My eyes are locked shut. I don't want to believe that the genuine seeming grin the blonde man gave me was false. That the one second that I believed that maybe they were honestly begging for help was all for nothing and a lie.

The chance that they could be leading my father to his death awakens almost all my impulses. Suddenly I'm everything that I'm not and that shaking in my palms sinks to nothing but a pool of fear at the bottom of my stomach, quenching all signs of adrenaline. In the seconds that capture this moment, I'm no longer the New York City Jay.

I'm the grove, Jay. The Jay who felt the flames kiss her soft skin goodbye while leaving red marks trailing up and down my forearm. Except for the people who'd told her that good luck was in the path ahead were all gone. Who knows where, but gone.

"Stop beating yourself up, Jay. I was just making speculation from my point of view and time in this city." Andrew took a seat on the couch where Georgy had once been.

Opening my eyes, I could still feel the rush of anxiety holding tight. The chance that Andrew's one little statement could be true. That maybe it was a trap rather than an honest lead in the case.

Dad can protect himself as he did all those years ago at the grove. The way he protected us for all those years and being one of the first to speak up for a plan that could keep us at our home.

It failed. We lost more people at the grove. The final decision was made to adapt to the human way of life. To cover ourselves in their scents and never look back on the past. But I see it behind my eyelids all the time.

Pain engulfed my heart after learning that the only reason that my people held on to the three deities and their towering statues that sat at the gates of our reserve was because it was the only way to continue defying Lace. The only way to kill the good she'd endeavored to do and replace it with hatred. To burn every atheist thing that she spoke.

Bastard. Liar. Dog. I knew every name for her. Every claw to her corpse. The unprovable belief that those three fictional deities had been the ones to send the tunnels crashing down. That it wasn't my father's theory. That the hybrid that had a mother who was royalleaf and father who was fireleaf hadn't used her powers to break the barriers below.

She was powerful no doubt but crashing the entire area was far-fetched. Lace would have needed help all those years ago, but no one was ready to die for something that might fail. If Dad's theory was right, she couldn't have blown her cover by asking for help.

"A speculation that might be true! They seemed so genuine though."

My memory of the smile they'd both given me haunted my mind like a song that just won't leave my head. It prickles me with some relief but in all, not enough to make me abandoned the living room for my bed. Not enough to put me to sleep till morning.

Andrew ran his fingers across his face, "That was until the blonde punched me. Didn't hurt but, still rude to attack a person in the comfort of their home."

Seeing him lie and laugh, forgetting the fear that he put in me places a horrid and foul taste in my mouth. Like he doesn't care about his brother who he had allowed to go alone without his aid.

"Arent you going to help him? Do something?" I shot to him through the silence between his joke. Guilt makes me want to puke as my sights turn to the closed window. Bright glimmering lights from the light poles reflect the white shades that hid the night sky. The big scary human world.

"No. Neither will you. Dale has the police with him and that should be more than enough protection. What would it look like if I used my abilities in front of humans?"

I wanted to search his voice for a reason to be angry, for a hint of his joking nature. But all I hear his fear. He feels fear but I feel nothing but I haven't seen enough in my city. All I'm holding on to is sheer courage and curiosity.

"And? If you do, you don't have to admit to it." I find myself snarling. All respect for him is lost because all I see is the man who brags about his strength but in the end, shrinks to nothing.

"Jay, you aren't listening to me! Humans here have seen strange things in the last few years and no doubt if they get a hold of anything, they won't let it go that easy. Think of someone but yourself for once Jay." I hardly ever heard Andrew raise his voice. His eyes resembled glowing emeralds as they searched my face for any sign of argument.

"Me, think of someone but myself?" It's hard to ignore the shaking inside my stomach and the tears boiling behind my eyes. My chin shook violently at the words I forced out of my burning anger.

Andrew didn't reply. He watched me blankly as his eyes started to lose their gleam and become like human eyes again. Dull but still holding life. Lips pressed together tightly as if he was holding in another sentence. As if he couldn't find the words to combat me with.

"Do you think that when I'm afraid for Dad I have a secret motive that includes myself?" My hand turns into a fist of purple zags the color of a sunset hue. It burns as the electricity outlines the wrinkles of skin that makes my knuckles slowly running towards my fingertips. The rest of me numb as the feeling takes over my left hand. I feel empty. Weak even. Guilty.

"I don't think that is the reason why you worry." Andrew doesn't flinch when he sees the glow coating my olive skin. Because he isn't afraid and doesn't have a reason to be. I'm not my father. Not anything worth cowering for,

"Then what is it!" I taste the blood as my teeth gnash hard on my tongue in a fit of rage. The pain doesn't faze me. Instead, it's just another reason to be upset. Another reason to be pissed off.

"Jay, drop it." Andrew clenched his jaw.

"You are afraid." My mouth moves before I could even catch my own words. It's a bitter insult for any royalleaf because fear is the one thing we all despise. Those words are never said kindly but always said with a sick venom. We aren't supposed to be afraid.

To my surprise, he only gave a half-smile. "I am afraid and was never a coward for admitting it. I ran from the grove because I was terrified, I lost my family and the praise I would have had because I was afraid and I may lose my brother because I'm afraid."

"But why? Isn't it better to give your life for what means the most than run forever?" The glow around my fist faded away into nothing leaving traces of sore bruises.

"I watched too many people die for honor and courage. For a title after death. Do you remember the name of everyone who died during your childhood at the grove?" His question catches me off guard for a moment.

I don't. I hardly remember a good eight. They came and they went. A vigil was sat by the closest members of their family and then their bodies were taken to the burial grounds and never seen by the sun again. Each grave held a loyalty but I couldn't name them without the stone engravings that eventually were destroyed by rain, snow, and other elements.

At one point in time, I don't even think the record keepers remembered who was where. Grief was just a daily emotion.

"I...I don't." Muttering softly after dropping my eyes to the floor, "But who could when it was so many deaths. I learned the scent of death and the scent of peace."

"And what did they die for in the end. Who still lives at the grove to add flowers to the plots every year? What deity soothes their souls? They died for nothing! You think these powers are a gift Jay but they are a curse!" A single tear falls down his cheek holding back all the burdens he had to carry his whole life.

It's more than fear behind those eyes. It's guilt and sadness. Guilt for everything he did that was deemed as cowardly by his blood. His friends. His family. Now the same people who mocked him for running are buried in an oak box under mounds of dirt. Sadness for their demise.

He continued, "I wished those deities I believed in as a child could have saved the grove and every dead royalleaf. They didn't though."

Moon, Sun, and Shadow. Tales told to kids as soon as they opened their eyes. It was in royalleaf blood, a drop their spirits tucked in our DNA. Or that's what we thought. They let us down. We fought for them, in hopes that it was them who decided if we were brave enough or worthy enough in our life.

I wonder if that's what their creators envisioned. That three harmless fictional characters would lead to their downfall. To the death of future generations. The very path leading to this.

I wish I could spit on their graves. Scream my lungs out into the darkness until their roaming spirits felt guilt. So they could fix what they did to us or at least make amends. They wanted something to explain their powers so they made up something to kill their fear for at least a while. But a while turned into years too long.

"Maybe not. If we can't depend on them to save us them maybe that means we have to be our own deities." I say. Now that I say it, I feel stupid.

"The grove looked up to characters to fix every problem and when a good coincidence happen it was the goodwill of Sun, Moon, and Shadow." Andrew reached for the picture on the table. A picture that we'd taken at the state fair. I could still feel the heavy hand of my dad gripping my left shoulder while Andrew ducked behind me, the only thing left of him was two eyes and a corn dog gripped in his hand, half-eaten.

"And we don't have to." I pressed. "I don't believe that Georgy and Kurtis are the people we should worry about."

They seemed so good. I hadn't felt so welcomed by anyone but my own family in so long as they did. If it was truly some kind of malice inside of them, it was no doubt that they were sure to keep it a secret.

"Then who do you think might be the danger to Dale?"

I sigh. "The ones they're hunting."

The exact moment that Andrew gave in was the same time that I wondered if I had said the wrong words. It was the guilt that made him come instead of honest courage and no one could argue when he'd just admitted how terrified he was.

I'm young. Probably too young to out here at night. Andrew didn't try to stop me as he pulled the jacket off the coat hanger at the door and didn't say a word. Just complete silence and empty dull eyes. I swallow hard against the sandy feeling in my throat that felt like a desert.

"I'm so stupid." Andrew muttered, keeping his eyes glued to the charcoal grey cement wet with water from a fire hydrant leak.

Walls of grey and black rose from every angle, outlining the exteriors of buildings with glass windows taller than I was and nearly reaching the skyline. Rusting roofs of the buildings seemed to compete with each other of who could blot out the most stars. Unnatural light flooded from the hanging lights above every door in the city, bathing the concrete in yellow and fluorescent white.

Old Christmas lights hung like angel halos around a few wooden poles covered tightly in gum, paper, and cigarette ash. Few quiet voices could even be made out through the traveling noise from the threshold that led to the subway.

"You'll do everything I say and nothing more than that, Jay. I guess every kid has to have their time." Andrew traced his finger around his lips, reaching a hand out to touch a row of crumbling flowers on a park bench. The flowers seemed to perk at his touch but fall into pieces at the retreat of his fingers.

"Of course." I whispered, stuffing the thoughts crowding my head back down.

"Good. Have you eaten?" The soft rattle of plastic from his pocket gave me the cue that not all of Andrew was gone. A brown wrapped candy bar was produced from his pocket, shinny in the light.

"No. But I don't think I could eat if it wanted to." I was telling the truth. Just looking at the bar made me sick. My stomach was twisted with nausea and butterflies.

I expected him to protest, but then again, it was Andrew I was talking about. With that said, he wasn't the pushy type or the father figure. Sometimes, I believed that he'd rather be on his own like he was before we came.

He halted at the end of the row of the complexes, a crossroad looming ahead but completely empty. Dark shadows from light poles moved against the rocky pavement giving a glow to the dark black cracks that hid between the jagged pebbles embedded in the grey cement. A flicker of light lit up the sidewalls of the end complex, empty from age and reconstruction.

Trinkets lined up the windows, dusty covered in deep bedded grey, and dead flies that hung in spider webs decorated the broken windows. Yellow tape hung down from the balcony overhead, blowing like ribbons. Another strong burst of light glimmered against the red bricks.

"Where is this?" I reach both of my hands into my pocket by instinct to protect my fingers from the chilly frost blowing in. My heart thudded as the light flickered out again and disappeared into an orange glimmer.

"You could call it a shortcut if you want." He shrugged his shoulders before heading towards the flickering light. "This is the exact place where I use to hang out with the street urchins, that's until they found out about my abilities and we all knew it would be best if we distanced for a bit."

Humans already know about us. My blood turns ice cold, but Andrew doesn't give me time to ask about it. Rounding the area, a paper towel moved across the cement with a gust of wind.

"Hey, Wolf! You there?" Andrew pushed me behind him with one hand, with an awkward smile. A glimmer of orange sparked again, staining the bricks with a flame orange that moved with the steady direction of the wind.

I stepped back as footsteps answered back, clicking against the cement and light disappeared. "Who is it?"

The voice was gruff, roughed with age, and throaty coughing that aided the question. Andrew tapped his shoe on the cement, moving closer as a muttered call followed the voice as the stranger. Orange flickered again, this time brighter than light itself, glowing so bright off the tall building walls and filling the brick cracks with an odd reddish light.

Light glimmered downward outlining a round black tire connected to straight metal. Handlebars colored in chipping black paint revealed themselves in the life of the light. Orange flares turned bright yellow before fading.

A sweet scent like burning cinnamon oils in a heated pot replaced the flares. Royalleaf. Flashbacks from the bike practically floating down the stairway hit me. That same bike. I couldn't recall every detail but that scent held his entire identity.

Desperate screaming broke the silence, "Help! Please!"

Andrew yanked a shiny weapon from his leather jacket, the pocket knife flicking open at an unmatchable speed. His shoulders tensed, muscles slightly visible through the thick black leather.

"Hush, I made a promise that you'd pay for thinking you were smooth enough that you'd steal from me!" The heavy voice barked, echoing off the windows.  The boy's cry came again after the sound of metal crashing into a stone-hard surface.

Red liquid sprayed down in front of Andrew's sneakers in several droplets mixing in the dust and painting the sandy gravel. I screamed. Not loud enough to wake the entire block but loud enough to stop the fighting in the closed space.

If it wasn't death that shut the boy up. His copper, nearly gold eyes flashed in my mind. Why wasn't he using his powers instead of just mock threats with the lights? And why wasn't the man inspired to drop him and run in terror at such a peculiar sight?

Andrew jumped back as a heavy object nearly knocked into him. The mass hit the ground, blood streaking his clothing from the bare inches of his skin I could see, down to his socks. My hands shake with horror as he moved barely, picking his head up with blood pooling from the side of his jaws.

I know it's him. The crystal goddess lay buried, poking out of the mud-streaked shirt. It's the first thing he reaches for, tightening his fist around the smooth stone for dear life. In an instant, I know that it's more than a boy wishing for aid from a deity.

You held every little trinket in the house you found from Mom after she left. Crying into each trinket and wishing that one of those sobs would bring her back to the city. Back to the complex. Forever.

For the first time in months, I find myself confronting the thing that made me want to curl up and die. How my demons were born. The reason why I'm here in this alley right now putting both Andrew and my own life in danger. The thought of losing another parent makes my heart shatter and my throat closes.

"Please. Mama, don't let me die...I have to protect the others back home...I...I was just trying to-." Through the boy's whimpers, his tears mix with the blood pooling at his throat, though the wound isn't deep. Fog dulls his eyes, shallow breaths barely leaving his lips as they tremble after each attempt at pulling himself up.

Andrew shot the boy a look of sympathy but looked away, closing his eyes briefly. It's the same look father gave him. Helplessness. As if despite his blood, he wasn't one of us. Just a stranger bleeding out on the cement with no help to be had.

"Help-." He pushed himself up, using his arm as a crutch before lifting his eyes to the sky. Searching.

"Why the hell would you beat the crap out of a kid, Wolf?" Andrew's eyes glowed with no regard for the human on the other end of the dark alley. His fingernails dug into the outer layer of the towering building.

A gnarled man whose name I found fitting crept from the space, a bloody cane clutched in his hand and scarlet blood staining his bundles of clothing. Grey hair was knitted into his black, stopping right above his shoulders and connecting in his beard like a river. His eyes squinted to search Andrew's face, no hesitation whatsoever to lift the wooden cane and use it.

"Don't think I know you, Son. It's best if you leave this part of town if you think you can disrespect your elders like that." The threat in his mocking tone before breaking off into horrid coughing makes me want to snatch the stick from him and jab him in the gut.

"Wolf, you senile old fool! It's Andrew."

Wolf lifted a hand to his nearly knitted-together brows, "I don't know anyone by that name."

The boy caught my attention, his copper-colored eyes like two tiger eye stones watched me, slowly mouthing words through the blood and saliva. I guessed he was around fifteen or sixteen, close in age to me.

At that moment I wished I could heal him or help him home. I moved towards him, a soft angelic glint in his eyes beckoned me closer. Andrew was too focused on that scumbag, Wolf to see me.

"Don't hurt..me. I..I'm sorry. Let me go and I won't return anymore. I promise." He whispered. I was taken back by his plea for forgiveness. Since Wolf wouldn't listen and Andrew didn't seem to give him the time of day, I was the next best thing.

"I don't want to hurt you, I wanna help you." I say.

He doesn't believe it.

My hand pressed on his shoulder, a shudder passing through both of us. He's afraid of me just like I am all the same.

"I have to help myself." His soft voice turns into nothing but a thin murmur. Our eyes meet for a moment as wet blood pooled around my fingers.

His hand reached out and almost out of fear, I ducked back but his grip was already tight around the collar of my jacket. It takes me a moment to figure out that he isn't choking me. Rather, he's using me as a crutch. The muscles in my neck protest against his weight, but my will to earn his trust is stronger.

Gritting his teeth against the pain of his open wounds, it isn't long until he lets go of me and depends on his own half working legs. His shoulder hit the nearest wall but relentlessly held on to cracks embedded with age.

"Look, I told you that I barely lifted a finger towards the lad. Look at him, walking as if nothing happened." Wolf staggered out, lifting a finger to point at the royalleaf boy leaving trails of blood on the bricks, barely making it between buildings before staggering.

"He's nearly dead." Andrew snapped defiantly.

"Nearly is a big difference than dead. He'd be fine, I always got a little correction back home in the country." Wolf let out a sick laugh that echoed the shallow area, resembling the howl of a wolf.

His statement makes me rethink the hate I had towards him. It's forced with laugher to imply just how messed up he is from trama. Wolf knows that the boy will be physically okay in the long run because he was the boy once. To him that was "little correction" and only God knows what big correction is.

"Times have changed since you were a kid, Wolf, and thank goodness they have." Andrew looked straight at me, his eyes dropping to look at the blood staining me from my pants to the collar of my coat.

Wolf pressed his back to the building, looking back at a shopping cart filled with what looked like an array of clothing and fruits starting to rot with brownish muck. "Thief. Thinking I was gone long enough for him to ramble through my belongings."

What belongings?

"Why did you touch him, Jay? We don't have ties with people like them, they disowned us so it's better if we keep our distance." I don't hear Andrew until I finally watch the royalleaf disappear around the corner of the building, nearly falling over his own feet with the sharp turn.

"He was practically bleeding out on the ground. You weren't going to spend your precious time helping him so I did." I say.

The royalleaf's blood still stuck to the cement, leaving a clear trail. How bad had Wolf hurt him and what could he have tried to take for him to think that was the type of punishment?

My dad's words came back: "Humans will do anything to protect themselves, so much that they become dominant us."

"Anthony..Aries, whatever your name is kid-."

Andrew cut him off sharply, "It's Andrew. Stop playing games, Wolf. I only came to ask if you'd seen three people walking pass these parts. I can give you descriptions if you want."

Wolf nodded, "What did they look like, eh?"

"One looks a lot like me, just older and dressed in more formal atire than anything we'd ever wear. Male."

Wolf quickly glimpsed at me, narrowing his grey eyes to get a good look. I wanted to turn away but he looked away, returning his attention to Andrew. "Go on, Anthony."

Andrew bit his lip, trying to hide just how pissed off he was getting. "Another male with blonde hair, kinda short and dressed in casual plaid. It's also a woman with them-."

Wolf waved his hand, burn marks gleaming red on his palm. He hadn't got away scot-free. The only reason I could think of why the boy didn't kill or injure him was either out of respect, weakness or if Wolf had given him a good blow to the heart. The place where our powers come from.

"A lady in a fancy lookin' dress? I might know where they went."

I wanted to burn his face, do what the boy couldn't do but if I had any chance of getting to my father, I would have to put up with these stupid games. Walking closer to Andrew, he tensed, afraid for a moment but huffed in relief when he saw that it was only me.

"What do you mean "you might"? You either know or you don't know and from what you just said, I know that you know something." Andrew crossed his arms.

"Ah, my friend, with that type of information, you have to pay." Wolf held out his hand, look to his empty palm to both the face of me and Andrew. "Who's paying, you or the young lady that you brought with you?"

His eyes linger on my face, my stomach coils under his hollow gaze accompanied by a smile that seemed to reach from his cheeks. "Kid, I bet you never missed a meal in your entire life. I can see it behind your eyes, the freedom and pampering."