SKYE’S POV

"Thanks so much for all your help." Key smiled at Despair, standing next to me in the bright sunlight from the cave exit. Despair curled his tail around Key’s ankle, baring his teeth in a little smile.

"Come back anytime. Both of you are more than welcome." Despair said, smiling wider when I patted his head gently.

"Thank you. It was nice meeting you." I said, shouldering my pack. Despair, nodded, looking up at Key.

"Nice meeting you as well. Now be careful out there, Key. The Imugi have been rowdy as of late, I think they’re close by." Despair said warningly. Key shrugged, smiling and shaking his head.

"They don’t mean any harm." Key said confidently, guiding me out of the tunnel. I frowned, blinking hard in the harsh sunlight and stopping Key.

"What are Imugi?" I asked, looking around at the giant tangle of briar in front of us that stretched as far as I could see. "And how are we getting through here?"

"Imugi are totally harmless. And we’re just going to walk. I know the way."

An hour later, I was doubting both of Key’s statements. We were both tangled up helplessly in a thick patch of briars, unable to move. The plants seemed to move on their own, striving to curl around us and hold us in place with their deadly thorns. And the eerie laughter that seemed to follow us everywhere was not comforting in the least.

"Imugi are totally harmless, you say? You know the way, you say?" I said sarcastically, straining at my briar. Key sighed, shaking his head.

"It’s no good. We’ll just have to wait for someone to come by." Key said. I gave him a incredulous look, certain I was going to die in this awful briar patch with this talkative kitsune.

"Seriously? Who would willingly come into these awful woods? We’re going to die." I said. Key shook his head, smiling.

"No we won’t. The Imugi will come." Key said.

"Oh, and then we’ll die. Because they’re going to kill us!" I shrieked. Key shook his head, not even bothering to tell me what an Imugi was. A snort from above made me look up, and I gasped when I saw the two glowing gold eyes in the tree above me. The rest of the figure was cloaked in shadow, but the eyes glowed piercingly.

"Us? Kill you? Please." A disdainful voice sounded, and I jerked back as the shape dropped out of the tree above me.

The teenage boy straightened up, faded black jersey showing off his heavily muscled arms. He was Asian, with a handsome face and black styled hair. His gold eyes continued to smolder in his face, a smirk pulling his mouth up higher on one side as he tilted one hip.

"What are you doing in our briar patch?" he asked, crossing his arms and giving me a confidently smug stare, smirk still in place.

"Berry picking." I said sarcastically, wanting to smack that smirk out of place. This only made him chuckle, tilting his head to the side.

"You’re a long way from home." he said. Key finally piped up, straining at his thorns.

"Hey, brat! Stop trading pretty words with her and get your friends to get us out here!" Key said, showing another side of him...diva.

"Excuse me?" the Imugi said, giving Key a shocked look.

"Don’t test me, lizard-boy. Now, get!" Key said. The Imugi looked surprised, turning around with a sullen shrug and swinging back into the tree.

"Now do you feel like telling me what an Imugi is?!" I hissed at Key. He shrugged, watching the tree tops.

"They’re humans who have the ability to turn into dragons. They’re generally very kind and loyal, but the teenagers can be a little snotty. You just have to handle them right." Key rolled his eyes. A few seconds later, the trees shook with the weight of many more Imugis.

"Hold still, we’ll get you out." They dropped to the ground, some of them turning somersaults in the air. Another boy popped up in front of me, wearing a wide smile.

"Hi! I’m Hoseok, what’s your name?" Hoseok asked, opening his hand to reveal long silver talons. He cut through the briars restraining me quickly, helping me up with a smile.

"I’m Skye." I said, giving him a wary look. He never stopped smiling...

"Are you guys lost?" Another Imugi asked, tilting his head to the side. His hair was brown, stylishly messy with a slight curl to it, and a bandana tied around his head.

"No, but we need a place to stay the night." Key said. The Imugi nodded, smiling at us.

"You can stay with us, and Hoseok and Taehyung will help you through the briars tomorrow. I’m Yoongi." Yoongi smiled, shaking our hands.

"I’m Key and this is Skye." Key said. I nodded, and the Imugis went around introducing themselves. The sullen Imugi I first met was Jimin, and the orange-haired Imugi next to him was Taehyung.

"Namjoon, Jungkook and Seokjin are at home, so you can meet them later." Taehyung smiled. We both nodded, allowing them to lead us through the briar patch. I talked to Hoseok, listening to him tell me about he how he had recently stayed in a human town with Taehyung, working at burger joint. He was funny, just rambling on and on.

I saw a small pendant swinging on a chain on Hoseok’s neck, a milky blue ball that glittered in the light. I reached out to touch it, but found my hand in a strong lock. Hoseok let go of my hand immediately, giving me an apologetic look.

"Sorry, it’s instinct. Please don’t touch it." Hoseok said. I nodded, too shocked to do anything else, and noticed the others were also wearing the same pendant, but theirs were different colors. This was so weird.

CHANYEOL’S POV

"I’m tired." Chen said softly next to me. He was stumbling with exhaustion, and I knew how much he had tried not to complain. We had been walking for hours through the forest, and it was hard on his newly healed body.

"Come here, I’ll carry you." I offered softly. He shook his head, eyes half-closing, and kept walking. I looked around, realizing everyone was still having trouble keeping up. It was actually almost night anyway, and I signaled to Suho and Kris we should stop. They nodded, calling everyone to a halt.

"Do we have any food?" Jongin asked. Kyungsoo shook his head regretfully; we had to leave the food behind when we fled.

"Everyone, just try to sleep. Be careful though, I have a bad feeling about these woods." Kris muttered, looking around.

"I’ll watch." Baekhyun said. Kris nodded gratefully, and everyone soon dropped off to sleep.

BAEKHYUN’S POV

"Baekhyun." I turned, trying to see where the voice was coming from. "Baekhyun." I squinted in the dark, trying to figure out who would be calling my name.

"Hello?" I called, not wanting to wake the others.

"Baekhyun." A woman appeared in front of me, fading into sight. I jerked back, half-fading in my shock. "Baekhyun."

"Mom?" I said, my voice shaking. She nodded, smiling slightly.

"Follow me." My mother said, turning away. I nodded, walking into the woods with her.

CHANYEOL’S POV

I coughed, frowning at the tight feeling in my chest. I opened my eyes, blinded suddenly by stinging smoke. Heat flushed my face, making me sweat as I forced my eyes open. I froze in shock at what I saw, not able to think for a moment.

A ring of fire surrounded all of us, closing in rapidly. The flames roared, reaching up to the sky, and choking black smoke poured over our sleeping forms. I felt an instinctual panic flare up, but shoved it down quickly.

"Suho! Kris! Xiumin!" I yelled. Where the hell was Baekhyun?! I reached out my hands, fighting to take control of this fire, to force it away. It slipped through my fingers every time, my vision blurring and flickering.

"Suho! I need water!" I turned, shaking his shoulder. His eyes opened slowly, snapping open further as a spray of bullets darted over our heads. We all ducked, some of us waking up.

"Where’s the water?!" Suho asked, looking around frantically. We couldn’t see the hunters through the screen of fire, but bullets kept raining in at different times.

"Jongin! Wake up!" I shrieked, wanting him to flash the younger wolves out of here. He was slow to wake, moving sluggishly.

"Take Tao and Chen!" I said, instead wanting to get the injured wolves away first. Jongin nodded, coughing in the smoke, and struggling to get Tao and Chen. By now all of us were awake, Taeyang and Seunghyun struggling to control the fire.

"I can’t!" Jongin yelled, trying again to use his power. Xiumin and Suho were also struggling to control the fire, to freeze it.

Kris jumped up in the air, wings working furiously to keep him in the air. He plummeted back down, landing with a crash. He coughed, all of us affected by the thick black smoke. White tendrils of smoke crept through the black, stretching towards us.

"It’s wolfsbane!" Lu Han yelled, ducking under the bullets. I knew with a sickening feeling he was right, even as my chest constricted more. We were all going to die here, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

I watched helplessly as first Chen fell, then Tao and Yixing. Their injuries decreased their immunity to it, but other wolves soon followed them. Seunghyun’s clan, although not affected by wolfsbane, were choking and coughing from the smoke. Drowsiness dragged at me, pulling me down as darkness closed over my senses. I was going to die.

Omo! Hehe, I brought in some BTS too, because they’re awesome! And everyone who knows what an Imugi is, I put my own twist on it, so please don’t kill me! I hope you guys like it...

I don’t know, they’re something special about ghost stories...and the pack would be cool as ghost warriors! I think you’re going to like them flashing in everywhere.

Or I’m just messing with you again, like I did when Baekhyun died...they might live, they might not. The story could work either way...yes, I’m here to drive you guys crazy!

Please leave authornim a comment? Kamsamnida, saranghamnida~

-Sujin

<3