XXXII. Him

Yeji turned to me again. "I now know lightning is a deviant element, but what are the others?"

Fair question, "Space, time, ice, sound, gravity, and metal. Metal, gravity, sound, and ice are as rare as one in a billion. Lightning, space, and time are rare enough that we have little to none information in it, they are as ancient as the legends of neathers communicating with snakes and ravens which is… well, thousands of years old."

"Doesn't that makes you really fucking powerful then?" She asked.

"As of right now, Dai is the strongest neather of the new generation, of the past five generations, actually," zio chuckled amusedly. "Only I, Hiro and his mom know what his Soul magic is, and it's unseen as well. He's the top student of the Academy for a reason, he may be a troublemaker, but he makes up for that in grades, strength, magic, and talent. His senses are also sharper than the stronger of the neathers, his body has always been stronger in strength, and his perception is sharp. His Spoken gift being that of being able to talk with all cats is also valuable, because cats are everywhere, and that gives him the power of information. That's why he's my pupil, why I took him directly under my wing, and why I picked him to go after you!"

If he keep this up, he'll find himself as my father-in-law in the near future. Hah, that's would be amazing, Four and Abby would freak out.

"Ah, that explains why he's so condescending," Yeji side-eyed me, but I could tell his words made her change how she was seeing me, the look in her eyes changed instantly. "No wonder you're so full of yourself."

Oh, man, if anyone knew what I've been struggling my entire life to hide from them… then they would be shocked. But showing even a bit of what I hide would unbury the worse of my traumas, and that? That I do not want to revisit ever again. Which is why I content myself with acting as if I was solely made of those three abilities. All while doing my best to train in secret, so I won't end up exploding because I was suicidal enough to hide this from those who would try to help me control it.

"It's one of my many charms," I winked. "Now, do you believe in me, Yeji? Do you now see that magic exists? Because you need to believe so we can try helping you with what lies inside you. And we need to act fast and try to help you awaken in a better way than through an explosion of anger, which you are prone to having," her skin heat up at that, but she said nothing, knowing I'm right.

"You just showed it to me, Seok-jin," Jesus, hearing her call me that will end up making me combust one of these days. My heart sure seems very close to doing so. I was never a fan of being called that, but fuck, if when she does it I don't feel like kneeling down and worshipping her. "I would be dumb not to believe it, even after I saw it, twice. I'm anything but dumb. Besides… talking to animals isn't very normal or mundane."

Both me and zio Silas let our an instant sigh of relief, leaning back in our seats, finally able to breath again and take the weight of a possible denial outburst off of our shoulders. "Now let's go to the main point," he finally spoke, visually relived.

She frowned, "Uh… this wasn't the main point?"

"No. And I know you've already graduated from MIT, mia belle, but you will have to attend the academy. Part of the subjects, are like the ones in normal school, but the majority of them are related to the neather-world, magic, physical training, magic training, and some other things!"

Yeji blinked once, twice, thrice, then giggled, but when she noticed we weren't laughing, she froze, "You want me to go back to school after graduating from college?" She pretty much yelled in a squeak.

"It's not a normal school, Yeji."

"It's school, Seokjin," she growled, anxiously.

"It's pretty much a training camp. You said something about your ravens saying you're untrained and not strong enough, didn't you?" She froze at the reminder. "They were definitely talking about this. The academy goes from when we're 5 to 23 years old. It's solely for neather kids like us. You need the knowledge and the training, Yeji, because you're still in the dark about how the neatherworld, our world, works. And…"

"And…? And what, Seokjin?" She pressed.

"And the barrier in the Academy might be the only thing able to contain the power asleep inside you. Because when you awaken, it will be explosive, and you will have to be there. Not just because of the power it will emanate, but because once you awake… darkness creatures began to haunt you, to feed on your magic. And you, as someone with 5 bonds, will be like a gold meal for them."

"Monsters will come for me? What the hell?"

Sigh, "That part we only believe when we see one, but you better pray you don't, because they are like living nightmares, and you need to learn how to fight against them. You will have to go through an intensive training, because you don't even know the basics of power control, and that could kill you before you kill the people responsible for the death of your loved ones in the train."

"Especially because, if we're right, the culprit is a faction of neather malificers, able to control those said monsters," zio told her, tense. "Not just responsible for the train accident, but for stealing Abby from your mom."

"They are our main enemies. To the mundanes we may just be a group of Old money families who got together to build a capitalistic empire as a conglomerate, but in truth, the real reason behind our families' union, was to gather the strongest neathers of our side, and form a resistance strong enough to fight those pieces of shit, who call themselves Midnight Paranoia faction," I hissed disgusted.

She almost let her salad fruits fall down, but my reflexes kicked in and I instantly grabbed it before it could break or touch the ground, grabbing her chopsticks with my right hand. Falling back on her chair, Yeji clenched her jaw, her hands, and her pretty face contorted with pure anger, grief. "The people who caused the accident… were the ones who stole Ari away?"

After a second, zio nodded. "Yes, through a woman who stalked me. She was the one who brought Ari to me, and I killed her on the spot. It took more than a year to finally realize she was part of Midnight Paranoia. We believe," he paused, sharing a tense look with me, then back to her, "we believe you might have been stalked by them your whole life."

"What?" She turned ghostly pale. "Why… why…? Why?"

"Because you're my daughter, and they want me dead," he passed a hand over his wavy raven black hair, stressed. "The only one they could use against me, since Ari was with us already."

"But… but… but how? The animals would have warned me!"

"That's the thing, mia belle, they did warn you about the member of the faction who infiltrated your life," he told her.

She grew even more puzzle, "What do you mean? Who? Who was infiltrated in my life? Who? Who?" She hissed.

"Your psychiatrist," I dropped the bomb.

"No way…" her eyes widened.

"We are analyzing the pills she forced you to drink, the pink pills, your uncle Daniel brought a bottle of them with her and we got it from him the day before yesterday," he spoke again. "We are almost sure she did something to those pills, we just don't know what yet."

Yeji covered her face with her hands and let out an angered scream, "This can't be happening. Fuck. That fucking bitch. I told eomma they told me she was bad news, but she didn't listen to me. That whore, I'm going to kill her. Fucking hell," she yelled and passed her hands over her hair, all but grabbing the strings. "I took those pills for two years, then I stopped when I was still a kid, I began to pretend to take them, Kit used to help me. Do you think it'll still be able to damage me?"

"Thank God," we both sighed in relief that Daniel was right.

"The problem are the worrisome amount of pills you took when you were trying to… take your life away," I pointed uncomfortable. "You took a whole bottle, Yeji. That, yes, could have damaged you in some way."

Her skin burned, "In my defense, staying alive to deal with all the consequences of that was not in the plan, ahjussi."

"No shit, ajumma?" I scoffed.

"To measure the damage, we need to know what was in those pink pills first, mia belle," zio spoke. "It'll take about a week for Natanael and Aimée to finish studying them."

"Astrid's dad and Adèle's mom," I told her.

"I know, ahjussi. I have photographic memory, once I read or hear or see or learn something, I never forget. I know who they are, I just did not know what they did," she snapped.

"Photographic memory?" I grinned mischievously. "Now that will be useful. It'll make your training easier. You're a fast learner."

"So… this academy is like Hogwarts?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Not exactly but kind of," I tilted my head. "It's out of the map and you cannot find it if you're mundane, neither on mundane internet. It's part of your dad's range of protection, and it's a lighthouse for the neathers of America as a whole, that are sided against the Midnight Paranoia faction."

"America as a whole? As in North, Central, and South America?" We both nodded and she whistled in surprise. Damn, I'm surprised she can whistle like that. "Nice. Where is this Academy then?"

"Lake Forest, an hour from Chicago," I told her. "This term already began in September 7th, so you will have to catch up."

She blinked, "Wait, you've been skipping classes to be here?"

"He has!" Her dad exclaimed. "Which is a gigantic thing coming from him, since he never skips any class. Troublemaker? Yes. But he's the best student in the academy, even better then all his seniors."

I avoided her eyes, feeling my skin blushing, "Not like missing a little bit will affect my grades in any way, besides, I'm not losing anything good. I'm catch up when you go there."

"Is it a boarding school? Like Hogwarts?" She grinned.

She sure likes Harry Potter, "Yes. But we, kids of your dad's inner circle, have a free pass to leave the school grounds when we need, since we all help him in some way, and his ancestor is one of the founders."

"Wait, appa, what's your Soul power?"

"Shadows," he grinned like a devil. "I'm really powerful."

"Alright, that's the definitely one of the coolest," she grinned back. Well, no one can't say she ain't his daughter.

"I know, I'm the coolest," he purred with a huge smug on.

"What's the name of the school, ahjussi?" She turned to me.

"Valhalla EPA."

"EPA?" She arched her pretty eyebrows.

"Elite Preparatory Academy," I tilted my head. "Everyone just call it Valhalla, though, ajumma. A name I won't explain because as someone who claims to enjoy Norse mythology, I'm sure you already know."

A nod, "I do, yes. Quite the obnoxious names. When do you want me to start in this… Valhalla place, appa?"

"I'm going back after lunch today, you could come back with me," I suggested, as if it was a harmless suggestion.

"Fine with me," she said bluntly and I almost grinned.

Zio stood up, almost jumping with excitement, "Amazing. This is the best outcome. Can you drive, mia belle?"

"Yes, I got a driver's license in Boston when I was 16," interesting.

"What do you drive?" He asked.

"Cars and bikes," bikes? She drives bikes?

Oh, man, I'm falling like the stars. "What bikes do you like?"

She turned to me, her ice blue eyes glowing, "Road Glide, Heritage Classic, Low Ride ST, Fat Bob 114, Sportster S, and the Nightster Special."

Fuck that, fuck all that. I'm gonna marry this women, she doesn't know it yet, but I'mma put a ring on her finger. She's mine. Mine.

"I'll let her take my black Road Glide Limited, zio. Then later on she can pick a Harley and a car she likes with more calm. It's big enough for her to bring some of her stuff, what she will like to have in Valhalla for now. She can bring more stuff later," I suggested and zio Silas' eyes almost popped out of his face, probably because I never allow anyone to even touch my bikes, they are my babies.

He blinked, "Are you sure?"

I turned my eyes to Yeji, "Can you promise to take care of it as if it was your child? I'm quite protective of my bikes, but I'll let you take it if you promise me, because I feel like you are the type to keep them."

Her blue eyes crashed against mine and stayed there for what felt like an eternity, looking at me as if she was trying to read my actions, to see the real meaning behind them. "Do you trust me, Seokjin?"

Ah, that sweet question again, "I do," and I mean it.

Swallowing, she nodded, "I promise I'll take care of it."

"I know you will," I whispered, turning to my pie again.