by J D Astra
She rounded on me. “Not a word about that to anyone.”
I raised my hands. “I haven’t. But if you don’t mind me asking, why is it such a big deal?”
She sighed and walked on. “Promises to be kept. Being skilled at zo is a threat to that promise. They want me delicate and beautiful, not strong and powerful.”
“Your parents? They want you to take over the business?” I asked tentatively.
She nodded.
Silence fell between us like a thick fog, so I decided to change the subject. “Why did you help me?”
She touched her chin thoughtfully. “Do you want the truth or a lie?”
I laughed. “No matter how you answer now, I will doubt your authenticity... but I would prefer the truth, if it’s not too much trouble.”
She shook her head. “You’re one of the strangest people I’ve ever met.”
I tried not to feel self-conscious about the statement. Strange didn’t necessarily mean bad. “Is that the reason?” I asked when she didn’t speak again.
“No,” she said with a sigh. “The truth is I saw the message from your sister, Eun-bi. I saw the look on your face and knew exactly what was going through your head. You completely forgot about me and everything else in the world in that instant.”
“How did you see the message?” I asked as I imagined her going through everyone’s mail.
She giggled. “You opened it in front of the entire school at lunch. Everyone saw.”
“Oh.” Well, I felt like an idiot. I would save my future messages for when I was alone in my lodge. We grew quiet again, and while I didn’t mind the silence, I wanted to keep her talking.
“So you know, I didn’t forget about you,” I said as I reached into the inner pocket on my shirt. I pulled out Mae’s disc and showed her. “I was postponing our date.”
She raised a brow and smiled. “You’re a terrible liar, Jiyong.”
“I know,” I mumbled and looked down at the disc.
She nudged my elbow. “Well, turn it on. We’re together now, and it’s still a long walk back.”
I looked up between the towering buildings on each side and saw Bastion in the distance. “Kingdom girls have a different definition of ‘long walk’ than us outer-city boys.”
She sucked her teeth. “Stop stalling.”
I chuckled and let the ma flow down my arm and into the disc. Blue light flickered at the top, then sprung to life in the shape of a woman with a braided ponytail, a tight skirt, and a white coat. The ghost looked at me and crossed her arms, then turned away.
“Maeyoung?” I asked tentatively.
The ghost looked up at Hana. “Did you hear something?”
Hana scowled and looked at me. “Maybe it’s broken.”
Mae’s face puckered, and she glared at me. “I’m not broken. I’m ignoring you, like you did to me!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked the ghost, hopeful an apology was what she wanted.
She tutted. “Sorry means you won’t do it again. Do you promise not to cover me up and turn me off without my permission ever again?”
“But what if it’s to protect you?” I asked, confused by her anger.
“Well then use that mouth of yours to tell me so, and I’ll happily deactivate my display and remain silent.” The ghost image of Mae disappeared. “See, I can hide fine by myself without being turned off.”
I nodded. “Then yes. I’m sorry and promise not to cut your power without your permission.”
“Good,” she said, looking pleased as she reappeared. “Now, I have some questions for you.”
I had many questions for her, but I was excited to think the ghost wanted to know something from us, and so I nodded. “Go ahead.”
“When you told me what year it was, something of the sixteenth king—”
“The sixteenth year of the King Il-suk,” I corrected, and she pursed her lips.
“Right. How many years—revolutions around the sun—has it been since two thousand one hundred and three?” she asked with an impatient grin.
I looked at Hana and shrugged. “I don’t know what that means. Do you?”
Hana shook her head.
“Great,” Mae said with a growl. “Okay, question two. Why are you, her, these buildings, the ground, and the air all full of nanites?”
Hana and I exchanged another confused, sidelong glance, and we both shook our heads.
“You mean to tell me you don’t know that you’re full of nanites?” She pinched her chin and tapped a foot. “Interesting. Something terrible must have happened.”
A shadow stepped in front of us, and I looked up from Mae. One of the men from the Rabid Rabbit stood blocking our path, cracking his black, zo-infused knuckles as he grinned. Hana spun around, putting her back against mine, and we came to a stop in the alley.
“Hide, Mae.”
“Am I in danger? It seems more like you’re in danger,” she said as her image disintegrated on the gentle breeze.
I stuffed her disc back into my inner pocket and took a deep breath, trying to cycle some energy for zo conversion.
“Two behind us. No eyes on the fourth,” Hana whispered over her shoulder at me.
“Good evening, kids,” the man ahead said in a nasally voice like his nose had been broken a dozen times. “You’ve got something for us, and if you turn out your pockets, we’ll collect and be on our way.”
“Are you getting robbed?” Mae asked from under my shirt.
“Not a chance,” I replied, both to the man and my ghost. “Ready to run?” I asked Hana in a low whisper.
“No way. These punks are going down.” Her elation was audible. Why did she want to fight them? I grimaced as the thought of losing the guli in this brawl or worse, getting gravely injured, circled in my mind.
“Really?” I whispered, hoping she’d change her mind.
“We’ve got this,” she assured me, and I nodded.
“I don’t think you understand,” the man said as his fist flared black with power. “We’re the Gangtaja, and you’re going to empty your pockets, or we’ll empty ’em for you.”
I cycled another round of energy through my core and converted it to zo.
“What did you just do to those nanites?” Mae asked from my pocket, and I scowled. I couldn’t split my attention between her and the incoming scuffle. A three against two brawl was not my idea of a date, but Hana wouldn’t run, and I wouldn’t leave her.
“Last chance,” the Gangtaja leader said as he punched his palm with his radiating fist.
Two new goons came into view behind the leader at the opening of the alley, and I swallowed my fear. They must’ve picked up some friends along the way, and I hoped there weren’t any additional waiting in the wings.
I dropped into the only fighting stance I knew, and heard Hana square her feet on the dirty road. The ringleader snarled and dashed forward, kicking up gravel as he moved. I braced my legs, arms, and back with zo, preparing to block his attack.
The men behind me shouted as they charged, but I kept my focus on the leader. He leapt, launching toward me with a spinning kick. I threw my forearms against the kick and knocked it away. He came down and skidded back, then looked up at me with a vicious smile.
He darted in again with zo-powered punches aimed at my face and chest. I moved my head and shoulders, half dodging and half blocking his attacks as he laid into me. Hana shouted, and I heard a heavy hit land in someone’s gut with a grunt. I turned sideways as I avoided another wild punch and glanced back at her.
Hana dropped low to the ground, then exploded from her squat with a burst of zo. She twisted her shoulders, and her whole body twisted with her. Her leg whipped around, and she kicked her opponent so hard he lifted off the ground and spun, landing two meters back with a whoof.
I turned my attention back to the leader and deflected another blow. I stepped left, trying to keep myself between him, the other two at the end of the alley, and Hana—though she seemed quite capa
ble on her own.
“Are you going to fight or just dance all night?” Mae asked with a snippy tone and I growled. This ghost’s attitude needed adjusting.
The leader jumped, launching a kick at my ribs that landed with a lung-tensing crack. I gasped and took a step back. He advanced, throwing another zo-blazing fist toward my face.
I caught the fist in my palm and twisted it down toward my side. He howled in pain and yanked his arm back, then kicked up toward my opposite side. I caught his leg and pinned it against my hip, then slammed my heel against his standing knee.
His bracing leg bent at an unnatural angle and he dropped. I released his other leg, and he scooted backward on his elbows, fear in his wide eyes and fury in his snarling lips. I dropped back into my fighting stance and took a step forward.
“Get him!” He shouted to the cronies waiting in the wings, and they came running, arms blazing with black zo.
The men split around their leader, coming at me from opposite sides. I ducked under the first fist only to feel a sharp smack against the back of my knee. I stabilized the leg with zo and hopped back, blocking a punch from the left, then a kick from the right.
Pain radiated through my face, and my vision blacked out. I felt myself fall until I touched the brick wall next to me. I stopped to brace myself, shaking my head to get my vision back.
The wind next to my ear whistled with an incoming strike, and I threw myself backward to the ground. The fist slammed into the brick in front of me as my vision returned. The man yelped as his fingers cracked against the solid wall.
I came up to a knee and blocked a kick aimed at my head. The blow sent me into the wall, then down to my ass. I used the fall momentum to roll my legs back and over my head. I landed in a low squat, but before I could gain my feet, another kick landed against my right shoulder. The joint cracked, and I felt something shift as pain radiated down my arm and up to my collarbone.
I gritted my teeth and dodged another kick only to turn my face into the other man’s knee. My eyes went dark again, and heat filled my face.
“Time to empty those pockets, brat.”
I blinked my eyes open to see the two men towering over me, fists raised and leers wide.
Mae groaned from under my shirt. “You’re not using your nanites right. Let me help you.”
Heat seared against my chest where Mae’s disc sat, and a rush of knowledge flooded my mind. Lights blinked to life in my vision, and I saw things clearly for what felt like the first time. The man on the left was going to swing at me. He would aim for my ear, and the blow would knock me unconscious.
I rolled back and kicked my legs up into each man’s knee with deadly precision and force. The men howled and reached for their kneecaps, their faces coming perfectly within range. I sent zo to my legs and curled them up again, then launched a second attack. My feet hit both men on the bottoms of their chins, sending them reeling backwards.
The man on the left fell back, his body going limp before he hit the ground. I circulated zo all through my back and kicked my legs up once more, launching me to a standing position. The heat coming from my breast pocket was nearly intolerable, but the sensation of power it gave in exchange was intoxicating.
I faked left, and the goon moved to block. I hooked his relaxed leg with my toe and pulled, sending him down to his bad knee with a yowl. I unleashed a one-two jab to his face, my knuckles aching with each impact. His eyes rolled back, and he fell to the side, unconscious.
I pulled in a breath and stood tall, staring down the leader as dark zo twisted around my arms and licked up my neck. The leader shook his head, eyes wide with terror. He turned tail and scrambled from the alley. I whipped around, ready to lay waste to anyone who laid a hand on Hana.
One of her opponents was already down, and the second had his back against the wall as she landed hit after hit to his gut, neck, groin, then face. His head snapped back against the wall and his knees gave out, dropping him to the ground.
Hana sighed and dusted her hands off, then turned to me with a grin. She stopped, the smile erased from her face when she saw me. “Jiyong!” She ran toward me, and the heat in my chest exploded through my body.
Electric blue lightning arced across my chest, surged down my arms and legs and burned in my eyes. I dropped to my knees as the air in my lungs seared up my throat in a roar of agony. Then my vision faded, and gravity left my limbs. I tumbled forward through darkness, Hana’s amethyst eyes wide with fear the last thing running through my mind.
Chapter 20
“BRING HIM IN—GENTLY, gently.” I heard a man’s soft voice as my vision blinked in and out.
My body ached unlike anything I’d ever felt. Every nerve ending sent signals of agony to my brain. It was hot, each bump and jostle blossomed a new pain, and my chest felt heavy.
I pulled in a labored breath. “Han—na.”
“I’m right here,” Hana’s voice came from my side.
I lifted my head and tried to open my eyes, but all I saw were flashes of blue and red, scrolling numbers across my vision that turned my stomach. I closed my eyes and sucked in another breath. “Mo—ney. Family.” My tongue moved like a dead eel; the words were barely comprehensible.
“What’s he saying?” the man asked as green light flashed behind my eyelids.
“I have all your things, Jiyong. I’ll make sure it gets where it’s supposed to go,” Hana assured me, and I laid my head back, allowing darkness to take me again.
I fell down an infinite tunnel of color, a pinprick of white on a horizon so far it must’ve been eons away. Where was I falling into? I landed on a white-tiled floor with a slap, and my body bounced painlessly. I rolled onto my back and looked up at the kaleidoscope of color that stretched across the entire sky. I watched it for a moment, numb inside when I knew I should’ve felt wonder or fear or anything. There was no emotion wherever I was.
I sat up, glancing left and right at my strange surroundings. There were tall countertops that seemed dozens of meters high. I was the size of a mouse in a massive room of people in white lab coats. They had ry projections of light coming from their glasses and carried discs that showed colorful charts. They walked over me as if I didn’t exist, going about their business moving objects from one counter to another.
I sent a burst of zo to my legs and jumped straight up, reaching for the top of the counter. I rocketed to the ledge and landed on top with a soft patter. There was a woman looking into some contraption pointed at the table. She swirled her hand over the ry projection next to her, and words appeared in the light.
The room around us flashed deep crimson as a harsh noise blared in my ears. I dropped to my knees, holding my head to stop the sound, but it came through anyway. I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth, begging for it to end.
“Jiyong, can you hear me?” a voice asked over the noise, and I focused on it.
“I can hear you,” I yelled.
“He’s coming to,” a man said in the distance.
The sharp sound faded, as did the red light, but it was replaced by hot, stabbing pain in my chest, arms, and legs. My throat was as dry as ash and every breath hurt. I wanted to fade back into the noise and light if the agony of my body would disappear.
“Jiyong, open your eyes,” Hana said, and I blinked into the brightness above me.
I was lying on a bed with white sheets. There was a frosted window to my left that showed browned leaves of the trees that lined the path into Bastion. I looked right and saw Hana’s smiling face, her purple eyes bright with enthusiasm. Cho stood next to her, a pained worry wrinkling his forehead. Yuri waved, grinning ear to ear, as I looked to her next.
“You were talking about a containment breech in your sleep,” Yuri said, her eyes wide with interest.
“Water?” I asked and Hana passed me a cup.
I sat forward, my chest aching as I swallowed gulp after gulp. When I emptied the cup, I flopped back to the bed, my body exhausted from that small effort.
> I blinked slowly. “What happened?”
“Your schedule malfunctioned and fused into your chest.” Hana emphasized the word schedule, and I furrowed my brow as I looked at her, then past her. There were two instructors and a man in a green-trimmed white hanbok standing not far off. One of the instructors whispered something to the other, then left the room.
I raised a shaky hand to my heart and gasped at the feel of something solid. I slipped my hand under my thin shirt and touched the warm metal of Mae’s disc. The skin around the edges was rough with a scab and tender to the touch. Mae’s disc did look similar enough to the schedule devices that it was a probable excuse. Hana must’ve been hiding the knowledge of my personal project, trying to keep me from getting expelled.
The man in the green-trimmed white hanbok stepped forward, speaking with a soft voice. “Yes, it seems your ma munje somehow caused a malfunction within the disc and it melted into your body. We couldn’t remove it, and so I’ve helped your body mend around it.”
Cho gripped the railing around my bed, his eyes wide. “I found you on the floor of our room having a seizure.” He winked once, exaggeratedly, and I saw Hana cringe.
I nodded, trying to keep all the new facts straight. Hana had gotten me back into Bastion somehow and teamed up with Cho and Yuri to obscure what really happened.
“How long have I been here?” I asked as I scooted up on my elbows. It was getting easier to move, though it was still painful.
The man in the white robes had a pitying smile on. “Five weeks. It took a considerable amount of effort on the staff’s part to heal your wounds. You didn’t regain consciousness until a few days ago, but you weren’t speaking, and seemed barely aware.”
Yuri nodded. “They thought you were catatonic.”
“My family?” I asked Hana in a panicked hurry.
She rested a gentle hand on my shoulder that was more painful than comforting. “I took care of everything. They know what happened, and I’ve been writing Eun-bi every day. Your mom is doing better.”
I nodded, relieved.
