5. Felix

5

FELIX

T oby and I spend the day putting things we've collected with Louisa's help in their rightful places. Max keeps muttering, "I thought their nest was supposed to be a cute little library in their room."

Silly man. Clue has many rooms. Hasn't he ever played?

Later in the evening, Heller shows up with the candlestick and something he calls a "metal pipe that's very close to a lead pipe and less likely to cause brain damage." Toby puts them in their rightful places too.

Then Louisa arrives.

"Max?" she calls out, which is quite rude. I'm standing right in front of her.

Heller wanders into the living room. "He's dealing with a situation in the bathroom."

"You mean the Conservatory," I correct him.

"Right," Heller agrees. "But Max really likes his houseplants, and since you moved them to a room without any windows, he's sort of freaking out."

Louisa laughs, which I don't understand. This is serious.

"He's not moving them, right? Because they belong there," I say.

Heller twists his lips into an expression that implies Max is indeed moving them, but he doesn't want to tell me.

I march toward the Conservatory, where Toby is holding a potted fern tightly to his chest.

"That's the first plant Eli and I bought together," Max says, trying to grip the lip of the pot.

"It goes in the Conservatory. You can't take plants out of the Conservatory," Toby tells him.

"Maybe I could get you a different fern to go in your Conservatory. A plastic one that won't die."

Toby bats away his hand. "Back off!"

I slip into the bathroom and stand between Max and the plant. The rest of the plants, including the bowls of outdoor herbs we rescued from Max's garden, seem unharmed.

"This isn't how it's supposed to work," Max says. "You're supposed to nest in your room. This is my bathroom."

"Conservatory," Toby and I chorus.

Louisa appears in the doorway, still smiling. "In the Gentoo community, we have a saying. There are some things in life you can't change: the color of the sky, the temperature of ice, and an omega's nest."

Heller crowds in next to her. "It's true. There's no point in fighting it, Max. You have to go with the flow here."

"But they're teaming up on me. I thought they were supposed to nest separately," Max complains.

"It makes sense if you think about it. They're mates and pregnant at the same time. Why wouldn't they nest together? Come help me bring in the linoleum tiles in my trunk," she says and walks away.

"What linoleum tiles? Why are you bringing linoleum tiles into my house?" Max rushes after her.

Toby sets the fern back down in the tub. "Clearly, he doesn't understand how a board game works. You need squares to walk on when it's your turn to roll the dice."

Heller throws back his head and laughs.

I don't know what everyone thinks is so funny.