There were a few times when Theo preferred to be dramatically asleep in the infirmary rather than eating dinner with his family in the orphanage. Because apart from the twins, Desmond and Reymond, sitting on both of his sides and squishing him in the middle, there was also the issue of seeing every caretaker in the orphanage except for Father. 

Unfortunately, one of those people was Aunt Felicia and her ever so unsettling smile that made him want unsee things for a long while. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gin scooting next to Mei and another older girl, Eiko. 

“Look at her,” Reymond whispered as he lowered himself to his height. “Aunt Felicia really works wonders, doesn’t she? Even Eiko looks like she has emotions for once.”

Theo pushed his face away as he continued eating his dinner. “Don’t be mean. I’m sure Ate Eiko always has emotions. They’re all anger for Aunt Felicia.”

“Anger?” It was Desmond’s turn to scoot closer, and Theo wished nothing but to not have wobbly arms and push them both away from him. “You’re giving Eiko too much credit there. I’m sure she won’t even know anger if it’s at the tip of her tongue.”

He soon broke into a laugh, and his twin brother followed afterwards. Theo groaned once again. Sinking under his chair and eating under the table didn’t seem like a bad idea now. If anything, he might probably have dinner in peace if he would eat under the table instead of being next to his two older brothers. 

A tap on the table snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking up, Rui’s eyes slightly gleamed as he glared at the three of them. Next to him, Theo could hear the twins clearing their throat and fixing their seats. Korri, who sat next to Rui, placed a hand over her face, muffling her giggles. 

“Can we have dinner in peace, please?” Rui said as he looked back on his food. “You guys only have two moons left here. Do you really wanna spend the rest of your lives here making your younger siblings cry?”

“Cry?” 

Theo jumped up when Desmond wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him closer. He tried to move away, but his aching body refused to let him move even a single inch. He was fortunate that Desmond didn’t hold his head, or else he would have gained a permanent mark on his face as a memento. 

“Our intention isn’t to make our fragile baby brother cry,” he continued. “We wanna make memories with everyone!”

A scoff left Theo’s lips as he pushed Desmond’s arm away, though the only thing he managed to do was make Desmond hold him even tighter. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that the title of Best Big Brother isn’t going to anyone else.”

“Hey!” Reymond crossed his arms and huffed. “I thought I’m the best big brother here!”

“The Theo has spokened, four eyes.” Desmond grinned, and Theo used the opportunity to slither away from his grasp. “The title of best big brother is going to me.”

“Blasphemous!”

While the twins continued bickering with one another, Theo grabbed his plate and slid under the table, quickly darting to the empty space next to Reymond. The two seemed to be to focus on throwing insults back and forth to even notice he wasn’t in the middle anymore. He sighed, a smile forming on his face, as he placed his plate down. 

“Don’t worry.”

He lifted his head and met Rui’s gaze. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we have two moons left until they turn sixteen,” Rui replied before taking a spoonful of his food. “After that, you’ll be Mond Twins free for the rest of your remaining three years in Thanata.”

Korri lowered her head, and a sigh left her lips. “I’m gonna miss them, though.”

Reymond snatched his glasses away from his twin, who retorted with a poke of his tongue out. “Don’t worry, Koko. We’ll miss you, too. If we can, we’ll be sure to visit you guys!”

“Yeah.” Desmond nodded. “Not like the others who promised to visit but never came back.”

Theo pushed a smile on his face, though he still slightly flinched at the mention of the other kids that already left. He hoped that the world outside the walls wasn’t as bad he kept imagining it would be, and that the older ones just didn’t have the free time to visit them all. 

“Kuya Theo? Ate Korri?”

He turned away from his food and turned to the source of the voice. Gin stood next to their table, though not even her eyes managed to reach the top. She jumped up and gripped her hands on the wood, falling back down when her tiny hands slipped. 

“I got ya.” 

Desmond picked her up and placed her on their seats. Theo wasn’t sure if she was standing or sitting down. Only her head was visible through the tables. 

Korri placed her cup of water down and wiped her face. “What is it, Gin?”

Gin tilted her head a bit, and her light green eyes slightly gleamed. “What’s the Golden Eyed Ghost?”

Theo froze in his place, and he felt every hair on his arms standing up. Next to him, the twins stopped their bickering and turned to face Gin as well. He wasn’t looking around, but he knew that every kid in the dining area stopped doing what they were doing, too. Maybe all of them were turning their heads to their table. 

“Oh for fu”--Rui took a deep breath--“are we back with this again? Or are you guys just in the mood to scare the new kid as a part of your ‘ritual’?”

Reymond lowered himself down to his height and whispered, “You guys did the ritual thing for Gin?”

Theo nodded. “We did earlier, and we just mentioned the Golden Eyed Ghost earlier. Ate Zamira told us to stop before we could tell Gin more.”

“Of course.” Reymond groaned. “It’s always Zamira that kills the fun. I’m surprised she was in the ritual.”

“But I wanna know.” Gin placed her hands in front of her and puffed her cheeks. “I wanna know about the Golden Eyed Ghost. Ate Zamira said it isn’t real, but Ate Eiko and Kuya Shen said they saw it.”

“It’s true, trust me.” Desmond nodded. “I saw it before. I think it was years ago, but Reymond and I were in the mood to have a midnight snack. While we were eating, we heard something outside, so we decided to check it out.”

“That’s where we saw it,” Reymond continued as his voice lowered to a whisper. “It looked really big. Its body was really white and bright. And- and it had golden eyes. I think I saw three horns, too. I can’t remember but--”

In one of the tables, Zamira laughed. Theo turned her head to her table, which was just right next to theirs. One of her hands covered her face as the other held her stomach. Tristan, who sat next to her, elbowed her side and whispered something. 

“Horns?” Zamira raised a brow as another chuckle left her. “What kind of ghost has horns? And since when did the Golden Eyed Ghost have horns? This is something new.”

Reymond furrowed his brows. “Just because you’re lucky to have never seen it doesn’t mean it’s real. Almost half of us have seen the Golden Eyed Ghost, Zam. You being skeptical won’t change things.”

“I’m not being skeptical, I’m being realistic. If the Golden Eyed Ghost is real and is bound to eat us all, how come all of us are still alive?”

Theo stabbed his food with his fork and huffed. “Maybe he’s just doing a bad job as a ghost.”

“Alright.” Mei stood up and placed her hands in front of her. “That’s enough, both of you. Let’s just go back to finishing our dinner in peace.”

Everyone muttered their replies, though Theo just continued eating in silence. The twins still continued talking next to him, and they even tried to engage Korri and Gin in their conversation. His ears picked up bits of what they were talking about, but for the most part, he continued eating his dinner in peace. 

After the meal, he passed his plates to Rui and jumped down. “Thanks for the food.” 

“No worries.” 

“Kuya Rui?” Gin jumped down from the chair and lifted her head to meet Rui’s gaze. “I’m scared. Is the Golden Eyed Ghost really going to eat us?”

Theo couldn’t help but chuckle from Gin’s question. He placed a hand on her hair and ruffled it, making Gin giggle lightly. “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen the Golden Eyed Ghost before, but I believe it exists. Even so, I’m sure that it’s not going to eat us. The gods are protecting us, after all.”

It took him a split second to realize what he said. Before Theo could take it back, he heard Rui groan from behind him. Desmond and Reymond were nowhere near him, and he wasn’t sure if Korri was going to help and back him up on this one. 

“Yeah, I’m sure that the gods are going to save you from a ghost that eats children if they misbehave.” Rui scoffed and mumbled something under his breath. “You kids put too much faith in the gods. I’d like to see if they catch you if you fall from a cliff.”

Korri tilted her head and blinked. “Why do you hate the gods so much? You always say that you hate them, but you never explained why you don’t like them.”

“The gods are stupid. They’re dumb most of the time. I’m sure that Narda couldn’t even think of giving the archipelago a decent name and left the naming of ‘Orienna’ to Kaos.” He waved his hand in the air before meeting them in the eyes again. “Bottom line is, the Pantheon is incompetent and I’m sure I can rule the world better.”

Theo raised a brow. He placed a hand on his chin, scratching the scar-like birthmark that rested there. He didn’t know why, but what Rui said irritated him in ways he couldn’t describe. Almost like he wanted to throw Rui off of a cliff, or maybe just make him shut up in general. 

Rui turned to him and raised a brow as well. “What? I’m not wrong, aren’t I?”

He furrowed his brows and scowled. “I dunno, how would I know?”

“Anyway.” Rui placed a hand on his back, while the other one lightly patted Korri’s back. “Come on, let’s get all of you to bed. I’m sure the Golden Ghost or whatever’s gonna be upset if he finds out that kids like you are still awake late at night.”

Theo turned around and watched as the older kids, minus the twins, helped Mei clean up the tables. However, Rui turned his head back in the hallways before he could continue staring at everyone. 

“You’re turning thirteen in a couple of days, right?” Rui asked, and he nodded in response. “Don’t worry, once the second day of Heizurah comes, you’d be helping everyone do chores other than fixing your bed.”

He shivered at the thought of doing the dishes again, and dreaded even more at doing it at night. Why did the sink and some part of their kitchen have to be outdoors? Now that he thought about it, was that the reason Zamira didn’t believe in the Golden Eyed Ghost? Because she was used to staying up late at night and never even saw a single glimpse of it?

When they reached the second floor, Theo grabbed his sister and wrapped an arm around her. Fortunately, most of the lanterns were off, giving the hallways a soft yet dark orange glow. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who felt a little tense, as he could see some kids at the corner of his eyes whispering. 

He turned to Korri, whose red eyes sparked as she watched the small, flickering flames. “Are you in the mood to burn something again?”

Korri shook her head before turning back to him, the spark in her eyes slowly fading. “Not really. I just wanna touch the fire, it looks really pretty.”

Rui chuckled, and he placed a hand on her head. “Tell you what. When your birthday comes, I’ll be sure to let you burn something. Maybe burn the forest or Theo’s books.”

“Hey!”

“Kuya Rui!”

“Kuya Rui!”

A sigh from Rui made Theo turn around. Two of the younger kids, Tsen and Saoirse, ran towards them. Shen jumped up and wrapped his arms around Rui’s leg, making Rui jokingly raise it and lightly kick Shen away. 

“Ow.” Shen pouted as he hit the floorboards. “Meanie.”

Saoirse giggled as she helped Shen up. “Kuya Rui, do you think you can continue that story you told us last night?”

Theo raised a brow. “Story? Which one?”

“The one about the blue dragon guarding a castle full of flowers!” Shen replied as he raised his arms in the air. “He didn’t get to finish it last night, so I wanna know how it ends. Please, please! Please continue the story!”

“Alright.” Rui sighed once again as he picked Shen up. “I’ll help you to get to bed again. Don’t do anything stupid, alright Theo?”

“No promises,” he replied with the wave of his hand. He turned around and increased his grip on his sister’s shoulder and led them to their room.