28

So Busted

“What?!” Max said as he came upstairs and shut the door behind him.

“Those things ruined my robot!” Min yelled.

Max’s stomach sank. “What? How is that even possible?”

Javi was reading on the couch. “Elmer looked fine when I cleaned up.” But they sounded nervous.

Min was fuming. “That’s not the point. Elmer’s tech is fine. He’s perfect, actually, just like I built him.”

Max felt a wave of relief. “Well then, what are you freaking out about?”

His sister looked irate. “What am I freaking out about? Hmm. Let me think . . . Oh yeah . . . how about: They PEED all over him! Elmer smells like a PORT-A-POTTY!”

Max couldn’t help himself. He cracked a grin. “Seriously?” He tried to keep a straight face but couldn’t hold it in. “They used Elmer as a litter box?” He spit out the beginning of a laugh, then lost it and began full-on spluttering. “Bwhahahah! A . . . litter . . . box! Bwahaha . . . hahahhaha!”

“It’s NOT funny,” Min said. Her face had gone strangely pale.

“It kind of is,” Max said, regaining his composure. “I mean, Elmer can still fight, right? He works? So what’s the big deal? It’s not a beauty contest.”

Javi looked at their cousin sympathetically, trying to help. “Maybe it will help keep the other robots away?”

Min shook her head. “Max, I am telling you, those cats do not belong here. They have to go. You have to take them to a shelter . . . like, tonight.”

Javi sighed. “I hate to say it, Max, but your sister has got a point.”

“I didn’t let them out,” Max said indignantly.

Javi shrugged. “It kind of doesn’t matter. They could have broken something, maybe even hurt themselves. This really isn’t a great place for them. It’s not their fault or anything. They’re too little to know any better.”

“THEY’RE CATS! THEY’LL NEVER KNOW ANY BETTER!” Min stormed into the lab and slammed the door behind her.

Javi seemed sad. “Sorry, bud, but I’m going to have to find a shelter for them.”

“Now?” Max felt his eyes prickling.

Javi pulled an iPhone out of their pocket and shook their head. “Too late to take them tonight—but it needs to happen tomorrow.”

“It’s not fair, Javi! Just give them a chance, they’ll get better!”

But Javi had already started pulling up shelters on the phone. “I wish we could, little man.”

Max was crushed. He walked, stunned, into his bedroom and sat down at his computer. A row of flashing notifications waited for him.

Messages from his friends . . . about the level. The one they were all supposed to turn in together. Tonight. The one I never finished.

“Oh no,” Max muttered. He quickly started typing. “I’m here, it’s all good!”

But it wasn’t, not really. The contest deadline was tomorrow night, and they still had a lot of work—a ton of work, actually—left to do.

Why does this all have to happen at once?

Max opened the level editor and waited for it to load.

I won’t let them take the kittens. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way.

Max started working, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the kittens. What if they really did have to go tomorrow? What if this was the last time he would ever get to have pets in the house?

He couldn’t concentrate, but he kept working until his bedroom windows had gone completely dark. He felt his stomach growling and looked up.

Time for a snack break.

He got up and went to the kitchen.

The house was quiet.

As Max grabbed a banana from the bowl on the counter, he looked back down the hall. He could still see light coming from beneath the lab door.

Min must still be working.

Javi had gone back to the guest room; Max could hear the music. He peeled his banana, thinking about the kittens again.

Max threw away the peel and stuffed the rest of the banana into his mouth. Quietly, he walked to the basement door, unlocked it, and went downstairs.

“Meow?” He couldn’t find the kittens in the shadows of the musty basement room. “Hey, guys, where are you?”

He heard a noise by the old cardboard box on the floor and made his way over to it. When he looked in he saw the kittens, curled up together, taking a nap.

“Aha! There you are.”

Max laid a hand gently on each of their furry backs. He could feel their breathing—even their hearts pounding, he thought, as their little bellies puffed in and out.

It was reassuring. He felt like everything was going to be okay, somehow. As long as they were with him . . .

I wish I could keep you in my room with me.

Just while I work.

That’s when he got a great idea. Max smiled to the sleeping fur balls in the shadowy room. “Hey, guys? Wanna have a sleepover . . . ?”

Before they could answer—which they couldn’t—Max carefully closed the lid and carried the box upstairs. He locked the door behind him, crept into his room, and closed the door as quietly as he could.

The kittens slept through the entire journey.

Max put the box on the floor near his desk so he could look down at them by his feet, watching them while he worked.

Much better, he thought, turning his attention back to putting the finishing touches on his level.