Keelie is standing near the doorway like she doesn't know what to say. You know when your mom walks in the room after you were clearly having the gayest moment of your life and you're just like, what's the process here? Do we sweep this under the rug or is this one of those ‘let's-talk-about-it-awkwardly-in-your-bedroom-where-it-happened’ families? Well. That.

"So, is there something you want to talk about, Max? You know, before we get to the supernatural stuff?" She says it like she's nervous about it and Max takes that as she's hoping he won't talk about it. Realistically, he's ready to take it to his grave anyway.

"Well, just so you know, I will support you no matter what you decide. As long as you're safe and educated." She says. Which is just about the worst thing she could’ve said.

"Oh, no, no, no. Oh my god." Max covers his face with his hands, probably in a fruitless attempt to hide how mortified is.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about!" Keelie tries to console him.

"There's, there's n-nothing going on!" He says it louder than he means to, which is very suspicious and it's muffled by his palms. "I mean… we… we're… he's… I don't even know him that well."

"Really? I feel like you guys are always together." She says it honestly, almost to herself. "Well, either way. I support you."

Max sulks a bit, hands still over his face. "Thank you."

"Okay, here." She changes the subject quickly, but Max is still half living in that moment.

He peeks through his fingers and Keelie is holding the Black Prince in one hand and in her other hand, she's holding one of its tiny, succulent leaves out to him. His first thought is like, ‘how could you rip off one of his leaves?!’ But he could never say that out loud so instead he just shyly takes it and tries to ignore that their fingers brushed because it shouldn't matter if you receive some physical contact with people sometimes.

"What… um?"

"I'm not good at doing the whole guru thing so this is my way of explaining it. So buckle up, it's a lot to paraphrase, but I'll give it a shot." Keelie grabs the chair at Max's desk by the window where she leaves the wounded Black prince and sits backward in it. She holds out another leaf between her fingers.

"So, people like us are like black holes. Our natural state is an endless pit that just sucks up the energy of anything that comes near us. Yeah, it's a bit bleak, but here's the thing. There are different types of energies. There's an energy that comes from all living things on the human plane and then the energy that comes from the supernatural plane. The difference between the two is that energy from the human world dies and then becomes spiritual energy but that same energy can be created from nothing and spiritual energy can't. It has to be made by mortal energy dying. Are you with me so far?"

Max looks like he doesn't quite get it, but nods anyway.

"Cool. So the difference between the supernatural people like the people of this town and, say, a ghost, is that we also contain that mortal energy. It's what allows us to exist in the human world as we do. But it's the spiritual energy that gives us our extra gifts. So in order to keep all of that spiritual stuff from going out of control, you have to maintain a connection to both energies."

"Okay… I, I think I get it… but… um… what's with the leaves?"

"Plants are just like us, Max. They possess both energies and they live by absorbing both energies. By doing so, you maintain the connection. Now if you happen to, say, absorb too much water, you drown, right? Too much sun, you fry? We're the same. Max, you have mostly only ever absorbed human energy and then, suddenly, you're next to an endless stream of spiritual energy. Seems like things might get out of balance, huh?"

Max looks back at the leaf in a kind of way that lets Keelie know that he hasn't gotten the kind of explanation he was looking for. She laughs a little.

"You need to learn how to control how much of each you're taking in or you're going to feel overwhelmed. Look." She tells him, and his eyes are on the little leaf in her hand. In seconds he watches the life cycle of the leaf. It decomposes right there between her fingers and he instinctively finches away. "You need to be able to do this, too, Max. You need to be able to do it at will. And how to stop at will. For a human, it can be the difference between life and death. For you, it could be the difference between a werewolf having claws or a witch having magic."

"What do you mean? Um, about the claws and..."

"Well, say you're being attacked." Max looks at her like she's an insane person and Keelie puts her hands up in defense. "It's just a hypothetical. So a werewolf is out of control. They're seeing red and then they come at you and they've already shifted. But if you know how to distinguish between energies you can absorb spiritual energy and leave mortal energy. Do that enough and they'll be left with only enough energy to be in human form. For a while anyway."

Max looks back at the leaf in his palm. He's never really thought himself capable of much, so suddenly having a built-in super power is a trip. Then something clicked in his mind and he thinks about Nahri and Abbie and how much Keelie's words sound like an accusation.

“Do you think that’s… something I should be worried about?” He looks at her in a way that feels kind of defensive. But there’s no reason for that, right? So he just looks back at the leaf in his hand.

“No! No, of course not!” She laughs nervously. “I just… I want you to be all you can be. And I don’t really know how to do anything but fight, to be honest.” Then she pauses like she has something important to say but she’s fighting her pride. Finally, she drops her hands and sighs.

“Look, I haven’t really been saying everything I want to say… This whole domestic, having a family thing… it’s never really been my thing.” And that hurts a little, so Max tries not to feel like he might have to pack up, but Keelie is still talking. “I’ve always been the screw-up. And your mom… well, she was just everything everyone wanted her to be all the time. And it always looked so easy for her. She held the family together. And she was so strong. And proud. And the truth is… I don’t understand what happened to her. You were born and then a few years later you all just disappeared. And when I heard that you were in the system, I just assumed that they had… you know… told you everything.” Then she looks at him and his head is swimming and this whole time her voice has kind of sounded like they’re underwater but then she speaks again and it’s so crisp and clear in his ears he feels himself flinch a little.

“I think we should talk about them.”

“I don’t... think that’s a good idea.” And it just fell out of his mouth before he could stop it. “I don’t really remember anything before the accident.”

“What accident?” Keelie almost stands. She looks worried, like it happened recently or something and Max’s heart sinks a little bit with regret.

“S-sorry. I… I didn’t mean to bring that up.” Don’t panic. What are those plants again?

“Is that how you got that scar?”

Echeveria. Calocedrus. Sequoia. Aconite. The Beast. Max covers his face again and tries to breathe. If only Narhi hadn’t left. He always knows what to do.

“Max, are you okay?” Then Keelie is next to him on the bed and he’s feeling all that excess energy fading away.

There’s no panic. He looks up at her and he can feel her hand hovering over his back and he just knows exactly what she did.

“Y-ou can… how can… can I?”

Keelie laughs softly. “It’s a trick I learned for Usko, actually. Just take the build-up of spiritual energy and a bit of life energy for some of the nerves.” Max just stares at her, half in awe, the other in question. “Yes, you can learn to do it too.”

But that's not what Max is concerned about. “Why did Narhi need… something like that?”

“The kid has his own stuff to work through, Max. Everyone does.”

Max looks at his hands and feels a seed of guilt being planted in his gut. Of course, he knows that everyone has their own stuff they’re dealing with, but Narhi just seems like he handles everything so well. Here Max is freaking out about every little thing and leaning on Narhi at every roadblock while he’s been the kind of person who needs someone to literally take the energy away from him. Max wrings his hands out. Why can’t he ever be the brave one?

Then he looks at Keelie but only for a second. Baby steps.

“I don’t like… talking about it…” He says and Keelie looks like she’s about to just drop it, but Max keeps going. “Actually… I don’t really remember everything… but I was in a car. I-it… i-it was parked… o-on a slope. And the parking brake went out…” Keelie folds her hands in her lap. “They said it should’ve killed me. My… face… well, it was… it was i-in pieces…”

“Oh, Max.”

“I had… um… apparently… been in f-foster care… for a year already. So, um… I don’t… I don’t remember them… I’m s-sorry.”

There’s a hand on his shoulder but he doesn’t look.

“You don’t need to be sorry, Max. Don't ever think that.” It’s quiet and sweet and understanding and Keelie is that beautiful Calla Lily again, just glowing in the moonlight. She gets up. “I’m gonna order a pizza, okay?”

Max doesn’t say anything but he nods and even smiles a tiny bit. He feels exhausted.

“From now on we’re going to make sure to have dinner together every day, okay? And every day at dinner I want to hear about your progress. Whatever you’re confused about. Whatever you’re upset about. Whatever you’re happy about.” Keelie looks back at Max once before leaving the room. “We’ll work on it at your pace. But tonight, let’s just relax.”

When she leaves, Max feels better than he had felt earlier today and that’s really all he can ask for. He just sits there for a while, drowning in thoughts of Keelie and Narhi and how genuine they are. And how he can’t even talk about himself for a few sentences without lying.

His phone vibrates in his pocket.

Unknown:

It’s Abbie! I got your number with MAGIC. OOH.

He has just enough time to save it before his phone buzzes again.

Abbie+:

Made us a group chat.

Abbie+:

We’re meeting at the Apothecary after school on Friday to plan the hunt. Don’t be late!

Narhi+:

Dont tell me what to do

Abbie+:

Cool, see you there.

Max can’t help but laugh a little. Then his phone buzzes again and it’s Narhi. Just Narhi, no group chat, with one familiar text.

Narhi:

tell me plant fact

In his exhaustion, Max feels a weight in his chest. It’s warm and cold and he feels happy and sad at the same time. He silently wishes he didn’t want to see Narhi as badly as he does right now.

Max:

There are plants that grow in packs and they can work together to kill other plants in the area so they can hoard resources.

Those three little dots pop up like he’s typing and then they disappear. Then they pop up again for long enough that Max puts his phone down and lays back. After a while, his phone buzzes again.

Narhi:

Theres smthing sweet about thst

Narhi:

Theyr protecting eachtother

God, Narhi’s texts are grammatically atrocious. But Max likes his response anyway. He thinks for a minute about how it must’ve felt for Narhi to lose his family all in one day. He wonders if Narhi’s ever felt that crushing feeling of anxiety and loneliness. He wonders how he deals with it so well.

Max:

That’s a really glass half-full way of thinking about it.

Narhi:

im a glass half full kond of guy

Max:

I like that about you

That last one is hard enough to send and then Max musters up the nerve to say the thing he really wants to say.

Max:

But if you ever need to talk about the half empty stuff I don’t mind listening.

Now his heart is pounding so hard in his chest that he has to put his phone down and he can’t pick it up for a good minute and a half after it buzzes again.

Narhi:

you know max. I been wnting to say the ssme think to u

Max just laughs because it’s almost like Narhi's English gets worse every time he sends a text. And also, maybe a little bit because that makes him really happy.