The Witches (Book #1)

𝔇𝔢𝔣𝔞𝔲𝔩𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔖𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔞𝔰𝔪

"Do dead people usually hang out in graveyards?" I ask Joohyuk as I step through the iron gate into Old Burying Point.

"Are you asking me if spirits spend their free time roaming graveyards with the occasional hope of scaring someone?"

"Point taken." I shine my flashlight, trying not to walk into any headstones. "Where are you buried?"

He pauses a moment. "My body is gone."

My eyes widen. "What do you mean gone?"

"I should not have told you. It is nothing you need to concern yourself about. But I believe it was dug up." He sounds calmer than I am, and it's his body.

"Dug up! Who would do that?"

"Perhaps grave robbers."

I shudder. I picture it before I can stop myself. I shine my flashlight on Bae Haneul's headstone in the corner of the graveyard under a big tree. I prefer the Changbin conversation to this one. "So this is Changbin's exceptional brother."

He nods. I pull out a small blanket from my bag and sit next to the headstone. My skin crawls. I light a candle, and the light flickers across Haneul's headstone—which has a flying skull on it. If someone tapped my shoulder right now, I would launch in the air like a cartoon character.

"If you remember it, it might be worth trying the spell you used with the Lineages.

In some ways, I'm more scared that this'll work than that it won't. I close my eyes. "Changbin . . . I don't know if you can hear me. Or if you're bound to me. But I need to know a few things. Namely, who was hanging." I speak slowly, unsure what words to use. I peek at Joohyuk.

He nods.

I take a deep breath. I can do this. I have to do this. People will continue dying. My dad could be one of those people. "Changbin, I need you to show me the face of the girl who was hanging. Show me something I can stop. Something I can understand." I wait.

"Show me what you know about this curse. I mean what I say. I say what I intend. Know my desire and give me clarity." For a second, everything's still. The wind stops rustling through the leaves, and my body vibrates. Then, nothing.

Crap. "Listen, Minister. I know you were trying to get Daddy's approval. It must've pissed you off when your little brother turned out to be smarter than you. The year after he died you wrote your book. And then you sit back while people spin lies in Manyeo, just happy about your fame. Disgusting." My body vibrates again and the air whooshes out of my lungs.

The force throws me backward, and my eyes open. The graveyard is gone, and I'm in the woods. They're different from when I was there with the Lineages. The trees are bigger, wilder. There's a large crowd of people in a clearing. I run to them, tripping over branches.

A male voice recites a prayer. Nearing the edge of the clearing, I can now see that the voice belongs to a man with a noose around his neck. Young Changbin is on horseback in front of the crowd. I push the people to get through, but they ignore me. Changbin yells to the spectators, "Even the most wicked of creatures can feign the semblance of good. Do not let this man's words deceive you. For it is his actions you must examine. I ask you. Is he guilty?"

The crowd roars in agreement, and the cart is rolled away. The man falls, struggling against the rope. I push the spectators harder. The moment I break through, the crowd disappears. There's no one left besides Changbin and the strangled man.

I can't pull my eyes from the rope. As I watch, the hanging man transforms into the girl I saw at school, her hair hiding her face. She turns her strained eyes toward me, and her hair changes from black to red. It's Seulgi. Changbin dismounts from his horse and lands in front of me. I try to get past him, but he blocks my path.