I am reading in my guest bedroom when there is a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I call. Meena enters.

“Hey,” I say warily, setting aside The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

Meena bites her lip. “When you go back to Windsong, I want you to promise me a few things.”

“What?”

“First... I mean, this goes without saying, I guess, but don’t tell anyone I’m still alive.”

“Obviously.”

“That... includes Jin.”

I blink. There is an uncomfortable look on Meena’s face. She avoids my gaze.

“I won’t tell him, because I don’t want to put you in danger,” I say carefully. “But... I hope there’s a day when he learns the truth.”

“How’s he doing?” she tentatively asks.

“He’s changed. Dev and Tom and all told me some stuff about how he used to be back in the day- energetic, out-of-control, a troublemaker-,”

“Wait, used to? He’s not anymore?”

I shake my head. “He’s completely different. After you died, he all his sorcerer friends, got really quiet...,”

“Whoa, what? He doesn’t even like Taehyung anymore?”

“Yeah, he hates Taehyung.”

Meena slumps down on the chair next to my bed, absolute shock etched onto her face.

“Because of me?” she whispers.

I nod.

“.” She buries her head in her hands. “You definitely can’t tell him I’m alive,” she murmurs, swallowing. “Okay, let’s... table this. There’s something else that’s more important.”

“Um, more important than not telling someone that the girl he liked is alive?”

Meena winces. “Ouch. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Sorry. Go on.”

“Okay. Listen to me.” She takes a deep breath. “No matter what, you cannot let Lucy retrieve her memories.”

My eyes widen. “What?”

“Joo... Lucy wasn’t just any sorcerer. Do you know how she was her freshman year?”

“No?”

“Bat insane.”

“Huh?”

“She was crazy. She was best friends with Jin, and oh my god, the two of them were known for being the biggest troublemakers in school.”

An image of Lucy- elegant, poised, graceful Lucy- flashes through my head. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same girl?” I ask Meena.

“Yeah, I was surprised when I saw her again, too. But I’m not joking. She was absolutely brilliant, but she was also hyper, rebellious, loud, and just ing nuts. God, she would always raise a ruckus in seminar... every single day, she’d complain about all the projects we were being forced to do...,” A wistful smile appears on Meena’s face. “Her personality’s completely different now.”

“Like Jin’s,” I say slowly. The smile slowly ebbs from her face.

“Like Jin’s,” she solemnly agrees. “Anyway. I didn’t find out until I got here, but Lucy was one of the most powerful, promising sorcerers in this division. Somi and Elizabeth would tell me stories about her in combat- she was insanely destructive and completely dangerous. Almost a loose cannon.”

“Why didn’t she kill you?” I breathe.

“She couldn’t,” Meena utters. “That day... she cornered me in the woods outside my house. Her hands were at my throat. And then all of a sudden, she started sobbing. She said she wouldn’t do it. And then she masked my presence and told me to flee Windsong. By the time I’d made some headway, Tom found me and took me here.”

“Do you know when the Kado discovered she hadn’t killed you?”

“I think she was supposed to bring my body back as proof? I’m not sure of the details. All I know is that when the next school year came around, Lucy had completely changed and no one remembered her- not even her sorcerer friends. She also lost her ability to conduct magic. Whoever stole her memories put some kind of lock on her- she’ll only be able to get her power back if she gets her memories back.”

A shudder runs through my spine. “That’s terrible. Poor Lucy... it must be awful to just lose everything like that. Her parents, her friends, her life-,”

“No. Joo. If she gets her memories back, she’ll return to the Kado. She’ll go back to being one of their most powerful agents, except with insider information about us-,”

“That makes no sense! Why would she want to go back after what they did to her?”

“We can’t take that risk-,”

“It’s not a risk! I guarantee you, she has no love for the Kado-,”

“Really? So you don’t think she’d want to be reunited with her parents again? Or go back to being a master of dark magic and being one of the most powerful teenagers on this continent?”

I blink.

“Yeah.” Meena crosses her arms. “I know it’s cruel. But you can’t, for the sake of all things good. Otherwise, you’ll just be helping facilitate the Kado’s work.”

“That’s unfair, Meena.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.” She lets out a deep sigh, and I wonder how fast she had to grow up to speak so callously about her old friend. “That on top of you having to live with Taehyung again...,”

The sound of his name causes my chest to tighten; I haven’t thought about him since I woke up in this place. I silently duck my head under my covers. Meena looks at me with raised eyebrows.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” I respond quietly.

“It’s okay, I hate him, too. Jin told me so many stupid stories about him. You know he caught Taehyung flexing in his underwear in front of his mirror at a party for twenty minutes? I mean, yeah, he was drunk as hell, but still.”

A lump begins forming in my throat. I quietly fidget with my book as I try and force myself not to think about him, not to think about our last night together.

“He has a shrine to himself in his gym locker. He made the cheerleaders make mini-posters of his best lacrosse moments and hang them up.”

A choked laugh leaves my lips, but I can’t prevent the sadness creeping up in my chest.

“Oh my god, I have so many more embarrassing party stories- his tolerance is , apparently? And he kept bragging how fast his shotgun time was. So Jin made him shotgun a beer, and he threw up literally five seconds la- whoa, why’re you crying?”

“I’m not crying,” I say in a thick voice. “I just have... allergies.”

“Hey.” She leans closer to me. “I’m really sorry- if talking about Taehyung brings back bad memories, I’ll-,”

“Taehyung and I hooked up,” I whisper.

Meena looks at me with enormous eyes. She stares at me for what feels like an eternity in absolute shock.

And then she breathes, “You’re kidding.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” I quickly say, wiping my eyes. “The only person who remotely knows anything about this is Lucy.”

“Joo... hasn’t he treated you like this entire semester?”

“I know. I-,” I bury my head in my hands. “I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. It’s just- sometimes we have these moments, and-,”

“Oh, no.” Meena grimaces. “Look... I get it. happens. But your relationship with Taehyung just sounds toxic.”

The simple truth of her statement, no matter how gently she says it, cuts under my skin and slice through my heart. What was I expecting? To giggle over my kisses with the girl whose life was ruined by Taehyung and his friends?

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” I mumble, rolling over in bed. I don’t want to look at Meena’s pitying expression any longer.

“Good night, Joo,” she says softly. “I’m sorry. Dev and Sofia are going to come up to the city every weekend to see me. If you ever need to get away from Windsong, or need someone to talk to... I'd love to have you here, too."

“Oh my goodness, Jooyeon!”

“Oof!” I gasp as Mrs. Kim flings herself at me in joy, squeezing me in a tight hug.

“Oh, I’m so happy you decided to stay!” she squeals. “We’re so glad to have you back?”

“Thanks, Mrs. Kim- oh, thanks, Andrews,” I smile as he takes my luggage.

“I’m happy you’re here, Mistress Jooyeon,” he says with a bow.

I uneasily turn back to Mrs. Kim, who is yammering on without any sign of stopping.

“Does, uh, Taehyung know I’m going to be back?” I ask hesitantly.

The smile on her face grows wider. “Nope! I kept it secret so it would be a surprise!” She turns towards the staircase and yells, “Taehyung! Come downstairs!”

“Oh, no,” I quietly groan, burying my head in my hands.

“What?” My heart skips a beat as I see Taehyung lean over the third-floor banister and look down to the foyer.

When he sees me, he goes absolutely still.

“Jooyeon wanted to come back! Isn’t that great!” Mrs. Kim ruffles my hair. “You two go catch up! I’ll meet you downstairs in a few hours for dinner!”

My eyes dart away from Taehyung’s. I hurry up the stairs, trying to ignore his laser-like glare boring into my face.

“Excuse me,” I cough, trying to move past him, but he blocks my path.

“Why are you here?” he hisses.

“I’ll stay away from you,” I mumble.

“Do you have a death wish?”

I try and push him aside, but he grabs my wrist. A shudder runs through my body; any trace of kindness or affection he showed towards me is gone. Taehyung is as icy and vindictive as he has ever been. Meena’s words chant through my mind.

Your relationship with Taehyung just sounds toxic.

“You’ll regret this,” he utters in a silky-soft voice.

“Probably,” I respond, and rip my arm out of his grasp.

“Welcome back,” Jin says.

I give him a sheepish grin, setting down my triple chocolate cheesecake on the table. Sofia takes one look at it and immediately deems it Diabetes Central.

“Yeah, maybe the cheesecake will get me before the monsters,” I snort. Dev, Tom, and Jin let out dark chuckles as Sofia rolls her eyes.

I’ve missed Chopons and its expensive, elitist-yet-hipster atmosphere. My eyes wander out onto the lake. The selkies must be somewhere in the inky black depths of the water. I recall that humiliating night; the frigid, choppy waves against my skin, the glowing eyes of the selkie, the ethereal blessing placed upon me-

The terrified look in Taehyung’s eyes as he hovered above my body, desperately pumping his magic into my blood to revive me-

“I don’t know whether to be excited for the first day of the semester or scared less,” Dev says, and I immediately tear myself away from a dangerous path down memory lane. “Jin, how many people know that we know about magic?”

“I’m pretty sure only Taehyung, Namjoon, Jimin, and the rest of our inner circle know,” he responds. “They don’t know Sofia knows about magic. Just you four- wait, where’s Lucy?”

I furrow my eyebrows, checking my phone. “I don’t know. She hasn’t texted. , is she okay?”

“I don’t sense that she’s in any danger,” Tom says, frowning.

“Ditto,” Jin says. “Call her.”

Lucy picks up after four rings.

“Hey,” she says quietly.

“Hey. Where are you? We were all supposed to meet at Chopons tonight, remember?”

“Yeah. I’m kind of tired, so I think I’m going to rest. Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“No, it’s totally fine,” I hurriedly tell her. “Get some rest, okay? We’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Mhm. See you.”

“Is she okay?” Sofia questions concernedly.

I nod uneasily. “I mean, she’s okay as she’s been all break.”

“What do you mean?” Jin asks, confused.

Dev, Tom, Sofia, and I exchange glances.

“After Lucy saw those pictures... she’s been different,” Tom says slowly. “She was quiet before, but she completely stopped talking. She never left her room, she never did... anything. She just sat there.”

“We had to force her to eat,” I add. “She’s just not in a great place right now.”

“I don’t know if we’re supposed to give her space or supposed to be helping her through it,” Dev says miserably.

“I don’t blame her. If I’d found out that my entire life was a lie, I’d be pretty ed up, too,” Sofia mutters.

Jin’s eyes widen. “Yeah, okay, about that. This past weekend, some of us were at Kado Region headquarters, and I tried looking through our system of records for information about her. Nothing.”

“Damn,” I say.

“But here’s the thing.” Jin crosses his arms. “Our Region has files on every person that attends Windsong.”

Dev’s eyes widen. “Even us?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t have any important information. Just your family history, background, specialty, talents- stuff like that.”

“That sounds like some pretty important information.”

“I mean anything that mentions that you know about magic. But anyway, Lucy doesn’t have a file at all. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

“Someone must’ve been trying to cover up that she existed,” Tom muses.

“I can’t believe any of this,” Jin says, shaking his head. “Those pictures... she looked like she was one of our best friends. How could we all forget her like that?”

I refrain from telling Jin that he was actually her best friend. That information will probably just him up even more.

“Why does Jimin know about her, though?” Sofia asks. “Like, why him specifically?”

“Lucy was pretty close to Jimin,” I say. “They were Student Council President and VP, and... it was pretty obvious Lucy liked him...,”

I trail off. All of us sit in uncomfortable silence, not meeting each other’s eyes.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so sorry for someone.

“I haven’t told any of my friends about Lucy’s, uh, past,” Jin finally says. “I figured I probably shouldn’t make it known that I know about it.”

“That’s probably the smartest thing to do,” Tom says.

“Yeah.” A shudder runs through me as I remember Jimin’s malicious, twisted voice as he spoke to Taehyung that night. “I don’t even want to think about what Jimin would do to you.”

“He wouldn’t do anything to me. We’re like brothers,” Jin says, albeit a little uncertainly.

“I don’t know, Jin. He sounded... psychotic.”