chapter seven
minho
Sailing the Atlantic is like fist fighting the ocean with bare hands. The waves keep hitting us, gushing into the boat, threatening to sink it, and the wind is so strong that the sail starts to tear. Felix, Seungmin and I are running around, troubleshooting, drenched from head to toe. At least there's a compartment that keeps our stuff dry, though it might be too late for my phone.
Jisung's call made all the difference. His voice grounded me even when there was no ground to be seen. I hear him in my head — you're brave, Minho, you always have been — as I frantically scoop pailfuls of water over the edge of the boat.
Felix climbs to the tip of the mast, scanning the horizon. I'm about to tell him to get down before god decides to do it for him, but then he screams "Land ho!"
"Thank Christ!" Seungmin kicks the water pooled at his feet.
I clamber to the front of the boat and squint into the distance. We're approaching a beach scattered with palm trees glistening in the rising sun. I breathe a sigh of relief.
And then a wave hits us. The water flings me backward onto the floor. The boat is lopsided, half-sunk already. I scramble to the front, open the luggage compartment and yank our bags out.
"We're going down!" Seungmin yells. "Abandon ship!"
"Oh fuck! Help!" Felix is dangling from the mast, trapped by the back of his jacket. It cracks under his weight, drops him into Seungmin's arms, and the sail falls over my head. Once I pull it off, the boat's nose is floating into the air as the back half sinks below. I grab a cleat with one hand so I won't go sliding into the water.
"I told you it would sink, I knew it!" Seungmin hurls Felix out of his arms, dives in after him with a splash.
Felix breaches the water, gasping. "I never said it wouldn't!" He's paddling in circles. "Minho, where are you?!"
"The hell do I do now?!" I'm clutching our luggage for dear life, balanced on the tip of the completely vertical, completely fucked boat as it sinks deeper and deeper.
"Don't let my shit get wet!" Seungmin shrieks.
Felix shoves his face. "Toss it, Minho, trust me!"
I toss the backpacks into Felix's hands. He holds them high over his head, away from the rolling waves. The boat sucks into the water and disappears under my feet; I struggle to keep my face above water.
"There goes my security deposit," Felix mutters.
jeongin
The way Seungmin left was not normal. Maybe I'm foolish for thinking it — how could a goodbye kiss and an I love you be suspicious? This isn't the first time Seungmin has gambolled off to some natural oddity with our brothers — what makes it stand out this time?
He's been acting differently, not in drastic ways, just little tells. He'd get distracted, fidgety, have trouble paying attention. Sometimes Felix would run off into the forest and Seungmin would follow just moments after.
Hyunjin and I are carting buckets of well water back to the house. The sun has lit the sky a hazy violet but barely touched the tops of the trees.
"I don't want to talk about Seungmin behind his back," I start.
Hyunjin lets out a breath. "Thank God."
"Huh?"
"I was hoping you'd bring it up first."
"So you got a... feeling, earlier? Like something was off?"
"Something's been off for weeks, but I'm... trying not to worry. Seungmin will talk to us when he's ready."
I laugh quietly. "This is a lot. Changbin and Felix are fighting, Haseong's having a mid-life crisis, Chan's malfunctioning, and now Seungmin's hiding something."
"Not to mention the Hyunjin-suppression running rampant among the family."
"Hyunjin, it's been decades, we're tired of Nancy Myers movies."
"Now that's just blatant bias, I think there's a— Jisung?"
Jisung is scuttling toward us from across the field. His hair is wet and flat and his arms are straight at his sides.
"Family assembly — now." He pivots back toward the house.
Hyunjin and I look at each other. He grabs my hand and we tail Jisung back to the house.
Jisung has taken a seat in the living room, Changbin is leaning against the wall. Haseong and Chan come in the back door — Chan's eyes are big and vulnerable. I've known him for 140 years and I've only seen him this obviously upset a handful of times.
"What's going on?" Changbin says, already annoyed.
Haseong stands in the middle of the room, holding his phone out for everyone to see. "Felix, Minho and Seungmin are not going where they said they were. They've crossed the Atlantic and are now nearing the coast of Guinea."
"You're tracking our boyfriend?" I exclaim, though I know it isn't above him. "What the hell are they doing out in the ocean?"
"I don't know." Haseong's eyes rove over us. "But one of you do."
"Haseong, quit playing detective." Jisung is kneading a headache. "We need to focus, why would they be in West Africa?"
"Maybe they just decided to go someplace other than the Triangle?" Hyunjin says dubiously. "Mount Kilimanjaro? The national museum?"
"That would make it a coincidence," Haseong says, "and I highly doubt that. Minho and Felix have been acting strangely for weeks, and now they take a surprise trip to Bermuda, only to make a double-surprise detour across an ocean? Unlikely."
"Seungmin's been acting weird too," I say.
"When did it start?"
"A few weeks ago? Before we visited Forks, for sure."
Haseong considers that and then abruptly turns to Changbin. "Bin, what have you and Felix been fighting about?"
Changbin has been glaring at Chan — now his eyes flit to Haseong, and his upper lip curls back. "That's our business, why would I tell any of you?"
"Summarize it," Jisung says tightly. "Forget your pride for two seconds, nobody cares about your love life."
"Felix lied to me, okay? He told me he wouldn't do something and then he went ahead and did it first chance he got."
"What did Felix do?"
"I won't say."
"Changbin, let me see, I swear I'll—"
"Jisung, stay out of my fucking head. What's happening with me and Felix is unrelated."
"Oh is it?" Chan suddenly speaks up. He's hovering over the couch, staring at Changbin. Changbin stares back, incredulous and... frightened.
"Chan, what is it?" Haseong asks. "What do you know?"
Chan wraps his arms around himself. "I know as much as you do."
"You're lying," Jisung says. "I can't read your thoughts — you have something to hide."
"Chan?" Hyunjin murmurs, a wounded pup.
"He's not lying," Changbin says quickly, "I feel his honesty."
"You're lying too," I say. "You're covering for Chan — he knows what Felix did."
"And Changbin knows something about Minho," Jisung growls. "That's why you told me to call him — something is wrong."
Haseong crosses the room and cups Chan's face. "Sweetheart, you don't have to hide it anymore."
"Chan, keep quiet," Changbin warns.
"Shut it," Jisung hisses.
"I don't want to lie." Chan grips Haseong's wrists.
"You don't have to," I say.
"Don't say a word!"
Chan yells it like he's gasping for breath. "They-they're in Italy!"
"Chan!" Changbin shouts.
"I can't keep it in!" Chan shouts back. "They're going to confess to the Volturi."
Hyunjin clutches my forearm. I can't make myself breathe or speak or move. Seungmin is going to the Volturi. Minho is going to confess. And Felix — Fei Ngai's son — is going to bargain for forgiveness from a man who will not give it to them.
Jisung is hyperventilating. Changbin shifts to the floor, knees drawn to his chest.
"Oh my god." Haseong's voice is barely there. "No no no no."
"I don't know what to do," Chan murmurs, pulling him into his arms.
Jisung flits to his feet and vanishes up the staircase.
Changbin speaks first. "Jisung, what are you—?"
He flies down the stairs again and grabs the doorknob, but Haseong slams it shut.
"Back off!" Jisung snarls.
"Think rationally," Haseong snarls back. "We're not gonna do anything that could negatively affect the situation."
"What the fuck am I supposed to do? Wait around to see if they come back or not? How could I stay away?"
Hyunjin and I look at each other for a split second. We decide.
"We're going too," I say. "Don't try to stop us."
Haseong looks up at the ceiling, squeezing his eyes shut. He's teary when he looks at us. "They're my family. I want them safe as much as you. But I don't want to barge in and fuck up everything Felix has likely planned."
"It can't hurt," Chan murmurs. "The rest of you can witness without us — don't ask why. Changbin?"
His jaw is flexing as he pauses, thinking through it. He bows his head in concession. "Fine. I mean, fuck it, they're going with or without us."
"We have to trust that they'll be safe from Aro."
"Chan, what does that mean?" Jisung says. "What else do you two know?"
Changbin grunts and picks himself up off the floor. "Don't ask unless you feel like getting your head torn off." His knuckles give a loud crack as he stretches them behind his back. "Well? Are we going or not?"
felix
It blindsided me, that Changbin would try to intervene from a distance. Minho's phone rang a split second after I foresaw it and I couldn't stop him from answering. I made him put it in airplane mode after that. Of course I haven't done the same with my phone.
Now — dashing from Mauritania to Morocco — a part of me worries I've been too lenient, that it was too big a risk to let Minho and Seungmin say their goodbyes. I can only plan so far and wide, I don't want anything to sneak up on us. I've practically hijacked this whole operation. At least if something goes wrong and we're killed for it, it'll be my fault alone.
The weight of responsibility isn't lost on me, but it's overshadowed by something bigger. My mother has been lingering over my shoulder for months.
Just like when she was alive, I have mixed feelings about it. A part of me feels watched, scrutinized. The other is just grateful to feel her again. Sometimes I smile for no reason, sensing a phantom eye-roll or glare of disapproval. Can't do much about that now, can ya? I'd think, and the ghost would tweak my ear with her gnarled fingernails.
Minho, Seungmin and I approach Volterra, its alabaster buildings glowing in the midday sun. We climb over a northern wall and land in a small alley. I distribute sunglasses, masks and visors to keep our skin from giving us away. It's just a Wednesday in the city, streets bustling with humans.
The four of us meld into the foot traffic and head for the Volturi's palazzo. Fei keeps her hand on my shoulder, protective, pushing me forward every step.