Samhain

chapter eight: where the priest is

Fuck.

"I was right," San, still groggy from sleep, barks in Wooyoung's direction as everyone rouses from their slumber.

Sleep is still tugging at his consciousness, threatening to pull him under. Wooyoung scrambles out of the nest of blankets and pillows, dodging San as he lunges toward him.

Yunho leaps forward and plants his feet on the ground, throwing his shoulder into San's chest. He slides across the floor as San pushes against him.

Wooyoung, now fully awake and running for his life, dashes across the room and towards the door. Hongjoong outpaces him easily. As Seonghwa and Mingi clamber out of their spots at the table, their leader rushes to block his path.

"Can someone explain what happened?" Hongjoong asks, surveying the four astral travelers that had been deeply asleep only moments ago.

Wooyoung stumbles back a step. He begins to speak, to explain, but San's voice rises once more. His eyes are still puffy from sleep as he strains against Yunho.

"No! Why should we let you speak? I knew it," he snaps. "I knew the stars were gone because of you."

Without hesitation, Mingi rushes to Yunho's side. It takes the strength of both men to keep San from tearing him apart. Wooyoung's chest begins to tighten.

Of course he's cursed. Of course.

His life is like trying to paint over a moldy wall. No matter how many fresh layers of color he adds, all the ugly and broken parts of his past resurface after a while.

"The stars - the stars are gone because of him?" Hongjoong asks incredulously, watching Wooyoung intensely as if he were hiding the cosmos in his pocket.

"Obviously it's because of him," San replies, frustration evident in his voice. "I told you. Damn it, I knew we shouldn't have trusted him." San starts rambling and pacing behind the wall that Mingi and Yunho have made of themselves, arms splayed out to ensure he can't pass through.

"San, be reasonable," Yunho insists, a combination of tiredness and exasperation spreading his voice thin. "We're all in this together now. We have to be. I know what our goddess said, but there has to be a solution other than death."

Wooyoung gulps. Before they left her domain, she gave the werewolves a warning. Whenever he casts magic on someone other than himself, part of his curse clings on to them.

And she left them with a very clear ultimatum; kill Wooyoung - the outsider, break the curse somehow, or his shadows will kill everyone and bring the apocalypse to their realm.

"What other solution is there?" San shouts, getting into Yunho's face. "He endangered our pack and I warned all of you, but no one would listen because you're too busy coddling him."

Yunho shoves San away. "You haven't even given him a chance to speak."

Sometimes Wooyoung feels like he needs a spare heart to feel everything that he feels. The guilt, the regret, the longing for things to be different - it's all overwhelming, and it all consumes him.

"You're cursed." San says this with venom, looking towards Wooyoung again. "He's cursed. And you're still trying to defend him."

"There has to be a reason," Yunho's voice shakes with desperation, carrying the heavy weight of hope on his tongue. "Curses aren't always your fault. Maybe someone is trying to hurt him."