AUTHOR: SORRY ABOUT THE REALLY LATE CHAPTER. I TOOK A LITTLE BREAK!!!

The atmosphere at the ‘Institution of the Talented’ had a sudden change. No longer was the private institution so ‘friendly’ or ‘supportive’. The professor’s faces were stern and looked as if they were planning on giving everyone detention. Even the students had a different feel to them. Now, there could be a few possibilities as to why this has come to happen. The first being: everyone is evil and they’re secretly planning on turning the human population into a factory of slaves. Though, that theory seems unlikely, or so I hope. My second theory: My father implanted rocks into their mind and turned them into his evil slaves that plan on turning the human population into a factory of slaves. Alright, I might be a bit paranoid. In reality, everyone is just stressing over the fact that a war could break out at any given moment, causing the city to flip out due to our super human abilities.

As soon as we entered the school grounds, instead of going back to our dorms and resting, Jeonghan insisted we see him at the infirmary for a thorough body examination. The unnatural lighting in the infirmary made it much clearer to see everybody’s injuries. Yoolhee’s hair was somehow cut to her shoulders, giving her a new look, which I liked more than her previous look. Her face was proud, but I could feel her sadness. She was definitely holding something back. Maybe the few weeks at the institute and being in her group really made us bond more than I thought. Eww…

Jun had dust all over his body, I’m not exaggerating. Jeonghan made him strip down because there seemed to be no end to it. It’s strange how he had dust on him, considering he rode on a lion that jumped through a river and landed on top of the surface. On the bright side, Jun had fully healed his wounds. He even impressed Jeonghan. Has Jun never healed in front of others before?

“Wonwoo,” Mingyu nudged the side of my stomach and made me jump. Jeonghan glanced over to me and assured that he would get to me as soon as possible. I smiled weakly and glanced over to an adorable Mingyu. “You saved me.” He hugged me and we both cringed from pain.

“I’ll always save you.” I hugged him and embraced the pain.

“I shouldn’t have to be saved. I’d prefer it if I saved you.” His arms held onto my waist as his head rested on my hair.

“How about we save other people?” I suggested, making us both laugh in pain.

“Alright, Wonwoo. I’m here to save the day.” Jeonghan panted over to me and put on rubber gloves. After inspecting my body, he found that a few of my ribs had broken, the slashes from the wolf hadn’t completely healed (Jun can apparently heal himself just fine, but when he tries it on others it’s like “What? How do you use this ugly contraption?” I’ll remember that, Jun.), apparently my hair had caught fire and nobody told me, I had pneumonia yet I was completely dehydrated, and my skin was shriveled in places it shouldn’t be. Wow, I’m a mess. “You had better spend the night here, Wonwoo. You are unstable at the moment. If Jun hadn’t done what he did, you would probably be dead.” Never mind, Jun. You did a great job healing me… “Go rest one of the mats. Your turn, Mingyu.”

The mat felt amazing, especially considering the fact that I slept on a termite infested log the night before. The pillow on top was just the right temperature, cold with a hint of fire. I settled in the cot and looked over to Jeonghan diagnosing Mingyu. Overhearing their conversation, I found out Mingyu developed a case of bronchitis (Dang it, father. You want to be a part of my life yet you harm the boy I have feelings for? Not cool.), and he was also dehydrated. Did I seriously have worse conditions than he did? Just before Mingyu was told to find a cot, Vernon was placed on the bed next to me, forcing Mingyu to take the cot next to Vernon. Dang it, Vernon.

“Hey, Wonwoo. Thanks for bringing me on an adventure; that was fun!” A broken Vernon said. Apparently, both of his legs were broken, his lungs had been popped, his throat was scorched and he had a double ear infection. Here I thought I had it bad.

“I’m sorry about everything that went wrong. Thanks for helping me save Mingyu.” I couldn’t be mad at him, despite him being in between me and Mingyu.

For a few hours, our group came to visit us and we talked about how cool our adventure had been. Vernon did the most bragging; he went on and on about how his fire melted stone. Strangely enough, he even bragged about me helping him down a scary cave. Since he was so nice and praised me like the king I am, I didn’t mention the fact that he cried like a baby while we fell down. After a while, Jeonghan sent them back to their rooms so we could rest. He put the lights off and promised he would come in to check on us every two hours. Time passed as the three of us slept. It felt nice knowing that I was at a safe place, with trustworthy people. Well, somewhat safe and somewhat trustworthy people.

CreeeaaaAAAAKK!

My eyes shot open as I looked around the room. The door to the infirmary was opened ever so slightly, just allowing a small ray of light in from the hallway. I scanned the room slowly, looking at the medical supplies all around. The atmosphere was comfortable, almost as if we didn’t have classes in the morning. I glanced over to a sleeping Vernon and Mingyu. They looked so peaceful while they slept.

“Time to check your vitals.” Jeonghan stood next to me, scaring the living days out of me. My heart pounded heavily against my chest as I rolled onto the floor. Jeonghan’s hair was long and angelic, just like his smile.

“You scared me! I almost died!” My hand found the cot and I pushed myself back into bed.

“Sorry, buddy!” Jeonghan pulled out a full syringe. The sight of that unholy weapon forced me to look away. My eyes darted passed the empty bed next to me and onto Mingyu. The atmosphere in the room changed as I stared at the back of Mingyu’s head. Jeonghan poked me with the syringe and I flinched.

Mingyu’s hair slowly began falling out, strand by strand. The blanket covering him started deflating, almost as if Mingyu was becoming a rotting corpse.

“Jeonghan, Mingyu is in trouble!” Quickly, my head turned over to the direction of Jeonghan. Instead of Jeonghan being there, a rock ghost was injecting me with a syringe. Before I could scream for help, the rock ghost gagged me with a rag and chloroform. Slowly, my vision began fading as I watched the rock ghost’s face morph into Meli.

“Wonwoo,” I heard a voice call out my name. “Wake up! Megan, pass me the gas mask!” Something wrapped around my face and oxygen flooded into my lungs. My eyes shot open and I sat up straight, hyperventilating. All over me, tubes went in and out of my body. I looked like a giant science experiment. To my sides, Jeonghan and Megan tried to calm me down.

In the corner of the room, Mingyu stood and watched me with concern on his face. The sight of him instantly made me feel better. It didn’t matter where I was, so long as he was with me. After realizing it was all just a nightmare, I quickly calmed down and let the doctors do their check up. Their inspection wasn’t long, though I’m not sure exactly how long they were trying to wake me up, and they left soon after.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Mingyu walked over to my bed and sat near my feet. “Tell me about it.”

I told him about how realistic it was. How I was woken up by a creak of the door and scared by a teleporting Jeonghan. The scariest parts of the dream were when I forgot about Vernon and when Mingyu was becoming skeletal. Of course, the rock ghost/ Meli thing was terrifying, but losing my best friend and my.. boyfriend.. was even worse.

“Well, I don’t know who this ‘Melissa’ is but I don’t like her.” Mingyu smiled at me.

“She isn’t evil. She just accidently turned into obsidian without knowing that the villain could control the earth. That’s not her fault.” I made sure he wouldn’t her. I glanced over to his arm that was wrapped up at the elbow. “What did my father do to you?”

His expression hardened as I asked the question. I could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it, but I wanted to know. I placed my hand on his shoulder and sat up right, next to him.

“I don’t know all the details.. but he took some of my blood with the syringes he had. He had like thirty syringes, it was crazy. After the tenth, or so, syringe, I passed out from blood loss.” He removed the bandaging from his arm, revealing a large group of needle points. The sight of it made my stomach feel uneasy and I looked away. “Sorry, you didn’t ask for a demonstration of what he did.. just an explanation.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you showed me. Now it will give me a reason to bring him down.” I looked into Mingyu’s eyes until I was interrupted by a bucket of water spilling onto our heads.

“I forgot to water my precious garden fairy.” Jeonghan smiled and then glanced over to Mingyu. “Well, you needed a bath anyways.” He put the lights off and left the infirmary.

The water soaked into my skin, making it feel smooth and full of life. I knew my restriction made me dehydrated, but I didn’t realize that it would take the water out of my skin. I thought the shriveled skin was from a burn or something. Who knew my body took on the restrictions of an actual plant? Wait, does that mean I can burn like one too?

“I am going to go to sleep now; I hear we have a mandatory assembly in the morning.” Mingyu stood up and walked over to his cot.

“About what?” I moved my wet blanket over me. For some reason, I enjoyed the wetness.

“Something about training? Or maybe a strategy? I am not one-hundred percent sure. Principal Nguyen doesn’t speak that loudly.” Mingyu crawled into bed and began snoring. Man, he falls asleep quickly.

If we are having an assembly in the morning, does that mean the war will start soon? If this war does start, what would we even be fighting for? The school? What if Principal Nguyen has alternative motives and we are just defending her? These are things I have to know before the war begins.

QUESTIONS:

When do you think the war will start? (Chapter wise, I suppose xD)

Do you think Principal Nguyen is evil?

Is there a chance that Wonwoo can somehow save Melissa, if in fact she is alive?