Taehyung stared at the boy, fear starting to creep up from his stomach. His hand began shaking, the water sloshing up the slides of the glass. "I think- I think you should leave now."

"I'm afraid I can't," the boy said, standing up, and Taehyung dropped the glass. It shattered on the floor, water and glass shards scattering everywhere. The stranger took a step forward, forcing Taehyung backward, and he winced as he felt a shard of glass cut into his foot. "You see, I've been looking for this thing for a very long time, and I believe you know where it is."

"W-Who are you?" Taehyung asked, taking several more steps back and thankfully avoiding any more glass.

"I don't know that the name would mean anything to you, but my name is Seungcheol," the boy answered, taking in the flash of pure terror across Taehyung's face. "So it does mean something to you, huh? Has Changkyun been spilling secrets?" A smirk crept over the boy's lips. "You know what they say about snitches."

"I don't have anything of yours!" Taehyung yelled. His fingers felt around for the phone in his back pocket, but who could he call? He didn't want to involve Jungkook in any of this, especially now that he was beginning to realize how dangerous the world was. His only other option was Changkyun, but he'd just cut ties with them and wasn't exactly eager to go crawling for their help.

"That's funny," Seungcheol said, small purple sparks flying out from his hands. "Because I can sense his signature all over you."

"It was an accident!" Taehyung denied, backing up into the kitchen. Seungcheol followed. "Changkyun asked me to take care of him for a few days! I didn't know what he was!"

"But you do know where he is, don't you?" Seungcheol asked, a pleasant smile on his face. By this point, he had backed Taehyung into a wall, effectively trapping him. "You do understand, don't you?" Seungcheol asked, trailing a gentle finger along Taehyung's face.

His skin burned where Seungcheol's magic met him.

"I don't want to hurt you," Seungcheol continued. "In fact, I couldn't care less about you." He paused, smiling apologetically at Taehyung. "I don't mean that in a rude way. Truth be told, that's the best thing for you. You mean nothing to me, certainly not worthy of my time or energy. All I want is to retrieve that which belongs to me."

Seungcheol grinned as he leaned in closer to Taehyung. "And I need your help to get it."

"Get it yourself," Taehyung snarled back, pushing Seungcheol away from him. "I'm done with all of this! Stay away from me!"

Seungcheol just smirked. "Bye, for now," he said, giving a two-finger salute before turning and walking out the door.

Taehyung swallowed, the adrenaline fleeing his body as he fell to his knees, his whole frame shaking in fear. He'd been around witches before, but neither Changkyun nor Jooheon had ever made him feel that terrified, that immobile.

His shook his head, swallowing once more as he tried to force a sense of normality upon himself. "The glass..." he murmured. "I need to...clean up the glass..."

He set about cleaning the room, carefully picking up all the glass and wiping up the spilled water before going to the bathroom and addressing the few small cuts he'd received.