Dragon Pearl(27)

Haneul studied my face, and her stern expression softened. “Yes,” she said. “You don’t need any more bad luck after what you went through on the Red Azalea. Everyone said it was going to be a routine rescue mission, safe enough even for cadets.”

“Come on,” said Sujin, turning me around. “If we keep the lieutenant waiting, she’ll put us all on report.”

I followed them, trying not to gape at the surroundings. One of the passageways featured a grand engraving of a white tiger with a lightning bolt in its mouth. Along the right-hand side, fine calligraphy declared the ship to be the Space Forces battle cruiser Pale Lightning.

Jun must have passed this way many times. Had he, too, stared in wonder at the engraving? Did he stop noticing it once he’d grown used to being on the ship? The thought made me miss him even more. I had to find his trail—and soon, before my ruse was uncovered.

We passed officers in dark blue uniforms bright with gold braid. I’d have to study the insignia so I’d be able to identify people’s rank on sight. I only knew the cadet emblem that Haneul, Sujin, and I were wearing. For now, I saluted smartly whenever the two of them did.

“There she is,” Sujin whispered as we approached a broad, worried-looking woman.

The lieutenant might have heard that Jang was badly injured. Time for more Charm. I was desperate to get away and scrounge for food—surely even military food couldn’t be worse than what I’d grown up eating—but I had to take care of this first.

Lieutenant Ju-Won was overseeing a group of enlisted spacers pulling bundles of wires from behind a large, dented panel. From time to time she consulted a slate and barked orders. I itched to join them, because I could already tell that one of them was damaging the internals with rough handling, but I bit my tongue just in time.

I peered curiously at the wires. The patterns they were in reminded me of the body’s meridians, which made sense. The ship wasn’t alive like a person or an animal, but like any object, it had an energy flow, or gi, of its own. For its systems to work properly, all its components needed to be placed in harmony with its gi. I’d learned that from repairing things back home.

“Cadet,” Ju-Won said. The worry lines between her brows deepened. “I thought you . . . Never mind.” Her eyes scanned me up and down. “Who let you out of the medical bay with your collar crooked like that?”

I should have checked it over earlier, but I’d been too disoriented by the whole situation. By this point I was about ready to fall over. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

Her worried expression changed to a glare. “What did you say, Cadet?”

Sujin mouthed, Say “ma’am”! Haneul shook her head ever so slightly at me.

“Sorry, ma’am!” I said hastily.

“Sloppy, Cadet,” Ju-Won said. “Are you sure you don’t need to go back to Medical?”

“I’m fine, ma’am,” I said. I didn’t want to get stuck in the sick bay.

“Very well,” she said. “Why don’t you report to level two and help them with inventory? Check in with me again if you don’t feel well, though.”

This time I had the presence of mind to salute and say, “Yes, ma’am!” I must have sounded too enthusiastic, because she frowned at me some more.

“Cadets Sujin and Haneul, I assume you know where you’re supposed to be? Good. Dismissed, the three of you.”

Once again, I had no idea where to go. Too bad foxes didn’t know divination magic. I saluted and picked a direction. I had a 50 percent chance of being right, after all.

“That way, Cadet!” Ju-Won said in exasperation, pointing down another corridor.

“Oh, of course, ma’am!” I lied. I saluted a third time for good measure and marched off in the correct direction this time.

Sujin and Haneul accompanied me, although the latter cast anxious glances back to Ju-Won to see if she was watching us.

“Hey,” Sujin said in an undertone, “you look terrible. Let me get a snack into you before I report to my station.”

That sounded wonderful. “Thank you,” I said, smiling at the goblin.

Sujin herded me into a side passage. Haneul shook her head and said, “We’re so dead if we’re caught shirking.”

“I can’t let Jang faint from hunger,” Sujin said reasonably. “Anyone coming?”

Haneul sighed, then peered around the corner. “No, you’re clear.”

Sujin pulled out a spork with a flourish.

Wait, a spork? Really? My nose tickled, and I suppressed a sneeze. That wasn’t any ordinary utensil. Dokkaebi were known for carrying magical clubs or wands. I’d never heard of one coming in the shape of a spork, though.

Sujin waved the spork, and a box of chocolate-dipped cookies magically appeared. I tamped down another sneeze. The goblin snatched it out of the air before it fell to the deck. “Eat these,” they said. “They’ll perk you up.”

Haneul shook her head disapprovingly at Sujin. “You’re not supposed to mess with the rationing system.”

“Are you going to tattle?”

“No,” Haneul said with a sigh.

I tore open the box and practically inhaled the cookies. Too late, I realized I should have been polite and offered some to my companions. Oh well. Maybe they were used to Jang being rude. I snuck a glance at the others. Indeed, Sujin and Haneul looked more worried than offended.