They had managed to reach Logan's' palace and Thomas felt far, far safer. The green eyes were gone, he hadn't seen the yellow for days, he was just calmly living with his royal friends. They had been there for two days, to restock supplies and rest. At the moment, Thomas was walking along a shelf a few stacks up from the floor, looking through every book on humans. He recapped all the history and the geography and the customs and allowed memories to bathe him.

The 'human' sighed gently and, slowly, the books around him morphed into stories of the sixth race. The race so heavily merged in human society that it was lost. The race of shapeshifters.

Thomas scanned over the page, curious as to why he had never heard of this race before. The book barely provided any answers and only a few statements fixed in Thomas's' mind.

The shapeshifters were an animal race of incredible magic and unique power.

They can breathe in thin air and cold temperatures do not affect them.

They don't need to blink.

Their eyes glow in even the slightest of shadows.

"Incredible," Thomas breathed, a faint smile brushing across his face. "What an amazing species." The smile dropped. "Shame, they're all gone now."

A rush of footsteps were behind him and he heard Roman yelling out, "Thomas! Thomas, you won't believe what just happened!"

Thomas slipped the book hurriedly onto the shelf, as if trying to hide it. "What?"

Roman seemed giddy, practically simpering, as he pattered happily over to his 'human' friend. The Fire King instantly picked up Thomas, despite how thin the shelf was, spinning around gleefully. Thomas warbled out an intelligible yell until Roman finally plonked him down back on the walk-way.

"What was that?!" Thomas laughed, the fleeting rush of adrenaline making him louder.

Roman's' smile was huge and beaming on his ember-red features. "Guess who just got kissed by Virgil? This guy!"

"Seriously? No way!"

The Fire King nodded rapidly. "Yeah! Virgil hurt his foot on a rock, it was open and bleeding and he couldn't walk, so he asked me to fetch him some water. So, I found some and he poured it on the cut and then he kissed me and said, 'thank you'!"

Thomas grinned at Roman, rolling his eyes. "Wow, you're such a simp."

"He kissed me though! Right on the lips!"

"Honestly, Roman, you're acting like you're eight!"

Roman failed to surpess a giddy laugh when Thomas suddenly realised what he said.

Frowning, the 'human' quickly asked, "Why did Virgil pour the water on his foot?"

Roman quickly hesitated. "Uh, I don't know. It healed him, though. The cut was gone when he stopped kissing me. Oh, my god, he kissed me! Ugh, he kissed me! It was amazing-!"

But Thomas wasn't listening. Water just healed Virgil? That was so curious, so incredible, so... He had to find Logan.

.:*:.

Logan nodded slowly as Thomas finished telling his story. "I mean, I knew that putting some dirt or sand over my bruises could sometimes make them disappear but I never knew it could physically heal someone to that extent."

"I did," Chirped Patton, who had been with Logan before Thomas interrupted. "When I was little, sometimes I'd get hurt by the harpies and then the air would sort of solidify and, poof, no more pain."

Thomas thought for a moment, before grinning deviously. "So... If we cut Roman's' arm or something and pushed him inside a jet of flame, would he heal up?"

"Probably," Shrugged Logan.

"Thomas!" Gasped the Air King.

And, from the window, a pair of green eyes were taking notes.

.:*:.

The 'human' was walking, alone, in the forest and he could finally think through what he was doing. He was lying to the only friends he'd ever really had, letting them believe he was a prince, and something was following them. Or someone. Or people. He didn't know.

Thomas didn't believe that they were simply gone because they were in Logan's' palace. They'd be somewhere. Then, he heard something. In the bushes to his far left. Thomas was instantly on guard and he crouched low to the ground, scuttling forwards.

In a clearing of the forest were two hooded figures. One was shorter than the other but they both were tall and seemed powerful. One of these cloaked people was hidden very well. Thomas couldn't see a single detail on their face, and they were the smaller one. They waved slightly, back and forth, as if unsteady on their legs. But the second had bright green eyes, glowing ominously from the black shadow cast over the face.

The conversation seemed to be other because the green-eyed one eagerly hugged the mysterious one before letting go. The first saluted a silently goodbye, as they walked away in an unstable manner, and the second mimicked the gesture.

And a feeling grew in Thomas's' stomach that he really didn't like. The moment the clearing was empty, he jumped out, preparing to chase after the first one but there was no one there. Then, he heard running footsteps behind him.