The teens were taken to the kumiho's mansion in two separate cars, with the twins and Leroy accompanying Hana, and the trusted employees, in one, while Park sat with the older teenagers in the other. An awkward silence reigned the whole way.

Already at her home, the kumiho guided the children to the laboratory section of the mansion, the largest of them being dedicated to Adam's alchemical studies, around 150 square meters, with tables full of in progress experiments, materials, a library embedded in the longest wall and three huge empty containers.

At the back of the room were five black wooden doors with symbols engraved on them and the floor in front of each one, in its center a glass container and five candles with more engravings on each side. Park opened a closet near these, from there she took samples of Vincent's blood and placed them in the container on one of the doors, then she uncovered her face and removed Adam's eye from her own socket and placed it inside. She turned to the confused children.

“The only thing left is to give an appropriate offering to activate the portal. It can be a memory, knowledge, life time, a precious object, magical objects or living flesh and blood.”

The cousins ​​took a step back, Aubrey protecting Erick and Roy with her arms, Cloud hid behind Chloe.

“Relax, I'm just explaining it, I'll pay myself.”

One of Park's employees entered with a bag full of magic stones, induced with mana from various wizards and magical entities. One by one she emptied the bag in front of the chosen door until the symbols lit up. As the light rose, the stones disintegrated.

“Once you pay, you lose what you offered forever, keep that in mind if you ever need it.”

“Now what?” Cloud asked suspiciously from behind Chloe.

“We will know where they were once the door opens, but we’ll have to keep paying  each time a symbol goes out to keep it open until they get through.”

Another of Park's employees knocked on the door, with four more behind him carrying a couple of chairs and a small table. The kumiho allowed them to enter, the one with his hands free and the one who had brought the stones cleared a part of the laboratory to set up the improvised room.

The young ones sat down, without taking their eyes off the door keeping the division the same as when they rode to the property. As the seats filled, Leroy sat on the armrest of the chair, next to his friend.

The kumiho put on headphones and reviewed some documents on her cell phone, with the intention of allowing the teens to talk to each other freely. Hana was the one to break the ice.

“So… you are related to Vince, right?”

“Vince?” Cloud had not yet had contact with the boy.

“He means Jack, he was the curly-haired boy in the hospital, the one who left with Jake and Klaus through the portal” Erick clarified.

“That was Jack?!”

The twins and Hana nodded. Bry turned to Erick, hope in her eyes, hoping that he already knew who she was.

“Who’s Jack?” Chloe, though she had granted them her guardian powers, was unaware of the family history or their identity as people.

“Ah, he’s Jake’s younger brother, he went missing when he was a baby… I’m surprised they found him in one piece.”

“Well…” Hana chimed in on the friends’ conversation “he’s not exactly in one piece…”

The twins exchanged glances as they watched their cousin’s confusion. Park, who could still hear them, stifled her laughter at the interaction.

“Jake and Jack?... Your uncle didn’t have much of an imagination.”

“It was because of Grandpa-”

Cloud stopped, smacking his own mouth, not wanting to talk about his circumstances or say more than he should to his cousins. Erick snarled in annoyance.

“Klaus already explained to me that our grandparents aren’t good people, you don’t have to over react” he stared at his sister “he also explained to me that we are family”.

“What are you talking about? Our grandparents always spoiled us” Bry sounded indignant, ignoring Erick’s comment due to her annoyance.

“You gotta be talking about your paternal grandparents, because it can’t be the ones of our mothers…”.

“No, mom took us with them on the weekends, I used to always sit on grandpa’s lap while he read to us and-”.

“What?!”

Cloud stood up, agitated, scaring Chloe and Roy, anger and worry written on his face.

“He…” he tried to calm down, crouched down in front of his cousin holding her hands and looking her in the eyes “he didn’t do anything to you while he was carrying you?”

“Of course not… why are you asking something like that?”

Cloud bit his lower lip from inside his mouth, exhaled with relief and stroked his cousin’s head.

“If you ever cross paths with them again, stay away. They’re not what they seem. Okay?”

“Why?”

The teenager looked at his friend for help, when they met eyes Chloe knelt down next to him and rubbed his back.

“I don’t think Jake would be okay with me telling you this…” Park paused the music she was listening to in case she had to intervene. “They’re the reason you were left in the orphanage, they kept my mother from having custody of you, they even blackmailed her and…” he considered his promise “They did horrible things to her to keep her from taking care of you… just as when our moms were little. They’re bad people.”

Aubrey took a while to process what she was hearing, her expressionless face looking at the ground. Leroy placed a hand on her right shoulder to comfort her, Erick did the same with the left one. She turned to look at her brother, frustrated that he didn’t remember their childhood to share the pain that was flooding her.

“What kind of things?” the girl’s attitude was cold.

“Sorry?”

“What kind of things did they do to our mothers?”

The desire for revenge was very familiar to her. Having once tasted the satisfaction of carrying it out to its ultimate conclusion that one time she rescued Leroy from a terrible circumstance, the thirst for it grew within her, along with a sharp pain in her right eye. The thought of being betrayed by more than two people, in addition to anger, caused her an anxious anticipation of doing it again.

Inside her mind, the warm memories of her childhood battled the heat of the fire that consumed her family, clouding her judgment.

Back then, her uncle worked tirelessly to contribute to the household; there were days when he left with the sun and didn't return until after dawn. On the days he was present, he was sweet and kind to everyone, a helpful man. Even after Jack's kidnapping, he did his best to remain positive around them. For his part, Jake, who was being homeschooled by him, looked after Erick, Jack, and her while his own parents worked or went out. He fed them, groomed them, helped them with their homework, and sometimes put them to bed.

That affection made her want to cling to them despite the pain they had caused her, taking her parents' lives and abandoning her in the orphanage. At the same time, she was unable to let go of her anger; she needed someone to blame. She needed someone to hate.

"I'm sorry, Bry. I can't give you any more details; it's not my story to tell."

"I understand..."

After a few seconds of silence, she finally realized what Erick had said, she finally acknowledged it, but her inner discomfort and having initially ignored him made it awkward to respond to him on that point.

Hana leaned forward to better see her face, wrinkled with anger and sadness, while still seated. She exchanged glances with her mother and decided to intervene.

“Your  grandfather cursed all your parents.”

Everyone turned to look at her, confused, worried and with doubt.

“He got into trouble with someone powerful, he was cursed by that person and looked for a wizard to remove it but he could only change the curse, making it stronger” even Cloud ignored such information, tilting his head as he listened to her “I don't know the details but his solution was to pass it on to his children, your mothers… And daddy Adam…”.

Upon hearing that name Erick turned completely towards Hana, wondering how that girl could have met their uncle. Knowing almost nothing about him, given how reluctant Jake was to talk about him made him very curious.

“When he grew up he went to the same wizard to be the only cursed one… That's all I know.”

“What kind of curse?” Cloud and Bry asked in unison.

Park took off his headphones and stood up, opened the door to the lab and received a tablet brought by another of his relatives, to work more comfortably, she sat back down and remained with her ears free. Her body language told her daughter to stop and not talk about the subject anymore.

“I don’t know, daddy Adam doesn’t talk much about it, but he has warned me several times about his family and the mother of-.”

The kumiho cleared her throat, shifting on the couch. The little girl looked at the floor, ashamed of having said something she shouldn't have.

Seeing the nervousness on the face of her treasured child, Park took control of the conversation.

“You must have plenty of doubts, I understand, but there are things that adults keep between ourselves for your own good. Once your uncle returns, you can ask him yourselves, but don't push him too much.”

“What do you mean, return? My uncle is dead, did he become a ghost?”

After seeing the reactions of everyone around him after asking such a question, Cloud finally understood that his uncle was alive and had probably gone to the other universe with his cousin and the grumpy bat. He stood up and looked at Park in astonishment.

“The man with the cap was my uncle?!”

The kumiho nodded in response. Erick had also just come to the realization of the identity of that figure, who fought against the Diagvelia in the hospital alongside his cousin.

“He’s… much bigger than I remembered,” the teenager looked down at himself, emphasizing the thickness of his arms and height, exaggerating his disappointment to lighten up the mood. “Why didn’t I get those genes?” He looked at Erick “We were robbed.”

Roy, who had stayed out of the conversation until that moment, laughed shamelessly at Cloud’s implication, infecting Bry and eventually Hana and Erick himself, although the latter tried to hide it. Chloe smiled, seeing her friend’s proud face.

After the brief moment of euphoria, the teenagers sat down again, with the blond asking about his cousins’ lives. Aubrey shared parts of her experience at the orphanage, how they was tasked with cleaning the place and caring for other children, how they were physically punished if they didn’t obey, trying to soften the events to keep their spirits up.

In a more cheerful way, she recounted her first few months after being adopted, how loving her sister was from the start, and how she met Roy in elementary school, helping him get away with a prank on a grumpy teacher. Her friend interceded, complementing her stories, sometimes finishing each other's sentences. Hana listened attentively, with a huge smile on her face.

Park was struck by how little she mentioned her new parents, making mental notes to talk to her partner later.

After that, Erick told them about his time with the military, although some of his memories were hazy, he kept his stories understandable.

He told about how General Yang had welcomed them and taken them with him to his diplomatic missions in various countries, his main job was to help in disaster situations or security for political figures during international conferences.

His most vivid story was when he met Klaus, introduced to him by Jake on one of his days off, immediately the boy had taken a liking to the vampire, sticking to him at all times, making his cousin jealous at times.

Somewhat sad he told his memories of the day Klaus abdicated and fled his country with them, almost dying in the attempt. He didn't know much about what had happened, his mind had returned to a state of shock upon seeing the young prince's wounds, with pieces of flesh torn from his arms and legs, when telling them the story he omitted these details.

Being up to date, the twins looked at their cousin, expecting to hear about his life.

“I lived with my grandparents since I was eight, it was horrible, there’s not much to say.”

Chloe rubbed her back. To prevent the discomfort from spreading, Roy interrupted, standing up to stretch.

“That portal is taking too long, isn’t it?”

The teens turned to the door, which had already opened without them realizing it, but through it they only saw the stone wall behind.

“We just have to wait for them to make a door in whatever universe they’re in.” Park left the tablet on the table. “Are you hungry? Food will be ready in a few minutes, I’ll guide you to the dining room.”

“And what about the portal?”

“The Kim sisters will take care of keeping it open.” She snapped her fingers and her two closest aids entered with another bag of magic stones. “Let’s go.”

Hana stood up happily, taking her mother’s hand to leave. The rest followed a few steps behind, looking back towards the portal before exiting the lab.

The kumiho led them to her family's personal home, Chloe almost getting lost admiring the gardens along the way, with her friend having to take her hand so she wouldn't be left out.

Already seated and sharing carefully prepared food, the young ones continued to chat about amenities, feeling like they belonged to a real family for the first time in a long time.