[CONTENTID1]

fifty-two: normal central

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[“Does he, um, even have a cell phone?”]

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It was the weirdest assortment of people imaginable—Juyeon never would have thought she’d be bringing along a mousy, possibly erted Exo groupie and an awkward, angry mind controller with her when she needed to sneak back into the normal Wings.

But they were there, and it was awkward, and it was her idea in the first place, and she had to live with it.

”Um, so,” she said, breaking the silence as they trudged through the courtyard. The day was still as beautiful as ever, with hopeful blue skies and tiny little colourful buds fighting their way up through the dirt, and it seemed to make everything even weirder. The day was so perfect, and normal, and unassuming—but everything else was wrong. Way wrong. “Any ideas on why our teachers are all gone?”

Daeri, who had been staring at Baekhyun and Kai open-mouthed in awe, blushed and jumped and fidgeted nervously. “U-um, not really. It’s never happened before, as far as I know. Maybe something bad has happened to them all?”

”Nah,” Jun muttered, glaring at his owl-shaped High Class pin. “This is all probably a big test or something. Just a new way the Academia wants to mess with our heads.”

Juyeon turned to her boys, who both shrugged. “Both seem possible,” Kai said. He seemed unwilling to say any more.

”Right, well. I’m sure there’s an explanation for everything.” They reached the doors to the West Wing, Sunset. It would be the first time since September that Juyeon walked down those halls. She felt oddly nervous.

Sumi peered through the glass of the doors. “I don’t see any students walking around,” she said.

Fear shot through Juyeon’s veins like ice, but she forced herself to breathe. “It’s still class time,” she said, forcing her voice not to waver in any way. She was a leader, a leader, they were counting on her, she couldn't lose her head. “They could all be in class.”

They walked inside, away from the slight chill in the courtyard, the PCs of their group trying very hard not to get distracted by looking around in wonder.  Even Kai, whom Juyeon knew for certain had already been through the halls before, was doing his best not to act like a fish out of water. Juyeon had to try not to look around like a deer in the headlights, either. The spacious, clean hallways, the rows of shiny new lockers, the posters and bulletin boards decorating the walls, were all something that had become almost foreign to her. That was actually a little sad.

”My god,” Kai muttered. “All those times Channie and I snuck into the normal Wings and thought we were such badasses. Now it just feels … creepy. Not a single trace of PC around here. It’s, like … normal central.”

”Isn’t it only creepy now because you guys always ran around at night?” Juyeon pointed out, raising her eyebrow. “I guess it’s easier to pretend it’s just another High Class hallway in the dark.”

”Huh. True.” Kai considered it. “I guess we really weren’t badasses.”

”No ,” Baekhyun said, punching his arm and smirking. “Now shut up, and let’s try and find someone.”

They all paused in the foyer and listened. There was no echo of distant chatter, no slamming of a locker or scrape of chair. Not a single sound, except for the occasional rumble of pipes or the school’s AC/heater system trying to decide which it should use in such a confusing between-season weather day as this.

”It’s too quiet,” Jun muttered, eyes fidgeting left and right. Juyeon realized he was using his powers to try and pick out the presence of minds of anyone nearby. Frightening, but effective. “I don’t sense anything except for us.”

”Do you have a radius on your mind control thing?” Juyeon asked, curious. He gave her a startled look, as if no one had ever asked him questions about his powers before.

”A very small radius, really, compared to other powers. It expands from here to the first room down that hallway, give or take half the classroom and a few feet.” He frowned. “Still, I should at least be getting some … thing on my radar, even a blip of a presence. I can usually sense hints of another mind outside of my radius, like faraway echoes in a cave.”

”That doesn’t sound good,” Baekhyun mumbled. He turned to Kwon Daeri, eyes wide and pleading and probably too much to put on such a small, besotted girl. “Daeri? Do you mind helping us out?”

Daeri blushed as red as any of Juyeon's infamous tomato faces. “O-o-of course!” she stammered, before falling quiet. Juyeon watched in shock as her eyes rolled back into her head and she swayed unstea