Running through the streets, I felt my cheeks burning hot. People were looking at me left and right with confusion and worry, but none of the came to check on me.

Well, it didn’t matter, I didn’t care. These people weren't Papa, and they didn't yell at me.

Papa—my Papa, never yelled. Papa was always sweet and his smiles made my tummy feel warm and everything would okay when he was there. He hugged me and patted my hair and was always surprised and happy to see me reading books, and he looked so funny every time. My Papa never yelled at anyone, not even at Cain, who always was mean and angry and always did whatever he wanted. But he yelled at me. After finishing that story, he acted weird, and he yelled at me!

All I did was ask to go to the volcano.

Sniff. Sniff.

'Why did he get so mad? Why? Why?'

I stopped crying when I reached home. Going to my room, I went to bed and muffled myself into the blanket. Inside the warm blanket, Papa's words came again to my mind.

'No... Too dangerous... We were lucky...'

"Lyon!" A loud voice came. Peeking my head out of the blankets, Theodore was at the doorway, calling my name.

He frowned, crossing his arms. "Why aren't you anering? I called you so many times!

"I-I didn't hear you," I said, turning away from him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice low and worried.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Theodore took steps toward the bed. "Why did you run away?"

I didn't say anything. He sat next to me and poked my arm, but I remained silent. He tried again, this time to my cheek, but I stayed still. He continued for a while but then stopped. From the side of my eyes, I saw his worry turn into a grin.

I frowned. 'Is he making fun of me?'

Just as I was about to say something, he poked again, but this time, it wasn't my arm or my cheek. It was my tummy. Instead of words, a funny gasp escaped my lips. His face lit up, finally cracking me up, but I couldn't let him win, so I frowned again. That was a mistake however, because he started poking all over my tummy, each poke causing me to lose a little bit of breath while trying to hold back my laughter and keep up the frown. For his finishing move, he reached for my armpit. My eyes opened wide before my mouth opened, letting out uncontrollable laughter.

"Alright, alright, I give, I give!" I gasped between my laughter.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, still tickling me.

"Ha ha, yes, yes, I feel better!"

"Hmph, you better be," he said, crossing his arms again. He tried to frown, but he couldn't hide his smile, and the frown mixed with the smile made him look funny.

'Is that how I looked?'

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Did you hit your head to become an Elemaner?" He looked me up and down with a weird look. "I came for you, supid!"

I narrowed my eyes. "Stupid, and if you must know, it takes focus and—"

"It was a returtle question pickles! Papa felt bad for yelling, but you ran before he could say sorry. I came to tell you. You're welcome, hmph! Cain left, so go back and say sorry to Papa."

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"And," He grabbed my shirt and looked down, "don't fight with Papa again." His voice low and quiet.

As he let go of my shirt, I hugged him. Theodore was the best brother ever! "Thank you, Theodore. I'll go see him now."

Taking my leave, I went from a different road. It was a bit longer, but I couldn't have the people who saw me crying earlier see me again. That would be so embarrassing! As I reached close to the house, I could faintly hear Papa's and Mr. Orion's voices, though I couldn't make out what they were saying. I got closer and closed my eyes, focusing the quint to my ears.

"…to lie?"

'That… that was Mr. Orion's voice! But what is he talking about? Lie? Who lied?' Interested and confused, I pressed my ear against the wall.

"Are you really questioning me right now? You didn't expect me to tell them the truth, did you?" An angry voice came from inside.

'That was Papa's voice, but… he lied? What did he lie about?'

"I know how sensitive the matter is to you. How could I forget the time when the pride of the village shed tears? And I understand why…"

My eyes opened wide, and I took a step back from the shock, their talk fading away. 'Papa… cried? When? How? Why?'

I blinked, only now realizing I wasn't hearing them anymore. Closing my eyes and refocusing, I pressed my ear on the wall again. "…by Sebastian?"

"Relax. I'm not saying you should have told them the truth. People died, of course you shouldn't tell them, but look at what happened. You…"

'Samantha, Yena, Daniel, and Seth, they… Papa lied about the dungeon because they… they…'

Crack!

The sudden noise made me freeze in place. Shakily looking down, without realizing it, I had taken steps backward and was now stepping on top of a pile of brown leaves.

"Who is there?" Mr. Orion's voice came from inside the house, sending chills all over my body. I held my breath and even my mouth, afraid they would hear me if I didn't do so.

Footsteps echoed from the house, getting closer and closer. Panicking, there was only one thing for me to do.

'Run!'

I ran as fast as I could, and then some. Passing through the villagers again, I didn't have time to see their expressions, but it felt as if all of them were looking at me. Then a yell loud came, and I jumped into the air in fear.

'What was that!?'

Looking left and right in panic, my head stopped turning once I found my solution, far in the distance.

Theodore POV

''Hmph! Saying you're fine when you're clearly not? Not on my watch!'

As Lyon stepped out the door, I couldn’t shake the worry off me, but then, a brilliant idea struck me.

Follow behind him!

'Sometimes, I even amaze myself with how clever I am,' I thought, smirking as I started trailing Lyon from a safe distance. But where was he going? Why take this longer route? Had he really hit his head? He seemed fine yesterday!

Things got even weirder when he suddenly stopped a few steps away from Mr. Orion's house. I froze just as he did.

Theodore's spy rule number one: If you’re following someone, copy their every move. Become their shadow.

Lyon pressed his ear against the wall of the building. There wasn’t a wall near me, but there was a tree—so I mimicked him and pressed my ear against the bark.

Peeking from the tree, he was standing there, like he was glued to the wall until he took a step back before pressing his ear back at the wall.

'Lyon, it's no good to evdrop on others!'

I stepped away from my amazing, impossible-to-find hiding spot, and began walking closer to Lyon, only to quickly hide back before I could break the second rule.

Theodore's spy rule number two: Never let them know you are following them.

As I took a big breath of relief from remembering the second rule, a bug suddenly came down from the tree and climbed my finger.

"Ah!" I screamed and threw my hands into the air, tripping back and falling over into the bush behind me. Peeking from the bush, Lyon was running in my direction, and for a split second, our eyes met.

'Pickles, he found me!'

Even worse, the bug slowly came back down and landed on my nose.

There was a pause, and I felt its many legs move.

"AHHHH!"

'It's attacking! It's attacking!'

In my panic, I slammed my hand into my nose. Afraid of my hand, I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I wasn't looking at the tree or Lyon, but at the sky, the bug slowly flying off.

I missed.

Shaking my head, I got out of the bush. Looking in Lyon's direction, he had long passed me and was close to getting out of the village and into the forest.

Theodore's spy rule number 3: If the operation fails, inform the hire-ups.

As I ran for Mr. Orion's house, the door opened, and before Mr. Orion could ask, I ran for Papa.

"Papa! Papa!"

"What is it, Theodore? We heard you screaming, is everything okay?"

"Lyon! I - I went and told him you were sorry and he said he would come and I followed him and he came here but then started running and went to the forest!" I told everything in one go, my nose hurting.

"What!?" Both Papa and Mr. Orion said at the same time and looked at each other.

“Do you think he...” Mr. Orion paused, and Papa nodded at him.

“We should—“Papa tried standing up but fell to the ground, holding his tummy. With greeted teeth, Papa took big breaths, “Theodore, could you go and bring me Cain?”

“Yes, Papa!”