Rufus’s front door creaked open. Jonah rushed down the steps, and ran across the lawn. He hugged X hard around the waist.
He was crying.
“You’re staying,” he said.
“Am I?” said X, his hopes rising.
“Yes, because I said so.”
“Ah. Thank you, Jonah. Yet we must respect your mother’s decision, whatever it is. Promise me.”
“Okay. I mostly promise.”
“Only mostly?”
“Yes, but that’s a lot. I was gonna say sorta.”
Jonah released X from the hug, and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his navy fleece, which was covered with dog fur. A bit of fur stuck to his face. X thought with a pang of Uhura, and wondered if she had survived. He couldn’t bring himself to ask.
“If my mom won’t let you stay here, you and me can get our own house,” Jonah said. “You can be in charge of cooking, and I can be in charge of answering the door. Those are the only big things.”
X smiled, and tousled the boy’s hair.
“Why is everybody always mussing my hair?” said Jonah. “My hair is already mussed.”
X shook his own mane.
“Mine, too,” he said. “It’s even more beleaguered than yours, I fear.”
“That’s okay,” said Jonah. “Our house isn’t going to be a hair-combing house.” He paused. “Zoe says you don’t have magic anymore.”
“That’s true,” said X. “I am entirely … I confess to not knowing the word. Magic-less? Un-magic?”
“I think it’s just regular,” said Jonah.
“Yes,” said X. “I am just regular now.”
“Are you sad about it?” said Jonah.
“No, I like it,” said X. “I feel like my body, my blood, everything, is finally my own. I don’t know if that makes sense?”
“No, it’s weird.”
Jonah wiped his eyes on the spot where he’d wiped his nose. Something seemed to occur to him.
“Hey, guess who did a really big magic trick, actually,” he said. “Wait, you don’t have to guess—it was me.”
“Indeed?” said X. “Tell me.”
Jonah flashed a giant grin.
“I’ll show you,” he said.
He dashed back up the steps, opened the door, and shouted inside: “Come here. Come on. Here we go. You can do it, girl.”
Uhura came waddling out.
She was still underweight and lethargic, but clearly healthier. She recognized X and trudged heroically toward him. He met the dog halfway, and picked her up. Her fur was shining again. She felt … substantial. She licked his neck.
“Her tongue feels sandy, right?” said Jonah.
“It does,” said X.
“I made her better,” said Jonah. “Boom! And guess who’s so happy now?”
X knew but pretended not to.
Jonah raced back to the door. Even before he’d opened it all the way, Spock bolted out, and ran circles on the lawn.
Zoe and her mother stepped outside a few minutes later. The afternoon was transitioning from blue to black. X could see the mountains in the distance, their silhouettes shaggy with trees. Zoe still had a cut on her cheek, as well as light bruises on her cheekbones from when Regent had sent her out of the Lowlands—they were a faint copy of the ones that X had had since he was 16. Zoe walked behind her mom with her eyes cast down. Her mother looked exhausted and frazzled, and like she was trying to suppress her fury.
“Uh-oh,” said Jonah.
X held Uhura tighter.
“Remember our promise,” he told Jonah.
“Our mostly promise,” said Jonah.
Zoe’s mother looked X up and down. Her eyes landed on the fresh cuts in his forehead, the scars on the back of his hands. Her anger seemed to dissipate infinitesimally.
“Zoe has told me some things,” she said. “I don’t think she’s told me everything. But I’ve decided to trust her. Just tell me no one is coming after you ever again. Say it so I believe it.”
“I’m free,” said X. “I hardly believe it myself, yet it is true.”
“They don’t want him anymore,” said Jonah, “’cause he’s just regular now. Look …” He stamped on X’s foot, causing X to cry out. “See!”
“Literally, what is wrong with you, Jonah?” said Zoe.
“What?” said Jonah. “I’m helping!”
“Okay, listen,” said Zoe’s mother. “I’m going to have to tell Rufus who you really are. I can’t imagine how that’s going to go. If he doesn’t flip out—”
“He’s not gonna flip out,” said Zoe. “He’d do anything for you. Plus, my god, he’s the emperor of mellow.”
“If Rufus doesn’t flip out,” her mother continued, “you can stay in the shed, and he’ll sleep in the living room with Jonah. For two weeks. That’s it. Then Zoe and Jonah and I are moving to the Wallaces’ old place, and you’re gone, I don’t care where.”
“Thank you,” said X. “I hardly know how to—”
“Stop,” said Zoe’s mother. “I’m not doing this because I like you. As far as you know right now, I only like you a tiny, tiny bit. Do you understand? I’m doing this because I love my daughter.”
X nodded. Uhura licked his neck again.
“Mom’s not really mad,” said Jonah. “That’s only her pretend-mad voice.”
“No, it isn’t,” his mother said. “This is my for real mad voice.”
“Nope,” said Jonah.
“Yeah, it’s at least twenty percent pretend,” said Zoe.
Her mother rolled her eyes, then pulled Zoe and Jonah close and hugged them hard.
She spoke kindly to X for the first time.
“Zoe says you met your mom,” she said.
“I did,” said X.
“I’m glad,” she said. “Can I ask what it was like? Uhura, stop licking him.”
“It’s all right, I’ve missed Uhura’s company,” said X. “Meeting my mother …” What could he say? “Meeting my mother made me feel something I have only ever felt with Zoe: a little bit whole.”
Zoe’s mom gave him an appraising look.
“Okay, I like that,” she said.
She seemed to notice for the first time how filthy X’s clothes were. He looked self-consciously at his feet.
“I know you’re used to washing in rivers,” she said. “But it’s time to try a shower.”
X followed Zoe to Rufus’s small, wood-paneled bathroom, and watched as she turned on the water. There was a piece of transparent plastic hanging in the chipped pink tub. It was covered with irregular splotches of color and words that X couldn’t read.
“I don’t even want to know how long Rufus has had this shower curtain,” said Zoe. She turned back to X. She must have seen how intently he was staring at it. “It’s a map of the world,” she said. “Have you never seen one?”
Embarrassed, X said only, “Where are we?”
“Here,” Zoe said, pointing. “And this is Massachusetts, where we borrowed the orange boat. It’s on the Atlantic Ocean. See?”
“Show me more,” said X.
“This is Texas, where you captured Stan in the hair salon,” she said. “This is British Columbia, where we found my father. This is Portugal, where Regent’s dad made wine. This is Ukraine. What else? This is London, where Ripper lived when she—when she actually lived.” She paused. “That’s enough for now. How hot do you like the water?”
“I’m not sure,” said X.
“Right,” said Zoe. “Well, tell me if this is too hot or too cold?”
X reached into the shower.
“It is neither too hot nor too cold,” he said. “It is just right.”
“You sound like Goldilocks,” said Zoe. “Goldilocks is—”
“I know who Goldilocks is,” said X.
Zoe kissed him.
“Well, okay, then.”
She sprayed something into the mist.
“Eucalyptus,” she said. “My mom’s into it.”
Zoe identified the bottles that stood like soldiers along the edge of the tub, and suggested that X use her mother’s soap (which was pear green and flecked with flower petals) instead of Rufus’s (which was actually several small wedges of soap stuck together).
“Thank you for the tour,” said X. “I believe I have all the information I need.”
“Okay,” said Zoe. “Just be careful in the tub—it’s slippery. It’d be messed up if you survived the Lowlands just to bust your head in Rufus’s bathroom.”
“I will not bust my head,” said X. “You have my word.”
“I’m serious,” said Zoe. “You’re not a superhero anymore.”