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Miyoung once asked about them, and Yena said it had been humans. Done when she was too young and too weak to heal fully. Miyoung sometimes wondered if they’d scarred more than her skin.

As the mist dissipated, Yena wrapped herself in a robe. And she was back to being perfectly stunning. She was tall and willowy, with jet-black hair and dark eyes to match.

Everyone who met them said Miyoung looked exactly like her mother.

Miyoung always said thank you with a ninety-degree bow. After all, Yena was the epitome of beauty. Her perfection made men regret the time they spent on blinking.

“Miyoung-ah, what are you doing?”

“I needed to talk to you.” Miyoung tried to think of how to explain her unsettling dream in a way that wouldn’t reveal her mistake.

“Is it about Monday?”

Miyoung blinked. “Monday?”

Then she remembered. Her new school.

“I’m okay. It’ll be like every other school. I’m used to it.” It was true. Miyoung was the perpetual transfer student. Never somewhere long enough to lose the label.

“It’s a good school, though this neighborhood is not as nice as our old one. But of course we couldn’t stay there after your... indiscretion.” The way her mother said it, with a tinge of blame, made Miyoung purse her lips. As much as she hated to move, they were often forced to relocate because of one of Miyoung’s mistakes. And Yena’s irate mood each time reminded Miyoung that her problems were a burden on her mother. Perhaps it was not smart to reveal her latest mistake so soon after her last.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I didn’t mean to do it and the girl survived.”Excuses, excuses, just useless excuses.

“But you still almost exposed us by losing control with a human. And in broad daylight.”

“I was just trying to get her away from me! She wouldn’t stop pushing me, so I pushed back—” Miyoung cut off with the sinking realization that her words echoed the ajeossi in the forest.It was her fault... She should have kept quiet. I only tried to make her stop screaming.

Miyoung hated how much she had in common with the evil she hunted.

“I don’t need your excuses,” Yena said, breaking into Miyoung’s thoughts. “Just do what I say and everything will be fine.”

“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“I know what you’re so worked up about and it’s fine.” Yena waved away Miyoung’s concern. Not the reaction she was expecting.

“It’s fine?” Miyoung couldn’t stop the gallop of her heart. Wasit not that bad, revealing her identity to a human and losing her bead in the process?

“I didn’t mean to—” Miyoung began.

“Don’t lie to me, daughter. I know you siphoned your last victim again. You still can’t go for the quick kill.”

Miyoung almost let out a sigh of relief. So Yena didn’t know about the boy or her bead.

“I don’t mind doing it the slow way.” Miyoung could have given a dozen excuses. Her way there was less mess, less screaming, less blood. But she knew those weren’t the real reasons and so did Yena.

“Your desire for human approval is why you’re weak.” There it was, her mother’s disapproval of the half of Miyoung that was human. The half that came from her father.

“It’s hard to live among them and not care,” Miyoung muttered.

“Living among humans is a necessary evil. If we want to feed every month, then we must be where the food is.”

Miyoung winced at her mother’s choice of words, but she nodded. “And if one of them knew what we were?”

“Then we’d take care of them, of course. Their mortal lives are so easily ended.” Yena said it so flippantly that Miyoung’s heart stuttered. Could she have killed that boy? Snapped his neck and left his remains to rot? The thought made her shiver. But maybe that was her problem. She wasn’t ruthless enough.

“What is it?” Yena asked, her eyes shrewd.

“I’m just feeling off,” Miyoung said. “This place is so unfamiliar and having to hunt so soon after moving.”