Shadowburn (2)

Chapter 1

Andreas had been unusually quiet the last few days. Kalen knew being reminded of the anniversary of Dylan's death was hard on him every year, but Andreas had never returned from his annual trip to Wyona Peak quite like this. Something had happened to him that night, something he wasn't telling Kalen about.

It wasn't like Andreas ever told him anything, but still. It was unusual. They'd fallen in a pattern, one that made sense, over the last ten years. But that pattern had shifted. Kalen wanted to know what was going on, but knew better than to ask.

He sighed, leaning further back in his chair. He was seated in the expansive, and overly luxurious, dining room, his feet propped onto the long dinner table. At one time, this room held over twenty people regularly on weekends, sometimes more. Kalen's eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he entered his memories. He'd been a lost kid back then, but he always reflected on that time fondly. It was the time he finally got a family, and no matter how many problems that family had... it was still his.

Andreas was somewhere in his study poring over a book. Kalen had walked in, tried to start a conversation, and promptly left when the former didn't even so much as acknowledge him. They'd had conversations before. Short, clipped, sometimes angry, but there were words being exchanged.

If this silent treatement was going to continue, Kalen was going to lose his mind.

There was a lightness to Andreas that hadn't been there before, but at the same time it was as if a different weight had been added there, one that closed him off even more. By this point, Kalen was at a loss for what he could do. He'd tried, the gods know he had tried. Over the years, he'd set out to help Andreas, his friend -- brother in many ways. But there was only so much he was capable of. And Andreas never wanted his help, keeping him at arm's length..

Well, more than keeping him at arm's length -- Andreas had tried everything in his power to try and get rid of Kalen. If he hadn't known Andreas as well as he did, he would have left. He wouldn't have bothered. But he did know him, did know that he wasn't pushing him away because he wanted to. And what Kalen knew above all was that if he left, the consequences it would have on Andreas' psyche would be the final shove to plunge him into complete darkness.

So he tolerated it. Because he had hope.

One day, one day Scott would come back. He just had to keep trying.

A loud banging coming from the front door pulled Kalen from his thoughts. His eyebrows furrowed. They hadn't gotten visitors in ten years. Not since the Grigolis....

He removed his legs from the table, sitting up. He waited a moment, and the banging continued, growing louder as the seconds passed.

Kalen rushed to the door, deciding it better he answer it than Andreas. If it was some lost passerby who had never been in the area, he or she would get themselves killed for just knocking on the door. The villagers knew to leave this place alone. Knew who resided here.

He opened the door carefully, his eyebrows scrunched.

Before him stood a figure fully concealed in a black cloak. Kalen sighed. "You must be lost, the village is back that way," he said, pointing behind the figure.

He sensed no magic coming from the person; there was no threat.

"I might be lost; unless this happens to be the Grigoli residence," the figure said in a deep, sonorous male voice. Kalen rose a single eyebrow. No one ever consciously sought out the Grigoli residence. "In which case... you are not Scotty. So go get him."

Scotty? There was only one person who ever called Andreas Scotty and that had been Dylan. Kalen's eyes narrowed, suspicion rising. Getting Andreas would be a very bad idea. He'd nearly broken Kalen's arm the last time he attempted to call him Scott. He didn't want to know what he'd do to someone who called him Scotty.