“She killed me!” Kisa screams, stumbling back toward Somi and grabbing the gumiho’s hand. There’s so much more than anger in her scream—there’s fear and hatred, too. It cleaves Seokga’s heart in two before it is mended by fury. Hot anger, as molten as liquid gold, fills in the cracks with a deadly rage. That rage shoots down the thread, burning black, an inky stain on fate.

“She shoved me from the roof, Seokga—she was the one who did it! Her lotion—Dermatrick’s—I smelled it a moment before I fell! She found me before you did, knowing I was yours, knowing I’d be sent to the ship! And she killed Somi, too, knowing your history with her and intending to use her as a fall person, but when Jang went too far and Somi lost her claws in the battle, she had to shift methods and chose Soo-min instead!”

Seokga leans heavily on his cane, sulfuric rain lashing down on the ship. He can barely hear Kisa over the screams of the guests below and the churning storm, but he can hear enough. Oh yes, he can hear enough. His fingers have begun to twitch in the very same way they did all those years ago before he tortured Eodum to death. Staggering, he makes his way over to Hajun, where Hwanin is screaming in fright.

Kisa is drenched by now, rain soaking her hair and his sweater as she continues to shout, voice cracking and breaking over the thunder. “She killed Hwanin! He was never supposed to come with the two of you on the cruise—she had to take matters into her own hands! She followed him to the I-95 after the party and he panicked—the bright light was his first reaction and his second was to teleport to you! But he never got that far, only to the stairwell where we found him. In a fit of rage, Jang ripped out his heart during the teleportation, in the corners between space, which is why we never found any sign of a struggle!”

Hwanin cries and reaches for him, burying his small face in his brother’s chest as Seokga grabs him from Hajun’s stricken grip.

“She mimicked Soo-min’s voice when Somi was hiding in the closet, she mimicked her and Hwanung’s voices on the intercom after luring Hwanung onto the ship when he called her to ask about his father! And you, Seokga—” Kisa resembles a goddess of wrath as she stands on the deck, fists clenched at her sides, wind and rain failing to move her as if she is a marble pillar. “She’s been manipulating you for years! Posing as your therapist, prescribing you medication that blocks your ability to read minds! Your meds aren’t anti-depressants, Seokga, they’re power suppressants, made from blacklisted ingredients!”

Any help you’ve received in your life has been double-bladed.