Okay, guys this is part one of chapter 14. This is because it otherwise has a longer length than the other chapters, so I'm dividing it in two parts. It ends in the middle of the chapter, and before you can read it, woud you mind reading my responses to reviews, too? If you don't, I understand - I tend to write rather boring AN's...

SGJBMCfan98: Thanks for the review, and you'll read in a minute what Lanny decides and who helps him make that decision.

Enjoy!

-Writer207

Eventually, Lanny stood up and started his walk to the castle. He started out walking very quickly, but after a while he realized he was walking slowly. After that realization, he forced himself to walk a little faster. Soon, he knew he couldn't help but slow down. He tried his hardest to walk away as fast as possible, but that couldn't be possible if his legs decided to go slower.

Then, he stopped and sighed. No, he told himself, no, no, no! I am no monster! Teagan wanted to stay! I wanted to leave! Completely different, nothing wrong. I wanted to leave… "…and he wanted to stay," he finished out loud, as if it would sound a little more comforting when he would say it out loud.

"What if he didn't want to stay at all?" a voice behind him said, and Lanny froze on the spot. That voice was Herald's, he'd recognize it anywhere. That meant… he turned around and saw his best friend, only not like he thought he would see him. He shouted out and jumped up when he saw the ghost of his best friend in his dying clothes. He'd seen a lot of ghosts in the past, but never had he expected to see Herald as one.

"H-Herald?" Lanny stuttered, "What the… you're a ghost!"

"Yeah, that's what you become if you die as a Kinkowian," Herald explained with a sad smile, "I'm very proud of you, Lanny. You haven't tried to kill the kings the past months." Lanny was about to ask how Herald knew, but ghosts wandered around invisibly on the earth until twenty years after their death, but they had a certain amount of minutes each month they could be visible and talk to the living, and his guess was Herald used up his minutes of the month to talk to Lanny. Then, another question came to mind.

"I didn't try it because it's horrible. I killed you, technically speaking. If I hadn't sent you away, you…"

"I would've still be killed, Lanny, it wasn't you. It was that madman, he ambushed me thinking I was royal because he never saw me out there and I was walking all alone. I knew it as him because he was disguised as a tarantula person and those don't normally have a white skin." Herald explained, and Lanny's eyes were opened by these words. It was Kermen, not me. I didn't kill anyone. I didn't kill my best friend!

"Wait, what did you say about Teagan," Lanny reminded his dead friend, "I heard you saying he didn't want to stay at all, but yet he did." Herald shrugged.

"He is very loyal – his granddad taught him to be. Plus, those guys are really the only friends he's ever had. And don't you forget we were stepbrothers! He's only staying because of Vic and Karell. If they hadn't been there, he would've run away as well." As he said this, Herald started to fade away and when Herald himself noticed, he sighed. "Lanny, think about it again. What would you do in his position?"

Those were Herald's parting words and as soon as he faded, Lanny longed back to the time he spent with Herald, the happy times, and the grief almost immediately returned. He started to walk again, back to the castle, and his friend's final question kept running through his mind. What would you do in his position? What would you do in his position? Eventually he made his choice, and he stopped walking, groaning.

"I'm gonna regret this," he said as he turned around and ran back to the volcano. All the way to the volcano, he ran faster than he had been when walking away and he reached it sooner than first expected. He hadn't thought one simple message from his deceased friend could change his mind so quickly. He shook his head again, reminding himself that whatever he did he would regret it.

It was also easier to find his way around. He might not have paid attention when he ran out, but he experienced no difficulty whatsoever when he had to go back. Maybe Herald had some influence as well and soon, he found the room again.

He made the mistake to just run into the room, being noticed by Rean and Kermen almost immediately. The two Calpaño brothers were still laying unconscious on the ground, and this time Teagan was on the ground to. He looked not too great, but Lanny couldn't see more with the dim light of the torches on the background.

"You've come back," Kermen welcomed him back, and Lanny's bravery melted away, feeling small again. He barely found the courage to answer.

"Yes I did." It barely came out, but he repeated it, a bit louder then the first time. He also didn't make eye contact.

"Why?" the madman asked with a smile, "it's them or us, if I remember it correctly. Why come back if you have nothing to seek here." It stayed silent a long time before Lanny finally spoke up.

"B-Because," Lanny said, finding the courage to talk louder and braver to Rean and his father (it felt weird to say Kermen was his dad), "Because … for no reason. I had a talk with a friend just now, and he told me you were his killer. Remember the kid from a few months back? You killed him, I was devastated. And when I ran away, I realized Rean and the Calpaños mean as much to Teagan as Herald meant to me. And if you want to have Rean hurt those two, you'll have to get past me first." He sounded bolder than he felt. Words were still easier to say than deeds to do. And it didn't help Kermen laughed after he said that.

"You think I'd be out to kill those boys with precision? No, if I wanted to kill them, I would have already done it. I am talking about the two boys in the back you failed to notice," he pointed, and Lanny's curiosity made him move closer. He still was cautious around them, but when he was sure they wouldn't harm him just now, he went a little faster. Then, he passed a deep hole with lava and a few big rocks floating in it, realizing there hadn't been torches at all, just the light of the lava. Behind the lava pit lay two young boys on the ground. Lanny recognized those two immediately.

"The kings?" Out of all the people Kermen could have chosen, he had to pick his relatives. He picked the two boys he hated the most, the two boys standing in his way of leading the kingdom, the two most idiotic boys of the island… and Lanny had chosen to protect the two boys Kermen was out to kill.

"Yes, the kings," Kermen said, "You're close to them, I've noticed, since you're always around in the castle. Don't worry, they'll soon wake up. And then, if my boy doesn't want to share my vision of this island, the kings go. They'll die anyway, because I am the only adult who can claim the throne." Eventually, Lanny noticed the two boys woke up. At that point, he had hoped they would stay down for at least a few more hours.

"Boom?" Brady's hoarse voice asked, "What just happened?" he tried to sit up, but then noticed the ropes around her hands. Boomer sat up and noticed the same. Lanny knew how it felt – waking up with people close to you and not knowing where you really were. He hoped Kermen would shut his mouth – they were standing in the light of the lava, the kings wouldn't be able to see them. With a bit of luck…

"Welcome, boys," Kermen said, and Lanny cursed. Why did I have to jinx it? "Welcome in Mt. Spew, where I will finish what I've started sixteen years ago!" the kings looked up to the sudden voice, and they noticed a man with a dangerous looking weapon in his hands (they would later identify it as a gun which Lanny now can't see) and their favorite hobbit next to him.

"Hey! Look, Brady! It's Lanny!" Boomer shouted, and Lanny face-palmed. He really wanted to strangle that king, but he would have plenty of chances later. The weird thing was Kermen was taken aback by this sentence. Kermen walked closer to the kings and pointed at the little prince of Kinkow.

"You know Lanny?" Kermen asked, "Where do you know him from?" that madman looks dangerous, Lanny thought. They'll be too afraid to say anything about it, they will shut their mouths as they usually do. There was no danger whatsoever, since Kermen wanted to know who the prince was. Maybe to kill him, too.

"Oh, we're family!" Brady explained and Lanny cursed again, "We're cousins! Our dad was his dad's or mother's brother." Lanny's face paled as Kermen turned around to the boy and for once, he smiled a friendly smile. Lanny was almost tempted to walk to the madman and to trust him with this friendly charismatic smile.

"Yes, you are," Kermen said after a long moment of silence in which he watched the prince. "You are the sons of Lanny's mother's brother, Kunu. Yes, he had a sister named Lydia. She married a man, and with him she had two sons, two possible heirs to the throne. One of them was two years older than the other. The eldest child was called Rean – him I've already met. The second child's name, I now know, is Lanny."