Zarias was slightly startled by the activity in the room as he followed Isabelle. He'd never dined with Zorak, who'd always claimed to prefer eating alone.
I suppose I understand why, now... demons don't eat human food, so I would have noticed something... he told himself.
Isabelle led the way to the living room table, which was bustling with cheerful conversation. Robert and Andie were putting strange boxes out in between them all.
"That's what the food comes in," Adrianna said, catching his eyes.
"With Chinese takeout, anyway," Isabelle added. "Pizzas, which are Italian in origin, would come in square, flat boxes."
"I'm not sure he's ready for your culinary expertise, yet, Izzy," Bane teased. "Come on, have a seat, you'll like it."
Awkwardly, Zarias sat beside Isabelle on a chair. It was one thing to watch from a distance, but actually being with Isabelle and the others was quite different. They didn't seem to mind his presence at all, contrary to his expectations. They talked animatedly, but never aggressively, despite several cheeky comments that, rather than anger them, seemed to make them laugh.
"Hey, Zarias," Isabelle said. "Are you with us?"
He was so caught up in his thoughts he started slightly.
"Sorry?"
"I was asking if you could pass me the soy sauce, please." she said.
For a few seconds, Zarias wasn't quite sure he'd understood her. It was formulated like a request, not a command. And he'd never known anything but orders...
"Oh, uh... this? Here..." he said, handing her the small bottle.
"Thanks," she said as she took it, smiling cautiously at him.
Zarias caught Isabelle and Adrianna glancing briefly at each other, but they smiled and moved to something else.
"Yeah, I guess you don't hear much politeness in the Demon Realm, huh?" Jessica asked.
"Jess!" Adrianna chided.
"No, it's all right," Zarias said, setting his strangely plain glass goblet down. "She has a point."
He looked at Jessica.
"No, you're right. My father – or should I say Zorak – usually ordered rather than asked."
There was a silence.
"What was it like? Growing up with him?" Isabelle asked.
Zarias considered the question.
"... I expect it's not the kind of upbringing I would have had with my birth parents," he finally said. "But I suppose it had its good and bad things, like everything else's."
"Do you have any memories of them at all?" Robert asked. "Your real family?"
"None," Zarias said, shaking his head.
"Zorak must have taken you when you were a baby, then..." Adrianna reasoned thoughtfully. "Are you sure you don't want to... look for them?"
Zarias nodded.
"What I don't get, though," Isabelle commented, "is why would he keep mementos of people he never met? I mean... if it had been Bane's mother, it would have been one thing, but..."
"That is a good question..." Emily agreed with a frown. "Any ideas, Zarias?"
"Perhaps it was with me when he took me. It's possible he put it away and forgot about it..."
"Why keep it at all, why not just... burn it or something?"
"Maybe he wanted to remind himself you were "only" human," Bane mused. "You know, so he didn't... uh...."
"Expect too much of him?" Jess asked, subtle as ever. "No offense."
"None taken," Zarias said, though his eyes said otherwise.
"I was going to say forget Zarias didn't have the same limits," Bane replied.
"No, I think the answer's simpler," Adrianna said. "Zarias was bound to find out he wasn't a demon eventually, so he would have questions. And I imagine Zorak didn't want to come up empty, so he took a token in case Zarias came asking."
There was a silence.
"Sorry... that probably came out wrong..."
"No, don't apologize. It's a plausible explanation."
It just hurt to think the man he'd trusted so completely for years was nothing but a liar.
Early the next morning, Zarias woke with daylight in his face. He'd stayed up much later than was customary for him, and had forgotten to lower the blinds. He tried turning over to block the light, but now that he was half awake, he couldn't go back to sleep. Eventually giving up, he sighed and sat up. It was early, still, he reckoned. The house and street were quiet. He glanced at the plain blue pajamas he was wearing. They were warm and comfortable, nothing like what he was used to. Of course, nothing in this world was anything like the Demon Realm, and the sooner he got used to that fact, the better for him... he supposed.
His eyes traveled to where he'd stashed the box under his bed the night before. He pulled it out, wanting to take another look at his mother and father. He soon found the picture of him and his parents. Of course, he had no proof it was him, but who else could it be? He'd never seen any other human in the palace or outside of it. And looking at the picture again, he could see the similarities clearly. His mother's thin face, very much like his own, the wide blue eyes he'd inherited from his father, along with the chestnut brown hair and dark eyebrows... He searched through the box for the other picture, wondering why his father wasn't on it. But when he looked at it, something he hadn't noticed stood out. One the first picture, her hair was indeed chestnut. On the second however, it was chocolate brown. And her eyes were green, not gray.
Frowning, he picked up the other picture which he'd set aside, and put them side by side, looking at them closely. They looked approximately the same age... the pictures had been taken in different locations... the two women were the same build, same complexion... unless you looked carefully, it was easy to think they were the same woman.
We must have been mislead by the lighting... he mused.
But with each passing moment, Zarias grew more and more certain that there was no mistake. They were not the same woman. But then... who was the other one? It only took him a few seconds to have a pretty good idea. He got to his feet, snatched up the pictures and hurried out the room.
Bane had said something about it being Friday so he would be in today. And sure enough, Zarias soon found him reading in the living room. Bane was lying quietly on the couch, a hot beverage on the small table beside him. Around him were a few forgotten remnants of the previous evening. When he heard him come in, Bane looked up.
"Oh... hey," he said uncertainly. "What's up?"
Zarias couldn't blame him, it wasn't customary for him to wander out of his room like that.
"Is your uncle home?" he asked.
A frown came across Bane's forehead as set the book down and sat up.
"No... he's working at the bookstore, in town. Why?"
Zarias glanced at the spot where Bane's feet had been.
"May I?"
Bane hesitated. They had never been so close without fighting.
"Sure..." he finally said.
Slowly, Zarias sat down. He then produced the pictures.
"I was looking at these... and I-"
"Where did you get those? I thought you'd put them back in the box!" Bane interrupted.
"That's not important right now," Zarias countered. "Anyway, I was looking at them, and I noticed... they're two different people. One of them isn't my birth mother."
Bane blinked.
"Really? Then who is it?"
"I was hoping you could tell me..."
Zarias held out the picture to Bane, who took it. He'd barely laid eyes on it when he went pale, his eyes widening.
"... You say this was in the box?" he inquired in a stunned voice.
"It was," Zarias told him, nodding.
Bane took a deep breath.
"Okay, then..." he said, then turned to Zarias. "New question for you; what's Zorak doing with a picture of my mother?"