Dragon Pearl(81)

The others murmured their oaths as well.

For a few moments, nothing happened. I held my breath in dread. What if we’d been doomed by my overconfidence, and Captain Hwan had been right after all? Would the ghosts swarm us?

Then the Pearl hummed as if in approval, its iridescent surface glowing so brightly I was dazzled. Its colors swirled in a maelstrom of glimmering blues, greens, and grays lit by starry gleams of silver. I stared at it, enthralled by its beauty. A questing presence moved inside my mind, and in response I held out the Pearl. My living companions formed a ring around it, moving slowly as though hypnotized. Haneul’s eyes had gone soft with wonder, and even Sujin looked less angry. As for Captain Hwan, something like peace touched his face.

The Dragon Pearl’s radiance reflected in everyone’s eyes. I almost closed mine, but I wanted to see what would happen next. Haneul started a chant to the spirits of wind and water, wood and earth and metal.

The ghosts took up Haneul’s song. Their voices wove together in an intricate harmony. The wind rose as well, and in its howl I heard phantom drums. Captain Hwan’s human soldiers clustered near us, seeking protection from the terraforming magic.

A false dawn started to brighten the horizon. As the rainy mist eased, I could see a couple of the Fourth Colony’s moons floating. Then all the clouds scudded away until the sky was clear in every direction.

Next the ground began to shake. I crouched instinctively, not wanting to be bowled over. The tremors didn’t get too bad where we were standing, but all around us gravel and soil geysered up where the old settlement had stood, where the ghosts had once lived and breathed and died. If not for the clear sweet billows of wind that buffered us, we would have been suffocated by the stinging dust and loose dirt.

My heart threatened to pound its way out of my rib cage. Light from the sky now took on a red-orange tint thanks to all the dirt in the air. I wondered if the ghosts intended for us to be buried with them.

“Steady, little sister,” Jun said.

I glanced sideways, and there he was just outside the circle, the pale flames of his face flickering and unaffected by the windstorm. He was smiling. My heart ached, thinking of having to say good-bye to him soon. But for now he stood with me, and I had to treasure whatever time we had left.

Just beyond Jun, Jang smiled at me as well. We exchanged solemn nods. He was also facing the end. I’d miss him, too.

The Dragon Pearl blazed even brighter, which I hadn’t thought possible. Within the light I saw a vision. Rather, I saw it in the afterimages that danced behind my eyelids after I shut my eyes to avoid being blinded.

Volcanoes vomited forth fire, and ash clouded the air. Streams of lava rolled over the old cities with their decaying spires and domes, then hardened into shapes just as beautiful and eerie. Lakes flashed up in lethal gouts of steam, while rivers ribboned in new directions. I could see how the Dragon Pearl, in the wrong hands, could be used to destroy whole worlds and their populations.

But we were the only living people on the Fourth Colony, and the Pearl was keeping us safe. All the ghosts wanted was rest, a proper burial. The entire world would be their tomb.

And it wasn’t only destruction we witnessed. Slowly the land stopped churning, and I dared to open my eyes. Trees of all sorts, from pines to sycamores and maples, grew from the mountainsides, and speared toward the sky. Flowers blanketed the hills and plains, and fringed the rivers like necklaces. Grasses swayed in the winds. For their part, the winds grew gentler, caressing the landscape rather than buffeting it.

The ghosts shimmered, and I could sense their joy. Eui didn’t smile, exactly, but she made a point of meeting my eyes, and she bowed slowly and solemnly to me. Then she and the others began to fade.

Jang looked longingly at the others, then turned to me. “It’s time for me to go,” he said softly. “I stayed too long. I realize that now. But I want you to do one final thing for me.”

I nodded, a lump in my throat.

“I want a proper military funeral,” he said. “I died in the line of duty, after all.”

“I’ll make sure you get one,” I said. If we got off this planet safely, I would find a way.

“We all will,” Haneul said. A damp cloud hovered over her head, reflecting her mood. Sujin nodded, their eyes sad.

Jang smiled back at them, then reached out for my hand. His ghost-wind brushed against my fingers one last time. Then he was gone, and the cold breeze with him.

Tears streamed down my face. The Dragon Pearl had finished its work. “It’s over,” I said.

“Not yet,” said my brother’s voice.

I yelped.

Jun stood—floated—next to me. The other five ghosts from Captain Hwan’s mission had also materialized. I’d forgotten all about them.

Hwan, who’d been mesmerized by the Pearl’s terraforming, now snapped back to reality. He took a few steps back as his former crew members bore down on him menacingly.

“You,” Lieutenant Seo-Hyeon said to Hwan. No sir, no Captain. Her smile split her face grotesquely, as though it was on the verge of cracking open. “It’s time for you to pay for leaving us here.”

Haneul summoned a bolt of lightning, but it had no effect on the ghosts.

“Stay back, little sister,” Jun said in my ear. “This is going to get ugly.”

I almost laughed. After I’d just faced down thousands of angry ghosts, he was warning me about this pitiful group? Still, I moved closer to him.