Dragon Pearl(38)

“I overheard your conversation with Haneul and Sujin,” he said.

I blinked. “You were there? I didn’t notice.”

“It’s easy for me to hide my presence around Haneul, especially when she’s upset,” Jang said, sounding wistful. “No one notices a ghost-wind when she’s accidentally summoning a miniature storm in the same room.”

“So you heard that the people who killed you are dead,” I said, hoping that would satisfy him.

“Yes, that was a very interesting detail.”

Wasn’t that enough? I wondered. His eyes still looked . . . well, haunted.

I had an idea. “Would you prefer to speak to Sujin and Haneul yourself?” I asked gently. “We could explain the situation—that I’m pretending to be you. Hopefully they’d understand.” Truthfully, I didn’t want to do it. I felt I had to make the offer, though, because of his pitiful expression.

Jang was already shaking his head. “No,” he said, “it’s better not to complicate things.” He looked away for a moment. “If they found out I’m dead, they’d be obliged to report you. And they might try to exorcise me so I don’t bring bad luck to the ship. Then I’d really be gone. I’m not ready for that quite yet.”

“I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine,” I said.

Jang smiled thinly. “Fair enough.”

“Sorry I’m not living up to your reputation as a slacker,” I teased gently, thinking back to Lieutenant Hyosu’s compliment.

“That’s the one nice thing about this arrangement,” Jang said. “Not having to study anymore.”

I stuck out my tongue—his tongue, which must have been weird for him to see.

Jang started to fade away. “You have KP duty next, don’t you? You should get going.”

I wondered when I would see him again. It was unnerving to know he could eavesdrop on me without my knowledge.


After the first week, I was starting to take to life as a cadet. It felt almost like I wasn’t pretending anymore. I was getting better at following the complicated military regulations. Saluting whenever an officer showed up had become second nature. My posture was the best it had been in my entire life, which would have made Mom proud. It even impressed me. Considering how much of my life I’d spent scrubbing things, I’d thought I would always be hunched over.

It took me by surprise the first time I was excused from toilet-cleaning duty. One night Lieutenant Ju-Won regarded me sourly and said, “Your comportment is adequate, Cadet. See that it stays that way.”

I didn’t expect my good luck to last, though. As much as I was enjoying my taste of life in the Space Forces, training to be a soldier wasn’t my true purpose. I was there to find my brother.

The next morning, I woke early by force of habit. Truth is, I hadn’t exactly gotten many opportunities to sleep in when I lived at home, either.

I padded quietly past the other bunks. Haneul was snoring the loudest, as usual. Good thing I could sleep through anything after growing up with my cousin Bora’s snorting and snuffling. Sujin lay curled up on their side, their horned brow slightly creased. I wondered what kinds of dreams they were having. In mine I sometimes saw Nari and my mom sitting side by side, eating sesame cookies and chatting. They looked almost like real sisters, Nari with her sly eyes, and my mother smiling more easily than I’d ever seen before.

I’d left all that behind on Jinju, though. Until I found Jun, I couldn’t go back.

My feet took me to Bunk 2. The door opened for me readily enough. The first thing I heard was several people snoring, one of them even louder than Haneul at her worst. They didn’t smell like a dragon, though.

I looked around, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. Then I walked softly around the room. My nose picked up the smells of soap, sweat, synthetic fabrics, plastic, and metal. I couldn’t detect any trace of Jun, and my heart sank, even though I’d anticipated that would be the case.

They wouldn’t have left Jun’s personal effects here. My best guess was that they were locked up somewhere as part of the investigation into his desertion. How could I get access to them?

I hadn’t learned anything useful by sneaking in there. I retreated back into the corridor . . . and almost collided with a sergeant.

I bit down on a yelp. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough presence of mind to nudge her with Charm to dampen her suspicion.

“You’re up awfully early, Cadet,” the sergeant said, eyeing me with distrust.

I scrambled for an excuse that wouldn’t stick in her head. “I was having trouble meditating because of all the snoring,” I said. “So I went for a walk.”

The sergeant harrumphed. “Well, you shouldn’t be wandering around like this. I’m going to have to put you on report.”

“Yes, Sergeant,” I said, swallowing a groan.

“In the meantime, you should catch up on sleep,” the sergeant said. “Go.”

I hurried off, wondering what my punishment would be. So much for avoiding toilet scrubbing.





My punishment turned out to be something else. After breakfast mess, Lieutenant Ju-Won informed me that I was to report to Hydroponics with Haneul and Sujin. “You can help with inspection,” she said.

“Inspection?” I asked before I could stop myself.