Four days passed and Maxwell kept his little plan a secret. He wouldn't mention it out loud ether. He was at the owl house and both Willow and Gus were visiting as they were hanging out with Luz and Maxwell.
"Luz, do you think Eda's alright with us here?" asked Willow a bit nervous.
"Last time we were here, that conjuring did make her irate." said Gus remembering.
Luz was about to answer but Eda walked into the room as she apparently heard their conversation.
"I may not have liked the fact that you three animated my house but that conjuring was totally a cool sight to see. But I've calmed down from the situation." Eda explained.
Willow and Gus let out a sigh of relief when they heard about it.
"Where's Maxie?" asked Willow curiously.
"We just got done with some chores around the house and Maxie is getting done with what he was told to do." answered Luz.
"Maxie's quite a strong boy in the body. He actually did the heavy lifting around here before and wow, he's got the strength of a hulk." stated Eda. "By the way, you two academy kids, you two are at least nice to Maxie as you are with Luz?"
Eda was giving Willow and Gus a warning look as she crossed her arms. Willow and Gus knew that she wouldn't feel pleased if they were picking on Luz or Maxwell. They nodded.
"We're nice to him like we are with Luz." answered Gus with a gulp.
"He's a little shy yet I think he just needs hugs from his friends." stated Willow.
Eda uncrossed her arms and let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good to hear. Even though I enrolled Luz at that crazy school after that principle dweebus lifted the ban on Luz and she'll be attending that school once the next semester starts, I don't want anyone hurting Luz while she's there. So you three can look out for each other when she's there, understand?" Eda explained with a warning.
Luz felt as though Eda's mama bear instinct was kicking in as she expressed her worry for her and as Eda walked over towards Luz, she smiled as she placed her hand on Luz shoulder.
"Try to teach those dweebs a little bit of that bad girl magic." Eda encouraged Luz.
Eda gave her a wink and smile as she placed her hand on Luz's cheek and used her other hand to briefly tickle Luz's belly, causing her to giggle and twitch.
"That tickles." giggled Luz.
"I always knew kids are vulnerable to tickling." giggled Eda.
"Does Maxie know about Luz going to Hexside once the next semester starts?" asked Gus curiously.
"What do I know about?" came Maxwell's voice.
They all turned to see Maxwell entering the room, he was using a small towel to wipe his face and neck as if he finished an intense work out.
"Oh, he doesn't know, does he?" said Luz.
"What don't I know?" asked Maxwell looking confused.
"Should we tell him?" suggested Eda.
Maxwell didn't really know what they were talking about. He could read their minds and find out but he didn't feel the need to do that.
"Maxie, you know that dweebus factory they call Hexside? Well, Luz ban for a full pardon and I enrolled her there. Sure, I want to teach her magic but I felt as though I might not always have the time to do so. So I enrolled her so she can learn magic there, but I still will teach her what I know as well. Yet it wasn't easy since I had to make up for some of my crazy antics when I went to that place. So Luz will be attending there once the next semester starts." explained Eda.
Maxwell stared at them as if shocked. He was in disbelief and dropped the towel he had in his hands, it flopped to the floor. An overwhelming feeling of sadness came over him. They all looked at him as if worried.
"Is he alright?" said Gus worried.
"Maybe this is a shock for him." guessed Willow.
Maxwell's face turned to Luz and towards Eda. He felt the need to cry but tried to choke that feeling down.
"Maxie, you alright? Say something." said King.
Maxwell hung his head and walked towards the door. He was walking off as he left the room and opened the door, closing it behind him. They all were left to wonder what was going on since they didn't know if this was bad news or good news.
"Was it something we said?" asked Willow.
"He didn't look happy that Luz was going to Hexside next semester." stated Gus.
"Maybe he's upset because he doesn't want to be separated from Luz?" guessed King.
They all looked at King and looked down at their feet. It seemed as though King guessed the truth.
"Maybe he wants to go school too? We don't know much about how school was for Maxie, he didn't tell us much, other than he went through school way too fast because he was one of them smarter kids who went to a different school for kids like him." Luz explained from what she remembered.
Willow and Gus felt bad for Maxwell but did their best to understand this sort of situation.
"Well, he got banned but now that Luz isn't banned. Maybe he just feels left out." said Willow.
"Well, even if Maxie did go to that dweebus factory, still, I don't like the idea of him going there. Unless that place was on fire, lets get front row seats." said Eda annoyed.
"Eda, wouldn't it be alright if we talked to Maxie about this?" suggested Luz.
"Don't know if talking to him about this would help this time. He barely wants to talk about any of his problems." Eda argued.
"Couldn't we just ask him? If he decides not to go, than we'll drop this subject like a hot potato." Luz argued back.
Eda could see that Luz was arguing about who knows what's best for Maxwell but Eda didn't seem to want an argument to break out. She sighed deeply.
"You guys go talk to him. I need a moment to think this over. But if he says no, this subject is never going to be brought up." Eda instructed.
They nodded and both Luz, Willow and Gus walked towards the door and opened it. They walked outside to find Maxwell pacing back and forth with a depressed look on his face. They could tell that Maxwell was upset.
Eda was sitting on the couch and looked worried. King was in the room with her as if wondering what she'd do about this situation.
"I'm trying to protect Luz and Maxie. Hexside chews up anything unique and spits out bland mush. I may have enrolled Luz because I have faith in her but Maxie. He's sensitive, people have hurt him, both inside and out. People have hurt him till he cried and I don't want anyone hurting Luz or Maxie." said Eda wrestling with what to do.
"I chew insects. I turn them into mush." said Hooty.
"But that's my beef. Does he need to draw his own conclusions like Luz?" Eda said annoyed.
"My beef is insects. They're what I eat." said Hooty.
"This isn't helping." said Eda looking annoyed.
"All I know is, you taught me and I turned out just fine." said Hooty.
Hooty was letting out a few hoots like he was singing a musical tune but was off key. Eda felt horrified on the inside to hearing this.
"I gotta get that boy into school with Luz." said Eda looking wide eyed.
Eda got up and had a talked with King about what they're about to do as she wanted to at least have King informed about this. King showed he understood. Eda and King walked towards the door and walked saw Luz, Willow and Gus in front of Maxwell but he hung his head in sadness with his back facing them. Maxwell shook from the body as it was a sign of him crying. Luz tried to comfort him by placing her hand on his shoulder, he only shook a bit more from shedding a few tears afterwards. Eda and King walked over to them teenagers and stood in front of them once they reached them.
"How's he doing?" asked Eda curiously.
"Not sure. I asked him why he's so upset and he just turned around and told us he didn't want to be seen like this." answered Luz.
"Maxie, what's this about? When we told you that Luz was going to attend Hexside, you looked so depressed. What's bothering you, buddy?" asked King curiously looking worried.
"Maxie, do you actually want to go to Hexside with me?" asked Luz attempting to get Maxwell to talk.
"Yes, no, maybe, a little, possibly. I don't know." said Maxwell sounding confused.
They all could see that he was probably feeling a mixture of emotions and he felt as though he couldn't figure out how to let them out. Luz attempted to get Maxwell to talk about this as if it would be therapeutic if he let out some steam.
"Maxie, when you found I was going to Hexside. How did that make you feel?" asked Luz.
"I...can't." said Maxwell sadly shaking his head.
"What do you mean you can't?" asked Eda not understanding.
"I can't talk about it. No one would understand." Maxwell answered.
"We need you to help us understand." said Eda.
Maxwell clenched his fists and felt like this was bringing up miserable memories. They could see this might be a deep seated issue from how he was reacting.
"It's not fair." Maxwell blurted out.
"What's not fair, buddy?" asked King starting to worry more.
Maxwell fell silent as he felt as though he nearly let a secret slip he lifted his head up.
"I need to be alone." said Maxwell unclenching his fists.
"Maxie, your bottling up your emotions and you need to let them out." Luz told Maxwell.
"I'm not bottling them up." argued Maxwell.
Maxwell turned around to face them and was walking off. Luz tried to grab hold of his hand but he gently brushed it off. Luz never seen him reject any attempts of consoling him from her and she knew that this was a real problem.
"Maxie, we have to talk about this." instructed Luz.
"It doesn't matter. There's nothing that can be done about it." said Maxwell trying hard not to break.
"Maxie, you need to let this out." said Willow.
"There's nothing to talk about. Why would anyone be interested." said Maxwell getting frustrated.
"Maxie, we're interested because we're worried about you and we care about you." said Gus trying to assist.
Maxwell ignored them and just as he was about to reach the door of the house, that's when Eda was losing her patience.
"Maxwell Logan! You stop right there!" Eda said sharply.
Maxwell was now filled with fear and stopped, becoming submissive. Eda stormed over to him and Maxwell turned to see her he shook from fear.
"Don't hurt me!" pleaded Maxwell.
"I'm not going to hurt you. We're trying to help you." Eda said firmly.
"Eda wait, he's a bit sensitive." called Luz.
"He's got nothing to be afraid of. Maxwell Logan, you we can tell you got a problem that's bothering you. Your bottling up your problems and it's not healthy to bottle them up, we're going to sit down and talk about this and we're going to talk about this because the people that care about you want to help you. You've got nothing to be afraid of." Eda said firmly. "Look at me and focus on me."
Maxwell felt so terrified that he shook all over. It seemed as though when Eda put her foot down when issuing authority was when Maxwell became submissive, frightened of suffering Eda's wrath. Luz, King, Willow and Gus came over and Eda placed a hand on Maxwell's chest to reassure him as her expression went from annoyed and intimidating to peaceful and compassionate. Maxwell shed a tear and fought really hard to not break.
"It's alright, Maxie." said Eda softly.
"It's kind of a long story but it's hard to explain." said Maxwell blushing.
"Well, we're all ears. What ever it is, we can help you through it." Luz kindly reassured.
Maxwell looked down and suddenly gotten an idea.
"I could show you." said Maxwell with a gulp.
They all looked a bit confused. How can he show them what he was talking about? Maxwell let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around Eda in a hug. Eda was now clueless at what he was getting at but figured this would lead to something.
"I know a way to show you what happened to me but each one of you is going to have to have your hand placed on me. All will be explained, just trust me." said Maxwell explaining what to do.
Luz was the first to place her hand on Maxwell, placing her hand on his shoulder. King walked over to him and wrapped his arms around his left leg. Willow and Gus came forth and Willow placed her hand on Maxwell's other shoulder, than Gus placed his hand on his back. Eda placed her hands on his shoulders as well. Maxwell closed his eyes and suddenly, they all were very still as their eyes turned completely white and what they saw was like looking into Maxwell's mind. They saw what looked like a lot of memories from Maxwell's mind.
The first memory they saw was what looked like when Maxwell was five and inside his bedroom while it sounded like two people outside his bedroom arguing loudly. Their shadows could be seen from the bottom of the door.
"He needs to grow up, he's being a baby." came a male's voice.
"He's only five years old. You can't expect him to grow up at that age. He doesn't have any friends." argued a female's voice.
This five year old version of Maxwell had shorter hair and was in a pair of blue pajamas. He looked like he was trying to block out the arguing, appearing upset.
"He's only like that because you keep babying him." snapped the male's voice.
"Showing him love is not babying him. It's unconditional love, something you refuse to show him." argued the female's voice.
"Sometimes he needs tough love." argued the male's voice.
"Like what, spanking him when he doesn't do what you want him to do, yelling at him when he makes a mistake? All you do is yell at him, you don't even tell him you love him, it's because of you, he's terrified to death of you." snapped the woman's voice.
Maxwell was walking towards the door and attempted to open the door.
"He needs to stop being such a wimp." argued the male's voice.
"He's not a wimp. Your a bully to him. How do you think he feels when he's going through such a hard time like this. He's been through enough." snapped the female's voice.
"If you and him don't like the way I do things, maybe you should leave." the male's voice snapped.
"Maybe I should leave, but I'm taking him with me." the lady's voice snapped back.
"And go where?" said the male's voice.
"Anywhere is better than being here with you. Your an abusive, sadistic, horrible man and my baby knows it. I know you've been cheating on me behind my back, you never even tried to apologize to our son. This is the last straw, I'm leaving and I'm taking him with me." snapped the lady's voice.
Maxwell opened the door and saw what looked like a man and a woman. The man looked like an older version of Maxwell and the woman had blonde hair like Maxwell. The man struck the lady across the face.
"Noooo!" screamed Maxwell.
Everything faded to black and another memory formed which showed Maxwell around the age of six. He wore a blue T-shirt and jeans and he was with the man that was from the first memory. They were in what appeared to be a car as the male adult was driving. Maxwell looked despondent.
"But daddy, I don't wanna go to this school for gifted kids. I want to go through school at my own pace like everyone else." said Maxwell looking saddened by bad news.
"Your going and you'll like it. They found out that your much smarter than the rest of them pants wetting dumbasses at the school you go to. The adult the makes the choices, not the child." said the man harshly.
"Mommy would let me go through school at my own pace like everyone else. She'd support my decisions, she'd be proud that I made my own choice." argued Maxwell.
"Your mother may have died from the sickness but I'm the adult in the house and what I say goes. Ether you man up right now or I'm going to pull over and I'll give you something to cry about. You understand me, young man?" the male adult said to the point of almost yelling.
This left Maxwell in tears and breaking down as he was looking like an emotional wreck.
"That's not fair!" Maxwell said in tears.
Everything faded to black once more and another memory formed. This time, it showed Maxwell a little older, hair a bit longer and wearing black T-shirt and jeans and at school. Some of the memories showed him getting the best grades at school but another memory showed him getting bullied and teased by a group of burly looking male students who were older and bigger than him. Maxwell tried to jump for what looked like his hat as they were playing keep away with it at his expense.
"Come on, guys. Give me back my hat." begged Maxwell.
"Try jumping higher, you dumb redneck. Billy Ray Cyrus could do it." teased one of the males.
One of them tossed the hat towards another and Maxwell tried to get his hat back but the larger male caught it before he could get it.
"Give it, come on." whined Maxwell.
"Stopped talking funny and maybe I will." teased another male.
"Please give me my hat back." said Maxwell sounding annoyed.
The male dropped the hat and Maxwell finally caught it but one of them grabbed his backpack and he turned to see one of them pulling the zippers down.
"Keep out of my bag." Maxwell snapped.
"Why don't you go back to the south and listen to Blake Shelton like the rest of you dumb hicks." said the male maliciously.
He turned his backpack upside down and all the contents in his bag fell out. Papers and a book or two falling out on the floor as he dropped the bag. Maxwell tried to pick everything up but one of them large males slapped Maxwell across his face as the group of bullies walked away, high fiving one another.
"Maxwell the dumb country bumpkin." they teased as they walked off.
Maxwell was suddenly bursting into tears silently. Many other memories showed him being bullied and teased by random kids. Many of them making fun of him for being a southerner, playing keep away with one of his belongings, sometimes one of them even beat him up. Everything faded to black and another few bits of random memories showed. One of them showed him being around the age of ten with his hair down to his neck and wearing a green shirt and jeans and was being berated by the man that was from his first memory.
"You screwed up again, huh? Why am I not surprised." the man scolded.
"But I'm doing my best, dad. One letter grade is not bad, they told me themselves." said Maxwell trying to appease him.
"Mistakes are for losers and bums on the streets. Do you want to be on the streets like a bum?" said them man almost yelling.
"No but..." Maxwell tried in vain to argue.
"Than stop fucking up in there. The day you stop screwing around is the day you pig out like a disgusting porker feasting on pies." the man berated.
Maxwell looked as though he got offended and was showing a bit of anger.
"But you never let me have any sweets. I've been trying my best at school but your just making it so hard with all this pressure you put on me." Maxwell snapped.
The man growled and slapped Maxwell across the face. This left Maxwell starting to tear up.
"You know crying won't help. Crying is for thumb sucking babies." the man yelled.
"I'm not a baby, your a bully." snapped Maxwell.
The man was enraged and grabbed hold of Maxwell's shirt and growled in anger.
"You've crossed the line, young man. Maybe a good punishment will make you behave." said the man threateningly.
The man was dragging him to another room of the house and Maxwell tried to get out of his grip but than a door closed and his screams of pain were heard as it sounded like a hand was punching and slapping against someone's face.
"Ow, ahhhh, stop it. Your hurting me!" cried Maxwell.
"You've been a bad little boy and now you must pay." shouted the man.
The memory faded and everything went to black and another memory formed as it showed Maxwell at the age he is now. He looked as though he packed up his bag and was sneaking out of the house he lived in from climbing out the window and he was running from the house. Shouting was coming from the window he came out of.
"Trying to escape, are we? That's it, I've had it! When I get my hands on you, I got a baseball bat with your name on it. You can't escape me!" shouted the man.
"Leave me alone, you bastard!" Maxwell shouted.
Maxwell was running down a neighborhood street and was looking like he was really fast and good at evading people as he went down one street, than another, going down one neighborhood and another. He must have reached the next town on foot and stopped at a local bus stop. He panted trying to catch his breath.
"Got to...hide...got to...get as far...away as possible." panted Maxwell. "Where's an officer...when you need one."
Maxwell had caught his breath but was waiting for the bus as if hoping to get as far away from this man as possible. He was about to reach for something in his bag but a brown owl swooped down and grabbed hold of his bag and flew off with it as it was surprisingly strong.
"Hey, come back here. If your hungry, I could at least give you some almonds from my candy bars." called Maxwell.
Maxwell ran towards the owl but it lead him to an old and very run down house. He saw there was very little light in the house but a door folded out and it provided some light. He saw the owl go through the portal as he chased after the owl.
"Give me back my bag!" Maxwell demanded.
He went through the portal and he was in what looked like a tented hut and he saw the owl with his bag but it dropped the bag on a table outside it. He followed it and saw a table at a local stand at the market place, he looked around and saw no one tending to it and he didn't see the owl anywhere. He went to the table and grabbed his bag.
"Lord forgive me." said Maxwell hopefully.
He ran off and looked to see if he could find someone who could help him but got lost in the process. The memory faded to black and after everything faded to black. Everyone's vision came back clear as day and removed their hands and arms from Maxwell while they all had shocked looks on their faces from everything they just saw. Now they knew how Maxwell got to the Boiling Isles and why he's there in the first place.
