That weekend Felix dragged Hansel out of the house so they could traipse around the city and explore it. He said it would be fun, that there was going to be plenty of things to see, but after about an hour of walking Felix was dragging his feet, complaining about how all the buildings looked like someone had hit it with a hammer—no aesthetic beauty at all—and how all the clouds looked like an aggregation of squishy fishes.

"This is so boring," he said, swaying from side to side like a drunkard. He had a long black umbrella in one hand, which he was using as a walking stick.

"You were the one who said it would be fun," said Hansel stoically.

"Me?" Felix gasped. "Don't be ludicrous. It wasn't me."

"Maybe you should open the umbrella," Hansel suggested, walking a few paces behind him.

"Don't have the energy to," Felix said. He then dropped the umbrella entirely, as if to emphasise this point. After that he kept tottering forward with no regard for the umbrella he had left in the middle of the street.

Sighing, Hansel walked over and picked up the umbrella, then he opened it himself and held it above Felix silently. Felix said nothing, but his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly and his walking steadied. He even slowed down his gait so he would stay under the umbrella.

They walked like that for a few more minutes.

"Hansel, let's go back home," Felix pleaded after a while.

"Can you walk back? No buses come this way."

"Ugh," said Felix. "Why is my life like this?"

Hansel said nothing to that.

Felix had been planning for this trip since Friday night. According to the original plan they were to begin the exploration at nine in the morning; Felix had even made a list of all the places he wanted to go to. But then Felix overslept that morning because he stayed up late the previous night to watch the newest episode of Cheshire. He had blinked his eyes open blearily at 11:30, took one look out of the window and sentenced that the streets looked too hot for an excursion.

Still he was determined to go out that day. So they waited until four in the evening, Felix whiling away the time by throwing knives and playing games on Hansel's mobile, Hansel deciding to do some schoolwork for once, and when the time came and the sun's light dimmed a little they set out.

"We can keep exploring until midnight," said Felix, as if in compensation. "The city looks better at night."

"And I suppose we are going to have a party with the shadows," said Hansel monotonously. "I'm going to get slashed and you are going to scream and run off at the sight of my blood."

"I won't run off," said Felix vehemently. Then he frowned, as if he thought someone had just played a trick on him. "You won't get slashed. No shadow will dare touch you when I'm with you."

"Why?" Hansel had asked.

"Because I'm just that awesome," Felix had replied, being vague on purpose.

Now, walking down the streets, passing gloomy, deteriorating buildings on either side and scraping his shoes on the cooling asphalt, Felix looked like he couldn't bear to continue for another half hour, let alone until midnight.

Ravens cawed at them from the power lines that ran alongside the streets. The sky above had turned a deep metallic orange, cloudless and of uniform colour from end to end. The shadows on the ground lengthened, their edges losing their sharpness. Buildings turned from looking dull and dismal to wearing a slightly more cheerful appearance, as if someone actually lived in them—perhaps they did. After a few more minutes of walking, he had proof.

Up ahead Hansel saw something like a square, shops open and people walking around. Hansel, who was used to avoiding people felt better after seeing them. Sometimes the desolation of the city was too much even for him. Hansel gazed around curiously. Even after all the night errands he had run he didn't think he had ever come to this part of the city before.

"Let's rest in here for a while," said Hansel, closing the umbrella and pulling Felix into a small ice-cream shop with him. It looked like a tiny restaurant inside, and many of the tables were already occupied. Keeping his head bowed, Hansel led Felix to one of the empty tables at the very back of the room.

The moment they sat down Felix put his head down on the cool glass top of the table and closed his eyes. "Never again."

"You want ice-cream?" Hansel asked.

"Told you I can't eat," mumbled Felix.

"Try this once," said Hansel. He ordered ice-cream for the both of them.

When it arrived, Hansel poked at Felix. "Come on. Lift your head. Are you sleeping?"

Felix moaned in exhaustion. "Food is not good."

"It won't taste like your vegetable soup," Hansel insisted. "Come on. Try it."

Felix lifted his head, pouting. "Okay. Just this once."

The ice-creams came in tinted glass bowls, two giant dollops streaked with pink and green. Felix stuck his spoon into one of them and scooped a bit of ice-cream into his mouth. Curiously, Hansel waited for his reaction, and when it came, it was worth it. Felix tilted his face and looked at him, eyes glittering as if he had the whole of Milky Way in them. He grinned wide, surprised and delighted. He gushed without shame. "Hansel, this is amazing! Oh my gosh. What is this thing?"

Hansel smiled lightly. "You should see your face now."

Felix pointed at him. "Oh. Oh. You're smiling again."

"Don't point at people in public."

"But I'm pointing at you, not people!" He patted his pockets. "Where did I put the phone? I need to take a picture of you before you stop smiling."

What, Felix even brought the phone with him?

Felix fished out the phone from one of the many pockets of his black cargo pants. He tapped the camera icon and poised it before Hansel's face. "Hey, smile again."

But Hansel hid his face behind his hands, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Put that thing down."

"But I want to take your photo."

"I don't like having my photos taken."

"Don't be like that," he whined like a kid. "I ate ice-cream because you asked. So you let me take a picture of you when I ask." He stood up and went around the table. "Come on. Let's take a picture of us both." He knelt down next to Hansel's chair and switched the camera to selfie mode. Hansel lowered his hand to see them both framed by the phone, Felix smirking, Hansel mostly expressionless, if not a little dazed. Two boys who looked alike; two boys who looked nothing alike. "Now smile," Felix ordered.

Hansel tried.

Felix pressed take.

"Don't move. I'm gonna take a few more photos." Felix continued clicking, taking picture after picture in rapid succession.

"Let's see how the photos turned out shall we?" Felix went to the Gallery and clicked on the Photos album. "Hey, why am I not in the pictures?" He began swiping the photos, checking each one. Hansel looked at them too. Hansel was in every picture Felix had taken, but the space where Felix should have been was empty. There was nothing of him in the photos. Not dust or hair, not even a shadow. It was like he did not exist.

"Let me try taking a few more photos."

And he did try, several times, but no matter how many times he retook the photos he simply did not appear in the captured results. Felix shook the phone in agitation. "Why? Why can't I take my picture? Is it because I'm not human?"

"It's fine," said Hansel, almost consolingly.

Felix stared at the phone for a few more seconds. Then he said slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess. It's fine. At least I got you." He slipped the phone into the front pocket of his shirt and went back to his chair. Then he continued eating the ice-cream, making small appreciative noises in his throat from time to time. If he was upset about the photos, he did not show it. He looked at Hansel and grinned again. "Oy, Hansel. If you are not feeling hungry I can finish your bowl of ice-cream for you."

Hansel smiled again, then pushed his own bowl towards Felix. "I'm not hungry."

"Whoa, Thanks!" said Felix, happy again. He immediately began spooning more ice-cream into his mouth. Hansel sighed. Sometimes Felix was so easy to satisfy.

"Hey, can I get the SIM back?" Hansel asked offhandedly while he watched him eat.

"SIM? What SIM? I don't know what it is," said Felix, digging into his second bowl of ice-cream. He kept his eyes on his spoon doggedly.

Hansel had spent enough time with Felix to know he was lying; he simply did not understand why. He leant back in his chair and watched Felix eat. Whatever.

"Hey," said Felix once he had cleared the second bowl too. "I love ice-cream. Hansel, go and buy this shop."

"I don't have the money," said Hansel, watching a crow hop across the street outside one of the windows. There was no way he was buying an ice-cream shop, but he felt like humouring Felix.

"Mmm...that's a problem." Felix tilted his chair back onto its hind legs. "Say, don't your parents have plenty of money?"

"They don't talk to me." Outside the window the crow took off and perched atop the gable of an old, rustic-looking building.

"Say," said Felix, playing with his spoon. The spoon clinked against the glass bowl when he gave it a small flick. "Would you like to see them again?"

"I miss them," said Hansel quietly. The crow flew away.

"Huh," said Felix.

Hansel was about to suggest they get up and pay the bills when a new voice greeted them.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit down here for a bit?"

Hansel looked up to find Linus standing next to their table, wearing a threadbare checker shirt and a weary look on his face. He was looking down at Hansel expectantly.

Felix pushed out a chair for him with his leg. "Go ahead."

Linus sat down. Felix stared at him with open curiosity. Hansel switched his gaze to the tabletop and did not look up again. Linus must have heard the rumours about him already. He must be feeling disgusted.

"I heard the other kids talking about what you did at your old school," said Linus.

Hansel's head lowered some more. He knew it was going to be like this. He breathed out. "If you hate me I'll understand—"

"I don't hate you," said Linus. "That was what I wanted to tell you."

Hansel met his gaze in disbelief. Linus had to be lying. "You must hate bullies. You were bullied by Donovan and the others. I bullied a girl and she killed herself. You should hate me."

"Maybe I should," admitted Linus. "But I know nothing about who you are or who you used to be. Why would someone hate someone who they don't know anything about? I wish you hadn't bullied that girl, although, now you don't seem like someone who would bully others. You also helped me with Donovan, but when they started bullying you I didn't do anything about it. I just stood back and watched like the rest of them. So I don't think I have the right to hate you."

Linus stood up, ready to leave. His red hair looked soft and fluffy in the dying light. "I guess that was all I wanted to tell you. See you around."

Linus had already turned to go when Hansel asked from behind. "How is your mother?"

Linus went still. "I'm not sure," he said thickly. Then he went straight for the door and walked out.

"Well, that was one quick meeting," commented Felix, nodding after his retreating figure. "You sure he doesn't hate you?"

Hansel had no idea.

Later that night Hansel and Felix laid on the bed side by side, a pillow placed in the middle to demarcate their share of sleeping area. Felix must have gone to sleep already, because his breaths sounded even and he wasn't twitching about like he usually did when he wasn't sleeping.

It was dark everywhere, both inside the bedroom and outside. The cats were on the bed too; Flea curled around Felix's feet while Leech slept on Hansel's chest, bobbing gently with each of his breaths. Everyone was asleep, except for Hansel. He would have loved to sleep too, get some rest, but his mind kept him awake.

Being awake wasn't too bad either, because for once his thoughts weren't gloomy or self-flagellating. Lying in the darkness like that, when the world was still and he was still too, it made Hansel feel something like peace. He felt very calm, almost content, as if he had no worries or sadness. As if he did not have a care in the world.

It's only an illusion, he reminded himself. And illusions fall apart when you touch them.

Still, it was nice, this feeling, and he wasn't going to touch it lest he break it too soon. He was going to stay very still and allow himself this stolen moment, let himself believe that everything was alright.

"Hansel, are you asleep?" Felix asked sleepily from his side.

Hansel waited a few breaths before answering. "No."

"You should sleep."

"Mmm..."

"Do you feel sleepy?"

"No."

"What about we talk then?"

"You talk."

"But I'm the one who's always talking."

"Then sleep."

"I don't feel sleepy either."

A few beats of silence passed. Felix shifted, turning himself over so he was looking at the ceiling just like Hansel. "Do you hate me?" he asked.

Why was he asking this question now? Was it because they met Linus? Hansel began to turn, then stopped because he didn't want Leech to fall off his chest. "I don't understand you."

"What is there to understand?"

"Everything. I don't know who you are or where you came from or why you are here. I don't understand why you treated me one way in the beginning and now you are treating me differently. I don't know if I can trust you. I don't know why you are living with me. I don't know if you are a human or if you are something else. I don't know anything about you, but you seem to know everything about me. And I'm thinking it's a little unfair."

"That's the most I have heard you speak in one stretch," said Felix. He folded one of his arms and put it under his head, giving his head a little more elevation.

Hansel only stared at the ceiling. It must have been because of the darkness, and that he couldn't see Felix's face when he spoke, but it did make him feel freer to say what was on his mind. The darkness only consumed and never produced. He had always trusted it to keep his secrets.

Felix exhaled quietly beside him. "Does it matter though? Is it really important that you know who I am? I get why you can't trust me. But I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to help you. I sincerely want you to have a better life."

"I thought you said you were a liar. How would I know if you are telling the truth now?"

"You pay attention to my actions. See if it matches my words."

"But why? Why would you help me? Who am I to you?"

"What do you think you are to me?"

"You told me I'm to be your slave."

Hansel couldn't be sure because of the darkness, but he thought he saw Felix cringe slightly at the words. He shifted uneasily next to Hansel and tugged a part of the blanket over himself. "You still remember that?"

"It didn't happen that long ago," said Hansel equably.

"Then forget I ever said that."

"Hmm," said Hansel, sounding agreeable, although he felt rather amused. Why did Felix act like that in the beginning if it was going to trouble him so much now? Gently, he adjusted his position, crooking one of his knees sideways. "You said a lot of interesting things to me when we first met. Want to hear them all?"

"Spare me," said Felix curtly.

"The first thing you asked me was if I wanted you to push me off a roof."

Felix covered his face with the blanket. "I have no memory of ever saying something as dross as that."

Hansel smiled in the dark. He kept going. "Then you told me you were going to grant me my wish. That there was not going to be a tomorrow."

When Felix spoke again there was real strain in his voice. "I'm not a genie. I don't grant wishes."

"Then you said—"

"Aaargh enough!" said Felix. "I get it. I used to be a mean person. Terribleness personified. Stop rubbing it in."

Hansel pressed his lips together. He shouldn't be doing this to Felix. He had no right to judge him after all the things he had done himself. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine a hundred fingers pointing at himself; hands outlined in bleeding reds and poison greens. Accusing him. Enunciating his misdeeds one by one. Branding him with the names of his sins. Clear as bells he could hear their condemning voices, ringing, ringing, ringing in his head without an end.

"I thought you were my punishment," Hansel told Felix in a hushed voice. "I thought you were here to make me pay for my sins."

"Here's an idea," said Felix. "Forget every single thing I told you before. Truths. Lies. Everything. Let's start over. Let's start from now. From now on I won't lie to you, and you won't lie to me. I won't abandon you and you won't abandon me. From now on we are equals. We will watch each other's backs. We will be comrades. Does that make you feel better?"

It did. Even if Felix might still be lying it made Hansel feel better.

"So, Hansel. Stop thinking gloomy thoughts all the time. You should think pretty thoughts. Look around you. The world is very pretty right now—"

"The world looks black as pitch," interjected Hansel.

Felix made a gurgling noise in his throat. "How can you be so consistently infuriating? You keep getting on my nerves." He shook one of his hands out from beneath the blanket. "The world is black as pitch, is it? Wait a bit. I'll fix it for you."

In the faint starlight Hansel saw Felix lift his hand into the air, then wave it gently above their heads one time as if he were casting an enchantment. A string of sparkling red dragonflies spilled out from the ends of his fingers and floated into the air like dreamy will-o-the-wisps. They rose upwards and spiralled above the bed, their motions slow and soothing, then they broke apart and fluttered about the room freely, choosing their own paths. Hansel followed their movements with his eyes, and even though he had seen blood dragonflies plenty of times before he was once more newly and completely awestruck at the sight of them.

"They are beautiful," he whispered, his breath caught in his throat.

"Aren't they?" said Felix proudly.

Hansel turned his face towards Felix. "Who are you?"

"I'm nobody," said Felix automatically.

"I thought we were past the lies?"

"Oh," said Felix. He seemed to become uncomfortable all of a sudden. He fidgeted with the blanket; nearly pushed Flea off the bed with his foot. Then, after a long pause, he answered grudgingly. "I'm the King of the Night."

Hansel thought he had misheard him. "W-what?"

Felix sighed. He repeated himself patiently. "I said I am the King of the Night."

"What does that mean?" Hansel asked carefully. He couldn't guess if this was another one of Felix's lies, if he was just playing a prank on him. He waited for Felix to burst out laughing, to call him stupid because he fell for an obvious joke.

"It means what it means," said Felix sombrely. "I'm the King of the Night. I rule the night. The night is my kingdom and it answers to me. I don't know how to explain it any better."

"And this is the truth?" Hansel asked quietly. "You are not lying?"

"This is the truth. I'm not lying."

Hansel let that sink in. Honestly, a part of him did not believe Felix. He could not wrap his mind around the concept of the night having a king. Still his scepticism could only run so deep. He felt like he had connected the dots finally, found an answer for a very important question.

However, it was not that hard to believe Felix had just told him the truth either. Felix could not have been a mere shadow, not with his awareness and intelligence and the ridiculous airs he had put on. He thought of how Felix could control the other shadows, how he could shape things out of the darkness and how he could conjure blood dragonflies out of nowhere. He even remembered how he had seen Felix wearing a gleaming crown of gold when they met for the first time. Even if Felix were not something as posh as a king Hansel would have undoubtfully believed he was something nearly on the same level.

"Are you dumbfounded?" Felix asked him now, his voice shrewd. "Do you feel like you should have shown me more respect?"

"I feel very sleepy," said Hansel evasively, then found out it wasn't entirely a lie. He could feel a sense of sluggishness invading his brain. He closed his eyes. Thinking was too tiring for his mind right now. He would wake up in the morning and turn Felix's words in his mind until he was satisfied. But now he wanted to sleep.

"Sleep then," said Felix, hugging the pillow between them. There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he added, "Good night, Hansel."