You and Sehun are standing in front of Siwon’s house. Again. But this time you know that he’s inside, and you know that he’ll open up, because he still has some explaining to do.

He does open the door to you, but he looks done the second he sees who it is.

“I was taking a nap,” he informs.

“You should be talking to us,” you shoot back, serious. “Can we come in?”

“No.”

And with this, he literally shuts the door. Right in front of your noses. You and Sehun are staring, frozen in place.

“Are you ing serious?!” Sehun screams after a few seconds of silence.

“Don’t even try to punch through the wall!” they hear from inside the house.

“Siwon!” Sehun calls angrily, banging at the door. “Open up!”

You’re standing there, staring in disbelief.

Why doesn’t he want to open up? What is he actually hiding from all of you? And why is he doing that?

“Siwon!” Sehun calls again. He looks over his shoulder. “You’re just gonna stand there?”

You slowly look up at him. He looks riled up.

“We can’t force him to talk to us,” you say weakly.

Sehun makes a face at you. It’s one of disbelief and annoyance. He turns back to the door, bangs his clenched fist on it a few more times. He calls out Siwon’s name for the third time. “Do you know who Zinn is?!” he asks. “We thought Saburo and him might be related, if Saburo went all that way to resurrect him!” he explains.

Silence.

Sehun tries again.

“Also, just fyi, Father’s real name is apparently Sung. And he has powers similar to Saburo’s. Rings a bell?!”

You’re met with a wall of silence again. Sehun looks like he’s ready to actually punch through that door after all. You feel yourself boiling with anger, but also disappointment. You feel hurt.

You thought you and Siwon trusted each other.

“Come on,” you say loudly. “This is a waste of time.”

Sehun looks at you like you’ve gone crazy, but you miss that glance, because you’re already turning on your heels and walking to the car. Sehun stutters, hesitates, once again bangs at Siwon’s door (just for the sake of it) and follows you, spreading his arms out in disbelief.

“That’s all?” he asks, trotting after you. “You’re not gonna ask him anything else? Demand answers?”

“If he doesn’t want to tell us, he won’t,” you bite out. You stop in front of the gate that leads to Siwon’s yard, and turn to look Sehun in the eye. “It’s Siwon we’re talking about. I’ve known him my whole life and I don’t know about him. He’s not someone who just opens up about stuff, and I can’t force him to tell me anything.”

“Why not?” Sehun asks, reaching the gate and stopping right in front of you, disbelief all over his face. “He’s your friend, I get it—“

“He’s our friend,” you cut in.

Sehun makes a face, exhales through his nose. “Just because it’s obviously a delicate topic for him doesn’t mean he shouldn’t tell us. He knows something, Dal.”

“When has his judgment failed us?” you ask, your voice harsh. “Tell me. Give me an example.”

He rolls his eyes in exasperation, but doesn’t come up with an answer.

“Hm?” you ask. Sehun looks at you, shaking his head a little. “See? Never. Which means that if the information he has was essential for the good of our pack, or for the good of this city, he’d tell us.”

“He said he’d tell us,” Sehun reminds you. “Said we have something important to talk about.”

“Then maybe he changed his mind,” you shoot. “You said you loved Sulli, but looks like you’ve changed your mind about it, too!”

Sehun freezes, his eyes almost piercing through your skull with how intense they suddenly get. He clenches his jaw, and you see his eye twitching in anger. You turn on your heels again, heading for the car.

“You need sleep,” Sehun informs you.

“And you need to chill,” you reply.

“Me? I need to chill?”

“If you don’t trust Siwon’s judgment, trust mine, and stop being such a !” you shoot at him, looking over your shoulder. You pull your car keys out of your pocket and you shake them angrily.

“Don’t you wonder why he got hurt before? When Father dropped him off and he was all bruised and stuff? What if he fought Saburo? Or that Zinn spirit?”

You exhale through your nose.

“I told you, I’m not going to force him to talk,” you say through gritted teeth. “And I’m just as annoyed with him as you are.”

You reach your car and jump in. You can feel anger bubbling under your skin, and that mixed with adrenaline, feeling on edge and general anxiousness is not very nice. You start the engine just as Sehun jumps into the car.

“If we end up losing a fight because Siwon hid something from us—“ he starts, but he gets cut off when your radio suddenly blasts very loud music. You both cringe, and you turn the volume down. “What the hell.”

“It’s an old car,” you explain. “Listen.” You place your hands on the steering wheel, but you don’t drive yet. You look at Sehun, and he looks at you, his face post-cringing. “I was gonna keep my mouth shut about this thing—“

“Oh my God,” he grumbles, looking out his window. “Please don’t.”

“No,” you say, shaking your head at him. You turn a little in your seat to see him better. “I’m in a rebel mood today, and I’m angry, so here goes: you’re being unfair to Sulli, and you’re being unfair to Irene.”

He lets out another grumble, looking like a fuming kid.

“Frankly, I’d say you’re acting like a total ,” you continue. That gets you a glare, and he opens his mouth to speak up. “But I won’t. And don’t interrupt me.” He clicks it shut. “From my point of view, it looks like you’re playing them both. I know that it’s not the case, but it still looks like it. You love Sulli, but you gave up on her. You like Irene, and she likes you, so yeah, why not date her? Here’s why not: because she’ll always, forever feel like she’s a second option. And that’s ing true. And no matter how many times you tell her that you don’t love Sulli, she won’t believe you, not completely. Because that’s how girls work. And another thing: by choosing Irene over Sulli, you’ve chosen being miserable. Not because Irene is bad for you – she’s so lovely it hurts – but because you know that you’re lying to her, and you know that you should be chasing Sulli right now. And you feel like a coward, and you feel sad, and you’re heartbroken, because you weren’t brave enough, and devoted enough, to go after the person you actually love, and instead ended up hurting someone else, who had no say in this.”

“She didn’t want me, Dal,” Sehun says, hissing at you. His eyes are wide and full of emotion, anger mixed with desperation. “She said that she can’t be with me, and that she doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to be with me.”

“So it’s about not being alone, is it?” you ask him. “You just didn’t want to be alone?”

“No, it’s not that,” he sputters.

“Then what is it? Explain it to me, because I don’t ing get it.”

“It’s about accepting her choice!” Sehun outward yells. You can see tears in his eyes. He looks away, and he manages to do it in a very angry manner. “It’s about letting her go because she wanted that.”

“That’s the dumbest excuse I’ve ever heard,” you mutter, shaking your head.

“Would you stop butting in?!”

“Oh, believe me, I’ve tried,” you snort. “I’ve been quiet this whole time, haven’t I? I guess I just thought you’d be smarter than that.”

“Than what?”

“She wanted you. But she pushed you away. Do you know why? Because she was afraid that you’re gonna be unhappy with her,” you glance at him. “She can see how Amber acts and feels around her whenever she’s having visions, or nightmares, or is acting weird, and she was afraid that you’ll look at her the same way, that she’ll lose the connection you two already have by scaring you off with her crazy mojo. That’s why she pushed you away. And you, like a complete cretin, walked away!”

Sehun is silent at that. You’re fuming now, and you don’t look at him because you feel like slapping him in the head.

“Reminds you of someone?” Sehun asks suddenly. You growl.

“No. off. Truth is, you were afraid, because being in a relationship with someone with so many issues as Sulli is one of the hardest things ever. It means you have to be patient, caring, and devoted, and you didn’t like that idea, so you hid behind the excuse of ‘wanting Sulli to accept herself first’. Because you’re a total moronic , and because it’s the easy way out. And you thought, what? That you’re gonna wait for her, and she for you, but in the meantime, you can just date other girls to see how it is? That’s the worst, Sehun. I sincerely hate you for being this guy right here.”

You point at him using your thumb. Then you decide it’s time to drive; you’ve got stuff to do.

Sehun is silent for the first few minutes. Then you ask him if you’ve given him something to think about, and he just nods in silence.

*

You get back to the loft around nine pm. The boys have once again ordered food; Chanyeol, Xiumin and Eun are sitting on the floor in a pile of old books they got from the gym. Kris is in the middle of calling Maeng and informing him what’s going on, and asking him to send more police patrols tonight, because there’s a psychopath on the loose. The rest of the pack is helping as much as they can, but for most of them, it’s their presence that helps you all keep it together.

Jieun is sitting by the kitchen table together with Kyungsoo and Heejin. Kyungsoo and Heejin are the ones talking the most, but Jieun looks fairly comfortable being with them. And if Jieun looks fairly comfortable, it means it’s as good as it gets. She does look a bit relieved when she sees you and Sehun walk into the kitchen, though, and her face lights up when you present her with some stones and wooden planks that you’ve gotten from the gym that you’re going to use for making the protection charms.

Jieun actually gasps when she sees that you even have some quartzes.

“We could make magic barriers with these!” she exclaims. It’s the loudest she’s spoken during the entire stay at Kai’s. Kyungsoo and Heejin both freeze a bit, sending her surprised looks. She immediately puts a hand over and looks at you all like she’s just done something bad. Her eyes stop on Kyungsoo. “Sorry,” she says, terrified.

“Why are we screaming?!” Luhan calls from the living room.

“I don’t know, dude!” Yixing yells back, even louder.

“Don’t mind us!” Kyungsoo screams, loudest out of them all. You hear some giggles from the living room, and you smile, happy that they’re all trying to make it easier for Jieun to settle in.

“Okay guys,” you say. “Sorry, but I gotta shoo you away. Me and Jieun have some work to do.”

“Can I watch?” Heejin asks, standing up from the table.

“Yeah, sure, everyone can,” you say.

You spread all the materials you need for making the charms on the table and on the floor as well. There’s wood, stones, quartz, some seashells. You also have silver and iron daggers, bronze needles, wolfsbane and rowan-mixed ink, and, of course, some ashes.

Making charms basically means that you’re trapping some of your powers inside an object. The material you use for trapping it must be powerful, then, and come from nature, if your magic is nature-based (which yours is). Once trapped inside, it must be sealed. You’ve been using your own seals up until now, but Jieun shows you a few new ones, that you’ve never used.

“Gypsies use these symbols,” she explains, drawing some of them on a piece of paper. “They’re close with spiritual magic.”

The seals have to be created with fire. That’s why you warm up your dagger, or any other pointy object that can make a permanent scar in wood or stone, and draw the seals using it.

With Jieun’s help, you create charms that can create a barrier around the person carrying the said charm. And the fun thing is: no magic works inside that barrier.

“Even if someone tries to teleport inside the barrier, they won’t be able to teleport out,” Jieun explains. “Or at least I hope that’ll be the case.”

And just to make it safer, you create some fire charms. Because if someone decides to come too close – or teleport inside your barrier – you need something to fight with. So fire charms it is.

These are trickier to create.

“Take some Elm ash,” Jieun tells you once you have some fire charms spread out in front of you, on the table. “Just a pinch.”

You do as you’re told.

“Now blow at the ash. Lightly. So that it falls onto the charms. While doing that, focus on wanting to protect your friends. Thinking about it. Ask Macha to help you heal their wounds, if it comes to it,” Jieun tells you.

You close your eyes, letting your magic take over for a few seconds. You call for Macha, the goddess of protection and health, and you feel your tattoos swirl around your skin, moving slightly. You blow at the ash; it falls, gently, on the charms, and you feel a pleasant whiff of earthy energy come from them.

You look up at Jieun, awed.

“I think these might be the most powerful charms I’ve ever created,” you tell her. Jieun smiles at you. It’s a small smile, but a very honest one. Not the usual, awkward one. Not the one that hides her insecurities.

“Being a witch is the one thing I’m actually good at,” she admits quietly.

“That’s amazing,” Kyungsoo speaks up. Jieun flinches a little at his voice, and then flinches even harder when she sees that there’s quite a big group of people standing around you two and watching you two. She was too focused on the task at hand to notice them. “Even I can feel their power.”

“Okay, each one of you, take two,” you say, looking around the room and at your pack. “One wooden, one made out of stone. Keep them on you at all times. Try not to lose them.”

They swarm around the table like it’s a buffet, all of them taking charms for themselves.

You’ve made two for Siwon as well, but you’re not sure if you’re gonna give them to him.

You feel a wave of pain. It’s weirdly intense, and you hiss, jumping in surprise. The boys all freeze and send you worried looks.

“You okay?” Daehyun asks you, frowning. You shake your hands, feeling the pain in the tips of your fingers, dispersing. The pain shouldn’t be this harsh, you’ve barely used any magic. You exhale, unsure what to say.

“Yeah,” you say. You feel dizzy all of a sudden. “I’m fine.”

Someone’s hand lands on your shoulder. You look up to see Kai frowning down at you.

“Come on,” he says. “Have you slept?”

You blink at him. “What?”

“Have you slept since the fight?”

“I did.”

“I don’t mean when you were unconscious after using magic.”

You your lips and blink owlishly again. Nope, you haven’t. “Yeah, I have. I took a nap.”

Kai raises a dubious brow. He looks up, at his pack. “Did she?” he asks. “Did anyone see—“

“Naw dude, I don’t think she’s napped,” Chanyeol speaks up.

“Haven’t seen her sleeping, either,” Min adds. Kai sends you a scolding look then.

“What? I don’t have time for that,” you say angrily, standing up from the table. They all send you similar glances then. They all look disappointed with you. You actually shiver. “Stop it. I feel like I have several parents when you do that.”

“As your actual parent, I suggest you to go to sleep,” you mom tells you. You roll your eyes and head for the living room, just to get away from them all.

“Sure. I just gotta do one more thing—“

Kai sweeps you off your feet and picks you up bridal-style, evoking an actual squeal from you. You grab his neck out of habit. Some boys holler, you hear Chen say, “Go Kai!” and the rest just waves at you as Kai carries you towards the stairs. You go limp in his embrace and let out a loud growl.

“I can waaaalk,” you grunt.

“I know, I just wanted to embarrass you,” Kai tells you. You frown and look at him.

“If I promise to go take a nap, will you let me down?” you ask.

“If you wanted me to let you down, you’d punch me,” Kai says smugly. You hum and place your head on his shoulder, snuggling in close. It feels really nice to be carried. And Kai is really warm, so that’s nice.

“Yeah, true,” you mutter, already feeling the drowsiness in your body.

“It’s been quite a day. You need sleep.”

You realize that you’re walking up the stairs already. You hum.

“Just an hour,” you mutter. “Promise.”

“I promise.”

*

You don’t get to sleep for an hour. You wake up sweaty, scared, with your heart pounding in your chest.

You look down at yourself and you swear you see blood covering the entire bed.

Then someone turns on the light and the blood is gone. There’s just blankets and pillows and Kai’s favorite plushie next to your thigh.

You look up to see Kai freaking out in the doorstep.

“You okay?” he asks, out of breath. He approaches the bed, Choco entering after him. “You had a nightmare?”

“I don’t know,” you say. Kai sits on the bed next to you, his hand landing on your cheek. You realize that you’ve been crying, and your skin is completely wet from tears. “I don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” Kai says, pulling you into a hug. “You’re fine.”

“I know,” you say, choking a little on the words. You remember what you dreamt of, then; you dreamt of that wraith. You dreamt of killing it. You dreamt of squeezing its body until it had nothing to breathe with, until he was in such agony he couldn’t speak. “Oh God.”

You feel your chest heaving as a completely silent sob wrecks your body. Kai pulls you even closer, then you feel him heave you off the bed. He sits down cross-legged and places you on his lap like a little girl. He rubs your back, wiping your tears away from your face from time to time, and getting your hair out of the way as you go through some weird, silent weeping.

“Breathe, Dal,” he reminds you. You inhale sharply, your lungs feeling very shallow.

You calm down after a few minutes, but your head is pounding and you feel awful. Guilt is just—

The guilt is almost unbearable.

“No one should be so cruel,” you cry out. “Even if he was a bad person, if he was evil—nobody deserves to—“

“It was your anger,” Kai says, rocking you a little. Your face is hidden in his chest. You’ve probably ruined his shirt at this point. “It was your anger speaking up, not you. You weren’t in full control.”

“But I should be!” you cry out, shocked. “I should be, Kai. I can’t not be in control. I can’t afford—”

Kai kisses your forehead, then your nose, trying to calm you down. And it does calm you down a little.

“Remember this feeling,” he whispers. “And I can assure you, you will never act cruel again.”

God, I hope so.

It takes another few minutes for you to stop crying altogether. Then Kai goes to get you some tissues, and Choco comes to sit next to you on the bed. He tries to your tears away.

You come down twenty minutes later, after throwing on some fresh clothes and making sure you don’t look like you’ve been crying (even though you know very well that the boys heard you crying anyways). You find your pack playing with—swords. And other weapons.

Yixing is the first one that notices you and Kai entering, and he hurries with explanations.

“Seon brought some weapons and sheaths for them,” he says, smiling lightly.

“These are great,” Jaejoong says. You look at him; he’s holding two swords, one in each hands. He waves them around once, in a slow motion. He looks like he knows what he’s doing. “Well-balanced.”

“I don’t use bad weapons,” Seon points out.

“Only the best from our clan,” Myungsoo adds.

“I also called in some hunters. They’re on standby, and are willing to help at any time if you need that,” Seon says, walking over to you. You look at her, then at Myungsoo, worry painted all over your face. Seon frowns at that. “What’s wrong?”

You purse your lips. “Are you guys sure you want to fight with us?” you ask. “We don’t know what’s coming. I don’t want to—“

“We’ve already talked about that with Kai,” Myungsoo butts in. Your eyes lock. “We’re in, Dal. We’re not pulling out now. No matter what happens, we’re responsible for ourselves and our actions.”

“Me too,” Iseul says. Weirdly enough, she’s standing next to Taemin, and it looks like they’ve been looking at Taemin’s riffle together. “I’m in. I want to get the people who killed my pack.”

“We’ll hide Minjoon, Heejin, your mom, Eun, Sulli, Amber and the Jungs at the gym,” Kris says. “We’ll make sure they’re protected. I’m sure you can help with that.”

You nod. You look at Taemin.

“Tae?” you ask. He raises his brows, looks around, points at himself.

“What? Me?” he asks.

“Yeah, you. You in?”

He makes a face at you. “Uh, duh? Do you see me objecting?”

“We’re gonna kick their asses, Dal,” Amber says.

*

You’re sitting on the floor, books sprawled in front of you, and you’re trying to figure out how to control the wind the way you want to, when you feel Father’s magic. He shows up right next to you and drops onto the floor right away, scaring the crap out of you. You shoot up, hands in air, magic buzzing around you.

Jaejoong is the first to react to Father wiggling around on the floor. The old man looks like he’s been burned with something; his skin is raw red, with black smudges all over it. There’s steam coming out of his back, like his whole body is boiling, and his veins are all sticking out.

He looks like he’s in pain.

“What the heck?!” Chen calls in surprise. Everyone is on alert. The entire pack stands up, drops whatever they were doing, and comes to stand around Father, who is currently making weird noises and trying to catch his breath as he sits up on the floor, his black mage robe pooling around him. He’s wearing black clothes underneath it. They’re ninja-like; every piece of clothing is made of the same material, he has a belt around his waist—

“Listen,” he gasps out. He looks bad; his white hair is a mess, his beads are all mostly burned, and there’s bruises and gashes visible on his neck and hands that are currently healing. You can see some of his tattoos, the ones that are sticking out from behind his collar, shining. He’s breathing hard. “Zinn—Saburo brought him back from the dead. Saburo is also the one controlling him. There’s an object,” he takes a deep breath, “something that belonged to Zinn when he was still alive. I don’t know what it is, but Saburo protects it. If we want Zinn gone, we need to get rid of that object first.”

There’s silence in the room. Everyone is slowly processing Sung’s words. And then Taemin speaks up.

“I’m gonna lose my if it’s gonna be a snake,” he says says. “I ain’t gonna be Neville, y’all.”

“It won’t be an animal,” Father – Sung – shoots angrily. “I don’t know where it is. Where’s Sulli?”

Sulli moves out of the crowd so that Father can see her. His eyes widen when he does, like he’s relieved. It almost looks manic.

“Come here,” he says, reaching out for her. Sulli seems hesitant, and you’re not surprised; Father looks a bit out of it. His skin is steaming, his eyes are red, and his movements twitchy. He’s been fighting, that much you can see.

“You’ve been fighting for a long time,” you say, taking a step forward and walking over to Sulli, just to shield her a little with your own shoulder. “Take a breather.”

“There’s no time, Dal,” Sung hisses. For the first time since you’ve known him, you see him angry. And it’s not just some annoyance, it’s pure anger. You can feel his magic acting up, his eyes getting weirdly blurry. You feel like the room gets darker. “Zinn is coming. Saburo is weakened, but he still controls Zinn, and has his men, who’ll come here in no time. We need to find out where the object is.”

“How?” you ask. “And why does Sulli have to do it?”

“Because she’s a medium,” he spits. “Jaejoong, help me up.”

Jaejoong does as he’s told without thinking. You realize how loyal he is to Father, and wonder how exactly they even came to work together. Father throws an arm over Jaejoong’s shoulder, breathing harsh. He keeps his hand over his side, and you guess that he’s badly hurt there. He flinches in pain when he tries to straighten his back.

“There’s Saburo’s magic inside me,” Sung says. “I took some of it.”

Took?

You stare at him. You can feel your skin crawling.

“Took?” you ask. You can’t take a mage’s magic. A mage’s magic can only be given, never taken. Only tricksters and sometimes incubi or succubi can draw power from mages. But not mages. Unless they have special magical scrolls, or special holding objects, they can’t take a mage’s power for themselves.

Father’s eyes change. There’s no anger in them anymore, there’s realization and fear, and some annoyance.

“Yes,” he admits after a few seconds.

The rest of the pack doesn’t seem to understand what’s wrong. Except for Chanyeol, Kai, and Jieun.

“As long as Saburo’s magic is inside me, Sulli can use her powers to find the object,” Father explains. “But she needs to do it now, because I can’t hold it in much longer.”

“Why?” you ask.

“Stop asking questions, Dal,” Sulli speaks up, surprising all of you. You glance at her just as she walks past you and towards Sung. “It’s a waste of time.”

You’re about to oppose when Sung’s and Sulli’s hands clasp together. As on cue, the power goes out in the loft, and you feel a wave of energy go through your body. It makes you a bit sick. Your head swims. Three seconds pass by and the power goes back on.

Sulli is standing in front of Sung, her eyes closed, her fingers tight around the old man’s hand. His skin is white where she’s squeezing him. There’s a weird aura around her; her powers mixing with Sung’s.

Then she tilts to the side and stumbles. Sehun is the one to react quickest, and he puts his hands on her shoulders  before she can tilt back. She quickly regains her balance, surprised, and grabs at her head.

“I got it,” Sulli whispers.

 “What did you see?” Sung asks, impatient.  

“A cave,” Sulli replies. “I know where it is, but it’s mostly a feeling, not an actual location.”

“I can teleport us there,” Sung announces, straightening up his back like he’s ready to go. But at the same second, his face contracts in pain, and he clenches his jaw when he tries not to let out a sound of discomfort. He stumbles a little, but Jaejoong is still by his side.

“What you can do is rest,” Jaejoong tells him. “You’re no use for them in this state.”

“We don’t have time,” Father says angrily. Junsu steps out of the crowd.

“At least let me heal you,” he asks.

Father snaps his eyes at the boy. There’s distrust lurking there. Junsu actually freezes and feels his heartbeat spike up. He doesn’t take his words back, though.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Father finally nods, and Jaejoong helps him get to the couch. The rest of the pack stays behind while Junsu crouches down to take care of Sung’s wounds.

You turn to Sulli.

“A cave?” you ask.

“Somewhere isolated,” she explains. “A long way from here. I don’t think that in Father’s state, he’ll be able to teleport many of you there to fight Saburo.”

“I know a spell,” Jieun speaks up. Her voice is quiet and unsure. “A magic circle for teleportation.”

“I know a few, too,” Chanyeol adds, glancing from Jieun to you. “Let’s prepare them.”

You get around to it. Jieun draws the circle on a piece of paper first, then shows it to you to copy. You draw it on the floor using white chalk, after folding the living room carpet. The rest of the pack starts…packing. As you’re drawing the circle, you can hear them shuffling around in the background. You hear bullets clinking, sounds of blades swishing, backpack zippers being done, rustling that comes from clothes. You keep on glancing up at the couch, where Sung is.

Where the hell is Siwon when you need him?

You feel bitter just thinking about him.

Once you’re done with the first circle, Chanyeol shows you the one he remembers.

“I think this one can be used without you being inside it,” he explains. “It just needs you to use magic as you draw it. Then anyone can use it, if they know where to go.”

“Alright,” you nod. “So I can use the first circle and take some people with me. The second one will be here just in case.”

“So you’re gonna take on Saburo?” Kai asks you. You glance up at him.

“I suppose,” you nod. “It looks like Father might want to take care of Zinn.”

“No,” Sung speaks up from the couch. You look over there and see his hand curling around the back of the couch. He heaves himself up, stands up a bit wobbly, and kind of waves at Junsu to move over, away from him. His wound is healed now, but he still looks super tired. He slowly turns towards the room, so that he can look you in the eyes. “You’ll take care of Zinn. He’s a puppet; once I get rid of the object that keeps him here, he’ll be easy prey. But Saburo is a smart mage. He’s strong. You fought him once, didn’t you? Didn’t go so well.”

“Looking at you, it didn’t go so well for you, either,” you say, defensive.

“Yes, but he’s hurt and doesn’t have anyone to heal him. I do,” Sung points out. “And now I know his weak points.”

“How do you even know him?” Sehun questions all of a sudden, crossing his arms over his chest. “He called you by your name, didn’t he?”

Father freezes. His eyes land on the floor and stay there for a few seconds. Then they snap up at Sehun.

“Ah,” he says. “So you’ve heard that. I guess I don’t have to introduce myself to you anymore, then, do I?”

You’re about to in when Sulli gasps. All eyes stop on her.

“Something isn’t right,” she says, looking around the room wide-eyed. Her eyes stop on you. “I think—“

She doesn’t get to finish, because four random, black birds suddenly hit the window on your right. The sounds is weirdly scary, and everyone literally jumps out of their skins when it happens. You all stare at the window, watching as some feathers dance behind it, and getting the last glimpses of birds just flopping around the air or falling down, having hit the glass too hard to live through it.

“What was that?” Taemin asks.

Your brain switches.

“Jaejoong, take the humans to the gym,” you instruct. “Secure them. Keep an eye on them. You’re not allowed to leave the spot.”

Jaejoong looks surprised at that. “But I—“

“Listen to her, son,” Sung orders, his voice sharp. You almost cringe at the ‘son’. You still can’t believe Jaejoong is actually close to this guy. Even as he keeps so many secrets.

“I’ll tell my hunters to keep an eye on the gym,” Seon tells you. You nod enthusiastically, and she turns away to call whoever she needs to call. The humans gather together, all except for Sulli. They all link their hands, and Jaejoong is about to joint them to take them to the gym, when Xiumin speaks up.

“Change of plans!” he practically yells. Jaejoong stops short. Xiumin is holding his phone up. “There’s someone live-streaming on facebook. Mabeob is out on the streets.”

“What?” Kris asks, walking over to Xiumin to see. Half of the pack gathers around Xiumin, just to peer at the screen; the rest pulls out their own phones.

The video is being taken from behind a wall, or maybe a dumpster. There’s two guys, wearing black, running back and forth on the street, screaming something. People are running away from them, because they’re holding guns.

“Why are they using guns if they’re all magic?” Chanyeol asks.

“It’s just a distraction,” Kai guesses. “Amber, you gotta head to the police station.”

“What?” Baekhyun questions, surprised. “What? Why?”

“The cameras,” Amber guesses, looking at Kai wide-eyed. Kai just nods. “You want me to take care of the footages where Mabeob can be seen using magic. Is that it?”

Kai nods again. “If this gets out of hand, we risk people finding out about magic. We can deal with some random passengers – we can either tell them it was shock, and they saw things – but if any videos get leaked—“

“I got you,” Amber says.

“No, you don’t!” Baekhyun says angrily. He looks at her like she’s gone mental. “You’re going to the gym!”

Amber rolls her eyes at him. “Dude, calm down. It’s not my first rodeo.”

“They—“

“She won’t be able to do it alone,” Minjoon says. “That’s too much data.”

You all look at him. Minjoon’s eyes are snapping from one person to another and back.

“You managed to hack the police once, didn’t you?” Suho asks. Minjoon’s eyes stop on him.

“Well, you asked me to,” he reminds him. Suho looks at Kai pointedly. Kai looks at Minjoon, then at Amber, then at you. All eyes turn to you, actually, and that includes Baekhyun’s betrayed ones.

You take a second to consider. And then you settle for a decision. “Okay. Amber and Minjoon will go to the station, take care of the footages and facebook streams, photos, and other stuff that could endanger the…the magic world.” It’s a weird term to use. “Seon, tell some hunters to go with them and keep an eye on them. Baekhyun, you’re gonna go with them.”

Baekhyun looks like he’s about to argue, but one glance at Amber is enough to stop him. He nods and they all move at the same time, heading for the door. Seon is furiously typing something into her phone.

“Kris, you’re going to stay behind,” you say. Kris straightens up. “You’re gonna be in charge of the things going down in the city. Chanyeol, Seon, Myungsoo, Min, Chen, Xiumin, and Suho are all going to go with you. You’re gonna spread around the city and with the help of the hunters, you’ll try to contain the Mabeob members running around the city. You got it?”

“Yes sir,” Chanyeol says.

“You gotta hide your faces,” Kai points out. “If it goes down to it, we’re gonna say it was all a gang fight. So hide your faces. Put on masks, I don’t know—just make sure nobody sees your faces.”

“Oh damn! We’re gonna be vigilantes?” Chen asks, excited. “Sign me the up.”

“Jaejoong, take them to the gym,” you say, nodding at Jaejoong. The group of people in your pack – Eun, Heejin, Jieun, the Jungs, your mom – all look at you, scared and nervous. “Jaejoong, keep an eye on them. Promise me.”

“I will,” Jaejoong says, taking your mom’s hand. They all disappear, leaving the room a bit more spacious.

“I think I should go with you,” Myungsoo speaks up. You look at him. “I can be useful against Zinn. His magic won’t work on me.”

“He’s right,” Sung says. “He should go with you.”

You feel a bit unsure about that, but seeing as nobody is objecting, you nod.

“I can go with them instead,” Yixing proposes. You raise your brows at him and see Seon rolling her eyes from where she’s standing next to the boy. You crack a smile.

“Sure, Romeo,” Kris allows.

“Shut up,” Yixing says with a smile.

“Me, Kai, Myungsoo, Kyungsoo, Tao and Sehun will take on Zinn,” you say. “I’m gonna be the one attacking him, but I need someone to have my back.”

“You got it,” Kyungsoo reassures.

“I want to fight Saburo,” Iseul speaks up. You almost forgot about her because of the commotion. You suddenly realize that the people who are to go out to the city and fight Mabeob are walking around the place, dressing up. Chen is wearing a black scarf around his mouth, Chanyeol has an actual balaclava and looks like a criminal—

“Then you’re going with Father,” you say, looking at her. “Luhan and Taemin are going, too. But you all need to be extra careful.”

“We always are, Dal,” Luhan reminds you, standing next to Kris. He pulls his boyfriend into an easy hug. You feel someone touching your shoulder and you turn to Yixing; he pulls you into a hug as well. More people show up at your sides, trapping you in embraces, and soon, you find yourself wishing them all good luck and promising that everything will be fine.

“Kris’s group will take care of Mabeob that’s in the city,” you say to sum it all up. “Me, Kai and our group will fight Zinn. You guys have to make sure Saburo goes down, though,” you say, looking at the group Sung is going with. “Everything depends on that.”

Taemin nods solemnly. There’s a riffle hanging off his side, and a metal baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire sticking out of his backpack. Iseul is standing next to him, dressed up for a fight and looking as motivated as ever, her eyes flashing soft red every now and then.

“Keep in touch,” you say.

Father steps in the middle of the circle you drew for him. Taemin, Iseul, Tao and Luhan step in with him, looking at the rest of you intently. Sulli is the last one to step inside the circle, and she’s the person you’re worried about most. She’s only going because she can use her powers to find Saburo, help Sung get to where Saburo is. But once there, she’s going to be defenseless.

“Wait,” Sehun says all of a sudden, right before Sulli steps into the circle. He looks at Suho. “Suho, switch with me. Go with Dal.”

Nobody questions that. Suho just nods, and Sehun steps inside the circle, close to Sulli, who looks both nervous and relieved. You don’t let the fact that Sehun takes her hand inside his own escape your attention.

“Good luck,” Sung tells you. Then he places his hand on Sulli’s shoulder. They both close their eyes, their mixed magic buzzes inside the room, and the circle below their feel begins to shine red. A wave of magic goes through the apartment, and then they all disappear in a red wave of light.

You turn towards your pack.

“Ready to kick some asses?” you ask.

*

When Kris reaches the city center, where Mabeob seems to cause the most mayhem, it’s a complete mess. There’s police driving by, people are running in the opposite direction, and there’s overall panic that he can pick up with all his senses – his smell, his eyes, and his hearing. He can hear people’s panicked heartbeats, their squeals and screams coming from afar—

“There,” Min says, pointing at the horizon. “Smoke.”

“It’s purple,” Chanyeol notes.

“Magic?” Xiumin wonders out loud.

They head in that direction. On their way, they pick up screams and sounds of distress, so they split. Chanyeol and Kris run left; Min and Xiumin forward; Chen, Yixing and Seon run to the right.

Xiumin and Min are the first ones to make contact. They see two men standing in the middle of the street, two police cars standing behind them, with the cops pointing their guns at them. There’s three people lying around them, unconscious, and there’s some blood spilled by their feet; one of them has his claws extended, blood dripping down from them.

The cops seem scared. The men – werecoyotes, Xiumin assumes – are looking at him and Min now, and they’re both smiling.

One of them is holding a flare. That’s the source of the purple smoke.

Xiumin makes sure his mouth is hidden behind his scarf, and he runs towards them without thinking.

*

Baekhyun, Amber and Minjoon run into the station just as Maeng is about to leave. They all stop short, almost crashing into each other. The police is all over the place. There’re new cars driving out, there’s dozens of phone calls being processed inside, and everyone seems to be on high alert. When Maeng sees familiar faces, he bursts.

“Where the hell is Wu?!” he shouts. “What’s going on?”

“Mabeob,” Amber explains, out of breath. “We need access to the computers. You need to shut down the streets; secure the center, so that nobody gets out.”

“The city center?” Maeng asks, looking between her and Baekhyun, and not bothering asking who the heck is the little dude standing next to them. “What’s going on?”

“They seem to be attacking random people,” Baekhyun says. “We think they were trying to take our attention away from their bosses. They didn’t consider the fact that we’re a big pack, and that we can be in many places at the same time. Kris is out in the city.”

“We’re getting tons of calls, Byun,” Maeng says. He looks like he wants to head out. Amber notices Changmin and Heechul running towards them. “What do we do?”

“Close the streets,” Baekhyun says. “Make sure civilians are safe. And that none of your cops shots one of us.”

“How the hell am I supposed to ensure that?”

“Just tell them not to shoot the masked guys,” Minjoon butts in. Maeng raises his brows at that, and looks at each one of them separately.

“You’re playing superheroes now?” he asks. Changmin and Heechul show up by his side, both out of breath and wearing combat gear, and that includes bulletproof vests.

“We’ve always been superheroes, dude,” Baekhyun points out. “Now close the streets. Do the cop stuff.”

Maeng doesn’t have to be said twice. He walks past them, heading for his car. Changmin and Heechul follow shortly, Heechul winking at Minjoon as he brushes past.

*

You’re driving to the forest. That’s where Zinn is. You can feel his energy, his magic. It’s pulsing. He’s not hiding it at all, and you know very well that he knows exactly how to do that. Your hands are shaking around the steering wheel.

“Watch each other’s backs,” Kai says to Myungsoo, Kyungsoo, Tao and Suho, who’re all sitting in the back of the car.

“We know,” Suho says.

The worst thing is that you don’t have an actual plan. You’re going to have to fight Zinn until Sung and the rest get Saburo. And you have no idea how long that might take. If the pain gets unbearable, if you stop using magic for a longer period of time, you might be useless later on.

You stop on the side of the road not so far away from where you think Zinn is. You all step out of your car.

“Go on. I’ll join you in a sec,” Kai tells you. He’s weirdly calm. You’re all calm. Your hearts are beating out of your chests, but you’re calm. You throw Kai your car keys, knowing well that he’s about to transform into a wolf. Myungsoo makes sure he has his bullets, that he has two handguns and a riffle, and you make sure that your bat is where you need it. You let a little bit of your magic envelop you; you feel it on your skin, and you head into the forest.

Kai joins you after twenty seconds of walking. He’s trotting beside you in his wolf form, his eyes red, and his head low, like he’s about to pounce. You see people in the distance; five of them. In the center stands Zinn. Just how you remember him. In a long, red robe, with an Oni mask covering his face. The robe pools around his ankles. The people that are accompanying him don’t seem playful at all; they don’t remind you of the ones Saburo had with him when they kidnapped your friends.

They’re serious.

The man on the left is a werecoyote. He’s huge, covered with tattoos, and bald; he has a deep scowl on his face. Next to him stands a tiny woman with fierce eyes and incredibly long hair pulled up into a ponytail. Probably a werecoyote, too. On Zinn’s left stands a ghoul. It looks like a teenage boy – it must’ve eaten one before changing into him. His eyes are completely white, his skin pale. His claws are longer than a werewolf’s can get. Next to him stands someone who looks very normal. There’s nothing out of ordinary about her.

Except for her completely empty eyes. She doesn’t look like she’s conscious.

You stand in front of Zinn, keeping your distance. Kai stands next to you, and the rest stands behind you, on your sides. There’s silence.

“You don’t have to do this,” you decide to point out. None of them reacts, so you take your time to take them all in, try to figure out if any of them might be under Saburo’s control, if any of them might turn away from the fight. “We don’t want to fight any of you.”

“Bummer,” the girl with long hair sums up.

Zinn raises his gloved hand.

Black strands of magic shoot up from under the ground, piercing the air with whip-like sounds. Before they can hit you, or envelop you or your friends, you throw your arms out to the sides, creating a barrier in front of yourself and the rest. The whips sizzle in contact with your barrier, the ground shakes a little, and heavy whiffs of wind make the trees around you bend away. The wind rustles the leaves.

You whistle, make a very quick, sharp movement with your wrist, and try to use telekinesis on Zinn. He blocks it with a barrier of his own.

You see who Saburo learnt from.

From then on, Zinn is all yours.

Kai jumps when the ghoul attacks him. You hear Myungsoo’s gun cocking and bullets flying. Kyungsoo yells as he throws himself at one of the werecoyotes, and Suho runs past you so fast you wouldn’t see him if it wasn’t for his blonde hair.

And Zinn attacks you. Restlessly, violently, hard. His attacks come one after another, bouncing off your barriers but making your magic weaken. He attacks so often that you don’t have time to attack back – you revert to blocking. You try to come closer, but the closer you get, the stronger his blows are.

If you could only teleport—

The second that thought crosses your mind, Zinn disappears from your sight. You gasp out, immediately turning on your heels, suspecting him to show up behind you. You stretch your hand out, magic gathered inside your palm, but when you punch, you meet air.

He’s not behind you.

And then someone punches you in the hip.

The pain is excruciating, and you end up whirring around in air, right above the ground. You hit it hard, landing on your hands and face, and then his magic blows you off the grass again. You roll on the ground as you fly a few meters away from him. When you turn to where his standing, you can see his robes gently grazing the grass.

You reach out to attack, but he’s quicker. Another blow of magic seems to land to your stomach; you literally get punched with a blow of magic, and you cough, being pushed further back on the ground. Your arm is already covered in scratches, and your cheek got cut. It’s healing already, but the sting stays.

Okay, this won’t work.

Just when Zinn lifts his hand to attack you again, you see Kai throwing himself at the mage. His teeth flash white. His paws are inches away from Zinn’s shoulder when a barrier appears around the spirit, and Kai hits an invisible wall. He ends up on his paws, but he sways, shaking his head.

His little distraction is enough for you to stand up, though, and when you do, you pull two daggers out of your belt. You tilt your head a little at Zinn.

“How about a direct fight?” you ask.

The mask isn’t moving. There’s no eyes behind it, either. Zinn doesn’t react at first, but then he moves a little.

He stands in a combat position, his right hand outstretched towards you.

Your magic buzzes around you, and you teleport.

Hello my lovely peanut butter chocolate cookie tarts and thank you for reading <3

PS Shortest Way Home, a fic of mine, got featured two days ago. I'm sooo grateful. And also super surprised?? Because I published it two years ago. I don't know what happened, but it was really nice to come home and see it on the home page. Thanks to all of you who supported that fic :)

PSS Since my phone got stolen, I can't reply to snaps from you ;-; Don't think I ignore you tho!