The few minutes Sehun's gone feel like the years. I clench my hands and stare at my feet. The back door slams, and my body flies forward toward the sound. Sehun's footsteps are quick in the hallway as he heads back to the kitchen.
The bad news is clear by the tension in his jaw. "It's the Lineages. They're missing."
"What?" I yell. I knew something was going to happen to Seulgi, but I wasn't expecting this. What if I'm too late? "Which Descendants?"
"All four of them."
"I have to talk to those cops." I move toward the door.
"Suzy." Sehun grabs my arm. "You can't. They're looking for you. They think you're involved in their disappearance. Something about a threat you made in front of Seulgi's mom. And then ranting on the street, talking to thin air." He gives me a knowing look.
Mrs. Oh speaks calmly as she separates the ingredients into piles. "Breathe. You need to focus. We must do the location spell."
She's right. I have to focus. I dart back to the spell book. "Sehun, was there anything the police knew."
He shakes his head. "They didn't say much." There's an edge in his voice. He's looking at me more seriously than he did before.
Mrs. Oh hands Sehun a few greens to chop.
Joohyuk blinks back in. "Seulgi, Wendy, Hyeri, and Soojung went missing this afternoon according to the policeman'a notepad. They told their parents they were going to the pharmacy and would be back in an hour."
"Wait, I wasn't supposed to meet them there until tonight. Why would they be there this afternoon?" Were they setting me up? Seulgi wouldn't do that, would she?
Joohyuk raises a knowing eyebrow at me. "I cannot say."
"Maybe they got caught up in what they were doing and didn't go home? Or they were too far in the woods and the cops couldn't see them?" I would love to believe they aren't gone.
Mrs. Oh and Sehun watch me talk to Joohyuk.
"I searched," Joohyuk tells me.
"There is no sign of them other than Hyeri's Jeep in the parking lot."
"They've been missing for hours, then. Someone could already . . ." I don't finish that thought, because I don't want it to be true.
"The story of their disappearance has already begun to spread throughout the town. It is known that you are a main suspect. It is only a matter of time before the townspeople send out a search party for you."
I picture them lining up outside my house, screaming and waving torches.
Joohyuk looks uncomfortable. "Sooji, it is mostly likely a trap."
I pause. His fiancée has been messing with me all this time and I couldn't predict a single move. In fact, the things I've done to try to solve the curse only gave her ammo to use against me. "You think she knows I'll look for them?"
"I think she is counting on it. You were the only one there when Kai died. Then Soojung accused you of murder at the assembly, and Seulgi's mother claims you threatened her daughter. If she makes it appear that you were the responsible party for the Lineages' disappearance, the consequences will be great. You will be formally accused."
"If I don't track her down, I run the risk of someone dying."
I can't even send the police. She'd probably punish me by killing them slowly.
Sehun stops chopping. "I'm coming with you, Suzy. To find her."
I shake my head. "No. It's not safe."
"So you think I should just let you go do this dangerous thing by yourself? I'm coming."
I clench my hands so tightly that my knuckles turn white. There's no way I'm bringing Sehun with me. And now there's also no way I'm getting out of here without a fight.
Mrs. Oh interjects. "Dear, we can't hear Joohyuk. Does he have information?"
"He said they went missing hours ago. I tried to warn Seulgi the other day about the curse and the danger she might be in and her mother heard. That's why the cops came looking for me. If the crow woman was planning to set me up, this would be one way to do it." I grab a bunch of chives.
I chop as fast as my untrained hands will go. What if Sehun follows me out of here? He'd just be one more target for her, I dump the cut chives in the pot and return to the book, but I don't continue with the directions. Instead, I flip back a few pages to a sleep spell. This spell might be the last straw. He might never forgive me. But putting him in danger is worse.
I skim the directions. For potent long-lasting spells, a potion is required. But to temporarily disarm someone, a series of symbols can be written. Joohyuk hands me a piece of paper and I copy the elaborate symbols. Just in case, I tell myself. I hand the paper to Joohyuk. Mrs. Oh walks toward me, and I flip back to the location spell as fast as I can.
"Only the rosemary left, and you'll have to put that in," says Mrs. Oh.
She grabs a handful from the basket. I move to the pot and close my eyes. I attempt to form the image of Seulgi in my mind, but the vision that comes is of her hanging. I shake my head and try again.
Just her face. I just need to focus on her eyes and her hair. When I'm sure I can hold the image of her, I drop the rosemary into the pot. The green liquid sizzles, and I open my eyes. We all wait anxiously as black steam begins to form.
No one breathes.
The steam rises slowly at first, then forms large puffs like exhaust from a coal-fueled train. It doesn't disperse like normal steam. Instead, it makes a cloud over the pot. We all lean forward.
Like the red drops did on the parchment, it twists and turns. The first shapes it makes are trees. I need something more specific. And why is it always those damn woods, anyway?
The trees part and branch out to form a path. At the end of the path, the black steam creates another shape—a hanok with broken windows. Any hope I had of the Lineages' disappearance being a mistake is extinguished like burning wood doused with water.
Sehun is so much calmer than I am. "At least we know where that is."
Mrs. Oh grips her hands together.
That's the worst possible location—it's so isolated.
"My fingerprints are in that house already." I grab the counter, hoping the solidness of the stone will steady me.
"We need to call the police," Sehun says.
"No! You can't call the police. It'll put the Lineages at risk." I don't want them to suffer because I'm scared.
Mrs. Oh paces. "It's not a good idea, Sooji, to go to that house. We all need to think about this. I'm not sure that Sehun's wrong."
They want to protect me, but I don't think they can. It's just a matter of time before Joohyuk's fiancée lures me in. I can't have more deaths on my head.
The doorbell rings and we all jump.
"Stay here, both of you," says Mrs. Oh.
Sehun's eyes follow his mother with concern. I wish I could make this whole situation go away.
Joohyuk blinks in. "It is done. You should check on her."
My heart thuds. I run toward the front door. Sehun follows, close by my heels. When we get to the hallway, Mrs. Oh is braced against the wall, holding the piece of paper with the sleep spell in her hand.
"This was left on the porch." Mrs. Oh's volume trails off at the end of her sentence, like it's a real struggle for her to speak.
"Eomma!" Sehun takes one of her arms and I take the other.
"I'm okay. It's just . . ." Mrs. Oh yawns as we bring her into the living room. "I'm just so . . . tired."
We set her down on the couch. Sehun shakes her, but her eyelids are heavy. He removes the spell from her hand and looks at it. I don't stop him. He, too, falls back on the couch.
"Suzy?" he says in confusion, his voice heavy with drowsiness.
Joohyuk stands by the fireplace.
I look from Sehun to Mrs. Oh and feel horrible. "Sehun, I'm so sorry." I fight to steady my voice. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have involved you guys. I never wanted . . ."
They both blink without responding. The recognition of what I've done appears in Sehun's eyes. "You . . ." He starts the accusation but yawns instead of finishing it.
I breathe deeply and fight through my guilt. "Lay thee down and slumber take. A peaceful rest before thou wake."
Their eyes close, and I'm not sure if I'm relieved or horrified. I grab the spell from Sehun's hand, tear it up, and throw it in the fireplace. The fames consume it.
"How long will they sleep?" I ask.
"Could be a few hours or a few days."
Am I a bad person? "Come on. Let's go. I don't want this to be for nothing."
I take one final look at Sehun sleeping on the couch and run to the kitchen. I snatch up the small bottle of the inside-out spell and pull the knot pendant off my halmeoni's necklace. No need to advertise my defense system. I drop the chain on the counter with a clang, and put the knot in my pocket.
I turn to Joohyuk. "Now we need a strategy. What can you tell me about her?"
Elijah's face is full of worry. "In the many years I have spent thinking about what happened, I have come to realize that control was the most important thing to her?"
I focus all my attention on his words. I need this information.
"The one thing she could not control was my affection for my sister. I believe that was the reason she set out to ruin her. What she did not count on was that I did not care if the whole world turned against Bona. Even if Bona were the witch ringleader, I would have loved her the same. In fact, it only made me protect her more. It was the job I had dedicated my life to."
"She must've been furious when she saw that she couldn't come between you."
He nods. "When I stayed by Bona's side, she doubled her efforts. And when Bona did pass, my fiancée momentarily got what she wanted. I went to her for comfort. She became the only person of consequence in my world."
So that's what she was after. She didn't want to share him with anyone, even his sister.
"She almost succeeded in convincing me that it was a foolish accident that got out of control. Her lies were well spoken and calculating. But I could see in her eyes that she was secretly delighted Bona was gone. I knew in that moment I could never be near her again."
Joohyuk's eyes brim with pain.
I can't imagine the weight of that betrayal. And to know that he was the one who told her Bona's singing and her secret love in the first place. What a heavy guilt to carry around. And all these hundreds of years, he hasn't been able to escape it.
"Understand, Sooji, that if you take away her sense of control, you may be able to stop her. I believe it is the only way."
Joohyuk's strategy seems useful but super difficult to carry out. I'll have to do something big, something to take her by surprise. And more than that, it needs to be clever. "Is it enough to expose her as a fraud and get her to admit to her lies? One person knowing that the witch accusers were lying wouldn't have made a difference."
"The public has to know in order for the perception to shift."
"That house is in the middle of the woods. There's no way to make it public. Plus, I just knocked out the people who would believe me."
"Indeed."
Great, so I have to expose her publicly, but I also have to go to that house alone. "I hope there's a way I can convince her all by myself to stop what she's doing."
To my surprise, he reaches out for me, pulling me into his body. "I will be there with you," he says gently, his face bent down toward mine. I press my lips into him, wanting to soak in the feeling of his arms holding me and his lips against mine for even this brief moment.
"I will do everything and anything to keep you safe." He flickers slightly.
"What was that?"
"Sooji?" Joohyuk's voice is strangely faint. He flickers again. The counter behind him becomes visible through his body.
My hold on him weakens. I grab at the air, but it doesn't make a difference. He only fades faster. Joohyuk opens his mouth, but no sounds comes out. He's barely visible anymore. Then all at once, he's gone.
"No!" I scream.
I scan the room for an answer, but no one's there, and everything's still. It was her—I just know it. I run for the front door. Plan or no plan, I'm going to get Joohyuk back.