Xavier sighed, glad that the first part of his master plan was over. Zach wouldn't be needed again for a few months.

"Come on, we can lose the disguises now Keith." He said, waving his hand.

They started to grow, becoming more humanoid, at least Xavier was, where Keith's legs should have been was  a trail of green mist. Meanwhile Xavier, or as everyone has probably figured out, Xanthos, wiggled his toes.

"Come on, we have to back to our mountain, your father-"

Xanthos waved him off. "My dad's been acting off lately, it's probably best we avoid him for a while."

"Whatever, I'm not sticking around when the sun comes out, we'll be burned to crisp." He started to float off.

Xanthos' face twisted in a sudden mask of fear. "Wait! Don't fly off without me!"

Keith turned around. "Just follow me."

Xanthos bit his lip. "I can't, you go, I'll meet you there later."

"Just float up here, it's not that hard."

He shook his head, white hair flying everywhere. "No, I have something I want to do first."

Keith shrugged, and floated off into the sky. Xanthos waited until his friend was far out of sight. And then he started walking away from Ghost Mountain.

Zach would be fine, he had found his family, which is exactly what was supposed to happen. He just had to work out the Arietty problem. Before he went back, he wanted to do something. Something he had wanted to do for a along time.

Xanthos transformed himself into a bird. Nothing flashy, just a pure white sparrow. And fluttered off into the air, high above the tree line, when he came to what looked like a colony of woven spheres hanging from trees, he dived and picked a small yellow flower.

Clutching it in his talons, he landed on the ground. This was a special place, a grave yard. The ground had planks of wood sticking from the ground with the names of fallen comrades. Hopping around, he found the one he was looking for. It was small elegantly carved square piece of wood with a short sentence and a name. The first part read:

Live your life with courage and follow your heart, even if that's what kills you in the end, love never dies.

                                   -Tang Shen

Xanthos left the yellow flower on the earth. He stood for a moment, before wiping a tear from his eye and flying away.

Now everything was perfect.

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END OF BOOK ONE
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