Dragon Pearl(15)

I ground my teeth in frustration. My older relatives, including the ones I had been living with all these years, had once turned their backs on my parents? I was tempted to keep Nari talking so I could learn more, but she wasn’t wrong about my being in a hurry.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Aunt Nari,” I said, trying out the name. “It was very . . . eye-opening. But right now I’m looking for the captain of the Red Azalea.”

Nari’s expression softened. “Your mother brought you up to be polite, I see.” She smiled. “So, you seek Captain Hye. I have a better idea, though.”

I wasn’t interested in hearing it. I had to keep sight of my mission. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do need to talk to the captain. Please.” I said please in the same tone I used when I needed to convince Mom I wasn’t up to any tricks.

“Hear me out first,” Nari said. “What’s your rush, anyway?”

I didn’t want to give her any details. It would be too dangerous to tell her what I had done to the investigator. Then again, I had to come up with a plausible reason for running away. So I landed somewhere in between. “Mom thinks I’m a troublemaker,” I said. “She’s threatening to send me to the middle of nowhere until I straighten out. I’d rather go and see the rest of the galaxy. I have to leave before my family catches up to me.”

Nari’s eyes glinted cunningly. “Stay here and work for me instead. I can keep you hidden from our relatives. You’re a bit young, but your Charm will compensate. Whatever your family’s told you about foxes having to lie low, if I know them, they’ve exaggerated the risk. You can serve refreshments and use your magic to make people comfortable. There’d be profit in it for both of us. Once you’ve saved enough, you can move on—but maybe by then you’ll have changed your mind about getting off Jinju in such a hurry.” She winked at me then.

I wavered. I didn’t plan to hang around. On the other hand, if she thought I did, maybe she would advance me some pay. I was still worried about not having any money for passage.

“The stories I could tell you about the wild days your mother and I had as kits!” Nari went on, sensing my weakness. “Of course, if you’re really in a hurry, I won’t have time. . . .”

If I was honest with myself, I was dying of curiosity. I couldn’t imagine my mom as having been anything like Nari, ever. I supposed I could safely afford to spend a few hours at the gambling parlor. At the very least, I could earn some tips.

“I’ll think it over,” I said, knowing better than to agree to anything too quickly. “Let me try it out tonight and see how it goes.” I could ask one of the patrons or a bouncer to point Captain Hye out to me when Nari wasn’t looking.

She smiled, her teeth gleaming white and sharp, like fangs. “Excellent,” she said. “You’ll fit right in here.”

don’t play dice at nari’s, the graffiti had said. I wondered what had happened to the person who’d left that warning. I’m a fox, too, I told myself, and ready for anything Nari can throw at me.

But what if I was wrong?





Before Nari let me out of her office, she explained my duties. Mostly she wanted me to wander around serving “refreshments”—her code word for the various kinds of wine on offer—while using my Charm to encourage customers to relax. People got tense when they were gambling, she told me, especially when they were losing. “Don’t try to influence the games—that’s against the rules,” she said. “Just make sure they’re having a good time. And don’t let them hassle you. I’ll have the bouncers keep an eye out for trouble.”

Then she directed me to conjure an outfit more appropriate for a gambling parlor, to replace my traveling clothes.

“Something like what you’re wearing, but not as fancy?” I asked, eyeing the brocade dragon-and-phoenix design that patterned her silk dress.

Nari laughed as if I’d said something particularly amusing. “Oh, my dear. Fancier, if you can manage it.”

Though I knew my mother would be horrified if she saw me serving drinks in her former gambling parlor, I had to admit I was happy about having the chance to use magic without limits or lectures. I took a moment to imagine a costume, then concentrated on making it materialize. Charm spun me a gray silk blouse stiff with embroidery and studded with small golden pearls that winked in the light like captive moons. Having the time to focus properly helped me magic up a perfectly tailored pair of slacks and slippers to match. Gold jewelry with more pearls glittered at my throat, ears, and wrists, and a gold hairpin held my hair up in an elaborate chiffon.

“Not bad,” Nari said, as if I were another pretty trinket decorating her office. “You’re definitely Seonmi’s daughter, maybe even more powerful than she was. One of these days I’ll tell you about the tricks she played. She was better at making crowds dozy than I was.”

My mom, powerful with Charm? And using her magic against groups of people? The thought unsettled me. To say nothing of the idea of my mom, who always wore plain clothes around the house, in an elaborate dress like Nari’s. I couldn’t picture it at all.

Nari brought me a mirror so I could check my appearance. I already knew I looked good, though. Maybe even good enough to impress the customers.