The Passengers (Book #2)

𝔐𝔶 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔅𝔢𝔞𝔱

I squint in the dim light, trying to make sense of the furniture shapes. My bedroom? My temples pound like I have the worst hangover in the universe. And everything aches.

"Suzy?" my dad says. He sits on my vanity chair right next to my bed.

"Appa?" My voice is scratchy and low.

Tension releases his shoulder. I rub my eyes and wince. My left arm hurts like hell. There's a big bandage wrapped around it. I sit straight up.

He catches my shoulders. "Whoa, take it easy."

"Appa, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Me? You barely make it out some spell ship alive and you want to know how I am? " He shakes his head. "Suzy—"

"Appa, I didn't use magic. I—"

"Wait." He holds up his hand. "Let me finish."

I close my mouth.

"I don't know if your realized, but I was conscious while I was in that trance. I couldn't speak or react, but I could hear everything."

So he heard us discussing the spell, heard me speaking to Joohyuk, heard the girls doing who knows what type of magic?

"At first I was furious and kicking myself. I thought that if I had just taken you back to Seoul sooner, none of this would have happened."

I don't say anything. I wouldn't even know where to start.

"But, Suzy, you should have seen the girls. Wendy was barking orders. Hyeri was mixing some kind of memory spell."

My eyes widen. "They used a memory potion on me?"

"Practically doused you in it."

"It helped. I remembered who I was. I don't know if I would have otherwise,"  I say.

My dad nods. "Seulgi was talking—or rather, writing messages—to someone named Joohyuk, trying to figure out how signature spells worked and how to break them. They dripped potion on that pink dress and on the broken record."

"It must have been weird for you," I say.

"No. It was heartbreaking. I realized they were using a potion you asked Minyoung for days ago. That you and the girls wanted to mix the memory potion, and that you didn't because of me. I actually robbed you of the tools you needed to stay safe."

I pull at my fluffy comforter.

"You were right when you said that I didn't know what you knew," he says, an unusual heaviness in his voice.

"You were trying to protect me."

"But not in the right way."

I look up at him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying . . . I'm still not comfortable with magic. but Minnie was right; you need to learn how to control it more than you need to run away from it. If you want to live in Manyeo, we can stay. I don't ever want to realize again that it was my own stubbornness that put my child in danger. I've learned this lesson twice. There won't be a third time."

Tears form in my eyes. "We can stay?"

"We can stay."

My doors creaks open, and Mrs. Oh comes in, bringing the scent of warm sugar with her.

"I heard voices and I thought . . . My girl!" Mrs. Oh puts her hand over her mouth. "What can I get you? Are you hurting? Are you hungry?" She crosses my room in no time and cups my face in her hands. "Let me look at you."