“Of course, this will affect everything it comes into contact with,” he murmured, praying that Dr. GuntherHagen knew what he was doing.

“Not necessarily,” said Dr. Gunther-Hagen. “It’s been specialized to bind only to certain receptors. These mutants have them; not many other species do.”

The team was silent as the reactant blended invisibly with the crystal-clear stream. Within thirty minutes, it would infiltrate the natural water reservoir that served the flock’s house.

Dr. Gunther-Hagen could barely contain his excitement. Now the real experiments would start.

Chapter 57

57

ALL EYES WERE ON ANGEL. She was almost vibrating with anticipation. Max would never have been able to do this in a million years. Max never would have wanted to. In fact, she would have threatened to lock them all in their rooms if someone suggested it.

Now she tapped a pencil against the tabletop. “Attention! Everybody, listen up! I’ve called you all here to make my announcement!” she said. “Get ready, because I have a huge surprise!”

“Do we need any more surprises?” Iggy asked.

“I’m the leader of this flock,” she announced, “and I want to announce some improvements we’re going to make.”

“What kind of improvements?” Iggy asked, leaning on his broom.

“Well, first, I’m abolishing bedtime,” Angel said, nodding firmly.

“We didn’t have much of a bedtime before,” Nudge pointed out.

Angel frowned at her. “I mean, if we want to sleep all day and stay up all night, then that’s what we’ll do!”

Gazzy shrugged. “Okay.”

“No more homeschooling!” Angel said. “Hear, hear,” said Iggy, clapping.

“I’m still going to learn stuff,” Nudge said. “I’m halfway through the Rosetta Stone level one for French.”

“If you want to, that’s fine,” said Angel graciously. “But right now, I’m going to announce our best, most exciting project ever!”

“We’re going to buy our own car?” Gazzy asked with raised eyebrows.

“Have parties every week?” Nudge guessed.

“How about a little order, a little taking care of business?” Total muttered as he trotted into the room. “That would be a huge surprise.”

Angel ignored him. Even though she was the one who had rescued him from the lab back in New York, secretly she wondered if he was more on Max’s side now. “Okay, everyone, saddle up!” She beamed at them. “We have a long flight ahead of us!”

“To where?” Nudge asked.

“A concert!” Angel said. “In Hollywood! Where we’ve signed up to appear as special celebrity guests!”

Blank faces looked back at her.

“Is this a joke?” Iggy finally asked.

“No! It’s going to be so fabulous!” Angel said. “The concert is a benefit, for fixing up a section of Santa Monica Boulevard. All kinds of famous people are part of it, and they want us to help. If they advertise that the flock will be there, thousands more people will come!”