"This new development proves promising." Mina observed as she assessed Dahyun from the far corner of Momo's home. 

 

"So…" Jihyo trailed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head from where she sat on the makeshift ice table. "Do I call you mom or dad?" Jihyo asked, making Dahyun chuckle as she pulled the blanket Chungha brought over her shoulders. 

 

"Wait…" Sana seemed confused from her place by her genius companion. "If Dahyun is your dad, who is the man from the library?" 

 

Jihyo seemed deep in thought for a moment, pondering the answer to the question deeply. 

 

"Maybe he was keeping secrets from me." She mumbled with a shrug. Maybe he was so awful because he didn't actually care about me." 

 

It was silent for a moment, nobody quite knowing what to say, before Tzuyu spoke up from beside Chaeyoung, who sat in another corner, curled up in a blanket after having saved Dahyun. 

 

"Maybe we should work on reading this book. We can ask all the questions we need when we find Jihyo's mom and get back to our realm." She suggested, and Sana grinned before standing up dutifully. 

 

"Tzuyu is right!" She exclaimed, leaning against the cold table to open the book. She scanned through the words, Jihyo beside her and Jeongyeon and Nayeon looking over their shoulders as the two read the book. 

 

"Is there something here we should know about?" Jeongyeon asked in confusion, eyes searching the blank page for any sign of literature. 

 

Jihyo continued reading, but Jeongyeon's words caught Sana off guard, and she turned in wonder to look at the girls over her shoulder. 

 

"Y-you can't see it?" She asked, her chest tightening at the idea of being able to do something most of her magical companions cannot. 

 

"I can." Nayeon shrugged, "But a part of being a messenger is being able to read all texts, to translate and relay them to others." She explained, eyes falling upon Sana for a moment, unbeknownst to the human who seemed stricken with pure joy. She ran her fingers over the windy lettering and felt the way the words vibrated from the age, through the tips of her fingers. For the first time in Sana's life, she could finally say she had magic at her fingertips.

 

"Wow." Sana laughed, a tear falling down her face, filling Nayeon's heart with pure, unadulterated happiness. 

 

Of course Sana was special. 

 

Nayeon never had a doubt in her mind about it. 

 

"This must be an effect of what happened in the library." Jihyo rationalized, much to Sana's sadness.

 

"Right." Sana looked down sadly, trying to keep smiling despite the pain of, once again, not being special. "That must be it." She chuckled sadly before getting back to the book in front of her.

 

Nayeon decided to rummage through the books Sana brought back, taking a look at each title, stopping at the second to last book. 

 

"'The Book of the Oracle?'" Nayeon asked, looking up at the two girls who read the book in front of them. Sana looked up from their book in confusion. 

 

"I don't remember seeing a book with that title." Sana hummed, and Jihyo's eyes grew distant as she moved them to assess the script in Nayeon's hands. 

 

"It looks like a journal." Nayeon admitted as she flipped through the pages of the leather book. She looked up from the book at Jihyo, "I-I think this is your mom's." 

 

Jihyo moved from Sana's side to Nayeon, who presented the closed book to her, a serious glint in her eyes. 

 

Jihyo took it, and felt her heart clench in her chest at the feeling of the magic coursing from the book to her hands. 

 

"This was in your pile?" Jihyo asked, looking over her shoulder at Sana, who seemed confused. 

 

"No, I-I don't remember seeing it at all." She stammered, and Jihyo smiled before moving around the table to hug Sana, who was caught off guard by the affectionate display. 

 

She heard Jihyo sniffle, and pulled away to look at the Quizmaster, whose eyes were spilling, a soft smile on her lips. 

 

"I know you didn't mean to, but thank you." Jihyo whispered, earning a warm smile from Sana, who pulled her close again, revelling in this feeling. 

 

This feeling unlike anything she's ever felt.

 

"I'd do anything for you, Hyo." Sana whispered, every ounce of sincerity in her voice as she held her companion close. 

 

"You're the first real friend I've ever had." Jihyo whispered, and Sana found her own tears trickling down her cheeks. 

 

"You're the only friend I've ever had." 

 

"You guys are so dramatic." Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, breaking the two out of their moment. Nayeon elbowed her best friend in annoyance for her outburst. 

 

"Right…" Jihyo cleared and wiped her tears as she pulled away, embarrassed by her own antics. "Let's get to work." She suggested before leaning against the wall beside the door of Momo's room to read. 

 

"Sana, Nayeon and I will read these and tell you the gist, since there's so much to read." She offered, "Go ahead and get some sleep if you can. I know today was a lot." 

 

It wasn't long before everyone was curled up in different corners of the room, Tzuyu still only a few feet away from Chaeyoung, who hasn't spoken much, especially since she got back from saving Dahyun.

 

It wasn't long before silence overtook the room, Mina lying in one corner of the room, Jeongyeon lying in another, complaining about how much she hates water while Sana and Nayeon used the table to read the book together, Dahyun seated across from Jihyo, assessing her lovingly as she read the work of the love of Dahyun's life, both past and present. 

 

Chaeyoung sighed as insomnia overtook her once again, relenting to it and deciding to get some air. 

 

She stood under the tube and leapt up until she was standing under a blanket of stars, gazing up at the moon. 

 

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tzuyu asked out of nowhere, making Chaeyoung jump, startled at the sudden interruption.

 

"Jesus! We need to put a bell on you." Chaeyoung grunted, stepping away from the nature witch to sit on the bench, looking out at the calm waves, counting the reflection of the stars shining off the water as a way to distract her mind from the gaping hole in her chest.

 

Tzuyu sat on the opposite side and looked out at the edge of the town, sighing to herself. 

 

Despite Tzuyu's silence, something about her presence spoke more than words ever could, making Chaeyoung painfully aware of the fact that she couldn't be ignored. 

 

"Can't sleep?" Chaeyoung asked, hoping Tzuyu would appreciate the gesture but answer rhetorically.

 

But alas, Chaeyoung never gets what Chaeyoung wants. 

 

She's known that for centuries, but still, her mind insists upon wanting. 

 

Wanting life.

 

Wanting someone.

 

Wanting love. 

 

Wanting death. 

 

"I uh…" Tzuyu chuckled softly, "I'm used to sleeping in Spiritus." 

 

"Spiritus…" Chaeyoung tasted the word, a familiar one that she couldn't help but want to hear again. "Spiritus… is that where you live?" 

 

"Yeah…" Tzuyu smiled, pulling her knees to her chest. "It's where I was born. Where I spent my entire life." 

 

"What's it like there?" Chaeyoung asked, finding comfort in the company of this strange witch. 

 

Or maybe a part of her just wanted to know what kind of world could breed someone like Tzuyu.

 

"It's…" She shook her head with a smile, resting her chin on her knees. "...beautiful." She sighed, "Nothing like that Gods-awful city. Full of life and wonder, all the people living in peace without the desire for war or tyranny." 

 

"Why were you in the middle of that battlefield then?" Chaeyoung asked in confusion, pulling her knees up to her chest and mimicking Tzuyu's position.

 

"I was trying to save my coven." She admitted before turning her head to look at the death witch. "What about you? What were you doing?" 

 

Chaeyoung had two options.

 

She could give Tzuyu some snide comment and insult her before storming off. 

 

Or she could have the common decency to hear out this girl who, more likely than not, isn't sleeping because of the very thing Chaeyoung is submerged in. 

 

Death. 

 

"My abilities aren't just basic 'bring-you-back-to-life' incantations." She admitted, "Every soul that is lost… every time a life is taken, I feel it." She looked away from the tallest witch, not ready to let someone see her cry again. 

 

Not after what happened to the last person to see me cry.

 

"In something as painful and tragic as war, there are so many lost lives that I must be in the midst, so to help guide safe passage to the afterlife for wandering souls." 

 

"That sounds…" Tzuyu trailed off, unsure of the word to pinpoint just how devastating it was. 

 

"Lonely?" Chaeyoung asked with a scoff, and Tzuyu just looked down. 

 

"I'm sure you and your…girlfriend have made do." She tried kindly, opening the floodgates of Chaeyoung's chest, tears spilling from her eyes faster than she could wipe them away.

 

"We did." She sniffled, catching Tzuyu's attention. "For a really long time, we did." 

 

Tzuyu slid on the bench, closer to the fragile girl, until their shoulders were against one another.

 

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Tzuyu assured, gripping the bench between her knees and looking out at the water, knowing by now not to try and look Chaeyoung in the eyes while she cries. "But I'm here." She promised, placing her hand on the necromancer's knee.

 

Chaeyoung would never admit it, but she was thankful for the witch beside her. 

 

She was happy the girl was beside her, and she wondered for a moment how she would've handled it if she was out here alone.

 

"Y'know," Chaeyoung sniffled, "when I jumped in that water after Dahyun, I wondered," She inhaled shakily, "I hoped that it would heal my broken heart." She admitted, shaking her head with a sad laugh. "Now, I just feel empty." 

 

Tzuyu frowned and turned to meet Chaeyoung's eyes, despite her mind telling her not to. 

 

"I don't know what happened, but-" 

 

"She's gone." Chaeyoung whimpered, interrupting her companion. "She's gone, and it's my fault, and there's nothing I can do about it." 

 

"Who?" Tzuyu asked sadly, her chest aching at the sight of this witch and her devastation.

 

Chaeyoung couldn't bring herself to say that name out loud. She couldn't will herself to say it again after the events of the day. 

 

Instead, she leaned in to hug Tzuyu, who wrapped her arms around her immediately, as though it was what she'd wanted to do all this time. 

 

Because it was. 

 

Tzuyu ran her fingers through Chaeyoung's short, blonde locks and hushed her while she rocked back and forth to calm the sobs racking through the poor girl's body. 

 

Sobs that made Tzuyu aware of two things. 

 

One being that those were the sobs of someone in mourning. 

 

The other?

 

Tzuyu would never let Chaeyoung feel lonely again.

 

… 

 

Jihyo's eyes were beginning to dry out about half way through the journal, stinging as they trekked along each page, memorizing her mother's prose and genius, allowing the calligraphy to engrave itself into the back of her mind. 

 

"Guys… guys!" Jihyo called out, waking everyone who was alseep and catching the attention of the witches outside. Jihyo stood up and placed the book on the table to read from it as everyone stirred and gathered, including Momo, whose eyes were red and swollen.

 

"I think I found the original prophecy." Jihyo exclaimed once Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had made their way to the table. 

 

"Good, because we haven’t found anything useful at all." Nayeon admitted before pushing the book aside to give Jihyo her undivided attention, other than her hand holding Sana's behind the table, out of sight of everyone, other than Jeongyeon and Dahyun, who each had differing opinions on the display of affection. 

 

Jihyo's eyes raced along the jagged writing of the last scribed pages in her mother's journal and she inhaled to begin reading.

 

"'Fate tells me of the times to come, a time where nine women will change the world as we know it. Nine women who bring balance to one another, and who have the power to absolve the powers at be of their greed. Nine women who must put their grudges aside and come together to fix the injustices and revolutionize the magical world." 

 

"Nine?" Asked Nayeon in confusion, "Every document I've ever seen says seven. We would know if something like that was left out." 

 

"Yerim left one out when she was writing it out for the messenger witches, just to ensure the governing witches wouldn't figure out that the last one was ours." Dahyun spoke up, and Jihyo's head swam with the new knowledge.

 

"I-I'm in this prophecy?" She asked in wonder, and Dahyun frowned. 

 

"You should keep reading." 

 

Jihyo's eyes danced over the notes in the margins, an eerily familiar list meeting her lips. 

 

"'A witch born from death.'" Everyone looked at Chaeyoung, who rolled her eyes and looked down at her hands.

 

"'A woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.'" Jihyo read, and everyone looked around at one another, unsure of who it was, until Nayeon spoke up. 

 

"That's Jeongyeon." She assumed, and everyone seemed to agree. 

 

Everyone, that is, but Jeongyeon, who scoffed and rolled her eyes, but remained silent despite herself.

 

"'A woman who could never trust.'" 

 

Everybody looked at Momo, who shrugged, knowing she was the obvious answer. 

 

"'A witch who had enough humanity in her heart to change the world.'"

 

Chaeyoung bumped her shoulder against Tzuyu's, to wich the girl blushed down at her hands as they fidgeted in her lap. 

 

"'A witch who wasn't born a witch.'" 

 

The room was silent for a moment before Sana found eyes straying in her direction, and tears welled in her eyes as she thought about those implications.

 

She was one of them. 

 

She was a witch, be it from birth or not.

 

She was special. 

 

Sana was-

 

"I guess Dahyun isn't so bad after all." Jeongyeon grumbled, snapping Sana out of her internal celebration. 

 

"Dahyun?" Sana asked, and Dahyun spoke up as well. 

 

"Me?" She scoffed, and Momo shrugged. 

 

"You have to be really special to capture the heart of the oldest oracle in history." She rationalized, and Dahyun smiled, though Sana wasn't sure if it was genuine. 

 

Why wouldn't Dahyun want to be special?

 

Jihyo sighed and cleared before continuing.

 

"'A witch whose biggest power was being underestimated.'"

 

 Jeongyeon's eyes immediately fell to Mina, who caught it and held a meaningful gaze with the fire witch. 

 

"'A witch whose sacrifice would never go unrecognized.'" 

 

Everyone looked around in slight confusion, a deep, harsh atmosphere hitting everyone in the room. Instead of waiting for someone to be pointed out, Jihyo continued. 

 

"'A witch whose biggest weapon is her heart.'" 

 

Jeongyeon, Dahyun, Jihyo and Sana all looked at Nayeon, who frowned and looked down to her lap, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sana. 

 

Then again, most things don't go unnoticed by Sana lately. 

 

"That was only eight." Mina pointed out, to which Jihyo responded. 

 

"The last one just says 'Jihyo.'" 

 

Her name was circled jaggedly in red ink three or four times. 

 

"So, obviously Jihyo's was taken out, but who took out the one about sacrifice?" Asked Chaeyoung, and Jihyo eyed Sana strangely.

 

"What if Sana is the missing piece?" Jihyo asked, to which Jeongyeon scoffed. 

 

"Don't be stupid. It says that the sacrifice is a witch." She assured, "It's not Sana."

 

"I didn't expect to be so hurt being ruled out as a sacrifice." Sana mumbled, and despite the serious tone, Nayeon giggled. 

 

"I'm glad you're not a witch if it means ruling you out of sacrifice." She jested before planting a kiss on Sana's cheek. 

 

"Maybe that lady from earlier knows where to find our last puzzle piece." Chaeyoung suggested, and Momo hummed before standing up. 

 

"Good idea, we'll go talk to her." 

 

"It's like… five in the morning." Sana scolded, only for Momo to give her a weird look over her shoulder at the human before holding out a hand to help Jihyo to her feet, which were numb from being seated for so long. 

 

"Time works differently in Oracle Bay." She grinned, pulling Jihyo to the entrance by her free hand. They slithered out of the hole in the ground, and the last person - Jeongyeon - crawled out just as the sky started turning orange.

 

"Thank God…" Jeongyeon shuttered, shaking her limbs free. "I hate water." 

 

Nayeon giggled from behind her friend before taking a handful of water from the hole and splashing it on Jeongyeon, who squeaked in response before turning to the messenger with a glare. 

 

Cute, thought a certain ice witch who watched the show from behind the group with a small smile on her lips. 

 

Momo lead the way, tugging Jihyo by one hand while the other held her mother's book close to her chest.

 

They found themselves in the docks again, waiting as Momo unlocked one of the boathouse doors and disappeared behind it. 

 

"Look!" Mina whispered to Tzuyu excitedly, and when Tzuyu turned her head to look, she was met with three little creatures. One was a shaggy looking pup who barked and played with a small monkey who whimpered and squacked as the two wrestled, while another creature watched. 

 

The other creature was small and blue with a head bigger than its body and a thick coat of fur coating every part of his chihuahua sized body, aside from the two horns on his head and the two little bat wings on his shoulders. He had big, green, human-like eyes that took over half his face, a bright orange nose the size of a button and one tooth sticking out of each side of his mouth. 

 

"A whisper dragon." Tzuyu mumbled, awestruck, and Jeongyeon spoke up. 

 

"Dragons have been extinct for like, a thousand years." She scoffed. 

 

"I guess he must be the last of his kind." 

 

"He's so cute!" Dahyun grinned, hunching down and sticking her hand out for the creature to sniff, as though he was a dog.

 

However, it seemed more that he was like a cat, because once he sniffed the hand, he rubbed against it, then wrapped around her leg. 

 

"He likes you." Tzuyu smiled, hunching down to look at the creature, who purred like a cat and rubbed his head against Tzuyu's hand. 

 

"What's his name?" She asked, and the creature walked around to face her, sitting down and swinging his little pointy tail behind him as he looked her in the eyes. 

 

"I'm Charlie." Uttered the creature, and Dahyun's eyes went wide in awe. 

 

"Whoa! Dragons talk?!" She asked in excitement, catching the attention of the other eight girls. 

 

"Only to the ones they imprint on." Tzuyu hummed, "What did he say?" 

 

"He told me his name." Dahyun admitted before looking at him again. "How old are you?" 

 

He tilted his head to the side and continued purring as though he had never spoken. 

 

"They generally only speak when they have something to warn you about." Tzuyu explained, "Whisper Dragons faught alongside my people before we came to peace. They work as familiars, shape shifting into convenient animals and spying to come back and warn their imprinted what they've learned, so to protect them." Everyone watched as Charlie's eyes followed the monkey who was running around, then as he changed form to look like the monkey, then the dog before turning back to his original form.

 

"It's like another Momo!" Nayeon giggled, and Jeongyeon spoke up. 

 

"Only slightly less cute." Charlie hissed at Jeongyeon's words, and the fire witch hissed back playfully, the flame inside her soul igniting in her eyes, making the the creature whimper like a kicked puppy, hiding behind Dahyun's legs. 

 

Tzuyu ignored Jeongyeon in favor of finishing her lesson with Dahyun. "Whisper Dragons are nearly extinct because they've been hunted and killed by poachers and…" She trailed off, eyes moving to the girl who just scared him, "...witches on the opposing side."

 

"Alright, get in!" Momo grinned from where she sat at the bow of a small boat. 

 

"You have a boat?" Jihyo asked, to which Momo scoffed. 

 

"I have the ability to shape shift into any aquatic mammal I want," She reminded, "Why would I need a boat?" 

 

"To fish?" Sana suggested, and Momo gave a look of disgust. 

 

"Oh, so you'll eat human spleens and liver but you won't eat a fish?" Chaeyoung rolled her eyes before stepping off of the dock, onto the boat in one large step. 

Momo put a hand out for Jihyo to take, helping h

er step onto the boat while it shifted under her feet. Dahyun sat across from Jihyo, and Nayeon took the time to help Sana aboard. 

 

"I'm not getting on that thing." Jeongyeon pouted, and Charlie cackled at her like a hyena before leaping into the boat and curling under the wood slat Dahyun sat in.

 

"Come on, Pyro," Mina giggled, elegantly pirouetting from the dock onto the boat before sitting at the stern, taunting her with that big, cute smile that Jeongyeon felt blessed to see, but right now, she was supposed to be stubborn! "Are you really afraid of a little water?" She took a handful of water and tossed it in the air, allowing the droplets to float down in the form of snowflakes. 

 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes before turning around in a pout of some sort. 

 

"She's been like a cat for as long as I can remember." Nayeon giggled, causing everyone else to laugh along. 

 

"Whatever." Jeongyeon harrumphed, but Mina persisted, standing up on the edge of the bow and holding out one hand for Jeongyeon to take, and the other to freeze water under the boat to keep it still. 

 

"Come on." She smiled kindly, and Jeongyeon rolled her eyes with a huff before taking Mina's hand.

 

The moment their hands touched, Jeongyeon felt the icy on her flesh, and embraced the way it made a chill run up her spine.

 

Instead of letting Jeongyeon's touch shock her or pain her, Mina focused on it, and let herself become one with the heat. She inhaled and felt the warmth wash through her bloodstream, for the first time, Mina felt what true warmth was. 

 

And she loved it. 

 

Jeongyeon stepped up onto the boat on shaky legs, something akin to a baby dear Mina once saw during her travels with her coven. 

 

Her coven.

 

Her dad. 

 

Overcome with guilt, Mina let go of Jeongyeon's hand as soon as her feet planted, much to the fire witch's dismay. 

 

"U-uh, melt the ice, please, before it starts hurting the creatures." She asked, and Jeongyeon smiled softly, sitting down beside Mina to stick her hand out and set fire to the ice to melt it. 

 

Once the ice was melted, the boat shifted, making Jeongyeon jump, taking Mina's hand and feeling that electricity again. 

 

They locked eyes for a moment, but it was broken when Jeongyeon felt the boat rock again and panicked, clenching onto the side of the boat with her hands. 

 

Momo was standing at the bow of the boat, slipping her shirt off her slender back after having dropped a rope into the water.

 

Sana's eyes slid down Momo's strong back and arms as she bent down to take her pants off.

 

Jeongyeon noticed Mina staring and was able to take her mind off the water long enough to sneer at the creature.

 

"What the hell are you doing?" 

 

"Going for a swim." Momo shrugged.

 

"And you had to get for that?" Nayeon asked with just as much bite.

 

"I mean, I really don't mind." Jihyo shook her head, trying (and failing) not to seem too eager. 

 

Momo grinned over her shoulder and gave Jeongyeon a dazzling smile, but Jeongyeon would never admit the effect it had on her. 

 

Finally, she launched herself off the boat, making it shake, and Jeongyeon gasp as everyone watched her body form into that of a river dolphin before diving into the water.

 

Suddenly, the boat lurched forward and around until Jeongyeon and Mina were up front, being dragged by Momo. 

 

"Why didn't she just use a motorboat?" Asked Chaeyoung with the roll of her eyes. "Even we have them in our world." 

 

"The engines are really bad for the enchanted waters." Dahyun explained, "We have to keep the water clean in order for it to serve its purpose of sustaining the life and healing the residents who respect it." Dahyun looked around at the land as the boat exited the bay and merged into a larger area of water.

 

Every inch of the horizon around them was coated in trees or mountains. The sun peeked over the peak of the highest mountain, shining bright against the unmelted snow at the top, making it seem as though the mountain was sparkling. 

 

"Open your eyes." Mina giggled to Jeongyeon, whose fingers gripped the boat so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

 

"No." Jeongyeon pouted, and Mina hesitated to take the girl's hand, causing the taller witch to pry her eyes open in shock. 

 

"Look." Mina grinned, looking off into the distance at the trees, the way the water shone under the light of the sun. 

 

"Don't remind me." Jeongyeon groaned, to which Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. 

 

"Wuss." She mumbled, and Jeongyeon glared across the vessel at the necromancer, who stood upon the boat and propped her foot on the edge, making it shake, much to her own amusement. 

 

“I’m gonna seer you where you stand!” Jeongyeon growled pathetically from her place, an Tzuyu reached up to summon Chaeyoung back into her seat. 

 

“You know, for being the oldest one here, you sure are the most immature.” Jeongyeon grunted, and Chaeyoung stood up one last time, a daunting smile on her face as she took one last aggressive bow, making the boat stir aggressively once more. 

 

Mina noticed the way the boat melted under Jeongyeon’s touch and sighed before turning around to watch the water ahead of them. 

 

“Look,” Mina whispered to Jeongyeon, who shook her head and kept her eyes clamped shut. 

 

“There’s no use.” Nayeon spoke up, “She‘s too stubborn.” 

 

It wasn’t long before the boat approached an island in the middle of the bay, seemingly uninhabited, aside from the single wooden boat dock they approached.

 

Just when Sana thought this world couldn’t get more incredible, after magical healing water and equality and magic and dragons that shapeshifted and whispered secrets deep within your soul, she was given one more thing to fall in love with. 

 

The dock emerged onto a beach with sand, damp from the tide of the water kissing it every so often. The sand ended where the trees began, littered all over the place, between boulders covered in moss and flowers. 

 

“This is incredible!” Sana gaped in wonder as she looked around, running to the right, kicking the sand up behind her as she held her hands out to the sides, looking up at the cotton candy sky above. 

 

Jeongyeon’s knees trembled beneath her as she made her way to her best friend, whose eyes were focused intently on the excited human. 

 

Charlie ran between Nayeon’s feet, after Sana, who giggled when he jumped up at her like a giddy beagle. Sana leaned down to pet him, but he yipped before jumping out of the way, into the water on accident. The human let out a cackle before leaning down and splashing him, chasing him further in until her was knee deep, holding the squirming creature in her arms as he her face. 

 

“Okay, I know I’m supposed to hate her, but that’s cute.” Jeongyeon admitted, and Nayeon didn’t react beyond the content smile already plastered on her face. 

 

Momo morphed back into her human form and grabbed her clothes from the boat before tying it down and making her way through the trees to the darkest part of the forest. “Let’s go!” Momo shouted, catching the attention of the other eight women, who immediately stopped what they were doing to walk after her. 

 

She climbed atop the tallest moss covered rock and let out an inuman growl, akin to some sort of Gorilla. 

 

It echoed around the tiny little island, and birds and Fenlies flew away at the disturbance, and less than a minute later, before the eyes of every woman on the island appeared a mansion, floating just above Momo’s head and peaking out taller than the tallest tree around. 

 

“Seriously, Momo?” Hissed a voice from behind the door just seconds before it swung open, revealing a beautiful woman in a robe, hair toussled and cheeks red. “You always do this.” She groaned, and the creature grinned. 

 

“It’s good to see you too, Sunmi.” She responded, and the girl smiled before stepping off the edge of the building, landing on the ground ten feet below with ease. She opened her arms, allowing Momo to step in them for a tight, warm hug. 

 

“I missed you.” Sunmi hummed as they pulled away, and Momo smiled back. “Chanmi is getting dressed.” She offered before her eyes fell on the girls behind Momo with a smile. “She told me you made some friends.” 

 

“What is she?” Asked Chaeyoung, confused, as she couldn’t feel a soul emanating from Sunmi’s vessel. 

 

“A vampire.” Nayeon exhaled, and Jeongyeon rose a brow. 

 

“You haven’t even touched her, how can you tell?” 

 

“Are you kidding?” Nayeon scoffed, “Nobody living can possibly have cheekbones like that.” She mumbled, catching Sana’s attention. Her eyes fell over Sunmi and she shrugged in agreement. Sunmi did have some wonderful cheekbones. 

 

“I’d shake your hands but uh…” She chuckled, not finishing her sentence, much to Dahyun’s confusion. 

 

“But what?” Asked the human, and Jihyo whispered something in her ear, to which she responded with a twisted face. “Well, it’s nice to see you again anyway, Sunmi.” She smiled, and the vampire rose a brow. 

 

“I’ve never met you before in my life.” She admitted. 

 

“Hoseok.” Dahyun said simply, making Sunmi’s eyes widen. 

 

“You’re alive?” She asked in wonder, walking toward her old friend and inhaling her scent. “Yeri’s gonna be so happy!” She exclaimed upon pinpointing the blood scent.

 

“That is, if we can find her.” Jihyo frowned, and Sunmi’s eyes finally met with the Quizmaster witch. 

 

“You’re the daughter.” Sunmi stated factually, circling the girl with intrigue, lifting up strands of her hair and smelling them, making the girl tremble in fear, looking down to her feet silently. She moves from Jihyo to Sana, the human’s cheek with her knuckles. “An interesting bunch, you are.” She smiled in amusement when she felt Sana’s jaw quiver under her frozen flesh. 

 

“Darling, quit terrorizing our guests.” Sounded Chungha’s voice from the doorway, and before anybody could blink, she was standing beside her girlfriend, taking the hand she had on Sana’s face in her own and pressing a kiss against her open palm tenderly. Sunmi seemed to melt into Chungha’s eyes before stepping away and allowing Chungha the space to talk. “What brings you guys here?” She asked of Nayeon, who hasn’t moved since Chungha materialized in front of her. 

 

“Y-you’re like me.” Nayeon whispered in realization, and the resident gave her a kind smile.

 

“I’m the only one here.” She admitted, and the two were cut out of their conversation by Jihyo, who was already holding a book out to the woman. 

 

“Sana found this in the library, and we’re missing one part of the prophecy.” She opened the book and pointed at the one prophesied and unaccounted for.

 

Chungha read over the list, and when she got to the one in question, Nayeon noticed her face fall. Her mind seemed to go everywhere for a moment, before she closed the book with a sigh.

 

“I can’t tell you who it is, but I can tell you where to go to figure it out.”