Ash glanced at Agatha, who had gone tight-lipped and quiet.
"I heard about the robbery at your house," he murmured quietly. "Are you doing all right?"
Agatha drew in a deep breath through her nose and sighed. "We're fine," she replied, but her tone said they were drowning.
"There he is!" Madi cried out.
Celian stood next to a rack of bright, spinning toys. He barely seemed to notice Madi approach him, with her father and Miss Agatha in tow.
"Oh there you are!" Cried a loud voice.
Ashley groaned inside as he turned to face the gossip they had met outside the kite store.
She completely ignored the others as she honed in on the Doctor. "Have you heard the news? They say the kitchen maid from the mansion on the hill did it. Smashed the shop all up, and then led the authorities down to the tavern where the thieves were holed up, screaming about how she wanted to kill them and chop them up with a butcher's knife, before she up and ran away—but Mollie was always the strange one."
"Madam," Dr. Grove tried to edge away, "please leave us in peace!"
Agatha's face had gone bright red, while Celian had not moved, though his pale skin blanched even further.
"Oh, but don't you want to hear about the gambling ring? I only just found out myself. They're saying it was the bookseller—"
Madi glanced at Celian. His lips moved, but the sound was too faint for her to hear. "What is it?" She asked him, edging closer.
"No... No..." He grunted. "No... No..."
"Celian?" She reached for his hand.
At the sound of his name, Celian lifted his eyes and looked straight into the face of Agatha Dalton. His whole body quivered, and his face twisted into a horrible grimace.
"NO!" He roared, and swung his arms at the nearest shelves, right over the top of Madi's head. She screamed and cowered as wooden blocks and strings came crashing down around her.
Agatha tried to step forward. "Celian, what are you—"
She had to step back quickly as Celian lunged forward with a pronounced hunch in his back, his fingertips dangling just inches from the floor. He twisted to the other side and connected with yet another bank of small collectible glasses, crying out in anguish as they shattered amid the frightened crowd.
Dr. Grove raised his umbrella protectively as he bellowed, "Celian! What has gotten into you?"
Celian froze and turned to him, and in those wide, terrified eyes, Ash had the distinct memory of the way Celian had looked at him just after his first transformation, that same animal intelligence, now contained in a human face.
A young boy and his parents had the misfortune of stepping into the store just at that moment. They stepped out again as Celian, still hunched over, barreled right through them. He ran out into the street, heedless of the cars.
Dr. Grove was still trying to process what he had seen when Madi dashed out the door."Celian, wait!" She called, but he was nearly at the edge of town by then.
"Madeline!" Dr. Grove dashed after his daughter. She kept running as long as she could see him. By the time they reached the edge of town, where the rental cottages were, she had lost sight of him again.
"Where did he go?" She asked her father.
Ash squinted back toward the cottages. "I'm not sure; back to the house, maybe?"
Madi looked out toward the dunes. "There he is!" She cried, and Ash turned just in time to see him disappear down to the beach. Madi scrambled after him. "No, Celian, wait!"
He did not wait. By the time the Groves reached the dune, he was already at the water's edge—and he just kept right on running. The churning surf crashed around him and swallowed him up. By the time the waves settled, there was no sign of their friend.
"CELIAN!" Madi called as loud as she could. "CELIAN! COME BACK!"
Grove grabbed his daughter around the waist as she nearly tripped over the loose sand.
"Madi, take care!" He warned her.
She kept shouting. "CELIAN! CELIAN!"
"Madi!" Ash fought to make himself heard over the crashing surf and the distraught girl. "Madi! It's no use! He's gone!"
"He's not gone!" She retorted, struggling against his grasp. "He can't be! CELIAN!"
"Madi, listen to me!" Grove still tried to reason with his daughter. "He's probably gone back to being a Leonie; even if he was still out there, he might not remember us!"
"No!" She shrieked, pulling against him and running across the dune, toward the rocky cliffs. Finally, she stopped and turned, the wind whipping her hair around her face, which twisted into a fierce grimace. "I hate it here!" She exploded.
Ash ran after his daughter. "Madi, what's wrong?" He begged, but she would not be consoled.
She practically screamed in his face as her slight body trembled with rage. "I hate beaches, and I hate holidays, and I hate murders, and I hate Leonies! I hate school, and I hate growing up, and I hate having friends, and I hate nice people, and I hate you, and I. WANT. MY. MUMMY!!!!" This last was a wail, and she blubbered brokenly as her father disregarded her vitriol and swept her up in his arms, hugging her tight and mingling his tears with her own.
"I know, Madeline," he choked. "I want her too; I want
