The shapeshifter was now held in the centre of Logan's' entrance hall. Trolls were searching for Roman and Virgil, who hadn't been present when it all went down. Logan was pacing around their captive while Patton gently hugged the still shaking Thomas.

"For the last time, what is your name?" Logan growled, angrily, near his wit's' end.

The prisoner glared indignantly. "You want to know who I am?" He said in a whiny voice. His face morphed to a violet complexion, sharp teeth lined up in a toothy smile and King Virgil looked up at Logan and said, "I'm Virgil! Oh, wait," The face changed quickly into a scaly, ember-red and Roman grinned cockily. "I'm definitely Roman. Or I could be Patton? Yeah, I like the idea of being King Patton." Patton found himself staring into a broken mirror of himself. The only difference was the big, green eyes that looked about wildly.

"Enough!" Barked Logan, voice echoing around the chamber. The rocks that held the shapeshifter in place grew more jagged and he winced in pain. "Tell us who you are, right now."

The shapeshifter snarled, and his face switched between different faces. A troll, a harpie, a young woman, a siren, Logan, another troll, Patton, then Roman, then Patton again, Thomas, Virgil, a man with scales down half of his face, a fairie, Thomas again, Logan, Virgil and then settled back to the moustached man. "Remus..." He growled, lowly and slowly. "My name is Remus..."

"See?" Logan said, keeping his tone even. "That wasn't so hard-"

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" Remus suddenly interrupted wildly, a savage glaze in his eyes. "You want to keep me here but you won't! My friends won't let you and I have some dangerous friends! I'm getting out, I'm getting out, I'm getting out!" He chanted madly, swinging his legs from his elevated prison and laughing

Logan pulled back and Thomas watched in awe as Remus began screeching with laughter, almost crying in amusement. His form flickered between a man with snake scales on the side of his face and Virgil as his laughter turned into shrieking. Then he shut up instantly and stared at the three horrified people in the room. "Yes, so you were saying?"

The Earth King quickly recovered while Patton and Thomas exchanged slow looks of concern. "I was wondering, how are you a shapeshifter?" Logan narrowed his eyes. "They're all dead."

"Oh, a few of us didn't go into the human world," Remus said nonchalantly, his whiny voice a little hoarse from the screaming. "I didn't. It would've been boring. The Kings were always so predictable. Stupid humans, I'm glad they're all gone!"

Patton pulled back. "They're not all gone! And watch what you say! You're not only in the presence of the Earth and Air King, but the human Prince! Mind your manners!"

"Human prince?" Remus asked calmly. "Human prince?" He said, louder this time. "Human prince?! Human prince?!" The shapeshifter giggled madly. "He's not even human!"

"I am human-" Thomas frowned.

The shapeshifter swung his legs. "He's not a prince either! If he's a human, then he's a kitchen boy! Coward little kitchen boy!"

Thomas felt his stomach drop.

The world zoned out, it was a misty, murky haze. There was a ringing from somewhere, he didn't know but it was getting louder. He was back in the smoke, back in the raging fire as he ran from the castle, in a mucky apron that had fallen off and a searing pain in his chest. His fingers rose to the lumpy, twisted mesh of skin, that was hidden under a shirt and he felt that bile rise in his throat. That familiar bile of horror, fear and anxiety. He knew. He knew. He knew. He knew. How did he know? He knew. He knew. He knew. He knew.

He was just a kitchen boy. A failure of a kitchen boy. An orphan child who could never play hide and seek  because the people who once used to like him would always find him first, a kitchen boy who never managed to get along that well with the people in the kitchen because he never knew what he was doing. A kitchen boy who was too much of a diplomat for the steaming work in the servants quarters. And now they all knew it. They all knew it, they knew it all.

The misty haze was now whiter, thining out. The ringing was echoing around his whole head and when Patton put his hand on his shoulder, he jolted. Only then did he feel the tears on his face, only then did he hear Remus chanting, 'Kitchen boy', only then did he see Logan's' face.

That was the worst part of it all.

Logan looked mortified. Logan looked betrayed. He had been there from the start and he had never known. Thomas had never said a word. Then he spoke in a small, quiet voice, far too unlike Logan for Thomas's' happiness. "So you lied to me," Was all he said.

Thomas couldn't stand it. He ran out of the room. And he didn't know where to go next.