A jolt ploughed through Hansel's body. He stared at Felix in shock, at the knife buried deep between his ribs, sunk to the hilt. His head went blank and his limbs locked like a machine in emergency stasis.

Over the side of the building Griffin was as shaken as him. His expression was one of frightened disbelief. "What are you doing?"

Griffin's voice seemed to release the spell on Hansel's body. He rushed towards Felix, hands reaching out automatically. But Felix gestured for him to stay back.

"Stop. It's fine. Don't worry. I'm not human. This won't kill me."

There was no way to know if he was telling the truth, but Felix's smile was reassuring. Hansel stayed where he was, although he did not dare take his eyes off him.

Mist was pouring out from where the knife had gone in, black with motes of sparkling silver. Delicately, Felix folded them into his palms, cupping them like wisps of starlight. "Hansel, c'mere."

Hansel did not know what he intended to do; nonetheless he obeyed and went closer.

"I have no idea what you think you are doing," said Griffin. "What are you doing? Is this part of your plan?"

When Hansel was near enough Felix raised his closed hands to his chest, putting them right over his heart. Slowly, he opened his hands and let the mist trickle between his fingers. The contents of his hand wafted towards Hansel like threads of glittery smoke. They sunk through his clothes and then his skin, parting through flesh and sinews. Suddenly, he felt a coldness suffusing his chest, a sensation like his heart was being enfolded in a film of frost.

"What did you do just now?" asked Griffin, voicing Hansel's question for him. "Do you think putting some smoke in that boy is going to stop the shadows? Is that what you are thinking?" He sounded agitated, nonplussed, wrinkles marring his waxy face. He clearly had no idea what Felix was up to and he wasn't liking it. "You know gimmicks like that aren't going to stop a single shadow. At this point only the command of a true King can stop them and you are not one anymore. None of them are even willing to acknowledge you."

"How unfortunate," said Felix monotonously. He stepped away from Hansel and closed his eyes. He clasped his hands and bowed his head as if in prayer. A sharp silence crept into the air while the other two waited for something to happen.

Maybe a second had passed, or two, and suddenly there was a crown on Felix's head, gleaming in the moonlight as though it had been moulded from the purest gold. Hansel had seen him wear that crown before, on the very first night they met, but this was the first time he was noticing how beautiful it was. It looked like a thing of folklores and fairy-tales. Mythical. Mesmerising. Something that could be the catalyst for a ballad: enchanted crown; cursed prince.

Beneath the crown, Felix opened his eyes. His irises were a terrific red, deep and roiling, the kind of red that had a life of its own. Whenever Felix blinked it gave Hansel an impression of the colour bleeding into the night.

"So, the shadows have renounced me," said Felix, shrugging. "I guess we will need to coronate a new king."

Carefully, he pressed his hands to the sides of the crown and lifted it. In the same motion he guided the crown above Hansel and very gently, placed it over his head.

Hansel blinked in surprise, feeling a new weight on his head. He looked at Felix in confusion.

"I abdicate my throne," announced Felix. "Here's your new king."

What Felix said sounded so ridiculous Hansel couldn't even process it. He looked at Felix dazedly. "Huh?"

Griffin on the contrary was wholly stunned. "That's not possible."

"What's not possible?"

"You can't make him king. He's only human. He cannot become the King of the Night."

"He sure can. I gave him my heart. He has a part of night inside him."

Hansel did not understand. Neither did Griffin. "What?"

"That day I found him on the bathroom floor...there was blood everywhere...so much of it." Felix's voice was low, barely a whisper. "His breathing was bad. I thought he was going to die. I was scared. And then his heart stopped," his voice cracked. "And I didn't know what to do. How to make his heart beat again. I gave him half my heart to bring him back that day, and today I gave him the other half." Felix looked up sternly. "Right now, he has my heart, entwined with his. He has the heart of the King of the Night."

"So-so what?" stuttered Griffin. "Having your heart won't make him king."

"No. He'll need my power too. But half of my power resides in you now. I will need to destroy you to get it back."

Griffin's eyes were bulging now. "What nonsense are you saying? You destroy me?" He laughed in incredulity. "Have you perhaps forgotten that you cannot destroy me? A shadow can only be killed by blood dragonflies. A sentient shadow cannot be killed at all. Because human blood is not that powerful. And a shadow like me who has half the powers of the king of the Night? I'm immortal."

Felix cocked his head to a side. "What was the saying again: we are all immortal until proven otherwise."

"No. No, this isn't right." Griffin looked to be racking his head to figure out what it was that Felix knew and he didn't. "You. You said you gave him your heart. That can't be right. Everything has a price. What's the price of your heart?"

"His blood," said Felix simply.

Griffin blanched.

"I traded my heart with Hansel's blood." He wrapped a hand around the knife still stuck in his chest, then with some difficulty he pulled it back out. "He's bled so much, over so many days." said Felix. "Enough blood to sustain three lives." He wiped the blade of the knife on the back of his arm. "I took all of it and made it mine."

He held out a hand open to the sky, letting moonlight pool in his palm. He brought the knife down and put it against his palm—black on white—and slashed it open, dragging a dark line through his flesh. Then he switched hands, opened the other palm and cut it just as deep.

The knife dropped between Felix's fingers. It fell and vanished over the edge.

Aghast, Hansel watched Felix raise his hands and hold them open before him, away from his body. He expected more black mist to curl out of his palms, but what came out was not mist.

Blood welled in his wounds, dark and lush. It filled his palms and overflowed, spilling to the sides.

In silence he let it flow.

Blood like wine.

Red as roses.

He let it flow, even though he had always been repulsed by the sight of blood. He let it drip away. To be swallowed by the inky blackness swathing the building they were on.

Hansel was struck speechless. He watched Felix in morbid disbelief.

How was Felix bleeding?

How could he bleed?

A second may have passed, or a minute. Time seemed to be stretching as the blood dripped, dripped, dripped to the ground like so many garnet beads. Trickling like grains in an hourglass. But then time shrank, or it may even have stopped entirely. Suddenly, the drops of blood froze in the air, stilling as if they were little specks of noise caught in a picture.

And then the drops changed. Morphed in mid-air into a chain of dragonflies. They broke the fall of blood before they touched ground, blinking to life like fairy lights. Soon dragonflies were flickering out right from the wounds in his palms. And then from the one over his heart, where he had stabbed himself a while ago. They soared and swirled around his body, basking him in red light.

Across the building's side Griffin had gone very, very pale. He seemed to be shaking, or it was the tightrope beneath him that was shaking.

"Shall I put to test," breathed Felix calmly, as if right that very moment he wasn't bleeding himself dry. "The theory of your immortality?"

He did not wait for Griffin's reply. The dragonflies were on him before he could open his mouth, gushing forth like floodwater, swamping him between earth and sky. In horror, he watched himself being engulfed, and Hansel saw the realisation sinking in, the knowledge that this was his end seeping into his consciousness slowly. Griffin gasped and set his gaze on Felix, no longer smug or sneering. His voice was husky when he spoke. "Could a mother kill her own child?"

"Mother? Child?" Felix said tonelessly. "What are you blabbering about when you are about to die?"

The dragonflies closed Griffin away in a red ball of light. Hansel heard Griffin's feeble voice one last time, telling Felix that he was too cruel, then the ball of light was shrivelling, Griffin still trapped within, growing smaller and smaller until it had shrunk to the size of an apple. Then the light went out completely and there was nothing left where Griffin had been.

"Where did he go?" Hansel asked worriedly, shifting his focus from side to side.

"He returned to his original form," said Felix, nodding towards the darkness.

Hansel followed his gaze to see the twitching rope that still connected the buildings to the left and right. "That rope is him?"

"Yeah," said Felix tiredly.

"Is he dead?"

"Not yet. He's struggling so bad to hold onto his consciousness. So I will let him see how this ends before I kill him."

Felix's voice sounded so weak and worn out that Hansel couldn't help looking over him in concern. "Are you alright?"

Felix turned his face to him and gave him a small smile. "I'm fine."

He walked closer to Hansel and put both his hands over Hansel's heart.

"What are you doing now?" he asked.

"Giving you the power I retrieved from Griffin."

Hansel didn't know if it was true, because this time he couldn't feel any peculiar sensations inside him.

When he was done Felix stepped back. "Tell the shadows to stop."

"I don't know how to do that."

"Just think that you are talking to the shadows and tell them to stop."

Hansel listened to the screams still rising from below, roved his eyes over the shadows gliding between buildings. He closed his eyes and thought hard. Stop, stop, stop.

"Stop attacking."

And slowly the screams subsided. The shadows retreated.

That easily.

"There now, Griffin," said Felix to the shadow rope. "You have now seen everything you should see."

The rope bucked violently. Felix made a slight, dismissive gesture with his hand. One last dragonfly streaked towards the rope and snipped it right through the middle. The rope disintegrated, returning to the night.

Hansel looked at Felix in joyous disbelief. "I did it. I stopped the shadows. How did I do it?"

"The night loves you," said Felix simply. Once more, he walked closer to Hansel, then he covered his cheeks with his bloody hands. He spoke softly. "You did well, Hansel."

A strong scent of fresh mint washed over Hansel. He looked at Felix, and suddenly he was struck by a sudden, turbulent fear. Something was wrong.

Felix had his hands on Hansel's face still, but Hansel could see that the look in his eyes had dulled. His voice had grown so faint and his entire body was covered in sweat, and when he tried to step away, he swayed. He shuffled backwards, as if to regain his balance, but he only seemed to be getting more disoriented.

"Watch out," Hansel cried, rushing to grab him. But he was a second too late.

Felix stumbled again, and this time he lost his footing completely. He fell over the side of the roof.

Hansel's heart stopped. The night turned the colour of blue negative. He reached out with his hand, his fingers grasping uselessly at empty air. He teetered, almost falling off the edge himself, but reeled himself back in time. He looked down, at Felix's free-falling body. He could see a ghost of a smile on Felix's face before he was lost beneath the layers of darkness.

Blood pounded painfully through Hansel's veins. He turned away and ran down the flights of the stairs as fast as he could. He nearly sprained his ankle tripping down a few steps. But he picked himself up swiftly and kept running. He reached the front of the building and sprinted to the side where he had seen Felix fall. He could see Felix's limp form lying on the stones from several yards away.

Hansel's heart clutched. He darted forward, nearly throwing himself at Felix.

Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright.

But his fingers had barely grazed Felix's body when he crumbled to ashes at his touch. Hansel went numb, his hand paralysed, watching Felix turn to black mist right before his eyes. He swallowed hard, feeling cold over. He could do nothing but watch as a wind carried the mist away and scattered it into the night.

Hansel fell to his knees heavily.

Felix was gone.

He had made Hansel king, saved the city, kept his promise, and now he was gone.

**********

For days afterwards Hansel would return to this place, to the spot where he had seen Felix's body last. He thought if he waited long enough Felix would return. But he never showed. Not at day, not at night. Hansel could not feel his presence anywhere, or catch the scent of mint and woodsmoke during his midnight strolls.

It was as if Felix was dead, that he no longer existed. Hansel told himself he had to move on. That he shouldn't be so hung up on a boy he didn't know all that much. But then he would still catch himself staring at his shadow wistfully or peering into a mirror to see if he'd catch Felix looking back. He'd even try smiling, just the way Felix used to. But his face was not Felix's face, even if it was. He was never going to be able to imitate him.

It was ridiculous how much he was missing him. Someone who was so brash and arrogant and did whatever he pleased; how could he miss him?

Why did his house feel so empty all of a sudden? Why did he feel like he had lost family?

Was Felix really gone?

Why wasn't he coming back?

Hansel stopped going to school. He couldn't be bothered. Instead, he holed himself in his house and never stepped out. He did not know what the rest of the city thought of him. Did they blame him for being the reason for so much damage? Did they even know he was still alive? They must think he was dead, because the massacre had ended before a complete extermination. Whatever the case was...Hansel was left alone.

He did have a few visitors. Mrs. Delano, mostly, and one time even Julian. He only heard the knocks on the door. He pretended he was not at home and they went back. But one day when he snuck out of house to buy some food, Linus caught him.

"You're alive," said Linus, a strange sparkle in his eyes. "I'm so glad."

Hansel did not know how to respond, so he said nothing.

"I...I wanted to thank you," said Linus, looking at his shoes. "Again."

Thank him? For what?

"I heard you paid for my mother's surgery," he said in a small voice.

Oh. Hansel studied Linus. "I thought I told the staff not to tell anyone." He looked at Linus's bowed head. "Is your mother well?"

When Linus raised his head there were tears in his eyes and for a moment Hansel was scared he had bad news. But then Linus's face lit up. "The surgery went well. She's recovering. The doctors said she's going to be fine." He was crying now, although his lips were smiling. "Thank you. Thank you so very much."

Hansel looked at Linus in confusion. Wasn't he happy? Why was he crying so much if he was happy? What should he say now? Hansel fidgeted with his fingers. "You don't need to thank me."

"You always say that," commented Linus, sniffling. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "I don't know why you helped me. But I'll make sure to pay you back some day—"

"You don't have to pay me back."

"I want to. And if you ever want any help you can ask me." Linus dug in his pocket and fetched a folded paper. "Here."

Hansel took the paper from him and opened it. It was a charcoal drawing of him and Felix. Felix had an arm thrown across Hansel's shoulder, his dark hair mussed, a cheeky grin on his face, while Hansel had his eyes focused elsewhere off the page, looking pensive. Felix looked so alive in the picture. He had been captured as perfectly as if by a camera. And written at the very bottom of the paper was a thank you message. Hansel raised his eyes to meet Linus's. "I like it. Thank you."

Linus blushed, his eyes still wet. "I should be the one thanking you this time."

Hansel folded the paper again and put it carefully into one of his pockets. "You're welcome, then."

After their brief meeting Hansel returned to his life of seclusion. For days on end, he stayed locked in his bedroom. He thought of Felix. He thought of how Felix said he saw Hansel as a friend. He wondered if it was his fault that Felix was now gone.

One day, for some reason Hansel had to leave his house again. He had just crossed the street from his house when someone spoke from behind.

"I thought you were never going to come out."

Hansel whipped around, his heart leaping at the familiar voice.

There he was, standing in the shade of an old building.

"Felix?" whispered Hansel, unable to believe. Was it really Felix? Was he perhaps hallucinating?

Felix grinned at him across the street, he even gave Hansel a little wave of his hand. "That would be my name."

Hansel felt a rushing elation inside him. Without thinking he sprinted towards Felix. When he was close enough, he slowed down. He took his next steps cautiously. Something wasn't right. The way Felix looked, his edges blurred, as if he was insubstantial. As if he wasn't really there and Hansel was only imagining him. He lifted a hand and touched Felix experimentally, or he tried to, because instead of meeting Felix's body, his hand simply slipped through him.

He tried again, and again, but no matter how many times he tried he couldn't make contact.

Hansel's spirits fell. He knew it. Felix was really dead.

"Stop poking at me like that," Felix quipped at him. "I'm not a ghost."

Hansel wasn't sure. Then a wind blew, and it carried a whiff of mint to Hansel. His focus sharpened. That was Felix's scent. It had to mean he was really here.

"How?" he asked giddily. "I thought you had died."

"I possessed your shadow. I was so weak. I couldn't take shape until now."

Hansel's eyes snapped towards his shadow, or the lack of it. He felt himself relaxing. If his shadow was gone it was further proof Felix was here.

"So why did you come back?" Hansel asked, almost smiling. "Did you want to see me?"

Felix simpered at him. "Get off your high horse. I just wanted to finish Cheshire. I have a few more episodes to go."

Hansel's lips twitched. "Ah, there's no need for you to trouble yourself so. I will tell you how it goes. They all die in the end."

"You ruined it," Felix wailed, his expression one of absolute devastation. "You gave me spoilers. Now it's all ruined. They are all going to die. Aaahhh...I will never feel happy again."

"Stop crying so much," said Hansel, a little concerned by such an extreme reaction. Did Felix really care about that horror show after all? "That's not how it ends anyway."

"Now I know that isn't the ending," griped Felix, pouting peevishly. "It eliminated a possibility. That's still a spoiler."

Hansel didn't know what to do with this idiot.

"So," said Felix, collecting himself at last. "I have been watching you for a while now...from the shadows," he added, his eyes crinkling. "I had to watch you moping non-stop that it was giving me an ulcer. I leave you alone for a little while and you go back to eating junk food and becoming Hermit of the Trash Hill. How could you treat yourself like that?"

Hansel's eyes went to his shoes, feeling slightly embarrassed. Even though he and Felix were the same height, when he was chiding him, Felix seemed a little taller.

"You need to stop eating so much junk food," he instructed seriously. "Clean up your house; it's reverted to a pigsty. And start attending school again. What are you trying to do? Become a lumberjack in the future? I doubt you'd even be able to do that. The shape you are in, you are just going to collapse under the weight of a chainsaw."

Was this what kids felt when their mothers scolded them? Hansel felt a smile stretching across his face.

"And wipe that uncanny smirk off your face!" said Felix. "You are getting on my nerves!"

Hansel did not stop smiling. He sighed. "I'm so happy to see you again."

Felix fell silent. He looked at Hansel with moon eyes. "Really? Really, really? Oh, Hansel, I'm so happy to see you too!"

Hansel stepped closer to him. He wanted to hug Felix. He wanted to hug him to death, but the first time he had ever wanted this, Felix did not even have a solid body for him to hug.

Felix seemed to read his expression. "Come with me," he said. "I need to show you something."

He followed Felix through the streets, keeping his eyes on him the whole time as if he feared Felix was going to disappear the moment he looked away. They stopped beside a cluster of trashcans in a dead-end alley.

"Look there," said Felix. "There's a cat stuck there. I wanted to help it. But I couldn't touch it."

Hansel looked where he was pointing, and sure enough he saw a little black cat, squirming in the gap between two trash cans, its head stuck in a small can. There was something wrong with its leg too. It wasn't standing up properly. Hansel stooped and freed the cat. Once the cat realised its head was no longer wedged inside a can it raised its head and peeked at him suspiciously. It looked like it wanted to run and hide, but it wasn't running.

"He wants to be adopted," said Felix in a hushed voice. "He asked you in cat language."

"The cat did not make a single sound."

"He said it in telepathic cat language," Felix amended.

Hansel scooped the cat into his arms and started walking. The cat did not resist.

"Hey, do you want me to name it?" Felix asked excitedly, tailing him.

"No way," said Hansel, remembering how it had gone the last time he had let Felix name cats. "You named the last two cats Flea and Leech. What are you going to name this one? Bacteria?"

"Okay, okay, I won't name it," Felix yielded. "You name it."

Hansel thought about it. He wanted to give the cat a good name, but now that he had been put on the spot all inspiration eluded him. He gazed at the cat's pure black fur, thought again and said a little shyly. "I'm going to call him Felix Jr."

Felix's grin was as bright as sunshine. "I like that name."

Hansel rolled his eyes. Sure he did.

It didn't take long for them to return to Hansel's house. Hansel expected Felix to go in with him, but instead he stopped at the doorstep. Hansel turned. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that I can't keep this form for an extended period of time," Felix told him, his voice kind of breezy. "I want to stick around for a while longer, but I'm already so tired. I think I need to go back."

Hansel's voice grew quiet. "How long? How long would you be gone?"

"I don't know. Weeks maybe? Or maybe even months?"

Hansel's heart sank. He wasn't ready to part with Felix yet.

"I will try to come back as soon as I can," Felix promised. "Meanwhile, I want you to give me your word that you will take care of yourself. That you won't do stupid things or try to kill yourself again."

"I won't kill myself," Hansel said abruptly.

"You better not." Felix stabbed a finger to Hansel's chest. "I live in your shadow now. If you die, I die too. If you kill yourself, you will be committing murder, you understand. Murder."

"Fine, I understand."

"Good." Felix pulled back his hand. A strange look came over his face. "I suppose...this is goodbye then."

Hansel said nothing.

"Be well, Hansel. I mean it." He smiled and stepped back. "Close the door for me, Hansel."

Hansel obeyed him, even if he didn't want to, and Felix was out of his sight once more.

He did not open the door again, because he knew Felix was no longer on the other side.

Felix Jr. purred in his arms, swishing his night-black tail across Hansel's face.

"You hungry, Mr. Junior?" Hansel asked the black cat, forcing some brightness into his voice. "Wait a minute. I'll get you something." He turned with the cat to notice his shadow cast across the floor by the morning sunlight. There was something wrong about his shadow; something seemed to be different, and it took a few seconds and a half-pirouette for him to realise that his shadow was not holding a cat like he was.

Hansel peered at the shadow suspiciously, then spoke aloud. "You know, I just realised me and Felix Jr. are meant to be. Felix Jr. says you are ousted from our couple time. He says peeping is bad, in cat language."

At first, nothing happened. Then the shadow moved, lifting a hand and making a peace sign.

Hansel smiled. He was not alone.

The shadow shifted again, returning to normal. Now it was a boy with a cat in his arms—Hansel's shadow. Felix had gone to sleep.

Hansel looked at his shadow fondly and whispered.

"Farewell, Felix."

THE END