The Passengers (Book #2)

ℑ'𝔪 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔖𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤

I close my locker. No sign of Sehun and no text. He wouldn't have left without saying anything, would he? To be fair, I don't need a ide right now. But still. I'll just swing past his parking spot on my way out.

I pull out my phone and text Wendy.

Me: Headed over now.

As I move through the hall, I slip my arms into my jacket and sling my bag over my shoulder. I go out the door that leads to the student parking lots and stop short. Sehun is talking to Jisoo next to his truck, and she's holding on to his shirt. In the rare instances that Sehun is mad at me, he still offers me a ride; we just drive home listening to music instead of talking. I really don't want to watch this. But I am watching it, and I'm standing still and staring.

Oh no. He saw me. He's looking directly at me . . . and waving? Am I supposed to wave back? I will not wave at you like everything is normal! He looks at me for a second longer and goes back to his conversation with Jisoo.

I lift my chin and walk as fast as I can in the direction of the Ropes Garden.

I arrive at the garden in record time. As I pass under the cine-covered trellis, I spot the Lineages. Wendy, Hyeri, and Seulgi stand around the sundial in the center of the circular garden, just like the first day I had a real conversation with them. Back them I still believed that there was a logical order to the world and that magic was something you found in bedtime stories.

The turn and watch me approach. Three gothic-chic stunners in a sea of spring green.

I drop my bag on the ground and join their circle. "Are you guys feeling better?"

Seulgi tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear. "Much better."

"Speak for yourself," Wendy says. "While you were being cared for by your mom and your girlfriend, Hyeri and I had to fend for ourselves."

"My parents were visiting my aunt," Hyeri explains. "They didn't get home until this morning."

I look at Seulgi. "Hang on, you got a girlfriend? How did I not know this?"

"Because you've barely talked to us in six months. What were you expecting, a memo of updates?" Wendy's matter-of-fact harshness hits me like a slap.

"I . . ." I have no idea what to say. She's right. It didn't occur to me, when she said it last time, how distant I've been. Actually, that's why Sehun was frustrated with me, too. Maybe I really have been closed off.

Seulgi dismisses Wendy's comment with a small wave of her hand. "I'll introduce you to her."

"Now, moving on . . . ," Wendy says.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we did spend our time talking about the awkward things we said on dates, rather than the weirdo packages delivered by dead people who may or may not want to harm us.

Seulgi pulls her already slim-fitting black coat tighter round her body. "Even though we were sick, we did find out something about that key Wendy got."

"Oh?" I ask.

"The engraving 1ST CL ST RM D33 is old shorthand for 'first-class stateroom D33'," Wendy says. "It was Hyeri who figured it out. Before we ate that death food, she went to her aunt's antique shop and asked some questions."

I almost don't want to ask. "And room D33? Was that a room on the Titanic?"

"You bet," Hyeri says.

I press my lips together. "Was it the Mins'?"

"It certainly was," Seulgi says. "At the very least, there's a connection between some of these strange occurrences."

"Actually, there's another connection to the Mins . . . So I told you I saw the drowned man last night. I was in a restaurant with Sehun, and he blinked in right next to my table."

Hyeri's eyes widen. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. That's so creepy."

"Beyond. He shoved a dog collar at me. And I think he had an Irish accent?" I pull the cloth restaurant napkins out of my pockets and unknot it. "I didn't touch it just in case."

Seulgi examines the old leather collar with dulled metal accents. "It looks like an antique."

I nod. "And take a wild guess whose dog survived the Titanic?"

Hyeri frowns. "The Mins'?"

"They had an Pekingese. And guess how I found out? Wang told me—not the class, me—right in the middle of his lesson. Only to be followed up by Jisoo talking about William Stead-Lam, who I saw in my Titanic dream last night."

Wendy's eyes widen. "That's it. I don't care what you all thought you were doing this weekend, because you're not doing it anymore. Someone or something is trying to communicate with us, and we need to figure out what it means before Aegi's warning becomes a reality."