Welcome to the Freakshow

"It won't be easy,"

I sat at the round kitchen table with Jeonghan and Minghao, trying to figure out a way fro me to get home. So far, it didn't look very promising.

"It's very dangerous," Minghao continued, tracing his finger along an imaginary path on the map. "And it'll take a long time."

"How long?" I asked anxiously.

"Weeks, months..." Jeonghan guessed, and I bit my lip. I didn't have months to spare.

"Apparate." A voice came from the doorway, and we turned to see Woozi leaning against the door frame, arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

"Woozi, you know she can't do that," Minghao hissed, as if what Woozi had said would offend me.

"Maybe not, but she can always go to Seungkwan," he said, then turned on his heel and retreated back into the red room.

"Who?" I asked immediately.

"A friend of Hoshi and Joshua's. We're not the biggest fans," Jeonghan said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why not?" I asked.

"He's sneaky, unreliable, and arrogant. He's not someone we want around."

"Plus, he's on the run from our rulers." Minghao said simply, and Jeonghan shot him a death glare.

"Why? Is he a criminal?" I asked.

"No, he has an illegal power. They don't want him to have it." Minghao continued, completely oblivious to the look Jeonghan was giving him.

"So, what, they're going to take it away from him?"

"No, we don't have the ability to give or take powers in our world." The look Jeonghan was giving Minghao at this point could have drawn blood. I didn't understand why he was getting so mad at Minghao for answering my questions, so I pressed on.

"So there's nothing they can do then, right? They can't take his powers, so they'll just deal with him having it, right?"

Minghao looked over at Jeonghan, and they both looked at me, dragging their thumbs slowly across their necks. I gasped.

"Apparation isn't something they want out there," Jeonghan said. "It's very tricky to pull off, and nearly impossible to reverse if its botched."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's kind of like teleportation. The user closes their eyes and pictures where they want to go, and will appear at that location almost instantly." Jeonghan explained. "But we've had so many cases of Apparation going bad, it's... It makes a lot of sense for it to be illegal."

"Going bad?"

"Yeah, like..." Minghao's face scrunched up as he thought of an example. "One time, this one guy got splinched."

"Splinched?" I asked as Jeonghan screwed up his face in a cringe. "What does that mean?"

"Well," Minghao said, "he turned out where he wanted to go, but he left half of his body behind. So he was stuck."

"I opened my mouth in shock. "And... This Seungkwan guy is friends with Josh and Hoshi?"

"Yeah," Jeonghan said thickly, and I stood up.

"Great. I'm going to ask me to help me get ahold of him." I turned on my heel and began to walk towards the red room, and I heard Minghao begin to laugh from behind me.

"You really think they're going to help you?" He asked, and I turned around.

"Why... Why wouldn't they?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Jeonghan said, chuckling. When he saw the look of confusion on my face, he continued, "They don't want you to leave. They'd miss you."

"Well, I might be able to convince them to help me," I said, walking towards the red room again. "We'll see."

As I walked into the red room, I saw Hoshi and Josh sitting on the red couch together, huddling close and talking quietly. When I approached them, they stopped talking and gave me a suspicious look while Hoshi hid something behind his back. I frowned and opened my mouth to talk, but Josh said, "None of your business,"

I shook my head. "I need your help."

"And why would we want to do that?" Hoshi asked in a bored tone.

"Because... Well..." I said, struggling to find a good reason. "I just need to get ahold of Seungkwan, okay?"

Hearing his name, both Hoshi and Joshua's eyes widened, and Hoshi said, "How do you know about Seungkwan?"

"I need his help. He can teleport. Or Apparate. Whatever. I want to go home."

Hoshi and Josh looked at each other, smirking, and Hoshi said, "Hear that, Seungkwan? Feel like helping her?"

I frowned, wondering why he was talking as if Seungkwan was in the room, but then he pulled his hands out from behind his back and revealed a crystal ball with a head in it. I cried out as the head turned to look at me. He had a chubby, boyish face and large almond shaped and coloured eyes. He grinned.

"Well, I do owe you two a favour. Why not? Could be fun. Meet me in two hours under the waterfall." He said, then with a pop! he was gone.

"What- how- what was that thing?" I asked.

"It's like a telly-moan," Hoshi said. We can talk to people through it."

"A... A what?" I asked, stifling a giggle. "A telephone, you mean?"

Hoshi frowned. "Yes, a telly-pone. Now are you going to meet him, or not?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well... I don't know where the waterfall is..."

"She wants us to go with her," Josh muttered to Hoshi through the corner of his mouth, as if I couldn't hear him.

"Should we go?" Hoshi said under his breath.

"Well, we can go hang out with Seungkwan for a bit once he's done helping her, we haven't seen him in a long time," Josh whispered.

"Ok," Hoshi said, then, to me, "We can show you where it is."

**********************************

An hour or so later, I sat at the kitchen table with Jun, Minghao and Woozi while Jeonghan bustled around the kitchen, packing a backpack full of food. Woozi was pouting, arms crossed, kicking the leg of the table as he swung his legs.

"Why can't I go?" He burst, glaring at Jeonghan.

"Because, Woozi, it might be dangerous and you might get hurt." Jeonghan said in a soothing voice as he dropped a few sandwiches into the backpack.

"No I wouldn't!" Woozi protested.

"We don't want to take any chances," Jun said simply.

"Why do Josh and Hoshi get to go?" Woozi said, hitting his fists on the table.

"Because they can take care of themselves. And Akiko. And Seungkwan. You can't, Woozi." Jeonghan said softly, tucking his long hair behind his ear. Woozi pouted, slouching in his chair.

Just then, Hoshi and Josh came in, both sporting black from head to toe, including their backpacks. "Ready to go?" Hoshi said, grinning, and I stood up, nodding and grinning back.

"Here, Akiko, sweetie, take this backpack, it has a lot of food in there for you guys." He said, handing me the black bag.

"And it's refillable," Jun added. "Whenever you guys eat the food, it'll stock itself back up."

I smiled appreciatively, taking the backpack and sliding it onto my shoulders, then followed everyone out into the yard.

I watched Josh and Hoshi hug everyone, and noticed Jeonghan crying as Josh let go of him. Josh reached out and wiped a tear from his face, studying him sadly. Then, Woozi ran up to me and hugged me tightly.

"Don't forget us, ok?" He asked sadly, and I laughed.

"How could I forget the magical boys who kidnapped me?" I said, and Jeonghan hurried over to me, wrapping me tightly in his arms.

"Be safe," he whispered in my ear.

Jun and Minghao smiled at me, then both came over to hug me at the same time.

"Have a good trip!" Jun said, as Minghao said, "Don't die!"

As we began to walk down the long dirt driveway, we turned back to wave at everyone. Jeonghan broke into tears and ran inside, followed closely by a concerned Jun.

"So... Can I ask you a question?" I said to Josh, and he looked down at me.

"I guess you can," he said, looking back down the road.

"What's going on with... With you and Jeonghan? Are you guys like... y'know..." I asked, and Hoshi burst out laughing from Josh's other side.

"No, we're not dating, Akiko, if that's what you're thinking. He's like a brother to me." He sighed sadly and looked down at his feet. "He was the first person who ever actually cared about me. He found me when we were 10. I was starving, alone, freezing to death. He took me in, took care of me. I owe him so much. He saved my life, and still continues to take care of me to this day."

"So... Is that how all of you came to live with Jeonghan?" I asked.

"Yeah," Hoshi said. "I was really badly abused until I was 11. Josh and Jeonghan were 12. They helped me escape, and then I lived with them." He smiled. "Jeonghan's a great guy. He always wants to help people." He looked over at me and said, "Including people like you."

We walked in silence for a while, the only sounds of crickets chirping as the sun began to set. After a while, I could hear the faint sound of rushing water.

"Are we getting close?" I asked, and Josh nodded.

We stopped in front of a clump of bushes in front of a wall of stone and sat down to eat. A few minutes later, Hoshi checked his watch and said, "Let's go down to the waterfall."

We stood up, and I followed Hoshi and Josh towards the rock wall. They were walking straight towards it. Could they walk through walls? Would I be able to follow them?

I watched as Hoshi slid off his backpack and got onto his stomach. He pushed his backpack in front of him and slid forwards, through a tiny hole I hadn't noticed. After a bit of wiggling, he got through. As soon as Hoshi's feet disappeared, Josh followed suit. Before I k new it, Josh's feet were gone and it was my turn.

I slid off my backpack and knelt down, looking at the narrow hole. It was small, barely large enough for a person to fit through, and had sharp, jagged edges. I felt claustrophobia begin to set in just looking at it.

"Come on, Akiko!" Came Josh's voice, so I took a deep breath and pushed my backpack through.

I began to slide through the hole, careful to keep my eyes closed until my head had cleared the other side. I opened my eyes, placing my hands on either side of the hole - no movement. My butt was too large for the tiny hole, keeping me trapped.

I felt an immediate sense of panic and began shoving against the wall. I felt the sharp pieces of stone around the edges digging into my back.

"Akiko?" Josh said as he and Hoshi watched me struggle.

"I'm stuck!" I cried, feeling tears well up in my eyes. Josh grinned, and Hoshi shook his head in amusement.

"Here, give us your hands," Hoshi said as he and Hoshi held out their hands to me. I gave each of them one of my arms, and they began to pull.

After a moment, I cried out, and they stopped pulling, but continued holding my hands. "Just relax, Akiko. We'll get you out faster if you relax." Hoshi said calming voice.

"Again on three." Josh said, and he and Hoshi prepared themselves. "One, two-"

"Three!" A voice on the other side of the wall chimed in, and as Josh and Hoshi leaned back, I felt two hands shove firmly against my butt, and I popped through.

"Are you okay?" Hoshi asked as Josh lifted up my shirt, peering at an angry red mark above my butt.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I said, looking back as a backpack slid through the hole.

"Thanks for the help, Seungkwan," Josh said, and sure enough, Seungkwan's round face popped through the hole.

"An interesting predicament to meet you in," He said to me as he crawled through, grinning. "I'm Seungkwan."

Notes