"Ah, I see, the sun is going to rise again soon. The old stories can wait for now. Listen well, young heir of knowledge and sight. I will tell you what to look for. You did agree to help me, no?"
'What's with that name? Heir of knowledge and vision?'
"Yes, we will. Under the agreement, that you will teach us spirit vision, whatever that might be. Help us activate those powers you talked about and protect my sister while I'm away. Those are our parts of the contract. Also I have a question. Can those powers make our family recognize Stella again? "
He answered a little too quickly this time.
"Of course, if you work hard enough, then yes."
The old man, still smiling held a finger up and added.
"There's another thing you have to do for me. Or rather, you can't do under all circumstances."
"And what might that be, old man?" Silas said a little aggressive.
"No need to be that hostile, young heir. Anyway, you may never tell your family or anyone at all about any of this. At least till you have the knowledge. It must be our little secret, you understand?" He said while sending a playful wink toward the twins.
Silas and Stella looked at each other resignedly and sighed.
"Yes alright. I wasn't going to do that anyway."
Silas' expression suddenly tensed, his eyes like those of a predator.
"And dare not hurt my sister." he said in a menacing voice.
Orren, still smiling as if he played with a kitten, coughed.
"As I said, I only want to help my family."
'I don't like this at all, but what else could I do?'
Still wary of the whole situation, Silas listened to what else the man had to say.
"Now, to tell you what you need to look for. It's a small sphere, about 2.5 cm wide. It has a deep, emerald green color. You know that it's what you're searching for as soon as you see it. There are multiple places for you to look for it. The church. The town hall. The old house, I told you about could also be a place you should search in. The mines are probably not easily accessible for you, so that's the last place you should search. Finally, the graveyard would also be a possible place. The sphere should be in a purely black box. It is hard to notice, but if you find it, again you'll notice that the box is special. Also, you should come here once a day in order to learn spirit vision with your sister. I have a way to secure water and food, so you won't have to bring that either."
'Finally he's finished. How is he even able to talk that long?'
"Sure, I'll return soon, maybe tomorrow."
Silas threw one last suspicious glance toward the old man and turned toward Stella.
A slight smile decorating his face now.
"Good bye then. And... take care."
***
After Silas reached the main path to the old tree, he saw people scanning the forest. His brother, Dex, was one of them. Silas instantly hid behind a tree.
'What do I do now? There's no way I can move freely if I let myself be seen now. I guess the smartest thing to do would be to sneak across the wall, head home and act as if I just woke up. I will probably get scolded anyway but it won't be that bad I guess.'
But it was for naught. Just as he was about to head through the bushes, Silas heard a voice behind him.
"SILAS! There you are!"
Silas turned around slowly after hearing his brothers voice.
Dex rushed toward him with an expression, mixed between anger and worry.
"Hi Dex." Silas said with a cautious voice.
As soon as he reached him, Dex raised his hands, seemingly going for a hug. But at the last second, he made a fist with his right hand, ramming it into Silas' stomach.
Dex's voice was harsh, suppressed anger flowing through.
"You have some explaining to do, Silas." He said through clenched teeth.
Silas sank to his knees.
'Why did he have to hit me so hard?'
"I will take you home first. Mom is worried sick because of you. You know that, right?"
"You see I'm alright, so everything is good, no?"
"Of course not. Don't you see how grave this could have ended?" Dex's voice broke with emotion.
He kneeled beside Silas, every bit of anger forgotten now. Only relief was visible after the facade of anger cracked. Dex took him into a tight hug.
"Never do something like this again, please."
Silas stayed silent.
***
Silas laid in bed, thinking about his arrival at home.
'Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought.'
He had his hand in the air spinning a straight, small stick.
'Mom was obviously relieved that nothing bad happened. She hugged me while tears ran down her face and also told me, that I should never do something like that ever again...'
He held the stick firm, as a thought entered his mind.
'I can't let them catch me again. But I don't see a way I could possibly escape. Dex sleeps next to me, so sneaking out will be significantly harder. And I don't know how to manage doing everything I have planned only throughout the days. That old geezer really has some nerve, sending me on stupid missions I alone can hardly accomplish. At least now I have a chance to maybe free my family, or maybe the whole town from the mind hex if I get those weird powers he promised us. It better be true, otherwise...'
Without warning, his sister, Sorelle, stormed in, a slight smile visible.
"Ah, my little brother!"
'Oh, no. I know that expression far to well.'
"I heard you got a girlfriend... And you're taking her to the woods in the middle of the night." She grinned maliciously.
'Is that what Dexter thinks happened...' he couldn't finish the thought, since his sister interrupted with her usual "great" humor.
"I didn't know my little brother was a womanizer like that. Tell me, how did you do it?"
"What are you even blabbering, leave me alone." he said with an offended voice, trying to end the conversation quickly. But his assumption was wrong, he forgot how gleeful his sister was. Her smile only widened slightly and she kept sliding closer on the bed.
"Ooh." she started pouting and set on a sad facade.
"My little brother doesn't even wanna talk to me anymore." She wined.
"Yeah, so go now."
Silas pointed toward the door and looked away, clearly going with the act. A small smile forming on his lips for a fraction of a second.
That was all his sister needed to take advantage of the situation though. The amusement slowly piling up on her, she started to tease him a little more.
"Oh, then go to your new girlfriend again. I am so worth of pity . My brother hates me." She kept on wining, about to stand up.
"Yes, you're a bad sister, so..." Silas tried to say. But Sorelle interrupted him, a smirk on her face. She was suddenly in his face. Only one centimeter seperrated their noses.
"But before... I need to tell my dear Silas something. I mean, if he really toys around with girls at this age, he finally needs to hear about the bees and butterflies."
Silas' eyes widened, a frightened expression in his eyes. He slowly backed away.
'Where to leave? I could jump through the window, or I could run through the door. Irrelevant, at least I'm gone.'
He was about to stand up, when Sorelle grabbed his wrist, pulling him down again.
"No! You can't escape me now." Her smile grew even more malicious now.
"Soo. Where was I? Oh, right. You see, when a women and a man love each other very much..."
'Noooo!'
Silas only listened. No muscle moving in his body. His face frozen with anxiety.
***
Some time later, Silas was sitting on his bed alone. The morning sun, that shone on the sky just now was no where to be seen anymore.
'How long did this nightmare last just now? Is that my end now?'
Silas thoughts were fully jumbled up because of the conversation just now.
'Can't she once be serious! I have important stuff to do!'
After Sorelle left Silas alone with his thoughts, Dexter was about to come in next, having been held out by Sorelle who told him beforehand.
***
In the main room, Dex and Sorelle sat near the table, facing each other as if they were about to fight. "IIIhhh. Little Silas has a girlfriend now. I'm going to have a looong talk with him now. So don't even dare to come in while I'm still talking with him." They stared each other down. The humorful expression of Sorelle leaving, a grave look taking it's place. A silent conversation happening.
'You know that you can't go in first. He was literally in the forest for the whole night.' Dex started the silent conversation.
'So?' Sorelle followed.
'I won't let you confuse him by blabbering around before he gets disciplined.'
'No.'
'What "no"! Don't you hear me? It's dangerous to stay outside that...
'You're such a killjoy, you know that right?'
Dexter backed away.
'I've heard that somewhere. But where? Silas! He said that a few times already. Am I really that boring? Anyway that's beside the point now.'
Until Dexter regained his senses, Sorelle was already gone, having left for Silas' bedroom.
'Argh. That traitorous girl...'
***
Dex stood in front of his own and Silas' room, contemplating on what he's going to say.
'Either way, Everything I could or should say will be wrong. If I tell him it's alright, he's gonna do it again. If I scold and punish him, he will probably do it just to spite me. That boy is always so bored, isn't he? I could get him a job so he'll be distracted, but still... I don't think that's the right thing to do for some reason.'
Dex grabbed his hair and combed through it with his hands. He slid down the wall with his back, sitting in silence.