Kisa exhales in relief. Of course. Seokga, being the trickster deity, has an array of sneaky powers including teleportation, illusion-crafting, shape-shifting, and reading the minds of creatures. She’s always wondered what it would be like to have a patron other than Samsin Halmoni—not that, of course, she didn’t love her goddess and the healing powers that had come with her patronage when she was alive. But watching the Seokga shamans had always been so very fun. They seemed to have an affinity for shifting into birds and, well, shitting on the Hwanin shamans’ heads.

But as her eyes slide to Seokga’s wincing expression, her relief turns to anxiety. “Seokga?” she urges quietly. “You can read minds, can’t you?”

“I’ve been having some trouble with that,” he mutters.

Yeomra freezes near the doors. “I’m sorry. What?”

Seokga sneers, but not at Kisa. “I have been—according to the wise Dr. Jang—extremely stressed.” His mouth twists. “It’s affected that power. I can’t reach it. Stop gaping, Yeomra. You look like a dying fish.”

Kisa watches as the death deity’s mouth drops open before he abruptly shuts it. “I am going to leave before I have a mental breakdown,” he says slowly. “When I come back, at the end of the cruise, you’d better have found the murderer. Mind-reading powers or no. And keep our esteemed heavenly emperor safe, please. I would, but I’m probably even worse with infants than you are. A demon might eat him.” In a burst of black smoke, Yeomra is gone.

The doors suddenly swing open, and Hajun stands in his place, waving the smoke away from his face. Kisa winces as her friend’s eyes shoot straight to the baby before his head whips to Seokga.

“I—who—how—when?” Hajun gasps. “Kisa? The baby? Did you—”

“Congratulations,” Seokga snarks in a biting tone. “You’re a godfather.”

For the love of the gods…Hajun looks as if he might faint.

“No, I did not birth him in the time since you last saw me,” Kisa replies firmly, setting Hwanin down on a nearby cot and wrangling the squirming baby into the tiny shirt and pants. Hwanin, it seems, does not want to wear any clothing besides his cat hat and diaper. Finally successful, she turns to a bewildered Hajun, excited to tell him the news. They might be free of the Flatliner sooner than either of them ever thought possible. “How do you feel about helping us catch a killer?”

Chapter Thirteen

Seokga