When I wake up the next day, groggily plodding out of one of the cottage’s spare rooms, Lucy’s nowhere to be seen. I’m greeted by Taehyung, Jin, Jungkook, Dev, and Jimin sitting around the kitchen table. The former three sorcerers look incredibly tense; there are telltale bruises on Jin’s knuckles and shattered glass in the middle of the living room.

“Where’s Lucy?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“She’s gone,” Jin utters.

My stomach drops to the floor. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

“She left in the middle of the night.”

“Wha- but-,” I’m reeling; it feels like I’ve gotten socked in the gut. “Why would she leave without saying bye to any of us?”

“When has she kept any of us in the loop?” Dev asks bitterly. “She did this after she left the first time.”

I swallow hard. The only thing keeping me from completely losing it is the knowledge that she’ll be returning in a month for a drug checkup.

“When she comes back next month, we need to talk to her about her always leaving with no warning,” I grumble.

But something about this situation strikes me as peculiar. Why is it so... tense? I try to catch Dev’s eye, but he’s too busy glaring at Jimin.

The sound of a chair abruptly scraping the ground causes me to startle. Taehyung storms away from the kitchen table. As he heads towards the exit, he grabs my wrist and roughly pulls me away with him.

“Hey!” I protest as my friends shoot up from the table. Taehyung doesn’t spare me a single glance; he drags me outside, mutters an incantation. The familiar sensation of being yanked up into oblivion tugs at my body. In the next moment, I’ve landed unceremoniously in the middle of Taehyung’s room.

“Ow,” I grumble, rubbing my arm. “What’s your problem-,”

“What else did you lie about?” Taehyung hisses. “You knew Tom was a Hado spy. You knew Lucy’s true identity for years. You knew Jimin was planning to overthrow the Council-,”

“I didn’t-,”

“Liar!” Taehyung slams his hand against his wall. The force is so powerful it cracks the plaster underneath, leaving a smoking black dent in the dark navy. I shrink away in fear.

“I was so worried about you. All the time.” Taehyung stalks across the room towards me and I scramble backwards on the carpet. He looks terrifying looming above me, his face a furious storm of emotions. “I spent so many nights thinking about how to protect you. Now my dad’s in prison and my mom’s a wreck.”

“I- I didn’t know it would end like this-,“

He grips my face with a ring-adorned hand. I wince as his fingers dig into my skin.

“You know what Jimin did this morning?” he utters in a deathly soft voice. “He offered me, Jin, and Jungkook positions on the Kado Council.”

My eyes widen. “What?” I squeak.

A cruel smirk tugs at Taehyung’s lips. “Rich, isn’t it? My parents are fighting for justice, and Jimin just pitted their son against them by offering him more power than anyone could imagine.”

“I didn’t-,”

“You didn’t know.” Taehyung mockingly finishes my sentence for me. “There are a lot of things you don’t know, apparently.”

Tears begin to blur my vision. Seeing Taehyung look at me like this- like I’m worse than a nuisance, like I’m an enemy he hates with his entire being- feels more painful than anything he’s ever said or done to me. The fact that he doesn’t believe a word that’s coming out of my mouth- the indignation I feel because I was just trying to survive-

“Why should I have told you?” I whisper, tears rolling down my cheeks. “What did you ever do for me?”

He narrows his eyes. “Are you seriously-,”

“You weren’t there when Dev and I almost got killed by goblins. Or when Chloe, Sasha, and Yasmin attacked me in the forest. Or when I was hospitalized after my suicide attempt.” I draw in a deep, shaky breath, steadying myself. “My friends were the ones who got me through it all. So why the would I tell you anything?”

Taehyung’s eyes widen. He loosens his grip on my face slightly; I take the opportunity to rip his hand off me.

“You ignored me 90% of the time. What would you have done if I’d told you the truth?”

“You know I love-,”

“What did your love do for me?” I shriek. “You didn’t protect me at all. Should I congratulate you for kissing me after I’d nearly had my guts ripped out?”

My chest is rising and falling as I barely contain my sobs; my voice is quaking as I glare right back at him. It’s not guilt I’m feeling now- it’s pure indignation. Memories from the past two years flood through my mind and I’m so ing furious.

“That’s why I wanted you to leave Windsong,” Taehyung tells me. “I didn’t want you to get hurt-,”

“I couldn’t leave! Do you not understand how insane it was for me to get into this school?!” I yell. “I have a single mom. Half of Lindsborg is on welfare. I’m the first one from our town to go to school outside the county.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen. He’s utterly stunned- the beginnings of shame are starting to bloom in his face.

“That’s why I never left New York,” I fume. “You don’t know anything about sacrificing something for people you love.”

“We could’ve... given you money or... I don’t know, helped your family...," Taehyung murmurs.

I scoff, shaking my head. He doesn’t get it- how can he? Perfectly little Taehyung Kim living in his Westchester mansion, cushioned by a trust fund and years of generational wealth.

“I would rather die than take your money,” I hiss as I wipe my cheeks with my sleeve. “I want to get filthy rich on my own terms. But I have to stay alive to do that. And you don’t do anything but watch me get hurt.”

He flinches at that, brings his palms up to rub his eyes. All the fight suddenly leaves my body- I sink down to the carpet, utterly drained. The tension hangs in the air like the blade of a guillotine about to drop.

Taehyung crouches down in front of me, his expression forlorn. I allow his cold fingers to grasp my hands.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

I say nothing. He brings my hands up to his lips.

“I love you, Joo. I want- I need you to know that.”

I watch him as he takes a deep, shaky breath, clutches my hands tighter.

“You’re right. I haven’t been there for you. And the way we are around each other... our relationship is just toxic.”

It dawns on me what he’s about to say. I straighten up, my gaze fixed on him.

“I want to be with you. I care about you so- so much. But...,”

“We need time,” I utter. “And distance.”

Taehyung swallows, nodding.

“I don’t know if I’d ever want to be with you,” I tell him frankly. “I’m not even ready to think about half the stuff that’s happened.”

“I know. I completely understand. We both have... a lot of thinking to do.”

“Yeah.”

And I allow Taehyung to cradle my face in his hands, to run his thumb over my lips one last time.

“I’m going to miss you,” he softly tells me.

I am silent.