FELT PRACTICALLY BLINDED by pain and shock and had so many tears streaming from my eyes that I could barely see where I was flying.

I opened my mouth and shrieked, as loud and as wildly as I wanted. “Ohhgodohhnooooiiihitjusthurrrtssssooomuuuch!” The scream was torn from my throat by the wind, and finally I choked, sucking in air, half sobbing, my voice raw from yelling for so long.

In overdrive, I can hit speeds of close to three hundred miles per hour, and so in less than half an hour I’d gone into the next state over. Now utah stared back at me blankly as I slowed and came to a drifting stop at the top of a tree. I had to take a minute out of my new life to … break down and sob like a baby. I worked my way steadily through rage, hurt, embarrassment, back through rage, and then to some random emotion that seemed to need ice cream.

Gulping, I saw a heart-stoppingly familiar black streak in the sky, headed right for me. Was he coming just to say good-bye?

I desperately prayed that he hadn’t heard any of my meltdown. The whole thing was such a huge slobbery mess that I couldn’t take one more iota of emotion.

“Hey,” I said hoarsely, as he landed on a neighboring branch, making the tree sway. I wiped my face quickly, knowing I had to look like hell, my eyes bleary from freeze-dried tears.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said, with his funny lopsided smile, and I almost burst into tears again.

My eyes must have been full of questions, because he shrugged and said, “Things seem somewhat under control. Jeb wants to take over the flock again. I figured I’d let him and Angel duke it out.”

I’m supposed to be brave, right? Prove it, Max. I forced myself to ask: “Are you, um, going back?”

“Nah,” he said, brushing hair out of my face. “Figured I’d rather hang with you.”

I felt hope light my face, and I didn’t try to hide it.

“You know how I feel,” said Fang, and he bent down, holding on to his branch, and kissed me. I felt like we were suspended in air, and having Fang here, knowing that he, at least, had chosen me, everything seemed a smidgen less agonizingly painful.

“So what should we do now?” I asked breathlessly when we broke away from each other. I’d been the leader so long — I was always the one who decided where we were going, what we were going to do. It felt freeing to be asking him to decide.

“Actually, I’m thinking … Vegas,” he said. “Let’s go to Las Vegas.”

“Las Vegas?” I repeated stupidly.

“Yeah,” he said, trailing one finger down my cheek. I felt a coolness there, as if he’d hit a stray tear. “I figure — not too far away, full of freaks so we’ll blend, plenty of weird stuff to do …”

I smiled and breathed easier for the first time in hours. “Sounds perfect.”