“I got the tickets!” Daesung almost fed me said tickets when he bumped into me.

When I asked Yuri who Jessica was, she ignored me and told Daesung to pack everything and list all the nearby train stations. Amazingly, the kid did as told and I, along with Byung Hee, became spectators. Yuri commanded him like a General did with his officers. As much as I tried to understand her grief, I wasn’t happy that she completely disregarded me. Had I been blamed for everything? Well, better me than the kid or anybody else. I could take her anger easier than the rest. With a plan sketched only in Yuri’s mind, we headed through the snow out of the woods and inside the town. The small train station was bustling with crowds walking left and right, hurried to reach their destination in time. With such a bad weather, trains were the most solid option when it came to travelling, so I got where Yuri was heading, but I regretted that immediately when I saw the name printed on the tickets.

“No way in Hell am I going back there!”

“Chill Grandma, the Hotel isn’t there anymore.”

I can’t believe we were returning to that cursed mountain. I can’t believe I would have to see the skeleton of Halcyon Hotel once more. It’s not fun, not fun at all. I’d rather go and become an ice cub in that little house in the middle of nowhere than return to that mountain. Yuri took the tickets from Daesung and motioned us to follow her.

It was weird seeing Byung Hee dressed like a normal person, complete with a hat and scarf tied around his neck. He stared around in awe.

“Never been to a train station?” I asked as we approached the platforms. He grabbed onto my shoulders and watched with slight fear our train pulling inside.

“What is that machinery?”

“You’re a fearless Keeper. Does it make a difference what it is?”

“Believe me, that thing is not of this world.”

I giggled.

“Keep low,” Yuri gave us one last look before we split. It was dangerous to be seen together. I was also forced to wear shades, so nobody would stare at my new deformity. I was getting used to it because I couldn’t see myself and the blue eye didn’t feel any different. Daesung went with Yuri – what a pity – and I had to stick with the Keeper. We found our seats pretty fast. Despite the bustle and hassle, there weren’t many taking the route towards the mountains. Byung Hee discarded his outerwear and I followed his example. It was so hot. They should have lowered the heat a little.

“You’ve said about blue and red eyes...” well, I did, but I was at a loss at how to start our conversation. The Keeper nodded, still looking rather uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. “And demons have black eyes, right?” He nodded again. I tried not to think about Jung Min. He’s the toughest reaper I met. If he could fly with one wing and save my when he almost ran out of energy, he could deal with a couple of so called Warriors and whatever possessed him that day. Maybe it was just an aftereffect of my spell that somehow spread to him too... no way was he turning into a demon. I refused to believe that. Inhaling and watching the blurred window, I recollected the one that danced with me in the old neighborhood. “What do white eyes mean?”

Byung Hee shuffled in his chair. I had no idea if it was because of my question or because it was hard to grow accustomed, once more, to human life.

“Have you seen white eyes?”

I in my inner cheek. Should I tell? He glared.

Oh, silly me.

He could read my thoughts.

“Yeah, what’s with them?”

“Well,” he looked around, unsure on his words “...any creature born in the Other World has white eyes.”

“But aren’t reapers born there too?”

“We were human once, it doesn’t count.”

“Oh...”

The train started moving. I doodled on the window while Byung Hee wouldn’t stop squirming every time the train sped up. Before we had to take on our thicker clothes again, Daesung came to us.

“Yo, Blue-eyes,” Byung Hee wasn’t pleased with the nickname “Do you think you can fly us out the window before we stop in the station?”

...someone please tell me he wasn’t serious.

---

He was deadly serious.

Before we could reach the mountain, we had to rely again on Byung Hee. When the train slowed down before passing a bridge, we jumped off a hallway window, spread his four wings in midair and twisted a couple of times like a torpedo before we were safely on a straight track. I felt sick.

“Can someone tell me why are we doing this?” I yelled, so they could hear my voice above the whizzing sound of the strong winds.

“Reapers!” Yuri yelled back. Three black dots came from the train and as they approached us, I could see she was right. Three reapers, one with a demon blade, were heading towards us.

“Daesung!” I cried as the blonde grabbed my hand. A white shield surrounded us. “Go down!” I cried in Byung Hee’s ear “Hide in the forest!”

Wait, wait, wait... what about those nasty fairies? They surely left, right?

At least, if we were foolish enough to once more perturb their territory, the other reapers weren’t.

Byung Hee did as told and it wasn’t long until we hit the ground. No really, we hit it straight like we had nothing better to do than to give the earth one huge surprise party with us as confetti.

As much as he bragged about being on top of the food chain, Byung Hee lost more energy in a matter of minutes than I had in those three years. I slowly tried to get back on my feet.

I didn’t see the others. Guess the fall was harder than I have anticipated, but nothing was broken, so all was good.

“Yuri?” sea of trees... “Daesung?” ...more snow... “Byung Hee?” ...a girl.

...a girl?

“What the heck are you?”

Well, we had something in common – a foul mouth.

“Hi!” I waved from the white blanket. “Nice to meet ya!”