Chapter 5

Seungmin reached into his art bag while Jeongin went to finish up some laundry. The art witch pulled out his phone and went through his contacts, clicking on the number he lovingly saved as “Squirrel Boy”.

“Yo yo, whaddup Minnie?”

Seungmin cringed at the other’s tone. He was trying to sound like a rapper or something. Jisung as a rapper. Isn’t that a ridiculous idea?

“Are you with Felix right now?” Seungmin asked.

“Yeah but he’s doing weird witchcraft stuff at the bakery right now and I’d rather not interrupt him. Why?”

“I need you and Felix to come over to Jeongin’s house as soon as possible. Jeongin needs our help.”

“Got it. We’ll leave as soon as Felix is done and-“

Jisung was interrupted by a loud explosion in the background. A dolphin scream soon came after it, one that Seungmin assumed would belong to Chenle, one of Felix’s employees at the bakery.

“I’m okay!” A cheery voice belonging to Felix yelled.

Seungmin rubbed his temples and gripped his phone harder. While Felix was a really good cook and an even better baker, the kitchen witch tended to experiment a lot with his potions and food. His bakery not only sold sweets, but potions as well.

“Okay well just come over when you’re ready,” Seungmin sighed, “but leave soon alright, especially before the sun sets Jisung. You know how sleepy you get at dusk.”

Jisung was a diurnal witch, meaning his powers were strongest during the day. The witch would be a bright ball of energy all day but pretty much pass out right when the sun sets.

“Got it! See you later~” Jisung chirped before hanging up.

All four witches sat in Jeongin’s living room while eating some delivery food he had gotten them for dinner.

“So... are we just gonna ignore the huge elephant in the room?” Seungmin started.

Jeongin was equally as concerned. Everyone else stopped chewing and looked in Felix’s direction. The kitchen witch was still too busy slurping his ramen. He looked around at everyone and swallowed his food.

“Why are you and Jeongin looking at me like that?” Felix asked Seungmin.

The art witch just pointed to Felix’s head and then he finally understood.

“Oh this?” Felix asked nonchalantly while touching the orange cat ears on his head. “It’s actually a pretty funny story. I had gotten a request from Ten and YangYang to make a treat that was cat friendly. So I was trying to concoct some cookies that could be edible for cats, but I accidentally added in the sage too early. So the whole thing kinda just exploded and this happened.”

Jeongin furrowed his eyebrows, still in disbelief with how calm Felix was about this. “It’s not permanent, right?”

“Nope. It’ll go away in the morning. Hopefully,” Felix replied while whispering that last word.

Jisung giggled and brought his hands up to touch Felix’s cat ears too. “They’re kinda cute on you. It’s definitely a look”

Seungmin rolled his eyes. Classic optimistic Jisung. His cheerful and bright behavior only encouraged Felix’s crazy antics.

They all finished up their food and Jeongin got straight to business. He broke out his deck of tarot cards and shuffled them in the air using levitation. Jisung stared at the card trick, still amazed at the younger’s skills despite knowing him for a long time.

“So why are we here exactly?” Felix asked.

“I’ll tell you after I read your futures. It’s best if I do it in that order,” Jeongin said.

They all were sitting at Jeongin’s main table he used for work, with Jeongin sat on one side and the other three sat on the opposite. The divination witch was still shuffling the deck, the cards flying through the air while stacking, mixing, and flipping. Once satisfied, Jeongin stuck out his palm and the neat stack of cards landed perfectly in his grasp. He laid them out in his hands, facing down.

“Alright Jisung, you first. Pick two cards,” Jeongin instructed.

Jisung chose two random cards and placed it on the table face down. He already had a pretty good idea of the process since he’d seen Jeongin do it before. The divination witch set down the deck and flipped over Jisung’s first card.

The card showed a smokey cloud of darkness. It looked like a dark nothingness ready to swallow anything in its path.

Jeongin tensed as he felt it again. It was subtle in his body, but he felt one of the four energies from earlier in the day while touching the card. It was not only a sign, but a guide for Jeongin’s interpretation as well.

“There’s a boy in your future. Another witch, whose powers are as dark and mysterious as the night itself. He is your opposite in almost every way,” Jeongin revealed. His eyes looked spaced out and he refused to make eye contact, but that was just him being focused.

Jisung stared at the card. He thought about what this person would be like. If they were Jisung’s opposite in every way, the witch must be a nocturnal witch. This information was interesting to say the least. He would never have imagined himself being close with someone whose powers were so drastically different from his own.

Jeongin moved onto the next card. He flipped it over and it showed the deep depths of a forest. The leaves on the trees were dark, and the bark up the trunks were almost solid black. The whole place looked like a setting for some fairytale villain to live in.

“This boy lives near the heart of a dark forest. The forest and the boy depend on each other, having a powerful mutual bond. This forest is filled with creatures of the night. They protect him. The boy overflows with dark energy, and the forest feeds off of that.”

Jeongin finally went out of his trance and removed his hand from the second card, the energy he felt immediately leaving him.

All Jisung could do was just take a deep breath. He glanced over to his right where Felix and Seungmin were looking at him, listening in on the whole thing.

“And do you know what this person means to me in the future?” Jisung asked, turning back to Jeongin.

The younger shook his head. “What I just told you is all I know.”

Jeongin quickly moved on to Felix’s reading, giving Jisung time to process things. After the kitchen witch chose his two cards, Jeongin flipped over the first one. It showed a picture of different types of moons in a line, illustrating the different phases that the moon would go through.

“In your future Felix, I also see a boy. A witch to be more specific. This witch has a strong connection with the moon. His powers line up with its phases and the light from it gives him strength. His heart is filled with pain, and his hatred for humans is strong.”

Felix didn’t say anything to this yet, so Jeongin moved on.

He flipped over the second card. It showed an identical picture to Jisung’s second card, the dark forest. This must mean that the two witches Jeongin had talked about lived in the same area.

“This boy also lives near the heart of the forest. Many generations of his family had lived there. He closely studies this forest and all its living creatures. He studies its energy and behaviors.”

Felix ran his tongue against the inside of his cheek, a nervous habit of his. He was confused, yet intrigued. A witch with a strong connection to the moon must be a lunar witch. And Jeongin had stated that the boy in his future lived in the same forest as Jisung’s boy.

Jeongin finally went in to read Seungmin’s fortune, the art witch doing the same action as the two witches had previously done before him.

The first card showed a picture of various seashells all in a circle, with one big starfish in the middle.

“There is also a boy in your future-“

Jeongin got interrupted when both Jisung and Felix screamed ‘WHAT’ at the top of their lungs in unison. Jeongin shot them a glare and put a finger up to his mouth, signaling for them to be quiet.

“As I was saying there is a boy in your future. A witch to be exact. He has a strong connection with the sea. He’s been raised in an environment where he feels out of place, his identity being an embarrassment to him for many years. Most creatures around him don’t accept him.”

Jeongin flipped over the second card. It showed a picture of a beautiful beach. The sky was clear blue and the waters glistened in the light.

“This witch lives in both the water and the land. He had been raised by five—wait scratch that... seven beings that live in the sea. But not being aquatic himself, the boy has to spend time out of the water, making him even more different from those around him.”

Jeongin straightened his posture and held out his hand. All of the tarot cards floated in the air, shuffling themselves again. After a few moments, the cards went back into a neat stack onto his hand. He put the cards back into their wooden box and glanced up at his friends.

Jisung and Felix looked like they were trying to hold in some big dramatic speech waiting slip out of their mouths any moment, and Seungmin just sat there completely dazed.

“I’m gonna finally tell you guys what we do with this information. But first... it seems like you two have something to say,” He directed at the impatient duo. He knew he’d regret prompting them, but honestly if they didn’t get it out now then they would probably interrupt Jeongin later.

“SEUNGMIN HAS A SOULMATE!” Jisung blurted.

“Oh my god, I was thinking the exact same thing!” Felix exclaimed with his cat ears perking up.

Jeongin sighed. “Guys, it’s not clear what your relationship with these boys in your future will be like. They’re not your soulmates. Stop jumping to conclusions-“

“And Seungmin’s soulmate is some sea witch too! What if he’s like a hot surfer dude? I always thought Seungmin would marry a librarian or something,” Jisung interrupted.

“Me too! But Sung, what about our soulmates?” Felix gasped.

“Let’s see. You have a lunar witch and I have a nocturnal witch. Got it! You’ve got yourself an emo soulmate and I’ve got myself a goth one. Or is it the other way around? I actually forgot the difference between emos and goths.”

Jeongin was tempted to bang his head on the table hard enough to knock him unconscious when he felt a hand place itself on top of his own. He gazed up at Seungmin, who gave him a tired look.

“How about you just tell them both tomorrow? We can all meet up again. It’s getting late and soon Jisung will pass out and I don’t wanna help Felix carry him home,” He chuckled.

Jeongin nodded and he got up from the table. All of the witches headed toward the door and the ones leaving put on their shoes.

“And remember, whatever was said in here today stays in here, you got that?” Jeongin reminded them.

“Yes sir,” Felix snorted and gave a fake salute.

Jisung made the motion of zipping his lips, locking them, and throwing away an imaginary key.

“You two go on without me. I need to talk with Innie about something,” Seungmin said.

The other two witches who were about to leave shrugged and walked out the door together, still animatedly talking about the idea of “soulmates”.

Jeongin leaned against the wall and stared at Seungmin. “What did you want to talk about?”

“You said earlier that there were four energies that you sensed while meditating. I’m guessing you only felt three of the four when you read our futures just now?”

“Yeah. I didn’t feel the fourth energy yet. I’m thinking it might have to do with that one being more prominent in my own future, but I probably can’t do a reading on myself without misinterpreting things.”

Seungmin frowned. “Hm, maybe for that one just try to meditate again and see if you can feel it. I know it’s not much, but I don’t think you have any other options at this point.”

“You’re right. But thanks Seungmin. I really appreciate you coming to visit me and even inviting the others over for me.”

“No problem,” Seungmin replied.

The art witch looked shyly to the side, eyes on the floor. “Actually there’s one more thing I wanted to talk with you about.”

“Okay...” Jeongin mumbled, noticing how Seungmin’s face flushed a subtle pink.

“The boy in my future and the sign from the tea leaves earlier... are they connected in any way?” He asked.

Jeongin couldn’t help but flash a sly smile. He’d never seen Seungmin so flustered about anything before. This was gonna be fun.

“I’ll let you connect the dots and that one. See you tomorrow,” Jeongin said while opening the door for Seungmin.

The art witch waved him goodbye and walked off towards the setting sun on the horizon. Jeongin shut the door and cleaned up a few things before heading to his room. He lit a few candles and burned some incense, the magical aromas perfectly complimenting each other. He sat criss-crossed on the floor and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths and clearing his mind. It didn’t take long for Jeongin’s brain to drift to another place, the lightness of his body allowing him to levitate a few feet off the ground. He tried his best to focus on any familiar energies. After ten minutes he was almost ready to give up, but then something caught his attention. It didn’t feel like an energy, but instead, he heard something. He heard soft humming making out a calming tune. Jeongin knew there was no way the humming was coming from his physical surroundings because Jeongin already made sure his body blocked out any sounds from the outside. If there was an actual sound that Jeongin needed to hear, he would have felt the vibrations with it. But here was no vibration with this humming. The sound just played over and over in Jeongin’s head. The divination witch knew that this had to be the fourth energy.

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