Doyeon practically pounced on Seolhyun the moment she sat down in class. “Did you hear?”

Half asleep, she shook her head. She’d had a sweet hell of a time going to bed last night after everything with Hyejeong. The fluttering her stomach was doing had to be a consequence of no breakfast.

“Joongki is missing,” Doyeon said.

“Missing?” Seolhyun didn’t pay attention to the warm tingling on her neck or when Hyejeong sauntered into class. “Since when?”

“Since the night of Mina’s party.” Doyeon’s eyes flicked up behind Seolhyun and widened. “Wow. Now that’s even more unexpected.”

Something smelled sweet. Confused, Seolhyun twisted around. A single rose in full bloom, a vibrant red, brushed against the tip of her nose. Slender fingers held the green stem. Her eyes lifted.

Hyejeong stood there, eyes glittering. She patted Seolhyun on the nose with the rose again. “Good morning.”

Dumbfounded, Seolhyun stared at her.

“This is for you,” she added when Seolhyun didn’t say anything.

Every single person in class was staring as her fingers wrapped around the cool, damp stem. Hyejeong sat down before Seolhyun could say anything. She sat there, holding the rose until Mr. Lee walked in and started calling off names.

Hyejeong’s throaty chuckle warmed her chest.

Cheeks flaming, Seolhyun placed the rose on her desk, and she honestly didn’t think she took her eyes off it. Why she did that? Maybe she just wanted to have with her. And that had to be all, right? Hatred turned to lust. She’d been so against Seolhyun months ago and now she wanted to be with her, going against the wishes of her alien race?

Seolhyun looked up, catching Doyeon’s gaze. She mouthed, ‘Nice’.

Nice? It was nice and sweet and romantic and about a thousand other things that had Seolhyun’s heart doing backflips. Sneaking a peek at Hyejeong over her shoulder, Seolhyun watched her scribble along a blank piece of notebook paper. Her brows were lowered in concentration. Thick, sooty lashes hid her eyes.

And then they lifted and her lips spread into a grin.

Seolhyun was in so much trouble.

***

When Jimin texted Seolhyun and asked to meet her at the Diner Dash, Seolhyun didn’t know what to do. It seemed... wrong to have an early dinner with her when last night she’d slept in Hyejeong’s arms. And that rose surprise from this morning.

Her cheeks flushed. They didn’t do anything other than kisses, but it was just as intimate, if not more. Her feelings for Hyejeong were all over the place and what she did for her yesterday, meant something she couldn’t ignore.

But she also couldn’t ignore Jimin. She was her friend, and after last night dinner, Seolhyun needed to make sure Jimin didn’t expect anything more than that, a friendship. Even though she hadn’t figured out things with Hyejeong, she did realize that she was right about one thing.

She was using Jimin.

Jimin was uncomplicated and harmless. Totally a nice girl and dateable, but Seolhyun’s feelings were nothing like how she felt for Hyejeong.

So Seolhyun texted her back and said okay, hoping this wouldn’t be the most awkward dinner of her life.

The weather had changed the moment the sun went behind the mountains. The comfortable air was replaced by near-frigid winds, and the sky took on a constant gloomy, overcast presence.

Seolhyun pulled into the closest parking space to the door of the diner. The wind had screamed the whole trip, and she dreaded getting out of her warm car. She couldn’t help but notice that the space of glass above the diner’s business hours held a picture of Joongki on it. She grimaced, threw open the door, and hurried into the surprisingly crowded restaurant.

Jimin was sitting near the fireplace. She stood and smiled when she saw Seolhyun. “Hey! Glad you made it.”

When she reached out as if she wanted to hug her, Seolhyun pretended not to notice and sat. “I can’t believe how cold it is.” She paused, recognizing a few kids from TOU. They were clustered together, drinking sodas and eating a large oven pizza. One of them waved at Seolhyun and she waved back. “Uhm, so, how are you?”

Jimin frowned. “I’m... fine?” Then she chuckled.

They paused while a waitress took their orders. Seolhyun got a soda and a hamburger, and Jimin ordered soup.

“Hopefully this soup doesn’t end up all over me,” Jimin joked.

Seolhyun cringed. Not likely, since Hyejeong wasn’t there... yet. “Listen, I really am sorry about all that.”

Jimin tapped her straw off Seolhyun’s hand before peeling the paper from around the plastic. “It’s not a big deal. Stuff happens.”

Seolhyun nodded, studying the steamed-over windows. Jimin cleared , frowning again as her eyes narrowed on a middle-aged man near the bar who was looking around nervously. “I think that guy’s about to skip out on his bill.”

“Uhm, really?”

Jimin nodded. “And he thinks he’s getting away with it. He has so many times before.”

In stunned silence, Seolhyun watched the man take one last drink and stand without getting his check.

“Someone is always watching,” Jimin added with a slight smile.

A couple sitting behind the man, both in flannel shirts and well-worn jeans, were also watching the customer about to flee. The man leaned toward the woman, whispering something. Her heavy face twisted into a scowl, and she slammed her hand down on the table. “Always thinking they can get a free meal!”

The outburst caught the attention of the manager who was taking an order by the door. He turned to face the startled man. “Hey! Did you pay for that?”

The man stopped and fumbled in his pockets. He muttered an apology and hastily threw several crumpled bills on the table.

Seolhyun’s head snapped back to Jimin. “Well...”

Jimin shrugged.

Seolhyun waited until the waitress returned with their order and left, her unease growing. “How did you know he was going to do that?”

Jimin blew on her spoonful of vegetable soup. “A good guess.”

“Bull,” Seolhyun whispered.

Her gaze met Seolhyun’s. “It was just a lucky guess.”

Doubt bubbled up. Jimin wasn’t an alien, at least Seolhyun assumed she wasn’t, and none of the Felix she knew could read minds or foresee anything, but that was just too weird. It could’ve been a lucky guess, but every instinct was telling her there was something more.

She munched on the hamburger. “So do you have lucky guesses a lot?”

Jimin shrugged again. “Sometimes. It’s just intuition.”

“Intuition,” Seolhyun said, nodding. “That’s some on point intuition.”

“Anyway, I heard about Joongki going missing. That totally .”

The abrupt change of subject was jarring. “Yeah, it does. I think the cops believe he ran away.”

Jimin twirled her spoon in the soup. “Did they ask Hyejeong a lot of questions?”

Seolhyun frowned. “Why would they?”

“Well... because Hyejeong did get in a fight with him. I mean, it seems likely they would question him.”

Okay, she had a point, and Seolhyun was being way too twitchy about this. “Yeah, I think they did, but Hyejeong didn’t have anything to do with–” Seolhyun froze, not believing what she was feeling. Dull heat flared between her s.

It couldn’t be.

The Culpa flared under her sweater. Frantically, she reached around her neck, tugging on the chain. When the Culpa slipped free, she wrapped her hand around it, wincing as the stone scorched her palm. Panic clawed up as she lifted her eyes.

Jimin was doing something with her wrist, but Seolhyun’s eyes latched onto the front door. It swung open. Fallen leaves scattered across the tile. The low hum of conversation continued, the customers unaware a monster was in. Heat radiated from the Culpa. Their table started to rattled softly.

In the doorway, a tall and pale woman with dark sunglasses covering half her face scanned the crowded diner. Her raven-colored hair hung in thick strands around her cheeks. Her red lips were spread in a serpent’s smile.

She was a Kloom.

Seolhyun was starting to stand, seconds away from ripping the Culpa off her neck. Would she really charge her? She wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t stand there and do nothing. Her muscles tensed. Kloom always traveled in fours, so if there was one, that meant there were three more somewhere.

Seolhyun was so intent on the female Kloom that she hadn’t paid attention to Jimin until she was in front of her.

She raised one hand.

Everyone stopped. Everyone.

Some people had forks of food halfway to their mouths. Others were stopped in mid-conversation, mouths hanging open in silent laughter. A few had even stopped walking with one foot off the ground. A waitress had been lighting a candle with a small lighter. She was frozen but the flame still danced above the lighter. No one talked, no one moved, and no one even seemed to breathe.

Seolhyun took a step back from her, unsure of whom she should be more afraid of: the Kloom or the China girl Jimin.

The female Kloom hadn’t frozen. She was moving her head side to side in slick, fluid motions as she studied the frozen humans and, Seolhyun assumed, a few Felix.

“Kloom,” Jimin accused, voice low.

The Kloom whipped around, her head still moving. She took off her sunglasses, squinted. “Human?”

Jimin laughed. “Not quite.”

And then she launched herself at her.

Shin Jimin was a mini freaking ninja.

Moving lightning fast, she dipped under the Kloom’s outstretched arm and spun around, delivering a vicious spin kick to her back. She staggered forward a step and whirled. The air around her hand darkened with black energy. She reared back, preparing to deliver a blow.

Dropping down, Jimin spun and knocked her leather-encased legs from underneath her. The dark energy flickered out as they both rose to their feet again, circling each other in the narrow space between the cramped tables and frozen people.

Seolhyun sort of just stood there, mystified and entranced by the display. There was no expression on Jimin’s face. It was like a kickass switch had been thrown, and her whole being was focused on the Kloom.

Jimin darted in, her palm catching the Kloom’s chin, snapping her head back. Teeth rattled, and when she lowered her head, a dark, oily substance leaked from her lip.

The Kloom faded out, taking on her true form. Her shadowy body was thick and smoky as it charged Jimin. Jimin pivoted around so fast that her hand was just a blur as it sunk deep into what appeared to be the Kloom’s chest.

Her stylish watch... wasn’t a normal watch. It was a shred of Culpa currently embedded in the Kloom’s chest. As she took on a human form, her face was pale and shocked. A second later, she exploded in a rush of black smoke that blew Seolhyun’s hair back and filled the air with a bitter scent.

Not even out of breath, Jimin turned to her and pressed something on her watch. She placed it back on her wrist, then ran a hand through her messy hair.

Seolhyun gaped at her, the Culpa rapidly cooling under her hand. “Wh-what are you...?”

Striding over to their table, Jimin dropped the money on the plaid tablecloth. “We need to talk somewhere private.”

Eyes wide, Seolhyun took a deep breath. Her world just got a little more insane, but if she could deal with aliens, she could deal with ninja Jimin. That didn’t mean Seolhyun was going somewhere with her until she knew what the hell she was, though. “My car.”

Jimin nodded, and they headed for the door. Jimin held it open for Seolhyun as she faced the frozen diner. With a wave of her hand, everyone started moving. No one seemed to notice that they’d been frozen for minutes.

They were two steps from Seolhyun’s car when Seolhyun realized her hands were shaking and the back of her neck was tingling.

“... you have got to be kidding me,” Jimin muttered and took ahold of her hand.

Seolhyun didn’t even have to look. There was no Jjujju in the parking lot that she could see, but then again, Hyejeong had her own special method of travel if necessary.

A tall, imposing shadow fell upon them, and Seolhyun lifted her gaze. Hyejeong stood there, a black baseball cap pulled low, shielding the upper half of her face.

“What... what are you doing here?” Seolhyun asked, and then realized Jimin was holding her hand. She pulled it free.

Hyejeong’s jaw was so hard it could cut through tree. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

Oh dear, this didn’t look good. Suddenly, the Kloom chick and ninja Jimin didn’t even matter. “This isn’t what–”

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you two or whatever.” As Jimin spoke, she curved her hand around Seolhyun’s elbow. “But Seolhyun and I need to talk–”

One second, Jimin was talking, and the next, she was pressed against the window of the Diner Dash, with a tall alien all up in her grille.

Hyejeong’s face was an inch from Jimin’s, the front of her baseball cap creasing Jimin’s forehead. “You touch her again and I will–”

“You’ll what?” Jimin shot back, her eyes narrowed. “What are you going to do, Hyejeong?”

Seolhyun grabbed Hyejeong’s shoulder and pulled. She didn’t budge. “Hyejeong, come on. Let her go.”

“You want to know what I’m going to do?” Hyejeong’s entire body tensed under Seolhyun’s hand. “You know where your head and are? Well, they’re about to become well acquainted with each other.”

Oh, good Lord. They were starting to gain an audience. People were watching from their cars. No doubt an entire restaurant was witnessing this go down from the inside. Seolhyun tried again to break the two girls apart, but both of them ignored her.

Jimin smirked. “I’d like to see you try.”

“You might want to rethink that.” Hyejeong laughed low. “Because you have no idea what I’m capable of, girl.”

“See, that’s the funny thing.” Jimin gripped Hyejeong’s wrist. “I know exactly what you’re capable of.”

A shiver rolled down Seolhyun’s spine. Who in the hell was Jimin?

Flannel Shirt Guy came out of the diner, hitching up his ragged pants. He spit out a mouthful of chew as he approached them. “Girls, you’re gonna wanna break this up right now before someone calls the–”

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