“This fox demon isn’t so particular. Shall we?” Namgi grabs the torch from the boat, gesturing for me to follow.
As we approach the forest, it’s as if the sounds around us pick up in volume, the reedy murmur of the insects, the humming of the trees. Then we step into the forest, and the sounds stop. I pause on the threshold, unable to go farther. My stomach sinks, that familiar fear taking hold. Namgi seems to share none of my misgivings. Already the light of his torch has grown smaller with distance. I rush ahead, almost crashing into him where he’s stopped to investigate some disturbance in the forest.
“What—what’s wrong?” I cry. “Why did you stop?”
He glances at me with a frown. “Looks like something big came through here.” He points to the trail, where a great branch has fallen onto the path and broken in two. Beside the branch is an impression in the ground, a large animal print. “I haven’t been in this forest for a long time. They say the beasts, left undisturbed, can grow to enormous sizes. Tigers and snakes. Wolves and bears.” Namgi raises the torch, squinting at my face. “Are you all right? You look pale.”
“I’m fine,” I say, perhaps too quickly.
He shrugs and moves on, walking at an even faster pace than before.
“Wait, slow down.” I trip over a root, catching myself on a tree branch.
I watch the light of Namgi’s torch move farther and farther away.
I try to make a run toward the light but instead end up sprawled on the ground.
Namgi returns to investigate. “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asks again.
“I can’t see. I need more light. Better yet, give me the torch.”
“I don’t know.” Namgi scratches his cheek. “It seems unwise to give fire to a clumsy person in a forest.”
“Please.”
“It’s a straight path.”
“I’m afraid of forests,” I blurt out, shame washing over me. How weak and human I must appear to him. When Namgi doesn’t respond, I brush by him, trudging forward.
I’ve only walked a few paces when he slips his arm into mine. “I’m afraid of a lot of things,” he says, “but not the darkness. I can see in the dark, you know. That must be why. Really, I don’t need this torch, but you do, so I’ll hold it for you. Sometimes I can be thoughtless. And I like to tease. But you can depend upon me.”
He prattles on, and I concentrate on the sound of his voice. The path ends in a small clearing where Shin, Kirin, and the priestesses wait for us.
“We don’t have time to waste,” Kirin says.
Shin’s eyes glide from Namgi to me, then he hands Kirin his torch. “Go on ahead and light the path.”
Kirin immediately obeys, accompanied by the Fox House priestesses. We leave the clearing, advancing even deeper into the forest. With Kirin in front and Namgi bringing up the rear, I now notice details I hadn’t before—there are scuffs in the dirt, the path worn from use.
After a few minutes, Shin breaks the silence. “I thought you were fearless.” He holds back a stray branch for me to duck under, the leaves brushing over my hair.
I glance at him to see if he’s mocking me, but his gaze is questioning.
“Have you no fears, then?” I ask.
“If I did,” he says, letting the branch fall behind me, “I would not share them with you.”
I scoff. “Because fears are weaknesses?”
“I have no weaknesses.”
“Just the Sea God.” I watch him carefully for a reaction, but he gives nothing away. “Is he your only fear, too?”
Shin’s eyes meet mine, a crease forming between his brows. Yet I don’t sense any anger from him. He’s trying to determine something about me, as I am about him.
“We’re almost there,” he says.
A light gleams at the end of the path. We must have walked a fair distance, yet I hadn’t noticed. As with Namgi, our conversation distracted me from my fear of the forest. He turns from me, stepping ahead on the path.
“Was I right to believe what you said earlier,” I ask, “that you were promising me the month?” He looks back. I lift up my arm, the Red String of Fate glistening brightly between us. “Even should our tie be broken, you won’t stop me from completing my task?”
“I can give you that, at least.”
“Even though I’m one of the humans you so despise.”
For a moment, he says nothing, then hesitantly, “I don’t … despise humans. All spirits were once humans, after all, and they comprise most of the realm…”