The Passengers (Book #2)

𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔐𝔢 𝔅𝔬𝔱𝔥

I jump out of the Jeep and sprint up to my house, the girls on my heels.

I push open the door. "Appa!"

He's standing in the foyer.

"I need you to go pack your things," he says.

"Wait, is that why you called me home?"

"We're leaving bright and early. Take whatever you need for a few days, and the rest we'll have shipped." I can tell by his tone that he's dead serious. He looks at the girls. "I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you guys to head home. I need to talk to my daughter."

"But—" Wendy starts.

"I really must insist," appa says. The girls walk out the door reluctantly.

"Appa, what happened? You're scaring me."

He waits for the door to close. "First, I got a call from one of your teachers, a Mr. Wang, telling me that he was worried about you. That you were all jumpy in his office this afternoon and that you look like you haven't been sleeping for the past week. Only to be followed by Sehun coming over saying all kinds of wild things about you and the girls and how they're potentially bad people? At which point Minnie tells me Sehun doesn't mean it because he's under a spell?" He pauses. "Which, I can see by your lack of shock right now, you knew about."

"Appa—"

"No, Suzy. I told you what my fear was about Manyeo. I don't know if Minnie is right about Sehun or not, but if so, I'm not taking the chance. If someone is using magic at your school against Sehun, of all people, then it's no longer safe for you to be there. I told Minnie that she Sehun could come with us."

I take a deep breath, trying not to panic. I can't Manyeo right now. I just can't. "Did she accept?"

"Not yet," he says. "But I have her in the ballroom right now, and I'm trying to convince her. You'll want to get started on packing. We're leaving right after breakfast tomorrow."

"You're in the ballroom and not the living room or the kitchen?" I ask, peering down the hall. Is it because they're fighting and don't want me to overhear?

"Time to pack, Suzy," appa says, pointing toward my room.

I walk past him and up the stairs. I can't argue with him when he's in this kind of mood. If I push now, he might put me in the car and drive to Seoul this very moment. And there is definitely no explaining the Titanic at this point. Not only would he make me leave immediately, but he'd probably burn the house down just to make sure nothing with magic in it ever comes near me again.

I close my bedroom door.

"Joohyuk?" There is fear in my voice.

He blinks in.

"I went—" I start.

"I saw."

"My dad—"

"I know."

"We have to fix this—solve this, whatever—tonight or I have no possibility of convincing him to stay." I dump the tissue-wrapped dance card onto my bed. "What do you make of this thing?"

He furrows his brow and his posture is tense. "It is reminiscent of the objects you have been receiving all along—seemingly random, but not. If it in any way relates to Hanna and Hajoon, there is no information telling us so. We have already research them ad nauseum."

"Maybe it's more literal than we think? Maybe it's about the school dance?" I crack my knuckles. "It does have the same image as those raffle tickets Jennie handed out."