Ever since he had received his newest toy, the dollhouse was all that Taemin played with. All the clothes of the two dolls had their names embroidered on the back, which he thought was a really nice touch. One thing that seemed weird to him was that when he woke up in the morning, his dolls would be holding hands. This always happened, even if he had placed them in different rooms before he went to bed. If he didn’t know any better, Taemin would assume they had magical powers.

Even Kibum had noticed that there was something weird about the present his brother had received. For starters, he had no idea who had even sent it, and the matter with the dolls was equally weird. It was almost as if they had magnets in them, as they were always together every morning. He even tried keeping one of them inside the dollhouse and the other outside, but it was always the same. All his suggestions of throwing it away were met with tantrums from his younger brother. Although he hadn’t told anyone about this, he’d been having some extremely odd dreams ever since the blasted ‘toy’ reached them.

Whatever dreams he had, they all ended exactly the same way: with him trying to open a door that was locked from the outside. As he stepped close to it, he could hear people banging the door from the inside, begging him to help them. Even now, he could hear the whispered ‘help me, Bummie’ when he closed his eyes. There was obviously more to it than met the eye, but he had no idea how he was supposed to find out.

After a month or two of these recurring dreams, Kibum finally had enough and decided to visit the occult shop with his friends. Unlike what he expected, the lady there looked extremely normal and was dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt. She looked incredibly normal, and when his friends were busy, he decided to approach her to find a solution. Almost as if she had expected him, the woman looked up and smiled.

“I can see that you’re having some problems lately, it’s written all over your face”

“I am, actually. I keep having dreams of someone asking me for help, but I can’t unlock the door for them”

“Well, it could be a number of things, but I think your first step should be communication, You’d be able to sense if they are dangerous or not in your dream, so keep this under your pillow”

Taking the smooth, ice blue stone, Kibum it before slipping it into his pocket.

“Angelites are very good communication stones, so I’m sure this will help. Come back anytime if you need help”

After thanking and paying her, Kibum got home and placed the stone under his pillow. Since his little brother hadn’t mentioned anything out of the ordinary, he took it as a sign that the weird dreams were only his. As he had expected, he was in front of the same mahogany door, but this time, there was a golden key that he could turn. Placing his fingers on the cold metal, Kibum used his strength to turn the key in the lock. Turning the handle, he entered a room which had a fire burning in the fireplace. It looked as though he was in some really old house, that felt vaguely familiar to him. Noticing two figures sitting together on the red armchair, he walked towards them only to get a shock when they turned around to face him. They looked like the dolls that Taemin had, except they were human, like him. He didn’t even need to know their names, as he heard Taemin playing with them every day.

“Kibum, it’s about time you heard us. Thank you for listening”

“Who are you?”

“You know who we are”

“Are you…..Jonghyun and Jinki?”

The shorter of the two, Jonghyun’s face brightened when he smiled at being recognized. Gripping the other person’s hand, his eyes shone as he began to speak.

“Jinki, he knows who we are….can you help us?”

“Where am I? How are you alive?”

“Look around you, Kibum. You know this place”

Listening, Kibum looked around and finally realized that he was inside the dollhouse. No wonder it all looked familiar to him, but he really couldn’t understand how any of this was happening. After a long explanation from Jinki, Kibum understood one thing. That something very horrible had happened to them, and that the same thing could possibly happen to his brother if he wasn’t careful. If that meant that he’d have to resort to the one thing he had always kept hidden from everyone, then so be it.

Kibum had always known that he was different, ever since he was a kid. When he got adopted into his new family, the only thing he promised himself was that he’d never use his powers. The witch who had turned the two boys into dolls could easily do the same thing to him, but it really seemed as though he was the person who could break her spell. There wasn’t a choice at all. This was what he had to do if he wanted to save his family and protect them. Based on what he had heard, the witch was very powerful, and he certainly had to train hard before taking the dollhouse back to her.

“Keep the Angelite under your pillow whenever you want to speak to us, Kibum”

Waking up with a cold sweat, Kibum wasn’t sure if it was only a dream or something more that he had just seen. The little stone had indeed, taken him to a place that he had never imagined to be in. Although his suspicious mind was whispering that it could just be some kind of trap, Kibum decided to help them. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

The following night, he saw them again.

“Kibum, I can sense that you have some magic within you. Did you already know that?”

“Yes, I do, but I stopped performing spells ever since I got adopted”

“It’s possible that you’re the one the witch wanted from the beginning. I was able to hear things when I was a doll in her house”

Jinki had heard her muttering to herself about how she could use them as bait to trap the one who would be her true heir. The one who carried her blood. He’d lived a lonely life until he met Jonghyun, and he couldn’t risk the same thing happening to someone else. Even if that somehow probably had the power to help him and Jonghyun.

“I don’t understand you, Jinki”

“If she is successful in turning you into a doll, like us, she would be able to use you in her magic spells. Trust me, being her voodoo doll isn’t fun at all. I’m just glad she didn’t use Jonghyun that way. I couldn’t let that happen”

This was just getting stranger and more dangerous by the minute but all it meant was that it was time for him to summon back the power he had kept hidden. Since his bloodline was certainly strong, Kibum had already known how to control his magic. It was time to find out how much of the story was true, so Kibum drew a symbol of the wooden floor with chalk and placed a small hand mirror in the middle. Careful to do this when everyone was asleep, Kibum placed his hands on his temple and pressed lightly, three times. Feeling all of his magic flowing through his body, Kibum’s ears began to tingle as he swayed while chanting the magic words that would turn the ordinary mirror into a scrying mirror. As he took the now enchanted mirror in his hands, he asked to see Jinki’s past. Although he had already been briefed, he certainly wasn’t prepared for what he saw. It was a blur, but he could see everything clearly, from the day when Jinki was turned into a doll. He saw the way Jinki had been tortured and felt so angry that he almost dropped the mirror in his hand. It had to be him. This was why the dollhouse had reached him, by way of Taemin.

The mirror could help him see the past as well as the future, but he couldn’t trust anything except the past. After all, the future could be changed by any small action in the present and would always keep changing. It would be utterly pointless to try to see what could possibly happen to them. Rubbing the mirror, Kibum spoke only one command which he knew would help them all.

“Show me the witch”

This time, the mirror seemed to heat up in his hands as it showed him what he wanted to see. She seemed to be living in the same house that Jinki had told him about. Even though it had been years, she still looked exactly the same way she did when Jinki had been a child. That was extremely weird since she was supposed to look like an old woman or she would have passed on by now. Right at that moment, she began to stick pins into a different doll. This meant that Jonghyun and Jinki weren’t the only ones who had been trapped and needed to be saved. Sure enough, there was a wooden shelf behind her that was filled with dolls and Kibum spotted another Jonghyun and Jinki doll. They looked a little different from the dolls Taemin played with. For one, they seemed to be really dusty as though no one had bothered to maintain them any longer. As he watched, the witch used a long needle on the doll in her hand while chanting. Purple smoke entered her body from the doll, and her face lost some of the wrinkles that were there before. By now, it had become perfectly clear that she was taking the life force of the dolls and the children she had trapped. That was the secret to her apparent immortality, and Kibum had to figure out a way to defeat her and save everyone. He already knew where to find her, but he needed all the power he could get. Simple spells wouldn’t help him anymore and Kibum needed to do something he had never expected. He needed the help of someone who knew how to reverse spells. It was a full moon night, which meant that it was the perfect time for him to use the blood spell that had caused him to get into a lot of trouble the last time he had been stupid enough to use it. He hadn’t thrown away any of the stuff like he was supposed to. Instead, he had chosen to hide everything under a loose floorboard in the attic, which was coincidentally exactly where he currently was. He had the needle and the scrying mirror already and just had to create a pattern on the floor to use this spell. Pricking his index finger and letting two drops touch the glass surface of the mirror, Kibum asked it to show him who could defeat the witch. He was certainly prepared to summon anyone at that point, even if they turned out to be a demon. Instead of a person, the mirror showed him a dilapidated old building in his town. The one that was rumoured to have been cursed, and where no one was allowed to go. Ending the spell and rubbing out the pattern he had drawn, Kibum took two torches with him and prepared to leave. His family was fast asleep and would remain that way, which gave him more than enough time for what he needed to do. Sneaking out through the window in his room, Kibum began to run towards the structure. It looked positively scary in the moonlight but he knew he could find what he needed. After all, he had the scrying glass with him in his backpack. Slipping through the doors, Kibum asked the mirror where he could find the object that would help him. The mirror showed him the picture of an ancient book which was bound in red coloured leather and had a picture of a pair of hands clasping each other. It wasn’t hard to find since the building seemed to be the old library. Using his powers, Kibum managed to make the book levitate towards him, right into his outstretched arms. Rushing back to his attic, Kibum began to read all the various spells in that ancient book of magic. The spell of reversal wasn’t as simple as he’d hoped since he needed to use a bit of the witch’s hair along with a drop of her blood. All he needed to do was to get to her place, which he accomplished by casting more spells on his family, though it pained him to do so. Knowing that they wouldn’t wake up for a few days, Kibum carried the book as well as the dollhouse with him to his destination. He didn’t need to spend a lot of time hiding in the forest outside the witch’s mansion since he possessed powers too. Pushing open the door, Kibum was prepared to face any challenge that came his way, but there seemed to be nothing. Instead, the witch was sitting in a chair, looking at him as though she had already expected him to be there.

“You’re late, my child. I have waited for you for so long”

“You mean...you did all of this on purpose?”

“You have my blood, child. I had to bring you to me so that we could finally be together. Think of all that we could do. We can rule this world and make everyone do our bidding”

On one hand, the very thought of having all the power made Kibum start to get evil thoughts in his head. However, when he looked at the dollhouse in his hand, he was able to concentrate on his true purpose.

“Set them free. Right now”

“You’re a fool, Kibum. I am offering you everything that had ever been taken away from you. I know that you had spent years in the orphanage, alone and tormented. I can help you get your revenge”

All that Kibum felt was anger, and that was when he began to use his magic. With his hair standing on end and energy blazing from his fingertips, Kibum cast his first spell which made the witch fall backwards.

“If that’s the way you want it, I’m more than happy to absorb all of your power and make everyone kneel before me”

The witch stood up slowly and began to chant spells of her own, which immobilized Kibum for a minute. Unable to move his hands or feet, he stood rooted to the spot, while the witch used the time to grab the dollhouse he had brought. Getting back into his senses, Kibum pretended to stay immobilized until she turned her back. Taking the ancient book he had brought with him, Kibum used the knife lying on the table to slash his wrist to get the amount of blood to use the spell he had read about on his way there. Placing his palm on the book, Kibum was able to draw the energy of every witch who had used the book before him. The cut on his wrist disappeared instantly and he could feel his whole body begin to glow with power. Hearing the sound of the witch gasping when she saw him, Kibum faced her and let loose all of his newfound power, stunning her instantly. Now that she couldn’t move at all, all he had to do was drag her and tie her to the chair.

Using his knife to cut out some strands of her hair, he decided to punish her the exact same way she had punished everyone else. Using her cauldron to brew his own potion, he cut her finger and drew the blood he needed. The witch’s scared face, when she awoke, was more than enough for him. He sprayed the purple coloured potion onto all of the dolls in the room and watched them slowly turn back into humans.

“I can’t let you live after all that that you’ve done”

Picking up one of the plain voodoo dolls from the shelf, Kibum looked at its husk covered body before using magic to attach the witch’s hair to it.

“You will be stuck in your own prison for eternity, but this time, no one will come to save you”

The blood-curdling scream he heard made the others gasp with fright as they watched the witch disintegrate into a cloud of black smoke that entered the doll, which had now turned into a miniature of her. Kibum’s first idea was to bury the doll in the witch’s own backyard, but it made more sense to take the doll back with him. Before he went back, there was just one last thing he needed to do, even though it meant he would lose all of his magic.

**********************************************************************************

Jonghyun and Jinki were now free to live their lives the way they wanted to. Neither of them could go back to their families, but Kibum had used all his power to turn the witch’s manor and the surrounding forest into a small village. All of them now had a place to live for the rest of their days, with everything they could possibly want. To top it all off, the place was protected, which meant that no one could enter there to even dream of harming them.

Their own home was a beautiful little cottage with flowers in the garden, which would give them a new start in their life. Knowing that they would never be able to get back their old life, now was the time for them to create something new and beautiful. Together. What the witch said was certainly coming true now. They would remain soulmates for all eternity.

From time to time, Kibum would check the scrying glass to see how Jonghyun and Jinki were doing. He’d given his brother a new witch doll to play with, which had thrilled Taemin beyond bits. Although he didn’t have any powers left, Kibum knew that he would be happy to live as a normal human, like everyone else. If he needed anything, he still had the mirror to help him.