I stared, unable to believe a single word she said about Serpethion. Impossible. I couldn't imagine Serpethion as I nice guy. Not to mention the fact that my aunty was so close with him. So close that Serena thought they were lovers at first. That's just crazy!

But there was this part inside me that wanted to believe it. Maybe it was because I felt bad for him. He was beaten when he was a child and that must have had an effect on his personality.

No matter what though, Serpethion was a strange person.

"I don't like the queen." I said, truthfully. "And if Serpethion is such an ass hole because he's with the queen, I think we should do something about it."

Serena smiled. "Well, that makes two of us." She then sighed. "But what can we do?"

I thought for a moment. "Well... maybe we could try-"

"Aathiray?" I heard Kero call. His voice sounded just as sick as he looked.

I turned around and saw him walking towards us.

"I'm going to go to Rebecca's house to speak to her mother... I thought you might want to come."

I looked at Serena, who was looking away. She was obviously still upset with Kero.

Serena looked at me. "You can go." She said. "I'll talk to you later."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll see you later."

She smiled.

Kero turned around and started walking towards the dusty road.

I got up and ran after Kero. When we were a little bit far from the house, Kero looked at me. "You two are friends now?" He asked.

I smiled. "Yup! You were right all along, she's a nice girl!"

Kero surprised me by rolling his eyes. "I told you, didn't I?" He said, a little angrily.

"Hey, calm down." I said. I then remembered that he was sick and mean.

He sighed. "Sorry. I feel terrible." He turned his head away and coughed.

I rubbed his back. "Sorry Kero, but you look terrible too." His skin was still paler then normal and his nose was still red. His eyes were not the crystal blue they normally are, they were darker, much darker. His eyes also looked droopy and tired.

He sighed. "I know. Don't rub it in."

I sighed too. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"Why is this your fault again?"

"Because I made you sniff that stuff that made you sneeze and burnt your nose."

He sneezed. "Oh, yes."

I decided to change the topic. "So, how long will it take to get to Rebecca's house?" I asked.

"A couple of minutes." Kero answered. "So, what were you talking about?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"With Serena..." Kero said. He seemed to suspect that I wouldn't tell him the truth.

And I couldn't. I promised Serena that I wouldn't tell anyone. "Well... we were talking about ourselves. We're friends now and we were trying to get to know each other."

Kero nodded. "I see."

I looked up at him. "Kero... why do you think Serpethion is so loyal to the queen?" I asked, curious to hear his response.

He thought for a moment. "Well, Serpethion seems to like her a lot." He said. "I'd assume it's because of that."

"What do you mean like?"

"Well... to be honest with you, I'm not sure. When I look at him, I see the way he looks at her... It's strange."

"Do you think that there's a possibility that Serpethion could dislike the fact that the queen still likes you?" I asked, cautiously.

Kero started laughing the second I finished asking the question.

I raised my eyebrows. "What's so funny?"

"Aathiray, Serpethion is one of my best friends." He said. "We were raised together, we're like brother and our friendship was more important to us than anything else. It always has been, always will be. Besides, what type of friend lets something like that affect their friendship?" He looked at me. "What's that saying that boys use in your world? Oh yes, 'Bro's before hoes' right?"

I started to laugh like an idiot.

Kero laughed too.

Rebecca had a big, nice house too. I wasn't too surprised by how beautiful it was when I first saw it. The house had big picture windows and looked like a wonderful and happy place to live in. There was a beautiful flower garden in the front too.

Rebecca, who was waiting at the door, waved the second she saw us. "Hey guys..." Her voice drifted off when she saw Kero.

"I know, I look bad. I'm sick."

"Well, I hope you get better." She smiled and turned to me. "Hey Aathy! How's Raakshya treating you?"

I smiled at her. "Good, actually. No one tried to kill me yet."

She laughed at that. "That's good to hear!"

"Is your mother home?" Kero asked.

Rebecca nodded. "Come in." She opened the front door and let us in.

The inside of the house was nice, but fairly plain. There wasn't much furniture but there were a lot of paintings and pictures on the walls.

A woman walked down the stairs right then. "Welcome!" She said, happily. She looked to be in her mid-forties. She looked a lot like Rebecca, her brown eyes and light skin, the only difference was that the woman had straight hair. She smiled a warm smile at Kero. "How are you, son?" She asked.

Kero smiled. "I'm fine Mrs. Ivan, and you?"

Mrs. Ivan hugged Kero. "Are you sick, dear?" She asked, looking carefully at him.

He nodded.

"What happened?"

"This is Aathiray." Kero said to her."

She smiled warmly at me. "Yes, Rebecca told me about you!" She turned to Kero. "Does she have anything to do with you getting sick?"

He smiled hesitantly, but then told her the about what happened the night before.

She didn't seem to look surprised, actually, she looked like she totally expected it. "Hmm... I see." She said. She then smiled. "Come on in dear, I have something to tell you."

We all followed Mrs. Ivan into a big, empty room with a table right in the center. There were small boxes and a wine glass on the table. She sat at one end of the table and motioned her hand at the other end where there were seats. "Assez-vous." She smiled.

"My mom knows like, every language on your planet and ours." Rebecca said.

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed.

"No... it's actually a bit annoying. Sometimes she speaks to others in a different language just so no one else understands." She frowned.

I laughed. "Still, that's pretty cool." I said as I sat down next to Kero.

Rebecca sat down at the other side of me and looked at her mom. "Can I stay too, mum?"

Her mother nodded. "Yes dear." She then looked at Kero. "Have you spoken to the queen recently?" She asked him.

Kero hesitated but then nodded. "Yes... but it wasn't that recent. It was... about two months ago. Why?"

"You aren't at all in any sort of romantic relationship with her... are you?"

Kero looked shocked by her question. "No." He said immediately. "Of course not."

"Do you have any feelings for her?"

I was starting to feel uncomfortable. Maybe I should've just stayed at Kero's place.

Kero pressed his lips into a thin line and after a long hesitated, he took a deep breath.

My heart stopped. Why was he hesitating?

He then sighed. "I don't love her. But I do care about her, I'll admit that much."

I think I sighed in relief.

"Mom... I told you that Aathiray is his girl." Rebecca said, smiling at me.

"I know, dear. I was just asking to clarify his feelings towards the queen, that's all."

"Why do my feelings about her need to be clarified?" Kero asked, confused."

Mrs. Ivan hesitated. "Have strange people confronted you and told you strange things?"

Kero turned to me.

"Yes!" I said. "They've confronted me and told me things about Kero."

"Like what?"

"Like... things about a friend being bad..." I said.

She nodded and looked at Keroshan. "You know how this works, right?"

Kero nodded and held out his hand.

She took his hand in hers and picked up a knife. I gasped when she quickly slit his wrist. "What are you doing?!" I yelled.

Kero put his other hand on my knee and smiled at me. "Don't worry."

I placed my hands over my mouth as Mrs. Ivan squeezed his blood into the wine glass. When it was half filled, she looked at Rebecca. "Darling, can you please bandage him up?"

Rebecca got up and pulled some bandages out of a really pretty box that was beside the table. She quickly bandaged Kero and sat back down.

"Is someone going to drink that?" I asked, pointing at the blood.

Mrs. Ivan nodded as she poured some other liquids into it until the glass was filled. "Lights, Rebecca."

Rebecca got up again and blew out all the candles that lit up the room and closed the curtains.

I started to freak out when Mrs. Ivan turned around and started to mumble something. "What's going on?" I asked.

Rebecca sat next to me again. "She's calling the Shadow Dwellers of Yamanan."

I shivered. "Isn't Yamanan your god of death?"

She nodded.

"Why is she calling these guys?"

Rebecca smiled. "They live in the shadows and see everything. Legend has it that they watch our people and when a Raakshyan dies, the Shadow Dweller goes and tells their father, Yamanan, whether the Raakshyan deserves to go the heaven or hell."

"I still don't understand why we are calling these people."

"These people are actually Raakshyans with a special gift to speak directly and easily with Yamanan."

"You know how your protector is Kyrian?" Kero asked.

I nodded.

"Their protector is Yamanan. All Raakshyans who are protected by Yamanan are considered Shadow Dwellers."

"Oh... but why are we calling them?" I asked again.

"Normally, Shadow Dwellers aren't allowed to tell normal Raakshyans what they see, but my mother is friends with one of the Shadow Dweller families. Their son comes and tells us things, but because he's not supposed to, he has to take an offering-"

"Welcome back Jason." Mrs. Ivan said. The room was suddenly much darker then it was before and the side of the room which was opposite to us went pitch black. I gasped as a dark figure walked out and the second the figures foot touched the ground, a candle on the table lit up on its own.

There was a strange screeching as the figure walked out of the shadows. I bit my lip to try not to scream in fear when I saw the darkness on the figure rip of him and retreat back into the pitch black side of the room.

In the place of the dark figure was a boy who looked about Kero's age. He was tall with broad shoulders and looked slightly muscular. He had a chiseled face and small lips that curved up into a smile. His hair was long, brown with blond streaks and was tightly braided back. And he had beautiful eyes, they looked like an eagles eyes, golden with round, black pupils.

He looked at me. "Hello, human." He said in a deep human.

I smiled, hesitantly.

He then nodded his head at Kero and then grinned at Rebecca, who grinned back.

"Sit down, dear." Mrs. Ivan said to him.

He sat down in front of Rebecca, next to Mrs. Ivan.

Mrs. Ivan pushed the wine glass with Kero's blood towards him. "Drink up."

He looked at it and grimaced. "Did you mix lalum juice into it?"

Rebecca giggled.

Jason looked at her. "Why don't you try drinking blood?"

"You don't like it?" I asked.

He scratched his head. "Of course not."

"Then why do you drink it?"

"Because I have no choice, I am not allowed to tell you anything without an offering of blood."

"Oh..." I said.

"Jason, drink it. I did mix the fruit into it." Mrs. Ivan said.

He took a deep breath and then took the glass, he quickly gulped it all down and sighed.

"Alright... you know why you're here, don't you?" Mrs. Ivan asked.

Jason nodded and looked at Kero. "I am sorry, but I can't tell you everything, so you might leave here confused."

"Why not?" I asked.

"It is against our rules. We are actually not allowed to tell you anything." He turned to Kero. "Things are starting to turn for the better in your life, but don't get your hopes up. If you do, you are going to be gravely disappointed. Someone who is very close to you is wishing for your death and past memories will soon start to haunt you. Things that you were trying very hard to forget are going to come back and hit you hard. And that someone who wishes for your death is going to hurt you..." He turned to me. "And your lover is going to be the one who kills you."

My mouth fell open as everyone looked at me. "I won't kill him!" I said right away. "I would never do such a thing! And even if I wanted to, I'm a human! I can't kill a Raakshyan!" My voice cracked, which surprised me.

"You can avoid all of this though." Jason said. "All you must do is keep your eyes open and remember that sometimes, your closest of your friends are the worst of your enemies."

I flinched as I remembered the lizard guy.

Kero sat up straight and looked away. "Can't you give me a hint or something to tell me who this evil friend of mine is?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm sorry, my friend."

Kero smiled at him. "That's alright. Thank you though."

Jason nodded his head and got up. "I will leave now."

"Already?" Rebecca asked.

He smiled a really hot smile at her. He then leaned forward and kissed her, shocking me. When he pulled away, he stepped back. "If you need anything, you can always ask me." He said as he looked at Kero and I.

Right before he left, he looked at me. It looked like he was trying to tell me something but I couldn't understand. I started to panic, was it something important?