“Right,” Hani snorts as she pushes open a battered-looking door and ushers Kisa inside. “But what you seem to be forgetting is that my mind is your mind, and your mind is my mind…regardless of whatever ‘Ship of Theseus’ bullshit you tote around. You’re me. I’m you…But with much better taste in clothing.”

“Are you really here? Or are you just my…my unconscious?”

“Why can’t I be both?” Hani ushers Kisa into the apartment, which looks as if a small hurricane has blown through it. Mass-market romance books are strewn all over a lumpy-looking couch, and the kitchen is stuffed to the brim with bags of junk food. “Make yourself at home,” the gumiho offers, clearing off the couch with one dramatic sweep of her arm. “It’s ours anyhow.”

Kisa slowly sits next to Hani on the couch. Something has wedged itself in between the couch’s back and its cushion—she rummages behind her to pull out the same yellow, dog-eared copy of Kidnapped by the Time-Traveling Highland Pirate-King that Somi gave to her.

“You really should have taken better care of your books,” Kisa can’t help but tell Hani, who shrugs.

“It’s my favorite,” Hani replies and grins. “I took it everywhere, hence the questionable state.”

“ ‘Questionable’? It’s falling apart—”

“Chapter fourteen is especially good. But you know that already.” She grabs the book from her, flips open to a random page, and begins to read…Or pretends to read, as Kisa realizes a moment later. There’s no hint of Elsie and Finlay’s scandalously delicious scene. Instead, there’s: “ ‘And so Kisa and Seokga unwittingly convicted their story’s two scapegoats…while the true murderer’s plans remained fully intact, and their nefarious goal came closer and closer to fruition…What a couple of morons…’ ” Hani shuts the book with gusto. “Do you think it ends on a cliff-hanger? I hate cliff-hangers.”

Her head is pounding. “There was evidence,” Kisa says, although she’s not sure if she’s trying to convince herself or Hani. “The loudspeakers on the cruise, they broadcast everything.”

“Kisa,” Hani says, pinching the bridge of her nose, “at twenty-two, you’re far more intelligent than I ever became even with hundreds of years underneath my belt…And yet you’re so dumb sometimes that it physically pains me. Think, Kisa. Claws. Voices. Sneezing. The bittersweet and the fall. You have something you haven’t read yet. I’d suggest you give it a peek soon.” Hani leans forward, grabbing her hands in hers. “I know you’ve already figured it out. I can see it in your eyes. And you’re right to be terrified. Something huge is at play here. Something bigger than even Eodum.”