It was now eleven in the evening. Of course, I hadn’t stood behind the door listening to Kero and Aathy’s conversation’s for the whole night but I was sticking around. I still had a feeling that Keroshan knew I was around but he didn’t seem to care. Their conversation just kept going.

I quietly walked back to the door for the hundredth time that evening and listened.

“Are you excited for Christmas?” Aathiray asked.

“Yes, of course I am. You managed to rub your love for Christmas onto me years ago.”

I pictured Aathiray smiling. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Yes. It is.”

I peeked through the window and saw Keroshan touching the crescent moon shaped pendant that Aathy gave him last Christmas. I was a little surprised that he still had it.

She looked at him. “You know, I’m really happy you still have that.”

He smiled. “So am I.”

I turned around and walked away when he leaned forward and kissed her.

To be honest, normally, I would have been happy. I would have been happy because, after a long time, my sister had finally found the right person.

But I wasn’t.

I was starting to doubt Keroshan more and more as time passed.

I felt as if ever since Kero came into Aathy’s life, as a person and not an animal, everything started to screw over. Everything that seemed right became wrong. Aathy was now in danger because someone wanted to kill her, people started to have magical powers, animals turned into people and now I started to wonder, what was reality?

I remembered the time, not so long ago, when all I really needed to worry about were exams. What happened to those times? Now all I do is worry about my sister’s life.

As I sat on the sofa and pretended to watch TV, I tried to arrange the things in my mind. But right when I started to try and set things straight, I heard the door open.

After a short moment, Aathy walked into the living room, smiling. “Why are you still up?” She asked.

I shrugged. “Can’t sleep… I guess.”

Aathy could, obviously, see that I was lying. “But you look really tired…”

I pretended I didn’t hear her and continued to stare at the TV.

She came and sat down next to me. “Were you spying on me?” She asked.

I continued to stare at the TV.

She stabbed me with her finger which had a sharp nail.

“Ow!”

“Were you spying on me?” She repeated.

“No!” I lied.

She didn’t believe it and surprised me when she didn’t continue to try and make me spit it out.

We both sat there, staring at the TV and I knew that she wasn’t really watching it any more than I was.

“You don’t need to worry about me.” She finally said.

“That’s what you always say.” I said, with a hint of anger in my voice.

I saw, from the corner of my eye, her turn around and look at me. “Keroshan isn’t going to—”

“Really? Is that why he almost suffocated you to death?” I looked at the loose scarf around her neck which wasn’t completely covering her bruise.

She adjusted her scarf and frowned. “That was an—”

“Accident?” I asked, interrupting her. “Really? Does that really change the fact that he touched you? He touched you in a way to hurt you?”

“Aathavan, I’m not—”

I held my hand out, silencing her yet again. “I don’t want to hear it.” I said. “I really don’t, Aathiray.”

Her face twisted, angrily.

“How about I tell you the honest truth, Aathiray?” I asked. I didn’t bother waiting for her answer. “I will never believe that Keroshan is worthy enough for you. Do you want to know why? Because whether it was an accident or not, he hurt you.”

She opened her mouth to argue but I didn’t let her.

“And the only way he can ever prove himself, the only way that I will ever think he’s good enough is if he can prove to me that he can make you happy”

“He does make me happy.” She hissed.

I snorted. “Is that why almost every single day, you’re sitting there worrying about something?”

She tried to think of something to say.

“Aathiray, I know for a fact that you are not going to listen to me, you never have and probably never will, but I want you to tell me, right now, how many fucking times I’ve been right about stuff like this.”

She knew I was serious now. She also knew I was mad.

I got up and looked down at her. “Aathiray, when someone gives you advice, you never listen.” I said. The words were so familiar because I’ve said them multiple times before. “No matter who it is and no matter how much you know about the fact that they love you and they want to help you, you never listen.”

“I do too…” She said, pouting.

I groaned and looked at the ceiling.

She was about to say something but I had had enough.

“Shut up, Aathiray, just shut up!” I hissed, trying not to be loud. “I am fed up with trying to be a good older brother. I am fed up with trying to help you choose between right and wrong. And I am fed up with having to worry about you all the fucking time when I could be minding my own business and playing video games or partying with my friends or going to the movies or getting drunk like all the other older brothers in this world!”

Her mouth fell open.

“If you’re not going to listen to me, why should I even bother?” I asked.

“I didn’t ask you to do anything for me…” She whispered.

I laughed. “No! No, you didn’t! But isn’t that what shows you how much I… I care about you?” I asked. “Doesn’t it show you how serious I am?”

Her eyes narrowed, trying to show me that she was angry.

I rolled my eyes. “Again, I’ve had it. I’m not going to tell you what I think is best for you anymore because you won’t listen. Why should I waste my breath? If you need advice, go to mom or dad, or your friends, or even Keroshan. Don’t come to me.”

“Aathavan?” I heard my dad’s voice call from the top of the staircase.

I turned around and walked towards the staircase and up the stairs.

“What’s going on? Why are you two still awake?”

I started to wonder how much of our conversation my dad had heard but decided it didn’t matter. “I couldn’t sleep.” I said. “But I’m going to sleep now.”

I felt my dad’s eyes follow me as I walked into my room and shut the door. He then called Aathy and told her to go to sleep too.

My heart started to ache. No matter what she did, I always hated making her upset.

But I had to man up. Maybe if I was more aggressive, more mean, she would listen to me. Maybe.

I sighed again and fell back onto my bed, tired as hell. Sleep overcame me quickly and I was soon dreaming of a happy world. It was a world without arguments with stubborn siblings and a world without exams.

The next day was weird, at least the evening of that day was. I got a call from aunty Seretha and she told me to come to her house.

When I arrived there, she seemed quite nervous about something. I had a feeling it had something to do with Aathy.

“What’s up, auntie?” I asked.

She sat down on the couch opposite to the one I was sitting on. “I saw you earlier today.” She said.

I raised an eyebrow.

“And…” She looked like she wanted to tell me something important, but she didn’t know how to say it. “…Aathavan.” She finally said. “Do you know anything about the gifts that the goddess gives people?”

“Goddess? What goddess?” I asked, trying to remember someone telling me things about goddesses and gifts.

“Our goddess, Goddess Mystina of Raakshya.” She said.

My eyes narrowed as I remembered what Aathiray’s teacher said about these gifts. Might as well ask my aunt to explain it to me. “No, I don’t know about her and her gifts.” I had never really been into religion. Sure, I followed Hinduism but I barely ever went to the temple and that wasn’t because I didn’t believe in god or anything, I was just never available when my family went. I guess I never took religion as seriously as others would.

If I can’t find time to learn about my own gods, why would I take time to learn about others?

My aunty smiled, even though I knew she had a clue on what I was thinking. “Dear, when a Raakshyan child is born, they are born so that they are very similar to a human.” She said. “And as they grow, they reach puberty, like humans. However, for Raakshyans, their puberty is being gifted with the capability to transform into an animal.”

I nodded to show her I was listening.

“But, as a Raakshyan gets older, they are given gifts by the goddess. But they aren’t just randomly given gifts, they are given gifts that would be useful for them… things that the goddess knows you will need.”

“Oh, okay… so, why are you asking me if I know about this?” I asked, confused.

She hesitated. “Dear… do you want to know what my gift is?”

I nodded.

“I have the capability of seeing other peoples gifts.”

“So?”

She smiled in a way that made me think that she was trying to make me calm down, even though I wasn’t freaking out.

Was I supposed to be?

“Aathavan, you have a gift. For some reason, the goddess gave you one…” She said.

“What?!” I yelled.

She continued to smile at me. “It’s nothing to worry about, dear.”

“But… I’m not a Raakshyan!”

“Neither is Aathy.” She said.

“What?”

“You have the same gift Aathy has.”

“Aathy has a gift?”

My aunty nodded. “She, and now you, have the gift to see through a Raakshyans invisibility and hear them while they are in animal form.”

“That’s not true!” I said right away. “I could never hear Kero before!”

“That’s because you never had this gift before. The goddess has give you this gift recently.”

“But… but why?”

“Because… you will need it.” She said, thoughtfully. “I have a feeling that something is going to happen and this gift is going to help you.”

I shook my head, finding this hard to believe.

My life was getting weirder and weirder.

I walked to the park after seeing my aunty and sat on a bench. The air was cool and the leaves had changed colours and were falling off the trees.

What the hell was going on?

My aunty wouldn’t lie to me, I knew that was a fact. But how could this be true? I’m not a Raakshyan. I have no Raakshyan blood in me… why would their goddess care about me?

I suddenly heard a familiar voice. When I looked up, I saw Jacob and that Raakshyan boy who bit Aathy. It took me a second to remember what his name was… Serpethion.

I then noticed, unwillingly, that no one else seemed to see them. I mean, how could you not see a boy with green hair and a strange symbol on his forehead?

It was then that I had realized why.

This was what Aunty Seretha meant. I could see them, others couldn’t. So they were possibly invisible… and my new ‘gift’ gave me the ability to see them.

I looked away immediately and pretended that I couldn’t see them as well.

Is this the reason why the goddess gave me a gift? So I could see those two?

My first question was, why were they even together? Wasn’t Serpethion a stupid pig? Why would Jacob want to hang out with him?

I pulled out my cell phone and pretended I was texting someone, but I was really trying to listen to what they were saying.

“If you can’t do it, I will.” I heard Serpethion say, angrily.

“I can do it!” Jacob responded. “Who the hell said I can’t?” His voice sounded different. It sounded cold and rude. It was nothing like Jacobs normal voice.

“Then hurry up!” Serpethion said. “Keroshan has already returned to Raakshya! Now I have to wait for him to come back and then return again!”

“Why don’t you just finish him off here?” Jacob asked.

My eyes widened. What?

“Because I am stronger in my world!” Serpethion hissed. “Oh.” Was all Jacob said.

There was a pause. “Isn’t that Aathiray’s brother?” Serpethion asked.

Another pause. “Yes.”

“What is he doing here?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you go ask him?” Jacob said, rudely.

“Shut up, speak to me with respect or I’ll rip your tongue out.” Serpethion said.

Jacob didn’t say anything.

“Can he hear us?” Serpethion asked.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stick up when I heard their footsteps get closer. Would I flinch if they got near? What do I do?

“Don’t waste your time.” I heard Jacob say. “He’s just a normal human.”

Serpethion didn’t respond for a moment. “Fine.” He said. “Now, I want you to get to work, if you don’t get Aathy to do what you want her to do, I’ll handle her.”

I stopped breathing.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.”

I then saw, from the corner of my eye, Serpethion walk into the fountain and he disappeared. I waited for Jacob to leave too and then leaned back on the bench and sighed in relief.

But then I felt a sudden anger, I don’t know why, but I was angry.

Of course the goddess didn’t care about me. It was Keroshan, he was the one she cared about.