I was avoiding the amazed looks we got from people who recognized me and the kids from TV or from attending one of the events we were part of as the face of CSM. I knew pretty much no one, though Nudge was practically shaking with excitement as she saw more and more famous people. Not all of them were Spanish even.

“Get some food, Nudge,” I whispered. “Stop gawking.” She blushed and picked up two trays and quickly filled them to overflowing. I knew that was just to start. The rest of us filled two trays just as high and found a table to sit at amid our own gawkers. It was really starting to make me nervous. What would happen if these people decided to 'go public' with our whereabouts? Things would go even more downhill than they already were.

“Chill out, Max.” I jumped and looked up at Fang in surprise. He pulled out a chair and turned it around as he sat down so his arms and chin rested on the back. I rolled my eyes and did an automatic 360 scan.

“Any of these people could say something or even just drop a hint and the whitecoats would find us just like that,” I replied, using my flock voice. He had done the same when he told me to chill out.

“But they're not going to because all of them have signed a confidentiality agreement and because they don't want you to talk about them being here.” It was too hard to argue with logic. Grr. I decided to change the subject.

“Where's everyone else?” I asked.

“In your room. They'll come down and tell us when the program's uploaded. Mike said he didn't want to leave the computer for even one second now that the hacking program's being put in. He started talking about wreaking world-wide havoc again. I had to get away,” Fang answered and quirked his lips. Remember, we were still in public. I smiled back and pushed one of my trays in front of him.

“Might as well eat. All the food you can want for free,” I said, then thought about the hospital bill we were sure to get. After all this was a hospital for super-rich celebrities, not bird-kids on the run. “Sorta.” He quirked his lips again and started eating. Mom, Jeb, Ella, Akila, and Omen came down soon after that. Iggy was staying so he could report to us when the program was done. We spent an hour eating, most of that hour was refilling our trays. What can I say? We have a fast calorie intake and we didn't know where our next meal would be coming from. Even if we decided to stay a little bit longer for whatever reason, something could happen that would make us have to leave, for example whitecoats appearing or Flyboys attacking (the new ones. We really needed to come up with a name for those. Maybe 2.0's because they were based of Omega 2.0's design. Hmm). Speaking of whitecoats appearing, Dr. Alverez appeared by our crowded table.

“Mike says the program is done. He's already working on Iggy's chips,” he said.

“Is that why HE'S not the one telling us this?” I asked. It seemed suspicious to me. Hadn't the whole point of Iggy staying up there and not eating been to come down to tell us when it was done? Had Doc Alverez attacked him?

“Yes. He also said that you wouldn't want him to leave Mike alone with me. Something about my doctor's coat?” I smiled and stood up.

“That's my boy. Come on everybody,” I called. They all rose and dumped their trays (there were only wrappers left) and followed me to our room. I made sure Dr. Alverez was in front. I was quickly learning that the School and this new organization knew a lot more about us than we ever imagined. For example, they knew enough to make up a lie like that. It kind of worried me that the doctor was so nice and he wasn't absolutely fascinated with our anatomy, though he was interested by it. Just not as much as a doctor who saw it for the first time. Something about their scientific minds wouldn't let them just leave it alone.

“Now, what you're about to see may upset you, but Mike said it was necessary in order to connect to the chip,” Doc said. My bird-kid senses tingled. This didn't sound good. He opened the door and let us go in first. What I saw made me snarl like a dog.