Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BREAKING NEWS: This just in, Brutus Nightshade, charged with the murder of thirty-seven civilians and counting, was sighted on the London Underground tracks by commuters on the platform. The announcement for an incoming train ceased when Mr. Larry Stonewall saw a faint light from the tunnel.

“It was just a speck at first, but it started wobbling towards the platform. I walked forward, bent over the edge a bit, and when the bobbing light came closer, I saw it was a man! ‘Get off the tracks!’ I screamed, the train was about to come in. But he just laughed. Awfully creepy. So I called security over and he starts yelling, causing a panic. ‘It’s Nightshade!’ he says. I don’t do well with faces, but that name rung a bell, so I call the police and people start stampeding out of the station. We tried to keep an eye on him, and then the train comes in, nobody told it in time to stop at the previous station. Security runs on and tells the conductor, but the bloke says he sees nothing on the tracks. Got big bright lights shining down the tunnel, and nothing.”

Shortly after Mr. Stonewall’s tip-off, the police flooded the station and ushered the passengers off the train and into the main streets. The station was barred off and all incoming trains terminated service. A search was initiated for all three connecting stations as well as the tunnels. Chief Officer Fenton said they found nobody walking the tracks, despite blocking off all entrances as soon as possible. They did hear a loud disturbance echo through the tunnels, but no explosions of any sort were discovered. The tunnels remain structurally sound.

Had Nightshade disappeared into thin air, or was this a fabricated sighting? Despite criticism about Mr. Stonewall’s seemingly careless report, Chief Officer Fenton believes he is telling the truth in this time of crisis. Regardless, constant vigilance is advised for the public. Do not go out alone or at night, be aware of your surroundings, and report any suspicious activity.

We now return to your regularly scheduled—

“Good morning, how may I help you?”

Jieqiong tore her eyes away from the large screen mounted on the wall and stepped forward.

“Two medium green tea lattes. Hot.”

“Name, please?”

“Jieqiong. Thanks,” she said, handing the cashier her pre-counted money. She stepped aside to follow her cups to the barista’s station and the next customer walked forward.

“One medium hot coffee, cream and sugar. And a…”

Jieqiong looked over, sensing the awkward pause in speech. A very tall and very beautiful woman stood in front of the counter, rustling through her coat pockets for a crumpled piece of paper. The woman flattened it out and squinted at it so closely, it barely touched her nose. Jieqiong could see from afar the chicken scratch of an order. Clearly the person didn’t bother writing on the provided lines.

“Venti mocha chai macchiato, double espresso shot, vanilla froth, topped with extra whipped cream,” the woman struggled to read slowly. “And nutmeg dust.”

She sighed in relief at having survived the bump in the road of ordering that godforsaken drink. That is until she looked up to pay and saw the cashier staring back at her, jaw threatening to unhinge itself.

The woman’s shoulders drooped. “You don’t serve that, do you?…” She trailed off, slightly slurring her words dejectedly.

Adorable, Jieqiong thought. The barista fixing Jieqiong’s second latte walked briskly over to the counter.

“Not exactly, but I think I got what you mean,” he said kindly.

The woman straightened up again with a glint of hope in her eyes. Jieqiong saw the corner of her lips curl up, just barely, but enough to distinguish between satisfaction and indifference. The barista instructed the cashier on what to punch into the register before returning to finish the latte.

“Name, please?” Asked the cashier.

Jieqiong tuned out of the conversation. She was intrigued. The woman was clearly blessed in the height department. Her aura seemed mosaic in nature. She exuded maturity and calm. At the same time, Jieqiong sensed a child-like innocence and purity. It wasn’t until the woman approached her at the pick-up counter that she realized she was staring seconds longer than what was socially acceptable. Jieqiong casually ran her fingers through her hair and checked the television for news. The report from earlier scrolled across the bottom of the screen in bolded letters as the regular program played in the background.

“Shame, isn’t it?”

Jieqiong returned her attention to the woman who had spoken. “Pardon?” She said.

“That Nightshade fellow. Been hearing stories all over London about his misdoings,” said the woman.

“‘Misdoings’ is quite the euphemism,” Jieqiong scoffed. “It’s much more descriptive to call them what they are. Mass murders and cold-blooded killings.” She realized belatedly that she might have sounded a bit too passionate about this subject in front of a stranger.

“And he makes a point to be very public about it. It’s not just about him, it’s about people knowing what he’s done.” The woman seemed to share Jieqiong’s sentiments judging by the small grimace marring her features and the slightest spitting undertone concealed by her casual, uninterested voice.

Jieqiong couldn’t help noticing the tickle in her brain. To anyone else, the woman had merely stated a common conclusion. Makes sense, they would think and go on their merry way. The odd thing was that most people wouldn’t make that conclusion in the first place. Nobody thinks about crimes below the surface. Nobody ever asks why. Well, nobody except…

“Yes, he does…”Jieqiong eyed the woman suspiciously. “You seem fairly interested in this. Have you been following the news closely?”

“Well, yeah. He’s all over the Daily Pr—” Nayoung stopped talking abruptly. Her eyes widened ever so slightly.

Jieqiong narrowed her eyes in response. But before she could ask anything else, her name was called at the pick-up counter.

“Two green lattes for Jieqiong? Have a good day!”

Jieqiong thanked the barista but didn’t pick up the cups. Instead, she placed her bag on the counter and pulled out a crisp white card with the number of an anonymous hotline printed neatly on the front.

“You don’t have to do anything, but please,” Jieqiong leaned in closer, “if you have any information, please contact his number. Even the smallest details are important.”

The woman hesitated, then took the card and put it directly into her pocket without a glance. “Thank you, Jieqiong was it? I’ll keep my eyes peeled and my ears open,” she said politely.

“Wonderful, Miss…?”

“Im. Im Nayoung. I mean I’m Nayoung. Well, I’m Im Nayoung. Or Nayoung Im. I— um, just Nayoung is fine…” Said the woman, scratching her reddening nape.

Simply adorable. Jieqiong cracked a smile on this bleary morning and let out a weak chuckle, her wariness of Nayoung fading immediately. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Nayoung. I’ll see you around.”

Jieqiong grabbed the two green tea lattes and walked out the door, traveling three blocks down the main road.

“Coffee,” Eunwoo groaned with relish, nearly tackling Jieqiong as soon as she walked through the station doors.

“Calm down, you look like a crack addict,” Jieqiong sneered.

Eunwoo grumbled but brightened up once she took a sip of her beloved latte. She followed Jieqiong to the offices in the back and plopped down in her cushioned chair.

“Morning,” their cubicle-mates chimed in unison.

“Morning, Sungyeon. Morning, Kyla,” greeted Jieqiong. “Did you see the news yet?”

“Yeah, sighting on the Underground,” answered Sungyeon, drumming two pens on her leg, one with a pineapple cap and the other shaped like an apple.

Kyla swiveled her chair around. “It’s weird. It’s like he’s letting himself be seen to ensure he’s still relevant despite no reports of attacks for the past month.”

“Always the same pattern. Civilian sighting, he’s calm as a statue, then poof! Disappears into thin air without a trace. No sign of entering nor leaving the scene. Nothing. Zilch. He’s there, then he’s gone,” finished Eunwoo, rifling through the new files on her desk with her latte clutched tightly in her left hand. “Here.”

Jieqiong took the folder shoved into her hands, scanning the papers for information. “Profile analysis complete, ready for press release. Forensics found residue at two sites, soil samples show the he was… Halfway across the country?”

“Too big of an area, we don’t have the resources to efficiently scan all of London to the countryside,” Sungyeon said dully.

“A villain doesn’t have the ‘luxury’ of legal procedures and paperwork,” sighed Kyla.

Jieqiong turned to the most recent forms. “We got a warrant to search a potential accomplice’s residence. Eunwoo, we’re taking a trip.”

“Suit up!” Eunwoo shouted dramatically, raising her green tea latte like the Olympic torch.

“We don’t have suits. Stop lollygagging and get moving,” said Jieqiong sternly, smacking Eunwoo on the back of the head with the folder as she walked past.

“See you later!” Sungyeon and Kyla waved at the pair.

~|~|~|~

“Mr. Ralph Tyranno, are you home?” Jieqiong banged on the apartment door. “Mr. Tyranno, we are detectives with the London Police. We have a search warrant for your home. You are ordered to open the door now.”

A minute of silence passed. Getting impatient, Jieqiong moved to knock again. Eunwoo’s eyes widened and her hand flew up to grab Jieqiong’s arm, fist an inch away from the splintered old wood. Eunwoo held a finger up to her lips and mouthed “listen.” Not daring to breathe, they carefully leaned closer to the door, ears straining for any sound from within.

Creak!

Eunwoo and Jieqiong simultaneously stepped back and pulled out a gun from their concealed holsters. Eunwoo twisted her body and kicked her solid-heeled boot at the door near the knob. With a loud bang, the door swung open so forcefully that it rebounded off the wall inside. Jieqiong rushed in, gun raised, eyes flitting everywhere. Eunwoo followed soon after with her back to Jieqiong’s. They moved quickly and quietly around the sofa and tables. Checking the wide-open kitchen, they found no one. Eunwoo swept through the cupboards and pantry while Jieqiong kept alert at the entryway. At the clear signal, they moved toward the bedroom with Jieqiong in the lead. A swift kick at the door opened it effortlessly.

“The bastard’s escaped!” Jieqiong shouted, gun still pointed at the open window, its curtains flowing mockingly in the breeze.

Eunwoo side-stepped into the adjoining bathroom. “Clear,” she confirmed.

Jieqiong rushed forward to peer out the window. The fire escape ladder was pulled down to the ground. She punched the windowsill in frustration.

“There’s no point in trying to track him down with only us two, he could be anywhere. Nightshade and his companions have a knack for disappearing on the spot. Come on, let’s search the place,” suggested Eunwoo as she moved toward the dresser.

Jieqiong examined the desk, papers sprawled everywhere. “Were they planning a heist of some sort?” She pulled out a pocket camera and took a few pictures of the desk and drawings in situ.

“Doesn’t fit his character. Power-hungry maybe, but not for riches. He doesn’t steal, he kills,” replied Eunwoo. “What on earth are these?” She muttered to herself, pulling out a drawer filled with various bottles and packages of plants, powders, and crystals. A flash from her own camera illuminated the room.

“Wait, look at these closely. Schematics, all detailed as if he was an architect. You don’t worry about exits and entrances or guards unless you’re breaking into somewhere.” Jieqiong walked over to Eunwoo with the large blueprints spread out.

“Diagon Alley. The Ministry,” Eunwoo read aloud, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Those look nothing like any of our governmental buildings. Are these even legitimate? To the best of my knowledge, there are no major renovations going on.”

Jieqiong shrugged. “What are those?” She nodded at the strange substances Eunwoo placed on top of the dresser.

“No idea, can’t recognize any of them. My first guess would be drug dealings, but I’ve never seen any drugs like these. It’s so old-fashioned with all these bottles and purified liquids. But these,” she gestured at the dry packages, “look like ingredients. Medicinal if anything. This might be powder, but it’s not cocaine. And again, not really fitting for Nightshade’s character.”

“Maybe they use them to kidnap and confuse hostages. It’s not uncommon to use drugs in clubs on unsuspecting victims. We’ll take it back for Forensics to look over,” said Jieqiong.

Eunwoo nodded and left to retrieve a storage box from their car parked on the street. Jieqiong flinched when Eunwoo presumably bumped into a large piece of furniture in her haste to get downstairs. Jieqiong paused at the unusually gruff “ouch” from the living room. Eunwoo soon assured her in a much higher tone that she was alright and would be back in a jiffy.

While waiting for her partner, Jieqiong walked into the bathroom, examining the small space. It was clean but felt oddly detached. Bending over the edge of the bathtub, she turned the faucets. They creaked and squeaked, but no water flowed out. The bottom of the tub was dry as bone. The toilet bowl to the left was empty of water as well. She took a small square of toilet paper and lifted the lid of the tank. No water. Straightening up, she turned and opened the cabinet behind the mirror. Nothing. Not even a razor or toothbrush in sight.

“A non-functional bathroom. A kitchen with a barren pantry save for the food already on the open counter and barely any dish-ware. What’s the point of buying a place downtown and not living in it?” She pondered. “Unless it was a safe house. Or a center of operation out of the public eye and close to the city. Convenient but temporary.”

Jieqiong stopped speaking to herself, but still heard someone whispering in the background. She slowly closed the mirror cabinet and noticed something move in the corner. The reflection of the bedroom door in the background displayed a shadow on its bottom edge, at the perfect angle from where the living room was. It flickered and had an orange glow. Like fire, Jieqiong thought. She pulled her gun out of its holster again and side-stepped along the wall.

“Master, they’re here! They found the drawings of the Ministry. No, no, there’s nothing else here. Just healing— What? Yes, Master, but— I know, but—”

Jieqiong didn’t just hear one man, she heard two. Did they sneak in through the open front door? But they sound like the inhabitants of this apartment. Bracing herself for the confrontation, she placed one foot out of the room.

“Can you help me with the box? This ‘steel-reinforced’ stuff doesn’t help when there’s no elevator in this place!” Eunwoo hollered up the empty stairs, her panting reverberating off the walls.

No! Jieqiong mentally shouted and panicked. She rushed out into the living room with her gun cocked and poised. There was a blinding flash in the room and a deafening crack. Thinking a bomb had gone off, Jieqiong dove sideways back into the bedroom and shielded her head with her arms.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” She heard Eunwoo cry, followed by her heavy stomping up the wooden stairs.

Realizing no debris had covered the area, Jieqiong pushed herself off the floor and ran into the living room. She strained her arm muscles, keeping them steady as she pointed her gun toward the living room. In the doorway to the apartment stood Eunwoo mirroring Jieqiong’s stance with her own gun held high. They lowered their weapons in sync and looked around the room. Nothing had exploded and there was nobody except the two of them.

“Christ, are you alright?” Eunwoo sighed, striding over to Jieqiong’s side and inspecting her closely.

“I’m fine. Did you see anyone outside? In the corridor? On the stairs?” Fired off Jieqiong.

“No, nobody passed me. I would’ve known if they ran up the stairs too. There’s a clear view of the other landings from a floor above and below. Why, did you see someone?“

“I heard them. They were right here in the living room, speaking.”

“Tyranno and Nightshade?” Eunwoo gasped.

“Most likely, but they’re gone without a trace. I didn’t see them, nor did you.”

“We can’t tell anyone that without sounding like lunatics or incompetent detectives. Probably both,” said Eunwoo quietly.

Jieqiong couldn’t fathom the situation. She had to find something, something solid and indisputable. She briskly walked over to the fireplace and examined every inch of it.

“What are you doing?” Asked Eunwoo.

“Fire. Shadows. Light. Not an explosion, it was fire,” muttered Jieqiong.

“Uh…” Eunwoo looked at her apprehensively. She wondered if Jieqiong’s head was okay, but the girl was one of the more collected members of their squad. “Anything I can do to help?”

“This fireplace. Put your hand here.” Jieqiong dragged Eunwoo down by the arm and pulled her hand into the fireplace, hovering it over the ashes.

“It’s warm,” Eunwoo said in surprise. She moved her hand further in. “But not in the center? How is that possible?”

“It’s not,” said Jieqiong, straightening up. She visually scanned the mantel and stared hard at the right corner.

Eunwoo stood up and followed her line of vision. “What is this? Powder? Residue? There’s a perfect circle embedded…” She trailed off.

“There was an urn on top of that shelf before.”

“How do you know?”

Jieqiong met Eunwoo’s eyes directly. “I saw an urn on the mantel when we came into the apartment. Its surface was so polished and shiny, I almost shot it before realizing the reflection was just me moving through the doorway.”

“How did two people manage to come into the apartment, have a meeting, steal something, and disappear without either of us noticing? We blocked the only exits!” Eunwoo exclaimed, ruffling her hair in frustration.

Jieqiong shook her head in disbelief and walked away to survey the apartment again. She must have missed something, anything. As she paced around, she failed to notice Eunwoo’s shocked expression.

“Did… Did you just walk through that area where a coffee table used to be? The one I bumped into earlier? Where did it go?” Eunwoo said

She frantically looked around for the missing piece of furniture. Upon closer inspection, she saw large muddy stains characterized by zigzagging tread where two of the table legs should be. Two oddly patterned imprints were preserved in the soft tufts of the carpet in place of the other legs. The centers of the imprints were round and deep, the furry carpet matted and squished under the weight of something. Eunwoo thought the table legs were much skinner though. She then noticed each rounded design had five small dots around it, four evenly spaced from the center and the one closest to the other imprint was at half the distance as the other dots. Eunwoo randomly thought of bear paws. But bears weren’t normally found in London apartments. Nor did their hind paws have tread. But shoes do, she thought.

Jieqiong, on the other hand, hadn’t heard her. The senior detective froze mid-step in her search just outside the bedroom doorway. “The urn wasn’t the only thing taken,” she said grimly.

Confused at Jieqiong’s sudden change in demeanor, Eunwoo strode to her side and followed her line of sight. The blueprints and bottles that littered the bedroom were missing.

“Jieqiong! Eunwoo!”

Sungyeon and Kyla slammed their car doors shut and walked over to the two senior detectives standing outside the building. Soon after, three more cars and a small truck parked in the street. Officers lined the end of the block with tape, barring entrance to and from the main street.

“What happened? It was supposed to be a quick interview and search,” questioned Kyla, voice raised over the sirens.

When everyone had gathered around, Jieqiong and Eunwoo explained what had occurred half an hour prior. Once briefed, the officers began combing the complex up and down while the forensics team went to collect evidence from the scene. Eunwoo followed one of the members inside, her request to test the residue left on the mantel and dresser drawers fading as she climbed up.

The hustle and bustle of the investigation was exhausting and stifling. Jieqiong walked to the end of the block. The officer patrolling the area nodded as he let her past the weak barricade. She breathed in deeply, letting the afternoon sun warm her face. The cars rushing by and the shoppers walking the streets made for calming background noise.

“Bad morning?” A soft voice broke through the peace.

Jieqiong turned her head to the right, surprised to see the woman standing next to her. “Nayoung?”

Nayoung smiled softly and offered one of her coffee cups to Jieqiong, the shop’s familiar name printed on the cardboard hot drink sleeve.

“No, I couldn’t. Isn’t it for a friend of yours? The one with the really long order?” Asked Jieqiong.

Nayoung laughed. “It was supposed to be, but I guess the afternoon staff didn’t want to deal with it. They gave me a green tea latte instead. My friend isn’t too fond of it.”

“Oh, um, thank you then,” said Jieqiong, carefully taking the hot drink from the woman. Taking a sip, she felt the warm liquid course down her throat, spreading calm throughout her veins.

“So what’s the party for?” Nayoung gestured to the police tape and flashing lights of the cars.

“Just a break-in of sorts,” Jieqiong lied, feeling guilty about repaying her coffee debt in such a way.

Nayoung leaned down slightly and whispered in Jieqiong’s ear. “Nightshade?”

Jieqiong tensed at the correct guess and turned her head to look up at Nayoung. Then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Just because I asked her about it this morning?, thought Jieqiong.

“Don’t be alarmed. I swear I’m not part of it,” Nayoung held her hands up in mock surrender, one of them holding her own drink. “But if anything happens, the first thing people usually ask is if it involved Nightshade. I won’t tell, leaking information to the press isn’t my area of expertise.”

Jieqiong considered her for a moment. Nayoung sounded genuine and kind, not the least bit threatening. Yet there was something about her tone that bothered Jieqiong. There was a certain change. When the woman offered her coffee, her voice sounded completely casual, even reminiscent of childlike innocence. Once she brought up Nightshade, it was still soft but had a particular confidence about it. Her tone felt like it had a backbone. Her words were solid and purposeful, a bit more articulated. She knows something. She’s fishing for information. Maybe not for the press, but for someone. And that’s dangerous, Jieqiong concluded.

“We’re not sure yet,” said Jieqiong. “Like you said, most people will jump to conclusions. We can’t afford to do that though. This could be Nightshade’s work or an isolated event. That’s what investigations are for.”

Nayoung knew the matter was no longer open for discussion.

“What were you doing in the area? Do you work here? I mean the coffee’s good, but it’s not fantastic,” Jieqiong laughed and changed the subject.

Her laughter died when she saw the serious look on Nayoung’s face. Her rounded jaw was clenched tight, her small mouth pressed into a thin line. Her long, slender fingers gripped her coffee so tightly, Jieqiong thought it would spew out of the top any second. Nayoung finally decided to respond but they were interrupted.

“Detective Zhou, they’re calling for you,” said an officer.

“I’ll be right there,” Jieqiong responded. The officer nodded and walked back to the apartment. She turned to Nayoung. “Well, it was nice meeting you again. Thanks for the coffee, by the way, I really needed it.”

“Any time. Good luck with the case.”

Nayoung waved awkwardly as Jieqiong stepped around the corner, then shifted her gaze to a store across the street. Through the squeegeed window dripping with suds, a young woman with wavy black hair looked up from the cooking utensil display. They locked eyes before giving a single nod. Nayoung walked down the street and disappeared into the nearest alleyway. The other woman exited the store, crossed the road, and followed Nayoung behind the row of residential buildings.

~|~|~|~

“Kyla, what’s your position?”

“We’re coming in northbound.”

“We’re four blocks east. Update on the situation?”

“The officers on site have evacuated everyone and have blocked off access. Three casualties, injured but no deaths. They were rushed to the hospital immediately.”

“What about the team? Any progress?”

“From what we’ve heard, nothing found. They’re raking over it a second time—”

“Eunwoo! Watch out!”

Jieqiong braced herself, one hand clutching the radio transceiver, the other shooting up for the handle attached above her window. The car swerved violently and screeched to a stop in the middle of an abandoned road.

Eunwoo looked wildly around. “What?! We’re in a hurry! What if Nightshade’s hiding in a nearby building?! He could be escaping!”

“That doesn’t mean you can recklessly mow down civilians!” Jieqiong yelled back. But taking a second glance, the place looked deserted.

“There’e no one here! The road was closed seven blocks back!” Eunwoo shouted, stomping on the accelerator impatiently.

“I swear I saw someone standing in the middle of the street. We would’ve run them over with how fast we were going,” said Jieqiong. She glossed over exactly who she thought she saw.

“This is a stressful situation, everything’s chaotic, you’re bound to see things that aren’t there. Let’s just refocus and sweep the area,” breathed Eunwoo as she pulled the car up behind the row of bulletproof trucks.

An officer came running up to them as they stepped out.

“The bomb squad is doing a second sweep of the southeast quarter. If they find nothing, the area is clean,” he reported.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Time for quick thinking,” said Jieqiong, initiating their routine of bouncing ideas back and forth. “Angle of the marks?”

“Suggests the origin of the explosion was in between the two buildings, projecting further in and away from the street,” finished Eunwoo. “Odd if he wanted to harm civilians.”

“Bookstore is damaged, shaken up badly. Books are strewn everywhere and the display window is cracked, extending to the brick and foundation,” continued Jieqiong.

“The record store on the other side is intact. Explosive was placed closer to the bookstore then.”

“Assuming a distant signal trigger, maybe a kilometer radius?”

“This is a business area, but residential streets aren’t far.”

“He’d want to see the destruction, witness it in person.”

“But nothing is actually blown up. And invading a house is more trouble than it’s worth.”

“A bombing requires intensive planning for a minute’s worth of action. Implementation, performance, escape. It has to be premeditated.”

“There’s a border ‘round back of the alley.”

“Explosion’s nearly in front of the gate. Was he trying to break through?”

“Normal people would just jump over. Besides it’s just a normal alley, isn’t it? There are other ways,” Eunwoo said dismissively.

“But Nightshade isn’t a normal fellow. So what if this isn’t a normal alley?” Pondered Jieqiong.

Eunwoo looked at her profile suspiciously, but let it go. Jieqiong was always much more attuned to details than her so perhaps she was onto something. At Jieqiong’s insistence, Eunwoo followed her partner to inspect the alley more closely. They stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, taking in the entirety of the scene.

“Tell me, what do you notice specifically about the explosion marks?” Asked Jieqiong suddenly.

They’re from an explosion, Eunwoo thought. She bit back the sarcastic remark. Of course Jieqiong wouldn’t be kidding around at a time like this. She followed the woman’s line of sight to the center of the alley. And that’s when Eunwoo saw it. Her eyes widened in confusion.

“How could they be discontinuous? It’s like someone took the radiating pattern, cut a circle around the center of the marks, then rotated them around. Marks end abruptly and start where they shouldn’t! What kind of evidence is this?! It’s like… It’s like…” Eunwoo couldn’t finish.

“Like a chunk of the explosion is missing?” Suggested Jieqiong reluctantly.

A still silence fell over them. It was impossible, but considering the impossible it was the only thing that made sense to Jieqiong. A whole neighborhood wouldn’t fake an attack nor would anyone plant such unusual evidence. But how? How could this happen? Nightshade wasn’t an average man at all.

“Let’s take a closer look,” muttered Jieqiong.

They stepped forward across the line separating the light gray cement of the sidewalk from the buildings’ black tar foundation. And then just as quickly, Jieqiong found herself walking away from the alley out into the street. She saw Sungyeon pull her car up to the site, but didn’t really process that her fellow detectives were there. Eunwoo moved to greet and update them.

“—just checked it, but nothing’s out of the ordinary,” Jieqiong heard Eunwoo say.

“What do you mean ‘nothing’s out of the ordinary’? Everything is! That’s why we have to check it!” Said Jieqiong shrilly.

All three detectives stared at her in concern.

“But Eunwoo just said you two checked the area and found nothing,” said Kyla, hand poised over her notebook in mid-scribble.

“We— What? No, we didn’t. We were about to. Right now,” said Jieqiong. “Let’s go.”

A hand firmly gripped Jieqiong’s elbow. “Are you feeling alright?” Asked Eunwoo, her tone uncharacteristically serious but gentle.

“Honestly, who’s ‘alright’ when we’re chasing a mass murderer on the loose and have nothing to show for it?” Jieqiong rolled her eyes and stepped forward, but Eunwoo tightened her hold.

“Listen, I think you should take a break. We can finish up here, I’ll go back with Sungyeon and Kyla. You take our car,” Eunwoo whispered.

Jieqiong looked at Eunwoo sternly. “What are you going on about?” She snapped.

Eunwoo glanced over her shoulder at the other two detectives, who furtively glanced back at her but didn’t interfere. Eunwoo leaned in closer to Jieqiong.

“I think you’re a bit stressed lately. That weird, crazy encounter we had last week at the apartment. Today, you thought we ran over someone on the way here but all the nearby residential areas were evacuated. And now you insist on checking that alley again? Yes, I know there can be mistakes when searching for evidence!” Eunwoo whispered harshly to avoid Jieqiong interrupting. “But leave that for Forensics. We went in there, looked at it, we found nothing that can help us at the present time. Our job is done.”

Rather than looking convinced like Eunwoo expected, Jieqiong looked even more puzzled. She was however much less aggressive, which Eunwoo preferred.

Jieqiong considered Eunwoo for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Eunwoo, we didn’t check the alley yet. All that other stuff, fine, maybe I’m overworked and stressed out about this. But this explosion could be some clue, rich with information that we have yet to examine. The discontinuous marks—”

“What discontinuous marks?” Eunwoo cut across.

“The— We were just talking about it. Before Kyla and Sungyeon came,” said Jieqiong.

“No, we weren’t,” Eunwoo said, eyeing her suspiciously again. “All we said was that we’d take a look, and we did look.”

“No, we said we’d look, then we turned right back around to the street. Then you go and lie to Kyla, having her report that we found nothing when we didn’t even investigate it yet?” Jieqiong was getting defensive again.

“I didn’t lie. You’re confused. And I’m worried,” Eunwoo argued. “Really, go home and rest. We can start fresh tomorrow. This case is important, but so are you. This isn’t up for discussion. Go, now.” Without another word, she pushed the car keys into Jieqiong’s palm and walked towards the rest of their detective squad.

Jieqiong’s head was reeling. She needed to sit and think about this, so she went to the car and hopped in the driver’s seat but didn’t start the engine.

We didn’t look at the explosion site up close. Eunwoo isn’t lying, she’s just… mistaken. Yeah, that’s it. Or am I mistaken? I could have zoned out while we were searching. But that’s so unlike me. Not just that, it means I failed to do my job. Maybe she’s right, I’m imagining things. I’ve got too many things on my plate, Jieqiong thought while rubbing her eyes. I need sleep.

Jieqiong inserted the key and revved up the engine. Waving tiredly at her team, she reversed the car and leisurely drove off the way she came.

Despite her resolution to leave it behind for today, her thoughts drifted back to the alley. My mind was clear though. I wasn’t distracted by anything, least I can remember. She paused as she came up to a stop sign. Remember. Memory is malleable. Malleability, uncertainty, it’s all dangerous. It compromises the case.

Jieqiong struggled with her thoughts. The line between objective and subjective truth were blurring and she didn’t like ambiguity. She turned onto the main street with a scowl on her face.

I don’t know if I’m right or if Eunwoo is, but something is off. Something about that alley on Charing Cross Road is unusual and I need to find out what.

With a bit of self-persuasion, Jieqiong signaled at the next intersection and turned onto a quiet residential street.  Navigating her way around the dead ends and roundabouts, she found Rolfsen Boulevard which ran parallel to Charing Cross Road. She parked the car a few blocks down from the explosion site, hidden behind a curtain of drooping willow tree branches.

A few officers patrolled the area to make sure no civilians were left behind or to catch any lurking characters. Jieqiong promptly excluded herself from the latter bunch. She wasn’t lurking, she was investigating. Huge difference. She ducked behind a row of bushes separating two front lawns. Once the officers had passed, she weaved her way through the plants and turned into the back alleyway. Halfway down it should intersect with the alley that cut perpendicularly through Charing Cross Road and Rolfsen Boulevard. It sounded petty, but Jieqiong needed to physically confirm that she had stood in the middle of that explosion site and concluded herself that nothing was amiss. It was almost an injustice, an insult, to her years of experiences not to do so.

She flattened against a nearby tree when she saw Kyla peering down the space between the bookstore and record shop, jotting down notes meticulously. Jieqiong allowed herself a moment of pride for their youngest but talented team member before slipping out from her hiding place. She carefully opened the back gate without making the hinges creak and crept through the opening, thankful for being blessed with a slim figure. There was more space behind the buildings than was visible from Charing Cross Road. The small alley converged with a sort of open back patio laid with cobblestones that spanned three stores to the left and right of Jieqiong.

Visually scanning over the area, she noticed strange smudges on the stones close to the alley exit. She knelt down to get a better view. At just the right light, she could see a faint pattern. There were small indents and clumps of dirt and soot, dragged through with some large oval textured object. A footprint, Jieqiong thought. The harder she stared, the clearer the pattern seemed. While the stains on the cobblestones faded as she walked away from the alley, she could still recognize the faint footprint pattern. She followed them while crouching low to the ground until her path was blocked. The bottom edge of a door came into view.

What horrified Jieqiong was what lay on the other side of the glass. Through the darkened window pane, she spotted two large black shoes polished on top and crusted with dirt on the soles, toes pointed in her direction. Her eyes panned upwards as she stood and backed away slowly. Brutus Nightshade pushed the door open and glided across the threshold towards Jieqiong with a malicious grin plastered across his face.

“Apologies, Miss, but the bookstore’s closed for the day,” he cackled quietly. “Snooping around doesn’t suit a pretty woman such as yourself. Better be careful, I hear there’s a murderer on the loose.”

Snapping out of the initial shock, Jieqiong reached under her coat to the back of her belt. She froze with one finger on her gun.

“Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn’t do that if I were you…”

Nightshade’s deep voice would have been soothing, charming even, if he didn’t make it so creepy and chilling on purpose. He tilted his head in mock concern, his hand fiddling with something in his own pocket. Jieqiong couldn’t make out the shape of the object, but she could only assume it was a firearm. Neither moved.

“You expect to get away with London’s police force and a bomb squad just ten meters away?” Jieqiong scoffed. She shifted her weight to her toes in case she had to flee. But if she had to shoot, that was fine with her too.

“Haven’t I already?” Nightshade gestured grandly with his free hand and bowed a little.

Jieqiong’s eyes flickered to the gate. She was standing almost in front of the opening to the alley. “You’re sick and twisted, barely human if at all. What pride do you have in killing innocents?” It sounded like a line out of a bad soap opera in Jieqiong’s opinion, but the comment did stroke his ego a bit and that’s all she needed.

She backed up a few steps and Nightshade followed. The sunlight penetrating the gap between the buildings now shone directly on her face. If only she could get someone’s attention.

“Aw shucks, you’re too kind,” he laughed. “But I’m not heartless like everyone thinks. No, I don’t kill for pleasure.”

This caught Jieqiong off-guard. This whole time, they had been profiling Nightshade as a sadist, an exhibitionist, someone who needs attention and glory in the most horrific ways. Well regardless of his motive, she needed to keep him talking. Nobody from her team had passed by the alley again.

“Why kill at all then? Seems like a waste of resources and time. Drunk on fame?” Jieqiong growled. She inwardly cringed at the lack of creativity, though the involuntary gruffness of her voice stemmed from a very real disgust she held for the criminal standing before her.

“Simple. Collateral. Influence. You can lose your hostages. But deaths… Deaths can’t be refunded, no matter the world you live in. And there are some very stubborn, very powerful people who crumble at that very concept. The kills mean nothing to me. The deaths could be avoided, but as time goes on, it’s becoming necessary. The kinds of casualties there are, well, to me they’re expendable. But to those in power, all life is valuable. And what’s valuable to my enemies is valuable to me,” Nightshade hissed, taking a sudden step out of the shade of the bookstore.

Jieqiong jumped back out of reflex. “Stay where you are!” She warned, finally pulling out her gun, loaded and aimed at Nightshade’s chest.

He just guffawed like a maniac. The noise bounced off the brick walls of the back alley. The volume seemed to triple. Surely someone would have noticed. But then Jieqiong heard the distant boisterous chuckles of the patrol officers. They blended seamlessly with Nightshade’s cackles.

“You honestly think that’s going to stop me? Your kind really is something,” Nightshade sneered.

Jieqiong was momentarily surprised that someone could speak so lightly of a gun pointed at them. But who’s to say this man wasn’t actually insane? She was about to respond, but she caught movement from the corner of her eye. Her only hope.

“Eunwoo!” She shouted down the alley.

Over the gate, Jieqiong could see Eunwoo standing right in front of the gap between the two buildings, just past the sidewalk out on the street pavement. But Eunwoo didn’t look up, she didn’t turn around. She didn’t give any sign that she heard Jieqiong at all. The bit of hope in Jieqiong died. With one eye on Nightshade and one on Eunwoo, she called for her partner again. Nothing.

“Eunwoo! Help! Nightshade! Get backup!” Jieqiong shouted at the top of her lungs. They burned from the dryness but she kept screaming for Eunwoo’s attention.

“Are you done?” Said Nightshade conversationally.

He had made himself comfortable by leaning against the bookstore’s backdoor while watching Jieqiong’s futile attempts to get help. His hand was still hidden in his pocket, no doubt ready to pull out his weapon. He pushed himself off the door and walked toward Jieqiong, who again matched his steps backward.

Nightshade sighed. “I really didn’t want to kill you or your little friend. It was quite fun watching you two trying to catch smoke. Oh, but is it really fair to gloat on outsmarting your kind? It’s just the way things are.”

Then he faced Jieqiong directly, eyes locking with hers. Jieqiong felt paralyzed. It was as if her feet were made of lead. When he spoke next, his tone became sharp, biting, and serious.

“I’m afraid you’re getting a bit too close for my liking. Even that imbecile Tyranno couldn’t hold off two Muggles, so I’ll have to dispose of you myself. Just one death should suffice. I’m sure your partner would be too devastated to continue the hunt for me. They’ll be too busy looking for your body when it’s just right here, in this gap that they can never access. If I can’t enter the Alley, neither will your lot.”

Nightshade finally pulled his hand out of his pocket. He was holding a sturdy, beige-colored stick with what looked like blood-red Viking runes engraved along its length. Jieqiong had a second to consider whether this man was absolutely mental. But in the hands of someone so dangerous, anything ridiculous could be a weapon. He raised it and shouted something like the childhood chant of “abracadabra.” Jieqiong didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger of her gun, eyes trained on Nightshade’s right shoulder in the hopes of injuring his arm holding the weapon.

It happened so fast. Jieqiong couldn’t process what unfolded in front of her eyes. A flash of green light exploded in the area. At that same moment, the sound of her gun firing echoed down the deserted street. Jieqiong expected to be electrocuted by whatever Nightshade was holding, perhaps a new kind of taser. She expected to hear Nightshade groaning on the ground while holding a shoulder wound.

What Jieqiong didn’t expect was an intricate wall of records, layered like fish scales, to come shooting out of the store behind her to defend her from the blow. The combined impact of the emerald lightning on one side and Jieqiong’s bullet from the other shattered the records into billions of shards. As quickly as they had broken up, they reformed in mid-air. Nightshade kept shooting various sparks at the records in all directions. Every time the barrier was shattered, it came together again.

Jieqiong stood rooted to her spot, unable to comprehend the situation. How was she not writhing in pain on the ground? How was Nightshade still standing without a bullet wound? How was this mass of records suspended in the air, seemingly protecting her as if it was conscious?

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand with long, slender fingers gently squeezed her shoulder. Jieqiong craned her neck to see who had touched her. Then the world spun around her, or rather she was spinning. She couldn’t really tell. All the colors and textures of her surroundings blurred together. She felt like her body was condensed, as if she was being squeezed through a very narrow tube with no room to breathe. The urge to hurl grew exponentially. One excruciatingly long second later, she was wobbling on her feet and fell forward, her arms shooting out to catch her weight against her car.

Her car? When Jieqiong steadied herself a bit, she looked around only to realize she had somehow teleported from the alley of Charing Cross Road to where her car was parked. She tried to stand up straight and turn around, only to falter in her steps. Someone wrapped a secure arm around her waist. Jieqiong’s head was swirling. Nothing would stay still. She heard the door of her car click open and she felt the person guide her hastily but carefully into the driver’s seat, the engine already on and warmed up. They pulled the seatbelt over Jieqiong’s body and clicked it in before slamming the door shut. Jieqiong blinked hard and saw the trees through the windshield shift in and out of focus. Her head rolled to the side facing the opened window.

“Na…young…?” Jieqiong groaned. Her head felt like it was splitting in two.

The tall woman froze. Her wavy, long, silver hair fell over her shoulder in slow-motion like a veil of vapor thanks to Jieqiong’s pounding headache. From what she could see, Nayoung looked down at her with extreme concern. Nayoung slowly raised a shaking hand and gently tucked a few loose strands of hair behind Jieqiong’s ear.

“You’re safe,” Nayoung whispered, more to herself than Jieqiong.

Then Nayoung backed away from the car. Her gaze hardened. Suddenly, everything came into focus with striking clarity. Jieqiong’s ears were no longer ringing. They strained to listen to the woman’s next words. Nayoung spoke with the most articulation Jieqiong had ever heard from her.

“Go! Get out of here! And don’t come back!”

Nayoung took off down the street where Jieqiong heard a drawled out cry of anger, various loud bangs, and saw flashes of bright sparks. She didn’t need to be told twice. The tires of her car screeched as she sped down the empty road with only one destination in mind - her apartment. Her safe, titanium-walled, prepared-for-an-apocalypse apartment that she shared with Eunwoo.

Given that the neighborhood was evacuated, Jieqiong didn’t bother stopping at every intersection. She couldn’t even if she wanted to. All of the streets looked the same as they blurred past. The bustling main road was visible just up ahead. Civilians milled about unconcerned with the chaos she left behind. Five more blocks. Four blocks. Three—

Jieqiong slammed her foot on the brake as someone streaked out into the middle of the street. She knew she wouldn’t stop in time. She let go of the brake and forced the steering wheel completely clockwise, hoping to swerve the car off-course rather than having it roll over and crush the bystander. When the car came to a halt, she searched wildly around for a body. Nothing was visible through her windshield. Nothing in the rearview mirror either. She turned to the right and saw the dark, empty houses lining the block.

She turned to the left. Before a single squeak could leave her throat, a feminine hand poked through the open window and pointed a thin, polished, ebony rod at Jieqiong’s temple.

“Obliviate,” said a soft voice.

Jieqiong’s head tipped forward and her vision faded to black.

~|~|~|~

Jieqiong woke up in a dark room. The familiar softness of her bedsheets and pillows calmed her down, but from what she didn’t know. Her back ached as if she slept on a rock slab. She had a splitting headache. She was sweating but shivering. Her stomach felt painfully empty yet there was an urge to spew out anything edible. Is this what a hangover felt like? Jieqiong wouldn’t know, she never had a drink in her life. She sat up to head to the bathroom, but paused as all of her joints cracked and popped simultaneously, rendering her limbs fairly useless for a good minute. With a final sigh she willed herself to get up.

“Morning! I thought after yesterday you’d like some bacon, so I— Gah!”

Eunwoo leapt back in shock at the sight of her roommate and partner, her back slamming hard against the edge of the counter. Rubbing her sore back while pushing around the bacon in the pan with a spatula, she stared at Jieqiong with a mix of restrained disgust and worry. She ended up looking constipated, but she didn’t need to know that.

Jieqiong wobbled into the kitchen and plopped down at the table, head cradled in her arms on the smooth wooden surface. She heard the clink of a ceramic plate and a fork and knife next to her head. The smell of crispy bacon, over-easy eggs, and toast wafted to her nose. She felt a comforting pat on her back and cracked an eye open to see Eunwoo peering down at her with a small smile.

“Eat up. You look famished, among other things…” Eunwoo muttered under her breath.

Eunwoo stuck the fork upright in Jieqiong’s closed fist, attempted to comb out her friend’s disheveled hair, then assembled her own plate.

“Coffee?”

Jieqiong groaned lifelessly in response.

“Coffee,” Eunwoo affirmed.

She rushed to the stovetop and ladled a green liquid from a pot into two mugs. Jieqiong lifted her head at the concoction.

“Excuse me, what exactly is that?” Jieqiong said hoarsely, her voice cracking on the last word.

Eunwoo looked at the pot, then at Jieqiong. “Green tea latte,” she shrugged. She shook a can from the fridge and out came two dollops of whipped cream.

“What?” Jieqiong said, mustering up the energy to squint her eyes at her roommate.

“Don’t ‘what’ me. You brought home two green tea lattes yesterday then just left them on the counter. You’ve been locked up in your room since I came home, so I put them in the fridge figuring we’ll just have them for breakfast.” Eunwoo placed a mug in front of Jieqiong before settling down at the other end of the table.

“So you boiled them?” Jieqiong asked, poking the golden yolk of her egg and letting it drip onto the toast underneath.

“You get grouchy when your latte is cold. And you ‘don’t believe in microwaves,’” Eunwoo dramatically curled her fingers into air quotes, “so I boiled them in a pot to heat it. It worked, didn’t it?”

Jieqiong just nodded. Eunwoo smugly bit into her toast, then slouched over the table and pointed the corner of her bread at Jieqiong.

“What happened to you last night? I haven’t seen you this wrecked since final exams of our second year at university.” Eunwoo shuddered in jest at the thought of their awful philosophy core requirement.

Jieqiong opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it. She didn’t know what happened yesterday. They got a call from the station about a bombing, potentially from Nightshade. They rushed to the scene, searched the alley, and found nothing. Then she went home. Alone. Why had she gone home alone? Something was strange. Jieqiong could remember all of this with extreme clarity. And that was the problem. It didn’t sit right that she could recall yesterday’s events in such detail and certainty. It felt artificial and practiced. It felt fake.

Eunwoo took Jieqiong’s expression to be emotional defeat and physical exhaustion. “Hey, you know I wasn’t trying to be tough on you yesterday…” She said slowly. “I’m really worried. This case is taking its toll on everyone. Our duty is to keep the public safe. But you’re my best friend and I’m not losing you. Not to a bullet, not to a madman, not to insomnia, not to hallucinations. I don’t want you working on any of this until you feel healthy enough to continue. I’m sure the boss will understand if you take a sick day or two. We’re no help to the people if we can’t even function properly.”

“According to you, I’ve slept for nearly fourteen hours. I can work,” Jieqiong said simply.

Eunwoo flinched at her unusually cold tone. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the clatter of forks and knives against plates. Eunwoo waited for Jieqiong to take one last bite of her breakfast before sweeping their plates and cutlery off the table and putting them in the sink to soak. She lifted Jieqiong out of the chair and carried her bridal style to the couch in the living room. She went back for their mugs of coffee and handed one to Jieqiong before plopping down next to her. She smiled as bright as possible at her friend, who raised an eyebrow back.

Eunwoo’s smile softened. “Talk to me.”

It wasn’t a demand. It was a plead. Jieqiong prided herself on understanding the world around her. Eunwoo prided herself on understanding the people around her. Maybe this was their chance to help the other where they lacked. This wasn’t Detective Jung interrogating her, it was her best friend Eunwoo. So Jieqiong spilled all of her thoughts without the fear of judgment.

Eunwoo listened patiently and didn’t dare interrupt. Where Jieqiong paused to check if Eunwoo was still paying attention, she gave the appropriate nods and uh-huh’s. Throughout the entire conversation she kept one thought in mind. Jieqiong is looking for understanding. Even if it sounds ridiculous, she’s being honest.

And it did sound ridiculous. Eunwoo clearly remembers the events Jieqiong is telling her and she had no doubts about their occurrence. The only part that could be valid is that Jieqiong felt something huge was missing in the time she left the scene and the time she actually arrived at their apartment. At one point, Jieqiong felt so paranoid that she wanted to check their car’s GPS to find out when and how far she had driven it. But then she remembered a past case that involved an expert hacker, so their whole team disabled their cars’ tracking systems and wiped the caches clean.

“Eunwoo, something is very off here. I can feel it and you know how I hate drawing conclusions from gut feelings. For a starting point sure, but not to get answers. There are gaps in my memory. My body shouldn’t ache as much as it does if all I did was show up at the scene, walk around with you, then go home and sleep. It’s like I defied death and escaped to tell the tale, except someone’s taken the story from me and now I’m left clueless.”

Jieqiong looked exasperated and confused. Eunwoo felt sorry at the distress her friend was in and she couldn’t even share how she felt with an adequate description. But Eunwoo tried to understand Jieqiong’s frustration. She wanted to believe her friend, but she didn’t know how to possibly help. There was no way to prove anything Jieqiong said. There was no way to falsify yesterday’s events either. They didn’t know what the problem was, just that there was one.

As the two sat in silence absorbed in their own thoughts, Eunwoo’s phone buzzed on the coffee table.

“Hello? Yes. Right. She is. Ok, I—”

Eunwoo eyed Jieqiong, who sat up straighter despite her back cracking three times. Jieqiong had looked drained of her energy all week, but this is the brightest she’s seen her friend’s eyes glow. She sighed into her phone.

“We will be there right away. Yes, Sungyeon, both of us. See you guys soon.” Eunwoo hung up.

“What are we doing?” Jieqiong asked, sounding like a child as opposed to the mature, charismatic, breathtaking woman she usually was.

Eunwoo stretched out her hands for Jieqiong to grab and pulled her up from the couch. “Better take those latte’s to-go.”

Jieqiong offered to drive to the station, feeling a lot better after breakfast and teasing out her thoughts with Eunwoo. They strolled through the doors, greeted the officers at the front, and made their way to the back cubicles where Sungyeon and Kyla were waiting for them.

“Hey, so what’s—”

Jieqiong stopped short when her colleagues shot her a look and stiffly shook their heads. Eunwoo glanced sideways at her and shrugged but went along with it. They heard the office door at the end of the hall open and everyone stood in a straight line.

“Afternoon, Chief Detective Warren,” they greeted in unison.

“Good afternoon,” he nodded. “Detective Zhou, I’m sorry to hear about your health. We can discuss your break as well as how the rest of the team can cover for you in your absence.”

A flood of realization swept over Jieqiong and Eunwoo at the tone of his voice. To anyone else, he would seem nonchalant yet caring like a father-figure. But the four detectives knew their boss was lying. He suspected a bug. From what evidence they didn’t know, but they would find out soon.

“Let’s fill out the forms.”

Like a family of ducks, the four women followed Warren in a single-file line down a set of metal grated stairs. He pulled out an old clunky key and unlocked the door, holding it open for his team. They sat down in a nearly empty, very sterile looking room with a single lightbulb overhead. Nobody spoke until the door had been resealed.

“I truly am sorry about you feeling ill yesterday. You seem to be doing better now though,” he turned to Jieqiong.

“Absolutely, Sir. I’m focused and ready to go.”

“Excellent. I’ll get right to it. We have reason to believe we’re being watched. Like the last case, we don’t want to take chances of being bugged. But we’re also close to a breakthrough. I want to set up a stakeout for Tyranno. He’s moved locations and we’re close to tracking him again.”

“And the sources?” Asked Jieqiong.

“One and the same. We’ve received an anonymous tip-off about Nightshade’s plans. They believe after this killing drought, he’s going to claim another victim. This person had somehow intercepted communication between Nightshade and Tyranno, though they wouldn’t tell us how or from what evidence they had to believe it.”

“Seems shady,” remarked Sungyeon.

“It is. But we can’t sit back and do nothing. We’ll just have to take precautions.”

“So all four of us are on the lookout for Tyranno?” Questioned Eunwoo.

“Not exactly. You two will be, you’re more experienced. You two,” Warren pointed at Kyla and Sungyeon, “will be coming with me.”

“With you, Sir?” They tried to hold back their gasps. They had never gone on an assignment with their boss alone. All of their training was administered by Jieqiong and Eunwoo.

“Like you said, phoned-in tips have a shaky foundation. We don’t know if this person is on the other side. This could be a distraction. Interestingly enough, our own sources have a bit of intel on the circumstances of Anonymous. We’re going to be looking into it.”

The four detectives looked at each other for reassurance and chorused, “Yes, Sir!”

~|~|~|~

For the next week and a half, they spent their hours planning in the station basement. It was specially built to cut off all signal so it was the safest place to meet. In the logbooks, their boss had put Jieqiong on desk duty, filling out papers and forms so as not to tire herself while still contributing to the station. With her fake work shoved aside on a lone desk in the corner, the five detectives hunched over the table with schematics of a business area downtown.

Some buildings were being remodeled and would serve as a perfect vantage point for Jieqiong and Eunwoo to observe the district from. Warren, Sungyeon, and Kyla would be on the other side of the city, where they believe the call originated from. Despite the call being made to an anonymous hotline, it came from an old police station on the outskirts of its district. All calls coming from stations were documented to an extent. While not very updated, they thought it was worth a try to investigate the place.

Next Saturday at dawn, the five detectives gathered in the station basement to go over their plans one last time. Jieqiong and Eunwoo packed up a sniper’s telescope, a stable radio system, and high resolution cameras into mundane briefcases. Kyla and Sungyeon were fitted with microphones and hidden cameras on their person. When everything was set, they made their way upstairs and to the attached garage one-by-one. They filed into their respective cars and parted ways at the end of the driveway.

“How do you feel?” Eunwoo broke the silence.

Jieqiong tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “Good isn’t the word I’m looking for. But something’s going to happen today. Something big. I think we’re going to find out a lot more than what we’re expecting.”

“You really believe this anonymous person then?”

“Can we afford to doubt them?”

Eunwoo shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “No, we can’t. And that’s what worries me.” She bit her lip and stared out the window, watching the lamp posts flicker off as the sun rose higher.

“We just have to get through today. If Nightshade doesn’t show up, he just bought more time. If he does, we’ll get him,” said Jieqiong. They both knew it was more of an attempt to convince themselves than a goal.

Jieqiong pulled into a back parking lot filled with construction materials, the gigantic yellow cranes looming overhead. She parked the car in the midst of fifteen-meter high piles of cinderblocks and planks of wood. After unloading their equipment, they draped a gray tarp over the car so that it blended in with the dusty worksite. They each grabbed two cases and began hiking up the stairs of the vacant department store framework.

Finally reaching the fifth floor landing, they shuffled over to the far wall with their equipment. The windows were just squares carved out of the wooden wall and covered with plastic sheets to keep construction debris from floating out into the streets. The complex was in an odd yet convenient position. On either side of the building was 74th and 75th Street, two narrow parallel roads lined with local vendors setting up carts, stands, and product displays outside their shops. Directly to the north was where the two converged into one large street called Heston Avenue, similar to an upside down Y with their current building being the rectangular branching point. The street along the windows they settled by intersected all three roads perpendicularly. Thus Jieqiong and Eunwoo had a vantage point overlooking all four streets.

Eunwoo set up cameras along the windows of the west side of the building, just in view of three shops that sold chocolate, toys, and electronics respectively. A stereo set in the storefront played a soft classical tune from a local radio station to ease everyone into their morning routines. Jieqiong took care of the east side where the enticing aroma of fresh baked goods wafted up and down 75th Street. Finally, they set up the sniper scope in front of the window that directly looked down Heston Avenue to the north.

Eunwoo toggled the knobs and switches on the radio set up on the floor. A high-pitched screech made her wince and Jieqiong plugged her ears with her fingers. Eunwoo turned a dial all the way down before meekly apologizing. Once she tuned it correctly, she flipped the on switch and soft cracks echoed through the headset.

“Testing,” Eunwoo said into the microphone, watching the sound wave dance across the tiny screen.

“Warbler with chickadees,” came a low muffled reply. “Taking flight.”

“Hawks have nested,” she reported.

“Excellent, make sure to document the hatchlings if any.”

The line went silent. Eunwoo turned off the mic and put the box into power-saver mode. She looked up at Jieqiong with a sigh.

“And now we wait,” said Jieqiong as she leaned against the wall, face concealed from the window by the plastic covering.

Daybreak turned into late morning with no progress. Then again, no progress meant no victims. Eunwoo restlessly paced around the open floor. Sometimes she checked that the cameras were still operating, though she knew they all had a full battery and were fine the ten times she checked previously. She drained the last of her room temperature latte as slowly as possible.

Jieqiong stood up and walked around a bit too. Her bottom was sore from sitting on two stacked equipment cases for the past hour and a half. She looked down at the shoppers shoving their way through the crowds. A man snorted and spat on the ground, which disgusted a group of elderly women walking behind him as well as Jieqiong who was observing the scene from above. Another man stopped in the middle of the crosswalk to argue with a taxi driver who was honking and swearing at him, despite the walking pedestrian signal glowing brightly.

Jieqiong rolled her eyes at the nonsense and peered into the scope. The apartment it pointed at was void of life. The curtains had been drawn open since they set up at seven in the morning and nobody has passed the window since. Jieqiong could practically see the dust settling on the furniture.

“Fancy a game of Concentration?” Eunwoo asked and chucked her empty cup on the floor by her makeshift chair.

“No,” Jieqiong drawled and side-eyed Eunwoo. They laughed weakly until Jieqiong stopped abruptly. “Wait…” She muttered and kneeled by the radio box.

“They’ve got something,” exclaimed Eunwoo, pointing at the flashing green light on the corner.

Eunwoo put on the headset and flipped the switch from power-saver to active. A second solid red light turned on. But she didn’t speak.

“What—”

Eunwoo clamped her hand over Jieqiong’s mouth. Silently, she removed the headset and held it between their ears to listen together. There was a distinct crackling that meant someone was playing with the box on the other end of the line.

“How… Thing… Why would… Damn snooping Muggles… Pay for this—” The raspy voice cut off and they knew the line was dead.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo stared at each other in shock. The mission was compromised. Eunwoo slammed all the buttons and dials at once and shut down the radio box.

“Tyranno! He’s got the Chief and the girls! He knew!” Shouted Eunwoo angrily.

“But how did he plant that information? He can’t just stroll into a police station and make a call without someone noticing,” said Jieqiong, trying to remain calm.

“Does that matter right now?! We have to go help them!”

“Yes, it matters! Everything matters! We could be found out too!” Argued Jieqiong. She grabbed Eunwoo by the shoulders. “Listen to me. We need to think this through. We can’t speed across the city, guns ablaze. We need a plan. We—”

In Jieqiong’s haste to formulate coherent thoughts, her head whipped around to view the streets below. Naturally when one was in an intense situation, everything about the environment seemed to be action-packed as well. And that’s when she caught sight of it. Off in the distance down Heston Avenue, there was an unusually empty patch in the middle of the crowded street. It was as if an invisible force kept people away, as if they actively avoided walking there. Even the cars simultaneously swerved to the side to avoid the pedestrians who veered onto the street instead of remaining on the sidewalk. Under normal circumstances, that intersection would be a mess of citizens yelling and honking at each other. But everyone moved silently and eerily in sync.

Jieqiong strode over to the sniper scope unintentionally dragging Eunwoo along. She bent down and adjusted the angle towards the corner shop. There in the dim window was a grinning Brutus Nightshade, hands clasped respectfully in front of him. He stepped aside and waved an arm out to gesture at the rest of the empty shop interior. Crouched on the floor was a man and his two children with their hands tied behind their backs and connected to each other’s restraints. The children were crying and the man was visibly pleading with Nightshade, who ignored him and continued to smile right at Jieqiong.

Jieqiong frowned deeply and pushed Eunwoo in front of the scope, who gasped at the sight.

“How does nobody notice an infamous murderer holding a family hostage inside that store?!” Roared Eunwoo, her eye still glued to the lens. “They’re just passing by like they can’t see it!”

“I think that’s exactly the point. They can’t see it. And we can. Because he wants us to see it,” whispered Jieqiong shakily.

Eunwoo reared on her partner. “How—”

“I don’t know!” Jieqiong interrupted, emphasizing her desperation. Eunwoo shut down at her tone.

“Well we can’t call the boss. Who knows what happened to them.”

“Call the station,” Jieqiong demanded.

“But they don’t know what we’ve been doing,” countered Eunwoo, though she still pulled out her phone.

“Doesn’t matter. We need backup immediately. We aren’t prepared for this,” said Jieqiong.

Eunwoo dialed their station and bounced frantically on the balls of her feet, whispering “pick up” over and over again. Jieqiong opened one of her cases and took out a small, black box. Inside was a delicate camera lens that fed into a thick cord attached to a very heavy hard drive. Jieqiong ran over to the scope, looked through it to check on Nightshade who was scanning the crowd outside, and screwed on the camera lens to the ocular lens of the scope. She pressed a button and a beep signaled the camera had begun recording on the hard drive. Just as Jieqiong looked behind her, a voice echoed through Eunwoo’s phone.

“Hello? This is Detective Jung. I need Chief Officer Fenton and his team! Nightshade is in London! I repeat, Nightshade is here! He is holding three civilians hostage inside Frank’s Fantastic Frozen Favorites at the corner of Heston Avenue and…”

“Lewis Drive!” Jieqiong shouted into the phone.

“We need backup immediately. We do not have the resources to confront and apprehend Nightshade.” Eunwoo paused as she heard voices jumbling together in her ear. “They’re coming,” she informed Jieqiong.

“Not soon enough. I’m going down.”

“What?! No! You can’t negotiate with him! That’s not what we do! Just stay here and keep an eye on him.” Eunwoo yanked Jieqiong back by the elbow and they almost tripped over the cases scattered across the floor.

“Well maybe I can at least stall. He seemed to think it was amusing last time,” Jieqiong blurted in frustration.

Eunwoo paused but kept her hold on Jieqiong. “Last time? You had a run in with him before?”

“I— No, I didn’t.” Jieqiong’s tone turned up at the end so it sound more like a question. “Never mind that. I’m not going to just stand around idly. They need our help.”

“We can help by keeping watch. We’re no good to that family if we run in there and ruin their chances at survival or if we lose Nightshade altogether. We need to relay what’s going on to the station,” Eunwoo insisted.

Jieqiong struggled momentarily. “Fine,” she grunted.

She slid over to the scope and looked through the camera lens peep hole. Nightshade focused his attention toward the sky. Jieqiong lifted her head and scanned the skyline for any peculiarities. There on top of the complex across the street from the dessert shop was a man standing right on the edge. He raised his hand in a sort of salute. Looking back through the scope, she saw Nightshade nod and smile right at her through the window in triumph.

“Keep watching the man on the rooftops, opposite Nightshade’s position,” Jieqiong told Eunwoo, pointing in the general direction of the buildings.

“What man? Nobody’s there, just some pigeons.”

“What?!” Jieqiong whipped her head around to check the building and as Eunwoo said, the man was gone. “Unbelievable,” she growled, fully implying both senses of the word.

There wasn’t any time to waste. Eunwoo would dig into the matter later. “They’re asking for updates.”

Jieqiong bent forward and hovered near the eyepiece. “He’s circling the hostages. The father is speaking to him but is being ignored. He— Wait.” Jieqiong’s tone became very urgent.

Eunwoo stared at the back of Jieqiong’s head expectantly. “What? Spit it out!”

“I think Nightshade is armed,” said Jieqiong stiffly.

Eunwoo pushed the phone closer to her mouth and spoke clearly. “Suspect is armed. He pulled his gun out and is—”

“No, not a gun,” Jieqiong interrupted. “It’s a sort of stick?”

“Excuse me?” Eunwoo asked incredulously. While she knows Jieqiong wouldn’t kid at a time like this, she couldn’t hold back the biting tone.

Thankfully, Jieqiong understood. “It looks like one of those electrocution batons. Only it’s made out of wood.”

Eunwoo relayed this observation, albeit a bit reluctantly. She thought if Nightshade had a short-range weapon that required physical contact, maybe they should go confront him. They would have the upper hand from a distance. It wasn’t difficult to shoot through glass if they couldn’t reach the shop in time. “What else?” Eunwoo asked.

Jieqiong squinted hard as if this would automatically magnify the scope and make it spit out useful information. “Is that…? Yes! There’s someone approaching Nightshade! An unknown civilian, not a hostage!”

“They see him from outside?” Eunwoo said, pushing aside the plastic tarp covering the window. The crowd still gave the shop a wide berth without realizing it.

“No, they’re inside the shop. They’ve stepped out from the area obscured to the right of the front entrance.”

“I need more info than that.”

“Female, looks to be around 1.75 meters tall, but a promotion banner and this angle of view is blocking her head and profile…” Jieqiong trailed off.

“Thanks for making it difficult,” Eunwoo snidely remarked to no one.

“She’s got a weapon too, also looks like a shock tool. He’s on his guard, but his focus is off the hostages. She’s distracting him,” Jieqiong narrated in a flurry. “He’s walking towards the woman, they’re talking. The family is scooting away slowly. He noticed. He’s shocked them!” Eunwoo gasped in response. “No! Wait, he aimed at the floor in front of them as a warning. There’s a blast mark.”

“From a baton? When he’s not even next to them?” Eunwoo asked.

“Maybe it has projectile capabilities, I don’t know!” Jieqiong snapped. “The hostages are unharmed. Nightshade and the woman are actively confronting each other. They’re holding up the batons, pointing them at throat or chest level.”

“She’s got no chance…” Eunwoo whispered as the emergency operator typed away.

“Wait, I think I see… Yes, there’s another person on the scene. A woman, shorter than the first but above 1.5 meters tall. Long face, soft features. Black hair.” Eunwoo repeated everything as Jieqiong spoke. “She’s come out from behind the counter. She has a baton too, she’s pointing it at the back of Nightshade’s head. He hasn’t noticed or he can’t afford to turn around.”

“They’ve got him,” Eunwoo said hopefully.

“He’s dangerous. No assumptions. We don’t even know who these women are. For all we know, this could all be an elaborate set-up planned by him to distract us from something else happening,” Jieqiong said and smoothly transitioned back to describing the scene. “Nightshade is backing the first woman into a corner.”

As Eunwoo spoke rapidly into her phone, Jieqiong observed through the eyepiece with bated breath. The woman had backed up to the window pane next to the front entrance. Jieqiong’s brain was itching at the familiarity of the woman’s back view.

“Long, silver hair…”

Just as she said the words, Nightshade inclined his head to his right in Jieqiong’s direction and grinned broadly. This prompted the woman to turn her head up to her left, thus revealing her profile in the afternoon sunlight. Jieqiong’s jaw dropped as she recognized the woman whose face changed from stoic determination to confusion, and then to fright and worry.

“Nayoung,” Jieqiong choked with a sudden surge of emotion.

“What was that?” Eunwoo shouted over her shoulder in the middle of speaking with the operator.

Jieqiong didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She felt paralyzed, unable to tear her eye away from the scope. Was she more concerned about a woman she barely knew than a family of innocent civilians? It sounded wrong but she knew she was right as soon as the thought articulated itself.

“Please be safe,” Jieqiong chanted quietly to herself.

She gasped when she saw Nightshade lunge forward while Nayoung was distracted. Thankfully, the woman had quick reflexes and side-stepped to avoid a blast of sparks and lightning. The window behind her shattered yet still no pedestrians or drivers noticed the chaos within. The crowd just shifted as one into the street to avoid walking on the glass shards. There was now a very obvious bulge of Londoners avoiding the sidewalk bordering the dessert shop.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” Eunwoo shrieked, again streaking towards the square cut-out of a window frame in the wall they were settled near.

Jieqiong saw the woman from behind the counter move forward and grab the collar of Nightshade’s coat. She waved around her baton and Jieqiong expected him to seize on to the floor from being electrocuted. Instead, his body flipped off the ground and ricocheted through the air into the back of the shop. There was an exchange of words between the women. The one with black hair crouched down to the family’s level and spoke to them. Nayoung stepped in between where Nightshade had flown and the others. Jieqiong couldn’t believe what happened next. One second the unknown woman and the family were there. The next, they were gone without a trace.

“Jieqiong…” Eunwoo prodded annoyingly at her partner’s arm. “D-did I just see that? It m-must have been a t-trick, right? It’s probably b-because I’m looking s-so far away-y,” she said shakily, not really understanding the words spewing from her lips.

Of course it frightened Jieqiong. How could four people just disappear into thin air? But Nayoung was still there. As unexplainable as this was, Jieqiong hoped Nayoung would have disappeared with them. She saw Nayoung jab her baton in the direction of some tables and chairs. The furniture whipped around the room and interlocked in a messy, complicated wall in mid-air just in time to absorb a forceful blast coming from Nightshade’s end of the shop. The chair and table legs broke apart and everything dropped on to the floor.

“Backup is here! They’re turning into our parking lot but I told them to turn around and go for the shop. Honestly, these idiots! They’re wasting precious time!” Growled Eunwoo from Jieqiong’s left side.

There was a flash of green light immediately followed by an explosion of red and yellow sparks. The shop filled with what seemed like a billion ignited fireworks. Jieqiong was temporarily blinded. She blinked and refocused her vision through the scope. The shop was empty.

“No!” Jieqiong shouted and punched the wooden wall which vibrated from the force. She frantically shifted the scope by millimeters, searching for any sign of life in the destroyed shop though she knew inherently that it was futile.

“Let’s go,” Eunwoo said somberly, though with an aura that demanded obedience and calm.

Choking on her words, Jieqiong moved silently and deftly. In no time the sniper scope was packed into its case and they rounded up the cameras installed around the room. With everything secured, they hauled the black cases down the stairs as fast as possible. Eunwoo dug into her pocket for the car key. Jieqiong lifted the floor panel of the trunk and stored the cases in a hidden compartment while Eunwoo started the car. Jieqiong slipped into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. They were off to the crime scene.

With the police flooding the area and the high density of shoppers, Jieqiong and Eunwoo made it to the dessert shop a few blocks down from their stake-out complex with great difficulty. It took nearly twenty minutes of rerouting around desolate roads to circumvent the crowds blocking the main district. Left with no choice, they pulled into a side alley and parked there.

When they emerged from the alley and waded through the assembled spectators, they were dumbfounded at the scene. All around the dessert shop were police officers scratching their heads, speaking angrily into their shoulder radios, scoffing and rolling their eyes at each other. A few of them threw their hands up in annoyance. Jieqiong and Eunwoo would have shouted at them to do their jobs properly, but they completely understood their frustration. They had been called to the scene seemingly on false information, thus wasting valuable resources, time, and money.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo slowly walked forward to survey the area, disbelief flooding over them. There were no glass shards on the sidewalk. The window panes of the dessert shop were fully intact. The lights were turned off inside. Eunwoo pulled her coat sleeve over her ungloved hand and tugged at the door handle. The locking mechanism thudded in resistance. They scanned the interior. All tables were evenly spaced throughout the sides and back of the shop with exactly four chairs positioned around each, all of their legs sturdily connected. There were no blast marks on the floor. There was no sign of a struggle. There was no sign anyone had been in here all weekend. The glossy window reflected the detectives’ gaping mouths.

“Zhou. Jung.” A stern voice from behind pulled them back to the present. They spun on their heels to face the speaker.

“Sir!” They said and stood stock-still.

“You called the station for backup? You reported that Nightshade was armed and holding a family, a man and his two children, hostage in this shop?” Chief Detective Warren nodded at the unlit sign behind them.

“Correct, Sir!” They said in unison. Both of them could feel the tension in the air and knew they had to stick together. They didn’t know what to make of this situation but they couldn’t afford to lose their cool.

Warren paused and looked them over. “I think you two can garner from your surroundings the seriousness of the current situation.”

Jieqiong’s and Eunwoo’s eyes simultaneously flickered to the officers standing at a distance.

Warren stepped closer and bent his head down, the brim of his hat shielding his eyes. “You two are very respected detectives under my wing. There’s no doubt about that. But by this one incident, you have made a laughing stock of our team as well as the London police force,” he whispered severely.

They refused to be shaken. “Sir, with all due respect, we were not lying. We put our blood, sweat, and tears, all of our time and energy, into this very case. We would not joke about it. The people of London are our priority and we strive to keep them safe. We did witness Nightshade inside this very shop holding three people hostage and two female civilians stepped in to defend the family,” Jieqiong relayed. Her hand drifted towards Eunwoo’s and they gripped onto each other for moral support.

“Regardless, there’s no evidence.” Jieqiong opened her mouth to mention their camera footage, but Warren continued on. “Look, I don’t want to berate you. You two are not children. But I think it is time to put this case to rest.”

“Sir…” Eunwoo sighed in frustration. “We’ve been so close to catching Nightshade thus far. We cannot let the people down by giving up the search. He needs to be caught for everyone’s safety.”

“Close?” Warren scoffed. “Jung, please detach your personal emotions from your work. No matter how close you two think you have gotten to the end, the fact remains that there has been no development.”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo shared a look but didn’t speak.

“The Nightshade case has been stagnant for over two months. The force believes it should be closed indefinitely until there is such sufficient evidence to reopen it. We’re done here. Reconvene at the station within an hour.” Warren nodded at the two and offered an apologetic look that seemed more pitiful than anything.

Jieqiong watched their boss walk away and speak to Chief Officer Fenton, who then instructed his team in crowd control as there was nothing to be done about the shop. The shutter of cameras and murmurs of the bystanders faded to a low buzz in Jieqiong’s ear. Just a week prior, they had a solid plan for dealing with Nightshade. And now their work dissolved before their eyes. It was done and they couldn’t do anything about it.

“That’s it…” Jieqiong stated lifelessly.

There was a pause. “No, we’re not done.”

Jieqiong’s head snapped towards Eunwoo so fast that her neck cracked. Eunwoo looked determined. She looked angry. There was a fire in her eyes but her outward appearance was calm and collected. She spoke with a low, serious tone.

“You told me you felt something wasn’t right about Nightshade. I listened to you, I tried to understand. But now I know. I know something is very wrong here. We’ve been together this whole morning. We haven’t made contact with anyone. Somehow we remember everything that has happened the past two months. Wild goose chases, random sightings, attacks. We know what happened. And God forbid both of us are crazy in the exact same way.”

Jieqiong was stunned into silence, awed by Eunwoo’s sudden vehemence.

Eunwoo squeezed their interlocked hands. “Nightshade needs to be behind bars. We’re going to figure this out, even if it’s us against the world,” she declared.

“Sure seems that way,” Jieqiong smiled weakly.

“I’ll take that as consent. Let’s get cracking.”

Eunwoo pulled on their hands and led the way to the car.

“Detective Zhou, Detective Jung. Please have a seat,” said Chief Officer Fenton as he opened the door.

The women skirted around the tables to two empty chairs next to Sungyeon and swiveled to face the center. The conference room was packed with nearly all of the officers in the force, as well as Forensics, the analysts, the emergency operators, and Warren’s team. Even the staff in charge of managing case files were lined up against the back wall. Some people cast furtive glances in Jieqiong’s and Eunwoo’s direction. They ignored the stares and whispers. When everyone had piled into the cramped room, Fenton took his place at the podium with Warren standing next to him.

“If I can have everyone’s attention please.” The chattering died down. “Thank you. We are gathered here to discuss the Nightshade case. No doubt several of us have been working tirelessly to monitor the progress and ensure the capture of the prime suspect and his accomplices. However, seeing as there have been no developments in the case thus far, we will  close it. We just do not have the resources or time to keep investigations running any longer. Of course our jobs are to do anything and everything to protect the people from such a criminal. However, we have our limits as well. Until further notice, this case will be sealed. Tomorrow, we will distribute new files to everyone and begin with cases that have been put on hold.”

There was an uncomfortable air of agreement. Looking around the room, Jieqiong saw forlorn faces and eye bags rewarded from late nights. Nobody seemed to have the will to continue the chase for Nightshade except for two people. Eunwoo squeezed Jieqiong’s hand under the table. Fenton and Warren addressed various questions and comments about the case, but Jieqiong nor Eunwoo heard any of it. They fixed their eyes downward at the table. Sungyeon reached over to give each of them a comforting pat on the shoulder, her left arm rubbing Kyla’s back. It was times like these, when everyone was down and discouraged, that brought out the youthful detective’s motherly nature.

But Mama Bear Bae didn’t catch on to their true intentions. On the outside they appeared solemn. On the inside their chests swelled with anticipation. The gears in their heads whirled into action. They both looked up at the wall-mounted clock in sync. Fifteen seconds until the meeting would end. Their bosses liked to be punctual. Ten seconds. With the current mood, everyone would most likely desert the station and cheer themselves up with a hearty lunch. Five seconds. Jieqiong’s hand began to sweat, but Eunwoo didn’t mind one bit and kept her grip firm. Tick. Tock. The clock struck one o’clock.

“Thank you for your understanding everyone. Let’s all get something to eat,” rang Fenton’s voice.

It was time.

Chapter Text

“Here’s the last of it,” Eunwoo huffed. “Let’s hope we can find something.”

“With the way things look, we might not find anything. Literally,” sighed Jieqiong.

They plopped down on the couch together. Jieqiong handed Eunwoo a laptop and turned on her own. They each plugged in a flash drive and got to work.

Hours ago, the head of the city’s police force and their own boss had closed a case indefinitely. The case concerned the infamous mass murderer Brutus Nightshade, the modern terror of London. There wasn’t “sufficient progress” to keep chasing a man who’s gone off the grid for two months. And that was how Jieqiong and Eunwoo knew for certain Nightshade was nigh unstoppable. But since when did that ever faze them? Jieqiong and Eunwoo had witnessed Nightshade hold a family hostage in the downtown shopping district, yet everyone else seemed to believe Nightshade had gone incognito and their best bet was to give up for now. Something changed and it didn’t affect Jieqiong and Eunwoo. They took it to be their starting point.

Their plan began after everyone left for lunch and those who remained gathered in the break room, paying no mind to the two detectives snooping around their own workplace. Jieqiong pulled digital files off of their computers and copied them to flash drives. Eunwoo snuck into the Forensics and Analyst labs to copy their data as well. They would have been required to record everything in their systems as they compiled results. Jieqiong and Eunwoo happily failed to mention to the Chief Detective that they still had the radio and cameras in their car’s trunk. They also thought it would be a good idea to swipe the Chief’s radio, seeing as how neither he, Sungyeon, nor Kyla remembered going on an excursion to investigate the “anonymous” tip-off. Eunwoo deftly removed any cameras and microphones from their two fellow detectives’ coats while they were in the bathroom. For good measure, Jieqiong rifled through Kyla’s drawer and grabbed the black leather pocket notebook she had been using for the Nightshade case. The other uniquely designed notebooks tilted with the extra room.

Everything was stowed away safely in their car by the time everyone returned to the station. Jieqiong and Eunwoo were filling out paperwork to seal with the case box. Earlier they discussed the importance of subtlety and acting natural while doing their jobs for as long as they would investigate the Nightshade case outside of work. But to their surprise, Warren had swept into their cubicle space looking completely revived of energy and offered them a vacation. Jieqiong and Eunwoo tried to assure him they were fine and would peacefully let the case rest. He insisted that they take the offer, saying they would be paid for their time off and were definitely not fired. They were extremely hesitant to accept. This sounded an awful lot like he was still under the affect of whatever made everyone forget the past two months. At the same time, the offer was appealing as they wouldn’t need to put up an act. Most certainly they couldn’t be questioned about what they took if anyone found out. And the extra time on top of that? Warren wanted them out as soon as possible, so they figured it might be to their advantage. By five o’clock that evening, Jieqiong and Eunwoo’s desks were tidied with a thin stack of forms in the center and a check written a week in advance of their pay period date in each of their pockets.

It was now nearing three in the morning. Eunwoo could feel her eyes drying out but she couldn’t tear them away from her bright computer screen. Jieqiong stretched and glanced at the clock, sighing with the aura of an aged man. They had been awake for almost twenty-four hours. Before, they had hopes of finally catching Nightshade. They were anxious to go on their stake-out. Now they were secretly digging through troves of would-be evidence in the confines of their apartment, exhausted and irritated at the world.

“Alright,” Jieqiong croaked. “We’ve had some time to skim through our stuff. Let’s discuss what we found.”

There was a pause as they looked into each other’s bleary, sleep-deprived eyes. “Nothing,” they said in unison.

“You were right,” said Eunwoo. “This case has taken a weird turn and instead of finding something to help us, we literally found nothing.”

“Let’s back up. We might need to change how we approach this case then. Maybe finding nothing is actually a clue. Maybe the evidence is that there is no evidence.”

“It’s not how we were trained,” groaned Eunwoo.

“I know, but it’s all we can do to make sense of this… This nonsense,” said Jieqiong dejectedly. “If that means challenging our knowledge and experiences, then so be it.”

Eunwoo cleared her throat and tilted her laptop towards Jieqiong. “So I’ve gone through all of the reports since the opening of the case. From what I remember, and that’s going to be our phrase of the day I’m afraid, is far different from what these reports say. They omit nearly every major find while still reporting the event. Take a look at this one.”

Eunwoo pulled up two documents in split-screen mode dating back a month or so. Jieqiong remembered this one clearly. It was a scare like no other. The result was utterly horrifying. Nightshade held a teenage boy hostage on top of a suspension bridge pillar. The only thing keeping the boy from crashing to the pavement was Nightshade’s hold on the boy’s uniform tie. Helicopters circled the bridge, trying to get a clear shot of Nightshade while somehow catching the boy if and when he fell. They were about to open fire when Nightshade jumped off the other side towards the water, dragging the boy with him. The place where they jumped was concealed by elements of the bridge’s support system. The helicopters couldn’t find them and a search team was deployed out on the waters. In the midst of the chaos, there was a call. The body of the boy had been found upstream of the bridge by a tourist ferry. How he had been murdered and transported kilometers up the river all in two minutes, and with no Nightshade in sight, nobody could fathom.

With great difficulty, Eunwoo swallowed the lump in her throat. “The report is fine up until everyone shows up at the bridge. Then…”

“A suicide?!” Jieqiong growled furiously.

The two documents displayed on the screen were supposed to be identical reports except for the script. The one on the left side was typed for later reference. The one on the right was the initial report in Jieqiong’s own handwriting. The typed file ended not with Nightshade’s hostage situation and the boy’s heart-wrenching murder, but with a suicide report. The circumstances of the boy’s death had been completely changed. Jieqiong felt pure, bitter anger brewing in the pit of her stomach. The lies littering the document devalued both the boy’s life and those truly affected by suicides. On the other hand, what equally baffled her was that the last two pages of her handwritten report were completely blank. Someone had gone into the system and deleted information. Yet when Eunwoo pulled up the summary of their system’s past activity, it showed Jieqiong herself had saved the documents as is on the initial date they were entered.

“Everything has been tampered with. It’s the same for all of the files under the Nightshade case. Someone on the inside was trying to discredit us,” said Eunwoo. “Another thing.” Eunwoo pulled out a small notebook and fanned out the pages with her thumb.

Jieqiong stared in astonishment. “Kyla’s notebook is completely blank. No ink, no indents.”

“You and I know she never goes anywhere without the notebook designated for each case. We’ve seen her constantly write in this one. I pointed out spelling errors in here,” said Eunwoo.

“Maybe—” Jieqiong started.

“This isn’t the right notebook? Yeah, I’ve thought about that too. Maybe she lost the original one. Er, ‘lost.’” Eunwoo made air quotes and gave Jieqiong a knowing look. “Maybe she ‘replaced’ it. Considering her normal habits, there is only one drawer she keeps these notebooks in and that’s where I got it from. They’re in chronological order, each binding is distinct. Normally, she’s obsessively organized and never hides her work. But this isn’t normal, is it?”

Jieqiong ruffled her hair in frustration. It seems that Eunwoo was done speaking for now. Jieqiong gave her a weary look because what she was about to share was going to make everything worse. Jieqiong took a deep breath and showed her screen to Eunwoo without a word. Jieqiong flinched every time Eunwoo made a squeak, as if she was in physical pain. Eunwoo lightly clawed at the screen in disbelief. Jieqiong decided it was enough when Eunwoo seemed to stop breathing out of shock.

“It’s gone. It’s all gone,” Eunwoo whispered.

“Yeah,” said Jieqiong. “Every single document from Forensics over the past two months says the sample collected was lost, tainted, or destroyed and the analyses were inconclusive.”

Eunwoo had her hand over her heart. This was a personal insult. She had meticulously accounted for all pieces of evidence gathered for Forensics to look at over the course of the case. Now there was nothing to show for it.

“And the Analysts?” Said Eunwoo quietly.

“Everything deleted. No records of phone calls, emails, letters, or anything of the sort. Every tip-off we’ve ever gotten, every witness account we’ve ever recorded, every profile we’ve ever written and released or kept sealed, has been deleted. This person didn’t even bother with altering the information. They just wanted it all gone. And there’s no way I can retrieve it either,” explained Jieqiong. She maximized her computer’s error message from the application dock.

Jieqiong felt a migraine growing. She rubbed her temples, though this didn’t help with the glaring light of their screens. She looked away at a darker corner of their living room. Her eyes landed on a stack of mundane briefcases. She straightened up.

“What is it?” Eunwoo asked softly.

“The cameras. Nobody had access to those cameras except us!”

Before Eunwoo realized what she meant, Jieqiong dashed out of her seat and kneeled by the black boxes. She began pulling out the radio and the hard drive stored with the sniper scope. Eunwoo was soon on the floor next to her, digging out all of the cameras they planted in the windows of the construction site earlier. She pulled out each SD card and plugged them into a port connected to her computer. Her desktop instantly lit up with new folders.

“Open this one.” Jieqiong pointed at the last folder to open. “It’s from the camera facing the street running east to west in front of the complex. It might have footage of the man I saw on top of the roofs. I think it was Tyranno. Don’t give me that look. I don’t know how he could’ve gotten to us when he was wrecking the Chief’s radio on the other side of the city, but I did see him. Let’s hope the camera did too.”

Eunwoo nodded and clicked on the folder. There was a blank thumbnail with a randomly generated file name. She opened it. All at once, the folders shrunk back to her trashcan icon as if the hardware was being ejected. Jieqiong and Eunwoo simultaneously looked at the port where all of the SD cards were inserted. The device began smoking. Eunwoo hastily unplugged it from her computer and ran to Jieqiong who had opened a window. The last thing they needed was the fire department raiding their home and finding everything they stole. They watched painfully as the SD cards sparked and melted in the slots.

“I thought this would work! I set them up myself! Nobody even remembered we took them!” Cried Eunwoo.

“Exactly, so think about it. All of the stuff we went through was something that could be accessed at the station at any time. It takes just one good hacker to alter those files. But nobody could have hacked these while they were in secure cases and not plugged into a computer. Nightshade’s side had no chance to edit our footage. The only option left? Destroy it,” reasoned Jieqiong. “I don’t know how, but at least we can establish that.”

They slowly turned towards the hard drive on the floor next to the opened sniper scope case.

“Do we dare?”

Jieqiong nodded at Eunwoo, but stopped her from plugging in the cord to her computer. “Not with that,” said Jieqiong. “This time it might fry your computer. Then we’d lose a lot more than footage.” Jieqiong jogged to her bedroom and retrieved a digital camera with a blank SD card and fully charged batteries.

Eunwoo passed her the hard drive cable but held her hand still. “Wait.” Eunwoo pulled out her phone and opened the camera function on video mode. “Someone’s going to have to wrench this phone out of my death grip if they want to delete all of the footage we have.” She pressed record and positioned the phone over the camera in Jieqiong’s hands.

Jieqiong smiled weakly and plugged in the hard drive. The camera turned on. For a split second, the screen flashed and they saw a high definition thumbnail of Nightshade and Nayoung in the dessert shop with the family of hostages in the background on the right, another woman approaching from the left. Then, a flash came from the right of the camera screen. The gears inside the hard drive resting on the floor whirred madly. Jieqiong flipped it over and smoke issued from the vents underneath. It cracked in half and the exposed wires emitted sparks. Eunwoo left and ran back with a small fire extinguisher, spraying the device.

“Well…” Eunwoo held the fire extinguisher in one hand, her phone in the other.

“You got it,” said Jieqiong in amazement.

On Eunwoo’s phone was the paused frame of the thumbnail that appeared on the camera. The smoke from the hard drive could be seen in the margins of the recording. Jieqiong and Eunwoo smiled gleefully at each other like Christmas had come early. Of all the data that disappeared and was corrupted, they managed to extract one piece of evidence. They were damn proud. Eunwoo saved a screenshot of it. The thumbnail on the camera was timed and dated as well. But they couldn’t burst into Warren’s office demanding they reopen the case. It was more out of fear their only video and picture would be deleted than if their boss didn’t believe them.

The alarm on Jieqiong’s phone rang. It was five in the morning.

“I think this calls for a well-earned latte, don’t you?” Jieqiong asked.

“I concur,” Eunwoo giggled.

“Hey, keep that phone secure. We can’t take the chance that someone will swipe it from your pocket,” warned Jieqiong.

Eunwoo nodded and did what only Eunwoo would do. She stuffed the phone in her bra.

“Shall we?” Eunwoo held out her arm.

“Uh, yeah,” replied Jieqiong and she linked their arms, averting her gaze from her friend’s bust.

~|~|~|~

“Must you have such bony elbows?”

“My elbows are beautiful. Must you invade my personal space?”

“Considering the awkward position I’m in, yes. Yes, I must.”

“I didn’t make you cross your legs like a contortionist.”

“Like I had a choice when you so graciously shoved me into this bush.”

“It’s too early for this.”

“Shut up, bushes don’t talk.”

“You shut up.”

“Daddy, the bushes are funny,” giggled a small girl.

“Sure, honey. That’s great,” replied her father distractedly. His son had tripped on his shoelaces.

A few meters away, Jieqiong and Eunwoo were squished together among the bushes lining the entrance to a neighborhood park. They observed the man tying his son’s shoes. This wasn’t just any man they were stalking. It was the man who asked for a spare chair at their usual coffee shop so his children could sit together while he fetched their drinks.

Eunwoo gave him the chair without a second thought and brought her drink up to her mouth for a sip. But Jieqiong grabbed onto Eunwoo’s wrist and splattered some of the green tea latte onto the table. She was speechless. When Eunwoo tried to get a coherent sentence out of her, she just gaped and pointed at Eunwoo’s chest. Eunwoo deadpanned that it was not the time to be hitting on her, though she admitted she possessed an admirable physique. Jieqiong promptly hit her friend with a rolled up newspaper left on their table. She explained in hushed tones that the man and his children were the hostages from the day prior. Eunwoo finally understood and pulled her phone out of her bra to verify this. The family’s faces matched those of the hostages in the photo. The two spent the next twenty minutes devising a plan to interview the man about Nightshade when they spotted the family leaving the cafe. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, Jieqiong grabbed Eunwoo and ran after them. So here they were, crouching in the dirt so as not to be caught by the curious little girl who loved to laugh at bickering bushes.

“They’re moving! Let’s go!”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo scurried to a bush by a bench further down the path. When they emerged to relocate again, the little boy broke free from his father’s grasp and almost ran into them. Jieqiong retreated back into the bush. Eunwoo, who was already out in the open, panicked and leaned against a nearby tree facing the other way.

“Daddy, can we play on the slide?” Said the boy.

“How about tomorrow, buddy? Daddy’s got some work to do at home. I promise we’ll come back.”

“M’okay,” the boy slurred, his head drooping dramatically in disappointment. “Oof!”

“Oh! Are you alright?” Eunwoo said and bent down to check on the boy. He had bumped into her thigh while focusing on the ground instead of where he was walking.

“I’m so sorry, Miss.” The father rushed over and helped his son off the ground. “Timmy, what do you say?” He asked his son gently but firmly. The boy murmured a tiny apology.

“Uh, no worries! Not a bother!” Said Eunwoo, horribly disguising her voice. It sounded more like Eunwoo with the flu than an impersonation. She conspicuously raised the collar of her coat to hide her face.

Meanwhile, Jieqiong was in the bush restraining her fingernails from clawing her cheeks out of secondhand embarrassment. How was Eunwoo so bad at acting under pressure? Thankfully, the man didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy fussing over his son’s manners and his daughter’s energy. Even if Jieqiong and Eunwoo weren’t bringing the park’s vegetation to life, the girl was amused by everything.

“Again, I’m sorry for bothering you. Have a good day, Miss,” the father said and ushered his children down the path cutting through the playground.

Eunwoo exhaled deeply in relief, only to choke on her saliva when Jieqiong materialized behind her and slapped her on the back in annoyance. Jieqiong imitated Eunwoo’s muffled voice with a scowl.

“I do not sound like that,” muttered Eunwoo indignantly.

“Whatever, keep moving. They’re leaving the park.” Jieqiong walked away briskly.

In no time, Jieqiong and Eunwoo were standing across the street from the family’s house. The children still had a bit of energy left in them. Their father let them play a bit longer outside in their backyard. A few minutes later, he returned to the front of the house to check for his post.

“Now’s our chance.” Jieqiong nudged Eunwoo and they moved forward.

“Oh, good morning ladies,” said the man as he spotted them approaching.

“Good morning, Sir. We are Detectives Zhou and Jung with the London Police.” They flashed their badges as proof.

“I’m Zachary Grand. How many I help you?”

“Mr. Grand, we’d like to ask you a few questions about Brutus Nightshade, if you have the time.”

“Nightshade?” Grand scratched the back of his neck. “Don’t know if I can help you much there. I’ve only heard of him from the news.”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo shared a look. They were afraid of this. It seems whoever got to their colleagues had gotten to Grand as well. But they were here now, they might as well have a crack at it.

Jieqiong turned to the man. “Well, even the smallest details could help.” She smiled inwardly at the familiar words. “Please, we won’t take much of your time. We just need a few things and we believe you might be able to help us.”

Grand welcomed them into his home to have a more private conversation. The sound of his children’s laughter drifted through the kitchen from the open back door. Jieqiong and Eunwoo settled themselves in the living room where Grand brought some glasses and a pitcher of lemonade. After an exchange of thanks and pleasantries, they got right into the interview.

According to Grand, he and his children had gone on a weekend trip to visit his parents in the countryside. They hadn’t gotten back until this morning. He had never encountered Nightshade and would never have let the lunatic near his children.

“I don’t like Heston Avenue. Too many people and everything’s overpriced. I much prefer small local businesses,” he added when asked about yesterday’s news of a possible break-in at Frank’s Fantastic Frozen Favorites. “Besides, my son is awfully picky about his desserts. Must have the banana split from the shop down this road. Won’t take anything else. More lemonade?”

“Yes, please. Thank you,” said Jieqiong. She checked that Grand was out of earshot and turned to Eunwoo. “He’s got an awfully specific alibi for someone who would have suffered the usual memory loss from stress and shock. His memory was somehow altered too, then.”

“Well, false or not, this is what he believes to have happened. It’s some kind of evidence or witness account. We just don’t know what kind yet,” Eunwoo shrugged. “I still think I should take down anything he’s willing to give.”

Jieqiong agreed and let Eunwoo continue the interview. She was starting to get a headache from this mess of a case and the lack of sleep was not helping. She paced around the room, stopping by the door leading into the kitchen. The little girl beckoned her over. Jieqiong smiled back and went outside to greet the girl.

“Hi! I’m Cassie!” Said the little girl, grinning broadly.

“Hi there, my name’s Jieqiong.” Jieqiong bent down to the girl’s level and held her small hand.

Cassie tilted her head. “Gee a… Jay…” She struggled to pronounce Jieqiong’s name.

Jieqiong found her adorable. “Jay’s fine.” She tickled Cassie’s tummy.

“Play with us!”

Cassie dragged Jieqiong over to her brother and they began a game of hide and seek. They declared Jieqiong “it” without hearing her consent first. She figured she could spare a minute to amuse them so she began counting down loudly from ten. She found Timmy easily enough. She spotted Cassie’s pigtails just inside the plastic toy house set out in the backyard. As Jieqiong approached the house to surprise the girl, she noticed movement across the street. She ducked lower behind the fence to observe. Two women were eyeing Grand’s house. They seemed hesitant to get closer.

“Jay! I win! You took too long!”

“You win?” Cooed Jieqiong, turning her attention back to Cassie.

The girl just giggled then went to play with Timmy. Jieqiong looked over the fence and saw the backs of the two women disappear into the nearest alleyway. Oh no you don’t, she thought. She entered the house and notified Eunwoo and Grand that she needed to step outside for a moment. Darting to the house across the street, she tiptoed across its lawn and peered around the corner into the alleyway.

“Why are we here? Are you doubting my Charmwork?” Said an unfamiliar voice.

“I’m not doubting your abilities, but I want to check if the effects still hold. We can’t afford any loopholes.”

That was Nayoung. What was she doing here? Jieqiong leaned closer to listen.

“Says the one who gave a way in for Nightshade?”

So Nayoung is involved with Nightshade, the liar! Thought Jieqiong angrily. She waited for them to continue.

“That’s exactly why we’re doing this! I know I screwed up. There’s no point in lamenting over spilt Firewhisky. Not like we have a Time-Turner anyway. We just have to move forward more cautiously.”

“You mean you have to move forward more cautiously,” hissed the woman sharply.

Silence. “Your bitchiness is showing,” slurred Nayoung in a childish, soft voice.

As inappropriate as it was, Jieqiong couldn’t help thinking that was the cutest way she’s ever heard someone swear.

She heard the other woman sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. He’s killing off Muggles and our kind indiscriminately.”

Muggles? Jieqiong furrowed her eyebrows. Seems like some unfamiliar jargon.

”He’s a menace. And you!” The woman continued. “I know you’re better than this. You’re always the one plugging loopholes before they’re made. You always clean up other people’s messes. So what’s got you so disorganized this time around? As sad as it sounds, we’ve dealt with other cases just as bad as Nightshade. It’s horrible, but it’s nothing new,” argued the other woman, sounding more like a stern mother than an angry partner.

“I… I don’t know!” Huffed Nayoung. Jieqiong figured she kicked the stones in the alley out of frustration when some came rolling into view.

“It’s that woman, isn’t it?” Asked Nayoung’s colleague, her tone much gentler though with an air of suspicion. “Coffee Girl. I’ve never seen you so distracted. I’ve never seen you date either.”

Jieqiong almost spluttered out loud. This woman couldn’t possibly be talking about her… Right?

“Those are completely unrelated things!” Nayoung said defensively.

“Uh-huh. You know, I’ve got some Veritaserum in my pocket for emergency use,” threatened the other woman.

“Siyeon, my love life is hardly an emergency,” cut in Nayoung.

“Some would disagree,” said the woman in a high, sing-song voice. Jieqiong could hear the rocks crunch beneath her boots as she probably rocked back and forth on her feet.

“Argh, how did we even get on this topic?” Grumbled Nayoung. “We’re here because of a murderer and we need to see if the victims are alright.”

“If I remember correctly, and do pardon me if I’ve been exposed to my own memory charms a bit, but Coffee Girl was also a victim. At the Diagon Alley attack no less. Unrelated you say?”

Diagon Alley? Why does that sound so familiar? Jieqiong wracked her brain for a connection but came up blank.

“Fine, I’ve been distracted by her lately. Isn’t it always more difficult to see someone you know just seconds away from death?”

Nayoung’s unexpectedly cold tone instilled a tense silence around the two women and the eavesdropping Jieqiong. Jieqiong felt a tickle of gratitude for Nayoung defending her, but there was a much heavier backstory to the rhetorical question. Needless to say, that bit of gratitude was overwhelmed by heartache Jieqiong felt for Nayoung.

“That’s not— I didn’t mean—“ It sounded like the woman was taken aback. “Look, I don’t want to see anymore victims and I most definitely don’t want to see you in pain. Getting involved with that girl could be dangerous. It’s proven so already. Tyranno used that hotline card or whatever it is to plant information for the Muggles. It nearly got that family killed. And no, I’m not trying to guilt trip you. We need to focus and do our jobs. We need to catch Nightshade. You know what? If thinking of Coffee Girl gets a fire lit under your butt, fine. Let her be your drive. Just don’t let her be your downfall.”

For some reason, Jieqiong felt choked up and teary-eyed.

“Act your age, would you?” Scoffed Nayoung jokingly. She was choked up too.

“Won’t you? Shouldn’t you be giving me these kinds of talks?”

“With a strong head like yours? Who would dare?”

Jieqiong’s heart lightened a bit at the sound of their weak laughter. But then something clicked in her mind. The woman, this Siyeon person, mentioned Tyranno and a hotline card. It must have been the one she gave Nayoung at the coffee shop. Oh God, it was my fault, she thought shakily. That family taken hostage, the Chief and the girls ambushed by Tyranno, the whole force being under some kind of… of spell or something.

“Who is that?” Said Siyeon sharply.

Jieqiong turned around in her crouched position. Eunwoo was exiting Grand’s house and looking around for her partner. She spotted Jieqiong lying low on a random lawn and stared at her, not wanting to seem obviously confused for whoever was watching. Jieqiong hastily gestured to keep her mouth shut and walk away like nothing was unusual. Eunwoo understood and made her way down the street. Jieqiong supposed Eunwoo was going to circle back at the end of the block.

“She’s one of those Muggle pleazemen or whatever.”

“It’s policemen and she’s actually Jieqiong’s partner. I’ve seen them together before,” Nayoung clarified.

“Well they shouldn’t be here. Let’s tail her, she seems suspicious.”

That was Jieqiong’s cue.

“Don’t move!” She shouted and sprung out from around the corner. She was surprised to be pointing her gun at thin air. But she kept her aim steady. Most people’s hearts were aligned at her height anyway. “Show yourself!” She demanded.

She heard a ruffle of a sleeve next to her head. She flinched back and faced ninety degrees to her right. The muzzle of her gun brushed against the soft fabric of someone’s clothes, someone she couldn’t see. She could feel the rise and fall of the person’s chest as they breathed, her gun following along. She tried not to be weirded out.

“Pft. As if that’s going to stop me,” said a disembodied voice.

Jieqiong furrowed her eyebrows. Someone had said something eerily similar to her before, but she couldn’t remember who or when. Also, who would speak so lightly of a firearm pointed at their chest?

“Are you going to put it away?” Came Nayoung’s voice, slightly to Jieqiong’s left.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Yes, I am.” Nayoung emphasized each word clearly.

Jieqiong heard the other woman sigh before there was another rustle of clothing. She must have lowered whatever weapon she possessed at Nayoung’s insistence. Jieqiong’s gratitude for her coffee acquaintance grew.

What happened next was simply unbelievable. Out of nowhere, the crown of a silver-haired head appeared floating in the air. Jieqiong followed the line separating visible from invisible down Nayoung’s face, to her shoulders and torso where her long hair ended, to her knees, and finally her black boots. It was as if a revealing paint was poured over the tall woman that colored her in so Jieqiong could see her.

A moment later, Nayoung’s partner appeared in the same fashion, though with an evident scowl on her face and her arms crossed in resentment. Jieqiong guessed this was Siyeon. Sticking out of Siyeon’s right hand was an ebony baton. Jieqiong couldn’t help staring. When nobody moved, Siyeon uncrossed her arms and pushed Jieqiong’s gun away with the baton as if Jieqiong was armed with a smelly sock.

“Get that away from me,” she said hotly.

Jieqiong backed away but kept her gun poised. A glaring contest ensued while Nayoung awkwardly shifted her weight between her feet.

“Uh, there’s really no need to—”

“Hands where I can see them! Now!” Screamed Eunwoo from the alley intersection behind the three of them.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake,” Siyeon drawled, rolling her eyes in annoyance. Nayoung ignored her.

Eunwoo jogged up to them. She pointed her gun at Nayoung.

“Eunwoo, don’t—” Jieqiong blurted.

Eunwoo looked back at her confused. “But you…” She nodded her head at Jieqiong’s gun.

Nayoung met Jieqiong’s eyes warily. “Could you, um, not shoot Siyeon? She might be an ass, but that’s nothing to go to jail for. Yet.”

Just as Jieqiong lowered her gun, Siyeon stomped on Nayoung’s foot. Clearly she forgot they were both wearing steel-toed boots. Nayoung just gave her a stoic deadpan look.

“Act your age,” Nayoung repeated.

“Oh shut up,” spat Siyeon.

“Alright, who the hell are you and why are you sneaking around the neighborhood?” Demanded Eunwoo as she strode up next to Jieqiong.

Though Eunwoo asked both of the women, Jieqiong looked expectantly at Nayoung for an answer. The intensity of her stare seemed to break Nayoung down a bit.

“Well, I assume we’re here for the same reason you two are. To see the hostage victims,” explained Nayoung calmly.

“Are. You. Serious? Whipped,” growled Siyeon under her breath.

“Irrelevant,” Nayoung growled back.

Jieqiong cleared her throat to get their attention. “So you are involved with Nightshade then?” She raised an eyebrow at Nayoung.

“We’re not working with him, if that’s what you’re implying,” said Siyeon.

“Well I don’t remember seeing you as recruits in our force,” replied Jieqiong.

“We’re not with the London Police. We…” Nayoung seemed to struggle a bit but went on. “We’re with the Ministry. Not your Ministry, ours.”

“Because that totally makes sense,” Eunwoo chimed in. “Foreigners?”

“No, we’re British citizens with a British Ministry.” Nayoung’s voice sounded restrained. Siyeon looked livid but didn’t speak.

“You’re going to have to be more clear than that, Nayoung,” prompted Jieqiong.

After a final internal conflict, Nayoung heaved a deep sigh. “This isn’t the time nor place to talk about this. First thing’s first, we need to check on the Muggles— I mean the man and his family.”

“Muggles?” Asked Eunwoo. “What is that, some sort of derogatory term?”

“What do you want to know?” Jieqiong interrupted.

This time Siyeon spoke minus the biting tone. “We want to make sure they’re safe and that they don’t remember anything from yesterday,” she said honestly. “For our circumstances, the less they know the better.”

Jieqiong nodded. Eunwoo hesitantly shared the information she garnered from speaking to Grand. When she had finished, both Nayoung and Siyeon were visibly relieved.

“Alright, your turn,” said Jieqiong.

Siyeon tutted. “As if that’s enough to tell you anything.”

“We will tell you, just not here,” Nayoung assured.

“Why do I bother?” Said Siyeon, throwing her hands up in the air.

Before Jieqiong or Eunwoo could intervene, Siyeon grabbed Nayoung’s wrist and turned on the spot. With a reverberating crack, they were gone.

~|~|~|~

“Two medium green tea lattes. Hot, please.” Eunwoo handed over the money. “Thank you.”

“Vacation doesn’t suit us well,” said Jieqiong as Eunwoo slid next to her by the pick-up counter. “Three days and no sign of Nayoung.”

“Or Siyeon,” Eunwoo added when Jieqiong didn’t say it. “And we’re not exactly doing vacation-y stuff.” She drummed her fingers on the counter and scanned the cafe. “Oh, a table just opened up over there. I’ll go grab it,” she said and walked away.

Jieqiong glanced at the large TV screen mounted on the wall.

At 2:00 AM last night, a jewelry store in the downtown shopping district was broken into. The security system alerted the London Police Department, who arrived promptly on site. No injuries were reported. However, a substantial number of prized products were stolen. The camera footage was hacked beforehand—

“Looks like your policemen have moved on to bigger and better things,” said a woman sarcastically. Jieqiong turned to her left. Siyeon stared back at her with mock pity, her fingers wiggling in the air as a fake theatrical gesture.

“I truly hope you’re not just here for the coffee,” said Jieqiong as the barista asked if the lattes were hers. She nodded and slipped two hot drink sleeves over the cups.

“No, I’m actually here to do business. With you. And her,” Siyeon jerked her head in the direction Eunwoo went to guard a table. Jieqiong looked back to find Nayoung waving shyly at her, sitting across from Eunwoo. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m definitely against this. But Nayoung insists on including you two in our affairs. I can only say no so many times.”

“How generous of you,” said Jieqiong.

“Don’t get me started.” Now that Jieqiong saw Siyeon up close, the woman looked much more tired and stressed than their last encounter.

“The… Golden One?” Asked the barista, looking between Jieqiong and Siyeon awkwardly. He saw Jieqiong already had two cups so he handed Siyeon the newly made drinks. “Enjoy,” he smiled.

Jieqiong led the way to the table and sat next to Eunwoo, handing over one of the lattes. Siyeon slid into the seat next to Nayoung and passed her the hot coffee. Nayoung snickered at the name written on the side.

“Interesting taste you have. It’s unexpected considering your… image,” said Eunwoo carefully.

Eunwoo eyed the elaborate syrup drizzles along the sides of the cup. The chocolate chip flakes speckled throughout the iced drink swirled as Siyeon stirred with the straw. Siyeon just shrugged. Jieqiong noticed how she wasn’t trying to bite Eunwoo’s head off.

“This is hardly a more private place than that alley to have our discussion,” said Jieqiong getting right to the point. She wanted to get her two cents in before their guests disappeared again, and quite literally.

“We won’t be talking here. It’s just the only place I could find you, away from your workplace,” said Nayoung.

“That’s not an issue,” sighed Eunwoo.

Eunwoo shook her head politely when Nayoung gave her a questioning look. Strangely enough, Nayoung’s expression turned to one of understanding, as if she knew Jieqiong and Eunwoo had been given vacation time after closing the Nightshade case. Or rather, as if she knew why.

“Shall we?” Said Nayoung.

“Where are we going?” Asked Eunwoo, rising from her seat.

“To your place, then to ours,” said Siyeon.

“Why our place?” Said Jieqiong.

“If I’m going to exchange information that I don’t want to be exchanging, I might as well get an even trade,” Siyeon stated haughtily, as if it was all the justification Jieqiong had the right to ask.

They filed into Jieqiong and Eunwoo’s car parked in the cafe’s lot. Siyeon didn’t quite like how cramped this car was. Jieqiong thought they had a pretty roomy model, especially since she and Eunwoo were a bit short and needed the driver’s seat pulled up closer to the pedals. This left plenty of leg room in the back seat. Nayoung who was tallest didn’t complain. When they reached the apartment, Jieqiong led the way upstairs and unlocked the door. She and Eunwoo gathered all of their files, computers, hard drives, and cameras. With their arms full, they tried to walk past Nayoung and Siyeon. But the two blocked the door.

“We won’t be taking your car. It’s not possible to use it anyway,” said Nayoung.

“Then how are we getting there? It’s a bit difficult to walk with all of this, not to mention it will draw attention.” Jieqiong shifted her arms uncomfortably, the pile of papers leaning dangerously.

Nayoung moved swiftly to relieve Jieqiong of the two black cases she was balancing in either hand. “Careful,” she said softly with a hint of that childlike voice Jieqiong admired.

Siyeon reached over to take the two cases from Eunwoo, who offered a small smile as thanks. Siyeon’s lip twitched at the corner. She looked away quickly. Siyeon placed the cases on the floor, pulled out her baton and waved it. The cases sealed themselves together as one long trunk. Siyeon tapped its lid and lifted it easily like a balloon.

“Ready?” She asked the others.

“For what?” Asked Eunwoo.

Siyeon didn’t respond. Instead, she pulled out a scrap piece of paper and showed it to Eunwoo, then to Jieqiong. When they had read it silently, she tapped the paper with her baton and it dissolved into smoke. She then awkwardly tucked her arm around Eunwoo’s waist while clutching on to the handle of the black case. Nayoung extended one long arm around Jieqiong and looped her other arm around Siyeon’s. They all scrunched closer together. On the count of three, Siyeon twisted her wrist and the baton followed.

The apartment blurred around the four women. The surrounding vortex seemed to suck Eunwoo’s scream into oblivion. Jieqiong had a familiar urge to puke. Eunwoo stopped shouting when she could no longer breathe. Jieqiong desperately gasped for air but Nayoung was pressed up against her so closely, her lungs couldn’t expand. Then as suddenly as it began, the world righted itself.

Eunwoo wobbled dangerously, almost crashing into a nearby shelf. Siyeon sidestepped in between Eunwoo and the furniture, cushioning her from falling over. Siyeon kept a hand on Eunwoo’s arm. Jieqiong fared better. Her knees were about to buckle but she didn’t teeter from her spot. Nayoung stood by her just in case. Jieqiong felt like she had experienced this before, but she had no idea how she ever would have. Still  disoriented, she checked on the three Eunwoos standing in front of her.

“You’re magical,” Eunwoo giggled, her head lobbing onto Siyeon’s shoulder.

“Heh, so I’ve been told,” Siyeon mused with a trace of a smile.

“Eunwoo,” Jieqiong said weakly, “you’re nauseous, not drunk.”

Eunwoo shook her head and realized how close she was standing to Siyeon. She stepped aside, a bit unsteadily, and apologized profusely. Some of the papers in her arms fluttered to the floor.

“Scaring off potential mates, are we?”

“You’ll never get a girlfriend with that attitude.”

“Piss off,” Siyeon sneered and helped Eunwoo to a chair. She grabbed everything in Eunwoo’s arms and placed it on the table. “Eat this, it’s chocolate,” she said quietly. Eunwoo ate the square without question.

“Hello!” Two strangers walked into the open area and greeted Jieqiong. “Uh, is your friend alright there?” One of them nodded at Eunwoo.

“She’ll be fine. She’s just never done this before,” replied Nayoung instead.

“Oh. Well, pleased to meet you. I’m Yebin Kang.” The woman placed her hand over her heart. “And this is my beloved partner and partner, Yewon Kim.” She wrapped her arm around the woman standing next to her, who bowed her head slightly.

Jieqiong shook both of their hands, happy that she only saw two people and not their duplicates wavering behind them. “I’m Detective Jieqiong Zhou with the London Police. And this is my partner, Detective Eunwoo Jung.” She gestured to her friend at the table.

Eunwoo waved lifelessly in Jieqiong’s direction instead of Yebin and Yewon. Her head was tilted over the back of the chair. Siyeon pulled her arm down before she fell out of her seat from the shift in balance. Evidently, she hadn’t regained her bearings yet.

“Partner or partner?” Yebin asked and leaned in closer.

“Uh, partner,” Jieqiong answered uncertainly.

“Good! Because these two—mmph!”

“Eheh, don’t mind her,” said Yewon, her hand clamped over Yebin’s mouth. Jieqiong noticed Nayoung give her a thankful look. Siyeon openly glared daggers at the silenced woman.

Looking around the room, Jieqiong saw an odd assortment of objects. The shelf Eunwoo almost tipped over upon their arrival was stacked with books. The top shelf had a tiny metal placard that read “Potion Manuals.” The shelf below said “Antidote Ingredients: Properties and Effects.” The one below that was labelled “Poison Ingredients: Properties and Effects.” The bottom-most shelf was divided into “Stealth and Concealment Draughts” and “Healing Elixirs and Other Restoratives.”

Behind Jieqiong and Nayoung, there was a station of clean marble tables and metal sinks. It would have looked like a high class open kitchen if it weren’t for the cabinets lining the wall filled with various glass instruments and the set-up on the countertop. It gave the corner a mad-scientist feel, though a very tidy one at that. A round flask filled with a maroon liquid was suspended over a flame in a mason jar. The top was connected to a glass pipe, which condensed the vapors into another flask sitting in a water bath. As it bobbed up and down in the water, the ripples sent vibrations up a metal rod standing unsupported in the middle of the tub. The top of the rod was fixed with a funnel. Greenish smoke rings bellowed from the funnel, which were captured by rhythmic spurts of what could only be described as liquid sunlight shooting out of a hole in the counter. Each liquid-smoke allocation landed in one of many phials attached to a rotating chain, like a conveyor belt. As the they moved on, an invisible hand seemed to be stoppering each phial. Once sealed, the yellow liquid and green smoke mixture instantly condensed into a pure white powder. These were set aside in a box labelled “General Smoke Shields.”

Multiple terrariums and miniature gardens lined the adjacent corner. There were plants growing that Jieqiong had never imagined in her life. The vines were curling and uncurling around each other. When the sunlight hit a box at just the right angle, the flowers bloomed and began serenading the other plants. The nearby gourds began bouncing up and down on their stems, rattling the seeds inside. The clock on the wall opposite the indoor forest struck noon. A stump with glowing orange cracks that looked like veins of lava opened at the top like some inverted sea monster’s mouth. Out spewed a small geyser of steaming blood-red water. At that same moment, a similar looking trunk on the other side of the collection of plants opened up. Its body was a startling shade of night sky blue. Out of its orifice burned a gentle, sapphire flame. Tiny ice crystals formed where the fire’s tendrils licked the leaves of nearby plants. The plants shivered and the crystals fell into their potted soil, along with glitter that made Jieqiong think of fairy dust.

Despite the unusualness of it all, the room was decorated and furnished in such a homely manner, Jieqiong didn’t feel out of place. The walls and ceiling were a soft, light wood. The floor by the chemistry and biology corners, or so Jieqiong dubbed them, was laid with smooth porcelain tiles. The area they were all standing in was carpeted and warm. The entire room was well lit. Peering past Yebin and Yewon into the room they had come from, Jieqiong could see the shadows of steel blades and custom armor hanging on the walls.

Jieqiong’s amazement of the world she just entered deflated when she heard loud, obnoxious slurping noises. Everyone’s head snapped in that direction. Yebin was nonchalantly sucking up every drop of Siyeon’s chocolate-flaked coffee smoothie.

“I think you got it all,” Siyeon gritted through her teeth savagely.

Siyeon whipped around when she heard Eunwoo whimper. She had unconsciously dug her fingernails into Eunwoo’s shoulder. She rubbed the sore spots gently and defiantly ignored Yebin’s snickers. Jieqiong looked the other way when Yewon raised her hand behind Yebin’s back. There was a resounding slap and a yelp. When Jieqiong turned back around, she saw Yebin glumly rubbing her rear.

At Nayoung’s suggestion, they all moved into the dining room of the extremely large house. They all figured Eunwoo needed a bit of food to clear the nausea. Jieqiong immediately offered to help cook but Nayoung gently pushed her back into her seat, saying there was no need. A second later, plates zoomed from the kitchen cupboards and onto the table. Food materialized right before them, extras piling high on the family-style platters in the center. Jieqiong spotted food simultaneously disappearing from the kitchen and the stoves and oven turning themselves off. Eunwoo didn’t seem to have a problem with how impossible this situation was. Jieqiong on the other hand, couldn’t help but gawk. With a soft giggle, Nayoung pushed Jieqiong’s jaw up with a slender finger.

Jieqiong hadn’t noticed until she heard two dramatic gasps. “Did the Stone Nayoung just giggle?” Yebin looked both appalled and amused. Yewon pawed at Yebin’s arm while cooing at the eldest girl, who told them to stuff it in the most polite and cutest way possible.

~|~|~|~

After they had had their fill, Yebin dragged Jieqiong and Eunwoo to the living room to bombard them with questions about their dating status and interests in potential mates. The two were thoroughly flabbergasted. Eunwoo was just catching up on how they could have traveled to the house from their apartment instantaneously. Jieqiong didn’t have much of an answer for Eunwoo nor the energetic Yebin. Thankfully, Yewon, Siyeon, and Nayoung entered with a tray of desserts, tea, and coffee.

“Honey, stop badgering them. They’re clueless as is. It’s time they knew why their world has been turned upside-down,” said Yewon, patting Yebin on the thigh as she joined her on one of the couches.

“Right, Nightshade,” said Jieqiong. At the mention of his name, the room fell silent. It wasn’t eery or awkward. It was solemn. The silence was really a moment to honor those who had fallen at the hands of one so evil. It was out of respect for those who lost their precious lives to one who devalued them.

Nayoung cleared her throat. “Well, I think it’s easier to start from your end, then we’ll fill in the gaps.” She gestured at Jieqiong and Eunwoo to begin.

They rose to fetch their files and equipment from the “science room” to show the others what they found, or haven’t found. But the others insisted they remained seated. Yewon picked up a stick from the coffee table and swished it in the air. Jieqiong turned around at the sound of the camera cases clicking open. Behind the couch she and Eunwoo were sitting on was the small pile of belongings they brought from their apartment. Eunwoo gaped at the sudden teleportation of their files. Jieqiong caught Nayoung’s expression and assured Eunwoo things would be explained to them after they shared their information.

The two London detectives went through the spiel like they had done countless times to themselves in their apartment. Eunwoo explained how all of their reports had been fudged, despite having written a good number of the files themselves and clearly remembering different outcomes. Jieqiong pulled up all sorts of analyses on her computer, which she soon realized made no sense to the majority of the room. She settled for a summary that anything physical they found and brought back to their station came back as nothing useful or was destroyed. They emphasized someone on the inside must have tweaked all their evidence to shake the department off of Nightshade’s tail. They concluded with the screenshot on Eunwoo’s phone.

“Basically, it’s a picture of a paused video, before the device imploded,” Jieqiong explained. “There’s Nightshade in the shop fighting you.” She looked at Nayoung. “Here’s the family and there’s Siyeon in the back.” She pointed to Siyeon reaching for Nightshade’s collar in the picture. “This is the only proof we have of what happened a week ago. When we called for back-up to apprehend Nightshade, well…”

“You two had disappeared with the hostages, and Nightshade was nowhere to be found.” Eunwoo gestured at Nayoung and Siyeon. “By the time we got to the shop from where we were positioned, the shop was completely reconstructed and we were made out to be liars. Two whole months of work blown up in our faces, and all the time spent before then wasted.”

Eunwoo involuntarily peered around the room to signal she was done talking. She caught Siyeon’s eye for a split second. The woman just swallowed thickly and averted her gaze to her teacup. Eunwoo narrowed her eyes slightly, but let it go.

“That’s pretty much all we have. The files over on the floor are all botched, just like the ones on Eunwoo’s computer. The cases have a sniper scope, but the cameras are broken. Everything starting smoking and melting when we tried to look at the pictures,” sighed Jieqiong tiredly. It never got easier to admit how much she and Eunwoo lost on the case. Saying it out loud to four other people really drilled in the feeling of failure.

“I guess it’s our turn then,” said Nayoung.

“Wait, let me ease them into this,” said Yebin in the most serious tone Jieqiong and Eunwoo had heard from her all afternoon.

“Are you referring to whatever witchcraft you can all do? Making things appear and disappear? Making people appear and disappear?” Laughed Jieqiong half-heartedly.

“That’s exactly what I’m referring to,” said Yebin.

Jieqiong’s mirthless chuckles died down and she nodded as if already accepting what crazy postulates she would hear. Eunwoo wasn’t taking it as easily. “You’re serious? It’s witchcraft?”

“Generally speaking, we call it magic.” Yebin paused to let this soak in. It always took people a good minute to fully absorb something inherently ridiculous to their lifestyle. When neither Jieqiong nor Eunwoo retorted with offensive remarks, she continued. “All of us being female, we are called witches and we practice magic. We use some of the same words you’re familiar with. We conjure objects when we want them, we vanish them when we don’t. As for people, the act of instantaneous teleportation is called Apparition. Siyeon Apparated you four into our house. You all Disapparated from your apartment.”

“And you have these powers just because?” Asked Jieqiong, eyeing all four of the self-proclaimed witches.

“Yes and no,” said Yebin. “We were all born with magical potential. But we also put in our fair share of work to control and refine it. It’s not for fun. It’s a responsibility as much as it is a power. It’s very possible to abuse it, as you well know.”

“Nightshade,” said Eunwoo, who had paled considerably. Jieqiong rubbed her back to comfort her.

“Nightshade is a magician then. I mean a… What, a wizard?” Suggested Jieqiong.

“A dark wizard. A wizard who uses his powers for evil, for selfish gain, at the price of everyone else around him,” answered Nayoung with a hint of controlled anger.

“He’s killed people all over London,” said Jieqiong.

“More than your department knows. Muggles don’t account for our losses. You don’t know of our existence,” said Nayoung.

“Muggles,” Jieqiong repeated. “Non-magic folk.”

“Stole the words right out of my mouth,” said Yebin, her tone a bit lighter than before.

“Nightshade called me that. He kept talking about different worlds, different kinds of people, my lot and his lot.” Jieqiong screwed up her face at the oncoming pain. “‘To those in power, all life is valuable. And what’s valuable to my enemies is valuable to me.’ He said that to me, before he attacked me. There was green light, and I shot at him, and you—” She jabbed her finger in the direction she thought Nayoung was sitting. “You were there and—”

The pain was unbearable now. She clutched her head in her hands and doubled over. Her teeth were clenched as tight as possible to hold back her groans. She could hear herself hyperventilating. The rushing of air was deafening, like grating wads of steel wool against her ear drums. But she couldn’t feel any of the air in her lungs. She felt deprived of oxygen no matter how much she inhaled.

“Drink this. All of it.”

Jieqiong opened her eyes and a small phial with wispy blue liquid was pushed into her palm. Through her blurred vision, she could see Nayoung hovering over her in concern. Eunwoo was holding her in a side-hug. Yewon gently guided Jieqiong’s hand in tipping the liquid into her mouth. It tasted sweet and airy. It washed down easily. Immediately Jieqiong felt relaxed. The pain in her head ebbed away like a weak tide on a sunny shore. She blinked a few times and the room came back into focus. Five pairs of eyes stared back at her. Even Siyeon looked like she stopped breathing out of worry.

“I’m fine now. Thanks. What was that?” Jieqiong passed the tiny bottle back to Yewon.

“Calming Draught,” she replied. “It’s one of the potions I specialize in, and yes I did say potion. It means exactly what you think.” Yewon winked before placing the phial in a “Used” bin on a shelf.

“So you did run into Nightshade alone,” said Eunwoo astonished. “And you were there?” She looked at Nayoung.

Nayoung shifted in her seat. “Him being a wizard and all, we have different ways of tracking his whereabouts. I hid in the nearby record shop in case he was lingering around the area. Lucky I did too, because Jieqiong showed up and confronted him. I enchanted the records to form a barrier between them. He didn’t hesitate to use the Killing Curse.”

“I don’t think I want to ask,” said Eunwoo.

“You shouldn’t have to. Not everything in our world has a creative name. The Killing Curse is what it sounds like, a curse that kills,” added Yebin.

“You know what Nightshade was doing there.” It wasn’t a question. Jieqiong looked at Nayoung expectantly.

“I saw you two looking at what you called a bomb site between the record store and bookstore on Charing Cross Road. You got pretty close to the gate, but then you turned right back around.”

“I knew we didn’t actually investigate it!” Exclaimed Jieqiong.

“You were right. That wasn’t a normal alley then,” admitted Eunwoo.

“What you see as a gap is actually a pub only witches and wizards can access, Muggles in exceptional cases. It’s a passage into a kind of wizarding shopping district called Diagon Alley,” explained Yewon.

“Diagon Alley… Wait a minute. That’s one of the schematics we found in Tyranno’s apartment.” Jieqiong pointed at the pile behind their couch, only to remember the pictures they took of the apartment were all deleted from the police station’s system.

“It’s densely populated with several potential victims, the streets lined with important businesses and buildings. Hitting Diagon Alley would be a huge blow to our community. Had Nightshade succeeded in breaking through the barrier designed specifically for him, we would have lost a lot of lives that day.”

“Is that why the bomb marks were so iffy? Because it was at the entrance of a place we shouldn’t be able to see?”

“Exactly,” Yebin replied to Jieqiong. “The pub is enchanted with Muggle-repelling charms, spells that keep your kind away from the Alley and keep our community hidden. The explosion was so close to the entrance that some of it, at least to your eyes, disappeared. In reality, you just can’t see all of it. The charms can’t always perfectly balance what’s visible and what’s not, but it gets the job done fairly well. What you assumed to be a bomb was actually a mass of explosive spells, most likely with the addition of flammable substances. We suspect Nightshade enlisted the help of Tyranno and possibly others, but nobody else was found at the scene.”

“I have another question. Why could’t I remember confronting Nightshade when I could remember the investigation of the bomb site before that?” Asked Jieqiong.

“That’s where I come in.” All five heads turned toward Siyeon. She hadn’t spoken this entire time. She looked a lot older and more frail, like she was personally bearing the weight of this discussion.

Jieqiong’s eyes flickered to Siyeon’s twitching hand. Jieqiong noticed she always kept her ebony baton close, as if someone would ambush the living room at any second. “Is that a wand? A magic wand?” Asked Jieqiong without any sign of mockery in her voice.

“It is,” said Siyeon simply.

“I’ve seen it before. Poking through my car window, on that same day. It’s coming back to me. Nayoung appeared, Nightshade kept attacking me, then all of a sudden we were back at my car.”

“Your first side-along Apparition,” said Nayoung.

“Right, that. And then I sped away to my apartment but I almost ran over someone in the evacuated street. I almost ran into you,” said Jieqiong with wide eyes. She could feel her brain jumping to conclusions. “What did you do to me?” She demanded, not caring how harsh her voice sounded.

Jieqiong strained to hear an answer. She didn’t like the idea of anyone manipulating her. She felt tainted and violated. Eunwoo was keeping an eye on Siyeon rather than listening to Jieqiong. Siyeon glanced at her, then to Jieqiong, and swallowed thickly before answering with a shaky voice.

“Nayoung and I are both Aurors. We catch dark wizards and witches under our government, the Ministry of Magic. All Aurors are skilled in several areas of offensive, defensive, healing, and concealment magic. But of course we all have our affinities. I’m also a certified Obliviator. I specialize in Memory Charms. In other words, I modify memories whether to secure our secrets should we be captured or to wipe traumatic experiences of Muggles encountering magic.”

Jieqiong knew it should’ve been a satisfactory answer. Siyeon wasn’t hiding anything per se. But Jieqiong didn’t feel like it justified wiping her memory clean. Nightshade was a prevalent terror whether or not he was a wizard. What right did Siyeon have to play with her mind when it was possibly the most valuable tool she had in protecting the people of London? She stared hard at the woman across the room.

“What?” Siyeon snapped, her voice steady and sharp again.

Jieqiong was about to fire back, but felt a subtle tug on her right elbow. From the corner of her eye, she saw Eunwoo’s jaw clenched tightly. Jieqiong realized she couldn’t let her anger get the best of her. Siyeon might be hotheaded and socially hostile, but she’s not unreasonable.

“I did my job. That should be a good enough explanation for you. Don’t we have other matters to discuss?” Siyeon said irritably to the room.

Siyeon was right no matter how much Jieqiong hated to admit it. Now was not the time to start a fight. Siyeon was by no means welcoming, but she was making an effort not to kick them out of the house. Jieqiong inhaled deeply and nodded her agreement.

Yebin clapped her hands for everyone’s attention. “Right. We’ve still got a few more things to bang out if I’m not mistaken. All that stuff you brought with you.” She waved at the piles of papers, equipment, and the two computers on the table. “You said it was all either corrupted, destroyed, or otherwise inconclusive?”

“We believe it was an inside job or the work of an insanely good hacker,” said Jieqiong. “They managed to change handwritten files, not just typed documents. Those are scanned and the physical copies are sealed directly in the station’s vault. You’d need written permission, a barcode, and a simultaneous retinal and fingerprint scan to even say hi to the key keeper at the front desk. Things that haven’t been properly filed or published have been altered too. Things that both Eunwoo and I and our two juniors have recorded. What’s strange is that nobody seems to remember a thing except for Eunwoo and me.” Jieqiong snapped her fingers in realization. “Memory Charms.”

The witches looked extremely confused at Jieqiong’s vocabulary, all except for Yebin. “We suspect that too, which obviously means it wasn’t our side. Nightshade must have done his own Charmwork on your colleagues so they would drop the investigation.”

“Tyranno!” Exclaimed Eunwoo. “Everything was fine up until the day of our stake-out. It was only when we showed up at Frank’s Fantastic Frozen Favorites that everyone seemed to forget all the progress we’ve made in tracking down Nightshade. It took us a while to get around the crowds too. There was plenty of time for Tyranno to cast a spell on everyone.”

“And before that happened, our boss and the other detectives went to investigate an anonymous tip-off,” continued Jieqiong. “That morning, we heard Tyranno fiddling with their radio box and figured their mission was compromised. We had no way of warning them that Tyranno had destroyed their equipment. That must have been when they were struck with a Memory Charm.”

“I take full responsibility for that day,” said Nayoung. “When we met in the coffee shop, you gave me a card with an anonymous hotline number. I never planned to use it, what with our laws on keeping magic under wraps. But I neglected to stow it safely in this house. Tyranno or Nightshade must have picked it up during a confrontation with me and used it to their advantage. Nightshade devised a plan to separate your team, making it easier to manipulate everyone.”

“Alright, so that explains why two months of memories went poof. But how were two months of physical and documented evidence altered? Only people who have clearance could access these files and samples.”

“There’s another kind of illegal curse, called the Imperius Curse,” said Siyeon in a very distant, business-like tone. “I’ve dealt with it a lot in a sort of reverse way, usually to retrace the memories of victims put under the spell in order to give testimony. The Imperius Curse gives the caster total control of the subject, body and mind. The files or whatever you store your information in doesn’t have to be affected by magic directly. That would be unpredictable seeing as how magic doesn’t deal with Muggle el sent tonics.”

“Electronics” Yebin corrected.

“Whatever. Someone working at the department may have been under the Imperius Curse, essentially marring your evidence under Nightshade’s command. They would know how to work your systems without Nightshade needing to step foot in the vicinity. It’s difficult for skilled wizards to break free from the trance, what more Muggles who have had zero exposure to it. Come to think of it, that’s probably how Tyranno planted information about Nightshade using the hotline. He could have bewitched an officer at the other station to make the call.”

Eunwoo sunk further into her couch cushion. “Good lord, what have we gotten ourselves into?”

“There’s something I wanted to ask,” said Nayoung. She pointed at Jieqiong’s computer screen. “I don’t know what all this is, but over here in the corner. You said this meant your station couldn’t test the residue you collected from Tyranno’s apartment?”

“Yeah. We collected a fair amount of residue from the drawers. It was filled with what I now suspect to be potion ingredients based on your little lab back there. The other test was for residue on top of the mantel. Jieqiong said there was an urn when we came in and it was gone by the time we called our team.”

Jieqiong picked up from Eunwoo’s retelling. “When she left to get a box to store what we found, I heard voices coming from the living room. I thought it was Tyranno speaking to Nightshade. I don’t know how he hid in the apartment. We searched it and thought he used the fire escape.”

Eunwoo clapped her hands loudly. “Oh! That’s what I never spoke to you about. You were thinking of the fireplace and pacing around the apartment, but I was weirded out by the missing furniture.” Eunwoo faced the witches. “I bumped into a coffee table on my way out. But after Jieqiong had me examine the fireplace with her, she walked right through where the table used to be. The carpet had huge stains and indents, much too large and deep to be from the table legs. In retrospect, they looked like hand and footprints,” she told the others.

Yewon raised her hand. “We can explain both of those. If Nightshade and Tyranno disappeared using fire, they must have used Floo Powder. That’s what was most likely in the urn they took. It’s another form of magical transportation. You throw the powder into a fireplace and you can stick your head in or step right into it. Just shout your destination, you’ll be there in a jiffy. That analysis wouldn’t work with Muggle techniques. Floo Powder was invented by a witch and nobody but the licensed company in Diagon Alley knows how to make it.”

“The Floo Network wasn’t blocked off then, or he somehow circumvented the guards monitoring it,” said Yebin.

Nayoung leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. “As for the coffee table, you actually bumped into Tyranno, Eunwoo.”

“Excuse me?” Eunwoo deadpanned.

Nayoung held up a finger like a lecturer. “Another term to learn. Transfiguration is concerned with changing the form and composition of one thing into another, either live or inanimate. Tyranno must have transfigured himself if he couldn’t leave behind the apartment when you two came looking for him. He took on the form of a coffee table. When neither of you were in the room, he changed back into a man and used Floo Powder to contact Nightshade.”

“He couldn’t have left before you came back though,” Jieqiong said to Eunwoo. “When I thought a bomb had gone off, which was probably Tyranno dumping a bunch of powder into the fireplace as a distraction, I jumped back into the bedroom. I guess he could have Apparated into the room with me, but it’s quite small. I would’ve noticed a man twice my size trampling over my back to gather all those ingredients and schematics of the Alley and Ministry.”

“What did you say?” Nayoung said with an urgent tone.

Everyone was staring at Jieqiong now. Eunwoo gave her a confused look but prompted her to speak. “I would’ve noticed him in the room with me. We found out belatedly that he had taken the urn of Floo Powder, the potion ingredients, and the schematics on the desk when he escaped for good.”

“What schematics did you find?” Nayoung demanded.

“Well, there was Diagon Alley. I assume he used that for blasting his way into your hidden district. And there were at least seven or eight blueprints depicting floors of the Ministry—“ Jieqiong gasped.

Nayoung balled her fists until her knuckles turned white. “He’s ambushing the Ministry of Magic.”

Chapter Text

"Ahem. So..."

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing. This latte… is good.”

“Er. Yeah. Mine too.”

One polar bear. Two polar bears. Three polar bears. Four—

“I’m sorry!”

The coffee shop was busy. The machines whirred as the barista ran back and forth making drinks. The cashiers spoke with practiced dialogue. The customers chatted jovially. The few tables around two women, however, stopped all conversation at the sudden outburst.

“Apologies. Please, carry on,” said Eunwoo as she bowed her head in embarrassment but played it off as politeness. The surrounding couples and friends shrugged and returned their attention to each other.

Eunwoo turned to face Jieqiong again. They locked eyes for an agonizingly long, awkward second before averting their gazes elsewhere.

Jieqiong cleared her throat. “Why, um, why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault,” she squeaked, eyes glued to the dusty plant in the corner.

“It kinda was. I should’ve given you some space. It’s never good to crowd someone who’s panicking,” coughed Eunwoo, her eyes fixed on the latte warming her hands.

“You were only trying to help,” said Jieqiong quietly.

Jieqiong chanced a glance at Eunwoo, accidentally catching her stare. Eunwoo mentally berated herself for failing to glaze over her friend’s head to look at a teen entering the coffee shop, his trousers threatening to drop with every step he took. They peeled their eyes away and shifted in their seats. Eunwoo needed to keep her hands occupied. She tapped the tabletop with her fingernails to the rhythm of a song she recently discovered titled “We.”

This caught Jieqiong’s attention. She recognized the song and visualized the practice video in her mind. As the rhythmic tapping reached the chorus, Jieqiong imagined the soon-to-be idols switching positions. One girl in particular moved to the front and center. She had long, golden hair that flowed seamlessly with her movements. Her dancing was sharp but clean, befitting the happy, youthful song. The girl had delicate eyes that resembled a cat’s. She reminded Jieqiong of someone who happened to be sitting across from her. Jieqiong’s eyes were drawn to Eunwoo’s lips as the detective mouthed the lyrics silently. Then the feeling of suffocation and awkwardness came back in waves.

“Ugh, I can't take this anymore!” Growled Jieqiong.

Eunwoo’s hand froze above the table. “S-sorry, I’ll stop,” she stuttered.

Eunwoo retracted her hand so fast, the table wobbled on its single supporting leg. Jieqiong grabbed onto the tabletop with both hands and pulled it towards herself to even out the force. Their lattes shook dangerously, but neither spilled. They merely rotated on their bottom rims before settling on the flat surface. The women looked around with wide eyes, but nobody noticed their blunder. They sunk in their seats, mentally exhausted.

With a deep sigh, Jieqiong once again attempted to slash through the thick air between them. “I wasn’t talking about the tapping. I meant… You know,” she finished lamely.

Eunwoo raised an eyebrow helplessly, but didn’t break their eye contact this time. “This sucks,” she sighed.

Jieqiong recoiled a bit. “Hey, I wasn’t that bad, was I?” She said self-consciously.

“What? No, you were great! I mean not great, not that you were bad, but—” Eunwoo forcefully stopped her word vomit. She settled for melting onto the table, her arms and hair sprawled everywhere.

Jieqiong tentatively poked at Eunwoo’s head, earning a groan in response. “Thanks, I think. Get up, we have to talk. I hate this. We’re best friends, we’re not supposed to feel this awkward.”

“It’s because we’re best friends that we feel this awkward!” Eunwoo’s shout sounded muffled by her hair. That and how she graciously face-planted onto the table. “Stop poking me, I’m alive!” She snapped as she sat upright and glared at Jieqiong.

“Quit being dramatic. I’m not a kid prodding some splat of an organism on the sidewalk. I need your attention,” Jieqiong fired off rapidly. Her deep frown gave her an ostrich-like appearance.

“I’m literally within an arm’s length. I can hear you. And contrary to popular belief, I can multitask listening and wallowing in self-pity,” Eunwoo argued.

“Self-pity? As if you were suffering?! You just said I wasn’t that bad!” Said Jieqiong indignantly.

“You weren’t! Fine, I admit it, it was fantastic! But this is damn awkward and I can’t believe I just said that!” Eunwoo threw her hands up in the air, defeated.

“Well, for what it’s worth you’re a good kisser too! My God, what am I saying!” Spat Jieqiong.

The two women were breathing heavily from their whisper-shouting match, their lattes long forgotten. They stared hard at each other with a mixture of relief, confusion, and irritation that complemented their usual bickering. Their usual bickering. As if on cue, Jieqiong and Eunwoo burst into laughter.

After a good minute of hysterical cackling, Jieqiong wiped her pooling tears. “What on earth are we doing? This is ridiculous.”

“Let Merlin’s underwear burn for eternity if something this nuts didn’t happen to us at least once,” chuckled Eunwoo. She reached over the table and rubbed her thumb over a smudge of mascara from Jieqiong’s left eye.

“That makes no sense.” But Jieqiong smiled at the vernacular they picked up from their new group of friends.

“It doesn’t have to.” Eunwoo grinned and lifted her latte, clinking the recycled paper cup with Jieqiong’s in cheers.

They inhaled the scent of coffee wafting throughout the cafe. The casual ambience helped them relax into a greatly sought after comfortable silence. They were able to look at each other without the consequent flood of embarrassment they experienced for the past twenty-four hours.

Looking back on it now, the situation seemed downright hilarious to the two. It all started at a peculiar house in London. The circumstances surrounding the awkward event stemmed from a rather urgent and serious matter. Six women were discussing their findings related to one Brutus Nightshade, infamous mass murderer. Unbeknownst to the majority of the public, Nightshade was a dark wizard and Jieqiong and Eunwoo’s new friends were actually witches. From their exchange of information, they realized Nightshade’s ultimate goal was to attack the heart of the British wizarding community, the Ministry of Magic. Jieqiong had come across schematics of the magical Ministry’s architecture during a search of an apartment inhabited by Nightshade’s accomplice, Ralph Tyranno. That’s where it all began.

~|~|~|~

Siyeon immediately rose from her seat announcing the need to pick at Jieqiong’s brain for memories. She wasn’t particularly cautious with her words. Jieqiong sprung out of her own seat and backed into a corner far from the advancing young witch. Nayoung deemed it appropriate to exert her authority over the household and demanded that Siyeon keep her wand at bay. They would find another way to extract information from Jieqiong. Eunwoo was thoroughly confused and rushed to guard her friend. The witches at this point seemed to forget the presence of Muggles in the room. Yebin argued that one could not simply “prod around in her head,” for this was a serious violation of their guests’ personal space. This would also earn Siyeon negative brownie points with someone, though nobody asked nor cared what Yebin meant. This somehow dissolved into a shouting match in which Nayoung pulled her own wand out and created a force field down the center of the living room to keep Siyeon’s itching hands from grabbing Yebin’s shirt collar.

The ever-so-polite Yewon timidly stepped forward, keeping a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder, and suggested they try one of her concoctions. She was developing it because it was non-invasive in the usual sense. Her eyes flickered across the room to a certain seething individual, which did not go unnoticed by Jieqiong nor Eunwoo. Yewon added that if Jieqiong didn’t want to take it, that was her choice. At the mention Jieqiong’s name, everyone stared at the two women leaning against the wall as if cornered by a pack of starving wolves.

“Let’s all just calm down,” said Nayoung in a tone similar to a school teacher in charge of misbehaving toddlers. “This is an urgent matter, but it most likely won’t unfold within the next hour. We need to approach this carefully and be sensitive to Jieqiong’s position!” Nayoung shouted the last bit over her shoulder towards one person.

Under Nayoung’s stern gaze, they resettled on the couches. Jieqiong glared back at a glowering Siyeon, who muttered that they were “wasting time” and “the two Muggles were involved anyhow” despite her constant refusal. When Nayoung was sure nobody would lurch out of their seats, she prompted Yewon to explain.

“Well, it’s a work-in-progress. It’s safe enough for Jieqiong to drink but there may be side-effects. It’s a derivative of the Wit-Sharpening Potion imbued with the essence of Memory Charms during the brewing process. Instead of unravelling the mind with a wand, one simply drinks this potion and will be able to recall memories with striking clarity. There’s no way to tell if the drinker is reporting the truth though, and I have yet to test it in conjunction with Veritaserum.”

“We could test it now,” Siyeon growled, her wand hand constantly readjusting its grip. Her left hand fiddled with a small object in her pocket.

“But think of the paperwork,” Yebin drawled sarcastically. “Ignore her. I think it’s a genius idea, Yewon.” Siyeon snorted at how sickeningly sweet and peppy Yebin’s voice turned.

Nayoung trusted Yewon to keep Yebin in check and outright ignored Siyeon. “What do you think, Jieqiong? If you have any questions, Yewon will gladly answer them. But if you feel uncomfortable, don’t feel pressured to give consent.”

“This would work best if you’re relaxed anyway. Since it’s ingested consciously, it requires a clear, focused mind. So please only agree if you’re fully up to it,” Yewon added.

Jieqiong is certain Yewon twisted her words to emphasize the functional importance of the decision rather than highlight Jieqiong’s inner turmoil. She was thankful for this. It probably kept Siyeon from blaming Jieqiong for being an uncooperative meddler who insisted on weaseling her way into their lives.

Jieqiong slowly turned to Eunwoo. “What—”

“If it were me,” Eunwoo began, “I would take it. I trust Yewon and this could help us figure out what to do next. But the most important thing,” she rushed before Jieqiong could interrupt, “is that I am not you. You have authority over your own body. This is your decision.”

Jieqiong stared at Eunwoo for a moment, who nodded her head encouragingly. Jieqiong then panned her vision around the room. Yewon was smiling gently and Yebin reflected her expression. Nayoung looked more troubled, but remained calm. From her time spent in this house, Jieqiong concluded Nayoung was the unofficial leader. Rather than hoping for Jieqiong to agree, Nayoung was probably assessing ten other plans to capture Nightshade should Jieqiong say no. Siyeon, surprisingly, was no longer glaring at her. It seemed that something said in the past few minutes had resonated with the usually aggressive witch. She still seemed frustrated, but resolved to stare at her own lap. For the first time all afternoon, Jieqiong saw Siyeon’s ebony, polished wand sitting on the coffee table.

Without looking up, Siyeon broke the silence. “You have the option to walk away. I want that explicitly stated.” She said nothing more.

Jieqiong took a second to consider her words, then turned to her left. “Can I speak with you for a moment?” She asked quietly.

Nayoung froze at the sudden warmth on her thin wrist. She saw Jieqiong’s pleading eyes, though the request sounded professional. Nayoung realized Jieqiong was anxious. This was unfamiliar territory and she had no way of predicting what would happen to her mind or body, whereas the basics of potions would be common knowledge to the witches. Nayoung flipped her right palm up. Her slender fingers slipped between Jieqiong’s cold ones. She rubbed her thumb over Jieqiong’s and the woman responded with a firmer grip. Nayoung helped Jieqiong up and led her down the hallway to a small sitting room by the staircase. They sat down on a small couch, hands still interlocked.

Nayoung faced Jieqiong. “Yewon is a skilled witch who makes the highest quality potions I have ever used. I have personally tested many of her experiments. She has never failed me nor Siyeon. However, everyone’s body is different. Being a witch, I often ingest these kinds of ingredients. But this would be your first exposure. I will say this. Yewon is very precise. She is one of the more attentive individuals who can take the drinker’s status into account when allocating doses.”

“Being a Muggle affects how I take in the potion?” Asked Jieqiong wearily.

“Absolutely. Anything we interact with consequently reacts with our magic,” said Nayoung. “Powerful wizards can withstand stronger curses or more potent poisons. Vulnerable and untrained individuals, like children, cannot. There’s also four of us here who can intervene, even if it seems like only three are willing to.” Nayoung’s lips morphed into a tiny sneer and Jieqiong let out a weak chuckle. “We all know enough about potions to help you if you need it. At the end of the day though, it’s really up to you. We will find another way to get to Nightshade and protect the citizens of London, those magical and not.”

The gentle tone with which Nayoung used to explain the situation made Jieqiong melt. Nayoung continued to rub comforting circles on Jieqiong’s hand with her thumb. As the minutes passed, this seemed less like of a dreaded obligation on Jieqiong’s part.

“I still have a duty to help if I can,” Jieqiong declared. “My mind is the most precious and powerful tool I have. Regardless of my apprehensions, I know I’ll forever regret it if I don’t do this. You four and probably countless others are sacrificing yourselves to stop Nightshade. I bet you’re even breaking all sorts of laws by talking to Eunwoo and me, what more by giving me an experimental potion.”

“Working for the government, that seems ironic, no?” Said Nayoung. “But I’m taking it to be my better judgment. Likewise, you need to think carefully about what you want to do.”

Jieqiong hesitated, though more out of shyness than anxiety. “Will you stay with me?” She asked softly. Her hold on Nayoung’s hand tightened unconsciously.

Nayoung understood the action behind the words. “Yes,” she said.

“Then, yes,” Jieqiong parroted. “I’ll do it.”

Jieqiong and Nayoung soon returned to the living room where Yewon was explaining the process to Eunwoo. Nayoung relayed the news and Yebin clapped excitedly while Yewon left to personally bring the potion out. She didn’t want to risk conjuring the wrong batch to the living room and end up feeding Jieqiong a Draught of Living Death by accident.

“Alright, this one has aged for a few weeks so it’s rather potent. Not to mention you have never taken a potion before. Let’s start from half the concentration, add this to thin it out too…”

As soon as Yewon spoke, a quill flew out from a drawer and began writing in the air with thick lines of neon pink smoke, articulating Yewon’s thoughts. Numbers and unfamiliar symbols continuously spewed out of the quill tip long after Yewon had stopped talking. She was now portioning a black liquid into several glasses of varying volumes at a table away from the couches. Jieqiong and Nayoung sat opposite her while the others stood around idly. Licking her lips in thought, Yewon consulted the floating calculations.

“Have I ever told you, you look hot when you think,” Yebin said unabashedly.

Yewon had a small coughing fit and visibly blushed. Even her floating quill stopped writing and turned about-face to jab its feathered end accusingly at Yebin. Siyeon came up from behind and yanked at Yebin’s ear. With an air of righteousness, the quill bowed to Siyeon and returned to scribbling calculations. Its movements became sharper and more rapid as if it felt greatly offended for its owner and needed to distract itself with work lest it poke Yebin’s eye out.

“Don’t mind her,” said Nayoung. “She’s always that flirtatious.”

“It’s actually quite funny—” Jieqiong began.

“You fell for that?” Eunwoo snorted incredulously but with a broad smile.

“She has a certain je ne sais quoi,” Yewon giggled without looking up from the table. She added a few droplets of a clear solution to one of the glasses. The black stock liquid bubbled before turning a shimmering silver, almost like liquid mercury.

“Well, I don’t think I even want to know what.”

“You questioning my game, Jung?” countered Yebin, playing along.

“Ugh, I can’t go one day in this house without wanting to walk in front of a Bludger.”

“Then, move out,” said Yebin jokingly.

“I can’t. I need Nayoung and she won’t leave,” Siyeon gritted while staring at the ceiling.

“It’s because Yebin’s game is so poor, Yewon might abandon her. And you can’t leave a desolate Yebin alone, thinking her pick up lines actually work,” snickered Eunwoo.

“Ha!” Siyeon guffawed and slapped Eunwoo’s hand in a high-five. “Finally, someone sensible!”

Jieqiong raised her eyebrows in a astonishment. “Did she just laugh?”

Nayoung chuckled rather close to Jieqiong’s ear. Jieqiong turned around slowly, but didn’t back away. She felt an unfamiliar but not unwelcome bubbling sensation in her gut. “She’s not that bad when you get to know her,” said Nayoung.

“She seems to get along with Eunwoo just fine,” said Jieqiong absentmindedly, examining Nayoung’s flawless skin. Thank goodness the latter was focused on the bantering trio.

Nayoung shrugged and looked down at Jieqiong. “Some people just click.”

Jieqiong couldn’t stop her smile from growing. “I like coffee,” she said randomly.

“I like coffee too,” said Nayoung, mirroring Jieqiong’s expression.

Yewon continued mixing and editing the potion while ignoring her girlfriend. Yebin was loudly exerting her prowess in all things romantic, emphasizing she had never touched a Love Potion.

“What prowess?” Scoffed Eunwoo, feeling more comfortable with the witches. “Looks like you’ve only dated Yewon. She’s your girlfriend, she’s going to be biased. I could come up with twenty comments more flattering than ‘you look hot when you think.’”

As Yebin dramatically held her hand over her heart at the fake insult, Jieqiong felt a gentle tug on her left hand. “Is Eunwoo’s confidence warranted?” Nayoung whispered, amused.

“Not at all,” laughed Jieqiong. “She’s never dated anyone in her life. She tried asking someone to our school’s dance and their dog decided Eunwoo made a nice toilet. They were nice and all, but they already asked someone else. At least they offered to replace Eunwoo’s shoes.”

“So what did she do?” Asked Nayoung as she played with Jieqiong’s fingers.

Jieqiong found this oddly comforting and most helpfully distracting. The potion across the table had taken on a disturbingly toxic green shade. “I felt bad for her so I told her we’d go together. Not like I had a date anyway, I wasn’t planning to go.”

Nayoung stifled a laugh while commenting how generous Jieqiong was. Jieqiong jokingly glanced up at Eunwoo to see if she heard them. From her peripherals though, she saw Siyeon was no longer a part of Eunwoo and Yebin’s heated competition over who had more game. Instead, she was side-eyeing Jieqiong and Nayoung. It wasn’t with the usual disdain she had in her fierce eyes whenever she spoke with the detective. Rather, she looked tense and lost in her thoughts as if struggling to come to terms with something, minor as though it may be. She obviously hadn’t noticed Jieqiong since she didn’t avert her gaze.

“You’ve known Eunwoo for quite a while, then? You live together,” said Nayoung with interest.

“Yeah, we’re best friends. We went through school, university, and training together. We practically share one life,” responded Jieqiong. After she had said this, Siyeon turned her body towards Yebin and Eunwoo. Jieqiong noticed the witch kept her eyes on the detective, though she looked like she tuned out their bickering.

“Have… Have you ever thought— I mean, I guess not, but you two seem awfully close,” said Nayoung cryptically. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Never mind, that’s probably too personal.”

“Eunwoo’s like my sister. We’ve never thought of dating each other, if that’s what you’re asking. Pretending got us out of some sticky situations though.” Jieqiong smiled at the resurfacing episodes, though she would take those to her grave. “We have a mutual non-attraction.”

When she looked back at Nayoung, the taller woman seemed relieved. Jieqiong was about to ask, but figured it was because of Yewon. The witch had just finished editing her potion which was now a deep crimson. The liquid seemed to glow as it sloshed around.

“Looks like blood,” blurted Eunwoo.

“Thanks. That’s… That’s really helpful. I’m sure it’ll make downing it easier,” Jieqiong said flatly.

Yewon handed Jieqiong a tall, thin glass about a couple centimeters in diameter.

“You won’t be drinking all of it. One and a half teaspoons should suffice. I’ll need a particular silver spoon. The metal reacts a bit with the potion and lets you see in color when you take it. Be back in a moment.” Yewon left the room to search her lab again.

“It’s actually kind of mesmerizing to watch,” said Eunwoo, staring closely at the tube-like glass.

“You’ll be fine. I’m right here,” said Nayoung, reading Jieqiong’s worried expression.

Jieqiong smiled gratefully and looked back at the glass in her hand. Clear globs of denser liquid floated up and down the column. She frowned skeptically. She tried to imagine it was strawberry gelatin that hadn’t set yet. Then she did what anyone presented with new edibles does. Jieqiong brought the glass up to her nose and tilted it back. The liquid pooled just close enough to the lip for her to sniff it. To her surprise, it smelled as sweet as the Calming Draught she drank earlier. In fact, it was slightly intoxicating.

“I don’t think everything’s dissolved. Look at the bottom,” said Eunwoo.

“What—”

Just as Jieqiong spoke, Eunwoo poked the base of the glass to point at the precipitate. The light jab coupled with the unbalanced distribution of the elixir made the glass tip backward. All of the potion slipped into Jieqiong’s open mouth. She barely registered the collective gasp. The sound of a silver spoon dropping on the wooden floor rang throughout the silent room. Jieqiong however, was more focused on the atrocious taste of the potion. It was a fusion of the stench of burning rubber, the texture of vodka, and the taste of very bitter unripe blackberries that had gone through a 72 hour brine for some ungodly reason. Out of reflex and respect for the witches’ spotless home, she forced herself to swallow the potion in one gulp. When she felt it drain down her esophagus, she recoiled and stuck her tongue out in disgust. The aftertaste was unsettlingly similar to that of spoilt milk and iron. Her left hand was clenched so tightly, there were shallow nail imprints in Nayoung’s skin.

“Jieqiong?” Nayoung’s amplified voice startled Jieqiong. Yet there was an airiness to it as if she was whispering. “H-how do you feel?”

Jieqiong opened her eyes and recoiled again. Her vision was so focused, it made her head spin. Changing her depth perception between the floating dust particles and Yewon standing less than a meter away was absolutely disorienting. Slightly panicking now, she turned to face Nayoung. This was a mistake as her brain couldn’t keep up with her eyes. It felt like the living room was both dragging at a snail’s pace and blurring as fast as a fighter jet. Disorienting was now a gross understatement. Jieqiong wanted to shut down.

“What’s happening to me?” She asked shakily. She felt Nayoung rubbing circles on the back of her left hand.

“Your senses are sharpening.” Nayoung lowered her voice considerably. “Don’t focus on any one alone. Now, try to remember Tyranno’s apartment.”

Jieqiong saw Nayoung’s eyes shift to someone behind her, most likely Eunwoo who was standing nearest. Jieqiong forced her eyes to cross and faced where she thought the table top was. Impairing her visual acuity helped significantly. At least she didn’t have the urge to puke. She pawed around for a quill and positioned it above a stack of papers.

Someone placed their hand gently on her right shoulder, though their fingers felt like they weighed a ton. Each. She rolled her shoulder at the discomfort and the person removed their hand. The immediate loss of pressure was relieving to her bones.

“We’re in the apartment,” came Eunwoo’s soft, slightly nasally voice from the right. “In the bedroom. You’re by the desk. You have your camera out. The desk is littered with papers, blueprints,” she directed.

Jieqiong’s hand moved automatically. The quill shook as its ink-filled tip scribbled across the page in a flurry. Jieqiong’s hand shot to the top of the page and wrote Diagon Alley in large letters before returning to the bottom of the page.

“You pick up the ones labeled ‘The Ministry,’” Eunwoo corrected hastily, but kept her voice low. “The first level. What do you see?”

Jieqiong ripped the first page off the pile and ungraciously threw it to the side. She immediately began drawing on the next page, scribbling The Ministry, Level One at the top. She felt her eyes were unfocused, but she could still differentiate the defined lines she drew from the clear blueprints in her mind’s eye. It was all the feedback her brain needed. It was like tracing a template from her memory onto the paper currently in front of her.

Several sheets later, her hand began to ache but her vision grew clearer. The potion’s effects must have reached a peak. Jieqiong willed her hand to keep moving. Draw, she egged herself on. She didn’t know how long this would last, or rather how long she would last.

For a brief second, Jieqiong felt completely normal again. Her hand constantly etched arrows and circles across The Atrium. This page had tons more writing than the previous levels of the Ministry. There were rectangles evenly paced along a hallway with fire icons inside them. Each was marked with an X and initials. What really intrigued Jieqiong was a mass of scribbles in the middle of the page that didn’t resemble anything. Lines like a funnel led from the mass to an X that marked the Minister. A single word was bolded underneath. Crucio.

Then all at once, her refined senses rushed back tenfold. The information overload brought on a migraine so tremendous, she slumped out of her chair. Hitting the floorboards felt like she was being crushed under a landslide. Her ribs sunk, squeezing the air out of her lungs. The rushing of blood in her ears was deafening. The chandelier blinded her. How she wished she could scream. The pain was excruciating. She wanted it to stop, to feel nothing. So she shut her eyes and willed her heart to slow down.

Suddenly, she felt light as a feather. Nothing but air touched her skin. She had to know what was happening, so she opened her eyes. She was floating in mid-air, her limbs dangling limply at her sides. Terrified, she let out a blood-curdling screech. Whoever was making her levitate had broken concentration and she landed right on her unstable feet.

Run, she told herself. She crashed into a surface waist-high. Then into something soft with a solid base. Then into a person. Their arms wrapped around Jieqiong in an attempt to calm her but it had the opposite effect. She felt restrained, imprisoned. She lunged forward, twisting and flopping around, hoping the person would release her.

The two toppled over and crashed onto the floor. But instead of wriggling herself free, Jieqiong froze. She couldn’t see nor hear anything. The world went blank. Reality had disappeared. All that was left was a warm, soft sensation against her lips. Whatever she was touching moved slightly. Jieqiong’s lips moved with it. All of the pain in her body evaporated. It was odd. What exactly was she doing?

Her hearing tuned back into the moment. An inappropriately timed “Hey! That wasn’t the plan!” came from behind. The person above let out a frustrated growl of “For Merlin’s sake!” A timid, high-pitched “Help them!” carried over the ruckus, followed by frantic huffing from a fourth person. Jieqiong’s body once again felt void of weight and substance until she stood upright.

“Jieqiong,” came Nayoung’s soft but wavering voice. Jieqiong felt a warm hand wrap around her waist. Her hands moved of their own accord toward the tall woman for support.

“Sniff,” someone else commanded gingerly.

An herb tickled Jieqiong’s nose. It smelled fresh and floral like lavender. Best of all, her brain stopped vibrating in her skull.

“Drink.”

A small vial was held to Jieqiong’s lips as someone tilted her head back. What flowed into her mouth completely washed away the foul taste of the memory potion. Her tongue was coated in a citrus viscous extract that warmed her body and dulled her senses.

“Now, sleep.”

A wand tapped the center of Jieqiong’s forehead. She welcomed the reprieve of darkness.

~|~|~|~

“Well now I actually have a right to laugh at Yebin,” said Eunwoo happily.

“Kissing and dating me are two different things, neither of which will happen in the future,” said Jieqiong as she took a sip of her latte.

“Tsk. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Don’t get me involved.”

Eunwoo swirled the contents of her cup. “So when do you think we’ll see them again?”

“I don’t know, but I’d kind of like to apologize for rampaging around their living room,” sighed Jieqiong guiltily.

“I wouldn’t call it rampaging. Honestly, you just took like three steps while screaming bloody murder before crashing into me. No biggie,” Eunwoo shrugged.

“Well everything felt exaggerated to me until I woke up back at our apartment with the sky pitch black and you acting all awkwardly distant.”

“I can deal with all sorts of people and situations, but you are on a whole other level.”

“You’re saying I’m not a person?” Jieqiong raised her eyebrow.

“No. You’re a Jieqiong. Completely different. If it makes you feel better, you’re on a whole higher level.” Eunwoo shot Jieqiong a wink.

Jieqiong rolled her eyes and lightly kicked Eunwoo under the table. “Really though. I wonder if I helped them at all. I don’t know about outside, but inside my head, I was going nuts.” Jieqiong stared down at her hands wrapped around her coffee cup.

“Hey. Given the circumstances, you did great. You were tearing through those pages at the speed of light. You extracted tons from your memory. The wit— others, well from their expressions, it seems like they found out a lot they didn’t know. And they didn’t like it one bit.” Eunwoo’s initial encouraging tone trailed off dejectedly.

“Why? Was it something specific they were worried about?”

“Couldn’t say. They didn’t really explain much before we were whisked away back home. I was more focused on giving you cues anyway. Yebin and Siyeon were discussing an awful lot though. It was weird seeing Yebin that serious and Siyeon not baring her teeth at someone.”

Jieqiong was about to point out that Eunwoo never seemed to be part of the “someone” category, but left it alone for another day. “I wonder if there’s anything else we can do to help.”

“You’re not ingesting any more experimental liquids,” Eunwoo said sternly. She didn’t want to put Jieqiong through anything like that ever again. “And you’re never ingesting any more experimental liquids around me,” she added a tad shamefully.

“I won’t,” Jieqiong laughed. “At very least if I have to again, I’ll be prepared.” Or so she hoped.

“Hmm.” Eunwoo frowned. Her eyes wandered around the busy cafe. A flashing banner on the large TV screen caught her attention. She bolted upright in her chair, completely alert. “Jieqiong,” she said urgently.

Jieqiong looked up at Eunwoo’s strangled tone. “What’s up with you?” She scanned the shop quickly for suspicious activity. Then she saw it. Her eyes widened. Fear and heartache clashed in the deepest pit of her stomach.

Breaking news. Two investigators from the London Police Department have disappeared. Detectives Sungyeon Bae and Kyla Massie have been reported missing. Our reporter Steven Gordon is on sight for the press release. Steven?

Thank you, Michelle. Behind me is the head of the police department Chief Officer Fenton and the head investigator Chief Detective Warren. They regretfully informed the public about the disappearance of two of their team members this morning. The force is currently searching the streets for any sign of them. The two women have been missing for just over 24 hours. Let’s hear the current statement.

Hello everyone, this is Chief Detective Warren. As of now, no sightings of our treasured team members have been reported. Every employee and recruit is out in the field searching for them. We do not have any suspects at the time. This seems to be an isolated event, unrelated to our previous cases. We are keeping watch over their families until we see their safe return. Please, if anyone has any information, contact us immediately.

Our correspondent, Steven, will remain on site for further developments. Stay tuned for updates.

~|~|~|~

“Please, sir. I—”

“Miss. I’d really like to help you, but you need to give me an address for me to tell you where to go,” the businessman said exasperatedly.

“I’m trying,” groaned Jieqiong helplessly. “It’s— It’s—”

“Uh huh?” The man gestured for her to continue.

Jieqiong’s mouth opened and closed. “Ugh!” She buried her face in her hands.

The man checked his engraved silver watch. “I’m sorry, but if I stay any longer, I’m going to be late for my meeting. It seems like you really need help, but I can’t do anything for you.” He rifled through his leather wallet. “Here’s ten pounds. I hope you and your friend can find your way.”

“Wait, I don’t need— Um, thanks…” Jieqiong trailed off.

The man insisted she keep the money as he walked away hurriedly and waved goodbye.

“Any luck?” Jieqiong asked as she slumped down on the single bench facing the street.

“No,” Eunwoo grunted. “My thumbs won’t move to type in the address on my phone, so GPS is out of the question. I’ve tried writing it down too. My fingers cramp up, minus the pain.”

Jieqiong looked down at the pile of small square papers between them. There were multiple small lines and dots, as if Eunwoo had succeeded only as far as writing a dash of a letter. “Must be you know what if this is happening.”

“What do we do? We can’t ask anyone and we can’t show them.”

“I don’t know,” Jieqiong said monotonously, her eyes staring unfocused at the concrete. “We have to though. Somehow. They’re our only hope.”

Eunwoo abruptly faced Jieqiong, who raised an eyebrow in response. Eunwoo opened her mouth to speak. As Jieqiong expected, nothing but a strangled croak escaped.

“Are. You. Kidding me?! We can’t even spell it out to each other?” Eunwoo exclaimed.

Eunwoo continued to babble on angrily but Jieqiong wasn’t listening anymore. There was no breeze yet the tips of her hair shifted as something crossed her path. She breathed in slowly. A faint scent of honey. Contrasted with an unmistakable aura of contempt personified.

“Siyeon!” Jieqiong shouted into the open air.

Eunwoo went quiet and stared over Jieqiong’s shoulder in disbelief. A meter away from their bench was the floating torso of Siyeon, her back facing the street. Her legs appeared soon after in that same paint-drenching fashion Jieqiong first observed from Nayoung in an alleyway. But Siyeon didn’t turn around. She stared hard at a point ahead of her, face stoic, jaw clenched.

“I expected you to ignore me,” Jieqiong said in mild surprise.

“What do you want?” Siyeon barked, still not looking at them.

“We need you. All of you.” Jieqiong looked expectantly at the woman’s profile.

“Excuse me?” Siyeon scoffed. “Our exchange of information is done. That verbal contract was terminated the moment we brought you home.” Siyeon marched one step forward.

Jieqiong sprang out of her seat and stood in front of Siyeon, meeting her eye to eye. “I don’t want to start a fight with you—”

“Then, move,” Siyeon snarled impatiently. She stepped around the detective, her sturdy boots clacking against the pavement. When she heard an intake of breath, she interrupted again. “I have other business to attend to. Shouldn’t you be stalking Nayoung instead? Except don’t. She has her own affairs to sort out without you distracting her—”

“Siyeon.”

The witch stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened from their usual aggravated squint. Her jaw slackened a bit. It was not Jieqiong who spoke this time. And that’s what made it worse. This woman had the uncanny ability make Siyeon obey.

“We want to speak with all four of you.” Eunwoo’s voice sounded both frail and resolute. Like one who had given up everything in anticipation of losing everything. One who had fully accepted the fact, which was rare in the world.

Siyeon felt a twinge in her heart. She swallowed hard. She knew she wouldn’t agree with their proposal, but asked anyway. “About what?”

Eunwoo looked up at Jieqiong, surprised, and continued speaking to Siyeon’s back. “We want to help you find and capture Nightshade—”

“Absolutely not,” Siyeon cut across. Her tone wasn’t venomous, but it was curt all the same. “You have no business chasing after him.”

“No business?” Jieqiong repeated incredulously. She strode up to the witch with fury. “Listen.”

“No, you listen.” Siyeon turned sharply on her heels and almost crashed noses with Jieqiong but didn’t flinch. “I don’t care how much you knew, how much you know now, or how much you think you know. You don’t know what you’re dealing with. I outright refused to let any of them speak to you two but Nayoung holds the authority. At the very least I respect her. So I relented.” Siyeon took a step forward.

Jieqiong was forced a step back, but held Siyeon’s burning gaze. “Then you won’t mind—”

“I’m not finished,” hissed Siyeon. “Nayoung reasoned that it was because you didn’t know what you were up against that you needed to know. She thought it would slap some sense into you, stop you from getting into more trouble, from getting into more danger. I fully respect that. But you insist on digging deeper into things you don’t understand. I’m fully aware of how horrible I act towards you. Do you have any inkling as to why?”

Jieqiong took another step back as the seething Siyeon advanced closer. “In your terms, I surmised you don’t exactly hate Muggles but you sure don’t seem fond of them.”

“I’m not fond of losing life!” Siyeon growled menacingly. “Don’t you understand that we’re trying to protect you? We’re trying to protect everyone! You think Nightshade is just some pest we’ve got to scrape off the sidewalk? Of course you don’t, it’s your job to not think that way. So why can’t you get that through your head? Some people don’t have the luxury of walking away from horrors unknown. You got your answers, now butt out before something worse happens.”

“Something worse has happened! That’s why we need your help! We’ve been trying to figure this out, we’ve been trying to offer anything we can to you four. We have nobody to turn to!” Implored Jieqiong. “If you’ll only listen to us—”

Crack! The distinct sound of someone Apparating echoed down the empty street. A tall woman strode right up to the arguing pair, briefly patting Eunwoo on the back as she passed. She placed a hand on each of the women’s shoulders and put some distance between them.

“When you’ve calmed down, we can go inside,” said Nayoung, her voice emotionless.

Jieqiong spoke with a sense of foreboding. “Nayoung? Are you alright?”

“We’re not taking them inside,” stated Siyeon. “How many times do I have to say this?”

Nayoung slowly turned her head to look down at Siyeon. Her lips barely moved as she spoke. “We’ll discuss this inside.”

Jieqiong eyed the witches warily. While totally willing to have a go at Siyeon, she was surprised to see a flicker of anger in Siyeon’s eyes directed at Nayoung. Sure the younger witch might be annoyed at her partner, but never the least bit enraged.

“Nayoung. They can’t be involved anymore. They’re Muggles and they could end up dead.”

Jieqiong saw that Siyeon regretted the words as soon as they tumbled out of her mouth. Jieqiong glanced at Nayoung just in time to witness a flash of hurt in her bloodshot eyes.

Siyeon shook her head helplessly. “I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. But that’s exactly why we can’t speak to them. We can’t let it happen again.” She was begging now.

Jieqiong was stunned to hear such desperation in Siyeon’s voice. She didn’t have the heart to feel triumphant. She was empathetic. Whatever they were talking about, she suddenly wanted Nayoung to agree with Siyeon and refuse her and Eunwoo’s wishes. Was this how Eunwoo felt when she “dealt with people”? It was a whole realm Jieqiong didn’t want to dive into.

Nayoung sighed. It wasn’t out of frustration at Siyeon’s rebuttals. It was heavy, like all the energy had drained out of her. She cleared her throat, though her voice came out hoarse. “You’ve been on an assignment alone, out of contact. I need to fill everyone in, including Jieqiong and Eunwoo. In fact, they should’ve been the first to know. But I’ve only just got back.”

Nayoung’s words ended the conversation. The tall witch walked forward a few paces before stopping in front of a decrepit, rusty gate. It led to a trash-strewn gap between two buildings with soot-stained, boarded up windows. Jieqiong looked at Siyeon apprehensively, not wanting to set her off. Instead, she found herself looking at a rather pale woman with a stiff posture.

Siyeon’s eyes refocused. She looked at Eunwoo for a few seconds before turning to face Jieqiong fully. “Follow Nayoung, she’ll take you inside.”

Her voice sounded just as weak and quiet as Nayoung’s. She must have caught on to something that Jieqiong didn’t. The two witches were partners after all. Jieqiong nodded and moved toward the bench to help Eunwoo, but Siyeon shook her head and gestured at a waiting Nayoung. Jieqiong hesitated then walked to the woman at the gate who held her arm out. Jieqiong took it silently. She looked back to see Siyeon gathering the papers scattered on the bench and helping Eunwoo to stand up.

One moment Jieqiong was watching the pair by the street. The next she was staring at an intricately carved mahogany door with no doorknob. She faced forward to take in the homey living room of the magical house. She and Nayoung stepped further inside to make space for Siyeon and Eunwoo who had melted through the door behind them.

“Hey, you two are back! How’s—” Yewon popped her head out of the kitchen doorframe but abruptly stopped talking. Her gentle, welcoming demeanor faded into one of concern. “Yebin! You should get out here!” She called.

“I’m in the middle of something!” Yebin called back.

“Yebin. Meeting. Now.” Nayoung’s voice carried throughout the giant house despite not increasing in volume.

All buzzing and whooshing ceased from the distant room Yebin was working in. She entered with stains on her clothes, a bit ticked off at the interruption. But when she saw Nayoung’s hardened expression and the two Muggles with slumped shoulders, her irritation vanished.

Everyone sat down on the couches. Nobody knew what to do with the current mood. Nayoung decided for them and asked Jieqiong and Eunwoo to explain why they sought out the witches.

It was oddly nerve-wracking to say this with five pairs of eyes staring back at her. “I-I don’t know if you w-watch the Muggle n-news.” Jieqiong berated herself for stuttering. “But t-two detectives went m-missing since yesterday. Our j-juniors. Our f-friends. They…”

“Sungyeon and Kyla.” Everyone turned to look at Eunwoo who sat upright with her legs crossed formally. “Their names are Sungyeon and Kyla,” she finished quietly. Jieqiong couldn’t say anymore after that.

“This has something to do with Nightshade,” Siyeon half asked, half stated.

“It has everything to do with Nightshade,” Nayoung confirmed.

Nayoung took out something from her jacket and slid it to the center of the table. Everyone gasped at the disturbing sight. Yewon and Yebin’s eyes shot around the room to gauge the others’ reactions. Their hearts plummeted when they were met with the state of the Muggles.

Eunwoo’s hands darted up to her quivering lips, keeping her squeaks from dissolving into wails. Jieqiong felt hot tears pooling in her eyes. Her hands balled into fists. Her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into the flesh of her palms, breaking skin. She was shaking and trying so hard to keep herself together. At the slightest touch from Nayoung’s long, slender fingers wrapping around her fist, Jieqiong felt herself unravel. She sobbed into Nayoung’s shoulder, who held her closer as if she was the only bit of reality Jieqiong could believe. Jieqiong’s cries triggered Eunwoo, who suddenly found herself in Siyeon’s arms. Yebin and Yewon were frozen stiff, hands glued together, eyes boring holes into the object with disgust.

At the center of the table was a photo. A moving photo. About a hundred eyes glowed in the shadows of the background, jostling restlessly like caged animals. Sparks emitted from what could only be their wands. Three individuals stood in the foreground. One of them was a proud Nightshade, wand in one hand and an eerily familiar chain’s cup in the other, a demented smirk plastered across his face. He raised his coffee in cheers. The other two were Sungyeon and Kyla, hanging upside down and rotating in mid-air, their mouths open wide in silent cries of fear.

One line was scribbled along the bottom. You keep interesting company. So do I.

~|~|~|~

“This is all my fault,” choked Jieqiong. “I got so wrapped up in closing this case despite everyone who told me to drop it. Why didn’t I turn a blind eye, just this once!” She pounded her fist on her knee, closing her eyes in pain that wasn’t physical but felt very much so.

“I encouraged you. You were about to leave it behind but I told you we could figure it out if we just looked through all the station’s remaining evidence,” hiccuped Eunwoo. She blew her nose into a tissue and added it to the growing pile in the trash bin.

“You wouldn’t have if I didn’t make such a big fuss out of my weird memories,” sniffed Jieqiong.

“But that’s what you do! You’re Jieqiong, you analyze the world around you! You see what others don’t,” countered Eunwoo through her sobs.

“Ugh, I just have to stick my nose in everything, don’t I? Why’d you have to have me for a partner?” Jieqiong lamented, said nose very red and very stuffy.

“Don’t say that!” Wailed Eunwoo. “We’re best friends, of course I’d stick with you. We share the blame.” It wasn’t up for discussion.

“If anyone’s to blame, it’s me,” said a solemn voice. Nayoung wasn’t crying, but her heart felt like it had been pierced with a cursed dagger. “I insisted you know everything about Nightshade. If I hadn’t brought you into our world, he wouldn’t have cared after that fiasco downtown. He’s targeting our Ministry. He only uses random Muggles when he wants to send a message.”

“But he’s targeting our team because we kept meddling. If we didn’t pry, they’d be safe.” A few more tears rolled down Jieqiong’s cheek. Nayoung caught them with a swipe of her thumb.

“Then it’s my fault too.” This surprised everyone in the room. Siyeon stared at Jieqiong, eyes full of guilt. “I shouldn’t have Obliviated your memory. Eunwoo said it’s your character to work out your suspicions. My Charmwork didn’t work as well on you and it led to you two delving deeper into this mess. If we just flushed out the truth earlier, you would have followed your boss’ orders. You’d all be safe and far away from that horrid excuse of a human being.”

“That’s exactly it, though!” Yebin exploded. “It’s none of our faults! He’s a twisted, insane wizard who abuses his powers and abuses life! He’s to blame for the right state London’s in! All of us were just doing our jobs, trying to protect the people. Why should we be ashamed of that?”

“What’s important now is how we move forward. The fact is he’s taken Sungyeon and Kyla. We need to figure out how we’re going to bring them back. And they will come back alive and safe.” Yewon’s voice was unnaturally stable. Anyone could tell she had forced reason over emotion.

Nayoung sighed deeply. “I think it’s time we brought you two back. It’s getting late.”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo’s heads snapped up. “Go back? No! We need to help. We have to fight! He took our friends, he made it personal! We can’t just leave them!” Shouted Jieqiong.

“You said it yourself. If you get more involved, he could target more people. He could target you,” said Siyeon. “Trust me when I say we’ll do everything we can to help your friends. But at this stage, there’s nothing you can do.”

“So you expect us to just go home and sleep it off? To just wait for devastating news to show up on the cafe’s TV screen again? Our friends are now hostages! They’re probably being tortured by that lunatic! They’re afraid and alone!”

Siyeon was stunned into silence. Her speaking to Jieqiong peacefully was one thing. Eunwoo speaking savagely to her was another. She didn’t know how to respond. She felt ten times worse now. But the detective didn’t recoil from her embrace. Siyeon took that to be a good sign.

“Please, you have to let us help somehow. We’re already in so deep that Sungyeon and Kyla’s lives are in jeopardy. We can’t wait idly in our apartment wondering ‘what if.’” Jieqiong didn’t have the energy to flinch at her voice cracking.

“Jieqiong. You and Eunwoo aren’t witches. You can’t possibly hope to go up against a powerful dark wizard. You’d be obliterated in seconds. You stand no chance,” said Yebin softly.

Jieqiong knew Yebin was trying to be gentle, but she just couldn’t accept it. It felt so wrong to give up at this point. She looked over at Eunwoo who was resting her head on Siyeon’s shoulder. Her friend’s eyes were closed, resigned after hearing Yebin’s thoughts on the matter. Jieqiong didn’t care about the tears dripping onto her arms, which were crossed tightly over her stomach as if keeping herself from shattering into pieces.

She turned to look up at Nayoung. She had to make them understand. She licked her chapped lips and swallowed with no relief to her dry throat. “We can’t leave only to find out in a few days that Sungyeon and Kyla’s deaths were covered up because magic was involved. They were taken as direct punishment to Eunwoo and me. They need us. We’re willing to risk everything for them. Wouldn’t you do the same?” Jieqiong’s question added to the already dense atmosphere of the room. She didn’t mean to pressure the witches. But oddly enough, her words seemed to possess their own inherent burden.

Nayoung never looked away. There was a certain fire in her eyes that honestly scared Jieqiong a bit. “We would,” she said. “And some of us have.”

A squeak slipped from the other side of the table. Jieqiong saw Yebin cradling Yewon who had broken into a fresh round of sobs at Nayoung’s words. Yebin wasn’t holding up too well either.

Siyeon felt the need to voice her thoughts. “I retract what I said. I think we should let Jieqiong and Eunwoo fight if they want to.”

The other three witches were in an uproar at Siyeon’s suggestion.

“How could you possibly think that? Aren’t you the reasonable one?” Snapped Yebin.

“They’ll just be in even more danger! We’re trying to save them, not serve them to Nightshade on a silver platter!” Cried Yewon.

“We’re not repeating history. We’ll find another way, we always do,” said Nayoung with finality.

“Listen!” Siyeon shouted. All four witches were now standing and glowering at each other. “I know it’s insane to send them off to fight a wizard’s battle! But don’t you get it? It’s that exact reason we have to let them. It’s their choice and frankly, it’s their right. Just as it was… theirs. We’re the ones who have no right to stop them.” Siyeon stared down the others. Emotions were running high and they barely kept reign of them. “Jieqiong, do you have something else to say?” Siyeon asked knowingly.

Nayoung pleaded with her eyes to back down, but Jieqiong stood firm. “We might very well be killed alongside our friends. But to hell if it doesn’t kill us knowing we didn’t try.”

~|~|~|~

“I don’t like the rain.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. It washes things away. Important things.”

“But that’s why I kind of like it.”

Jieqiong tore her gaze away from the drops speckling the window. She looked inquisitively at her best friend.

“Sometimes it’s more important to wash things away. Rain has a sort of restorative, purifying effect,” said Eunwoo thoughtfully.

“We’re not talking about the physical realm anymore, are we?” Jieqiong asked rhetorically.

“No,” Eunwoo answered anyway. “Is it so bad to talk about people instead?”

“Not bad. It’s just different,” replied Jieqiong. “Not really something I prefer.” She turned to stare at the pouring rain whose sole purpose seemed to be drowning the city.

“You mean to say it’s more difficult to deal with,” remarked Eunwoo.

“To each their own. We work in different spheres. I look at what people do. You listen to who they are.”

“Yet we work together in the same world, in which the two coincide.”

“This is getting a bit too philosophical for my taste.”

“I just went with the flow. Heh, get it? Flow?” Eunwoo gave Jieqiong a cheesy grin and gestured at the rainwater flooding into the sewers outside.

Jieqiong rolled her eyes and let out an amused huff. “That was awful.”

Eunwoo shrugged. “Mind helping me? These buckles are being finicky.”

Jieqiong pushed off the wall and walked over to the couches. Eunwoo turned and moved all of her hair to one shoulder. Jieqiong knelt down to wriggle the metal buckles along Eunwoo’s side until they clicked into place. She pulled on the adjustable straps, securing a snug fit for the vest, then tucked them in neatly. Jieqiong gave a good pat to Eunwoo’s rear before standing up.

“Thanks,” said Eunwoo. “How are you on ammo?”

Jieqiong checked several small boxes spread out on the dining table. “Magazines are nearly empty.” Eunwoo handed her a case over the couch. Jieqiong loaded both of her guns and placed them in their holsters. She heard two similar clicks from behind.

“It’s nearly time,” said Eunwoo, checking the clock on the wall.

There was a knock on the door. “Right on schedule,” nodded Jieqiong.

“Hey, ready to go?” Nayoung asked as she stepped into the apartment.

“Pretty much,” answered Jieqiong. She paused and raised her eyebrow. “Did you Apparate? It doesn’t look like you’ve stepped outside at all today.” Jieqiong reached out to feel a perfect curl of silvery blonde hair.

“You would’ve heard me if I did. And I thought it’d be a bit rude popping into your apartment unannounced. I walked,” said Nayoung.

“Witchcraft!” Eunwoo exclaimed and waved her finger in the air in mock accusation. She walked past the pair to retrieve her coat from her bedroom, their laughs following her down the hall.

“Do you really need all of this stuff? We said we’d prepare for you,” said Nayoung as she walked over to the dining table. She inspected a leftover bullet casing curiously. The smooth metal slipped out of her fingertips and clattered onto the floor.

“Yebin said to bring what we’ve got. And this is the best of it, at least what we can access.” Jieqiong bent over to pick up the casing that had rolled by her foot. She straightened up with a small grunt.

“Take it easy, you might break a hip,” teased Nayoung.

“Shut up. I haven’t worn this for like three years. It’s gotten stiff,” said Jieqiong indignantly. She turned her nose up at Nayoung.

“Sure, the clothes are clearly in the wrong.” Nayoung swiftly dodged Jieqiong’s flailing arm.

“A death match between an ostrich and a boulder. The things I see,” said Eunwoo as she swung her jacket over her shoulders. She looked reprovingly at Nayoung who snuck in a successful poke to Jieqiong’s waist, then at Jieqiong who retaliated with a quick slap to Nayoung’s arm.

The three gathered everything by the doorway. As Jieqiong and Eunwoo stepped into their sturdy boots, Nayoung whipped out her wand and tapped each bag and case. Nothing visibly changed, but she didn’t do anything more to them. She then turned to the detectives and tapped them on the head once each, before twirling her wand around her own body like a lasso.

“S-should I be w-worried?” Eunwoo asked through chattering teeth. Nayoung shook her head and waited.

Jieqiong didn’t think it was as frigid as Eunwoo made it sound, but it was weird. It felt like a raw egg had been cracked over her head. She looked down and for a second, she thought she was invisible. Upon closer examination, she realized her body had merely taken on the appearance and texture of the carpet below. She could see a disturbance in the air, similar to staring across the haze above a flame. She lifted her hand up to eye level. It now looked like their kitchen doorway, though Jieqiong could see the distinct blip where the edge of her palm curved over.

“Apparating to our place was a one-time thing. We prefer to limit who visits us. At least this way, nobody will see us heading towards the house,” explained Nayoung.

Nodding in understanding, Jieqiong and Eunwoo grabbed a bag off the floor while Nayoung carried the black case.

“Whoa!” Shouted Eunwoo as her bag swung around her from the force. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t this weigh like eleventy thousand tons before?”

Jieqiong ignored Eunwoo’s exaggeration but was just as intrigued by the weightlessness of their belongings. She looked at Nayoung questioningly.

“Thought I’d give your joints some relief,” snickered Nayoung, wiggling her wand in the air.

Jieqiong clicked her tongue but smiled as she locked the door behind them and led the way down the stairs. Eunwoo almost crashed into her when she stopped short before the door.

“Umbrellas,” Jieqiong remembered belatedly. “Unless you’ve got more tricks up your sleeve?”

Nayoung smiled down at Jieqiong. “I’ve got a few.” She pulled out her wand again, tapped each of their hooded heads with the tip, and stowed it away. “Let’s go.” She stepped forward.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo glanced at each other. There was an odd stillness to the air. Normally there would be a draft in the lobby considering the nasty storm just outside. When the detectives joined Nayoung on the sidewalk, they were pleasantly surprised. The trees lining the street fought hard to keep their windswept branches intact, yet the women didn’t even notice a breeze. The raindrops avoided their heads completely. Jieqiong squinted through the rain. The spell Nayoung casted to make them one with the scenery made Eunwoo look like a very clear blob with raindrops rolling off her unresisted. To any passerby, they were practically invisible.

“Disillusionment and Impervius Charms. Useful little ‘tricks,’” said Nayoung and she walked on.

A few minutes later, the trio came up to a familiar rusted old gate between two buildings damaged by fires. Without breaking stride, Nayoung looped her wand arm around Jieqiong’s right arm and offered her left arm to Eunwoo, who grabbed onto the witch’s elbow just in time. They melted through the mahogany door together and stepped into the foyer of a house.

“This way! Chop chop!” Hollered Yebin dramatically. She swooped from the kitchen, past the three women, and into the back hallway in a large arc marked by a trail of crumbs.

“After you.” Nayoung bowed slightly, gesturing for Jieqiong and Eunwoo to follow Yebin’s path.

As they passed one of the rooms deeper in the house, they waved at Yewon. The resident Potions Master was busy brewing, but returned their greeting. When they reached the room across the hall, Jieqiong’s mouth fell open. She slowed her pace, much to Eunwoo’s annoyance as she herself was usually a speed-walker. But she too came to a halt upon entering the room.

“Welcome to my lab!” Yebin spun on her heels, gestured grandly at her surroundings, and took a deep bow. Standing back up, she was met with the distracted, awestruck faces of Jieqiong and Eunwoo. Her lips curled into an arrogant smirk before deflating at Nayoung’s deadpan expression. “Fun sucker,” Yebin muttered and nibbled on a biscuit shaped like a newt.

The spacious room looked more like a workshop than a lab. Jieqiong supposed Yebin meant this was her counterpart to Yewon’s potion center. Mounted on the wall behind Yebin were three refined blades on which strange glowing runes flashed across their surfaces. To the left was a giant chalkboard filled with dimensions and lists written in tiny font. Scattered around the room were various mannequin frames next to tables stacked high with materials. The other walls made the room resemble an armory. One corner had a neat array of daggers, one of which had black smoke revolving around it. Another section of a wall had a set of double-ended spears mounted from the ceiling to the floor. Weapon displays were punctuated by various full body armor sets, a couple of which were encased in glass.

“I’m home! Finally…” A voice groaned from the front of the house. Nayoung stepped out into the hall and waved the newcomer over. Siyeon appeared in the doorway.

“What are you two wearing?” The youngest witch eyed the detectives up and down. While significantly less hostile after their last encounter, Jieqiong still heard that characteristic bite in Siyeon’s tone. It was most notable when speaking of anything that annoyed her, which was, incidentally, almost everything. The current subject of her displeasure was the Muggles’ attire.

“Nayoung, you can set everything on that open table in the back,” instructed Yebin.

Siyeon skirted around the room, eyes still inspecting Jieqiong and Eunwoo. “Is that supposed to be protection?” She said distastefully. “And those.” She jabbed her wand at Jieqiong’s holsters. The gun flew out to the center of the room and rotated as if on display. “I’ve seen people shooting these for fun at paper cutouts. Awfully loud and clunky, aren’t they?”

Yebin turned around from scrounging some items off of the tables. At the sight of the floating guns pointed directly at her, she sprung up nearly half a meter in shock. The items went flying out of her grasp, but caught themselves in mid-air instead of clattering onto the floor. “Hey! Be careful with those!” She yelled.

“What? I didn’t activate them.” Siyeon guided the guns to the back table by Nayoung.

“You’d think she would handle them with a bit of caution if she’s seen them in use before,” Yebin whispered to Jieqiong. She trudged around the room to grab her dispersed items from the air.

“You must be joking,” Siyeon continued, drawing everyone’s attention back to her.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Eunwoo, a bit self-conscious. Did the outfit make her look fat?

“Your ‘bulletproof vests’ and ‘guns’ and ‘bullets,’ that’s what!” Siyeon said exasperatedly. “It’s like wearing a blanket and firing cotton balls with a slingshot. Useless!”

“So you don’t think this makes me look fat,” blurted Eunwoo.

“These— What?” Siyeon did a double take and stared at Eunwoo. “I… No, I don’t?” She said with a confused expression. Eunwoo just cleared her throat and looked away.

Yebin cut through their awkward moment without a care. “Yeah, thanks Einstein—”

“Who?” Said Siyeon, wondering if she should be offended or not.

“Never mind,” said Yebin, waving her hand around as if swatting away her comment. “I know these are powerless in a duel. I’m going to edit them. It’s much easier to meet halfway so that Jieqiong and Eunwoo can still fight and be protected while using equipment in a familiar form. A weapon is as dangerous as one who wields it improperly. They at least know how to use guns.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly is your job?” Jieqiong asked hesitantly, unsure of how to phrase her question without sounding rude.

“I’m a weapons specialist, which includes working with armor. I supply our two beloved Aurors,” she sneered at Siyeon, “with whatever offensive and defensive equipment they need. I prefer to focus on them specifically, though I do occasionally provide for the Office.”

“You’re full of surprises,” murmured Jieqiong and Eunwoo. Yebin was pleased with their looks of admiration. Nobody paid attention to the pair of witches pretending not to care in the corner.

“Up here, if you please,” said Yebin as she flicked her wand.

Two elevated stands shot out of a cabinet and settled in front of Jieqiong and Eunwoo. They each stepped up tentatively. Tape measurers and strings materialized around the two and began stretching across all lengths of their bodies.

“We’re not making that,” corrected Yebin with her back turned.

The tape measurer wrapped around Jieqiong’s ear rolled back up with a snap and shot down to record the circumference of her ankle. A pair of scissors cut an infinitely long string every time a length was marked. The chopped pieces peeled off of Jieqiong’s body and settled themselves loosely on a wire stand.

“Watch it,” Siyeon snarled at a pair of scissors that almost cut some of Eunwoo’s long hair along with the string annealed to her back. It recoiled, clicked its blades in a “Yes, ma’am” sort of way, and brought the string far away from Eunwoo before snipping it.

As Siyeon continued to monitor Yebin’s materials at work, the specialist sidled up to Nayoung who was examining the wire frame adorned with Jieqiong’s measurements. “I could… lend you some of these strings,” said Yebin with a sly tone.

“Why does that sound so creepy?” Said Nayoung suspiciously, looking down at the tiny witch.

Yebin cackled quietly and continued. “I think a nice little black dress would be a good Christmas present for your girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Yet.” With that, Yebin sauntered away to a cluttered table and began tinkering with her tools.

“Honey?” Yewon peered around the doorframe adorably.

“Their weapons are on the back table by Nayoung,” informed Yebin. “Was there anything else in there?” She called out to the room.

“The larger case has a dismantled rifle and a box full of tranquilizer darts,” answered Jieqiong seeing as how Eunwoo was busy holding her breath while a string documented her waist size.

“It’s a weapon that uses a Draught for Dreamless Sleep,” explained Yebin. “Sort of…”

Yewon squeaked an “Ok” and bounded back to her lab with the case and one of the bags.

“What is she going to do with them?” Breathed Eunwoo when the string around her waist had flown away.

“Well, we wondered how you’re going to fight without wands. They’re by far the best option, but not the only one. Most of the time though, you’ll only be able to attack if your target is distracted. The best we can do without completely replacing your arsenal is to give you different bullets, or otherwise coat them with Yewon’s potions.”

“I thought her products were only made to be ingested,” said Jieqiong.

“You can have a variety of things that you drink, throw, pour over your skin or other objects. She’s experimenting with venoms and toxins. We’ll see what stands during testing.”

“No pressure, but we’re limited on resources. We brought everything we own,” said Eunwoo.

“We can supply more for both testing and to restock your equipment,” said Nayoung.

“You know how to make guns?” Jieqiong asked Yebin, who seemed to be very familiar with anything Muggle related.

“I don’t think it would be that difficult but no, I won’t be making new ones. We can duplicate them using magic,” said Yebin while fiddling with a strange apparatus.

Then Jieqiong remembered something. “I thought magic couldn’t be used on Muggle objects.”

“I said electronics,” Siyeon piped up.

“Hey, you got it right! Good girl!” Yebin cooed. Siyeon hissed back at her. “Anyway, there’s a bit of buffer room for how much you can mix the two. Think of it this way. How do you light up a room? Muggles use electricity and wizards have illumination spells. Different mechanics, same result. Besides, in duplicating your guns and switching up the ammo, we’re not changing how they function. The most we have to worry about is not fiddling with them when loaded.” Yebin emphasized the last bit at Siyeon, who pretended not to hear her.

Just as Yebin finished speaking, a loud buzz filled the room. Jieqiong saw an expansive sheet of metallic silver material being sawed into smaller pieces. Yebin piled a few into two stacks, which shunted themselves to a table by each of the wire models. Squinting under Yebin’s arm, Jieqiong could see repeated grooves in the material similar to reptilian scales. It was about half the thickness of their vests, but looked ten times more impenetrable.

When the measuring tapes and strings had recorded all of Jieqiong’s bodily dimensions, she stepped down from the small stage and walked over to Nayoung. “What is she working with? That doesn’t look like normal leather.”

Nayoung tilted her head and briefly considered the material. “It’s dragon hide and not even the usual kind wizards make clothes out of. This one’s from a Ukrainian Ironbelly by the looks of it.”

Jieqiong gaped at Nayoung’s casual tone. “Dragon hide?”

“Mhm,” murmured Nayoung. When she finally met Jieqiong’s bulging eyes, she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Oh, sorry, you don’t know about dragons. Wait, aren’t there legends about them? Well I suppose you wouldn’t heed those tales.”

Jieqiong shook her head slowly. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at Yebin’s back. “She didn’t… you know, did she? I can’t imagine…” She whispered.

Nayoung chuckled. “If she had slain a dragon, we’d never hear the end of it. No, Yebin’s not one for combat despite making a career around it. She imported the hide from one of my contacts. You should feel honored. Siyeon nor I have ever gotten anything this high quality.”

“You don’t need it!” Shouted Yebin over the clanking of her saw. A scale had jammed the machine. The scale was perfectly intact, albeit roughly dislodged from the skin. The blade of Yebin’s tool however, was badly damaged.

“Ukrainian Ironbelly hide is wonderful for armor,” continued Nayoung. “But as you can see, it’s difficult to work with. That should give you some indication of its indestructibility. The scales themselves are as strong as steel. That saw isn’t an average Muggle tool either. Yebin had to modify it quite a bit and constantly repairs it.”

“I don’t think Nightshade and his army will be hacking at us with swords and axes though,” said Jieqiong, still in awe but wanting to continue the conversation.

“You’d be surprised how effective weapons besides wands can be. I prefer a Basilisk dagger myself if I don’t have a wand. Anyway, do you expect anything they have or we give you to not possess magical properties? Being magical beasts, dragons are immune to some spells. This hide is especially good for deflecting Stuns and minor curses and jinxes. I reckon it can even stand up to any fire spells besides Fiendfyre.”

“Fascinating,” breathed Jieqiong, forgetting to ask what half of Nayoung’s response meant. Nayoung nodded and continued to watch Yebin at work.

Jieqiong observed Nayoung’s profile. Part of her mind was still stuck on the fact that dragons existed. But the other part had drifted to the witch’s voice. Jieqiong unconsciously noted various inflections when Nayoung spoke. She had an adorable, childlike slur when she was comfortable with someone. Her voice was deadpan and aloof when interacting with strangers, or when she was totally over her friends’ antics. She could be stern and articulated when the group demanded her leadership. But now, Jieqiong was enamored by how words just rolled off of Nayoung’s tongue. Being knowledgable was an extremely attractive quality in Jieqiong’s book.

“Brains and brawn. This Auror just doesn’t have a bad side,” she muttered to herself.

“Hmm? Did you say something?” Nayoung turned her attention back to Jieqiong.

Jieqiong shook her head to clear her thoughts, but Nayoung took that to be her reply.

Yewon came knocking on the doorframe again. “Yebin, mind if I steal our guests?”

Yebin smiled over her shoulder. “Not at all. I’m done taking measurements.” She finally yanked out the loose scale and her saw sputtered back to life.

“Excellent! If you two will follow me,” Yewon grinned at Jieqiong and Eunwoo. Nayoung and Siyeon followed without invitation, but Yewon raised no objections. “Some of your bullets will be ready for testing soon. The ones I’m making from scratch will take a bit more work.”

“How can we help?” Jieqiong asked as she stood in front of Yewon’s marble countertop.

“I want to know about the structure of your bullets and darts. Usually Yebin would take care of this, but she’s a bit preoccupied with your armor. I’ve offered to take the project off her hands,” said Yewon, pulling out the boxes of ammunition from behind the counter. “Can you take these apart? I was thinking I could replicate it using my own materials.” She held up a random bullet.

“Well we can’t, but you might be able to using magic,” said Jieqiong hesitantly.

Yewon tapped one end of the bullet with her wand, then dragged the tip horizontally through the air. The components expanded in the direction of the wand and floated just above the marble surface. Even the propellant powder retained its shape from when it was packed into the casing. Yewon examined each part closely with Jieqiong’s guidance.

“What are you thinking?” Asked Nayoung, who tried to keep up with Jieqiong’s explanation.

“Bone.” The others raised their eyebrows with interest. “Bone might be able to withstand firing and even if it shatters on impact, that could be effective though gruesome,” Yewon shuddered. “Also, certain creatures have a skeletal vasculature strictly for venom. Sometimes the best ingredients are those left in their raw forms.”

“Admittedly, these Muggle weapons are starting to intrigue me,” said Siyeon, leaning over the counter to inspect the flasks of bullets soaking in various solutions. “This one isn’t doing too well though.” She pointed at a flask in which only half a bullet remained in the bubbling liquid on ice.

“Darn it, I had high hopes for that one,” moaned Yewon and she waved her wand. The liquid vanished from the flask. She turned back to the detectives. “And these?”

Eunwoo picked up a dart. “These are hollow. The injected chemicals incapacitate an active target. It’s the alternative to using bullets which are more fatal, but…”

“It requires better aim, more time, and humans can pluck them out. The biggest downside is it works best with exposed skin. It can pierce clothes, but if their side has armor like us, then these will be of little use,” finished Jieqiong, side-eying the dart.

“Then again, not every wizard owns robes of Ukrainian Ironbelly hide,” said Nayoung.

“Nayoung makes a sadly obvious point,” said Siyeon. “A trait shared among many dark wizards and witches is arrogance. Wielding a wand and casting a decent Shield Charm does not equate to invincibility. I’ve actually smacked one wizard with a crowbar lying around after being disarmed. If he bothered to wear anything besides that ridiculous toga, he might’ve remained conscious long enough to blast me away.”

“Robes are actually pretty annoying,” remarked Nayoung when Yewon had returned to her experiments. “Agility is not something you can achieve with them billowing about. I’m quite glad Yebin introduced us to these Muggle outfits. They’re much lighter and easier to move around in.”

“I don’t suppose with your growth spurt you’ve had much experience tripping over the hems of your robes all over Hogwarts,” said Siyeon with a slight scowl.

“No. They’ve always been two inches above my ankles. I never remembered to lengthen them,” said Nayoung glumly. Siyeon let out a “pfft” as this seemed to amuse her greatly.

~|~|~|~

The witches offered Jieqiong and Eunwoo a spare room to stay in. It was much easier than bringing them back and forth from their apartment. Over the next few days, Yewon asked them to test her bullets. Siyeon had somehow soundproofed the backyard. Yewon would take notes and scurry off to her lab to work in solitude, though she always kept her door open. Yebin was rarely seen except during meal times. For the most part Jieqiong and Eunwoo were left to their own devices. As time passed, they shared their worries over the safety of their fellow detectives. They knew the witches were working tirelessly to help them so they had no right to complain. However, keeping silent slowly ate away at their morale. It was very difficult to stay in the same room alone without the topic resurfacing. The fact that Nayoung and Siyeon hadn’t returned from work for the past two nights only added to their anxiety.

“Don’t worry too much. They’re usually out for days at a time. Hopefully the Ministry will find something soon since all they could do is up security,” Yewon had told them.

And with that, they left the matter alone. Worrying more wouldn’t help anyone.

Jieqiong roamed around the house alone, watching the pictures hanging on the walls. In one of them, Nayoung and Siyeon smiled stiffly back at her, both with sleek brown hair. They posed with an aged wizard in elaborate emerald robes. Jieqiong couldn’t read their certificates. The next frame over showed Yebin and Yewon holding hands while walking along a beach at sunset. They waved at Jieqiong and continued strolling through the sand.

Across the hall was a photo of all four witches. Jieqiong found this one quite comical. Yebin was closest to the camera, only her nose and above visible out of the corner. Jieqiong could tell she was smiling cheekily. Next to her, Yewon wore an amused yet guilty expression as she looked from Yebin to the scene behind her. Nayoung and Siyeon were throwing some kind of gooey sludge at each other. Jieqiong thought Siyeon would’ve been furious, but the witch instead grinned nastily and slapped a handful of slop on the back of Nayoung’s neck. A good portion of it slid down into her shirt. Siyeon doubled over in silent laughter and pointed at Nayoung standing with her limbs outstretched in surprise. With a lighter heart than she’s had all week, Jieqiong giggled out loud at the witches’ antics.

A giant picture filled up the wall at the end of the corridor. Jieqiong paused and looked up at it curiously. There were six women, four of whom she recognized. Siyeon and Nayoung stood on either side of the group. Two unfamiliar women stood in the middle, each hugging Yebin and Yewon from behind. One had shoulder-length brown hair. The other had long black hair with fringe. They were as tall as Nayoung. Everyone was smiling with ease. The two women shared a devious look before smothering Yebin and Yewon in sloppy kisses to their temples. Jieqiong felt like she was looking at a family portrait. But she hadn’t seen these two around. In fact, the others had never mentioned them. She didn’t know why, but Jieqiong felt it wouldn’t be prudent to ask. At least some of Eunwoo’s intuition had rubbed off on her.

Jieqiong turned away and walked back up the hall. She stopped in front of a room she never dared to look at. A gleaming, shimmering light peeking from under the door caught her attention. Jieqiong supposed witches didn’t have to save energy like she and Eunwoo. Still, Siyeon had left in a hurry two mornings ago. Maybe she forgot to turn something off. Jieqiong reached for the door handle, but there wasn’t one. This seemed to be a recurrent theme in the house’s decor. Feeling a bit foolish, she rapped her knuckles on the smooth wood.

“Password?”

Jieqiong jumped at the low, masculine voice. “H-hello?” She whispered to the empty hallway.

“Incorrect.”

Jieqiong furrowed her eyebrows. The disembodied voice must be Siyeon’s gatekeeper. She knocked on the door again.

“Password?”

“Um… Siyeon Park,” Jieqiong tried lamely.

“Incorrect.”

It suddenly occurred to Jieqiong that she was attempting to break into Siyeon’s room, and was doing a very bad job at it. But she wasn’t going to snoop. She just didn’t want anything to be left on while the owner was away. That couldn’t be safe. She knocked on the door again without thinking of a proper password attempt.

“Jieqiong? Do you know how long it takes to load and fire the rifle?” Eunwoo called up the stairs.

“Password?” Came the low, soothing male voice of the door.

Jieqiong’s mind blanked. “I don’t remember!” She called back to Eunwoo.

She heard footsteps trod away from the stairs. And then there was a click. Jieqiong stared wide-eyed at the bedroom door as it swung open on its own. She frantically searched up and down the hallway half expecting Siyeon to pop up and schedule her beheading. With no sign of life on the second floor, Jieqiong stepped inside.

“How functional,” remarked Jieqiong as she spun on her heels.

The room was incredibly plain and neat. In one corner was a bed, made and untouched. There was a desk and an adjoining bookshelf with what Jieqiong figured to be work files Siyeon brought from the Ministry. An empty hexagonal jar hung from the center of the ceiling.

Glass cabinets filled with tiny vials lined the entire right side of the room. The shelves looked deeper than the furniture itself, perhaps a whole arm’s length further into the wall. Jieqiong followed the shimmering light to a windowless corner. There was a folding pane that had been pushed aside. It probably contained the light when Siyeon wasn’t home. Jieqiong could see why. This peculiar object had no on or off switch.

The light seemed to be an inherent property of a silver mirror made into a concave vessel, or rather what it held. It was filled with a strange substance in some phase between liquid and vapor. It was entrancing to watch. Jieqiong’s hand itched to feel the sheen of swirling wisps. But one mustn’t touch random magical artifacts just because they are intriguing. Jieqiong stepped back and reached for the folding pane to conceal the shining bowl.

“Please… Don’t… We know nothing… Nightshade…”

Jieqiong froze. She didn’t think she would ever get used to hearing disembodied voices. She looked around the room. She was definitely alone. Peering into the silver dish, she recoiled in shock when a man’s face floated up to the surface.

“Mr. Grand?” Jieqiong whispered to the wisps.

“Please, not my children!”

Jieqiong jumped at the very clear shout of the hostage from her and Eunwoo’s stake-out a few weeks ago. Her heart shriveled at the pain in his wavering voice. When she dared to look into the bowl again, Grand’s face swam away into the depths of the wisps.

This was a memory, one Jieqiong didn’t possess because she had been far away observing the situation through a sniper scope. Then it clicked. It was Siyeon’s memory. The witch had been hiding inside the shop until Nayoung caught Nightshade’s attention.

“An Obliviator,” Jieqiong thought out loud. “She modified Grand’s memory. And yet she keeps hers around, floating inside a bowl?” A crease formed on her forehead as her eyes traveled to the vast collection of crystal vials. “She keeps all of these memories. Those of people she’s fought, those she’s saved, and probably those who… who didn’t… who couldn’t…”

The mere thought brought a foul taste to her mouth. She ran straight out of the room, forgetting to pull the folding pane out like she intended. The door sealed itself shut behind her.

“Jieqiong?” Eunwoo called again.

Jieqiong took a deep breath, slapped on a relaxed smile, and walked to the edge of the staircase. “Did Yewon need something else?”

Eunwoo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she knew not to ask. “Want to help us make lunch? Yewon has some down time while her potions simmer.”

“Sure, I’d love to.” Jieqiong descended the stairs quickly and walked in step with Eunwoo.

Before they reached the kitchen, Eunwoo tugged gently on Jieqiong’s elbow. “Is everything alright?” She whispered in concern.

Jieqiong didn’t know how to answer that. She and Eunwoo both felt on edge the past few days, so things were certainly not alright. They wouldn’t be until Sungyeon and Kyla were back with them. But she didn’t want to bring that up again. That and she couldn’t really describe her encounter with Grand’s head floating in a bowl at the moment. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied.

“You know you can talk to me. I’m sure Yebin and Yewon would listen too, but I’m always here.”

“Um, maybe later. Let’s go, I want to see how much easier our lives would be if we could charm our pots and pans.”

As Jieqiong predicted, she and Eunwoo would have saved a lot of time, and probably a burned meal or two, if only they could use magic to cook. Yewon let them peel, chop, and sauté to their hearts’ content, but they felt more like a support team than sous-chefs. Yewon asked how she should marinate this or roast that. The more food they made, the slower Jieqiong and Eunwoo felt. Eventually they stopped trying to help and their utensils moved much quicker without their assistance. Eunwoo gave a small whine seeing her knife correct some of her cuts.

In no time, lunch was ready and set itself out on the dining table. The decadent aroma attracted Yebin, who promptly wandered into the room as if she had been on a stroll and plopped down in a chair. Everyone dug right in. Jieqiong was surprised at how much of her plate she had finished. She didn’t have much of an appetite lately from being inactive and worrying about her friends. Yewon’s cooking was just that good. A ding interrupted the soft chatter at the table.

“Oh, my potions are done brewing. I’ll need one of you to help me out after lunch,” said Yewon.

Eunwoo shared a look with Jieqiong before saying, “I’ll do it.”

Jieqiong pushed a potato quarter around her plate. It made a wide line through the pool of sauce before the liquid closed the gap. She felt like a freeloader. All she did was walk around the house, eat, and sleep. Eunwoo answered most of Yewon’s inquiries and she didn’t think she had the experience to step foot in Yebin’s workshop. Maybe she could help wash the dishes.

“Jieqiong, why don’t you help me make the vests? I finally have everything cut out.”

Jieqiong looked up from her plate to find Yebin staring back at her thoughtfully. She had a gentle smile on her face that Jieqiong couldn’t say no to. Not that she would, she wanted a job.

“Great,” said Yebin without hearing Jieqiong’s answer. “And the dishes will wash themselves.”

Just then, the stained dishes and used cutlery floated off the table and into the kitchen. Jieqiong could hear the faucet turn on and the pots clanging softly as a brush scrubbed them in the sink.

“What would you like me to do?” Asked Jieqiong as she followed Yebin into the workshop. She spied Eunwoo and Yewon sorting bullets and potion vials across the hall.

“Pop a squat.” Yebin smiled at the detective. Jieqiong sat down and Yebin walked around the table. “Do you know how to sew?” Jieqiong nodded. “Do you think you can follow these?”

Jieqiong looked behind Yebin at the giant chalkboard. All previous dimensions had been wiped away and replaced with at least twenty different stitching patterns. It was a bit overwhelming, but Jieqiong wanted more than anything to assist the witches. She nodded again purposefully.

“Fantastic. I’d like for you to alternate between the odd and even numbered patterns every few inches. I mean centimeters. Well, let’s just make it the length of your finger. One more thing.” Yebin held up a thin needle. “You can’t pierce dragon hide with this. Instead, thread the needle through the pores in the skin.”

For the next half hour, they threaded the dragon hide vests in silence. Jieqiong wondered if she appeared standoffish by not talking as much as before. But Yebin didn’t seem to mind the lack of conversation. Jieqiong thought Yebin might have pulled her in just to give her something to do. And she was thankful for it. She was being productive. But this wasn’t what she was used to.

“Been a while?” Asked Yebin. She eyed Jieqiong shaking her hand in the air after transitioning to her fifth stitch pattern. “You’re doing pretty well, though. You’re faster than I thought.”

Jieqiong rested her sore hand on the edge of the table. “It’s been a few years since I’ve sewn. But I’m glad to be of some use.”

“You can take a break if you want. This is pretty much what we’ll be doing all afternoon. Perhaps all night too,” said Yebin, continuing with Eunwoo’s vest as she spoke.

Jieqiong felt her left foot growing numb. Moving around should put some feeling back into her leg. She stood up and limped around the room, studying some of the displays.

“I’m curious,” said Jieqiong. She bent down to look at a pair of leather boots, recognizing some of the thread patterns from the chalkboard. “Do you always stitch your armor by hand?”

“Usually, if I have the time,” answered Yebin.

“Why? I would’ve thought you had self-sewing needles. Wouldn’t it be more efficient?”

“Efficient for who though?” Yebin gave Jieqiong a dry smile. “Mentality in spell casting. The difference between doing and undoing something could save a life. I do all of these patterns by hand and alternate to decrease predictability. Someone could just flick their wand at my armor and try to unhinge every screw or unravel every thread. But it’ll be difficult. I make sure it is. If that buys you time to run while you’ve still got armor on your back, it’s worth the extra work.”

Jieqiong walked over to a large glass case with two full armor sets of a different dragon hide. “I think I get it. A wizard would have to cast multiple spells to deal with each technique. And it’s whether they cast a spell to break the armor or to undo what’s been made.” Jieqiong noticed the stitching along the sides were uniform and much simpler than the ones they were doing now. Perhaps Yebin had come up with the idea after she made these sets.

“Exactly,” said Yebin. “It’s more inconvenient for them and they don’t even know it. Besides…”

Jieqiong looked over when Yebin stopped speaking. She initially thought the witch was looking back at her. She then realized Yebin was gazing at the armor behind her with a soft, forlorn expression. Jieqiong’s eyes strayed to the golden placards at the bottom of the glass case.

“There’s a certain charm to doing things by hand. Some people use magic so easily without thought. When it takes me days or weeks to make one weapon or one piece of armor, I feel humbled. I didn’t just bewitch my tools to do the work for me. Everything in this room has a bit of me in it. It has my time, my energy, my ideas. I put value in them beyond their utility.”

Jieqiong observed Yebin. There seemed to be something deeper to those words. Evidently, her magical arsenal was not an open business. She made what she wanted, how she wanted.

“Have you lived with Muggles before?” Asked Jieqiong after a moment. “You seem very comfortable with things that don’t involve magic. You understand everything Eunwoo and I say.”

Yebin snapped out of her daze and smiled at Jieqiong. “I’m a Muggle-born, the first and only member of my family to have magic. Yewon, Siyeon, and Nayoung are of wizarding parentage.”

“How did you meet them? Through the Ministry?” Jieqiong settled down next to Yebin to continue sewing up her vest.

“I first met Yewon at Hogwarts, our wizarding school. We were in the same year. It wasn’t until I visited her over the summer that I met Nayoung. Their families lived close to each other. Nayoung didn’t care much for age differences, she treated us all like friends.”

Jieqiong tried to ignore the quiver in Yebin’s voice at the word all. “And Siyeon?” She prompted.

Yebin chuckled. “That bundle of joy? We never spoke at school. She was pretty cold to everyone, even to her housemates. It’s not like she went out of her way to be rude though. I didn’t really get to know her until she and Nayoung became partners. Nayoung had been an Auror for a while, but Siyeon burned through her training. One of the youngest Aurors ever, I believe. Inducted within two years of graduation from Hogwarts, and usual training takes three.”

Jieqiong was right to believe Siyeon was a force to be reckoned with. She heard from Nayoung that becoming an Auror was intense, what more staying alive as one. Jieqiong had stopped sewing for a second and spotted the shadow of an eavesdropper by the doorway.

“Hey Eunwoo!” Shouted Jieqiong with a smirk. She heard a clatter of dishes.

“O-oh, ahem, hey. How’s it going in here?” Eunwoo walked into the room in what she hoped was a casual manner. “Yewon made mini tarts and thought you guys could use some sugar.”

“Yes! I love my Yewonie’s treats,” Yebin groaned happily. She swung the dragon hide onto the table and stood up to grab a tart from the tray.

“These are really good,” said Jieqiong, taking one herself.

“Top notch,” agreed Eunwoo with her mouth full. She had stuffed a whole tart in her mouth despite having eaten four in the kitchen. “Hope everything’s going well!” She said over her shoulder as she walked across the hall.

Jieqiong settled back in her seat and took up her needle again. “So, um…” She began, but paused at the warmth creeping up the back of her neck.

“Go on, ask me about Nayoung. I’ll spill anything and everything,” Yebin said with a sly tone.

Jieqiong choked on air. Yebin looked at her as if to say, you can’t fool me, so Jieqiong didn’t bother denying it. “I don’t know, I was just wondering how… How Nayoung was like as a kid.”

“Teenager. She’s a few years older than us and I didn’t meet her until she was an upperclassman at school. She was an excellent Chaser, adored by everyone. Girls and boys alike swooned when she spoke. Because, you know, monotonous voices are just so sexy. Oh, she’d petrify my butt right now if she heard,” laughed Yebin without a care.

“What’s a Chaser?” Asked Jieqiong, more interested in why Nayoung had a fan club at school.

“A position in Quidditch, a wizarding sport. Star athlete Im was the one scoring all the goals. I mean, there were two others but she was the one everyone cared about. She was team captain. Head Girl too. Incredibly smart, she tutored me for my upper level exams. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Brains and brawn, she’s got it all.” Jieqiong went into another coughing fit. “Quite a catch, isn’t she?” Yebin wiggled her eyebrows.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” wheezed Jieqiong, trying to focus on sewing.

“Of course you don’t,” grinned Yebin. “Eunwoo’s is done. How are you doing?”

Jieqiong held up her own vest. “Almost there, just half of this side left.”

“You’re pretty handy with this. If you ever want to retire from Muggle investigations, I’ll hire you as an assistant. You can even bunk with your girlfriend,” said Yebin casually.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” responded Jieqiong, a bit too loudly.

“Yet.”

Chapter Text

It was a warm morning in early autumn. Over the past few days, London had seen nothing but torrents of rain. Today, not a single cloud was visible in the sky. The sun’s rays peeked through the gap between thick velvet curtains. The beam of light landed across an ostrich’s face, who squawked lightly before rolling over and burying herself deeper into her blanket burrito.

There was a soft giggle. “Jieqiong, wake up,” someone cooed, brushing aside a strand of hair.

Jieqiong whined before snuggling into the person’s palm, a serene smile gracing her lips.

“Don’t you want to say hi to me?”

Jieqiong felt someone run their thumb gently across her cheek. “Sleep,” she mumbled.

“Alright,” the person sighed dramatically. “I could always feed Eunwoo breakfast instead.”

“What.” Jieqiong bolted upright in her bed, eyes heavy with sleep but straining to see clearly. She blinked rapidly until the very lean blob by her beside focused into a woman she hadn’t seen for three days. “Nayoung!” She croaked.

Nayoung’s twinkling laugh was bright like the sunlight. “Good morning. Aw, look at you all tuckered out. I heard you were a great help to Yebin last night. All of your armor is ready to go. I can’t wait to see you try it on.”

Everything went in one ear and out the other. “Where have you been? What did you do? Are you hurt? Are you tired? When did you get back?” Jieqiong fired off, her voice still hoarse. She pawed at Nayoung’s round face like a curious kitten, searching for cuts and bruises.

“We can talk about that after you’re fully conscious and fed. Come on, breakfast is ready.”

Nayoung held out her hands to pull Jieqiong up from the bed. Jieqiong silently relished in the feel of the slender fingers intertwining with hers. She rose to her feet, and then her back cracked. Nayoung suppressed a snort with great difficulty, earning her a slap from an annoyed Jieqiong. The detective’s elbow decided to pop at that moment as well.

“Oh shut up,” groaned Jieqiong as she waddled towards the door, still holding Nayoung’s hand.

She reached out blindly to grab the door handle, only to falter in her steps as there was nothing to grab. A tug on her hand pulled her back just as the door swung open on its own. Nayoung gently nudged Jieqiong out into the hall. The door opposite swung open to reveal an amused Siyeon supporting a very drowsy Eunwoo.

“Suit up…” Eunwoo yawned and loosely held her fist up in the air.

“Not yet,” said Siyeon. “Breakfast first. Off we go.”

After an odd arrangement of Nayoung and Siyeon helping Jieqiong and Eunwoo wash up, the four trekked downstairs to the dining room. Yewon beamed at them, happy to have everyone back home again. Yebin gave an “ahoy” as if this was how every morning proceeded. Before Jieqiong could interrogate anyone, Nayoung pushed a piece of toast between her lips.

Nayoung updated everyone on what she and Siyeon had been doing. Three days ago, they had been called into the Ministry to team up with two other Aurors and follow a strong lead on the whereabouts of Nightshade’s followers. Their ambush had gone awry, but it had also scattered and confused those gathered in the abandoned building. Three had escaped the basement, but Nayoung and Siyeon had cornered two of them in an old office and Stunned them before they could Disapparate. They were brought back to the Ministry immediately for questioning.

Eunwoo congratulated them, though still a bit confused. Siyeon accepted it reluctantly. She emphasized that while they have gained insight into Nightshade’s plans, the three who escaped would surely tell their master what transpired. It would also be foolish to believe the Auror Office had the whole picture from two measly subordinates’ accounts.

“So what’s going to happen now? Are we still just waiting around?” Asked Jieqiong.

“We’re close. It’s getting both easier to track him and harder to keep up,” said Siyeon.

“Which means, he’s getting restless and reckless. He’s going to trip up soon,” said Nayoung.

“Let’s just hope his mistake won’t backfire on us too,” said Siyeon as she set her fork down.

“In the meantime, we’ve got to train you two up a bit,” said Nayoung, looking from Jieqiong to Eunwoo. “As far as I know, Muggle investigators aren’t usually on the front lines.”

The detectives shared a look. “We’re trained enough to confront hostile suspects when absolutely necessary, but we’re no firearms unit,” admitted Jieqiong.

“Right then. Let’s check what you all have been working on so far.” Nayoung stood up.

The dirty dishes showed themselves to the kitchen sink and began soaking in the suds. The six women all filed down the hall and into Yewon’s lab. Since the last time Jieqiong had been in here, some of the plants had sprouted pods, fruits, and flowers. She figured Yewon foraged these regularly as several mason jars were full of them on the back counter. Jieqiong cringed at the squelching noises some of the pods made.

“Here’s what we’ve tested.” Yewon set out various boxes across the marble surface. “These have been coated in elixirs of Sneezewort to trigger delirium and Henbane for paralysis. Nothing too potent. Higher concentrations caused the guns to melt,” she frowned.

“Doesn’t that also mean the effects are temporary?” Asked Siyeon warily.

Yewon nodded and continued. “This one contains Streeler shells. The bullet explodes upon firing. The shards of toxic shell will pierce skin, like shrapnel, I think Eunwoo called them. Slows down a crowd, though it’s gruesome. For the other box, I’ve replaced the bullets in the casings with Doxy teeth cores. Nightshade’s lot will have a blast digging those out of their backs.”

“I see venom is a common element here,” remarked Nayoung.

“Repetitive, yes, but highly effective. Nothing too fatal and outside my comfort zone, but enough to get the job done. Now, if you’re looking for variety…” Yewon’s tone trailed off mysteriously.

“Are those grenades?” Exclaimed Yebin with a mixture of astonishment and pride.

“Sort of. Eunwoo mentioned them once. I contacted a friend from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and came up with these.” Yewon tossed an object the size of a lemon up into the air.

Jieqiong caught the magical grenade with shaking hands and gaped at Yewon. “Creatures? What for? Is something going to pop out of this if I throw it?”

“What’s in the ball?” Nayoung deadpanned. She did not like the idea of Yewon carting potentially illegal beasts in and out of their home.

Yewon’s grin had never looked so mischievous. “Salamander Fire.”

“No way,” squealed Yebin, giddy as a kid on Christmas morning. “This has been on my to-do list since last year! How did you contain it?”

“A nice thick lining of mucilage.” Yewon jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at a large drooling plant that looked like a Venus flytrap and cactus hybrid. “Pulling this pin will desiccate the mucilage, thus removing the barrier. A fire should start at the site of impact, from which it will spawn Salamanders. I even made a version for Frost Salamanders. The chaos should distract and overwhelm Nightshade’s army.”

Yebin beamed with joy and looked as if she was about to leap over the counter and kiss Yewon. Siyeon groaned, hooked her fingers around the back of Yebin’s shirt collar, and gave it a hard yank. Yebin’s eyes rolled around in their sockets from the whiplash.

“Can we move on before Kang gets too happy?” Siyeon complained, though she eyed the grenades appreciatively.

“Right. I’ve edited the darts a bit as well. For these, I replaced the needles with sharp strips of Runespoor fangs. Highly venomous and fast acting. I’ve taken care to extract most of the venom. It’s just enough to slow down a target and inject the original serum into them, a bit like a pre-serum. They should be knocked out cold,” explained Yewon.

“Careful,” said Nayoung softly. She caught the lethal looking dart just as it slipped out of Jieqiong’s fingers, almost poking her other hand on the counter.

“Thanks,” said Jieqiong breathlessly. She didn’t know what Runespoors were, but fangs were not to be handled lightly in any case.

“And the last set?” Asked Siyeon, nodding at the right-most box on the counter.

“I was wondering whether to let you guys have this…” Yewon mumbled, more to herself.

Eunwoo picked up a dart filled with a potion the color of graphite. “Looks like bottled death.”

“Essentially…” Yewon trailed off.

“Excuse me?” Interrupted Siyeon. “What was that about crossing boundaries before?”

“It’s diluted!” Rushed Yewon. “And really I was intending for it to be a last resort kind of thing. I brewed one cauldron of Angel’s Trumpet Draught.”

Yebin whistled. “That’s pretty advanced.”

“That’s what you’re focused on?” Scoffed Siyeon. Yebin straightened up and looked away.

“Angel’s Trumpets…” Murmured Jieqiong. “Wait a minute, Muggles have those. I’ve seen them at a garden exhibition once. Except, wasn’t it Devil’s Trumpets that have a history in witchcraft?”

“Isn’t it funny how close Muggles get to the truth?” Nayoung smirked but didn’t laugh. “Just because Devil’s Trumpets have to do with nighttime, it doesn’t mean it’s strictly magical. Anyway, both have very similar effects. Both are very deadly in a potion.”

Jieqiong noticed Nayoung’s jaw was clenched tight. “You haven’t had to take any, have you?”

“There was a meth lab nutter, as Yebin dubbed him, who sold draughts to Muggles. Marketed them as your run-of-the-mill drugs in shot form, ‘perfect for a Friday night.’ He practically shoved a whole vial’s worth down Nayoung’s throat at the thought of Azkaban,” said Siyeon bitterly.

“Bedridden for weeks, I was afraid my antidotes weren’t enough. Given it was the holidays, St. Mungo’s was in over their heads with patients,” said Yewon, remembering the dreadful scare.

“Not like I’d trust anyone else to treat me,” smiled Nayoung. “Enough dwelling on the past, I’m alive and kicking. You two should… What is it Eunwoo says? Suit up?”

“Suit up!” Cried Eunwoo and she dashed to the doorway with her finger in the air, then skirted to a stop. “Um, after you Yebin. Heh.”

~|~|~|~

The morning might have been comfortably warm, but the afternoon heat was unbearable. The sun blazed down on Jieqiong’s face, the back of her neck as flushed as her cheeks. Beads of sweat trickled down her temple.

“You’ve made immense progress,” Nayoung chirped proudly. She dabbed at Jieqiong’s forehead with a small wadded towel.

“Thanks,” Jieqiong huffed. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the brick house, exposing more of her face to the sun’s rays. She couldn’t bother shifting into the shade.

“Pumpkin juice, anyone?” Yewon asked and passed out goblets.

“Thunder spears and homing shuriken! Comes with the pumpkin juice for just seven Sickles more! What a steal!” Yebin bellowed like a merchant at a sporting event. She laid a set down by Jieqiong and Eunwoo each without asking for money.

“Do we have to?” Groaned Eunwoo.

“I think you guys will like these a lot more,” said Siyeon, casting a cool breeze with her wand.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo shared a look.

After Yewon’s ammunition symposium, Jieqiong and Eunwoo tried on their Ukrainian Ironbelly armor. They fit remarkably well without limiting maneuverability. Jieqiong admired how much she resembled a medieval video game avatar. The small shoulder spikes and impressive scales added a whole new intimidation factor. Siyeon praised both of them, saying these were much better than shoddy bulletproof vests. Nayoung stared at the two thoughtfully, then twirled her wand in a circular motion. The metallic gray scales glistened before turning a deep, glossy shade of obsidian. The witches agreed that two Muggles prancing around in flashy silver vests and trousers would draw too much attention.

Nayoung then constructed a training regimen for the detectives. Relying solely on projectile weapons was highly restrictive. Nightshade’s army was unlikely to allow a barrage of bullets and darts to rain down on them for long. Nayoung partnered up with Jieqiong, and Siyeon with Eunwoo. Yebin provided simple steel daggers for them to practice close combat. Yewon sat in the shade with several bottles of Essence of Dittany at the ready.

Jieqiong experienced firsthand how durable her new armor was. When Nayoung hit Jieqiong’s abdomen, she budged only a few centimeters to balance herself. The chest plate had absorbed the full force of the blow. Jieqiong also noticed how agile Nayoung was. The witch was quick on her feet, landing the tips of her daggers on Jieqiong several times. Rather than getting in the way, Nayoung’s long limbs allowed her to attack from a distance. But by the next hour and a half, Jieqiong had learned to dodge and counterattack before the witch retreated. Nayoung allowed this to continue a bit before changing tactics to a feint attack and blindside. Jieqiong caught on quickly, blocking Nayoung when she pivoted around to attack Jieqiong from behind. As Nayoung sped up and used various techniques, Jieqiong was forced to adapt. Four hours later, her exhaustion finally caught up.

Nayoung squeezed Jieqiong’s shoulder. “Drink up, it’ll give you energy.”

Jieqiong lifted her sore arm to grasp the chilled goblet. The smooth, sweet liquid cooled her insides and relaxed her muscles. “Is this another of Yewon’s potions? I think it’s my favorite.”

“No, it’s just a normal drink. Best on hot days,” chuckled Nayoung. “If you like this, you should try Butterbeer. I’ll take you after this whole thing is over and done with.”

“It’s a date,” breathed Jieqiong absentmindedly. She gulped down more of the refreshing juice.

Nayoung’s eyes grew to the size of golf balls. “R-really?”

“Hmm?” Hummed Jieqiong as her head lolled onto Nayoung’s shoulder.

“Uh, n-never mind.” Nayoung stared stiffly ahead at a yellowing patch of grass.

“We should get back to practicing,” sighed Siyeon, trying to wriggle out from under Eunwoo.

“No, come back, you’re making me move,” whined Eunwoo. Without Siyeon to lean on, Eunwoo sprawled out on the grass, unwilling to stand up.

Jieqiong opened one eye at the ruckus across the backyard. “We should,” she agreed and with tremendous effort, she pushed herself onto her feet before helping Nayoung up.

“Yebin brought us two more weapons. Utilize them for defense. They may deal damage secondarily. We’ll start with the thunder spear. Try to keep your distance,” instructed Siyeon.

Jieqiong paced backward from Nayoung, who crouched into an offensive position. Siyeon mirrored her stance. Eunwoo and Jieqiong tried to hold her spears steady, ignoring the pain.

“Move to block or counter an oncoming attack. Jab the spear, slash it in the air, do whatever is comfortable and effective. Don’t mindlessly whip it around. It’s all about timing,” said Nayoung.

She and Siyeon raised their dominant hand in sync, their daggers glinting in the sunlight. On the count of three, they lunged forward. Eunwoo shrieked and held the shaft of the spear horizontally above her head. It successfully stopped Siyeon’s dagger in its downward stroke. But by the witch’s expression, this wasn’t how Eunwoo was supposed to react.

When Nayoung rushed forth, Jieqiong shifted her weight and slashed the air with her spear tip diagonally, cutting off the angle of attack. A sudden flash blinded Jieqiong momentarily. Then she saw Nayoung’s dagger fly out of her hand and land blade-down in the dirt. From the look of admiration on Nayoung’s face, this was how one wielded the thunder spear.

“Distance and timing,” Siyeon reminded Eunwoo. “You see what Jieqiong did? She stood far away from Nayoung. When Nayoung tried to close their distance, Jieqiong moved as if to attack Nayoung head on. But instead of making physical contact, her spear emitted lightning. More complex movements can conjure a shield.”

“Imagine drawing a line when you slash the air,” continued Nayoung. “That line, the bolt of lightning, acts as an extension of your spear. A burst of pure energy. Ideally, it should block your opponent’s attack before they can touch you. The lightning could actually shock them on contact. As Siyeon said, a more complex force field would blast them away.”

“We can maintain a safe radius while still technically in close combat,” said Jieqiong. Siyeon and Nayoung nodded, looking very pleased.

“It might be the heat, but all I can think about is that the name should be lightning spear. Thunder is the boom in a storm, aye?” Slurred Eunwoo, squinting through the sunlight.

“Thunder sounds more awesome!” Shouted Yebin from the seat next to Yewon. “Like Thor!”

“Me likes that movie,” giggled Eunwoo.

Jieqiong sighed in amusement. “You need more pumpkin juice if you think Thor is good.”

“Hang in there. One more set, then we’ll go inside,” Siyeon encouraged everyone.

Nayoung lifted up six throwing stars looped around her fingers. “Homing shuriken. Yebin went through a whole gaming phase, whatever that is, and came up with these. A Containment Hex allows the set of stars to form a cocoon trap. They constantly drain the target’s energy and the cage of shuriken must first be broken before they can attack anyone else. Certain sets even prevent Disapparition.”

“These are great for weakening your target, for when you are fighting multiple people, and to give yourself time to either run or heal yourself,” said Siyeon. “Each set has a unique marking. Think of them as a family, a sort of living entity. They can identify each other, and you.”

Again, the two witches backed up and raised their daggers. Jieqiong and Eunwoo put down their spears and each took six throwing stars. They bounced nervously on the balls of their feet. Throwing something required a lot more accuracy than using a handheld weapon. Nayoung counted down before she and Siyeon attacked.

Jieqiong threw all of the stars from her right hand toward Nayoung. Each of them spun around to cage in the witch at different angles. Thin, blurry wisps emanated from Nayoung to each of the stars and she slumped slightly. Her breathing became ragged. But when Jieqiong whipped her left hand around, two of the stars locked together and clashed with the third. Despite the onset of exhaustion, Nayoung moved elegantly, treating combat like choreography. She had ample time to stab at each of the stars floating around her. They dropped like flies. Jieqiong clenched her fists in frustration.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” said Nayoung cheerfully, patting Jieqiong on the back.

On the other side of the enclosure, Eunwoo fared much better. The three stars from her right hand encircled Siyeon menacingly. Siyeon was quick to jab at the lowest star by her shoulder and it flopped onto the grass. She shot her other dagger straight up at the star floating above her and it toppled over lifelessly. In the meantime, Eunwoo ran behind Siyeon, throwing one star after another. Without breaking step, she swept up the two fallen stars and flung them back up into the air. The final star locked into place and a brilliant white string of light connected all six stars to form a cage, each sucking the witch’s energy like metal leeches. Siyeon swiped her daggers harshly at the light. Sparks flared from the impact but the shield remained intact. After a few more attempts, Siyeon collapsed onto one knee. Eunwoo walked forward and plucked one of the stars out of the configuration. The rest spun towards her outstretched hand.

“Woah,” breathed Eunwoo in amazement. She stared at the shuriken dangling from her fingers.

“Good… Job… That was… Excellent…” Panted Siyeon.

Eunwoo moved quickly to lift Siyeon up. Jieqiong stepped forward to support her from the other side and helped her into a lawn chair. Nayoung collected the daggers from the grass.

“It seems like you each have your own affinities in combat,” noted Nayoung. “Variety is good. You cover each other’s weaknesses to make one strong team.”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo beamed tiredly at each other.

~|~|~|~

Everyone opted to skip lunch, their appetites reduced from the extensive afternoon training. Jieqiong and Eunwoo were lounging on the couches in much better spirits. Siyeon had passed out an hour ago in her bedroom. Nayoung was about to do the same when she overheard voices on her way up the stairs.

“Please, can I try it just once?” Begged Yebin in what was supposed to be a cute voice.

“I don’t know. I don’t think Nayoung would approve—”

“Approve of what? If you’re questioning it, probably not,” interrupted Nayoung, appearing in the doorway to Yewon’s lab.

Jieqiong and Eunwoo paused their conversation to look down the hallway. With a nod, they stood up and walked over to the room.

“Yebin wants to test the grenades,” said Yewon, wincing in anticipation of Nayoung’s refusal.

“Please, just one. For science. We don’t want Jieqiong and Eunwoo to be lugging around duds.”

“Should I be offended?” Asked Yewon with her eyebrow raised.

“Of course you made perfect grenades, but she doesn’t know that,” whispered Yebin out of the corner of her mouth.

Jieqiong eyed Nayoung’s stern profile. Yebin should never be a ventriloquist, she thought.

“I am three feet away. I can hear you.” Nayoung glared at the weapons specialist.

“But… But… But…” Yebin’s lip quivered as she failed to come up with a convincing excuse.

“As long as someone can control what pops out of that thing, I’m all for trying it,” said Jieqiong. Yebin glowed with joy.

Nayoung pressed her lips into a thin line. “Fine. If there’s any damage to the house, it’s off with your heads,” she sighed, glaring lightly at the two witches.

Yebin clicked her heels like a Leprechaun and dashed outside. Yewon picked up a single red grenade and led the rest to the backyard. Yebin was already waiting by the fence, jumping up and down. The sun was setting quickly giving the sky a warm orange glow.

“Who would like to do the honors?”

“You do it,” said Eunwoo warily. Jieqiong took the warm explosive from Yewon.

“Wands at the ready!” Nayoung shouted. She, Yebin, and Yewon formed a triangle.

With a nod from Nayoung, Jieqiong ripped out the pin and aimed at the center of the grass. The backyard was suddenly illuminated. Blending with the sunset, it looked like a scene straight from hell. Eunwoo shrieked and dove behind Jieqiong, peeking over her shoulder.

The bonfire glowed brilliantly and then expanded. Jieqiong squinted at the base. She could see the shadows of large, flat-faced, four-legged animals clambering over each other. One of them pawed at the grass before daring to venture outside the flames. The others followed. Jieqiong and Eunwoo gasped at the red and orange salamanders the size of crocodiles, emitting flames and crackling embers from their backs. They singed the grass as they waddled away.

“Aqua Eructo!” Shouted Nayoung.

A gigantic jet of water shot out of the tip of her wand like a fire hose. She aimed it straight at the bonfire. Yewon’s voice echoed Nayoung’s. A second stream of water flooded the fire, resulting in billowing puffs of steam.

“Aw, look at you cutie,” Yebin cooed to a salamander. “Can we keep him?” She asked hopefully.

Jieqiong’s eyes furrowed as she watched the salamander. It certainly looked like a beast, but it acted like a dog. It’s tongue flopped out of the corner of its mouth as it panted at Yebin’s attention. Yebin levitated a burning rock and the salamander chomped on it gleefully.

“No more pets! We already let Yewon keep you!”

Jieqiong and Eunwoo followed a third jet of water from the bonfire up to the wand sticking out of the second floor window. The noise and light must have woken up Siyeon. With a scowl, she extinguished the last of the flames and the remaining salamanders disintegrated into ashes.

“Fluffy!” Cried Yebin dramatically, falling onto her knees with arms outstretched towards the sky.

“She gave it a name,” Siyeon muttered above the detectives. “Yewon, would you mind?”

Yewon raised her wand. The ground turned itself over, mixing the burnt grass with the nutrient-rich soil. Blades sprouted up before elongating, creating a vibrant green lawn.

“Since you’re awake, we might as well do some spell practice.” Nayoung beckoned to Siyeon.

Siyeon sighed, then retreated back into her room. After a bit of bickering with a dejected Yebin, the four witches positioned themselves in front and behind Jieqiong and Eunwoo. The pair was still wearing their dragon hide armor as they were too sore to remove it earlier.

“No weapons?” Asked Eunwoo.

“Not right now,” said Nayoung. “We thought you should feel how it’s like to be hit by offensive spells. Then you can practice dodging and fighting. We’ll start off with elementary jinxes and curses. The purpose of these is to unbalance and disrupt your opponent.”

“Elementary does mean they’re easy to cast. Which also means these are easier to cast non-verbally and everyone knows them,” said Siyeon, as if reading Jieqiong’s mind.

“Ready?” Asked Nayoung. Everyone nodded. “1, 2, 3. Flipendo!”

Jieqiong closed her eyes and tensed her muscles. But she only felt a tickle. She opened her eyes in confusion.

“If you can’t dodge, orient your body to be struck on the armor. Remember, it will deflect most minor curses and jinxes,” said Nayoung. “We’ll do each spell once on your armor and once to your exposed skin.”

She and Siyeon raised their wands again. Jieqiong noticed Yebin and Yewon raise their wands as well. At Nayoung’s shout, Jieqiong could hear the rippling of wind and feel it punch her in the shoulder. She flew backwards off her feet with a yelp.

Bracing for impact, she felt none. She opened her eyes and saw herself floating, as if sitting on an airborne bean bag chair. Below was a white mist in the form of a shield flowing from Yebin’s wand, cushioning Jieqiong. Yebin lowered her wand and Jieqiong’s feet met the soft grass. From her left, she caught sight of Yewon helping Eunwoo down.

“Knockback Jinxes are commonly used in duels. It’s the easiest way to lose your footing. The two seconds it takes for you to fly elsewhere and get back up means your opponent could escape or inflict something worse,” said Nayoung.

“How about the Body-Bind Curse, next?” Asked Siyeon. “This one makes you immobile. Ready?” The Muggles nodded. “Petrificus Totalus.”

The curse hit Eunwoo straight in the abdomen. “I felt this one a bit more. It was like a poke.”

“The worse the spell, the harder it will be to deflect,” said Nayoung. “Though it would be good for you to fully understand the extent of spells used in dueling, we really don’t want to cast those on you. Just be aware though. Keep moving if you can. Now for the real thing.”

Nayoung and Siyeon raised their wands and jabbed the air silently. The spells hit the detectives square on the face. Jieqiong felt her body stiffen like a board and she toppled backward. Yebin caught her like in a trust fall and laid her gently on the grass. She tried to extend her arms, to shake her legs, to wiggle her fingers and toes. The only thing she could move was her eyes. It was oddly painful to not move. It was like an entire body cramp. She groaned in frustration, noticing her inability to speak. Yebin waved her wand and tapped Jieqiong’s head, releasing her from the curse. It was incredibly relieving to be able to flap her limbs freely.

“Still doing alright?” Asked Yewon. Jieqiong and Eunwoo huffed, but nodded.

“Great. This next one’s really popular. It’s a Stunning spell. It induces both paralysis and unconsciousness,” said Nayoung.

Again, the witches raised their wands. A loud “Stupefy” rung across the backyard. Jieqiong stood firm as a jet of red sparks hurdled towards her chest. To her pleasant surprise, this spell felt like two pokes at most.

“Dragons aren’t easy to subdue. Stunning annoys them. You need a whole crew of wizards shooting Stunners for it to be effective,” Nayoung explained, seeing Jieqiong’s expression.

The detectives readied themselves for another round of charms. A gleaming red jet shot out from Nayoung’s wand and hit Jieqiong in the neck, perfectly aimed above the collar of the chest plate. Unlike with the Body-Bind Curse, Jieqiong felt her body droop, as if stripped of all her muscles and bones. She felt nothing. It was terrifying to have no control. She recognized the blurred face of Yebin looming over her before darkness seeped into her vision.

“Rennervate,” said Yebin and Yewon in unison.

All feeling zapped back into Jieqiong’s limbs. She bolted upright and gasped, as if resuscitated from drowning. Nayoung knelt down beside her.

“There are worse things than this,” said Jieqiong knowingly.

“Much,” Nayoung frowned. “We haven’t even scratched the surface. This was all but two weeks’ worth of lessons over seven years of magical education. That doesn’t account for what you learn elsewhere.” She stretched out her hands to pull Jieqiong up from the ground.

“How about some blasting spells?” Suggested Siyeon. “Suspects have often blasted their surroundings to block our paths in a chase. If you’re not careful, the debris can hurt you and the dust can irritate your eyes. Anything that slows you down is deadly.”

Eunwoo voiced her relief at being a spectator instead of a target. Jieqiong stood stiffly, watching closely for any telltale signs of someone casting a blasting spell.

Yebin conjured what looked like baubles of paint. Nayoung pointed at one and shouted, “Confringo!” Yellow paint splattered an invisible wall protecting the witches. “Bombarda!” Siyeon jabbed her wand at two floating masses that exploded into red and green streaks.

Yebin then conjured a solid marble bust of herself. She smiled arrogantly at Siyeon, but her face dropped when Siyeon grinned nastily back. “Reducto!” The bust burst into fine particles floating in the air, raining down on a smug Siyeon like glitter. Yebin’s eye twitched.

Eunwoo was in awe at the sheer force of the spells. She could feel the backlash of wind from afar. Jieqiong was thinking hard. Spell casting seemed too erratic. She didn’t like when there weren’t patterns to follow. The previous spells required a human target. These blasting curses focused on inanimate objects. Jieqiong would just have to be cognizant of what her opponent was looking at. Although, she wouldn’t put it past Nightshade to try blasting a person.

~|~|~|~

Jieqiong glanced around the backyard as Eunwoo downed a goblet of water. It felt oddly empty with only two people missing. In the middle of the night, the Aurors had been called into the Ministry again. Jieqiong felt a bit guilty reminiscing when she and Eunwoo were that active on cases with the London Police. But sparring kept her busy.

Jieqiong practiced with the homing shuriken. She was able to put up more stars, but Eunwoo was too fast. The sixth star never locked into place. At the very least, Jieqiong could drain a bit of energy from her opponents. Eunwoo wielded the thunder spear with more confidence than the day prior. However, she didn’t have the strength to swing it around like Jieqiong. Yebin suggested breaking the spear in half as it detached in the middle of the shaft. Eunwoo could move quicker, but the effect was reduced. She set the spear halves down on a table.

“Try this.” Yebin held up one of two matching lighters. “Click it when you throw the shuriken.”

Eunwoo faced the open area. She swung her right hand toward a bush and clicked the lighter in her palm. The stars ignited as they encircled the bush. Eunwoo whipped her left hand forward, clicking a second lighter. The set of six formed an impenetrable fiery cage. The leaves browned as the life was sucked out of them, then shriveled under the intense heat. Eunwoo flicked her wrist, summoning the shuriken back to her gloved hands.

“Sweet,” said Eunwoo in a low, drawn-out tone.

“Do I get a present?” Joked Jieqiong.

Yebin smiled. “You get a technique. I’ll show you how to make shields with the spear.”

Yebin took up Eunwoo’s discarded spear halves and Jieqiong broke hers into two. Jieqiong watched Yebin like a hawk, memorizing the witch’s complicated hand movements. Her flowing gestures contrasted with the jagged bolts of electricity harshly, yet elegantly, sliced into the air.

“Attack,” demanded Yebin.

Jieqiong jabbed her right hand forward, striking one of the shields with her own bolt of lightning. Sparks erupted as if she had blown a fuse box. Jieqiong jumped back in surprise. The remnants of her slash faded, but Yebin’s small shields remained. They glowed and pulsated with energy.

“Using the spear halves is quicker and allows you to make two shields at once. But they’re smaller and weaker than using the whole spear,” said Yebin, dropping her hands to her sides. The shields disintegrated.

Jieqiong nodded and carved a shield in front of her, making one with both spear halves rather than two. She moved quickly, striking lines of energy with her blades to interlock the patterns.

Yebin thrusted one of the short spears towards Jieqiong’s shield, which rebounded back into a fence. Yebin raised an eyebrow, her eyes locked on to the dead center of the shield. Jieqiong noticed it too. It was the single point that glowed brightest, like white-hot iron. Yebin then pulled her wand out of her pocket, pointed it at the dot, and shouted, “Expulso!”

Jieqiong was blinded by a burst of blue light and fell backward from an invisible force. The dirt trembled beneath her. She heard Eunwoo and Yewon scream. She coughed and scrambled to her feet, scanning the area for Yebin. Looking through the translucent electric shield, which was very much intact, she saw Yebin flat on her back, her left hand scorched.

“Yebin!” Jieqiong screeched and slashed through the shield from her side. She knelt down by the cackling witch. “What did I do to her? Has she gone mad?”

“I think she’s in shock,” muttered Yewon, kneeling on Yebin’s other side. She strained to control her voice, but never raised it in anger to Jieqiong.

Yebin quieted down as Yewon doused the trembling hand in a brown liquid. The scars steamed before melting away. The red flesh was soon covered by new pink skin, which thickened to a beige layer resembling the rest of the undamaged forearm.

“No worries,” laughed Yebin, earning an appalled look from Yewon.

Jieqiong lowered her head, feeling the crushing weight of her guilt. “I’m so sorry—”

“I don’t blame you,” said Yewon gently, though her eyes bored holes into Yebin. “You idiot!” She slapped her girlfriend on the newly healed arm. “Why would you use such a destructive curse?! You could have seriously hurt Jieqiong, and look what happened to you!”

“But did you see what Jieqiong made? That was a brilliant shield! I don’t even think Nayoung’s made one that strong before. Are you sure you’re not a witch and your parents just refused to send you to a crackpot school for magic without telling you?” Yebin propped herself up on her elbow and leaned nosily towards a scatterbrained Jieqiong.

“What— I— No! Your hand!” Jieqiong squeaked helplessly.

“Who needs to worry about flesh wounds when someone as wonderful as Yewon is my soulmate?” Yebin waved off. She meant to sound lighthearted, but her smile dropped seeing the glistening tears threatening to pour out of Yewon’s eyes. She quickly sat up, wrapping her arms around Yewon securely. “I’m fine. I’m fine because you’re here. I was never scared.”

“I was!” Snapped Yewon, but she buried her face in the crook of Yebin’s neck anyway. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she mumbled. Yebin nodded furiously.

Jieqiong’s knees gave way and she collapsed onto the grass. Eunwoo rested her arm loosely around Jieqiong’s shoulders. They heaved a huge sigh of relief.

~|~|~|~

“Jieqiong… Wake up… Jieqiong!”

Jieqiong flinched as someone shook her hard. Water splashed onto the tiled floor of the bathroom. She must have fallen asleep during her ice bath. Her muscles weren’t as sore, but her head felt groggy.

“Hmm… What? What’s going on?” She slurred, glancing towards the window. Twinkling stars sprinkled the dark sky. The moon was luminous and full.

Eunwoo’s face appeared in front of her. “Come on, we have to get downstairs.”

“Why?” Jieqiong still hadn’t gathered her bearings, but with Eunwoo’s help she clambered out of the bathtub wearing nothing but swimwear. She dried herself off and quickly changed.

“I’m not really sure. Yewon just started freaking out I guess. Yebin woke me up and told me to get you. Then she darted back down to her workshop,” Eunwoo said with her back turned to give Jieqiong some privacy.

“I’m done.” Jieqiong grabbed Eunwoo’s hand and pulled her to the door, which swung open automatically. “What’s the emergency?” She breathed as they ran to Yebin.

“It’s happening. Now. Get your armor,” ordered Yebin, shuffling around the room.

“What—”

“Nightshade. His army managed to reorganize and he’s breaking into the Ministry as we speak.” Yebin’s voice was low and steady, her words businesslike and concise.

Now fully alert, Jieqiong and Eunwoo rushed to the wire frames holding their armor, complete with new arm guards and boots. The weapons in Yebin’s arms clattered onto the table. Jieqiong and Eunwoo each grabbed a pair of gloves embroidered with insignias matching separate sets of shuriken, which clicked into their belts. They each grabbed a thunder spear, broke it in half, and inserted the blades horizontally into slots along the smalls of their backs.

“You haven’t used these before, but I doubt you need more instruction,” said Yebin hastily.

Jieqiong picked up two daggers shaped like large fangs with glowing runes across their surface. Eunwoo stuck a pair into slots behind her shoulder. Moving down the table, they swiftly picked up their guns and locked them into holsters.

“I’ve marked each of your guns with the same symbol as your throwing stars. If you’re disarmed by a spell, you can summon them back to your hands.”

Jieqiong allowed her fingers to gloss over the cool metal of the barrels before pulling on her gloves and rushing across the hall. Yewon strapped a harness around Eunwoo’s torso while Yebin helped Jieqiong. Identical tranquilizer rifles clicked into the strap along their backs.

“Listen carefully,” said Yewon urgently, facing Eunwoo towards Jieqiong. Yewon pointed at the row of small pouches lining the diagonal strap from Eunwoo’s left shoulder down to her right gun holster. “Your ammo is in the exact the order I showed you. Top four are bullets. Delirium, paralysis, shrapnel, venomous teeth. Next two are grenades. The red pouch is for Fire Salamanders, the blue is for Frost ones. Then the fanged darts.”

“And bottled death,” predicted Eunwoo, tugging at the last pouch.

Yewon nodded. “These are Mokeskin pouches. Only you two will be able to get ammo out of them. They’re charmed to give you one magazine, grenade, or dart at a time. It’s not unlimited, but there’s plenty. I suspect you won’t even make it through half the supply before you have to fight head on. This one on your waist has vials of a basic antidote for healing wounds and some smoke shield powder.”

Yebin ushered the two near a fireplace.

“Wait,” said Jieqiong restlessly. “For our own sanity, please explain what’s going on.”

“I had a funny feeling before going to bed.” Yewon spoke very quickly. “I went downstairs to check your equipment when Nayoung’s patronus—”

“Her what?” Interrupted Jieqiong.

“A spirit messenger guardian thingamabob,” cut in Yebin impatiently.

“Told me Nightshade’s army is ambushing the Ministry. We’re going to send you two through the Floo Network to a secured location,” finished Yewon in one breath.

Yebin grabbed a fistful of powder from a jar on the mantel and threw it in the fireplace just as Yewon swiped her wand over the general area, breaking a protective enchantment. Great green flames shot up into the chimney.

“Step inside, and shout ‘Chungha Kim’s office,’” instructed Yebin.

Jieqiong put a foot forward, then turned around. “Are you two coming with us?”

Yebin seemed to have stopped breathing. Her eyes glazed over. Yewon looked down. “I’m really sorry, but we can only help up until here. Good luck,” said Yebin with a small smile.

Jieqiong noticed Yebin’s voice shook, but that had to wait for another day. Because there would be another day. She and Eunwoo stepped into the flames. The detectives dropped a fistful of powder and whirled away into the ashes.

“Jieqiong! Eunwoo!”

The two tumbled out of a fireplace, coughing and wheezing on their knees. A pair of hands hoisted Jieqiong up onto her feet.

“Nayoung!” She gasped. “Siyeon!” The witch was locking a gun back into Eunwoo’s holster.

“They’re breaking through the barriers to the Atrium. We’re lucky they didn’t come to this fireplace as you two were traveling here,” said Nayoung, rushing to the door.

The four barreled down the hallway. Jieqiong took a second to appreciate Nayoung’s spell on their armor. The scales blended well with the dark stone bricks of the building. They stopped in front of the lift with a placard that read Level Two: Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Siyeon repeatedly pushed the down arrow. A second later, the gate opened and the lift crashed at the last floor. “Watch out!” She leapt back to avoid the bits of metal clanging down the chute.

“Hold on,” Nayoung told Jieqiong. She held the detective by the waist and leaned forward, her wand hand held straight out. The pair zoomed down the chute at high speed. It wasn’t quite like Apparating. It felt more like Jieqiong was being dragged against an air current in a wind tunnel. Nayoung stuck her foot out and used the momentum to run forward. Siyeon and Eunwoo followed soon after.

“This way.” Siyeon beckoned to the others around a corner and ran behind what looked like a window displaying a hurricane. The floor of the hidden passage steadily increased in elevation.

When they emerged, Jieqiong and Eunwoo found themselves overlooking the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Black stones lined the walls here too, camouflaging all four of them.

Nayoung turned abruptly. “Try to stay up high. Your guns and rifles work best from a distance, where nobody can touch you. Do as much damage as you can. They won’t be stupid enough to let you shoot from above forever.”

Siyeon muttered under her breath and twirled her wand around Jieqiong and Eunwoo. They felt a bit lighter, but nothing else changed. When she was done, Nayoung tugged at Jieqiong’s wrist, leading her to the right hall of the Atrium. Siyeon scurried to the left with Eunwoo in tow.

As they reached an outcropping above stone pillars, Nayoung stopped and turned to Jieqiong. They stared at each other for a few seconds, prolonging their time before separating. Nayoung opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her eyes wavered between Jieqiong’s.

“I’m ready,” said Jieqiong. “We’re going to fight, all four of us, and we’re all going to make it out of here. You’ll get to meet Sungyeon and Kyla, without a single scratch marring my babies’ faces. And you’re going to buy me my first Butterbeer because Merlin knows I’ll need a drink after this.” Jieqiong looked straight at Nayoung with burning determination.

Nayoung broke into a quivering smile. “Butterbeer has a low alcohol content for humans.”

“Go,” whispered Jieqiong, feeling her eyes sting. She crouched behind an ivory gargoyle.

“Hey,” Nayoung whispered back.

Jieqiong turned to tell her to skedaddle, but the words caught in her throat. Nayoung pressed her soft lips to Jieqiong’s cheek, squeezed her hand, then ran down another secret passage. Jieqiong’s heart ached. This was not goodbye. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for battle. She leaned over the railing to peer down at the floor.

A mass of Aurors held their wands high, some wearing protective cloaks, others dressed like Muggles similar to Nayoung and Siyeon. At the center was a tall wizard in elaborate navy robes that shimmered like water. Jieqiong supposed he was the Minister for Magic. A witch to his right insisted he flee, but he refused to leave their side. Jieqiong saw Nayoung and Siyeon join the crowd. A short witch with catlike eyes spoke and the two nodded. The witch glanced up at Jieqiong’s exact position, then across the Atrium at Eunwoo, and gave Nayoung half a smile.

Jieqiong scanned as much of the area as she could. There were escape routes on either side of her. Certain tiles were pushed forward, resembling the secret passages Siyeon and Nayoung went through. In front of the Aurors was a long hallway. Jieqiong remembered drawing rectangles on a sheet of paper. These must be the fireplaces connected to the Floo Network.

The Atrium was actually a combination of several miniature floors. While the main area was open and vast, the walls were lined with sections of small windows, supposedly offices for various Ministry workers. At the center of the Atrium was a golden fountain filled with sparkling coins. There was a flat pedestal in the middle, but no statue stood upon it. The fountain must have been a remnant from a previous structure.

Jieqiong examined it as closely as she could from where she was perched. A strange glowing crack had split the pedestal, but none of the Aurors noticed. Except Nayoung. They shared a significant look. Nayoung turned to alert the others. Jieqiong waved at Eunwoo across the giant hall and pointed down at the fountain. Eunwoo held up her thumb. They simultaneously reached for their rifles. Jieqiong pulled out a Runespoor dart by the tuft. She loaded the rifle and steadied it on the gargoyle’s shoulder, aiming at the fountain.

A deafening boom shook the whole chamber. Some of the Aurors yelled and held their wands higher. Jieqiong grabbed onto the gargoyle’s ear to steady herself. One of the distant stone pillars had a long fracture running along its length. A second boom sounded. Then a third.

“Expulso!”

Jieqiong instinctually dove by the wall upon hearing the incantation, covering her head with her arms. The roof serving as her vantage point stopped shaking enough for her to crawl towards the gargoyle. She had never seen anything like it.

The crack in the pedestal had split the entire fountain into two. Water sprayed everywhere. A gaping hole spread in the center, like a gateway to the underworld. Wizards and witches poured out of the hole, cackling and howling like spawns of Satan, ready to wreak havoc on the Ministry. Before they were fully out of the hole, they shot jets of sparks at the Aurors. The Aurors conjured shields of light, deflecting the curses, and shot back a mass of Stunners.

Jieqiong aimed her rifle at the hole. There were so many people spilling out, she was bound to hit someone. She pulled the trigger, she heard a swoosh of air, and she saw one of the dark wizards tip backwards into the giant well, clawing at his neck.

Jieqiong grabbed another dart and fired. Then another. And another. Nightshade’s followers all dropped back into the ditch, some dragging others along with them. She saw people running towards the Aurors, brandishing their wands with fiery whips extending from the tips.

Jieqiong shifted her rifle down to her hip and pulled out a gun, inserting a magazine of Streeler shell bullets. She aimed at the advancing crazed crowd and shot three times. Those closest to her skidded across the floor, scars etched across their faces, their robes torn to shreds. Where there was blood dripping, a small shard of a toxic shell oozed out green goo. Their skin hissed on contact. People tripped over each other in the stampede. Jieqiong emptied her magazine of the last few bullets, bringing down another group of ten.

The empty magazine clattered at her feet and she inserted a new one filled with bullets coated in a novel Sneezewort potion. Bang. A wizard held his wand arm in pain, crossed his eyes, then started shooting spells at his comrades. Bang. A witch put up a shield, deflecting her side’s curses back at them. Bang bang bang. Three wizards dropped to the floor, crushing their wands under their weight and began shouting odd orders to the others.

Jieqiong loaded one gun with the Doxy teeth bullets, the other with Henbane, and stowed them away. She loaded the rifle with another Runespoor fang dart and swung it around her shoulder. She moved around the banisters and pulled out a red grenade. She tugged on the pin and launched the lemon-sized projectile with all her might at the edge of the broken fountain. Flames burst up as high as her perch before expanding outwards. Seven large Fire Salamanders crawled out from the light, trampling over anyone in the vicinity.

“Put those damn fires out!” Someone barked.

Jieqiong heard shouts of “Aqua Eructo” and jets of water sprayed at the advancing beasts, the fire, and at any Auror who got in the way. The salamanders shriveled up. Before the fire was extinguished, Eunwoo had thrown a Frost Salamander grenade at the other end of the hall. Seven blue monsters with icicles for dorsal spines waddled out of a crystalline structure, their footsteps freezing the stone floor in their wakes. Their large jaws opened wide to feed.

“Incendio!” Nightshade’s followers roared. The ice cave melted as did the salamanders.

But the chaos was enough. In that time, Jieqiong had unloaded another dart and one magazine full of bullets. She heard shots fire repeatedly from Eunwoo’s end of the Atrium. Looking down, she saw three witches barrel out of Nayoung’s path as she blasted them away with her wand. Siyeon hit a wizard with a spell between the eyes. She ducked just as he shot a curse straight ahead, resulting in friendly fire. Both wizards toppled over holding their eyes and Siyeon moved further into the fray. Nayoung and Siyeon stood back to back, firing hexes in a wide radius.

“You lot! Move!” Shouted a thickset man, pointing his wand towards Nayoung and Siyeon.

Jieqiong ran around a gargoyle to a balcony closer to the fountain. She stuffed her hand into the pouch at her waist, feeling a divider. Choosing a side at random, she pulled out a small vial filled to the brim with white powder. She remembered Yewon’s contraption making a box of these the first time she and Eunwoo visited the house. She aimed at the cluster of dark wizards.

The glass vial shattered across the floor. A mushroom cloud of thick smoke black as midnight rose into the air. The wizards coughed and flapped their arms around, but the smoke was not disturbed. It merely rose higher, blinding everyone nearby. Jieqiong saw flashes of light within the cloud. A second later the smoke diffused, revealing a pile of unconscious bodies.

“Imbeciles!” The thickset man growled. Despite having a wand, he swung his other arm around and punched a wizard straight in the teeth. The Auror slid across the floor on his back and groaned, holding his bloody jaw.

Without hesitating, Jieqiong pulled out three darts between her fingers. In quick succession, she shot all three at the muscular arm of the dark wizard giving orders. The moment the last dart penetrated his skin, Jieqiong knew this was a mistake.

The wizard searched the air in the direction the darts had come from, snarled at Jieqiong, and plucked the darts out of his bicep. They seemed to have had no effect despite being emptied of their serum. He raised his wand slowly and bellowed, “Deprimo!”

Jieqiong ran back towards the closest passage in the brick wall. She was only a meter away when the roof of the stone pillars crumbled beneath her feet. Her nails scratched the railing as she fell below the level of her perch. Shutting her eyes, she braced for the shin-splitting impact. But instead of crashing to the ground, she drifted down at a moderate speed. This must have been the spell Siyeon put on her and Eunwoo before they split up.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, Jieqiong dove behind the torso of a fallen gargoyle. She swung the rifle around her back. It was no good now. She jammed a new magazine into her empty gun and raised both above the gargoyle. She shot in the wizard’s general direction until the magazines were empty. Daring to look, she peered around the debris. The wizard had slumped over on top of two witches, his body completely paralyzed from the extract of Henbane. Another pack of followers behind him had also toppled to the floor while dueling.

“Allo, nice of you to drop by where you’re not wanted!”

Jieqiong gasped as a man grabbed her neck from behind and dragged her away from her hiding spot. Struggling for air, she couldn’t help but think the voice was awfully familiar.

“Tyranno!” She wheezed in disgust, elbowing the wizard in the gut.

His grip tightened. “Ain’t anyone ever told you it’s rude to barge in uninvited!”

Jieqiong stopped tugging on Tyranno’s arms around her neck and reached over her shoulder. With a nasty squelch, she swiped her hand up and a rune dagger loosened from its slot. She spun around and took out the other dagger.

“How dare you…” Tyranno growled like an animal, dropping his hand from his face. His cheek had a horrible gash from his ear to his chin.

Jieqiong glanced at the dagger in her hand. It was drenched in blood that was absorbed by the blade. The glowing cyan runic inscriptions turned red until the last drop of blood was gone. Jieqiong could feel the blade vibrating in her hand. As if it possessed its own intelligence, the dagger dragged Jieqiong’s hand forward. Her feet followed sloppily and she lunged at Tyranno. The dagger cut into his wrist. He dropped his wand at the sudden sharp pain. Instantly Jieqiong knelt down and stabbed the other dagger at the ground, splintering the wand into two.

“No!” Tyranno howled. And this time, it did sound like a real howl.

Jieqiong’s eyes widened in horror as Tyranno slashed at her with what was now closer to a paw than a hand. The dagger flung away and impaled itself in a pillar, completely unretrievable. Tyranno’s clothes ripped as his limbs grew. His face elongated into a snout. His ears were pointed and migrated higher up his skull. His hair shortened and his entire body was soon covered in matted fur. With a feral snarl, Tyranno stared at Jieqiong with one glossy eye and lurched at her hand, snapping his sharp jaws.

Jieqiong screeched and swung her remaining dagger. The blade lodged itself grotesquely in his snout. While he howled and clawed at his face, Jieqiong darted towards the crowd.

“You didn’t tell me werewolves were real!” Shouted Jieqiong as Nayoung pulled her down to avoid jets of sparks.

“What?” Said Nayoung urgently.

“Tyranno! He’s a— Behind you!”

Nayoung jabbed her wand over her shoulder and Tyranno was sent flying back into a pillar. The once beautiful structure crumbled on top of him, trapping his body underneath. His growls were muffled by the stone blocks and the constant shouting of incantations.

Nayoung pulled Jieqiong up with one arm while deflecting spells with the other. Jieqiong saw a witch raise her wand out of the corner of her eye. She swiftly unsheathed two blades from the small of her back, attached them at the bases, and slashed up at the air. The thunder spear let out a crack as the bolt of lightning not only broke through the witch’s curse, but blasted her back into the hole of the fountain.

“Duck!” Yelled Nayoung.

She grabbed Jieqiong’s wrist and pulled her down behind another fallen pillar. An explosion rocked the floor and Jieqiong saw the opposite side of the Atrium burst into ashes.

“Eunwoo…” Jieqiong gasped and shot out towards the explosion.

Nayoung tugged her back harshly as two hexes crossed her path. “She’s fine. Siyeon’s got her.”

Jieqiong looked to where Nayoung was pointing. Sure enough, Eunwoo was far from the explosion, fighting back to back with Siyeon. The Auror whipped her wand around expelling bursts of purple energy towards anyone who got near them. Eunwoo’s hands were blurs as she swung star after star up into the air. It seemed Siyeon had time to duplicate the shuriken as there were many more than six high above the crowd. When a good fifteen or so were in position, they locked into a fiery web. All at once wisps emanated from the faces of witches and wizards below. The shuriken grew in size as they fed off the energy. The flaming cage lowered to ground level. It absorbed any and all spells cast at its bars. Jieqiong saw a few wizards blur and heard loud cracks echo off the walls, but they were still trapped. They couldn’t Disapparate.

“Stay close,” said Nayoung in that commanding, carrying voice.

Jieqiong and Nayoung rushed towards an advancing pack of Nightshade’s followers. To their surprise, the entire front line of people flipped upside down and were hanging by their ankles. Jieqiong glanced over her shoulder when she felt a rush of air behind them.

“Leave it to Chungha to cast Levicorpus all over the place like it’s her first time using a wand,” smirked Nayoung, watching after the witch who dashed around levitating more people with a spring in her step. She was much too happy for someone in the midst of a battle.

Jieqiong didn’t have time to return an amused smile when she felt a volley of spells hit her back. She spun around and sliced her spear through the air without looking. Three wizards put up magical shields to deflect their own spells violently rebounding from the electricity. Jieqiong broke her spear in half and carved a giant shield in front of her and Nayoung. By the time the wizards shot new curses their way, Jieqiong jabbed a blade at the glowing white-hot center of her shield. It burst forth like a battering ram, easily deflecting the spells, and clashed with the wizards. Their bodies flung back into piles of rubble, their robes singed.

Nayoung severed two witches’ wands with a particularly strong spell and turned to Jieqiong. “Are you sure your parents didn’t just refuse your enrollment at Hogwarts?”

Jieqiong grinned and cut a bolt of lightning across an incoming yellow-trailed jinx. The impact resulted in a shower of orange sparks. “Strange. I heard something similar just hours ago.” She threw up a grenade and slashed at it with her spear. Several small fires rained down upon the crowd, each spawning a pair of salamanders.

Nayoung ran ahead and Jieqiong followed. The detective chanced a look over her shoulder and noticed a witch shoot an angry red arrow of light at their backs. Jieqiong sprinted and tackled Nayoung. The arrow whizzed over their heads.

Nayoung groaned. “What—”

“Oh my God,” gasped Jieqiong, staring wide-eyed at a screaming Auror with a hole bored through his thigh. His flesh and bone seemed to be incinerated on the inside. “That’s not supposed to happen to a femur,” she babbled in shock.

“Keep moving.” Nayoung shoved Jieqiong along.

An explosion rocked the lobby again and a giant pillar separated the pair. Nayoung couldn’t move as a nearby wizard created a whirlwind of spells which shot out in random directions hitting friends and foes. Nayoung hit a Stunning Spell to his face and he dropped to the floor, but  the whirlwind persisted.

Jieqiong sheathed her thunder spear halves and pulled out her guns. She shot at the feet of anyone who met her eye. They recoiled and their spells flew off target. They fell onto their backs, grasping their feet. Jieqiong could see the vile white Doxy teeth bullets Yewon had manufactured. Within seconds, the enemy began seizing and squealing from the venom.

When she thought the coast was clear, another wizard jumped down from the second level of offices and cried, “Expelliarmus!”

Jieqiong’s guns flew out of her hands and clattered across the dusty floor. She reached behind to unsheathe a spear half and instead grabbed a throwing star. She flung it forwards and it stopped right in front of the wizard’s face. A blurred mass seeped from his visage to the star. He slumped to the ground immediately. The star returned and she clicked it into her belt. She flicked her wrists and both of her disarmed guns flew back to her waiting hands.

Jieqiong turned around to check on Nayoung, who was still battling the whirlwind of spells with four other Aurors. Movement from the giant pit caught Jieqiong’s eye. Her heart plummeted. She vaulted over the fallen pillar and ran between the fountain and Nayoung.

“Crucio!”

An ear-splitting shriek deafened Nayoung. She spun on her heels and found Jieqiong writhing in agony at her feet. She tried to help Jieqiong up, but the woman just clawed back at her. Anything that touched her seemed to cause excruciating pain. Nayoung gritted her teeth and slashed her wand out in pure rage. Jieqiong was gasping and sobbing, but was no longer under the Unforgivable Curse.

A terrifying cackle rung through the hall, silencing all shouts, ending all duels. Siyeon ran up next to Nayoung. The Aurors shielded Jieqiong while Eunwoo crouched down by her side.

“How lovely for you to join us, Minister,” Nightshade drawled as he stood on the fountain’s edge.

The Minister raised his wand and all the remaining Aurors followed, ignoring Nightshade’s followers who pointed their wands at the Aurors’ necks.

“Ah, ah, ah,” tutted Nightshade arrogantly. “You wouldn’t want them to be hurt, would you?”

To everyone’s horror, two lifeless bodies floated up through the hole in the ground. They settled in mid-air, rotating on either side of Nightshade.

Insane cackling filled the Atrium, Nightshade’s followers echoing his satisfaction. “We’ve all got things to do, places to be, people to see. I’ll make it simple. Your life for theirs.”

Jieqiong felt hot tears dripping off the side of her head as she lay flat on her back, staring up at an unconscious Sungyeon and Kyla. Eunwoo had stopped breathing beside her.

Nightshade looked adoringly at the Minister’s still hand. “The age old question,” he sneered seriously, all amusement extinguished from his voice. “Whose blood is worth more? Yours, from a long line of Purebloods, or a filthy Muggle’s?” His mouth morphed into a disgusted grimace and he swung his wand arm down, as if smashing a vase on the ground. Sungyeon’s and Kyla’s bodies dropped unceremoniously onto the rubble. Several of the Aurors gasped and growled.

Eunwoo felt movement under her hands. “Jieqiong, don’t move. You’re really—”

Jieqiong gripped Eunwoo’s shoulder tightly. “Star… Nightshade… Feet…” She whispered in a broken, hoarse voice.

Eunwoo stared at her best friend for a second too long. Jieqiong dug her nails into one of Eunwoo’s wrist and pointed it in the direction of the wreckage Nightshade was standing on. Eunwoo immediately grasped all of her shuriken and discreetly slid them across the dark wood floor. They hovered at the base of the rubble like tiny toy drones.

At Jieqiong’s insistence, Eunwoo supported her weight and dragged her up to a standing position. Jieqiong’s eyebrows furrowed not from the pain, but in confusion. The shuriken weren’t sucking any energy out of Nightshade at all.

“You have no right to endanger these innocent people,” came a deep, booming voice.

“Is that so? I, a wizard most powerful and born with this ability, have no right? You are blinded,” Nightshade hissed. “We are elevated humans. We are evolved. We do not suffer at the hands of Muggle afflictions—”

“We have our own flaws!” Bellowed the Minister. “You are a damned fool to believe you are inherently better because you live in a different world.”

“What a weak thing to believe in,” said Nightshade. “You want to play equals with vermin like them? Fine. But I don’t see you offering yourself in their stead.” His voice echoed off the walls.

Someone moved across the hall, lurking in the shadows. Jieqiong clenched her fists in fury.

“That coward,” Jieqiong gritted through her teeth. Eunwoo looked over in alarm. “That’s an illusion. The real Nightshade won’t even show his face to threaten us all. That slime will pay.” With renewed strength, Jieqiong detached her rifle and dug into the last pouch of her harness.

“Are you insane?” Whispered Eunwoo, grabbing onto Jieqiong’s elbow.

Jieqiong slowly turned to face Eunwoo. Her eyes were sunken and dark. “Do not stop me.”

Eunwoo looked deep into Jieqiong’s eyes, then inhaled deeply. “Alright,” she said in a resigned voice. She released Jieqiong’s arm and stared ahead. She clasped her hands behind her back to show she wouldn’t interfere.

Jieqiong inserted the dart, its graphite gray contents sloshing around in the syringe. She subtly raised the rifle so that the muzzle pointed just between Nayoung and Siyeon’s shoulders.

“Muggle scum only deserve to live if they grovel at our feet. Oh, how you tremble at those words. Weak! You have no spine, Minister! I will bring glory to the Wizarding World!”

She aimed the rifle at a green light drifting along the shadows.

“Let the new reign begin,” announced Nightshade with a demented grin. “Avada Kedavra!”

Jieqiong pulled the trigger.

The entire room gasped as Nightshade’s image dissolved into smoke. His followers turned their heads to search for their master. Aurors moved to scour the room for his presence. But the Minister saw. He rushed over to a body that had fallen limp and was now seizing uncontrollably. Nightshade was foaming at the mouth, his shouts garbled into chokes.

“Chain him up and ship him to St. Mungo’s. I want him alive when he’s sealed in a cell at Azkaban,” ordered the Minister.

Jieqiong dropped her rifle and shoved past Nayoung and Siyeon. She limped a few meters to the base of the debris before collapsing onto her hands and knees. She crawled up to the two unconscious bodies and brushed the hair out of their pallid faces.

Eunwoo rushed to her side, tears streaming down her face. She pressed two fingers to Sungyeon’s neck, trying to feel for a heartbeat. It was extremely faint, but it was there. Jieqiong was cradling Kyla in her arms and sobbing into the junior detective’s coat. Eunwoo tried to get Jieqiong to release her to check for a pulse.

“Jieqiong, let go. They’re going to be alright, but you need to let the Healers take them. They’ll be treated at the hospital. They’re safe,” pleaded Nayoung softly.

Jieqiong dug her face into Kyla’s unresponsive shoulder before turning to Nayoung. The witch wrapped her long, strong arms around Jieqiong and let the woman cry her heart out.

Eunwoo heaved a deep sigh. She looked up when she felt a pat on her shoulder. Siyeon offered her a weak smile before bringing her into a comforting hug.

“And who are you two?” Said a deep voice from behind.

Nayoung and Siyeon snapped their heads towards the Minister for Magic standing amongst the piles of stones. But they did not stand at attention as they usually would have. They remained on the ground next to the Eunwoo and Jieqiong, who both froze at their friends’ side.

“Sir,” Siyeon began.

“Two Muggles? Here in the heart of Britain’s magical governing establishment? With a hundred or so dark wizards and witches present, no less.” His voice was gentle, but demanded respect.

Jieqiong glanced around the Atrium. All of the Aurors were watching them closely. They all stood guard over clumps of Nightshade’s followers, who had glowing chains around their wrists and necks. She supposed they wouldn’t be able to Disapparate at the very least.

Jieqiong turned towards the Minister. “W-we had to fight,” she said in a strained voice.

“Did you?” He glanced down at the two unconscious women. “Your friends,” he stated simply.

Nayoung looked up. “We know it was reckless to involve them, but—”

“But you brought them into the fray anyway,” finished the Minister. He did not look angry though.

“Magical or not, all life is precious.” Nayoung met the Minister’s eyes as she recited his motto. “Jieqiong and Eunwoo felt their lives were worth risking to save their friends. Of course we wanted to protect them, but we had no right to stop them.”

“Rights,” murmured the Minister. The corner of his lips curved upwards. “Now that is the correct usage of the word, Im.” His eyes shifted to Eunwoo before lingering on Jieqiong. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “For the first time in our history, two Muggles will receive an Order of Merlin, First Class.”

The Atrium erupted in cheers and hoots. The Aurors began applauding. The Minister let out a deep, vibrant chuckle. He then beckoned over the Healers.

Jieqiong couldn’t hear anything. She reached over and brushed her thumb over a clotted scar on Kyla’s cheek. She wrapped her shaking fingers around one of Sungyeon’s outstretched hands, tearing up at the bruising around both wrists from magical restraints. They both felt cold to the touch. “You’re going to be fine,” Jieqiong whispered.

“The Healers will take care of them,” Nayoung spoke into Jieqiong’s ear.

“Wait.” Jieqiong looked over at an exhausted Siyeon. “I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Anything,” croaked Siyeon.

Jieqiong looked down at Kyla and Sungyeon with a mother’s gaze. “Make them forget.”

Siyeon smiled sadly at Jieqiong and nodded. She inhaled as if bracing herself for something. Then she held up her wand, swept it over the young detectives, and said, “Obliviate.”

~|~|~|~

“This is fantastic,” said Jieqiong, savoring the sweet, frothy beverage. “I think I like it hot better.”

“I told you. Pumpkin juice is great, but nothing beats Butterbeer,” grinned Nayoung. She clinked glasses with Jieqiong and they each took a sip.

“Present,” Yebin coughed obnoxiously as she passed.

Nayoung rolled her eyes in amusement. “Accio.” A flat box wrapped in shiny apple-red paper flew from under the tree into Nayoung’s hand. “Merry Christmas,” she said shyly.

Jieqiong excitedly took the box and unwrapped it carefully. Nayoung nervously gulped half her Butterbeer in anticipation. She finally set her glass down in relief when Jieqiong’s eyes lit up instantly. Jieqiong held up an elegant black halter dress, letting it unravel over her lap.

Jieqiong beamed at Nayoung. “It’s beautiful,” she said with stars in her eyes.

“Like you.” Nayoung’s eyes widened like a cartoon. She wanted to jump in front of a Bludger for such a cliché response. Lucky for her, the urge was stifled by Jieqiong’s twinkling giggle.

“You, um, you got something there.”

“Where?” Asked Nayoung cluelessly.

Jieqiong sighed with a bright smile. Leaning forward, she brushed her thumb over the corner of Nayoung’s lip and licked the Butterbeer froth off her finger innocently. Nayoung flushed scarlet.

“Thank you for the dress,” Jieqiong winked and kissed the spot where the froth had been.

“A-anything for you, love,” Nayoung stuttered, setting off Jieqiong’s twinkling giggle again. Nayoung cleared her throat and wrapped her arm around Jieqiong’s waist. “Your friends seem to be taking this quite well.”

“Yeah. I mean it’s great, but I was kind of hoping to be the one in the know,” said Jieqiong, leaning into her girlfriend’s embrace.

Nayoung kissed Jieqiong’s temple and glanced around the living room.

“This is my baby,” squealed Yebin, wiping a fake tear from her eye.

“Extraordinary. His skin cells must function similarly to Thermus aquaticus. Of course not entirely, they’re from different domains, assuming that a magical beast is considered an animal. But at least in thermophilic qualities…”

“Uh…”

Eunwoo pushed Siyeon’s jaw up with her index finger. She laughed at the witch’s dumbfounded expression. “Kyla entered the police force with a degree in forensic science before switching over to criminal investigations.” Siyeon slowly turned to face Eunwoo, her neck creaking slightly. “She knows a lot about living things so she often goes off on tangents,” Eunwoo simplified.

“Uh huh,” Siyeon hummed as she watched the youngest detective pet the drooling salamander resting in the fireplace. “I wonder…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Eunwoo deadpanned and sipped from her steaming mug.

“Think about what?” Siyeon said innocently.

“Yebin told me this fireplace was barred from the Floo Network. So you can’t just throw some powder into it and send Fluffy Jr. to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,” said Eunwoo, marveling at how the words rolled off her tongue so easily now.

Siyeon pulled Eunwoo into a back hug and lolled her forehead onto Eunwoo’s shoulder, sighing dramatically in defeat. “Having two pets in the house is such a nuisance.”

Eunwoo rubbed Siyeon’s arm wrapped around her stomach. “Be nice, Yebin’s not that bad.” Eunwoo grinned to herself when she felt Siyeon press a soft kiss to the base of her neck.

“Can’t I trade her in for a Knarl?” Siyeon pouted, finally sounding her age for once.

Eunwoo stared at the ceiling until she remembered what a Knarl was. “No,” she said, feeling guilty that she hadn’t said no immediately after Siyeon wanted to trade Yebin in the first place.

“Alright. Yewon can drag Yebin and Fluffy Jr. to your apartment, and you and Jieqiong can move in here!” Siyeon seemed overly proud of her own proposal.

Eunwoo choked on her Butterbeer. “That escalated quickly.”

In the corner by the frosted window, Sungyeon and Yewon hung up glossy baubles and strung up decorations on the Christmas tree.

“Am I seeing things, or are your lights moving?” Asked Sungyeon, tilting her head.

“Oh, those are Fairies. Stunning, aren’t they?” Smiled Yewon.

Sungyeon’s eyes traveled to the tree where a high-pitched buzzing indicated laughter.

“Fairies are vain, they love to be complimented,” whispered Yewon, eyeing their brighter glow.

Sungyeon raised her eyebrow and leaned forward. “The tree wouldn’t look half as phenomenal as it does if it weren’t for all of you,” she said to a nearby Fairy.

The Fairy giggled, flitted over to a few of its friends, and they all trailed into the hollow star in Sungyeon’s hands. Yewon conjured a stepladder and gave an encouraging nod. Sungyeon smiled as she gently positioned the now shining star on top of the tree.

Yebin sauntered over to the couch where Siyeon and Eunwoo joined Jieqiong and Nayoung. She stretched her short arms over all of their shoulders and butted her head in between Jieqiong and Eunwoo. Siyeon grumbled under her breath.

“I, the almighty Yebin, am the best Cupid in the universe.”

“It’s December,” said Eunwoo.

“Cupid doesn’t take vacations,” countered Yebin.

“But you didn’t introduce us,” said Jieqiong.

“Technicalities,” Yebin waved off. Her nonchalant expression turned into a smirk. “So when’s the baby shower?”

“Excuse me?” Choked Nayoung, almost slopping Butterbeer over herself.

“Well I’m obviously going to be the godmother to your children, aren’t I?” Yebin flipped her hair.

“We don’t have any children,” Siyeon, Eunwoo, Jieqiong, and Nayoung chorused.

Yebin laughed airily. “Yet.”