I slowly stood up, my legs shaking in fear.

"What in the world..."

Xiumin grabbed my shoulder.

"Romi, what was that?"

I looked at D.O.. It was obvious who the source of that insane energy was.

"D.O., you..." I started, but he just stared at his feet, then turned and ran past us, out of the dining room.

"D.O.!" Suho called and dashed after him. Kai quickly joined him and I was left in the messed up kitchen with Chanyeol, Bacon, and Xiumin. With a sigh, we began cleaning.

I felt a bit guilty about angering D.O. and Chanyeol. I was being immature myself, so I shouldn't have scolded him. But at least now I knew what kind of strength D.O. had... I honestly was shocked that his stomp didn't leave a hole right in the hardwood floor.

We cleaned up in silence. Then, while the guys were discussing the incident, I sneaked out and went to look for D.O.. I met Kai and Suho on the stairs, coming down.

"He's a bit irritated, that's all," Suho assured me. "He doesn't usually show anger, so it surprised him that his little outburst had such an impact."

"Yeah, don't bother him. I think he better chill out first," Kai told me and I nodded. When they disappeared around the corner, I sped up the stairs to D.O.'s room. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I tried the handle and the door opened.

His room was smaller than mine. It was like a forest of its own grew out in the mansion. Pots the size of my body were lined up along the walls, and plants I have never seen before grew from the soil. D.O. was sitting by the window with his fist under his chin, looking out. He didn't even twitch when I came in, so I approached him carefully.

"Thanks for the food," I mumbled. His eyes lazily wondered from the window onto my face. Then, just as carefully, he looked back outside. I sat down next to him.

"D.O., I'm sorry we made you angry..."

He shook his head.

"Are you not mad?"

Again, he shook his head and sighed.

"I was just shocked, that's all. Didn't expect things to suddenly happen like this."

"Are you worried?"

"Oh yeah."

I put my arm on his shoulder.

"You're not the only one, if that makes you feel any better."

His eyes grew.
"You... you got your powers too?"

"Not yet. But someone else did."

"Who?"

"Xiumin. Just earlier this morning. If it helps, you can talk to him."

He thought about it.

"I don't think we should interact with each other."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't... trust him."

"Why not?"

D.O. raised an eyebrow.

"What if he turns against me? Betrays me? Sacrifices me to save his own skin? It looks like paradise now, but soon this mansion will be a battleground."

"What if I betray you?"

"I don't trust you either."

Ouch.

For a moment I had the urge to go across the hallway into my room, grab the diary, and throw it into his lap, but I stopped myself. Instead, I looked at him in sadness, and stood up. Soon enough, I'll make him trust me, I thought, and left the room.

A tall figure was waiting for me right outside. His bodyguard was standing right behind him,

"Why are you meddling with other subjects?" Kris narrowed his eyes at me.

"I'm not 'meddling'," I sighed. "But I do have some information for you..."

I took him and Tao into my room.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, things are about to get interesting," I told him. "There's someone who already developed a power."

"Who is it?" Tao asked in surprise.

"Xiumin," I said.

"The chubby kid?"

I rolled my eyes.

"He can freeze things. It was insane," I explained what happened. However, I didn't mention a word about D.O..

"That's great! Perfect!" Kris gave me a thumbs-up. "I knew I did well by hiring you!"

"It's more like your friends forced me to come. If I'm working for you, I'd like to get paid," I scoffed.

"You wanna get paid?" he smiled. "Alright, come here."

I came closer.

"Here, here," he waved for me and I approached him, rolling my eyes. When I was close enough, he put his arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

"Give me more information," he said quietly. "And you won't regret it."

Before I could kick him, he and Tao slipped out of the room. The moment the door closed behind them, I threw a tantrum. I jumped onto the bed, yelling insults at Kris. Finally, I managed to calm down.

"Mom," I mumbled. "When are you coming to get me? Will I really have to get out of here by myself?" I my side. "Or should I not...?"

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was becoming more curious about this place and the people here. And whether I was at home or in the mansion, my powers would come eventually anyway. Where would it be better to face that experience? Among people of my own kind, or with a mother whose life I didn't want to risk?

I was looking through the diary, and there was one entry that caught my eye.

...So all of us went back to the hut and left imprints on rocks. I don't know if it will do anything at all. I guess time will find out with generations to come. Will our signatures on the rocks influence the future heirs of our powers? Will they shrug them off as nothing important, or were the rocks actually affected by our powers? Could they hold some kind of supernatural secret that will reveal itself in the future?

I stared at the page, not entirely understanding what it was about. My grandma's thoughts flew very unsteadily and I noticed she had a tendency to write her exact thoughts. I wasn't sure if my interpretation of the entry made sense, but there was only one way to find out.

"Romi, you're such a great person! Even in a life-and-death situation like ours, you care so much about our health," Chanyeol sang, as he skipped through the woods. I walked behind him, along with Bacon and Xiumin. A smile appeared on Xiumin's round, chubby face, and he agreed, "Yeah, Romi's so optimistic! She can think about things like this because she believes that we can survive the experiment. Isn't that right, Romi?" he flashed his teeth.

"Thaaaat's right," I replied. I had told them that we were going to go for another walk so that we can get some fresh air. Chanyeol agreed without a second of hesitation, while Xiumin nodded thoughtfully with a, "It's better than being stuck here". Bacon agreed too, but I had a feeling he wanted to find out what I was up to, as he watched my every move carefully.

Of course, I planned to search the entire forest for that hut the diary mentioned, and find those rocks. I had no clue what they looked like, or what good they could possibly do. What did she even mean, that she left imprints on the rocks? I scratched my head in frustration and Bacon glanced at me with concern.

"What's really going on, Romi?" he whispered and I frowned.

"I don't really know. But hopefully, we'll find out soon enough."

"Hey Romi, look! This a great opportunity for me to practice my powers!" Xiumin snapped his fingers around randomly and little bits of ice appeared on trees all around us.

"Hey hey! Be careful! You can't just-" I was cut off as a frozen bird fell down from above me and landed at my feet.

"Oops..."

"That's what I meant," I sighed. "Poor thing. You're damn lucky that wasn't one of us, Xiumin," I added with a growl.

"I'm sorry..."

"He's right, though," Bacon said. "If we're going to do this, it's better to train here than in the castle."

I couldn't disagree.

"Did D.O. not want to come?"

I shook my head in dismay.

"He doesn't trust us. He knows exactly why the scientists are keeping us here. Because we're dangerous. He told me he, Suho and Kai didn't need to get involved in our mischief," I sighed. "Ridiculous. We're actually trying to survive here, not take over the planet or something." Unlike Kris and his gang.

"What about the others?"

"I couldn't find Sehun and Luhan. For all I know, they might already be out here somewhere, working on their own powers. As for the other four, I didn't ask. They're weird."

Bacon was about to answer, but just then Chanyeol exclaimed, "Hey, check that out!"

I looked up and realized we had reached a clearing. The evening sun was covered by a tiny structure in the middle of this meadow. An old shack. We approached it slowly.

"Chanyeol, don't go in by yourself!" I called, and he stopped at the door. I felt like I was talking to a little child (one and a half times my size). I took a better look at it. The walls creaked dangerously, threatening to cave in at any moment. I knew it was going to get dark soon, so we should hurry.

"Please, be some kind of a clue to victory in this ridiculous game," I begged, and pushed the door open. It fell right off its hinges and landed with a thud in the dusty floor. "And please, please, don't collapse on our heads."