“Nice to know my Charm magic does work on ghosts,” I said. “Even my brother.” That thought made me so sad I tripped and almost crumpled to the ground. Haneul grabbed my arm and pulled me up.
The night swallowed us, and I couldn’t help missing the spectral flames that had lit our way previously. Before Jun had led us astray, we’d been headed in the approximate direction of the Dragon Pearl, but who knew how far off course we were now?
“Too bad we don’t have a flashlight,” I muttered to no one in particular.
“You’re in luck,” Sujin said. Their voice sounded hoarse. “I grabbed this on the way out.” A case was pressed into my hands, becoming visible as it left Sujin’s grip.
I froze in my tracks and blinked. It was a survival kit. Only one, but that was better than nothing. “Thank you,” I said stiffly, glad I didn’t have to look into the goblin’s eyes when I did. I didn’t want to have to rely on Sujin for anything.
“That kit will be good to have,” Haneul said, her tone ragged from running. “We’re going to have to stop for rest eventually.”
“How long before they catch up to us, do you think?” I asked her. I didn’t have any idea how fast ghosts moved when they went all out. Jang just popped up whenever and wherever he wanted—maybe these guys could, too.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “We need to rest regardless.”
I agreed, not least because, as miserable as it would be sleeping out in the open, my eyelids wanted to crash closed.
We created a campsite in the lee of a craggy boulder near a copse of young trees. Haneul resumed her chants in an attempt to persuade the wind and water spirits to leave us in peace for the next few hours.
Sujin took off their hat. “We can set up a tent using the thermal blanket,” they said. “It’ll go faster if we work together.”
I gave way with ill grace. We worked in silence for a time, neither of us looking directly at the other.
“We’ll have to take shifts,” Haneul said. No one argued. “I’ll go first. You two get some rest.”
The last thing I wanted to do was huddle under the one remaining blanket with Sujin. I was still angry that they had contacted the captain. But even more, I wanted to be alone with my thoughts.
I was plagued with guilt for dragging the three of us into danger and arriving too late to save my brother. Now I had no one to bring home, and no way to get home. There was still a chance we could find the Dragon Pearl, if we could orient ourselves, but what good would that do when we were marooned here? And how would we keep it out of Captain Hwan’s clutches?
“Hey,” Sujin said after a while. It was clear from our tossing and turning that neither of us was having any luck falling asleep. “Can we talk?”
“If we have to,” I said ungraciously. “How long have you been working with Captain Hwan, anyway?”
“It’s not like that,” Sujin said.
Was their hurt tone real, or was it an act? I wondered.
“Lieutenant Hyosu was always telling us to carry a means of contacting the ship in case of emergency,” Sujin went on. “I brought the comm device as a backup plan. The captain might be our only ticket out of here now.”
I did remember Hyosu drilling that into us during her lessons. And it was true that we needed some way to get off-planet, but . . . “Didn’t you warn Hwan to stay away?” I asked.
“I said that for the ghosts’ benefit.”
I couldn’t help being impressed. “Tricky,” I said. “You’re starting to think like a fox.”
Sujin gave a light laugh. “Guess I’ve been spending too much time around you,” they said. Then, “It didn’t matter what I told the captain. Like the lieutenant’s ghost said, Hwan is going to come down regardless.”
“But how will he get past the ghosts?” I asked. “He’s lost his two secret weapons: Jun and me.”
Sujin shrugged. “There are other supernaturals in the crew, and a couple of shamans,” they said. “I’m sure he’ll find a way. He’s too desperate not to.”
I nodded, remembering what Hwan had written about the Pearl in his logbook: it would be the ultimate threat, able to devastate an entire world . . . The idea of the artifact in his paws made me shudder.
“Are you cold?” Sujin asked. “Here, take more of the blanket.”
“No, no, I’m fine,” I said. After a moment, I added, “I’m sorry about getting mad. You just took me by surprise. We were on the run from him, after all.”
Sujin exhaled in relief. “I’m sorry, too. We’re in a no-win situation, but maybe we’ll figure out something. Let’s try to get some rest before it’s our shift.” Shortly after that I heard their breathing slow as they fell asleep.
Just before I nodded off myself, I thought I heard muttering, but whether it was ghosts or my imagination I couldn’t tell. I slept deeply and dreamlessly.
Eventually, Haneul shook me awake for watch duty. I moaned and mumbled but got up. We allowed Sujin to continue sleeping. We were both in silent agreement that the goblin looked pale and should get as much unbroken rest as possible.
“Wake me if anything seems odd out there,” Haneul said, then yawned hugely.
“Will do,” I said, although I had promised myself that I wouldn’t disturb her or Sujin for anything short of an emergency.
“Good,” Haneul said. She stretched with a popping of joints, then crawled into the tent to take my place.
I sat cross-legged and squinted. My eyes had adjusted to the dark as much as they were going to. The rain had dwindled, and the clouds had thinned enough that more moonlight could filter through, cloaking the world in a haze of blue and silver. Everything smelled simultaneously of earth and leaves and the threatening wildness of water. It was seductive, in its way.
Then my nose tickled, and I sneezed. Was I coming down with something? The thought was especially concerning on a planet once cursed by disease spirits.
“Min,” my brother’s voice said out of the darkness. His pale shape, half outlined in fire, emerged little by little, like the inverse of a shadow.
I jumped up in alarm.
“Wait,” he said. “I got away from the other ghosts. Hear me out.”
“Why?” My voice shook. I could have said a lot of things, like You betrayed me to them! for one. Before, when Jun and I were growing up together, I would have spat out words carelessly. But now I didn’t want to say anything I wouldn’t be able to take back. I’d changed since I set out from Jinju, even if I couldn’t pinpoint how exactly.
“When the crew realized that you’d run off, I talked them out of chasing you. I convinced them to go after Captain Hwan instead,” he said. Was his voice trembling, too? “We spotted one of the larger shuttles descending. They’ve gone to try to jinx it.”
I hesitated, biting my lip as I studied Jun’s wrecked face. I’d already paid a price for trusting him once before. He might be telling the truth this time—but then again, he might not. And my friends’ lives depended on my ability to read him.
“Sujin warned Captain Hwan to stay away,” I said carefully, “but he’s going to come down here anyway, with some heavy-duty protection magic.” I was half bluffing, but I assumed that the captain would bring some kind of defense. “That can’t be good for ghosts, no matter which side you’re on.”
“The only side I’m on is yours, Min.”
I wanted to believe him. I loved my brother, and things would be so much better if I could trust him.
“Then why did you lead us into a trap?”
“I wanted the crew to think I was still one of them, rather than abandoning them for my sister,” Jun said. “I thought it would give me more control of the situation so I could protect you.”
Protect you. That sounded like the Jun I knew.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“Besides, you did need shelter. Cadet Sujin isn’t looking so great. You don’t want them to come down sick, not on this planet.”
I winced, hoping we’d all avoid the plague like, well, the plague.
“I was going to help you escape eventually,” Jun went on, “but you did it before I could.”
“I didn’t want to stick around to be meat for the captain’s quest,” I retorted.
Jun’s rueful smile flickered so quickly I almost wasn’t sure I’d glimpsed it. “If I’d really wanted to hand you over to him,” he said, “I wouldn’t have let you slip off like that. The other crew members might not recognize when they’re being Charmed, but I certainly do.”
I couldn’t argue that point. “Good to know,” I said. “I’m still learning about . . . er, you know . . .”
“Ghosts?” he finished. “It’s okay, you can say it. I know what I am.”
There were a hundred things I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t think where to start. So I just said, “Someone came to our home on Jinju and said you deserted. I knew you hadn’t, though.”
His smile returned, lasting longer this time. “I appreciate that,” he said. He didn’t sound like a bitter, vindictive ghost at all. “That means a lot. So does your coming here. I thought I’d never see you again.”