The childish curiosity faded to muted terror as Maddox stared back at the image of a boy. His curve of a freckled face was captured in the mirror's silvery surface, hair flopped in front of his eyes as if it hadn't been tended to in years.

And his eyes; they were squinted as if he couldn't quite understand, couldn't quite grasp what he was seeing, but the deep knowledge they beheld was enough to make Maddox shiver. Every moment of treachery, every moment of pain, all were captured in the summer-sky eyes.

Feeling the warm heat of flames well up beneath his skin, Maddox caught his words in a shallow breath. "Make him go away." He squeaked, the boy's lips moving in unison to his. It had been so long since he had seen him...

Robin stood in puzzled silence as the flames grew warmer, the heat building beneath his skin so quickly, he knew that everything was going to burn. Everything was going to succumb to the flames within him.

"I said make him go away!" The screech reached his ears as the boy's face went from terror to rage. Maddox's fingers trickled across his face, burning flames tearing the tears off his face in an angry mist.

"Make him go away!" Lights flickered like his sanity. The room spun as every terrifying memory boiled over and scorched his mind.

Make him go away! Go away! away, away, away! I don't care if you have to shatter him all over again! Just make him go away!

Hands gripped his shoulders and yanked him back, a shout pulled from his lungs as the cold stone ground met his face.

"...in the phoenix is wrong with him?" A squeaky feminine voice tore through the memories as the last of the lights flickered off. Suddenly submerged in darkness, Maddox began to feel the emptiness the boy left behind. All his terror began to melt away as he curled into the arms of his savior, burying himself in the soft fabric.

"Make...make him go away." The words echoed on his lips, as faint as the wind.

"I don't know! He's a human-born!" Robin shot as the arms drew him closer, a barrier against the boy's eyes. "He just saw a mirror and panicked!"

"Hurry. Let's get him to Karena's office." The squeaky voice spoke again as she helped him to his feet, his sense of balance about as strong as his tolerance for mirrors. "She'll know what to do."

Maddox drew his eyes up, steadily seeing Robin and a familiar girl lead him out the door. He let himself be lead, knowing that wherever they were going, it was away from the boy and away from his eyes that held every truth he had tried to hide. It wasn't until they had reached a small office filled with cheesy images of dragons and teddy bears that his mind began to clear and he recognized the girl.

Indrani, the bubbly, oblivious apprentice to Gray, was sweetly helping onto a bed in the health room. Still, the only reason he could recognize her was the mess of orange hair, her standard grey sweater and polo replaced with the complex uniform of a student.

Kat had explained to him a while ago that there was no such thing as a college in Alfheim, but instead apprenticeships for almost any job you could imagine. It was expected of every student to replace their last few years of traditional school with an apprenticeship and study under someone with the same skill set they hoped to master.

And Indrani, a dreamful, incompetent teenager, was the first apprentice he had met. She was terrible at what she did and caused more problems for Gray than solving them, but something about that made Maddox's heart flutter. It was almost as if he was staring into the mirror again, but instead of seeing everything he tried to forget, he saw everything he never wanted to lose.

His stomach tumulting all the same, Maddox stared at her hair pulled back under layers of phoenix feathers. "Thanks." He mumbled halfheartedly as his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. Indrani smiled sweetly as if she hadn't just seen him panic at his own reflection. Of course, training to be a patrolman must have led her to see plenty of weird things. He could only hope that he wasn't the weirdest.

"Hey, it's just my job." She patted him on the back calmly as he stared at his feet, utterly embarrassed. "Gray works in the school every other day or so, so I'll be here to help if you need it." Quickly, Indrani mumbled something about going to find Karena, the school nurse, and left, leaving Maddox pinned under the sharp gaze of Robin.

"So, do you not have mirrors in the human world? She bit the words sourly as Maddox's stomach dropped to his toes. "Or is this just another one of your little quirks? Like, You're part human as it is, and every little thing seems to scare you. You hide all your thoughts in a notebook. Phoenix! Yesterday you even fell out of your chair when someone mentioned gardening! What is it with you?"

Maddox bit his lip, wishing he could fall back into the same daze the mirror had put him into, an excuse not to respond. But what harm would telling her this part of the truth do? Hiding Alex was never part of the original lie, and neither was the mirrors.

But that didn't make it any easier to talk about.

Maddox lifted his head again, silently convincing himself to speak. "You won't believe me if I told you." He breathed as Robin's face bent into a sour glare. Her perfect features seemed to take on an even more perfect anger, a gorgeous glare pinning him to the ground.

"I live in a hidden magical city, Maddox." Her tone sent shivers down his spine, no longer concern for him but a violent curiosity that would never rest. "You're basically my brother now, but I can't even find a decent thing to trust about you. Now spill it before I make you."

"I...uh..." The memories taunted the back of his mind, daring to be brought back, daring to unwind every lie he had built to protect himself. Then, like a seed of a thought, an idea wrapped its way around his mind in twisted vines. It's all lies. It's not your story, so give her a story. It was never your past to tell.

"I had a little brother." He stated calmly as the vines of thought kept emotion from overrunning the story. Gladly, he watched Robin's face soften, all aggression melting away to his tale. "His name was Alex, and he was eight and a half minutes younger than me."