N watched as Sori, Kris, Hyuna, and Yuri separated themselves from everyone during lunch. Ever since his conversation with Luhan a few days ago, the four had been avoiding everyone. At first it had just been Luhan, but then their other friends had confronted them about it. Now, it was like the four had closed themselves off from everyone.

“I wonder what happened,” Hyuk commented, “they look pretty upset.” N nodded.

The six watched as Suho got up from his table and made his way over to the four. He got about half way before he stopped. Locking eyes with Yuri, the dragon let out a sigh before turning around and returning to his seat beside Lay. N wondered if maybe this was all because of his conversation with Luhan. But then, he hadn’t said anything to anyone, so how would Sori and the others even know about what Luhan had told him.

“Why did Suho turn around like that?” Ken asked, “I mean, that’s kind of weird, right?”

“One of Yuri’s gifts is telepathy,” Hongbin explained, “she probably told him to go away in his mind or something.”

Well, that explained how they would know about his conversation with Luhan.

“I’m going over there,” N declared. After all, this was kind of his fault. Luhan might be at fault for sharing information that wasn’t his to tell, but N had been there too.

“Sori?” N asked once he got close enough to the shifter, “Can I talk to you?”

She turned to face him and N took note of her current eye colour. Yellow. If he remembered Ravi’s words correctly, if a shifter’s eyes were yellow that meant they were mad. The idea to run and wait until she’d calmed down occurred to him, but N couldn’t leave it.

“Follow,” she finally nodded, getting up and walking away. Rushing to keep pace, N followed after her.

“What is it?” she said when the pair were outside.

“Please stop being mad at Luhan,” N bowed, “I made him tell me about everything. Well, sort of. I made him angry and he lashed out. So please stop being mad at him and everyone else.”

“That’s a bit high and mighty of you,” she scoffed, “you think you can tell me to stop being mad and it will just happen.”

“No, I don’t think that,” he replied, “but I know that Luhan is upset that you’re ignoring him. Same with everyone else. It’s not Luhan’s fault, it’s mine. So if you’re going to ignore someone than it should be me.”

“You don’t know what’s going on between me and the others,” she countered, “you’re assuming that I’m mad about what Luhan told me. How do you know that’s what’s caused this?”

“I don’t,” he admitted, “I assumed that was it.”

“Luhan had no right to tell you that,” she sighed, “how the supernatural world treats Kris, Yuri, Hyuna, and myself is none of your business.”

“I pushed him into it,” N defended the fae, “I got him angry and it just slipped out.”

“For someone who spends so much time manipulating other people’s emotion,” she let out a small, bitter laugh, “he’s not very good at controlling his own emotional state.”

“Please stop being mad at him,” he asked again, “he didn’t mean it.”

“You don’t understand,” she told him, “what Luhan said was something he never should have told you. Yes, you would have found out in time, but that would be much farther down the road.”

“I grew up in foster care, too,” he told her, “a few people tried to adopt me, but they always ended up sending me back. Eventually, they just stopped trying.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she replied, “but why are you telling me this?”

“I know something personal about you,” he shrugged, “so it’s only fair you know something personal about me. You’d probably find out about this later anyway.”

“Ah.” She nodded in understanding, letting him continue with what he wanted to say.

“The only people who’ve ever cared about me are the guys,” N added, “Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin, and Hyuk are like brothers to me. No one else has ever cared if I was alive or dead, but they care.”

“I share the same bond with Kris, Hyuna, and Yuri,” Sori told him, “no one ever wanted or cared about us, so we wanted and cared about each other. And then we came here.”

“People here care,” he agreed, “I kind of scares me.”

“It scares everyone who’s grown up like us,” she nodded, “Kris and I were so against that feeling of belonging when we first came. For a while, we thought things would end as they always did and we’d be alone again.”

“But that never happened,” he smiled slightly, “Baekhyun and a few of the others mentioned you’re planning to teach here.”

“Yes,” she nodded, “I want others to experience this place. Kids like you and myself. Kids like Lay. Kids like Hyoyeon. Kids like the Kim brothers and Heesun.”

“Kids like Luhan?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded, “kids like Luhan.”

“So kind hearted,” a male voice spoke and N felt a chill, “such a kind heart for someone who pretends to be so cold.”

His ghost was back.

“Ghost?” Sori asked, noticing the cold herself.

“Such a smart girl,” N turned to find the ghost smiling fondly at Sori, “so smart. So powerful.”

“Who are you?” N asked, remembering Minji’s suggestion about how to find out the ghost’s identity.

“Does that matter?” the ghost asked, turning to face him. N took a moment to be thankful that his ghost looked very much alive this time. He wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing the ghost covered in blood again.

“I think it does,” N nodded, “do you remember your name?”

“I don’t recall,” the man frowned, “I don’t remember anything. Just that danger is coming to Dark Lake Academy.”

“Tell him to answer something simple,” Sori suggested, reminding N that she was still there beside him, looking between him and the place she assumed the ghost was standing, “something as simple as getting him to remember his favorite colour could help him gather his thoughts.”

“Such the smart girl,” the ghost smiled at Sori again, “no wonder she’s the talk of our kind.”

“Our kind?” N asked, “you’re a shifter? Or are you another type of supernatural?”

“Am I?” the ghost’s smile faded into a look of confusion, “I can’t remember being a shifter. But that sounds right. I don’t know why, but I think that’s what I am.”

“That’s good,” N smiled slightly himself, “you remember something about yourself. Can you remember your name?”

“No,” the ghost frowned, “I can’t recall anything.”

“Ask him about this danger then,” Sori said, figured the frown on N’s face meant the ghost couldn’t answer his question.

“Right,” he nodded before turning to the ghost again, “What is this danger you keep talking about? Is it an illegal gang? Or something else.”

“Not a gang,” the ghost looked thoughtful as if trying to remember himself, “not like the normal ones. This group is nothing like them. They want something else, something the gangs don’t want. But I don’t know what it is that they want.”

“You’ve mentioned that someone will die,” Sori asked the ghost directly once N had relayed the ghost’s last answer, “do you know who? Can you give us some idea so we can protect them?”

“I don’t remember who,” the ghost said, suddenly looking panicked, “I thought I knew, but now I can’t remember. They told me who they wanted dead. Why can’t I remember their name?”

“Who told you?” N asked, “how do you know who is going to die?”

“The people who are coming told me,” the ghost suddenly got a look of realization on his face, “they’re the ones who killed me. They ripped me apart because they knew I was going to tell Dark Lake about them. They didn’t think I would stick around, they thought I would cross over before I could tell anyone. They killed me so I couldn’t protect the one they want dead.”

The ghost’s face started to morph back into the bloody mess from before and N quickly covered his face.

“What happened?” Sori turned N to face her, pulling his hands away from his face when she felt the chill start to fade, “what did he tell you?”

“The people who are coming are coming to kill someone here,” N told her, shivering slightly in fear, “they killed him so he couldn’t warn us, so he couldn’t protect the person they’re going to kill.”

“Don’t worry,” Sori comforted him, “I’m not going to let anyone here die.” N nodded, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was going to make good on her word.

A/N: fingers crossed that Sori and the others will all make up in the next chapter.