>_____<;;

Chorong had just clamped her eyes shut and was definitely sure Victoria would have her hands around her neck when she returned to the car. Her eyes opened when her phone sounded.

“I think there are burglars in the house.”

Chorong’s mouth dropped open before she opened the door and almost tripped while making her way into the police department. She crashed through the front doors and searched from hallway to hallway. Anyone and anything else that she passed quickly zoomed out of her vision before she spotted her sister’s figure. Changmin, who she’d just hurriedly passed, paused and turned to watch her grab Victoria.

“Namjoo’s in trouble,” Chorong breathlessly explained. “I think there are burglars in the house.”

“What?” Victoria’s voice dropped.

“Burglars?” Changmin asked before they could run pass.

The girls looked at him and without any more patience darted toward the doors. After jumping into the car, Victoria sped the rest of the way back home. The front doors were closed and locked as she’d left them. They entered the house unaware of Changmin who’d followed.

“Namjoo!” they shouted before seemingly split up; Chorong upstairs, Victoria downstairs.

Chorong searched all the rooms upstairs and felt her heart race inside her chest before she ran back downstairs.

“See her?” Victoria asked running out to meet her from the kitchen.

“I only saw her phone,” Chorong held out Namjoo’s phone.

“Tables have been dumped over, but I don’t think anything’s been taken,” Victoria summarized.

They turned at the knock at the door to see Changmin.

“Everything ok?” he wondered.

Chorong watched Victoria turned away and decided to speak. “Namjoo’s missing. I think some people broke into our home. What should we do?”

Changmin turned the knob at the door, “You locked the door before you left?”

“Of course,” Victoria replied with a low growl suddenly impatient.

They watched him shake the frame of the door before stating, “The door’s weak. That’s how they must’ve broken in.”

“Forget the door!” Victoria raised her voice. “I need to find my sister, now!”

Changmin glanced at her before promising, “Give me a minute.” He dished out his phone and said, “You might want to look around and see if the ones who took your sister left anything. Hair or if they tracked mud into your house.”

As he turned away to talk on his phone Chorong pulled Victoria away to search the rooms carefully. After a few seconds Victoria tossed a pillow in the sitting room down frustrated.

“I thought home would be the safest place for any of us to be. I can’t believe this is happening,” Victoria groaned upset.

Chorong glanced at her before turning to look out the sitting room entrance. “Namjoo can protect herself. She has fire.”

Victoria bit her lip and turned to her. “What if Namjoo can’t tap into her powers?”

Chorong slightly began to frown.

“She killed the prince and she burned Chanyeol and freaked out,” Victoria recalled fear suddenly pulsating through her. “If Luhan can’t save her and Namjoo can’t save herself…”

“Are you stupid!?” Chorong slightly raised her voice. “What are you…wishing death on Namjoo?” Chorong slightly shoved Victoria. “Get a hold of yourself, seriously.”

Chorong shot her a tiny glare before walking out of the room. 

>_____<;;

Namjoo was slightly shivering. There was a thick hand covering to keep her from screaming, as if she could start calling for help anyway. She was wedged into the backseat between the man in the hate and the one with military styled hair. She didn’t know where they were taking her, but Namjoo knew it definitely wasn’t any good place.

Her eyes raced around for any missing gaps. She couldn’t go with them, she didn’t want to go with them. There had to be a place she could set on fire without being all too suspicious. Namjoo hated how her heart was ramming itself so hard inside her chest. She could hear each beat drumming in her ears and wondered if her perpetrators were listening in on it too.

Fire…she needed to start fire to one of the wheels. Then her eyes shifted themselves to the steering wheel. The engine…she could blow up the engine. Namjoo focused her eyes and concentrated real hard. She’d only set fire using fireballs before and hadn’t tried setting fire with only her mind. Luck had to be on her side this time around.

For a long time she thought about the flames, the heat, and the smoke before she surged forward in her seat when the driver suddenly braked. Before Namjoo’s head lurched forward she spotted someone appearing and disappearing in front of the car before the vehicle swerved to the side. The driver’s side rammed into a tree toward the side of the road seconds before the car behind rear ended them. Again, Namjoo felt herself fly forward.

A loud booming crash echoed outside when the vehicle two cars down rammed into the one that had rear ended them. She heard the men call to each other before realizing the driver had knocked out against the wheel. The hand on slipped away and before the men could try to escape the engine popped loudly.

“Holy ! What’s going on!?”

“The car’s going to explode, get out, get out!”

The hood of the engine popped up and Namjoo cowered in spot. The three men escaped ditching their friend behind the wheel. Namjoo began sliding toward the door, but it was slammed in her face. With her mind in a swirl of panic she reached for the knob to escape, but halted and turned to look at the man behind the wheel. She’d never abandoned anyone before and she knew all too much about how it felt to be left behind. Even as much as she’d hated it, she couldn’t leave without him.

There was a crowd forming around the car and many of them were on their phones or screaming for her to get out. A burst of flame appeared from the hood and the glass cracked from the quick intensity of it.

No…Namjoo hadn’t meant to kill anyone even if they were bad guys. If she had to leave this person behind it would feel like she was killing another innocent. Without further ado she climbed to the front seat.

“Wake up, wake up,” Namjoo grabbed the man with the ponytail and shook him.

He was lying against the wheel in a hopeless state and whether he was injured or bleeding, Namjoo didn’t know.

“Wake up, the car’s going to explode, wake up!” Namjoo continued shaking him.

She continued calling desperate and turned when the flame grew higher. In another last attempt to escape with him she leaned over to unlock his door and tried to push it open, but it was crushed against the tree. There was another loud popping noise before the door behind her opened and someone reached in to grab her around the waist.

“Wait! No!” Namjoo reached her arms out for the man who was now further out of sight. “No!”

Twisting her head around she spotted Luhan.

“What are you doing!? I need to save him!” Namjoo struggled. “Luhan! Let me go!”

“He’s already dead,” he said quietly into her ear before Namjoo paused struck by the words.

And Namjoo saw the fear grasping the prince’s face in her mind as he burned to death in her arms. The engine was her fault…she hadn’t meant to hurt anyone.

“No!” Namjoo screamed and flew out of Luhan’s arms to dart toward the car.

“Get back! It’s gonna explode!” one of the surrounding persons called out and the crowd murmured and gasped in fear.

Every one of them quickly backed up while Namjoo neared it. Too busy saving their lives no one saw Luhan disappear from spot to another. Namjoo was about 3 yards away from the car before Luhan appeared in front of her and tackled her to the ground just as the car shot up into crackling flames. As Namjoo’s back crashed to the ground the vehicle went up in bright red flames and the man lying against the wheel disappeared in the midst of it. The murderous flames burned her eyes as Luhan crawled off her and grabbed onto her arm to make sure they were away at a safe distance.

“No…” Namjoo wept as he pressed her head against his shoulder to keep the taunting sight out of her eyes.

In the distance Namjoo could hear police cars and an ambulance roaring.

>_____<;;

Victoria and Chorong were impatiently pacing back and forth lost in their own worlds.

“Hey,” Changmin poked his head into the kitchen, “I just got a call. There’s been an accident near the highway. Namjoo’s with them.”

“Oh thank god!” Victoria let out a breath of relief and shot to her feet.

“Thank you,” Chorong thanked him.

The highway was flooded with news reporters and policemen when Chorong and Victoria arrived on site. There was a long black bag lying on the ground near the car that was now a grime of black color. Its hood was popped up and had stayed up after they extinguished the fire. Victoria and Chorong were allowed on site when Changmin appeared and they walked around curiously before spotting Namjoo sitting at the back of an ambulance with Luhan.

“Namjoo!” the two shouted before running toward her.

Namjoo looked up just in time before her sisters group hugged her trapping her head between their shoulders.

“Oh my god, are you ok? You’re not hurt?” Victoria asked.

“Did they do anything to you?” Chorong questioned.

Namjoo gripped onto their shirts and her eyes crossed the sidewalk to the burnt car before she looked back at them.

In a very soft voice she said, “I think I killed him.”

Victoria’s jaw dropped open before she turned upon Changmin’s approach. Rubbing Namjoo’s back she comforted, “It’s ok.”

“How’s it going over here?” Changmin asked.

“Good,” Chorong piped up. “Namjoo’s free to leave, right?”

Changmin nodded, “Yes, she’s free to go.”

Taking a hold of Namjoo’s arm Victoria helped her up and led her to the car. On the drive back home Namjoo wept in the backseat beside Chorong.

“I just wanted to stop the car by burning the engine. I didn’t mean for it to blow up.”

“It’s ok. It’s not your fault,” Chorong hugged her and patted her shoulder. “You were just protecting yourself.”

Namjoo shook her head, “I killed him, Chorong. You don’t understand. I could’ve saved him, but I didn’t. I hate my powers.”

While listening to Namjoo Victoria felt her eyes dart toward Luhan, who’d taken the front seat with her. His quietly sad eyes were on the road in front and he chose not to say anything. He was last to alight from the car when they arrived home.

“Can I ask you a question?” Victoria asked before they walked through the front door.

Luhan paused and looked at her.

“Did…Namjoo really kill him?”

Luhan lowered his eyes. There was something really sad about them that made Victoria’s heart go out for him. Maybe this was what Chorong felt when she looked at him, Victoria thought.

“I did,” Luhan answered.

Victoria pressed her lips together. There wasn’t anything she could say to refute him. Those guys had taken Namjoo and she understood he’d never let anything bad happen to her sister. Whatever it was, those guys were the first to screw up. They deserved it for messing with her family. Victoria felt awful, but it was honestly what she believed.

“You did it for Namjoo,” Victoria said, “I hope you don’t feel bad too. Why don’t you go be with her for a while?”

Luhan glanced at her once more before entering the house.

When Victoria walked into the house she first started into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. After digging out some ingredients for dinner she leaned against the counter to let herself float into thought. A second later Chorong walked in.

“Had a feeling you’d be here,” she said sitting at the table.

“The days in this house never get boring, do they?” Victoria asked. “There’s always something going on, whether supernatural or not.”

Chorong let out a slight laugh before leaning against the table. “You looked like a worried mother just a few minutes ago.”

“Yea? Was it an interesting watch?” Victoria turned around to wash the vegetables she had out.

“Just…I’ve never seen you that worried before. Over anyone…or over any of us.”

Victoria slightly stopped what she was doing and turned to Chorong. “Aren’t we meant to make amends now that we’re back here?”

Chorong only pressed her lips together and formed a smile with them.

“Luhan said he did it,” Victoria told.

“Did what?”

“That he killed him.”

Silence zoomed into the air before Victoria turned to her sister.

“I think he did the right thing,” Victoria stated. “If anyone ever tries to hurt you or Namjoo, I’d also do it.”

Chorong stared at Victoria appalled by what she was hearing.

“We’re going after mom’s killer,” Victoria continued. “And I’m not stopping until I get my hands around his throat.”

>_____<;;

Luhan found Namjoo in her grandma’s bedroom. She was sitting on the ground with a photo album opened in front of her, but it didn’t look like she was looking through it. He quietly made his way over and sat beside her. A minute of silence passed by before Namjoo shifted to face him.

“I had these dreams before the Dream Weaver appeared,” Namjoo spoke. “And I saw how I was being chased and tortured, and I didn’t know why. Did I do something wrong? Something so bad that couldn’t be forgiven? Then I had this other dream that gave me the answer. I killed a prince because he tried to hurt me.” She paused. “So this…is how wrong it feels after doing the deed.”

Painful memories caused Luhan’s face to constrict and he felt his heart race fiercely while he listened to her talk about what he remembered so well.

“No…you didn’t do anything wrong,” he shook his head panicked before suddenly reaching out to hug her. Twining his fingers into hers he whispered, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Namjoo felt her voice catch itself in again. Luhan had practically buried his face into her hair shutting his eyes for the extreme comfort of it. Everything raced through his memory horridly and it suddenly felt like he was reliving the nightmare again.  

“It was me. I did it.” he admitted. “You never did anything wrong, but me. I’m sorry.”

“Lu…han?” Namjoo asked after a second.

“Don’t dwell over it, please.”

Namjoo blinked her eyes dumbfounded. “Oh…ok.”

And he remembered finding her that day; her clothes torn and the tears of fear and guilt gushing down her face as if she’d just lived a horror movie. Luhan remembered how his heart had ached, how sorry he’d felt for returning late that day. Namjoo had cried for a long time in his arms. For a few days she’d been unable to sleep so he stayed up to chat with her and when their home was attacked, they fled.

But they weren’t reliving that anymore. This time around it was he who’d done it. But if there were to be any consequences, he’d deal with it all on his own. Namjoo wouldn’t have to be brought into it.

The panic and fear slowly died away and he had to make sure Namjoo was still all right before he began to release her. When he began to pull his hand away from hers he felt Namjoo tighten her fingers around his to stop him. Their faces met and he felt Namjoo’s curious eyes run over him again and again.

“Luhan, who are you?” she asked. “Why…did you act like that earlier? What do you know?”

If he gave her ‘Nothing’ as an answer, she’d never let him off. He’d done it before and Namjoo never stopped asking. He felt his feelings pull him forward, but his mind told him he shouldn’t. Luhan had promised himself not to go over the line, but being so close to her made it so difficult to hold back.

If this lifetime belonged to him, he would give it his all. If he had his wishes granted, he’d wish for this lifetime to be his. If just once, he’d live it to the fullest. He wouldn’t waste a second, he really wouldn’t. If just…this lifetime belonged to him.

This sense of familiarity sunk into him when he lowered his lids and inched nearer. Just once, he prayed to the angels, let him relive a moment again. And slowly reaching his hand up he touched her face with his fingers before kissing her. 

***Yes, it was Luhan who appeared in front of the car and vanished. 

***Another step closer to sisterhood for the girls as Vic's instinct to become more protective comes to the surface. 

***And Vic is even more determined now to find their mother's killer!

***Wheee for HanJoo who will be taking a major portion of the story in a few chapters. Bad fortune falls on Namjoo and her sisters' lives will also become affected by it.