“There’s this powerful villain in book and the main character somehow beats him, and she’s weak as hell,” I grumbled. “It’s so illogical.”

“Even if you look weak as hell, doesn’t mean you automatically are.”

“Apparently, I am, though.”

Jongin glanced at me with the corner of his eyes, though he didn’t make another comment. Something in his expression seemed to say something, but whatever it was, it wasn’t anything I could understand.

Chapter 10

Five days in Ignis passed quickly, and in a blink of the eye, it was time to go back to Seoul.

I didn’t have much to bring back with me, apart from the blade I had received and a couple of books I had yet to finish reading, which Kai helped me to stuff in a bag.

Eunhae gave me a slightly tearful goodbye (though I doubted she was tearful because of me -- Luhan was the one leaving and she hugged him for a good thirty seconds), though apart from her, Mrs. Lee was the only other person who came to bid me and the others goodbye. Luhan, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Kai were all coming back to Seoul, along with roughly ten more other people I’d never met before, though Baekhyun said they’d join us in a couple more hours.

Portalling back to Seoul was a lot less complicated than it had been to get to Ignis, and Luhan’s powers weren’t needed in the process of doing so. The five of us gathered at Central Hall, where Mrs. Lee led us to one of the many portal rooms.

The books we had taken out at the Archives didn’t feel like it weighed much in my backpack, but for some reason, the sword, which was arguably lighter than the bag, seemed to weigh me down by a ton. Holding a weapon was already too much for me to handle, and the fact that I’d be learning to use it on others made me feel a little nauseous. Even if I were an Athanatoi, how was I supposed to handle killing or seriously injuring someone else?

Kai stood next to me with a straight back, mouth pressed in a line. Out of everyone in the room, he’d been the only person who’d been by my side throughout most of the short lived stay in Ignis, but for some reason, still felt like the most distant. He still downright refused to tell me anything about the Darkling, though I’d read a fair bit about him in the books he had given. None of it said anything about why he still seemed to be such a sensitive topic, when the guy supposedly died over five hundred years ago. Sure, he’d caused a lot of havoc when he was still alive, but even then…

“Are you ready?” Mrs. Lee’s voice cut through my thoughts. She stood near the portal with her hands held out, the pale green aura shining just slightly. The loudness of everything had gotten a little better, and I was beginning to get accustomed to it, though Kai still spoke quietly whenever he spoke to me. “Mira, I know that you may want to finish school, but in this world, training should still come first. It’s best that you always have someone accompany you when you’re not at home, since your aura’s more powerful now and it’s bound to attract a lot of creatures. And before you finish all your proper training, you don’t want to deal with them alone.”

I nodded meekly. The prospect of my aura attracting monsters -- namely things like Mr. Lim -- terrified me beyond imagination.

“As for your brother -- even if you don’t want to lie to him, it’s for his safety and yours that you don’t deliberately show or tell him of all of this.” Her tone was sympathetic, though it didn’t really change the fact that I had to pretty much keep everything about my life in the dark from Jinyoung. The simply thought of having to lie so much to him made me feel sick. It wasn’t fair to him. Wasn’t fair to me. But then again, would it be fair to drag him into such a dangerous world? There simply wasn’t a right decision anymore.

Mrs. Lee didn’t say anything else, but stretched her arms out again, the pale green engulfing the whole room, and all of us in it.

***

“Mira!” The moment I unlocked the door to our apartment, Jinyoung appeared. “You’re fine? Oh god, I’m glad you’re fine.”

I almost fell back in surprise at the sheer volume of his voice, flinching back and accidentally stepping back into Kai’s chest. I was happy to see Jinyoung, but simply talking to him made me feel guilty. I had left my shortsword at the safehouse with Kai, and he had proceeded to walk me back home. I applauded his ability to think straight, because I couldn’t really do so and was absentminded to the point of almost about to bring the sword home. And in no way was I looking forward to Jinyoung’s reaction to seeing that I had a weapon with me.  

Trying my best to hide the fact that my ears truly hurt at the yelling, I  managed a smile-turned-grimace at my brother. Apart from the backpack that I used to carry the books, and the spare uniform Kai had lent me (which I was wearing, as clothing from Ignis probably didn’t suffice and it was pretty much three sizes too large), I had nothing else.

“It feels like I haven’t see you in a long time,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Beside me, in my peripheral vision, Kai stiffened, though Jinyoung simply looked downright confused. He pushed his glasses a little bit higher on the bridge of his nose and squinted at me. “It’s been about a day or so since I last saw you,” he stated, looking somewhat miffed. “And considering the fact that there was a gas explosion at your school and you were ‘dangerously close’ to it, you look quite well. It’s all over the news, and apparently one teacher died in it, and when Jongin phoned, he said that you fainted out of shock? Anyways, your face isn’t as pale, and you’re actually not slouching for once.”

The thought hit me that it had been only five hours that had passed because time in Ignis ran differently than it did on Earth. Nevertheless, it felt odd knowing that five days had technically passed there, and only five hours here. “It…only feels like a long time,” I amended meekly, thinking back on Jinyoung’s words: gas explosion. Whatever Kai had done back at the school, it had not been a gas explosion, but of course, there was no way Jinyoung would know. The teacher that died had been Mr. Lim -- no, the golem who’d taken form in Mr. Lim’s body. And Jinyoung wasn’t wrong: I didn’t feel as tired, and keeping my posture straight seemed to feel natural. So much was different after Mrs. Lee and Kai had broken that barrier in my mind -- how was I supposed to hide that from my brother? “And I’m fine, I guess. Nothing really happened to me. I was just a little shocked.”

“I feel like that explosion gave you powers or something,” Jinyoung muttered, giving another head-to-toe scan of me again. “Seriously. I don’t know if you can tell, but you look a lot healthier.”

I could tell. I could feel it. Biting back that response, I forced myself to shrug.

Jinyoung turned to Kai, who stood by the doorway, arms crossed, watching patiently. “Jongin, I can’t thank you enough,” he announced, and I startled a little. “For bringing my sister home in such good health and all. She might’ve died if it weren’t for you.” The first time Jinyoung had called him by his real name, it had completely slipped my mind, since there were other more surprising things he had said. But now -- Kai’s face remained indifferent at the name. His eyes seem to flash a little, but other than that, he showed no other reaction.

“I’m sure she could’ve handled herself well on her own too,” he replied in a courteous voice, “But it was no problem.”

Jinyoung smiled at Kai, then looked back at me. “If I know my sister,” he returned, “Then I’m sure she was unable to.”

I couldn’t help but glance at Kai at that point, because Jinyoung was perfectly right. If Kai hadn’t been there when Mr. Lim had attacked, then I’d be long dead by now. That, and there wouldn’t have been the so called ‘gas explosion.’ He returned the look with a slight smile, before meeting Jinyoung’s gaze once again. “I’ll get going, then,” he replied. “It is the weekend, so you’ll have a day before going to school on Monday. And until they fix whatever caused the problem in our school, all of the students will be going to Hanseong high school. I told you that already, right?”

My reflexes to the current situation weren’t quick enough, apparently, because I shook my head dumbly before I could even think twice. Kai looked like he wanted to hit his head against something at my response. “Remember,” he said, more forcefully this time, “I told you about it just this morning.”

I blinked, finally getting the message he had been trying to get through. Maybe having Athanatoi senses gave me many advantages from normal people, but it hadn’t let me take social cues any better than before.

“Oh. That. Yeah, this morning. You told me about it this morning.”

Jinyoung watched the back-and-forth with a slightly interested, slightly baffled expression. “So,” he finally concluded, “You’ll be going to Hanseong for a while?”

***

It’s too loud.

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