Maxwell was slowly waking up but his vision was dark as he could barely make out what looked like one of the masked shadow like figures he saw drag him out of the police precint that Lilith held him captive in. He could barely make out that it was carrying him.
"A dónde me llevas?" said Maxwell slowly.
He heard the masked figure speaking but his sense of hearing wasn't able to hear what it was as he was going back and forth between coming to or groggy. He tried to stay awake but felt like the sleepiness was fighting back.
"Please...don't." Maxwell said slowly.
His vision was slowly coming back and getting clearer, his sense of hearing was slowly returning and getting clearer as well.
"Wake...up." came the voice of the masked figure.
He could barely catch what this masked person was telling him since his hearing was slowly getting clearer but still was droned out by his grogginess.
"Buddy...wakie wakie." came another voice.
Maxwell's vision got clearer and he made out a figure that looked familiar.
"Eda..." said Maxwell a bit louder.
As his vision was now clearer, he had seen the figure and he saw Lilith's evil and enraged face. He was wide eyed with shock and fear.
"Wake up!" came Lilith's voice loudly.
Maxwell jerks awake and wakes up to be in the arms of the masked figure, wide awake and he sees the three masked people, one being tall, one short and the other slightly shorter than him. All dressed in black. His fear returned as he tried to make a break for it but the masked figure slightly shorter than him held him closely in it's arms, he shook all over as he saw the figure raise a finger around where it's lips should be, signaling him to silent. It was reaching for it's mask to take it off.
"Misericordia, te lo ruego!" begged Maxwell.
The masked figure holding him took it's mask off and it revealed to be Luz. She grinned and placed a hand on his cheek.
"It's alright, Maxie. No one will hurt you." Luz told him kindly.
Maxwell felt relieved and hugged Luz, shedding a few tears as he felt really relieved to see her. The small masked figure and the taller figure removed their masks and it revealed to be Eda and King.
"Oh thank the lord for you guys." said Maxwell his voice shaky. "I was scared for my life."
"Is it normal that teens can be emotional at times?" asked King.
"That would be a yes, furrball." Eda told him with a grin and rolled her eyes.
"Maxie, what happened in there?" asked King.
Maxwell had remembered what happened when he was taken inside the police station and he informed them on what went on from what Lilith and him told each other when Maxwell told them the insults that Lilith and him exchanged, Eda laughed a bit from what insults he said towards Lilith, especially when he burped in Lilith's face. He told him Lilith's attempt to bribe him with strawberry pie and how he pied Lilith in the face like it were joke, Eda tried hard not to laugh so hard about it, but when he told them the other bribe that Lilith offered him which left them silent as if worried but he informed them he denied Lilith's bribe of joining her but felt touched by the fact he would rather stay with Eda, King and Luz. Eda nearly burst out laughing when he told them he hocked a big amount of saliva in Lilith's face. But they grew alarmed for his safety when he told them how Lilith had him held down and she was going to stab him with a dagger when he begged for his life. But told them someone had used some kind of smoke to knock everyone out and he was dragged away by three masked figures that turned out to be them. They were just glad he was alive. Luz hugged Maxwell tightly to her.
"Luz, too tight, can't breathe, spine is breaking." said Maxwell weakly.
Luz loosened her grip and hugged him gentler to her body, causing him to breathe in and out in relief.
"Did Lilith hurt you?" asked Eda.
Maxwell blushed and looked away as he knew he forgot one little detail he left out but he felt uncomfortable with telling them that.
"I can't." said Maxwell shaking.
"What do you mean you can't?" asked Eda starting to lose a bit of patience. "What did Lilith do that has you so afraid to say what it is?"
Maxwell let out sigh and looked up at them.
"She placed her hands on me, again." said Maxwell finally. "She made a pass at me."
They were not liking what they heard. Lilith placing her hands on him where he's uncomfortable was wrong the first time but a second time was just evil. Eda looked angry.
"If I see Lilith again, she's dead!" growled Eda.
"Lilith told me I was guilty of a crime." Maxwell blurted out.
Eda looked at Maxwell as she had that look that every mother had when they found out that someone hurt their kids and left the mother really irate.
"What did she say you were guilty of?" asked Eda with her fist clenching.
"I don't know, she didn't tell me." answered Maxwell shaking in terror. "Please stop looking at me like that."
Eda was about to say something in protest but she saw Maxwell look away with a tear leaking out of his eye. She knew this was probably scaring poor Maxwell as she unclenched her fist but didn't like the fact that Lilith is hurting him.
"Well, when Lilith said you were guilty of a crime, she's got to be lying. She probably said that to scare you." Eda told him.
Maxwell nodded as if agreeing with Eda. Luz placed her hand on Maxwell's chest as if to comfort him which seemed to work but also left him blushing a bit.
"Miss Eda, please forgive me for what I'm about say but I hate Lilith, she's a bitch." Maxwell said sadly.
Maxwell realized he just said a swear word in front of Eda, Luz and King as he covered his mouth with his left hand as if to prevent himself from saying anything. He waited for Eda to say something that would be directed harshly at him but when he looked towards her, he saw a smile.
"I'm not offended, kiddo. I know Lilith is a really mean lady." said Eda in agreement. "But on a side note, watch your language, young man, understand?"
"Y-y-yes ma'am." said Maxwell nervously stuttering.
Maxwell was surprised by her reaction but saw Eda's facial expression change from seriousness to a smile.
"But I'm glad your okay." said Eda calmly.
"How did you guys get me out?" asked Maxwell changing the subject.
"We used the sleepers smoke mist potion bomb. It works like a smoke bomb but acts like a grenade. Once it you toss it and it hits a hard surface, the mist fills up the place, no matter where you are, but it lasts for about thirty minutes before it dissipates, anyone exposed to it will be out cold for an hour or two. We had to wear gas masks to prevent it from knocking us out when we went in to get you out of there." explained Eda.
"I loved it when Eda shouted fire in the hole." giggled Luz.
Eda burst out laughing as she felt proud to hear someone say that and she felt thrilled to say such a cool phrase when doing what she did. Maxwell was understanding what they told him but a little shocked at the same time.
"What about the hooded figure?" asked Maxwell curiously.
"Sorry Maxie, he got away. While we were saving you, we saw him disappear into the crowd." said King apologetically.
Maxwell looked down at the ground, disappointed in himself.
"I'm sorry guys. I must be more trouble than I'm worth. I keep getting into trouble or getting us into trouble, something keeps going wrong as soon as I'm involved, you guys constantly having to save me from someone or something that is out for my blood. You guys must get tired of saving me. I'm probably worse than Eda's curse." said Maxwell disappointed.
Luz placed her hand on Maxwell's cheek and gently pulled his face up to face her. Eda even felt as though that Maxwell shouldn't put himself down.
"Maxie, don't talk like that about yourself." said Luz trying encourage him.
"Maxwell Logan, your not worse than my curse. Don't put yourself down like that." said Eda lending her support.
"They're right. Saving you is no problem, we've saved Luz plenty of times and we'd always come running to her, we'd do the same for you." said King encouraging him.
Maxwell felt like his heart was touched by such words as he shed a tear that leaked down his cheek. He pulled Luz in a hug as he felt her hug him back.
"No one's ever cared about me this way before." said Maxwell sadly.
They went silent from hearing this. They wondered what happened to Maxwell before they met him and wondered if it was something tragic. Luz and King didn't want to bring it up because they felt it was personal to him or they figured he should talk about it when he's ready. Eda on one hand, she may not have looked it but she felt a need to protect Maxwell, even if she didn't always show it. Luz helped Maxwell up to his feet.
"Maxie, need a minute alone?" asked King looking concerned.
"No, I'll be fine." said Maxwell trying to be brave.
Maxwell started to walk off as they followed him. Eda lead the way as they knew that if they had to find the hooded figure, it had to be another time. Eda placed her hand on Maxwell's shoulder as if to show some emotional support which left him blushing deeply.
"Maxie, I'm sorry for what happened to you." said Eda softly.
"It's alright." said Maxwell with a hiccup.
"Just asking out of curiosity but Maxie, do you have any idea what Lilith wants from you?" said Luz concerned.
"I don't know. But when she bribed me to go with her to let her teach me how to control this power, I don't wanna know what she wants from me." said Maxwell with a shiver of disgust. "But I don't think we wanna know."
They all shivered in disgust from how they agreed that what ever the reason for what Lilith wanted with him was probably something that could make them lose their lunch. They tried to change the subject for now.
"When you guys did that body swap. Did you really swap Lilith's body with a Cerberus canine?" asked Maxwell curiously.
Eda smiled and burst out laughing with a snort at the question, leaving Maxwell to wonder if this was a joke.
"I sure did, ha!" laughed Eda. "If she thinks she was top dog when that happened, she was right about one thing. She is a dog."
Maxwell tried hard not to laugh but he couldn't hold back as he let out a cough and laughed at the idea of the funny adult reference that Eda made with the joke.
"Eda got Maxie to laugh." said King in a sing song voice.
"I'm not laughing." said Maxwell trying to choke his laughter.
Maxwell was going to protest but when Eda playfully patted Maxwell on the back, he let out a loud yet sharp groan of pain. King's laughter stopped as Eda looked concerned.
"You okay, Maxie?" asked Eda.
"I'm alright, I'm just tired." Maxwell said with a grunt.
"Sure you don't need us to look at something?" suggested Luz.
Maxwell went silent and blushed as deep as he ever did as he shook his head. They saw that this might be an uncomfortable issue for him.
"No offense but I don't want to talk about this right now. I need to lay down, I don't feel good." Maxwell lied as he looked away. "I know your just looking out for me but I really don't want to say anything else about this."
As they made it back to the owl house, they all had one thing on their minds. Something was wrong with Maxwell, was it because of what Lilith was trying to do to him, was it because he had a rough day, was he just tired or was it something else that he's not telling them. As Maxwell went to go lay down and rest, he shed a tear into his pillow. As Luz and King went to go wash up, that's when Eda stood nearby and watched Maxwell from a distance. After hearing what Lilith was doing to him or what she tried to do to him, an instinct of hers was rising, a protective instinct.
