Chapter 3

Ms. Richter was glaring at the despicable man. He surely had nerve, threatening not one, but three of her students in one night. She was going to enjoy hurting him.
“David,” she said in a stern voice. “Go find as many teachers as you can. And find Bob, too. His strength and size may come in handy.”
David nodded and was about to run off when Mr. Lukens laughed.
“Now, now, David,” he said, smoothly. “One more step in that direction and the floor will be painted beautifully with this sweet girl's blood. We wouldn't want that, now do we?”
David immediately turned back around, his normally small, pale face flushed red with anger and hatred.
“There now, that's better. No lives have to be lost tonight,” soothed Mr. Lukens. Sarah's eyes were filled with tears. She could barely breathe. Her hands, down by her side, were clenched. Mr. Lukens dug the tip of the dagger deeper into her throat. Blood was trickling down her dark skin; she now had a cut similar to Max's. Many beats passed while Max, David, and Ms. Richter all glared at their enemy, unable to do anything.
Several gasps cut through the tense silence. Mr. Lukens's eyes flicked to his right. A massive group of first-years, who had finished taking care of their charges, was standing off to the side, mouths agape and eyes round with fear.
“No one move,” was the brisk order that made everyone stand rooted to the spot.
“Now,” Mr. Lukens said, licking his lips, “I'm going to move toward the door. No one is going to try to come after me. I'll let go of this rather unfortunate girl when I'm a safe distance away. Is that understood?”
Several heads bobbed up and down in frantic agreement. Mr. Lukens smiled devilishly and started toward the door. As he got closer to his escape, he started to walk more quickly, dragging a very frightened Sarah with him. He slowly backed down the stairs, keeping an eye on everyone clustered in the doorway.
Max was at the very front of the crowd that was slowly spilling out the door and onto the front steps, watching with wide-open eyes. He was afraid that something was going to happen to his dear friend. Sarah was staring at him, silently pleading with him to do something. But he couldn't. He couldn't move or else Sarah's throat would be split open in a matter of seconds. He gave her the most apologetic look he could muster, hoping she would understand.
No one standing on the steps saw or heard the dark shape flitting through the twilight shadows. Mr. Lukens, however, felt the person's presence and whirled around, dropping Sarah onto the grass. With the dagger, his arm moved in an arc and sliced a cut onto the cheek of his aggressor. Sarah scuttled away from the fighting pair like a crab, never taking her eyes off of Mr. Lukens. When she reached the safety of the crowd, she ran into the open arms of Ms. Richter, sobbing. Max let out a sigh of relief, now that his close friend was safe. He turned his attention to the dark figure and Mr. Lukens.
Mr. Lukens was obviously a skilled fighter, but he was no match for the man that no one could see clearly from the front steps. Both men were inflicting the same amount of harm on the other, but it was hard to tell who was winning. The shadowy man had a long knife in his hand. The knife made the dagger look flimsy, small, and ineffective, but Mr. Lukens wasn't backing down as easily as Max was hoping. Then something unexpected happened: the dagger found an opening in the offensive attack of the other man.
The dagger was plunged into the shoulder of the tall, towering man, who grunted in pain. The man back-handed Mr. Lukens almost reflexively, who stumbled backwards, the dagger in his hand dripping with the blood of his opponent. With a start, Max realized who it was. It was Cooper, an Agent who had been brought in to protect Rowan Academy. No one else seemed to have discovered that it was Cooper fighting Mr. Lukens. Max looked on anxiously, mentally pleading with Cooper to ignore his injury and to keep fighting.
However, Cooper received another stab just above his left hip. Something must be off for the Agent to be losing this fight. Max couldn't stand it anymore. He tore away from the crowd of students, intending to help win the fight against the man that he had grown to hate.
“Max, no!” yelled Ms. Richter. “Get back here this instant!”
Her words distracted Mr. Lukens, who whipped around to see what was happening. That was a mistake. Cooper, with blood seeping through his dark clothes, grabbed the thin man in a choke hold. Mr. Lukens immediately started writhing around like a fish, desperately trying to get free. He slipped out of the restricting hold and backed away, glancing from Max to Cooper with wary eyes. With one look at the Agent, Max understood what to do. They moved simultaneously.
Max ducked down low and struck with an upward jab at Mr. Lukens's ribs while Cooper swooped in to strike him across the face with a fist of iron. Winded and injured, Mr. Lukens backed away, stumbling because of the pain he was in. While Mr. Lukens was wheezing, desperate for air, Cooper hung back, considering his next move. Max, however, shot forward, unable to see clearly because of the red haze that had settled over his vision. He released all his pent up anger and hatred on the man he had grown up knowing. But the man who he was beating with an onslaught of vicious punches was no longer Bob Lukens. Max didn't even consider him a human anymore.
Cooper dragged the young boy away from the trembling body of the man who had caused so much trouble within the last hour.
“Max,” Cooper said, his voice soft and calm. “Max, stop. It's over.”
Max collapsed into the arms of the tall Agent, tears spilling onto his cheeks. Cooper awkwardly patted Max on the back, unsure of himself. He was a skilled and vicious fighter, trained to handle himself in every situation possible. The one thing he was never trained for was how to comfort a crying twelve-year-old boy.
“Watch out!” came a shriek. Cooper released Max and caught a knife in mid-air. He sent it hurtling back, his lethal aim accurate. The knife hurtled into Mr. Lukens's throat. His eyes widened and he let out a few choked noises and then fell backward onto the grass, dead. It was only then that the Agent was able to relax. Max wiped away the hot tears that were still streaming out of his eyes.
He looked into Cooper's eyes. The special Agent saw a gratitude in the young eyes that could never be expressed in words. He smiled a small smile to the boy who had basically saved his life and stood, offering a hand to help Max up. When Max was standing firmly on his feet, he was nearly knocked over again.
Sarah, who had hurtled over to the two, hugged Max tightly, crying.
“I thought I was going to die,” she sobbed into his shirt. Max stood there, unable to bring his arms up to hug her back. He had never been embraced by a girl before. He needn't have worried, though. Sarah pulled away and turned to Cooper.
“Thank you for saving Max's life,” she said, sniffling and wiping away tears.

Cooper's smile was stiff as he awkwardly patted Sarah's shoulder. The cut on his already scarred face had stopped bleeding. He promptly turned and walked away, having done his duty.
Max took Sarah by the hand and led her to the welcoming warmth of the Manse. Several other first-years congratulated Max on a job well done, cheering happily now that the man who had threatened Sarah's life was dead. Max wasn't in the mood for all the cheeriness, though. He was still in shock from all that had happened, and when the Moomenhovens bustled over, he allowed them to lead him and Sarah away.