Kibum wound up standing at the door listening and checking if the now glistening clean and dimly lit hallway was clear for a good half hour. He was back in his room after dinner and was now waiting for an opportunity to sneak up to the third floor. He almost burst with frustration when he heard the piano start playing again and he wanted, needed to get to the third floor. At once. He knew Jin was up there as well since the cat had been nowhere to be seen during the entire day and the only place Kibum hadn’t checked was the third floor.

He finally saw his chance as two maids rounded the corner at the far end of the corridor and it was left empty. He quickly slipped through the crack in the door and ran as silently as he could to the stairs. After casting a quick glance around to check if the coast was clear he took the steps two at a time until he was at the top, where he quickly moved away into the darkness to the left so that he couldn’t be seen from the floor below.

Letting out a breath of relief he looked around, trying to orient himself. The piano could be heard much clearer now but Kibum couldn’t figure out where the sound came from and it was making him itch with irritation. He really badly wanted to find out who was playing. After looking around some more he took a hesitant step forward in the direction he thought the melody was coming from.

The piano player stopped abruptly and Kibum squeezed his eyes shut.

.

He cracked one eye open again, expecting someone to be standing in front of him and accusing him of trespassing, but the hallway was as empty as it had been before. Kibum immediately abandoned the idea of finding the player, not wanting to get caught just yet, and swiftly made his way to what he thought was Sekyung's room. He all but raced the last few steps and tried not to knock the door down. He had the feeling that someone was watching him, quietly following behind. The feeling made shivers go up and down his spine and couldn’t help but hurry to what he hoped was the safety of the woman in the mirror.

Apparently someone was on his side because he ended up in the room he wanted to and he even found Jin lying outstretched on the sofa in front of the fireplace, caring less about anyone but himself. He didn’t even look up at Kibum as he approached him and the other was extremely tempted to do something that would send the cat flying. But he settled for giving Jin a glare, although he couldn’t see it, and positioned himself in front of the mirror where he cleared his throat awkwardly, putting his hands into his jeans pockets to not start fiddling with them nervously.

“Um… excuse me?” He called, feeling extremely stupid talking to his own reflection. “Hello?”

Something swiveled inside the mirror and there stood the woman named Sekyung once more, giving him a wide smile.

“Hello again!” She said happily. Kibum nodded at her. “Thank you for letting the others know I’m here!”

“Oh… No problem.” He said sheepishly.

“Your cat even came to keep me company for the day.” She laughed. “It’s a very clever creature, I have to say!”

Kibum threw Jin another glare over his shoulder, but the cat was still leisurely sleeping.

“So, what can I help you with?” Sekyung asked, eyeing him curiously. Kibum looked up at her, momentarily forgetting what he wanted to say, and she laughed again. “Or are you just here to keep me company?”

Kibum wrinkled his nose. “Sorry, I’m not.”

“I know.” Sekyung nodded.

It became quiet again as Kibum tried to figure out what he wanted to know first. He had a bunch of questions but no order to them. Sekyung patiently waited, studying him quietly in the meantime.

“Why aren’t you leaving?” Kibum blurted out at last. It was the first question that popped up in his mind after he had decided to just take them as they came. “Can’t you?”

Sekyung looked at him questioningly. “Leave this mansion?”

“Yes.”

It was something that he had wondered about. If they were cursed, why didn’t they just leave and live their days to the fullest? Instead they were just sitting in this castle like mansion as if they were trapped.

She sighed. “We can leave, or rater they can, but they don’t want to.”

“Why?” Kibum prompted.

“Well,” Sekyung took a deep breath, “there is nothing for us out there. The others go out only once a month to get what they need from the city and keep up with the times, even if only a little. But otherwise it’s just better to stay in here, where we belong. You were lucky that you passed out on just that day, otherwise you would be dead by the time Taemin had found you.”

Kibum shivered a little at that thought. “But you already knew I was coming?”

Sekyung smiled a little and nodded. “So, Jinki told you? But yes, I knew. I couldn’t quite place you first though, but once I realized who you were I pretended not to so that I wouldn’t scare you.”

“You freaked me out anyway.” Kibum muttered.

Sekyung laughed. “I’m sorry.”

Kibum smiled slightly and backed towards the sofa, pushing Jin away a little so that he could sit down.

“Why do the others think I can save them?” he asked as he had made himself comfortable.

Jin finally decided to grace Kibum with his attention and got up to lie down in his lap. Kibum gave in after contemplating if he should push the cat down and started his soft fur.

Sekyung bit her lip. “I can’t say that just yet.”
Kibum raised his eyebrows at her skeptically.

She grimaced. “The things I know, they’re in another language. It’s not even a language it just… is. And I can’t put them into human words until afterwards.”

Kibum sighed. Jinki had said something like that. “Then who is-”

There was a sudden gust of wind and Kibum's heart jumped as he felt eyes boring into the back of his head. Sekyung didn’t look the least bit surprised and calmly greeted the person.

“What is that doing here?” he heard a voice say, a recently familiar voice, without returning her greeting.

Jin jumped out of his lap to position himself on the backrest of the sofa, watching the intruder cautiously and Kibum turned around halfway in his seat, his eyes falling upon none other than the man from the library.

“Oh, it’s the sniffer.” He remarked nonchalantly, feeling his cheeks heat slightly with anger at being referred to as ‘that’. He heard Sekyung choke down a laugh behind him. “And shouldn’t you already know that ‘that’ has a name which is Kibum.

The man glared at him. “Does it look like it concerns me?”

Kibum felt how his face turned downwards in a scowl. “It should. You sniffed me remember? Without a legitimate reason, I might add.”

The man scoffed and looked at Sekyung. “What is this?”

Kibum looked at her as well and she smiled at them both. “You’ll see.”

Kibum pursed his lips, glancing at the man behind him before he opened his mouth.

“Can I ask you something?” He said to Sekyung.

“Of course, anything!” She said cheerily.

“What made him decide to be a sniffer?” Kibum smiled a little mischievously as he heard the man behind him growl in irritation and Sekyung laughed.

“I am not a sniffer!”

“You certainly act like it.” Kibum shot back without looking at him.

Sekyung looked at the man behind him with an amused smile. “You should probably introduce yourself, otherwise you’ll be called the sniffer for a long time.”

The man behind him groaned and Kibum felt a small sense of sadistic satisfaction. He turned around to stare at him but the other refused to meet his eyes.

“Well?” He probed.

The man looked at Sekyung helplessly and she sighed.

“His name is Jonghyun.”

The man’s eyes widened. “Sekyung!”

“What?” She said to him daringly and Kibum turned to her. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“Jonghyun.” Kibum repeated. “So the sniffer has a normal name after all.”

“Hey!” Jonghyun said warningly.

“What?” Kibum said back and looked at him over his shoulder, sounding like a rebelling fourteen-year-old.

Jonghyun muttered something unintelligible that probably had everything to do with Kibum and was seemingly not good. Then he decided to disappear without another word after giving them a glare each and Kibum rolled his eyes.

Sekyung smiled at him. “You know, no one has ever talked to him like that much less treated him like an equal.”

Kibum scoffed. “Too bad for him, I won’t be worshipping his royal highness anytime soon.”

She shook her head. “I think he actually doesn’t mind. He’s just not really used to it and doesn’t know how to react.”

He looked up at her and sunk down a little in his seat. Jin jumped down to make himself comfortable in Kibum's lap again.

“Is it because the others are afraid of him?” he asked after a moment of silence.

She smiled a sad smile. “No, they’re not afraid. Jonghyun just distanced himself which made his relationship with the others awkward as they also see him as their… what can you call it? Master?”

“Oh.” Kibum looked down at Jin, frowning. “But isn’t this Lightwood’s castle?”

“It is.”

“So isn’t Lightwood their master?” He looked up at her again her smile had turned bitter.

“He was, but we don’t know where he is at the moment. Besides, the others always considered Jonghyun to be the master since Lightwood wasn’t the best of people.” Sekyung said looking out into space. “Even though Jonghyun was close friends with them all.”

“But what about you?” Kibum asked.

“You have to remember, Kibum, that this was about a hundred years ago. Women didn’t have that much power then.” She said with a small smile. “But yes, we were actually all friends before the curse.”

Kibum nodded slowly. “So why did you all get cursed?”

She laughed slightly. “You’re only asking that now?” Kibum shrugged and she let out another laugh. “Well, Lightwood wanted to punish Jonghyun for some reason and he didn’t have enough-”

“Enough life force.” Kibum continued for her. “So he took all of yours to curse just one man?”

She nodded. “Which was as well, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to still be here and help Jonghyun.”

“And I’m guessing you can’t tell me why there even is a punishment from the beginning?” Kibum asked.

Sekyung shook her head, looking apologetic.

“But why is he like that then? Grumpy and un-friendly?”

Kibum couldn’t understand that. If they had been so good friends why in the world was Jonghyun treating them the way he was? If he had friends like that, that wanted to stay with him to help him even though he was the reason they had become… well, inhuman, why did he then treat them like they were a nuisance?

Sekyung let out a deep sigh. “He feels responsible and he feels horrible for what has happened. It’s just some kind of method to protect everyone. But it’s hurting himself as well as the others when they see him become more and more… inhuman. At least the others manage to keep some of their humanity about them by being together and leaving the castle once a month but Jonghyun… he’s about to lose grip of himself.”

Kibum bit his lip, feeling close to tears. He didn’t know why he would feel like that for someone he had only spoken to twice but he did. His heart was aching with compassion and he found himself thinking of ways that could break the curse although he didn’t know anything about it or how magic even worked. He had never felt like doing anything for anyone before and yet right now all he wanted to do was free them all and make them normal again.

Suddenly a feeling of fright started to grow in the pit of his stomach. He had the feeling that something here was growing their roots in him ever so slowly and he feared he would never be able to leave at all. He hadn’t planned to stay in this mansion forever, but now it seemed like there would never be another option. What had happened to the others would slowly affect him and he would soon become like them if he didn’t manage to break the curse or leave.

“Can…” Kibum's voice broke and he cleared his throat nervously. “Can I break the curse?”

Sekyung looked at him for a long moment in silence, seemingly contemplating on what to tell him and what she could tell him. Then she sighed and her face got a grave expression.

“You are the only one who can answer that.” She said quietly. “It is entirely up to you.”

“But why me?” Kibum whispered sounding defeated.

“I can’t tell you that.” She said apologetically. “It is something you must find out on your own.”

Kibum groaned quietly and sunk even lower in the sofa his head feeling a little overheated with all the information it had received.

He blamed Jonghyun. It was his fault for making Kibum so curious about him and decide to stay. And now he felt even more like he couldn’t leave until he had solved this thing. If he went back now, he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night nor would he be able to stop thinking about it. His only option was really to stay and help everyone. And if he could break the curse then that was that.

“I’m going to break the curse.” Kibum mumbled and Sekyung’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Really?” she said, looking hopeful.

Kibum raised his eyebrows at her. “Shouldn’t you already know this?”

She chuckled. “I can’t take everything for certain. The future isn’t set in stone you know.”

Kibum smiled a little at her. “We’ll see what happens then.”

Then he stood up heavily, thanked Sekyung and made his way to the door. His brain was overloaded with information and he felt like he needed to go lie down to sort it all out. Just as he was about to go through the door Sekyung spoke again.

“The piano-room is on the right from the stairs, last door.”

Kibum turned to her so fast he almost lost his balance and stepped on Jin that was right behind him. Sekyung laughed at him.

“Is it alright if I know?” he asked, astonished.

She nodded. “Just don’t go there when the piano is playing.”

Kibum promised and waved at her before he turned back to leave the room. But he didn’t make his way to the stairs, instead he continued past them down the corridor to the right, forgetting all about his overworked brain. He was determined to see the piano at least once.

He arrived outside the last door and grabbed the handle nervously, his palms clammy. He didn’t know why he was nervous, it was just an instrument. He counted to ten in his head before he swung the door wide open and quickly stepped inside.

Every inch of the wall was made out of mirrors except the one facing the outside, which was entirely made of glass. The mirrors reflected the clear moonlight that shone through the windows and illuminated the room a little. The floor was made of white marble and in the middle stood a black grand piano. There were no lights in the room except for the little candle standing on the piano and Kibum had to squint a little in the dim light to see if anything else was there. He noticed, to his surprise, that the room was clean from dust and spider-webs as he approached the instrument slowly.

All of a sudden the door behind him slammed shut. Jin hissed and scrambled across the floor to hide under the piano and Kibum jumped out of his skin in fright, turning around with wide eyes. There was no one there and he put a hand to his heart to calm it down.

“It was just the wind.” He said soothingly to both Jin and himself.

He continued to make his way to the piano after a few seconds, having made sure that he and Jin was alone in the room, and when he was close enough he reached out a tentative hand, letting his fingers brush the polished surface lightly.

So this is the instrument that somehow had made itself a place in his heart.

He let both of his hands softly the side of it as he circled the piano. Then he leaned forward to watch his reflection in the surface. It was as clear as if it had been a mirror and he could see every line in his face in the moonlight reflected on it.

Then his breath caught in his throat and he felt his knees go weak. He had suddenly seen two eyes reflected in the surface as well. At least it looked like eyes, but it hurt looking at them and he barely managed to tear himself away from the piano. When he did he fell onto the floor and his head snapped up to look at the ceiling at it’s own accord.

There they were. Hidden in black smoke. Kibum was a hundred percent sure that it wasn’t Jonghyun this time because the eyes that looked at him were dead, void of any emotion.

As he looked into the eyes an extremely heavy pressure fell on his chest and Kibum could barely breathe. He took small shallow breaths but they became smaller with each passing second. Soon Kibum felt lightheaded as every cell in his body was screaming for air and there were stars in front of his eyes. He heard Jin hiss and spit somewhere in the distance, but his brain and limbs weren’t working from the lack of oxygen. Then it felt like his chest collapsed inwards and he fell into a heap on the floor, consciousness slipping away at high speed.

A/N: Sooo, there was a lot of information in this chapter @_@ It kind of hurt my head as much as it did Kibum's xP Oh, well...

I don't really know what else to say right now so thank you to all the readers and I hope you enjoyed! ^_^

Bye! <3