Kaz looked up as his brother, met his gaze and looked at his fingers again. He let himself lean back against the tree, feeling a light breeze go past his cheek. Summer would be coming soon. That would mean sunlight. A lot of sunlight. He knew Mort could walk in broad daylight, so he could probably as well, but the thought of it already made him scared. It was pathetic, but so were the rest of his issues.

Kaz softly grinned when he heard Allisons words. He stopped picking at his fingers and stared straight ahead, into the garden. ''Probably not something that involves digging.'' Or dead bodies. But Kaz kept most of the words in. He didn't want to start a war here, not with Allison around. She was the only one holding him back right now, but if Mort and him would be alone, if it even was just for a few moments, Kaz wouldn't stop himself from saying what he wanted to say.

Allison laughed and it was music to his ears. For the first time in days he was happy to hear a sound that wasn't a heartbeat or someones feet on the ground. No, her laugh made him smile, albeit a bit awkwardly. The vampire watched her laying in the grass and for a moment he wished he could lay next to her, just the two of them, laughing at nothing or some stupid joke. Maybe Mort would be close by, grinning stupidly at them, happy for them.

But it was Mort's voice that pulled him from that daydream again, and Kaz was left in the shadow of the tree with a grassy field to watch. The complete opposite of what he wanted. Before he could even react or open his mouth to reply, it was Allison again who laughed. But this time, Kaz stared at her with a small frown on his forehead. But he quickly shifted his gaze back to his brother. ''There are some ducklings by the pond near the end of the road.'' He spoke softly, almost insecure when he looked down at his hands again. Why was he even saying this? He wasn't meant to be nice to his brother. This wasn't the plan. ''They're a few weeks old I believe.'' Gods Kaz, stop it. You're going to feel guilty if you continue like this.

he hadn't meant the words in any hostile way. No, on the contrary, Kaz was actually speaking the truth. It wasn't only Mort who liked to walk in the dead of night. Now that he felt bound to the house, Kaz missed those walks, he missed feeling invincible and yet so fragile at that strange, late hour. The one where the whole world seemed to be asleep and you were the only one around. It had always had a strange vibe around it and now he had an eternity to experience it. But now that he couldn't, he missed it the most.

Stories. He wanted to think about everything but stories. But that word in this context only brought up memories. The soft and insecure smile that had been on his lips, had vanished. Kaz lowered his head even more, turning his attention to the grass between his legs. He remembered enough stories, but none of them seemed to have a happy ending. He was just not in a place of thinking of one where they had fun. All he could come up with were his nightmares, the ones where he woke up crying and where Mort had been there to tell him that it all would be alright. But those days were gone. So, Kaz pressed his lips together and said nothing. This one was once again for Mort to answer.

Kaz' head was full of stories. The ones where nothing had happened, where he had happily grown up on the farm with his brother and their parents. Or stories where they had taken over the town hall for once, after all the planning that had gone in it. But also the ones where he hadn't lost his brother at sea, where he had no magic, where they were safe and together. The ones where he hadn't turned into a monster. But those stories were never bound to happen and it was bad to dwell on the past. All you could do was hope for the best. And if Kaz was bad at something, it was that.

He heard Allisons proposal and frowned. Why Mort? What was she planning? She couldn't actually go and hope there was some sort of book on a cure right? She shouldn't waste her time on that. It would probably fail and he didn't want her to get killed. Kaz looked forward again, at the grass field. He felt her gaze on him, but ignored it. Instead, he stayed in his own little world, reminiscing about things that had happened and the ones that could still happen. Like usual when he fell silent. None of them all too happy. But Kaz was Kaz and eventually he would get out of it. Eventually.

It was obvious Allison tried to get something out of him, tried to get him to say something. But Kaz still was silent, kept staring at the grassy plains that had nothing in them but sheer nothingness. It felt like they had that in common, because at that moment, Kaz didn't feel anything for once. No peaking emotions, no boiling anger or waterfalls of sadness. Just.. numb. And it was fine by him, if it meant rest he would gladly accept it.

He let his fingers go through the grass that was around him. He felt the greens blades tickle his fingertips, like water did when you ran your fingers close above the surface. It was calming in a way. Kaz wanted to close his eyes and feel the moment but he knew that if he did that, someone would snap him right out of it. Allison's words only got to him much later when she had spoken them.

With a glazed look he turned his head towards Allison and shrugged. ''Fine by me.'' He mumbled softly, before turning away from her again and turning his attention towards the grass. It was as if he only had discovered this green sea for the first time. His eyes locked with a spot of sunlight close by. It reminded him of something.

''Do you remember Mort,'' He suddenly started, still with his hand running through the grass, close to the spot that was lit by the sunbeam. ''That time we were on the hill overlooking our village. When you had made that spyglass?'' He didn't know why he suddenly remembered this story. It had nothing to do with the current situation, but somehow, somewhere, it made sense to him. ''Do you remember when you used that spyglass to accidentally burn a patch of grass?'' With those words, he moved his hand towards the patch that was lit by the sun. Nothing seemed to happen on the outside, but Kaz could feel his hand getting irritated, that it started to burn. But he didn't take it out of the sunlight. No, instead he just stared at it.

''What a strange phenomenon.'' He mumbled softly to himself before finally pulling back his hand. It smelled like someone had lit a match and he could see how the burn marks on his skin already started to vanish. Such a strange phenomenon indeed.