Sulli opens her eyes when she hears some whispering. She catches someone standing on the side of her bed, and she visibly startles at that, her hand automatically flying towards her charm bracelet, the one that’s supposed to keep all the ghosts at bay. The bracelet is still on her wrist, whole, and yet, there’s a spirit looking at her. It’s a little girl. She’s squinting at her a little.

“You can see me,” the ghost says, her voice hollow. Sulli sits up, her bed creaking a little at that. “I thought Minho was lying!”

It takes a moment to fully comprehend what’s going on, but when she does, Sulli raises her brows questioningly.

“You’re friends with Minho?” she asks.

“Yep. He said I can talk to you if I feel lonely.”

Sulli touches her bracelet again. Does it still work? Sulli shouldn't be seeing this girl. Is the ghost more powerful than she looks, or is it possible that Sulli's bracelet is losing its magic? She tried to pick up any other spirit's presence (or sound) but there's nothing. Just some whispers surrouding the ghost. 

“Are you lonely?” she asks the spirit. “What’s your name?”

The girl shakes her head. “I can’t remember,” she admits. “Minho says that’s the reason I can’t cross to the other side. I’ve never been on the other side before. Minho has, though, but I’m not allowed to talk about that.”

Sulli blinks a few times, wondering what she’s supposed to tell her, when Minho appears right beside the girl, more whispers following him. Sulli cringes when something hisses into her ear.

“Hey,” she greets. Minho smiles at her.

“Did she wake you up?” he asks. Before Sulli can answer, Minho looks down at the little girl and points an accusing finger at her. “I told you that you shouldn’t wake her.”

“That’s okay,” Sulli assures. Her fingers are still wrapped around her bracelet and Minho notices it when she starts playing with it. He frowns deeply.

“Is it not working?” he asks.

Sulli shrugs. Then she looks at the girl.

“What do you remember about the time you were alive?” she asks.

*

“Here,” Amber says, sliding the laptop towards Sulli. “All the car accidents that have happened in the past three months that involved children. Just police reports; I didn’t want to go through articles as well.”

“That’s even better,” Sulli says, glancing at her, her lips shaping into a small smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Amber says, smiling widely at her and nodding. “Want me to look with you?”

Sulli smiles and looks at Amber from under her lashes. “You have a date with Baekhyun.” She deadpans.

Amber opens , closes it with a click, then looks to the side and exhales. “Right. Sometimes I forget just how much you know.”

“Just for the record,” Sulli says just as Amber is standing up, “I found out about that from Baek himself.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I did!”

“I believe you!” Amber exclaims, winking at her. Sul slaps her on her as she walks past, making Amber squeal. “This is harassment!”

“Why don’t you believe me!” Sulli calls after her friend, but Amber is already heading for the door and pretending not to hear. Sulli turns back towards the laptop screen, scanning it quickly first, and then opening the first few police reports, preparing herself for some nasty stuff (and photos, probably, seeing as Amber has access to the actual police database now). She closes the first report, not finding what she's looking for in there, and that’s when someone appears right next to her. She looks at Minho, eyebrows raised curiously. Minho is staring at the screen, eyebrows creased.

“Amber has access to the police database?” he asks, surprised.

“She has access to practically everything,” Sulli says, opening a few more reports and then checking the second one. “By the way, Maeng hired her. She works for the police now, from time to time, but she’s paid full-time. I think it’s because Maeng feels bad for us.”

Minho clicks his tongue. “Why would he?”

“I’m guessing he’s seen our files,” Sulli admits. “And heard some stories from the pack, maybe? He knows we live together, that our parents don’t really like us, and that we’re in a tough spot when it comes to money.”

“Hm,” Minho hums.

Sulli goes through another report, then another, and at some point she opens a particularly ugly report, with very graphic photos of a car crash. Minho makes a sound that’s similar to a puking one, and disappears from her sight of vision. Sulli closes the report, not finding anything about children there yet again, and opens the next one. Minho is back by the time she finishes that.

“That was awful,” Minho hisses. “How come you didn’t even flinch–God.”

Sulli thinks that she’s used to seeing way creepier stuff, but she never voices that.

“How’s Dal doing?” Minho asks conversationally.

“Good. She wants to be a cop. She’ll be moving out soon.”

“Really? How does Kai feel about that?”

“Sad. A bit insecure. Krystal says that he thinks about Dal moving every ten minutes or so. It’s just this…constant thought in his mind.”

“Krystal tells you this stuff?”

“Sometimes,” Sulli shrugs. “When she feels particularly stuffy with it.”

Minho hums again. Sul closes another report, opens up a new one, and glances at Minho. He looks pale, almost transparent. She gets worried all of a sudden.

“Minho,” she says. He looks at her, his eyes trusting. “You shouldn’t come here this often. One day you might get stuck.”

“I won’t,” Minho assures. “Besides, I only come to talk to you. And see Kibum from time to time. Help other spirits cross to the other side, too.”

“I still think you shouldn’t do that,” Sulli says, looking back at the screen. Then she sees a line of text that makes her heart beat faster for a second. “Look. Deceased: two adults, one child.”

They read the report. A drunk driver, who was speeding, hit a car that was just turning the corner, killing all its passengers and himself in the process. Below the report there’re photos of the crash and photos of the victims, together with their names. At the very bottom, there’s a photo of the spirit that has appeared next to Sulli in the morning, her name written under it.

“Young Dabin,” Sulli reads. “That’s her name.”

“Whoa. You’re amazing,” Minho says. “I’m gonna go find her. She walks around a lot.”

Sulli nods. Minho disappears, and once again, something hisses into her ear. She lets out a quiet, surprised squeal, and looks around, worried. She glances at her bracelet, wondering why it’s not working the way it should. She’s never had any problems with it before.

She doesn’t want to deal with the spirits in her mind all over again.

She bites her lip, clenches her fingers around her wrist, and tries to clear her mind, focus on the quietness of the apartment. But every now and then, she hears random words whispered to her, or feels something touch a patch of skin on her arm or her neck, or something slithering past her legs.

She opens her eyes and sees no one.

*

“I sent Dabin away,” Minho speaks up. Sulli startles, but it’s barely visible; she has a tiny heart attack inside, but her body is still as ever. Minho doesn’t even notice. “She told me to thank you.”

Sulli eyes him suspiciously and nods. “Glad I could help.”

Minho sends her a tight smile. “I’m off, then. See you soon?”

“You shouldn’t,” she says, giving him a pointed look. “Don’t overdo it.”

“I won't,” Minho says, smirking. He takes a step forward and disappears. Sulli goes back to what she was doing – making breakfast. And that’s when she feels someone behind her, someone magical. She recognizes that presence right away, but she’s surprised to feel it. She turns on her heels to face Father.

“Morning,” the man greets. Sulli eyes him suspiciously, blinking owlishly at him. “I can see that your powers are developing. Enough for your magical senses to pierce through that charm you’re wearing,” Father says, pointing at Sulli’s bracelet. He’s wearing a long, dark coat, elegant shoes, and suit trousers; he’s also holding a thick, wooden cane right in front of him, but it doesn’t look like he needs it to prop himself on. “You’re starting to hear things. And you can already see good spirits while wearing it.”

Sulli isn’t sure she can trust him. There’s something unsettling about the man, even though he’s helped them many times before in the past, even though he’s trained her before.

“That’s true,” she says after a few seconds of silence. “How do you know that?”

“I can feel it,” Father replies, like it’s obvious. “Would you like me to help?”

“How?”

“We could continue our training.”

“Last time we trained, you disappeared,” Sulli reminds him. There’s no heat to it; she’s just stating a fact, and she’s doing it as careful as she can.

“I had some family business to take care of.”

So he has a family, Sulli thinks, not taking her eyes off the man. Something runs past her, something small and dark, and she looks down just in time to see it jump out of the window in a frenzy.

“The bracelet won’t protect you forever. Dal can help you control your powers, but I can provide you with space where no spirits can enter uninvited.” Father says. “I’m sincere. I’ve trained people like you before, and I can do that again.”

They stare at each other for some time, then. He does look open and trustful as he’s saying all of this.

“Mhm,” Sulli mutters. “Alright.”

“I’d also like to continue training miss Liu,” Father admits. “Although she seems to be very busy sleeping right now.”

Sulli merely nods at that.

“Okay,” she says. “When do we start?”

Hi my lovely marshmallow chocolate cookie bars :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

PS does anyone here watch 'Penny Dreadful'?