“We’re more worried for the Jaenanpa,” Captain Seo deadpans. “They have no idea who they’re dealing with.”
“Stop being funny.” I scowl. “I am dangerously close to liking you.”
I scrub my hands up and down my face, then shake my head like a dog drying its fur. I wish I had more margarita. Too bad I can’t hide from reality forever, spewing pretty rainbow vomit.
I can’t make myself regret freeing the girl’s magic, but wielding my Yeoiju right now might not have been the wisest move. I just sent out a beacon to all the Jaenanpa and beings of the Shingae alike, broadcasting my location. More importantly, I’ve put my friends in danger with my recklessness.
Getting blissfully drunk can no longer be my primary objective. I need to keep Minju and Captain Seo alive. My inner turmoil can fucking wait its turn.
Time to flex my avoidance muscles with a side of compartmentalization.
“Let’s go.” I head out the door. “We have a plane to catch.”
We could have flown anywhere. Nothing muddles magic like technology, and an airplane is a shit ton of technology. The destination doesn’t matter as long as we’re airborne in a hunk of human-created metal.
But we are flying to Korea. Are my seraphim companions planning to drag me back to the Realm of Four Kingdoms from there? To be fair, they would never drag me anywhere. They would probably ask menicely.Assholes.It doesn’t matter. I am focusedsolelyon keeping them alive. I can’t think about anything beyond that without frying my brain.
I don’t even let myself regret leaving Ford without so much as asee you later. It’s probably for the best I disappeared on him. I might already have put him in danger. I can’t give the Jaenanpa any more reasons to connect him to me. I hope those thievingmudangsare too preoccupied with stealing my powers to concern themselves with a human bartender.
You’re thinking. Stop it.
I cross my arms and sulk—salty that I didn’t get the solo window seat. While it has the unfortunate side effect of making me look like a petulant child, glomming on to superficial feelings is much safer than behaving like a grown-up with an ever-increasing load of emotional baggage.
Captain Seo insisted we share the two seats in the middle row—first class, courtesy of the Suhoshin black card—because she continues to believe I am a flight risk. I roll my eyes for the tenth time. There is nowhere to run on an airplane—even a huge one like the Boeing 747—especially while it’s flying thirty thousand feet above sea level. Is she afraid I’ll lock myself in one of the tiny bathrooms?
Minju, the occupant of the coveted window seat, has her nose buried in a romance novel she bought at the airport bookstore. She hasn’t looked outside her window once, but I can’t work up the resentment to begrudge her the seat.
The historian is anxious to return to her tomes and scrolls in the Kingdom of Sky. She believes she can find a way to increase our chances of defeating the Amheuk, besides just throwing me at it. My Yeoiju and the Shin’gwangdo might be our best bet against the eternal darkness, but they won’t be enough.
I won’t be enough.
My avoidance muscles flex to shield me from further thoughts on ... that. Anyway, I feel for Minju. Actively waiting for something is exhausting, nerve racking, and bone-achinglytedious. I’m glad she managed to lose herself in a book.
I catch a glimmer of metal from the corner of my eyes as Captain Seo slips out a shallow copper bowl from one of her dungaree pockets. Apparently, the captain and Minju moon shifted to Las Vegas, wearing adobokand ahanbok, respectively. And they swiped their current outfits from a clothesline behind a trailer home on the outskirts of town to “blend in.”
I didn’t point out that neither attire helps them blend in. In her tiny white dress, Minju looks like an angel made for sin. And Captain Seo has no business looking that hot in freaking dungarees. Rather than blending in, the two of them attract more hungry eyes than is good for us.
Captain Seo sighs down at the bowl in her hands.
“What is that?” I ask.
“My cell phone,” she answers glumly.
“Fine, don’t tell me.” I sniff, leaning into my spoiled-brat era. I play my role so well that I want to smack me on the back of my head. “I don’t really want to know anyway.”
“It is a small, sturdy bowl I can carry around.” With another sigh, the captain tucks it back into her pocket. “It’s difficult to communicate between the realms, but it is impossible without the moon’s reflection.”
“Like for moon shifting?” I cock my head to the side.
“To an extent, yes.” She nods. “But when you moon shift, you leave the bowl behind. With a message, you don’t shift away from it.”
“The bowl is reusable, and you can carry it around.” I grin, perking up a little. “Like a cell phone.”
“Yes.” The captain huffs a frustrated breath. “An incredibly inconvenient, unreliable cell phone.”
Grown-up Sunny pokes her head out before I can stop her. “Did you tell Ethan you found me?”
“No.” Captain Seo rubs her temples, not bothering to deny my assumption. Of course he sent her. She wouldn’t have left his side unless he pulled rank on her. “We were rather busy with the Jaenanpa, weren’t we?”
