James Patterson - Two Schools Out - Forever

Well, holy moly. Food for thought. I tried to remember what other words had shown up in the coded pages.

"Sit up!" a voice snapped, and I turned to see the headhunter, Mr. Pruitt, leaning over some terrified kid at a study table. The kid quickly sat up straight. In the background, Mr. Lazzara was rolling his eyes. Even he didn't seem to like Pruitt. Mr. Pruitt banged his walking stick against the table leg, making everyone jump. "This isn't your bedroom," he said snidely. "You may not lounge about like the do-nothing slug you no doubt are at home. In this school, you will sit up straight, as if you actually had a spine."

He was going on and on, but I very quietly picked up my books, slithered out of my chair, and slunk out the library's side door.

I could do without a dose of hateful today, thanks.

I walked down the hall as quickly as I could without making any noise.

Ter Borcht: evil genetic scientist. Gee, one of the family. Had I ever heard that name before? Clearly he must have been involved with Jeb, the School, the whitecoats, at some point. I mean, how many independent evil genetic researchers could there be? Surely they all kept in touch, exchanged notes, built mutants together...

This was a huge breakthrough-or another horribly disappointing dead end. Whichever it was, I couldn't wait to talk to the flock about it. Just as I hurried past an empty classroom, I caught sight of Fang. Excellent-I had five minutes till my next class. I started to head in, then realized he wasn't alone. A girl was with him, talking to him, looking earnest. Fang was standing there impassively as she went on, brushing her long dark red hair over her shoulder.

I grinned. Poor Fang. Was she selling something? Asking him to join the Chess Club?

In the next moment, the girl had put both her hands on Fang's chest and pushed him against the wall. I strode forward, reaching out to yank open the door. Even if she was an Eraser, Fang and I could make mincemeat out of her.

Then I froze. It wasn't an attack. The girl had pressed herself against Fang like static cling, and she went on her tiptoes and kissed him, right on the mouth.

Fang stood there for a moment, then his hands came up, holding her around the waist. I waited for him to push her away, hoping he would be sensitive about it, not hurt her feelings.

But I watched, dumbfounded, as Fang's hands slid slowly up her back, holding the girl closer. He angled his head so they could kiss better.

I stepped back, not breathing, feeling like I was going to hurl.

Oh, God.

Spinning on my heel, I raced down the hall and into the girls' bathroom.

I locked myself in a stall and sat down on the closed seat. Cold sweat was beading on my forehead, and I felt shaky and chilled, as if I'd just fought for my life. The image of Fang holding that girl closer, tilting his head, popped up in my brain. Closing my eyes did nothing to stop it.

Okay. Get a grip. God. What are you doing?

My breaths were shallow and fast, and I felt rage roiling in my stomach like acid.

No, calm down, calm down.

I forced myself to take several deep breaths, in and out, in and out.

Okay. Just calm down. So he kissed someone. Big deal. Why should I even care anyway? Why should I even care if he kissed every girl in this whole school? He was like my-brother. I mean, he wasn't my brother, not really. But he was like a brother. Yes. That was it. I'd been surprised, but now I was over it. I was fine.

Standing up, I left the stall and splashed cold water on my face. I was fine. I mean, why would I even care?

Maybe you have feelings for him, said my Voice. Nooo, the Voice couldn't ever respond when I really needed it to. But give me a sensitive situation where I'd really rather just deal with it alone? It was all over me.

Maybe not, I thought snidely.

You can't stay children forever, said the Voice, gently mocking. People grow up, have kids of their own. Think about it.

I suppressed a shriek of frustration, gripping the edge of the sink hard so I wouldn't ram my head into the wall. Like I was going to think about anything else, now.

"There they are."

Ari focused the binoculars on the small group on the road, maybe a quarter mile away. Walking to their perfect home from their perfect school. Wasn't that special. He looked into the back of the van. Six Erasers, already morphed and eager for action, sat waiting for him to give the word. The new Max was sitting in the back with them, wearing headphones.

"She's up on her soapbox again," the new Max said.

Ari snorted. Max-the original Max-was so full of herself, so tougher-than-thou. She ran those kids around like they were her slaves.

Slaves. There was a fun idea. Picturing the mutant bird freaks as his personal slaves cheered Ari up. He would make them do everything-take care of everything. They would bring him food and remind him to take his pills, and Max would rub his shoulders where his wings hurt. That would be so great. A tiny buzzer went off-his watch timer. Ari popped a handful of pills and reset the timer.

Unfortunately he wasn't going to get to make them his slaves. Fortunately he still got to kill them.

"I swear, that girl wouldn't be happy anywhere," the new Max said, sounding disgusted.

"Let's give her something to be unhappy about," Ari said, and hit the gas pedal. His heart started pumping with anticipation. He hated Max, but he loved fighting her. No one else was as exciting, as much of a challenge-not even Fang. And every time they fought, he learned more about how to defeat her. Someday he would have the last punch, see the surprise on her face...

In seconds the van had caught up to the group, and they wheeled around at the sound of the tires.

"Want a ride, kids?" asked the Eraser in the passenger seat, who hadn't morphed yet.

"What, no candy?" the original Max practically snarled. Then her eyes fell on Ari.

A laugh rose from his chest as he slammed on the brakes. He loved it! Seeing the flare of hatred and fear in her eyes when she looked at him. "Showtime, folks!" he shouted. "Max is mine!"

Erasers poured out of the back of the van before it had even stopped.

Time to play.

So, again, Ari was alive? Ari was back? I needed to think about that later.

"Happy now?" Fang muttered at me, and I took a second to scowl at him before launching myself at the closest wolf boy.

The sad thing was, I was happier. Well, not happy, exactly-just more on solid ground. A boy from class talking to me? Complete washout. Kicking Eraser butt, especially pathetic, off-balance Erasers with too-big wings? It was just more me, somehow.

Within moments I had cracked one's kneecap with a hard side kick, and he crumpled to the ground. Very cheering. Watch it! said the Voice, just before another one clipped my jaw, swiveling my head. Go with the flow. Okay. I went with the momentum, completed the turn, and came out swinging with a hard right that smashed his jaw. Howling with pain, he fell to his knees, holding his face. Seconds later he bounced up, his eyes red with fury, in time to have Gazzy smack both hands over his ears, blowing his eardrums. Screaming, he went down again.

Fang had taken one out and was working on Ari. A quick glance showed me that Angel was dealing with a female Eraser-using her mind control to make the Eraser run headfirst into a tree, hard. Yowch. Then Angel flashed me an angelic smile, and I remembered again that we had to have a clear-the-air ethics talk sometime soon.

Max-focus! A huge thud against my back knocked the wind out of me. Wheezing for air, I whirled to see Ari, grinning, swinging hard at my head. I ducked, whirled, and put all my weight into a roundhouse kick that spun him sideways and almost knocked him off his feet. The other Erasers were mostly down for the count: It was me against him. Slowly we circled each other. Ari grinned, and fury washed over me, coloring everything red. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang herd the younger kids into the woods and then up into the air.