Helen

Helen almost collapsed on the wooden floor of their momentary house. The ground was dusty and disused, but she felt so grateful she almost kissed it. Her legs were wobbly from the effort, but she forced herself to continue until Andre's bedroom.

She let her friend fall onto the covers as delicately as possible and the tucked his unconscious body in between the covers. She knelt next to his bedside table in search from one his miraculous ointments. As she opened the cabinet she cursed him for not being more clear with his stupid labelling.

Helen grabbed the first vase that said "Kind of useful" and smelled it. If it was as useful as it was disgusting, then Andre would feel amazing. Is this were the dead pigeons that they found in their backyard ended up?

She took another labelled "Probably not a smart idea", while another one just said "Hahahahahha".

She swore on her immortal life that she would slap Andre as soon as he woke up.

The boy had stayed silent until then, a shadow in the night. -I think I can help. - he said with his soft words.

Helen growled so low it could have been a wolf sound instead of human. Helen? No, this wasn't Helen. This was the immortal soul inside behind the mask.

-I could have killed you already, don't you think? - he asked leaning closer to Andre's body. The girl let him pass.

He put his hand over Andre's forehead and with the other grabbed the ointment that said "Probably not a smart idea".

When he opened the cap, a pungent smell of ashes was released into the room. The girl looked as he spread some over his fingers and then onto the Andre's lips.

His mouth was black with the dye, but his eyes fluttered as magic was transferred onto his body. Helen noticed the immortal heart beat fastening in reaction. The sweat rolling down his neck onto his still naked chest.

The pressure in the room seemed to stop abruptly as Andre took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

The guy released him immediately from his hold and took a step back.

Helen would have thrown herself onto the bed if she hadn't known that her friend might have still been hurt.

-How are you feeling? - she asked quickly.

He eyed her with a familiar grin on his face and looked sideways at the other person in the room. -Confused, hurt, and a little bit amused by the fact that you have brown hair for the first time in two centuries and I am not sure how I feel about it. -

Her hand travelled to the wild hair than the had tied in a ponytail. Somewhere in between the caos she must have switched it back to her original colour. She focused her magic back and they turned blonde. It must have seemed like a frivolous act, but something about it always unnerved her.

-And for the love of Nature, give this guy a shirt- he added. - I find it hard to plan ways to murder him if his six pack keeps staring at me. -

Despite the situation, the immortal blushed. He comically tried to cover himself up with his hands.

Taking pity on him, Helen threw him a pink blanket at the end of the bed.

-You are exiles- he said simply, his words driving a knife through her chest. - I was told to beware of your kind -

-The mist people told you about us? - she raised an eyebrow. She hadn't known about other failed path-changers before becoming one.

The guy nodded. -They told me about the mark, and how you went mad and tried to destroy the human world. -

Well, that was new.

Andre laughed, a cough stopping escaping his lips. -That's what they told the other immortals? That we went mad? Tell me Hellen, do I look mad to you? -

-Is this a trick question? -

Andre scowled. It was probably not the best time for sarcasm.

-Madly attractive if anything - he winked at the boy covering himself up with the blanket. - but trust me when I say the mist people lied, but you already guessed that -

To Helen's surprise, he nodded.

-We simply disobeyed and were prevented from becoming path-changers. Asked too many questions if you wish. - Andre continued. - We have been trying to answer them ever since we were left behind. -

Helen didn't mention the fact that she had planned way more than just answering to some questions.

The immortal didn't have a murderous look in his eyes. He just seemed very confused.

-The mist people know things that are hidden to the human world, their decisions are not to be questioned. - he recited, not sure of his own words.

-And yet you are questioning them just by being here - she objected. The immortal was hiding something from them. Did the mist people find out that they had been tracking them for centuries and now sent a spy amongst them?

Andre seemed ready to throw his trust into this new immortal, just like he had done with her, but she wasn't as easily fooled. Kindness could be a good way to get killed.

But the immortal hadn't killed them, or handed them over when they were hurt and vulnerable. If he wanted information, he could have tortured it out of them, or worse, he could have entered their memories. If he was as magically skilled as he looked, that was possible.

-I was tested because my mind wasn't pure - he said the last word with hatred. Another spark of emotion filled his eyes as he was talking. Did Helen imagine it? One look at Andre made her realise she was not the only one seeing the immortal showing true emotions.

-They kept bringing me deep into the forest during my training, when the others were all asleep. - he continued. -Whispering I had to let go or I would never be ready to be a path-changer. I think I did try, and I must have succeeded because the next thing I remember I was sent into the mortal world. -

Helen gasped. She knew her training had been intense, taking everything out of her. But she could not remember any details of it, it was part of the catch. She knew they had been in a forest, a lot of them, but that was as far as her momory extended. She could close her eyes and imagine being back there, the feeling of warmth and joy, the idea of finally belonging to a place. But the more she thought about it, the weirder it felt not to have any clear image of the one that had been her home for so long. Not a single face, not even a name or her family. Had she ever had a name or was that just something you pick up once you get to the human world? Surely she must have known something from before the time she woke up in the mortal world.

She wondered how you could miss so much a place you don't even remember.

Andre seemed to be suffering from the same memory loss, given the hard frown on his face.

-Do you remember anything else ... from before? - he asked.

The immortal avoided his gaze and looked at Helen. -Just images, flashes of things happening. A few of the speeches of the mist people. - he replied.

-Tell us everything- they said in unison.

So he did.

He remembered a time when he was younger, probably nine or ten in human years, but had no idea how old he truly was. The mist people were vague in his mind, but he did rember a great amount of fog whenever one of them communicated with them. Him and the other immortal children were instructed in the magic of nature. Simple things like changing their appearance, making someone fall asleep, making a fire. The elements were like tools in his hands.

The immortal frowned and paused, as if one the memories was harder to access.

-They told me not to practise as much magic as I did, but I couldn't help it - he explained. -For me it is just like breathing. -

A little sparkle created at the top of his fingers. Helen had never seen anything more extraordinary. The boy's face was illuminated by the small light highlighting his perfect jaw.

He told them he did not remember much else from his early childhood. Most of his memories came from his path-changer training. The shiny figures told them about the importance of their job, taught them languages, fighting techniques, how to fake emotions to an observed without waking suspicion in other mortals.

- I had some ... close friends - his eyes darted immediately to Andre and then back to Helen. -But they all passed the tests before me and I was left alone. -

They then finally sent him to the mortal world, a mere fifty years before. According to him, he was ready for the mission, but the mist people kept telling him that he was not good enough at faking emotions and gave him a test for his ability. The test they stopped him from completing: carrying a baby to the nearest forest and giving him to the mist people.

...

Author's note: And if you like the story, do not forget to live a like! It helps the book being seen by other people!