Dragon Pearl(84)

I smiled, happy and relieved to see the two of them. Best of all, Sujin no longer appeared sickly.

Sujin followed Haneul and set the tray down on a table. “This is officially what’s available to eat,” they said, nodding very properly at me. “But since you’re a guest now and not a cadet, you could get away with eating something less awful. If you wanted.”

Even the cold rice and overcooked vegetables were welcome after the ordeal we’d undergone on the Fourth Colony. I wasn’t about to turn down this overture. Sujin didn’t exactly sound friendly, but the offer counted for something. “Yes, please,” I said.

Sujin conjured me some green tea cookies. Then they turned to Jun. “I’d make some dried squid for you, but under the circumstances . . .”

“You like dried squid?” I asked Jun, my nose wrinkling. I’d only tried it once, a long time ago, and hadn’t enjoyed the tough, chewy texture. Mom and the aunties, who considered it a delicacy, had been happy to claim my share.

“Nobody’s perfect,” Jun said, and the two of us chuckled.

Sujin fidgeted, then looked at me. “I’ve had a chance to think things over,” they said. “I shouldn’t have given you such a hard time.”

“No,” I said, “I deserved it. I was a troublemaker. You two were being good cadets, following your captain’s orders. You just didn’t know him like I did.”

I proceeded to tell them what I’d read in his logbook. They both looked shocked, and I wasn’t sure what surprised them more, the captain’s determination to use the Pearl for destruction, or my snooping.

Haneul was eager to change the subject. She eyed the empty tray and said, “We’d better take that back to the collection point.”

I must have looked crestfallen at the thought of losing their company so quickly.

“We can stay for a few minutes,” Haneul said. “We’ll say we were entertaining an official guest.” She winked.

“Let’s play baduk,” I said, inspired. “There’s a set in the closet.”

“I’m not giving you a handicap this time,” Haneul said, and we laughed.

The two of us played a full game, which didn’t last long, because Haneul surrounded and isolated my stones no matter where I placed them. Sujin and Jun took turns giving me blatantly terrible strategy advice. I was having difficulty concentrating on the match. All I could think was that this would probably be the last time we’d play together.

At last we counted up the score. Haneul won by so much it would have been embarrassing under other circumstances. “I didn’t throw the game, honest,” I blurted.

Her eyes danced. “No one throws a game by that much, Min!”

Even Sujin smiled. They said to Jun, “Keep your sister out of trouble. She’s dangerous! Well, at anything that isn’t a board game.”

“Hey, I’m just an older brother,” Jun said. “You think she listens to me?”

My protests were drowned out by the others’ good-natured laughter. When it had died down, I said, “You’d better head back to your duties. Maybe I’ll see you again tomorrow?”

“Maybe.” As Sujin picked up my tray, they patted my back awkwardly.

Haneul pulled me into a sudden embrace. “Take care of yourself and your brother,” she said fiercely into my ear.

I hugged her back tightly. “I will,” I said. “Cadet’s honor.”





At last the day came when we docked at Black Locust Station. When it was time to depart the ship, I stood at the hatch fretfully, awaiting instructions from the local authorities. Even the warmth of the Pearl, which I now carried in a specially made pouch slung across my chest, brought me small comfort.

Several nervous soldiers filled out slate forms, looking like they couldn’t find the ones for “captain turned into tiger and went AWOL” or “passenger is escorting a magical artifact” and resented it terribly. Before they would let me leave, one of them called for a shaman.

The shaman had definite opinions about what to do. “You’re haunted,” she said, frowning. “I don’t think this is going to be an easy exorcism, either.”

Jun shot me an alarmed look.

I was already bristling. “Jun is my brother,” I said. “I don’t want him exorcised.”

The shaman shook her head. “Are you sure? Ghosts can’t be trusted, that’s what I always say.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “I’d take him over most people any day.”


The station authorities put me up in a luxurious hotel suite. I cooled my heels for two days, wondering what the holdup was now. On the third morning, a visitor arrived.

“Min,” said a voice I had heard a long time ago, one I’d never expected to encounter again. “We need to talk.”

I grabbed the Pearl from its place next to my pillow, then opened the door.

The man on the threshold was the investigator who had come to my house so long ago. Only this time he wasn’t wearing an investigator’s badge, but the formal gray uniform of the Thousand Worlds’ Domestic Security Ministry. He must have been undercover before. He gripped a briefcase in his left hand and nodded at me with a thin smile. “I’m Security Officer Seok,” he said. “You know why I’m here. You’ve led me on quite the merry chase.”