Noctura

twenty five

jinwoo

MY HEART beats against my chest, seemingly with more force than normal.

I was a human?

"Eunmi didn't lose her memory," Yoon says. "But she was a lot more powerful than I think you are. I think maybe these people figured out how to turn humans into Nocturas without giving them so much power. They tested and retested their formulas until they finally got it right, but the side effect was memory loss."

I shake my head and look down at the table.

I wasn't born a Noctura?

"It might not be right," Minho says suddenly. "We... we can't know. We won't know unless Jinwoo remembers."

"You're right," Yoon responds. "It's just a theory. But after hearing everything, I think it might be a possibility. We can try to trigger more memories, maybe even some memories revolving around the testing or the facility or—"

"The white walls."

Minho and Yoon look over at me.

I slowly bring my eyes up to theirs. "I was sitting in my room and something about staring at the white walls was familiar. Maybe it was the testing facility. Maybe I stared at white walls there."

"It's possible," Yoon replies. "We just won't be able to know unless some of your memories resurface. Or..."

"Or?" Minho asks. "Is there another way?"

"It's not foolproof," Yoon says carefully. "But if we could track down the people that are doing this testing, maybe we could confront them about it."

"The AAN?" I ask. "Could they have something to do with it?"

"They could, but it's not very likely. With Eunmi, the AAN didn't know until the scientists had to tell them to track down Eunmi and..." Yoon sighs. "It could be the AAN. Maybe they found out about it and they wanted in on it."

"They're dedicated to eradicating the Nocturas, though." Minho shakes his head, looking down at the table. "Why would they create more?"

"I don't know," Yoon answers. "We're just gonna have to start searching for more answers. I'm not entirely sure how, but there's got to be some way."

I look down at my hands on the table.

If only I could just remember...

I let out a small sigh.

"Hey,"

I look up at Minho and he gives me a determined look.

"We're going to figure this out, okay?"

Slowly, I nod, a weak smile forming on my lips.

"If the AAN has anything to do with this, we should try to figure that out first," Minho says.

"We can start asking AAN members questions," I suggest. "We can tell them there's been rumors and we want to know the truth."

"We'll have to be careful," Yoon says. "If they know about it and we let them know that we've figured it out, they could kill us. They've obviously kept this a secret for a long time. If they suddenly find out that their secret is out..."

"Blackmail."

Yoon and I both look over at Minho.

He clears his throat. "We could blackmail them. We can tell them we're going to let out the information to the public if they don't give us more information and help us out. We can tell them we have proof of this happening and that people will start to question the AAN if they find out about this. They answer our questions, we don't reveal anything."