Suho

“Kris? I’m borrowing your towel okay.”

I emerged from the steamy bathroom with his towel wrapped around his waist, rubbing my roommate’s towel through my hair.

“Kris?” I got no reply. I padded over to my bed and checked my phone. No missed calls. He isn’t in the kitchen either, but everything seems to be in order. Before I start to worry, I check the last place he could be.

I walk onto the balcony and look down on the street below us. The apartment is on the fifth floor, also the tallest floor, and overlooks a double-laned street of Seoul. People crowd the footpath with phones held up to their ears, and every twenty seconds of silence without a car horn is a blessing. Scanning the tops of heads would take forever to find Kris, but luckily I’m not looking for Kris on the ground.

The clouds are fluffy white but cover most of the sky, blocking out the sun completely. I can see barely any blue sky above, but I see zero signs of the dark grey clouds that signify rain. I’m slightly disappointed, I really like the rain. In the rain, I feel safer, I feel like I can see all around me without even opening my eyes.

I scan the skies for any signs of Kris, but it’s too cloudy. It isn’t the first time that Kris has gone off for a joy flight amongst the clouds. Of course he wouldn’t have his phone on him; he could come back saturated from the clouds.

Feeling the slight pangs of hunger, I walk into the kitchen, closing the balcony doors behind me. I take out two packets of instant ramen and start to heat up the kettle; one for me and one for Kris when he gets back. I quickly get changed into a pair of loose jeans and a long sleeved plain shirt, racing against the water boiling. The electronic kettle beeps in readiness behind me as I renter the kitchen.

Twisting my hand over my shoulder and signalling to the kettle, I feel my mind locate the water and click into sync. Raising my fingers with the utmost care, I sense the bubbling liquid float into the air, leaving hints of wet steam on the roof. Slowly, not wanting to drip boiling water anywhere, I split the water into two balls and float them over to the bowls of ramen.

There’s a hurried pounding fist knocking on the door.

“Coming! Give me a sec” I scrunch up my face in concentration as the first ball of water lands softly in the ramen, the cake of noodles rising up like it is taking breath.

“SUHO! KRIS! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” The scream from the door snaps my concentration and the second ball of boiling water lands on my forearm. I scream in turn as the boiling water leaves a red blistering burn on my arm.

Holding my pulsing red arm with my good hand and slipping on the wet floor, I reach the door and yank it open, fire in my eyes.

“Whatever problem you have, you could at least have the patience to-“

My eyes are drawn down as I see a dishevelled, exhausted Yixing sitting on the floor, clutching a small girl in a white blood splattered dress. Luhan is the one who was screeching through the door, red scratches lining his face, arms, and his white shirt as ripped and bloodied as Yixing’s.

“Luhan? Is she… dead?” I asked, motioning towards the girl. Luhan pushed past me, looking into the living room and kitchen with wide, scared eyes and I caught the heavy waft of sweat and blood.

“Yixing can help her. Is it safe here? Where’s Kris?”

I help carry the girl into the living room and set her down onto the couch. Yixing mutters a quick thankyou and something inaudible which ended with ‘healing’ under a short breath. He lays his hands on her stomach and head, green light softly glowing under his fingertips. The girl’s face, scrunched up in pain loses its wrinkles as Yixing’s numbing healing smoothes out her frown until she is in a peaceful, sleeping state.

“Kris is… he’s out. Who is she? And what are you doing here?”

“We’re being chased. This girl, she needs help. I don’t know why, I just got home in time to drive off the attackers. They were horrible. All black. Not the clothes, but the skin. Their eyes were black, black teeth, and long claws, and I swear their skin is made from something else, like black putty. Yixing hasn’t said much, couldn’t say much, he just started healing this girl, I don’t even know why she was at our place or why she is so important, but he can barely talk, he’s been using all his energy on this girl. I came to you guys because we needed to run somewhere and we need protection. Those, those things will be back sometime. They were pretty dead set against killing this girl, or taking her, I’m not too sure.”

I sat down and listened, giving as much attention as possible while being distracted by Yixing and the girl on the couch beside me.

“You rest up, have a drink. Do you want some ramen?”

I walk to the kitchen and pick up the cooked ramen. I turn around and I’m left face to face with a heavy lidded, exhausted Yixing.

“Uh… Is the girl okay?”

Yixing nodded and took the ramen from my hands and started shovelling it into his mouth, using his fingers as utensils. I pour some water out of the sink into a large cup and hand it to him.

“Here, take slow sips. You must have lost a lot of energy.” Yixing continues eating and drinking at the same time. I pour another glass of water, this time letting the cool tap water run over my new burn.

“Is this recent?” Yixing points towards my new burn on my arm, his words formed around the large mouthfuls of noodles.

“Uh, yeah, I was practising not looking at the water while I was making the ramen and, I was distracted.”

With a soft hand, Yixing takes my arm and the familiar green glowing light envelops the burn. In about 20 seconds the stinging subsides and the burn fades.

“I need to tell you both something.” Yixing says, leading me back into the living room, still holding my arm.

Luhan is clutching a cup of water between his two hands like I’d seen Kris do many times with a hot cup of coffee in the morning. He is peering over the girl, taking in every scratch, wrinkle and bruise.

The girl is about seven years of age, with dark hair that would normally reach down to her lower back. Currently, her hair is sprawled over my couch cushion like hair swaying underwater, and her fringe is plastered into her forehead, stuck down into a patch of blood. Where skin is showing, you can see scratches and bruises, like she was attacked by a swarm of cats and pushed in front of a car. She is wearing one of those white dresses which could be seen as a very fancy nightgown that reaches the knees, but it is dotted with blood stains and ripped in many places. A shoulder strap is detached completely, the string hanging from the of the dress.

“Is she going to be okay?” Luhan asked, checking a clear patch of her neck free from bruising for a pulse.

“I healed her to the point where she is safe enough for me to take breaks. She’s just asleep now, and probably will be for quite some time. It might… it might actually be a coma.”

“Yeah, but, who is she?” Luhan

“Not who, but what,” Yixing says, shovelling more ramen into his cheeks until they puff out like a chipmunks. “Suho, you have to call the other two. In fact, we need to find the other six as well.”

“The other six? We don’t even know how old they are!” Luhan exclaims “They might not even have powers yet! We don’t know who or where they are! What could possibly be so important that we need to rush their development?”

“Because this girl, she isn’t a girl at all. Well, she is a girl, but she is more. She is the tree. The Tree Of Life.”