It was hard to resist the temptation not to go up the stairs and peek at whatever Tom was doing. Jake and Marco reassured us he was fine, and we didn't want to attract attention, but boy did that get aggravating after a while.
I was pacing automatically on one strip of the carpet, head down, when I ran (more accurately: shuffled) into Marco, going perpendicular to me. "Hey, watch it," he muttered.
"What, you've got a claim on that square foot?"
"Yes, Rachel, I have a claim on this square foot." He turned around and started going the other way.
For a brief minute I was pushed to action. I cut diagonally across the room, picked up one of the (video game) controllers, and waved it in Marco's direction. "Don't you want to play?"
"No."
And all shred of energy left me. I restarted pacing, taking care to go perpendicular to Marco this time.
>Rachel, you were going perpendicular previous to that.>
Parallel then. I wasn't so hot in math either.
I restarted pacing, taking care to go parallel to Marco. It wasn't long before I caught Cassie doing the same thing out of the corner of my eye. Jake was trying to resist, but I could see his fingers tap mindlessly against the couch. Ax was staring into space.
I sat down next to him and whispered, "How long have you been in morph?"
>squared over two…plus C…>
"Ax, not math. Okay? Not now. How long have you been in morph?"
>>That was math.
You're right, okay, it was. But none of us were really all together that day.
>I think we were all together. And had been for the past day.>
Ax…
>Yes?>
Never mind.
>Approximately two hours,> he droned.
"Ax!" Have you ever screamed and whispered at the same time?
>No.>
Ax, that was a ret-ritt-not meant to be answered.
>Then why did you ask it?>
Be…cause. Okay. Have you ever screamed and whispered at the same time, and Ax, don't answer this. ? That's what I was doing. "Ax!" I hissed. "You gotta demorph!"
>I what?>
This was bad. This was seriously bad. I stood up. "Jake?"
He spasmed. "Wh-what?"
"Jake. Hello. Earth to you." I knelt down on the floor. "Ax needs to demorph. Talk some sense into him."
He looked at me blankly.
"Ax. Our friend."
Oh man, this sucked. We were going insane. I grabbed Cassie's hand, knocking her off-balance and throwing her to the floor. "Cassie. I need your help. Now."
She jerked her head side to side for a moment, as if brushing off the shroud of lethargy that lay over us. "With what?"
I pulled her down to whispering level. "Ax. He needs to demorph."
She looked at the clock. "Oh…" Then walked over and nudged Ax lightly. "Hey, you have a minute? C'mon. I've got some, er, Cinnabuns."
If that wouldn't wake him from his stupor, nothing would.
>…as x goes to infinity…>
"Bun-zuh?" she added half-heartedly.