The last day of the semester comes and goes. I say my final goodbye to the lab I loved so much.

Jin and Sofia tell me they will keep me updated on everything happening in Windsong after I leave.

But truthfully, I don’t want to know.

Windsong will simply be a terrifying chapter of my past. Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, Evan, Laila, Mackenzie- all of them will be unpleasant memories I occasionally recall when reflecting on my life.

Lucy, Tom, Dev, and I swear we will speak every day.

I love them.

But to be honest, I want to let them go, too.

I just want my old life back. Becca, Rob, Zeke, Mom, and the carefree days of Lindsborg.

I don’t want to remember magic.

Mrs. Kim is distraught when I tell her I am moving back to Kansas. She spends days begging me to stay, offering me designer clothes and a bigger room and an enormous allowance and a whole plethora of incentives.

But I simply tell her over and over again: I miss home.

Finally, she sadly agrees to leave. My one promise to her is that I’ll at least stay for the Kim’s annual Winter Ball- and I’ll let her do whatever she wants with me.

Which is why I find myself wearing a long, form-fitting black gown, with a wide neckline cut down to my sternum and a face full of makeup.  

“You look beautiful,” Mrs. Kim breathes as she stares at my reflection in the mirror.

My mouth is slightly agape; I do not even recognize myself. The stylist smiles in satisfaction, touching up my final pieces of hair.

“All done,” she says, holding up a mirror so I can see my hair. My jaw drops in shock. She has arranged an elaborate half-up, half-down do, with one part of my hair braided in intricate patterns and the rest of my hair stick-straight and let down. I have never looked so lovely in my life.

“These socialites keep getting prettier and prettier every day,” I hear the stylist mutter to her assistant as I slip on my 4-inch heels, making my legs look incredibly long. “I guess rich people just have amazing genes.”

I want to tell her I am from Kansas and look like a beat-up Beanie Baby most of the time.

But Mrs. Kim grabs my arm and says, “Let’s go!”

She slowly leads me down the stairs. The entire house has been decorated in gold for the party: gold chandeliers, gold baubles, gold fairy lights, with an enormous Christmas tree stretching all the way up to the third story. I see eyes on me as I make my way through the party- I cannot tell if they admiring the way I look, or discussing the fact that there is a human in their midst.

“Champagne?” a waiter asks.

“Sure,” I nervously say, taking a glass. When I am sure no one’s looking, I down it all in one go.

Mrs. Kim drags me around the party, making me talk to random old ladies and handsome couples dressed in fine suits and gowns. I swear I see almost every brand name on 5th Avenue at this event. One curious peek at the driveway and I realize the front of the Kim residence looks like a luxury car dealership.

“So many rich people,” I sigh. “What am I even doing here?”

“Oh, Joo!” Mrs. Kim rushes over to me. “Could you go get Taehyung? He was supposed to be out an hour ago.”

My blood freezes. “U-Uh, I’m sure he’ll be out soon-,”

“No, he always does this. I’d get him myself, but I have to help the caterers set up.”

She runs off before I can protest any further. I press my lips together, teetering back and forth between going or not.

I’m just going to tell him to come outside. It’ll be fine.

So I nervously make my way up the stairs, head to Taehyung’s door. I rap my knuckles on the door twice.

“Come in,” a low voice says.

Taking a deep breath, I open the door.

Taehyung is standing by the window with his back to me. He sips on a glass of red wine, staring out at the view in front of him. He does not turn as I enter.

“Your mom wants you to come downstairs,” I say, trying to keep my voice from wavering, and then turn to exit the room-

The door closes with a loud bang! I jump back, startled. When I try the handle, I realize the door is sealed shut.

Panic begins to rise up in my throat; I desperately whisper, “Taehyung, please.”

“No.”

He finally turns to look at me. When he sees me, the cold look in his eyes disappears; for several moments, he can only stare at me, absolutely stunned. I lower my gaze to the ground, my cheeks self-consciously heating up.

He sets his wineglass down and steps across the room, his gaze burning a hole in me as he gets closer and closer. My eyes are wide. I am frozen in place; only this time, it is not because of fear. A terribly familiar feeling is rising up in my chest- I despise myself for it, loathe myself, but as I watch him eye me in his crisp, custom-fit suit like I am the most gorgeous thing he’s seen, like I am the only girl in the world, I feel my heartbeat quicken.

He runs his hands down my arms, his gaze locked with mine. Even though I am wearing heels, he towers over me.

“It’s your last night here,” he utters. “Shouldn’t you be with your friends?”

“I promised your mother I’d be at this party.”

His hand moves to my bare neck.

“No amulet. Isn’t that a bad idea?”

Swallowing, I respond, “There’s no need for it anymore.”

“Nearly every high-powered sorcerer is concentrated downstairs. You aren’t scared?”

“They’re not going to kill me.”

Our gazes are locked. Slowly, his fingers trail down, down my neck, over the ridges of my collarbones, down, down the bare skin of my sternum. A chill runs down my spine as he draws closer.

“How about me?” he asks in a deathly soft voice. “Aren’t you scared of me?”

“What do you want me to say?” I say quietly.

“Answer me.”

We are silent. The sound of my heartbeat pounds in my ears.

Finally, I whisper, “We should get back downstairs.”

“So you are.”

And for some reason, when I see the glimmer of hurt in his eyes, something snaps inside of me. My fists curl into balls by my side.

“Why are you surprised?” I utter. “What were you expecting me to say? That I’m not afraid of you because you’ve done about three nice things for me? How does that erase all the horrible things you’ve done?”

I was expecting him to angrily retort back and defend himself. Instead, he lowers his head, misery etched onto every pore of his face. My stomach churns in a bizarre mixture of sadness, fury, and trepidation; his silence compels me to keep going.

“In twelve hours, I’m going to be out of this horrible place- just like how you always wanted. You’ll forget about me, I’ll forget about you, and everything in this town will go back to normal. Have fun murdering innocent people to stay in power, Taehyung.”

I turn on my heel, move to stride out the door.

And then I feel him catch my wrist.

Before I know what is happening, he has wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me towards him so I am flush against his body. His lips smash against mine.

And before I can stop myself, I find myself kissing him back.

Our kiss is passionate, intense, all angry tongue and teeth and hands roaming around each other like we cannot get enough of each other. His hands press down on my shoulders, roam down my arms, around my . I thread my fingers through his hair, yanking and as he presses me up against the wall. When Taehyung tears his lips away and moves to my neck, his lips latching around my skin, I gasp.

“We should stop,” I whimper as I feel his tongue traces patterns on my flesh.

“No.”

“They- they’ll wonder where we are-,”

“I don’t care.”

Chills run through my body- of desire, of loathing, of fear, I can’t tell. I hastily rip off his jacket and fumble at the buttons of his dress shirt and breathe in his musky spearmint scent. A hiss leaves his lips as he feels my nails lightly tracing patterns into his bare skin and he tears his mouth away from the base of my neck in order to latch onto my lips once more. The next thing I know, my dress has been half-ped and he is carrying me to his bed, my gown hanging off me.

“W-We have to go- downstairs,” I pant.

“I said, I don’t care,” Taehyung growls, his chest heaving. His eyes trail down my body, roaming over my flushed cheeks to my lacy black bra, over my stomach and my parted thighs. His eyes darken even further with desire.

I am rendered speechless.

“Let me,” he whispers, his eyes locking onto mine. Despite the harsh, unyielding manner in which he initiated this, his voice is achingly tender. My teeth nibble on my lower lip. I swallow, wordlessly look up at him for one, two, three seconds.

And then I wrap my legs around his torso and pull him down to me in a kiss.

It is 3 in the morning when I wake up.

Slowly, I untangle myself from his grasp. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep here.

. Mrs. Kim was probably furious last night. Neither Taehyung nor I showed up to the rest of the ball.

Stupid. I’m so stupid.

It’s not like it matters anyway, a small voice whispers in my head. You’re leaving in a few hours.

I look at the boy sleeping next to me.

The flames from the fireplace illuminate his pristine features. He looks younger when he is asleep. Softer. The harsh lines, clenched jaw, and cold sneer are absent from his face.

Every time I have looked at Taehyung, from when he was glowering at me as I first arrived at his house to the events of last night, I have been struck by how absolutely handsome he is. He has always belonged to a league of his own; a person so attractive that they seemed above everything else. His detached attitude, wild popularity, incredible athleticism, and, most of all, his magic, further reinforced that opinion.

I can’t believe this is the last time I’ll be seeing him.

A pang of grief hits my chest; I clap my hands over my mouth, fighting to hold back the waves of emotion rising inside of me.

After a pause, I lean down and press a kiss on his lips.

“Goodbye, Taehyung.”

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is a call for flight AA4829 to Wichita, I Kansas. We will begin boarding in five minutes.”

My eyes skim over the same sentence over and over again in my book. Unfortunately, I still can’t absorb anything I am reading, no matter how hard I try.

It’s starting to hit me that it’s really all over.

The back of my throat burns. I swallow.

Don’t you dare cry, Joo. Don’t you ing dare. I’m going to kill you if you do.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone take a seat next to me.

“ty weather we’re having, huh?” they ask.

I pull my cap lower over my head. “Yup,” I grunt.

“Seriously, winters in this place are miserable, but this year’s particularly bad. Every morning’s been icy. I’m surprised the flights aren’t delayed this morning.”

Please go away. “Mhm.”

“I love your choker, by the way. Where’s it from?”

Praying that this girl isn’t sitting next to me on the flight, I respond, “I made it.”

“No way. Seriously?”

“Mhm.”

“Impressive. I mean, I’d heard the reports, but I couldn’t believe it till I’d seen it. Good job. Even I couldn’t figure out how to construct magical objects.”

It takes a split-second for my brain to register what she’s said.

And then my head whips around to her in shock.

When I see her face, my jaw drops.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Jooyeon Jung,” says an unmistakable Meena Murthy with a faint smirk on her face.

No way.

No ing way.

I gape at her, utterly speechless, for an eternity. After several moments, a faint look of discomfort slides across her features.

“Okay, your expression was priceless, but this is getting awkward,” she says. “You can say something.”

“You’re supposed to be dead,” I breathe. “You- Dev and Jin- what- what the -,”

“Yeah. About that-,”

“The sorcerers killed you. How- are you a ghost? Is this some magical hallucination? Wait- this is a trap, isn’t it?”

Meena sighs, leaning back in her seat. “Yeah, we have a lot to tell you.”

“We?”

As if on cue, someone taps me on the shoulder. I swivel around- and grow ten times more surprised.

“Hey, Joo,” Tom says, a wry smile on his face. “What’s up?”

“Tom?!” And, of all the crazy thoughts running through my head, the first one that I blurt out is, “How did you two get past airport security?”

Both of them snort with laughter. “She has her priorities in check,” Meena says.

“Wait- you guys know each other?” I gasp. “Tom- dude, what the hell? Wait, does Dev know you’re alive? And your mom? After you died, they totally just fell apart! And so did Jin! And Sofia! Do they know?”

The smile fades away from Meena’s face, replaced by a somber expression. She sighs, and then stands up.

“You have two options, Joo,” she tells me. “One, you can go back to whatever hick town in Ohio you’re from-,”

“Kansas,” I say faintly. 

“Two, you can come with us, and I’ll answer all your questions. But fair warning.” Meena crosses her arms. “Once you follow us, there’s no turning back.”

I dazedly blink up at her.

“What do you mean, no turning back?” I murmur.

“It’ll be impossible for you to return to your normal life,” Tom says.

“Why?”

He exchanges a knowing look with Meena.

“Once you find out... you’ll know why.”

“So what’s it going to be?” Meena questions.

“This is a call for flight AA4829 to Wichita, Kansas,” a voice says over the intercom. “We will begin boarding now. Passengers in zones 1 and 2, please come check in.”

My eyes pingpong back and forth between the boarding agent and her, boarding agent and her. A strange feeling is beginning to rise up in my stomach; my hands are trembling because of god-knows-what. My leg rapidly jiggles up and down as I close my eyes.

“This is a really stressful situation,” I say squeakily. “Do I have to choose now?”

“Yes,” Meena exasperatedly tells me.

“Um.... um... um...,”

“Just hurry up! It’s okay if you don't want to follow us!”

Mom’s waiting at home for me. So are Rob, Becca, Zeke, and the rest of Lindsborg.

Home is one plane ride away.

But when I open my eyes and see Meena and Tom waiting for me in anticipation- when I raise my hand to my neck and feel the amulet sitting on my skin- when I think about him-

I stand up, bag slung over my shoulders.

“Let’s go,” I say, a tremor of nervousness audible in my voice.

Their faces split into identical grins.

“Yes,” Tom says. “Come on.”

I have so many questions, but all I can do right now is follow Meena as she leads me away from the terminal down the hall of the airport. We step through a fire exit, take the stairs up, exit out another door, take a shuttle to another part of the airport, move up another flight of stairs, take an elevator down somewhere. My mind is spinning with confusion- where the hell are we going? Where are Meena- Meena ing Murthy- and Tom taking me?

What is happening?

And finally, we step off our third elevator ride and I see a large sign hanging on the wall.

Gate Z.

Standing under the sign are a very confused Lucy, Dev, and Sofia.

They are talking amidst themselves until they see me sprinting towards them. Their eyes widen in shock.

“Joo?!” Dev says. “What are you doing here?”

“Dev, holy ,” I breathe. “Meena- she’s-,”

“Meena?” He furrows his eyebrows. “What about Mee-,”

And then he sees her standing in front of the elevator doors and his jaw drops.

I hear the sound of a body thudding to the floor; Sofia has collapsed onto her knees. She is gaping at Meena with tears starting to form in her eyes, her hands clapped over .

“Meena?” she asks in a choked voice.

“Hey,” Meena smiles softly, stepping towards them. Dev is looking at her in complete astonishment. His eyes are beginning to turn glassy.

“I’m dreaming,” he whispers. “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”

“You’re not dreaming,” Meena says in a thick voice. Although she is trying to keep herself composed, I see her eyes b with emotion. “I missed you two. So ing much.”

“You died,” Dev says quietly. Tears are freely flowing down his cheeks as he stares at his sister. “They- they killed you.”

“I’ll explain. First, let’s get on the plane.”

She wraps her arms around Sofia, who is simply clutching her knees and sobbing on the floor. Sofia buries her face in Meena’s shoulder and cries even harder, and Meena looks like she is about to completely lose it, too. However, Tom gently taps her on the shoulder and she catches herself.

“Get up, Sof,” she tells her softly. “Let’s get on the plane.”

“Meena,” Sofia bawls. “You- you- I can’t believe you-,”

“I know. I’m so ing sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Lucy and I exchange looks of absolute astonishment. Neither of us have no idea what to say; we are completely overwhelmed by everything playing out in front of us.

Meena guide Sofia and Dev up, links her arms around theirs. She and Tom begin walking towards me and Lucy.

“Well, well. Look who it is.” Meena is grinning at Lucy.

“H-Hey, Meena,” Lucy stutters. “I- what the hell is going on?”

Meena searches her face with strange, unreadable eyes. Lucy furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

“This is going to be a long plane ride,” Meena finally says, walking past her. “Come on, everyone.”

Lucy looks at me in absolute confusion. “Did I do something wrong?” she mouths. I shrug, just as lost as she is.

Gate Z apparently only has one terminal. There are no gate attendants, no boarding pass checks- no one, actually, except for the six of us. We file through the door and onto the plane, which looks to be a small yet luxurious private jet. I feel like I am in a daze as I sit down at a plush red seat next to Lucy. This... this is some kind of dream, right? Or some hallucination? My eyes dart around the plane, looking for a bottle of water or a paper bag I can vomit into.

Gold lettering at the front of the plane suddenly catches my eye.

Hado NE Division: Jet 51.

My eyebrows shoot up. Hado.

“Lucy,” I murmur, nudging her. “Look. Hado.”

Her eyes light up in recognition. “That’s the word we’ve been seeing everywhere.”

“Do you think Meena-,” I begin, but Tom clears his throat.

“We’ll explain,” he tells us. My eyes grow even wider.

“Wait a minute,” I say as it finally hits me. “Wait. So you’re in on all of this, too?”

“Well... yeah. You could say so.”

“How- for how long?”

“The whole time-,”

“So you knew that Meena was alive this entire time, along with probably a million other things, and you never told us?”

Tom squirms uncomfortably. He opens his mouth to say something, but Meena cuts him off.

“If he’d blown his cover, all of you would’ve been screwed,” she says. “Now. Let’s start from the beginning. The number one question on your minds is probably how I’m alive, right?”

“Yeah,” Lucy and I say simultaneously. Dev and Sofia still look too shellshocked to say anything.

“Well, it’ll be easier to explain that if I say who my murderer was supposed to be.”

“Was it Jimin?” I ask. “Tae- Taehyung?”

“It had to be an adult,” Lucy says. “Maybe a relative of a classmate?”

Meena shakes her head.

“A teacher?” Lucy frowns. “I know the school administration found out and ordered someone to kill you. It had to have been someone we know.”

Meena and Tom exchange looks.

“It was someone you know, Lucy,” Meena says quietly.

She blinks. “Who was it? Was I right on one of my guesses? Because apart from those people, I’m not sure who it could’ve been. It’s just not logical for the killer to-,”

“It was you.”

We are all absolutely silent. My jaw is hanging wide open. 

“What the are you talking about?” Sofia finally says, summing up what all of us are thinking.

“Here- actually, I’ll start from this. You guys think that all sorcerers are bad. They’re not. There are actually good and bad kinds of sorcerers. That’s what the Kado and Hado are for." 

A/N: lmao mess

my sleep/eating schedule has been a mess... actually i have to ask yall a question. ok so ever since i got back from SK, im like constantly hungry. like no matter how much i eat (even if its like 2500-3000 cals a day), im constantly hungry. and i literally cannot sleep, or ill sleep for like 3 hours and then wake up, even tho im tired. does anyone know what is happenin because like..... ???? ugh idk going to doctors tuesday

OMG GUYS im going to the monsta x concert next week im pretty excited yaYOIetty! i havent rly listened to their new music but hero and trespass are literally two of my fave kpop songs ever and i know itll be hype as anyway. dab!