I woke up disoriented. I couldn’t figure out where I was, and I couldn’t move my legs. Memories of a subway and being chased by some man flooded back to me, and I panicked. I sat up quickly, falling off the edge of the bed as the blankets tangled around my legs. I lay there on my back as Sunny poked her head over the edge of her own bed to look at me.

“Good morning,” I said, grinning to her. She smiled then rolled back over. I kicked the blankets off and picked myself up, plopping down on the bed beside her.

“Who was that guy yesterday?” I asked. Sunny groaned at my sudden question and reopened her eyes. She sat up, tucking her legs under her and covering herself up with her blanket.

“Tell me what you know about Magic Users,” she said after a while. It wasn’t really an answer, but I figured we might get there eventually if I went along. I looked down at my hands, trying to recall anything I had heard about the subject. I had never really paid attention to them until my dad had mentioned something about them a few years before his accident.

I took a breath, paused, then began. “Magic Users are people born with the ability to use magic. Or not specifically magic, but control elements, and stuff like that,” I started, glancing up and Sunny. She nodded to me and I continued. “There are Magic Users and ‘Normies’," I said with air-quotes, "people who can’t use powers. Some Normies were somehow gifted with powers later on in life, and became what we call Links,” I stated, looking up at Sunny again.

“And tell me about the conflict going on now,” she said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Well, if a Link trains long enough, they can become even more powerful than a Magic User, and so they’re considered threats, since the Magic Users want to take over the government. The Links know they can resist the Magic Users when they attack, and can go up against them without too much fear,” I said.

Sunny nodded, then continued for me.

“Links are able to make contracts with Normies and Magic Users alike, to increase the abilities of both. I’m not too sure of the details of it myself, but the person we’re going to see does. But I do know that if a Magic User is present when a Link’s abilities are activated, they are able to force them into a contract and make them their slaves.”

She looked away from me, standing up and retrieving her backpack. She pulled out a big yellow envelope, handing it to me. On the front it read ‘To my daughter, Lee Sunkyu. Confidential.’ I opened it up, revealing a few letters written by our dad. I took out the first one, reading it to myself.

The information within this packet is for my eldest daughter, Lee Sunkyu, should my death ever occur. My son, Lee Sungjong, is not to be told until she feels it is appropriate.

My dear Sunny,

If you are reading this, then I have passed on, whether it be from natural causes, an accident, or a conspiracy. I give my love and my blessings to you and your brother, and hope that you both live long, fulfilled lives.

Your mom and I never told you this, because we felt it wasn’t necessary while we were still alive, and present within your lives. I was born a Magic User, with the ability to alter the movement and density of water. Rather pointless if you ask me. Your mom was a Link, with the ability to tell if a person contained an inactive Link ability within them. We tried it on the two of you, but, we believe because of your young ages, she was unable to tell.

You most likely already know this, but if a Magic User is there when a Link’s ability is activated, they can force them into a contract and make them mindless puppets, and most of the time use them as weapons, along with their own abilities.

I fear that one or both of you may be Links, and that puts you in danger of being tracked by Magic Users. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen how that contract is made and how it works, and I hope never for it to happen to you. If for any reason the Magic Users move closer to where you live, I want you to leave. Visit my friend, the one I’ve told you of before, he will take care of you for as long as he can.

With all of the love in the world,

Your Papa, Jihoon

I looked up at Sunny, then back down at the letter.

“Papa was a Magic User? And Mom was a Link?” Sunny just nodded to me. I scanned over the letter again just to make sure.

“So… that man, he was a Magic Users wasn’t he? He knows one of us is a Link, and he wants to force us into a contract…” I said, almost to myself.

Sunny sat back down next to me, playing with her hair.
“I probably should have told you sooner, but I thought we were safe and wouldn’t have to worry about it. I figured, if we were Links, we might activate before a Magic User got anywhere near us, so we wouldn’t have to worry.” She quickly mumbled.

“It’s ok, Sunny, I’m not mad or anything. I understa-“ Sunny’s hand shot over my mouth, her eyes going wide as she watched the door. I removed her hand, looking at the door for a moment, then looking back at her.

“Sorry, I thought I heard something. Come one, let’s get out of here,” she said as she picked up her bag again.

“Eeeww, we don’t even get to change?” I whined as I picked up my own bag.

“Not right now; later. I’m starting to feel confined, and I don’t like it.” We dropped off our room keys, and waved to the old man on the way out.

Now that I was awake while outside, I realized the motel seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. The gray morning light dimly lit  the sparse forest around us, and let us see quite a way down the road that passed in front of the motel. The sun was just behind the building, casting a long, cold shadow over us.

Sunny turned to our right, and began walking down the side of the empty road. I hoisted up my bag and followed her, keeping just a few steps behind. I would have asked more questions about the man and our parents and what she knew of Magic Users, but there was a feeling in the air that noise wasn't welcome. I hoped it was just an early morning thing.

The silence was broken by the roar of an old car approaching from behind us. We slowed down, and Sunny waved down the driver as they drew closer. The window rolled down as they stopped, and a man's voice greeted us.

"Morning! What can I do for you?" he asked. I leaned over, looking in to see a middle aged, balding man. He looked nice enough, or as nice as anyone could in the current situation.

"We need a ride, would that be alright with you?" Sunny asked, making herself look cute but strong at the same time. I don't know how she managed it, but she had been doing it since we started hitchhiking.

"Sure thing! Where to, young lady?" he asked as we started getting in the back of the car, putting our bags between us.

"As far north east as your route will take us. We don't want to be too much of an inconvenience," Sunny replied.

The man grinned. "Not at all. Now, where are two young kids like you going by yourselves?" Sunny and I looked at each other. None of the other drivers asked us anything, and we hadn't really gotten to making up a cover story. Sunny looked confused, like she wasn't sure if she should lie or just not tell the full truth.

"We would rather keep that to ourselves," I quickly replied. It wasn't at all a satisfactory answer, but I wasn't the one putting up the nice act for rides, so I didn't feel like I had to come up with a cover story.

"Running away from home?" the man asked. I played along with it, and looked out the window like I didn't want to talk about it. Sunny got what was going on, and looked down at her lap like she was embarrassed. The man grinned again, and gave a knowing chuckle, but thankfully didn't pry us with any more questions.

The trees passed by quickly, and soon thinned out into fields and hills. I saw several farms, with rows of newly sprouted plants, of exactly what I didn't know. There were herds of cows and a few calves, and even some horses running along the fence. In the distance in front of us, the hazy outline of a city appeared. It was huge, and I started to realize just how far from home in our little city we were.

"I can go ahead and take you to the city, but that's as far as I go. My home is a few miles west of here," the man said, motioning to his left with his thumb. Sunny just nodded, keeping her eyes on the fields around us.

We reached the edge of the city surprisingly quickly, and the man dropped us off at a small park in the middle of a residential area. We grabbed our stuff and thanked him, Sunny wishing him a safe trip home.

She put down her bag as the man drove away, pulling out her wallet and counting our money. "We should have enough to take the subway to the other end of the city. And we can go ahead and change in the restrooms there," she said as she put everything away.

"Thank goodness," I sighed as we began walking toward the center of the city. We walked through several blocks of residential area, not really seeing many people, only a few entering and leaving their homes. We had to backtrack once because of a scary looking stray, which started barking at us like crazy when it spotted us. After what seemed like forever, we stumbled across a huge, open-air market.

Stores had their fronts opened up, with goods placed out to attracts customers; stalls were set up in the middle of the street and on any open space along the sides. There was fresh food and trinkets, clothes, small furniture, an antique store, even someone selling home-made rugs and carpets. There was a huge crowd of people, slowly making their way through, squeezing past each other, constantly moving and talking. It was one of the most exciting things I had seen in quite a while.

Sunny and I slowly began making our way through the crowd, toward the large subway sign we spotted in the middle of the sidewalk, near the other end of the market. We stopped part way through, next to a fruit stand, and Sunny went to buy us something decent to eat, since neither of us had eaten since lunch the day before. All that we packed in our bags were granola bars and little snack packs. I glanced around as she purchased some fruit, watching the people around us.

There was one man in particular, who looked a bit too familiar. He was in casual clothes, but if his hair was out of it's ponytail, and if you took off his sunglasses-

I tugged on Sunny's sleeve as she came back with a couple of apples. She looked up at me and I nodded in the direction of the man. I heard her let out a quiet gasp, and we both turned away from him. It didn't seem like he had seen either of us, and if we moved quickly he might not notice us at all.

We shifted our way through the crowd, using the people to block his sight of us, while making sure to keep an eye on him when we could. He kept glancing around, most likely searching for us, and would stop every once in a while to look at his cell.

He looked down at it again, just as I glanced over at him. He stopped for a moment, an odd, unreadable look on his face, and stopped to text. He turned around, put his phone in his back pocket, and walked away. I stopped, grabbing Sunny's arm to catch her attention. We watched him make his way to the end of the market furthest from us, and disappear into the city.

I stood there staring at the place where he had left until Sunny took my be the hand and guided me the rest of the way to the subway station.

"Why did he just leave? I thought he was after us..." I muttered, more to myself than to anyone.

"I don't know, but now isn't the time to be asking questions. Let's just change and go before he gets back," Sunny said, heading off to the women's restroom to changed. I shook my head, and headed off to the men's to do the same.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I passed by the sinks and cringed. It was a wonder he hadn't spotted us, I was a mess. Sunny wasn't any better, but I hadn't realized it until now. I changed into some fresh clothes; a comfortable, simple navy blue tee, and some gray sweats. Not my most fashionable clothes, but they worked, especially for travel. I washed off my face and finger-combed my hair as best I could, trying to get rid of the tired, worn look. It didn't help much.

After a few more minutes of my futile attempts to make myself more presentable, I went and found Sunny. She had done pretty much the same thing, and was in her own black sweats and a deep red hoddie. We got our tickets and boarded the subway. It was pretty packed, so we found a place for Sunny to sit, and I stood next to her.

Every stop, people shoved past us to clamor out, and more people shoved past us to get in. It was pretty hectic, and I'm sure some man tried to me once. After that incident, Sunny found a place for us where we could both sit. The ride took a good hour, but we finally stopped at the other end of the city. We made our way off with a few other people, into a somewhat rundown station. There was graffiti on the wall and some trash here and there, but at least this time there was no weird smell. We exited the station into an older part of the city, with a few office buildings here and there, some diners, and houses further down.

Sunny figured out which way was north, and started walking again. "He should live only a few miles away from here, but it's gonna take us a few hours to get there," she said as she motioned for me to start following her. We walked for a while, until we made it out of the comercial part of the city. The houses started growing further and further apart, and got much nicer as we went. The grass in the yards were green, and well kept gardens lined the porches. It all looked so peaceful.

We took breaks every once in a while, resting our feet and getting drinks. We broke out our granola bars and munched on those as we walked along in otherwise silence. The sun hit it's peak just as we cleared the last few homes at the city limits. We branched off the main road, onto a somewhat unused dirt road, curving around hills dotted with a few trees. Weeds spilled over onto the road, and tire tracks were just barely visible, making it seem more like a footpath.

About half an hour after turning onto the dirt road, we walked around a large hill, to be met by a huge, Victorian style farmhouse. It was well kept, with white siding and a light brown shingled roof. Neatly trimmed bushed lined the porch and walkway, and the yard smelled freshly cut. Young trees dotted the area beside the home, and a few saplings were even placed in the front. An old, light blue truck sat in the driveway, with only a few scratches and dents.

Sunny walked up to the door of the farmhouse, and pressed the doorbell. Nothing happened. She pressed it again, and when nothing still happened, she knocked on the door. A few moments later, a young man opened the door. He had on grungy clothes, with oil and grease stains, and a black smear on his cheek. His hands and halfway up his arms were covered in grease, and an odd looking wrench was sticking out of his back pocket.

He looked at us in mild surprise, and Sunny gave him a slight bow.

"Hello, Junsu. Remember us? You knew our Papa," she said with a slight smile. Junsu's surprise was replaced with recognition then with a look of anxiety. He glanced around, then silently ushered us inside his home.

The front door led directly to the dining room, which was lightly decorated with a small square wooden table and matching chairs. A simple china hutch held some expensive looking dinnerware, and next to it was a small wine rack, complete with old wine bottles, original corks and all. To to the left was a small hallway possibly leading to a study and bathroom, some stairs, and peeking through a small doorway was a cozy looking living room. Directly in front of us was a kitchen and small nook with a window seat facing the east.

I glanced around, taking it all in as quickly as I could. From what I had gotten from the letter, we might be staying here a while. Junsu took another look outside, then quietly shut the door. He turned to us, arms folded over his chest.

"Now, there's only one reason you would be here. What happened?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

omigosh, I finally had time to sit and write!

And I know this is a little late, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! :3