“My boy, my boy,” she cried, pushing the hair out of Max’s face and squeezing his hand. “Welcome home.”
Tears welled up in Max’s eyes and he closed them tightly. It was as though Miss Awolowo had wrung out a sponge: all the emotions that Max had walled away so carefully within came seeping out. Max found himself sobbing into her shoulder, his grief and fear and triumph rushing out along with his tears.
“It is all right.” She sighed. “You are home again and you are safe.”
“I know,” Max answered, wiping his nose on his arm. “It’s just been…a lot.”
“More than a young man should bear.” She nodded, rising to her regal height and holding his hand. “But you return a hero, nevertheless. A champion of Rowan! Let’s take you to your father.”
Cooper nodded good-bye and strode off toward the gate as Miss Awolowo herded Max through the foyer and up the stairs. Max could hear students yelling and bustling about as dinner was concluding in the dining hall.
When the door opened, Max and his father looked at each other a long time. Mr. McDaniels examined Max from head to toe, pausing at his arm and hand, which were still enveloped in their spongy wraps.
“You’re hurt,” he said quietly.
“I’m okay, Dad,” said Max, stepping inside and burying himself in his father’s shirt.
Max did not leave his father’s suite for several days. Classmates knocked and Connor slipped funny little notes under the door, but Mr. McDaniels permitted no visitors while Max cocooned, trying his best to put the horror of his experience and his black thoughts behind him. As students took their finals, the McDanielses played cards and listened to ballgames on the radio, living off sandwiches brought up by Mum or Bob.
One night, however, Max decided to leave his father’s room and visit his own. The rumor of his appearance spread before him, and he was forced to ignore many curious faces on the way.
David was inside their room on the lower level, pulling on his shoes.
“Hi, Max,” said David softly, finishing his knot.
“Hi,” said Max, gazing around the room and at the brilliant stars above.
“I was just going to feed Nick,” said David.
“I’ll do it,” said Max. “I want to see him.”
Hanging on David’s wall was a poster of the Rembrandt painting from which Astaroth had smiled at him.
“That was the painting, you know,” Max said quietly. “You were right.”
David nodded and went to throw the poster away.
“I wish I’d been with you, Max,” David said solemnly. “I wish they’d taken me, too.”
“I know,” said Max, glancing at the trash can. “Astaroth’s awake now. He’ll be getting stronger….”
David looked intently at him.
“We will, too.”
Nick was already pacing his stall when Max arrived at the Warming Lodge. Upon hearing Max’s voice, the lymrill froze and swiveled his head toward the door. Max smiled and tightened the thick leather apron around his waist. Instead of rushing Max, however, the lymrill merely inched forward and sniffed at his ankle. Giving Max a reproachful glance, Nick climbed back into the small tree that served as his perch. He yawned and swished his tail slowly from side to side.
“Come on, Nick,” Max pleaded, stroking the soft red-and-copper fur at the top of his head. “Don’t be mad. I didn’t mean to be away so long.”
Nick twisted in the tree to expose a sinewy back full of lethal-looking quills. The branch groaned under his movements; Max guessed Nick must weigh a hundred pounds or more of muscle and metallic quills. He buoyed the straining branch with a hand.
“Come on,” Max cooed. “Let’s go outside. It’s nice out. I may have even seen a skunk. A nice juicy skunk! Hmmm?”
The lymrill did not move. Max slid around the tree branch to glimpse his face. Their eyes met for a split second before Nick closed his and pretended to be asleep.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Max snapped, scooping his hands under Nick’s warm belly and hoisting the heavy animal onto his shoulder. The lymrill relaxed his body into a dead weight.
Max staggered to the food bin.
“Food for one sulking Black Forest lymrill,” he growled, stepping back as the bin shook. Crate upon crate of metal bars and writhing, furry rodents appeared. Nick was not inclined to make the ensuing job any easier, remaining draped over Max’s shoulder as he grunted and loaded the crates onto the wheelbarrow. Muttering under his breath, Max wheeled the towering mound outside.
Instead of pawing at the crates as he usually did, Nick focused his attention on Max. He tensed his muscles and lowered himself to the ground as though preparing for a charge. Taking the hint, Max sprang away through the dark clearing, cackling as the lymrill closed the gap to swipe at his feet. Nick gave an irritated yowl as Max suddenly Amplified and rocketed away. Max whooped and galloped back toward the pond, leaping across a patch of marshy grass. Finally, Max heard a patter of little snorts right behind him. He braced himself for the inevitable blow that caught him a nanosecond later.
Nick pounced on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Even through the leather apron, the claws felt dangerously sharp. Nick looked down his snout to survey Max with shining eyes. With an anguished mewl, he suddenly nipped Max’s nose hard with his small, sharp teeth. Max yelped and rolled Nick off of him. The lymrill trotted back toward the wheelbarrow in visibly better spirits.
While Nick finished washing his claws and snout in the pond, Max rolled the empty crates back to the Warming Lodge. When he returned, he found Nick waiting patiently outside, his wet fur sleek and glistening. Despite Max’s pleas and threats, the lymrill refused to come inside. Old Tom chimed eleven.
“Well, I have to get back,” said Max finally, striding off toward the hedge tunnel. “You can stay here or come along.”
The lymrill waddled alongside him, its quills vibrating occasionally in sudden fits of satisfaction.
On the night of the farewell feast, Max held Nick in his lap and gazed out his father’s window, watching students file toward the Sanctuary in chattering groups. Mr. McDaniels was rummaging through his closet while Nick tried to wriggle off of Max’s lap to swat at the fireflies that hovered just outside. One group of students stopped and turned to look up at the window. Max recognized Sarah, Lucia, and Cynthia in their formal uniforms. They waved; Lucia blew a kiss. Max waved back and hoisted Nick up to see Sarah, who had helped to care for him while Max was gone. In his excitement, the lymrill tore a hole in Max’s shirt and knocked a vase off the small writing desk.
“How do I look?” asked Mr. McDaniels.
Max swiveled around and saw his father wearing a navy jacket and yellow tie. The jacket was several sizes too small and strained to contain Mr. McDaniels’s ample waist.
“Er, you look nice,” said Max.
“No, I don’t,” said Mr. McDaniels, laughing. “Nolan’s jacket looks ridiculous on me.”
“Then why are you wearing it?” asked Max.
“Because I can’t exactly wear Bob’s pajamas to the farewell feast,” said his father, laughing.
“You can go without me,” said Max, turning back around to watch the fireflies.
His father sat beside him.
“We can’t stay in this room forever,” said Mr. McDaniels. “I think it’s time, Max.”
Max listened to the breeze rippling through the orchard and let Nick waddle off him to sprawl on a mound of laundry.
“Everyone will want to know what happened,” said Max. “They probably blame me for Alex.”
“They might,” said his father simply. “And so you might feel bad and I might look ridiculous, but we’re still going to live our lives….”
Max glared at Nick, who was nibbling at his last pair of dark socks.