Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3)

by Heather Heffner

  Heesu had been lulled to sleep by the enchanting music as well. She awoke mid-fall and just managed to shift back into a human girl in time. Even so, she landed heavily on her rear.

  “Ouch! Unni! You did that on purpose!” she cried in Korean.

  Sun Bin burst out laughing, a wicked gleam darkening her eyes. “Oh, poor baby girl. Next time I’ll bring Appa’s food offerings for you to land in.”

  “Yong Sun Bin. Yong Heesu. Behave yourselves,” Mun Mu said sharply. “This is your half-sister Raina and her sister, Citlalli Alvarez.”

  Heesu recovered quickly from her fall. She bounded over to hug me and then pumped Citlalli’s hand enthusiastically. Sun Bin hung back, carefully arranging her violin in its case while sizing me up behind her curtain of dark hair.

  “So you’re the Yong family bastard,” she drawled. Her English was casual and smooth with a hint of a British accent, as if she had spent extensive time overseas. She seemed to think no more of using it than of tying her shoes.

  Sun Bin rubbed resin down her bow once, twice. “Shitty time you chose to show up. Now I get to devote all of my time training to be the fuckin’ ice lizard princess instead of winning an international violin competition.”

  Crap. I had met my older half-sister, and she was a beautiful, mean-spirited version of Mari.

  Mun Mu hissed in displeasure and placed his hands over Heesu’s ears. “Yong Sun Bin, you will not treat our guests with such disrespect—”

  She put up her hands. “Whoa, make up your mind, Dad. Are they guests or are they family? I’m just speaking to them in a language they understand. Wouldn’t want there to be any miscommunications.”

  “So there is a reason winter is everyone’s least favorite month.” I’d known Citlalli wouldn’t be quiet for long. She folded her arms. “Please go to your fancy orchestra thingy. I’m sure we’ll all get on fine without the ice lizard bitchess.”

  Sun Bin’s eyes lit up. She sauntered over to Citlalli, her long neck bobbing like a reptile’s. “My, my, where did you come from?” she exclaimed. “I like you. You say what you mean, unlike this one.” She clicked her tongue at me. “Can you even speak?”

  Heesu gripped my hand, and I felt a little stronger. “Yes, go to your violin recital,” I said hoarsely. “Just because I’m in your life now doesn’t mean everything else has to stop.”

  Sun Bin sighed and regarded me pityingly. “Poor baby imugi,” she said, reaching out to smooth my hair. I caught a flash of silver in her eyes and realized it was her inner Were, probably thinking up ways to freeze me to death. “You didn’t grow up a Yong, or else you would know that now everything does stop. Your school work. Your love life. And worst of all: your K-drama time. We only have so much time to train before the next yeouiju falls.”

  “What’s a yeouiju?” Citlalli nodded to Mun Mu. “Can we add that to my take-home list?”

  This was the third time she’d made him laugh. All of the Yongs were practically in stitches.

  “A yeouiju is the Dragon’s Pearl,” Heesu finally managed. “It only falls from Heaven during Chuseok in eighth lunar month, usually your September. The Dragon’s Pearl give you omni—omnipot—how do I say?” she asked her father.

  “Don’t give yourself a brain aneurysm, sweetie,” Sun Bin said, bored. “Omnipotent powers. All-powerful, creation-at-will abilities. You see, Alvarez,” she continued lecturing me, “we are only three-toed imugi. Unwise, silly children. We cannot hold a yeouiju in our current form or else it would break and scatter calamities across the earth. That is why we must present ourselves to the Lady Tiger in Eve, pass four tests from these old-as-dust guardians to gain wisdom, and then grow our fourth claw. Only then can one of us catch a yeouiju and become a full dragon.”

  “Does it matter who catches the yeouiju?” I asked. Sun Bin said, “No,” at the same time Heesu cried, “YES!” and glared at her.

  “Raina, we are a team,” my younger half-sister said fiercely, grabbing my arm. “We are Summer and Spring. If one of us catches the yeouiju, then there will be many happy, golden years as opposed to Sun Bin and her twin brother Ankor, who cast shadows. Whichever Celestial Dragon wields a yeouiju will make the fortunes for the age. Since it may be some time before all of the Celestial Dragons have them, who catches the yeouiju first is very important.”

  “Yes, I plan on pounding the earth with hailstorms, blizzards, and general snow fuckery,” Sun Bin said, and Mun Mu grabbed her roughly by the arm.

  “That does it. With the way you act, Raina stands the best chance of catching her yeouiju first. You have no sense of maturity. Get out of here.”

  Sun Bin stood her ground rebelliously. “You owe me monies for serenading injured spirits for the past four hours, Big Daddy.”

  “Get out!”

  Seeing your father start to breathe smoke was a ball-breaker, even for Sun Bin. The Winter Dragon punched me in the shoulder as she left. “See how much fun this is going to be?”

  Chapter 11: Internal Differences

  ~Citlalli~

  We returned home to find Miguel sprawled on the couch watching a TV news broadcast. The weather forecaster skipped over Jeju Island as if it didn’t exist, and I swallowed. It was as if the giant tropical island had just vanished off the face of the earth. Weren’t families thinking of their loved ones there? Weren’t resorts noticing a sizeable decrease in profits, at least?

  In the bathroom, Mami applied her favorite purple eye shadow from The Face Shop.

  “How did it go?” she asked, leaning over the sink to dust the creases of her eyes sparkling violet.

  “Great,” I said at the same time Raina answered, “Horrible.”

  Immediately, Mami’s attention snapped to her youngest daughter. “Did he treat you poorly, Raina? I’ll call Mun right now and give him a piece of my mind.”

  “I bet you’ll give dear old ‘Mun’ a piece of something,” Miguel muttered as I flopped down beside him.

  “Cut it out.” I punched him in the shoulder. “Dude, you should see Yong Enterprises. It’s amazing. Raina’s father said he might get me a job there, so you better give me a good reference, Manager Alvarez.”

  “He’s that rich, eh?” Miguel grinned. “Wait until you see his house!”

  “What?” Raina spluttered.

  Miguel waved a hand in Mami’s direction. “Why do you think la señorita is dolling herself up? You’ve been invited over for dinner tonight!”

  “You are welcome to come too, Miguelo,” Mami called.

  “Just wear the Dokkaebi invisibility cap I gave you,” I added. “You can scout out the dragon’s lair before deciding if you’re going to make an appearance at dinner.” I’d passed the invaluable bowler’s hat on to my brother after Raina and I had decided that he needed a one-up on any vampyres who targeted him—mainly so he could run away.

  “As much as I’d love rubbing elbows with the man who destroyed our family, I have a date tonight with a beautiful lady.”

  I gagged, and Miguel elbowed me. “Take pictures of the Lizard Mansion, okay? Let’s see how much won this guy is worth. Must be in the upper digits if he owns a house instead of an apartment.”

  Unruffled, Mami applied a thick layer of mascara. “Glad to see you two have your priorities straight as usual.”

  I bounded up and down on the couch next to Miguel like a newborn pup. “Yong Enterprises produces this thing called a Yeong-o Bot that teaches English, and I bet Mun Mu could hook up Daniella with one for her classroom! The kids would love her!”

  “Okay, enough!”

  The unfamiliar harsh voice made us all drop what we were doing and turn toward Raina. Wolf whined, and I gulped. She was glaring straight at me.

  Raina took a couple of deep breaths, struggling to calm herself. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to your pack, Citlalli?”

  I glanced around uncertainly. Mami’s hair straightener hissed in the background. “Yeah, but you come first. You’re my blood family, and this is the first time you’ve
met your father—”

  “Exactly,” Raina breathed through her nostrils. “My father. He’s not yours. In fact, it’s funny, isn’t it, that you are so forgiving of him when you and Miguel held a grudge against Mami ever since my birth exposed the affair. If Mun Mu were poor would you be so quick to sing his praises?”

  I glanced sideways at Miguel. He looked as stunned as I felt. I muttered, “Well, technically Mami and Mun Mu would have never met if he hadn’t been wealthy enough to hire a foreign food service consultant—”

  “You both are horrible opportunists who’ve treated Mami and me badly my entire life!” she cried, and I flinched.

  “Mija.” Mami emerged from the bathroom in an elegant scarlet dress and placed a hand on Raina’s trembling shoulder. Miguel opened his mouth, but she raised a neatly manicured hand.

  “You are a blessing, Raina, and others should never resent you,” Mami said softly. “I do not believe in one love for life; I believe in many. Mun Mu and I didn’t intend to come to care for one another, but we were young. We believed in passion and making the most of a life you only live once. There were consequences to my actions, but they are mine alone. I hurt your father, your siblings, and you for the stigmas you have to endure. But at the end of our business engagement, when Mun Mu asked me to come back to Korea with him—I ended things. I couldn’t leave my children.”

  “Why’d you do it?” Miguel crouched rigid and alert on the edge of the sofa. “I’ve asked you a thousand times, but I never understood why. Papi gave up everything for you. He never wanted to live in America. Now he only stays there and drinks in some silly fantasy that one day you’ll return.”

  “Your father stays in America because he must,” Mami spoke, her voice suddenly sharp. “México is not safe.”

  “Not everyone in México gets shot up by a cartel like your parents did,” Miguel said flatly.

  “There are worse things out there than cartels. Given recent events, I would expect you two to understand that,” Mami evaded, giving Miguel and me a stern look.

  “Don’t be too hard on Mami,” I told Miguel. “She sacrificed me to save your life after you were wounded facing Duck Young, after all. And now you’re co-manager at the ‘family’ restaurant while I’ve been fired.”

  “Oh, Citlalli.” Mami sighed and glanced at the clock. “Do you really need to bring this up now?”

  “Well how about this, then? While the rest of you are set in your financial futures, I don’t have a job, and I gave myself a high school diploma because my homeschool mentor was murdered!” I folded my arms to hide the smoke curling up from my fingertips. “Kinda decreases my chances to get into a highly-competitive Korean university, doncha think? So excuse me for being opportunistic and pulling a few strings to get in at a respected, innovative company! Think of it as something good coming out of this whole shitty mess!”

  “Do what you must to survive, mija,” Mami said gently.

  “Now she’s honest,” I scoffed. “Family is a charade and convenience in numbers when you need it, but at the end of the day, only you matter. I don’t care that you believe in ‘many loves’ or whatever, Mami, but you should have been upfront with Papi. Yeah, you only live once, but so does everyone else.”

  I stormed out to wait in the car. To my surprise, it was Raina who slid into the backseat first, a grim shadow of a seventeen-year-old.

  “You haven’t explained to Mami that you’re a Triad now, have you?” she asked in a low voice.

  “She wouldn’t care.” I lay my forehead against the window, trying to see over the tops of high-rises and failing.

  “What did you mean about her sacrificing you?”

  I shrugged. “We had just killed Duck Young. His widows wanted someone to blame. Mami turned me over to them in exchange for her and Miguel’s lives. She wasn’t even surprised to see the vampyres. Just thinking about her survival until the very end.”

  “I’m sorry.” Raina’s voice sounded forced, and I realized she was on the verge of tears. She, too, stared out the window. “I do know how much you sacrificed for me, ’Lalli. I didn’t mean to attack you, but this whole dragon father thing is freaking me out. I don’t know him, Citlalli. I don’t remember how to trust.”

  I hesitated and then grabbed her hand. “Listen, I know this is the last thing you need on your plate right now, but something else happened during the Boryeong Mud Festival: I saw Khyber.”

  She jumped, and that nervous deer look resurfaced in her dark eyes again. “What?”

  “There was something wrong with him, Raina. This boy looked like Khyber, but he didn’t carry a dead smell. His eyes were blinded. They weren’t that strange gray-blue color, either, but a normal black. He didn’t remember English, and he insisted his name was ‘Taeyang’.”

  “Khyber’s original name,” Raina said quietly. She began playing with the sun charm bracelet on her wrist. A bright stone glistened amongst the woven bird nest band. The last time I had seen that bracelet, Raina had been soul-stolen. She’d used it to help Khyber remember his true Korean name: Taeyang meant solar, bright like the sun.

  I shrugged helplessly. “This dude was just a young Korean man enjoying the festivities.”

  “Or that’s what he wants us to think.” We gazed at each other with mutual resolve. “Whatever Khyber’s up to, we can’t trust a vampyre.”

  Chapter 12: Family Dinner

  ~Raina~

  In every story I’d read about dragons, they dwelled in caves far away from civilization. They didn’t live in the upper heights of ritzy Gangnam with a view of the Han River shimmering in the moonlight. And they certainly didn’t live in a villa that looked like a geometric cube with windows that changed color based on the time.

  The Yong family housekeeper, a regal young woman named Nyssa, showed us all of these wonders and then the pool.

  “I apologize Master Yong is not home yet. He is dropping off Miss Heesu at the hagwon,” she said, inclining her head as she typed in the code to the pool deck. I envied her poise. She looked like she was in her late twenties and yet had the noble air and elegance of a queen. Not a single hair was out of place in her French twist. I flushed when she smiled at me. “I trust our hot spring will be an enjoyable place to wait, especially for the young water lady here.”

  Mami returned her smile. “Don’t worry about it, dear; the busy Yong family schedule is hardly your fault. Where are you from originally, if I may ask?”

  Nyssa bowed again. “Thailand, madam.”

  Citlalli sniffed the air. “You’re a shifter, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, young miss,” Nyssa said as she gestured us through the door. “Everyone in Master Yong’s household is of the serpent folk. I am a werenagi. Kwan and Sanghee, who you see enjoying the hot spring, are cockatrice.”

  “The chicken dragons are here? No way!” Citlalli and I dashed across the deck. Candles and food offerings lay in all four corners of the giant swimming area, which consisted of several bubbling hot springs and a large Olympic-sized pool. Kwan and Sanghee were so large that they flopped in three different baths, their green and white coils partially concealed by steam.

  “How can we see you?” Citlalli skidded to a halt before the snoring Kwan. Sanghee opened one eye, saw it was Citlalli, and snorted purple smoke.

  “Your favorite dog lives, louder and shriller than ever,” she told her mate before rolling over to go back to sleep.

  “Citlalli,” Kwan rumbled, his feathery green head twitching as he rose. “You come with the Alvarez family. I am glad to see you all together and well.”

  Mami of all people stepped forward and bowed. “We are honored to make the acquaintance of such legendary dragons, and I am sorry that we did not come with offerings for your pleasure. I understand that I have you to thank for watching over my daughter so many times in Eve.”

  The great chicken dragon clucked but he sounded pleased. “You are most welcome, Mother Alvarez. All who call upon us are granted three journeys into the sp
irit world. Some seek to speak with their ancestors; others to acquire wealth. However, this little one’s requests were always rimmed with fear. I am glad your family found peace. It makes me believe all of Eve will find this rest, too.”

  I wanted to flinch every time Kwan mentioned that nightmare world, but I took Citlalli’s arm instead. “Is the Yong home another place like the Rainbow Room? A special portal where we can see into Eve?”

  Kwan luxuriated back in the hot spring, bumping a grumpy Sanghee. “But of course. Look at how the deck shines around you. It is made of millions of tiny crystals that reflect our worlds. Now that the Vampyre Queen is gone, the candles are always lit, and the offering tables are always full. Yong Mun Mu is the Dragon King, and we spirit serpent folk are his kin. We can all be together again.” He bowed his great head to Citlalli and me. “Our thanks. All of serpent kind is joyous that the last Celestial Dragon has been found.”

  “All of serpent kind,” Nyssa agreed, continuing to fluster me with that kindly smile. These serpent spirits regarded me with such reverence: the final season of a Cycle that could not begin until all four Celestial Dragons entered Eve and began the Trials of Wisdom.

  But I was only seventeen and knew nothing about being a dragon—much less becoming a wise one. To me, Eve was a place one was wise to run away from, not run to. What if I failed? What would happen to the earth’s crops and the fortunes for the age? It had been raining fine before I’d come along, hadn’t it?

  Splashing echoed behind us, and then Sun Bin’s head popped up from the pool where she’d been swimming laps.

  “So the mighty Alvarezes decided to brave the serpent’s den after all,” she said, hoisting herself out and trundling over. She rang water out from her long, black hair and then placed an arm around Nyssa’s waist. “Glad we didn’t scare you away.”