Destan dragged his feet and stared at the ground as he made his way back through the forest. The October chill suddenly felt a whole lot chillier. His worn out coat couldn't keep him warm anymore.

Now that he was on his way back, he suddenly couldn't quite remember why he went to Julia's bench in the first place. What had it gotten him, really? Nothing but a reminder that his little sister wanted nothing to do with him.

He should've been used to that by now, he thought miserably, kicking a twig out of the way with much more force than was necessary. After all, he'd been treated like that by everyone, everyone, for his entire life. Why would his sister be any different?

Tears pricked in his eyes as the sounds of the forest assaulted his ears. He'd just thought that he loved her enough for her to love him back.

Destan would've done anything for Julia. All his life he'd been putting himself in danger just to see her. He'd been going to the edge of Grimsby to cheer her up when she was sad, be her guardian angel. But it was all for nothing. She didn't want someone like him as her big brother. She'd rather have Nero.

Leaves rustled and twigs snapped; maybe the animals weren't hiding out from the cold today after all. Destan angrily wiped his eyes with his sleeve and made a decision. He'd go home, get his pocketknife and come back out here to hunt. There'd been so much noise around him the whole way back; it must've been a good day to hunt. Besides, it would distract him.

Nearing the camp, Destan could see a few tribers through the trees, working. Depending on their specific powers, they'd be out gathering food or wood, or they'd stay in camp fixing and building things and adding to the water- and power reserves.

Destan had years of experience with sneaking around unnoticed, so most people didn't even spot him. He didn't want them to, not in this mood. One man happened to come straight past him and greeted him. He recognised this man; it was an old friend of his dad's. From before Julia was taken from them. Tamren, he thought the man's name was. Still having to get used to being treated like a normal human being, Destan stuttered a greeting back.

He kind of missed being ignored. The silence wasn't so bad.

Destan nearly jumped out of his skin when a sudden screaming and shouting erupted behind him. He whirled around. His head disappeared between his shoulders when a loud thud rang through the forest.

What's going on? The forest had never been disturbed by sounds like this before. It was almost as if... As if they were under attack!

His eyes wide, Destan ran to the aid of whoever was still out there. If only he had his pocketknife with him. The shouting got louder, though he still couldn't distinguish any words. Coming around a tree, Destan finally saw what it was.

Nero.

Destan froze, taking in the scene. Nero stood inches away from a tall man with broad shoulders. The same man, in fact, who Destan had passed just a minute earlier. His dad's old friend, Tamren Andar.

"You murderer!" Nero screamed, his face twisted with rage.

As Destan watched with dropped jaw, Nero pulled a gun out of his pocket and jammed it towards his opponent, aiming for the man's heart. A deafening bang rang through the air, echoing between the trees.

Inches from Tamren's chest, the bullet stopped, frozen in the air. A grin spread across the man's face. "It ain't gonna be that easy, boy."

"You killed her!" Nero shouted, seemingly not even aware that the bullet had done nothing. "You deserve to die!" He jumped forward and wrapped his hands around Tamren's neck, strangling him. The man struggled, but adrenaline and anger gave the younger boy double the strength.

Knowing he had to do something, Destan reached out with his power, feeling the molecules of Nero's body. He pushed against his stomach with as much strength as he could muster while the shock half-paralyzed him. Nero flew through the air, landing with a thud on the ground a dozen feet away. The gun fell to the ground between them.

"What are you doing, boy?" Tamren shouted at Destan.

Nero pushed himself up off the floor to see who had intervened. His eyes shot daggers at Destan, before he noticed that the older triber was walking towards him, nearing the gun on the ground.

"Who are you?" The man's voice thundered through the trees.

Nero pressed his lips together, wheeled around and sprinted off.

"Stop him," said Tamren.

Shocked to the core, Destan watched Nero's back disappear amongst the trees. What was he doing here? He thought. How has he found us? The camp was supposed to be hidden in the forest, its location a secret from the townspeople. A secret that helped keep them safe. Inops didn't know about them. And even if they did, they wouldn't know exactly where their camp was. But now Nero, Nero of all people, knew its location.

"Boy!" Tamren exploded, making Destan jump. "I said, stop him! What are you standing there for?"

A pathetic little noise came from the back of Destan's throat as he pushed his head between his shoulders as if to hide from the world. Only now did he realise that his body shook all over.

Tamren let out a deep sigh. "You've got a lot to learn, kid."

Destan kept his eyes on the triber as he turned back towards their camp, only to notice all the people standing behind them. Nero's shouting must've attracted attention. A handful of tribers stood staring at them. The butterflies in his stomach flapped their wings forcefully as Destan wondered how long they'd been there; how much they'd seen.

As his dad's old friend turned around to walk back into camp, everyone else went back to their own business. Destan was left alone amongst the trees, shaking with what had just happened.

Whereas his fellow tribers had probably wondered how this boy from town had found them, Destan knew the answer perfectly well. Nero must've been following him. He'd found their hiding place and it was all Destan's fault.

But why did he attack Tamren? If he'd been following Destan from a distance all the way from town, why would he risk everything to attack a random triber?

Or was it not random at all?

You murderer, Nero had been shouting.

No, this was no coincidence. Nero had met the man before, even if Tamren didn't remember it himself.

***

An hour later, Destan found himself sitting with his head in his hands in his living room. Fortunately, his mum was asleep in her bedroom when he got in. Not that she'd be much of a distraction from his thoughts, but he didn't want her to see him this way. Long ago he'd made a vow that he'd never look sad or depressed in front of her, because that would only make her feel worse and send her deeper into her own depression.

How could this have happened? Destan kept thinking to himself. How could he have let Nero follow him all the way to camp? How could he have been so stupid?

And now the whole Tribe would find out he'd let Nero get away. He'd be in so much trouble...

He should've just stayed out of it. Adrenaline or not, Tamren could've handled Nero. He could've taken him. But if he'd taken Nero back to camp, where Remus would interrogate him... That would've been so much worse.

Destan sighed, ruffling his hand through his hair. There wasn't anything he could've done differently. No way he could've fixed this. Apart from not letting Nero follow him in the first place.

A knock on the front door made Destan's head shoot up. Who was that? Were they here to punish him already?

Destan flinched when another knock echoed through the bare house. He swallowed hard and stood up to open the door.

Never before had he been so scared of seeing Aruna on the other side.

"Destan. May I come in?" she said, with bleak expression on her face.

When his throat refused to form a word, Destan just nodded and stepped aside.

As soon as he shut the door behind her, Aruna turned to face him. "Mr Andar just interrupted my meeting with Remus with a strange story. He told us that he'd just been attacked, right outside camp, by an Inops boy." When Destan didn't respond and just stared at his feet, she continued, "He said that you were there, too. Is that correct?"

"Uhm... Y-yeah, that's right," Destan stuttered.

"Good," said Aruna. "I need you to tell me what happened."

Destan sat back down on his chair and folded his hands in his lap, in an attempt to stop them from shaking. He cleared his throat. "I uhm... I was at the edge of camp, when I suddenly heard shouting. I went to see what was going on and saw Mr Andar being attacked by that boy. When the boy grabbed him by the throat, I panicked and threw him off of Mr Andar." His eyes fell. "Unfortunately, this gave the boy a chance to run."

"Indeed it did," said Aruna. "I do not know you to be stupid, Destan. Surely you knew that the boy would run. Surely you knew we'd want to question him and take away his memories of our tribe. Why did you do it?"

Even swallowing became harder now, as Destan's throat ran dry. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was just trying to help."

Aruna gave him a scrutinising look that sent shivers down Destan's spine. "Are you sure that's all there is to it? Because if there's more... You'd better tell me now."

Doubts raced through Destan's mind under her pointed glare.

Maybe I should just tell her what happened. I trust her; she just wants to help me.

No! If I tell her, she doesn't have a choice but to inform Remus. I can't tell her. I can't tell anyone.

What am I supposed to do then? I need help! Aruna is the only one I can trust to help me!

Even when he opened his mouth, Destan wasn't yet sure which side of him had won. He was half-surprised when the words came out. "That's all that happened. I just wanted to help, but I failed."

If he didn't know any better, he'd say Aruna's face wore an expression of disappointment after his words. But that couldn't be right; she didn't know what he knew.

After a few moments of silence, Aruna said, "Right." She turned around and left the house, not bothering to shut the door behind her.

Letting out a shuddering sigh, Destan stood up to close the door. Before he had the chance, a noise outside caught his attention. He stood on tiptoes to look over the neighbouring houses.

On the square at the centre of camp, just outside his grandfather's house, a crowd had gathered. Destan couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, but they didn't sound happy.

With a glance back into the house, Destan decided to go and have a look. He pulled his hood up to cover his face and pulled the door shut behind him. Sneaking through the gaps in between cottages, the noise grew until he could make out voices. He stopped behind one of the huts surrounding the square and peered around the corner.

"He has to be punished!" shouted someone.

"We're not safe here anymore!"

"Hello there, boy." The voice behind him nearly gave Destan a heart attack.

"Uncle Lys! What are you doing here?"

His uncle smiled down at him. "I saw you sneak around, so I figured we needed to have a chat. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Destan muttered. "What's going on out there?"

Uncle Lys folded his arms behind his back and puffed up his chest. "Well, you know that boy from the town that... stumbled upon our camp?"

"Yeah," said Destan wearily.

"Our people don't feel safe anymore. They think he'll tell all the other Inops where we are and start some kind of riot. After all, he didn't exactly come here with the best intentions, now did he?"

Destan didn't know how to respond to that. His uncle was right. Nero had nothing good planned by following Destan. The fact that he shot Tamren made that very clear.

"And since he attacked Mr Andar, one of our own, the people want revenge," Uncle Lys continued without batting an eye.

"Revenge?" Destan was shocked. The tribe had never asked for revenge before. They just did what they needed to survive. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yes. They want to send a message. Many of them believe that we need to instil fear in the townspeople. Just to make sure they stay away. Do you not agree?"

Destan turned away from his uncle, trying not to show his feelings on his face. No, he did not believe that. Then again, he didn't want the townspeople to be scared of the tribers. If they weren't, his sister had no reason to be afraid of him, either.

He turned around to face the crowd again, watching his grandfather hear them out and calm them down.

"What's going to happen, Uncle?"

A large hand softly clapped his shoulder. "I don't know, boy. I don't know."