4

When Leon arrived home, he went straight to his room and started throwing anything he could get his hands on.

Lester entered a few seconds later, sweat dripping from his face. "Leon!"

Leon threw a wooden sculpture of him and Lester. Shattering it against the wall. He rounded on the man, hand lit up with fire. "Get away from me!"

Lester held up his hands in surrender. "Leon, listen-"

"No! I don't have to listen to you! You fucking lied to me my entire life." he gritted his teeth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because...I was trying to protect you from what just happened!" Lester snapped back. "And if you had stayed home as I asked you to, you wouldn't have been discovered."

The flame spread over Leon's arm. "This isn't my home. It never was and never will be. It doesn't change the fact that I'm living a lie."

Lester sighed. "It was your mother's wish. She asked me not to tell you until..well. Let's just say I regret not telling you when you started doing...." he gestured at Leon's arm.

"Your mother was a Druid. And as you know I am Roman. We met while she was exploring." he smiled sadly. "We fell in love and well...one thing led to another, and a few months later she was with child. Since Druids and Romans were forbidden from marrying and sharing flesh, your mother knew if anyone found out she would have been killed."

Leon extinguished the flame.

"Eventually her sister figure out what was going on. Your mother sent me a message weeks after she'd given birth to you and asked if I'd take you in my care." Lester blinked. "I agreed, knowing that this could get me killed as well."

"So...why'd her sister kill her?" Leon whispered. "How could she?"

"Molly killed Natalie because she thought she was protecting her. I was able to flee the house with you before the Druids could come to kill us. And...here we are."

Leon sat on the edge of his bed. "You were protecting me all this time and you didn't tell me? Why?"

"I didn't want you to grow up living in fear. I wanted you to go to school, make friends, have a family, all without having to worry about...this." Lester turned to leave. "I'm sorry for keeping this secret, but I hope you understand why I did it and hope that you will forgive me."

Lester smiled sadly and closed the door behind him. Leon went toward his window and stared out into the street where guards were roaming about putting up wanted posters of Lester.

Lester couldn't stay here. His safety was in jeopardy.

Leon saw another guard put up a picture of his face and swallowed. The poster read: Wanted. Dead or Alive. 300,000 Roman Leu leading up to his capture.

Leon turned from the window and pulled a brown bag from under his bed. He cast a sad look around his room and started packing.