Recap on previous chapter

Alexia was offered to spend another summer in Serotinus by the High King, and Alexia's parents agreed. Alexia finds herself meeting with one of the son's Jun. K who showed her a meadow that they used to play in. In that moment Jun. K mentions a comment Alexia made to herself and never said it out loud.

"I never said that out loud," I said quietly to myself, taking several steps back.

"Y-you must of accidentally..." he tried to explain himself but I didn't wait. Picking up my front dress I began to run away back to the castle. Was he able to read my mind? Or did I perhaps say it allowed? No, I can't doubt myself. I didn't say it out loud. It was a thought I had in my mind. A private thought.

I ran as fast as I could in these shoes. They tried to grip and trip me up but I fought through it. I rushed down the pathway and took a turn left, allowing the trees and bushes to cover me up. That's it. It's official. There is something strange going on with the six sons. First of all, something happened last night with Chansung and Taecyeon that involved a wolf with blue eyes - I was convinced. Secondly, I just had proof that Jun. K was able to read minds... or my mind at least. Finally, theres also the fact that I had a chilling feeling come and pass me by several times since I've been here.

I slowed down to catch my breath, leaning up against one of the castle's walls. Why did I run? It's not like I can run away from here and avoid him during the whole summer. 

I heard some muffled speaking, coming from the other side of the wall. Slowly, I began to creep by the wall until it's turning point. I peeked over it to find three of the sons. Two of them I recognised, Chansung and Taecyeon.

"This is a joke, Taecyeon," Chansung was yelling. "I said we should have moved her first and then fought the malum," he explained his defense.

"Perfect idea!" Taecyeon roared back. His voice was terrifying as it was, without the yelling. "Then you would have died fighting the malum all alone!"

"Guys," the un-named brother spoke. "You're being idiots about this. The princess doesn't remember what happened," he continued.

"What if she does, Junho?" Taecyeon pressured him.

"It doesn't matter, no one is going to believe her," he explained. The memory returned back to me. A monstrous figure approaching myself and Chansung. Taecyeon appearing out of no where, and then both Chansung and Taecyeon disappearing, only to be replaced by a bear-like beast and a wolf.

"Another question to push is how did a malum get in the first place?" Chansung stated, crossing his arms across his chest.

"True, we have this place pretty well guarded," Junho nodded.

"Father is looking into that at the moment, but it turns out that they used a cloaking spell," Taecyeon explained in his low husk voice.

"Cloaking?" Junho raised his voice.

"They seem invisible," Chansung explained, a pained expression covering his face.

What was honestly happening? That thing I saw last night was a malum? And it 'cloaked' getting into the castle? What did it want? Was I seriously hearing all of this correctly?

"What are we going to do about Alexia?" Taecyeon continued to press the issue. Hearing my name, I almost let out a small gasp. At that very moment, Taecyeon and Chansung both frowned at each other, as if they had heard me. They couldn't have heard me... could they? Not risking another moment longer, I turned back and began a brisk walk against the wall. I was confident that they had begun to follow me. Taking whatever pride I had, I dived into a bush almost face first. The prickly branches scraped my arms and face but I didn't dare to move. I remained still as I saw the three boys walk past me.

"What is it?" Junho asked, following behind them.

"I just thought I smelled something funny," Taecyeon explained, walking away into the distance. I could finally take a breath and breathe. That was a terrifying experience I had ever felt. They were discussing about me as if the solution to their problem was to kill me off. I stayed in the bush a little longer than needed be. I wanted to ensure that they were truly gone.

I struggled and crawled out of the spikey bush. I brushed off the leaves and branches from my dress and hair. I had grazed my cheek and my left arm was bleeding from scraping it off a branch.

The sun was already beginning to set and frankly... I was lost. Running away from Jun. K, followed by running away from the three boys, I began to realize I didn't know my way back home. I tried what I could to vaguely remember the way, I walloped along. My foot was lame, my dress ripped and my hair a disgrace. I don't know how I was going to manage to sneak past everyone and clean myself up before anyone would notice me. Thinking for a long time caused me to look up, finding the full moon in the sky already. I was walking around for at least an hour through the wooded area. I thought I was still in the castle? I was confused beyond belief. The footpath was now a mere trail. I could see some light coming from close by but it seemed quiet far off. I picked up my dress and hustled my way over. A wolf howled in the distance as the night became chilly and cold. I heard a twig snap, and I froze. Unable to move and unable to breathe... I simply stood. I read enough horror novels about this. Girl gets lost in the woods and gets eaten by monsters.

I mustered the courage to turn around, but there was nothing I could make out in the darkness. I knew that whatever was stalking me, was coming for the kill. I picked up my ripped dress, threw off my heels and ran as fast as I could through the forest, towards the lights that I could see. Something growled behind me, it's footsteps approaching as it began picking up speed. I didn't dare to look. Looking back is the thing that kills you, or so it was like that in the books. At once instance, I could hear the breathe of the beast behind me, his claws about to sink into my sides. I let out a scream, closing my eyes, preparing for my painful inevitable death. I ran into something hard, my face being crushed against some clothing. I screamed again, pushing away from the chest of the man I had just run into. I opened my eyes wide, staring at everything around me.

I was back in the king's castle, the sun was only beginning to set. I heard the comforting sounds of crickets from the nearby meadow. It was still bright out... just like that in the blink of an eye the whole scenary had changed.

"What the hell is going on?" I screamed, limping away from the man. I turned around to find Junho, Taecyeon and Chansung approaching from another side. "Stay the hell away from me!" I continued to shout, tears beginning to gush from my eyes. They did this to me, made me feel like I was going to die. Heck, one of them could mind-read, I bet the other put that imagination into my head. I kept taking steps back, my bare feet walking over the soft green grass. The boys continued to approach me slowly, their hands up as if to try and tell me to calm down.

"My name is Wooyoung, Alexia," the man said who I had bumped into earlier. "Everything's alright," he tried to comfort me.

"Screw you!" I shouted. "Nothing's alright. One of you can mind-read, the other one turns into a wolf and... something else!" I shouted in between some sobs. "And you!" I pointed at Wooyoung, "You put that horrible dream in my head," I gasped for air. Their expressions changed, looking at each other in confusion.

"Alexia, you must have misunderstood... I did nothing - we did nothing," Wooyoung tried to sound as genuine as possible. 

"Alexia, please stop walking away from us," Junho spoke. "You're bleeding, we need to help you," Junho stated. I looked down at my arm from where I was cut from the branch.

"This cut is nothing in comparison to what you were going to do to me," I was hysterical, panic rushing through me. I had just experienced the moment before death and I couldn't shake the feeling off.

"No Alexia, not your arm!" Junho's worried gaze was staring at my side. I looked down to find three deep claw marks, puncturing right through my dress. My white and yellow dress was soaking up the red colour of my blood and trickling down the rest of my dress. I stared down at it, unable to think for a moment. That wasn't a dream? It wasn't in my head? The beast who was running behind me... it was all real? But how was that possible? 

By then, the boys were close enough to take hold of me. 

"Oh my God," Wooyoung muttered, taking hold of my shoulder as he approached me. "She's lost way too much blood," he said. Junho began taking off his jacket. I wanted to fight, to push away and run from them but I had no energy. It was like all the adrenaline I had before escaped the moment I realized I was wounded. 

I'm not sure of the exact events that followed... again. This sentence, you will hear a lot in this story because I faint much too often.

I knew I was going to faint, I knew I was beginning to loose my consciousness.

Junho placed his jacket over my wound. I was about to fall down but Chansung and Taecyeon caught me, easing me down to the grass. I thought I was going to die at that time. Don't worry, I didn't! Otherwise, how would I be able to tell this story?

However, my mind was convinced this was the end of my life. I began to feel the pain from the wound. I felt my blood pulsing through my body. I was crying earlier but surprisingly, through the pain, I couldn't cry. I felt so tired and dead that I was unable to cry. I heard a few things but the darkness took me over.

"It's too dangerous to carry her back."

"She's going to die!"

"Nichkhun, hurry!"

The last voice I heard I recognized was Jun. K. I wasn't sure when he had arrived, but he was there anyway.

"It's alright," he told me, pushing back my hair from my face, with a sweet smile on his face. "It's alright."