Nicole's POV

Now that my older sister was back with us, safe and sound, our group of four - wait, make that five - continued on our way to the Matsu kingdom.  Woohyun's assertion that there was a town nearby where we found Seungyeon was proven correct; within fifteen minutes, we had passed from forests into desert territory and wooden cabins could be seen coming into view.  "Cool!  CIVILIZATION!" I exclaimed happily as I ran towards the cabins.

"Nicooole, don't run so fast!  Wait for the rest of us!" I overheard my sister shout.  Being the obedient little sister I was, I halted my steps and turned around just in time to see my sister trip over her own two feet.  She was being clumsy, as usual.

"Hmph, smooth move, princess," quipped our resident ice prince with a smirk spreading across his face.  Jinwoon, being the chivalrous person he was, tutted at the prince's comment before helping Seungyeon up.

"Are you alright, princess?"  It's amazing how different the word princess sounded when it came out of Jinwoon's lips instead of Woohyun's.  I noticed a slight flush spread across my sister's cheeks as she nodded to Jinwoon and quickly glanced over at Woohyun; Woohyun himself had by now walked far enough that he was caught up to me.

"Aish, Prince Nam is still as good with the ladies as always..." Sunggyu joked as he strummed his lute and walked up to the ice prince and I, Jinwoon and Seungyeon following behind.

Woohyun hit Sunggyu on the shoulder before rolling his eyes.  "Watch it, Sunggyu."

"Alright you guys, stop fooling around!" I pouted.  "Let's head on into town already!"

"Patience is a virtue, princess~" Jinwoon smiled that eye smile of his again.  I felt my own face heat up and turned away from the group, skipping ahead into the town.  I stopped skipping, however, when I realized that the town was empty.

"Odd...  There's no one outside..." I mumbled to myself as I looked left and right.  I could see a few faces huddled close to the windows of the cabins, but no one seemed to dare take a step outside.

I have a bad feeling about this place...

---

???'s POV

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully as I cautiously crept behind Princess Nicole and her group.  The group seemed to have increased in number, instead of there being the two princess sisters, the ice prince, and the tall knight, there was now the two princess sisters, the ice prince, the tall knight, and a carefree-looking troubadour.  I sighed.  With more people meant more trouble.  I looked around the town.  There was something about this place that struck me as familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  As I continued to follow Princess Nicole's group around, and they slowly walked through the town, I realized what "it" was.

This town...

I smirked as the sun began to set.

"Hm...  Things are about to get fun~" I hissed, holding back a cackle.  It was time for me to get going, and so I left the town.

---

Nicole's POV

"Look, the sun's setting." Jinwoon pointed off to the Western part of town.  "We should go to one of the cabins and ask for a place to stay."

There were murmurs of agreement heard through the group.  Thus, the five of us walked up to the front door of the closest cabin and knocked.  We were greeted by a sullen looking boy and his chipper friend.

"What do you want?" snarled the sullen one.  "Outsiders aren't welcome in this town...  You guys should jet."

"Yeah!  Yeah!  Jet!  Jet!" repeated his chipper friend enthusiastically.

I felt myself jump as the door was suddenly slammed shut on our faces.  "What was that all about?" I overheard my sister mumble.

"Maybe the dude's PMSing," replied Woohyun, sarcasm dripping from his tone.  "Let's go try somewhere else."

The five of us split up and tried gaining entrance to several houses.  Half an hour passed by and things were going nowhere; it really seemed like the sullen boy from earlier had been correct: outsiders really didn't seem to be welcome here.  Woohyun, Sunggyu, Seungyeon, and I all met up outside the first cabin we had tried to gain entrance to and exchanged looks.  Everyone seemed to have failed in gaining entry to a house.

"Wait, I managed to get a nice lady to agree to letting us stay." Jinwoon ran up to the rest of us with a good-natured grin on his face.  "She said she'd let us stay as long as we listened to one condition."

"What condition?" Sunggyu frowned.  "That sounds a little suspi-"

"Let's worry about that later; let's just head on over inside the house first!" I interrupted as I dragged everyone behind me, following the tall young man.  We were lead into one of the smaller cabins, but we weren't complaining.  There was a warm fireplace with a small, roaring fire.  The five of us immediately sat down in front of it to warm ourselves as the owner of the cabin chuckled.

"It does get pretty cold in this desert at night," the woman began, "... but I didn't think it got so cold that you guys would go straight to the fireplace after being welcomed into my abode."

"Oh!" I blushed as I stood up and bowed.  "Thank you for letting us in, um...?"

"You five may call me Gyuri," she interrupted with a smirk.  "Nice to meet you all."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you too, Gyuri-sshi!" My sister smiled as she curtsied.  "I'm Princess Han Seungyeon of the Han kingdom.  This is my sister, Princess Han Nicole." I waved as my sister pointed to me.  "The guy who's always frowning over there is Prince Nam Woohyun of the Nam kingdom." The ice prince grunted as he was introduced by my sister.  "And the guy who's always strumming his instrument over there is Kim Sunggyu, a troubadour."

Sunggyu smiled.  "How do you do, Gyuri-sshi?"

"And you met me before, Gyuri-noona." Jinwoon kissed one of Gyuri's hands.  I couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy that Jinwoon didn't give one of my hands a kiss when we were introducing ourselves...  "I'm the chivalrous freelancer, Jung Jinwoon."  Wait, but why am I feeling jealous?

Gyuri smirked as she took her hand from Jinwoon.  "In any case, all of you...  Did Jinwoon tell you this shelter came with a condition?"

"Yes..." Sunggyu's voice trailed off as his frown from earlier returned.  "He didn't tell us what the condition was though."

"That's because Nicole interjected for us to come here before I could say it." Jinwoon laughed as he lightly ruffled my short hair.

I pouted.  "Well, sorry for being overly excited..." I mumbled as Jinwoon continued to laugh.

"Haha, it's fine...  You're cute that way." He replied nonchalantly with a wink.  I felt myself flush until I noticed Woohyun making a gagging motion.  I walked up to him and smacked him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Woohyun rubbed his shoulder as he glared at me.

"Anyways, what's the condition?" Seungyeon questioned as she turned to look at Woohyun and me having a staring contest.

Gyuri's smirk faltered for a bit before she answered, "Don't leave this house again until sunrise."  The sun had just set and the town was now dark.  There wasn't a single light on in any of the other houses except for ours.  I gulped as she continued her warning.  "Jinwoon told me you guys were just looking for a place to stay for the night; I'm happy to oblige and allow you all to live here.  However, as soon as the sun comes up, you guys should leave right away."

"W-Why?" I stammered.

"It's better if you don't find out."

---

Woohyun's POV

After Gyuri's warning, she actually left the house herself...  Leaving the five of us alone to ponder her cryptic condition.

"This whole situation is starting to sound mighty suspicious..." Sunggyu mumbled to the left of me, halting the strumming of his lute.  If there was anything I knew after all the time I'd spent with him (time that made me want to let out a groan), it was that when he stopped playing, it meant a lot was on his mind.

"Well, Gyuri-noona's the only person who welcomed us into her home with open arms." Jinwoon stated casually.  "I don't think we have any other choice unless we want to camp outside in the cold, night desert."

"Jinwoon has a point." Nicole yawned.  "Anyways, I'm getting tired.  Let's pull out our sleeping bags and go to sleep."  Murmurs of agreement were heard through our circle before everyone had unrolled their sleeping bags.  Nicole and her sister slept upstairs in a spare room while the boys and I slept downstairs near the fireplace (Jinwoon closest to it, Sunggyu between us, and I sleeping nearest to the door).  Everyone else seemed to have fallen asleep while I lay there, tossing and turning.

"Hrrrmph," I inwardly groaned.  A lot had happened today, what with being forced onto this expedition to find Nicole's husband and there being magical kids who could teleport people...  I mentally made a list of all the occurences that had happened today, closing my eyes as I remembered.  I felt my eyelids get heavy when I heard the door open.  I closed my eyes.  It's probably just the lady who allowed us to stay here- Wait, what's that dripping sound I hear?

I opened one eye a crack to see that it wasn't Gyuri at all who had wondered in.  I felt my eyes widen in shock as I saw a freakishly large wolf stalk its way over to the three of us.  There was drool dripping from its mouth as it growled, feeling my eyes on it.  The wolf seemed to smile when it noticed me, however.  "My, my...  I come home and I see three delicious mortals waiting for me.  Mmmm~" The wolf its tongue as it spoke, making my eyes bug out of my head.

"What the fu-!"

My shouts were cut off as I was pounced on.

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Author's Note: Heheheh...  Cliffhanger! :D  Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome (as always) ^^