“About what?”
“Daeseong’s resurrection is a headache we didn’t anticipate. It’s thrown a wrench into some long-awaited plans.” Hailey gives me a sheepish glance. “Sorry I can’t be more specific.”
“Right. It’s not your story to tell,” I say sullenly. She doesn’t understand the level of devastation the dark mudang will rain down on the worlds. Their secret plans will become moot if we can’t stop Daeseong. But none of this is her fault. “Anyway, how do you guys speak English so well?”
“The suhoshins assigned to the Mortal Realm speak at least four languages. We never know where our cases will take us.” She smirks. “I, for example, speak Korean, English, Mandarin, and Spanish.”
“Impressive.” I hike up my skirt so I don’t trip over it. “Are most suhoshins based in the Kingdom of Sky?”
“The order is headquartered here, but there are bases in all four kingdoms and smaller outposts spread throughout the Mortal Realm.”
“Why aren’t you stationed in Underworld?” I glance sideways at her.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she says without rancor. “The idea is to assign everyone from Sky, Water, Mountains, and Underworld evenly throughout the kingdoms to build camaraderie among all of us. They want to drive home the fact that we no longer belong to a single kingdom but to the order.”
“What if you’re not a shinbiin?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“None of us are Shinbiin anymore.” Hailey stops and turns to me, quiet understanding in her gaze. “We are the Suhoshin.”
I belatedly notice that we’ve walked back to the Sunset Pavilion. “Are you staying here too?”
“Nope.” She grins. “We’re just here to borrow the moon.”
Before I can respond, she grabs my hand and steps into the moon reflected on the surface of the lily pond. The abyss barely brushes past me when I find myself standing in front of a different hanok.
“How did you do that?” I spin around in a circle. “I don’t see any bodies of water here.”
Hailey blinks at me in surprise and points to a bowl of water on a small low-legged table in the courtyard. “You don’t need abodyof water. A bowl of it works just fine. Did you not travel this way in the Mortal Realm?”
“I ...” I don’t know how to explain that I hid from my magic—from my identity—for more than a century. I’m not sure how much Jihun knows about me. I don’t know how much he shared. “I didn’t even know I could moon shift until recently.”
“The captain mentioned that you distanced yourself from the Shingae for a long time.” Hailey shakes off the forlorn mood. “Well, you’re going to have a lot of fun catching up on all the magic you’ve been missing out on. For the time being, let’s get you some practical clothes.”
We kick off our shoes and step into a room at the front of the hanok. Hailey throws up a globe of light and walks to an armoire. The room’s smaller than mine at the Sunset Pavilion, but it’s warm and welcoming.
“I bet black is your color.” After rummaging around, she pulls out a pair of black jeans and a black tank top.
“I can work with dark gray if I have to.” I grin, taking the clothes from her.
“Those jeans hit a couple of inches above my ankles, so they should fit you okay.” She taps her finger on her lips. “And that tank top has built-in support, so you should be fine without a bra.”
“Good to know.” When Hailey busies herself searching through the dresser, I quickly take my hanbok off and shimmy into the borrowed clothes. The pants bunch a bit at the ankles, but they’ll do. “Thanks.”
“No worries.” She scrunches her mouth to the side. “But I don’t think I have any shoes for you.”
“That’s okay. I have my Converse at the Sunset Pavilion.” I hold up my bokjumeoni. “And I need to grab my backpack to put this in.”
“All right. Let’s get out of here.”
We head back out and sit on the stone steps to pull on our shoes. My eyes are drawn to the bowl of water in the courtyard, and I feel a wistful tug in my chest. There’s so much I don’t know.
When we walk over to the bowl, Hailey takes my hand in hers, then glances at me. “Hey, you want to have a go at this?”
“Moon shift?” I hate how hesitant I sound. I don’t have an excuse not to use my magic anymore. “Sure.”
I tighten my grip around Hailey’s hand and dip my other hand into the water bowl. The abyss sucks me in fast enough to make my head snap back, and I tumble around in countless loops.Hailey.As though she heard my panicked thought, she squeezes my hand, letting me know I haven’t lost her. Calming my lurching heart, I focus on the Sunset Pavilion, and we stagger onto solid ground by the pond.
“Sorry,” I gasp.
