“It’s not a leash!” I snapped as he protested. “It’s so we don’t lose you!”

The electricity was off in the conference room now. The wall of TVs had been shattered. Lots of stuff had been sucked out the windows, and other things were hurtling around.

“Gozen!” the Uber-Director shouted. “Don’t let them escape!”

Gozen began to move toward us, his bulk and weight helping to keep him steady. The UD’s wheelchair was being knocked about, and if I were him, I would have been freaking out, waiting to break apart into messy building blocks.

“Kids! Go!” I yelled, and we began to crawl fast toward the doors. I had no idea how we’d get them open.

As it turned out, Mother Nature helped us. Sort of. Sort of a half-helped / half-killed situation. When we were about seven feet from the doors, they blew open, their frames shattering around the massive locks. In an instant, we were airborne, without using our wings.

The wind coming through the windows and whipping out through the doors created a huge updraft that almost flattened us against the ceiling. Gozen hunkered down over the UD even as a large potted plant clocked him in the head, opening the skin to reveal tissue and wires. Yes. Gross.

There was only one thing to do.

“Go with the flow!” I shouted, remembering a long-ago lesson from the Voice. “Go with nature! Fang! Get Akila!” I grabbed Total and clutched him hard against my chest. I saw Fang grab Akila and knew she would be a struggle to hold.

Then, making sure that everyone was with me, I put my wings out just a bit, and whoosh! The wind grabbed me, and I shot down the hall like a jet.

“Ouch! Ouch! God —” I couldn’t aim, so I was scraping against exit signs and light fixtures. I checked behind me to make sure everyone had gotten out, and they had, with no sign of Gozen or the UD.

“Go with the flow!” I yelled again. Then I saw where the hallway led: directly to a balcony with floor-to-ceiling windows. Of hurricane-proof glass. That we’d probably smash against like mosquitoes against a windshield.

“Wait! I take it back! Don’t go with the flow!” I shrieked, trying desperately to backpedal.

But of course it was too late by then.

Chapter 69

69

I HOPED THE UBER-DIRECTOR hadn’t paid his building contractor yet, because those so-called hurricane-proof windows were, in fact, not at all hurricane proof. Unless maybe for a baby hurricane. A widdle one. With no big winds. I thought he should have got his money back.