“Don’t move.”

  There were no weapons in the boy’s hands, but the voice alone made Andrea’s left hand stop moving toward her pack of arrows on her back. Her hand stayed still in midair as she locked gaze with the boy standing in front of her, the tall, lean boy in a hunter’s outfit and leather boots, the boy who wasn’t even there a minute ago.

  As soon as that thought crossed Andrea’s mind, two thumps on the ground erupted on both her sides, and as she stared with wide eyes at the two other boys standing up from their crouching position, she understood.

  Those three boys had been hiding up in the trees.

  Of course, Andrea thought to herself. They must have been talking up in the trees, and their conversation got carried by the wind. But what were these boys who look only a few years older than me doing in the Forbidden Woods?

  What are you doing in this forbidden place?

  Andrea gasped and turned to her right. Her eyes found a clear, brown pair, belonging to a gold-headed boy wearing a sleeveless outfit and looking really striking –

  Well, the three boys were all sleeveless, and they all looked strikingly handsome. But somehow, and she didn’t know how she knew, the voice that appeared again in her head came from the boy on her right.

  Can you hear her now, Luhan? This voice felt like it came from the boy with a scary stare on Andrea’s left.

  Indeed. Her walls have vanished –

  “No. G-get out of my head!” Andrea was beyond terrified. She was hearing voices as if they were in her head, and now three strangers were surrounding her doing nothing but stare. And maybe, adding to her madness, even having a conversation in her head.

  The startled faces of the three boys didn’t make her feel relieved. Instead, she started worrying whether the voices really were just her imagination and those boys were just staring –

  “You could hear us?”

  The dark-haired boy with the scary stare spoke first. Surprisingly, his voice wasn’t as manly and deep as she had expected. “You could hear us telepathing each other, couldn’t you?”

  “Tao, you’re not interrogating her. Drop the accusation in your voice,” the boy on her right, Luhan, said, gently.

  “But you heard her! She can hear us in her head, just like us! That must mean something!” Tao pulled out something that looked like a dangerous wooden stick and pointed it right at Andrea’s throat, making her widen her eyes because somehow, she saw the movement as funny. “Speak, human! Who are you, why are you here, and how could you invade our minds – “

  “Andrea. Her name is Andrea.” The boy in front of her tilted his head. “Isn’t it, girly?”

  “H-how…?” Andrea managed to choke out a word.

  “I can tap into your thoughts again. So to answer your question, Tao, her name is – “

  “I can deliver my name myself!”

  Her sudden outburst shocked even herself, but Tao recovered almost immediately. “She’s feisty,” he smirked.

  Andrea clenched her teeth, because she just hated the feeling of being smirked at by a boy with a weird-looking stick. “I’m Andrea Archer, and I’d be less feisty if you put your silly stick down.”

  A burst of blinding, agonizing red exploded in Andrea’s head. “This is not a silly stick you human – “

  “Tao!” When Andrea regained her sight, she saw Luhan holding out his right hand toward Tao, and Tao’s stick hanging in midair.

  “Don’t you use your powers on me – “ Tao started.

  “Don’t hurt an innocent girl – “

  “How do you know she’s innocent – “

  “At least she didn’t attack you – “

  “She’s in our territory, for goodness sake! With a handful of arrows and somehow the ability to hear our inside conversations, Luhan!”

  “Territory?” Andrea looked around her. “How can this place be your territory when it’s just full of… trees?”

  Luhan and Tao stopped, and stared at her for a moment. Seconds later, they started talking again.

  But this time, in her head.

  She thinks there’s only trees here.

  Don’t mock her, Tao, she doesn’t know!

  And she shall not, Luhan! Let’s just knock her out and get Gillian to erase her memories –

  We can’t do that.

  But she’ll jeopardize our people’s safety if she goes out telling people –

  She won’t do that.

  And how do you know that, Sehun?

  Sehun sighed. If you were a plain villager, Tao, and one day a girl comes running to you telling you she met three boys in the Forbidden Woods and could hear them talking in her head, would you believe her?

  … No.

  Neither would I.

  Sehun snapped his head towards Andrea as soon as he heard her voice join in the conversation. He narrowed his eyes. “Besides,” he said out loud, gaze not leaving her. “It’s not common for an outsider being able to hear us telepathing each other. No,” he shook his head, “it has never happened before.” He tore his gaze away and looked at Luhan and Tao. “We need to take her to Gillian and ask him about this unnerving… situation.”

  Andrea thought that Tao and Luhan would argue back, but surprisingly, they just nodded, Tao adding a sigh. The three of them turned and started walking toward a specific direction without checking on if Andrea were following them, making her consider whether she should follow them or not.

  Although following strangers to who-knows-where was always risky and dangerous, she was dead curious. Curious of how they could… telepath each other, who they were, and…

  “Where are you going?” Andrea asked as she caught up with the three boys. “Where is there to go when this is just a place of endless woods?”

  Tao smirked and Luhan gently laughed, but only Sehun replied to her question as he glanced back at her over his shoulder. “There’s much more to this forest than you could imagine, girly.”

***

  Mysterious.

  That was the word that described her in Baekhyun’s eyes. It was the word that caused Baekhyun so much pain as if somebody were tugging at his heart, because he loved mysterious things. Curiosity was a significant trait of his, and he loved seeking out and unraveling anything mysterious.

  Andrea was the biggest, most enchanting mystery he had ever come across.

  He wanted to know more of her. Yesterday wasn’t enough; besides, he ended up telling Andrea the realm’s history and a big secret he shouldn’t have told her.

  Of course, he and Kai promised each other not to tell Baekhyun’s uncle about telling a villager the real truth underneath The Fire. They both were intrigued by her, and they didn’t want anyone else to know of their new… interest.

  Baekhyun felt the cool breeze against his cheek one last time, before sliding down the roof back to his chamber whose windowpane was open. He landed safely onto his balcony made of marble that was glittering under the moonlight, but before he went in to sleep, he took one last glance toward the direction of one specific person’s cottage.

  At that precise moment, he decided that he was going to know everything about charming, alluring Andrea Archer, no matter what.

  And before his uncle announced the date of his coronation.

[A/N] OMG PLS. YOU GUYS ARE SO FUNNY AND AWESOME LOOOOL. LEMME HUG YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL <3