>_____<;;

It took Chorong almost half as long to reach home as it did for her to reach Chanyeol’s. Namjoo was sitting on the steps with her head buried in her arms when she rushed out of her car.

“Namjoo!” Chorong bellowed. “Are you ok!?”

“Ugh…” Namjoo lifted her head up, her eyes looked exhausted and tearful. “I don’t know.”

“Come on, lets go inside first,” Chorong grabbed her arm to help her up and unlocked the door.

She ran her eyes over the oversized shirt she was wearing before recognizing it as one of Chanyeol’s. Without comment she pulled Namjoo into the living room.

“Ok, so tell me what happened,” Chorong started when they both sat down.

Namjoo shook her head unsure of where to start. She looked so tired, as if she hadn’t slept for days. Chorong patted her back to comfort her and waited for her to start.

When Namjoo finally turned to her she started crying, “I killed him! I killed him, Chorong!”

“Who?”

“The Prince, he was going to hurt me…I didn’t mean it…it just happened…”

But it was a dream…so why was she acting as if she’d really harmed someone? Watching Namjoo sob made Chorong fearful of what would happen next. She couldn’t deal with Namjoo alone. This was slowly starting to get out of hand and it would be an even bigger mess if it was only she who dealt with her younger sister.

“Wait here,” Chorong spoke gently, “I’m going to call Victoria.”

“No, don’t leave me alone,” Namjoo grasped onto her arm to prevent her from getting up. “You don’t understand…something bad is going to happen.”

Chorong stared at Namjoo really frightened before she forced herself to pat Namjoo on the back. “It was a dream, Namjoo. No one is after you. I’ve known you your whole life and you haven’t hurt anyone.”

Namjoo shook her head, “I burned Chanyeol. No…I…” She paused and her eyes suddenly grew wide from astonishment when she recalled what had happened. Worry took over the fear in her eyes, “I was cut in my dream…and I bled on Chanyeol’s bled…he saw me bleeding…and then I healed myself…oh my god…he saw everything, Chorong.”

Chorong wasn’t sure if she was getting the biggest slap in the face of her life or if this was the worst shock she’d experienced by far. Was Chanyeol going to think they were a crazy family now? That they were somehow lunatics? If he’d seen all that…what would he say when he stood on their porch the next time he came?

>_____<;;

Victoria had just ended class and was on her way to work when Chorong called her.

“What is it?”

“We’ve got a really huge problem,” Chorong spoke, “and I mean huge!”

“Ok,” Victoria stopped outside of her car, “what is it?”

“So Namjoo had her dream again,” Chorong explained, “she was attacked by the Prince, he cut her with a knife, and she bled on Chanyeol’s bed. But here’s the worst part, he saw it, and that means he saw her heal herself. And here’s the other worse part, she burned him.”

Victoria felt her jaw snap. “What!?”

“Namjoo’s freaking and she’s making me scared. You have to come home right now,” Chorong told. “I can’t deal with this on my own. I don’t know what to do.”

“But I was going to…” Victoria started before replying, “alright, I’m on my way home.”

After hanging up she unlocked her car and got in. Work could always come later. Hadn’t she promised to be better to her sisters? She had to keep the family together now that it was just the three of them. If she lost Namjoo she would feel like the worst loser there was.

When she got home Chorong was waiting for her in the living room with Namjoo who was gripping onto a warm cup of water that was soon going to go cold if she didn’t drink it. Namjoo honestly looked like one of the patients who’d just been treated at a mental hospital and allowed home. The bags underneath her eyes had become darker and her eyes looked drained of energy. Plus, the way she rocked herself back and forth on the couch slowly made Victoria understand why Chorong had called.

“Allow me to brief you,” Chorong hurried toward her and pulled her slightly away from the living room. “I think the dream Namjoo had at Chanyeol’s place took place before the dreams she had yesterday.”

“So,” Victoria said, “you’re implying the dream rewound itself to what happened before they were going to kill her.”

Her sister nodded, “It’s like that.”

“How’s Namjoo?”

“Somewhat better.” Chorong didn’t look certain.

“She doesn’t look it to me.”

“At least she’s not panicky anymore,” Chorong whispered. “And her guardian angel isn’t showing up for what reason I can’t depict.”

“Has Namjoo asked for him?”

“Do you think she can actually focus on anything right now?” Chorong hissed. “She burned Chanyeol and that’s what freaked her, because in her dream she burned the Prince. The timing probably coincided. Isn’t this…all too strange. Like, is she really reliving the past while she’s living the present? Is that possible?”

“You cannot live in the past and exist in the future,” Victoria pointed out, “it can’t work that way.”

“What if it does now?” Chorong asked.

“Look, lets not debate about that,” Victoria suggested. “You said she burned Chanyeol. Is he hurt bad?”

“Well other than having part of his sleeves melt away, he didn’t seem too injured,” Chorong thought back. “On the other hand, I’m not sure about his bed sheets. He might keep them for evidence.”

Victoria slightly groaned. “Alright, lets go talk to Namjoo and see what we can do.”

>_____<;;

Staring into the cup Chorong had handed her helped settle her thoughts somewhat. Namjoo was finally able to grasp her memory of what had happened before she fell asleep. Maybe the most important part was when she’d seen herself with someone else while kissing Chanyeol. Who was it that stirred her emotions with so much passion?

She frowned lost in thought. She had been standing in a room with fresh windows, a cool warm breeze had been flowing in the empty room they’d been standing in…yes, it was at the fort she’d been in in her dream. It was in one of the buildings she’d been in with him…it was a moment of intimacy. He loved her and she loved him.

Namjoo lost the image when it almost came clear to her. She couldn’t make out his identity and that was what made it most difficult.

“I refuse to be your concubine when I am already married.”

Married…had they really been married?

>_____<;;

Namjoo looked lost in thought when Victoria approached her. She looked almost a little sad and distant from the sister Victoria knew her to be. As if Namjoo wasn’t really Namjoo.

The Namjoo she knew was pouty, complained, and had a lot of trouble with herself, the people around her, and boys. This person who had taken over her sister was distant and too quiet.

“Namjoo,” Victoria started when she sat down beside her. “Are you ok?”

“I remember,” Namjoo slightly frowned, “in my dream, I was married. I saw someone, but I don’t know who he is.”

Victoria turned to look at Chorong confused. Chorong frowned and shook her head before Victoria turned back to Namjoo.

“Could it be Chanyeol?” Victoria suggested, but Namjoo immediately shook her head. “But how could you know it wasn’t him?”

“I…” Namjoo stuttered a bit before forcing it out, “when I was kissing him, someone else appeared to me. It’s not Chanyeol.”

Victoria felt something blow up inside her head before she turned around to Chorong with somewhat large eyes as if wondering how Chorong wasn’t catching on. The clueless middle sister just shrugged confused to which Victoria rolled her eyes.

“We’ll be back. Stay here,” Victoria told Namjoo before grabbing Chorong and led her out into the hallway where they could speak without Namjoo overhearing.

“What?” Chorong questioned.

“You don’t get it?” Victoria flung her hands out stupefied by how slow Chorong was.

Chorong peered around as if the ground and the walls could give her an answer before allowing her eyes to meet back with Victoria’s. “No.”

Victoria couldn’t help, but slap Chorong across the arm. “You were writing a damn novel earlier and even this you can’t get?”

“What novel are you talking about?” Chorong questioned frustrated by Victoria’s impulsiveness.

Victoria grabbed her arm and pulled her over, “You were going on about Luhan and his whatever connection with Namjoo. Wasn’t there a story you were weaving between them?”

“Ah!” Chorong shouted before covering , her eyes now wide upon understanding where Victoria was getting at. “Are you sure…do you really think it has to do with him?”

“It’s a wild guess right now,” Victoria turned back to glance at Namjoo, “and what other guy is there in Namjoo’s life? Whenever he appears, lets get something out of him.”

“Yea, lets do that. We’ll have to force it out of him if we have to.”

“I’m not about to let my little sister stay like that forever,” Victoria said, “it’s not Namjoo.”

And for a while things really did seem to calm down. There were no more wild events in the evening and everything seemed as if it’d returned to peace. It was a little strange and awkward Victoria was almost suspicious.   

>_____<;;

“Hey,” Chorong opened the door to Namjoo’s room.

She had soft music playing from her phone she’d set underneath the bedside lamp to keep her company. Namjoo who was sitting on her bed with a book looked up when Chorong walked in.

“You ok?”

Namjoo nodded. “I’m fine.”

“You know, if you’re scared, you can come sleep with me.”

Namjoo smiled, “It’s ok.”

“Yea?” Chorong asked before taking a seat at the edge of her bed. “You know you’re not really alone, right? I mean, you don’t just have your guardian angel,” she slightly raised her voice and hoped Luhan could hear her, “with you. There’s Victoria and me too.”

Namjoo eyed her strangely before nodding. “What’s that?”

“Ah,” Chorong helped up the dream catcher, “I got it when I stopped by a store earlier. It’s supposed to catch the bad dreams in it. I was thinking it might come in handy for you.”

“Dream catcher?” Namjoo repeated before taking the neatly decorated and woven blue net from her sister. “Do I hang it above my bed?”

“Yea,” Chorong said, “are you sure you don’t want to sleep with me?”

Namjoo eyed the dream catcher before turning to Chorong, “You said it didn’t you? My guardian angel’s with me.”

When Chorong walked out of Namjoo’s room she wasn’t sure whether she felt any better. Part of her wanted to stay with Namjoo in case she got pulled back into the Joseon Dynasty. What if something really terrible happened and Namjoo couldn’t wake up? Or what if her guardian angel couldn’t get to her in time?

Something was definitely making her uneasy, but she couldn’t barge back into Namjoo’s room when she’d already implanted it into Namjoo’s head that Luhan would definitely be there with her.

>_____<;;

Even when Chorong and Namjoo were safely locked in their rooms Victoria felt queasy. It was as if there was a need for her to stay up and watch over them in case anything happened. Time was ticking and the streets had darkened outside. Victoria could see not even a light from the homes across the street. It was so silent she literally jumped when her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Shim Changmin,” the crime investigator said.

Victoria felt her heart jump, “Is something the matter?”

“I found a Tokyo flight booked for Lee Shin Il in the early morning,” he explained, “he’s probably trying to leave early.”

“Without a notice?” Victoria repeated flabbergasted. “Doesn’t he have a family or something? Why would he try to leave so early?”

“On record, he’s alone,” Changmin flatly filled her in.

“Where is he?” Victoria asked.

“You’re not going out there alone.”

“I think this is my business, I’d like to do it without anyone nosing in.”

“And I would like to remind you who’s going to take the blame if something goes wrong.”

Victoria felt a little annoyance rise in her, but he was right. He was putting himself out there for her, for whatever reason he had she didn’t know of.

“Fine,” Victoria gave in. “Where does he live though? I don’t want to leave home for too long.”

“Thirty minutes away, Incheon,” Changmin replied. “I’ll come get you in a few.”

“No,” Victoria shook her head, “I think we can very much meet up out there.”

“Better idea to lose one car than two.”

Victoria tried to repress a grown of irritation at his insistence. Since he was putting his job on the line to do something out of his line for her, she figured the best way to thank him was comply with him for the night.

“Fine. I’ll wait for you out front.”

After hanging up Victoria grabbed her sweater and quietly slid out of her room. Before making a move for the stairs she made sure Namjoo and Chorong’s door were securely closed before she left.

She waited quite some time and even checked her watch 5 times before she spotted Changmin’s car come up the street. Victoria made her way down the stairs and helped herself to opening the door.

“You seem anxious,” he coolly commented before driving off toward the highway.

“Oh yea? Well I think that part is my personal business,” Victoria crossed her arms and focused her eyes on the dark streets.

Changmin turned to take a glimpse of her before shaking his head and pressed his lips together. During the time they listened to the silence droning on, Victoria wondered if she had made the right choice without letting her sisters know. Since things had always occurred in her absence she worried that anything could happen to the other girls. Grandma had specifically stated they were stronger when together and there were enemies coming for the source of their powers. If their souls were taken, death would only be the option left. She couldn’t imagine living without thinker Chorong or problematic Namjoo.

A vision of finding their dead bodies before her scared her. And she suddenly wondered if their mother’s killer would come after them someday.

“Is it just you three?” Changmin asked before waving a hand in front of her face, which thankfully brought her out of her daze. “That’s a big house you girls live in.”

Victoria blinked her eyes and watched oncoming cars pass by in the neighboring lane.

“It’s my mom’s house,” she said quietly, “she fought hard for it. After she died grandma fought the lawyers for it because mom didn’t leave a Will. I’m not about to give up the house we lived in.”

Changmin peered at her from the corner of his eyes, “My cousin’s a lawyer. Before becoming one himself, his father’s house was put up for sale after his death. They weren’t able to retrieve the rights for it.”

Victoria finally glanced at him through the corner of her eyes, “Bragging about your connections?”

“A suggestion.”

The corner of her lips curved, “If we ever need him, I’ll let you know. Thanks though.”

After half an hour when the moon was high and glowing in the sky they finally reached a home isolated in the deep north end of Incheon. A pitch black darkness surrounded the home in which Victoria assumed was supposed to be a wide vast field. The next house was about half a mile away and Victoria couldn’t see any lights they could have left on.

“Are you sure it’s this place?” Victoria asked doubtful.

“It’s the address on his file,” Changmin told walking down the tiny dirt path that led toward the weak stairs connected to the dreary yellow home.

Victoria eyes locked onto a flickering light from the house half a mile away unaware of the shadows surrounding them. The silhouette of the moon glowed over her before she turned when hearing a creepy whispery kind of laugh.

“Did you hear that?” Victoria asked.

When Changmin didn’t respond she turned to see him trying to search for the doorbell. A sudden pop made her jump in spot and she immediately spun around to look at the car they’d ditched. Feeling creeped out she started to back toward Changmin, her eyes glued to what looked an abandoned car. It didn’t help much that there was barely any light around then she suddenly recalled the flashlight app in her phone. Before she made a reach for it something slid around her calf and pulled flipping her onto her .