I was sitting on the staircase that led to the first floor, staring out into the entrance hall. There were two windows on both sides of the door, and I was observing the stars through them. I didn't have a watch, but it must have been at least midnight, because my eyelids kept falling without warning and every minute or so I'd doze off, only to be awakened by my head hitting my shoulder.

I couldn't tell what to think of Suho's confession. I knew that every bit of me wanted to deny that I could be anything but human. I mean, the idea was ridiculous. I've had a very normal life. But for some reason, I worried that he might be right. It might have been because I've never really decided that the existence of aliens was impossible. I didn't think much about it, but whenever the subject would come up (whether in school or between friends), I'd declare that yeah, aliens could exist.

I was pulled out of my confused thoughts when the body that was resting on the floor by the door moved. The boy twitched several times, then to his back, and stretched.

"Whaaaa," he yawned. Finally noticing he wasn't in his own bed, he shot up into a sitting position and looked around. He noticed me, and waved.

"HI!"

"... hi..."

"What's your name?"

I stared.

"Romi..."

"What's up, Romi?"

I wanted to slap him.

"Well if everything I've been told in the past hour is true, then extraterrestrial life is what's up. Say, do you believe in aliens?"

"Sure."

I narrowed my eyes. He stood up, and dusted off his pants (not that the floor wasn't perfectly clean anyway).

"Sure as in 'yeah, I'm that kind of person', or sure as in 'yeah, if it matters to you that much'?"

"A little bit of both?" he laughed. "I don't know. I don't not believe in them."

Someone who understands.

"So why am I here?" he asked finally. I thought about it. I could just tell him straight, but he might not believe me then. Or I could drag the story and make him angry the way I got. I decided to just tell him everything I knew, from the beginning.

"Yeah, they said that to me too, when they broke into my house," he nodded as if all made sense now. "That we're dangerous. By the way, I'm Chanyeol."

"Hey," I smiled. Then, realizing I did, I quickly turned away.

"Hey Romi, can you show me to the kitchen? I'm starving."

I scowled.

"You're going to eat? What if they're feeding you poison?"

"I don't wanna starve," he told me. I sighed, and we walked to the kitchen.

Suho and D.O. (I decided to call him that in private, short for Donut-Owl) were long gone and I'd seen Luhan and Sehun earlier going to look for a bedroom. However, we didn't have the kitchen to ourselves, as someone else was rummaging through the fridge.

"Hey! What's your name?" Chanyeol called out with a smile. The boy mumbled something incomprehensible.

"You're looking for bacon?" Chanyeol asked and skipped over to him. "They have bacon here?!"

The boy straightened up. He looked really funny, being a head shorter than Chanyeol.

"I said my name is Baekhyun, not that I'm looking for bacon. But OH MY GOD if they had any bacon, I'd totally love it in here."

"That's what I was thinking!" Chanyeol exclaimed and the two of them continued looking through the fridge together. Several minutes later, they had a huge meal prepared and began eating. They set an extra plate aside, but I didn't touch it. I just stood by the door and stared at them like they were idiots.

"Why don't you eat?" Bacon asked me with a full mouth.

"Don't tell me you're dieting?! D:" Chanyeol yelled with outrage.

"Calm down, geez! I'm not on a diet. I just don't think eating here is a good idea. These guys are freaking experimenting on kids. And you're eating their food."

"What else are you gonna do? Hunt out in the woods?" Bacon suggested.

"OH MY GOD, don't do that! That's dangerous! D:" Chanyeol called out.

"I'm not gonna go hunt!" I answered. "I'm not planning on staying here. I'll get out in any way possible and eat a normal meal."

"That might be a problem," Bacon said. "They're watching our every move. If you do something stupid, they'll just kill ya."

"ROMI, DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID! I don't want anyone to die! D:" You know exactly who said that.

"Alright, darn it, just stop yelling at me! I don't intend on getting myself killed."

"Then sit down and eat," Chanyeol pulled back a seat next to him and I took it with a sigh. We ate and talked for a while about what we thought was going to happen to us. Chanyeol guessed that if our powers suddenly appeared, we'd have trouble controlling them, so we'd better learn quickly and try to suppress them. Only that way we'd be able not to draw attention to ourselves and make it seem like we're not as dangerous as the kidnappers seem to think. Bacon said that we were going to go insane with all that power and be killed.

"On that happy thought," Chanyeol chimed in. "What powers do you guys think you'll have? Cause I want something cool. Like... flying! Or maybe pyrokinesis. That would be epic! Baekhyun?"

"I'm most definitely going to have super-strength," he exclaimed. "Just look at me," he showed us his non-existent muscles.

"Haha! Sure... what about you, Romi?"

I frowned.

"I don't know... maybe mind-reading?"

"I hope you don't..." Chanyeol told me.

"Why not?"

"I just hope you don't," he repeated stubbornly, and the conversation ended there.

The guys changed the subject and I fell asleep with my head on the table. Bacon shook me awake. He looked at his watch and said, "It's already 2:30am. We should go to sleep."

"Which you just woke me up from," I pointed out, irritated.

"Well, you oughtta take a shower and lie down in a normal bed, huh? I've been upstairs already before you guys showed up. They have some pretty epic bedrooms."

He was right, of course. This castle just didn't disappoint. The bedroom I found myself was just down the hallway from Bacon and Chanyeol's (they decided to share) and across from D.O. Its one entire wall was made up of windows which looked out into the forest, but I couldn't see much in the dark. The wall directly across from the windows was covered with bookcases, and, yes, books. They were on any imaginable subject, from school textbooks, to fantasy novels, to how-to books to encyclopedias and dictionaries. I loved books, so I hoped I would fit right in. The wardrobe was empty, and I wondered where I could wash my clothes, since I had nothing else to wear. My bed looked like it was made for at least four people to sleep on. I jumped on the bed, and smiled, it was so comfortable. Then I felt guilt take over. My mom was probably going out of her mind. She expected me to be scared, and I should be. But I had to give credit where it's due: the designers of this place surely knew how to make their guests feel welcomed. I sighed, promising myself to solve this problem by tomorrow. Then, I automatically fell asleep without bothering to go take a shower.

What felt like only moments later (which it was), I heard a knocking on the door. I woke up and tiptoed over, opened the door slightly, and looked through the crack. A big Chanyeol eye was glaring right at me.

"You didn't take a shower," he scolded.

"How would you know?"

"I waited for you."

"CREEPO," I yelled and slammed the door closed. A second later, a knock came again. I opened it slightly again.

"Sorry," he said, embarrassed. "Anyway, I'm bored. I can't sleep."

I rolled my eyes.

"It's because you slept through the whole car ride and hours after."

"Help meeeeee,"

"Why don't you talk to Bacon?"

"Who?"

"Baekhyun," I corrected.

"Cause he's in the same situation," Chanyeol admitted, pulling Bacon into view.

I let them in. I really wanted to go to sleep, but they didn't seem ready to let it go. I kind of understood why they didn't want to be separated in this secluded place we knew nothing about, and I appreciated that they also didn't want to leave me by myself. But I just couldn't. Fall. Asleep. With their banging and giggling and talking and complaining and shuffling and moving around. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes, but every couple of minutes they'd pull me out of dreamland with something like, "Oh, I wish I ate some of this and that," or "I wonder what my parents are doing..." or "Hopefully I'll have this and that power so I can blow this place to pieces, on second thought never mind, it'd be a shame...". At one point I finally dozed off for a little longer, when Chanyeol called out in excitement:

"Guys! Guess what I found!"

I sat up, startled and realized that Bacon was sleeping on the other end of the bed.
"What is it?" he mumbled.

"A book."

I slammed my fist into the pillow and lay back down.

"Great job. Really, wonderful accomplishment, Chanyeol, considering that there are about a thousand books here."

"No, I mean... this book! It talks about our kind!"

Bacon walked over to him.

"By our kind, you mean..."

"Aliens!"

"We're not... damn... aliens!" I told him, and he shrugged.

"Well that's interesting because this girl looks a lot like you, Romi."

"This?" Bacon asked. "This is a woman. She looks nothing like-"

He stopped.

"I mean... well, yeah, I can sort of kind of see the resemblance a little bit," he corrected with a cough. I ignored him. I didn't care how womanly he thought I was. I looked at the book and my eyes grew. The picture looked like it was hand-drawn straight onto the page. It showed thirteen figures: a girl, floating in mid-air with her arms stretched out, and twelve boys around her, all reaching out in her direction, as if she was some kind of goddess. I really wanted to argue, but she did look a tiny bit like me.

"Nonsense," I said nonetheless. "Why would I appear in an old book in an old castle in the middle of a forest?"

But the guys weren't listening to me anymore.

"And this looks a bit like that guy that showed up here yesterday," Bacon told Chanyeol. He kept pointing out the kids, naming them. "This is too spooky."

"So you know everyone in this castle?" Chanyeol asked. "How long have you been here?"

"Three days," Bacon sighed. "And I don't know everybody's names, but I think I've seen all the faces already. There are in total now 12 boys and her," he nodded at me.

"How are they?" I asked warily. He shrugged.

"Alright, I suppose. Some of them nicer than others. Some freaked out. Some just don't talk," he scowled, as if remembering an unpleasant experience.

"I wonder what this means..." Chanyeol kept staring at the picture. "This can't be a coincidence..."

I rolled my eyes.

"What are you, in kindergarten? You can't deduce everything from one picture. How about you read the book, that's what it's for," I took it from him and sat down on the bed. The guys sat down next to me and looked over my shoulders.

"'It has been a week now, and a lot has happened already," I read. "'Most of the boys are just as scared as I am, but we are trying to stay together, and stay brave. I do not know what to do with myself. I know we are not human, that is for sure. But the other kids have really interesting powers that make them seem like superheros. As for me... I feel lame. Not only because I do not know how in the world my abilities can be considered useful, but because they make me seem even less human than them. I think I would rather feel like a powerful alien than a monster...'" I stopped reading an looked at them. "This is a diary..."

"Of someone who went through this before?" Chanyeol guessed and I nodded.

"Which of these people do you think wrote this?" Baekhyun asked. I frowned.

"If it was one of those guys, they wouldn't have put the girl in the middle of the picture," I suggested. "So it was probably her."

"Looks like I found you a mentor," Chanyeol smiled and pointed at the book. "Say thank you~" I glowered at him.

"I'm going back to sleep," I said coldly and lay down. The boys sighed and eventually fell asleep too. The moment their breathing became a bit more rhythmic, I opened my eyes. I opened the book and continued reading.

I was interrupted by another knock on the door.