Page 38 of Search for the Lost

Tad lunged at the branch and just missed it, falling into the water and disappearing from sight with a despairing mrowwwwlurgggle.

“Come on!” Leo swung the trunk around, almost knocking Crispin down. Still carrying it, he ran down the trail, pulling Crispin along at mad pace. They pounded the ground with their pajama-covered feet, their tails bouncing jauntily behind them, until Leo found another break in the trees by the river. The structure of the hallway had now entirely vanished, and the stars were bright sparkling pinpricks against a velvety blue night sky. The crescent moon was as yellow as the eyes of the Wild Things.

Leo shoved the branch back out into the bubbling water, which caused it to shed some of its bright yellow leaves that floated swiftly away. “Here he comes!”

Tad had surfaced again, paddling madly to keep afloat, his fur matted down and his mouth set in a grim line that showed his sharp teeth. When he saw the branch, he reached out and caught it. Although it bent like a fishing pole landing a whale, it held.

Crispin breathed a sigh of relief.

He and Leo hauled it in, drawing the bedraggled cat out of the water and up onto the shore. The three of them collapsed into a heap on the soft red grass, breathing heavily from the effort.

Crispin’s panting slowed at last. He sat up, thankful they’d been able to save the cat.

Leo was sitting up too, staring at Tad, who was busy licking his paw and smoothing out the fur on top of his head.

“Are you all right?” Leo asked at last.

“Am I all right? AM I ALL RIGHT? The whole castle just turned into a jungle and dunked me into the middle of a freezing cold river.” He shuddered, his teeth chittering. “No, I am not all right. Who did this?” He gestured to the wild jungle around them and glared at the passing river.

Leo blushed. “It’s my fault, I’m afraid⁠—”

“It wasn’t you. It was me.” Crispin wasn’t going to let Leo take the fall for this one.

Leo frowned. “But you didn’t know the story⁠—”

“Yes, I did. Because I’m you now. I’m in your head.” Crispin gestured to his white pajamas. “See? We’re both Max. But I’m Chaos. And I don’t have a good handle on that, but maybe I better figure out how to get one, because we might be stuck like this and I might always be you and….” He knew he was babbling, but he couldn’t help it. He was exhausted, and he was not himself in every sense of the phrase, and he just wanted to go home to his comfy tree house and his semi sentient furniture and those lovely crumpets....

He started shaking, and then he was sobbing in the most ugly way, and Leo was there, holding him tightly in his strong Crispin arms. And thinking about that just made it worse. I’m never getting back to me.

“There, there. It’s okay. Let it out.” Leo was calm, sweet, and full of love—just what Crispin needed.

He bawled his eyes out, shaking like a leaf in Leo’s embrace.

“It’s… I can’t. I just want…” Hades’ horns, I can’t even string a full sentence together. “I want to go home.”

“Me too.” Leo held him while Crispin’s tears flowed like a molten river, his heart squeezed itself too tightly in his chest, and his mind went numb.

And then Leo was crying too, and Crispin squeezed him and held him tightly back. Maybe we both needed a good cry.

He felt soft furry arms enclose them both, and blinked at Tad in surprise.

The cat shrugged, bobbing his head. “It just seemed like maybe you could both use a hug.”

Crispin laughed and put his arm around Tad’s bright orange fur. “Yes, we could. And what a soft hug it is.”

Tad purred with pleasure. Then he stiffened under Crispin’s arm. “Um… guys?” Tad let go and backed away, his eyes going almost as wide as Aspin’s had. “What are those?”

Crispin let go of Leo and turned to see what Tad was looking at.

Four pairs of huge glowing yellow orbs hung in the darkness under the jungle canopy. Well, three pairs and one set of tiny ones. The Wild Things.

The creatures loomed over them—well, all except the tiny Minkis monster, who attempted to loom but failed rather spectacularly due to his limited height.

The Wild Things gnashed their teeth, which glistened in the moonlight, dripping with what Crispin assumed was venom.

As one, they threw their giant heads back and roared, a terrible sound that blew his hair back and stirred his heart to fear.

Is this how it ends? He tried to scramble backward, but that way lay only the river, its cold currents plunging into rapids just a few meters away. Still, that might be the better way to go….