When the Wind Blows - James Patterson [29]
He was thinking:Can you see me, Max? Are you watching me fly? Are you nearby?
Matthew finally began to yell at the top of his lungs. “Max! Max! Max! Can you hear me?” he called. “Can you?”
And then Matthew raised the volume. He knew what he had to do to save Max. He began to screech even louder.
“Stay away. Stay far away from me. Max! It’s a trap! It’s Uncle Thomas and the others. Get away from here, Max! They have guns.”
Chapter 28
MAX WAS NOWHERE NEAR THE PLACE where her little brother was shouting his warnings. Another morning had broken. She’d made it through the night without being caught or torn into bite-sized pieces and eaten by a bear or a mountain cat.
She had a big breakfast and then played the CD-ROM game Tomb Raider II. She loved Lara Croft, the game’s heroine. She wanted to be Lara Croft.
She left the safe house where she was hiding at around seven-thirty in the morning. She wanted to explore.
Max peered through the interlaced branches and leaves of a bush covered with plump, ripe blueberries. She saw something that interested and terrified her at the same time. Her eyes blinked fast and hard a couple of times. Her pulse was racing just about off the charts.
She stared through the berry bushes at two little kids. They seemed a lot like her. Like her and Matthew, actually. The kids were obviously out on an early-morning walkabout in the woods, too. Had they already spotted her?
The girl was dressed in blue-jeaned overalls, a Red Dirt T-shirt, high-top sneakers. It was a pretty cool outfit. Her red hair was half caught in a purple scrunchie; the rest of it curled around her face. She was picking berries that matched the color of her funky nail polish.
The boy was probably four or five and reminded her of Matthew when he was that little. He was banging a rhythmic beat on an aluminum pail with a stick, singing a song Max had never heard before.
A-rumpty-rump-dump.
A-rumpty-rump-dump.
Max’s skin rippled. Her inner voice urged her to fly away, but she was stuck. She had to stay there. Anyway, she wanted to talk up a storm to the kids. She desperately, desperately needed help, and she had secrets to share. God, did she have huge secrets to tell. What would Lara Croft do at a time like this?
A-rumpty-rump-dump.
She was definitely scared, but what was she afraid of, she wondered. She was bigger than either of them. She was a whole lot stronger. No contest there. She had special gifts, and she was probably smarter, too. No big deal, but she was.
The little boy looked up from his pail drum and spotted her green eyes staring into his bright blue ones. He stumbled backward, shouting, “Hey! I see you! Hey! Who are you? Hey!”
Max was so unnerved, she screamed, and the two children began screaming, too.
The girl recovered first. She grabbed her brother’s hand and gave it a good, strong jerk.
“Stop it, Bailey,” she commanded. She kept her distance but didn’t back away farther. Her eyes were wide with fear. “Who are you? This is our family’s property. It’s private property. Posted everywhere on the trees. You must have seen signs!”
The girl was probably around eight. She was huffing, puffing, and her face was beet-red, but she was putting up a brave big-sister front.
Max was impressed. God, she ached to talk to these kids, to play some games with them. She just wanted to talk to somebody.
“Who are you?” the girl asked again.
That, Max thought, was a very good question. As she considered it, the girl continued to talk at her. Nervous pitter-patter, which was okay with Max.
“I’m Elizabeth Ellers, all right. This is my little brother, Bailey. He’s five. I’m nine. Now, what are you doing out here? Speak your piece.”
Little Bailey stared Max up and down, then he pulled away from Elizabeth and walked closer. He made a wide circle around Max.
Amused, she turned as he turned, trying to keep him from getting too good a look at her wings.
“What’s wrong with your arms?” He blubbered a few words.
Max hesitated. What would these little kids think of her wings? Did she