“So, the Oracle has passed.” Jonghyun whirled around, addressing each of them. He looked ridiculous as the white robes twirled around his slender body. “Another has come into power.”

Seolhyun had a headache.

Apparently, the Oracle dying wasn’t a big deal. Grandma Choa was ancient anyway. And Seolhyun just happened to stumble upon her on her dying day or something.

Wasn’t it?

Yonghwa raised one arm and pinched the bridge of his nose, before he’s actually sneezing hard. This sudden gathering of the minds had not been going well. Seolhyun had come straight to Heechul after Grandma Choa poofed, and from there, Heechul had called everyone to his office, having flu or not. Unfortunately, Jonghyun had brought a very contrary Jimin. And worse yet, Hyejeong had already been in Heechul’s office for whatever reason.

Heechul took a deep breath. “Seolhyun, what happened exactly?”

“I’ve already told you everything. I ran into her in the garden. She was talking one second and the next, she just sort of poof–”

“She poofed?” Jimin laughed. Her tiny but mighty form lounged in the corner, arms folded across her chest, and that damn mocking smile plastered across her face. “Seriously?”

“Yes, she poofed. Like poof poof. She was there one second and the next she was a pile of dust.”

Jimin narrowed her eyes. “We just don’t poof, Seolhyun. That doesn’t work like that.”

“Well, it did. She poked me in my chest with her bony fingers and said some crazy stuff. Then she poofed!”

Jimin’s brows flew up and she laughed again. “What have you been doing today? Smoking something?”

Addressing Heechul, Seolhyun threw up her hands. She had no idea why Jimin was being such a jerk to her, and now she wanted to kill her. “Does she have to be here?”

“She is where I need her to be,” Jonghyun answered instead. “And I need her here.”

“Can she shut up, at least?” Seolhyun so missed the more charming version of Jimin. This version . “There’s no need for her to comment on everything that comes out of my mouth!”

“I’m commenting on everything because I want to,” Jimin countered. “Where have you been all day?”

“Jimin,” Hyejeong warned. It was the first she’d spoken since the meeting began. She had changed into her Linus attire, and Seolhyun was having one hell of a time not looking at her. “Can you be quiet for five seconds?”

Jimin’s eyes snapped fire. “Does she have to be here? She’s just a Linus.”

“She was here before any of you were,” Heechul responded with a tight smile. “And Jimin, please try to contain the comments.”

Jimin slouched against the wall, raising her hands in surrender. “Sure. Sure. Go on, Seolhyun. Tell us how she poofed again.”

“I’ve already explained it,” Seolhyun said. “It’s pretty easy to understand. Even for smartass like you. Or did you wake up on the wrong side of stupidity this morning?”

“Seolhyun,” Hyejeong sighed. “Just talk to Heechul.”

Seolhyun stiffened. “Sorry. If she says one more word to me, I’m going to take that dagger off that wall and shove it through her eye.”

Jimin straightened, every cell in her body rising to the challenge. “Well, that’s brave for a Myx in training. If you want to try it, I’m game.”

“Jimin!” Heechul yelled, slamming his palms down on the table. Several ledgers and books shuddered.

Seolhyun’s hold on her temper stretched to the breaking point. “You know what? I bet your mother wanted to drown you in Black Sea after you were born.”

“Seolhyun!” Heechul started around the desk. “Would you two–”

“And there’s a reason why mothers turn Demon and try to kill their daughters.”

Seolhyun shot across the room, aiming right for the dagger behind Heechul’s desk. Hyejeong cut her off, barreling through her, like she would use up every possible way to keep her from killing Jimin.

“Don’t,” she ordered in a low voice. “Just ignore her.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Seolhyun seethed. “I want the dagger so I can cut her.”

“Cut me?” Jimin laughed. “What are you, a street thug Elpis about to chop chop chop me?”

Jonghyun sat down in one of the leather seats. “So much passion between you two,” he murmured. “Can be expected, I imagine. You two are one and the same. Let them go. We can continue this conversation without any more interruptions, entertaining as they are.”

Seolhyun stopped. So did Jimin. Actually, everyone in the room who didn’t appear to be high on orange juice stopped and stared at Jonghyun. “What?”

Smiling like he knew some huge secret, he flicked his wrist elegantly. “Let them go. Seolhyun has already told us what has happened. Let them work through their lovers’ quarrel in private.”

Even Jimin’s eyes widened at that. Seolhyun had a more vocal response, one that caused Heechul to look like he wanted to shove his niece in a dungeon and never let her out again.

“We have not yet determined what the Oracle told Seolhyun,” Yonghwa interjected from the corner. Seolhyun’d almost forgotten he was there.

“She’s already told us what she could. What was it, dear?” Jonghyun grinned in Seolhyun’s direction. Her hand itched to smack his lips upside his head. “She said that fate can be changed? Is that not great news? The Oracle was referencing our two Elpises.”

Seolhyun scowled at him. “Why does everything in your head automatically go back to the Elpis?”

Jonghyun waved his hand again. “Let them go.”

Hyejeong’s hard stare bounced between the two. “I don’t think that’s a good idea at the moment. One of them may seriously injure the other.”

Heechul sighed. “I think it is an excellent idea, as we aren’t getting anywhere with both of them in the locked room–”

“I thought Jonghyun needed Jimin here,” Hyejeong interrupted, eyes like chips of ice.

Something ridiculously stupid sprung alive in Seolhyun’s chest. Was Hyejeong jealous? “You know what?” She shot Hyejeong a rebel look. “Come on, Jimin. Let’s go continue our lovers’ quarrel.”

Pushing off the wall, Jimin arched a brow. “Yes, my love, that sounds absolutely fantastic. Don’t forget to grab a dagger so you can poke my eyeball out.”

Seolhyun shot her a sneer, and then whirled around and stalked out of the room. Her head pounded like crazy, and even though she’d agreed to leave, she didn’t want to continue talking with Jimin.

They actually made it to the first floor before all hell broke loose.

Jimin grabbed Seolhyun’s arm and dragged her into one of the empty offices, slamming the door shut behind her. “You little , what the hell have you been doing all day?”

Seolhyun pulled her arm free and moved to the other side of the office. Jimin stalked after her, and Seolhyun thought of the lion from earlier. All Jimin needed was a swishing tail. She laughed, not able to help it. The image of Jimin with a tail was kind of funny.

Jimin stopped short, scowling. “What’s so funny?”

Seolhyun sobered up. “Gods, nothing.”

“What have you been doing all day?”

“What have I been doing?” Seolhyun sidestepped her, putting some space between them. “Why don’t you seem to care that the Oracle died?”

“Seolhyun, she was ancient. At least a couple of hundred years old. Jonghyun is right. Another has come into power and blah, blah.”

“She died right in front of me! It was a bit disturbing.”

Jimin tilted her head to the side. “Do you want me to host a pity party for you? I’m sure I can gather up a few people who can help you commiserate.”

“Gods, would it kill you to be a tiny bit nice? Oh. Wait. It would. So excuse me, I have stuff I need to do.” Seolhyun started for the door, but Jimin caught her arm. Her skin felt like fire. “Jimin, come on. I have a freaking headache and–”

Her eyes searched Seolhyun’s face. “What have you been doing today?”

Seolhyun started to get uncomfortable. “I’ve been training. What the hell else could I be doing?”

“Training?” Jimin laughed harshly. “Where?”

“Here,” Seolhyun said immediately.

Jimin’s eyes narrowed. “You little liar, I checked the training room for you. You weren’t there.”

Oh, crap.

A smug smile inched across her face. “So I checked all the other training facilities, and the gym, and the beach, and finally your room. You weren’t in any of them.”

Oh, double crap.

“So don’t lie to me.” Jimin kept pushing until Seolhyun hit the edge of the desk. “Your cheeks are rosy red, your pulse has skyrocketed, and you’re a terrible liar.”

Seolhyun clenched the edge of the desk. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jimin sat on a high chair so they were eye level. “You don’t?”

“No.”

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What were you doing today?”

“Or what?” Seolhyun demanded. “What are you going to do? And why do you even care?”

“Because the emotions you were feeling today were outrageous.”

“Gods, this day will never end,” Seolhyun muttered. “Who cares?”

“I care because you were supposed to be training with Jaejeong today, and there is no reason you’d be feeling those kind…” Jimin’s eyes widened. Seolhyun swear, she’d never seen her pupils so dilated, “…oh. No, no, no.”

“What?”

“You wouldn’t.” Jimin ran her hand down the side of her face. “Wait. What am I saying? You would do something so incredibly stupid.”

Seolhyun leaned against the desk. “Uh…”

Jimin shot forward, grasping her shoulders. “Please tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that you are not messing around with a Genuine. Damn it, Seolhyun. Her? Holy Aphrodite, it explains so much.”

Anything and everything in Seolhyun’s head sort of emptied out. Her brain had this wonderful ability of doing so when she really needed to think fast.

Jimin laughed harshly. “Now I know why she hates me, at least. Why she’s always on you. What the hell are you thinking? What is she thinking? You’re going to throw everything away! Your future– my future, and for what?”

Shrugging Jimin’s hands off her shoulders for the nth time, Seolhyun snapped out of it. “You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about! I’m not messing around with Hyejeong.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me about something like this! You can’t do this, Seolhyun. I will not allow this to continue.” Jimin started for the door.

“No. No! Jimin, stop! Please.” This time Seolhyun grabbed her, pulling her back from the door. “Please listen to me. It’s not what you think!”

Jimin’s eyes practically burned as she was so angry. “It’s not about what I think. It’s what I felt today!”

“Please. Just listen to me for a second.” Seolhyun’s fingers dug into her arms. “You can’t say anything. They’ll–”

“I’m not going to say anything to the Council, you idiot. They would send you into servitude in a heartbeat.” Jimin pushed Seolhyun off, swearing under her breath. “You know, I actually thought she might be different from the other Genuines, but she sure as hell doesn’t act any different.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to have a little talk with Hyukjeong.”

Seolhyun flew in front of her, plastering herself to the door. “You are so not going to talk to Hyejeong! I know you’re going to try to fight her!”

“Quite possibly. Now get out of my way.”

“No.”

“Get out of the way, Seolhyun,” Jimin snarled. Edges of the Elpis marks started creasing her otherwise flawless skin.

“Okay,” Seolhyun breathed, pressing against the door. “I’ll tell you the truth. All right, just please don’t do anything… stupid.”

“I don’t think you should be lecturing me on not doing anything stupid.”

Now was so not the time for Seolhyun to lose her patience. “Nothing happened between Hyejeong and me. Okay? I do care about her, all right? I know it’s wrong.” She closed her eyes, wishing the words didn’t hurt as much as they did. “I know it’s stupid, but nothing is going on between us.”

“The pew pew pew sound I heard from your heart today wasn’t nothing. You’re still lying to me.”

“Okay. We kissed, but– stop!” Seolhyun pushed Jimin back as she tried to pry her away from the door. “Listen to me. We did kiss, but it’s nothing. It was a stupid mistake. Okay?”

Jimin stared up at Seolhyun, lips drawn tightly. Then she closed her eyes. Silence stretched out between them. “You… you love her, don’t you?”

Seolhyun stared at her, heart thumping loudly. “No. No, of course I don’t.”

Jimin nodded, running a hand over her face again. “Seolhyun… Seolhyun, you’re insane.”

Seolhyun needed to make Jimin understand that nothing needed to be done about this. Gods only knew what Jimin would do, or what Hyejeong would do. Seolhyun could see them now, brawling on the beach. One thing would lead to another, and the Council would find out. Hyejeong would never forgive herself. Seolhyun couldn’t let that happen.

And then there was this idiot standing in front of her. If Jimin attacked a Genuine, that would be it. The Council would move against Jimin, and even though Seolhyun wanted to strangle her, she didn’t want… well, she didn’t want anything to happen to her.

Jimin stared at Seolhyun so long the silence that enveloped them started to get to her. Then the tattoo started to sink back into her skin and she looked surprisingly calm.

“You’re not going to do anything, right?”

“No.” Jimin reached for Seolhyun and got her hand off the doorknob. “I’m not going to say anything.”

Seolhyun let out a relief breath, for now. “Thank you.”

***

“So she poofed into nothing? Damn, that’s crazy.”

Seolhyun stared at Jisoo, wishing she would poof into nothing. “What is everyone’s big deal with the terminology? I swear to the Gods, if one more person questions that, I’m going to lose it.”

“Poof,” Jennie whispered, grinning.

Seolhyun shot her a death glare. “Ha. Funny.”

“Sorry.” She slid her arm around Jisoo. Apparently, they’d made up at some point, again. That made Seolhyun and the rest of the gang happy. She liked the way they looked at one another when they weren’t fighting. “I bet that was freaky, though.”

“Freaky isn’t even word to describe it, Jen.” Lisa said.

Chanmi nodded, looking down at Lisa’s outdated fashion magazine. “But still, the Granny was kind of entertaining.”

‘Entertaining’ wasn’t even a word Seolhyun would use to describe the Oracle. She leaned back in the chair and let her eyes drift shut as Lisa and Chanmi started talking about the party they’d snuck off to last night.

She refocused her thoughts on Choa. Even a few days later, she was still so wrapped up in the conversation they’d had before she’d died.

It didn’t make much sense, no big surprise there. The only thing important she’d picked out was about the guy who wasn’t who he appeared, that he had everyone fooled. If only she hadn’t poofed into nothing a second later, maybe she would’ve said his name, which would’ve helped greatly.

Seolhyun didn’t share this part of the conversation with anyone. Then again, she couldn’t be sure.

After that thought, Seolhyun must’ve drifted off to sleep, because she jerked upright at the sound of her name.

“Miss Seolhyun Kim.”

She peeled her eyes open and found Yonghwa standing in the doorway to the common lounge. “Yeah?”

“You’re not supposed to be in here. Practice time.”

When had Yonghwa been assigned to be her babysitter? She only saw him around campus when he had terrible and urgent news to deliver, like Hermes.

“Come on,” Seolhyun whined. “I still have ten minutes.”

Jennie peered over the back of the couch. “Hi Yonghwa.”

Jisoo waved at him.

Yonghwa didn’t even glance at them. “Up.”

Chanmi twisted toward Seolhyun as she started pulling herself out of the chair. “Trust me, one of these days, you’ll be able to stay out and play. Then everything will be right in our world.”

Yonghwa’s expression remained bland. “Perhaps you’d be allowed to have playtimes if you and Miss Lalisa Manoban stayed out of trouble for a whole week.”

“I guess that’s a no.” Lisa and Chanmi exchanged a mischievous smile.

Saying goodbye, Seolhyun smacked the back of Jisoo’s head as she made her way past the Cuddly Couch. She swung her arm out at her, but Jennie got in the way. “See you at breakfast, Seolhyun!” She chirped, already snuggling down beside Jisoo.

Giving them a final little wave, Seolhyun followed Yonghwa out of the lounge. She felt a little uncomfortable walking beside him. The man was almost seven feet tall and looked like he belonged on the pro wrestling career.

Seolhyun searched for something to say, but came up empty until her gaze fell on a statue of Apollo. “Hey, you kind of look like Apollo. Has anyone told you that?”

Yonghwa raised an eyebrow.

“All you need is blond hair and raging hormones. Maybe he’s your great-great-great-great grandfather or something.”

His gaze flicked over the marble statue. “No one has ever said that.”

“Ha. But you do. I wonder if you have anything else in common with Apollo.”

“Like what?”

“Didn’t Apollo have a thing for pretty boys? He’s handsome, and I must say you got the look.” Seolhyun snorted. “Come on, he’s God of the arts, music, healing, prophecy, poetry, truth, intelligence, logic, and archery skill just like his twin sister, Artemis. But sadly, he’s a narcissist.”

“What?” Yonghwa came to a complete standstill, gaping down at Seolhyun. “There are some myths that are true, but most are exaggerated.”

Seolhyun raised her brows. “Didn’t realize you were an Apollo fanboy. Sorry.”

“I am not a fanboy.”

“Okay. Never mind, then.”

“Do you know what I find interesting, Seolhyun?” he asked after a few moments.

Seolhyun shivered in the chilly weather. “No. Not really.”

“How you happened across the Oracle, right before she died.”

Seolhyun glanced around the nearly empty campus, spotting only Linuses and Guards. She hadn’t realized it had gotten so late. “I have no clue. I guess I have that kind of luck.”

“Twice?”

Seolhyun looked at him sharply. And there was another thing she hadn’t known he was aware of. “… Uh, I guess so.”

The Next Day

Seolhyun found herself was looking in the mirror.

It had to do with the little box in her gym bag. Nice of Jisoo to gift wrap the guitar pick, but now Seolhyun felt stupid for giving it to Hy