***

The warm glow of the fireplace was a welcome light in the darkness of the mansion. With the power outage, Baekhyun and Chanyeol took it upon themselves to ensure that the parlor was properly lit. It was probably the only room in Suho’s house that had light. 

We all huddled around the fireplace to get warm, while Suho went to get blankets and to check on his brother. Chen was staring out the window where the storm had slowly started to quiet down, but he balled his fists from time to time when the lightning struck, almost as if he was trying to figure out where the storm had come from. 

Lay was checking on D.O. who was absolutely worn out from building an entire dam, with Xiumin lying beside him. Those guys worked hard. All of them had. 

“Here, noona,” Sehun said quietly, standing beside me to hand me a cup of hot tea. 

“Thank you, Sehunnie,” I murmured, warming my hands. He smiled at me and walked over to Lay, waiting until he had replenished Xiumin’s energy before handing him a cup of tea as well. There was a slight tremble in Lay’s fingers when he reached out for it, but I wasn’t fooled by the smile on his face. I pursed my lips and looked at my hands, the memory of using them to control water still fresh in mind. I looked at Lay again and nodded to myself. 

Carefully, I set down the cup of tea on a nearby table and walked over to him. 

“Oh, Jae-yah? Something wrong? Do you need more healing?” Lay asked, putting his drink down and getting off the floor. I shook my head and pushed him back down, though I was wondering whether I should be doing this. 

I had to practice, right?

“Sit still a moment, okay?” I asked him and he blinked at me. 

What’s next? How did I connect to Suho? 

“What are you doing, Jae?” Kris asked, looking curiously our way. 

“Um, I wanna try this,” I replied vaguely, clearing my mind. I had connected with Lay before so this shouldn’t be so hard, but consciously thinking about this made everything feel difficult. I sighed out of frustration and tried to focus. 

“Noona, is something wrong?” Tao asked this time, but I shook my head. Lay only stared at me, a small smile on his face as if he knew very well what I was trying to do and was patiently waiting for me. 

Before I connected to Suho, I had the sensation of floating through water. I saw a memory that belonged to him. It was as if my power had evolved somehow. When I connected to Luhan and Tao, I didn’t even had a clue- they were the ones that told me about it. But with Baekhyun and Lay- I saw their memories, felt what they felt, though I still didn’t really know what I was doing. Maybe it was just a spur of the moment thing with Suho, maybe adrenaline and a sense of urgency made it easier for me to take the reigns and control this thing. Or, maybe, just maybe, I was learning how to get stronger. Learning how to develop my power. 

I sat in front of Lay and carefully grabbed his hands, startling when I was met by protests. 

“Yah, noona, what are you doing?” Sehun pouted. 

“My hands are warmer, you know, noona,” Chanyeol added.

I ignored them all, of course, trying not to notice Lay looking shy and flustered, nor that I was feeling the same way. I took a deep breath and suddenly felt a pleasant warmth spreading out inside of me. I heard the sweet sound of a violin playing, and I caught sight of a white dove taking flight into the clear blue sky. I smiled at Lay as he beamed back at me, and we both looked down at our entwined hands as a warm light was emitted from my palms, spreading over to Lay. It was like the glow was some kind of searchlight, looking for his injuries, his fatigue, and healed them all. 

It was great to see the direct effect on Lay. Had he looked particularly pale and exhausted a moment ago, he know looked refreshed and there was a healthy glow to his skin. This is awesome. 

“Ohh,” Lay cooed, giving out a chuckle. “Thank you, Jae-yah. You’re learning fast,” he complimented as he rolled his shoulders. 

“Am I? I hope so, I still don’t really feel like I know what I’m doing,” I rambled. “Did it work?” I asked him and Lay nodded instantly. 

“Like a charm. Thank you,” he said again. “It’s nice to be the one getting healed for once,” he grinned. 

“Well, it was my pleasure,” I smiled back, looking at my hands again. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe this was part of me that the wolf wanted to wake up?

“You’re gaining control of your abilities. That’s a good sign,” D.O. remarked, with a nod of the head. 

“Yeah, though I don’t know quite how…” I bit my lip. 

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll learn along the way and then you’ll find out what makes you tick. Once you do, it’ll be smooth sailing- hopefully,” Luhan elaborated, ruffling up his droopy, wet hair.   

“It’s a good thing you came out to find us, noona,” Tao then interjected, curled up on the couch, wrapped in blankets. “We’re sorry that we disappeared,” he apologized ruefully. 

Right, I’d nearly forgotten that I was upset about that and that I wanted to give the boys hell for doing that to me. But, honestly, now that we were all together again, I wasn’t even bothered anymore. 

“Don’t worry about it, Tao. Water under the bridge- no pun intended,” I chuckled nervously. “Just don’t do that to me again, huh?” I said, directing myself to everyone. 

“Promise,” Kris answered with a gummy smile. 

We looked up when Suho entered the room with extra blankets, a serious look of contemplation on his face. 

“How’s your brother, hyung?” Chanyeol asked. 

Suho scoffed. “Asleep in his room. I used to think he was kidding when he said he could easily sleep through a storm, but I guess he was telling the truth all along,” he regaled, handing out the blankets. “The storm caused a massive power outage though. I think the whole island is suffering a blackout. The phone isn’t working and I only got minimal reception on my cell,” he added. 

“Good thing the storm is starting to lay down then,” Xiumin muttered while looking at his smartphone. It didn’t seem like he had a solid reception either. 

“Where did it even come from, though?” Chen suddenly piped up, turning away from the window to look at us. “It’s like there’s something not right with the world and Mother Nature is acting out because of it.” 

“Last night-,” D.O. mused quietly, “The earth didn’t feel well. Weakened, as if something was absorbing its strength. You think it’s connected?” 

“That’s right. The plants I tried to heal wouldn’t heal completely, either,” Lay nodded in concern. “That never happened before.”  

“Do you think it has something to do…with us?” Baekhyun proffered quietly, for once looking serious and sober instead of his usual playful self. 

As the boys started discussing amongst each other, I couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding again. Though this time, I was strangely reminded by the white wolf and what it had told me in my- dream? Vision? Vision, I guess. Sheesh. 

What happened to that world again? The wolf warned me… Exo planet, that was its name. Exo. That world was utterly destroyed and devoid of any life form, a fate, the white wolf said, that would await this world as well, unless I would ‘wake up’. What if it was right to warn me? What if that freaky storm was only a warning for worse things to come? 

“The ghost wolf,” I muttered, but apparently it was loud enough for the boys to pick up on and their conversation quieted down. I swallowed when all eyes were on me. “That’s what I wanted to tell all of you last night, why I asked you to come meet me. When I passed out, I was dreaming- well, I think it was a dream -, anyway, the white wolf was there.” 

I told them. Just about everything. I told them about the lost Exo planet, which the white wolf once called its home. I told them how it lead me to a pool of blood and its history. I told them everything about the black snake and the white snake and how that world was utterly destroyed. Somewhere along the way I had expected them to laugh in my face, but none of them did. They hung on my every word, listened to each sentence carefully as it flew out of my mouth. They looked over my notes as I grabbed them from my backpack, paying special attention to the Tree of Life and passing down the picture I drew of the dagger as if each of them were trying to memorize it after I said that I thought it was important. 

Maybe I was flooding them with a truckload of information and wild theories, but they kept quiet all this time, patiently letting everything sink in and letting me do all of the talking until I finished. 

“I don’t know what all of this means, but I think everything is a puzzle piece and we just have to try and make sense of it all. Plus, what the ghost wolf told me sounded important, so maybe that’s where we should start,” I said, taking a deep breath as though I hadn’t been breathing properly all this time that I was explaining everything to them. 

“Wake up and find the heart…” Suho mused. “I don’t understand,” he murmured, pacing about the room. 

“Welcome to the club,” I quipped dryly. 

“Why do you think the ghost wolf would choose Jae to tell her all of this?” D.O. suddenly wondered out loud, looking around. “I mean no offense of course, but we’ve been wolves longer than you’ve been one. It could have come and told us all of this as well, especially since we’ve been searching for a reason to us being like we are in the first place. So, why you? Why now?” 

D.O. made a valid point, but I had no answer for him. 

“I don’t know. It would make more sense if it chose any of you. I don’t even know how I got to be a part of the pack, considering that I don’t have memories about you like you have of each other,” I noted, feeling a little bit sad. 

“Maybe that’s exactly the reason why the wolf chose you, somehow?” Kris tried, but it was obvious that he was just as confused as the rest of us. 

“What did it mean with ‘wake up’, though? You told me that it had said that before, the first time you saw it. Do you remember?” Luhan suddenly interjected and I frowned at him. 

“I…I did?” I asked. 

“Yeah, don’t you remember? You said that during the attack, it was telling you to wake up. We thought at the time that the wolf may not have been talking about you specifically, but about something else. It stormed heavily that day, too,” Luhan elaborated and my eyes widened in recognition. 

“You’re right. It said it before,” I nodded. “And I still don’t know what it means. Maybe it has something to do with my abilities somehow? Maybe the wolf wanted me to properly learn how to control it or just to use it, in general?” 

“What about your memories, Jae?” Xiumin suddenly asked, blinking as it quieted down again with everyone looking at him. He swallowed and fidgeted with his sleeves. “Any new developments in that area? I mean, I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been getting new memories, as if something is starting to wake up inside of me as well,” he started. 

“You mean the new memories we got that night at Jae’s place?” Luhan asked. 

“Yes and no,” Xiumin replied, looking at me. “We’ve had the same memories for years- until you showed up,” he told me. “Maybe that means something? Maybe the reason why the ghost wolf is telling Jae to wake up is because she’s the key to unlocking our memories?” 

Xiumin looked at us, but when there came no immediate reaction he scratched the back of his neck and shied away. “I could be wrong, of course- um, never mind,” he murmured, looking at the floor.

“No, no, I think that actually makes sense,” Suho spoke up, supporting Xiumin’s theory, but my eyes went wide. 

“It…does?” I asked. 

“Well, let’s face it, Jae, a lot of things have been happening since you got to the island. Maybe this is, I don’t know- fate?” Suho interjected, still pacing around. 

“But have you forgotten that I don’t have memories of you?” I reminded them. “How can I be a key of anything if there’s very little for me to go on to begin with?” 

“How do you explain us getting new memories since you got here? What if your ability to connect to us, to reflect, has something to do with it?” Suho then suggested, garnering voices of assent from the others. I even found myself contemplating that possibility because, hey, what other explanation would there be? 

“That’s putting a lot of pressure on Jae, don’t you think?” D.O. remarked.

“It’s not a matter of putting any pressure on anyone, D.O.,” Suho replied calmly. “We’re trying to figure this out, right? I mean, we can’t just ignore the fact that the ghost wolf chose Jae specifically and told her to wake up.” 

“And to find the heart,” Chanyeol added, looking at the picture I drew of the dagger. “What do you think it meant with that?” 

“Isn’t there some kind of way to ask the wolf?” Chen wondered, but I shook my head. 

“It said that it didn’t have enough energy left,” I frowned as I thought about its words. Why would it say that? “I don’t think it’ll be able to show up and help. I think it’s something that it wanted me to do on my own.” I sighed and watched as Sehun grabbed the picture from Chanyeol’s hands to stare at it. He tilted his head as he looked at the dagger. He looked so pensive. 

“What if-,” he started quietly. 

“What if, what if, what if! There’s too much of ‘what if’!” Tao complained, interrupting Sehun. “The ghost wolf told Jae-noona that the world is ending unless she wakes up and finds the heart. Doesn’t that part concern any of you? Look at that storm! And the earthquakes! Don’t even get me started on that creepy woman from last night! I don’t want to hear ‘what if’, I want to know how we can help stop this, and how we can help Jae-noona wake up,” he stated firmly. Despite the direness of the situation and Tao’s manner of speech, I was able to smirk when I looked at him. 

“That’s what we’re doing, Taozi,” I said seeing him calm down when I used his nickname. “We need to be sure before we make our next move. If what the ghost wolf is saying is true, about the world being in danger and all that jazz, then we have to be careful. We can’t make any rash decisions or make any mistakes.”

“But we don’t even know what it means with finding the heart,” Tao started. “And how are you supposed to wake up? You’re already awake…” 

“Well maybe if you let people finish what they want to say instead of interrupting them like a rude panda, you wouldn’t have had to ask that question,” Sehun spoke up, slightly agitated. 

“Whatcha got, Sehunnie?” Luhan inquired as the maknae turned his attention towards us, pointing at the picture of the dagger in his hand. 

“I was saying, what if,” he emphasized just to irk Tao, “this is what the ghost wolf meant, somehow?” 

“That dagger?” Baekhyun piped up incredulously. “That’s not a heart,” he dismissed, but earned a scowl and a derisive clack of the tongue from Sehun. 

“Honestly, hyung, look closer,” he stated, pointing at the hilt I had drawn. “What does that look like to you?” he asked Baekhyun specifically, while Chen’s eyes widened at the realization as he looked over Baekhyun’s shoulder. 

“That’s a-,” Chen pointed. 

“Heart,” Sehun nodded, smoothing over his platinum blonde locks, looking a little smug. “How could none of you not have notice it, hyungs?” he taunted a little. “Remember my memory? Luhan-hyung showed me a silver object, and he said that it was important somehow. I don’t know what it is, but it has a heart. I don’t know how we’re supposed to wake up Jae-noona, but we can at least try and find this,” Sehun stated, smirking. 

It was silent after Sehun gave his explanation, everyone taking in what he had just said. I chuckled quietly as I looked at Sehun since I admittedly didn’t even think about the heart I had drawn on the dagger. Could it have been that simple? Was that what the ghost wolf meant? What else was there? 

“I think Sehun might be-,” 

“Ridiculous! That’s a dagger, not a heart, Sehun,” Tao interrupted me. “Just because it has a heart on it, doesn’t mean that is what the ghost wolf meant. Jae-noona, tell him,” he urged, as I was taken aback when the attention was placed on me. 

“Actually, I was going to say that Sehun might have a point. I remember seeing that dagger because my father had brought it home one day. I haven’t seen it since, but I think E.T. Corp is working on it, or with it,” I told him, while Sehun looked like he was about to do a victory dance. 

“Ha! See, noona says so, I was- wait. What? E.T. Corp?” he questioned. 

“The dagger is in possession of E.T. Corp?” Suho asked and I nodded. 

“I told you that, didn’t I?” I bit my lip at seeing the smudged drawing. “You know, I think Mr. Tabi is working on a project involved with that dagger. He recognized it,” I said, remembering very well how the teacher told me that the dagger was E.T. Corp property and that my father could get into trouble… Oh man, if that dagger really was what the ghost wolf meant, we had a big problem…

“You showed Mr. Tabi the drawing?!” Suho asked, perplexed. 

“What? No! It fell from my bag and he saw it, that’s all,” I assured. “What do you think? Could the dagger be the heart the wolf told me to look for?” I asked the leader and Suho sighed as he looked at the dozen pair of eyes staring at him. Before he answered, he paced around again, pursing his lips and furrowing his brow in deep thought. 

“I don’t know,” he started. “I mean, what else is there?” he gazed around the room, glancing at Kris, who cleared his throat as if Suho just signaled something towards him. 

“Well, it sounds like it would make sense. I mean, if E.T. Corp is involved-,” Kris noted. 

“But what would E.T. Corp have to do with it, hyung?” Chanyeol asked. 

“That woman works there, doesn’t she?” Kai remarked with a scowl, touching his chest. 

“Could she know about the dagger?” Chen wondered, sitting up. 

“It’s possible,” I started, thinking how that woman worked closely with my father. But what did she have to do with any of this? She knew something about us, that’s for sure— wait a minute. What if she knew so much about us because she possesses the dagger? That thought alone rendered me nauseous, but hopeful at the same time. If that was the case, then it would mean that the dagger might very well be the heart the ghost wolf wanted me to find. 

“If that dagger is nothing important, then why does E.T. Corp have it? What would a company that’s focused on scientific research and innovations want with a plain dagger?” I asked, looking at the boys. 

“But what is that dagger? What makes it so important in the first place? It’s a heart? Heart to what?”  D.O. asked, looking as though he wanted the answers fast and he wanted them now. There was another unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought of a response. 

“We won’t know unless we find it,” I said quietly, looking at the boys. 

“What are you saying? You want to ask your dad to borrow the dagger? Come on, Jae, he wouldn’t consent to that,” Suho dismissed. 

“I never said I’d ask my father, now did I?” I replied, seeing the frown of confusion on Suho’s face turn into sheer panic as he read in my eyes what I was suggesting- how crazy and insane it may be. 

“Jae…?!” he started warningly and I swallowed. 

“The dagger is in E.T. Corp, right?” I started, shrugging while looking at Suho who knew exactly what I was thinking of without us having to communicate. The others simply switched gazes as they tried to understand what we were talking about. 

“Jae, forget it,” Suho said sternly. “I won’t allow it!” 

“Won’t allow what?” Baekhyun asked, looking at us curiously. 

“What else do you want to do? You’ve a better option?” I shot back as Suho groaned, shaking his head fiercely. 

“Anything but this. This is insane!” 

“What is?!” Chen piped up in frustration. 

“Look, you want answers, don’t you? I do, too!” I continued, ignoring the others. “If the dagger turns out to be the key to everything, wouldn’t that alone be worth the risk?” I asked, trying my best to make a point. “The wolf told me to find the heart. That dagger has a heart. Maybe the answers will come if we have the dagger,” I urged, but I could tell that Suho was not yet entirely convinced. 

“Regardless. I cannot allow it, Jae. It’s too dangerous- not to mention illegal,” he reminded me and I sighed as the silence fell in the parlor. Wood snapped and crackled within the burning fireplace and for that tense moment it was the only sound we heard. 

“Um, Lu-ge, how about some more elaboration?” Lay asked his older brother quietly and so very gently that it hardly broke the silence in the room. Luhan blinked a moment before catching on to what Lay asked of him and he nodded. The moment he turned his bright doe-eyes at me, I sent him a glare that immediately changed his mind and he turned to Suho instead. 

Unlike me, Suho had no problem making eye contact with Luhan, the two of them having an intense staring contest before Luhan gasped slightly as realization dawned on him. 

“Oh…” he mused, his dry lips as he stared at me in disbelief and mild amusement. “Well. ,” he chuckled. 

“What is it, Luhan-hyung?” Kai inquired curiously for once. 

Luhan chuckled again and shook his head. “I think Jae should explain, but something tells me you might like it, Kai,” he mused. 

I crossed my arms across my chest as I directed myself towards Suho once more. “I’m not demanding that you come with me. I can try and do this alone,” I said stubbornly to which the leader scoffed. 

“You’d be an idiot to think any of us would allow that,” he breathed in exasperation. “There has to be another way,” he insisted. 

“There isn’t. Not one that’s fast enough, anyway,” I replied. 

At this point, Kris got up from the floor and took a deep breath, riddled with frustration. “Alright, alright, can one of you just tell the rest of us what the heck you’re talking about already?” he demanded. “Jae?” he called, waiting for an explanation. 

I took a deep breath before answering, since I was very well aware of how fantastically foolish my idea sounded. But really, what other option did we have? 

“We need the dagger, right? That dagger is important somehow. It could very well lead us to the answers we’re looking for,” I started. 

“Right, but the dagger belongs to E.T. Corp,” Baekhyun added as I nodded. 

“Guess we’ll have to remedy that little fact,” I suggested subtly, hoping that the rest would catch on. They didn’t. 

“What are you saying, noona?” Kai asked, a surprising twinkle in his eyes as he peeled himself from the wall to get closer. Well, at least one of them was intrigued. 

“I’m saying that we should find the key that could potentially unlock every secret, and holds all the answers,” I stated as innocently as possible. 

“Tell them how,” Luhan sounded way too amused to my taste. 

I grimaced, but straightened myself, standing my ground. “I suggest we borrow the dagger from E.T. Corp- without necessarily asking for it,” I muttered a little nervously, smiling brightly at the group of baffled boys. 

“You- we…what?” Kris stammered very intelligently. 

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “If we want to find the heart, we have to get it from E.T. Corp,” I emphasized, casting each of them a grave look which I hoped also would communicate determination as I finished my sentence with a gut-wrenching sense of terrible realization. But my mind was set. This was the path I was meant to take all along, and I suppose the ghost wolf guided me here. There was no turning back now. The only way left was forward- no matter how terrifying that was. 

I took another deep breath and nodded with only slightly wavering confidence, looking all of them in the eyes as I uttered those terrible, necessary words (get ready for the dramatic ‘dun dun duuun’! Ai-ah…); 

“We have to steal the dagger from E.T. Corp.”  

Dun dun duuun- whoop there it is...