James Patterson - Max

He blushed modestly.

“Let’s do this thing!” the lieutenant belled, running out of the room.

It was barely three minutes later when a huge flash! from outside lit our small room like lightning. It had seemed much longer – listening to the grinding, scraping sounds, wondering how quickly the M-Geeks would punch through. Then tiny, crackling lights skittered through the water. We waited anxiously.

Seconds later, there was a larger series of popping explosions as the torpedo’s powdered explosive drifted out into the water, where it was detonated by the electrical sparks still dancing around the metal hull of the sub. Gazzy crowed and held up his hand to slap high fives with the captain, who just looked at him.

“It’s like M-Geek popcorn,” Iggy said, as we heard a fast string of small booms, one after another, each accompanied by a flash of light.

“Yeah,” Gazzy chimed in excitedly. “It’s like an ignart! ”

I was about to say that this was no time for fart jokes when the grinding metal sounds stopped abruptly.

“It seems to be working, sir,” reported Lieutenant Young-ville, poking her head into the map room. “The technique -”

“The Gaz-Ig-Nart technique!” Iggy corrected.

“Yes, the Gaz-Ig-Nart technique seems to be neutralizing the enemy,” the lieutenant finished.

The captain tried. We all tried. But there was no way. When the ensign came to report, he found us all laughing so hard we had tears coming out of our eyes.

“WE’RE GOING TO RETURN to base now to make a formal report,” Captain Perry said once he’d gotten his voice back.

“Wait – what about finding my mom?” I asked.

“She’s got to be around here somewhere,” John agreed. “Can you wait on that report so we can comb the area more thoroughly?”

“There’s leaking radioactive waste out there,” said Captain Perry. “Who knows where that radiation is ending up, how far it can travel? It must be contained as soon as possible.”

“We came out here to find our colleague,” John said.

“My job is to protect the United States, which Hawaii and its surrounding waters are part of,” said Captain Perry, looking steely eyed.

I was calculating the chances of success if the bird kids staged a mutiny and seized control of the submarine, when Nudge suddenly said, “Where’s Angel?”

And if those words don’t strike terror into your heart by now, then you haven’t been paying attention.

It took barely two minutes to search the entire sub. The systems engineer determined that someone had opened the diver’s air lock approximately four minutes before.

“She couldn’t have gone out into the ocean!” the captain said, horrified. “The pressure at this depth is tons per square inch. She’d be crushed instantly!!”

“Or… not,” I said, looking out the window. The water, even with the floodlights shining into it, was cloudy and hard to see through. It was still full of bits o’ ’bots, drifting downward like evil, metallic rain. Plus, all the explosions had stirred up aeons of debris on the ocean floor.

Even so, I could see the light color of the small jumpsuit Angel had been wearing, and the flash of gold as her hair floated around her like a halo that she so did not deserve. She was dog-paddling away from the sub, looking extremely uncrushed and three-dimensional.

“That’s… impossible,” Captain Perry said, sounding stunned.

“Totally and completely impossible,” John agreed, staring out the window in awe. “There’s no way anyone could be out at this depth without a pressure suit and survive. It – it just can’t be done.”

“Hello?” I said. “We’re children with wings . And now gills. We fly . Angel can read minds and communicate with fish, Iggy can feel colors, Nudge can draw metal to her, and now you’re saying that there’s simply no way Angel could be out there? Have I mentioned the wings part?”

John nodded, still looking shocked. “But still – this defies any kind of understanding we have of vertebrate animals. It’s… almost impossible to comprehend.”

“You mean, more than the freaking wings? ”

Captain Perry looked at me seriously. “Yes, actually. More than the wings. This is, in fact, stranger and more impossible.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, then.” I gave a little cough. “Anyway, let’s get her back in. You got any of those claw-arm thingies?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” said Captain Perry.

“Max,” said Nudge. She turned away from the window with wide eyes. I hurried over and peered out into the murky water.

“Oh, jeez,” I said, my heart sinking. Or rather, sinking more.

Angel, being Angel, was being: (1) stubborn, (2) a rule breaker, (3) not sensible, (4) reckless,… and (5)… swimming directly at a group of the sea monsters, who were heading toward our sub at light speed.

“They’re gonna kill her,” Gazzy breathed, his face pale.

Yeah, I thought grimly. And then I’ll bring her back to life and kill her again, for doing this to us.

One of the creatures spotted Angel. It slowed, turned, and began to head toward her.

“Oh, God,” Nudge squealed, covering her eyes. “Max! Do something!”

I was already striding toward the door. “On it.”

I SLAMMED MY FIST against the pressure pad that opened the air-lock chamber. I knew Captain Perry and the others were right behind me, and if they wanted to get sucked out of the diver air lock along with me, that was their business.

Ten seconds ago, one of those creatures had been speeding toward Angel. That image, seared into my brain, made me feel sick. I couldn’t believe that after all we’d been through, everything we’d done, Angel had basically just committed suicide by sea monster.

The air-lock door opened, the interior of the chamber still wet from Angel’s escape.

Brigid grabbed my arm. “Max – don’t,” she said. “You know you can’t go up against them. The best thing would be for us to get out of here, fast, before they start attacking the whole sub. Remember what they did to the Minnesota ? This one is so much smaller and more vulnerable.”

“I have to go get Angel,” I snarled with my endearing bulldog tenacity.

“Max – you can’t help her.” Brigid sounded close to tears.

“I’m not leaving her,” I said, standing threateningly over Brigid, several inches taller. “If it’s too late, then I’m bringing back her body. Either way, I’m not leaving without her.” I looked at Captain Perry, John, Brigid, and the rest of the flock. “So suck it up and get out of my way.”

John looked at me for a long moment, then nodded, and carefully stepped out of the air-lock chamber. He touched Captain Perry’s arm, and, frowning, Captain Perry left too.

“Brigid,” said John. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she let go of my arm and left the room, followed by a solemn, stiff-jawed flock.

Except Fang.

I glared at him. “Go on. Try to stop me. I dare you.” It was like the old days when we used to wrestle, each trying to get the better of the other. I was ready to take him down, my hands curled into fists.

“I was just going to say be careful,” Fang told me. He stepped closer and brushed some hair out of my eyes. “And – I’ve got your back.” He motioned with his head toward the torpedo chamber.

Oh, my God. It hit me like a tsunami then: how perfect he was for me, how no one else would ever, could ever be so perfect for me, how he was everything I could possibly hope for, as a friend, boyfriend – maybe even more. He was it for me. There would be no more looking.