"Elise, we can't misuse what has been given to us!" 

Mingi could tell Elise was on her last straw of patience. There they were, trapped in an office meeting room high above ground, a potential bomb about to explode - and the father and daughter were having an argument about faeries.

"What's the use of the gift we have if we don't use it?" she demanded. "Wasn't it gifted to our family because we were noble, and virtuous?"

"That was our ancestors, things were different back in those days-"

"How are they different now?" she snapped. "We can use this to help them, we can save lives," and she crossed her arms. "Fine, I guess we'll all just stay here until this apparent bomb goes off and no one gets to use the faerie heirloom,"

"Elise you are being nonsensical!"

Mingi nudged her, "Are you sure this is going to work? We're kind of in a life and death situation here," and murmured. 

"Mingi, what are all of you talking about? What faeries?" and his felt bad for his mom, who clearly had no idea what was happening around her. He remembered how lost and confused he was at first when he was introduced to this world of supernatural madness. As for everyone else, they were panicking and throwing themselves against the door. The siren was still blaring; Mingi thought he saw someone hide under the table. Understandable, he thought.

He sighed, "Mom, this might sound crazy-"

"I've been hearing enough of that from you for years-" 

"-but this might be another level of crazy," he admitted. "Just...trust me this will all make sense after this," though I hope you'll forget about it too.

Suddenly his mom cupped his cheek, this was the first time she looked genuinely afraid, given the circumstances. Wordlessly, he squeezed her hand. "And I know you're scared, but everything will be okay. Trust me," and he turned back to Elise, who was now throwing her hands in the air in frustration while she stomped away from her dad.

"Er, I gather the talk didn't go well?" he asked. 

She sighed and shook her head, "I'm trying not to draw attention because this stupid thing is glowing nonstop," she pointed at her pendant. 

Mingi's eyes widened, the pendant did have an ominous teal glow to it now. "I-Is that a bad thing? Does it sense danger or something?"

She pursed her lips, "No, but it does sense when we're nearby faerie presence. This shouldn't be happening given where we're at," she explained, her tone uneasy. 

"You don't think it's a bomb," Mingi realised. 

"And I don't know whether that's better or not," she glanced around. "I hate to say it, but my dad's kind of right. We can't protect everyone with the necklace, it's not strong enough,"

"Well..." he pursed his lips. "What other things can your necklace do?"

But before she could answer, a blinding light flashed out of nowhere, sending the people standing nearby back away in shock; He immediately reach for his mom, and they along with the Pevensies backtracked to the furthest corner of the room. In all happened in a blur, her unfastening the necklace and putting it around Mingi's neck, then proceeding to drag her father and Chairlady Song behind him as well, like he was their shield. 

Mingi frowned, "What tha fuc—"

"SHH!" she hissed. "Stay still!"

What came next surprised Mingi even more: The thing that came after the blinding light, was a portal glowing eerie green and black; And coming out of the portal were beings of varying sizes, some skin tinged green with upturned lower teeth, horns and wearing suits of armor made of animal skins and fur whose height almost reached the ceiling, shorter ones with gnawed claws and spears who snapped and snarled at the people trapped in the building. 

Then the final one stepped through. 

Mingi had assumed he'd seen every outlandish thing possible already, and he was wrong. This faerie seemed like a general, in actual armor save for his lower body, which were hooves instead of feet, menacing pitch black eyes and antlers. Looking at it almost made Mingi cry out loud, like it brought out the worst fears in him. If looking at gentry faeries of Seelie was like looking at fine art, looking at these faeries were as if they were made to haunt his nightmares. Mingi had a general idea of what he was staring at.

Unseelie faeries.

"MORTALS, KNEEL BEFORE US!" the general bellowed, thumping the floor with his spear, loud enough that the ground seemed to rumble. Risking it, Mingi looked behind and saw his mother's face gone white. She was trembling, clearly shaken by what she saw. The Unseelie faeries wanted them all to see them for what they were. "KNEEL, I SAY!" 

The people looked at each other, and one by one they knelt and crouched as if being held hostage. They were being held hostage. Mingi was about to move when ever so slightly, he heard Elise whisper from behind. "Don't. They can't see us,"

Gulping, he continued to stay still.

"Chain them!" the general said, as he stomped around the room, peering up and down from the ceiling to the floor. He even slipped an expensive looking fountain pen under his sleeve. One by one, the Unseelie soldiers binded the people in their ropes and chains, poking at them from behind with their spears to usher them through the portal. "Get a move on!" one of them shouted, causing a woman in a pencil skirt and brown hair to cry. Mingi felt sick for being so helpless in this situation.

One of the taller soldiers marched over to the general, "Is that all of them?" the general questioned.

The soldier nodded, "Yes, General Kirigan."

General Kirigan grunted, "Lest be assured King Agnaar is right in trusting the half-breed Serafia again." And they both turned towards the portal, where the last of the prisoners had gone, them following from behind before the eerie green pool eventually closed up.

The room was left in utter silence again, and Chairlady Song collapsed on the floor in shock with Mr. Pevensie and Elise catching her. "Mom!" Mingi cried and caught her hands, they were clammy and trembling. 

Still Chairlady Song swallowed and looked at them all, "What were those things? I must be going insane..."

"Mom I told you, things were going to-"

"-get crazier, right..." she blinked. "I need answers from all of you, now."

Elise looked at her father, who nodded gravely before she answered. "Those were faeries, the bad kind. Judging from what they said, they were supposed to take us all as prisoners - but usually, no, the fae never do such things, not even the Unseelie kind," she turned to Mingi. "Serafia is working with the Unseelie King, but for what?"

"You weren't there the first time I went to Faerie with Jongho and Ara, the princess of the Rose Court, Auraline, she said she suspected Unseelie were planning something," he replied, trying to remember every little detail. "She suspected they didn't actually exile Serafia, I don't remember much but she said something about a silent attack,"

"What do we do now?" it was Mingi's mom who spoke, her voice much more stable now despite Mr. Pevensie still supporting her with his arm. "We're still stuck here, and what if those...things come back for us?"

With a leap of faith, Mingi hurried over to the door and yanked the knob; much to his surprise it gave way with a satisfying click. "Or not," he remarked and scanned the outside of the room, where the lobby and halls were empty upon evacuation. "We have to leave, god knows if there really is a bomb here,"

But Elise caught his arm, "But wait! If Serafia planned this, she'd expect no one to come out alive. We can't let anyone see you two," she said to her father and Chairlady Song. 

"We'll lay low for the time being," her father answered before taking out his phone. "Chairlady Song will come with me, I'll keep us both safe for now,"

Mingi was hesitant, "But my mom,"

"I assure you she'll be fine, Mingi," he answered. "A faerie necklace is not the only thing our family has for protection," and out of nowhere he winked, like this was a normal conversation and he was the main character. 

"You sure you'll be alright?" Elise asked him before going in for a quick hug. "I can come with you-"

"It's not safe if we all travel together, I know what to do. Now go, before anyone notices. Best make a run for it," and he shooed them away. With the silent nod from his own mom, Mingi took Elise by the hand and they both escaped the building through the backdoor. 

"Don't you think the CCTVs caught us?" he panted when they were finally out and had snuck behind a cornerstore, looking back at the building where people were gathered to see what was happening. "Or did the necklace make us invisible too?" he took the pendant off and returned it to her. He had enough of charmed jewlery already. "What else can it do anyway?"

"That, and sensing faeries is so far what we know it can do," she swiped her phone and sighed with relief. "Okay, my dad texted and said they're out and his driver picked them up. Your mom and him should be okay for now, I'm really sorry she had to see all that," she said while leaning against the brick wall. 

Mingi his lips, "Yeah, me too. Hopefully after this I can drag her to the Square and see if any wizards can wipe out that memory for her," and that made Elise laugh a little. "Hey, and uh, sorry I dragged you into this," 

She snorted, which was a first coming from Elise. "Don't be, I kind of signed up for it anyway. And my dad's one of the company's stakeholders too, we were going to get involed one way or another," and she fastened the necklace back around her neck. 

"Why did you make me wear it anyway, when you could've?" 

She shrugged, "You had longer arms," and she walked forward to get a closer look at the Adamas building. "So how do we save your friend, both of them?"

He shook his head, "We need a plan, an actual plan this time. We can't risk letting Serafa know our steps, she'll definitely kill us if she finds out-"

"Holy ," he heard Elise remark and he spun around. What followed was a loud crash, sirens blaring and anxious chatter at the distance. He looked up and his mouth ran dry when he saw a blazing fire coming from the very floor of the building they left minutes ago. This wasn't just a trap, this was an extermination and Mingi didn't know how much worse could it get. And it was summed up perfectly by Elise.

"I don't know much about this evil faerie stepmom of your friend, but she's a ing maniac."