Countdown: 17 Days to Full Moon #3

                Kai was in a bad mood. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was like a bad itch in his gut that he just couldn’t scratch. It could have been that Sehun had taken a big bite out of the sandwich he’d made for lunch. It could have been that Suho was hovering and fussing over him. It could have been that Chen and Baekhyun and Chanyeol wouldn’t stop talking.

                Or, maybe, it could have been that Kita was avoiding him.

                Yeah.

                Probably that one.

                He took a vicious bite out of his sandwich –or what was left of it– and glared angrily at the people in the living room. Xiumin and Luhan were in there, laughing without bother. Well, it wasn’t like they had anything actually important to occupy them. They were free to sit and talk to Kita as much as they liked. She wasn’t avoiding them.

                D.O. walked into the kitchen, saw Kai’s expression, and slowly walked back out.

                Kita could feel Kai’s eyes on her from the kitchen, and it was making her increasingly uncomfortable. Alright, maybe she deserved it, she’d been a little harsher than she intended to. But she’d wanted to get the message across! She hadn’t expected Kai’s face to fall like a kicked puppy left on the side of the road…

                D.O. found Tao on the stairs, silently observing everyone with a stillness that was a little unnerving.

                “What are you doing?” D.O. whispered, taking a seat next to the him.

                “Watching Kai.” Tao responded, barely taking his eyes off of the murderous looking wolf.

                “Do you know what’s up with him?”

                Tao nodded, “Kita told him that she’s going to start practicing magic by herself. Said that she keeps hurting herself by using him as a boost and that it’ll be safer for her if she goes it alone.”

                D.O. let out a low whistle, that would make sense. Poor Kai.

                Kita nodded along with Luhan, but she was only half listening. She felt terrible about Kai. It had been a low blow, even if it was partly true. Yes, she did keep hurting herself by using magic, but it was only because she was unrefined, she just needed training. What she didn’t want to do was confront the fact that there was a part of her pulling towards Kai.

                Feeling what he felt.

                Knowing where he was.

                Sensing his magic within her.

                It wasn’t natural! She shouldn’t have strands of icy blue in her magic veins, it just shouldn’t happen. She had to cut off any magical contact with Kai before this mess -whatever it was- got any worse! Surely, if he understood magic, he’d have understood. Well, at least, that’s what she told herself. She excused herself from the living room, looking straight ahead as she walked to the basement (at least Kai wouldn’t follow her down there with those burning betrayed eyes of his.) Or, she hoped not, she deserved some peace at least.

                But alas, the world seemed against the idea, because Kris was in her basement.

                “What are you doing?” She asked, voice flat and accusing, and she made no attempt to make it otherwise.

                Kris looked up at her, resting his finger on the line of the book he was reading. “Translating.”

                “I don’t want you to.”

                Kris laughed, “oh that’s rich. You’ve got no one else!”

                “I’d rather not know at all than have you blabbing it to everyone you come across.”

                He sighed under her narrowed gaze, standing to meet her. “Lay told me what you said.”

                “And?”

                “And what? You said we’re in danger, do you expect me not to warn people?”

                “You didn’t just warn them! You told them everything! I trusted you!”

                “You think I’d have loyalty to a Fey over my own kind?” His voice raised, eyes flashing red as he retaliated.

                Upstairs, everyone was frozen. It would have been easy to hear that even without werewolf hearing. None of them dared move lest they draw attention to themselves, but Sehun and Baekhyun could be seen creeping towards the backdoor, Chen and Chanyeol not far behind them.

                Kai though, Kai was barely focusing on what he’d heard, it wasn’t his main problem. Kita’s magic had hiccoughed inside him, like a popping bubble giving him fleeting sensations of lonliness and sadness. That came from Kita, there was no doubt.

                He barely thought before heading for the stairs.

                Back in the basement, Kris was already regretting it. “That came out wrong, I meant-”

                “Don’t try and pull back now Kris, now that you’re finally being honest with me!” Kita yelled at him, “I didn’t ask to be here! I’ve done my best, I’ve tried to treat you with trust and honesty hoping that you’d eventually respond in kind, but now I see I was sorely mistaken.” There was a sense of urgency inside her, one that she couldn’t identify but it made her continue. “Can’t you just tell me what you want of me?”               

                “I wish you’d never come here! You brought this mess with you-”

                “You brought it on yourself! Don’t you dare blame this on me!”

                “If you hadn’t-”

                “If I hadn’t what?” Kita asked, “If I hadn’t told you that you were destroying yourselves? You were the ones who signed the stupid deal in the first place!”

                Kris was furious, unable to respond as he knew -deep inside- that she was right on every account. He threw the books on the desk and stalked out, slamming the door to the basement behind him. He didn’t even notice that he’d walked past Kai to do so.

                She could believe him! What arrogance! Kita flexed her fingers, unsure what to do with the burning rage of fury inside her. Her magic was roaring, she could hear it pounding in her ears, blocking out her perception of everything else. She didn’t know how long she stood there, but eventually she felt herself calm, as if she’d been pulled inside a cloud.

                What a ridiculous thought.

                Still tense, she picked up the book Kris had left behind, seeing his notebook holding the page inside. She flipped through the pages, seeing he’d doodled dumb little drawing in the corners where he hadn’t written notes. At the back there were lines upon lines of figures, translations from this Fey dialect to a more modern one, and then into the regular language spoken amongst the wolves. It was messy, and cramped and would undoubtedly leave holes in her translations, but it would have to do for now.

                But she’d do that later, there was no way she could do something as mundane as translating when she was so worked up…

                And there the answer was, like always.

                Magic.

                It buzzed in her fingertips, ready at her beck and call. Already she felt warm, and she swore that she was starting to glow… just like Kai had said she did…

                Maybe she needed to dial it down a little.

                As was now usual practice, she tugged firmly on the reigns, slowing her magic and forcing it back down. How she had kept it like this for years in the forest was beyond her, she couldn’t even do it now! She tried, just for the hell of it, and found that she couldn’t get it as far down as she used to, not even close. Any Fey would be able to tell she had magic.

                Well, a good thing she wouldn’t be going back to the forest then.

                What if I could just stop my magic, would they be able to notice then?

                Kita frowned at the idea, already not liking the sound of it. To stop her magic current… it just sounded wrong, like she was rejecting her very purpose for living…

                She jumped to her feet, scrambling for Kris’ notebook. She’d heard that phrase somewhere before. It took a fair amount of flipping before she found it, written cramped in scrawled writing in a thin margin.

Heat is fast, magic must run quickly. Cold is slow, and magic must reflect. Fire is friction, elevation of heat. Ice is immobile, the rejection of life.

                That was it, stopping the magical current was how to use ice magic!

                And so she sat for hours, waiting and waiting, trying again and again to stop her magic from moving completely but it proved an impossible task. There were always pieces slipping past her barricades, dodging her nets and jumping the walls she built. All she managed to do was end up exhausted and make herself feel slightly queasy. She lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling, and didn’t even notice the wolf keeping a vigilant watch from the bottom of the stairs.

                Kai had kept watch for her. She was ok now. He’d made sure of that.

                Learning how to control his magic flow had been useful after all.