Seo-jun and Min-seo sat on the edge of the couch opposite of the boys; arms crossed, and eyes narrowed. Their lips creased into a thin line and Onew’s mother impatiently tapped her foot against the side of the couch. Aunt Kim was no longer laying in the living room, though it’s doubtful if the commotion would have woken up her up anyway. Instead, she’d been moved to the guest room of the house. When the boys stopped jabbering, and waving their hands in the air as they told their story, their expressions lessened by the not-so-enthused look on Seo-jun and Min-seo’s faces.

“D-Did you guys even hear what we just said.” Onew retorted. His hands lowered to his sides as well as Keys.

“I mean, we didn’t learn much with that magical discovery, but it’s something right?” Key added.

Seo-jun hopped off the edge of the couch and slowly turned to look at his wife.

“I told you this was a bad idea. Now look, look at what time it is. They could have been seriously hurt. Again!” Then he turned around to the boys. “You two could have been seriously hurt! Ignoring our calls, staying out this late! Did the two of you forget what happened two nights ago!”

They both jumped.

It was different hearing the bellowing voice from Onew’s father—the man who said so little—compared to his mom—the woman who’s always outspoken. Their legs turned into straight lines and immediately after they found themselves sitting on the couch. Min-seo huffed, heavily, and pushed herself off the couch as well. She placed her hand on her forehead and looked down at the floor for a long minute before looking back up at the two teenagers across from her.

“Do you two understand how worried we were?” She egged on. “I was about to sprint out there and find the two of you though...according to the little adventure you guys had, that would’ve been impossible.”

Key turned up his lip.

“Why do you say that?”

“You said it yourself,” she answered, “I never said there was a waterfall when we found you because there wasn’t. Wherever the two of you went, is somewhere only a Gumiho can access.”

“Let’s not change the subject.” Seo-jun intercepted. “I don’t ask a lot, but I had blatant rules about this. The three of you don’t even comprehend how upset I am right now!”

The three? Onew caught that last remark and eyed his mother who looked away at his glance.

“Honey.” She said, touching the bridge of his shoulder, but he shook it away and walked out of the living room.

Onew had never seen his father so angry before…so...hurt. He watched the man disappear from their safe spot and heard the guest room door open, then close. His mother sighed, eyeing the floor once again.

“Give him time.” She responded in a soft voice. “He’ll come around. He always does.”

Onew grimaced, but it was Key who intercepted this time.

“You know we didn’t come late on purpose. The time there was different like we told you guys.”

She nodded.

“Yes, yes. I understand and I’m sure…he understands as well. But besides me, he was really worried about you guys. You need to understand. He’s human. He’s defenseless when something supernatural comes around. He’s defenseless against our world.” She lightly touched her chest.

She was right.

Onew remembered that blatant look of terror and hopelessness in his father’s eyes when they all came in carrying Aunt Kim. That look of what to do. In fact, it was probably the reason why his dad was so quick to obey his mom’s orders when it came to helping with this sort of stuff. Because it was all he could do.

Key thought about it too. It was an emotion he’d never considered since…well, Seo-jun was Onew’s dad. And that’s all he ever seemed to the boy. His best friend's father. Not some defenseless terrified human. He actually thought that more of himself than anyone else in the household.

Another heavy sigh from Min-seo interrupted his thoughts.

“Anyway…we have a lot more to worry about with what you two told us. Two new Cerberi in this small town.” She shook her head. “That’s cause for trouble. Plus, you two need to get stronger without being noticed but you also need head to school tomorrow.”

They both scrunched up their faces.

“School?” The two of them said in a united voice.

“You really want us to go to school with a monster lurking around?” Key questioned.

“You two need to stick to a normal routine. It will lessen suspicion. Trust me, me and your Aunt Kim have done this more times than I can count. Plus, school ends before the sun gets too low in the sky and whatever that was that attacked you won’t be doing it in public. Otherwise, it would’ve happened a long time ago.”

A flash of the strange man that Key encountered that one day caught his thoughts for a moment and as if reading his mind, she shook her head.

“Key don’t worry about the man. Onew will be walking with you. He’s your protector after all.”

“Who can hardly protect.” Onew scoffed, kicking his leg out a bit.

She caught his glance and walked over to the two of them.

“Onew. After centuries of looking for Key, you were the one that found him. Not me or Kim. It was you. As you two grew up together, all you did was defend him, take up for him. If someone tried to cross paths with him, you interfered. You never faltered. You were always there.”

Onew looked up at her with ensuring eyes.

“You’ve been doing what you were born to do all your life. You just didn’t realize it. Now is no different. You proved that when you guys told us about your encounter with the Cerberi.”

“What do you mean?”

“They couldn’t see you. One of the abilities of a Night Owl is to cloak. We stay hidden in the shadows. It’s how we’ve protected Gumiho in the forest from humans when we were on our night posts. It was also how I was able to get us to Key’s spot when we were looking for him and Kim. Though the fast ability, you’ll slowly come to learn. Key even said how you made sure you guys were quiet and secretive. You did it without knowing. It’s the only way they couldn’t see you if you two were so close. And you.” She looked towards Key.

“Stop doubting yourself all the time. What? You think that just because your aunt Kim is unconscious that no one else notices? I’ve been seeing it ever since I carried her into this house with you covered in blood. Stop hurting yourself by thinking it was your fault or thinking that you have some hidden duty to save everything. Stop pressuring yourself so much. It was me and Kim who did this. Not you two. I can tell in your eyes that you're doubting your capabilities, but little do you know that you, as well, showed your strength tonight. The fact that the two of you found a hidden area with a different time zone says more than you know. Only a Gumiho can connect different areas. It’s how many used to travel during the old days and hide. Now, what the tree was doing in a place where it wasn’t when we found you as a kid, is definitely a riddle, even I can’t solve right now. But witness what you did.” She looked at both of the boys now.

“So, stop pondering so much. If you guys believed in yourself a little more, you’d do a lot more than you can imagine. I sent the two of you out there today to find your own strength and without even trying, you two unlocked abilities that have always been with you.  And if anything, strange happens at school,” she continued completely changing the subject, “tell me immediately. As soon as you come home.”

They nodded.

“But what about my house? People will know something happened. There’s crap everywhere. It’s a total mess.” Key stated.

“Don’t worry about that. Like I said, a Night Owl’s specialty is staying hidden. Staying in the shadows. So, I hid the house in plain sight. It looks fine to the outside world, even supernatural creatures. And I put a couple of protection herbs around the house, something I should’ve done a long time ago. We’ve just always been safe here so I never thought…. Anyway, I put some around this house as well. I did it all when you two were out in the forest earlier…thinking that you guys would be back on time.” She crossed her arms as the disappointment started to set in again.

Gone was the inspirational speech they had just a moment ago. Min-seo had put her stern mother face back on now and leaned her body back a little as to show her disapproval.

“But, for now. During the weekdays, no going to the forest.”

“But how-“

“At all.” She interrupted Key. “We can try to get you two there on the weekends. Make sure those new Cerberi are not around. Might be harder said than done since you two said it seemed like they were patrolling. Still, we need to be as discreet as possible. It appears that whenever you two go back into the forest, you find something new. So, it’s the only strategy we got and we gotta stick with it. If that means only having access on the weekends, so be it. And it’s a truth that you two need to take seriously.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They answered.

“I’m serious.” She pointed her finger at arm’s length of their faces. “Don’t go breaking my rules again, in any sense of the form. You go to school and you come home or I will come and get you myself.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Now, go to bed. You two need a lot of rest and I need to go talk to my husband.” She sighed the last part, hovering over the future conversation as if it was going to be a long one.

They nodded and quickly moved from the couch to Onew’s room, scurrying across the floor like little mice.

Key was quick to close the door behind them but soft enough so that it didn’t make a loud clanking noise as the knob went into the lock. The boys stared at one another as they sat down on the bed.

“So…school huh,” Key said breaking the silence. “For some reason, I didn’t think that we would be going back…I guess with everything going on and what not.”

They both sighed together. The knowledge of acting like none of this had ever happened while attending classes and watching their grades, slowly weighed down on their shoulders. It was easier when they had a small secret of meeting Taemin and Minho in the woods and learning about themselves, but now there was no more trust towards the two Cerberi, they had found out that Onew was right to question the existence of the Elders, Key and his aunt had almost been attacked to death, and they each found out what they really were.

“I know…” Onew finally commented. “But Key…”

He scrunched up his eyes and looked towards the floor, just like his mother did when she was thinking about something hard. It was only now that Key realized who he got it from.

“What is it Onew?”

His friend thinned out his lips, pulling them to the side and back to the center.

“It’s something my mom said.” He muttered. “Or…maybe it’s about everything that’s been happening. The tree…”

“You mean the one we in which we thought something magical was going to happen and nothing did.” Key rolled his eyes at the memory.

“Well yeah.” The boy chuckled. “I mean, besides the utter disappointment…why was it there?”

“The tree?”

“Yes, Key. The tree.” He laughed again. “No, a spaceship.”

“Okay, okay. What about it? Your mom said that it wasn’t there when you found me all those years ago.”

Onew scooted closer to Key and turned his body around a bit to face him. His voice went lower into a whisper.

“That’s weird, right? Like…if it wasn’t the tree, then why was it there? We were so sure, but nothing happened. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe it was the actual tree. Though…that still doesn’t make sense.”

Key furrowed his brows.

“Now that you say something…” He started, tapping his finger against the edge of his chin. He looked towards his friend with a serious gaze. “There’s something else your mom said that isn’t sitting well with me.”

“What?”

“Well,” He placed two fingers in the air, “she said that a night owl can make themselves hidden in the night and a Gumiho can go to different time zones for whatever reason.”

“Yeah…” This time it was Onew who furrowed his brows. “I think I see where you’re going with this.”

Key nodded.

***

Min-seo walked into the master bedroom and looked upon her husband who seemed tucked into the covers of their mattress. Their side table lamps were still on, but he was motionless with one hand laid outside of the cover. She sighed as she sat down and gently caressed his loose tresses that ran down the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry.” Came his subtle dark voice.

She smiled, even though he couldn’t see and took her socks off then made her way to the closet to change into her pajamas.

“You don’t need to say that.” She softly answered. “You know that.”

“I was just worried, ya know.” He continued.

“Sweetie, trust me. I understand.” She sighed again.

There was silence until she finished dressing in her long white gown, a little looser as the years have gone by. The cute slip-like gown made her remember the twenties and she smiled. She always liked the clothes back then.

She scooted herself into their covers and turned off her lamp on her side table. Their king size bed and long fluffy duvets made the room seem more confined than it really was. It was larger than common rooms in common houses, but she was always an open space kind of girl. For an instant, she remembered living in the vast woods with the crickets singing in the grass and the Gumihos sleeping in their quiet spots while the owls surveillance the area. No matter the number of humans that tried to hunt them down, it was peaceful back in those days until the Cerberi came of course. Min-seo liked living in the woods. A house always made her feel confined. She never got the chance to spread her wings anymore. Though…she should be used to it by now with the number of decades that had gone by.

Their room was a basic cream color with their sheets and furniture all white. Her husband agreed to the color decision since she pleaded that it reminded her of flying in the sky.

She leaned over towards Seo-jun and lightly touched him on the shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, turning his body around to look her in the eyes.

She smiled again for a moment. He always knew when something was awry with her. It was one of the reasons why she married him.

“It’s something the boys said in the living room.”

“The tree.” He answered before she could even think it up. Her brows raised for a second, but when he smiled back, they calmed themselves. “Honey. I wouldn’t have been able to marry you if I never listened to anything you told me about dealing with your past. You told me all there is to know about you and what you and Kim went through. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t realize something was off too.”

“Mm.” Was all she replied.

“The boys could have been mistaken.” He added, but she immediately shook her head.

“No…they wouldn’t have brought it up if the question of why it was there wasn’t on their minds too or if they didn’t think it was the tree. Ya know. But that and the fact that Key was able to go to another place with a different time zone.”

“Yeah…” He huffed. “That part worried me. I remember you telling me about those. Only a powerful Gumiho can do that right? But didn’t you say-“

“Key is powerful in his own right,” she interrupted, “descended from powerful Gumihos…but he’s not powerful enough to make his own spot so soon. Especially with the length of time, his abilities and Fox side has been kept at bay. He wouldn’t have the strength. No…there has to be someone still holding it open.”

“Well,…that only leaves one thing left.” He nodded.

“It does…” She agreed.

“That Key’s mother might just be alive.”