Everything was fine until N headed out of his bedroom.

He’d been sitting alone on his bed, thinking about how his day had gone. Most of his time with Minji and Sehun had been spent going over the guidelines of talking to ghosts. Stuff like ‘never promise a ghost you’ll do something for them’ and ‘never let a ghost take over your body.’ While hearing this had been helpful, it wasn’t the type of help he’d been looking for.

Then there was what happened with the shape shifter class. Minji had just sat down at his table when Jihu had called out that there was something wrong. She’d taken off running and Sehun had been right behind her. Not knowing what else to do, he’d followed. He still didn’t know what to make of Sori standing up for Ravi like she’d done. Sehun said that she’d only done it because Miss Choi shouldn’t have talked to a student that way, but N still felt the need to thank her for doing what she’d done.

So he’d headed out, planning to find her.

And that was when everything went wrong.

He’d only just made it into the common area of the dorm room when he felt a cold chill. Knowing it wasn’t the air conditioner, he looked around for the ghost who’d decided to show up. Sure enough, standing on the other side of the room stood his ghost, looking out the window across the campus. Dressed in a business suit and holding a briefcase, it was no wonder N had thought this guy was a living, breathing person at first.

“What do you want?” N asked the ghost.

Minji said that ghosts always wanted to do something – deliver a message, correct a past wrong, or help someone they loved when they were alive – and that it was important to find out what it was. That thing they wanted was what was keeping them from crossing over. Once they’d gotten their unfinished business taken care of, they’d go and leave the ghost whisperer – in this case N – alone.

“Danger is coming,” the ghost said, not looking away from the window, “it’s coming fast.”

“What kind of danger?” N asked again, trying to sound brave even though he was terrified. Why did this have to be his gift? Why couldn’t it be Hyuk’s gift? Or maybe Leo’s? Either one could handle seeing the dead better than he could.

“Someone will die if you aren’t careful,” the ghost replied, slowly turning around to face him.

When N could finally see the ghost’s face, he fell trying to back away as a scream erupted from him. Before, the ghost had looked completely normal, but now it – he – was covered it blood. He’s face was cut in several places and his left eye was completely gone, nothing but an empty socket where an eye once sat. A long, deep cut ran across he’s neck and blood kept flowing out, running down his neck and staining the collar of his shirt.

His shirt was torn from countless stab wounds and the once white material was painted red. One of his arms looked like someone had tried to chew if off just above the elbow, leaving nothing by half eaten flesh and bone behind. Blood ran down from the wound, dripping off his fingertips onto the floor. One of his legs had received a similar treatment. His right leg looked almost the same as his arm except for the fact that a few of the bones showing were cracked or had parts that had been broken off.

“What’s wrong?” Kris yelled, rushing out of his own bedroom to figure out why N had screamed. Looking around he found nothing, but then he felt the cold chill that signaled the appearance of a ghost.

“Hyung?” Leo asked, rushing to N’s side. Luhan followed closely, taking N’s hand and trying to calm the other boy’s emotions.

“Danger is coming to Dark Lake,” the ghost said as he started to vanish, “be careful or someone you care about will die.”

“Someone will die,” N whispered, his fear remaining despite Luhan’s attempts to calm him down, “danger is coming.”

“I’ll get Minji,” Kris said before rushing out of the room.

“What happened?” Hyuk asked, running into the room a few moments later with Taeyang, Ravi, and Hongbin close behind.

“We heard N hyung scream,” Ravi’s explanation did little to remove the confused look from Leo’s face. After all, their rooms weren’t that close together – Hongbin and Ravi were several rooms away and Hyuk and Taeyang’s room was on a different floor altogether. How could they have heard N scream?

“Werewolf-Vampire-Shifter hearing,” Hyuk, Taeyang, and Ravi said at once. Leo nodded, now understanding that those three species must have super hearing or something like that.

“What happened?” Hongbin asked again, moving to help Luhan.

“Ghost,” Luhan explained, “something about someone dying and danger coming.”

Hongbin and Ravi shared a look. Wasn’t that the same warning that Sehun had mentioned his ghost giving him? Well, Sehun’s ghost had said that death was coming, but it was still pretty close. Close enough to cause concern.

A few minutes later, Minji arrived with Kris. Even though she was trying to catch her breath – Kris was fine – she didn’t even pause as she rushed to N’s side.

“What did you see?” she asked him in the calmest voice she could manage.

“My ghost,” N’s voice trembled as he tried to explain, “He was all cut up. There was so much blood—.” Minji cut him off by pulling him into a hug.

“What happened?” N heard Sori’s voice. He kind of hoped that she hadn’t heard him scream, too. It was bad enough that around half of the boy’s dorm had heard him. If the girls in the other dorm had heard him, then he’d be an even bigger freak then he already was.

“Ghost,” Kris whispered to Sori, “how’d you hear?”

“I didn’t,” she shrugged, “I was on my way to Minji’s office when I saw her run in here with you.”

“Think you can help me get everyone out?” the dragon asked, “I think N needs some time alone with Minji.”

“Right,” she nodded before the pair started pulling everyone else out. N made a mental note to thank the both of them for that when he next saw them.

“Alright,” Minji smiled kindly once everyone else was gone, “why don’t you tell me everything.”

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, N recounted everything that he remembered. Watching her face, he noticed how troubled Minji looked when he told her what the ghost had said. Something about that look told him that this wasn’t the first time she’d heard such a warning.

“Why did this ghost pick me?” N asked, “Why do I have to have this power?”

“They say only the purest souls receive this kind of a gift,” Minji shrugged, taking a seat beside him, “because not everyone is capable of doing what a ghost whisperer has to do. Helping the souls of the dead is never easy, it takes someone with a very kind heart to do it.” Truth be told, hearing that did kind of make him feel a little bit better.

“So why did this ghost pick me?” he sighed, “why not someone else?”

“Ghosts rarely attach themselves to random people,” she told him, “generally, they’re ghosts of people we were close to or that someone close to us was close to. For example, the ghost of my mother appeared to Sehun a few years ago after she died and the ghost of an old friend of mine once appeared to me. Now if you find the ghost, that’s another story.”

“So my ghost was close to someone I know?” N clarified, “but I’ve described him to Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin, and Hyuk and they don’t know him.”

“Maybe he knows someone from here?” Minji suggested, “It’s possible that he knew what you are and that you’d end up here.”

“It’s a bit of a stretch,” he frowned, “but that does sound possible. How would I even find out if someone here knows him? I can’t just run around asking everyone if they know someone who matches this guy’s description. They’ll think I’m an even bigger freak then I already am.”

“You aren’t a freak,” she told him, “and no one here thinks that. As for finding out who your ghost is, have you asked him for his name?”

“No,” N frowned, “do you think that will help?”

“Maybe,” she nodded, “at the very least it will make talking to him easier. Ghosts who die violent deaths are often very confused and as a result they have trouble giving messages that make sence. Knowing their name, knowing something about them, helps to keep their thoughts straight. It’s like an anchor.”

“So should I be worried about his message?” he asked, feeling a bit calmer now that he’d talked things out with the nymph.

“Maybe,” Minji sighed, “my current ghost gave me a similar warning, as did Sehun’s ghost. Even the ISBIP thinks something is wrong, that’s why they have their agents around. The only question is what this danger is.”

“Do you think the ghosts will be able to tell us?” N wondered aloud.

“Maybe,” she nodded, “but I just hope that it won’t be too late.” Looking at her student, Minji returned to her normal cheerful self, “but right now it’s late and you should go to bed. I’ll go fetch your roommates and anyone else who’s still awake. Tomorrow is another big day and we’ll need our sleep.”

“Goodnight,” N nodded, getting up and heading for his room, “and thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” she smiled, “and please tell your friends to stop by my office when they get the change, I want to make sure they like things here so far.”

“Sure,” N nodded.

A/N: awww, poor N. I’m sure I’d be pretty freaked out in his place. this chapter is a little early, i had to change my update schedule becuase i'm visting my grandmother this sunday and i'm not going to be able to post anything that day. thus, this counts as saterday's update and the chapter i post tomorrow counts as the sunday update.