Esau didn't know what to do first. Get Alun's crushing fingers off his sister's neck or get Edythe's dagger out of his friend's thigh.

At the rate they were going someone was going to die, and that wasn't something he wanted to happen especially now of all times.

It wasn't like he had expected the fog to clear at the exact moment he and Alun found Edythe seating at the base of the tree he and she had climbed to escape the stampede. Who would have thought that the two of them would attack each other before Esau could begin his well thought explanation?

The nine year old felt the urge to curse the moon. Why had it gotten so bright all of a sudden? If the forest was still bathed in darkness everybody would be alright. None of this would have happened.

Still, Esau had never imagined that he would be faced with two Edythes. But here he was. It felt surreal, dreamlike.

For a moment he just stood there, frozen as he watched them. The fact that Alun was still wearing his sister's face didn't help things. Maybe that was why Edythe was so upset.

Esau watched with a frown as she kicked the serpentine boy away from her and pulled out yet another dagger from somewhere. He didn't miss the way she swayed despite her efforts to conceal it.

He knew that she was injured.

"Alright!" He jumped in between the two the moment they were about to lunge at each other. "That's enough."

Edythe hissed and sheathed her knife, her glare fixed on her twin. "While I was fighting for my life you were out making friends, right?"

Alun hissed back and pulled out the blade in his leg, brandishing it like he was eager to slit her throat. "Where is my master?"

"Dead." the girl answered without a change in expression and Esau winced. He understood that look in her eye.

"Dead?" Aleron Alun looked around, his face heavy with distraught and desperation.

"I don't believe you." He threw the weapon down to the ground and ran to the tree—towards Edythe.

Before anyone started arguing again, Esau cleared his throat, held out his hands and grabbed his friend. "He is dead."

"He can't be!"

"He is."

Edythe crossed her arms while watching the exchange. "And how would you know that?"

Alun brushed Esau's hands off him and climbed up the tree in a flash. "I'll go see for myself."

Edythe turned her back her brother and had her hands curled into fists but Esau noticed her pale complexion long before he saw the blood on her hands and neck.

His breathing halted, caught in his chest as he thought about what to say, how to apologize for leaving her. Even making peace with Alun seemed to be a mistake now.

In the end he said nothing, because sometimes silence was much better than sound.

Esau knew that Edythe was upset so he didn't try to reply the unease that oozed off her, somehow he knew that his voice would only make things worse. But Edythe didn't seem to want to let it go, she walked up to him and looked him in the eye.

"Say it. What are you hiding from me?" The tone in her voice meant that there was no room for excuses and Esau had to rack his brain to figure out what she meant.

He took a step forward, until their faces almost touching, and glared back. "I'm not hiding anything."

"You're lying," Edythe stated through gritted teeth and Esau paled, their complexions now matching as he realized how angry his sister really was.

"I don't know what that man told you—" instead of arguing he tried to dissolve any thoughts she might have about him lying. Esau didn't like where the conversation was going.

Edythe had never accused him of lying before so the man in white must have said something to her. Something he shouldn't have.

"Tell me."

"I said it was nothing."

"It's my eyes, right?" she whispered and shoved him back. "The eyes of killer."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Eddy," Esau said and took a step back.

"Tell me!"

Esau wasn't able to take it anymore, he let out a scream as he stumbled into one of the many trees in the forest. "You've killed before, okay! Are you happy now? Are you?"

"You. . ." Edythe took a step away from her brother, her face expressing in horror and disbelief. ". . . so he was telling the truth."

"No," Esau walked back to her. "No. I can explain."

"You lied to me." Her bitter laughter echoed into the forest. "There is nothing to explain."

"I didn't lie, Eddy." Esau begged her to understand even though he couldn't put it in the right words. His eyes pleaded with her with every step he took.

"No, no, no." She pushed him away again, her eyes filled with ire. "Don't call me that. . . You promised never to lie to me, Esau. You promised!"

"I didn't lie," her brother stared at her in frustration, "I- I asked. . . Ma and Pa to wipe your memory."

"You what?"

Esau could have slapped himself. His explanation had sounded much better in his head.

"Edyt—" he tried, realizing too late that it was a stupid move.

"Tell me," she cut him off, "what else have you hidden from me?"

Esau squirmed under her gaze, tempted to lie or say nothing at all but the truth slipped out anyway.

"You died," he winced went her eyes went wide.

"I what?"

"You didn't survive the attack," Esau rubbed at his wrists and decided to come clean. "You bled to death but Pa brought you back, somehow."

"I can't believe you." Her voice wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either. "I can't believe you weren't going to tell me."

"I'm telling you now."

Edythe walked to her brother and lifted him by the collar, her blue eyes burning with rage as she looked into his eyes. "I thought I could trust you. I thought there was no difference between us. I. . . thought wrong."

Esau slacked in her grip and stared at her warily, the tips of his boots just grazing the grass below him. "Are you going to hit me?"

His sister had never hurt him before. . . then again, they had never argued before, so at this point anything could happen.

Today was a day filled with a lot of firsts he never wanted to experience again.

"Go look for your friend, I don't care," she threw him down and flexed her fingers, "I'm going home."

Esau watched her leave, not one bit tempted to call her back. He wasn't interested in being in the line of fire any longer.

"Al?" he pushed himself off the ground and limped to the tree. His limbs ached.

The nine year started climbing the tree, not really in a hurry. The pain in his chest made him slow but he was much faster than when he was paralyzed by fear during the stampede.

He knew that Alun was long gone but that didn't really matter. He knew what he needed to do.

Edythe needed him, even if she was too angry to notice.

He knew how she felt and he was sorry that he caused it.

Esau reached the branch in a minute, his chest heaving and his eyes filmed with unshed tears. His side felt bruised and he blamed his sister.

"Why did she have to throw me so hard?" he complained as he pulled at the two backpacks resting on the trunk of the tree, leaving his bow by the side.

To his right he saw a body.

The man had white hair and his eyes were shut albeit peacefully. His suit must have been white once, but now most of it was red, blood seemed to be seeping from his skin.

Esau couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he shouldn't have upset Edythe.

I shouldn't have upset her either, he thought glumly.

"At least I know she isn't going to kill me." He shook his head and opened one backpack.

He pulled out a jar and with a soft sigh, twisted the lid off the container and slapped the cool paste onto his wounds.

He hoped Edythe had done the same. He could almost taste the poison in the air and he didn't need to examine the body beside him to know which one it was.

The next thing Esau pulled out was rope. He wrapped it around Alun's master and tied the man to the tree. "I'll come back for you later."

He wondered if his Alun knew that the man was still alive; he doubted it.

It wasn't just anybody that could read his mind and even though Alun could, he wouldn't have known that he was lying, nobody could. . . Except Edythe.

"Edythe," Esau said finally, "I'm sorry."

†

By the time Esau had reached the workshop, the moon was still in the sky; a pale circle in the cool, early morning. With his arms stuffed with herbs he pushed against the mossy door and pressed down the handle.

He stepped into the building and for a while savored the warmth that swarmed him. Walking to the counter already stacked with medicinal plants, he added the ones he carried.

Esau bent down and got a kettle from the cupboard by his feet.

He took a handful of the plants and stripped them of their leaves, tossing what remained into the kettle and pushing the rest aside. Next, he grabbed a pitcher brimming with water and filled one of the many bowls beside it.

He didn't need to listen hard to hear Edythe's sobs coming from the one other room in the shop—the one that now served as their bedroom. It made his feel bad all over again.

While thinking about how to phrase his apology, Esau pulled open another drawer and took a blazestone from a pouch that sat in the corner of the box.

He tossed the orange crystal into the bowl and watched the water steam and boil.

Five minutes later he tipped the bowl into the kettle then set it back on the counter, the blazestone hissing in it's center. He grabbed another pouch from the drawers and poured all it's contents into another bowl.

With a pestle he crushed the little pellets into powder, adding the warming broth in kettle into the mix and stirring it gently.

Esau took a cup from under a pile of napkins by his father's anvil and decanted the liquid in the bowl, leaving behind the dregs at the bottom.

He stared at the medicine for a while then hoped that it wasn't too bitter. After giving himself some time to catch his breath, he walked to the bedroom door and knocked once, the cup in his hand.

"Edythe," he pressed his forehead to the wood and set down the swirling green liquid.

"I'm sorry." They both said together and Esau forced his gaze to remain at his feet, surprised.

It wasn't shocking that they said the same thing, it happened all the time. He just didn't think it would still happen when she hated him.

"I don't hate you," Edythe recovered first and spoke, almost as if she was replying his thoughts, "I know why you did it."

Her words twisted  something in his chest but Esau didn't let it affect his voice. "Then why are you crying?"

She didn't reply.

"Open the door before I burn it down or something." he mumbled and took a step back. He didn't need to tell her that he wasn't joking.

A second later the door opened and a puffy eyed Edythe stepped out with her arms around herself.

"Sorry." she sniffed and scrubbed at her wet lashes until they were rid of any stray tears.

Esau paused for a moment then shrugged and pointed to the cup.

"Drink that," he had never seen his sister cry before. He was tempted to blink away the image but was equally afraid that when he opened his eyes again the door would be locked again with Edythe sobbing behind it.

"Is it poison?" She crouched by the cup, just a hair's width from the rising steam.

"The antidote." Esau pretended not to hear the accusatory tone behind her question. "You shouldn't have used that poison, you didn't need to."

"I didn't kill him with it." Edythe whispered, knowing what her brother was thinking. That it was a waste to use the only piece they had of their mother they had in one day. "I didn't kill him at all."

"I know." Esau crossed his arms and let out a loud breath. "I always know. Now drink it, I wouldn't what you to drop dead or something."

Edythe laughed quietly and picked up the cup. "I guess, it was horrible enough the first time around."

"It was." Esau sunk on his heels then sat on the floor. He pulled off his boots, exhausted. "Do you want me to—"

"No," Edythe drank everything in one gulp and set the cup between them. "I know you had reasons. I don't need you to explain anything, it won't change anything."

"I'm okay now. . ." she said, yet her smiled was forced. "I'm sorry. I overreacted."

"You didn't overreact," Esau closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees, "overreacting would have been to kill me."

"Haha, yeah," Edythe reached back and closed the door to their bedroom, "you should have expected me to freak out."

"I did," he opened one eye and stared at her, "but I didn't want it to be this way."

"You had to get therapy and I got to forget about it," Edythe said casually and walked to the counter.

She picked up the bowl of dregs. "Sounds fair."

"You got it easy." Esau said and tilted his head in her direction. He watched her scrutinize the antidote he had made. It's about time she learns how to brew herbs too. If one day I'm not around then. . .

She shrugged and shifted her attention to the kettle. "It's not my fault that no one can enter your mind, you can't forget."

Esau froze then scratched at his neck, his expression sheepish. "Alun can. He can "

Edythe paused for a moment then lifted her head to glare at him. "The lizard that wore my face?"

Esau rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue. "Yes."

"And you didn't kill him?"

Esau was glad that Edythe wasn't near any of the knives.

"Remember what Pa said? If there's someone who can read my mind then there's a chance they will become my greatest ally."

"He also said to kill them on sight if they seemed dangerous."

"Alun isn't dangerous. . ."

"Esau, you would give a serial killer the keycards to his victims' houses." Edythe stared at him in exasperation.

"Well," Esau hooked his hands behind his head and grinned, "there's nothing we can do about it now, is there?"

Edythe bit the inside of her cheek and pointed at him.

"Esau Neil Vaughan Yong," she called out his names slowly, "you have really done it this time."

"It's lonely when we're the only ones here," Esau said. "Alun is not that bad. He didn't kill me and he could have so many times."

"The fact that you said that proves that he is dangerous," Edythe replied and grabbed the kettle. "He can read your mind and he thinks I killed his master. We need to—"

Edythe slammed her hand on the counter. "Are you even listening, Esau?"

"Have you ever found it weird that our full names spell Envy?" A look of concentration crossed Esau face the moment he asked the question.

He had been listening and he knew where Edythe was coming from, but if there was a chance that a enemy could become their friend in the end, he'd take the risk.

Edythe held the kettle in both her hands and decided to stop stressing about issues Esau clearly wasn't worried about. "Maybe it's a little present from Ma and Pa."

"Maybe it means that people envy us, or maybe that they should?" she asked, now curious herself.

Esau frowned at her answer. There was nothing to envy about his family. He was about to tell his twin just that when a loud knock echoed through the building.

The siblings stayed frozen until Edythe pulled a knife out of the drawer behind her and waved it in front of her brother.

"Let me guess," she flicked the tip of the weapon with her finger, "you invited your friend to come and kill us."

Esau would have said something, something snarky, but Edythe was already at the door. Before he could stop her, the door was pulled open and down fell a body, almost frozen, on the workshop's floor.

He reached for the axe inches away from his fingertips but stopped when he heard a man's pained whisper.

"Help us," it remained in the air until there was nothing but the howl of wind and the darkness of a sunless, foggy morning.

†

So... Backstory time! I'm going to tell you exactly why Esau befriended Alun.

One day, a long time ago *eye roll* twins were born to a very rich couple... You know what, I'm just going to let you guys suffer in anticipation.

Yes, Edythe has killed before, but she doesn't remember (for the stated reasons). Esau on the other hand is incapable of forgetting anything, he also has a perfect memory and his mind can't be read or wiped... (apparently).

Their mother was an apothecary (a great one) and she passed down her knowledge of herbs to both her children. But Esau showed a higher compatibility with her lessons and Edythe's talent in that aspect fell short.

Fun fact: The Forest of Lacau is Esau and Edythe's backyard (literally).

Question of the chapter

How do you think the twins are going to leave the forest?