Jessica grasped his arm. dropped open to speak, but she said nothing. His heart racing wildly, Hyukjae could only clutch the coffins and stare at his parents. The bodies inside lay still, pale, and quiet. A dark blotch covered his father's pocket, and a hideous cut ripped open his mother's throat. Blood soaked her lovely gown, the same one she had so gracefully worn onstage only moments ago.

He shook his head and dug his nails into the wood, dizziness swirling his vision. "It ... It can't be..." Pain streaked Jessica's voice. "it is." She pointed at an ornate gold band on his mother's finger. "Look at her ring. There's not another one like it in the world." As a creaking stair sounded from above, a familiar voice carried into the room. "Jessica, I distinctly told you to meet me in the lobby. Coming down here was a big mistake."

She looked at Hyukjae and whispered, "Dr. Simon?" Hyukjae didn't answer. He just bit his lip and drilled a stare right through the wall in the direction of the voice. If that creep had anything to do with this, he would-

"I intended to explain what happened here without exposing Hyukjae to this carnage." Simon reached the landing and aimed a flashlight beam into the room. "It is most uncomfortable that events have played out this way." Jessica pointed a shaking finger at a coffin. "What do you know about this?"

"Everything. I arranged it. You see-"

"You what?

"If you could understand the circumstances..." Hyukjae raised his stiffened arm and pointed at his mother's body. "They're fake right?" He felt a trembling smile grow unbidden on his lips. "They have to be fake." Dr. Simon let out a sigh. "I'm afraid they're quite real. Their deaths are most unfortunate-"

"You monster!" Jessica cried. Raising a finger to his lips, Dr. Simon glanced at the doorway and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Now that my plan has gone awry, I need to make sure that your accidental discovery doesn't hinder our pursuits. I had planned for Hyukjae to join his parents, but if you continue shouting, we could all end up in coffins." Hyukjae pointed at himself. "You planned for me to join them?"

"In order to protect our secrets, Dr. Gordon and I decided-"

"Who cares about your secrets?" in quick breaths, Hyukjae balled a fist so tight, his fingers throbbed. "Just back off. I'm walking out of here, and I'm taking my parents with me." Jessica picked up a baseball bat. "You'd better not try to stop us if you know what's good for you."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Dr. Simon said, "but you have far greater obstacles to overcome." With beads of sweat dotting his bare head, he nodded toward the tri-fold mirror standing behind the coffins. "We will soon have company, a man we must not ril. I insist that you reain silent and let me do all the talking." Hyukjae gritted his teeth. "Why should I do what you say? I'll just-"

"Look in the mirror," Dr. Simon said, pointing at the reflection. "You will see." Hyukjae stared at the crystal clear image- the three of them, standing in the dim props room, but two other figures had joined them, the two who had stood at the performance hall exit, the tall man and the guy in the blue blazer. Hyukjae swung his head back toward the door. The other men weren't there. Grabbing his mother's coffin with one hand, Hyukjae wagged his head, trying to watch reality and the reflected image at the same time. Dr. Simon was just trying to distract him. The mirror couldn't show-

Footsteps clopped along the hall above their heads. Hyukjae glanced up. Could the men in the mirror really be coming? Tightening his fingers around the neck of his violin, he flexed his muscles. He was ready. One way or another, he and Jessica were going to make a getaway. Dr. Simon folded the mirror, hiding its reflective surface. As he slid it behind a bookshelf, the door at the top of the stairs swung open, singing a low creak.

He waved frantically at Jessica whispering, "Hold your weapon!" As she laid the bat at her feet, heavy footfalls rumbled down the steps, drawing closer. When a man entered the prop room, Dr. Simon's flashlight beam illuminated the emblem on the newcomer's blazer- three infinity symbols in a vertical stack, close to each other so that their lines intermeshed.

Hyukjae took a deep breath. Bad guy number two would be tougher that Simon. "Dr. Gordon," Dr. Simon said, flashing a nervous grin. "You have come just in time. Where is Mictar?"

"He's nearby." his chin, Dr. Gordon scanned the room, first eyeing Hyukjae, then Jessica before calling out, "It's safe." More footsteps sounded from the stairs, slower this time, more like the tiptoe steps of a child rather than a man of any gravity. When Mictar finally entered his thin pallid face seemed to hover over Dr. Gordon's shoulder. With his slick white hair pulled back into a collar length ponytail, he looked like a lost hippie who forgot to die of old age.

As Mictar gazed across the room, a half smile e of his hollow cheeks upward. "What have we here, Dr. Simon? I hope you have not acted too hastily." His words echoed, though the room seemed to dampen everyone else's voice. Hyukjae shuddered. This guy seemed more like a ghost than a man, a walking corpse fresh from the graveyard.

He gripped his instrument onve again. Now he had three guys to get past. Dr. Simon laughed nervously. "I wanted to wait for you, but they were getting suspicious. I had to make sure they didn't run."

As if floating along the floor, Mictar padded up to the coffins and leaned his tall body over the lifeless forms, studying them from top to bottom. "A bullet in the heart and a slashed throat" he said caressing Chaerin's colorless cheek.

"This is lovely work, Simon. Did you do the deeds yourself?" Folding his hans behind him, Simon raised up on his toes, blinking rapidly. "Of course. No one else knows of your plan." Hyukjae boiled inside. He watched for a good opening, maybe when at least two of the creeps had their backs turned.

"Is that so?" Mictar the end of the finger that had touched Charin's cheek. "Show me your palms." Dr. Simon lifted his hands. Mictar drew close and latched onto each of Dr. Simon's wrists with his spindly fingers.

After taking a long sniff of Simon's palms, Mictar furrowed his brow. "I smell the blood of your victims as well as the fun's residue, but the sweet aroma of residual fear is missing."

Simon cleared his throat. "The Lees displayed no fear at all." Mictar nodded slowly. "Ah! I see. But your fear is now so strong, I would wager that even the ungifted can detect its odor."

"Is that so unusual?" Dr. Simon jerked his hands away and wrung them more vigorously than ever. "Anyone who had seen your power would be frightened at your displeasure."

"That is true of my enemies. My loyal friends have no reason to fear me." Mictar reached into Hyukjae's mother's coffin and lifted her eyelid. "Her light is extinguished. They no longer have value."

"No value? I don't understand." Mictar pulled away from the coffin. "You disappoint me, Simon. I wanted her eyes while they still breathed the light, her eyes above any others. And I was hoping to keep at least one of the Lees alive long enough to learn their secrets." Simon squirmed like a scolded schoolboy. "I didn't know. I mean, if I had known, I would have-"

"You have no need to explain." Mictar turned to Hyukjae and smiled, though his pointed yellow teeth revealed ravenous hunger rather than joy. "You have brought one of the offspring to replace what has been lost. An excellent gift, indeed, for he will likely possess what I wanted from her."

Mictar's gaze flooded Hyukjae's body with icy shivers. As weakness buckled his knees, he braced himself on the side of a coffin.

"Of course I broungh him," Simon replied. "Never let it be said that Flavius Simon leaves any task undone." Mictar's rapacious smile returned. "You have spoken well. for your tasks are now complete. With the four adult Lees dead, I no longer have need of your services. The fewer people who know, the better. The seeds of interdimensional disharmony are best sown by the hands of the ignorant."

Dr. Gordon grabbed Simon and twisted his arm behind his back, while Mictar glided closer and raised his splayed fingers. His cadaverous body seemed to become a shadow, darkening with each step.

Hyukjae heaved deep breaths, trying to keep from shaking uncontrollably. What was this... this thing? He slid between Jessica and the shadowy phantom. "Just stay cool." he whispered. "We'll get out of here somehow."

As Mictar drew within an arm's reach, Dr. Simon thrashed. "Just give me another assignment!" He cried. "I'll do anything you want!" Dr. Gordon yanked Simon's arm up toward his neck, freezing him in place.

"Anything I want?" Mictar covered Dr. Simon's eyes with his dark hand and spoke softly.

"I want you to die."