Taehyung turns too early, exiting from Cedar Drive onto the winding road that leads up to the hills.

I had been steeling myself to thank him. My mind rehearsed the words: I appreciate you giving me a heads up. Thank you for coming to get me. Thank you for caring about me. But the moment he drives the wrong way, I blurt out, “I live further down.”

He continues driving.

“Taehyung. I’m not in the mood to around.”

“You’re moving back in with us. My mom doesn’t want you living alone.”

My blood freezes; I whip around to face him.

“No. No way. I don’t want to. Lucy’s not going to hurt me- I don’t need protection-,”

“Do you not understand what just happened?” Taehyung says, his voice glacial. “Three Kado council members have been murdered by a mentally unstable teenager.”

“She’s not mentally unstable,” I retort, but I sound unconvincing even to myself.

“Lucy seems to think everyone in Windsong ruined her life. So yeah, she seems pretty unstable to me.”

“She’s not wrong,” I mutter. When Taehyung throws me a questioning look, his eyes narrowed, I grumble, “Never mind.”

“I’m not going to let you die,” Taehyung says.

I’m filled with a tumultuous combination of indignation, frustration, and reluctant gratitude. “Well, I’ve stayed alive this whole time, haven’t I?” I snap. “You’ve been gone for a year. I don’t need you watching over me.”

Taehyung’s whipping down these pitch black residential roads at breakneck speed. I swing around the car as he takes sharp lefts, abruptly brakes at stop signs.

“I thought you’re smart, but you’re actually a ing moron,” Taehyung snarls. My hands clutch the car seat as his speedometer hits 60 miles an hour. “There is a killer on the loose. This is different from you just living in Windsong.”

“Just living?” Outrage- so caustic and searing it makes my chest pound- blinds my vision. “You think I can just live here as a non-magical creature? If I relax for a second, I’ll get my guts ripped out by a rogue griffin. It’s so hard living here- every single day is just-,”

My voice catches in my throat. I jerk my head away from him so he can’t see my expression.

Taehyung doesn’t turn back to my house, but he does slow down.

“I know you hate me and everything else here,” he finally tells me after a tense, heavy silence. “That’s fine. But I’m not going to let you get murdered in good conscience.”

Walking back into my old room feels like a stab in the gut. I swore I’d never return to the Kim residence after that dinner. But here I am, yanked back into this place with no choice of my own. My body flops down on the fluffy white duvet; a thick cardstock card sits atop the perfectly made sheets.

Welcome back, Miss Jooyeon. I am so glad you are here again.

Andrews.

Sleep finally overtakes my body after I have finished screaming into my pillow from despair.

, Lucy, why can't things be normal?

Something’s tugging at my hair.

I moan, haphazardly swatting at my head. The twinge on my scalp doesn’t abate.

“Stop it,” I grumble, blearily opening my eyes.

The sun is barely peeking out over the sky; judging by the few tendrils of light that seep through my window, it must be right after sunrise. A dark shadow, shaped in the silhouette of a man and no taller than my pointer finger, is pulling my ponytail.

Is this some sort of magical escapee from Taehyung’s library? I reach to crush the man in my hand-

But the moment my skin makes contact with the shadow, I feel a lurching feeling in the bottom of my stomach. All of a sudden, my body feelings like it’s been into a vacuum. The dark shadow grows larger and larger until it’s completely swallowing me up.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I shriek at the top of my lungs. Colors swirl through my vision; dark spots dance around the rainbow shards, looming towards my face in deep circles, morphing into abstract shapes-

And as soon as it begins, it is over. My body tumbles onto plush carpet. For several dizzying moments, the only thing I can do is bury my head amidst the soft fibers of the carpet and try to regain my bearings.

“She’s finally here,” a familiar voice drawls above me.

I raise my head, glaring. Jimin is leaning against an imposing cherrywood executive desk. Bookshelves filled with various-sized tomes surround the walls around us.

It’s been years since I’ve seen his stupid, smug face, but even I can recognize how exhausted he looks. Dark circles ring under his eyes, and his nails are bitten to the quick. Usually, he wears his false mask of affable indifference. But he isn’t even trying now. His face holds open malice as he sneers down at me.

“What the hell,” I hiss.

“Joo,” someone says behind me. My eyebrows jump up in surprise; I twist around. Dev, Tom, Jin, and Jungkook are standing behind me, all in various states of disarray. If I wasn’t so shocked, I would laugh at Jungkook’s teddy-bear pajama pants. Dev gives me an uneasy grimace.

“Alright. Let’s talk.” Jimin says.

“Take me home, dickhead. I don’t want to talk to you,” I snap.

“This is about Lucy,” he coldy retorts.

My body stiffens. “You are the last person I want to talk to about Lucy.”

“Well, I’m the highest-ranked source of Kado intel you’ve got, aren’t I?” Jimin snaps. I feel the air around us begin to heat up- his signature response when his emotions are rising.

“Guys,” I say, turning back around to look at Dev, Tom, and Jin. “What are we doing here? We should be looking for Lucy-,”

“Lucy’s beyond rational help,” Jungkook cuts in. “That look in her eyes, the way her power was exponentially higher- she’s definitely on something. I would know.”

My eyes narrow to slits. “On something? What?”

“Chi uppers,” Jin cuts in. “That’s my best guess. Magical stimulants that amp up your power. Think amphetamines, like coke and meth... just magical.”

It’s not clicking in my brain. “Okay. That’s... terrible. But we can get her into rehab. This is a fixable issue-,”

“What part of beyond rational help do you not understand?” Jimin growls. “Magical uppers screw with your brain ten times more than normal ones do. Lucy is a power drunk junkie. I give her 3 months before she burns out and dies.”

I slump back down to the floor, my shoulders lack with shock. My gaze fixates on the tan carpet I am sitting on.

“And now you’re up to speed,” Tom whispers.

I don’t even know what to say. Ice-cold horror is seeping into my skin.

Jin folds his arm, fixing Jimin with a level gaze. “I heard that if you didn’t bring Lucy’s head to Kado HQ, you’d be stripped of the Junior Vice Captaincy.”

The effect this statement elicits is palpable; Tom’s jaw drops and a slight gasp leaves Jungkook’s lips. They both look utterly stunned. Dev and I exchange glances.

Jimin curls his lip. “All that gossip is irrelevant. The Kado council is angry that my plan to wipe Lucy’s memories backfired. They want me to clean up my mess. If I do, there’s no problem.”

“Then why are you telling us all this?” I demand. “You think we’re going to help you kill her?”

“I want you four to stop her and make her go away,” Jimin responds.

“What?”

“It’s a win-win situation. As long as she’s out of Windsong and not a threat, the council should quiet down.”

“Isn’t that the exact opposite of what the Kado council wants?” Jin questions. “They told you to bring her dead body to them. You want to make her disappear.”

“Again, as long as she’s gone-,”

“You’re going to lose the Junior Vice Captaincy,” Jungkook breathes.

Jimin rounds on him, his eyes hard and blazing. “Who are they going to appoint as JVC aside from me?” he sneers. “Evan? Taehyung? You?”

Jungkook’s face flushes. “I just meant-,”

“No one’s even close to touching me in terms of power or skill. Besides, Jungkook,” Jimin says, affixing his friend with a cruel sneer. “Do you really think you could lead people?”

Jungkook lowers his face, humiliation clear on his features. His fingers fidget over the handle of his wooden cane. Pity grips my chest. Dev, Jin, Tom, and I uncomfortably look at each other.

“How can we trust you?” Dev finally asks. “What if we find her, but you still kill her?”

The vicious expression slides off Jimin’s face. He studies the varnished surface of the desk in front of him.

“You can’t trust me,” he eventually utters. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s just pathetic to watch Lucy burn herself out on uppers so she can take on these Kado council members.”

“She’s going to come after you, too,” I say.

“She’s saving me for last.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “She talked to you, too?”

“Yes,” he says curtly, and all of us know better than to ask him further about it.

As I'm sitting on the floor of Jimin's study, processing the events of the last week, one stunning revelation dawns on my mind.

Jimin Park, ruthless and dangerous and powerful, the boy who cruelly ripped Lucy's memories from her and subjected her to a life without her old friends, family, and magic, actually cares about her.