Max Ride- The Side Project 4

Maximum Ride- The Side Project 4
- Explanations


<Iggy>
“Look” I told Rose “Stay right here, I’ll be back in a moment with some answers, ok?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really?”
“Well then I’ll just have to go along with it won’t I”
“Good, I promise I won’t be long, don’t go anywhere!”
“Where can I go?” She cried helplessly. I hurried out of the room, navigating my way back to the kitchen were I had left Max and Fang barely moments ago.

<Max>
Fang was gently massaging my shoulders when Iggy came in looking pale.
“What’s up?” I asked shrugging off Fangs hands.
“What the hell is going on, what’s with the girl?” He demanded. I glanced at Fang; the blood had drained from his face leaving him an unusual light colour.
“What were you doing in Dr.M’s room!?” Fang growled, Iggy blushed.
“I got lost” He said barely audible. It was hard for Iggy, he was still getting used to where everything was.
“Ok, so you found Rose, great” If this was how Iggy re-acted, I really didn’t want to see how the others would.
“Uh Max, What. Is. She. Doing. Here?”
“Iggy, Rose is an Itex experiment [like us]” I confessed, throwing my hands up in surrender.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s an Avian Hybrid like us! Or supposed to be” Iggy took a deep breath and released it slowly.
“So she’s got wings?” I paused.
“Max” I glanced at Iggy biting my lip.
“You didn’t check did you?” I didn’t answer. Fang rolled his eyes and Iggy banged his head on the door.
“You went to all the trouble of kidnapping her and you didn’t even check if she had wings?!”
“The document we were given said her wings would grow gradually, easing her into society, so people could get used to it instead of her just being born with them on her back” Iggy slapped his forehead.
“So what? She’s got chicken wings? Stumps? What?”
“You’ll have to check” I looked at Fang as he spoke up.
“And if it’s her you explain everything, if it’s not her we have some MAJOR problems” I really hadn’t thought about checking for wings, I was so focused on just getting her home.
“Ok, I’ll do it”

<Rose>
When Iggy left I laid back on the bed. What was with this, it was all screwed. Who would want to kidnap me! I’m not pretty, my family’s not rich or well known, I don’t have any special talents. What the hell was I doing here? I looked around and saw a photo. It had that Max chick, and Fang and Iggy! Plus some other kids. I wonder how they knew each other. They looked really happy, it made me smile. I sat on the bed again and wondered what was going to happen to me.

<Max>
“We need to figure if it’s the right girl” Fang said
“BUT SHE IS you’ve seen the picture!” I shot back carefully not to mention yet that she looks identical to me and Fang. Iggy didn’t need to know this and I didn’t want to upset Fang.
“We can work this out by seeing if she has wings…or premature ones” Fang went on, pretending like I hadn’t said anything at all.  
“Then if she is we need to tell her everything” Fang paused
“And then the Flock” I ended, he nodded.
“How are you gonna check if she has wings? It’s not like she’s just gonna take off her shirt for you”
“She’ll have to, or I’ll have to do it myself” I said not looking forward to this at all. I walked into Mums room, closing the door behind me. Rose was lying on the bed, staring at a picture of me and the flock.
“Hey Rose!”
“Hey Max” She said without even looking up.
“Um…”
“Where am I?”
“You’re at my house” She looked up to me with Fangs brown eyes startling me.
“Why?”
“Because…er…you’re kind off…related to me?” Rose sat up, legs crossed, arms folded in her lap.
“How?”
“Jeeze, whats with the twenty questions?”
“Because no-one wants to know why they were kidnapped for, or where they are as a matter of fact” I sighed. At least she wasn’t panicking, she didn’t seem like the screamer type anyway, she had to much of me and Fang in her.
“Rose can you do something for me”
“Depends?”
“Well, it’ll help me see if we really are related, though I don’t doubt you are”
“It still depends, but maybe we are related, we look kinda the same”
“Ok, now don’t freak but I need you to lift up your shirt” Immediately Roses face went blank.
“What do you need to check?”
“Something on your back” Her face grew stony.
“Why?”
“Please Rose!” She shook her head
“If you don’t let me, I’ll have to use force, and I really don’t want to have to do that” She closed her eyes and a single tear fell down her face.
”What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think seeing what you want to see will help you, and I don’t think you really want to see it” I folded my arms, but I filled my expression with sympathy.
“Rose, please, I can’t leave here without checking, I have to know”
“Know what? How can this help you!”
“I’ll explain after, but I have to know”
“I can’t, I won’t! Take me back home! I’m not who you want!”
“Here look at this” And with out thinking I opened me wings and stretched them out as far as possible. She stared for a minute and then lifted up the back of her shirt for me to see, saying nothing and keeping her expression blank. There was something there all right, but not quite wings. She dropped her shirt down, forcing me to look at her face. Tears were sliding silently down her cheeks. I reached out to her and she drew back flinching.
"Rose, I’m not going to hurt you, if I wanted to hurt you don't you think i would’ve done it by now?" I explained, she nodded and I reached out again and hugged her.
"Rose, do you even know what they are?" I said smiling.
"My family spent thousands, trying to find me doctors, only to have everyone say "Sorry we cant help you", so I guess to me they're just ‘things’” She spat the last word out with distaste, before wiping her cheeks clear of the tears.
"No Rose, they’re more than just things”
“What do you mean”
“They’re, well I don’t really know how to say this, but they’re kind off baby wings”
"What?” She looked at me like I was crazy. Without talking I pulled Rose over to the full length mirror and turned her on her side.
"They may look just like mounds like things now, but I'm almost positive that they're baby wings!" I explained comparing hers to mine. She looked doubtfully from mine to hers. Frustrated I thought of something.
"Rose, my Mum, she can help! She's a veterinarian! She's looked after us before, I'm sure she can help you!" Once again doubt flashed across her face. I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“No-ones been able to help me before what makes you think you can?”
"Rose forget about what those other phony doctors said, they had no idea what they were dealing with, my Mum, she has had to look after 6 of us, and you’d think she'd learnt a little? Please?"
"But I’m scared of being let down again" I looked at her, for a minute you could see all her fears, all her scars and all the bad things that she'd gone through, but that quickly disappeared. Suddenly as if she had remembered herself, a smile appeared on her face and she beamed.
"Ok! Let’s give it a try! I mean what have I got to lose, I’ve been kidnapped by a bunch of flying kids, nothing weirder then that could happen right?"
“You’d be surprised” I chuckled, calling for Mum down the hall.

"Ok, lets have a look" Mum was measuring Rose's "wings" and taking down results. She started shifting through her papers and comparing things. After what seemed like ages she looked from Rose to me, one eyebrow raised.
"I’ve taken down lots of measurements and I’ve got your blood test, it shouldn’t be long before I kinda out what’s stopping your wings from growing so I can come up with something to counter-act it. It’s not right you should walk about with under-developed wings " I nodded and turned to Rose.
"What do you mean under-developed?" She asked..
"Well, you are only a couple of years younger than Max, barely. So yours should look just like hers but fit to your body size" Rose’s eyes swiveled from the reflection of her wings in the mirror to the back of my jumper.
"I think that’s enough for now Rose"
“It’s all so unbelievable, I can’t believe all this has happened to me just today”
"It has been a BIG shock, I think it's time you had something to eat and rested" I shuffled her out the door and nodded my thanks to Mum. I'm pretty sure she was shaking her head as the door closed behind us.

"Here we go" I sat Rose on the outside of the kitchen bench with a sandwich and some Lemonade. Fang and Iggy sat at the table watching (and in Iggy's case listening), Mum had disposed of the rest of the flock for us for the second time today.
"Max" she asked through a mouth full of sandwich.
"Yeah"
"Can I ask you something?" I nodded picking up the cheese and opening the fridge.
"Will I ever get to go home" As soon as it was out she turned her face away from mine. I looked at Fang and Iggy for help but they had done the same. Mentally swearing at them I turned to Rose.
"Maybe someday, but Rose you need to understand we have you here because we want to protect you and find out why you were released" She faced me.
"What do you mean released?" I sighed.
"Me, Fang, Iggy, and all the other kids, we had to escape because people were doing horrible things to us, you were released and given a family, we want to know why" She nodded. I knew it didn't make much sense to her, it still didn't make much sense to me, but I was trying.
"We're going to try and make you as at home as we can, we really want to make this work, but we need your help to Rose" I held my hand out and she took it.