Vicious Spirits - Kat Cho Page 0,77

And I’d never forget your father’s voice. It was him. It was really him!” her mother said, her eyes becoming wider, almost panicked. Like she needed Somin to believe her. Like she’d break if Somin didn’t.

“Oh, Eomma,” Somin said as she realized what was happening. “I have to tell you something.” Her voice cracked; she wasn’t sure how to say it.

But she was saved from it by the chime of the doorbell.

“That might be him!” her mother said, rushing to answer.

“Eomma!” Somin called, starting after her, when her phone dinged. It was a text from Miyoung: Jihoon is not Jihoon.

Somin frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

“Jihoon-ah,” she heard her mother say. “You didn’t have to ring the bell.”

Jihoon was here? Where had he been all day? Maybe he could help Somin explain things to her mother.

“Interesting.” Jihoon’s voice echoed down the hall. “You’ve been touched by a spirit.”

“A spirit?” Somin’s mother asked with a light laugh, but there was tension in the sound. Somin knew her mother well enough to recognize it.

What was Jihoon doing? Somin wondered. This wasn’t the way to tell her mother about the supernatural world. She glanced down at Miyoung’s text again. What was wrong with Jihoon? What did it mean that he wasn’t being himself?

“Oh, I see. You were hoping he was real, weren’t you? Hoping a dead loved one had returned to you through some kind of magic of what? True love?”

“Jihoon-ah?” Her mother’s voice shook.

“Jihoon!” Somin barked, stepping into the foyer, intent on giving him a piece of her mind. But instead, she watched as he swung out, slamming her mother into the large shoe cabinet. Her head smacked against the wood with a heavy thud before she dropped.

“Eomma!” Somin yelled, bending to catch her mother.

“She’ll be fine,” Jihoon said, stepping around them. “I just didn’t want her listening in on our conversation.”

Somin stood, positioning herself between her mother and Jihoon.

“Get the hell away from us,” she said, her fists clenching. Never in her life had she wanted to strike Jihoon. Not even during their worst fights. But she also never thought she’d be forced to choose between her mother’s safety and Jihoon.

Jihoon laughed, a low rumble that sounded unnaturally cruel. She’d never seen such violence from her friend who usually had a friendly smile for everyone.

“This isn’t like you,” she said. “You’ve been acting off since . . .” Her breath caught. Jihoon is not Jihoon.

Jihoon’s lips spread into a nasty grin. It looked less like a smile and more like he was baring his teeth. It was cold. It was cruel. It was not her best friend. “I guess I should stop with the charade, huh?”

“Who are you?” Somin asked, her voice hard as iron. She looked around for a weapon. There was an umbrella she’d forgotten to store and the neatly organized shoes in the foyer. If she had to, she’d use anything she could to keep him away from her mother.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t make a difference,” not-Jihoon said with a shrug as he turned to pace the living room. His motions looked so smooth. His gait different from the way he usually walked.

“Where did you come from?”

“That also doesn’t matter.”

“Get out of my friend,” Somin said.

Not-Jihoon gave a sharp grin. It made him look like a stranger. “I can’t do that until I finish what I’ve started.”

“What have you started?” Somin asked.

“Something I’ve been waiting centuries for.” Not-Jihoon smiled again in that teeth-baring way. It looked like a tiger eyeing her prey.

“What do we have to do with your plans?”

“It’s unfortunate, really. I have nothing against you, but it seems like hurting you could hurt him.”

“Who? Jihoon?”

Not-Jihoon gave her a look of pity. A look one gave a small child or a bug that they were about to crush.

“Junu,” Somin said now with conviction. “You’re trying to hurt Junu.”

“When I’m done with him, he’ll wish he was dead. Again.”

Somin shifted her stance, picking up the umbrella and wielding it like a club. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Not-Jihoon let out a harsh laugh. “I’ve been watching you. You like to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. You have no business in this world, little girl. Does it make you feel important to pretend like you have anything to do with our affairs?”

That stung, and if it had been actual-Jihoon saying it, Somin would have thought of backing down. But there was no way she was letting this . . . whatever