Grey skies were all I could see. I missed the sun, the sun was always smiling. I turned my head and looked at Changbin instead.

He met my eyes. We were lying in the sand, our feet just out of the ocean's reach — good thing, Haseong and Chan had bought us new shoes.

"What's up?" he said.

"I dunno. What's up with you?"

"Your freckles are cute." He gently plied my cheek with his thumb.

"What else is up?"

He shrugged, turned back to the sky. "Haseong hyung and I were working on my powers earlier today. He thinks I could do stuff other than manipulate emotions and make people numb. I wanna get better at — you know, whatever I can."

I stared at a seagull overhead for a moment, and then said, "Why?"

"To, like, help. To be a functioning member of the team." He paused. "And — this is pathetic — I guess I want Jisung to think I'm cool. That guy is seriously cool."

"He's like who you pretend to be."

He grunted.

I laughed. "I think you're cooler than him."

"He's useful. He's a lookout, he keeps the cov— er, family safe. I wanna do shit like that."

"Do... do you think I should be working on my powers, too?"

"Only if you want to. Your gifts would be pretty useful."

If I could control them better. If the important visions didn't come in random bursts, and the subjective ones didn't seem to shift on a dime. We stared up at the sky and didn't talk for a minute or two.

He pushed himself up on one elbow and scanned my face. "That's a new one, what is it?"

"Please don't make me detail my emotional state again."

"You have so many feelings, it's confusing."

I sighed. "If you insist." I got up on my elbow, too. "Have you ever heard of feeling 'unastrided'?"

"Er, no?"

"It's the condition of having nobody on top of you and feeling grief-stricken because of it."

"Wow, I've never heard of—" His eyes narrowed into slits. "That's a hint, isn't it?"

"Yes."

He kissed me, pushed me back onto the sand. And paused.

"I got it, for the record, I'm not oblivious."

"I'm proud of you — now shush."

He kissed me again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, happy to lose myself in him for a while. I was lost...

And then I was more than lost. I couldn't feel him over me or the ground beneath me. All I could see was black, even when I tried to open my eyes.

I couldn't do anything but tremble, too scared to move, as a pair of long hands reached toward me, and something glowing red glinted in the darkness.

All at once, the blackness charred up the way fire eats paper. I gasped and lurched forward — my head banged into Changbin's.

"Shit!" He palmed his forehead, and then mine. "Felix, are you okay? What happened?"

"I-I'm not sure. How long was I out?"

"Five seconds or so. Weird place to have a vision." He laughed awkwardly and covered it up by clearing his throat.

"It wasn't a vision, it was... something from my past, actually."

"Oh. Is that possible?"

"I'm not sure."

"What was it?"

"No, never mind, forget it." I didn't want to talk about it, and I knew that Changbin wouldn't push me if I let it go. "Just cuddle, please."

He shyly let himself down, nuzzled his face into my neck. I patted his back and stared at the sky. Visions of the past. I tried not to let it get to me, but always through the grey clouds, a glint of red was just out of sight.

───

It was twilight by the time we were back in the city, the sky darkening. We marched down the sidewalk, into a small courtyard behind the hotel. Human footsteps were all around, thankfully not too close. Changbin jumped up and caught a window sill, pulled himself up so he could reach the next. I followed, keeping an ear on the street and an eye on the windows. One guest hankering for bit of fresh air and we were screwed.

Finally we reached our window. I opened it and belted a birdcall into the room — the signal.

"You may enter," a voice said inside.

I climbed in, about to step backward off the sill, but a biting voice came from behind me. It was Jisung, sprawled out across the sofa.

"Watch it."

"Or perhaps you could move it?"

He growled. Short and sweet, I suppose. I skipped over him and landed on the floor.

Changbin casually leaned against the arm of the sofa. "Hey." The Cool Guy Voice. Jisung waved his hand once, didn't speak. Changbin seemed satisfied.

"Felix!" Hyunjin called. He and Seungmin were sitting crosslegged on the bed. "We've been arguing all day, come settle this."

I hopped onto the bed, folded my legs. "What's up?"

"You know 'mind over matter,' right? Well, which is it, really? Is matter more real than mind, or is mind literally over matter? Seungmin says matter over mind, but I think he's being pessimistic."

Seungmin rolled his eyes. "Look nuclear oblivion in the face and fix it with your mind, Hyunjinnie."

"We're not talking about the power of matter — we're talking about which is more real."

"What does 'real' even mean?!"

Hyunjin inhaled, about to yell, and then deflated and turned to me. "Please, Felix, your thoughts?"

"Matter."

Hyunjin gasped loudly.

"Minds can change," I said. "Think about it."

The room went quiet, thinking about it.

"Please stop thinking about it," Jisung murmured, face in his hands. "I'm tired of listening to this argument."

"If we mean it that way," Seungmin said, "then I change my answer to mind. Minds can change, but minds can also change matter, right?"

"Not physically."

"But we're not talking about physical matter."

"What the hell is non-physical matter?"

"What?"

The window opened. Everyone except me flinched toward it, battle-ready, but Jeongin and Haseong climbed through. Seungmin shifted away from Hyunjin.

"You forgot to do the signal," Hyunjin said.

Jeongin sighed and made a loud birdcall. "I feel like an idiot."

"You may enter, angel."

"Watch yourself, I'm down here," Jisung said. Jeongin sat on his stomach. "Get offffff."

"Coast clear?" Seungmin asked Haseong.

"All clear, no worries."

We had been taking turns walking Chan home from the hospital just in case any more nomads showed up — ones less friendly than Changbin and I had turned out to be. The family were nervy to hear about Ganzorig's coven and how they probably loathed us. Nomads tended to visit in succession, and they were afraid we had unleashed the floodgates.

"I'm here, I'm here," Chan said, bouncing through the door. He locked it, turned around and waited with his arms open. Hyunjin flung himself off the bed and into Chan's hug.

Chan smiled at Changbin and me, attentive as always. "How was your day, boys?"

"Fine," I said.

"It was nice to stretch our legs," Changbin continued for me. "We went to Folkestone, hung around on the beach, talked."

Suddenly Jisung was on his feet, staring at me. His head ticked to the side.

"You had a vision, what does it mean?"

"Jisung, leave him alone," Seungmin rolled his eyes.

"He had a vision and didn't tell us about it — am I supposed to let him get away with that?"

"Maybe I was waiting on Chan and Haseong to fill you in." Which wasn't the case, but Jisung was getting on my nerves, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he despised it when I kissed his masters' asses.

"Tell us about it," Haseong said from the couch. It wasn't an order, but it was kind of an order.

"You guys don't have to worry about it. It was a fluke, something from a long time ago." I was picking at my sleeve. "But I guess that's not very helpful. Sorry."

"It's alright," Chan said. "We're just being extra cautious. We don't mean to interrogate you, we just—"

Haseong took over for him. "It's only been a couple months since we met you. Give us time, be upfront about things. It's for your safety, too."

I nodded, a little bit done with the parent-act. Jeongin came over and sat between Hyunjin and Seungmin, and we continued the mind-versus-matter debate. Jisung stared a hole into the back of my head, and Changbin tried to make conversation with him — didn't succeed. The night passed like clockwork.

───

"I bet his name is Marvin and he works with animals. He'll have japchae when he gets home tonight."

Changbin and I were staring out the bathroom window, watching humans stroll past the courtyard below.

"I doubt he's both named Marvin and knows what japchae is," Changbin said.

"Then you give it a try. Butt-chin small-ears over there."

Changbin sucked his lips into his mouth. "Bartholomew. Advertising. He owns a boat."

"Well. Good for him."

The bathroom door opened — Haseong leaned in. "You two all right in here?"

"Just people-watching," Changbin said.

"Chan's work hours are almost up. It's your turn to pick him up, Felix — you and Seungmin."

"Um, sure." I turned to Changbin, pecked him on the lips. "See you soon."

"Be careful of you know who."

The shower curtain whipped open behind us and Seungmin stepped out. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you."

"Jesus, how long have you been in there?!"

Seungmin just narrowed his eyes, prowled past Haseong and out of the room. I shrugged and followed him. As soon as I walked in, Jisung sat up on the bed and glared at me. Prick. I showed him my fangs.

Seungmin and I headed out the front door and down the hall. We rode the elevator to the first floor — silent. I peeked at him every once in a while, looking away when he caught me.

The doors opened and we headed out into the foyer. The concierge was on our tails, jabbering at Seungmin. I had been working on my English — he said something about not seeing a long time and Seungmin said he should get a life. I wasn't sure what the expression meant but the concierge seemed miffed.

It was a quiet night, dimly lit by streetlights, just the sound of automobiles in the distance. We crossed the street and turned onto Westgate road — still silent. It was starting to get awkward. I was about to ask him about his favourite kind of weather, but he spoke at the same time.

"Sorry."

"No, sorry, you go."

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened in the bathroom. I didn't mean to intrude, I sit in the tub sometimes and I didn't want to leave when you two came in. Also your Changbin annoys me — no offence."

"Oh. Uh. That's okay."

We stopped talking again. I was about to ask him why he hung out in the bathtub, but he spoke again.

"Sorry."

"Sorry, sorry."

He laughed a little. "I also wanna say that I get what you're going through. It's hard to insert yourself into a family that already has ties and patterns. I went through the same thing six years ago. Well, not the same thing, but... similar."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Time just has to pass. Get to know everyone, make your own ties, let go of first impressions and grudges. And by grudges, I mean grudges against Jisung." He laughed, a cute sound at the back of his throat.

"He's always like that, then?"

"He just likes putting on a show. I don't wanna out him or anything, but he's a softie."

"You two are close?"

"I guess so. Everybody else is coupled up, right?"

I tried not to come off as gossipy, though I was totally being gossipy. "I see you and Hyunjin together a lot."

His lips came open and closed. His face was smooth. "Yeah, he and I are close, too. We're all close, really. Spend enough days and nights together doing nothing and that'll happen. You'll see, just stick around."

I smiled at the ground. The smile left.

"I wanna say something, too."

"Go for it."

"I really am sorry for freaking you all out with that — vision, whatever it was. I wish I had more answers for you but my gift" — I laughed flatly — "doesn't really work like that. It doesn't work at all, I mean." Even though weeks had passed, I felt the need to bring it up. I had sensed their unease ever since I'd confessed my vision.

"They're just like that, Felix — Jisung was being dramatic, Haseong was being a hard-ass."

"Were they distrustful of you when you first joined?"

"Um. Kind of. Not really. Sorry, no, they trusted me immediately. But it was different, they turned me. You and Changbin are — er, were nomads, you had lives before us."

I nodded and looked down again.

"I trust you," Seungmin said quietly. "You seem like a good guy."

"Thanks."

"You wanna know how to keep Jisung out of your head?"

"You can do that?" I gasped.

"There are a couple ways, actually. The standard method — repeat a song, a phrase, a word in your head, over and over again. Then there's the underhanded way. Think about something that scares him, and he scares easily, so not much of a problem there. Clusters of small holes, tight spaces, Goliath birdeaters. And then there's the way even he doesn't know about..."

I was listening intently, hunched over a little to match Seungmin's height.

"Listen to yourself breathe. Focus on it. All he'll get from your mind is that — your breath, your lungs moving. Assuming there would be other people in the room, he'd think he's just listening to one of them."

"Wow. Okay. I swear, I won't abuse this knowledge."

"Good. You're officially a part of the 'fed up with Jisung eavesdropping' club. Everyone's a member except Jisung."

We turned into the lot in front of Windgrove Hospital and walked up to the building. The smell of blood hit me fast. Seungmin caught it, too. He put his arm around me, held my elbow too tight for it to be an innocent gesture.

"You should wait outside," he said.

I cleared my throat and nodded. What had Haseong told me? Hold breath, close mouth, walk away? I tried to do what I was supposed to, but the smell was raw and wet and a million times more tempting than those infernal deer and grouse they had me drink.

Seungmin walked me off the grounds and planted me on the other side of a short brick wall.

"Wait here," he said, "I'll get Chan."

"Okay."

He marched away, across the yard and into the building. I sauntered in circles. I craved human blood every hour of the day — especially now that it was so close. I tried to take in the clean air, the mundane scents, dog piss and very potent cologne. I dropped my face into my hands and cursed my life.

"Felix."

I spun around. There was no one in sight. My foot tapped on the sidewalk as I waited, tense now.

"Felix, come here."

I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Seungmin still wasn't back. I looked around again. There was a brick building across the road, feet roaming the inside though it was under construction. I bit my lip and approached slowly, warily.

The smells on the ground, up the stairs, inside the door, were strange and blended. Not human, not singular. I stepped over the threshold — the door was open — and a floorboard squeaked under me. All at once, the footsteps stopped.

The door at the end of the hallway swung open. Stairs leading downward. I walked down the hall and took the steps one at a time, hyperaware of my surroundings, of my own breath. It was dark in the basement, darker and darker until it was hard to see, even for me.

"Honestly, Felix, the trouble endured to find you."

My body froze. That voice. It was so close, so familiar. Sweet and deep like music.

A pair of long hands reached toward me, and something glowing red glinted in the darkness.