OBODY MOVES UNTIL I TELL them to,” Angel said calmly, as if she’d been doing this — or at least watching R-rated Mafia movies after I’d gone to sleep — her whole life.

I must admit, as a tactic the shock factor was super effective. Everyone was frozen with disbelief. For a moment, it was as if we were all on the same team, trying to talk a psycho down from the ledge. Every single one of us wanted that gun out of that child’s hands.

The scary thing was, she didn’t look like a child anymore. She looked very, very focused. And I was very, very focused on the barrel of the gun.

“Put it down,” the guy holding Jeb told her. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, she does,” said Dylan seriously.

“Well, then, what does she think she’s doing?” the woman he had captive asked through clenched teeth.

“Okay, so what happens next is that everyone shuts up and listens to what I have to say,” Angel demanded.

Tell me to shut up, and I speak. “I’m listening, Angel. I

simply cannot wait to hear this one.”

She gave me a look. Listen to me, Max.

“One by one, and only when I say,” Angel began, “the grown-ups will turn around and walk away without hurting us. And if you don’t do it, I’ll pull the trigger. And then what happens?”

“You’ll kill Max,” Fang said hoarsely.

“Right.” Her grip, her arm, didn’t waver. “And you grown-ups know as well as I do that Max is the prize. The only prize that really matters to your boss. You know exactly who I’m talking about. He would be very, very mad if she died and it was your fault, wouldn’t he? That would be very, very bad for you. Wouldn’t it?”

“You wouldn’t kill a member of your own flock. You’d never do it!” the guy whose neck was under my foot cried from the floor.

“Is that what you think?” Angel smiled. “Max, what do you think?”

I only needed to consider for a millisecond. “No question about it,” I said, staring her down. “She would do it.”

“Give us one good reason why we should believe that!” squawked Dylan’s captive.

“In case you guys didn’t catch last week’s episode, I’m out of the flock,” I informed them, letting my voice shake as much as possible. “Angel has no allegiance to me. She’s wanted me gone for a long time. And in case you didn’t catch all of the episodes from the past year, Angel is … unbalanced.”

“Untrustworthy,” Fang seconded.

“Unpredictable,” Jeb added.

“Dangerous,” Dylan chimed in. The other kids were, thankfully, too scared to speak up.

“Right,” Angel said slowly. “That’s just the word I would use. But I think everyone understands that now. So, Dylan, you can let your lady there go. She’s under control. Nice and easy, ma’am. Just turn around and walk away.”

As Dylan slowly loosened his grip, the woman’s eyes glazed over, and zombie-like, she headed out of the restaurant. Angel’s gaze was back on me now, strong and steady.

“Max, I think the gentleman under your foot is ready now. Bye-bye. Leave. Don’t ever come looking for us again,” she told him firmly.

Even after seeing Angel in action all these years, I was still awed by her powers as I lifted my foot and watched the man peel himself from the floor and stumble out.

“And finally, you, sir, with the gun. You’re going to leave now without hurting any of us bird kids. Go home and forget everything that just happened. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, with a bizarre expression on his face.

Then he pulled the trigger.

There was a pop, and Jeb collapsed. The rest of us gasped in horror.

“I didn’t hurt any of you bird kids,” he said emotionlessly. “Just like you said.”

Looking dazed, he dropped his gun to the floor and ran out.