The moment I walk into the Kim residence, the temperature drops about 30 degrees. Goosebumps prickle at my skin. Taehyung is nowhere in sight, but I can feel his presence around me.

I’m too angry to allow myself to get scared. Ignoring the sensation, I head upstairs to my room. Taehyung will show his face when he wants. I’ll deal with him then. I open my door-

Taehyung is lying on my bed, flipping through my notebook of designs.

“So,” he says. “You can create magical objects.”

The world stops turning.

Terror creeps up my throat, floods every inch of my body. I feel my arms and legs shaking but the only thing I can see right now is Taehyung, staring at me with an impassive expression on his face.

“I- what?” I choke out after several moments of heavy silence.

“You know, when you were creeping up to the library every night and taking books, I thought you were just reading about magic and sorcerers and the Kado and the Hado. When you showed up with amulets, I thought you’d stole them from somewhere.”

He flips to one of the first pages in my notebook. My very first amulet.

“I should’ve realized that things weren’t adding up. But I don’t think I would’ve ever thought you were making magical objects.”

His eyes dart to me. “That’s what you’re doing, right?”

“N-No,” I stammer. “It’s- that’s impossible. You can’t create magical objects-,”

“But you are. Don’t try to lie to me. If there’s one person- one human- who could do that, it would be you.”

A cold sweat has broken out over my body.

“Taehyung,” I whisper. “Please don’t kill me.”

He tilts his head up, looks at me with cold eyes.

“Explain.”

So I do. I start from the day Sasha trapped my in the library and tell Taehyung about the long nights designing, the accidents, the successes, the selkies and the goblins and the banshees.

But there’s no way in hell I’m screwing Jin over. If his memories get wiped like Lucy’s...

And if Taehyung discovers I am now affiliated with the Kado’s rival organization, there’s no telling how they’d handle me.

So I leave out everything about Jin’s involvement and the Hado.

Taehyung stays expressionless the whole time I am speaking. He has no reaction to anything I am describing.

When I finish, he silently watches me for what feels like an eternity. My breaths come out in shaky bursts as I wait for him to pulverize me on the spot.

And then he lets out a long, slow exhale.

“Thank god,” he breathes.

I blink in confusion. “Wh-What?”

“Thank god.” Taehyung stands up. To my astonishment, a wide smile has spread across his lips. “Joo... this is perfect.”

“What are you talking about?” I mumble, stumbling back in fear. Taehyung looks like a million pounds have been taken off his shoulders. He strides towards me, absolutely ecstatic.

“You’re- you’re technically a sorcerer now,” he says in a low, fervent voice. “You figured out how to design magical objects. With a talent like that, there’s no way they’d want to harm you. You're safe.”

My eyes widen in shock as Taehyung pulls me to him in a tight embrace. He buries his head in my neck, whispering, “Yes, yes, yes,” over and over again. All the iciness and pressure is gone; I can practically taste Taehyung’s happiness and relief in the air around us.

He pulls back from me, looks into my eyes. He is practically radiating joy.

“Do you know what this means?” he asks softly. “I don’t have to try to drive you out of Windsong anymore. You can join us and I can teach you about magic and- , this is amazing.”

He stares at me, waiting for any sort of response. I have been as silent and still as a rock the whole time he’s been talking. As the seconds tick by, confusion clouds his gaze.

“What’s wrong?” he questions, his arms still wrapped around my waist.

I blankly look up at him.

“Let go of me,” I say in a low, even voice.

Taehyung’s face contorts into a confused expression. When he doesn’t move, I take his hands off me myself. Then I head to my closet and open the door, removing clothes from the racks and throwing them on my bed.

“I don’t understand,” he says in a faint voice.

“I’m moving out,” I reply.

“What?!” Taehyung stumbles back in shock. “Wait- what- what are you talking about?”

I ignore him and pack my things. Taehyung grabs my hand.

“This is a good thing. I- I don’t get why you’re leaving right now. Where are you even going to go? Why?”

“I’m moving in with Lucy,” I say tonelessly.

“Joo,” he says quietly.

Memories flash through my mind: Taehyung sneering at me from the hot tub with his friends, Evan tripping me in the hall and breaking my phone, Jimin threatening Lucy in a terrifying voice. Perpetually standing on the outskirts of the Kado’s exclusive gang, watching as they plotted to take me down.

“You... are evil,” I utter. “You think this changes anything? You think I’d want to stay with you after everything you’ve done to me? You and your friends are absolutely horrible, and I would rather die than join the Kado.”

“We were doing those things on purpose,” Taehyung says in a strangled voice. “We didn’t want another death like Meena’s-,”

I scoff. “Please. Don’t try to pretend like you just treated me like this. You all treat everyone like . You’re stuck in this elite little bubble and you just think you’re so ing amazing-,”

“That’s not true-,”

“Yes, it is! You look down on everyone that’s not a part of your circle. The Kado is built on exploiting the innocent for their own personal gain. Something you’ve truly exemplified in the time I’ve known you.”

He is silent. His chest heaves in and out in shaky breaths as he stares at me. For a second, I am tempted to let him wrap me in an embrace, tell me that, it’s okay, we can work this out, I know you care, things will be fine.

Have you noticed how their relationship operates in a cycle? Taehyung treats her like , she gets sad and says she’s over him, and then he does something nice that redeems himself?

“I’m gonna go,” I whisper.

Lucy comes to pick me up two hours later.

“Hey,” she says warily. “Are... you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say dully, throwing my luggage in the trunk.

“How did Taehyung take the news?”

I scoff. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Are you sure-,”

“Let’s just go.”

After giving me an uneasy look, she puts her foot on the pedal.

“Thanks for letting me move in with you,” I say. “I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. Being alone in that house was driving me crazy. Hopefully... things will be better with you there.”

“I’ll be there for you 24/7, Luce. I’m happy we’re going to be living together. We’ve been drifting since... well, winter break.”

Lucy nods. “It’ll be fun. Besides,” she says, with a wry smile, “we can make sure neither of us does anything stupid. Or brings over anyone stupid.”

I snort, giving her a wry look. “Yup.”

I have been in Lucy’s house only once before. Similar to last time, the first thing that strikes me is how empty is it. It’s enormous, yes, but there are no pictures, no decorations, nothing- nothing but minimalist furniture and basic appliances. The sight creates a pang in my stomach.

“Let me show you your room,” Lucy says. She leads me up the stairs and down a hall, until we arrive at a spacious room at the corner of the house. A large bed sits in the middle of the room, along with a dresser and a small table.

“Don’t worry. Jimin and I didn’t on that bed.”

I whip my head around to her in astonishment. “Lucy!”

A wry smile twists her lips. “What? I wanted to make sure you knew.”

“How- how are you joking about this?”

She lets out a deep sigh. “It’s better to joke about it than to let it destroy me.”

I blink. That’s one way of looking at it, yeah, but I can't even imagine how hard it is getting to that point of acceptance. My eyes linger on Lucy’s face. There is so much pain hidden in her.

“It takes time,” Lucy admits. She hesitates for a moment, and then asks, “Do you... want to talk about what happened?”

A bitter feeling rises up in my chest. I shake my head.

“I’m just going to go to sleep.”

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Lucy. I love you.”

She smiles and wraps her arms around me in a long hug before stepping out the door.

“Miss Jung,” Ms. Hancock calls. I jerk up, subtly feeling around the sides of my mouth for drool. Based on the titters around me, I must not be subtle enough. “I need you to take this down to the office for me.”

I furrow my eyebrows. “Sorry, what is that?”

“It’s your scholarship student report. Sign it and turn it in.”

I internally roll my eyes. Every quarter, Windsong requires its teachers to evaluate its scholarship students. Make sure they’re worth the investment. Usually, they’re no problem. But one little -up could jeopardize your status at Windsong.

“Don’t worry. You did fine as usual,” Ms. Hancock says as I take the form from her.

“Thanks,” I smile. “I’ll be right back.”

The halls are empty as I trudge down to the office, envelope in hand. My footsteps sounding off the vinyl floor are the only sound in the air.

Light streams in from the pristine glass windows on my right. I see the immaculately kept Windsong greens move here and fro in the bitterly cold wind.

It’s incredible how beautiful your own personal hell can be.

I become distinctly aware of how quiet it is. Something about the eerie silence sets my nerves on edge.

I shake my head. Stop being para-

And then I see it.

An enormous, shimmering black snake, 3 feet across and as long as a car, is steadily slithering towards me.

I startle back in shock, a choked gasp lodged in my throat. The snake seems to expand as it senses my fear, swelling outwards and quickening its pace towards me. I see its purple tongue flicker out- almost as if it is tasting my terror.

Jooyeon, do something!, my brain screams. Should I run? No, it’s faster than me. Should I try to eliminate it with magic? My aim is terrible!

My eyes dart from side to side- there has to be someone else here to help! The snake is almost to me- five feet- three feet- I can see the evil in its shining black eyes as it lunges up towards my face, jaws stretched wide open-

“No!” I scream as I raise the amulet I carry in my pocket and my hand forward, my eyes shut tight as I will for the snake to be destroyed. A burning hot feeling surges through my limbs- my hands feel like they’re on fire.

Warmth flow from my palms, whips out from the amulet in my hands and fills the air.

Slowly, tentatively, I open my eyes.

The entire hallway is splattered in sticky black blood. Nausea fills the pit of my stomach; I stagger backwards.

“Wh-what the ,” I shakily whisper, staring down at my amulet in my right hand. My other hand fumbles for the phone in my pocket. “Holy-,”

“Interesting.”

I whirl around. Jimin is standing behind me, smirking.

His amused look doesn’t reach his eyes, however; they are burning with malice and loathing.

a/n: bad day yesterday but happy i have inspiration to write