Enter the Dragon.
That was the first thought Hwa had, when she saw this room for the first time. How many times had she and Tae-kyung watched that movie? Sure, it was jeet kun do and not tae kwon do, but Bruce Lee was a classic. Hell, they’d even watched Game of Death a few times.
“Joel?” She wandered through the halls of mirror and crystal. “Daniel?”
Why hadn’t Joel been evacuated? Surely the city as a whole wasn’t safe any longer. Who knew what other explosives might be lurking in the Slocum spheres? Ridiculous to think it was all over.
“Joel?” She made her voice bigger. “Joel!”
Her voice echoed back to her across the crystals. Hwa watched multiple versions of herself advance slowly across the room. “Daniel?”
And as though the room had heard her command, one of the facets opened and out spilled Daniel, with Joel in tow. Daniel was holding a gun. He was pointing it at Mr. Branch.
“He’s gone insane!” Branch held his arms a little higher and splayed his fingers a little wider. “His switch has flipped!”
Cold adrenaline washed over Hwa’s nerves. “What?”
“Don’t listen to him, Hwa. It’s him. It’s Branch. He’s the one.”
“Daniel, why are you doing this?” Joel looked scared. His eyes were red. He’d been crying. “Just put the gun down. You don’t have to hurt anybody.”
“Joel, he wants to kill you,” Daniel said. “He’s the one who sent the death threats.”
“No, Joel! It’s Daniel!” Branch pointed. His eyes were wild. He was panicked. “It’s Daniel who wants to hurt you. Daniel’s been skullcapped. From the inside. Your brothers and sisters sent him to eliminate you. That’s why they needed you to get your father out of the way. He was the only one protecting you. They were hoping all along you’d get Hwa to kill him. Luckily she had plenty of good motivation.”
Joel turned the colour of the modelling clay they used in art class. Not just pale, but grey. Ashen. Those were real words for real colours, Hwa realized. People actually looked that way when they were afraid. And Joel was terrified.
Joel turned slowly to face Hwa. His voice cracked. “What … What is he talking about?”
Hwa shook her head. She kept her hands open. She moved very slowly toward him. “It’s nothing. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“She believes in conspiracy theories,” Branch said. “About your family. About the company. She thinks the company blew the rig, three years ago.”
How would Branch know that? She had told exactly one person about her suspicions. Bile rose in her throat. She turned to Daniel. Daniel was shaking his head. “It wasn’t me,” he whispered. “Hwa, please believe me, I promise you, I didn’t tell any of them anything, I—”
“What is he saying?” Joel asked.
“It was never about you, Joel. She came back to work just so she could get revenge for her brother. Why else would she return, after being shot?”
And just like that, Hwa remembered who had sent her out in the hallway that day.
Is it true one of the other teachers here has a type? She had thought Coach Brandvold and Coach Alexander meant Moliter. But they hadn’t. They were talking about Branch.
Branch had cancelled science club the day they found Sabrina. She’d been alive, when they found her. Her only available timeslot was in the afternoon. After school.
“Oh, my God,” Hwa murmured. “It was you. You son of a bitch, it was you.”
She ran at him. Joel threw himself at her. He body-checked her and she stumbled back on her bad knees. From the floor, she watched as Joel raised his fists and assumed the standing position. The fighting stance. The one Angel had tried so hard to drill into him, when the summer was freshly dead and snow was just a distant hope.
“No.” She shook her head. “No, Joel. I won’t do that. I won’t fight you.”
“Are we really friends?” Joel asked. “Or are you just using me?”
Why are we friends? Are we really friends? Why do you try so hard?
She stood up. “Yes, Joel,” she said. “We’re friends. I am really your friend. I would still be your friend, even if there was no money.”
“No. I’m your friend. Your only friend. She’s just the woman who’s paid to spend time with you and make you feel like she’s your friend. Just like her mother, the whore.”
“Fuck you,” Daniel said, and fired the gun. Hwa hit the floor. Joel hit the floor. Branch wove on his feet for a moment. Then he, too, hit the floor. Only Daniel remained standing. Hwa started crawling toward Joel, who had covered his head with his hands.
“Joel,” Hwa said. The boy whimpered. She kept crawling. “Come on over here, b’y. Come on, now.”