't go fast. Speed and thinner air could rupture the damaged air sacs, and then you probably wouldn't be able to fly ever again."

I sighed. My eyes showed anger, my heart felt hatred, and my soul invoked a burning passion to resist authority. But this was my mom. If she didn't know what was best for me, and I had no idea, then who would?

"Fine," I spit out. "No flying." My mom smiled.

"Alright. Now that that's over with, there are some people who'd like to see you." She opened the door and a flood entered, led by Phoenix and Total.

"Mama!" she yelled. "You're okay!"

I wrapped her up in my arms, and Fang looked so proud. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, thank the Lord! There may be times I've resented you, Maximum, but I'm glad you're not dead." I glared at Total, slightly angered that the fuzzy sausage could talk (though it wasn't the first time). Harry, Angel, Nudge and Gazzy were next, and they met me in a gushy, emotional, touchy-feely group hug. I resisted the urge to run screaming and instead let my flock have a moment of happy relief. I looked up from in between the four pairs of shoulders that were hugging me and my mouth opened slightly. I shook off the arms and got up off of the bed, despite my mother's protests. The two walked in from the doorframe, holding hands. Iggy had the biggest smile on his face. He'd missed her so much, and they looked so happy to be together again.

She dropped his hand and walked forward to hug me, a smile bigger than Iggy's on her face. "Hi," she said, her voice cracking.

"Hi," I replied with the exact same tone. We hugged, and when we broke apart I pulled my daughter to my side. "This is Phoenix," I said, introducing her, and I turned to my side.

"Phoenix, this is Aunt Ella."