Part 3: Chapter 23

“Now what?” Baekhyun asked.  He sat at the kitchen table, chin in his hand, a frown on his face.  “Are we just going to wait for Ryehyun to come back?  If he comes back,” he added in a loud whisper. 

“Yes, Baekhyun,” Kai said, rubbing his forehead.  “We’re going to wait.”

“I’m going back to bed then,” he said and stood.  “Wake me when he gets here.”  Everyone watched as he kicked off his shoes by Luhan’s bed and then proceeded to climb under the covers and, for all intents and purposes, he fell asleep. 

“You want to call in the other guys?” Lay asked Kai.

Kai sighed.  Still rubbing his forehead, he joined Sohee and Xiumin at the table.  Luhan stood behind them, arms folded over his chest, lost in thought.  Lay and Kyungsoo leaned against the kitchen counter, Chanyeol sat on the floor, his back to the bathroom door. 

“I don’t think everyone will fit in here,” Kai said.  But his mind raced with the options.  He didn’t really want to wake everyone else in the middle of the night, but knew they’d hate to miss out on the action.  They really couldn’t fit all of them and Ryehyun’s friends in Luhan’s apartment, but he wanted allies to outnumber the questionable when Sohee was involved. 

“Call them in,” Kai said, his voice soft in the quiet of the room.  “They can man the gate and let us know when Ryehyun arrives.  Give us a head’s up if anyone followed them.”

Lay nodded and headed outside to make the call.  Kyungsoo and Xiumin went with him.  Chanyeol stood and moved into the bedroom with Baekhyun, falling into the armchair by the window, with his long legs hanging over the side.

Alone in the kitchen, Kai looked first at Sohee then at Luhan.

“Are you okay, Sohee?” Kai asked quietly. 

Sohee looked up and gave him a tired smile.  “I’m okay,” she said.  “Just trying to process everything that’s happening.  I knew I was getting stronger, but I’m not sure I know what I just did.”

“We’ll figure exactly what being a shaman means, Sohee, I promise,” Kai said, taking her hand in his. 

“What made you think you were getting stronger?” Luhan asked.

“My dreams,” Sohee said.  “While you guys were gone, they’ve been getting clearer.  Fragments are getting through now, things I can’t understand.  Images, of a society so different from anything I’ve ever known.  I think some of it’s the future.  I see the two of you a lot, and the other guys.  But I think I’m seeing the past too.”

“Anything scary?” Luhan asked.  “Like when you first met me?”

Sohee looked at him.  She had forgotten that she had told him about the bad dreams she had had after meeting him on the roof of the warehouse.  That seemed like so long ago, but it had only been the month before.  She nodded in response to his question. 

Luhan moved to sit at the table.  “Tell us.”

“There’s a solar eclipse coming,” she said.  “And with it a darkness more absolute than just the moon blocking out the sun.  I think this has happened before.  And it didn’t end well.  But there’s a possibility for something great to come from it.  A new society for people like you guys.  A sanctuary for them to live and learn.  And I think the two of you are meant to lead it.”

Kai and Luhan’s gazes locked from across the table. 

Following the darkness led the Old Man to a run-down warehouse on the outskirts of town.  From the outside, the warehouse looked empty and abandoned.  But the Old Man could feel the life inside.  This close, he could feel the pain of the Turned wolves. 

With a heavy heart, the Old Man opened the outer door and made his way down the dark hallway.  Calling on his wolf, his eyes glowed red, and helped him see in the shadows.  The darkness and the suffering he felt came from the same source, and as he drew nearer the sensation peaked. 

He stopped in front of a set of steel doors.  He stood there, leaning on his cane for a moment, before lifting a wrinkled hand to knock.  The sound echoed down the empty hallways.  Without waiting for a reply, he pushed open the door.  It gave way easily, but scratched grat