Chapter Two: Tip Of The Iceberg

Wonwoo looks up at Hansol and walks over to him. "I'm not sure," he replies, looking him up and down. "He's human, right?"

"I'm not actually sure," I admit. "Hansol, are you a human?"

"Of course I'm human," he replies, clearly weirded out by Wonwoo's attempts to figure out why he can see through my enchantment. "What else would I be...?"

"Yeah, he's human," Wonwoo says, with a nod. "He's got a ring. It's got a really strong anti-illusion spell on it - even if he took it off he'd still probably be immune."

"A ring, huh?" I walk over to Hansol to get a closer look, and sure enough, he's wearing a silver ring. "That's pretty useful. Where'd you get it?"

"It's from my mom," he replies. "My sister has one just like it. They're family heirlooms or something. But I still have no clue what you guys are talking about."

"Family heirlooms," I repeat. "Huh. Interesting." Then I turn to Wonwoo. "So are we just going to erase his memory, or...?"

"We can't," Wonwoo replies. "The ring protects him from all illusions, and that includes memory spells."

"So what can we do?" I ask.

"I mean, we could tell him," Wonwoo replies, shrugging. "It wouldn't hurt."

"I mean, you're right, but I don't know if it's the best idea," I say. "Humans knowing about magic...usually doesn't end well for the magic user. He'll think we're crazy, or..."

"I don't think you're crazy," Hansol butts in. "I'm just really, really confused. So if you could explain I'd...be really happy, I guess."

I look at Hansol, then at Wonwoo; they're both looking at me like I'm their mom and I'm not letting them buy candy. I throw my hands up in the air and sigh. "I'm obviously outnumbered, and it's not like I actually have an power in this situation. So sure. But can we not do it here? I really don't want more people accidentally walking in on us."

"Of course - we can do it at my place," Wonwoo replies. "Hansol, whatever you need in the gym...is it urgent?"

"Not really. I just was trying to figure out where places are in this school. So...yeah, I'm fine," he answers, with a nod. 

"Then let's go." Wonwoo smirks at me; he then sweeps the cauldron and the potion ingredients into his bag in one fell swoop. (His bag is bigger on the inside - so's mine, though I don't use that feature as often as he does.)

I roll my eyes and smirk right back. "Show-off," I say, walking out of the room. Wonwoo and Hansol follow shortly afterward.

There's a big difference between Wonwoo's house and his place, and it's no secret that he much prefers his place. It sticks out like a sore thumb in my old neighborhood - there's these rows of houses in grey and beige that are completely average, right, and then there's his house, which is dark purple and old and creaky and looks like it could fall down at any second. All the other kids - myself aside, of course - were scared of it, and since Wonwoo came from there, they were scared of him, too. So he spends as little time there as possible. 

His place, on the other hand, could be pretty much any larger-than-average house in the world, except instead of a family living there, it's a rotating lineup of some of Wonwoo's warlock friends. When we get there, though, it's empty.

"Jeonghan must've known we were coming," Wonwoo muses, setting down his bag near the front door and walking towards the kitchen. I dump my bag as well, and Hansol follows suit. "I'm gonna make some tea to calm him down in case things head south. Layla, you wanna start talking to him?"

"I don't have much of a choice," I reply, sitting down on one of the couches in the living room and motioning for Hansol to do the same. He sits down on a smaller couch across from me. "Alright. So. You're probably wondering what the hell me and Wonwoo were doing chopping leaves in an empty classroom after school," I begin. "And why we were asking if you were human, and about that ring, and enchantments and all that. Right?"

"I mean...yeah," Hansol says, shrugging.

"Well, to cut to the chase, magic is real. I'm a witch, Wonwoo's a warlock, which is like a dude witch, and magic is real."

"What, like in Harry Potter?" Hansol asks, eyebrows raised.

I roll my eyes. "Nothing like Harry Potter," I reply. "Spells aren't just two words in Latin, and they require a lot more than a flick of the wand to cast. Plus, wizarding high schools are ridiculously expensive, so most people don't go to specialty schools until college." I pause. "And humans are allowed to know about magic. Usually, though, we try to prevent you guys from finding out."

"I have so many questions," Hansol mumbles. "Like - why don't you guys want humans to find out? And how do you cast spells without wands and...and how do I know you're not just making this up to prank me or something? And you never actually told me what you guys were doing. And I have no clue how to get to my house from here..."

"Don't worry, I can take you back," Wonwoo says, entering the living room with a cup of tea and sitting next to me on the couch. "And to answer your first question, there's a few reasons. Most people don't believe in magic in the first place now, but back in the day, using magic would get you burned at the stake. It doesn't happen anymore, of course," Wonwoo quickly adds, looking at Hansol's reaction - the poor kid looks confused, terrified and sympathetic all at once. "But there's still a stigma attached to humans finding out."

Hansol just nods, slowly, and takes a long sip from his cup of tea. His shoulders relax instantly. "I guess that makes sense," he says.

"As for wandless magic," Wonwoo continues, "It's actually a lot easier to cast spells with your bare hands than it is through a medium, like a wand or a staff. You can use those as training wheels, or if you purposely want something weaker, but it's easier to just use your own power through your own hands." To prove his point, Wonwoo points his index finger in the air; a small firework bursts out with a pop. 

"Okay," Hansol replies.  "I mean, this is kind of a lot to take in, but...it makes sense." 

"I'm surprised you're taking it so well. Must be pretty strong tea," I say, shooting Wonwoo an impressed look. "Anyways, there's a lot more to magic than just that, but it'd take too long to explain. Laws and holidays and stuff. You don't need to know." I wave my hand to dismiss the topic.

"Okay." Hansol takes out his phone to check the time. "Um, it's getting kind of late. I think my parents might be worrying."

"Oh, yeah. Where is it you live, anyways? I can drive you back," Wonwoo offers. 

"Um...you know Oak Street?" Hansol replies. "You probably do, you live here and stuff..."

"Oh, that's near the cafe," I say. "I can just teleport us there, if you'd like. I'm going in the same direction and it'll be faster than Wonwoo's driving. No offense, Wonwoo," I add.

"You can teleport?" Hansol asks, incredulous. 

"Oh, yeah," I reply, grinning and getting off the couch. I grab my bag; Hansol does the same and stands next to me.

"Okay, so how does this -"

I don't let him finish his sentence. Instead, I grab his hand and close my eyes, picturing the view from inside the Cypress Cafe. When I open them, we're inside; Amy's book club, consisting of herself, some witches I know and Joshua, turn around at the noise. 

"Glad I got you here in one piece," I say, letting go of Hansol's hand and smirking. He's whiter than a sheet. 

I laugh. "Just kidding. You know how to get to your place from here?"

"Y-yeah," he gets out, finally. "See you tomorrow."

"Seeya," I say, waving at him as he leaves.

Amy opens my door and leans against my doorframe; at the noise, I nearly jump out of bed. "Have a good first day? I see you made a new friend," she says, grinning.

"Sunhee made a new friend," I correct. "He's in our algebra class."

"Uh-huh. Is he a warlock? You did teleport in with him."

"Nope. He's as human as they come," I reply. 

"You know, my lecture from the other night about not needing magic might just be useful for you after all," she says, raising an eyebrow.

It takes me a second for me to get what she's implying, but once I do, I roll my eyes so hard it almost hurts. Witches and warlocks only have permanent powers up until their 18th birthday; after that, they have the choice to keep their powers or turn human. If you fall in love with a human afterwards, though, it doesn't matter if you're human or magic. Your powers get taken away, no matter what.

I shoot her a glare and take a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm - Amy's only joking, and I know that, but somehow, her words struck a nerve. "Sunhee made a new friend," I remind her. "And I wouldn't have given him a second thought otherwise. He caught Wonwoo and I making a potion after school and he's got a ring that protects him from illusions, so he caught us. But I've known him for, like, a day, Amy."

"Whoa there, chill," Amy replies, crossing her arms. "No need for you to lose your head over this."

"I know." I sigh. "Sorry. Anyways, isn't Joshua in town? How are his travels going?"

Amy grins widely, and her eyes start to sparkle. Joshua Hong is a bard - a travelling magical musician and storyteller, basically. He's also a close friend of Amy's - and by "close friend", I mean "everyone can see that they're stupidly into each other except each other". 

"He's been in Colorado, up in the mountains," Amy replies. "Actually, he's still here now. You wanna head downstairs and listen to him?"

I shake my head. "I've got some readings to do," I reply, holding up my history homework with a sheepish smile. (What kind of teacher assigns homework on the first day of school, aside from supply lists? My 64-year-old fun-hating history teacher, that's who.) "But if he's still in town tomorrow, I'd be glad to."

Amy smiles. "Figures. Anyways, I've got a cafe to run, so I'm going to go back downstairs. You want to go shopping tomorrow for your school supplies?"

"I'm going with Sunhee tomorrow," I reply, turning back to my homework. "But thanks for the offer."

"No problem," Amy says, closing my door gently as she walks out of my room. 

"You going to the informal?" Sunhee asks, looking at me across a rack of light pink cardigans. It's our back-to-school tradition to get our supplies, and then go shopping for actual clothes; our styles are so different that it's usually kind of fun.

"What, the back-to-school dance filled to the brim with freshmen?" I reply. "No thanks. I'm probably going to stay home."

"Okay, but...I was kind of thinking of asking Hansol if he wanted to go with me," Sunhee explains. She walks over to another rack filled with cream-colored sweaters. 

"Then you especially don't want me there. All I'd do is stand back on the wall and criticize the DJ for playing terrible pop music."

Sunhee laughs. "That's true. I wouldn't hate the moral support, though."

I scoff. "Ah, yes. Nothing says moral support like constant complaint and not wanting to be there. And anyways, I can think of no way to turn off your boy more than dragging him to the informal." I pause. "Why don't you take him as your plus-one to Lily's party on Saturday?"

Sunhee looks up at me, surprised. "How'd you know I was invited?"

Lily Russell is like somebody took the antagonist in every teen movie ever and put her in the real world; she's got the good looks, the money, the hot boyfriend, the giant house, permissive parents, everything. She also holds awesome parties whenever she has the excuse to - be it back to school, Christmas, Valentine's Day, whatever.

I shrug. "I didn't," I admit. "And I know it's not really your usual scene. But you know what isn't anyone's usual scene?"

"Terrible high school dances?"

"Terrible high school dances," I confirm.

Sunhee sighs. "You're probably right. But I have all of next week to ask him, so...I'll just decide later!" she decides, with a bright smile.

"Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do next week," I agree, smiling. "And hey - whatever you end up picking, I'll make sure you look stunning, alright?"

Sunhee smiles at me. "Thanks, Layla."

"And by stunning, I mean 'nothing at this store'," I add, holding up a puffy pink sweater. "There is so much pink in here that I might cry. This is more pink than I've ever seen in my entire life."

Sunhee laughs. "Come on! That store you like is the exact same thing but with black!"

"There are also copious amounts of red!"

"And here we have varieties cream and orange," Sunhee says, laughing. "But I agree. This is enough pink, even for me." 

I grin. "Let's hit up the food court. Boba and steamed buns sound good?"

"Boba and steamed buns sounds perfect," Sunhee replies, putting a sweater she was looking at back on the rack. "Food is way more important than clothes."

"Definitely." I give Sunhee a high-five as we walk out of the store.

I walk into algebra and resist the urge to put my head on my table and sigh; it's only the second day of school and I'm already tired of everything. I take a seat across from Sunhee, who's already at our table; I notice she's wearing the bracelet I gave her, and I smile inwardly.

"You look like you didn't sleep at all last night," Sunhee says, concerned.

"It wasn't that I didn't sleep," I reply. "It's just that I didn't sleep enough. Why's school gotta start so early?"

Sunhee opens to answer me, but when Hansol walks in, her attention turns completely on him. "Morning," she says, smiling brightly.

"Morning," Hansol replies, sitting next to me. He nods in my general direction.

"So hey, Hansol," Sunhee says, leaning forward a little. (I raise my eyebrows, impressed that she's cuttting right to the chase, and then I remember that her bracelet has a confidence spell on it.) "You wanna come with me to this party on Saturday? I mean, it'd probably be a good opporitunity to meet some people and stuff."

Hansol shrugs. "I mean, yeah, I'm free, I can go." 

I smirk, pleased that Sunhee took my advice. I lean back, ready to allow the lovebirds to be in their own little world, when Hansol turns to me.

"But, uh, will you be there, Layla?" he asks. I can't tell if he's genuinely curious, or if he's trying to flirt with me, or if he's thinking of an excuse to learn more about magic.

Regardless, it's an outcome I'm not prepared for, and I'm caught off guard. .

A/N: Happy new year, guys! May your 2016 be filled with happiness~ I didn't expect to have the second chapter up so soon. Then again I also didn't expect anyone to read this fic, but people clearly are! I'm pumped! :D

Anyways, I'm trying really hard to balance the romcom, fantasy and high school elements - how good of a job am I doing? Also, I know that a good chunk of this chapter is fairly boring exposition, but it had to come out at some point...and unfortunately there's more coming :/ But on the upside, more plot is also coming! So yay for that...?

I can't say when the next chapter is going to be, but I'll do my best to have it out soon! Also, this wasn't proofed so please excuse any mistakes. ><