Whispers of Refuge Box Set

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

Jae realized something was wrong as soon as he walked into the house. It was past midnight, but his position at the police office would protect him from punishment for breaking curfew. “What happened?” He didn’t bother addressing Father, who sat staring out the kitchen window, but went straight to Mother’s bed. He knelt down and placed his hand on her heaving shoulder. “What’s wrong, Mother?”

“She’s left us.” She grabbed Jae’s arm in both of hers and sobbed into his bicep. “Our Sun’s gone.”

His heart constricted in his chest. He smoothed out Mother’s graying hair and clucked his tongue the same way he used to soothe his little sister when she was still a baby. “We don’t know that. She might have gone visiting. Maybe she missed curfew and decided to spend the night with one of her friends. You know how forgetful girls get when they’re together gossiping like geese.”

Mother didn’t stop rocking on her mattress. Jae stood up. “If she doesn’t come home after school tomorrow, I’ll go to her friends’ houses and see if I can find her.”

“You are a good son,” she muttered.

“Stop worrying. Wherever she is, I’ll bring Sun back safe and unharmed. I promise.”

An hour later, Jae rolled over fitfully on his cot. Mother muttered in her sleep, and Father sat snoring at the table. Jae silenced his own breathing until all he heard were echoes of his sister’s voice. She was several years younger now, the traces of her budding womanhood erased in his memories.

“Another story, Brother.”

Jae wrapped both their blankets tight around her skeletal frame and then sat her on his lap. The blankets were thin enough he felt the sharpness of her shoulder blades jut into his chest as he held her in his arms.

“Another story, you say?” Jae felt the wisps of her bangs and swept them out of her face. “A story for my little sister?” Sun wiggled in excitement. Jae took in a deep breath. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden.” Sun giggled, but Jae didn’t stop. “She was prettier than all the other girls in her village, and one day a king from a faraway land decided he must behold her loveliness for himself. The maiden was brought to him in a carriage made out of gold and pearls, drawn by four horses with their braided manes reaching all the way down to their hooves.”

Jae waited for Sun to suck in her breath in awe. Her shivering subsided. Her teeth stopped chattering. “When the maiden arrived at the river bordering his empire, the king was there to meet her. He instantly fell in love with her and declared his eternal devotion. He took the horses’ reins and drove her himself across the bridge into his realm, a paradise where the streams are made of syrup, and the rocks are sweetened candy. The trees grow fruit all year round, and it’s never, ever winter. Birds fly overhead day and night, dropping donuts and pastries for all the citizens to enjoy. Everyone there is fat and happy, and all the little girls wear colored ribbons in their hair.”

Jae was getting ready to tell her the part about the wedding celebration, in which the royal newlyweds ride on two ponies with wings like eagles, but he didn’t need to.

Sun was already asleep.

Jae clenched his eyes closed, grinding his teeth until his jaw felt partially numb. He clamped his mouth shut even tighter to contain the groan that welled up from somewhere deep in his gut.

Sun. Where was she? Didn’t his sister know how much he’d done for her, how much he’d already sacrificed for her? Jae thought over the past few days, racking his brain for any clues about his missing sister. Had she taken up with any new friends recently? Had anybody been paying her special attention? He tried to recall her behavior. All he could think of was the glow of her broad, smiling cheeks, the hair that never stayed in place but cascaded down her face like unruly streams of water.

He counted back the months. How long had it been since the river swept Sun away from him? He had jumped in after her, disregarding the ice and chill. She shouted his name, kept on shouting it in a throaty little shriek even after he reached her. They were swept downstream together before he finally led them to shore. He was thankful that by then he was already wet; his sister had never seen him cry before.

Jae sighed and thought about what he had told his mother just a few hours earlier. A friend’s house. She must have gone to a friend’s house. He didn’t realize he was gripping his sheets until a muscle spasm shot pain up from the side of his smallest finger, racing all the way up his forearm. He shook his hand out and then held his blanket against his body once more. The accident at the water’s edge wasn’t the first time he had risked his life for Sun. The other times she didn’t even know about. Nobody did. Jae sighed.

Tomorrow he would find Sun.

And he would kill anyone who hurt her.