James Patterson: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

“This would be an excellent time for one of us to develop X-ray vision,” I muttered, a cold hand closing around my heart. I felt the strong tug of an underwater current pulling at my legs, saw how the wind was rippling the water out to sea.

“Angel!” Nudge yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth.

“Angel!” I shouted, wading through the water, taking big strides, praying I would brush against her.

Fang was sweeping his arms through the water, his face close to the surface. We fanned out, squinting from the sun’s glare, taking turns diving into the surf.

My throat closed, and I felt like I would choke. My voice was a strangled rasp; my eyes stung from the glare and the salt.

We had covered a big circle, maybe thirty yards out, and still there was no sign of her. My Angel. I glanced back at the shore, as if I would see her walking out onto the sand toward Celeste, who waited for her by a piece of driftwood.

Endless minutes ticked by.

I could feel the undertow pulling at my whole body. I couldn’t stop picturing Angel’s body being pulled out to sea, her eyes wide with terror. Had we come so far only to lose her now?

“Do you see anything?” I cried to Fang. He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the water, sweeping his arms back and forth.

Once again, we swept the whole area, taking in every detail of the water, the beach, the open sea. And did it again. And again.

I saw something and blinked, then looked harder. What was-was it-oh, God! Hundreds of yards away, a small, wet cornrowed head popped out of the water. I stared. Angel stood up in waist-high water and waved at us.

My knees almost buckled. I had to catch myself before I did a face-plant in the water.

Angel and I surged toward each other, the others catching up.

“Angel,” I could barely whisper, unbelieving, when I was finally close enough. “Angel, where were you?”

“Guess what?” she said happily. “I can breathe under water!”

Igrabbed Angel into my arms, hugging her wet, chilly body against me. “Angel,” I murmured, trying not to cry, “I thought you had drowned! What were you doing?”

She wriggled closer, and I steered her to shore. We collapsed on the wet sand, and I saw the Gasman fighting back tears too.

“I was just swimming,” Angel said, “and I accidentally swallowed some water and started to choke. But I didn’t want Gazzy to find me. We were playing hide-and-seek,” she explained. “Under water. So I just stayed under, and then I realized that I could sort of swallow water and stay under and not choke.”

“What do you mean, swallow water?” I asked.

“I just swallow it and then go like this.” Angel blew air out of her nose, and I almost laughed at the face she made.

“It comes out your nose?” Fang asked.

“No,” Angel said. “I don’t know where the water goes. But air comes out my nose.”

I looked at Fang. “She’s extracting oxygen from the water.”

“Can you show us?” Fang asked. Angel got up and trotted to the shore. She plunged in when the water was waist high. I was inches away from her, determined she wasn’t going to get lost again, even for a second.

She knelt down, took a big mouthful of water, and stood up. She seemed to swallow it, then blew air out of her nose. My eyes bulged until I thought they’d just fall out: Rivulets of seawater were seeping out of invisible pores on each side of Angel’s neck.

“Holy moly,” the Gasman breathed.

Nudge explained to Iggy what was happening, and he whistled, impressed.

“And I can do it and stay under and just keep swimming,” Angel said. She wiggled her shoulders, unfolding her wings so they could dry in the bright sunlight.

“I bet I can do it too!” the Gasman said. “ ‘Cause we’re siblings.”

He dropped down into the water and scooped up a big mouthful. Then he swallowed it, trying to blow out air.

He gagged, then choked and started coughing violently. Seawater streamed out his nose, and he gagged again and almost barfed.

“You okay?” I asked when he had finally shuddered to a halt.

He nodded, looking wet, miserable, nauseated.

“Iggy,” I said, “touch Angel’s neck and see if you can feel anything, those pores that water comes through.”

Like a feather, Iggy skimmed his fingertips over her fair skin, all around her neck. “I can’t feel a thing,” he said, which surprised me.

So we all had to try it, just in case. No one except Angel could do it. I’ll spare you the revolting details, but let me just say that’s one stretch of ocean you won’t catch me swimming in for a while.

So Angel could breathe under water. Our abilities kept unfolding, as if certain things had been programmed to come out at different times, like when we reached certain ages. In a way it felt like being kinged in checkers-all of a sudden you had more strength, more power than you had before. How weird.

Not weird, Max, my Voice suddenly chimed in. Divine. And brilliant. You six are works of art. Enjoy it.

Well, I would, I thought bitterly , If I wasn’t so busy running for my life all the time. Jeez. Works of art or freaks? Glass half empty, glass half full. Like I wouldn’t give up my wings in a second to have a regular life with regular parents and regular friends.

A tinkling laugh sounded in my head. Come on, Max, said the Voice. You and I both know that isn’t true. A regular family and a regular life would bore you to tears. “Who asked you?” I said angrily. “Asked me what?” said Nudge, looking up in surprise. “Nothing,” I muttered. And there you have it. Some people get cool abilities like reading minds and breathing under water, and some people get annoying voices locked inside their head. Lucky me.

What do you wish you could do, Max? asked the Voice. If you could do anything?

Hmm. I hadn’t thought about it. I mean, I could already fly. Maybe I would want to be able to read minds, like Angel. But then I would know what everyone thought, like if someone really didn’t like me but acted like they did. But if I could do anything?

Maybe you would want to be able to save the world, the Voice said. Did you ever think of that?

No. I frowned. Leave that to the grown-ups.

But grown-ups are the ones destroying the world, the Voice said. Think about it.

“Look who’s come to the seashore.”

The low voice, smooth and full of menace, woke me from sleep that night. My body tightened like a longbow and I tried to jump up, only to be held down by a big booted foot on my throat.

Ari. Always Ari.

In the next second, Fang and Iggy woke, and I snapped out my free hand to wake Nudge.

Adrenaline dumped into my veins, knotting my muscles. Angel woke and seemed to take off straight into the air with no running start. She clutched Celeste tightly, hovering about twenty feet above us. I saw her look around, saw her face take on an expression that had disaster written all over it.

I looked around too.

And gasped despite myself.

We were surrounded by Erasers, more Erasers than I’d ever seen before. Literally hundreds and hundreds of them. They’d been growing these things in quantities I could hardly imagine.

Ari leaned down and whispered, “You’re so pretty when you’re sleeping-and your mouth is shut. But what a shame to cut your hair.”

“When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it,” I spat, struggling against his boot.

He laughed, then reached down and stroked my face with one claw. “I like ‘em feisty.”