Chapter 44:  12:33– A Countdown to Third Death [11:27am]

Mir POV

We had stopped a few levels higher from the first platform that we had scaled. The gleaming eyes that lurked below us had been unnerving and we had unanimously made the decision to climb a few more ladders and levels before we stopped to discuss what had just happened.

Powers.

Specifically, a power that only the Ringmaster and I seemed to possess.

I had seen the glimpse of fear in Seungho-hyung’s eyes as Thunder had hugged me so tight I thought my lungs were going to burst. I didn’t blame him. I was scared of them as well. How was I able to do this? Why was I able to do this? What if I couldn’t control it, and I hurt Thunder or Seungho-hyung in the process. Oh Changsun…what was I supposed to do?

Seungho’s hand gripped my shoulder tightly and I spun.

“Hyung?” A fluttering heartbeat drummed a staccato in my chest.

“Relax Mir,” His eyes softened at my frightened expression. “We should stop and rest. You look out of it.  It’s been nearly an hour since we left the ground.”

“Oh…” I felt myself deflate. Thunder was already sitting, back leaning against the long wooden pillars that towered up and formed the structure of the big top. He looked exhausted, eyes closed and dark shadows smeared beneath them. I stumbled over and collapsed next to him. He smiled, eyes still closed, and leaned into me. He was warm and comforting, like a purring cat on a hearth. I managed a smile despite it all.

“Should we talk?” Seungho asked hesitantly. I could tell he didn’t want to spoil this moment, but his curiosity and worries were getting the better of him.

Next to me I felt Thunder shift and reluctantly crack open his eyelids.

“Must we hyung?” he whined and Seungho grinned, leaning over to ruffle his already messy and dust-caked hair.

“We must Thunder,” he said gently. “But this concerns Mir most of all, so you just relax." 

I stiffened. “Whatever you’re thinking hyung,” I said hastily, “I know about this as much as you do. If I knew I had such powers I would have used them earlier.”

“Would you have Mir?” Seungho asked coolly.

“I would,” I replied, head held high. “Or do you think I would have let Changsun-hyung, or Byunghee-hyung die like that.” My voice wobbled towards the end.

Almost immediately Seungho’s eyes fluttered wide and words spilled from his lips. “Oh Mir, that’s not what I meant-“

“I know hyung,” I intervened, a little more than tired. “None of us mean it. We’re just tired and scared and worried about what’s going to happen next.”

The challenges that had piled up behind us weren’t anything to be proud of. Escaping a water-filled room, overcoming the theatre of our pasts, surviving a duel to death. Two dead; three still alive. We had escaped the felines, learnt that I had strange powers, scaled ladders and walked tightropes. And yet the end was still nowhere in sight.

I just wanted to lie down, curl up and sleep for a century.

Seungho’s hand grasped my shoulder. This time it was not the tight grip of before, but a gentle yet firm touch. It said I’m sorry, I’m here for you, please don’t give up.

I gave Seungho a smile. “Let’s get out of here hyung. I don’t know what my powers mean, or if I can control them, but I promise you hyung, I will only use them to help us get out of here. You believe me right?”

Seungho bit his lip. I could see it in his eyes, the wavering bits and pieces of him. He wanted to believe in me, in his comrade who he had struggle through thick and thin with. He wanted to so badly, but at the same time he saw my powers as a wild card.

“Please hyung,” I begged. “I want you to be able to trust me…”

“Hyung,” Thunder piped up. I blinked in surprise. He was still reclined against the pillar, eyes closed and cheekbones standing out stark on his white skin. “Remember who the real enemy is.”

Seungho let out a small choking sound. I leaned forwards out of habit to pat his back.

“Hyung…” Thunder made a disapproving noise. “Don’t tell me you doubt Mir.”

“Thunder…” Seungho stammered and wiped his mouth. I shot Thunder a wry look. That hyung was manipulative, and Seungho was putty in his hands. “No, of course I don’t,” he sighed – defeated.

“Good!” Thunder opened his eyes and grinned. Bones! How could he look so innocent – so filled with childish glee – in a situation like this! “Then how about you show me how you do it Mir!”

“Huh?”

Thunder rolled his eyes. “I mean show me how you use your powers. You must be able to control them right?”

“Uh…” I glanced down at my hands, dumbfounded. “I don’t know Thunder. I mean, bones, I only found out about this an hour ago.”

“But you used it twice,” Thunder pointed out.

“The first time was when you fell,” Seungho chipped in. “Then the second time when you protected Thunder. In other words, those two times were when you wanted to protect something. Do you think you can recreate the feeling?”

“I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. “I mean to be able to recreate that feeling-“

I almost didn’t see it. A swinging motion that sliced through air right for my face. Without even thinking my hands came up to block the movement, a motion I knew would be futile against the power behind that hand. For some strange reason I didn’t feel the need to close my eyes. I saw it all coming, the downward fall of the hand, the rustling of the wind, someone’s sharp gasp and then-

And then the air in front of my palms shimmered and the fist slammed hard into what looked like nothing.

“What was that Thunder!” I snapped, surprise getting the better of me.

Thunder tilted his head, one eyebrow arched. “It didn’t work,” he said, stating the obvious. “And that hurt…”

He pulled back his hand and rubbed it.

“Thunder!” Seungho yelped, finally snapping into action. “You tried to slap Mir!”

“Yeah,” Thunder raised his eyebrows. “Was that not obvious enough?”

“Why?”

“Because I thought I should recreate the situation for Mir,” he huffed. It was like he was the one who was annoyed when it should have been me!

“What?” the words flew out of my mouth.

Thunder sighed. “Well Mir, the first two times were such extreme moments that I hardly doubt you remember them. I was wondering if I put you in ‘danger’” – and Thunder mimicked a quotation mark in the air – “then maybe your body might instinctually respond.”

“Thunder!” I exclaimed, hands trembling. “That was dangerous! I could have killed you! You saw what I did earlier to those lions and-“

“And look at your hand right now.”

“I-“ I looked down. Swirling in front of my palm was…nothing really. Well nothing I could really see, but I could feel it. I knew exactly what Thunder was talking about. It was the thrumming of the air, like some sort of heat wave that I could not see but feel and hear.

“What is it?” Seungho stared. He couldn’t see it.

“It’s like a barrier,” Thunder explained. He leaned forwards and before I could shoot him any more warnings, he shoved one finger at my hands again. The digit stopped a few centimeters away from my palm and wouldn’t proceed any further. It was like some sort of invisible barrier.

“Ouch,” Thunder winced and pulled back him finger.

“Are you okay?” I asked immediately, dropping my hands and rushing forwards.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Thunder waved me off. He stuck his finger in his mouth and it. “It’s just your barrier thing gave me an electric shock.”

“Oh bones,” I stammered quickly. “I’m sorry Thunder-“

“Shush Mir,” he said. “I’m the one who stuck my hand in there. Anyway, that was an interesting experiment. Looks like you’re powers have a big range.”

“Earth manipulation, wind blasts, wind shields,” Seungho ticked off the list with his fingers. His eyes however were fixated on Thunder who was inspecting his finger industriously.

“Don’t name them that,” I whined. “They sound like moves from some sort of video game hyung!”

“Sorry Mir,” he shot me a sympathetic look. “But I’m just describing them. At least I won’t give them superpower names okay?” He cracked a grin. 

I pouted.

“Can you do that again Mir?” Seungho knelt down and looked me in the eye. I leaned back against the wooden pillar and nodded.

“I’ll try.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled. I tried to set a rhythm of my breathing; to forget about Seungho and Thunder sitting there and watching me intently. I tried to remember those moments: the falling, the lion pouncing, the slap slicing through air. All of it had sent a shivering, pounding sensation through my entire body. A trembling, vibrating emotion that felt almost like…like…

Excitement.

My eyes flew open and I spread open my palm, the fingers unfolding outwards and a small tiny tornado in the centre of my hand. It whirred noisily and then petered out.

It had only lasted seconds, but it had been something. A creation, something from nothing, and I had made it.

“You did it!” Thunder’s praise rushed over me. I looked up, blinking, barely believing the reality I was in. Seungho too was smiling, but his looked forced. He was still worried.

I exhaled. What could I do to change his mind?

I curled my hands into a fist, thinking hard when suddenly there was the chained sound of something snapping, the hard crisp of wood and the wrenched tearing of rope. I snapped my head up just in time to Seungho’s mouth fall open and Thunder's eyes widen and the platform beneath the three of us snap and crumble and my stomach flip as we all plummeted down into nothingness.