by J D Astra
Cho hummed thoughtfully and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Mae shook her head, then furrowed her brow. “I’m still missing a considerable number of memories and lack the proper processing power for a lot of detailed work. It’s possible there’s more data in the piece we must reconstruct, or maybe there’s nothing usable in there at all. Without a doubt, having that piece usable will significantly improve my processing capabilities. With it—and a more active sample of the potion—I’m sure I could figure this out.”
Hana crossed her arms, her voice strained with concern as she asked, “A more active sample?”
“I’ll need Jiyong to drink it,” Mae said with a nod.
Hana opened her mouth to protest, but Mae cut her off. “Or”—she turned to me with a scowl—“we could leave this be, like I’ve said many times already. We have enough to do with your mother, Jiyong.”
“What does she mean?” Hana retorted without missing a beat.
I rubbed the back of my neck and worked on the delivery of the grim news. “She’s been sick for years, but...” I faltered as my throat tightened.
Mae took over for me. “She hasn’t just been sick. She’s dying.”
“Dying?” Hana gasped. She put a comforting hand on my arm.
I looked away, unable to hold her gaze.
Mae went on, “I predict she only has a few years left. It’s a little complicated if you don’t have the basic understanding of biology, but the human body—every organic creature on earth—is made up of tiny little cells that all have their own functions that make the body work. Thousands of years ago, the body performed those functions on their own with a host of symbiotic bacteria—a topic for another time. After merging with the nanites, the body has stopped performing some of the more costly functions in favor of the nanite’s more effective methods. Essentially, the nanites are part of your beings now and cannot be removed or deactivated without killing you.
“Because Moon’s core is all but disintegrated and her munje nonexistent, whatever is killing her has turned its attention on the nanites fused with her organic cells. Now, her body is struggling to perform the necessary functions for her survival. Creating more munje only inflames the illness, making it work faster—as if we’re fueling it—so we’re between a rock and a hard place,” Mae finished the explanation.
I kept my gaze on the ground. I didn’t want to see the pity in their eyes. I hadn’t wanted Hana to see how bad my mother was. I didn’t want her knowing the severity of my mother’s ailment, as if somehow that would make it less real. It’d been this way for years, but now that I knew there was a date in the not-too-distant future when my mother would die, it ached in my heart worse than ever.
“Mae’s right,” Yuri said. She put her hand on my back, and I looked up. “Your mom is more important than flatulence potions. We should focus our efforts on that.”
Hana reached across our circle of friends and grabbed my hand in hers. “Let’s help your mom.”
“I’ll do whatever needs to be done,” Cho said with fiery determination.
“There’s nothing to do yet. We have to fix that device first, but I appreciate your enthusiasm. All of you.” I put my free hand on Cho’s shoulder and shook him gently.
“Excuse me,” Hana said as she scooted past Yuri.
Hana sat close and wrapped us both in an even smaller bubble of silent ry, excluding Yuri and Cho. She put a warm hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes. There wasn’t pity, or anger, but determination. “You don’t have to hide these things from me. I’m here for you.”
I winced. “I...”
She nodded. “It’s hard to talk about. I want you to know that you can always tell me what’s happening, free of judgement or simpering or advice. I’ll just listen. I haven’t been great about that in the past,” she smiled, and shame colored her cheeks, “but I’ll do better.”
I put my head against hers and closed my eyes. “Thank you.”
“Isn’t this cute,” Tae-do’s voice boomed from the edge of the clearing.
Hana and I pulled back from one another with a start, and Mae disappeared from our circle. I looked over the bush to see the massive boy and an entourage of three others approaching—but they weren’t coming straight for us.
Hana swirled yet another spell of purple ry in her palm that burst in a darkened sphere. A muffled hush came over us, and the footsteps of the approaching gang reduced to whispers. Tae-do, Shin-soo, and two others stopped a few meters away. Tae-do was looking at a rock at the base of a tree while the others acted as lookouts.
“Get up,” Tae-do snarled and kicked the stone.
The boulder yelped, then shimmered as ry munje melted away to reveal a boy with long black hair. It was Ko-nah.
Tae-do grabbed him by the dobok and pulled him from the ground as he asked, “You thought you could escape me—our little deal?”
“N—no,” Ko-nah whispered, his voice trembling. “I was doing what you asked.”
Tae-do’s gaze snapped toward us, then roved past without stopping until he’d looked around the whole clearing. “So then, where is he?” he asked, fire in his tone.
“They, um, I,” Ko-nah trailed off as he looked toward our bushes, then over his other shoulder toward the edge of campus.
“Well,” Tae-do yelled and shook Ko-nah violently. “Spit it out!”
“They went over the wall. When I heard someone coming, I hid.”
Tae-do laughed, then tossed Ko-nah back against the tree with a heavy thud. The air whoofed from Ko-nah’s lungs, and he coughed, holding his chest.
“I told you to keep your eyes on him,” Tae-do said as he pointed a menacing finger. “If you can’t do your very simple job, you can forget about me fulfilling my end of the deal.”
What the hell was he talking about?
Hana squeezed my hand, and I looked down. I had a death-grip on her. I relaxed my body, cycling for both ry and zo, just in case. What was the deal, and who was Ko-nah supposed to watch? The answer tugged at the back of my mind, and though it felt arrogant, I knew they were talking about me.
But why was Ko-nah covering for us? He seemed to know exactly where we were based on where he’d taken up residence as a boulder.
Dread filled me as the next inevitable question arose in my mind. Was Hana’s ry shield strong enough to obscure Mae from view? What about everything else we’d said? What could he have heard?
“I’m sorry, brother,” Ko-nah said with a gasp of fresh air.
Tae-do harrumphed. “You better not lose him again. I want to understand how that damn school schedule fused and gave him superpowers.”
My hand shot up to my chest, covering Mae’s disc protectively.
Mae was calm as she said, “Ko-nah’s not yet an enemy. He could’ve revealed us but didn’t. Plus, Hana’s ry is strong. He may not have seen or heard me, and even if he did, he might not know I’m in the disc.”
Tae-do hocked a wad of spit in our direction, and I ducked reflexively. “Has he fixed your schedule yet?”
Ko-nah nodded and produced the disc I’d finished repairing after dinner.
Tae-do snatched it. “It doesn’t look any different,” he said as he scrutinized the device with his eyes instead of his munje.
“Six hours was not enough to learn anything about him. I need more time,” Ko-nah said as he put his hand out, requesting the disc.
Tae-do slapped the device back into his hand with a grunt, then snatched him by the collar and pulled him close. He whispered, barely audible to me, “Don’t get too cocky, little brother. You’re going to wait here for him to come back. When he does, you’re going to come straight to me and tell me where they were and what they were doing.”
“How do you expect me to find that out?” Ko-nah asked with a hint of annoyance that turned Tae-do’s face bright red.
Tae-do’s grip tightened on Ko-nah’s dobok. “I. Don’t. Care. How. Do it, or you can kiss your easy wins goodbye and we
lcome a new world of torment and pain,” Tae-do said as he bared his teeth.
Ko-nah nodded vigorously. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good,” Tae-do said with a smirk as he released Ko-nah. Tae-do waved to his watchdogs. “Come on, let’s go.”
The bullies strode from the clearing, eyes watchful at the edges of the glade. Ko-nah let out a deep sigh when they were out of sight. I jumped to my feet and stepped through the glimmer shroud.
“Why?” I asked, burning fury shaking in my voice.
Ko-nah’s eyes bulged to the size of soup bowls, and he put his hands out defensively as he asked in a hushed whisper, “Why what?”
“Why are you following me? Why did you lie?” I growled the questions through clenched teeth.
Anger seethed at the edges of my forced calm. We had stood up for him, let him into our room, and offered to teach him to be strong, and he repaid us by making some back-alley deal with his bully brother.
Ko-nah’s shoulders tensed as he said, “Would you have preferred I told him you were hiding in the bushes?”
“Definitely not,” Yuri said with a grin. She bounced a tiny bolt of lightning between her fingers. “But we need some real answers, not more questions.”
Hana took a step closer, her fists blazing with black zo. “What’s the deal you made?”
Cho watched our backs while the three of us closed in around the short boy.
Ko-nah licked his lips and shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Do your best to explain it.” Hana growled the words as she took another step forward.
Ko-nah chuckled with cocky nervousness. “Or what, you’ll pummel me right here?”
Hana moved another step forward as black flames consumed her. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She looked to me with frustration—not for me, but for Ko-nah. She was feeling the same sting of anger that I was. We’d welcomed him into the circle, and he’d betrayed our trust in mere hours. It was good we didn’t invite him in further.
Hana’s anger simmered and she backed down. Ko-nah looked sufficiently scared, but he didn’t try to run. He plopped down on the grass with a heavy sigh. “I lied, and I’m a failure. I said my mom sent me, but that’s not true. I wanted to become a Bastion and finally earn wansil Wong’s approval.
“But I barely made it through the first year, and I knew there was no way I’d pass a second unless I got a boost.”
“We offered you help,” I said and crossed my arms, looking down at him.
Ko-nah huffed. “Like you’d follow through. Miss sixteen and mister seventeen last year, what time would you have for three-seventy-two?”
“You didn’t even give us the opportunity,” Hana said through gritted teeth.
Ko-nah wrung his hands together as he stared at the ground. He was quiet for a beat, then asked timidly, “Would you give me another chance?”
Hana barked a laugh. “We could trust hungry razorfin more than you. Right, Jiyong?” she asked as she looked to me.
I crossed my arms and tapped my teeth while I mulled it over. We needed to know how much he’d learned about Mae, and being his friend was the easiest way to discover that, but keeping him at arm’s length likely wouldn’t work. He was obviously good with ry, and I was a terrible liar. Our lodging was set for the year, and Ko-nah was rooming with us for six more months. If we turned him down, he’d spy on us for Tae-do. If we didn’t, he still might. We couldn’t trust him either way.
“Jiyong?” Hana asked, her scowl deepening.
I sighed. “There’s no good way forward. Ko-nah, you betrayed our trust and spied on us—”
Ko-nah tutted. “Why were you running around in the dark, anyway? That seems pretty suspicious.”
Yuri hummed. “More questions from a mouth that’s supposed to be delivering answers. I am keeping track. You still haven’t told us what the deal is.”
Ko-nah’s shoulder drooped with defeat. “He was going to have his goons fight me and lose on purpose. I was to follow you around and figure out how the incident last year made you so much stronger, and in return he’d give me a duel every week so I could make it to next year.”
“You think you can cheat your way to being a Bastion?” Hana asked with repulsion. “You were right, you’re not worth our time.” She crossed her arms and turned to stand next to Cho.
I sucked down a deep breath. I had way more to be worried about than some stupid school bully using my roommate to spy on me, but Mae’s secrecy was paramount. Woong-ji had reminded us of such several times over the summer when we’d let the secret slip to Ryni, and then Ai-mon. Mae was too special for her existence to be broadcasted, because there were bound to be real threats circling for a chance to steal her.
There was no other choice.
“I’m going to train you,” I said.
“What?” Hana boomed as she marched toward me. “Jiyong, are you joking?”
I shook my head. “Ko-nah is going to train with me, and I’m going to put him through hell. He will learn all my ways and report back to Tae-do. Tae-do will see that to become as strong as us, he’ll have to work hard, because there’s no trick.”
“What if I won’t?” Ko-nah asked in a snotty tone. He was just like the other greedy, lazy kingdomites.
I smirked. “Then you can enjoy getting your ass beat by Tae-do every week, because you’re not coming anywhere near us otherwise.”
Ko-nah’s face went white as he realized—as I had—the full scope of the predicament he’d put himself in. I was betting half of him wished he’d revealed us to Tae-do, but perhaps the other half was willing to take on this challenge.
Either way, I was going to enjoy this.
Chapter 10
OR I WASN’T. KO-NAH refused to rise when I told him to. He rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head, saying it was much too early. I looked to Cho for help, who only shrugged. At the fifth request, I added a little electric jolt to get him going.
The en munje shot down my arm and zapped into Ko-nah’s back. He jumped out of bed with a high-pitched yelp, then turned to me with hatred. “How dare you touch me!”
I squared my shoulders and asked, “You want Tae-do to do worse?”
We stared at one another for a second that seemed to drag on into eternity. He played at being weak, meek, and friendly, but he was the same kind of selfish as all the other pungbahn. Or perhaps years of physical torment from Tae-do had made him skittish and protective. All the same, he saw me as the enemy, not a friend.
Ko-nah pursed his lips, then looked away, his anger simmering down to annoyance.
I sighed and relaxed my stance. “I won’t baby you. This isn’t your palace home by the dojang. This is Bastion Academy, and you will be your best.”
Ko-nah didn’t look at me, but his posture slumped.
“Do you think this will work?” Mae asked in my head. “What if he doesn’t know anything and we’re wasting our time? He hasn’t mentioned me at all.”
I refrained from shaking my head as I said internally, ‘He’s hiding it in case of emergency—either with Tae-do or me. He knows something, maybe not exactly what you are, but he knows, and when he needs to, he’ll reveal that information to the highest bidder to save his skin.’
When all the anger had deflated out of Ko-nah, I threw him his dobok and said, “Get dressed. Meditation in the grass in ten.”
I shook off the annoyance as I walked out to the grass, grateful to have a moment of silence. I looked up to see Hana, pacing with arms crossed. She looked about as pleased as a riled-up hexapod. I hadn’t seen one myself, but heard enough stories to knew the creatures were not to be trifled with, and neither was Hana.
I knew what conversation she wanted to start, so I preempted it. “What alternative do we have?”
She launched into a barrage of solutions. “We could tell Ko-nah the jig is up.”
“And he’ll tell Tae-do whatever he knows about Mae,” I replied calmly.
“How a
bout Woong-ji? She can read minds, right? We get her to read his mind,” she offered.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Cho said with an excited nod.
I sighed. “I don’t know how it works. It seems she can ‘hear’ only active thoughts. It’s not like she was digging around in my memory, but hearing my internal voice as I thought.
“And what a strange thing to ask my mentor: Hello Master, could you please read this boy’s mind to see if I’ve let slip my very important secret you told me to guard with my life? How would we get Ko-nah in a room alone with her? How could we bring up the subject without spilling it ourselves?”
Hana growled. “Okay, what if we confront him? Give him a few good knuckles to the face until he dishes the details.”
Yuri pounded one fist into her open palm. “Yeah, knuckles.”
Now I was the one growling. “For starters, Hana, Yuri, that’s not us. We don’t beat the truth out of people.”
Hana pursed her lips and looked away. “I know.”
“Rats,” Yuri said as she plopped down in the grass.
“Second, Ko-nah’s been beat up by Tae-do for years. I don’t think he’s going to cave to us if we threaten violence, and it’s only going to make him shut down and maybe leak the details he does know to Tae-do sooner. We won’t get anywhere that way.”
Hana took a few deep breaths and nodded. “You’re right.”
It took Ko-nah all ten minutes to make it out to the grass, and we cut our line of conversation when we saw him approach through the trees. Honestly, he could’ve been standing there as a boulder the whole time. We needed to be more careful about how and when we talked about him.
Hana smiled—thought it looked more like a grimace—and said, “Good morning. How did you sleep?”
“It would’ve been better if Jiyong hadn’t zapped me in the back,” Ko-nah retorted with heat.
Hana’s smile disappeared. I put out a hand and offered it for Ko-nah to sit next to me.
