The Lost Girls || Bbangsaz

XV

≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫

     The silver locket had tarnished to near black, but I could still make out the ornate letter B carved into the surface. If I flicked open the small latch, I'd find a drop of my living blood stored inside. Sealed away for all these years. I reached for it, but Hyein pulled her hand back.

     "Not yet." She tucked my heirloom into a black leather bag she held in her clenched fist. "First, there are things I want in exchange."

     "Can we do the negotiations inside?" I was covered in grave dirt, my fingers were still sticky from decomposed body wax, and I just wanted a hot bath and a fresh meal. Maybe there was something to Dani bringing kills home after all. "I need to change."

     Dani pushed open the front door, swept out her arm, and allowed us all to pass. Now that we had Hyein here, we wouldn't let her leave again without giving up that locket. I went into Dani's room and changed into jeans and a cozy sweater I'd stolen out of the college dorms. After a detour into the bathroom to wash my face and hands, I returned to the main room to find Dani and Haerin guarding Hyein, both wearing matching scowls.

     Hyein walked in circles, examining the space I'd come to think of as home. She stopped in front of Haerin's leg lamp and tilted her head.

    "Cute."

     "I'd offer you something to drink, but I don't have anyone on hand right now," Dani said.

     Hyein curled her lip. "Do you normally keep bodies on hand?" I opened my mouth to point out her little feeding ground of minions but promptly shut it again. We had plenty of time to argue after I had possession of my heirloom.

     "So what if she does?" A muscle ticked in Haerin's jaw. Which nearly made me laugh, considering how much she hated it when Dani brought her kills home. "You wanted to talk. Let's get to the point, then."

     "You're killing Elton." Hyein held my gaze. "I want in."

     Haerin let out a short laugh. "There's nothing you can do. It has to be us."

     "I assumed." Hyein gave Haerin a bland stare. "But I still think I can help. I can spy on him at school. He probably won't remember me; I was just another dead body to him, which is an advantage if you want to find out how he plans to retaliate."

     "How do we know we can trust you?" Dani asked.

     "Because I'm going to give Minji her heirloom. And mine as well, as a show of good faith." She removed both lockets from her bag and pressed them into my palm. A jolt went through me at the contact.

     Standing here with both Hyein and our lockets, it was like that first summer again, but this time we'd become the ghosts we'd chased.

     "I'm not a hundred percent ready to forgive you."

     "What do you want?" The tarnished silver was cool against my already cold hand.

     Hyein's locket opened on the left while mine opened on the right.

     They linked together by a small latch on the opposite side. They'd been sister lockets. From what we'd been able to uncover, Edie's sister died a few years before her. The lockets had been a gift from their father.

     "Once it's done, I never want to come back here again," Hyein said.

     "I think we can all agree to that." I looked to Dani and Haerin, who nodded in return. The first confirmation I'd had that when this was over, maybe we wouldn't have to go our separate ways. They'd become like family to me in this short time, and the idea of being on my own again made the large expanse of immortality near unbearable.