Джеймс Паттерсон: Hawk

Hawk nodded soberly, then looked at Max and Fang. “Where will the next one be?”

“I don’t know,” Fang said. “But we’ll find it.”

“That’s what’s so horrible,” Nudge said. “We always find it. Always. ”

Hawk nodded again, not smiling. “And I’m always coming with you.”

MORE EPILOGUEHawk

Turns out, I could eat ice cream without gagging. Two weeks of forced bed rest and recovering in the care center at Tetra had left me twitchy and anxious to be moving, but the Tetrans were determined, sneaky bastards. Every day they’d figured out how to keep me in bed, how to keep my mind occupied so I didn’t go crazy.

“You were practically sliced in half,” Ying had said disapprovingly, like it had been my fault somehow. “It took a hundred and forty stitches to put you back together, and that’s not counting the part of your liver and part of your spleen that you lost.”

“Hm,” I said. Of course, they’d totally saved my life. No one had been more surprised than me when I’d opened my eyes and realized I was still alive.

For the first time I was being allowed to sleep in my own room, not at the care center. I sank gingerly onto the bed, telling myself that I would get under the covers in just a minute.

Then I felt eyes watching me and I turned my head to see Io, quivering with anticipation.

“Hi,” she whispered. “Are you awake?”

My eyes were open, but whatever. I nodded. She scrambled up onto my bed, picking her way over my legs.

“They said I had to be so, so careful,” she said, making her way up to my shoulder. She put one paw on me. “I’m going to help you get better! Look! My wings are so big now!”

She screwed up her face as if about to exert the supreme effort of popping her wings out, but I said, “Can I see them tomorrow? So tired.”

“Sure!” she said and patted my arm until I caught on and moved it so she could snuggle up right next to me.

Her soft breathing calmed me down and I was about to drift off when I became aware that someone was coming toward me. In less than a second I was wide-awake, tensed, ready for fight or flight even in my pathetic condition.

“You two look cozy,” Max said. “Room for one more?”

“Yeah.” I tucked Io closer to me and she moved her paw over my chest. Max lay down on her other side and stroked the soft, thick fur.

“Oh, my god, she’s like the size of Iggy’s shoe under all this fur!” Max said.

“I know, it’s weird,” I agreed.

Max stretched her arm over Io and smoothed my mohawk down. She looked at me.

“If you say how cute I was as a baby, you’re gonna have to leave,” I said, setting some boundaries.

“Did I tell you how cute it was when you started to fly?” she asked solemnly.

“Yes.”

“Did I tell you what your first word was?”

“You said it was why. Gazzy said it was doughnut. Fang said it was no bath. ”

Max snickered, then changed tactics. “What’s it like having an amazing revolutionary for a mom?”

I knew she was expecting a jokey answer—we were kind of tiptoeing into anything deeper. But I used to see posters with her picture, or Maximum Ride on a T-shirt, and it had been like—seeing hope? The idea that someone even halfway like her could exist in the world… I had fantasized about her swooping in and saving me and the lab rats. That was before I even knew she had wings.

Now I understood that heroes were more complicated than that. Heroes could get hurt, be angry, sad, scared. That didn’t make them less of a hero.

Max and Fang, my parents, were heroes.

Max had fallen asleep, waiting for my answer. She and Io were breathing in rhythm, both of their mouths open just a bit.

I reached out my hand and touched Max very softly.

“It’s amazing,” I whispered. “It’s the best.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, James Pattersonwas awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal, and he has also received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Confessions of a Murder Suspect and the Maximum Ride and Witch & Wizard series, and his books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide. A tireless champion of the power of books and reading, Patterson created a children’s book imprint, JIMMY Patterson, whose mission is simple: “We want every kid who finishes a JIMMY Book to say, ‘PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK.’” He has donated more than three million books to students and soldiers and funds over four hundred Teacher and Writer Education Scholarships at twenty-one colleges and universities. He also supports 40,000 school libraries and has donated millions of dollars to independent bookstores. Patterson invests proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books in pro-reading initiatives.

Gabrielle Charbonnetis the coauthor of Sundays at Tiffany’s,Crazy House, and Witch & Wizard with James Patterson, and she has written many other books for young readers. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and a lot of pets.

JIMMY PATTERSON BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULT READERSJames Patterson Presents

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco

Becoming the Dark Prince by Kerri Maniscalco

Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely

Twelve Steps to Normal by Farrah Penn

Campfire by Shawn Sarles

When We Were Lost by Kevin Wignall

Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

Sword in the Stars by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan The Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson

The Angel Experiment

School’s Out—Forever

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

The Final Warning

MAX

FANG

ANGEL

Nevermore

Maximum Ride ForeverThe Confessions Series by James Patterson

Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Confessions: The Private School Murders

Confessions: The Paris Mysteries

Confessions: The Murder of an AngelThe Witch & Wizard Series by James Patterson

Witch & Wizard

The Gift

The Fire

The Kiss

The LostNonfiction by James Patterson

Med HeadStand-Alone Novels by James Patterson

The Injustice (previously published as Expelled )

Crazy House

The Fall of Crazy House

Cradle and All

First Love

Homeroom Diaries

For exclusives, trailers, and other information, visit jimmypatterson.org.

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