I wipe sweat form my forehead as I enter a small cobblestone alleyway just outside of town. I stopped running five blocks back, but my body didn't get the message.
"I'm in so much trouble."
"I could not risk you staying there," Joohyuk says.
"Okay, but why?" I stop, not wanting to leave this sleepy alleyway, where I can talk to him.
"You called attention to yourself with that spell today. My fiancée's attention."
I feel exposed. "So she knows where I live now?"
"I imagine she already knew where you lived. After all you live in the house that used to belong to me. What she would not have known is that you could do spells."
"You're saying I just announced myself as a threat?"
"I would think so."
If wasn't a threat before and she was already casting spells I might as well paints a target on my forehead now. "But you told me spirits can't do spells."
"They cannot."
"Am I missing something?"
He nods, looking uncomfortable.
"Suzy?"
I turn around as Sehun turns the corner. I'm partly relieved and partly terrified that he's seeking me out. Did he see me talking to Joohyuk? "You followed me?"
"I know you like this boy, but there is no time for this. I must tell you something," Joohyuk says, and I get the feeling I'm not going to like whatever it is.
Sehun walks up to me. "Yeah, well, you saw someone die, then you levitated onstage. I find you doing spells with my mom, and then I see you running full sprint down the street. I think it makes sense that I followed you."
"You never told Soojung about me biting Kai's hand, did you?"
"What do you think?"
"Sehun, I . . . I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."
"Why don't you start by explaining."
"Sooji," Joohyuk says. I don't need to look at him to know this isn't a good idea.
"I don't have time." It's the most truthful thing I can say.
"Why?"
"You wouldn't understand." I twist my fingers together.
Sehun waits for me to continue. When I don't, he asks, "Why don't you trust me?"
My heart aches. "It's not that."
Joohyuk throws his hands in the air.
"Then why don't you tell me anything?" Sehun asks. "I found out with the rest of the school these things happened to you. Even the Lineages knew more than me." I open my mouth, but he stops me. "Don't try to tell me they didn't. I saw their faces. Then, you believe Soojung's lies about me. They aren't even nice to you. Meanwhile, I do everything I can for you, and you shut me out."
I bite my lip. I completely misunderstood why Sehun was angry with me. I can't help but agree with him. "I never meant to shut you out," I whisper.
"Then stop," Sehun says.
Joohyuk paces. "The longer you delay, the more danger you are in."
Which means Sehun is in danger being near me. "It's not safe for you to be here," I say.
Sehun looks at the historic hanoks and quaint benches. "We are on a quiet street in an expensive neighborhood. And it's still light out. I don't really think it gets much safer."
I blush, embarrassed by how paranoid I sound. "I know that. I'm not suggesting the trees are gonna eat us. I'm saying that it's not safe for you to be with me."
"And again, I ask why." I've never seen Sehun act like this. He's dead serious.
How do I tell him anything that will make sense to him? "I want to tell you. I just don't know how."
"Do you have feelings for me, Suzy?" He takes a step toward me and my heart picks up speed. "I have to know. Because if you do, I will stand here fighting you all day until you let me in. But if you don't . . ."
I glance at Joohyuk, who grumbles unhappily and walks off a few feet to give me space. My instinct is to bolt. I'm impossibly nervous, and I'm not going to have this conversation in
front of Joohyuk. But I can't ignore Sehun's question. There's no way out.
"Suzy? What are you looking at?"
My eyes meet Jaxon's with fear.
"Wait . . . it's here?" Sehun asks.
"He." I correct him.
"Great. He is here?" Sehun scans the street again and Joohyuk walks toward us.
"Yes, I am here. Trying to keep her safe. Not attempting no discuss my feelings for her while she is quite obviously distressed," Joohyuk snaps at Sehun.
"It's not his fault; he doesn't understand," I say to Joohyuk before I catch myself.
"What did he say to me?" Sehun asks.
"Go home, Sehun, before you cause her harm," Joohyuk says as his eyes glare at Sehun.
"Suzy?" Sehun takes a step forward, not shying away from this uncomfortable situation.
I want to cry. It's not like I can lie; Joohyuk's standing next to me. "He said for you to go home before you cause me harm." I cringe at every word. And by the way Sehun's face falls, I know I shouldn't have said them.
"Is that how you feel?" Sehun asks quietly.
It's more complicated than that. But if I say that, he'll stay. It takes all my will to say, "Yes."
Sehun nods, and his eyes glisten. "I guess that's my answer." He waits for me to say something else, anything else.
After a few moments of silence, he walks away.
"Sehun! I'm sorry." Pushing Sehun and Yoomi away within the same hour is killing me. Maybe I am the problem. Maybe Soojung's right. All I do is hurt people.
He stops and starts to turn toward me, but changes his mind. He shakes his head and continues down the street. With every step he takes, the ache in my heart grows bigger.
I look at Joohyuk. "I know," he says, and wraps his arms around me. I bury my face in his chest and cling to his shirt. He smells like old books. "I just could not put you at further risk. It's safer for everyone, including him, if he goes home."
I nod against his body. "What did you want to tell me?"
Joohyuk holds me for a second longer before releasing me. "While you were with Mrs. Oh, I search again for diary entries."
"You found something, didn't you?"
He nods. "One in the late seventeen hundreds that referenced a woman living with crows in the woods. The writer claimed that no one would walk past her house for fear being cursed."
"Wouldn't she have been over a hundred by the late seventeen hundreds?"
"That is precisely what worried me. So I looked in the eighteen hundreds. I found two more mentions of her. Then one in the early nineteen hundreds."
How could people write about the same person over hundreds of years? "Maybe they were just repeating stories they heard from other people and never actually saw her."
Joohyuk pushes his dark wavy hair back. "What gives me pause is that the descriptions were extremely similar."
"What are you saying, exactly? That you think she's lived for hundreds of years? That's impossible." My words don't hold the conviction I'd like. I just did a spell with my next door neighbor, and my best friend's a spirit—who I've kissed. The word "impossible" holds a much looser definition than it did in Seoul.
"Is it impossible?" Joohyuk asks. I can only imagine how freaked out he must be.
I fidget. "If she's casting spells, she has to be alive in some way, right?"
"I think we can assume definitively that she is the unknown enemy Changbin was referencing in your Kang Junho vision."
The blood drains from my face. "Changbin said I was paying attention to the wrong things. But why wouldn't Changbin just tell me your fiancée was my secret enemy instead of all these coded messages?"
"Names have power. He was trying to protect you or himself, I imagine."
If Changbin's frightened of her, what does that mean for me? I glance around the street, feeling like a sitting target.
"Do you think she's out to get me because of Changbin?"
"Potentially."
"But my dad's name was written alongside mine." If she gave people that rash, I bet she's responsible for other things. The pastries that got everyone sick? Kai's death? "So now there are two things that can hurt my dad . . . the curse and your fiancée."
"I think they are one and the same. I am just not sure where the connection lies." A car door slams shut, and I jump.
I step closer to Joohyuk, lowering my voice to a whisper. "How do we find her?"
"We go to a café or some public place where you are at less risk, while I try to make sense of it all."
"No way. I'm not hiding out drinking an americano while you go looking for her."
"If I can speak with her, I may be able to persuade her to stop." He looks every bit as determined as me.
"No. Changbin and your fiancée were at the top of the food chain." I picture my 'How to Hang a Witch' chart in my notebook. "Changbin couldn't have started the witch hysteria without her, or she without him. Oh man, and my coming to Manyeo inadvertently started the chain of deaths. I would bet money that she's involved in these deaths and accidents, too. Probably not inadvertently. And if we were the ones to start it, she and I are the only ones who can stop it." The moment I say it, I know I'm right. Seulgi said I was the key to solving this. Wendy thinks I'm the problem. They might both be right. The thought makes me dizzy.
"I dislike the idea greatly," Joohyuk's upset only confirms my suspicions.
"I'm not wild about it, either." That's an understatement. "But Changbin could've stopped the accusations all those years ago if he'd tried, which would've saved the lives of innocent people. If everything's as parallel as we think, I'm the one who needs to try." As I speak, my theory makes more sense to me.
He frowns. "Do not forget you are the witch in this version of the pattern."
"Your fiancée lost everything. If she wanted to blame anyone for the Trials, Changbin would be a likely choice. What would be a better revenge than to brand a Bae as a witch and make that Bae look responsible for all the deaths?"
"How could Changbin have stopped my fiancée?"
"Expose her as a fraud. Uncover her lies," I say. In which case, that spell I did was a step in the right direction. I look at the spell book on the bench a few feet from where we stand. "But in order to do that, I need to know where she is."
Joohyuk follows my theory.
"A spell is not a good idea, Sooji."
"What choice do we have? If I need to stop her, I can't stand here waiting for her to take me by surprise."
"It is not safe," Joohyuk says definitively. "We do not know enough yet."
More than anything, I want to agree. But if I don't track her down, I will continue to be behind the horse, like Changbin said. "Joohyuk, we need to come up with a plan. And then I need to try one of those spells."
"What plan? We do not know what we are planning for." His voice deviates from its evenness. "I do not want you to get hurt."
My heart thuds. "If I die, then I guess we'll be spending lots of time together."
He grabs my arms and holds on to me as though he will shake the idea out of me. "Do not ever say that, Sooji. You have your whole wonderful life ahead of you. You cannot imagine all the experiences you will have. I would never wish this upon you so young."
"But how can I have those things if I don't stop your fiancée?" I match his passionate tone, and my voice rises. "And how many other people won't get to live their lives if I don't break this curse?"
"You will break it. You just need to be reasonable." He pulls me forward a couple of inches.
Our faces are close together. "Kai's already dead. Seulgi's next. Not to mention all those others. I can't know that I had the answer and didn't take action. I would never be able to live with myself. I'm not going to be like Changbin, sit back and watch it unfold." I'm getting more determined by the minute. I have no desire to meet Joohyuk's fiancée. But I'll be damned if I'm going to miss my chance because I'm too cautious.
"You do not know what she is capable of." He pulls me closer again, like he's trying to shield me with his body.
Suddenly his role in this curse makes sense. "You know the enemy this time, Joohyuk."
He looks at me questioningly.
I steady my voice. "You couldn't protect Bona because you didn't know who the enemy was. Now you're trying to protect me. Difference is, we know who were fighting."
His eyes go wide, and he releases me. He sits down on the bench. "I killed myself last time I failed."
I sit down next to him, my voice gentle. "I can't do this without you."
He turns toward me. For a few seconds we're quiet. His gray eyes are big and sad. "I cannot live the rest of eternity knowing I failed you, too."
My breath catches in my throat. "You could never fail me . . ."
He sighs. "Okay, Sooji. I will bend to your will."
I exhale. But my victory's short-lived. Police sirens blare in the distance. Joohyuk blinks out. I stand, examining my surroundings, and realize Ms. Eung is peering through a curtain from a second-story window. When we make eye contact, she shuts the curtains. How could I be so stupid as to stay in one place for so long? It must look like I'm arguing with myself.
Joohyuk blinks back in. "Run!"
I take off down the cobblestones.
"Turn right," he says, and I duck into an alley. The police sirens get louder. "The park."
I sprint onto the sidewalk, almost knocking down a pedestrian. I quickly check the traffic and run across the street into a patch of trees. I stop by the trunk of a big maple.
The police car passes us and heads in the direction we came from.
"You need to get off the street," Joohyuk says. "That officer had a notepad full of comments about you."
"Wait, why?"
"I did not stay to find out. We need to get you to Mrs. Oh's."
"What!" I stare at him in horror. "No."
"Can you think of a better location to do a spell?"