Page 30 of The Darkest Night

“You ready?” Ryu said.

Mae was relieved to see her sister acting her normal self. “Almost.”

They left a short while later, the overnight bag Mae’s family had brought for her stuffed to the brim with chocolates and thank you cards. Ryu made two trips to get the flowers that had filled her hospital room.

They’d just passed St. Vartan Park and crossed the intersection of First Avenue and East 36th Street when Mae started seeing and feeling strange things. She thought it was her imagination at first. By the time they exited the tunnel under the East River and entered Queens, she knew what she was experiencing was a direct result of her new abilities.

She could sense magic all around her. It came in waves, some subtle, some more powerful. She wondered if the variety in the pulses that washed across her skin had to do with the strength of the magic user and whether all witches and sorcerers could detect this too.

A thought came to her. She closed her eyes and was unsurprised to see brightly colored orbs appear in her mind, the wavering dots mapping out the locations of what seemed to be hundreds of magic users across the city.

But it wasn’t just magic she discerned.

Mae opened her eyes and looked to her left. Wisps of darkness swirled above the bus driver in the next lane. The man glanced her way. Ochre flashed in his pupils. Her nails dug into her palms.

New York wasn’t just full of magic users.

It was teeming with demons.

Chapter 15

Mae burped politelybehind her hand. “Excuse me.”

Yoo-Mi beamed at her across the kitchen table. “I’m glad to see you’ve got your appetite back.”

Mae patted her overfull belly and studied the remains of the feast. Her mother had excelled herself, as always. Meanwhile, she’d pigged out as if this were her last meal on Earth. She eyed the leftover rice cake in front of Ryu.

Her sister pushed the plate over. “Here, have it.”

“Thank you.”

It was past nine o’clock by the time Mae got up to leave. Ryu had brought her Vespa over from the hospital a couple of days ago. Betsy the Scooter had miraculously survived the destruction at Grandview despite being parked close to where the roof of the surgical block had collapsed onto the grounds.

“Won’t you stay the night?” Yoo-Mi twisted her hands where they’d gathered in the hallway. “I don’t like the idea of you being on your own.”

“I’m okay, Mom.” Mae secured her helmet strap under her chin. “Besides, I need to take out the garbage. My apartment must stink to high heaven by now.”

Never mind the unexpected guests waiting for me there.

“Mr. Seong already aired out your place. And he put your mail on your kitchen table.”

Mae froze. Mr. Seong was her landlord and the owner of the old cinema beneath her apartment.

“He did?” Mae pursed her lips. “When?”

“This morning.”

Mae’s stomach lurched.Shit.

“He, er, didn’t say anything weird to you after, did he?”

Yoo-Mi’s eyebrows drew together. “No. Why would he?” She squinted. “Are you hiding something from us?”

Ye-Seul straightened, an eager gleam lighting her rheumy eyes. “Is it one of those foreign men? You know, a guy with a big ding dong?”

She made a suggestive gesture with her hands.

“No!” Mae said, horrified.

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