Chapter 2: Wind

            Tao’s excitement increased ten-fold as I made my way towards the piano bench. He stood in the corner of the room, shielding his eyes and jumping up and down simultaneously. This time, I fought the urge to run away, and accepted in that moment what was to come. I had a feeling he already knew who was on their way, just seeing the crazy reaction he gave. My hands were drawn to the ivory keys, like powerful magnets, and this time instead of me opening the book, the book decided whom I would summon. The pages whipped towards the end, passing a variety of repertoire, that I could only catch glimpses of. Tao resumed a calmer demeanor and intently focused on my hands.

            The pages stopped towards the end of the book. Like Tao’s, it remained an untitled composition. This song, however was a rather mellow piece, written in C major, and it had a few romantic-styled trills that if not under the current spell of power, I wouldn’t have been able to execute with such flawlessness without proper warmups. The melody, although mellow, was rather uplifting yet carried a mysterious undertone in the bass notes. This surprised me, and the fact that I rather enjoyed the piece was perhaps even more surprising. I closed my eyes, as the final measures approached, in anticipation of the luminescence that would nearly knock me out, but I would soon discover it to be futile. The orb was no longer blue, but rather a lovely deep royal purple color, and as it disintegrated into strikingly pastel colors; a strong wind rattled everything in the room. I could feel Tao slow down time as soon as I went flying in the air, suddenly deciding his power wasn’t so bad after all.

            But this time, something a little different happened. A light breeze slipped under me, and gently laid me to rest on the couch. I closed my eyes, not quite ready to face the new being I’d summoned. Tao groaned, and I heard his footsteps travel towards the kitchen, where the refrigerator door opened, and I heard the sound of a water bottle being opened. For him only being here a day, he sure had made himself comfortable, and I had to smile at the fact.

            “Amelie, are you feeling alright?” he stuck the water bottle to my lips. I giggled as he accidentally sent half the bottle dribbling down my chin, messing up my shirt, and effectively drawing me out of my reverie. He profusely apologized and ran to get a towel from the kitchen.

            “I guess we should plan to eat dinner around the same time every day until they’re all here, that way I don’t pass out from lack of food.” Tao returned from the kitchen with a towel, and began furiously dabbing at the mess he’d made of my shirt. I drew back in slight horror, and Tao’s hands slowly fell back, as he realized what he’d done.

            “Leave you unsupervised for a day, and I see you’ve already gotten cozy with the new master.”  My cheeks flared a bright red, as the new addition stepped out from behind the piano.

            “Amelie is nice, though.” Tao responded lamely.

            “Sunjin was nice too, and I didn’t see you caressing her in such a manner.” The blonde haired boy scoffed. Tao began to look terribly upset. He meant well, but I suppose his innocence got the best of him in the moment. I tried not to laugh, but failed miserably. Peals of laughter rang from my mouth, and the two boys could only stare at me.

            Two minutes passed before I gained composure and sat upright to face them. They were a rather handsome duo. The blonde boy was very tall, almost as tall as Tao, but skinnier, and definitely paler. He lacked the fierce warrior-like aura that Tao presented, but the current poker face he wore, shouldered one of poise and confidence. His eyebrows scrunched together in an almost permanent frown, and if it weren’t for the small pucker to his cherry lips, he might’ve looked much more intimidating. The lanky boy wore similar clothing to Tao when he first came, except he had on a white blouse-like shirt and a dark leather vest instead of the black shirt Tao donned.

            “What is your name?” I called to him, and Tao took this as his cue to leave. A clinking fork could be heard from the kitchen as I assumed he resumed his dinner.

            “Sehun, Miss. Please excuse my previous casual behavior.” He straightened before bowing. I heard a guffaw resound from the kitchen, followed by Tao choking on water. Sehun tensed, and I called out to Tao.

            “Tao!” Sehun flinched, and I wondered just how nice this Kim Sunjin was that they were terrified of me…or if this was really only their second mission.

            “Yes, Amelie?” he replied from the kitchen.

            “Eat quietly.” I said with a slightly annoyed tone. I was met with more fork clinks.

            “Sehun, please get up. There will be no bowing in this household. It’s far too stuffy.” He resumed his standing position in front of me.

           “And please, call me Amelie.” I smiled, trying to brighten to atmosphere a little bit, when I noticed he remained unresponsive, and continued to stare at me.

            “Amelie?” he tried out my name, muttering it to himself, when I realized his accent was not as heavy as Tao’s.

            “Sehun, do you know what language you’re speaking?” I asked him, after he’d gone quiet.

            “English?”

            “And how do you know that?”

            “I’ve heard people speak it before, and it was an educated guess.”

            “Can you tell me how you can suddenly speak it so fluently?” Tao had told me he was the youngest, so Sehun had to be older, thus he might know a few more things.

           “We're meant to communicate with our masters. I’m assuming your primary language is English.” Sehun gave me the same explanation that Tao had given me, and an “I told you so!” came from the kitchen.

            “Now, Sehun, can you tell me what a refrigerator is?” and at that, Tao’s glaring face peeped into the study room. I put my hand up to shush him, and he slunk back around the corner but not before giving me another stink-eye.

            “I don’t know what that is.” He confessed.

            “Do they, whoever ‘they’ is, give you to me only being able to speak the language, but not know the current slang and vocabulary?” His eyebrows furrowed even deeper upon hearing the word “slang”, and he shifted his weight to the opposite leg.

            “Have a seat, and tell me what you know.” I patted the seat cushion next to me. Sehun hesitantly sat down and remained wordless and I presumed him to be in deep thought. When he had collected them, he spoke up.

            “Well, from the directions we were given on our last mission, we were gifted with the knowledge of two languages: Chinese and Korean, as we were told they would be the most useful to us. When the Kim family took us in, they spoke both languages regularly, and there were no words we were unfamiliar with. Perhaps our vocabulary is limited still to that time period, and we will need to learn current day-words from you.” He finally concluded. It sounded rather complicated, to be honest, but this whole thing was even more complicated than I could likely imagine.

            Tao bounded back in, garlic toast in hand, “Alright, enough talking, because you have got to try this bread! I can’t even imagine how we haven’t tasted this before.” He stuffed it into Sehun’s mouth without further warning, and I realized we’d need to go shopping all over again. Burying my head in my hands, Sehun took that as a sign he was allowed to go, his eyes lit up at the prospect of food, and the two of them began chattering away about people whose names I didn't recognize, in the kitchen. I heard Tao get a plate out of the cupboard, and dish out pasta for Sehun. I shifted to lie on the couch and realized I needed to call my parents, Sebastian, and my friends. Come to think of it, I’d lost track of time and my phone, once again.

            “I’ve always wanted to come to America” Sehun spoke as I entered the kitchen seeking my cell phone. Tao coughed.

            “About that…” he paused. I broke into their conversation.

            “Please don’t try to kidnap my like Tao, here.” I reached to the countertop where it lay.

            “We’re not in America.” I let Tao break it to him.

            “Then where are we?”

            “Germany, Sehun.”

            “WHAT?!” Sehun abruptly rose from his seat, and strode to the window. Looking down at the dwindling traffic, he suddenly froze.

            “You should have told me sooner.” He spoke cautiously.

            “I didn’t know there was a right and wrong time to tell you!” Tao whined.

            “Both of you, quiet.” I hissed as I reached for my ringing phone. I went down the hall to my bedroom, and closed the door firmly behind me.

            “It’s called a cell phone. It’s kind of like a regular telephone, but you can carry it wherever you want. Amelie uses it to talk to her family in America.” I heard him explain. It was kind of adorable.

            “Hey Cee!” I put on my happy voice.

            “Hey Em, glad to hear you and not some guy answering your phone, today.”

            “You’re never going to let that one go, are you?”

            “Nope. You gave me some excellent ammunition.” I could just feel the smirk radiating from his face.

            “Well, good thing I’m not coming home until Christmas.”

            “So, what did you do today?” I lay down on my bed.

            “I just went shopping for some things around the flat.”

            “Did you unpack?”

            “No, not yet. Just a few things I needed right away.” I sighed. I doubted I’d get more done until they’d all been summoned. Sebastian and I talked about the mundane things in life, his new job, his friends, his attempts to stay out of mischief, our parents and the like. He asked about the city life, and my flight, how my German was coming along. Before I knew it, a half hour had passed and I heard a small knock at the door. I faked a yawn as the knocks became more insistent.
            “Cee, I should go. It’s getting late.” And indeed it was. It had to be around midnight at this point. We said our goodnights and goodbyes, and I opened the door, to which Sehun stood waiting for me.
            “I wondered if you were going to come back out.” He quietly said.

            “Yes, I need to put the food away.” He bashfully rubbed his neck.

            “About that. We ate it all, and I’m kind of still hungry. Tao said I needn’t be afraid to tell you.” He looked down at me, and I noticed that while he was shy, he was overall a little more mature than Tao.

           “Alright, let’s see what we got, that we can fix for you real quick.” As I entered the kitchen, Tao had taken it upon himself to wash the dishes, or so I thought, until I heard him muttering something about Sehun and how he wasn’t even that much older than him, so why did he have to be so bossy. Sehun, meanwhile, looked innocent as a button, and had it not been for me hearing Tao’s grumbles, I wouldn’t have suspected a thing. Perhaps having Sehun around would keep Tao in check.

            Patting out some hamburger patties, I decided I’d have one, and I knew for a fact Tao was always up for food, so I ended up making 6 hamburgers, and shoved some instant ramen into a pot of boiling water. Not the ideal snack, but food nonetheless.

            “So, Sehun comes and then you make ramyun.” Tao announced with a slight pout as he put the spaghetti pot away.

            “Sehun is hungry and you two have eaten all the dinner including my portion, so I am making more food, and since I want to go to bed, I am making something quick.” I retaliated.

            “You’re the one who ate her food, Tao, so don't complain.” Sehun entered the kitchen wearing a black tee