Eugene's response is not what Heli expected. Not a sharp no, not a laugh. But instead his head snaps up.

"There are more of you?" His voice is completely serious.

"Ones that can kill us," Viken hisses.

Soule, Taho and Avys are silent, their eyes darting from Heli to Eugene. Eugene is sitting with the rest at their kitchen table, finishing the last bites of their dinner.

"Where are they?" Eugene continues.

"I don't know."

Eugene leans back in his chair, tapping the end of a spoon on his chin. "You want to leave and find the friends who left you to die, but you have no idea where they are or if they're even still alive?"

"Yes." That sums it up.

"No," Eugene says.

"Why?" The slightest bit of a whine creeps into Heli's voice.

"Too many unknowns. If they're still around, you'll have all of eternity to find them. I won't be around that long, and you owe me."

For some reason this conversation feels familiar. Heli lets out a groan. "This is ridiculous. I am. I'm- I'm-"

"Eighty-six years old," Taho offers.

"Eighty-six years old and I still have to ask for permission to leave the house! What would happen if I don't do what you want anyway?"

Eugene shoves his mouth full of noodles and shrugs.

"Then I'm going."

"Why don't you just sit down?"

Heli stops mid-turn to look back at Eugene who points to an empty chair beside him at the table. He pauses, but pulls out the chair and takes a seat.

Eugene snickers.

"Now stand up."

"Okay, but why?" Heli does as he's told.

Eugene's face turns red as he stifles his laughter. The other four are hiding their mouths behind their hands, shoulders shaking in silent giggles.

"You're making fun of me."

"I love this spell. Sit back down."

"No. I won't."

"Suit yourself." Eugene lifts his glass and takes a drink, his eyes still on Heli. Heli stares back.

He's not about to break eye contact. He's not a plaything. He has to maintain some of his dignity.

It's not a big deal.

Heli shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

What would it hurt? They're all staring. It's really not a big deal.

Without a word he sinks back down.

Eugene grins. "So what happened? I'm genuinely curious. Did you feel like you were being forced? Was it painful?"

"No, it wasn't. I just. Kinda felt bad."

Taho shakes his head.

"See, it's not a curse," Eugene stands and clears his plate. "You can leave, if you really want to fight it. But there will always be this little voice in the back of your mind telling you to come back, making you think of me." He gives Heli's shoulders a squeeze as he walks by and exits the kitchen.

Heli can hear his steps crossing the living room, heading towards the stairs. He can picture the room, the staircase, and the figure of Eugene heading towards them.

In a split second, he's there, standing in front of Eugene, transported in a burst of black smoke.

Eugene shrieks. He leaps back, his hands on his head as he shouts.

"Shit! Why- I - what- how did you do that?"

Viken's head peeks around the wall, his mouth hanging open.

Eugene collects himself and straightens up. Heli doesn't say a word. He's trying to keep a neutral face, but he can feel the edges of his mouth curling up.

"Ok, ok. I get it. You're terrifying. I understand. Can I pass?"

Heli steps aside so Eugene can go upstairs. Eugene shakes his head and mutters under his breath as he ascends.

Viken side-steps across the room in a weird shuffle until he's standing next to Heli.

"You really got him, huh. Do you think you could do that again?"

Heli grins. Viken lets out a half smile and bolts up the stairs.

He could definitely do that again. As long as he could envision a place over a certain distance, he could materialise there. It was one of the first things they'd learned how to do. Disappearing and reappearing in random places throughout the castle had been more than enough to entertain the seven of them for hours.

His smile fades.

Though Taho reads for a while, and Avys and Soule watch local news reports on the television, one by one they drift off to bed. Heli is left alone staring at static until he switches the television off. He lays down on the thick carpet.

Entertaining himself is going to have to suffice. At the same time, this opportunity alone might be just what he needs. He feels a rush of energy surge through his veins. He's never really gotten the chance to test the extent of his power without observation. Not without her watching.

Approaching her alone is becoming a nightly occurrence.

He sees Shion roll his eyes and hears Noa sigh, but he leaves them again at her call no matter what he's doing. He just can't help himself.

She stands in the hall by the fireplace. It's not lit, there's no need for the fire's warmth despite the autumn chill. She runs her hand along the mantle as he enters, tracing the carved flowers and birds in the stone. Candles in the chandeliers burn brightly, casting long shadows through the room.

"Heli," she sings as she turns to face him.

"You wanted to see me?"

"I did." She points to the long table in the centre of the room. Only two chairs are sat at it, one on each end. In the middle, a golden goblet shimmers in the candlelight. "I want you to move that goblet."

"Okay," he hesitates and walks towards the table.

"Without touching it," she continues. She floats to one of the chairs and gestures to the opposite end. "From there, please."

He sits facing her. She perches her head on her hands, elbows on the smooth wood.

"How do I move it?"

"Think about it," she says.

His eyes fall from her face to the goblet between them. Think about it? He's stumped. This must be some kind of riddle, a puzzle. She's testing him. But he has no clue what he's supposed to do.

He looks back up at her. A small smile is forming on her lips, but she doesn't offer any further advice. Is this a joke?

"It's not going to move if you're looking at me, Heli," she calls.

Right. He concentrates on the way the light dances across the surface, flickering with the candles over red stones inlaid in the surface. He imagines it sliding across the table, spinning on its base, even tipping over and rolling off the table.

It jumps and so does he.

Just a tiny bit but it definitely rose from the table.

"Did you see that?"

"Oh, I was expecting so much more from you." She crosses her arms. "Try it again."

He focuses, this time solely on recapturing the moment the goblet lifted from the table. This time it rises slightly higher.

"Maybe a little incentive will help," she frowns. "Until you can move the goblet to either end of the table, you are not to move from that spot. Not even if the sun comes up."

"You can't be serious."

"I wouldn't say this if I didn't think you could do it. You just need a bit of a push sometimes. Now, concentrate."

And so he does. He pours every thought he has into the image of the goblet. The material, the weight. It looks heavy.

She gets up and circles the room. The air begins to turn hazy as morning approaches. A sharp pain is blossoming behind his eye.

This is impossible. In his mind, he pictures picking the goblet up and tossing it across the room.

The goblet lifts and shoots down the table, smacking into the stone mantel and clattering to the floor.

"Oh! Well done," she exclaims. "Good enough for now, at least."

He put his head down to the hard wooden table. "Are you going to make the others do this too?"

"No, no," her hands are on his shoulders. "This is not something they can do. Only you."

Only you.

Heli looks around the living room for an object he can use. Nothing too big but heavy enough to make it a worthwhile challenge. He settles for a glass paperweight set on a bookshelf. He sets it down on the second to last step and sits on the couch facing it.

First, just to make it roll down the step. Starting small feels like a wise plan. He focuses on the transparent orb, picturing it just rolling forward.

It's as strenuous as the first time he'd tried to move the goblet. He punches one of the cushions in frustration. All this time, and he's back to square one, starting over.

After about an hour, he's able to roll it forward, but not far enough to drop from the step. He crosses the room to set it back in the original position, and tries again.

Another hour and a growing headache later, and he can make it fall from the step.

By the time he's able to make the paperweight fly to his hand, the first rays of sunlight are streaming through the gaps between the curtains. He resets the glass for another go. It comes to him with slightly less effort than before. Each time it gets a little easier. He sends it back towards the stairs.

And directly into the stomach of one Viken.

"Ow!" He manages to catch the orb in his hands.

"You're up early."

"You're still up. What are you doing with this?"

"Nothing much."

"Yeah, ok. This," Viken holds it up as he heads to return it to its place on the shelf. "Isn't something to mess around with."

"Why, is it a crystal ball or something?"

Viken just glares. "Don't you have to sleep when the sun is up?"

"I can stay up. It's not like you go straight to bed when the sun goes down."

"No, but," Viken pauses. "You don't just sleep. You straight up die. Like, stop breathing and everything. It's really freaky. You were like that when we brought you here starved, but it's also been every day since."

"I didn't realise."

"Yeah, so-"

"What do you do all day anyway? I mean, I know you do magic, but why?"

Viken shrugs. "Money."

"Money?"

"Sure. There are a lot of places you can sell magic artefacts. A lot of spells and things people ask for. There's plenty of stuff we keep for ourselves too. So that we can find-" His voice trails off.

"Good morning!" Avys bounds down the stairs. "Oh, you're still awake."

"Is it really that strange?" Heli asks.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird. What were you two talking about?"

"Money," Viken says as he disappears into the kitchen.

"On the subject, we should go shopping," Avys looks at Heli. "You've been wearing mostly my clothes and to be honest, I think you should have your own."

"Ask Eugene," Viken calls from the kitchen.

Heli learns that not much happens without the okay from either Soule or Eugene, and since Eugene is the only one who can drive, he's the go-to for anytime anyone wants to leave the house. Eugene agrees with Avys that Heli ought to have his own clothing and whole-heartedly agrees to an evening out in town.

"We have to do something about your face though," he mutters.

"What about it?"

"Like your eyes for example."

Heli watches Eugene open and close several drawers of his wardrobe.

"What's wrong with them?" Heli asks.

"They're red. Try these." He hands Heli a pair of round sunglasses with blue lenses.

"Won't it look weirder to wear sunglasses at night?" Heli slides the glasses onto his face.

"Yeah. But they kinda look good on you. It's not weird if it's fashionable."

"They look good?"

Eugene nods.

"You know," Heli turns his face to the floor. "I haven't properly seen myself since I was sixteen."

"Oh, right."

"You realise it's raining, don't you? It's not the eyes that are going to be a problem. It's the teeth." Viken stands leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed. "And department stores are full of mirrors."

"Ahh, good point. Well," Eugene sighs. "Don't look anyone in the eye. Don't say anything either. Just try not to be noticed at all."

Not much chance of that. From the moment they step out of the van, which Heli is now sure defies all known laws of physics, he's completely awestruck. The city is unlike anything he's ever seen. It's late in the evening, but still so bright. And busy. People still swarm the sidewalks, bundled up in their coats, bobbing in and out of storefronts bursting with lights of every colour. Huge vehicles zip by on the street. Every time Heli stops to gaze up at a flashing sign Eugene reaches back to pull him along.

"I said not to stand out, gaping at everything isn't going to help."

Heli nods but something else has caught his eye and he's stopped again.

"Come on."

He's pushed past a glass display lined with mannequins and into the shop door. Inside, it's positively blinding. As far as he can see are racks of clothes of every colour he can think of.

"So. What do you want?"

Heli blinks. "I can just pick anything? From any of these?"

Eugene nods.

Heli looks from Eugene - today in light blue flared pants, a floral button-down shirt and grey knit jumper with orange horizontal stripes, to Viken - who is head to toe in black from his combat boots to spiked denim jacket.

"I'm not sure about the options."

"Don't look at me for help, I just came to look at records," says Viken.

"That's why we brought Avys," says Eugene.

"What?" Avys is already flipping through a rack of pink shirts.

"And what about you, are you going to help?" Eugene pointedly looks at Taho.

"I just came because I didn't feel like helping Soule clean."

"Unbelievable."

Fashion in this decade is a mystery. Eugene and Viken don't dress remotely alike and he's not sure if he likes either version. The others dress alright, but still more colourful and patterned than Heli could see himself comfortable in. Clothes had never been something he worried about. At the orphanage, they wore what the teachers sewed for them, and even after was only ever the simple choice of some combination of black and white.

"Okay, I'll pick out a few things and you can tell me what you think," Eugene offers.

"You're going to pick stuff that's weird," Viken rolls his eyes. "Have fun with that."

They leave him in the back of the store, next to a line of three small doors. A woman in a green hat stops next to him. He diverts his eyes to a nearby mannequin. A few minutes pass and she still doesn't move.

She coughs.

Heli glances down at her. She's staring behind him, a hand on her chin.

"Umm."

He turns to see what she's looking at. He's standing right in front of a mirror. She stares back with furrowed eyebrows and an open mouth, but beside her the figure is warped. He can make out the blue of his shirt but otherwise he's just a blur in the glass, like looking through a fog. She looks up and their eyes meet.

"Did you know…" she starts.

"This is normal. You didn't see anything strange here."

Her eyes wander, out of focus for a moment, then she nods. "Yes, you're quite right." She shuffles away, with one last look back at him, shaking her head.

Heli repositions himself away from the mirror but Eugene is already returning with an armful of clothes. Avys and Taho aren't far behind, both empty-handed.

"Avys, put these on so we can see how they look." Eugene tosses some of the clothes over Avys's arms.

"Why me?"

"It's not going to do him much good if he can't see himself, is it?"

"Yeah, I guess." He steps behind one of the doors.

"If you like anything then you can try for size."

Each time he re-emerges, Heli shakes his head. Eugene's choices of bright colours and all over patterns are not things he would ever wear. Eugene sighs as he gets up to find something else, but before long he's returned with things Heli actually somewhat likes.

"You have kinda boring taste, huh?" Viken returns with printed square packages under his arm, looking at Heli's own armful of neutral and earth toned items. "At least throw some black in there."

"Black would be fine," Heli says. Viken is already tossing more things at him.

"Viken, he's just going to look like a ghost if you dress him in black," Eugene warns as he drapes a soft green knit cardigan over Heli's shoulders.

"What about red?"

"I think you're enjoying this more than he is," Avys laughs.

"Eugene," Heli says. "Is it okay to buy all this? I don't have any money."

"I feel kinda responsible for you now, so don't worry about it."

"Okay…"

"What about my records?" Viken interjects.

"You can buy those yourself."

Viken pouts as they cash out and re-emerge onto the street with a couple bags full of Heli's new wardrobe. Many of the stores are now dark, displaying CLOSED signs on their doors. They pass under the lit marquee of a cinema, its yellow lights flashing overhead.

"I want to see a movie," Heli says softly.

"Hm?" Avys follows his gaze up to read the backlit letters spelling out the night's show. "It would be fun wouldn't it? We haven't been to one in ages."

"Maybe for a different movie, I don't feel like watching a war drama. Besides, he's lived through it." Viken adds.

"Is that what this movie is about?"

"Yeah, World War II."

Heli looks from Avys to Viken. "Did you say world war?"

Eugene tilts his head. "Were you guys aware of things going on outside of the castle?"

"Sure," Heli says. "We travelled all over the place, along with a carnival that went all around the continent."

Viken scoffs. "I think you'd have noticed."

Heli looks from Eugene to Viken. "You also said two. There was a first?"

"You'd have noticed that too."

Heli shakes his head.

"Oh dear," says Taho.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You said you were twenty-one. If you were born in 1892, you'd turn twenty-one in 1913."

"Yes."

"So is that the year you became a vampire? Or is that still the last year you remember?"

Heli tries to think through all his birthdays. Most were unremarkable, uncelebrated aside from a sing-song from the kids or an extra serving of bland food. In the castle they gave him gifts, small trinkets and coins from the carnival. But after he died in her tower, he can't remember if there were any more celebrations. Did vampires celebrate birthdays? They had stopped ageing, after all. Surely his friends wouldn't have let the day go unnoticed no matter the case.

"I turned twenty-one that year," he finally says. "And I also turned into… this. But my birthday is in October and I've been remembering things that happened after that."

"Do you think you'd remember a huge war?"

"I would say so."

"Heli," Taho says. "The first war started in 1914."