My back was against the wall, my body crouched close together in an upright fetal position to avoid the cool breeze sneaking under my cloak. "How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?" When I received no reply from Vincent—again—I threw my head back with a sigh.

"Vincent, please talk to me. I said I was sorry. Over and over again. Okay? I don't think you'd understand even if I tried to explain it to you."

Silence. Yet again. All of this was kind of ironic. I would have never imagined myself begging this man to talk to me. But here I was. Doing just that. And the more he refused, the more frustrated I felt.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Vincent laughed dryly, finally having spoken.

I immediately scrambled to straighten myself, leaning forward the slightest bit to get a better look at him. His chin was lowered, his arms propped on top of his knees as he sat in a similar position to me. "I've never frozen like that. . ." he repeated to himself. I could only imagine how he'd been discouraged by the fact that his little scuffle could have cost both of us our lives.

"I'm having trouble . . . processing it. He speaks to you. Amaury is dead"—Vincent turned his head to look at me—"I thought he was completely gone. But you've been harboring a piece of him inside you. For how long?"

Sighing, I murmured, "Since the second night I've been here. But it wasn't my choice! Okay not exactly, at least. It was your brother's request that I didn't tell any of you. Until now."

"It doesn't make any sense," Vincent said, frowning, "why would he do that?"

"I-I don't know. . . If it makes you feel any better, I wanted to tell you. Trust me, I would have. But I knew you wouldn't believe me. At least, not without further explanation. But even I couldn't figure out what was going on at first.

"Amaury helped me through all of this. He wants to find his killer just as much as all of you do. My body was simply a vessel for him and his wolf to survive. And more importantly, for me to survive. I would have died, had he not transferred his wolf over to me at the last minute."

"How?" It was just one simple word yet it held so much impact.

My face screwed up. "Amaury has . . . never specifically told me, come to think of it."

"Can he hear me?"

Slowly, I nodded. "He can."

"Why would you keep this a secret from me? From us?" Vincent frowned.

Vincent's words hung in the open. We waited. I waited. I couldn't bear to look Vincent in the face as we did. But there was nothing. I had no idea if Amaury was lurking—listening—to his brother's plea for answers I couldn't give him myself. If he was, he was doing a damn good job keeping himself hidden. It pained me to be in the messenger in the middle.

"I'm sorry. . . H-he's not responding. . ." I frowned too. Vincent's silence spoke more words than he'd ever spoken verbally, and at this point, I was prepared to beg Amaury to answer him. In the next few seconds, I was about to when I heard Vincent speak up again.

"Why are your eyes glowing like that?" he asked.

"Glowing?" I tilted my head, then gasped. "It's Amaury! He's here!"

"Tell Vincent that . . . I am sorry," Amaury proceeded with caution.

"He says he's sorry," I relayed the message.

"I don't need an apology. I just need answers. What the hell is going on, Amaury? Please. I need to know why you kept this from me," Vincent said, a slight growl in his tone.

"It's as Genesis told you. I wanted to protect both of you from danger. In order to do that, I needed to ensure you two were on the same page first. I'm aware now that I could have possibly gone about it a different way. But I still stand by my decision."

Word after word, I repeated everything Amaury said. By the end of it, it sounded like Vincent scoffed out a tch under his breath. His eyes were narrowed into a heavy glare that I knew wasn't directed towards me, however, it still made my heart race as anxiously as it had been when that stupid shadow was chasing us. Just then, I realized something.

"Wait a second," I whispered, my voice unsure, "did you notice that when we ran in here the shadow stopped chasing us? It's just like when I was being chased before."

"What?" Vincent said.

"You're indeed a clever one, Genesis," Amaury commented.

"Clever? What does that mean?"

"There's a reason I've always guided you to this tunnel," he said.

"What? What is the reason?"

Vincent scooted closer to me. "What is he saying, Genesis?"

"Have you noticed this is the same tunnel where I spoke with you in the dream state?"

"Of course, I noticed that a while ago." I lifted a finger to Vincent's face when I saw the impatient stare he was giving me. It didn't do much except entice him to roll his eyes and snarl, nonetheless, he leaned back to give me space.

"It is protected. And so far, the shadows have not been able to enter, which means the spells are working as I hoped." The fact that he said spells hadn't registered in my brain until I blinked a few times. Amaury was quiet after that, as if he was waiting for me to respond.

"Spells?" was all I could manage.

"Spells?" Vincent repeated, more frustrated than ever. Not knowing was certainly doing a number on his patience and his knack for control. "Come on Gen, what are you two talking about?" There was that nickname again that I tried oh so hard not to let affect me. I wasn't sure he'd even noticed himself saying it at this point.

"Spells. . ." I whispered again.

No matter how much I tried to decipher the meaning behind his words, my mind only traveled back to once incident. It was the moment I'd finally received some clarity to my questions. He'd mentioned magic before. However, he'd never made it clear. If he meant what I was thinking he did, there was a lot more to be answered for here.

"Wait. You mean to tell me that you weren't kidding when you said you used magic to transfer your wolf and your consciousness to me!?"

"Huh, did it sound like I was?" Amaury retorted.

"Yes, I thought you were joking!" I shouted, baffled.

"Tsk, Genesis." I imagined Amaury shaking his head in disapproval.

"Magic. . ." Vincent was just as confused. His eyebrows pinched together, his eyes dropping to the ground. When he looked back up, his eyes were wide with revelation. "Magic. How could I forget? Amaury told me he used to practice old magic."

"Excuse me?" Now, I felt like I was the one being left out.

"Tell me what else he knows," Vincent demanded.

"U-um, okay. Okay. Well, he said something about these protection spells in this tunnel that are preventing the shadows from entering. He said it's why he always led me here in danger."

"Shit, the spells must be warding off those things then. Amaury, is there any way you could help us with these spells? Or I don't know, tell us how to perform them ourselves?"

"Hmm, I'm afraid not. It's been so long since I looked at those spell books and I don't remember how I performed any of them." Again, I relayed Amaury's words to him.

"Dammit. How long have these spells been here?"

Upon hearing Vincent's follow-up question, Amaury was quiet again.

"Amaury?" When, again, I didn't hear a peep out of him, I depended on the context he'd given me before to place the missing puzzle pieces together. Amaury had only learned more about the shadows after he'd been attacked. Therefore, he couldn't have prepared the tunnel for their existence beforehand. Until then, he'd only acknowledged the shadows as rumors. Well shit, that meant the spells were always here. Much longer than I'd been in the picture.

"It was always to protect Vincent," Amaury finally replied, as though he could hear me thinking over all the possibilities. "I wanted him to know he'd always have a place to run."

"But he didn't know he was protected here," I whispered.

"Yet he always ran here anyways." Amaury chuckled.

"Genesis?" The plea was visible in Vincent's voice.

"The spells have been here since you were young." I turned to him, my lips curving into a small smile. "To . . . protect you, he says." For a brief moment, he blinked, clearly taken aback by what I said. His surprise didn't last long though.

"Is that so?" A faint smile graced his lips.

"Very much so," said Amaury, though Vincent couldn't hear him.

With how long it's been since I've come to know Amaury and Vincent for their personalities, it still amazed me, as I compared the two brother's, just how different they were. Yet they still shared the same values, notions, and morals. How they expressed themselves was what made them different though. Where Amaury was much more gentle and patient, Vincent was much more rough around the edges, however, he still had a patience and gentleness to him.

I hadn't really paid much attention to it before. Sure, I thought about it from time to time. But now, looking at him, really looking at him, I knew for sure there was something about him that I'd been drawn to. No, that I was still drawn to. And if I met him outside of these circumstances, there was no telling how I would have acted upon these feelings. It was almost overwhelming.

I just hated that whatever the feelings were, were loudest now.

I cleared my throat, fidgeting with my hands. "I hate to interrupt this heartfelt moment . . . but do you think you'd have any magical books or whatever hidden somewhere that could help us?"

"Actually, yes . . . I should. Years ago, I stored all of my old spell books away in the office. They should still be there. But you have to look for them. Then, you have to look through them to find the correct one. There's only a few so it shouldn't be too difficult. I'll assist where I can."

I nodded to Vincent. "He says we have to return to your office and find his spell books."

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Is he sure they haven't been cleaned out?"

"Unless you cleaned everything in the office yourself, there's no reason they should have been removed from where I placed them," Amaury answered, his voice treading with caution. Vincent and I shared a look.

"Okay, we should get going soon then. I think we're in the clear," Vincent grunted. I nodded again and hummed in agreement. As I stood to my feet, following in pursuit of Vincent, I noticed his eyes were still on me, or more specifically, my glasses. My face screwed at him, my lips turning into a frown. His face remained void of any sign towards what he was thinking.

I paused and said, "What is it?"

"I've been wondering why you still need glasses to see. I guess this explains why."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. Wolves have damn near perfect eyesight. But even after transforming into one of us, you still, somehow can't see without your glasses. I think that's because the process hadn't properly been done.

"Technically, Amaury's wolf isn't yours. It is still his. And it is still one with himself. All he did was simply hand it over so that it now belongs to you. Amaury basically lives on within you. I believe that's why you still need them."

"Huh, well damn, when you put it like that. . ." I mumbled and pushed my glasses up.

All I received was a soft laugh in reply, then he was trudging towards the tunnel entrance. He walked out, throwing one final command over his shoulder. "Come on Gen, let's get going." I stared at the back of his head to make sure I wasn't imagining the boyish grin on his face, that I hadn't seen in three days, before coming to my senses and running after him.

At least, I knew he wasn't going to avoid me anymore.