On a good day, Minho’s protective amulet is enough to keep his visions at bay. On a bad day, he can have up to 10 throughout the day. Today is a very bad day. He’s been sitting at his work desk in the shop all morning and Jinki watches as he has vision after vision: what customers will come in, what they’ll ask for, how much money they’ll make, the whereabouts and mistakes of the other members of their coven, obscure and vague references to future events, even when Jinki’s going to sneeze next. While Jinki’s normally intrigued by Minho’s ability, eager to study the difference between it and his own, he feels bad for him.

At lunchtime, the other three members join them on the main level for lunch. Jonghyun’s made sandwiches and they all crowd at Minho’s little table. No customers ever come in at this time, so they don’t bother to ‘close’ the store. Though Tae tries to sit as far away from Minho as they can -- knowing that for whatever reason their energies interact in weird ways -- the frequency of his visions only increase. It gets to the point where he can’t even eat, visions coming in with every bite of sandwich. Jonghyun tries humming in tune with Minho’s amulet, trying to boost its power. It seems to help and Minho’s at least able to take a few bites. He grabs Ki’s hand.

“Go below and get me-” he pauses for a vision that he doesn’t share. “Get me a jar with 8 parts morning dew and 1 part-” another pause for another vision “1 part olibanum oil and bring it to me.”

Ki goes to ask what for, but when Minho gets a particularly long and painful looking vision -- the 25th since he’s come upstairs, by Jinki’s count --, they get up and get the requested mixture. They come back, putting it on the table in front of Minho. There’s two more visions in quick succession and then to the horror of the rest of the coven Minho plucks his magic eye out and puts it into the jar. It whirls around on its own, looking at each coven member in turn. Tae and Jonghyun scream, while Ki is frozen in place. Jinki continues chewing his bite of sandwich much longer than necessary, unable to stop staring at the jar. Minho rubs his now empty, but closed eye before sighing in relief and finally enjoying his sandwich.

“Did...did you just...” Jonghyun stammers.

“Yup.”

“But....isn’t it attached?” Tae asks.

“Does it look attached, dear?”

“Ok, you’re going to have to explain this, babe.” Jinki says, pointing at the jar where the eye continues spinning around like some kind of demented bathbomb.

“It was my papa’s last gift to me. I get the visions from his side. He was a really powerful fortune teller. Long, crystal clear visions. He was the best, and I’m not just saying that because he was my dad. Other fortune tellers would come to him, to see if they were doing enough, if they’d be able to continue. He got cursed something awful when I was around five. I was just starting to get visions and all that. He knew I was going to have the ability too, though not as strong. I was having nightmares about it, seeing him die, seeing mama die. Every male in his lineage has had foresight, as far back as we have record of. We’ve been advisors to kings and emperors and everyone for the longest time, longer than any other family.”

Minho pauses for some sandwich and the other four wait impatiently, staring at him with eager eyes.

“So what happened?” Ki asks.

“Generations ago, I’m talking like the 1600s, one of my however many great grandfathers accidentally pulled his magic eye out. His wife was a really amazing chanter, super skilled at healing, and was able to save it. Their son was born with it, and he had visions like mine today; he’d have one every five minutes without any protection. When that grandfather had pulled his eye out, he stopped having visions during the time it was out. So together, they worked out a spell to make it so that eye is removable. It’s become somewhat of a rite of passage. When a son is old enough, starts having consistent enough or distressing enough visions, the father alters the eye. Mine was probably a little too early, usually it’s around 6 or 7 that it happens, but my papa knew he wasn’t going to last that long, so he went ahead and did it then. He was so weak my grammy had to help him with the spell. It was the last bit of magic he did, the last gift he could give me.”

“Was it...is it painful?” Jinki asks.

“It was more frightening than painful, the rite. I lost it temporarily once, when I was 9 or so, so that’s why I don’t like to take it out that often unless it’s unbearable. That’s part of why mama made me the amulet. To quiet the visions so I wouldn’t have to take it out as often.”

“I’ve been living with you for five years and you never thought to tell me that you can take your eye out?” Ki huffs.

“My love, have you ever seen me have a day this bad? Where I can’t even eat because of visions?”

“No.”

“That’s why. If I’m having trouble sleeping I’ll sometimes take it out, but then I hide it on the bookshelf and just put it in when you’re not looking.”

“So why the olibanum oil in the water?” Jonghyun asks, tapping the jar.

The eye focuses on him, swirling around but focusing intently. He jumps a little, clinging on to Tae.

“It helps it not dissolve or get waterlogged. There’s an actual potion that’s best for keeping it, especially if it’s going to be out for extended periods of time, but seeing as I was little desperate this will do for now.”

Ki gently punches his arm.

“I could’ve made it for you if I had known!”

“Actually you can’t, but I appreciate the offer.”

“What do you mean I can’t?”

“I have to make it. It has to be me making it, with my own blood and spit in it. It would start destroying the eye if you made it, because my eye isn’t part of your body.”

“Oh.”

Minho finishes their sandwich and stands, wiping his face. He reaches into the jar and puts his eye back into the socket. It immediately turns round and he alerts them to an incoming nervous customer. He walks around the table, giving each person a kiss, before heading towards the hatch door.

“Ki, you better go watch him, just in case.” Jinki suggests quitely.

Ki nods and heads down as Jonghyun stands to greet the incoming customer. Tae scoots closer to Jinki, leaning in so they don’t interrupt the other conversation.

“Are visions painful?”

“Not for me, but I suspect they are for him. For me it’s kind of like, pulling up a memory of something. He tried to show me once, what it’s like for him. I couldn’t handle it though. The scope was too big.”

“Can you...take your eye out?”

Jinki laughs softly. “No, Tae. Both of my eyes are firmly and normally attached.”

“Oh.”

“But fortune telling also isn’t my first gift, not my better skill. Most of what I know I learned from him.”

“Do you think I could try it?”

There’s a sound from behind the counter and Ki pops up from below.

“Hey Tae, Minho says to tell you that you’d be wonderful at reading tarot.”

Tae and Jinki look at each other and laugh.

“Well I guess there’s your answer.”