Enchanted | KYS

Spooky Times and Spy work

"-And then I slapped him in the face, but he told me to do it harder, so I got weirded out and left." Hongjoong came to the end of his story with a shudder and a concerned expression on his face. His eyes were unfocused as he stared into the fire that danced amid the circle they had formed, lost in his own traumatic thoughts.

The team had been instructed to stake out at the far end, at the back of the island, since the air mages had heard of some disturbances in the winds. It was most likely some lost sailors, as always, but after Yeosang's dream, the elders didn't want to take any chances. The team sat around the circle, going around and telling their weird anecdotes to keep everyone entertained; they had to stay here for a few days after all. Despite the chill that settled around the forest, Sky had to admit that this was fun. It reminded her of the time she spent with the guys lying around under the starry sky back on the mainland. She watched as Mingi went on to tell the story of the infamous palace ghost that haunted the abandoned hallways.

It was a rainy afternoon, though one couldn't tell the time because of the clouds that had swallowed up the sun the entire day. Mingi was just a mere trainee back then, fresh into the academy as per Sky's father's wishes. He was running some errands around the west wing of the castle and ended up losing his way. He walked and walked, hoping to find at least a servant who could show him the right way, but hours passed and he saw no one. He tried to peek his head out from one of the windows to see exactly where he was, only to find himself in a place he'd never seen around the castle before. The terrain, the vegetation—nothing matched that around the castle. That's when he heard it—the voice of a girl, roughly in her early to mid-twenties. "It seems you wandered off to the wrong place." She giggled, smiling at him with such adoration that it was hard to tell what her intentions were. She reached out to him, her hands translucent yet glowing with a golden shine that lit up the whole room. She put two fingers on his forehead. Mingi could see that they were there, but he never felt the contact on his skin. "I'll send you back to where you came from." She chirped, "Don't go wandering around in strange places from now on. There are much scarier creatures roaming around here than I." Then Mingi blacked out. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the infirmary bed with a burning fever.

"Woah, that's scary." Wooyoung screeched, wrapping his arms around a resistant-looking Yeosang, who made noises of displeasure but did nothing to move away from the red-haired guy.

"From what you said, isn't she a fairy more than a ghost?" Yeosang wondered. The rest of the guys seemed to get what he said as well.

"Nah, she was way too ugly to be a fairy," Mingi said before a hand slapped the back of his head. Unsurprisingly, it was Yunho's. This seems to have become almost routine between them. "Mhm, and you'll do just the smartest thing ever by calling her ugly out loud. What if she hears you?" Mingi's eyes widened at that. He immediately got on his knees, begging the "golden girl" to forgive him just this once.

"I still think she was a fairy. No ghost would've been so kind as she was." The rest of the guys chimed in with their own noises of agreement.

"Yeah, from what I've heard, the castle ghosts aren't as kind as she was," Sky added.

"You've heard of them as well?" Mingi looked at her in surprise. He didn't quite expect even the royal family to know of these supernatural beings.

"Didn't you hear of Anna?" She questioned him back. "Pale girl, green eyes, beautiful ginger hair. She haunts my hallway all the time!" Sky watched all the colour leave the fire mage's face. He pulled his arms closer, his hands curling into fists, as he listened raptly to what Sky said. 'Heh,' she thought. 'This idiot.' Of course, the story was a popular one among the servants of the palace, but the fact that Sky had ever met this Anna was debatable. However, she was having too much fun scaring the life out of this dear childhood friend of hers, so there was no stopping her now. "Years ago, when you and I were babies, Anna was one of the workers in the palace. She was beautiful, so much so that it's said she could charm a dead man out of death's cold clutches. On top of that, she was a cheery young woman, always smiling that dazzling smile of hers. Of course, that meant she had many people who wanted her. One of them was an old general, not quite of any use on the battlefield anymore, but Father still kept him around for counsel. The general was head over heels for her, and despite the constant rejection, he never stopped in his efforts to woo her. One day, he had finally had enough and pinned the poor girl to the wall right next to the entrance to my room. He was trying to force himself upon her as Anna fought for her life." Sky sighed animatedly, watching as the guys looked at her eagerly. "Unfortunately, the old general's wife walked in. When demanded an explanation, the general, that bastard, blamed poor Anna for everything, deeming her a witch and saying how she had put a charm on her to get into his bed and overtake all his fortune. Anna begged and pleaded, telling her that was not the case, but the wife refused to listen. Under the influence of her anger, the wife ordered her guard to drag her by her tresses and throw her down the window. Anna fought with all she had; she screamed till she lost her voice, but the wife had shut her ears to her words. She was dropped down the castle, right into the cliff, and not even her remains were found." She finished her little story, surprised at the crowd staring at her like owls.