10 - stormy seas

                                    

                                          
“This is where the woman said the underground tunnel would begin.” 
Given the wee hours of the night, Soobin kept his voice low as he searched the nightly shadows for Yeonjun's gaze. 
There would have been a storm drain leading down into an adjacent passage a few street junctions ago, but they had decided not to waste time taking a look at the blocking rampart themselves because Yeonjun had seen it enough times to confirm that at least that part of the old lady's story wasn't made up of thin air. 
When Soobin and Beomgyu had burst through the back doors of their housing, the others had already been back for some time. 
A wide grin had spread into Taehyun's cheeks as he had announced that he had just finished sorting his finds into his loads of cupboards and drawers. 
Kai had joined them at the dining table after Beomgyu's shout to stop what they were doing right now had been enough a reason to interrupt his training session early, eyes free of the migraining strain that usually befell him after working hard and long hours on his skills. 
Yeonjun had been in the midst of training, too, pearls of sweat dripping from his jaw as he had leaned against the kitchen counter and reached for a damp towel, and Soobin had been relieved to hear Beomgyu already discussing the day’s events because Soobin was yet to catch his breath from pacing down the slippery streets and Yeonjun being all hard, concentrated edges under his flushed cheeks and golden-wired eyes. 
As Beomgyu had went on about the clues and directions they had allegedly been given, Soobin couldn't stop watching the skeptic frown deepening between Yeonjun's brows and think about how silly it sounded – a cranky, old woman trading promising words for valuable jewelry and two boys hanging on to her every syllable. 
But Soobin had felt the magic that had radiated off her, sensed her wise knowledge, and he knew that the rest of them wanted to believe it, too. 
That finding the books wasn't a hopeless delusion anymore. 
Reluctance had weaved through the silence but they had eventually agreed to it and talked through the details of how they would explore their new-found knowledge. 
Yeonjun had assigned Taehyun, Kai, and Beomgyu to meet with the Phantom Coven and prepare everything for the show in the next day's evening while he and Soobin would see if they could find the outpost. 

They didn't know how long they would be on the road, part of them hardly believed in finding anything at all, but since they had to be back by nightfall in any case, it was still dark out when Soobin and Yeonjun arrived above where the barricade was located. 
“You were right, I can feel the tunnels underneath,” Yeonjun whispered, clouds forming and dissipating around his lips just as fast as he spoke. 
Like ley lines, the tunnels had palpated under Soobin's soles the entire walk here, the vibration turning eager as Soobin took a few steps in the right direction. 
Yeonjun's warm breath reached the back of Soobin's neck before he could find the words to announce that he had found the right direction. 
A shiver ran down Soobin's spine, warm and electrifying, and he wondered if Yeonjun was doing it on purpose – standing so close his breath tickled the exposed skin of his neck, brushing his shoulder against his when he passed Soobin and said, 'this way', stealing glances he didn't bother to cover up as they walked side by side. 
As they reached the outskirts of Taikallin, paved streets and brick walls turned into cart tracks and wet grass squishing underneath their feet. 
It was one of those bleak winter days where the raw weather ate away at any patch of exposed skin yet it wasn't quite cold enough to keep the fallen snow in its dreamy, cotton state.