The Witches (Book #1)

𝔅𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞 𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥

I run my eyes against the early morning light as I walk into the kitchen. Coffee's brewed and everything's quiet. Yoomi's car isn't in the driveway. Looks like she's avoiding me now. Somehow this hurts worse than the anger. She's the one who sold the apartment and lied to me; she's the one who slapped me. How is it fair that she's now mad at me, on top of everything else?

I pull down a mug and fill it with coffee and condensed milk. There are new empty wine bottles in the recycling can. Maybe Yoomi's just waiting for my did to die to get rid of me. I have no family and nowhere to go. Why doesn't she care about me anymore? I shake my head. I need to stop thinking about this.

"Joohyuk," I say as I sit down at the round wooden table in the kitchen.

He blinks in, with an old leather-bound book in his hand. He takes a seat at the table and smiles. "Good. You are awake."

I immediately blush and look at my coffee. Seeing his dimples just makes me remember the ways his lips felt. I shift the conversation to our usual morning topic. "How's my dad today?"

"Very much the same."

It's Saturday, a week since I was at the hospital, and the separation's panicking me. "I really wish I could go see him."

Joohyuk looks sympathetic. "You are helping him more by staying here."

I'm grateful for the reinforcement. "What's the book?"

"It is an old spell book. I am using it to figure out what kind of spell is around the house in the woods. It took me all night to locate one that I did not suspect was protected by some enchantment or another."

"It surprises me that anything can hurt you." Not that anything makes sense anymore.

"Understand that my existence as a spirit has no guaranteed end date. I would surely hate to spend the next few hundred years suffering over a spell because I was not cautious."

The idea that objects can hold that kind of power is unsettling. "Could that really happen?"

"Sooji, death reveals that the world is more fantastical than you thought, not less. The veil between possible and impossible is often lifted."

"I think I need to get on board with this spell stuff, too. I feel like I've been on the sidelines."

"How so?"

"Well, I have that parchment you gave me. Maybe there's some sort of identity-revealing spell that I can use to figure out who wrote the thing." On the off chance it does work, it will save me a bunch of time.

Joohyuk smiles. "Becoming a witch, are we?"

I feign annoyance. "Not funny. So, did you find out what those stones and things at the old hanok meant?"

"I believe they are some form of binding spell to keep things in or shut things out. I am not positive. They could also be a way of hiding the house from general view. I have not gotten far enough in my research."

I wonder why Joohyuk's using an old spell book to decipher a new spell. I freeze, and my coffee cup only makes it halfway to my mouth. "Joohyuk, do you think there's any way your fiancée could still be around?"

His lips tighten. "Yes. I do. It is one of my greatest fears. One of the reasons I did not come back to Manyeo."

"But you haven't seen her? Right? You'd see her if she was here." All I need is a crazy spirit obsessed with Joohyuk to make this situation worse.

"My first few days after I returned to Manyeo, I was on guard for her. When she did not appear, I began to relax a little. Eventually, I assumed she had passed on. It was not until yesterday that my fears about her resurfaced."