[THIRD]

Lay glanced over at Delilah, assuring that she was in fact asleep. The movie was only about halfway done and the storm outside seemed like it was going to last for ages. Occasionally, thunder would shake the house and all of the boys would immediately turn to her to see if she had woken up.

“I wonder,” Kyungsoo spoke from beside Lay.

“Wonder what, Soo?”

“Why she was still feverish this morning. Xiumin’s abilities should have helped her fight the fever,” he explained.

“And my ability should have warded away her sickness entirely,” Lay noted to him.

The group was ignoring the movie now, completely taken by the conversation.

“Maybe our abilities don’t work on her,” Suho stated, “I mean, it’s not like we’ve had the chance to really see how they affect other people?”

A feeling of relief swept over Chanyeol. If that was the case, and their abilities had no effect on her, then her high fever wasn’t fed by his curse. He closed his eyes and breathed quiet sigh of relief. Sehun placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him an “I told you so,” look. Chanyeol rolled his eyes at Sehun, not willing to give him the satisfaction of being correct.

Lightning struck outside and immediately thunder followed it. Baekhyun jerked a bit when Delilah immediately rolled over on her side and pushed her head to his chest. She clutched at the shirt he wore, her fingers slipping loose as she fell back into a peaceful sleep a few seconds later.

“I wonder why she’s afraid of storms,” he muttered to himself.

“I’m sure she’ll tell us eventually,” Lay answered.

“I don’t understand her,” Baekhyun spoke, “She’s so easy to read but then there are these little things she hides and suddenly she’s infinitely more complex.”

The room was silent for a moment, the only sounds coming from the tv and the rain outside.

“Like, I don’t understand why she’s so afraid to play the piano for any of us. She’s so good at it, and her voice,” he trailed, “Her voice is so beautiful!”

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement, the other boys leaning in more as they listened.

“She has anxiety,” Kyungsoo interjected, “That’s not her fault. If I’m understanding it correctly, when she does something and we see the entire image and think it’s amazing, her mind tears it to pieces and analyzes each and every bit of what she did,” he paused.

They glanced over at her, listening intently to Kyungsoo.

“She may also have an issue with her self-esteem,” he added. “All we can do is be here for her and hope we can offer something to help her as she moves forward.”

The boys remained silent, watching her. Though it had been only a short while they had known her, they wanted nothing more than to help her. To them, she had already become a norm in their lives. The thought that they would one day have to leave her and her family brought sorrow to them. Another thought also lingered in their minds, and as much as they wanted to avoid it they knew it was inevitable.

“Any news on their whereabouts? Have they found us?”

Kris’s question hung in the air for a moment. Luhan looked over at him and shook his head.

“I haven’t heard or seen anything, but they probably know where we are. We have to assume the worst.”

“How are we going to keep her from finding out,” Chen asked as he looked over to Delilah.

That’s a good question, Kyungsoo thought. It wasn’t something they’d put thought into since their arrival. They were just excited to be somewhere new with people who knew nothing about them. They would have stayed where they were, but once they found they were being hunted, there weren’t many options.

“The full moon is only two days away,” Luhan noted.

Silence filled the room as his words hit everyone.

“It’s also fourth cycle,” Kris added.

“I think we can come up with some sort of reason why three of us are missing,” Xiumin spoke.

“We’ll figure this out tomorrow, alright? We should sleep.”

The room quieted at Baekhyun’s suggestion, everyone returning to their makeshift beds. Chen turned off the tv, the room going black for only a second before lightning brightened the room. Both Baekhyun and Lay reached for Delilah, glancing at one another as they placed their hands on her arm. The thunder that followed was heavy, but not sharp enough to make her stir. A sigh of relief left Lay’s lips and removed his hand, laying down and turning away from her. Baekhyun removed his hand also, but when he laid down he stared at the girl.

Regardless of the conclusions they’d drawn about her, she still frustrated him. He wasn’t the only one, either, but it seemed to bother him the most. Kyungsoo insisted patience, but Baekhyun wasn’t patient in the slightest. He struggled with the idea and as a whole thought it was pointless. At the same time part of him wanted to force her to be less confusing, there was a bigger part of him that wanted to learn to be patient for her.

Kyungsoo remained sitting, his eyes watching Baekhyun carefully. His eyes flickered down to Delilah after lightning illuminated the room. He watched the sleeping girl for a moment. So far, she had made a large and lasting impact of himself, Chanyeol, and now Baekhyun. It was guaranteed, in Kyungsoo’s mind, that she would end up changing something in all of them before the summer was even over. He just hoped that things would stay quiet while they were here.

-----x-----

[AUTHOR]

Sorry I've been so inconsistent with updates. I've had a lot going on with school and the like.
Also, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to keep this chapter. I like the idea of pressing their elemental abilities, but I'm not entirely sure if I should add in the wolf thing. I almost feel like it would be too much? If you have any comment on whether I should or not, please let me know.

Also, I feel like the story is kind of slow. I'm trying to press in a chapter for each of the boys before I start splitting it apart. (I know I've spent a lot of time on Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun. I'll try to equal out the time with the others soon. <3)

Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed and/or commented. It means the world. <3