Chapter Twelve

Dark watched Scales with suspicions. "Why did you agree to my terms?" he asked her.

"Because," she said, turning to face him, "I need Cedric to live."

"Why is that?"

"I'd rather not say. Please don't force me to."

"I won't." Dark smiled. "If you don't want me to know, I won't make you tell me."

East slid up to Scales. "So," she said, "You're not all that bad, are you?"

"Not really," Scales said, still looking at Dark, "I was being controlled by some kind of hold that Demon had on my mind."

Dark's eyes widened. "So you were being controlled," he said, "Are you still being controlled?"

East's eyes narrowed. "And who is this 'Demon' person that you mentioned?" she asked.

"Well-" Scales began.

"Oh boy," Dark said, "It's story time."

"I've already told them about Nreyda's history," North said to Scales, "What I didn't tell them is what the Nreydans look like."

Scales looked at North. It was the first time that she'd looked at anyone, besides Dark, after her battle with Tibor. "Can I tell them?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

"Oh goody," Dark said, "Now it's story time."

Scales cleared her throat. "Well," she said, looking at all the Guardians, "It's not exactly a new story. It's just part of North's story that she left out."

"You see, not all of the Nreydans look like us. The Life Nation ones do, but the Death Nation people look like zombies or undead. The Light Nation people, for instance, look like giant balls of light, while the Darkness Nation people look like shadows. The Water Nation people are covered in water. The Fire Nation people are made entirely out of fire. The Earth Nation people are covered in either mud, dirt, sand, or vines. And the Air Nation people look like us, but are surrounded and clothed by air."

"That's it?" Irma asked.

"Yes," she said.

"What do the Vampires look like?" Cornelia asked.She smiled, but then stopped smiling as she said,

"They look...like...him." She pointed at Dark. Everyone turned to look at him. He turned away from their curios gazes.

"I didn't chose to look like this," He said, his voice breaking, "I just am like this."

"But you are from Nreyda," Hay Lin said, "Maybe you can-"

"I'm NOT from Nreyda!" Dark shouted. "I'm from EARTH!" He started to take in deep, shaky breaths of air. More calmly, he said, "I'm from Earth, but I'm not entirely human."

"What do you mean?" Will asked him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," he said, shaking her hand off of his shoulder, "Let's go back to my house and get some sleep."

"But-"

Before Will could finish her thought, Dark was already walking towards his house."Don't worry," North said, "He treats everyone like that."

Tibor looked at her. "Why?" he asked.

"Because he's lost a lot of people that he's cared about," she told him, "and he doesn't want that to happen anymore. He might love something or someone, but you'll never know it."

"Why not?" Taranee inquired.

"It seems that every time the words 'I love you' escape his mouth, whatever he said it to is destroyed in some way. It scars his soul every time that happens, so he keeps that emotion to himself."

"Well," Scales said with a yawn, I think I'm gonna follow the Goth guy's example." She began to follow Dark.

Slowly everyone began to trail behind them. Tibor was first. Then Taranee. East was third, followed by Cornelia. Then Will, Irma and Yan Lin left together.

Then there was only Hay Lin and North, they were watching each other, both not moving or speaking, not even breathing. Finally Hay Lin broke the silence. "What does Dark feel for me?" she asked her.

North smiled. "I don't need him to tell me how he feels," she said laughingly, "He likes you. In fact, I think he loves you." Her smile faded. "But the real question is: Do you love him?"

Hay Lin started to ponder. What did she mean by that? she thought. He's the only guy that I've ever really like. Well besides Eric. Wait.

"Eric!" Hay Lin shouted. She had completely forgotten about him.

"You see," North said, "you can't have them both. I believe that Dark would tell you to chose Eric, but he would never look at you the same, if you did. On the other hand you could chose him, and lose your chances with the other guy. It's your choice. Choose wisely."

With that, North started to follow the others, leaving Hay Lin to think.

"But," she said to herself, "I like them both." After that she went to catch up with the others.