Page 96 of Vicious Spirits

“I’m so glad you’re still here,” she said, her shoulders sagging with relief.

“Really?” Jihoon asked, his smile spreading. “How glad?”

“What?” Miyoung asked. The light slanting into the room from the hallway made his features look harsh.

“How glad are you that I’m really me?” he asked, leaning forward. And she saw it, the sharp gleam in his eyes.

“Sinhye.” Miyoung stood and backed away.

“Aw, I was hoping we could play a little more.” She stuck her lip out in a pout.

Miyoung’s muscles tightened. “Why are you still here? What do you want with us?”

“I want to play,” Sinhye said, then flopped back on the bed, folding her arms behind her head. “Being stuck in that jar was so boring. Can you imagine it? Being locked away for centuries with no one and nothing to talk to.”

She sat up again and sneered. “Of course you can’t. You’re so ungrateful for your power that you willingly traded it away.”

Miyoung clenched her jaw, refusing to rise to the bait. She knew that Sinhye was just trying to hurt her.

“I bet Mommy loves watching her selfish, weak daughter giveup everything, even her own mother, for a chance at a boring mortal life.”

“Shut up,” Miyoung said, shoving Sinhye so hard that she fell against the bed.

“Well, well,” Sinhye said, laughing. “I guess you’re not completely boring after all.”

“We’ll find a way to get you out of Jihoon. And when we do, your spirit can go to hell for all I care. And with no one in this world to care about you, you’ll be completely forgotten after you’re gone forever.” Miyoung started to turn to leave, when Sinhye’s hand latched on to her arm.

“You should learn not to antagonize me,” Sinhye said. “Those bujeoks can’t hold me in here forever. And in the meantime, I can still hurt this body.”

Slowly Miyoung turned so she was face-to-face with the fox spirit that wore Jihoon’s face. “You won’t.” Her heart was racing with the bluff, but she had to believe that Sinhye’s desire to stay in this world was stronger than her desire to hurt Miyoung and her friends. “You have unfinished business. Didn’t you swear that you’d get your revenge on those who trapped you? Well, the way I see it, you’re too scared to go after the sansin, and I wouldn’t blame you. Mountain gods are no joke, from what I hear. And whatever shaman helped is long dead. So you’re stuck poking at Junu. But he has something that you don’t have.”

Sinhye’s jaw clenched, and the hand holding Miyoung’s arm tightened. “And what’s that?”

“People who care enough to help him. That’s why you’re here, helpless, unable to do anything. Actually, now that I think about it, you’re trapped. Again.”

Sinhye’s hand whipped out, grabbing Miyoung’s arm. “Don’t push me, girl.”

Miyoung swung out so fast that Sinhye didn’t have time to react. Her fist connected with Sinhye’s temple and sent her careening onto the bed, knocked out cold.

“No. You shouldn’t push me,” Miyoung said.

47

JUNU WOKESLOWLY, reaching out for Somin. But the bed beside him was empty and cold.

He shuffled into the hallway, turning at the sound of low, murmuring voices. Miyoung and Somin sat at the kitchen table, both cradling steaming mugs of boricha. But neither drank. Junu was about to join them, when Miyoung said, “What are you going to do about Junu?”

“I don’t know what to do for him. I didn’t realize how much he’s kept bottled inside. It scares me a little,” Somin said.

Junu flattened himself against the wall, melting back into the shadows of the hallway.

“He lived for centuries before he met either of us. There’s no knowing what ghosts he carries with him.”

“Sometimes I can forget that he’s lived through so much. Then I’m reminded of it in the way he talks or the way he thinks, and I worry that we just come from different times. Maybe too different. I know how to fight a lot of things, but I don’t know how to fight that.”

Miyoung gave a sad smile. “Immortality is a heavy burden to carry. For immortals and for the people who love them.”

“Is that why you didn’t want to be a gumiho anymore? Because you knew it would be too hard for you and Jihoon if you were?”

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