Kim Ryong

It took a while for Brynn to finally trust me. But, after Beom decided that he 'couldn't wait for Her Majesty to grace with her presence any longer', he took me into another room. Having seen me come back bloodied and barely breathing, the little witch finally decided that I wasn't a spy for1 The Clanless after all.

Now, she is muttering 'blood suspension enchantments' or something through the small vent in the wall between our cells. She seems nice and I'm glad my brother found someone like her to be a friend when I wasn't there for him anymore. Apparently, he also has a girlfriend now, and that she too is in The Clanless' slimy grip. I haven't spoken to her, though.

"So, why do they have you here?" I ask Brynn as quietly as I can, so as not to give the guards an excuse to make our lives even more miserable.

"I have no clue. I'm guessing it's because of Jungkook." I barely see her shrug through the barred vent.

"Who?" I frown, not recognising the name.

"My boyfriend. He's a Jeon and supposed to be this massive deal... It wouldn't surprise me if I'm here just to piss him off." She chuckles slightly but I can hear the worry in her voice. She must hate to be the cause of his stress.

"I don't know... If they wanted to piss him off, I would have thought that they'd just hurt you badly and then chuck you back to him. Why keep you and give you food and stuff?" I frown, not buying it.

She shrugs again. "Well, why are you here, then?"

"Because I'm half faerie and half demon. They hate that." I say matter-of-factly.

"Really? I think it's cool. Nova's half faerie too!" She beams and my mouth drops slightly.

"Sh-She's a hybrid?" I blink, not sure if I'm hearing correctly.

"Of course. Didn't you know that? I thought everyone was supposed to know about the hybrid princess... Well, I'm glad that I'm not the only one out of the loop again." She laughs slightly and it seems genuinely happy. If nothing else, I'm glad I could make her smile.

"Wait... So, my brother's dating a princess?" I gape in disbelief.

"I know! Crazy, right?"

We both startle as a loud bang crashes through our eardrums. "Shut the fuck up. I don't want to hear your breath, let alone your creepy little voices."

"Sorry!..." Brynn calls back and I can't help but laugh at that.

"They've kidnapped you, you don't need to apologise to them. You owe them nothing." I shake my head at her innocence. She clearly hasn't been through this kind of thing as much as I have.

Another loud bang rings through my cell and I jump a little.

"I'm an idiot! Wait... rhwystr sain." She sighs in contentment.

"What did you do?" I frown, confused.

"It blocks sound so they can't hear what's going on... So, what's being a hybrid like? Nova always says it's boring. Her magick cancels itself out, you see." The witch explains. "Does yours do that too?" I blink again.

"It what?"

"It cancels itself out." She repeats.

"No.. Magick doesn't do that."

"Well, that's what she says. That's what she's always been told..." The witch mumbles, seemingly a little embarrassed.

"Why would people tell her that? Unless.. Unless they didn't want her to know. We have to get her to access her powers..." My eyes widen. Maybe we could get an escape plan out of this... "Brynn.. If I wanted the guards to see something that isn't there, how strong a spell could you conjure up?"

"A pretty damn good one." She beams, shoulders pressing back proudly. "I'm top of every class in my year and most of the year above. I can make them see anything I want to! For a short amount of time..."

***

Nova Theasphreyei

I hardly ever cry. I used to weep into Ash's fur all the time, but I think eventually I stopped because it didn't ever help anything. Before I met Taehyung, I hadn't cried in years. But lately, it seems like I never stop crying. Salty droplets of sadness coat the skin of my cheeks in temporary scars.

I hear the tell-tale, metallic tap of the vent which signifies that Brynn wants to talk. I scrape my back up the jagged wall, barely wincing as it cuts my skin, and my feet drag slightly as I attempt to wipe any sign of misery off my face. I don't want her to know that I'm struggling as much as I am, when in reality, I'm starving, dehydrated, tired, hopeless. I somehow camouflage all of this with a smile.

But when I approach the vent, no one is there...

"Brynn. You okay?" I watch as the witch quickly runs up to the window and takes in my appearance.

"Did you hear anything?" She bites her lip nervously.

"Well, yeah. You tapped on the vent so I came over..." I frown, confused.

She squeals in delight. At this point, I'm a little annoyed. How can she be happy? We've been here for almost a month with no sign of an coming rescue. "Ryong! Nova said she just heard a small tapping noise! It worked!"

I blink, ever more aggravated. "What worked?."

"Just stand back. And don't worry, the guards won't see or hear a thing." She beams at me before her face is replaced with one that I don't recognise.

"Hi, I'm your boyfriend's brother. Please stand back. He'll kill me if I hurt you and I don't think he even knows I'm alive yet." The boy grins cheekily.

I just simply blink and decided not to worry myself with whatever they want to waste their ever shrinking remaining energy on. I lean against the far wall and sigh a long and deep breath of air. I watch in awe as stones on the wall begin to rattle and shake before they come crumbling down and roll across the floor and towards my feet. My jaw drops, to say the least.

"What the hell?!" I gape at the scene in front of me. "You're gonna get us killed!" I pull at my hair in worry.

"It's fine! Yours is the last one and they didn't hear any of the others. Plus, Brynn does this charm that makes the guards see the wall as if it were still there. And with that sound spell thing, they can't hear us." The boy grins at me, Brynn beaming right beside him.

"Right.. Who are you?." I glare.

"I told you, Taehyung's brother." He frowns and turns to Brynn in confusion. "Wait, this is his girlfriend, right? Not the pregnant woman..."

"The pregnant woman does have a name you know..." A woman steps out from behind the two idiots.

"Sorry Nangmi.." Ryong blushes slightly at the chiding.

"Nova, this is Nangmi. Nangmi this is-" Brynn attempts introductions.

"I know who she is... Why the fuck are you here?!" The pregnant woman gapes at me.

"Because The Clanless are dicks? I don't know..." I huff and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Why are any of us here?.." Brynn grumbles in agreement. "I think they just want to show they're powerful."

"Yeah, well they got too cocky. Because in their stupid powerplay, they locked up two hybrids. And the average hybrid is twice as powerful than the average primary supernatural." Taehyung's brother, Ryong I think, grins at me.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but no. My magick practically cancels itself out." I sump onto a large piece of debris, a little annoyed that I'm not alone anymore. I was quite enjoying the solitude, if I'm perfectly honest. I always prefer to be by myself when I'm struggling with anything.

"Brynn told me you thought that.. It's not true. Magick can't cancel itself out. A charm can cancel another charm out, but magick isn't able to just block another form of itself." The boy crouches next to me and I want to glare at him, but I just stare at his eyes. They're the same as Taehyung's. I trust these eyes; they make me feel safe. But they make me miss Taehyung. I want to feel his arms around me again, keeping the world a little distant.

"And how would you know?" I try to keep myself from completely falling into trust. I don't actually know him. Even if he really is Tae's brother, they've been apart for over a decade.

"Because I did research on it when Yoongi-hyung was teaching me how to access my own." He grins, almost as if he's happy I asked him that.

"I don't know.. My parents told me years ago and-"

"Is there any reason they wouldn't have wanted you to know how powerful you could be?" He presses.

I frown, trying to think of something.

"Maybe it was more to keep it from other people?.." Nangmi takes a seat next to me. "The Clanless, for example. Could they have wanted to keep these freaks from deciding that, like demon-fay, you are also too powerful to be alive?"

I blink at Nangmi, trying to process that. "Perhaps... In fact that sounds exactly like something my mother would do..."

"Let's just focus on getting you to use it, yeah?" Ryong draws my attention back to him. The more I look at him, the more I see the similarities he shares with my boyfriend: tanned skin, similarly shaped jaw-line, the eyes... "Is there a feeling that you get every time you use your magick? Something you can hold onto, like an anchor."