Slowly the fire abated, but the tiger still sat on his chest, compressing his lungs.
“You will leave my mountain. You will never come back. Or you will pay for the slight with your life,” the sansin said.
“Of course,” Junu grunted out, his voice reedy as the tiger still pressed on his chest.
“If I see you again, your life is forfeit.”
The tiger stepped back, and Junu scrambled up, gasping in breaths. He reached for his fallen knife, but a spark slashed across his palm and Junu screamed. There was a gash in the middle of his hand, but no blood spilled. He gaped at the sight, proof that he was truly a monster. Like his father had shouted at him with his final breaths.
“Leave it and go,” the sansin roared, and the sound boomed through Junu’s head so loudly his ears rang.
Junu bowed and stuttered out an apology before he turned and fled.
23
MIYOUNG GLARED AT her phone. Jihoon wasn’t picking up. Junu wasn’t picking up. Were they ignoring her calls? Jihoon had snuck out so early that morning to do the exact opposite of what she’d asked. Was he ignoring her because he was afraid of what she’d say? He’d be right, because she was planning to tear into him as soon as she saw him again. But was she a hypocrite for being upset? After all, she’d gone months lying to Jihoon, thinking she knew what was best for him last winter. But that had been different. Miyoung hadn’t wanted to upset Jihoon because he’d held her fox bead inside of him. It had weakened him; she’d had no idea if he could handle the strain of knowing his life was in danger because of her.
Still lost in her thoughts, she went into the kitchen for a glass of water and stopped short when she saw Somin at the fridge.
“Somin-ah, what are you doing in here with all the lights off?” she asked, shuffling to the cabinets for a glass. “Can you pass me the water?”
Then she blinked, thinking perhaps she was just tired from stress. That’s why she thought she could see the fridge through Somin.
Then the figure turned. The glass fell from Miyoung’s hand, crashing against the tile at her feet.
“Mother?” she whispered.
Free me, Daughter.
“What are you doing here?”
Don’t you want me to visit you? Don’t you call me to you?
“No, I’m not doing anything. I promise,” Miyoung said.
Yena held out her palm, and in it she held a thread, which shone bright and gold and sliced through the air to connect to Miyoung.
We are connected. It’s how I can come to you. Back and forth. Back and forth.
“Mother?” Miyoung sobbed, stepping forward. But Yena faded into nothing before Miyoung could reach her.
“Miyoung?” Somin rushed to her. “What happened?”
“What?” Miyoung turned, dazed, barely registering Somin frantically dragging her to the high-top chairs around the island.
“You stepped in glass. You’re bleeding everywhere.” Somin grabbed a towel and knelt in front of Miyoung. “What happened?”
“I saw her,” Miyoung murmured.
“Stay here, I’m going to find the first aid kit.”
No, this isn’t happening, Miyoung thought. Because if this was happening, it meant Junu was right about ghosts coming to this world. That her mother really was haunting her. And her mother must have the bead, which was how she’d been able to visit Miyoung this whole time, using her connection to her bead. Was Yena making the tear wider by coming to Miyoung so often in her dreams? How big was it now that Yena was appearing before Miyoung?
Somin rushed back with tweezers, ointment, and bandages. Miyoung barely felt it as Somin pulled the glass shards from her feet while chastising her. She might as well have been speaking in a foreign language; Miyoung was barely listening to her lecture.
“Miyoung!” Somin shouted. “Are you listening to me? What the hell happened here?”
“I . . . I can’t . . . I don’t . . .” And finally the pressure that had been building in Miyoung’s chest broke free and she burst into sobs.
Without a word, Somin wrapped Miyoung in her arms. And Miyoung held on, her whole body shaking.
Junu was right; ghosts shouldn’t linger in this world too long. Miyoung hated admitting it. But she’d been seeing Yena in her dreams for months and she had been ignoring it. No. She was lying to herself. She’d been holding on to it, just like she was somehow holding on to Yena. Her mother had said to set