OVE ON?” I tried to ignore the squeak in my voice. “Have you been breathing next to Gazzy too long? What the heck are you talking about?”

“We used to be one flock,” Angel said, steely-eyed. “Now it’s like we’re a flock of four and a sub-flock of two. So maybe you guys should go be your own flock, by yourselves.”

“Listen, missy,” I began, letting danger drip from my words. “I’m still here, day in, day out, doing for this flock. So don’t be telling me —”

“I don’t have to tell you or anyone else anything!” Angel exploded. “We have eyes! We see how it is! All you think about is how to get away with Fang for a while! So I think it’s time you really got away!”

“I planned the whole birthday party!” I said. “For all of us! I helped create this house! For all of us!”

I shot looks at the rest of the angry — and in a few cases alarmed — flock. Dylan was frowning slightly, his face guarded. I wondered if he’d had anything to do with this.

“Angel?” said Jeb. “Be careful. I agree there might be need for a change. But maybe if I come back, we can all work toge —”

“Max.” Angel interrupted Jeb as if he didn’t exist. Her voice was quiet and calm. “I love you. I don’t wish you harm. But like you’ve said yourself, we’re only as strong as the weakest one of us. Right now, you’re making the flock weaker because your head and your heart aren’t with us. It’s time for you to move on. It’s time for me to be the leader.”

“You?” Jeb looked confused. I guessed he’d missed the first eighteen times Angel had tried to take over the flock.

“Oh, not this again!” I burst out, waving my arms. “Just once I’d like to be able to turn around without you stabbing me in the back!”

Angel’s face paled, but she stood firm. “Max, this has been coming for some time. You’re trying to have it all, and you just can’t. Look — it’s time for a vote. Max goes. Everyone who agrees, raise your hand.”

I blustered some more, but my heart sank as Iggy slowly raised his hand. His nose had stopped bleeding, but dark bruises were forming around his eyes.

Nudge, my Nudge, was next. Her cheeks were scraped, her shirt collar flecked with blood. She looked near tears, like she was making an impossible choice — but still choosing not me.

Gazzy raised his hand, not looking at me. His knuckles were swollen and scratched. And of course Angel had her hand up.

“Fang?” I turned to him. He wasn’t looking at me. He was glowering at Dylan, who was ever-so-subtly shaking his head. Like they were having some private guy talk.

“Fang! Tell them they’re overreacting.”

“Everyone is overreacting,” Fang said very slowly. “Even you.”

For a moment, I was speechless. Was Fang turning his back on me? Did Dylan have mind control powers like Angel? Was he doing a number on Fang?

Anything seemed possible.

“You’re my family,” I began, then stopped quickly as my voice threatened to break. I cleared my throat and tried again. “After the last time the flock split up, I swore I would do anything to keep us together, no matter what, for always. But it kind of takes all of us wanting to stay together.” I let out my breath slowly, to keep from crying. I shook my head. “I think you guys are making a mistake.”

The room was completely still and silent.

“But I can’t make you want me to stay.” I blinked a couple times, as if I would suddenly wake from an awful dream into a better reality — like, some stranger coming at me with an ice pick, ready to gouge my eyes out.

“So you’re sure? You want me to go?”

Nudge’s lip was quivering; none of them seemed happy, but they didn’t seem to be changing their minds either.

I couldn’t look at Fang. If he’d been holding up his hand, I would have wanted to just drop into the canyon like a stone, wings tucked in tight.

I nodded and swallowed. “Okay, then. Later.”

I turned and sprinted out through the smashed deck doors, bounced once off the deck railing, and launched myself into the sky, which seemed a million times bigger and wilder than it ever had.