Word spreads about the Bratz’ failed confrontation, and people surprisingly start to leave me alone. The dirty looks intensify, though.

I don’t care. For the last week, I have been absolutely consumed by MOE. All of my journals are filled with drawings and sketches of magical objects. The only books I read now are about astrophysics, molecular chemistry, and quantum physics. Sleep and food have been shoved aside to make more time to work. I start to devise new ways to combine hadrons and engineer powerful items, based on my own research. At any given time, I’m either in the school lab or shut up in my room.

This would be easier if I could find that library again. I’ve tried walking up and down the second-floor staircase a million times, searching for a black door. That’s what I’m doing when Taehyung finds me Friday night at 11 PM.

“What are you doing?” he asks, staring at me in disgust. I look up at him with raised eyebrows.

    “None of your business,” I say.

    He scoffs. “This is my house. If you’re trying to steal something, don’t bother. I’ll call the cops on you myself.”

    “Forget it.” I stomp back up to my room.

    “I heard you talked to Cloe, Sasha, Yasmin, and Jade,” he says.

    “Talking is one way to put it,” I snort. “Why? Sad your stupid cronies didn’t step all over me?”

    “Yeah, I am sad,” he snaps. “I’m warning you now. They may not be allowed to come to our house anymore, but I’m not responsible for what they do to you at school.”

    “Is that a threat?”

    Taehyung stalks up to me, lowers his face to mine. “Who knows?” he says with a chilling smile.

    “Try me,” I murmur.

    “You really want to test me?” he utters in a deathly soft voice.

    I narrow my eyes.  

    “What more could you do to me?” I say.

    Taehyung hovers his lips over my ear.

    “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

    We stand there in the dark for several moments, utterly still. Chills of foreboding run down my spine; I wait in anticipation for the strange fatigue I feel whenever I am in Taehyung's presence-

But it never comes.

My eyebrows shoot up. Is it my choker?

"Step away from me, asshat," I growl. "Now."

Taehyung's eyes widen in shock. He looks at me with a stunned expression.

"Move." And I shove Taehyung away and sprint up the stairs to my room before he snaps out of his stupor. My chest is heaving as I stare at myself in the mirror, my fingers ghosting over my amulet.

Holy .

It does work.

   Unfortunately, the joy from the big you I gave Taehyung disappears within a day.

Because by midnight the next day, he has invited a hundred- no, maybe two hundred- people to the house. The biggest party in Windsong is literally happening at the Kim residence right now.

I really didn't think he could outdo himself. I thought he had reached the peak of insufferable obnoxiousness- but nope, I was wrong.

Rows of multicolored neon jello shots line the marble kitchen counters as the most beautiful, popular people of Windsong Preparatory gyrate to booming trap music. The crystal chandeliers hanging from the high, vaulted ceilings of the Westchester mansion make the entire house look like a shining star amidst the inky black midnight sky. The air smells of sweat and alcohol and the almost tangible excitement of everyone in attendance.

This is the place to be. Everyone wishes they were here.

Everyone, of course, except for me.

“This is ridiculous,” I growl after unsuccessfully trying to stifle out the noise. “I’m going to give that stupid a piece of my mind.”

    I pull on an oversized hoodie and march out of my room, shoving past all the couples making out and seniors grinding on each other. Most of these people are too drunk to realize that the Jooyeon Jung is at Taehyung’s party. At one point, though, I do hear a, “What’s she doing here?” My lip curls.

    “Hey, where’s Taehyung?” I ask a half- girl slumped over on the sofa.

    “Ummm...,” She takes another swig from the foul-smelling bottle in her hand. “Where they always are, silly.”

    “What?”

    “You know. The pool.”

    “Gotcha.” As a measure of good grace, I gently pry the alcohol out of her hand and replace it with a bottle of water. She’ll thank me tomorrow morning.

Then I turn on my heel and sprint to the second floor. I am getting more and more aggravated by the second. By the time I burst into the pool room, I’m ready to punch someone (Taehyung) in the face.  

The pool is filled with very drunk bikini-clad girls cavorting with sleazy-looking guys, either in the form pool volleyball or... other, questionable activities I don’t want to know about. It takes about five seconds for me to spot Taehyung and his other friends lounging in the jacuzzi on the balcony, flutes of champagne between their fingers. My hands clench into fists.

“Well, well, well,” Taehyung drawls when he sees me approaching his group. He has his arms around both Sofia Flores and Mackenzie Zales, who are resting against his toned, muscular torso. They smirk up at me in contempt. “Look who decided to join the party.”

“Tell everyone to leave,” I snarl. “This is really ing annoying.”

His group bursts into scornful laughter. “This is my house, though,” Taehyung says in a lilting voice. “What right do you have to tell me to leave?”

“Aw, don’t be a spoilsport, Tae,” Jimin chuckles. “Why don’t you come take a dip, Joo?”

Taehyung snorts. “Joo?”

“Don’t call me that,” I mutter.

“Yeah, Joo’s what her friends call her.” Jimin beams at me. “We’re friends, right, Joo?”

Everyone breaks into titters. I take a deep, deep breath to calm myself.

“What’s with the choker?” Jennifer Albright asks condescendingly.

Don’t engage, don’t engage, don’t engage, I chant to myself, closing my eyes.  

“You know what?” Taehyung leans back in the Jacuzzi. “I feel like having a little fun tonight. Get in the tub.”

My eyes fly open in shock. “No way.”

“Joo.” He gives me a malevolent smile. “You know you have to do what I say.”

My throat feels thick; I step backwards, blinking rapidly. Everyone watches me in anticipation.

“I- no way,” I stammer. “You can’t... I’m not going to...,”

“Taehyung, just let her go,” Namjoon says. He is grinning, but there is a glint of warning in his eyes.

“What?” Taehyung says innocently. “I’m being courteous to my beloved guest. Get in the tub.”

The burning sensation in my chest intensifies as they all snicker at my dumbfounded look. I dazedly stagger back, watching Taehyung gloat all the while.

“You...,” I swallow. “I hope you burn in hell.” His smile widens; the entire group cackles with laughter.

“I can’t wait to see you there,” he says. Their laughter follows me as I sprint out of the pool room and into my bedroom. Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks but I force them back down.

“Fine,” I huff. “If they won’t leave, then I’ll leave.” Hurriedly shoving MOE, my laptop, and a whole bundle of books into my backpack, I march out the door in absolute fury. The chilly October wind nips at my bare skin as I blindly run away as fast as I can, head into the woods behind the house. I don’t give a damn about where I’m going, I just need to be away from this horrible place and those horrible people and , I hate Windsong so much. Kicking aside twigs and shoving past underbrush, I run further, further, further, my chest heaving and tears freely flowing down my cheeks-

Silence.

I take a deep, staggering breath.

The moon shines down on me, its silvery glow the only light I can see. It is pitch black. I uneasily take a step backward. A twig snaps; I gasp in fright.

“Okay,” I say aloud, my voice shakier than I would like it to be. “It’s alright, Joo. There’s nothing here. Just sit- sit down and work. Nothing to be afraid of.”

A spiteful voice speaks out of the blackness.

“You’re very wrong about that.”

I have felt panic. I have felt alarm. I have felt unease.

But never in my life have I truly felt fear.

Until this very moment.

A circle of glowing, floating white balls surround me, and the forest is into light. I cannot even process this because at this very moment, Sasha, Jade, Cloe and Yasmin are walking towards me.

Wings. They have wings. Enormous red wings, taut and sinewy and jagged at the edges. As they get closer, I realize that their features have changed as well. Their pristine, attractive looks have somehow intensified, morphed into something... horribly inhuman. So unnatural that it is jarring. Although it is merely 40 degrees outside, they are wearing black thongs and matching leather bustiers with towering thigh-high stilettos. They look like demented Victoria’s Secret Angels.

You know, if Victoria’s Secret Angels also had pitch-black eyes glittering with murder. And thick ram horns growing out of their head.

I’m fine. This is fine.

“Aww, have you been crying, Jooyeon?” Cloe says, sticking out her lower lip in a fake-sympathetic pout. “It’s okay, baby. This’ll all be over soon enough.”

My voice is stuck in my throat. I pinch my thigh. Hard.

“Oh my god, look at her,” Sasha guffaws. “She’s trying to pinch herself! Oh my god, she thinks this is some kind of dream!”

“Why’re you surprised?” Jade smirks. “You should’ve known we’d come after you. You think that amulet’s going to keep us away? What sorcerer did you steal that from?”

“Taehyung, obviously,” Yasmin snickers. “, because he still hasn’t figured out that you’re a magical creature.”

Their words cause me to snap out of my stupor.

“Wait, sorry, what?” I squeak.

 Cloe narrows her eyes. “You stole that amulet from Taehyung, right?”

    “It’s too ty to be Taehyung’s,” Yasmin suddenly interjects. “His family owns the most powerful magical objects in the world. This just zapped me when I tried to touch her.”

    Sasha smiles at me maliciously. “Do you think she’s a sorcerer, or some pathetic magical lowlife who’s trying to take some of his magic for her own gain?” she muses.

    “Wait. Okay. Hang on.” My mind is reeling. “What do you mean, magical creature?”

    Jade sneers. “There’s no use in playing dumb.”

    “I’m not playing dumb! And what do you mean, Taehyung’s a sorcerer? Sorry, what? What’s going on?”

    The Bratz stare at me in disbelief.

    “Wait. You’re serious,” Cloe utters incredulously.

    I throw my hands up in a what? gesture. “Yeah, what the hell? Why would you think I’m magical?”

    “Well... because you have a protective amulet,” Sasha says slowly. “You had to have gotten it from somewhere. So we thought-,”

    “I made this.”

    The look on their faces is priceless. They look as astonished as I did when I discovered I got into Windsong. I arch an eyebrow, staring at them expectantly.

    “That’s impossible,” Yasmin breathes. “You- you’re lying.”

    “I can literally walk you through every step I took to create this. Trust me, I made it. But... it’s not magical. It’s all scientific.”

    “No, it’s not!” Cloe yells. She paces back and forth, extremely unnerved. “There’s no way you could’ve made that. You can’t... create magic.”

    “Technically, you can. But you’re right. In this case, I didn’t actually create anything. I just swabbed the scratches you left on me. I suspected that you might have possessed, uh, traces of some.... inhuman substance. I turned out to be right.”

    “So this is all your fault!” Sasha screams at Cloe. “If you hadn’t scratched her, she would’ve never made the amulet!”

    “No wonder it’s so basic,” Jade snorts. “I don't even think she can cast a protective bubble around herself, or a healing shield. She used a low-powered being's magic.”

    “Hey! Who’re you calling low-powered?”

    “I was talking about Cloe, Sasha!”

 “Yeah, but we’re all succubi! We’re on the same level, duh!”

    “So... you guys are succubi,” I say faintly. “Okay. I mean, that makes sense, I guess. Since succubi are real and all. Okay. This is... cool.”

Cloe gives me a scathing look. “You created a magical amulet and you’re freaking out about succubi being real? Please.”

“Yeah, couldn’t you tell?” Yasmin smirks, running a hand down her lingerie-clad body. “We’re just four girls who love to have fun.”

“And kill dudes in the process,” Jade shrugs.  

“How the hell did she even figure out how to make an amulet?” Sasha grouses. “Hell, I don’t even really believe she made it. How the hell do you just create magical objects from scratch? That makes no sense.”

“That’s, like, alchemy,” Jade murmurs. “But... she can’t be an alchemist. She didn’t even know magic existed, for god’s sake!”

“It doesn’t matter!” Cloe barks. “Anyway, you’re right, Jade. Her amulet is too weak. Which is why we’ll be able to kill her.”

I blink. “Oh, so we’re back to the killing. Okay. Uh, I know you guys hate me and stuff, but... why do you hate me again?”

Sasha curls her lip. “Thanks to you, we’re permanently banned from the Kim premises.”

“Yeah, every time we try and get close, we get zapped,” Jade scowls. “No more hookups with random guys passed out on sofas. No more parties. No more fun.”

“Okay, I’ll table the lecture about consent for a moment and point out that you guys started it,” I say. “Cloe, you scratched me! The wound was really, really bad-,”

“Yeah, that’s a succubus’ scratch,” she gleams, swiping her long black coffin nails through the air. “We add poison to our tips. It’s a great nail polish sealant.”

“-and Sasha! You literally trapped me in some library-,” My eyes widen. “Wait, if you could actually tell me how to get back to that library, that would be really great-,”

“Enough!” Cloe shrieks. “Look. At the end of the day, we hate your guts. Ever since you came, things have changed for the worse. Taehyung’s always pissed and I haven’t partied in two weeks.”

“Yeah, you still haven’t explained the part about him being a sorcerer-,”

“We’re just going to kill you real quick and eliminate this problem once and for all.” Jade smiles. “Capische?”

I blink. “Sure, I guess. Uh, how’re you going to kill me?”

In a flash, the girls each withdraw two silvery knives from their bustiers.

“Via slicing and dicing, of course,” Cloe grins maniacally. “We may not be able to touch you, but these knives sure can. Oh, and don’t try running away. These blades are designed to track heat, so they’ll hit you even if you try and escape.”

“That’s pretty interesting,” I say. “Heat-tracking knives, huh? I wonder how that works. Damn, there are so many possibilities with these electron configurations-,”

“Shut up!” Jade yells in her screechy voice. “We’re not in Chem, okay? Stop asking questions! You’re really ing annoying!”

    “Well, excuse me for being inquisitive,” I grumble.

A/N: ugh i apologize in advance for the incoming exposition dump 

hope yall are havin a Good day !!