By the end of the week Basil had crawled from his shell just a bit. His general posture had loosened, he was talking more, and Jaxsen had even managed to get a smile or two from him. Jaxsen, to his credit, did what he could in keeping the other boy distracted; something Basil was quite grateful for. He didn’t want to be stuck in his thoughts all day. He had enough trouble at night when he was trying to sleep. It was on such a night that Basil lie awake, hands behind his head, sorting through his thoughts, when a sudden, very small, scared whimper emanated through the dark to his right. His eyes had adjusted enough to see Jaxsen’s face in the sliver of moonlight pouring gently in through the window.
He lay still, waiting, watching, wondering if he would need to wake his friend or not. Jaxs
