"Jimin, really, I'm alright."
The redhead pouted as he placed the fifth cup of tea on the end table next to the couch. "It's there if you want it," he sighed. He slipped onto the remaining portion of the couch and leaned back, running his hand through his hair and keeping his arm over his eyes.
While she was glad he was there to fuss over her, Eden was too anxious to accept another cup of tea. They might have been small cups, but anxiety and a full bladder do not mix very well. Even the sight of the liquid had her squirming in her place on the couch.
Once Yoongi had returned from God knows where, he and Jimin helped Eden to her feet and whisked her out the back entrance of the grocery store. They stood around her protectively until they got back to the piercing parlor where Yoongi barked for Jimin to take Eden upstairs until he came back. Then, he turned around and disappeared out the door.
Now the two were seated in a room with red walls and exquisite, black furniture. It was a surprising contrast from the black, grimy interior of the piercing parlor. Eden didn't even know there was another door in the main area, nonetheless an entire upstairs portion. She peered curiously at the door with the staircase in it, still trying to figure out where it came from.
More importantly, she was wondering why Yoongi was so angry with her.
The blond said virtually nothing to her the whole walk back, and what he did say he wasn't very nice about. After his announcement that she had explaining to do, he gave her no other hints as to what he was talking about.
Jimin wasn't very helpful either. The tiny, cheerful man spent his time trying to get Eden's mind off the whole ordeal. Any time she asked a question, he gave her a sad smile and changed the topic completely.
So now the two just sat quietly in the room, awaiting Yoongi's wrath.
Speaking of Yoongi.
"I can't-- I can't fucking believe this, Namjoon. I can't."
The shiny head ascended up the stairs with Namjoon by his side. Namjoon's face was completely calm, which was funny considering Yoongi's enraged state. At the sound of their voices, Jimin moved his arm and sat up, suddenly at full attention.
Yoongi and Namjoon came to a stop in front of the couch where the two were seated. Namjoon's dimpled smile was the only thing keeping her from running down the stairs and out the door. Jimin placed a hand on her shoulder, and she felt a little bit calmer.
"Welcome back Eden," Namjoon said. "I must say I didn't expect to see you back so soon."
"Hi," she muttered. "What's going on?"
He slid into the couch across from them, Yoongi taking a seat next to him. He glared at Eden and scowled, folding his arms and turning away.
"It seems we could ask you the same question." While his face was friendly, his tone said otherwise. "You never told us you were a Sirid when you came in earlier."
"A Sirid?"
Namjoon tilted his head to the side. "Surely you know what I'm talking about. The man in the grocery store didn't attack you for no reason, and you wanted that soul vine earring."
He leaned back in his seat. "I should've known as soon as you came in, but you seemed too normal to look into. I don't know why I didn't trust myself. I knew you needed the earring but I didn't ask myself why."
Eden shook her head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea about anything you're saying."
"You can drop the act," Yoongi barked. "We found you out already. You're done. You and whoever sent you."
"I'm serious! I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not a Sirid, I don't even know what that means!"
Jimin squeezed her shoulder, running his thumb up and down the fabric of her sweater. "Yoon," he said quietly. "I think she's telling the truth. You're upsetting her."
Yoongi looked over at Namjoon, whose eyes were closed in thought. When he opened them, he simply nodded, and his smaller counterpart kissed his teeth and slumped back into the couch.
"Interesting," Namjoon muttered. "You really don't know."
Jimin rubbed Eden's back for what seemed like the millionth time that hour. "She has no tattoos, Joon. Even I could've told you that she didn't know."
"Can someone please tell me what it is I don't know," Eden sighed.
Her question went unheard. "Eden, were you adopted by any chance?"
She stiffened in her seat. "Yes," she muttered. "When I was 3."
Namjoon shook his head. "That explains it."
"So what if she doesn't know?" Yoongi hissed. "She still put us in danger. Who knows what she told that man, thinking it was just an innocent conversation? We're just sitting here like ducks!"
"Hoseok is keeping an eye on the parlor," Jimin offered. "We'll know if we've been found. We're fine for right now, Yoon, and that's what matters. We just need to get to the bottom of this."
"Get to the bottom of what?"
Remembering she was in the room, Namjoon looked over. His interrogation voice dropped, and was replaced with genuine confusion. "Have you ever heard of a place called Iphorus?"
Eden shook her head. "I don't think I have. Where is that?"
"Nowhere in this world," he muttered. "Iphorus is our home— and I'm assuming yours too. It's our realm."
"Like... a magic thing?"
At his nod, Eden blinked. "You're... joking right?"
"Quite the opposite really. Sirids are what you would call here—" He paused. "— Witches and wizards I believe. But much more powerful."
"You're pulling my leg," she said flatly. "That can't— you're lying."
"Remember when I touched your neck in the storage closet, Eden?" Jimin cut in. "And the pain went away immediately?"
"That was a fluke."
"No," he chuckled. "I healed you. You were on your way to death."
"How is this possible," Eden mumbled. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Jimin is an Ellituary." Namjoon's calm voice broke the silence. "Ellituaries are healers, protectors. Why do you think you feel calmer when he's with you?"
"I thought he was just a nice guy."
"I am," the redhead grinned.
Eden twirled the loose strand of curls by her ear in thought. As ridiculous as it all was, it made sense. As soon as Jimin touched her neck, she did feel better, she was just tired. The constant rubbing of her shoulder and the million cups of tea all helped her calm her anxieties of the whole situation too.
But magic can't be real.
Can it?
"I know this is a lot to take in," Namjoon said, breaking her wall of thought. "But this is your reality— our reality. You need to visit Iphorus to figure out which clan you're from so they can train you properly."
"How do you even know I'm a Sirid?"
"Really, the only way we know is because of that attack in the store. We don't know who it was, but their magic worked on you and they recognized your energy."
"What magic?" There was nothing magical about being choked in the grocery store as far as Eden was concerned.
"He manipulated the air around you," Jimin filled in. "That's how you managed to start choking before he even touched you."
Terrified, Eden looked over at Namjoon, who simply shrugged. Next to him, Yoongi had the smallest smile on his face, but noticing that Eden was looking at him, he coughed and turned his head.
"I thought you had strong energy," Jimin continued. "But I ran your name through the database and it came back clean. There aren't any Kemps in Iphorus, and there never were."
"But now we know you're adopted," Namjoon finished. "So it makes a lot of sense."
Eden sighed and leaned back in her seat. The walls of her reality were crumbling around her, and though she never even had a strong sense of what her reality was, she knew secret magical destiny was not on her list of suspicions.
"So..." her tentative voice broke the silence. "Did you guys bring me here to take me to Ipholus?
"Iphorus," Namjoon corrected. "And no, not exactly."
"They don't really like us there," Jimin chuckled.
At Eden's confusion, Namjoon shrugged. "We can't say much, but we stay away from Iphorus and Iphorus stays away from us."
"We try to stay away," Yoongi spoke up. "But for whatever reason, they're looking for us now. Which is why that man attacked you in the store. He thought you were one of us because of the soul vine in your ear."
Eden reached up and touched her earring. "Soul vine? Is that like... your symbol or something?"
Jimin chuckled. "No it's nothing like that. Yoongi made the earring a couple years ago, when worn it's shadow is supposed to reveal your soul tie, but it only works on other Sirids. On Mutes—regular people— it only shows his name. They did not like his invention, to say the least—"
"Wait."
Eden interrupted the redhead, her hand hovering over the earring in her ear. She turned to him slowly. "What did you just say?"
"About what—?"
"Oh fuck."
The two turned to Yoongi, who was sat up with an equally surprised expression on his face. "Fuck."
"The soul vine," Namjoon muttered. "What did it say in its shadow when you put it on?"
"It said Yoon—" Jimin's hand clasped over his mouth. "Holy shit."
Namjoon shook his head. "I knew it, it matched up with— why didn't I think to check."
"Matched with what?"
Before anyone could say another word, before Namjoon could explain himself or Jimin could calm everyone down, Yoongi simply stood up from his seat, said "Fuck this", and walked out the room without another word.
****
Severely unedited.
Don't come for me lol finals are wild.
xoxo
layerjoon