"...You guys are early." He mumbled after a moment of hesitation, not completely awake yet. Making his way over to the table, he brushed back his mess of hair and scanned the room, searching for a phantom of a memory.

"Uh, don't you have a bed or something?" Maddox felt the question slip from his lips as Kadri stumbled into a chair, generously brushing aside a pile of paintbrushes onto the floor. Throwing his head into his hands, he glared with a tired hatred, making Maddox shiver in his shoes.

"Don't tell me how to live my life." He declared like a toddler, defiant and static. Then, ducking his head, he buried himself under his arms. "...And I think I do. I was just up all night with Dominic and...forgot. He's got a nasty fever."

Maddox paused mid-question, unsure how Kadri forgot he had a bed when the small boy appeared in the doorway. Dominic had wrapped his arms around a silver paint can, his eyes bent in pure hatred.

Of all of the kids Maddox shared Anna's house with, Dominic was by far his least favorite. Bitter, bratty, and with an ego the size of the sun, the little kid seemed like something from an overly exaggerated sitcom. Even though he was hardly 8 years old, he terrorized Maddox by staining his clothes with mayberry juice, hiding fairy dust under his pillow and watching his bed-sheets float away, and making fun of his very American accent. Personally, Maddox heard no difference in the way he spoke, but Dominic hated him all the same.

"What's Gremlin-breath doing here?" Dominic declared, strutting into the room as Maddox narrowed his gaze.

"Go back to bed," Kadri mumbled sleepily, still tucked beneath his sweatshirt. He looked exhausted, every ounce of his normal quirkiness compressed into a plea for rest.

"Anna's working at the market." Maddox cut in, staring down at the kid with a burning hatred. "Is this your fever talking, or did you just forget that you had siblings?"

Dominic and Maddox glanced over in unison as a slight snore rose from the paint-stained heap on the table, each one taking on a face of war. Adjusting the paint can in his arms, Dominic grinned and lunged forward.

"Eat paint you monster-breath dummy!" Before Maddox could jump out of the way, a sea of silver paint splashed onto his arm, and the boy sprinted from the room in a fit of laughter.

Maddox staggered back, his right arm completely drowned in the messy paint from his elbow to the tips of his fingers. It chilled him to the bone, silvery and cold like snow.

"Are you guys gonna do anything?" Maddox shot at Robin and Kat as he waved his arm to get the paint off. The two sat leisurely, Robin hiding a bit of laughter. She was far too busy studying a painting of a nest of fledglings.

"Relax. He's just jealous." She stated as Maddox narrowed his eyes. How could she be so heartless? "He used to be the new kid, and now you've got all the attention. It'll fade."

"Well, maybe." Kat corrected, handing him a roll of paper towel. Diligently, Maddox began to wipe away the paint, silver streaks of color sticking to his skin and clothes.

"Stop it!" Kadri's head popped up like a daisy in the snow, his hair sticking up all over again as he stared back at Maddox, taking in the paint-stained clothes and deadly glare. Rediscovering the scene all over, he jumped to his feet, completely refreshed from his five-second nap.

"Paint, right." He mumbled to himself, hastily shuffling back to a mound of empty spray paint cans. Absentmindedly, he picked one up, shook it around, and tossed it back into the heap without a second thought. "You can...paint, right?"

"Uh, not well." Maddox bitterly spoke as he worked to get rid of the paint, the silver persisting on his hand. "And I'm not really interested in starting either." Kadri didn't seem to hear Maddox as he did an odd run-skip over to him and gripping his paint-stained wrist without a pause.

"Good. Follow me." Maddox stumbled forward as Kadri yanked him towards a tight hallway, the ceiling rimmed with pipes and loose bricks strewn across the floor. It was another deteriorating mess of Kadri's home, another gutted and strangely stunning scene. That alone would have been mystic enough, but was hardly comparable to the scene Kadri presented as he opened up another iron door.

Maddox felt his breath fade as fresh air rushed onto his face, the entire city of Alfheim laid out at his feet. Each home lit with a yellow light, each mountain no longer a tower but an equal to Kadri's deteriorating mansion. The bridges and rivers shone a beautiful light, the greenery shouting over stack and stacks of homes until...

Kadri gripped Maddox's shoulders, spinning him around until he was staring straight into his crazy, bewildered eyes.

"Can you do something for me?" He asked, short of breath as the rampant thoughts wore him out.

Maddox hesitated, feeling small underneath Kadri's mounting determination, but he had found it easier to roll with Kadri's ideas in the past. Even though he was unpredictable and chaotic, Kadri had a way of making things work in the end, no matter how long it took.

"Yeah, whatever you need." He found himself saying. After all, Kadri had done plenty for him. Between taking him in and removing all mirrors from his house after hearing about Alex, he never hesitated to put Maddox before himself. It was only fair that he repaid Kadri from time to time.

"Are you sure?" Kadri's heavy breaths fell as if running a marathon, his thoughts too hard to keep up with. "Because I need you to contact your mom."