Chapter 19: we'll be watching

The evening crept over the clamorous city like a smothering blanket, dimming the lights of hidden stars and hugging the tallest buildings with low-hanging evening fog. It was so vastly different from the rural plateaus that the heavy air in itself would shock someone who had yet to venture into the densely populated capital. The night here was a knockoff reminiscent of cheaply advertised billboards that proclaimed the authenticity and glory of the city's nightlife.

Any person from outside the city could proclaim differently, but in too many cases they rationalized that all of the vast opportunities in the big city won over any view. Either that or the grey-scale of office buildings and the neon billboards belonged to the only colour palette they had ever known and they simply couldn't fathom life on the other side.

In comparison, the rural plateaus and small cities where Jongho had grown up were made up of smooth mid-afternoon breezes and softer spreads of flower fields and fresh greenery mottling roadsides. The sky where he was from was not marbled with clouds and smog but was instead clear to show off the looming pale, baby blue horizon. Those far-off nights were cool and familiar and held a clarity of belonging that could be easily lost in the larger cities.

Jongho had never found any danger in the looming evenings of the countryside, mostly because colourful sunsets always marked their beginning and the warm, smiling sunrise was easily visible to greet you at night's end.

However, since coming to the capital, he rarely tried to linger in the darkness alone. Maybe it was due to the overwhelming number of people that remained alive in the late evening hours, but he had never found any ease in lonely city nights.

This particular night snuck upon them like the silent paws of a witch's familiar and left a chill running down the curve of your spine. It was nights like these where trickles of what felt like a bad omen settled over the shoulders of the superstitious.

When Jongho had first noticed the suddenness of the obsidian heavens, a brush of uneven chills travelled down his own shoulders.

Because of his variation of odd jobs until his official debut as a performer, there had been a fleeting moment when Jongho had gone outside alone. One of the bartenders, Kihyun, had left one of the stock lists Seonghwa put him in charge of in the backseat of his car, so since Kihyun was occupied with customers, he'd asked Jongho to retrieve it before he forgot.

The sky at that time had been warmer in tone, but one could just begin to see the inky tendrils of night descending through the scarce clouds above.

It struck a familiar chord of memories within Jongho, memories of an abstract story that his mother had read to him religiously when he was a lot younger. She'd told it often enough that he was sure if he really tried he would be able to recite every word by heart.

At first listen, the story had a fairytale appeal when you were young enough to not care for the meaning behind every word. However, the warnings within the story were enough to make an adult pause to reconsider their intent.

The story was presented innocently enough, but the entirety of its plot focused on the night sky wanting to swallow the Earth in a hug.

To children, the sky was painted as lonely and the message seemed similar to the teaching that everyone deserves kindness presented to them. Like something along the lines of "the sky was lonely and just wanted a hug, even the sky needs a friend." Though in reality, the hidden meaning was that the sky had wanted to smother Earth because of the evils it had witnessed from its inhabitants.

The realisation that one of his beloved childhood stories had had such a dark message hidden within didn't come until he was in his later teens. It was definitely enough for Jongho to rethink what he first believed as a child, and his mother never really had an explanation for why she had been so set on reading him this particular story to sleep.

The worst part of him thinking back on that story now was that this night felt almost as smothering as the story he had read.

It was also a terrifying omen considering what was already set to take place on this particular night.

The anxiety that had been continuously building over the past week was already close to boiling over, and these creeping whispers of some dark harbinger of the night seemed like a point-blank trigger that made him fumble through his work.

He'd been fighting to keep the upcoming mission out of his mind until he and the others finished their collective shifts at Wonderland, as it was set to take place directly after, but an unexplainable dread continued to pool at his feet.

But it wasn't only him that was affected from what he was sparingly able to observe from the Elites' actions all afternoon. They were all nearly as anchored by anticipation and anxiety as he was. Though each displayed it in different ways.

San was even snappier with him than usual, which was really saying something considering San could be as prickly as a cat disturbed from its afternoon sunbathing. Then there were other moments Jongho almost thought he caught the other reaching for one bottle at the bar before shaking his head and reaching for a different one as if his attention had slipped momentarily.

Yunho was the opposite and was instead unusually quiet, even when serving customers at the bar. His smile also seemed somewhat strained at times, but it was clear that he was trying at least to maintain normality for the customers.

Wooyoung also made a few mistakes, which included almost giving people the wrong orders and barely missing plowing straight into a staggered drunkard with a delay to his usual grace.

It was harder to tell with Hongjoong, but as Jongho had become more familiar with the Elites' habits, he noticed it in the subtle things. Like when Hongjoong nearly forgot the earpiece he used for performing back in the Brig. The older auburn-haired male had had to scramble back down the stairs to retrieve it, making him nearly late for his cue on stage.

The only one who seemed unaffected by the approaching deadline for their excursion was Seonghwa. The eldest Elite remained unbothered by the other's slip-ups and only lightly chided the Elites when their mistakes became a bit too obvious.

Seonghwa's overall air and composure brought a semblance of normality to their work environment, and the calm smile that always seemed so practised was the best reassurance they could ask for. The eldest made no mistakes and swiftly directed most of the customers' attention elsewhere when they tried to argue with the already distracted and stressed Elites.

It was times like tonight that it became obvious how much they all relied on Seonghwa as their moral support and overall encouragement. Jongho had watched as the taller man with obsidian hair offered help to San and Yunho when it was needed and reassured Wooyoung when the younger was beginning to become overwhelmed by his resolve to do everything perfectly.

Seonghwa had even spared a few moments of his occupied time to help Jongho carry some boxes around the crowd to store back in one of the far rooms in the staff hallway. There had even been a moment when Seonghwa unlocked the door for him where Jongho had bowed his head in thanks and Seonghwa had actually smiled at him.

Jongho had been immediately taken aback by the action, though he tried not to let it show.

He still wasn't particularly at ease around Seonghwa. Mostly because the other felt like an unreachable and distant character as the man was still technically his boss. (Even though with all they had experienced with the truth of the hatchings their acknowledgement of each other far transcended one of a boss and an employee.) He felt sort of bad about that still because he was beginning to see that Seonghwa was opening up the tight grip of the clamshell around his real self, but now it was Jongho that was pushing further away.

Truth be told, ever since Mark had told him about the existence of a spy, Jongho wasn't sure how to approach those he had been calling allies up until this point. Life and work that included Yunho and Hongjoong were fairly the same, but he had grown tense around San and Seonghwa and things were still slightly awkward around Wooyoung.

Evidently, it wasn't unusual for him and San to not get along, but Seonghwa had always been nice to him even when they had been nothing more than strangers. So it was more or less suspicious no doubt from Seonghwa's point of view that Jongho was brushing him off with few words and doing more and more jobs away from Seonghwa's attention.

The eldest had tried to corner him once in the earlier evening just to question whether anything was wrong, but Jongho had managed to slip away only because of Yunho's beckons. From then until now, Jongho had been as preoccupied as he could be while both helping around Wonderland and dodging Seonghwa's persistent attention.

Every moment Seonghwa's searching face was visible through the partying crowds, Jongho's mind flashed back to the phone call he had overheard. Seonghwa hadn't spoken of anything related to it since, and from what Jongho could tell, none of the others knew anything about it. So clearly Seonghwa was keeping it to himself. He remained as he had always been: a strict, ruthless businessman to outsiders, and a caring, older brother figure to the rest of the Elites.

The mentions of some strange deal between the eldest and the voice on the other end of the line, one that Seonghwa kept refusing, haunted the back of his ears like he could hear the arguing voices even now. However, Jongho kept his nosiness about the whole issue under the table. Which felt strange because even with the spy issue, he had almost immediately sought out Yunho and Hongjoong for assistance.

He couldn't shake the feeling that the two instances were different from each other in some way, so for some reason, he continued to hold his tongue about the half of a conversation he had overheard.

Speaking of, the ragtag trio of amateur sleuths hadn't made much headway in uncovering any information on a potential spy.

Yunho, Hongjoong, and Jongho had met up a few times after work hours just to discuss how much they could trust the words of an informant and any observations they thought were worth bringing up. So far none of them had found any real reason to suspect any of the others, but Hongjoong still proclaimed adamantly that such an accusation should always be dealt with delicately. The last thing any of them wanted was to not heed a potentially devastating warning and be caught off guard when the Creators were already causing them a load of trouble.

And now, on the night they planned to check out the warehouse that Mark had pointed them to, they were still treading on dangerous waters around their unsuspecting teammates.

Jongho was almost impressed with how well Yunho and Hongjoong reined in their worry and tip-toeing suspicions around the other Elites. Their smiles carried the same companionship as before Mark's words had started to turn them silently against one another. Though Jongho was unsure whether the dimness that had overtaken their eyes was because of distrust, sorrow, or just a coincidental trick of the light.

Even as Wonderland was drained of people and pounding music, Hongjoong and Yunho continued to smile at the other Elites as if nothing was wrong. And as the Elites fluttered around, preparing for the night ahead of them, Jongho's eyes would follow them almost naturally, no matter what he was doing.

His eyes followed as they wrapped up their final duties at Wonderland and left the chores of closing to other capable staff. His eyes followed as they loaded the twin black SUVs with flashlights and grabbed extra radios. And his eyes followed as each of the Elites was separated between the two vehicles without complaint, and Jongho found himself looking between Seonghwa, who was driving, and Yunho who was in the passenger seat in front of him.

There wasn't much conversation while they travelled to their destination which was only about fifteen minutes away.

The warehouse was located fairly close to the port that led into the bay on the far side of the city, so it made sense that the Creators could use such a location to smuggle in anything necessary for fully functioning androids.

There were only the whispers of the car radio playing some slow song that Seonghwa had turned nearly all the way down for most of the ride. Though Yunho did make a point now and again to point out small things he noticed about some of the buildings and businesses they passed, almost like he was playing 'I Spy' with only himself.

The sky was truly dark now, and Jongho had to strain his eyes to see some of the things outside, so he was thoroughly distracted when Seonghwa slowed down to take an unexpected turn.

Jongho ducked his head back and forth to peek through either side window, taking in the cement buildings on either side of the narrow alley they had pulled down. The shadows loomed along the walls and around the corners of every surface around their vehicle, each seeming to grow more monstrous in nature due to the positioning of each dim streetlight.

Jongho didn't even think that they would be able to see the moon tonight, with how dark the sky loomed out of the reach of the city lights. The realization didn't help his nerves, and his head nearly knocked against the glass when the small GPS device Seonghwa had in front of him chimed.

"It's here." Seonghwa turned off their headlights and slowed the SUV down to a crawl. Both Jongho and Yunho scanned through the open end of the alleyway. It was Yunho who narrowed in on a warehouse to their left with large hangar doors that seemed to be bolted shut.

"I have eyes on the warehouse," Yunho clicked a small button on the radio resting in his breast pocket. The shivering static was so achingly loud in their silent SUV that Jongho couldn't help glancing back to the warehouse doors as if something could have heard it.

The static was interrupted by a secondary click and a familiar voice echoed through the small device, "Proceed carefully, guys. San will be watching the radios so check in every now and again. If we don't hear from you, we'll just assume you need backup."

Hongjoong's voice was dead serious, and Jongho knew that the other was doing this out of necessity and worry for their safety. He strained his ears to hear Hongjoong's parting words, "Wooyoung and I will be walking around outside, but we won't be getting too close to the warehouse. We parked down the block, so from here on out you'll be alone in there."

Seonghwa huffed out something like a laugh from the driver's seat, and Jongho glanced at the man with surprise.

There was mirth in the eldest man's voice as he pressed on the receiver of his own radio, "Joong-ah, you worry too much. We'll be quick, an in-and-out job. No one will ever even notice we've been here."

Seonghwa turned the wheel in a quick one-eighty and the SUV pulled under the dark, shadowed overhang of another building. Making its shape and the very existence of a car in the gravel lot across from the target warehouse disappear into its surroundings.

I don't think having a black vehicle has ever paid off more than it does right now.

The planning that had gone into the progression of this night was done mostly by Seonghwa and Hongjoong, but there had been a brief run-through for the rest of them yesterday night. Hongjoong had been the one most worried about the information proving to be a trick, so he'd prepared several levels in case anything, and Jongho means anything, went wrong.

Even though Mark had audibly proclaimed that the warehouse was empty, none of the Elites felt entirely safe with his word alone, and to be honest, Jongho still wasn't entirely trusting of the other either. Something about the older man felt . . . off.

Because of this, they had all agreed to stagger their entrance to the lot. This way, only the first group would be caught off guard, and the second group would be close in case the first three were cornered or ambushed. It was the same concept that Hongjoong had explained to him when they were on their way to meet the informant a few days ago.

Seonghwa had convinced Hongjoong to stay in the second group while he led the first, and from there, it was pretty much up to them to draw straws. Hongjoong couldn't do much against the eldest, and there was a level of trust in their relationship that was no doubt another factor in Hongjoong's agreeance with the plan.

The trio in the first car glanced at each other, testing to see if they were all mentally prepared to set off. When no outright hesitation was noticed among Yunho or Jongho, Seonghwa nodded to himself and cracked open the driver-side door to slip outside.

Both Yunho and Jongho followed his lead, being careful to keep the sound of them closing and opening the car doors to a barely heard minimum. Jongho winced at the crunch of gravel under his black boots, taking light steps to join the rest of their small infiltration group at the back of the car. He patted the straps of the backpack strung over his shoulders to ensure they were tight enough so that it wouldn't noisily brush against his clothing.

The gravel lot was silent, swamped with a silence so dead that any grim reaper in a ten-mile radius would have surely come running. The trio once more exchanged glances, and Yunho pulled out a small flashlight that was dwarfed in his hands. The bluenette didn't dare switch it on, but he held it ready anyway.

Jongho tightened his grip on the straps of his backpack, the sudden rush of adrenaline dampened some of his worries.

An unforeseen tenseness settled over their shoulders until Seonghwa shifted and darted forward into the cover of darkness. The gravel made subtle crunches underneath their running feet, as Jongho and Yunho waited for only a second before following.

The trio ducked in and out of shadows, and they even had to skirt underneath the range of a security camera that was watching over the opposite side from where they had hidden the vehicle.

Seonghwa continued to lead the way as they approached one of the side doors to the large warehouse. The door, to their benefit, was only held shut by a large rusted lock.

While the lock was rusted over and the door stuck, Yunho still sidled up to it while tucking the flashlight into his belt. Jongho honestly wasn't expecting a miracle, but Yunho pulled the lock into his hands and observed it. When one tug didn't budge it, Jongho's eyes widened when Yunho wielded his flashlight once more and smacked the top of the lock box with the butt end of the tool.

Jongho's eyes widened even more than he thought possible when the lock practically crumbled in Yunho's grasp, and the door was pushed open by those same hands. Yunho didn't seem particularly fazed either, so Jongho glanced down at the remains of the lock with wonder.

Was it that rusted? Why would whoever owns this place not replace it?

None of them took a step inside the door, each waiting with bated breath for any sound within the dark structure.

It was once again silent, no one came out of the shadows to investigate the squeaky door and the sudden rush of moonlight. They waited a few extra seconds just to be sure, but Yunho took the liberty soon after to lead them into the dark, finally turning on his flashlight to illuminate the interior.

Jongho crept behind Yunho like a small cat, looking to either side to size things up in case something jumped out at them. Whether it was a human, an animal using the warehouse as shelter, or even a humanoid figure with iridescent blue eyes.

There appeared to be a small draft that passed through the building as Jongho found himself shivering, which earned him a curious glance from Yunho while they paused to wait for Seonghwa. A second flashlight was switched on behind them as Seonghwa closed in on them, and as he drew closer again, Jongho could hear him speaking lowly into his radio. Jongho wasn't paying close enough attention to the conversation, but it appeared that the eldest Elite was relaying to Hongjoong or San what they'd seen so far.

Now with two flashlights between the three of them, and no sign of anything lurking in the dark, Yunho proceeded with more confidence.

It was so dark within the walls of the warehouse that they relied heavily on the flashlights to get an idea of where things were located. The forms of several stacks of wooden crates would appear every so often at the edges of their light, and there were also a series of shelves that held smaller boxes or containers that were all sealed tightly stretching along the wall to their left. The looming shadows stretched out around them like narrow mountain peaks across the floor.

It was Seonghwa who made a small hum to break the silence while also effectively catching their attention. The black-haired man shone his light on another door that appeared to lead into a small box-like room that could easily be hiding some important secrets. This time the door fell open with a single push.

Jongho followed the trails of the flashlights, skimming over a cluttered desk of random junk and a few filing cabinets with a searching gaze. Seonghwa slipped past him to approach a stack of binders scattered on the nearby desk. The desk itself was covered in a thin layer of dust, but the binders were clean as if they had only been placed there recently.

"Come look at this," Seonghwa called, already flipping through one of the binders on the top of the pile.

The other two crowded closer and Yunho focused his light on the binder in the eldest's hands. It illuminated strings of words paired with numbers and codes of mixed letters and numerals. They were organized in a long list and written in handwriting beside each was a date from last month or older.

Several were linked between different companies, and some of them were large technology brands that even Jongho recognized.

Yunho drew a finger down some of the numbers, "It's a log. These are all model numbers for different electronical parts. No doubt that's what those crates are full of."

Jongho knew he was right and he acknowledged the elder's words with words of confirmation, those eyes continued to skim down the page through the descriptions and titles. Some of them didn't even sound real. Like one that read: "Left engine airway turbine blue-light connector." It was such a blurb of words that there was no way its creator hadn't just taken a dictionary, run it through a paper shredder and then taped together several letters and word halves and smashed them all into one.

The strangest thing about their discovery was that they had no destinations or indications of where they had arrived from. Nowhere did it say where they were meant to go after they'd arrived at this warehouse either. This made Jongho clench his jaw in barely concealed annoyance. The Creators were always clever to cover their tracks.

The good news was that all of these random assortments of parts couldn't possibly be used to create a fridge with artificial intelligence and artificial fists. The only explainable product was a fully functioning, highly advanced android.

"We really hit the jackpot this time," Yunho grinned, "Let's double-check one of the crates before we leave. Maybe they have the locations and stuff on the parts themselves."

Seonghwa laid the binder once more on the desk, turning to Yunho with a small nod of approval, "That sounds like a good plan."

Jongho wasn't able to abandon the binder so easily. He brushed through one of the pages pensively. He felt as if there was something missing, something they were missing.

He raked his gaze over the wall in front of him and ducked to check under the desk. He rummaged through the drawers of the desk, but each came up empty. He continued his search behind him, giving each of the cobweb-covered filing cabinets a fixated appraisal.

It wasn't long before something snagged his attention.

A clipboard was abandoned just barely peeking out of a filing cabinet drawer as if someone had slammed the drawer shut in a rush and didn't check to see if the item was fully concealed.

"Seonghwa-ssi, can I borrow your flashlight for a second?" His question came just as Yunho cried out in triumph and held up the crowbar he had found. Still, Seonghwa had heard and passed the flashlight over to him wordlessly. Though now the older seemed troubled by something, and Jongho wondered if maybe he had said something wrong. Jongho smiled in thanks, hoping that the older man wasn't mad at him for something he had done unknowingly.

It didn't occur to him until he was already next to the filing cabinet that Seonghwa wouldn't have seen the smile through the layers of darkness.

Jongho crowded to the cabinet, tugging on the small handle that held the drawer and the clipboard in place. It took a few harsh pulls to unstick the drawer and the board, but in the end, the drawer gave. Jongho retrieved the clipboard and briefly held the flashlight between his teeth while he smoothed out the folded papers.

After he'd smoothed them down the best he could and the words became more readable, he re-adjusted the flashlight so he was holding it over the blurred sentences on the front page. Jongho's eyes widened only moments after he began to read the first few lines.

It was another list.

However, this was a long, long list of names, and each was paired with a species of bird to the right. Strangely though, they were all arranged by first name, though Jongho quickly shoved that small detail to the back of his mind.

With Jongho just quickly scanning through the names, he couldn't pick out any that he recognized until he'd flipped through a few pages and his finger landed on a 'Song Mingi' near the top of the fifth page.

He brushed his thumb over the name with the cold taste of reminiscence on his tongue. A quick affirmation of the bird to the right of the familiar name revealed that it was indeed the same Mingi that haunted Yunho silently and the same one who was an irreplaceable member of the Elites' makeshift family.

Hummingbird was written in a strange curled font with a line drawn back to Mingi's name. Just seeing the pairing of names reminded Jongho of his first meeting with the Elites.

It was honestly just barely a month ago, but it felt as if he had known this particular group of individuals for at least a year. It was almost astonishing how well he had been welcomed among them, though Jongho wasn't naive enough to think that they would have been close without their common goal uniting them.

So many things had happened since then, and that realization was more proof that since finding out about the hatchings secret, Jongho's life had drastically changed.

Jongho unclipped the papers from the clipboard and rolled them up like a crumpled scroll to stuff in his small backpack. He wasn't about to let a clue like this slip through his fingers.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the radio in the backpack's side pocket started up with a crackle of static and a small click before a voice was heard on the other end. Jongho slipped the small device free from its resting place and cradled it in his hand as he strained to hear the incoming voice.

"Hey, just checking in," San's voice was low, but his words were pronounced tightly together. Jongho could almost imagine San tucked into the backseat of the second car, with two or three radios surrounding him, both tense and fraught with worry. "How are things going in there? Hongjoong and Wooyoung are checking out some of the sheds close by so you guys are pretty much my responsibility now."

It came as an unexpected surprise that San was even willing to initiate a conversation with Jongho, but there was no way he was about to point it out. The pink-haired male must be out of his mind worrying about whether the infiltration team was alright, or he felt extremely responsible for everyone's well-being.

"Everything's been going pretty good so far. We found a lot of crates, and I think Yunho-ssi wanted to pry one open to inspect some of the parts they are apparently holding." Jongho slid the back of the clipboard onto the top of the filing cabinet, swinging his flashlight once more through the smaller office-like room. Though Seonghwa and Yunho had already moved on from the small space, Jongho didn't want to miss anything.

"I think I struck gold actually," Jongho murmured into the crackle of the small radio, exiting into the main area of the warehouse. "There is this list of names that was tucked away in the records office, and Mingi's name is on it. Each name is paired with some type of bird so I have a good feeling that this might just be a list of people who have had a hatching. We can look into it further when we all meet back up."

Jongho glanced through the lines of tall shelves with crates to his left and finally saw the stretches of a flashlight coming from the other direction where there was more open space and fewer crates.

San seemed to almost perk up at the information, "That does sound like great news, but . . ." There were a few staggered moments of silence through the radio. "That just makes everything feel even more suspicious. I mean, don't you think it's a little weird that this warehouse has been practically abandoned? Having a list of names like this means that we would know of every fake from here to the next city over. Something like that is far too important for anyone to just leave lying around in an empty warehouse that was basically a piece of cake to break into. It just doesn't add up."

Jongho could certainly agree with the suspicions that San was presenting because they had already begun to brew in his own mind. The silence in the warehouse was near suffocating, and to leave all these things just lying around with only a crumbling lock? The feeling that something just wasn't quite right about this place stirred once again in the back of his head. 

With the growing uncertainty of what was really going on in this warehouse, Jongho scampered through the dark to catch up to the other waving flashlight. His anxiety was bubbling, but the deep-rooted dread and premonition that they just needed to leave already was icy cold.

That's why he passed only a few parting words to San that they would be out soon before he ran the rest of the way to stand at Seonghwa's side.

Seonghwa was holding the second flashlight over his shoulder to illuminate Yunho standing over a crate with a flaking, paint-chipped crowbar in hand. Yunho glanced over at his other two teammates and received only a nod from Seonghwa before he began to work at their chosen container in order to pry into its contents.

Jongho patted the sides of his backpack, feeling for the zippers in a sudden fear that they had been left open and the papers had fallen out. When everything was found in place, he huffed a breath of relief, though his shoulders remained tense.

When he was still carrying the black blood around with him, there had been times when he had done the same thing: consistently check to make sure that it was still on his person. It was mostly a subconscious thing, but he acknowledged that he had been truly terrified of losing such a lead. Now, San was looking after it, but that didn't relieve much of the tension between the two of them.

In fact, it strengthened Jongho's own suspicions of the pinkette, despite Hongjoong's continued adamancy that none of the Elites would have any reason to support the Creators. Though that was an argument for another time. He knew bringing up such a point would only upset the elder performer as the man was truly attached to the younger bartender, even though he would never consciously admit it.

"Jongho? Are you okay? You seem like you're spacing out?" Seonghwa questioned, his obsidian eyes glinting with curiosity and concern.

Jongho turned his head slightly in the eldest's direction, "Sorry, I was just thinking about something else I found in that office, but I'll show everyone when we get back. I just want to get out of here already."

Seonghwa nodded in agreement, "I feel the same. As soon as we check the crate we are leaving. And I'm very interested to see what you found, have you informed San or Hongjoong?"

Jongho returned his own nod, and his eyes refocused on Yunho's efforts, just as there was a pop and one side of the wood came free.

It had taken a few attempts but nonetheless, Yunho gave a small whoop at his success. The bluenette circled around to pry at the other side to reveal the inside of the large box. It wasn't that difficult for the other anymore because with one side already loose, the next gave way so easily that Yunho nearly stumbled back, managing to catch himself just in time.

Seonghwa approached with the flashlight, pointing its beam directly into the mouth of the crate. When Seonghwa let out a small gasp of surprise, Jongho hurried to join him with their secondary light source.

Jongho had been expecting some peculiar-looking mechanical part, but his eyes narrowed at the sight within the crate that none of them had been expecting.

It was empty.

"What happened to all the parts that were supposed to be here?" Seonghwa murmured half to himself, drawing closer to kneel down in front of the open crate. "This was sealed shut. Why would you re-seal an empty crate?"

Yunho continued to stare blankly at the empty box, all of his excitement had drained from his face and was instead replaced by pure puzzlement. He turned to look at the other shelves of crates just a ways away from them with growing confusion. "Does that mean that all of those are empty too?"

None of them had any explanation.

Seonghwa was the first one to reach for his radio.

"Hey, Joong-ah." There was another crackle and a few seconds of nothing. "We just opened one of those crates and it's empty, like completely. Not even a fleck of dust or a single screw, there's just nothing left in it."

Jongho hadn't been expecting an answer, so he was surprised when the tell-tale click of another radio receiver travelled through the connection and Hongjoong's voice flooded all of their ears.

"That's really strange, are you sure you opened the right one? Maybe some are just older than the others and the parts have already been extracted."

Yunho replied on his own radio, "But Hongjoong-hyung, the crate was sealed. Why would you seal an empty crate?"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"That's why we are confused, hyung. Why would they put in extra effort just to do something like that?"

"There should be something there. None of it could have just grown legs and walked away unless it was fully assembled. That means that everything was moved before we got here."

"So it is just a dead end then?"

"No. Something's not right about this. How would they have known that people would come here and go snooping through those crates?"

There was a pause.

"They had to have been expecting it. But . . . that would mean . . ."

Hongjoong's voice trailed off, and Jongho's mind was rushing nearly a mile a minute to catch up with what Hongjoong was trying to propose.

And all at once, everything clicked.

Jongho looked between his companions within the warehouse with fearful eyes, "That would mean they knew we were coming. It's a trap."

The three of them huddled closer, suddenly distrustful of the darkness around them. They glanced between themselves and their surroundings as if they expected to be jumped at any second.

"Hongjoong, we're coming back no-" Seonghwa's radio static stopped abruptly while he was speaking, and the oldest pulled the radio away from his face to look down at it incredulously. The light on the side of the small device that was meant to signal its remaining battery power was dark, as if something had sapped its power in an instant.

At the same time, Jongho felt a tingling sensation creep over the hair on his arms, making them stand on end as if the air was being charged with some kind of electric wave.

Jongho didn't even need to glance down at his own radio to know that it had also been rendered useless.

A second later, there was a deafening crack, and both flashlights went out.

The suddenness of the darkness enveloping their sight left them no time to adjust, and so Jongho scrambled to locate the other two before he turned so they were all back-to-back.

The blanket of shadows surrounded them on all sides, and Jongho knew that any hope of them finding their way back through the warehouse to the door they had entered through was near impossible. If someone or something was really here waiting to ambush them, none of them were safe to venture alone through the dark. They were sitting ducks.

Seonghwa smacked the flashlight in his white-knuckled hands, clearly trying to reanimate the malfunctioning tool. Jongho would have tried too, but just as he considered it, Yunho placed a shaking hand on his arm, successfully making him look up.

Before, the darkness had been pure black, but now there was a change.

Small freckles of light began blinking into existence all around them.

Like scattered fireflies, these small lights formed a circle away from them, hovering in the air as if they were indeed carried by invisible wings.

They shone confidently, but unlike the warm golden glow of real fireflies, these lights shone blue. Like a sea of dappled turquoise light.

It took Jongho a few seconds to get over his stunned stupor, and it was only then that the realization came to him.

They were eyes.

------

well hey there,

i just wanted to say a quick and heartfelt thank you for bringing this book

to over 1.3 thousand reads ! It is still incredible to me that people read this,

so like always i'd like to say that no matter what i will finish this book and 

that many things are still to come !

now that i have graduated (major reason I was gone) and am going into 

university, i don't know how well my "update schedule" will be, but i wont 

give up 😤

as always,

♡ thanks for reading ♡
and see you in the next update