Vlad looked at Rebecca, then at Reket. The two of them looked quite alike, and they looked almost the same age. Finally, Vlad just had to ask the only question on his mind.
   “Are you two twins?” Both Reket and Rebecca winced a little bit when they heard the question.
   “Of course we’re twins! Although, I was born a few minutes before my little bro here.” Rebecca laughed as she tussled Reket’s hair. Reket batted her hand away, looking quite upset.
   “Excuse me?! I’m the older one! You were a few minutes behind me!” Vlad felt stupid for asking his question now. It was painfully obvious that they were twins.
   “Whatever you say brother. So what brings you back here? I thought you said you were never coming back after what happened.” Rebecca crossed her arms, waiting for the answer.
   “We just want to get a boat over to Altrunm, that’s all. I had no intention of staying any longer then needed.” Reket was quite serious with his sister, who now wore a sad expression on her face.
   “So…You didn’t even plan to say hi to me?” She looked down, sniffling slightly as she fought back the tears. Vlad looked at the two and smiled slightly. Even though they fought, they really did care about each other…or at least Rebecca did. Reket didn’t seem to react at all to her tears.
   “I thought that it would be better if I passed through as quietly as I could. You’ve got a good life here, and I didn’t want to screw any of it up. You know me. Bad luck is always just a step behind me.” Reket put one hand on his sister’s shoulder, trying to calm her down. Suddenly, he remembers something that he had with him. “Hey, I got you a little something. We found this in a ruin somewhere.” Reket reaches into his bag and pulls out a brooch with a large ruby set in the middle. As soon as Rebecca sees it, her tears stop and her whole face lights up.
   “For me?! Oh Reket, you shouldn’t have!”
   “Well, in that case I’ll just sell it off.”
   “What?! I was kidding! Of course you should have given me a gift! After everything you put me and mother through!”
   Vlad had enough of this, and finally got his voice back. “What exactly did Reket do? And why did he leave here anyways?” The twins looked over at him, then back to each other.
   “It’s a long story. Why don’t you two come on over to my place and I’ll tell you about it.” Rebecca offered quite cheerfully despite Reket’s unhappy expression. He simply shook his head.
   “No, that’s not necessary. I’ll tell him the short version, and then we’ll be off.” Reket cleared his throat and closed his eyes, recalling that day clearly…
   “It was about…ten years ago? The day seemed just like any other. Rebecca and I were off in the woods behind our house. We were looking for some flowers for our sick neighbor, when suddenly a monster, much like the one that attacked us, came rushing out at us.”
   “And my thick headed brother here tried to stop it with his bare hands!”
   “First off, I’m telling the story! Second, I was trying to save you!” There was a slight pause as Reket gathered himself back up.
   “Anyways, I was trying to keep the thing from getting to Rebecca, who had ran back to the village to get help. Pretty soon, some of the hunters came back with her and drove the beast off. I ran up to greet them, but they all backed away. When I looked down at my body, I noticed I had been scratched a few times by the creature. They all thought I was going to be one of them!”
   “But…You should have turned into one of them! Anyone who is infected can pass it on!” Vlad was now really confused. Reket had made a big deal about not getting hurt when they were fighting a few days back.
   “That’s the odd part. Normally, it takes a few minutes for the disease to take effect, but nothing happened to me. Even after a few hours passed, I was still just me. At first, everyone was relieved. Then it dawned on them: I was apparently some kind of freak. They began to tell our mother that she should just have me killed. I couldn’t take it any longer…” Reket’s voice trailed off, and Rebecca finished the tale.
   “…When he heard what they were saying to our mother, he thought it would be better for both of us if he left. And he did…”
There was a long silence as the twins recalled that day. Finally, Reket broke the silence with a chuckle.
   “And to think that I came back here on my own free will. I hope everyone doesn’t want me dead still.”
   Rebecca looked stunned for awhile, and then she began to laugh. Reket joined her, and so did Vlad.

   “I guess this wasn’t so bad after all. At least no one else noticed me here.”
   “Yeah, but you should go visit mother. She hasn’t been the same since you left…”
   “Sounds good. That alright with you Vlad?”
   Vlad nodded with a smile. “Of course. Let’s go.”

                                             TO BE CONTINUED…