liver and part of your spleen that you lost.”
“Hm,” I said. Of course, they’d totally saved my life. No one had been more surprised than me when I’d opened my eyes and realized I was still alive.
For the first time I was being allowed to sleep in my own room, not at the care center. I sank gingerly onto the bed, telling myself that I would get under the covers in just a minute.
Then I felt eyes watching me and I turned my head to see Io, quivering with anticipation.
“Hi,” she whispered. “Are you awake?”
My eyes were open, but whatever. I nodded. She scrambled up onto my bed, picking her way over my legs.
“They said I had to be so, so careful,” she said, making her way up to my shoulder. She put one paw on me. “I’m going to help you get better! Look! My wings are so big now!”
She screwed up her face as if about to exert the supreme effort of popping her wings out, but I said, “Can I see them tomorrow? So tired.”
“Sure!” she said and patted my arm until I caught on and moved it so she could snuggle up right next to me.
Her soft breathing calmed me down and I was about to drift off when I became aware that someone was coming toward me. In less than a second I was wide-awake, tensed, ready for fight or flight even in my pathetic condition.
“You two look cozy,” Max said. “Room for one more?”
“Yeah.” I tucked Io closer to me and she moved her paw over my chest. Max lay down on her other side and stroked the soft, thick fur.
“Oh, my god, she’s like the size of Iggy’s shoe under all this fur!” Max said.
“I know, it’s weird,” I agreed.
Max stretched her arm over Io and smoothed my mohawk down. She looked at me.
“If you say how cute I was as a baby, you’re gonna have to leave,” I said, setting some boundaries.
“Did I tell you how cute it was when you started to fly?” she asked solemnly.
“Yes.”
“Did I tell you what your first word was?”
“You said it was why. Gazzy said it was doughnut. Fang said it was no bath.”
Max snickered, then changed tactics. “What’s it like having an amazing revolutionary for a mom?”
I knew she was expecting a jokey answer—we were kind of tiptoeing into anything deeper. But I used to see posters with her picture, or Maximum Ride on a T-shirt, and it had been like—seeing hope? The idea that someone even halfway like her could exist in the world… I had fantasized about her swooping in and saving me and the lab rats. That was before I even knew she had wings.
Now I understood that heroes were more complicated than that. Heroes could get hurt, be angry, sad, scared. That didn’t make them less of a hero.
Max and Fang, my parents, were heroes.
Max had fallen asleep, waiting for my answer. She and Io were breathing in rhythm, both of their mouths open just a bit.
I reached out my hand and touched Max very softly.
“It’s amazing,” I whispered. “It’s the best.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, James Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal, and he has also received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Confessions of a Murder Suspect and the Maximum Ride and Witch & Wizard series, and his books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide. A tireless champion of the power of books and reading, Patterson created a children’s book imprint, JIMMY Patterson, whose mission is simple: “We want every kid who finishes a JIMMY Book to say, ‘PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK.’” He has donated more than three million books to students and soldiers and funds over four hundred Teacher and Writer Education Scholarships at twenty-one colleges and universities. He also supports 40,000 school libraries and has donated millions of dollars to independent bookstores. Patterson invests proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books in pro-reading initiatives.
Gabrielle Charbonnet is the coauthor of Sundays at Tiffany’s, Crazy House, and Witch & Wizard with James Patterson, and she has written many other books for young readers. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and a lot of pets.
JIMMY PATTERSON BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULT READERS
James Patterson Presents
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco
Becoming the Dark Prince by Kerri Maniscalco
Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely
Twelve Steps to Normal by Farrah Penn
Campfire by Shawn Sarles
When We Were Lost by Kevin Wignall
Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman
Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
Sword in the Stars by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan
The Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson
The Angel Experiment
School’s Out—Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The Final Warning
MAX
FANG
ANGEL
Nevermore
Maximum Ride Forever
The Confessions Series by James Patterson
Confessions of a Murder Suspect
Confessions: The Private School Murders
Confessions: The Paris Mysteries
Confessions: The Murder of an Angel
The Witch & Wizard Series by James Patterson
Witch & Wizard
The Gift
The Fire
The Kiss
The Lost
Nonfiction by James Patterson
Med Head
Stand-Alone Novels by James Patterson
The Injustice (previously published as Expelled)
Crazy House
The Fall of Crazy House
Cradle and All
First Love
Homeroom Diaries
For exclusives, trailers, and other information, visit jimmypatterson.org.
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