Jessica snapped her fingers in front of my eyes. I instinctively closed one and left the blue one wide-opened. She hummed and pressed her thumb under it. Yuri gave her a little flashlight which she pointed to the eye. I could see as clear as the day, despite the fact that I should be blind from the strong light. Jessica shook her head and then slapped me.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?!”

“I’m sorry,” her voice filled my head in an instant. Words flowed like rivers down a mountaintop. Yes, it was really loud. “I had to see your reaction.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Grandma... who are you talking to?”

I turned to Daesung... and I couldn’t look at him in the eyes. He joked a lot about that – that he loves me, he loves me dearly, that I’m his grandma and such. But it was the first time I didn’t hear it coming from his mouth, but his thoughts and it scared me because that wasn’t a joke. The tone of his thoughts had been completely different from the joyful Daesung.

“To Jessica, Jessica!” and I couldn’t suddenly act suspicious or hurt or surprised because... I just couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, but are you two dating?” Jessica suddenly asked and I was extremely grateful that she didn’t speak it

“NO!” but I couldn’t help my reactions. Yuri rolled her eyes, pushed me on the sofa and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Don’t you dare get inside my head, do you hear me?”

“It’s not like I can control it!”

“TRY!”

I gulped. I was curious to see what she was thinking at that moment, what had been crossing her mind when it came to me, but I was afraid that I might become her new stew recipe. At the same time, I knew that Yuri went through more than any of us and I was afraid I’d be consumed by that darkness. So there was no other choice than to control my new ability as much as possible.

“So... you really can hear us think?” Daesung asked slightly fearful. I couldn’t answer him fully because I didn’t know it myself, so I just stared at Jessica and waited for her conclusion. The witch bit her lower lip then nodded.

“That eye... is bad omen. But it seems to be the source of a connection. Once the connection is severed, you will lose the ability.” There were moments when I couldn’t understand her because the volume was so high. She had the most glorious voice, if I could put it that way, I ever heard. Yuri was telling the truth. Jessica did master the art of words so much, they screamed inside of her with immense power.

“Oh...” I turned to the kid and Yuri. “It’s because of Byung Hee.” They frowned at unison. I was beginning to see exactly how much hatred there was around the Keeper – from his own kind, my closest family and pretty much from every other being he came in contact with. “He’s not that bad...” I tried to argue, but it was futile. They were set on denying his existence from their everyday life and I didn’t have to be a mind reader to see that.

“Change of plans,” Yuri announced with a determined posture. “We’re going to hide just you and Daesung. I don’t want to be affiliated with that Keeper anymore.”

“But...”

“I’m your mother and I might as well start acting like one. If I say you have to go, you’ll do it.”

I was furious. When Yuri was my mistress, I would have gone to the end of the world in order to respect her wishes, but I couldn’t follow her the same anymore. Everything she did then was natural. Everything she did now felt forced.

“No. We’ll wait for Byung Hee.”

“Why?”

“Because, like it or not, he saved us. Yeah, I know, nothing would have happened if it wasn’t for him, but how much more do you think that would have been true?”

“He killed Jung Min,” argh, I promised not to... but it just came to me like a tsunami. Her sentences were also kind of jammed and it made it impossible to decipher anything else.

“It’s been a long day...” I took the blanket and wrapped it again around my shoulders “So if you don’t mind, I would love to catch a nap before we leave.”

Jessica smiled and nodded. She went ahead to show me a room while I left Yuri and Daesung alone.

---

I couldn’t sleep. Countless scenarios wouldn’t let me close my eyes without seeing another gruesome ending. I wish I’d go fast and painless, at least I wouldn’t have to explain myself too much. I didn’t want to stay as a ghost – no matter what, I shall not leave my spirit wander this world unless I had one Hell of a reason. I turned to the side and watched the snow outside fall gracefully.

“Hey Sooyoung,” and I hate the fact that I let Daesung watch me over while I tried to sleep. He insisted that reapers or snake creatures might still be around and somebody should stay by my side. I wanted Jessica, but she giggled and left without further explanations. “You should have listened to Yuri...”

“I don’t want to...” I mumbled and pulled the blanket over my head. “We’re not going without him. If something happens to Jessica, I’m sure Byung Hee has enough power to get us out of there.”

“Sooo, you only want him there because he’s our back-up plan?” I felt Daesung pull the blanket off me. I my back in order to smack him, but found Daesung had already crawled on top of me. We stared at each other.

“Yeah, what else could he be?”

Daesung smiled and lowered his head. He was dangerously close.

“You have a thing for reapers, did you know that?”

I burst out laughing.

“And you have a thing for walking around , so what?”

He was so close, I swear that I wasn’t breathing the room’s air anymore, but Daesung’s share.

“So... I am j---”

There was a knock at the window. We looked there and saw Byung Hee waving at us, amused by the whole situation. I shoved Daesung off me, ran to the window and welcomed him inside.

“It was about time!”

I swear I heard Daesung mutter “ing reaper” under his breath.

*slaps forehead* moving on...