Grey hated his life and everything about it. He was tied to the devil by some stinking promise he made, he betrayed his only friend, and, to top it all off, he was tied to a promise THAT COULD CHANGE AJULA’S WORLD COURSE AS THEY KNEW IT!

He hated his past foolishness.

How exactly did he get into this mess? Grey mulled over in his mind, recalling the details in his jail cell.

Grey had a lot of thoughts in his mind when the day happened. He had been walking the streets for a couple years. He was about twelve at that time, a year younger than the time he was sitting in jail.

A boy, around five years older than him, walked up to him and asked, “Are you looking for a home?”

Grey paused. He was looking for somewhere to stay. But how would this random guy know that? “Why do you care?” Grey asked bitterly.

He smirked. “I do. Now you are looking for a home, correct?” He carried on before Grey could answer. “I have a deal for you. If you do one tiny thing for me, I will give you a home and a place to belong.”

Grey widened his eyes. “A home? For one measly task? Deal!” He held his hand out to make a deal.

The boy gave a huge smile. They shook hands. Suddenly, the boy turned into a 10 foot red monster with horns.

No longer the boy from before. Now he was the devil. And you can’t break a deal with the devil.

That deal didn’t seem so small now.

Willow went home and hugged her pillow. She never wanted to stop again. But of course, the next day came, and she had to go to school. She just went through her day normally.

Until one thing caught her attention.

“Did you hear? Grey has escaped from his jail cell with the help of the devil.” One person gossiped in the hall.

“What did you just say?” Willow asked, her head snapped up.

“None of your business. I was talking to Sapphire, not you.” The girl, who Willow realized was Roxie, snapped, flipping her hair and turned her back. Willow hated the fact that Roxie was so mean. Willow didn’t do anything wrong.

Grey was free. Willow wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She knew she should be sad or worried, but she sort of felt… happy? Her only friend was free. She just didn’t know.

The day came with another surprise. Tomorrow was the last day of school. That was good, Willow felt. She didn’t have to talk to anybody. She could just… be.

Willow eagerly awaited the next day. She ran into her room, and took a nap. When she woke up, she realized she hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner the day before. She got out of her room and munched on some carrots.

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Willow considered skipping school, and she did. She told herself she wouldn’t make it a habit, though she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep her promise.

She wasn’t known for that.

Grey was now stuck in a room to be interrogated. A dark red smoke filled the room. The devil, Grey thought. He was happy and sad, for he would leave, but be stuck with the devil for the rest of his life. And have to deal with his disappointment, which he heard was not good.

Grey sighed. “Hello. Bust me out of here, will you?”

The devil glared at him. “Bust you out? BUST YOU OUT?! I gave you a simple job: get alone with the queen and kill her. I did not tell you to get thrown in jail before you could kill her! You are worthless. You will stay here and find a way to leave by yourself. I am done with you!” The devil screamed.

“W-what?” Grey stammered. He took a step back and he felt something. A bottle. Judging by the temperature, it was empty. He put a hand behind his back and grabbed it.

He silently opened it. The red smoke was still in the room. He let the red smoke enter the bottle before closing it and putting it back down on the table.

“I am through with you!” The devil then left. THe smoke disappeared with him.

A dragon entered the room. He had dark scales and horns framing his head. “Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill the queen?”

Grey, caught off guard, stammered out “it was the devil! He made me do it! I made a promise with him by accident and now I have to kill her!”

“Never heard that before.” The dragon said sarcastically. “Where is your proof?”

Grey, glad for his quick thinking, picked up the bottle from the table. “Have you ever seen smoke like this? This is the color of the devil.”

The dragon, still suspicious, told him, “Why would you make a deal with the devil?”

“Because he promised me something in return! I did not know he was the devil! He was in disguise!”

“Fine. Maybe what you are saying is true. That does not excuse you from your horrendous behavior.” The dragon stared into his eyes, and Grey stared back defiantly.

“Fine then. I guess I will stay here.” That was a lie. He burst by the dragon at a sickening speed, opened the door and ran. He ran towards the direction of the door out of the castle, for he had studied the castle’s blueprints.

He heard the dragon behind him yell something, but it was hard to make out. He tried to yank the door open. There was a small lock blocking the way! He quickly found a small skinny piece of metal and unlocked the door..

He ran out of the door and stumbled over the bridge. He ran and ran and ran and ran. He climbed up a tree, higher than most people were willing to go.

He sat on a solid looking branch and took a deep breath. Thankfully, it was the beginning of summer, and the trees were in a deep bloom and their leaves were massive. A great hiding place.

He took deep breaths, and he felt his heart rate returning to normal. He glanced around and he noticed a plentiful amount of nests. Not dragon nests, but bird nests.

He shifted uncomfortably, he didn’t belong here. Not in the tree. It wasn’t his home, it was the birds home.

But he couldn’t come down, no definitely not. Not for at least two days. By then, they would have figured he left to one of the neighboring kingdoms, and would have warned the nearby queens that there was someone out to kill either Ajula’s queen, or all the queens.

Grey was only told to go after Ajula.

He remembered someone saying. If someone can stay good during the bad, then they are strong. I respect them. Grey wanted to be respected. He wanted to be strong. But it was hard. He really just wanted to steal and be bad. But it wasn’t worth it. He would be strong. He would be good.

If not for him, for someone else, whose identity he didn’t want to admit to himself right now. But it was a girl, he would admit that much.