“What?” Detective Hae’s eyes shot to Miyoung as if for confirmation.
“She’s back. She has him.”
Detective Hae’s face became stony, and Miyoung knew he understood her meaning. “Come on, I have my car.”
“Wait!” Somin called out. “What’s going on? Someone took him? How do you know?”
“I just do,” Miyoung said impatiently. “Wait here—we’ll find him.”
“How?” Somin demanded.
“I have a way,” Miyoung said. The line of red still shone beside her, pulsing with urgency.
“What way?” Somin asked, a stubborn frown settling on her face.
Miyoung glanced at the detective, but he shrugged.
“I can’t—”
“I have a right to know,” Somin said. “Please.” The whispered word was scared, almost desperate.
“Somin, what I’m about to say will sound ridiculous, but it’s true and you have to believe me.” Miyoung took a breath, then plunged headfirst into her confession. “I’m not human. Not fully.”
Somin laughed but sobered when Miyoung didn’t join in. “Okay, what are you?”
Miyoung hesitated. She’d never said it outright before, not like this, but she didn’t have time to think of the right words. She’d take a page from Jihoon’s book and be blunt. “A gumiho. So is my mother. Jihoon said you grew up with him, heard the same stories his halmeoni told. That means some part of you must have believed once. I’m going to depend on that part of you and ask you to trust me here. Jihoon has something my mother wants, and if she has her way, he could die.”
Somin stared at Miyoung a moment, her mouth hanging open. It was frustrating that Miyoung couldn’t read the other girl’s reaction. She looked past Miyoung, toward Detective Hae, who gave a slight nod.
“Okay then,” Somin said. “Bring him back safe.”
Miyoung frowned. She’d asked for Somin’s trust, but she realized now she hadn’t really been expecting it.
“I’ll make sure Jihoon doesn’t get hurt,” Miyoung promised.
“And you,” Somin said.
“What?”
“Make sure you don’t get hurt either.”
“Miyoung, we have to go,” Detective Hae called from his car. Miyoung jogged to join him and slid into the passenger seat. As the car sped off, she pressed the heel of her hand against her ribs and watched Somin in the rearview mirror until she became a small speck in the distance.
“Where are we going?” Detective Hae said, drawing her attention to the road.
“Turn left up here,” Miyoung directed, using the curve of the red thread to guide them.
“We’ll get Jihoon back.”
“And my mother.” Miyoung looked at the detective. He watched her with kind eyes, laying a reassuring hand over hers. And though she hadn’t fully forgiven him yet, she gripped his hand. She needed the comfort right now.
“I want her safe, too,” Miyoung said. “I want both of them safe.”
“We’ll do everything we can for them,” Detective Hae promised, giving her hand a squeeze. And for a moment she was able to believe him.
70
“ARE YOU GOING to kill me?” Jihoon asked.
“You get right to the point.” The light of the moon made Yena’s skin so pale she could have been a ghost come to take his soul. In reality, she was a demon come to rip out his heart.
“I tend not to beat around the bush when my life is at stake,” Jihoon said.
“I like that,” Yena mused. “It’s probably surprising, but I never hated you. I just refuse to let my daughter die for you.”
“I don’t want that either.”
“Then you and I are in agreement.”
“Are you going to kill me now?” Jihoon asked again. He didn’t think he wanted the answer, but he needed it.
“I have to wait.”
“For what?”
“For him.”
71
MIYOUNG MOVED QUIETLY through the trees, followed by Detective Hae. He was quieter than she’d expected, probably his police training. She was grateful for his presence. Facing her mother would be hard enough; at least she knew there was someone to help if things went south.
“I thought about it,” Detective Hae said in a low voice.
Miyoung almost shushed him. It wouldn’t do for Yena to hear their approach. But she didn’t. “Thought about what?”
“You asked me if I wanted to be in your life now,” Detective Hae said.
Miyoung’s heart, already so strained from fear, thudded painfully as she waited for him to continue.
“If I could, I would love to have my daughter back. The daughter I loved when she was born,” Detective Hae said, and though he whispered, Miyoung heard a trace of tears in his voice. Like he truly regretted all the time they’d lost together.
“I always wondered if my father was a good man,” Miyoung confessed. “If maybe that’s why it was