“I swear—”

“It was Yuqi’s fault,” Shuhua doesn’t hesitate as she points at her equally soot-covered companion. 

Soyeon pinches the bridge of her nose and exhales. If she were part dragon, there might be small tendrils of smoke. But she isn’t and the white wispy puffs are only the condensation of her breath in the chilly night air. “I don’t care whose fault it is. How are we supposed to explain this? ” 

Yuqi glowers at Shuhua before turning to look at the subject in question. “Who’s really gonna notice it?” In the distance, flames the old wood of the two story building. In the dead of night, the fifty foot inferno is like a glaring beacon.

The group stares incredulously. 

“What?” Yuqi asks.

“I vote we burn the other building,” Shuhua elects with a raised hand. 

Tugging her hand down, Soojin sighs, “No, Shu.”

With a reluctant sigh, Shuhua concedes, “Okay, Jinjin.” 

“Yah! Why do you listen to her but when I said maybe we shouldn’t burn it you said, and I quote—” Yuqi clears , “— Scared of what Soyeon will do? ” 

Clenching her wand, Soyeon whispers through clenched teeth, “And you still went through with it?”

Yuqi gulps, “Yeah, well, you know.” She waves her hands about haphazardly, the charred holes in her robe glaringly obvious. “There was a spider's nest?”