COUNTDOWN: 10 DAYS TO FULL MOON #2

Suho. Was. Furious.

                It was five days after they’d opened the door, and Kita was officially confined to her room. Well, Chen and Lay’s room, but it seemed that they were quite at home in whosever room they had chosen to stay in for the time being, Kita couldn’t quite remember.

                And that was not the only thing she couldn’t remember, she couldn’t remember most of what had happened after she and Kai had opened the door in the basement. She had a vague impression of Suho yelling like a madman, of Kris’s face dark and murderous, but nothing of what was actually in the room. She’d been half delirious at the time, she’d been told that she couldn’t even stand by herself, that she’d basically collapsed in Kai’s arms and he’d carried her upstairs before being confined to his own room. D.O. was being forced to stay in another, ensuring that Kai heard nothing from anyone. Like Kita, Kai also had a wolf placed outside his door as a guard to make sure they didn’t sneak out to venture down to the basement. Not that it was much of a worry.

                Kai remembered what he’d seen in the room downstairs, he just had no idea what to think of it. He also hadn’t mentioned it to any of his pack members, feeling like Kita should be the first to know since technically, as the only Fey here, it belonged to her. But compared to what was in the room, he was more concerned about Kita. A sympathetic Luhan had told him that she’d woken up and seemed ok, but that was all before Suho had shooed him away. His chest still hurt, like he’d been pierced with an abundance of tiny needles. It was more of an annoyance now than actual pain, wolves healed quickly. He hadn’t mentioned this to anyone either lest Suho get even angrier at him. There was no physical evidence of his injury, so why worry anyone with it.

                Kita, however, was in much worse shape. When she’d first awoken her entire body was screaming at her. She couldn’t sit up by herself, she could barely even move. She’d had to restrain her broken sobs when Luhan had come in to help her drink something, but even when he’d been cradling her as gently as possible her skin had burned like it was being peeled off piece by piece. Her right hand was especially bad, being the only place on her body to bear a physical mark of an injury. She could only assume that’s where she’d directed the magic through to the mark on the wall. The skin of her palm was burned, raw and tender and bubbly, and even with her Fey healing it had taken days to return to normal. Kita made a mental note of it, that magical injuries took infinitely longer than regular injuries to heal. If it had been a normal burn it would have been gone within a few hours.

                Only now, five days after the incident, was she in fit condition to walk around by herself, back to her usual self. There was one subtle difference, in that she felt a subtle pull towards the basement, but she assumed that it was just a trace of her magic trapped in the doorway. Maybe that happened whenever you used magic, she had no idea. But seeing that Kita was recovered, Suho decided it was high time he have a chat with her.

                “Kita.” He greeted her, closing her bedroom door behind him and sitting on the bed opposite her. “You’re lucky it’s me talking to you, not Kris.” 

                “I bet he’s furious.” She let out a nervous chuckle, but Suho remained stone-faced. Kai had already told him everything Kita had told him on that day. He knew all about the possible repercussions that their decision to reject the wolf could have. He had been shocked, the Fey had said nothing about this when they’d struck the deal, but he was still angry.

                “Do you realise what you could have done?” He asked quietly. “You risking your own life is something I can’t control. You have the right to do whatever you want with your own life, I can’t stop you. But you brought Kai into this, you endangered him as well.” Kita had lowered her head, but he continued on, “he’s just a kid, he doesn’t know anything about magic but he’s curious and young and stupid and doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. I thought you’d know enough to try and protect him, I thought you’d at least have enough respect for this pack not to recklessly drag him along with you.” He sighed, “I know you don’t like our rules about magic, but we’re not making them to spite you, we have no idea about magic, about what could have happened down there. You didn’t tell anyone, you just did what you wanted. But Kita, this is our home, this is my family. I’m just trying to protect it as best I can.”

                Shame was an understatement of what Kita was feeling. Her gut was hot and twisting, her palms were clammy. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, “I just-” She couldn’t think of an explanation for what she’d done. Everything that ran through her mind just sounded so incredibly selfish. “And you’ve taken such good care of me, and you’ve welcomed me and I just-” She broke off again, her lip threatening to tremble as she realised just how ignorant she’d been.

                “Hey, don’t cry.” Suho said, raising a hand to her hair, “I just wanted to get this out in the open so we can move past it. Hopefully now you’ll feel like you can talk to me about things like this. And I promise I’ll listen better to you in the future. Let’s work together on this ok?” He smiled at her, it was only small, but it was warm. Kita didn’t know what she’d ever done to deserve someone was kind as Suho, and that warm look almost sent her to tears.

                “Now how about you come down to the basement?” He said, standing and offering her his hand, “you’re good enough to walk right?”

                “You’re… letting me go down?”

                “What’s done is done, might as well let you have it. Kai’s already down there.”

                Kita took Suho’s hand, letting him lead her down to the first floor and then down to the basement, where surprisingly, she found the other eleven wolves lounging around. Most of them brightened at seeing her, Kris excluded of course, he just looked resigned to what was going on.

                At the bottom of the stairs, Kita was hugged by a whole group of wolves who threw themselves on her, apologising profusely for being guards at her door and begging for forgiveness. Kita had to laugh, promising them all that their apologies were unnecessary, that she should be the one apologising for being so reckless.

                Then Kris’ firm voice was breaking through the crowd, “Kita, get over here.” Meekly, she did as he said, finding herself stood before him. As she looked, she saw none of the fury from her memory, and unless she was wrong, there was a hint of curiosity buried deep, deep down in his eyes. “What is this?”

                For the first time, she was directed to look at the doorway. It was half open, as far as she and Kai had managed to open it five days ago. “Why haven’t you opened it?” She asked curiously, stepping towards it. Everything beyond the door was dark, giving no hint as to what was behind it.

                Xiumin snorted behind her, “not like we haven’t tried.”

                She cast a look at it, trailing her fingers over the wood and down to the handle which, despite the warmth of the basement from the 13 bodies inhabiting it, was still ice cold. She tugged on it, taking a half step back when the door moved with her. From the wolves account she’d just expected it to remain still, for it to be another hurdle for her to overcome, she hadn’t expected it to just open. It must react to my magic, since I’m the one who opened it. It made sense, the Fey weren’t about to let wolf magic open one of their secret doors. She heard the wolves behind her take a collective breath as she pulled the door open. It was heavy and took two hands fastened on the handle to get it open the full way, but when it was finally open, all 12 of the wolves huddled around her to get a glimpse of what the Fey could be hiding in their super secret room.

                “Books? That’s it?” Chanyeol didn’t seem too impressed, and a murmur of agreement from other wolves told Kita that they’d probably been expecting something more interesting. She too was a little taken aback, but the more she thought about it, the more she realised that books were the best thing she could hope for.

                She felt a body stride past her as Kris moved to enter the little library, but he staggered back as a flash of amber light forced him back. Immediately he her, “was that you?”

                She shook her head quickly to hopefully direct his anger somewhere other than herself, “my magic is white and gold, that must be leftovers from whoever cast the spell.”

                “and why’s it still here?”

                “Probably to stop wolves entering the room.” That was Kita’s best guess, and was proven right as she slipped unhindered past the door.

                “Can Kai get in?” Kris asked, not stopping to get his question asked and simply shoving Kai at the doorway. His question was answered when Kai bounced off it exactly the same way he had.

                “I told you, I didn’t use Kai’s magic in opening the door, I just used him as a stepping stone.” Kita explained to the wolves as her eyes greedily roamed the shelves. Floor to ceiling, the entire room was filled with books. Thin ones, thick ones, most of them leather bound and old. She let her fingers trail over them, feeling the rough material covering the spines brush against her fingers. Who knew what information lay within these books, what answers she could find, the histories and explanations that had always been denied to her.

                She picked one off the shelf at random, a relatively thin and lightweight book, noting its position on the shelves before flipping it open. She let her eyes run over the words, focusing, something was off.

                She couldn’t read it.

                She shoved the book back and opened another, and another, all written in the same language that was so similar to her own Fey dialect, and yet so different. She let out a cry of frustration, alerting the wolves who were eagerly waiting in the other part of the basement.

                “Kita, what’s going on?” Kai was the first to ask.

                “I can’t read any of it! It must be an older dialect or something!” She cast a hopeless glance to the pack, “what use are books I can’t read?”

                “Well maybe Kris can read them, you read Fey right?” Tao piped up, looking to his alpha for confirmation. Kita was astonished as Kris reluctantly nodded, how on earth did he read Fey? Even for him to read current Fey was unheard of, the Fey were secretive, they didn’t let outsiders know any of their secrets. That’s why Kita could speak the same language as the wolves, to ensure that she would never have to speak her own Fey language in the presence of anyone other than the Fey themselves.

                “How…?”

                Kris shrugged, “I speak a lot of languages.”

                That explained nothing, but Kris didn’t look like he was going to elaborate and Kita didn’t have the patience to question him further. She pulled another book off the shelves, a heavy tome this time, and left the library. She half expected the barrier to show up, forbidding her from removing the book, but there was nothing. She the book in Kris’ hands, “how about it?”

                Kris sighed, obviously reluctant to volunteer for what would no doubt be an endless task, but also unable to resist the curiosity of what could be the biggest motherlode he would ever find. This would provide insight to the Fey that even the Fey themselves didn’t know, it was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to pass up. Opening the cover he looked at the words printed there, barking a quick, “back off” to the pack who had slowly crept closer until they’d been pressing against his every side. Returning to the words he focused, “ah it’s been so long since I’ve read Fey…”

                “But can you read it?” Kita pressed, trying not to pressure him but anxiously waiting for an answer.

                Kris ran his index finger over the words, mouthing them silently over and over to try and jog his memory. Closing the book he looked at the title, “Serei on gan…” He murmured the words, feeling the language twist around his tongue in that familiar way. He’d not really enjoyed learning Fey, it felt uncomfortable to speak, like the words didn’t quite fit right in his mouth.

                “And that means…”

                “Unless I’m wrong, it’s a book of children’s stories.”

                The other wolves confusion about the topic of such a serious looking book were completely overruled by Kita’s utter elation at the fact that somehow the Alpha of this wolf pack could read an old Fey dialect that even she couldn’t. She couldn’t even stop herself as she wrapped her arms around Kris, hugging him tight even as he squirmed. He’d opened the doorway for her to learn about her people, he was making this possible for her.

                “Thank you.” She said, beaming as she released him. He looked a little uncomfortable at her outright display of affection, but the tops of his cheeks were flushing pink, so Kita figured he didn’t mind too much.

                “So…” Kai was at the doorway to the library poking the barrier with his finger and catching everyone’s attention with the flashes of amber light. “Is there any way for the rest of us to get past this?”

                The pack of wolves looked at Kita, who ran through different options in her mind. “I could try embedding your magic in the doorway? That way it might recognise you as friends and let you through? Other than that I’ve really got no idea.”

                “Is that safe?” Suho asked, but Kita nodded.

                “It’d be nothing near the level Kai and I used to actually get the door open. The most difficult part would actually be getting your magic levels up to a point where you could actually leave a mark.”

                “And how would we do that?”

                “Do you actually want to?” She asked, surprised at the complete 180 the wolves seemed to have taken in their attitude to magic.

                “Hell yeah! What’s the point of having a secret magical room if we can’t get in it?” Chanyeol seemed to have recovered from his disappointment about the room being full of books.

                Kita chuckled, “well it’d be best to do at night, when the moon’s out. That’s when you guy’s would be strongest. Which of you hasn’t transformed in the longest?”

                Suho raised his hand quietly, “I signed the deal first.”

                “Then you’ll probably have the most trouble with it. And you too Tao.”

                “What? Me? Why?”

                “Because you seem petrified of magic in any form.”

                The other wolves laughed at Tao’s indignant face, the atmosphere relaxing again as they began pushing one another around, piling on top of each other. This continued until Kai’s stomach rumbled loud enough to be heard over them all, at which point everyone agreed that dinner came first, then magic door training.

                Once dinner was made, courtesy of D.O., and everyone was sat in the living room eating, Kita began explaining the process. “All you have to do is feel inside yourself for something that feels different, and then hold onto it. It sounds easy enough but it can be pretty difficult, especially for all of you since your magic has been sealed away.”

                They exchanged glances, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, none of that sounds easy.”  

                “I’ll help you as much as I can, I can try bolstering your magic from within each of you, it’ll make it easier for your own magic to reach the surface.”

                “So you’ll be like a step ladder right?” Kai chirped, a grin on his face as he revelled in sounding like he knew what he was talking about, “so our magic can climb to the top?”

                Kita laughed, “yes Kai, just like that.”

                Hours later found them all in the basement. They’d brought snacks down, deciding the make an evening of the whole event. Kita had opened a window, noting that there was barely a moon at all tonight. There were probably much better nights to get this done, but she didn’t want to waste the wolves’ enthusiasm. They could always try again another night if this didn’t work.        

                “Ok, Kai, lets go.” She called Kai up to the door, hearing the other wolves whoop and cheer him on.

                He whined, “why me first?” But it was obvious, Kai had the most experience with magic by far out of any of the pack. Automatically, he lifted his shirt and allowed Kita to place her hand over his solar plexus. It occurred to him how strange it was that this was almost routine for them now, but then Kita’s sharp eyes were focusing him on the task at hand.

                “Ok everyone, I’m going to talk Kai through it, try and follow how it works.” She focused her own magic, now much more comfortable directing it around, no longer stuffing it down. It responded much faster now, probably appreciating that she was allowing it to breathe. She molded it into a point and directed it to her right palm, poking gently at Kai’s skin. “Ready?” She asked, receiving a grunt in return. The rest of the room was silent except for the chewing of popcorn, as all eyes were fixed on them. “Hand on the door.” Kita said, waiting until he had done so before focusing on her magic as she directed it into his body.

                It was a strange experience, nothing like she’d ever done before. But this was nothing near as complicated as surrendering her consciousness as she’d done to open the door. As she pumped more of her own magic into Kai, she accepted the same amount of his into her own body. Only this time, instead of keeping her mind focused on the magic within her body, she focused on the magic she had inside Kai. She felt the current drag her past his ribs and over to his left hand, then on a circuit around his body before she reached his ribs again, managing to cling on there and feel around. She was surrounded by the soft wintery blue, subtly interspersed with her own white and gold. Where her own magic felt like a river of honey that she could sink into, Kai’s felt almost…playful. It sparked with an energy, as if it were a puppy nipping her tail.

                “Feel anything yet?” She murmured.

                “No.”

                Kita probed deeper, poking around, feeling where the blue was more condensed and delving into it headfirst. She heard Kai inhale sharply and she grinned, bingo. She poured more of her magic into that one area, forcing his magic to relocate to his hand, corralling it like a herd of sheep until she heard Kai yelp. She opened her eyes, seeing Kai rubbing his thumb over his palm as he looked at the door. A sigil was burned there, a triangle containing a sort of spiral, a mark that definitely hadn’t been there before.

                “You ok?” she asked, looking at his palm and thankful to see it unmarked, unlike hers had been. But the wolves weren’t expelling the amount of magic she had, they just needed a small burst. Or at least, she hoped so. Kai nodded that he was ok, and Kita gestured excitedly towards the doorway. “Go on then!”

                Taking a deep breath, Kai squared his shoulders, obviously wanting to avoid the throwback he’d experienced that morning. “Kai! Kai! Kai!” The rest of the wolves began chanting his name, providing the unconditional support that only a pack could, and with their strength behind him he walked straight to the doorway -

- and passed straight through. He barely heard the cheers of his fellow wolves as he looks at the sheer number of books in here. He laughed as Kita popped her head inside, “Congrats Kai! You did it!”

“I didn’t do anything!” He argued, but smiling as he walked back to join the rest of them. “You did it all!”

Kita ignored him, “Kris, you’re next!”

The alpha groaned, hauling himself off the arm of the sofa and standing in front of Kita, placing his palm on the door next to where Kai’s mark was. Kita raised an eyebrow at him, giving a meaningful look to his shirt.

“I have to do that too?” he asked. He’d thought it was just some weird thing between the two of them.

“It gives me a direct line to your core, it’s the fastest way.”

Kris pulled up his shirt to his ribs and ignored the alien feeling as Kita settled her hand there.

“Now this’ll feel weirder for you, because you’re not as used to it as Kai is.” Kita said, “So I’ll try to give you a little more instruction. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He said, bracing himself for whatever was coming.

“Step 1,” Kita said, “relax. This is going to be difficult enough for me without having to break through every wall you put up.” She could feel a resistance in him as she tried to push her magic in his body. Where her own magic was like a freely flowing river, the inside of Kris was like molasses that tried to trap her down with it. Add the fact that unlike Kai, Kris didn’t have enough magic to actively trade with her. She had to force her magic inside his body without getting any in return which left her feeling not only and vulnerable, but a little dizzy as well.  

“That feels really uncomfortable.” Kris said.

“You’re just not used to it, just tell me if it hurts. So right now I’m running along your magic lines. Just like blood has veins and arteries to transport it through the body, so does magic. Yours are all clogged up because you haven’t used them in forever, I’m just running along them to try and free enough of the gunk to get enough room for magic to flow a little easier.”

“Did you have to do that for me?” She heard Kai ask.

“No, you’ve actually got enough magic that it runs through the lines on its own, everyone else doesn’t even have enough magic left to feel it during the full moon.”   

“Then how exactly are we going to make enough to leave a mark?” Kris asked, at war with himself as to whether he should feel uncomfortable or proud that he was actually getting used to the feeling of Kita’s magic rummaging through his body.

“I just need to give you a bigger push than I gave Kai.” Kita explained, “and make sure that I gather up ever speck of magic you’ve got which would be so much easier if… it could just… move…”

Kris grimaced as he felt her magic ramming against a blockage in his knee. It was strange how easily he was recognising these things now.

“There, all good. Ok, you ready Kris? I’m going to try and collect all of your magic and then push it to your palm. It’s going to feel warm, but for gods sake don’t put up any more of those barriers.” She hadn’t told him about the barriers for fear that he’d actually start focusing on them and then make more, but he’d been putting up walls inside himself almost every step of the way. She’d broken every one down, but it was still a pain, and she almost had to wonder at how he was doing it. “Just let the magic flow.”

He felt her doing it, and felt an uneven warmth moving up his arm like a foreign animal inside him, and with a grunt from Kita, he felt a bursting heat at his palm which he quickly recoiled from the door. He looked at it, seeing no different to how his palm usually looked. But on the door, haphazardly next to Kai’s mark, and a little skewed, was his. It was burned into the door just like Kai’s, but his looked different, almost like a dragon spreading its wings.

“Well isn’t that something, you did it! Try the door!” Kita shoved him unceremoniously towards the doorway and he staggered through, shooting a glare back at her before he actually realised that he had made it through.

“Alright who’s next?”

Kita went in order of who had turned for the most amount of time. Chen was next, followed by Baekhyun, and down it went. It was all going fine until she got halfway through them, at which point she had to admit she was getting tired. And with every wolf, their amount of magic lessened bit by bit. Looking at the wolves left in line, Kita wasn’t actually sure that she had enough magic to bolster them high enough, she’d need a bolster herself just to keep her own magic flowing and not collapse on them again…

“Hey Kai,” she called him over once she’d finished taking a breather, “mind giving me a boost?” Kai grinned, both excited to use his magic (even if he didn’t know what he was doing) and proud that she felt like she could rely on him. Lay, Sehun, Suho, Tao, and Chanyeol were left to go. They took a little longer, took more of Kita’s effort, but eventually their marks were burned into the door along with everyone else’s. Tao went last, and it was clear that Kita thought he’d be the most trouble. Even Suho, who had taken nearly half an hour of silent concentration hadn’t seemed to give Kita as much trouble.

“Would you quit fighting me?” She gritted through her teeth. They’d been at this for twenty minutes already, but she’d apparently made no progress. Breathing heavily, she took her hand off Tao’s chest. “Do you realise what you’re doing? Of course you don’t.” She muttered, answering her own question when she saw Tao’s wide eyes. “Look at me, magic is nothing to be afraid of, your pack is behind you to support you, I’m here to protect you and to help you. Believe in us, can you do that for me?”

Hesitantly, he nodded, and Kita put her hand back, closing her eyes once again, and delving back into Tao’s magic. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any magic, he probably had roughly the same amount at Luhan or D.O., it was that his magic kept running away from her! If Kai’s magic was a playful puppy then Tao’s was a skittish horse, or a fearful bird. With great effort she managed to trap pieces of his magic, tagging them along with her as she collected the rest instead of kicking it up to the arm as she had done with everyone else. Once she thought she’d collected enough she dragged the uncooperative magic up to his palm and literally threw it forward, ramming her own magic behind it to force it out. Hearing Tao’s yelp she knew she’d got it done, and let herself fall back into Kai’s hands which were resting on her bare arms. It wasn’t that she couldn’t stand, it was that she couldn’t be bothered to keep up the effort to stand. Casting a lazy glance at the finished doorway her heart skipped a beat as she saw Tao’s mark. It was lighter than the others, not burned as deeply, probably because of the effort she’d had to put to actually get it out of him. But it wasn’t that that startled her, as Tao was happily exploring the library so everything had worked out there. It was that his mark looked so similar to the two triangles of the Fey, but on closer inspection she realised that his mark was an hourglass.

She snorted, “it suits you, you took enough time to get this done!” A look at the clock shoed that it was almost six in the morning, Tao had taken almost an hour to finish.

“You did it.” Kai said, squeezing her arms gently in congratulations and thanks. Kita had forgotten she was even leaning on him, the feeling of his magic coursing through her was almost routine now. She went to respond, but was cut off by a yawn. She was exhausted, she could probably sleep for a week. Kai laughed at her, obviously also tired because not only had he also stayed awake all night, but he’d also been lending her his magic for half of it. Even so, he still had enough strength for this. He turned around, crouching in front of her, “hop on.” Too tired to even argue, Kita wrapped her arms around his neck and let him give her a piggy back up to her room, waving tiredly at the other wolves.

When Kai deposited her on her bed he had to laugh at the way she automatically snuggled into her pillow, “night night Kai” she mumbled, curling up even more as he pulled the blanket over her.

“Night Kita,” he said, “sleep well.”

If Kita had been more than barely conscious, she would have noticed that the strange pull in her gut that she’d noticed earlier was still there. Before she’d met with Suho it had been pulling her towards the basement, so she’d assumed it had something to do with the doorway. But now it had changed directions, pulling her in the direction of a bedroom on the second floor of this house, just two doors away from her own where a tired wolf was collapsing into his own bed, smiling as the wintery blue magic inside him settled itself down to rest.