She looked at me, and I felt… empty. I mean, my mom was the person who had taught me that people really can show love through their eyes. Maybe I was imagining things, but she just seemed… different.

“It’s okay,” she said. “How are you, Max?” She sounded like she didn’t care much one way or the other.

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry I stayed out all night. We decided to try to spy on the Gen 77 school, and—”

“Did you find Hans’s body?” she said, interrupting me.

“No. We looked, but we ended up finding these spider-eyed ’noid kids, who—”

“That’s great, honey. Can you scoot over a bit? I’m trying to watch the news.”

Angel, Dylan, and I looked at one another, like Okayyy, then we really took in the view:

Nudge, covered in bandages, was lying quietly on the floor by herself, looking miserable.

Gazzy was sitting at a table playing with Ella’s old Legos. He was making little people. Not making houses and then exploding them, not blowing things up. Just making little people. Quietly.

Jeb was on crutches, brooding, watching Gazzy from across the room. He looked distraught. Okay, I’ll give him a pass since he’d been one breath away from pancaking.

Ella and Iggy were sitting in the kitchen, putting peanut butter and jelly on saltine crackers. Ella was chatting up a storm, and Ig was nodding enthusiastically at her like a bobblehead doll, an idiotic grin on his face. Neither of them even acknowledged my presence.

My heart seized with sudden understanding: the flock was majorly peeved at me for ditching them in the desert.

Dylan sensed that I was on edge and stepped closer to support me. I was freaking out. It would’ve been so nice just to lean into his warmth…

Instead, I shot him a look that said “I will break your fingers like a nutcracker if you touch me right now” and turned to Angel.

“Ange? Powwow. Stat.” I said.

She nodded. I felt a pang of regret when I saw Dylan’s hurt face as Angel and I walked out onto the deck, but the flock was my first priority, regardless of those fluttery feelings I kept having that were severely cramping my style.

“Oh, my God,” I said as soon as we were outside. “Why didn’t you warn me? Is it just me? They’re totally giving me the cold shoulder, aren’t they? Are they trying to punish me?”

Angel shook her head. “Don’t worry, Max. They’ll get over it. They’re mostly just exhausted and in shock from everything. Something happened between Gazzy and Jeb out there, and I think Gazzy’s still reeling, but he’s okay.”

“But even my mom…”