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When he said nothing further, I decided the best course of action was to let the barbarian lie.
So, I read some emails on my phone, pretending like a masochistic demon wasn’t simmering behind me. Checked on schoolwork as if it could kill me quicker than my dealmaker. Perused the oracle’s gossip column, hoping for any new information on my companion.
The silence stretched uncomfortably.
Ping.
Mother:“Don’t disappoint me today.”
Suddenly, I felt too hot, my threadbare blanket too thin to shield me from the hard floor. Too vengeful about how blank my wall looked, staring back at me. Too furious with the world for leaving me possessionless, with a demon at my back. This had gone on long enough.
“If I thank you, will you leave me alone?” I asked.
“Why would you want that?” he teased. His voice sounded so light. Unserious. As if he hadn’t dismembered a man last night and haunted me in the present.
“Because you can only ruin my life by being here.”
“I—” Reaper interjected.
“No, let me finish.” I spewed my rage to the wall. “Yeah, I know technically, you came here because you wanted to kill the gumiho. But you didn’t have to engage with mortals. There was no obligation for you to bond with me. You’re pathetic.”
The air became static. Electric. Charged. Dust lifted from the floor, suspended in the air.
“You have such little opinion of me?” His voice was crisp, bitter.
His frame creaked wood as he rose.
“I have to maintain the veil between my kingdom and yours. When I don’t, more monsters come through. Every day, I wake up to see which demons I have to return. Which names got added to my list. Which blood is on my hands for not keeping them safe.”
I didn’t dare breathe. His anger was palpable, hot enough to burn what was left of my frozen heart.
“In the end, I have to face them and the pain I caused. Recognize that I let them die. That I am responsible for their death, with my incompetence. For centuries, I have worked tirelessly to keep the natural state of things in order. Take dead souls back home. Keep the creatures of my universe at bay. When the gumiho escaped, my kingdom dissolved into shambles. Demons are attracted to power, and they all wanted to climb after her, follow a new leader into a new world. My father, Yunma, ordered me to solve this mess. And do you know how he did it?”
He stepped in front of my face, pushing up his shirt sleeve. A sleeve of inked tattoos glistened in the largest bargain mark I’d ever seen. He laughed darkly. “Taking demons back with me is one of the only ways I can get home, save an impossible miracle happening.”
“So I have to be here, Luna.” He said my name with fervor, like an enchantment or a curse.
“And I have to maintain my bargain with you because you radiate so much demonic energy. You are either the gumiho, the most powerful creature from my realm, or one of my strongest subjects, which makes you my… responsibility.”
He took a deep breath, then placed two fingers on my neck and—ever so softly—pulled them away. Inch. By. Inch. With each retreat, he pulled a piece of my inner shadows out, weaving them like rings around his hand.
I watched in fascination as my shadows harmonized with his.
He thrust his hand forward, merging a fraction of his shadows into mine, pushing all the energy back into my body at once.
My thoughts frenzied, electric, as his energy pulsed in tempo with mine.
“I see your shadows, seraphim. And I am not afraid of them.”
ChapterNineteen
THE ORACLE MUSINGS
Who’s in which clique? That, in essence, describes the function of our House system. A social stratification ritual where the machine–the notorious Antikythera–decides where and to who you belong.
You are who you surround yourself with, right?
Fall became winter.Classes thinned out. Extra seats abounded, even for those avoiding me. I spent my days studying, capturing demons, arguing with Flora, and conversing with Reaper about the creatures from his realm.
