“But—”
“Youweren’t there,” Zizi snapped. “Don’t tell her what she did or did not experience.”
Yiran’s eyes flicked to meet Rui’s in the rearview mirror. She could sense his confusion, his desire that the world he understood remain as it was. The link between them felt stronger than ever.
“If there’s even a possibility that Hybrids might exist, why would the Guild keep it a secret? Why wouldn’t my grandfather tell everyone?” he finally said.
Why indeed, Rui thought. She could think of a few answers, none of them favorable to the Guild. The tension in Yiran was pulled so taut it felt like he might break if she provoked him, so she said nothing.
After some silence, Yiran said, “Do guests at The Reverie have to be invited to stay there?”
“It’s like any other hotel, you make a booking, you get a room, and you pay up,” Zizi replied. “Why?”
Yiran faced the back seat. “There was a little girl in the garden looking for her brother. I thought she was a guest, so I told her to go inside, but she said she had to be invited.”
Just then, something ahead in the otherwise empty sky caught Rui’s eye. The thing was swooping through the air in a way that didn’t feel birdlike.
“There was something weird about her,” Yiran continued. “She said her name was Seven, and she did this thing with a rose—magic or maybe it was a trick—sucked all the color out of its petals. Totally creepy.”
Rui grabbed the front seat. “What did you say her name was?”
“Seven. Why would parents name their kid after a number?”
Rui’s blood ran cold. Another King from the underworld was roaming in the human realm, and this King had made a connection with Yiran. What did that mean?
“What did Seven talk to you about?” she asked.
“What’s that thing in the sky?” Zizi said at the same time.
Yiran peered through the windshield. “What thing—”
The thing descended onto the road in front of them and stood up.
It was a person.
Running toward the moving car.
“Watch out!” Rui yelled.
Tires screeched. But Yiran couldn’t stop in time. The impact flung them against their seats.
Rui’s stomach somersaulted as Yiran wrestled for control of the wheel. The car swerved, coming to a stop on the road shoulder.
Groaning, Yiran unbuckled his seat belt. “Is anyone hurt?”
Rui untangled herself from Zizi’s arms. “I’m okay, just shaken.”
Zizi gave his shoulder a few rolls. “Nothing’s broken. What the hell happened? Did we hit someone?”
“Why were they running at us?” Rui said, rubbing a tender spot on her back.
“I don’t know. I’ll go check.” Yiran opened the car door and staggered out.
Rui watched as he jogged toward the body lying in the middle of the road. The car hadn’t hit the person hard enough to kill them... right?
Feeling helpless, she picked up Yiran’s phone and dialed a few numbers in succession: Ada’s, Ash’s, her dad’s.
No one picked up.
