The theme song started. This time it was a harmonica playing the blues. The lyrics were sung by a deep male voice and came out in short raspy bursts.

Nate wandered out, singing along with the intro. He was wearing a bird mascot costume.

“Where is that annoying little mustard seed?” Nate started looking around. “I’ll show it who the bigger birdbrain is.”

“Birdbrain,” The bird flew across the room and out the other side.

Nate went chasing after it flapping his wings.

A platypus wandered into view.

“Oh no.” Nate came storming back into view. “I think I’ve been more than accommodating of your favourite animal so far. I refuse to have Australian wildlife wandering around the set, I mean book. I’m putting my foot down.”

Nate stomped his claw on the ground, the tiny clicks of claws hitting the ground wasn’t as satisfying as Nate had hoped.

“If you don’t get rid of it right now, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll go on strike. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll refuse to do anything. You won’t have any readers without me.”

The writer relented, and with a POOF and a white cloud of smoke, the platypus was replaced by a cantaloupe. It grew two arms on either side and rolled itself out of view.

“Why a cantaloupe?” Nate shook his head in disbelief. “Thank you.”

He wandered out of view as the theme song ended.

A book fell from the sky and opened to a blank page. A quill came floating down and started writing.

Rule 15 - Pets are not allowed outside the residential area.

The bird came flying back into the room. It took a quick look for Nate before it grabbed the book and flew off.

The scene changed to Luke’s room, where Matt was furiously pounding on the door.

“Lukey, you've got some 'splaining to do” A fevered yell from the other side of the door.

Nate rolled his eyes. Nobody is going to get that reference. How old are you? He thought towards the author.

It’s not even a real quote anyway. Nate crossed his arms and turned his attention to Luke.

“You’re going to have to open that door eventually you know.” Nate stood up and held a hand out to Luke who was still laying on top of the laptop.

“Thanks,” Luke took Nate’s hand and got to his feet.

The pounding on the door stopped, and there were sounds of a struggle outside the door.

“Lemme at 'em,” Matt’s voice sounded strained.

Luke opened the door to see everyone except Stan holding Matt away from the door. Dave had come back and was with the rest of them. Stan was standing between Matt and the door, trying to block it off. He was holding up a crossing guard’s stop sign.

Matt roared and threw himself free. He pushed past Stan and into the room. Stan spun around so fast that dust swirled up around him. He spun across the room and fell onto the couch. Five distinct shapes could be seen scattered through the trench coat, swaying slightly before they regained their balance and formed back into a single lump.

Meanwhile, Matt had pushed Luke up against a wall and was bright red in the face.

“What the hell are you playing at?” Matt slammed his fist into Luke’s chest.

Nate tried to leave but Matt turned to look at him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Just closing the door,” Nate said, closing the door and walking over to the bed. He sat down on the edge and tried to look nonchalant.

Matt turned his attention back to Luke and swung his fist again. This time Luke caught it in his massive palm.

“Sit down Matt. I’m Madame Midnight.”

Matt stumbled back and fell into the desk chair. He put his head in his hands.

“I thought we would just be friends,” Luke cracked his knuckles and looked down at the floor. “I felt a connection with you, and when you turned romantic I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Why did you lie to me?” Matt looked up at Luke.

Luke met his gaze. “I was going to tell you when we were friends. But then things got complicated.”

“You can say that again.” Matt had started to calm down. “This can’t happen. I’m not gay. I want to date a girl, and do things, with a girl. But you’re right. I feel that connection too. It’s more than just friendship.”

“Maybe you’re biromantic?” Nate suggested from the bed.

“I don’t need a label,” Matt shook his head, then looked back to Luke. “Can we just be friends? But special friends. None of that kissing of anything, but talking like we have been.”

Nobody makes up this fast in real life. Nate thought to himself. But I am glad it’s over.

“I would love that,” Luke got down on one knee, he still towered above Matt, but it helped. He held his hand out to Matt. “To a special friendship.”

Matt clasped Luke’s hand and got up from the chair. He gave Luke a massive hug and then fell back.

“Can I still tell people I’m dating Madame Midnight?”

Luke and Nate both laughed.

“Of course, you can.”

The three of them went to the door. When Luke pulled it open Alice spilled into the room. She was holding an empty glass up to her ear.

“Five cups of water a day, they say. That’s a lot.” Alice hopped to her feet and fled to the kitchen.

The distinct sound of several humans whistling came from just outside the door. And if you listened carefully you could hear the chittering of several small animals.

“Everything’s fine,” Luke clapped Matt across his back. “Just a misunderstanding.”

“That’s right.” Matt couldn’t hold back a smile. “He cut the connection with my video meeting, but he didn’t mean to.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Stacy said, winking at Jaz.

“That’s not what I saw in the cards,” Alvin said to himself. He shrugged it off and went over to the couch.

Stan came over and sat on the other end. He held up a sign.

Love reading?

“I would love to,” Alvin grinned. He loved sharing his passion with other people.

Alvin took out a deck and shuffled. He took out a purple handkerchief and laid it between them. He closed his eyes while cutting the deck and shuffling again. He finally pulled out three cards with his left hand and laid them on the purple silk. He flipped them over, one at a time. Again with his left hand.

“The Devil, the 10 of swords, and the Chariot,” Alvin said each name as he flipped the card.

The cards were colourful and vibrant, with the name of each card on the bottom.

Alvin’s face dropped at the first card, and by the last one, he had a worried expression.

“Things aren’t going well.” Alvin started slowly.

Stan held up a sign.

I know

“The relationship is over.” Alvin was still trying to be gentle, but he was getting confused.

Stan turned the sign around, looked at it, then flipped it back and held it up again.

“She’s moved on, completely out of your life,” By now Alvin’s confusion had reached its peak, and he blurted out the words.

Stan held up a new sign.

Good

Alvin couldn’t hold back any longer and he exploded.

“Good!? What do you mean good? I thought you were asking about a girlfriend, or maybe a crush you had on somebody. Don’t you care about her, and want this to work out?

Stan scribbled something on a sign, then crumpled the paper and threw it aside. He did this a few more times and the mound of paper balls grew. Minutes passed until the pile of crumpled paper was as tall as Luke, and towered above the couch.

Stan finally had an answer he was satisfied with and held it up.

No

The Bookcamtm swung around to where Nate and the rest of the gang had settled at the table. Alvin’s anguished cry cut through the air but they were deep in conversation and didn’t notice.

“Really?” Nate’s eyes were wide and his jaw dropped down. “Bear helped you?”

“Yup,” Dave smiled. “He’s not that bad once you get to know him. He agrees with us and wants to help spread the word. We printed up flyers and everything. I think we must have got people from half the rooms already.”

“That’s great!” Alice was drumming her fingers against her arm, not comfortable being at rest sitting down.

“By tomorrow everyone should know,” Dave shifted in his seat. He curled one leg underneath him and hung the other over the arm of the chair.

“What’s the next step?” Matt asked between bites of an oversized meatball sub. One of the meatballs fell out, rolled across the table and fell to the floor.

Alice couldn’t contain herself and jumped on top of her chair.

“On top of Spaghetti,” she belted out, then sneezed ACHOO.

She promptly plopped back down in her chair and continued drumming her fingers, this time on her knee.

Nate was staring at her open-mouthed, but the rest of the table had known her long enough to ignore her.

“I… I don’t know,” Dave answered Matt’s question. “I guess we try to find a teacher we can trust.”

I bet it turns out to be Goldpen Nate thought to himself, remembering the theme song. He decided not to say anything and wait for the writer to make it happen naturally.

He felt a sigh of relief from the writer.

“We’re going to need adult help,” Dave looked around the table. “I’ll talk to Nancy and Albert about it tomorrow, after the contest.

The group agreed and decided there was nothing else they could do tonight. The group split up, Dave went to fill Stan and Alvin in on what they had missed. Matt went to get some food from the kitchen, Luke went to his room, and the rest remained at the table, talking. Alice was at the table, but out of her seat and bouncing wildly.

Luke came running out of his room.

“Has anyone seen Wilbur?!”

“Wilbur’s loose?” Matt jumped on top of the counter and looked around with a terrified look in his eyes.

“I wonder if he went looking for food?” Nate got up from his seat to help look.

“Food!?” Matt screamed, looking at the cupboards next to his head. He lept off the counter and crashed onto the floor. He jumped to his feet, gave an embarrassed bow of apology then ran to his room and slammed the door behind him.

“Good luck on your search,” Matt’s voice sounded relieved.

Everyone joined in the search. Nobody had gone in or out since Matt had broken into Luke’s room. And the stairs were too steep for the little guy. The conclusion was that Wilbur must be on the main floor somewhere.

Nate was in the kitchen, checking cereal boxes. Alice was with him, checking the bottom cupboards that were closer to her height.

Luke and Stan were combing the living room from floor to ceiling. Checking each and every shelf of the bookcase, pulling the tv stand from the wall to look at the nest of wires behind it.

Stacy had pulled the cushions and pillows from the seats and was carefully checking the sofa.

The rest of them were split between the table area, and double-checking the bedrooms.

After an hour they regrouped.

“Do you think?” Stacy pointed a shaky finger at Rex.

“No, he’s not a carnivore,” Luke went over to look around anyway. “Those teeth would hurt Wilbur, but we would still find his body.”

Rex had his head down and was snoring loudly. Little clouds rose up from his head in the shape of Zs and floated up to the ceiling.

The bird flew down the staircase and landed on Nate’s head. “Leaf,” it said loudly then flew off back up the stairs.

“Leaf?” Luke looked at Rex. He lifted a large leaf and saw Wilbur snuggled up against Rex.

“Aww, come look at this,” he called out while taking out his phone for a picture.

“How adorable,” Stacy clapped her hands and little hearts sparkled across her face.

“The little guy has guts,” Jaz said proudly, as though she was responsible.

Dave went to let Matt know it was safe to come out.

“I think I’ll let the little guy stay there for the night,” Luke let the leaf drop back down over Wilbur.

Luke let out a massively exaggerated yawn, and within seconds everyone in the room was yawning.

They quickly said goodnight to each other and ran to their rooms for the night.

Nate lay in bed going over the events of the day. So much had happened already, and tomorrow was another contest. Another chance for him to prove himself, but also a risk of going home in shame. He lay there long into the night trying to convince himself that we would pass.