• “I am not desperate!” I yelled. “Your brother may have those weird switching of mood things, but he is not crazy! He is actually pretty nice and has a really great personality!”
    “Issues,” he said in a high voice.
    I sighed. Roy’s stupidity was really annoying me. I wanted to slap him in his face and stomp him to the ground. I could, but I didn’t.
    “Roy, what happened?”Christian asked, I think moving towards his brother.
    “The Mahre, they got a hold of me, nearly killed me, then I got away before they could…well, ‘punish’ me.”
    “Wait!” I yelled, “Before you guys start anything, I need some questions answered.
    “Haven’t we told you enough?” Roy asked, his own mood apparently switching.
    “No, you haven’t.” I said sarcastically. “You never told me about the tattoos on your wrist, who the Mahre is exactly, and the so called ‘places’! I’m starting to wonder what really you aliens are doing here!” I was out of breath, tired, and nearly screaming at the top of my lungs at Roy. Apparently he didn’t mind.
    “Don’t call us aliens; we prefer to be called Chione. And I will tell you that information, just not now, okay Tai?” he was speaking softly, just like his brother. He didn’t actually calm me, but he kept me quiet until my anger subsided.
    I didn’t know where that girl Aya was, and I knew something was up with that mansion of hers. Something was wrong, the mansion seemed hollow, no life inside it. Then with the weird hologram of Christian on the floor just told it all. I wonder if Roy had seen it.
    “So what are we going to do now?” I asked, lying on the ground.
    “Nothing.”Christian replied bluntly.
    “Nothing? What does that mean? Were just gonna sit here like dumb randoms and talk? No. No way am I sitting here all night doing-”
    Roy placed two fingers on my lips. “Hush, we can’t progress until the Mahre leave, okay? Now just wait.” He slowly removed his fingers; myself falling into his essence.
    I immediately turned my head, but Roy stopped me with his hands beside my face.
    “I can see why Christian and you made out; it’s kind of hard to refrain from touching those lips of yours.”
    His words were…strange. It wouldn’t have been awkward if Christian had said it, but in Roy’s voice-I never knew he could be so passionate. Especially with the stupidity popping up out of nowhere.
    “Roy, “I said, placing my hands on his chest to push him back, “how many girlfriends did you have?”
    He backed away easily, but soon after I felt his body heat right beside me. “Twenty-seven, including you.”
    “What!? “ I flew up, giving myself an immediate headache. “I never said I was your girlfriend, I never agreed to that!”
    He sighed. “Your body language explains everything. From the way you look at me, to the way you talk to me, don’t try to hide it.”
    “No Roy, You’re the one that’s wrong. I like you as a friend, NOT as a girlfriend.”
    “Right,” he said sarcastically, “You like me and my brother, don’t lie.” He sank to my level and brushed his lips against mine.
    Tell me why these boys could get so passionate all of a sudden?
    “Roy, can we please not have the same girlfriend?”
    “We should let her decide, shouldn’t we?”
    “Yep.”
    “Fine then, we will.”
    Roy’s body heat was suddenly gone, and I slowly closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on what just happened.
    “Go to sleep, Tai. It’s best if you’re rested so if we get chased tomorrow, who knows what’s waiting for us inside that house.”
    So I went to sleep, no arguing, and no yelling. I followed his orders. But only because of what he did. I needed time to think, and right now was the only time.

    The next morning I woke to find both their jackets on me, plus a little snow. I didn’t think that they would care much if I got hypothermia but I guess they did.
    So much for that, I thought, looking around the forest. They both had disappeared, but I had their jackets.
    I shivered as I stood up, dusting the snow off me. A few birds chirped through the morning air as I held myself tightly. I scanned the forests for anything that looked like a Roy and Christian. Nope, nothing. I saw some small trees though, which set my motivation pretty high. I had no clue why though, maybe because there was a possibility that they were the trees.
    I took a step towards the opening of the forest and peeked through.
    The mansion still seemed hollow, but the snow gave it this extra touch. A sense of sadness? Maybe the opposite, but I knew something was different. Something had changed. It was if there was a presence of some sort inside…
    “What are you doing?”
    I jumped and nearly fell backwards.
    Roy. His own name could give you a sense of his idiocy.
    “What am I doing?” I chuckled, “Where were you?”
    “Nosy aren’t you?” I heard the crackling of the sticks as he turned around.
    I followed his example and rushed to get beside him. “Where’s Christian?”
    “Wow, a winter wonderland.” Roy murmured as he picked up snow from the ground. The snow was pure white, beautiful in the morning sun’s glow.
    “Roy,” I said, irritated now.
    “He’s watching for any Mahre, they could be anywhere you know.”He shoveled up another batch of snow and piled it with the first.
    I shivered as I saw him play with the snow. My hands would be freezing if I ever touched snow for that long. I looked up at him, and he was smiling. Not to me, but to himself. Maybe he was reminiscing his past. I smiled too, if he was happy so was I.
    “Hey Tai,”
    “Yes?” I stared at the snow on the ground, kicking up some with my feet.
    “Do you think we’re dangerous?”
    I didn’t need to think about silly things like that, so I answered with a simple, “No”.
    “Really? Aya didn’t trust us in the beginning. You’re the first.”
    “The first of what? Sidekicks?”
    “Oh, so you call yourself a sidekick?” he laughed, “Okay.”
    I sighed, “You are such an idiot.”
    Roy crossed paths with me and held up his hand filled with snow. “You see this?”
    I looked at it, and then looked back up at him. “And?”
    “This.” He shoved the snow into my face and I nearly tumbled over again. But, reluctantly, he caught me. “You’re the idiot. Look at yourself, tripping over useless things like rocks.”
    He set me back on my feet and stepped back, looking at me with a confused expression.
    “Oh, you are so going to pay.” I scooped up a pile of snow and rolled it into a snowball, aiming straight for his face. I missed.
    “Such bad aim,” he teased as he threw a perfect snowball and hit my arm.
    “No fair! You move too fast!” I laughed as I scooped up another bit of snow and threw it.
    He dodged it easily as he walked toward me with a snowball in each of his hands.
    I backed up as I rolled up a sloshy snowball. It wasn’t until a tree stopped me in my path. I stepped up against it, waiting for my opponent to get closer.
    Roy just smirked as he edged closer and closer to me, the snowballs ready to strike my face in any second.
    Once he was a few centimeters away from me he dropped the snowballs, placing his hands on both sides of me. He stared into my eyes with a gleeful smile, and pressed closer.
    My heart was begging to rip out of my chest and I knew I had to stop this insane madness. I raised the hand with snow very slowly. I knew I only had one chance for this, and I had to get it perfect. Just before his lips were to mine, I slammed the snow on the side his face, just as he did me.
    He backed away, grinning as he wiped the snow away.
    “Yes! I won! I won!” I jumped up and down and clapped, then ran to push him into the snow. I successfully did that, and stood over him. He just smiled. I never noticed that he smiled just like little child; full of amazement.
    “Wow, look who finally lost in a game of snowball.” Christian kneeled beside me and smiled.
    Roy crawled up and kneeled beside his brother as well, speaking to him again in their native language.
    “So, they’re not here anymore?”
    “Nope.”
    “Good, I’d like Tai to meet our sis.”