The boys all scattered once more, moving to do different things, except for Luhan who opted to stay with me. He had asked me how good I was in AP Economics, and after I'd told him that I made solid A's in that class, he claimed he had some things he wanted to ask me about. He led me upstairs and through the door to the room next the guest room I was staying in. It was his bedroom, and when I walked in, I was a little surprised by the decor.

 

The walls were a dark, rich shade of blue, with completely black carpet. The ceiling was painted to mimic the Milky Way galaxy, and the artist had clearly paid stark attention to where each solar system and star was supposed to be because it looked extremely accurate.

 

"Luhan, who painted this?" I asked, my head tilted backwards to look at it. I suddenly realized that someone would have had to stand on a stool or step-ladder the entire time since it was painted directly onto the ceiling.

 

When he didn't answer, I looked at him and asked, "Did you paint this?"

 

He glanced at me and grinned sheepishly, nodding shyly; clearly he was very modest about the mural. My point was only proven further when he looked down and said, "Yeah, but it's not that good anyway. No big deal."

 

I looked at him, shocked, and said, "Are you kidding me? It's beautiful, and it's so detailed! It's obvious you put a huge amount of work into it." I glanced up at it again and said softly, "I can't believe you're not in my drawing and painting class."

 

"Hm?" Luhan said, not catching my comment.

 

"I said that I can't believe you're not in my drawing and painting class. That blows my mind."

 

"I mean, I'm in the introductory art class," he replied, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

 

"Luhan, no one who is this talented should have to take an intro art class," I said, walking over to where he stood next to his desk.

 

"It's fine, really," he said, genuinely smiling at me. "I'll take the more advanced class next semester. But you didn't tell me you were in that class! You're into art?"

 

"Um, yeah," I said, suddenly embarrassed as I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I really enjoy drawing what I see, so I pretty much focus on that instead of painting. But it's still fun for me."

 

"You do realize you'll have to show me some of your work now, right?" he said, grinning again, the comment more of a statement than a question.

 

"Yeah, alright, alright," I said, turning away from him back toward the door just in time to see Kris turning away from where he had been watching at the doorway. He immediately stepped away, and I heard him mutter some curse word before pacing down the hallway.

 

Of course, my anger rising in an instant, I began to cross the room and follow him. As soon as I did, Luhan turned and said, "Elle, where are you--"

 

"I'll be back in a minute," I replied, cutting him off as I turned down the hallway.

 

I saw Kris a few feet from his door, and it was clear that he was about to retreat into the safety of his room, but I had no intention of allowing him to get away that easily.

 

"Kris, what the hell!" I yelled, walking as quickly as my legs would allow me, and I reached the door just as it shut. For some reason, I noticed, he didn't lock it, so I grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open without a moment of consideration, and I slammed it shut behind me as soon as I was over the threshold.

 

"What the hell is your problem?!" I yelled again, my hands clenched into fists.

 

"What the hell! What are you doing in my room?!" he spat back as he turned to face me, his expression a mixture of anger and confusion. "Get out!"

 

"See, that's the thing. I'm not one of your pack members; you can't just order me around and expect me to do whatever you want me to! Including leaving you to your stupid sulking!"

 

He grabbed his hair and inhaled sharply through his nose before saying, "You really want to know what my problem is? You! You are my problem! I've never come across anyone like you, so I have absolutely no idea how to handle or deal with you!"

 

"What are you talking about?! Why do you have to know how to handle me? And how could I possibly be that different from any person you've met?!" My hands were clenched even tighter at that point, my fingernails digging into my palms.

 

"You just-- you really have no idea!" He turned his back to me, his fingers grabbing at his hair as he pulled at it in frustration. "You're impossible!"

 

"If I'm so impossible, then why are you trying so hard to understand me? Except the next minute, you don't want anything to do with me! You're the one who doesn't make any sense!"

 

He didn't respond for a few moments so with an irritated huff, I my heel, yanked the door open, and stormed out of his room.

 

As soon as I was in the hallway, I knew I needed some fresh air, so I pounded down the stairs and out the back door. I passed Xiumin and Tao on the way, but I didn't give them a chance to ask where I was going or what all the yelling had been about. Once outside, I made my way across the yard and into the woods, the trees quickly blocking out my view of the house when I glanced over my shoulder. I wasn't sure if anyone was concerned enough to follow me, but I also didn't care; if they needed to find me, their wolf abilities would allow them to do so.

 

Finally, I found a soft patch of grass under a hardwood tree and immediately sat down without giving it a second thought. I leaned back against the trunk of the tree and closed my eyes, releasing a breath of air I didn't realize I had been holding in.

 

Suddenly, an image appeared in the darkness of my shut eyes, something I had grown all too used to seeing, though only ever in my dreams in the past. It was the red wolf, with its gleaming teeth and blood-spattered fur, and it was dashing toward me at an incredible rate. Terrified, I tried to open my eyes again, to ban the image from my sight, but I found that I was unable to do so. Something was holding my eyelids shut tight, and I quickly became so desperate that I clawed at my eyelids with my fingernails. I felt the pain of the scratches, but it was in vain; the wolf was still there, and there was nothing I could do.

 

When it reached me, it was almost like the creature was physically present as it opened it's jaws and bit down, first on my leg, then moving to my arm. The pain was excruciating, but even as I screamed, the sound seemed to echo inside of my head, and I knew that I wasn't actually physically making any noise. But the wolf continued to rip at my flesh, my screams of agony growing louder inside of my head until my throat went numb and I could make no more sounds. I tried to fight at first, but by that point, I could do nothing but lay on the ground as the wolf ripped and tore at whatever its teeth could reach, the pain slowly becoming a constant rather than a shock.

 

After a time, it stopped worrying at my flesh, and a voice seemed to echo around in my mind as I watched the wolf through hazy eyes.

 

"It will be soon. Your turn is very soon."

 

I had no idea what the words meant, and I didn't have any time to ponder them before I slipped into full unconsciousness.

 

~

 

My eyelids fluttered open after what felt like only a few moments, but somehow, I knew much more time than that had passed. As my vision cleared, I found a canopy of leaves above me, and I began to understand that I was under the same tree that I had sat down under. As I thought about it, the visions, the pain, suddenly came back to me, and I jerked up into a sitting position to check my wounds.

 

But there weren't any. My body was just as unharmed as it had been when I had sat down, and there wasn't a single tear in my clothes. Luhan's sweater was in one piece, and Kris's jacket was still draped over my arms. Then, glancing to the side, I was startled by the sight I was met with.

 

"Luhan!" I gasped, grabbing at my chest as I was soon trying to steady my breathing.

 

"Elle, what happened?" he asked, his tone full of worry and concern creasing his brow.

 

"I-I don't know," I managed to choke out, the words nearly getting caught in my throat. I could feel my body shaking, especially my hands, and I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, though it did little good.

 

"I heard you... s-screaming," Luhan said, clearly as shocked and scared as I felt. "I-I rushed to find you, but I was so worried. I though something-"

 

He broke his sentence off there, unable to finish it, though I knew what he meant without needing him to actually say it.

 

"The v-vision," I said. "It came back. I don't-- don't know why, but I couldn't wake myself up. It was like it was... actually attacking me." I shuddered at the recent memory, desperately trying to push the image of the wolf's gleaming eyes from my mind.

 

"Well, we should, uh, get you back to the house," Luhan said, standing up. Then, instead of offering a hand to help me to my feet, his slipped his arms under my legs and around my back and picked me up himself.

 

"W-what are you...?" I asked, my sentence trailing off since I was still having trouble relaying complete thoughts with coherent words.

 

"This is what friends do, isn't it?"