"Who are you?" As soon as she said it, Leo winced- it had come out a lot crueler than she had expected.

Thankfully, the person did not seem fazed. "I am Lord Moderob, and what I am about to tell you is completely classified. Do you understand?"

Leo nodded silently, wondering where this was going.

Lord Moderob (this was Leo's new favourite name) carried on, and walked (or hovered- she couldn't tell) over to the window that overlooked the forest. "The myths abut the forest- I assume you know of them?"

Leo shrugged. "A bit. Something about a shrine, and a bunch of people who did stuff with elements? I heard it somewhere..."

He gave her a short nod of approval. "That is good, but after I tell you this, you must promise me to find out more about it. It holds information that will vital to you in the coming future."

"I promise. But why? Why do I need to find out more about it? And what do you mean, the upcoming future?"

Lord Moderob, who had been looking out of the window, turned back to her. "I am sorry, young warrior, for it is not in my place to answer questions. Everything will make sense in due time."

Leo crossed her arms- she hated now knowing things. "Fine. But why did you call me that?"

Lord Moderob sighed. "Did I not just tell you? Everything will make sense in due time!"

If she was honest, Leo did not mind: she would probably forget everything he just said in the next half an hour. ADHD things.

"Fine." she said, and then asked. "So, why-"

He then rubbed his gloved hands together (which reminded Leo a bit of an evil surgeon planning to rule the world)."No. No questions. But there is something you must know."

Leo paused. "What is it? Oh wait- I'm not allowed to ask questions. Sorry, carry on. Ignore me."

He reached into the folds of his cloak and produced a... bracelet? "Take this, young warrior- it will come of more importance than you expect. Trust me."

"O..kay, thanks?" Leo took ot and slipped it around her right wrist. It felt comfortable, but a bit odd, like there was more to it that just what it seemed.

Lord Moderob stared at her with his blood-red eyes. "But please- do not trust anyone that is not human. In this world, people will do anything for power. So do not trust anyone."

Anyone who was not human? What were they then: vampires? Nonetheless, Leo agreed. "No trusting anyone who isn't human. Got that. But why though?"

He looked around. "What did I say about the questions? Anyway, I must go now; my time here is limited."

A sudden though struck Leo. "Wait, I have a quick, really small question." she looked at him, hoping he would not get offended by this. "Is there a reason as to why your name is boredom backwards?"

Lord Moderob stopped. "I... uh.... now that is also classified information. Anyways, farewell, young warrior, and may your spirit go far." And with that, he vanished almost as soon as he had arrived.

For a few moments, Leo just stared into the space where he had been standing (or hovering- she still could not tell) and tried to make sense of what had just happened, what was going on.

Then she began to laugh.

First the chaser, then the stalker, and now a guy in a cloak telling her weird things about myths and not trusting anyone. She was not stupid- this had to be some sort of prank. Maybe it was tradition or something in this town. After all, Leo had seen wierd things that others called normal.

She looked at the bracelet that rested on her wrist. It wa silver, and had no design, apart from a single letter dangling from the middle. Only it couldn't be a letter, not in English anway. It was shaped like an M, but the sides and everything else about it looked different. It remided Leo a bit of the ancient languages, like Ancient Greek or even maybe Egyptian Heiroglyphs. Definitely not English though.

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Coming!" she muttered, mkstly to herself and walked downstairs to see who the person was. She was pretty sure her mom hadn't come home from work yet, unless that was yesterday...

Leo opened the door and her mom, Grace, stepped into the house, smiling. "Hi, Leo!"

"Hi! How was work? Did you get a new job? I thought you were coming home late today. Unless that was yesterday. Or maybe it never happened." Leo paused for breath.

 Grace laughed. "Enough with the questions. And yes, that was yesterday."

Leo nodded slowly. "Oh. So did you get the job?"

She frowned slightly. "No, sorry. But there's always a next time. Trust me."

Leo managed a small smile. "I've done a lot of trusting today."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I should know about?"

Leo backtracked quickly, deciding not to tell her mom about the strangeness of that day. "No, it's a long story anyway and you must be tired."

Her mom shook her head, smiling. "Look at you, sounding like an adult."

Leo gave her a mock-horrified look. "Me? Never! Imagine sounding like an adult. The horror!"

"You're talking to one." Grace replied smoothly.

Leo walked into their small, compact kitchen and opened a random cupboard. "I'm hungry."

Grace gave her an odd look. "Didn't you eat the sandwiches I left for you?"

"Wait, what?" she genuinely had no idea what her mom was on about.

Said person walked over to the table in the corner and pointed to them. "Remember? I told you in the morning?"

"Did you...? I don't remember that ever happening."

Grace walked back to Leo and put her hands on her shoulders. "Leo, what happened to at least trying with your memory?"

Leo crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the ground. "It's not my fault, mom! I do try, it just never works. Nothing does."

Grace thought for a moment. "It might help to read something about it, you know. There's a local library down the road, and you don't need to pay, so there's no reason not to go."

"Fine- I'll go tomorrow. And if there isn't one?"

Her mom gave her a stern look. "They have a book on everything. Don't try and get out of it, Leo- it will help."

Leo sighed and went to the table. "On the bright side, at least there are still sandwiches."

☆☆☆

Leo glanced up from her notebook and looked out the window. She had been drawing for the past ten minutes, and was starting to get bored. The sun was beginning to set, casting rays of orange and pink across the cloudless sky.

She put her notebook down next to her and stood up. It would not get dark for at least another hour, so maybe there was time to go for a walk. That was if her mom let her, of course. Ever since her brother had went missing, Grace had been a lot more protective of Leo, so shemnew it would take some begging to be able to escape the boringness of the house.

Leo went downstairs where her mom was reading a letter at the table. As usual, she was frowning; it was a letter telling them to pay. They came every day now, all saying the same things- they had until the end of month to pay rent, or get thrown onto the streets. An experience Leo did not want to go through again.

Leo walked over to her. "Can I go for a short walk? I'm so bored."

Her mom looked at her, only just realising she was there. "Sorry? Okay, just come back within twenty minutes. And no getting dristracted, or setting anything on fire. We don't need a repeat of last month."

Leo winced at the memory. It was not her fault- she had just accidentally set someone's lawn on fire. On accident. Despite that, she beamed at her luck. "Thank mom! Promise I won't get distracted!"

She pulled her battered trainers on and walked through the door before her mom could change her mind. Almost immediately, a wave of warm air hit her in the face. Closing the door behind her, she smiled briefly- summer was clearly the best season. Everyone knew that.

As she walked, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and thought about that Lord Moderob person. How was she to know he was not lying? He could have been out of his mind, for all she knew. But then again, he did appear out of nowhere and had glowing eyes, which, as far as Leo knew, was not that common.

 Or real.

And what did he mean about the myths? Why should she read up about them? You did not have to be a genius to know they were completely and utterly false. But something in Lord Moderob's tone had suggested otherwise. After all, there was no proof to say that they did not exist. Suddenly, Leo gave a small laugh- maybe she was the one going loopy.

"Why would they exist?" she muttered to herself, smirking slightly.

Of course, she did not get an answer. Absent-mindedly, Leo began to jog, pausing when an overweight pigeon cut across her path. If she was honest, she did not even care that much about what Lord Moderob had said- it was probably all some kind of stupid prank anyway.

But that didn't stop her from wanting to find out.