“Maps?” Jonghyun raised his brows, “Dude, you stole?”

Minho fidgeted in his seat, “It’s our only chance. If—when—we escape, it won’t matter.”

Jonghyun scoffed, eyeing down his bandaged shoulder, not even needing to be told how he got that injury—he was the talk of the prison, “Not being stingy, man, but they’ll come looking for us.”

  “Not if we burn this place down,” Minho said, his tone slightly in humor, trying to hint that he really meant it, “Maybe . . . I dunno, we could just blow the place up.”

It was considered a decent though. If the prison blew up, if all the cold hearted people and creatures died, there wouldn’t be a problem. They’d be free to go.

  “Set on fire . . .” Jonghyun mumbled, rubbing his eyes, stressfully, “Sounds like serious business, Minho.”

Minho sighed at the reaction he knew he’d receive. It wasn’t as bad as Luna’s, but Jonghyun did seem pretty reluctant to the idea, “Okay, no blowing up. Just straight on out escape. I have blueprints of areas, maybe one or two missing that we’d need, that we can roughly plan off of. We just have to be careful.”

Jonghyun rubbed his eyes, elbows on the table as he made strict hand gestures, “Look, I know I’m all in for the plan, Minho, I totally am. But when your first thing is to steal, you just let it all fall downhill. I’ve been here for two hundred years. Take it from me, you better have them hidden well or you’re out of luck.”

Minho furrowed his eyebrows. He got Jonghyun was being considerate, but wasn’t he just underestimating Minho? That was salt to a wound, rubbing it in. Minho wasn’t a five year old, and he could most certainly keep something hidden for a long time—he managed to hide himself pretty well.

  “Skeptical, huh?” Minho grunted, eye almost twitching.

Jonghyun sighed, gathering up his thoughts carefully, “Watch it, Minho. You’re looking at me the wrong way—don’t get all Daegrent-infuriated with me when I’m only thinking about what could happen on my side, too, even Onew and Luna, for that matter. If you take one step out of line, Taemin could be in bigger trouble than he already is, and I highly doubt you’d risk that.”

Minho suppressed an irritated groan (patrollers were especially on their toes today after what’d happened back with Jessica. SangJung must’ve convinced everyone someone else was going to burst and go PMS on another creature) as he forgot the most important goal of the whole escape. He couldn’t underestimate SangJung’s will and power, because surely Minho would be proved wrong.

  “They have their eyes on you,” Jonghyun leaned in and whispered, smiling ridiculously to make himself seem less serious and the guards would advert their gaze, “Not just these guys, but everyone else inspecting. You’re under watch because of what happened. They have to keep surveillance on you of any suspicion. All courtesy of SangJung, I may add.”

Minho shifted his eyes quickly from person to person that was along the fence today, finding their gazes on him and Jonghyun, providing more of an awkward feel then threatening.

They talked a bit more, going more and more off topic until Jonghyun suddenly perked up, his lips before suggesting they take a walk somewhere. It was rather sudden.

  “Hey, buddy,” Jonghyun said louder, getting up from his seat, “How about we take a walk south, hm?” Jonghyun turned around to a few guards, “I take it some of you have to come with us?”

Three guards stepped up from their post stiffly.

  “Right,” Jonghyun rolled his eyes, “Come on, Minho. Let’s just walk.”

Minho huffed, not exactly wanting to take a walk, but whatever Jonghyun was doing must’ve had a reason behind it. He got up reluctantly, walking beside the shorter male as the three guards followed behind.

  “Why are we walking?” Minho whispered incredibly soft.

  “I want to go see something. I didn’t get to it because of Onew’s absence,” Jonghyun whispered back, “It’s . . . not very far. It won’t take long—then we’ll go back to your room.”

Minho kept himself quiet, roughing with his hair along the way. It wasn’t necessarily silent, but the three guards behind him kind of made him nervous. They could just decide to shoot at any moment given and Minho would have to do something quick.

He watched Jonghyun’s eyes follow the ground, a tight line as lips as he traced the features of the ground. He seemed angry, almost, but Minho couldn’t pinpoint it quite yet. He nudged his shoulder, brows raised as he asked if Jonghyun was alright.

  “Yeah,” Jonghyun shrugged, “Just staring at the ground. Major fun.”

Jonghyun had a major mood swing and Minho didn’t want to jump on board with the shift. The last time he had a major swing almost had Minho with bite marks on his skin. If Jonghyun busted out again, in front of everyone, Minho wouldn’t exactly know how to handle it. It would become rather a spur-of-the-moment deal.

  “Hey, stop,” Jonghyun called, staring down.

Minho followed his gaze, confused as he found decaying flowers and shrubs planted in a small space. They had to be old, untouched, or maybe even trampled on.

  “Again, Taerant?” A guard sneered.

Jonghyun said nothing, tending to the little flowers and ripped them out of the ground, letting them fly to the wind and be strewn all over the ground.

Minho was the one who growled, sharply looking at the man in the eyes before kneeling down to Jonghyun, watching as the elder just stared at the empty hole in the ground. Jonghyun didn’t look angry, but straight. Emotionless.

It left Minho confused once again, but he stayed quiet, letting Jonghyun stare straight into the spot—this was a significant place. Even though this place was Hell, this spot meant something.

Maybe it dealt with that person he was missing—maybe it was a creature, too. Maybe he or she escaped.

Maybe she or he hadn’t. Maybe it was a makeshift shrine—especially if this person was human.

  “Okay, I’m done,” Jonghyun sighed, swiping his fingers across his eyes before standing back up, pulling Minho with him, “Off to his room, yeah?”

The guard that sneered at him gestured for the two of them to walk ahead, but deliberately aiming his gun at them incase they would do something along funny-business.

They started their way in, Jonghyun keeping a bit quiet.

  “What is that?” Minho asked.

  “You don’t know forever yet, Minho,” he said lowly, “And I won’t let you know.”

It was vague, but enough for Minho to understand. He nodded, patting Jonghyun’s shoulder.

When they were back in Minho’s room, Jonghyun sat down cross-legged, a smile back on his face as he patted the seat next to him, “You know I just want you to be careful.”

Minho nodded at his repetition, fully getting the idea. He ped the mattress, bringing out the maps for Jonghyun to look at, spreading each one out on the floor.

Jonghyun looked at each of them one at a time, his eyes occasionally flittering to the door, examining each blueprint.

  “Well?” Minho asked after a good few minutes of examination.

Jonghyun sighed, nodding his head as he let the map he held fall to the floor, “You’ve got a good set here, I’ll admit that. No wonder you got the idea to blow it up, you have the layout to the furnaces . . .”

Minho slightly grew eager as Jonghyun was coming along, warming up to his plans. If he got Jonghyun all the way on board, that means less of a struggle to start. Luna would follow up somehow, she just had to.

The door opened, Onew entering without greet and sat in front of the door, looking at the plans Minho had laid out.

  “Well, hello,” Jonghyun greeted.

  “I saw you there,” Onew said quietly, looking at Jonghyun with concern, “Need new ones?”

Jonghyun smiled, chirping loudly and wiggling a little, “Of course. Don’t look so down, Hyung.”

Onew nodded, not necessarily finding the moment worthy of being able to smile at, but his shoulders rolled back and relaxed. He looked at Minho, nodding his head towards him while picking up the first map, “I talked to Luna about it. More like forced,” he cocked an eyebrow for a second before looking at the basement layouts, “She’s insanely shaky about it, but she’s getting the hang of it, I promise. It won’t take long until she’s with us.”

  “What could you possibly say to Luna that would change her mind after what happened?” Jonghyun’s brows flew up, not needing to be filled in on the situation, “I thought she seriously said never again.”

  “Like I said, she’s getting the hang of it. Not all the way there, yet,” Onew murmured, “Hey, how’s your side doing?”

  “Better than expected for only a week,” Minho rolled his eyes, “I was supposed to go see Taemin, but because of Jessica, SangJung decided it’d be best if I ‘kept myself in check’ first.”

Minho didn’t miss Onew looking at Jonghyun and Jonghyun looking back at Onew. Jonghyun stiffened visibly but went back to investigating a new map.

  “What am I missing?”

Onew shrugged it off, getting a look at his map before speaking as if Minho had said nothing, “You got the third security room. That’s one of four in total, though.”

  “That means if we’re escaping we can only escape where that security room watches. I doubt I’d get another chance at snatching these.”

  “That room is down south. But the rest of your maps are up north—where the gate is,” Jonghyun sighed.

Minho groaned, hitting his head on the wall. Maybe if he paid a little more attention to what he was grabbing, then maybe he could more or so connect these maps together and made an easier exit.

  “We’ll form two plans then,” Onew nodded, putting down the map and resting his head on the door, “The one we’re sure of is plan A. If plan A fails, move on to plan B. Simple, yet difficult.”

  “Is plan A going to only be based off of these maps?” Jonghyun cocked a brow.

Onew sighed, his dry lips and staring at the exhausted Daegrent, “Well, I guess so. By the looks of it, we’re trying to head north.”

  “Okay, guys, it looks about four-thirty,” Onew looked out the window, getting up and gathering all the papers, handing them to Minho, “Minho actually needs to go visit SangJung.”

Minho groaned again, rubbing his face until he felt it raw as he put the maps in his mattress. SangJung was the last thing on his mind today, but now seeing he had to face him once more just the life out of him. He wanted to skip the visit, but he doubted the man would appreciate the decline.

  “I’ve got to take Jonghyun back,” he got up, getting out the restraints from his belt, “You and I have to talk.”

  “Whatever,” Jonghyun rolled his eyes, getting up before Onew prepared him to leave.

Onew finished with the restraints, looking back at Minho, straining his neck a little, “About Taemin, though. . . I saw him, I’ll say that much. Don’t worry, they’re keeping him in the safe wing—nothing’s there that’ll threaten him. Creature-wise, at least. They moved him from them all.”

Minho chewed the inner of his cheek and stood, level to Onew, “How’s he holding up?”

  “He’s sort of speaking. Not big sentences, but at least he can manage words,” the elder somberly admitted, “It’ll be like that for anyone. It was . . . like that for me, too. He’ll come around very soon.”

Minho sighed, nodding again at the small, heartbreaking news.

Goddamn that Intellude. He just couldn’t believe a turn of events so twisted happened to him and Taemin, and now Taemin was still in this huge trauma. He didn’t even know if he should see Taemin yet, by the sound of it.

  “Hey, how’s that infection?” Minho lightly asked, looking at the white bandage over his injury.

Onew nodded, shrugging his shoulders, “Healing up well, Luna says. The spots disappeared because they couldn’t find the source of venom. It’ll scar, but heal up nicely.”

Jonghyun opened the door, finding another guard in front of it, just about to open the door as well.

  “Onew?” the guard asked.

  “Just taking the Taerant back to his room. He shut the door to toy with me, so I made him open it back up,” Onew sighed. A great actor, he was.

The man nodded, stepping aside for the two to leave before removing Minho as well. He not-so-gently pushed Minho along the way, and SangJung was already waiting for him inside the room, not a cancer-stick in sight, this time.

Minho casually strolled to his chair, sitting down and crossing his arms, leaning back, “What.”

  “I know you’re already bored of this place, boy. But it’s only been a month,” SangJung spoke, “I’m checking on your condition, and you seem to be healing faster than the diagnosis.”

Minho kept still.

  “Fine,” SangJung sighed, “Because of all the commotion I’ve had, checking on Taemin hasn’t become available to me. But we’re permitting you to see the boy, on Kapsoo’s word. Tomorrow, I’d say. We can make more decisions at once.”

  “Okay,” Minho breathed, leaning forward again, “It seems like you’re being awfully nice today, SangJung. What do you want?”

SangJung’s mouth curved up on one side, “No catch, not really. We were gonna let you see the boy anyway, am I right? What? Do you want me to start taunting you again? I’ll gladly do it.”

Minho scoffed, eying SangJung down. Maybe if SangJung just filled him in a little bit more on Taemin, even if it was bad, Minho could feel . . . more content, but still on edge to feel the need to get this over with faster, “As long as it’s the truth, go on ahead, man.”

The elder pulled a cigarette and lighter from his pockets and lit one right in front of him, inhaling the smoke, “Okay, boy. We’ve been having problems with a specific prisoner.”

Minho furrowed his brows, “What does that have to do with him?”

  “She’s a shifter, boy,” he took the cigarette out, “Brand new specimen; only a year since we’ve found her. She shape shifts. Me, you, guards, it goes on.

  “Since we’ve brought Taemin in, the thing saw him, and went nuts. Like a wild teenage girl, you know what I mean?”

No. No I don’t.

  “Her species preys on men who catch their eyes. Uses their presence, not their life. Being in the presence of a man she wants gives her the strength to change—the drive to get him. This girl has made herself mesmerized to Taemin. And she’s almost got him, too. Didn’t know that a guard went missing and she took his place. This close, boy, this close.”

  “What would she do to him?” Minho gripped his pants. A girl shouldn’t be so hard to take out; now that he had gained a little confidence from Jessica. As long as she didn’t change into Minho’s real body, he could do something.

  “Basically slavery. For anything she wants. She could kill him and he’d come back to life,” SangJung flicked his eyes to the door, “But we have her under control. I’m not wary, like everyone else, but hey, keep an eye out. Paranoia is weak, but you’re already like that, so why don’t you double it up?”

Minho clenched his jaw, thinking of all the things he could do to this man if he had less power, physically and mentally. But it was all going to wait. All of it.

  “Tomorrow, then,” Minho cocked a brow.

  “Tomorrow. You better hope for the best,” SangJung offered the cigarette.

Minho grimaced at it and pushed his hand away.

  “Tch,” he silently scoffed, “That pushed aside, let’s talk about something comin’ up.”

  “And what’s that?” Minho challenged.

SangJung couldn’t have anything else up his sleeve. Surely whatever it was couldn’t be just a punishment for him—the others had to have gone through it. It was something he could recover from rapidly and wouldn’t last long. Or it was just another goddamn job in this place.

  “Surgery.”

Minho growled at the word and stood up.

SangJung kept his seat and relit his cigarette.

Forever on two different levels.

----Note~----

Oh my god, I updated on time for once.

No wait, BEFORE update schedule.

WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE.

But yup. I'm feeling really good right now after I started writing chapters again, so here we are~

So, we've got plans. We've got Taemin. We got shape shifting. Visiting. Surgery. Taunting.

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Why do I sound hyper.

But yup, there we go, it's all setting up.

The next chapter is one of the two parts of the story I first originally came up with that brought this fic on. I did my absolute best on it.

And this means the next chapter... has Taemin in it.

After sixteen chapters, he makes an appearance!

It's really weird though. I aimed this fic to be like, thirty chapters long. But because I keep making short chapters, it's gonna go higher.

I aim for forty. Forty-five to the most. NO MORE.

/If I go over I swear.

But anyhow, I'm really excited~

I want to take this moment to seriously thank anyone and everyone. The story has 36 subs, 4 votes, and 1427 views right now. I know I always say thank you to all of these people, but really, I want to acknowledge that I'm always excited to see people reading. Sure, 1400 doesn't seem big, but for me it is. I just hope this story goes somewhere so it interests more people... I need to remember to promo on tumblr again. =.= So lazy.

BUT THANK YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.

Thank you to every single comment because I love them. I do.

I love dem silent readers too, don't worry.

By the way, I realized I forgot way back to show you Jonghyun's mark. So I made eight marks of eight different (including  Joon's) species. It's over here in the BTS if you wanna see. c:

So bye guys~

~FlaMinhoe

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