Chapter 13

My clock necklace was in the same place where I last left it. Behind the door, the lights leading down the staircase were lit. What made me confused is how they light up? Maybe one of the Fire wielding Original’s made it that whenever someone entered the entrance, they would light up. I had a hunch that this was Clara’s way of escape to their hideout.

I got to the door, but stopped short in my tracks when I saw P-Goon and Jenissi already sitting at the Odilem. Ducking low behind the little windows, I leaned against the railing, trying not to look down at the ground below. Although it wasn’t that far of a fall, it still made me nervous. I was lucky enough not to put my ear by the door because both of their voices echoed out from behind the door.

“Now before we get to my subject… Would you like to explain to me what happened in third period?” Jenissi’s voice was stern, and it felt like he was going to give him a speech. “You just panicked about something and left with Trinity. Although I understand why you would bring her with you.”

“It’s true that I panicked.” P-Goon sighed and I could tell he answered as if he wasn’t sure that he wanted to admit it.

Remember, P-Goon, you are strong.

“But the reason we’re here isn’t about me.”

“Avoiding the subject?” There was a tone of disappointment in Jenissi’s voice.

“I’d rather just manage what is going on with me on my own.” P-Goon was straight forward with his statement.

“Now, P-Goon, I understand that you want to do things on your own, but sometimes leader’s need a little help here and there.”

“I don’t want it!” I jumped a bit when P-Goon’s voice boomed and echoed around the walls. Taking a peek inside the room, I saw P-Goon standing up with his chair lying on the floor. Jenissi, who was taking this situation quite calmly, looked up at him and nodded. “Sorry.” P-Goon picked up his chair and sat back down, putting a hand to his forehead. “It’s just that I…someone told me that I’m…you know what nevermind.”

A little smile came across my face. So he did hear what I told him. Well, maybe my words not just helped him, but also helped our relationship. Jenissi nodded and held up his hands.

“Ok, you want to do it on your own, and I understand.” It was still weird seeing Jenissi, the oldest in the group and was-to-be leader, listen to and guide P-Goon throughout leadership. “Now, you’re wondering why I brought you here. Well, first things first. We have to talk about the girl.”

“What about her?” P-Goon asked.

“Well, for one thing, she’s awfully powerful. What she did this morning at practice with you, I can tell you, wasn’t forced.”

“How do you know for certain?” P-Goon asked. “I saw it in her eyes when she was concentrating. She was trying to force her powers. Trinity wanted to prove me wrong. I was thinking that she was weak and that she couldn’t do it.”

“So you admit it?” Jenissi took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn’t believe what P-Goon just said.

“No,” and there goes my happiness. “I admit that what she did was wrong by having her force herself to do that.”

It took all of my strength not to burst through that door and argue with him that I didn’t do it by force. But I forced that feeling down and continued to listen.

“But,” Jenissi shot his head up from P-Goon’s sudden change. “I can tell that she is a Libra for sure.”

“And how do you know that?”

“For one, she hasn’t used her powers until she got here.” P-Goon started to explain. “That means that she shouldn’t be that powerful. But the Virgo cycle already ended and Libra is next up in line, which started this past week. Yano already had his moment to shine a few days ago when it was his birthday.”

Jenissi tilted his head in curiosity. “And what do you hope to get out of this?”

“What I’m saying…sure, she might’ve forced it out, but it might not be all of her that partook in it.” I already knew where he was going with this. This was the exact same thing that Sue told me.

“You’re saying that her birthday is soon?”

“It’s the only explanation as to why her powers were that strong.” I could see a little smile appear on P-Goon’s face as if he discovered a treasure chest full of jewels. “Her powers’ flowing through her was forcing itself out of her. As you know, as our birthdays get closer, our Element gets to its peak.”

Jenissi smiled. “I see. So, you’re saying that it was the Element itself that was being forced out. Not the other way around.”

Right now P-Goon looked like a little kid in a candy store, excited about his discovery. But he was hiding it behind a confident smile, but I can see right through him that he was extremely happy about what he found out. Well, let’s see if that is true in the next week. But I know for a fact, that I myself didn’t force out my powers.

“You do have a point.” Jenissi took the words right out of my mouth.

I looked down at my hands again. The little pore like holes was still visible in my skin, but they were healing because of Sue’s ointment…and partially Hansol’s cooling. It reminded me of how painful of manipulating other Elements was. No wonder it took years of practice to get a hang of. Thankfully that P-Goon wasn’t a Fire Element. Otherwise there would be more things singed than just my hands.

“Is that why you were with Sue that morning, too?” I was too focused on my hands that I skipped most of their conversation.

“To make sure that it was true? Yes.” P-Goon nodded.

Damn, what were they talking about? Well, whatever it was, it involved Sue and I couldn’t believe that I missed most of the conversation before I zoned back in.

“She has to know soon.”

“If she is the way she is,” P-Goon sighed, “then she’ll know sooner than we’ll think.”

“Which brings me to my next subject,” Jenissi shifted in his seat, as if he was uneasy about what he was about to bring up. “Hojoon.”

“Yes,” P-Goon folded his hands and put them against his lips, having his elbows rest on the arms of the chair, “I was actually…not looking forward to this.”

“I’ve seen it, P-Goon.” Jenissi’s voice started to shake. Something that I would never thought I would hear. He actually sounded scared…kind of like how I was scared when he told me- “He somehow healed the bags underneath his eyes. Hojoon’s been on the Air Element for almost a week.”

Bingo. That was the exact same reaction that I had when I was told. P-Goon’s expression darkened, but in a sad way. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. P-Goon didn’t like what he heard, but he had to handle it like a leader.

“I’ve been training him…he showed me extraordinary things after I started to train with him, he should be in advanced Air classes…it doesn’t make sense.”

“Also, as you know…it’s almost the date of when…” Jenissi hesitated, but then swallowed his nervousness, “Marikan came into play with his rebellious ways.”

“History can’t repeat itself…” P-Goon shook his head. “I refuse to believe it.”

“But you know what the others wrote. There were attempts, but they all failed, obviously.” Jenissi explained. What were they talking about? Attempts for what? Were there followers of Marikan and tried to take revenge of what happened to him?

“No, Marikan was defeated. The Original 12 saw to it that he was destroyed.” P-Goon stood up and started to pace back and forth.

“Then how do you explain the attempts, P-Goon?!”

“I don’t know!” He was starting to get frustrated again. “Maybe he had some followers.”

Jenissi scoffed to the side. “Who would join him at all? Besides if he had followers, don’t you think that they would act upon it right away after Marikan was put away?”

“Maybe they all waited throughout the years-”

Jenissi slammed his hand down on the table, making both P-Goon and I jump. I hid my little yelp behind my hands, hopefully that they didn’t hear me.

“No!” Jenissi’s voice boomed throughout the room. “If it was up to him, he would have his followers attack him right then and there, not have them wait 20 years between each individual person!”

P-Goon stood there, starring hard at Jenissi. It looked like he was yelling at him silently through unspoken words. Both of them shared a moment of silence, talking to each other through looks. The tension between the boys was high, and it felt like one wrong expression, and either one of them would burst, throwing themselves at the other person trying to make a point.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, Jenissi nodded, stood up, and left without a word.

“Damn,” P-Goon whispered, “why did that subject come up again?”

More footsteps were heard, and as far as I could tell, it sounded like someone descending down some stairs. But where would a staircase be other than where I’m at?

“Sangdo, is something wrong?” P-Goon asked the black haired boy.

Sangdo’s uniform seemed to be soaked as if he was swimming in a pool. Little water droplets were dripping down onto the floor, creating a puddle around his feet.

“Hansol.”

That was all that had to be said before Sangdo and P-Goon were heading out. Hansol really does get himself in trouble a whole lot. Once they were gone, I quietly opened up the door and started to look around. The first thing that I went towards was the…Odilem, from what I could remember. The first thing that I noticed was the glass case protecting the real clock underneath. It was fairly new, as the hands on the clock looked like they were rusted. Between the Roman numeral’s 12 and 1, there was a crack down the middle, almost reaching where the two hands are met.

It was a sign, I could feel it.

I ran my hands along the glass, the smooth texture tickling my healed scars. The cold surface started to leave little marks behind my fingers. Well, they were right about one thing; this wasn’t used in years. Rubbing the dust on my pants, I took a closer look at the clock. Underneath the table, my fingers came across a little switch.

Without thinking, my finger flicked the switch, but nothing happened. Was this what turned the table on? I straightened my back and envisioned the dream that I had with Clara. Little orbs seemed to be floating above the table. Was that how the students back in the day figure out what Element they belong to?

If only there was some way of turning on the Odilem. Instead of wasting my time at looking at the clock, I looked at the chairs. Elegant and dark chestnut colored, at the top of the chair was a big engraving of each Zodiac sign. All of them, except one chair that was in-between Capricorn and Aquarius. It was the same design, but the back was bare.

“Must be where the members are seated at meetings.” I thought out loud. The only chairs that were out of place were Virgo and Scorpio’s seats; Jenissi and P-Goon.

The chair without a Zodiac sent a chill up my spine. Thinking how Marikan sat there among the rest of the Original 12 made me sick to my stomach. What he had planned and what he wanted to do was in his head when he was sitting with the other members and they had no idea. For all I know, he could’ve been thinking of what was going to happen while he was at meetings.

I stared long and hard at the chair, imagining his figure sitting there. Shaking my head at the feeling, I felt like it was my time to go back, but then I heard one of the chairs slide against the floor, just ever so slightly. I could feel a shiver go down my spine as the atmosphere in the room became darker and the temperature dropped dramatically.

Turning around slowly, the chair with a missing Zodiac was now being used by a mysterious boy. His dark bangs would go over one eye and a playful, almost sinister, looking smirk grew on his face slowly. The boys’ uniform looked more like a dress suit than the uniforms worn today. His appearance was solid and as real as it looked. It was Marikan. He looked the same exact way from my dream.

“M-Marikan?” I whispered.

“Surprised?” He asked, his voice smooth as silk, but also intimidating.

Shaking my head, he laughed out a low and rhythmus note. “I know that you read about me. Don’t act like you have the same curious mind as I did when I first came here.”

I wanted to form words, but his presence made me speechless. He was the same looking Marikan from my dream, maybe even a bit more attractive.

“I know you, Trinity Hess. We’re one in the same.”

“NO! You know nothing about me! And I’m nothing like you!” I shouted. “I would never betray the group that is taking care of me!”

Yes, I said it. But something behind my words seemed like they weren’t coming from me…as if I was another person. And then there I was, playing the role of Clara as if I was in my dream.

Marikan raised his head, his eyes lowered as if he doesn’t believe me. “Believe what you will. Maybe I’m not like you. Perhaps you were thinking of another person. Maybe you were expecting…someone else.”

And just like that, Marikan was slowing evaporating; his image was rippling like a pebble was dropped into a puddle of water. And another image was slowly taking over his, as if he was coming to the surface of the water, turning into someone I didn’t want to think.

Hojoon.

I took a step back at the surprise, but I knew that this was all but my imagination toying with me. Hojoon’s right elbow was resting against the chair’s arm; his hand was curved underneath his chin, almost as if he was in a thinking pose. His glasses that he usually wore were gone, just like how they were when he visited me in my room this past weekend. Underneath his eyes were black spots, almost as if black ink was painted underneath his eyes as it dropped down to his cheek bones, fading as it went. The same smirk that I imagined Marikan having was now gone replaced by a scowl on his face.

His everyday uniform was now replaced with what looked like a dark prince outfit. A long black jacket covered the dark gray undershirt; the cuffs at the end of his long sleeves weren’t even pulled back, covering part of his hands. The middle of the jacket was buttoned; the only color that stood out was the silver clock that was near where the pocket should be on teacher uniforms. Only this clock was shattered into pieces to make out the Roman numeral 13. A golden crown was cocked to the side on top of his head.

Hojoon’s eyes were dark and they were angry. His dark blue hair was now completely black as if someone dumped ink on his head, leaving out any color whatsoever, even the light that was coming from the windows didn’t bounce back. He was someone that I didn’t recognize as I kept stumbling back, forcing the image out of my head, but nothing budged. I tried to close and open my eyes over and over again, but the image was still there.

“You can’t win, Trinity.” His lips formed an evil smirk. The tone of his voice was deep, but it somehow carried a tune, as if he were trying to calm me down. “If you do, everything you love will be destroyed. Join me, and you will have everything you ever wished for.”

“This is all in my head.” I whispered to myself, hoping that I was right.

“If it’s all in your head, how come I can do this?” With one click of his fingers the door to my hiding spot flew open wide and stayed there as if someone was holding it open. “You don’t want to believe of what you can really see. Or rather, what you saw.”

“Stop…” I whispered.

“Just admit it, Trin,” he even used my nickname, “you’re just as curious as I was when I first entered.”

Now he was making me confused. Who was he talking about? Marikan? Or Hojoon? In any case, I considered that he might be right on both parts.

“Now…wait a minute…” I started to say.

Hojoon’s facial expression went to evil smirk, to satisfaction. “Ah, so you are. Soon you will end up like me…” His removed his crown and looked at it admiringly. “Wouldn’t it be great? To be in control? Be King?” Hojoon place it back on top of his head. “And you would be my Queen.”

“No, you aren’t real!”

“Be rulers…” He went on as if he didn’t hear me. “But with that attitude…I might just have to get rid of you. Now, we wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

The image burned into my mind and his taunts filled my ears until I heard nothing else around me, not even my own thoughts. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears, which only made it worse. My back found a wall as I slid down into a fetal position.

“The time is almost here. Everything you know will turn on you.”

I proceed to look up at him and scowled. “Everything? I already know everything.”

Well, that was a partial lie. I knew most of what I wanted to know. His lips curved upward as if he knew me. But this was a part of my imagination. “You are just like Clara. You just think you know everything to cover up the fact that you don’t know .”

This wasn’t Hojoon’s words. He would never say things like that. These were words of someone else.

Marikan.

“STOP!” I held out my hand towards him and focused on the image of Marikan instead of Hojoon. In one powerful blow coming from my hand, I heard several chairs dropping to the floor and the door to my hiding spot was unfrozen, lightly swinging back and forth as if that invisible person let go of it.

My breaths were coming out fast, not realizing that I was that powerful since this morning. Opening my eyes, I feared that the image was still there, only standing and ready to attack. But when I saw that the room was empty, relieve washed over me. Struggling to get up, I limped over to the chairs and placed them back to the way they were.

“That couldn’t have been my imagination, too…” I whispered as I placed Virgo’s chair in the right place.

I tried to push the memory of what happened not too long ago in the back of my mind, hoping that my brain would lock it up and never let it creep out and haunt my mind. After making sure that everything was back in its place, I decided that it was time to go back to my room. But before I could leave, there was a clicking noise, making me stop in my tracks before I even reached the door.

The Odilem…

I turned around to see the Odilem was shaking; the clicking noises were on repeat, as if it was forcing gears inside itself to work. As I put my hand on top of the glass, the noises stopped and a sound that was like a bunch of metal scratching together sounded off in the distance.

“Weird…” I whispered as I started to suddenly see a faint red glow beneath the glass. From the looks of it, it wanted to get something out. The Odilem in my dream showed little dots, but they were white…until Clara came bursting through the door and found out that one of them changed to red. The red glow was faint now, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that it meant something, just like how it meant something significant in my dream.

“Trinity?” I heard a familiar voice from the distance.

The Odilem stopped working and the glow faded away. I jerked back at the sudden disruption and saw Hojoon standing near a staircase. Ha, so there is a staircase. But where did it lead? From what I could see and tell, the stairs lead to a ceiling.

Relief filled my mind as I remembered the vision that I had not too long ago. He wasn’t here taunting me, but rather he was safe from wherever he was before.

“H-Hojoon, I-I didn’t know you would be-”

“I had to check something before I get back to the dorm.” He raised his eyebrows. “Are you ok when P-Goon dragged you out?”

I breathed out a sigh. “Yeah. I just…well…kind of pissed him off, but I made up for it in the end. Sort of gave him a lesson.”

Hojoon laughed and it warmed my heart that he was actually worried when I was being dragged away by P-Goon in Elements class. It wasn’t until now that I saw his uniform looked a bit damp. Then it reminded me of Sangdo’s outfit when he got P-Goon.

I raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Were…were you near Hansol…at all?”

Hojoon tensed up and I could tell what his answer was already. When he didn’t answer, I moved towards him, a curious look on my face.

“Hojoon…what happened?” I asked. He looked into my eyes, and I could tell that he was trying to find an answer of his own.

“I-I don’t know.” He stuttered.

“You don’t know?” I urged him on.

“It just happened so suddenly, I-”

Footsteps could be heard overhead and they were coming to the top of the staircase. We both looked up and I grabbed Hojoon’s hand as I headed back towards the door and closed it softly, having both of us hide in the shadows, decreasing our chances of getting caught. The amount of darkness was small, but I wasn’t about to get us both caught in the room. Blushed flushed on my cheeks as I realized both of our bodies were very close. Hojoon’s breath was starting to tremble.

“There’s a door here?!” Hojoon whispered, trying to collect his breath.

“I thought you knew everything,” I whispered back.

A chuckle came out of his lips. “I might be with them, but I don’t know everything.”

“By the way, sorry about the cliché hiding place,” I kept my voice low as the footsteps kept getting louder.

Hojoon laughed at my comment. “Not like there were any other hiding places.”

I mentioned to him to keep quiet as P-Goon came into view. He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Damn, Hansol. Why did he act out like that?”

“It wasn’t my fault! How many times do I have to say it?” Another voice, who was easily recognizable as Hansol’s, came into view. His hair stuck to the sides of his forehead and the bottom of his pants was soaked.

I took a glance over at Hojoon and lowered my eyes.

“I didn’t do anything!” Hojoon whispered to me.

But his whisper was a bit too loud as I noticed Hansol and P-Goon look around the room from the noise that was made. My heart was beating so loudly that I was hoping that they wouldn’t hear that as well.

P-Goon shook his head and sighed. “Hansol, I’m already going through a stressful as hell week. Would you just tell me what happened between you and B-Joo?”

I looked over at Hojoon as he gave me a told you so look. Hanging my head, I felt bad that I blamed him.

“What’s the point?” Now Hansol’s attitude was rising to the surface.

P-Goon raised his voice. “Hansol!”

There was a moment of silence between them and I could feel the tension building. Hansol stared down P-Goon to the point that he couldn’t take it anymore. He ran a hand through his wet hair, making some of it stick up and some snowflakes fall to the floor.

“He needs to get his mouth taped shut! That damn attitude he has needs to be taken care of!” Hansol shouted.

“Do I need to kick you out again and ban you for another year? I have the power to do it again you know.” P-Goon explained. “The reason will also be the same as last time.” Wait…Hansol was banned before?

“Are you even listening to me?! He wants me out of here!” There was a sense of pain behind Hansol’s voice. His words reminded me of when I told P-Goon that he should start listening to the other members as well and take them into consideration.

“But you are the one who acted irresponsible. You thrashed out on him when he made you upset. Now, whose fault is that?”

Hansol didn’t respond, as he already did know the answer. Instead of throwing a fit, he turned his back towards P-Goon and started out again. I tried to see past one of the pillars that was near the staircase, but I couldn’t move, otherwise I would’ve been seen; Hojoon made sure that I wouldn’t be caught as he caught the side of my shirt and pulled me back, having me more up against him. My cheeks flushed as I could feel his breathing trembling.

“If you really want to know, he bad mouthed someone that I care about. I got defensive and tried to make him shut up.”

P-Goon rolled his eyes as he figured out who he was talking about. “Trinity…as I figured.”

Hansol didn’t answer him as his footsteps sounded fainter. He…he got defensive about me? Well, it was Hansol we were talking about…of course he would get defensive. What burned more in the back of my mind was how Hojoon got involved? Did he defend Hansol as well about me? Or did he try to stop it without knowing what was going on and stepped in at the wrong time? I felt Hojoon’s hands on my shoulders as he gave a reassuring squeeze as if he knew what I was thinking.

“Hey…” I whispered. “Later on can you tell me what happened?”

Hojoon’s voice came out louder than it should have as I noticed P-Goon looking around the room again. “Trinity, if I told you what happened, it won’t make sense…or at least I don’t think it would to you.”

He wasn’t noticing P-Goon walking our way as Hojoon was just rambling off, his whispering voice rising more and more each time, as if he was about to get in trouble if he told me.

“Hojoon! Quiet, please, or we’ll be caught!” I whispered as P-Goon kept getting closer and closer, his footsteps getting louder with the beat of my heart beats.

I was thinking of ways to keep him quiet, and the only thing that I could think of was more than likely to work. Gathering up my courage, blush came upon my cheeks as I brought my hand to the back of his neck, gently, and I quickly pressed my lips up against his.