HE SIGHT OF dawn breaking over the horizon, slowly dispelling the darkness with tendrils of pink and cream, literally the start of a brand-new day—you know how that fills people with joy and hope and a will to somehow go on?

Those people are nuts.

Ourdawn showcased a football field of destruction: charred earth, shattered cacti, a blackened spew of twisted metal and melted wires, plus the mangled wreck of some poor sap who had been created to be a weapon in someone else’s war.

We were all waiting in the living room when the armored Hummer arrived in a cloud of dust. Angel and Gazzy were asleep. Nudge was sitting, unusually quiet, her chin resting in her hands. Iggy and Total were snoring on the other couch.

I was purposely not looking at Fang. After making some progress, so to speak, with whatever was happening between us, I felt all my protective shields firmly locked in place again. I couldn’t believe how vulnerable I’d allowed myself to be. It had been a mistake.

Fang was going to kill me when I told him. Yeah, I was looking forward to that.

When the car arrived, I checked it out from behind a curtain. Dr. John Abate stepped out of it, looking anxiously at the evidence of the fight. I opened the front door of the house.

“Hi,” I said. I’d met him several times, and he seemed okay. I knew he was one of my mom’s best friends, and his face showed the worry he was feeling.

His face relaxed, and he came over. “They got the worst of it, huh?” he asked, gesturing to the piles of remains.

“Always do,” I said tiredly.

“Max!”

I froze at the new voice. Yes. To make my evening of horror complete, Dr. Brigid Dwyer stepped out of the Hummer and hurried over to me with a big smile, her red hair flashing.

I allowed myself to be hugged.

“I’m so, so sorry about your mom,” she said sincerely. “We’ll get her back—I promise.”

I nodded, then stood there like a dummy as the rest of the flock came out of the house to be hugged by Brigid. Watching her hug Fang, seeing his arms go around her, was almost enough to make me hurl.

I might need to rethink my protective armor a bit.

“Let’s hurry,” said Dr. Abate. “We’ve got a plane waiting. On the way, you can fill me in on what happened. And vice versa.”

“Max,” said Nudge, and instinctively I braced. I’d known something was up.

“Get in the car, sweetie,” I said, pretending not to notice anything was wrong.

She swallowed. “I’m staying.”

“You can’t. It’s not safe.”

“I’ll be safe at the school, in the dorms,” she said. She gestured limply to the house, its surrounding wreckage. “I can’t do this anymore. I want to go to school. I just want to be a kid. At least for a while.”

I had a million excellent arguments why she was wrong and making the biggest mistake of her life, and I opened my mouth to get started, and then it hit me: it would be pointless. Nudge wasn’t four or five. She was around eleven and would be as tall as me in another year or so. She really meant shecouldn’t do this anymore .

If she didn’t want to be with us, didn’t want to fight, she would get hurt—bad. She might cause one of us to get hurt or killed. I needed my flock to be fierce, bloodthirsty warriors. Nudge’s heart just wasn’t in it, andI couldn’t fix that . Oh, God.

I swallowed hard, making my chin stiff, my mouth firm. I’m the flock leader becauseI can do the gnarly jobs. “You maynot get your wings taken off,” I said sternly.

Wonder dawned in her big brown eyes as she realized what I was saying. A huge smile lit her face, and she hugged me fiercely, forcing the air from my lungs. “You may get your ears pierced,” I croaked, trying to breathe. “Or your nose. Or—actually, nothing else. And you absolutely, positively, may never,ever get your wings removed, or I swear to God, I will come kick your skinny, fashion-conscious butt into next week. Do you hear me?”

“Yes!” Nudge said happily. “Yes, yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love youso much!”

Ever notice how often people say that right before they say good-bye?