It was a rainy night, the moon hidden behind the grey clouds that covered the whole sky. The streets were empty and the streetlights flickered in the darkness. The small figure of a young girl could be seen crossing, her footsteps making little splashes as she sought shelter under the overhang of the bakery. She leans against the window and plops down onto the wet ground. All of her body is shivering, yet she feels as if her body was on fire.

“At least we're out of the rain now, right?” she says, breathing heavily.

“You have a fever Heejin. We should go see the doctor.”

“I'll be fine by tomorrow, it's just a col-”

“It's literally burning underneath your jacket, that's how much body heat you're giving off.”

“Oh, sorry,” Heejin says, lifting her jacket to have a white rabbit scamper out, “but you know we don't have the money for it Heekki.”

“We can least try and beg. I at least prefer giving up my pride than dying.” Heekki sits himself on her lap, his black beady eyes staring straight at her, “Maybe if you stopped trying to be so independent and actually accepted help, we wouldn't be like this.”

“Hey, I'm not going to be some beggar. If I'm going to get something, I at least have to work for it, that's the only prideful way of livin-!” The lights in the bakery suddenly turns on, causing the girl to be startled. Hastily picking up Heekki and tucking him under her jacket, she runs off. She gives a quick glance behind her and sees not the large figure of the baker she had been expecting, but the baker’s daughter. Turning back, she disappears into the night.

Hyunjin, who had been tossing and turning, hears voices outside. Curiosity took ahold of her as she slips out of bed and goes downstairs, flipping the light switch on. Someone sat against the window stand up in response, as they run off. She opens the door to the store and as she stares at the disappearing figure, they turn around and her eyes meet with the girl’s.

“Wait!” she cries out, but the girl was already gone. As she turns to go back in, from the corner of her eye, a white object catches her attention. She reaches down and grasps what looked like a handkerchief. Looking at it closely, the name Heejin was engraved on with silver thread.

“You should get in, you're going to catch a cold.” An orange cat brushes past her leg, staring out at where the other girl had disappeared.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Hyunjin says apologetically, walking back into the bakery with the cat following behind her.

“You were tossing and turning so much, I hadn't even gotten the chance to fall asleep.”

Shutting the door and turning off the lights, she goes back into her room. Placing the handkerchief on the table, she creeps back under her covers, the cat snuggling next to her. Her mind is still fixed on the girl that had run away.

Was she okay out there, in the rain? Wouldn't she catch a cold?

“If you're going to spend the entire night thinking about that girl, you're not going to get a bit of sleep at all.”

“Right, sorry.” Closing her eyes, Hyunjin could still the image of the girl's back disappearing into the darkness.

“I don't get why we agreed to meet tonight, it's raining cats and dogs.”

A girl was walking along the sidewalk, a bird flying next to her. “It's not like I predicted this weather, stop complaining.”

“You humans don't understand the feeling of having soaked feathers. It's H O R R I B L E!”

“Stop being so loud, we're going to get caught!”

“Haseul is scared of scary curfew guards? When did this happen?”

Suddenly, they hear a cough to their left, down a dark alleyway. “Run?!” the bird squeaks, flapping its wings as it dashes away, “Haseul, what are you doing?!”

The girl just stands there, staring. “It sounded like a girl.”

“It could be a girl guar-where are you going?!” the bird cries as she disappears into the alleyway. “God, I hate this girl. Wait up!”

It was too dark and misty to see anymore than ten feet ahead, so Haseul approaches cautiously. She hears another cough, clearer and louder this time. She is sure it belongs to a girl, one that was sick.

“What are you planning to do, help her?”

“And what do you propose we do? Let her sit out in the cold?” Suddenly, she stops in her tracks. Between the darkness and mist, she sees a glowing pair of yellow eyes, followed by a low growl. “Um, we come in peace?” she says, frightened by the clearly hostile creature, who only growled louder.

“Haima, where are you?” a voice calls out in the distance.

“Now we run.” Haseul says, running as fast her little feet could carry her, the bird following behind closely. She half-expects to hear the sound of paws running after her and have sharp teeth sink into her, but thankfully none of that happens.

She continuously stares out the window, the streaks of water plastering its surface. She is never this late, she thinks to herself.

A girl with bubblegum-pink hair stands from her seat and says, “Yeojin, stop worrying about Haseul. Your sister’s probably just slowed down by the ra-”

The door suddenly bursts open, Haseul tumbling in followed by her bird. They both are gasping for air, looking as if they went through a war.

“WHY DID YOU TAKE SO LONG?!” Yeojin yells, marching towards her sister. “YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?!”

“This is the kind of role-reversal no one expects. The younger sister worrying about the older one.” says the blonde girl sat in the corner of the room. “But yeah, what held you up so long? You're usually punctual.”

“We almost got caught because she tried to help someone.” the bird squawks, perching atop a chair. “The daemon we ran across was some sort of growling beast, with glowing yellow eyes.”

“Haima,” An owl lands on the blonde girl’s lap, “the wolf daemon. She's been wandering the town for weeks now and no one knows who her human is. As far as I know, she hasn't caused any trouble, but we do definitely need to keep an eye on her. A daemon of her strength shouldn't be left unsupervised.”

“Have you been watching her Mifred?” Haseul asks.

“Bamvi and I have been doing so,” he replies, pointing to the sleeping deer, “though it has been hard. She's clever and sneaky.”

“We should get down to why we're truly here, since Haseul and Wiz are here now.” the blonde girl says, standing. “The time we've been dreading the most is coming up soon. I'm afraid we might not survive it this time around.”

“Lippie, if you think that, the rest of us are screwed then.”

“Wait, hold up,” Yeojin says, “I think I missed the memo, what exactly are we talking about?”

The other girls stare at each other nervously, wondering if they should tell the youngest. Looking at Wiz, he nods to Haseul, who gives a deep sigh before turning to her sister.

“Yeojin, it's almost…”

“...midterms.”