Emily sat on her bed, staring at her phone. Tom's number already lit up the screen, but she couldn't bring herself to press the green button. What was the point? He'd barely told her anything at all. She didn't trust him to tell the truth now.

With a sigh Emily threw the phone on the bed next to her. Tom wouldn't tell her anything, Eddy was keeping things from her, and now Maya and Dennis had lied to her, too. There was nobody left that she could truly trust.

Yet there still was so much she needed to know.

Emily jumped up off the bed. Maybe it was time to take matters into her own hands. To play detective herself. The only problem was, she didn't know what it was she was trying to remember.

Okay, think Emily, think! What is it you don't know yet?

Well, there was one thing she sure didn't understand yet: the Others. Maybe that was a good place to start. After all, how was she to understand herself if she didn't even understand the world she was living in? Besides, she couldn't shake the feeling that the boy hidden inside her mattress was more important than she realised.

But how on earth was she meant to learn more about them, when everyone she knew refused to talk about them? Emily bit her lip and stared out the window, deep in thought. Could Syl be the key to all this? He could tell her more, if he wanted to. He was an Other after all. But that meant having to get close to him again, and she wasn't sure she was quite brave enough for that. Who knew what he'd do...

Mum trusted them, though.

The thought popped into her head without warning. Eddy had told her that. Her mother had trusted them and helped them, before she died. Her mum trusted them. Her dad hated them. Who was right?

Emily stood in front of the mirror and stared at her pale reflection, worry lines creasing her face. Maybe she didn't have a choice. She had to be brave enough. Or she'd never get her memory back.

Hopping from one foot to the other, Emily looked out over the forest in front of her. Her palms were sweaty and her knees wouldn't stop trembling.

Am I really going to do this? She kept asking herself. Am I really going back in there?

The forest seemed darker than it did last time. Shadows loomed between the trees, wiping out every slither of sunlight that managed to get through. There was no movement, as if even the animals had deserted the place.

She wiped her hands on her jeans and took a deep breath, stepping bravely in between the trees. When the leaves rustled and a twig snapped only just ahead, Emily froze and let out a fearful whimper.

Why am I doing this again?

Emily slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out the A4 piece of paper. She stared down at those sad eyes. He could tell her more, she was sure of that. If she could just get over her fear.

Slowly, hesitantly, she took a few more steps, and then another few, shuffling forwards until she finally reached the clearing. There, she let her eyes shoot back and forth, searching for any sign of danger. Nothing. Yet. Syl wasn't there. A shuddering breath escaped her lips.

Emily waited, and waited, unmoving, until her legs hurt from standing in the same position for too long. The fallen log sat invitingly in the middle of the clearing. Yet even after what felt like hours of nothing happening, nothing at all, Emily was still too scared to leave her back unguarded. No, she'd rather stay where she was, with her back to a tree, her eyes continuously scanning the area.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps came from her left. She whipped her head around. As Syl came into the clearing, Emily took as many steps backwards. He paused, narrowing his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Emily held her hands up protectively and said, "I don't want you to get too close."

Syl made a frustrated gesture with his arms. "You shouldn't have come then." He already turned around, ready to leave, when Emily stopped him.

"Wait!" she said. "I need to ask you something."

Syl let out a joyless laugh. "Ask me something? It's painfully obvious that you don't trust me. That we're not friends anymore. So why would I help you? In fact, why did you even come here?"

Emily swallowed. It was true what he said; she was terrified of him and she had to physically stop herself from running away. But she didn't have a choice. She needed him. "My friends and my dad, they're all lying to me, keeping things from me. I need to know the truth, all of it, if I'm ever going to get my memory back. Please, it's important."

Syl studied her curiously. "You're actually trying to get your memory back? How?"

"The doctor said he's seen a case like mine before. That patient learned everything he could about his old life, and eventually something just clicked. I'm hoping the same will happen for me."

"That's possible?" Syl frowned.

Emily nodded. "Apparently. You said you were my friend, before all this happened. Will you help me?"

Syl narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward. It took everything in Emily not to turn and flee. She flinched, but managed to stay put.

"Fine," said Syl. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

Syl pointed towards the log in the middle of the clearing. "Sit."

Her eyes widened. "Why?"

"Because it sucks having to talk to you when you're all in defensive mode. Sit down, and we'll talk." Syl crossed his arms, waiting for Emily to make her move.

Emily's eyes flicked from Syl to the log and back. She had to admit, it was fair what he said. In return for giving her the information she needed, he merely asked for her to trust him. It was fair. But could she do it?

"You know, they've all been telling me that your people are evil. It's the one thing they've been consistently telling me, ever since I woke up. My dad even told me my mum was murdered by someone like you..." She took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is, this is hard for me. I'm sorry if that offends you, but it just isn't easy." Her eyes flicked back to the log once more, before she said, "But I'll do it."

With that, she slowly, hesitantly, walked through the clearing and sat down, her eyes on Syl. He visibly relaxed.

"Thank you," he muttered. "And just so you know, I'm not going to hurt you. I told you, we've been friends for ages." It didn't really help make Emily feel more at ease, but it was kind of him to say. He leaned himself against a nearby tree casually. "What do you want to know?"

Emily sat up straight. "I'm trying to find out more about myself, but I realised I'll never be able to see the full picture if I don't understand the world I live in. Since nobody is willing to tell me anything about the Others, I figured I'd ask one of them." She gestured to Syl with a weak smile.

Syl frowned. "You want to know about my people?"

"Yes, and..." She hesitated nervously, but pushed on anyway. "And about you. I want to understand how it was possible for us to be friends, if we're meant to hate each other."

With a nod, Syl let himself slide down the side of the tree to sit underneath it. "I... I don't know where to start." He cleared his throat. "Well, you're right, my Tribe and your town, they hate each other. They always have. You hate us because we hurt your people sometimes. We hate you because you took our hunting area away from us. Maybe that's a good place to start.

"You see, this forest used to be much larger. My Tribe had plenty of space to hunt and gather, plenty. But then your people started cutting the trees down to make space for their houses. The forest became too small for us to survive. So we had to find... other ways."

Emily had started leaning forward as he was talking, eager to learn more. Finally, finally, she was getting some real answers. "Other ways?" she asked when he stopped talking. "What does that mean?"

Syl sighed, pushed himself off the tree and started pacing. "The people in town, they know about our powers. They've always known. I don't know exactly how it started or how it developed, but I do know that we're dependant on the townspeople's tasks now. They give us things in return; food, clothes, things we need to survive. And in return... We do their dirty work."

Emily's jaw dropped. What Syl was saying went completely against everything she'd been hearing. "Hang on, so the people from town, they come here and ask you to do stuff for them? Things that require powers?"

Syl nodded.

"I don't understand... What kind of things do they ask you to do?"

Scratching his jaw, Syl gave her one of his sad looks. "Are you sure you want to know, Emily?"

The question took her off guard. If he wasn't sure about telling her, it must be really bad. "Did I know this before the accident?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you did."

"Then I need to know it now." She nodded encouragingly at Syl to continue.

"The townspeople ask us to steal things for example, or to threaten people. Things like that. Dirty work. Things they don't want to, or can't, do themselves."

"What?" Emily's eyes went wide with shock. Steal things... Threaten people... These were the things the townspeople hated them for. And now it turned out the townspeople were the ones ordering these tasks?

"I don't think everyone in town knows about these tasks, but plenty of people do. Especially the richer ones. They're often the ones asking us to threaten someone. You know, have us cut down the competition. And with the amount of food they give us for it, the Tribe can eat for another month. Sometimes more. We are not bad people, Emily. We just don't have a choice. We do what we must to survive."

Emily felt sick with shame by the end of Syl's story. It hadn't been the Others that were evil... It had been the townspeople. And here she was, keeping Syl at a distance suspecting him of using his powers against her. She cast her gaze down, unable to look him in the eye.

"So how did we become friends, then?" she asked softly.

Syl chuckled. It was a pleasant sound, making Emily look up again as if she was dying to know what was so funny.

"Well, I saved your life."

Emily's jaw dropped.

"And then you saved mine," Syl continued, his eyes glinting.

"What?"

Without her realising it, Syl had suddenly walked over to the log and sat down next to her. Emily noticed that she didn't even mind. Though still wary, she wasn't terrified anymore.

"You've always liked the forest. You wandered too deep one day and a hungry wolf found you. I happened to hear your screams and decided I couldn't just let you die. But when I attacked it, it came after me. It wounded me before I managed to win the fight. You helped patch me up." Syl shrugged. "That's the quick version of the story anyway. We've been meeting up here ever since. I guess you can't defeat a wolf together without becoming friends."

He gave her a crooked smile. One Emily didn't manage to return.

"You defeated a wolf? How?"

"With my powers, of course. I'm stronger than I look, you know." Another chuckle.

Her eyes wide with curiosity, Emily turned to face him. "What kind of powers do you have?"

Syl bit his lower lip, then said, "Would you like me to show you?"

Emily nodded vigorously.

"You're not going to run away again, are you?" he teased.

"As long as you promise not to attack me," Emily smiled.

Without warning, Syl lifted his right hand up and the log they were sitting on floated gently up into the air. Emily screamed and clutched the log with both hands, trying her best not to fall off. "Put me down!" she squealed. "Put me down!"

Syl laughed heartily. "It's fine, Emily, stop worrying. You won't fall off. We're just... hanging!"

"I don't like heights!" she squeaked, her heart beating like mad.

Slowly, Syl lowered his arm and the log followed his movement. Emily jumped off as soon as it touched the ground and sank to her knees. "You said you wouldn't attack me!" she said accusingly, embarrassed, while Syl wouldn't stop laughing at her. She punched his arm playfully, a wide grin gracing both their faces.

"Hey, Emily..." said Syl suddenly. "I'm sorry about your mum. I don't know if it was one of us, but we do have... casualties, sometimes. If it was us, I am truly sorry."

Emily stared at her feet, unsure how to respond. "Yeah... I mean, I don't know much about her, of course. I've seen some pictures and Eddy told me her name was Rosalynn, but unless I get my memory back, that's about all I'll know about her."

"Wait, her name was Rosalynn?" said Syl, his eyes wide.

Emily glanced at him. "Yeah, why? Did you know her?"

Syl hesitated and explained, "I'm not sure. There used to be a woman named Rosalynn who came to teach the kids of the Tribe every Saturday. She was from town, but I don't know anything else about her..."

"That must've been her!" said Emily. "Eddy said she always believed the Others were good people, and that she'd help them out."

Syl nodded. "It has got to be her, then. There haven't been that many of your kind helping us out."

"Did you know her?" Emily asked, leaning forward, eager to learn more about her mother. "What was she like?"

"Yes, I knew her," Syl smiled. "She taught me for years, she was such a lovely woman. She taught me and my friends to read, and count, and write."

"So what happened to her? Is Eddy right, did your people kill her?" Emily didn't mean to bring it so bluntly, but this was her chance to find out what happened to her mother. She wasn't going to pass that up.

Syl scratched his jaw, thinking. "She just suddenly stopped coming one day. The adults told us that was how the world worked – people without magic would always let us down in the end. I always believed she just wasn't interested anymore."

"Does that mean it wasn't the Others who caused her death?"

"Not necessarily," Syl shrugged. "These Tasks aren't something we talk about a lot. We keep them, and any casualties, to ourselves. Someone could've done it by accident and just not told anyone about it. I'm sorry, Emily. I don't know."