Luke thought Alpha was the most adorable fifteen-year-old ever. When grilled by Victor about why he snuck on the Garden Run knowing how dangerous it was, Alpha looked down at his feet and started drawing figures in the snow with his boots.

"Because I didn't want to be alone in the dorm. Luke and Sirius are my only friends."

Luke wanted to give the guy a hug, but Victor looked furious as if his presence jeopardized the mission.

"How come we didn't see you?" Victor asked with a tint of frustration.

Alpha seemed like he wanted to hide from Victor, like he was the boogie man. So that's what he did.

One minute he was there, the next he was gone.

Victor sucked his teeth. "You can turn invisible?"

"That's why I could never find you in hide and seek," Sirius chimed in to lighten the mood.

Victor seemed to mutter something beneath his breath as he turned towards the land of snow that surrounded them. Luke heard disappointment in his voice as the wind picked up. "Can't believe I got rescued by a retard."

Luke wanted to say something, but he held back. He didn't want to start an argument right now. He wasn't going to be the one blamed again for starting a fight.

Luke turned to Alpha, who was still invisible. "You can show yourself Alpha."

Alpha only allowed his head to appear, as if he were peeking his eyes above a counter to see if the coast was clear to sneak back to his room after a midnight snack. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," Luke couldn't help glancing at the back of Victor's head with a dirty look. "You saved my life—our lives. You were amazing."

Sirius patted Alpha on the back. "Yeah buddy, you did great. Just try not to enter into me like that again."

Alpha shook his head. "I won't. I only did it to help you. Your mind—it's so lost and sad."

Sirius rubbed his hands to generate warmth in the cold. His body did an odd shiver—the one that sends goosebumps down one's body. "How were you even able to fight them?"

Changing the subject, Luke thought. Maybe there was something Alpha saw while inside Sirius—just like what Luke saw when he was teleported by Sirius and ended up briefly in his mind.

Alpha scanned the sky as if trying to see if the coast was clear. "I can see the ghost-animals." His body shuddered.

Luke knew he was referring to the Aeria. When Alpha held Ose in his hand, he looked like half of a dead horse in the afterlife.

"How long have you've been able to see them?" Sirius asked.

"Since when I was little," Alpha said.

"You still are little," Victor mumbled.

Sirius ignored the comment. "How come you've never said anything before?"

Alpha glanced at Victor and then turned his gaze towards the snow before him. "I didn't want to be made fun of."

Luke almost lost control right there and wanted to deck Victor. This is why Luke hated bullies. They try to suppress greatness because they lacked any of it. Instead of striving for it themselves, they go and make everyone else around them just as miserable.

But Luke took a deep breath and exhaled like the Zengan Yak did before it went charging at people at SGA. "You can tell me and Sirius anything, okay. We're your friends and we won't make fun of you."

"Well maybe one of you will like to explain to the Dean why we failed our mission because your friend came along," Victor kicked the snow in frustration.

Luke turned on Victor. "Are you kidding me? If anything, he saved the freaking mission. If it weren't for Alpha, we'd be all dead or possessed!"

"Yeah, well now how are we going to get into the Garden with three escorts, a retard, and a half-retard?"

Luke clenched his fists. Sirius gently laid his hand on Luke's shoulder as Sirius said, "Well this retard saved your life. I'd give him and his kind some more respect. Just because he's childish doesn't make him any less of a person."

"I'd expect this type of behavior from prophecy boy over here, but not from you Sirius."

"And what type of behavior am I exhibiting?"

"Irrational behavior. Stupidity. Retardation. Retards can't stand for themselves, they depend on others to protect them," Victor's voice trailed off towards the end as if recalling a memory that stung in his past.

But Luke didn't care about what Victor might've gone through that created such an unhealthy phobia. He was praying to the Lord to help him not brand Victor with a mark that'll burn him for eternity.

"Prophecy boy doesn't know because he's clueless, but you Sirius should know that only three escorts and a Qi can enter the Garden. That's us three and Nil only. Otherwise, the cherubim will either close off the garden's inner sanctum or try to kill us thinking we're robbers or an invading force."

"But Alpha is half and half," Sirius argued.

Victor was going to respond but stopped himself. He gritted his teeth. Luke didn't like admitting that Alpha needed to be escorted to the Garden of Eden as well because Alpha was fine. He didn't need anything from that Garden. If everyone behaved like Alpha, then the world would be a better place.

"I see," Victor muttered. "Maybe...if all else fails, semi-retard will have to wait outside."

Alpha didn't like that idea, nor his new nickname and neither did Luke. "He's coming with us and the Lord is the only thing keeping me from shoving my burning fist down your throat right now so let's find this damn Garden, so we don't have to be around each other for much longer."

"That," Victor pointed at Luke, "is about the only thing we can agree on." He unrolled the map and started walking.

Sirius followed after him, taking Nil's hand. "I'll walk with Nil and keep you and Grandmaster Dick over there away from each other."

"You do that," Luke said. He then turned to Alpha. "Come on Alpha, you're a part of the team now."

Alpha looked like he was chosen first to be on the best dodgeball team at school. "Cool! What's the name of our team?"

"We don't have one yet," Luke said. "Unless you can come up with one."

Alpha wasted no time. "The Polar Bears! Polar Bears go gwerr-huf-rawr!"

Luke chuckled and tried mimicking the sound but failed. "Alright, guess we're the Polar Bears."