I had to grip the metal railing hard with both hands so I wouldn’t throw myself over it, to streak away into the night, into darkness and safety. Tough it out, Max, I told myself — or maybe it was the Voice.

But it didn’t matter, because then Fang leaned down and kissed me, and I put my arms around him, right there in front of everyone, and kissed him back with everything I had.

And then, all heck broke loose.

Of course.

Because this is my life, right?

42

“I MISS HER, but… it’s kind of nice not having Nudge around being all goody-goody,” Gazzy whispered as they quietly shut the Quonset hut door behind them.

“How can you say that? I totally miss her.” Angel breathed. “Oh — guards ahead at two o’clock. Let’s detour.”

Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel pressed themselves into the shadows as MPs carrying rifles marched by on their rounds. When the MPs were out of earshot, the three bird kids hustled across the training field to the high fence, then nimbly flew over it and headed to the beach, well below any radar.

When they’d landed on the sand, Gazzy continued. “I miss Nudge too — a lot. But you know she was always the one who’d be like, ‘We better ask Max. Maybe we shouldn’t do this. Are you sure that’s okay?’ and stuff.” Gazzy had mimicked Nudge’s voice so perfectly that the other two, for a split second, expected to see her standing right there next to them.

“Well, Nudge isn’t here,” said Iggy, kicking off his shoes. “I wish she was, annoying caution and all. But since she isn’t” — he turned and grinned — “we can try the super-duper-oxygen-scoopers!” He held up a couple of contraptions that consisted of pilfered scuba masks, a vacuum cleaner hose, the motor from a blender, and some charcoal briquettes.

Gazzy held out his hand. “Super-duper-oxygen-scooper, please,” he said solemnly. He and Iggy each donned a contraption.

“You guys should really just try breathing under water,” Angel said, her hands on her hips. “It’s really important! Just try!”

“The last time I tried, I hurled for half an hour,” Gazzy said, his voice muffled by the tube in his mouth. “Max still won’t swim in that stretch of ocean off the East Coast. Nope, for me, it’s the latest handy-dandy inventionuoso by that brilliant duo of mutant scientists: Iggy and the Gasman! Who have genius programmed right in!”

Angel rolled her eyes behind her goggles, which Gazzy could easily see in the bright moonlight. Then she jumped upward, spread her pure-white wings, and flew out over the water. Gazzy and Iggy followed her.

When they were about a quarter mile from shore, they all folded back their wings, and dove in.

Even at night, with their raptor eyesight, they could see a whole different world under water, and set off to explore.