Dragon Pearl(73)

“Here they are, ma’am,” he said. “As you requested.”

Oh no. I’d followed Jun because I trusted him—and now we were at the mercy of these ghosts.

Haneul had a different reaction altogether. “Lieutenant Seo-Hyeon?” she asked. “Is that you?”

“Yes,” the tall spirit said in a voice that echoed oddly.

“So none of you survived?” Haneul asked, peering around at all the ghostly faces.

“Not a one,” the lieutenant confirmed. “But surely that’s no surprise.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Haneul. “We were told you had deserted. Of course I never believed it. . . .” She trailed off. What did it matter now?

Seo-Hyeon’s mouth twisted. “Come in and rest. The rain may not affect us, but the three of you aren’t dead—not yet, anyway.”

I wavered. Haneul, however, was already striding toward the shuttle. Sujin must’ve taken that as a good sign, because they removed their cap, reappeared, and followed her. Wondering what we’d let ourselves in for, I headed after them both.

When we got to the wreckage, I turned and asked the lieutenant, “What do you want from us?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake . . .” Haneul grabbed my hand and dragged me inside the shuttle, which offered some refuge even though one end of it was completely crumpled and its hatch was permanently smashed open. The interior’s metal walls were scorched black, and the deck was littered with dead leaves and gravel. Sujin was already huddled in one of the passenger seats, shivering.

I hesitated, looking around for signs of dead bodies. If they existed, they must have been somewhere in the wrecked end of the shuttle. I shuddered.

“No need to be paranoid, Min,” Haneul said. She set down her gear on one of the empty seats.

Reluctantly, I did the same. What did Haneul know about ghosts? I, on the other hand, had firsthand experience. Spirits walked among the living—or haunted starships sometimes, like Jang—for one reason: They had unfinished business from their lifetimes. These ghosts needed something, I was sure of it.

Once we were settled, Jun received a go ahead nod from Lieutenant Seo-Hyeon’s ghost. “Captain Hwan charged us with finding the Dragon Pearl,” he said to us. “I assume that’s why you’re here, too.”

“I came here for you,” I said, hugging myself. “I never thought I—I . . .” I stuttered to a halt. What could I say to him? It had been so long since I’d last seen my brother, and now he was . . . like this.

The intact half of Jun’s face twisted up in a smile. “We’ll catch up later, Min.”

I doubted that. Now that I knew I couldn’t rescue him, everything had changed. I didn’t need to linger here any longer. I . . .

Linger . . . What was keeping him on the Fourth Colony? Was it because he hadn’t been able to complete his mission?

Suddenly, any thought I’d had of giving up my quest vanished. In fact, finding the Dragon Pearl had become that much more urgent—that much more personal now. If Jun couldn’t fulfill his goal to save Jinju, then it was up to me to do it and make sure he could go on to his final rest.

I choked up at the thought. I didn’t really want to say good-bye to my brother. At the same time, I knew from the old stories that ghosts didn’t stay in the living world because they wanted to. I doubted Jun was any different.

Haneul bit her lip, and I caught a whiff of unease from her direction. Then she said to the lieutenant, “Unlike you, we weren’t sent here by the captain. We’re fleeing from him. He has been behaving oddly, and some of it’s related to your mission. His obsession with the Dragon Pearl has sent him over the edge. He threatened all of us.”

Sujin shook their head and groaned slightly.

Haneul turned to Sujin. “What? It’s not like we can keep it a secret,” she said stiffly.

“So he is pursuing you?” Seo-Hyeon said. When she spoke in her soft voice, ice trickled down my spine, colder even than the enduring chill of the rain and the wind. “The captain did not come for us.”

I looked uneasily at Haneul, mouthing, Why not? She shrugged.

“Or if he did send a rescue team,” Jun said, “it never reached us.”

The wind outside howled louder, and Jun saw me grimace at the sound. “The Fourth Colony’s ghosts are still holding a grudge against the people of the Thousand Worlds for leaving them to their fate,” he explained. “We can hear their anger in the wind.”

It made sense that ghosts could understand other ghosts. I could pick up the suggestion of muttering voices, the background noise that had put me in a trance earlier, but no actual words. “What do they want after all this time?” I asked.

“You’d have to ask them,” Lieutenant Seo-Hyeon cut in. “What we want is to talk to the captain. The ghosts may have been the ones who influenced the weather spirits to crash our shuttle, but Hwan owes us for abandoning us afterward.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. So that was it. Jun had led us to this spot to be bait for Captain Hwan. I glanced at Haneul and Sujin, and from their expressions I knew they’d come to the same realization.

I stared accusingly at Jun, who wouldn’t meet my eyes. Then I signaled Haneul and Sujin. We have to get out of here.

But just then Sujin pulled out a comm device that I didn’t remember from the escape capsule. They punched a code into it. “Not going to happen,” Sujin said to the ghosts. “I’ve warned the captain to stay away from this wreck.”