[OP: "Lovely"--Billie Eilish]

Rumi and Mira quickly discussed the situation.

Neither of them wanted to leave Zoey, though they couldn't get to her, but they knew the demons would show themselves any second.

"Let's just take either end of the hallway and watch for it," Rumi said. "Raven will get Romance, and, if the red lines were over that I don't think the tear was, though, it sounds suspicious. Morph will try to clear the hospital floor, that's all we can do."

"I'm noticing you're at a disadvantage when the demons attack in a crowded place," Jinu said. "How did you get around that all this time?"

"Usually they follow us so it's when we're alone," Rumi said. "Starting to think those were the easy days," with an eye roll.

She took Jinu with her to the far end of the hall.

This left Mira and Abby to watch that corner for any sign of demons.

O course, the demons could have shown up anywhere else too, but looking for them meant separated and they'd be more likely to attack Zoey and Mystery.

Mira, since she had nothing else to do but watch, took the chance to demand an explanation from Abby for his offended sounding words.

Of course, the way she said it was different.

"So what is your problem?" she said. "You've acted weird since easier."

"I don't have a problem," Abby denied it.

"Don't lie to me." Mira frowned. "Look, just because I said what I said, didn't mean you had to take it personally."

"I don't see any other way to take it" Abby didn't bother to deny that it was that.

"I was talking about Jinu," Mira countered.

"If it applies to Jinu, then it applies to us all, you realize that? All of us made bad choices..."

"Jinu was different, he abandoned his family, chose an easy life... If it was just to cover a sin, I could understand that choice more..." Mira scowled to herself.

"Maybe it does sound worse, but I don't think it matters, because no matter what, we all only get one chance to start over again," Abby still sounded mad, though with some reason maybe. "Why does the kind of sin change anything? If he's just as sorry for it as anyone else...Do you expect someone to be perfect?"

"Of course snot."

"Then what? I don't think you're being fair."

"Where is this coming from?" Mira was getting more defensive. "Before you said my concerns were valid, and now you're saying I'm being unfair."

"I think not trusting us while we were still pawns is one thing, and maybe, not trusting us fully while we're still learning, that's understandable...but I don't know, I think acting like Jinu is irredeemable is too far. Like if any of ours are, where does it stop then? When we start deciding who does and doesn't deserve a chance, not based on what they want, but on what we think is unforgivable? Who made us the judge of that?"

Mira had no answer for him.

In fact, she really wasn't anyone to judge anyway. She was hardly free from mistakes herself.

The truth of the matter was, it wasn't even really that.

Abby had been right before, she was jealous of Jinu taking away the attention of one of her friends...and she resented Mystery doing the same thing.

Because they were moving farther away from her, and the more they did that, the more things change, the more Mira would feel left behind by them, no matter how much they tried to keep things the same, she knew they wouldn't be the same.

That thought scared her.

And, discounting Jinu on the basis of his past was just an excuse, it was clear it was, because she had let go of Raven's past much faster, and hers was probably far worse, or at least it was just as bad.

But seeing this now, didn't make her feel any better.

She was annoyed with Abby for making her question her own assumptions without even really trying to, it was just hard to argue with the way he viewed people, it was too simple...

She sighed and leaned on the wall.

"I don't actually think that," she family admitted.

Most would not have admitted to it right away, but Mira was honest to a fault at times, and once she knew her own reasoning, was quick to say it even when it might be better not to.

Abby at least didn't say she was lying.

"It's not?" he said instead. Albeit skeptically.

"No, I still don't like what he did, but, I guess anyone could see he is sorry, in his way," Mira said very reluctantly. "And maybe, I wouldn't care about it if he'd just leave... I don't like how everything changed because of him. And at bottom, it means that Zoey and I were never good enough for Rumi... and all along, that was true. Maybe that's a petty reason, but..."

"Which sounds liek you are jealous of him."

"So maybe that is true!" Mira was very defensive again. "Go ahead, mock me for it! I know, it's pathetic, right? Well, not like it changes anything..."

"You're seriously admitting that now?" Abby sounded more surprised than mocking. "You denied that like...20 minutes ago."

"I thought about it..."

"You just thought about it...that quickly?"

"Like I can't think now?" Testily.

"Wow..."

"Wow what? Stop acting like such a smug jerk." Mira was still mad.

"I'm not smug, just surprised... So that's the reason for it all...well, that makes sense."

"Now it makes sense?"

"It is a lot of changes, so it makes sense to not like it..." Abby thought. "I guess I forgot how weird this has to be. For us, sure it's just freedom from Gwi-ma, but this is all three of yours entire reason for existing...defeating Gwi-ma as a group, it's not just a job...so, it must be weird to have it changed just like that."

"You don't have to pretend to be sympathetic," Mira sighed. "Well, there's no point dwelling on it, that's all...can't do anything about everything changing... Like I said before, we've been wrong about a lot... maybe it was not our fault, Celine never taught us any different, but, when it's your whole life, your whole job, and you find out you're not that good at it, it's a slap in the face. I guess, on top of that, Rumi just moves farther and farther away from us, remaking the honmoon didn't change that...it just made it more clear."

She thought: "But , I also... always knew there was something she wanted more than just for Huntrix to succeed, she treated it like it was something she had to accomplish, whatever came after that, we never discussed it, but she must have always felt like it wasn't enough to just do what we did."

"But didn't you talk about after if the...golden thing happens that you all talked about before?"

"Nope...I guess I thought we'd retire...and I don't know what we'd have done if it worked. This is our purpose...I didn't care as long as if we stay friends. We're like family..." Mira realized that she really had no clue.

"We're in the same boat there," Abby reflected. "Insane to realize none of us have the slightest idea what to do once this finally ends. Don't even remember where we're from still... Everything will change for us too, since we can't go back to being pop stars either... Maybe that just hasn't sunk in yet."

"And it sounds scary if it does," Mira stated. "Life is just not predictable, for us it's supposed to be straightforward, but it's not. For a long time the hunters thing went on the exact same way, and then Rumi's mom died, and we ended up starting something completely different than before...I have no idea why it was us, and why it happened this way... It's like being lied to but I don't even think I can blame Celine for it. And why am I the one it bothers the most? Rumi and Zoey seem to like it, almost."

"So you don't know what bothers you?"

"I guess I just can't get into it the way they do," was Mira's best guess.. "I guess I don't have the same sense of adventure about changing things. I was fine with the Golden idea, but there's no way we're actually doing it, not now. I thought this project was going to be short stem, but I don't think Rumi thinks of it as short term now...she wants to keep it going... Find more people who need help the same way... I'm sure she'd like doing that, she likes saving people for  themselves...Zoey is fine with whatever Rumi want to do..."

She trailed off.

She wasn't going to start crying, not now!

Why did she say all that? She couldn't seem to keep from doing it these days.

"I see," Abby could't give her a solution, what would he know? "Well, I'm sorry, if that means anything...sounds rough."

"It's not your fault," Mira glanced at the ceiling again but still detected no change. "It would have happened anyway...I realized that a while ago. Just needed something to set it off."

"I wish I could say something that would help but I'm just as lost as you are bout the future," Abby admitted. "All of us are, I would think the hunters would have the answer, but none of you do either."

"I think we hoped that Raven and Morph would know, but...I don't think they do. Even their mentor doesn't, and she knows 'everything' according to them."

"Maybe no one person knows the future that well," Abby suggested. "Still, not like most people even have something like the Honmoon and beings hunters to go by. It just makes you the same as everyone else, all of us have no clue."

"We're not supposed to be the same as everyone else..."

"That is what you all keep saying, but that just sounds like it would make it worse, not better."

"It's a high calling, being the only three hunters in the world."

"Just sounds lonely to me," Abby didn't say this like it was a profound thought.

But Mira had to stop and think about it.

The hunters were a team, but, was a three-fold team of women really enough for everyone?

Rums had wanted more.

Was it just the truth that the hunters were too self contained?

She never thought of it being a problem before, but maybe the last few weeks had taught Mira they relied on other people without knowing it. There was Bobby, and they wouldn't have got his arm without the mutants' help, call it divine intervention our just a crazy coincidence...

And even the Saja Boys had been useful, despite all expectations.

And she was talking to someone else right now instead of either of her friends, because her friends just didn't get it...

So clearly...there was room for other things outside Huntrix, even in her life...if she'd been willing to consider it before.

But that still made her uneasy.

The more people you had around you, the more could let you down, the more you could lose them. Just two of them had been simpler...two people who would never leave, never be able to say they didn't need you, since you were literally the only ones in the world.

In that sense, the Hunters appealed to Mira the most of all...she'd never connected with anyone else in her life enough to feel safe around them.

And if she was starting to feel that way with other people... that felt dangerous to her.

This conversation was dangerous.

She frowned more defiantly again.

"I don't think you understand it," she said, much more harshly than before.

"Uh...what?" Abby noticed her tonal switch there. "I was just saying how it sounded, no need to get offended."

"No, this isn't something you'd understand anyway," Mira knew she was being confusing but she said it anyway.

"Did I say something wrong here?"

"No, it just.. it's not something other people can understand," Mira was cold.

"That's...cold," Abby said it out right. "Fine then, if that's how you want it... You still don't trust me, huh?"

"You said yourself that it makes sense not to trust any of you," Mira repeated yet again.

She knew it was mean though.

"I did say that, but somehow I was starting to think you didn't see it that way anymore," Abby sounded kind of hurt, to her surprise. "Guess I was wrong... Are we all just ex-demons to you? Is that it? You can't get past that?"

Mira had told Zoey she wouldn't be able to get past that only 4 or 5 days ago, but strangely, she felt like that sounded really petty hearing it out loud from someone else.

Yet what could she say? That was what she was saying...

"Fine," Abby said in a tone that was not fine. "If that's how it is."

Mira got more defensive.

"Well, why do you care anyway?" she retorted, for lack of a better response. "You need our help, that's all...I'm not refusing that, so why does it matter?"

"I guess I didn't see it as transactional the same way," Abby said, almost coldly himself. "I thought we were friends now."

"Friends?" Mira repeated strangely.

"But that's what you're concerned with, so, clearly that was wrong..." Abby went on, darkly almost. 

"I..." Mira was not as disgust as she expected to hear that word, but... "how could we be friends? We've barley stopped being on opposite sides of this and I'm never exactly friendly to you anyway."

"Friends help each other right?" Abby said. "I don't think I have too high of a bar for someone to be my friend. Hunters must be different."

That stung a lot more than expected.

"Even if this hadn't happened the way it did, we never would be friends anyway," Mira pointed out, trying to regain her self possession. "Because, you all only tolerate us because of that."

"Not to be too rude, but I think you're projecting how you think onto us. At least onto me, I cat' say for sure, but I don't think Mystery or Romance are like that either... Baby might be... what does it matter since you don't want their friendship anyway... Still, that's a pretty negative view to take. As if someone couldn't like any of you without needing your help."

"Why would you?"

"You really can't tell?" Abby was almost amazed at Mira's blindness.

"Can't tell what?" Mira was a bit more wary now.

"I don't dislike you Mira," Abby sounded a little annoyed now. "I never have."

Silence.

"You haven't?" Mira was somehow still surprised after that. "But...Why? I'm never nice to you."

"You're nice in your own way, sometimes, but, other than that, I just thought you were cool."

"Cool?" Mira repeated.

"But, it sounds like you would take it as an insult more if any of us liked you or even the other two, I don't dislike them either, but that doesn't count for anything, it sounds like," Abby was feeling hurt, Mira could tell this much.

"But you think our opinion is worthless," Abby added, which cinched it even if it hadn't been clear. "We lost the right to have one, right? That's how the world sees it, too... Well, why would things be any different right?"

"Wait," Mira felt this was not quite what she'd meant. "I..."

At the worst possible time, they heard a voice over the speaker telling everyone to exist the lobby and any other building they could, because there was a safety issue.

Which had everyone in the lobby run for the doors.

Staff hurried away also.

This meant that Zoey was also allowed to leave the room  finally, and Mystery, who had been trying not to panic this whole time.

They found Rumi and Jinu waiting for them.

"Okay, now we can fight," Rumi said. "We have to find the hole, it must have happened by now... But I was Raven able to get Romance yet?"

Mira's phone rang and it was Raven.

"What's going on?" Mira asked her.

"I think I need back up," Raven said, speaking low. "Romance has been talking to that woman this whole time, but something feels off about it. And, I'm looking outside...I see more demons. They're disguised as humans but, I spotted patterns... they aren't attacking anyone, just walking around like they're waiting for some signal. This looks like a trap."

"But for who?" Mira said. "We're all in here except for you two...and instead of attacking Romance, she's just talking to him..."

"The logical conclusion is that it's a trap for Huntrix," Raven said. "But Gwi-ma will still take the chance to get one of his undead slaves down there again... I think we need to be prepared for more unusual tactics than before."

"Great, that's what I needed to hear," Mira said flatly. "But can you just grab Romance and sneak back to the lobby?"

"The demons out here are blocking the lobby," Raven said. "The tear will probably open in there. If it hasn't lately."

"We haven't seen it yet," Mira glanced around again. "Which is weird, it happened right away before."

"Then it seems like Gwi-ma is hoping for us not to notice Romance," Raven mused. "But, she's not doing anything but talking to him. He looks upset, but I see no glowing eyes, or patterns appearing on him. I can't see her that well though, I have to get close...but that means getting past the other demons."

"I think we can handle them here," Mira glanced toward Rumi and motioned at her to come closer. "Can't you shift into  a waiter or something and talk to them?"

"There is no waiter at a cafeteria, Mira," Raven sounded like she was rolling her eyes. "But I can disguise myself as one of the workers. Fine,  I'll approach him. But he may make a scene, I could still need back up. Where is Morph?"

"He's supposed to be coming back now, but we need to do something right away," Mira said, getting stressed.

"What's happening?" Rumi reached her. "Are you talking to Raven? Did she get him yet?"

"Fill her in then," Raven heard Rumi's voice. "I'm going inside." She hung up.

Mira told Rumi what she'd just been told.

"So, they have us surrounded is what I'm hearing," Jinu said. "But they're not attacking the humans."

"That only can mean they want us more," Rumi said. "We knew they would show up, but how did we end up so unprepared for it again? And whoever Romance is talking to, if it isn't a demon then how would she be here just when we were?"

"We missed a lot huh," Zoey said.

"Zoey, are you okay to fight?" Mr asked. 

"I think I'm fine," Zoey said. "They said to come back after the emergency was over, but I could just leave without them noticing."

"How did something hit you when you're faster than anyone else?" Abby asked.

"I had to push people out of that way and didn't have time to move myself," Zoey said.

"Sorry," Rumi said. "I mean, how could we know they would be in the vents though? That's a  weird place to attack."

"I had a thought about that," Jinu said. "This seems smarter..."

"Raven has suggested that Gwi-ma could use one of the other human souls he has to come up with ideas," Mira said.

"That's certainly possible," Jinu said. "There's plenty of them down there, though I don't know any of them personally. Let alone who could be smart enough to think of that...but we could be in way bigger trouble if that's true."

"But how powerful are they?" Zoey asked.

"They can't fight as well," Jinu said, "same as with us... They're smarter--they tend to lead other attacks, but only for a short time, and Gwi-Ma stopped sending them out. That is why I had my idea to get him to let us out anyway. We think that it was because of Rumi's dad, made him more wary of it."

"I have no memory of leading any attack," Abby said.

"I don't think you guys ever did. The deal Baby made made you all too mindless to do it," Jinu said. "And I never led any attacks either. I just sulked with my tiger and bird, usually."

"For 400 years?" Rumi said.

"I wanted the voices gone, but I didn't think a few attacks in the human realm would make that happen," Jinu said. "Also, time passes differently there, so it didn't feel like as long to wait. I knew that was 400 years because we heard time passing above us, but...it's not the same. I knew I had to come up with a better idea, and...well, I had to wait till Gwi-Ma was desperate enough to agree to anything."

"Love hearing about the disgusting demon realm and all," Mira said sarcastically, "but how does it help us?"

"I mean, fight fire with fire, right?" Abby said. "He would use them against us, if the dumb ones are not working fast enough."

"I think I see what happened after Rumi's dad," Mystery said. "I think I know why Gwi-Ma didn't win more in that time."

"Uh...what do you mean?" Rumi said blankly.

"Jinu just that they are smarter," Mystery said. "But if Gwi-Ma stopped using them for attacks because Rumi's dad rebelled against him, that explains why Celine was able to hold it together for so long alone... The demons were less intelligent. It's like both sides of the war took a heavy hit because of what happened."

"Oh, so like it was mutual," Zoey said. 

"That actually makes a lotta sense," Rumi admitted. "One thing I never understood was why the hunters had so much trouble with demons when all the ones we met were so stupid, we would make fun of it...but Celine never treated it like such a joke as we did... If Gwi-ma used ex-human demons in the past, the hunters before us would have taken it less lightly."

"So, again, she set you up for failure by hiding the truth," Abby said. "Wow...you seriously need to talk to her about that sometime."

"Oh, I intend to," Mira said darkly.

The red lines flickered again.

"The attack has to be somewhere." Rumi looked up. "Let's look, now that we're all together. Guys, stay behind us just in case."

She took off.

Mira and Zoey were right behind her.

They finally found a tear after checking a few more hallways, but it was small and only a few demons were by it.

They did see some outside, but Raven was right--they were doing absolutely nothing, just roaming around like pedestrians.

"That's just uncanny," Rumi said, after they'd slain the demons that they'd found. "I mean...I've never seen demons just wait like that."

"They do in Gwi-Ma's realm, but yeah, not in this one." Jinu stared at them. "Do they see us?"

He got the answer to that a second later when some of them looked at the window they were at and bared their teeth.

Then they charged that way.

"Uh oh." Jinu backed up real fast.

"Get back!" Rumi yelled at Mystery and Abby, as she backed up as well.

A very large demon hit the window and shattered it, nearly slicing Rumi's face, but she moved in time, and glass flew everywhere.

Zoey threw a knife at it before it made it through the window, but it was too big for her strikes to kill it immediately from a distance.

Mira had more luck. She ducked around Zoey and jammed her Gok-do into its sternum, and it vanished.

"Mira, look out!" Rumi leapt over her head as more demons were right behind the big one, climbing over the window now.

She slashed them with her sword.

Zoey threw a knife through another one.

The boys leaned on the wall, since they had no way to help anyway.

"They are remarkable," Mystery admitted. 

"This is much more fun to watch when we're not the ones they want to kill, isn't it?" Abby commented.

Jinu ducked as shards of glass flew at the wall next to him. "Nope, it's nerve wracking either way..."

The girls moved away from the window as the demons followed them.

Jinu glanced out of it, and he could see something new from here.

"Hey." He tapped Abby and Mystery. "Look, the red lines are going that way now."

"Yeah, towards Raven," Abby said, "I guess...or Romance."

"I didn't think they were pointing that way before," Jinu said. "This is weird. It looks like they're...aiming for it. I thought tears all came upwards from...you know, from down there, not outwards."

"So what?" Abby said.

"You don't think that means something?" Jinu said helplessly.

"What are you just standing there for?" Rumi had doubled back. "More of them could come in at any second. I think we got the last of those ones."

"Just noticed that the red lines are pointing that way." Jinu motioned at the cafeteria. "But I don't see any demons in there or the cafeteria. They were all outside it. That seems weird."

"I don't...see any red lines." Rumi looked. "The ripples usually only last for a moment. The ones inside kept pulsing on and off...but there's nothing there now."

"No, there are, all over the ground," Jinu said. "You... Wait, you don't see that?"

Rumi looked at him blankly. "No..."

"I see it," Abby said.

"So do I," Mystery said.

The lines suddenly pulsed, and another tear opened, but this time outside in the courtyard.

"Oh, there I saw it," Rumi said. "See? It means more demons."

"But it pointed that way..." Jinu was confused.

"I seriously don't know what you're talking about, Jinu, but this is not a safe place to be. You need to be more under cover," Rumi said.

"But I think...the lines are where the next tear is going to open," Jinu said. "It's like...Gwi-Ma's minions signal each other with it."

"That makes no sense." Mira had joined them. "I didn't think demons could cooperate like that."

"Yeah, could you?" Rumi said.

"I never noticed anything like that," Jinu said. "But it looks like a signal, I swear."

"What does?" Mira said.

"Jinu says he sees the red lines even if there's no tear," Rumi said. "We need to go finish those demons. They seem to finally be attacking."

"But they waited till the signal," Jinu said.

"What signal?" Zoey said, now joining them. "Guys, the staff is all outside now."

"Oh...uh oh," Abby said. "That...might be it."

"Oh...right," Jinu said. "We're idiots."

"I believe you, but what do you mean?" Mira frowned.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mystery said. "The lines are saying that the humans are outside now. They were in here before, and the lines were in here. It's like they are signalling the demons where to attack...away from us."

"Demons can do that?" Mira said.

"Maybe there's a type that can," Jinu said. "Because...it sure looks that way."

"But I don't see anything like what you're saying, only tears," Rumi said.

"The tears are when demons break into the mortal realm." Zoey nodded. "That one time we could see it. The Honmoon blocks them the rest of the time."

"And we need to go then," Mira said. 

"Though if Raven sees it, she could snipe them," Rumi said. "But we have to get out there. I don't know what you guys are seeing, but we don't have time for it."

She rushed to the window and jumped over the broken glass nimbly.

The others followed her again.

"Okay..." Jinu said. "We're seeing something they don't see... FCould it be we used to be one of Gwi-Ma's and we could see this stuff then...? Is it a side effect?"

"We still see demons, and we can still see the Honmoon even though we're human again," Abby said.

"Is that good or bad?" Mystery said. "Because it sounds like a bad sign to have any lingering abilities from being demoniacs."

"I can't say," Jinu said. "I guess that mentor of theirs might know the answer, but I doubt Raven and Morph will...but if we are still seeing it because of that, and that's where they're going to attack next...then we could get to the next spot before they do, possibly. Maybe warn the humans around who are vulnerable."

"I don't know--you're the man with the plan," Abby said. "Are we just going to stand here and wait for something to happen?"

"No, but we have to find Morph," Jinu said. "We can't fight--we've got nothing to fight with."

"You say that, but don't hospitals have any weapons somewhere?" Abby said.

"They have those axes for fires," Mystery said.

"I don't think we should just steal an ax," Jinu objected.

"Oh, sure, now is the time to care about that, Grandpa Morals," Abby shot back.

"Hey--" Jinu began.

"What are you all doing here?" Baby startled them.

He and Morph had finally appeared in the hallway.

"Looks like the fight was here," Morph said.

"Did you see anything up on those levels?" Jinu asked them.

"No, only things we saw were down here," Morph said.

"Isn't it weird they wouldn't attack the humans in the ICU?" Baby said. "I mean, what better victims than people who can't run away?"

"Don't say things like that. You sound like a super villain," Abby said.

Jinu told Morph what they'd figured out.

"You think he's tracking them somehow?" Morph said.

"That's the theory," Jinu said.

"Well, it could be you're right," Morph said. "It could be another demoniac helping Gwi-Ma right now? I guess that makes sense. We'd call it a magician then, I guess. If they're doing it on purpose."

"I think if there's a demoniac that's smart enough for all this," Abby said, "and understands the evil side of it more than we could, I don't want to meet them in person."

"Me neither," Mystery said.

"But it's true that Gwi-Ma is doing this then, because only they are smart enough to combat us because we've made so much progress," Jinu said.

"Jinu, you're making a lot of sense," Morph said. "That's probably what happened. It was stupid to think he'd never use another one of the ones like you guys against us. It's happened before, clearly. But, I don't know that it's gonna help us. You found Romance, right? We need to get him and take care of those tears as our first priority."

"Okay, fine, but we're discussing this later." Jinu knew if it was true, they needed a counter strategy immediately.

A blue ripple appeared suddenly.

"The girls are sealing the Honmoon again," Mystery said. "Maybe they already fought of most of the demons."

"Then I'm going to find Raven and Romance instead," Morph said. "Gotta fly."

He turned into a bird and flew out the broken window.

"Let's follow him," Abby said. "This seems a little too easy after that build up."

"I hate to agree with you on that, but yeah." Jinu frowned. "Too easy. This is a trap of some kind...and if we're dealing with a human intelligence, then this could be a good trap, unlike before."

"I really hate demons," Mystery said. 

They didn't have time to find that kind of ironically funny. They all ran to the nearest emergency exit.