Chohee’s POV

    I yawned and ran my hands through my curls trying to get them to behave. Looking around I saw varying states of disarray. We had gathered in the attic after receiving calls and text messages stating that Minki had started to move.

    “Taekwoon was right to call everyone here.” Hakyeon paced. “I don’t want anyone leaving alone, or without telling someone where they are. Things are going to get dangerous so we need to be smart.”

    Everyone nodded sleepily. “I hate to point this out, but where are we all going to sleep? And some of us have class tomorrow.” Part of Kyungsoon’s question was distorted by a yawn.

    “Personally I’d rather sleep in the attic.” I ran my hand across the ground spouting a bright red poppy. I tucked it behind Jaehwan’s ear. Sleepily he opened his eyes and grinned at me.

    “Ok, the where does everyone want to sleep?”

    Hakyeon didn’t get a verbal reply. Wonsik stood, scooped a sleeping Miyoung into his arms and set her in the hammock before clumsily climbing in as well. A few moments later we could hear his snores.

    Hakyeon threw his hands up exasperated. “Fine, just everyone sleep somewhere.” He went to the storage closet at the entrance of the attic, and pulled out several blankets. “I figured something like this might happen, so they are all freshly washed. Goodnight.” He picked up one of the blankets for himself and went into the studio.

    I pulled out a blanket and spread it out beneath one of the trees, and placed another blanket over it. I laid down facing the tree and began to drift to sleep. I felt Jaehwan lay down next to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. He gently brushed my hair behind my ear and kissed my cheek, whispering, “goodnight Chohee. I love you.”

    My breath caught. I knew we were technically soulmates according to how the whole shifter thing worked, but it was the first time he had said those three words. My heart pounded, and I felt as though it would jump out of my chest. I took a deep breath and turned to face him. His eyes snapped open, and he looked very worried. When he opened his mouth to speak I covered it with a single finger, then quickly replaced it with my lips. As I pulled back I whispered my reply. “I love you too.”

    He pulled me tight to his chest and that is how we fell asleep.

Haewon’s POV

    I retrieved a set of blankets and went into the studio. Hakyeon was dancing angrily to loud music. His movements were much more stiff than usual. I knew he knew I was there, but was choosing to ignore me. I let him finish the song and spread out the blankets at a safe distance.

When the song ended I turned off the player. “You need to sleep too.”

He took a long drink of water and wiped angrily at his sweat soaked neck with the back of his hand. “What I need, is to figure out a way to keep 11 people safe. I have no clue what I am doing, and it seems like none of them are willing to try to help.” He set the water bottle down with a thud.

I approached him and gently placed my hand on his shoulder. “I am trying to help you, and so is everyone else. We are all a little clueless right now, and trying our best.”

Hakyeon turned away from my touch and stared into the mirror. “We have to figure what ritual you were performing, and why. From what Minji said, there are more hunters in town than just Minki. They currently have the advantage of knowing us.” He timidly let his eyes meet mine in the mirror. “What if our best isn’t enough.”

His words stung. I couldn’t truthfully say that everything would be ok, or that everyone would come out alive. I told him the only one thing that I could be sure of. “Both you and I will do whatever it takes to resolve this peacefully. The kids in that room don’t need to see bloodshed.”

He turned to me angrily. “You don’t think I know that?” He snatched up the water bottle. “I’ll sleep, but tomorrow we have a lot to figure out.”  

He stormed out of the studio leaving me alone. I felt an overwhelming sadness. I didn’t know if I had said something to make him angry with me, or if he was just in a bad mood. I began to doubt that we were really meant to be together as he had first suggested.

These thoughts continued to run through my head as I curled up on the blankets, on the floor of the studio. I tried to look at it from an objective viewpoint, but couldn’t stop the tears that began to fall.

Minki’s POV

    When I awoke the next day Hyunsoon was still sitting at the table sorting through books and note books. She had a large mug of coffee next to her and glasses perched high on her nose. “I think I’ve got a plan.” She didn’t look up from the notebook she was currently writing in. “We need their address. Once we have the address, you can call out the Humans and that seer. When they are out of the house, I’ll call in some help and we can get them all at once.”

    Hyunsoon looked up at me and pulled of her glasses. “We may need to detain the girls for a few days. I’ll try to procure a place to keep them today. Do you think you can get their address?”

    I nodded, “I’ll call Chohee and try to get her to meet me for lunch. If she doesn’t agree, I can bump into Kyungsoon at the campus.”

    I met with both Kyungsoon and Chohee around noon. Chohee smiled warmly, but Kyungsoon looked more reserved.

    “I need your help.” They both gave me a cautious look. “I know you know that I’m a hunter. One of my colleagues knows about the shifters and vampires in this town. We need to protect them, or they will be destroyed.”

    Kyungsoon looked skeptical. “Why do you want to help them? And why would you need our help. There isn’t really anything that we could even do to help you.”

    “They need to separate you from the shifters. They want me to lead you two and Minji away so that they can terminate the others.” I explained. “I don’t believe they have done anything wrong, and feel it’s not write to kill someone for a crime that they may never commit.”

    Chohee nodded in understanding. “So if you are supposed to be leading us away, what’s to say that they aren’t there right now?”

    “They don’t have the address yet. She thinks that I’m getting it from you now.”

    “I really want to trust you. What do you want us to do?” Chohee leaned forward in her seat.

    I pulled out my notebook and set it on the table. I flipped through it until I landed on the page I was looking for. On the page was a drawing of an altar in the middle of a stone circle. “This is a ritual to protect the town. It sort of cast a curse across the town. It protects all of the humans. If this is cast, it’ll grant any supernatural beings in the town with immunity with hunters.”

    Kyungsoon narrowed her eyes, “What’s the catch?”

    I held up my hands in defense, “No catch really. They can’t harm a human within the town limits or they will die. Once they leave the town, they are also fair game for any hunters.”

    Chohee grinned and elbowed Kyungsoon raising her eyebrows. “So Minki, How is this done exactly?”

    I turned a page in my notebook and ripped it out. “First you should find a stone circle near town. You will need at least 5 people to cast the spell. This is a list of herbs you will want to eat that night before.” I quickly wrote them down on the paper and handed it to Chohee with the pin. I nodded, instructing her to take notes.

    “You will need to do this while the sun is at the highest. Each stone in the circle will need blood of someone who ate the herbs. On an altar you will need to place a lock of human hair, and the draw this symbol in blood that is willing given by a hunter.”

    I took the pen and paper back and drew a pentagram. Above each point I drew a symbol, with another symbol in the center. “Once that has been done the town will be safe.”

    “Ok and once this is done, how do we get your friend to call off this crazy witch hunt?” Kyungsoon seemed much less skeptical now.

    “It would be easiest to lead her there once the spell is finalized. Otherwise there is a ritual that we can perform to test if the spell is in place.” I shrugged, “Unfortunately my friend is more of an action first, talk later kind of person.”

    “I think I’ve got it.” Chohee folded the paper and stuck it in the pocket of her jeans. “Thanks for the help. When are you supposed to call us out? Should this be done before or after?”

    “Well I can make plans to call you out on Friday. Hyunsoon wants to detain you guys, so it’s likely that Saturday is when this will need to be done. She is going to call in other hunter’s as well.”

    “Friday? As in tomorrow?” Kyungsoon asked in disbelief.

    I nodded. “She really doesn’t like to waist time. The hardest part will be getting you guys out without me being suspected.”

    Chohee chucked. “Leave that to me. I promise I won’t seriously injure anyone.” I looked at her confused and she laughed. “I’m a little harder to pinpoint than a shifter or vampire.”

    Chohee looked around and the pointed at the glass of water in front of her. I stared open mouthed as a small ball of water rose from the cup and over to . “I’m a sage. There is very little that can keep me in one place.” She winked at me, before grabbing her bag and leaving with Kyungsoon.