“I’m going out!” I called out to no one in particular, standing in the open doorway of the front of my house. I waited patiently for a response, leaning against the open door with a small sigh.

                My stepmom, Miyoung, smiled as she stepped into the hallway from the entrance into the kitchen. “Be safe and come home by ten, okay?”

                I held up the ‘OK’ sign and exited the house, rushing across our massive front yard to where my best friend Emi was waiting for me in her car. I slipped into the passenger seat and grinned at her.

                “Finally. Took you long enough. I thought I was going to have to go in there and drag you out myself.” She muttered, starting the ignition. I only laughed at her grumpy attitude and ran a hand through my hair.

                “Oh, my dear, you couldn’t take me on and we both know that.” I replied, making her scowl because she knew it was true. I was much stronger than her, with abilities to fight her off that she couldn’t even imagine.

                And by that, I mean I’m different, as my father always said. I could do things most people didn’t think was possible. Teleporting to places, moving things without even touching it, manipulating the elements around me, somehow, someway, I could do all of those and more. I had been born that way. Special, I guess. Dad always said it was because I was just naturally powerful, so I just got more abilities than an average person. I don’t know what he meant by that, but I’m so used to my ‘special gift’ that I just stopped asking questions about it when I was a kid.

                For a long time, I had thought I was alone. The only one with the abilities that I had. Until I met Sam. His dad and my dad worked in the same research company, so we basically grew up together, even if he was a few years older than me. I guess his dad had given him the same lecture my dad had given me as a kid, because for a long time, he kept his abilities a secret even from me. But one day he slipped up and his secret was out.

                But he gained a new one. Mine.

                We were joined to the hip after that until a few years ago, when Sam’s dad sent him off to go study abroad or something. Sam hadn’t wanted to go, but he knew it would help ease his father’s worries after his mom had died in some freak accident, so he went.

                Emi and I went down to the pier as usual that night. We met up with the three guys that liked to perform on Friday nights just as people began to create a crowd, prepared for the show about to ensue. I helped the guys set up the music and whatnot before stepping to the side. Two of the guys that performed started the show off with a few simple juggling tricks just like they did every night that they were out here. It wasn’t new to Emi or I, but the crowd ooh’d and aww’d at all the perfect moments. Just as the two of the guys performed their last few tricks, the crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause. But the show was not over yet. The third guy stepped forward, a smirk on his face as he scanned the crowd. He pulled out three rolled up balls of cloth from his pocket and placed them all in one hand. The music escalated behind him, adding to the excitement of his upcoming performance. His eyes zeroed in on me and his smirk only deepened.

                “Here we go.” Emi muttered, crossing her arms as she stepped out of my way. I only gave her a knowing smile before turning back to him.

                Suddenly, his hand lit on fire, making the crowd cry out in surprise. He started juggling the cloth balls in one hand before switching to both hands. The whole time, his eyes stayed locked on mine, his smirk never leaving his face.

                The guy tossed the ball straight to me, causing screams of panic to rush through the crowd around me.

                I caught it without a second thought.

                The flame didn’t extinguish and it didn’t burn me.

                Because it couldn’t do either.

                I tossed it from hand to hand as all attention was suddenly on me. I glanced up and met the eyes of the guy again. I smirked and he returned the gesture by tossing the other two cloth balls to me. I started juggling them, performing for the crowd just as usual, like I always did. The applause was deafening.

                It also attracted the cops.

                The crowd dispersed as fast it had filled up once the cops had come into sight, their sirens blaring as they drove down to our spot. Soon enough, once they had waded through the crowd of migrating people, they parked and two cops stepped out and began to talk over to where Emi, the guys, and I were still standing.

                I let out a heavy sigh. “Again?” I muttered, extinguishing the flames out of the cloth balls and tossing them back to the one that had thrown them at me. “They ruin every show.”

                He just chuckled. “Should I take care of them? One little trick and they won’t bother us ever again.”

                “Sam.” I hissed, shooting him a warning look. “Behave.”

                “Sam? Behave? Anya, did you hit your head or something? That’s not physically possible for him.” Emi chuckled, turning away to shut off the music. She looked up just as the cops finally made it over to us.

                One of them was quite short, and with his frown and pushed together eyebrows, I couldn’t help but think that he looked like an angry munchkin. The other was taller and leaner, he seemed to be the ‘Good Cop’ in the pair, as he gave us a small smile before starting the usual questions.

                “Do you lot have a permit for this?”

                Sam scoffed, crossing his arms. “Permits hold us back. That means we’d have to stay in the same place every time we performed.”

                “Sam.” I muttered in a low tone so that the cops wouldn’t be able to hear us. He just smirked at me before turning to the cops again.

                “We don’t have one and we’re not leaving. We’re not doing anything wrong. Just making a bit of money, is all.” He said.

                The other two guys, Yun and Teo, chuckled at Sam’s boldness.

                The short cop raised an eyebrow at him, still looking angry. “Watch your tone, you punk, and remember who you’re talking to.”

                Sam sauntered over to him, a smug look in his eyes, and stopped right in front of him with barely any space between the two of them. “I could take you.” He said in a taunting tone, only making the situation worse.

                I faceplamed and saw Emi roll her eyes out of the corner of my line of sight.

                The short cop’s face changed different shades of red as he tried to gain control of the situation. “Step away right now, young man or else—“

                “Or else what? What are you going to do, munchkin?” Sam waited patiently for a response that never came. Then he chuckled. “That’s what I thought.” He turned back to face Yun and Teo, and spoke to them in Korean. “Pack up, we’ll move somewhere else.”

                Emi turned to look at me, depending on me for a translation. I wasn’t Korean, but I’d been around Sam and his family long enough to pick up on the language, and it didn’t help that it was both Teo and Yun’s first language, so the one they were most comfortable with. “We’re moving to another place.” She shrugged and turned to began packing up all of the stuff.

                Neither one of the cops seemed to like that idea.

                ‘Good Cop’ held up a hand to stop us. “We’re not done here.”

                “Actually, we are.” Sam stood up to glare at them. “Unless we suddenly need a permit to leave too?”

                ‘Good Cop’ hesitated before shaking his head. “No, but we’ve gone more to discuss with you.” He reached out and grabbed Sam by his arm. “Therefore, we’re not done yet.”

                Sam stared at ‘Good Cop’ for a moment with a neutral expression, until his eyes suddenly widened. He shoved the cop back with a force that could have only been helped by his abilities, and turned to us.

                “Run.” He said, an intense look in his eyes, that startled us all.

                “But our stuff!” Emi protested, but Sam wasn’t listening. He grabbed her and pushed her towards me.

                “Go home, Anya!” he yelled, already leading Yun and Teo towards the crowd of people on the other side of the pier. “Check on your dad!”

                My dad?

                Emi and I shared a confused look for a moment, but instantly turned at the sound of a slight groan. ‘Good Cop’ was getting up and nothing about him looked good anymore. He looked lethal. The malice in his eyes sent chills down my spine.

                Emi tugged on my sleeve, muttering that we needed to leave, but her eyes never left the struggling cop. Finally, I broke free from the hypnotizing sight, and began dragging her back to her car.

                I needed to know what was happening with my dad and I needed to know now.

                “What did Sam do to that guy?” Emi demanded as she sped back to my house. “Because that wasn’t just a push. I saw it. He, like, wielded the air around him to force the cop back or something.”

                I shook my head to try in an attempt to clear it. “I-I can’t explain right now, Emi. Later, okay?”

                Maybe by then I could come up with a good enough excuse to stop her from asking anymore questions.

                Emi had just barely parked her car, when I jumped out, and began running to the front door. Luckily, outside of the house looked normal. It didn’t ease my worry however, because it could easily be chaos inside and no one would know.

                I crashed through the front door, half expecting to see the house in ruins, but everything was normal. It was much more silent than normal, considering none of the staff seemed to be around, but other than that, everything looked alright.

                “Dad!” I yelled, rushing up the long staircase and towards his office where he had been earlier, before I had left for the pier. It was empty. “Dad?”

                “Anya!”I whipped around to see Miyoung running to me. She grabbed me by the hand and dragged me down to their room. My dad was in there, shoving clothes into a bag.

                “Dad—“

                “Ssh, sweetie, relax.” He murmured, coming to place his hands on my shoulders. He looked me directly in the eye, and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the hidden panic in his eyes. “We’re going away for a little bit. Something’s come up and we have to leave, okay?” I nodded mutely. “That’s my girl. Go pack.” He gave me an attempt at a reassuring smile before turning back to his closet, pulling out every article of clothing that his hands touched and tossing them to Miyoung, who shoved them the bag for him.

                What was going on?

                I packed as much as I could in the bag that Miyoung had given me on my way back to my room. She said not to worry about too much clothes considering we could just go and buy more, so I focused on packing up my personal items. In the middle of packing, my phone rang. It was Emi. Deciding that it could wait, I shoved my phone into my pocket and let it go to voicemail.

                Once I was done, I went back into their room to find them already done with packing too.

                Dad walked over to be and placed a large file into my hands. “Whatever you do,” he said in an urgent whisper. “Don’t let anyone see this, okay? I need you to hold onto this until we meet up again.”

                “Meet up?” I asked in a hoarse voice. “You’re not going with us?”

                He gave me a sad smile. “No, love, you and Miyoung will be going to the U.S while I go to Korea. There’s something there that I need to finish. After that, we can be safe again. No one will hurt us anymore.” He reached up and wiped a tear from my cheek. “Don’t cry, Anya, we’ll meet again.”

                “Why can’t we just go with you? We can stay with Miyoung’s family like we usually do.” I gripped tightly to the folder in my hand and looked at my dad desperately. “Please.”

                He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. I’m sorry, sweetie, I really am.” He reached up and kissed my forehead. “I wish it could be different.”

                Reluctantly, Miyoung and I walked into the garage and slid into one of the cars, placing our bags in the back seat. Dad leaned down and smiled at us.

                “Leave now and go straight to the airport, now where else, alright?”

                “Yes, love.” Miyoung said, buckling up her seatbelt then turning to face him. “Stay safe. Be careful, okay?” Dad just smiled and kissed her gently. He lingered for a bit more before bidding us both a quick farewell as Miyoung began driving out of the garage.

                We got down the street when we heard the explosion. It made us both jolt in our seats. I whipped around to look behind us and saw our house catching on fire.

                “Miyoung! Dad! What about Dad?” I cried out, already feeling the panic engulf us. Was he alright? Had he gotten out in time?

                I glanced at Miyoung and saw tears forming in her eyes.

                “Miyoung?”

                “Anya—“

                “No.” I groaned, sinking back into my seat and shaking my head. “He got out, right? Tell me he got out!”

                She shook her head. “Anya, I’m so sorry.”

                A sob broke through me as I continued to shake my head. “No, Miyoung, he can’t be—No. He’s not—No no no.”

                Miyoung let out a shaky breath. “Look in that folder, Anya. There’s things in there that your father wanted you to know, but he couldn’t tell you. It was too dangerous for you know before.”

                I in a breath as I looked down at the folder in my lap. I just wanted to throw it out now. Somehow, someway, I knew my father had just died trying to protect the information in here. I wanted to destroy it. “Why couldn’t I know before now?”

                “It was too dangerous. We tried to protect you, but they’re coming for you anyway. Anya, I’m so sorry. We tried—“

                “Who’s coming for me?” My head snapped up to look at Miyoung. She stayed silent. “Miyoung? Who—“

                “Just read the files, okay? Not right now, but as soon as you get to Korea.”

                “Korea? We’re supposed to be going to the U.S! Why are we going to Korea now? What’s there that will help us? Why did my dad say it was so dangerous? Miyoung, I don’t understand!”

                She stayed quiet for a while, before saying, “You’ll understand everything once you read the files.”

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well hello there :)

so this is the first chapter! it's still a bit vague, but i mainly wanted to introduce Anya, ya know?

i sure hope you guys have questions, because that's the point of the ending XD yay cliffhangers~

oh and a special cameo from Lunafly! because Anya is from England, and so is Sam, i was like "Hey what the heck?" and then Teo and Yun just snuck their way in there too haha

they won't be coming back, just a heads up for you Lunafly fans, sorry :/ i love the guys, but they just won't be a part of this story. maybe i'll write one for them in the future...

wow, now i'm rambling.

if you read all of this, you're awesome :)

thanks for reading~