The next day dragged on. Destan shuffled through the forest, trying his best to care about finding food. He forced his thoughts to focus on anything but the shit in his life, but it was a losing battle. The way Julia had looked at him... He could not get her terrified eyes out of his head.

No. Focus. The rabbit he'd caught a few days ago was already eaten. He had to catch something new today, or he'd have nothing but a handful of wild berries for dinner.

Destan reached out with his powers to scan the area, a little trick Aruna had taught him years ago. Even back when she didn't train him, she talked to him every now and again, giving pointers on how to use his magic. As if she'd always known that his powers were needed for the tribe someday.

A handful of birds up in the trees. A great many insects scuttering about on the ground and up tree trunks. Nothing large enough to feed two people. Destan cringed at the beetle climbing up the bark of a nearby tree. He really didn't feel like having bugs for dinner. It wasn't often that he had to stoop that low, but he hated it with a passion when it happened. Maybe a bird will have to do today...

If only he hadn't screwed up the task. His outcast status might have been lifted by now, and he'd have plenty to eat. He'd be allowed to take from the reserves in the icebox, like all the others. But now... That had once again become an unreachable dream. As if it was supposed to be this way.

Focus! Destan reprimanded himself. For the third time that day, he'd let his thoughts take over and accidentally scared something away with his footsteps. Leaves bristled somewhere to his left. He knew there was no point reaching out. Whatever it was had already gotten away.

It didn't help that he'd gone this far out into the forest. He was so close to the edge – on Grimsby's side – that not many animals came here. It was a consideration he'd made, though. He'd rather not have dinner tonight, than run into a triber after yesterday's humiliation.

And oh, how humiliated he w –

A rustling of leaves snapped Destan out of his thoughts. He whirled around on his feet, while at the same time reaching out with his powers and lifting up the very first thing he could get: a heavy branch, fallen from a nearby tree.

Without thinking, he smashed it into what Destan had now recognised from the corner of his eye to be a person. The wood hit the person square in the chest, lifting them up into the air in the process.

It wasn't until they were dangling over the branch with their arms and legs flailing through the air, that Destan realised who it was.

"Nero? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Put me down!" Nero growled, swiping his arms around as if that would help.

Had the situation not been so serious, Destan would've found it rather funny, the way Nero hung helplessly on an extra-large twig, suspended in the air. However, with what had happened the day before, there wasn't anything at all funny about Nero being here, sneaking up on him.

Destan stared at the struggling boy in front of him. He'd shown him magic yesterday. Threatened him with it. But unlike Julia, Nero hadn't seemed frightened at all. And now here he was, hanging in the air on a levitating branch, held up by magic, and his only response was anger. In fact, now that he thought about it, he didn't even seem surprised. How was that possible?

Just as Destan was about to repeat his question, a silver flash in Nero's hand caught his attention.

"Is that a dagger?" said Destan incredulously.

Nero's arms and legs paused their fight with the air, while his eyes fixed on Destan's.

"You threatened me yesterday," Nero hissed. "I figured I'd even the score."

Anger bubbled up in Destan's chest like lava. That git had already cost him his sister, and now he wanted to take his life, too?

Destan took a step forward, the branch in his power trembling with barely repressed magic.

"You came here to kill me, did you?" said Destan, his voice dangerously low. "And you thought sneaking up on me would be enough? You thought a flimsy dagger would work against my magic, did you?"

For the first time, something like worry flashed through Nero's eyes.

"Put me down!" he roared. "You threatened me because of Julia. Well guess what, the little brat is not your sister anymore! Now put me down!"

With a flick of his wrist, the dagger shot out of Nero's hand and towards his neck. It trembled against the soft skin below his ear.

"Magic doesn't scare you," said Destan. "Doesn't even surprise you. How come?"

Nero leaned away from the sharp metal tip as far as he could. "I've seen it before. You just confirmed my suspicions. Let me go!"

"What do you mean you've seen it before? Where?"

A noise of leaves rustling behind him made Destan lose focus. He glanced over his shoulder, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. When he turned back around, Nero had grabbed the dagger and jumped off the branch, landing hard on his feet.

"Stay the hell away from me and my sister."

With a quick swing, the dagger flew from Nero's arm, straight for Destan. Just in time did he manage to jump out of the way. The dagger shot past him, scratching his arm and leaving behind a deep gash. Destan gasped, a thousand needles stinging into the flesh of his arm.

In a reflex, Destan reached out to the metal and flung it right back to Nero. With his right arm hanging limply by his side, power coursed through his left-side atraments, briefly distracting him from the pain. He felt the atoms of the dagger bending to his will, charging through the air like a stampede of wildebeests, just as he told them to. The satisfying swish of metal slicing through air reached his ears. Nero's eyes widened at the approaching weapon.

What am I doing?

This bastard was Julia's brother. She didn't like him much, but Destan was sure she didn't want him dead.

And he would never do anything to hurt her.

Destan balled his outstretched hand into a fist, causing the dagger to stop its race as if something had caught it. Its tip pointed threateningly to Nero's heart, all but trembling in the air, less than a centimetre from the boy's chest.

Grinding his teeth in annoyance at himself, Destan glared at the older boy.

"I would kill you, if it wasn't for Julia," he warned. "Do not come back. I won't be so kind a second time."

Nero's eyes flashed from the dagger in front of him to Destan and back. His face had gone pale, drained of all blood. Without a word, he grabbed the dagger out of mid-air and sprinted off, shooting one last furious glance over his shoulder.