***

Tao stared at the outstretched hand of Jae, something in the pit of his stomach telling him that none of this felt right. Even if she was put under a spell, would she behave the way she did like this? Jae-noona was stronger than that. She would fight and struggle against anything that was trying to take control of her, but this… this seemed far too easy. After everything that he had experienced so far in this freaky haunted house of terror, Tao knew that nothing here would be easy.

He reached out his hand, noticing the tiny smirk Jae showed on her face before masking it behind feigned desperation and he smacked the hand away. The clap resounded throughout the ballroom, the music halting abruptly, the ghostly dancers stopping their movements and all turning around towards him, glaring daggers at him.

“You’re not my Jae-noona!” Tao yelled bravely, slowly putting some distance between himself and the fake Jae.

“What are you talking about, Tao? Of course I am Jae…” she said, but her image started to falter, started to distort as if the thing that pretended to be her was unable to keep up appearances.

“No, you’re not! You’re a fake!” Tao shouted, eyes darting around the ballroom to see where he could make his escape. He was very much aware of the ghosts all putting their attention on him, and if he didn’t find a way to escape fast, he might never see the light of day again.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re not my Jae-noona! You think I wouldn’t recognize my noona from a fraud?!” he spat out, backing away when Jae’s eyes started glowing an angry red, her skin flaking away, her dark hair paling into a dirty blonde and her form shrinking.

“You’re no fun!” a small, unfamiliar voice accused him through Jae’s mouth. “You ruined everything! I hate you!” a terrifying apparition of a ghost child appeared before him, Jae-noona nowhere to be found. “I don’t want to play with you anymore!” the child screamed before a ghastly grin formed on her dead face. “But…I’ll be happy to kill you,” she cackled.

“No, you won’t! Stay back!” Tao warned, worrying that he wouldn’t be able to get away on time. That was when he felt a shift in the air, a vague energy that was very familiar to him.

“You’re mine, Tao!” the child yelled. “I’m going to skin you alive to teach you a lesson!” she insisted, a large knife appearing in her hand. She swung it around but stopped in confusion when something black started to appear in front of her. Tao saw it, as well, the black mist swirling and turning, floating up into the air.
Another blink of an eye and Kai had appeared, looking ragged and exhausted. “Spoiled girl,” he scolded before he grabbed Tao and they disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Kai had managed to teleport them far away from the ballroom where Tao took the opportunity to hug the disgruntled teen with all of his might.

“Kai! Kai, it’s really you! I missed you, I was so scared, yah, you saved my life!” he exclaimed, still hugging the youth and not wanting to let go.

“H-hey, hyung! Don’t be like this! Let me go! So annoying!” Kai tried to pull away, but even Tao could tell that the grumpy teen was happy to have found him.

“How did you find me?” Tao asked, still elated, heart racing in his chest.

“I heard someone shouting in a girly squeal and realized that it was you,” Kai replied dryly. “When I saw that you had ended up in that ballroom as well, I knew I had to get you out of there fast. That nasty little girl somehow knew how noona looks like, she nearly fooled me, too!” Kai clacked his tongue, smoothing over his hair.

“Oh, I see. Well, thank you, Kai,” Tao patted his shoulder and took a deep, long breath. “If that ghost girl knew how noona looked like though…doesn’t that mean that noona passed that way as well?” he then asked, feeling a flicker of hope light up in his chest.

“That’s what I thought, too, but I didn’t get much farther,” Kai looked absolutely irritated and Tao could imagine how he felt. How long had he been wandering in this house by now? Luhan and Lay didn’t even have a proper sense of time, so who knows what else the haunted house had in store for them. He resented it that they had to find out eventually.

“Hey, where are we now?” Tao then asked as the room Kai teleported them into looked strange, to say the least. It was a round room, with a table in the middle, a lonely crystal ball placed on top of it. The room was draped in colors of purple and green, stacks of books cluttering the floor. Tao whined a little to himself.

This wasn’t a seance room, was it?

“I think a witch lives here or something,” Kai shrugged in a way too casual manner. “All the books here are about witchcraft and magic and stuff. But, all this time that I was here, there was no one around. Maybe it’s just empty.”

“Why would it be empty? It looks like there’s still someone living here…” Tao stepped towards the sturdy ebony table, gazing into the crystal ball. Then, a crazy idea popped into his adrenaline-soaked mind.

“Maybe we can use this thing to see where Jae-noona is. It’s a crystal ball, isn’t it?” he suggested, looking at Kai.

“Hyung. You must be joking,” Kai replied, shaking his head.

“Why not? Look around you, Kai, we’re in a haunted house! Why wouldn’t this work?”

“Because crystal ball gazing isn’t real, hyung! Come on, don’t go crazy on me, we need to find a way out,” Kai pleaded.

“I bet you didn’t think ghosts were real either, Kai-yah, but look how that turned out!” Tao replied. “Let’s try it at least. If it’s fake, then no harm done, right?” he sat down on one of the chairs, Kai rolling his eyes and sighing in exasperation before he plopped himself down on a chair as well.

“Fine, but if something happens I’m leaving you here,” he threatened, and even though it worried Tao, he knew that his younger brother was just acting out.

“How hard can this be?” Tao placed his hands on the crystal ball, looking inside of it with utmost concentration. He thought of his brothers, of Jae-noona, tried to forget the fear, tried to keep the bad vibes of the haunted mansion at bay.

He gasped and jumped slightly in his seat when he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him from the crystal ball. “Kai, it’s working, I think, Kai, it’s working!”

“It’s working?” Kai questioned, looking at the crystal ball with newfound curiosity.

“My, my, it’s always refreshing to see a pair of mortals trying to do my job,” a smooth voice sounded, a silhouette lurking at them from the darker corners of the room.

Both boys jolted in response, nearly falling out of their chairs as an old crone appeared into the light, her face mostly shrouded by silver strands of hair, cold eyes staring at them. She looked like a proper fortuneteller, were it not that the color of her clothes seemed to be just a bit too faded, just a bit too ragged, without so much as a glimmer coming from the jewels she wore.

“Are you- are you a ghost?” Tao managed to ask, staying close to Kai in case they needed to make a quick escape.

“Do you wish me to be?” she asked menacingly, her eyes glowing green, her face distorting monstrously for a brief moment.

“No! Please!” Tao pleaded as Kai was on high alert next to him.

The fortuneteller clacked her tongue and sat behind the table, her long nails scraping over the crystal ball. Kai exchanged a look with Tao and the latter knew what he meant.

I can’t move, hyung.

I know, I can’t move, either.

“It’s been a busy day for me,” the fortuneteller suddenly announced, something slithering by her neck. Tao suppressed his shriek when a black snake crawled around her neck. Spiders moved freely over her arms and into her hair, and all she did was smile eerily at them.

“You seek the girl,” she stated, rather than asked, drawing circles on the crystal ball.

“Jae-noona, yes, y-you know where she is?” Tao asked, still stuck in the chair.

“Of course I know,” the fortuneteller smiled, a strange shine in her eyes. “I can even tell you where to look.”

“And how can we know to trust you?” Kai spat out, absolutely weary at the scary woman.

“I am merely a fortuneteller of this house, young man. This is my job,” she replied steadily before focusing her gaze on Tao alone.

“Then help us, please, tell us where she is,” he urged, hoping that if he showed how sincere he was, the woman would truly help them.

“Of course I will help you,” she grinned as Tao breathed out in relief.

“Thank you,” he said.

“But,” she interrupted, lifting a bony finger in the air, “my help comes with a price, of course.”

“I knew it,” Kai tsked. “No thanks, we’ll find noona on our own.”

“Oh yes, of course you will. Because, look how far you’ve come on your own,” the fortuneteller mocked with a certain delight that had Kai glaring at her.

“What is your price? I don’t think I have enough money with me, but I can pay you and then give you more once I found Jae-noona and the others,” Tao promised.
“No, no, you misunderstand,” the fortuneteller shook her head, tiny maggots falling on the table. “Oh, excuse me,” she cackled, picking them up and shoving them in . The two teens gagged at the sight of it, the obvious crunch resounding in the room.

“I don’t want your mortal money. It has no value to me,” she stated. “What I want is for you to answer my question. If you answer it correctly, I shall tell you where to find you precious noona. If you don’t tell me the answer I wish to hear, then you’ll have to pay.”

“That’s it? We answer a question and you’ll help us?” Tao asked for good measure.

“Hyung, no. Don’t trust her,” Kai whispered to him.

“You alone will answer the question, and that’s all you need do,” the fortuneteller pointed at Tao.

“Why me?” he wondered, frowning at the appalling woman.

“You were the one to summon me. You touched my crystal ball, did you not?” she smirked. “Now tell me, do we have an accord?”

“Hyung, don’t do it,” Kai urged, trying to struggle out of the chair, but failing.

“What other option do we have, Kai?” Tao replied, unable to move himself.

If this fails, you can still get us out of here. There’s a chance, okay?

If you say so, hyung…

Taking a deep breath, Tao nodded at the fortuneteller. “It’s a deal.”

“Perfect,” the table shook as the fortuneteller clasped her bony hands in delight. The lights dimmed in the room, only her eyes being highlighted amongst the darkness.

“Tell me, my mortal knight… What does life teach us?”

>>> LIFE TEACHES US THAT EVERYTHING ENDS <<<
>>> LIFE TEACHES US THAT NOTHING ENDS <<<