We head straight up to the library when we get home. Dev and I are still determinedly avoiding each other.

“Lemme find the book I was reading before,” Lucy hums, running her fingers over the ancient tomes lining the walls.

“I’m going to work on developing designs for weapons,” I announce. “Protective amulets are good, but we should have something that’ll let us attack. Just in case.”

A shudder runs down Tom’s spine. “I hope it won’t have to come to that.”

“You never know.”

We break into quiet work. Lucy assists me with finding books on magical weaponry. According to these texts and the work I have done, the base composition should be the same as amulets’. However, a lot of these weapons usually have special substances infused in them to give them increased power. Where the hell are we supposed to get the powdered horn of a Keresh? Or the nails of a Gorgon?

“It looks like our best bet is just making standard weapons,” Lucy says. I nod in agreement.

“Whoa.” Dev looks up from his book. “I found out how sorcerers exist. And how Taehyung does that weird temperature changing .”

Despite my irritation at Dev, I find myself perking up in curiosity. “How?”

He ignores me, instead looking at Lucy and Tom. “Okay, so magical mutants apparently arose due to magic misuse. Humans, animals, and even inanimate objects that were exposed to magic for too long, or used it too extensively, were affected by the magic. I think it triggered a change in their DNA composition? So magical powers were passed down genetically.”

Tom his head. “Huh. Okay.”

“Magical beings can channel their power... hang on.” Dev flips to a dog-eared page. “There are two types of magic: physical and mental. Sorcerers, for example, are trained from a young age to speak incantations and channel their magic. The book talks a lot about the crazy concentration that you’re supposed to have to start learning incantations.”

“Really?”

“Yeah... it takes years of meditation and zen practice to become good at it. Sorcerers are trained from a young age to have the patience for it.”

Lucy rubs her chin. “That reminds me of those monks who can levitate stuff with their eyes.”

“Telekinesis isn’t real,” I say.

Dev gives me a scathing look. “Neither is magic, right?”

I bristle at his rudeness. “Excuse me-,”

“Okay, let’s keep working!” Lucy exclaims, dragging me away. “What happened between you two?” she whispers.

“He’s pissed because I let Jin be in our group for our homeroom report,” I scowl.

Lucy looks at Dev, who is furiously whispering to Tom (presumably about me). “Are you serious? Is that it?”

I nervously chew my lip. “Well... kind of.” I grab my notebook. “Will someone tell me what the hell Dev is hiding? I know something happened that you guys aren’t telling me about. I’m not an idiot.”

Lucy stills. She looks at me with a nervous expression.

“It’s not our place,” she finally murmurs. “You need to wait until Dev talks to you about it.”

I throw up my hands in frustration. “How is anything supposed to get resolved if I don’t know what’s going on?”

“Chill out. Dev doesn’t hold grudges. This’ll all blow over by tomorrow morning.”

They leave at 5:30, half an hour before Taehyung gets back from lacrosse practice. I stay up in the library for a few more hours so I can finalize the tools we’ll be making tomorrow.

“This is going to be interesting,” I mutter, looking over the blueprints for the magical knives. “Very, very interesting.”

Yawning, I make my way to my room, cracking my neck. All I need right now is a nice, hot bath, some fresh new clothes, and a cup of hot cocoa.

As I am soaking in the large Jacuzzi in my bathroom, I suddenly recall Taehyung’s words from this afternoon.

I left a little surprise for you back home. I hope you enjoy it.

What is he talking about? I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. I cut my bath short and get out of the tab, wrapping a towel around my body. All my books are on my desk. My lotion, toothbrush, and toothpaste all seem normal- oh, , maybe Taehyung rubbed my toothbrush against a toilet. I chuck it in the trash can and grab a new one just in case.

Everything’s fine, I tell myself. Don’t be paranoid.

“That’s right,” I say. “He couldn’t have possibly have done-,”

And then I open up my drawers and realize that all my clothes are gone.

All my clothes except for my bras, , and socks.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I growl.

I stomp down the hallway and barge into Taehyung’s room- and then recoil in disgust as I see Taehyung and Laila locked together in a twisted jumble under his sheets.

“What the ?!” Laila shrieks, throwing a pillow at me. “What are you-,” She looks at my toweled body in contempt. “Oh my god, I knew she was trying to sleep with you-,”

“ no,” I spit, crossing my arms. “Where the hell are my clothes, Taehyung?”

Taehyung lazily leans back in his bed, his lips twisted into his signature cocky, arrogant sneer. He doesn’t bother covering up his bare torso as he appraises me with cold eyes. My face burns unwittingly as his gaze trails down my towel-clad body.

“I don’t know,” he says in mock innocence, and then turns to Laila. “Do you?”

“How should I know?” she snaps irritably.

“Where did we go this morning, babe?”

“Goodwill- oh.” Her eyebrows shoot up as realization sinks in.

“Atta girl,” Taehyung smirks, and kisses her neck while looking straight at me. I would be flustered by the sight if I wasn’t so ing furious.

“You didn’t,” I utter.

He doesn’t respond; he simply continues kissing Laila, going further and further down her neck. Laila moans in pleasure.

“Oh, yeah,” she breathes. “Tae, plea- what are you still doing here?” she barks at me.

Helplessness burns at the back of my throat; I cannot tell whether the wetness pricking at my eyes are from fury or despair. Ignoring Laila’s “Hey!”, I march into Taehyung’s closet, throw on the closest t-shirt I can find, and stomp out of his room. Tears spill over my cheeks- I hastily rub them away- I can’t give Taehyung the satisfaction of making me cry. They’re just clothes. Calm down.

My phone is sitting on my bedside table. I quickly call Lucy. She picks up after two rings.

“Hey. What’s going on?”

“Um...,” I take a deep breath. “Could you do me an enormous favor?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Could you bring me a few spare t-shirts and shorts tomorrow?”

“Uh, yeah, okay. Why?”

“Taehyung donated all my clothes to Goodwill.”

There is silence. I can practically hear Lucy crackling with rage on the other end.

“You’re kidding me,” she hisses.

“Yeah. Not surprised.”

“I am going to destroy him,” Lucy utters in a chilling voice. “I am going to make him regret everything. I can come over right now-,”

“No, no, no,” I say hurriedly. “It’s fine. We’ll get our revenge tomorrow, when we make the most kickass magical objects ever.”

“That’s illegal- Joo, sue him. That’s invasion of privacy, theft of property-,”

“I can’t actually do that.”

“Why not?!”

“Do you really want me to list off the trillion reasons why?” I snort. “It’s okay. It’s not that big of a deal. A lot of my clothes were pretty worn out anyway.”  

“, Joo...,” Lucy sighs. “You need to tell his mother.”

“I can’t do that to Mrs. Kim,” I sigh. “Besides, I haven’t seen her in months. I have no idea how I’m supposed to get in contact with her.”

“She didn’t leave you a phone number?”

“Nope.”

“What the hell? How does she not know that her son is the literal spawn of- well, she’s a sorcerer, too.” Lucy scoffs. “Screw them. They’re all evil, terrible creatures, who only care about-,”

My door opens. Taehyung is leaning against the doorframe, wearing only a baggy pair of sweatpants and a gloating smirk. I bristle, but pointedly ignore him.

“I know,” I say to her. “It’s okay.”

“Tell Lucy you’ll call her back later,” Taehyung drawls. I continue ignoring him.

“The only good person in their group is Jimin. And maybe Jin.” Lucy sighs. “Or at least, I hope so. I just don’t know, Joo.”

“I know. You can honestly never tell. Dev’s pretty against them all.”

“Well, if I were Dev, I would be, too.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what his deal is?”

“I told you, wait for him to explain.”

“He’s never going to explain if-,”

Suddenly, the line goes dead. I look at my phone in shock. The screen is black. All efforts to turn it on are futile. My hand involuntarily goes up to my choker.

I’m wearing the amulet, so how-

Oh. My phone isn’t protected.

I don’t care what kind of antics Taehyung's trying to pull. All he wants is attention- which I’m not going to give him. Tucking myself under the covers, I reach for the remote to turn the lights off.

Unfortunately, Taehyung is faster. The remote is promptly nowhere to be found.

“You can’t ignore me forever, Joo,” Taehyung simpers in a falsely sweet voice.

I throw my blankets over my head and close my eyes. A few seconds later, my covers are ripped off my bed.

“What do you want?” I finally utter between gritted teeth.

He holds out a hand. “My shirt.”

I mockingly stick out my hand. “My clothes.”

He clicks his tongue. “No can do. You should be happy that I left your underwear.”

“You should be happy that I only took one shirt.”

“I’d prefer you in no shirt.”

I stare at him in disgust. “You should’ve been satisfied with Laila.”

“Been there, done that. It’s not a new sight.” Taehyung slowly runs a finger up my bare leg, a devious look on his face. “So what’s going to be? Are you going to give me my shirt, or do you want me to rip it off?”

“For someone who said he’d never be ‘attracted to that’- that being me- you’re really-,”

His hand rubs circles on my knee, sending jolts racing through my entire body.

“Please," he snorts softly. "This is all a game to me. Let’s see who’ll crack first.”

“I don’t want to play your game.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

I clench my teeth. “Just get out.”

“I’m not leaving without my shirt.”

“You know what?” I rip off his shirt and fling it at him, covering my body in blankets. “Take it. Now get out.”

He catches the shirt with one hand, a sly look on his face. He appraises me from head to toe with piercing eyes.

“Looks like I’ll have to throw this shirt away,” he says. “Can’t wear clothes that’ve been in the garbage.”

Forget Lucy coming over and destroying him.

I’m about to strangle him with my bare hands.

I hate that there’s nothing I can do against him. He has the power of spells. All I have is my choker and a few weapons by the end of the week.

An amulet can’t protect you from everything.

Quietly, after I am sure Taehyung is asleep, I wrap myself up in my blankets and tiptoe to the library. My eyes scan the massive volumes lining the walls, looking for something- anything- that will help me.

And then I see a book called Magical Spells and Practices, Volume 1.

Booyah.

“You look like ,” Lucy says bluntly when I climb into her car.

“I was up late reading about spells.” I yawn, rubbing my eyes. “God, I don’t think I’ve gotten a proper night’s rest since this whole debacle started.”

Lucy is staring intently at something behind me. I turn in confusion. “What?”

“Taehyung’s sleeping in that house right now,” she muses. “I could just walk right in there. Ruin his possessions. Steal his stuff. He would never know.”

I grin. “We’ll save that for a day when we have proper defenses.”

“You get first hit at Taehyung. After that, no guarantees on whether I’ll hold back.” She reaches into the backseat of her car and plops a large duffel bag in my lap. “Here you go. Those should be enough to last you a month.”

“Holy ,” I breathe, looking inside the bag. Rows and rows of neatly folded shorts, jeans, tops, t-shirts, and spare uniforms greet my eye. “Lucy, you didn’t have to-,”

“Don’t worry. I have a lot more where that came from. Tell me if you need me to bring something- oof!”

She falls backwards as I launch myself at her in a bear hug. “You’re the ing best,” I whisper.

Lucy squirms under my grip. “Hey, get off me!”

“I love you!”

“Stop. Let's go to school." 

Tom and Dev are already in the lab. The former greets me with a toothy grin, while the latter simply ignores me. I give Lucy a frustrated glare.

I’ll talk to him, she mouths.

The four of us spend the rest of the morning working. Taehyung’s magical matter causes the amulets to turn a deep shade of blood red instead of green, unlike the amulet I originally created.

“Have you guys decided how you’re going to wear your amulets?” I ask.

“I’ll wear mine as a bracelet,” Lucy says decidedly. “That way it’s not too conspicuous.”

“Joo wears hers on a choker for everyone to see,” Dev says in a biting tone. “I don’t think you have to worry about being too conspicuous.”

“I meant so that people don’t start asking why we all have matching amulets,” Lucy says, cutting me off before I can engage Dev in an argument.

“Hmm.” Tom scratches his head. “Where could I put mine?”

“You could wear them as... uhh... anklets?” I weakly suggest. Dev snorts, and I turn to him indignantly. “Do you have any better ideas, then?”  

“Rings,” he snaps. “Make them into rings. I’ll put mine on a chain, and Tom can wear his.”

I scowl as Tom exclaims, “That’s genius!”

“I would’ve thought of that sooner or later,” I grumble.

The first bell rings just as I finish putting the final touches on Lucy’s bracelet.

“I’ll have these done by lunch,” I tell them as they head to class.

“See you in History,” Tom says, rubbing my head.

Lucy smiles as she waves goodbye. As Dev shoves past me with a surly look, however, I grab his arm.

“Dude, what the hell,” I say. “Why are you still mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you,” he says in a very cross tone.

“You obviously are. Look, I’m sorry that Jin’s in our group, okay? But wouldn’t we have had a magical creature in our group anyway? Our class has a ton of monsters in it. At least we’re with someone we can trust.”

“Someone we can-,” Dev looks up at the sky in exasperation. “You’re ridiculous. You trust a sorcerer?”

“Well- not trust trust, but he’s a decent person! 99% of the people in this school are ! And he’s not! So excuse me if I was fine with-,”

“Sorcerers always have ulterior motives. They always screw us normal people over. Why won’t you listen?!”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” I mutter.

I must have hit a nerve, because Dev’s face contorts into a furious expression.

“Don’t wait for me in homeroom,” he growls. “I’m not going to be there.”

And then he strides out the door before I can say another word.

A/N: lol taehyung is a ing #mess

also guys very very important question: i want to bring my hair straightener to seoul, but a bunch of converters said on the label that i couldn't use them with straighteners/curling irons.... so has anyone from the US/canada taken their hair straighteners abroad, and if so...... How did u get it to work LOLOL

I LIEAVE FOR SEOUL IN 6 HOURS YUHHHHHHHHHHHHH