Silence enveloped the group, interrupted only by the second round of knocks on the door. Glancing pointedly at Lay for a few seconds before turning to the door, Luhan started towards the door with the intent to open it. At the same time Lay approached Eve and opened his mouth to say something before he was interrupted by the sound of voices at the door.

 

“Do you need something?”

 

Eve rolled her eyes at Luhan’s rude greeting to whoever was at the door.

 

“We have reason to believe that a suspicious being is currently located on this premises.”

 

“And?”

 

Eve’s eyes widened in panic, looking around to all the others scattered throughout the room before finally returning to Lay, who began speaking in whispers, attempting to keep the conversation between only the two of them.

 

“You should follow me.”

 

“Why?”

 

Without answering her question he turned away and walked further into the house, hearing the voices from the door once again she decided to trust Lay and began following after him.

 

“Suzerain Erebus wishes to have a word with them.”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

 

“Oh? And why is that?”

 

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, there is no ‘suspicious being’ here.”

 

“Is that so? Then we can come in? Just to be absolutely sure, Suzerain Erebus is not the most forgiving after all. We would hate to upset him.”

 

After a pause, Luhan continued.

 

“You and I both know I can’t refuse, although I don’t find it necessary.”

 

“Well I do. And like you said, there is nothing you can do about it.”

 

Stepping past him the group at the door, clearly distinguished as government supported abettors, made their way into the house, walking towards the room currently occupied by all of the other boys.

 

While this conversation had been going on Lay had been leading Eve to a different area of the house, eventually coming to a stop at a small door in the corner of one of the rooms. Opening the door he turned back to her, still whispering.

 

“Go through this door and just wait quietly until I come back to get you, okay?”

 

Hesitating, she peered into the small room located beyond the door.

 

“Why?”

 

“Just go in, unless you’d rather chat with the abettors.”

 

Hearing this she quickly entered the room, sitting on the ground and moving her fingers across her lips as if she were zipping it shut. Holding back a smile Lay closed the door before returning to the main room.

 

The abettors took their time looking around the room before realizing that the one they were searching for wasn’t present.

 

“You don’t mind if we look around the rest of the house do you?”

 

A smirk adorned his face as he turned to face Luhan once again. Scoffing, Luhan decided to leave his question unanswered. Grinning mockingly at the lack of response he lead the group around the rest of the house, Lay following behind in case they needed anything.

 

They made their way through the house slowly, taking the time to thoroughly observe every room. Eventually they found their way to the room containing the small door leading to Eve’s hiding place. Lay entered the room after the abettors, subtly positioning himself in front of the small door, hiding it from the group.

 

Hearing the footsteps approaching, Eve began to panic.

 

What if they give me to those men? I’m not exactly sure what their intentions are, but something tells me it would not end well for me. If they reveal my presence then they won’t get in trouble, and they have no reason to help me. But if they wanted to hand me over than why would they put me into this room? I hope they don’t discover me.

 

After taking his time looking around the room several times, he turned to Lay in order to inquire further.

 

“Are to sure there is nobody else in this house?”

 

“Why would anyone else be in the house?”

 

“Just answer the question straightforwardly, don’t answer it with another question.”

 

Gritting his teeth and glaring at the man before him, Lay paused for a moment before responding.

 

“Yes, I am sure that nobody else is in the house.”

 

“And there is no part of this house we haven’t been to, or you haven’t shown us?”

 

“That is correct. You have seen all parts of this house.”

 

“I see.”

 

After a moment of silence, the group remained unmoving. Lay eventually got tired of standing around.

 

“Unless you need anything else, we have other things to do today, and I’m sure you do as well.”

 

Turning his attention to Lay once more, the smirk slowly faded from his face.

 

“You’re right, we do have better things to do. Just know that we’ll be keeping an eye on you, so you’d better watch what you do.”

 

Without waiting for a response he lead the group back through the house and out the door, a loud slam the indicator of their departure.

 

After waiting a few minutes to be sure of their departure Lay made his way back to the door leading to where Eve was hiding. Slowly opening the door, he reached his hand out to help her.

 

“You can come out now, they’re gone.”

 

She glanced cautiously at his hand before slowly reaching out and taking his hand. Strengthening his grip on her hand he pulled her up from the floor and lead her back to the main room.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Lay opened his mouth to respond, his hand still grasping hers, but Chen spoke up before he could.

 

“You are all ing idiots. Why would you risk our lives just to protect some idiotic girl who doesn’t even know where she’s from?”

 

“Since when were you such a rule follower?”

 

Hearing Xiumin’s question Chen turned towards him.

 

“It’s not that I want to follow the rules, but I would rather not be killed because of someone I don’t even care about.”

 

“Chill, there was no reason for us to give her to them anyways.”

 

“Except for the fact that hiding her risks our lives, you are absolutely right! Why would we turn her over to the people that have almost complete control of our lives, even though they don’t exercise that power frequently? Hmm, I wonder.”

 

Hearing the other boys defending her made a strange feeling rise up in her chest, but she thought nothing of it and refocused on the argument in an attempt to ignore it.

 

“For all you know they would have killed us anyways! And what did she do to deserve death? As far as I can tell she is virtually harmless.”

 

“Virtually harmless? Oh that’s just great, because obviously that means that nothing bad could possible happen.”

 

“Calm the down Chen, I mean seriously, stop being such a little . It’s not that big of a deal. They didn’t find her, we’re still alive, so let it go already”

 

Before Chen could respond to that a familiar pain ripped through Eve’s body. A scream ripped from , startling the boys who looked at her as she fell to the ground, confusion clear on their faces. Lay rushed to her side, his hand resting on her shoulder.

 

“Eve? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

 

She gasped for breath, unable to respond due to the pain coursing through her veins.

 

“Eve?”

 

The boys all looked at her in confusion, none of them aware of what was happening.

 

She felt the pain increasing at a steady rate, becoming more and more unbearable as time passed until she eventually slipped out of consciousness.

 

The boys all began panicking as her screams got louder.

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

Tao’s question went unanswered as the gasps of shock escaped the lips of the others.

Glancing back to Eve’s body, curled up into the fetal position on the ground, he saw her slowly fading away. Just like she had appeared, she disappeared.

 

Opening her eyes as she came back to her senses she was shocked to see that she was now surrounded by darkness.

---

Hello~

"Be not afraid of going slowly, be only afraid of standing still."

I have decided that I really like Chinese proverbs. Also, I recently rediscovered my love for Edgar Allan Poe.

I had lots of time to write today in the Hospital, and I'll be there tomorrow too, so I might update again soon.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

~K