Ford frowns, his eyes jumping between the three of us.
“Fair enough.” The captain shrugs. “How about just somewhere people can’t overhear us? Preferably a locale with a less pungent aroma?”
“I know exactly the place.” Ford gingerly lifts his arm off my shoulders, but his hand hovers behind my back. “Can you walk, Sunny?”
“Of course I can.” I step away from the wall and, with intense concentration, manage not to take a nosedive.
I follow Ford through the kitchen and back into the casino, flanked by Captain Seo and Minju. They think I’m a flight risk, but they needn’t worry. The earlier dizzy spell passed, but the weight on my chest makes it difficult to breathe. I’m in no condition to run—and I can only crawl so fast.
Ford leads us past the five-dollar slot machines, with the captain wearing a pinched look the entire time. I can’t tell if she disapproves of the migraine-inducing lights and the nonstop bells and whistles or the eye burning cigarette smoke, laced with the sickly candy-shop smell of vapes.
Minju, on the other hand, is wide eyed and delighted. While technically a part of the Order of the Suhoshin, the historian doesn’tneed to visit the Mortal Realm to carry out her duties. It’s a shame, really. There is nothing she loves better than discovering new things to study and understand.
Distracted, and still far from sober, I don’t notice where we are until Ford scans a key card to a door in the back corner of the casino.
“We’re going to talk in the haunted storage room?” I squeak.
He gapes at me like I’ve lost my mind. “What idiot said this room is haunted?”
“All the idiots who work here.” I throw my hand out to encompass the whole casino floor. “They said no one ever uses the storage room because it’s haunted.”
I believed them because ghosts in fact exist. Stranded souls roam the worlds, kept from moving on to their next life by their han—grief twisted into an unhealed scar. The stranded have always given me the heebie-jeebies. But after the Gray Void, I don’t know what to think of them.
In fact, I don’t want to think about the stranded at all, or the Gray Void.Especially the Gray Void.My heart races uncomfortably fast. I need to stop thinking about anything that matters.
Existing hurts.
Shaking his head at me, Ford opens the door and stands back to let the rest of us through. Minju and I stare at Captain Seo, silently begging her to take the lead. The captain only hesitates for a second before she bravely steps inside. I follow next, grabbing Minju’s hand and tucking her behind me. Ford comes in after us, muttering about ghosts and idiots, then closes the door.
“This is not a storage room.” I can’t help but state the obvious.
“What makes you say that, genius?” He smirks. “The gilded crystal chandeliers or the Italian marble floors?”
I’m too busy gawking at my surroundings to come up with a respectably acerbic retort. Instead, I give him an uninspired middle finger as I run my other hand over a brand-new blackjack table. “Why is there a secret high-limits room?”
“It wasn’t meant to be a secret.” He rubs the back of his head. “The boss wanted to lure high rollers here.”
“High rollers?” I scrunch up my face. “No self-respecting whale would come to this crappy, run-down casino.”
“Exactly,” Ford says with a grimace.
“Wait a minute.” I side-eye him. “How do you know about this room?”
He glances away and clears his throat. “I helped design the bar.”
I lean wearily against the blackjack table and flap my hand in awhatevergesture. There’s obviously more to it than that, but exhaustion dulls my curiosity. I yawn long enough to make tears leak from the corners of my eyes. I haven’t slept in days.
Ford watches with a grim press of his lips, then he walks over to the fancy bar and turns on the espresso machine. I perk up when it whirs, gurgles, and hisses with the promise of caffeine, but I deflate again when Captain Seo and Minju ambush me.
I just want to dissociate and drink a double espresso.Is that too much to ask?Apparently, it is.
“Sunny, we really must talk.” Minju lays a hand on my arm. “Like I said, there is much to discuss.”
“But first, are you certain you want to burden your friend with the knowledge of the Shingae?” Captain Seo glances over her shoulder. “He won’t be easily convinced, and you’ll be risking his sanity.”
“No, I’m not certain.” I scowl at her. “But what’s the alternative?”
“You can destroy the Amheuk and stop it from ever invading the Mortal Realm,” Minju states matter-of-factly.
