I’d lost the jades! And, even more precious, the only portrait I had of my family. I couldn’t conjure up replacements—they wouldn’t last. I considered venturing back to retrieve my backpack, but with the restaurant staff on alert and four city guards angry that I’d cheated them of their “emeralds,” that wouldn’t be a good idea.

How was I going to book passage without real, permanent money? My bad luck today had shown me that magic wouldn’t solve every problem. But now it was literally all I had at my disposal.

I decided to keep going toward the spaceport and hope for the best. I thought furiously as I hurried through the streets. From what the guards had said, it sounded like something fishy was going on in the Ghost Sector. I wondered if Jun’s battle cruiser was there. If I could somehow find a Space Forces officer, I might be able to trick them into giving me classified info.

For most of the way, my view had been obscured by Hongok’s spires. I rounded a corner onto the road that led to the spaceport proper and my breath caught in wonder. A dazzle of lights flashed from the landing area, like a necklace of captive stars. A control tower rose from the main building, piercing the sky. It wasn’t as tall as the spires I had passed, but it was better maintained, shining red-gold in the sunlight.

By now it was late afternoon. I hadn’t made as good time as I’d hoped when I set out, and I didn’t want to be wandering around after dark. There were some hostels near the spaceport, but I couldn’t stay at one of those even if I’d had the money. I wanted to get off-planet tonight, in case anyone was searching for me.

My heart hammered as I approached the entrance to the main building, which was flanked by two glass booths. Inside each one was a guard wearing a badge that displayed a red star and a stylized dagger, representing airport security. I slowed, not wanting to appear too eager. I’d learned from the news that on a planet like Jinju there were always people desperate enough to try to stow away on a ship and seek a better life on a richer world. The guards were there to prevent that from happening. They were looking out for both the ships’ interests and the would-be refugees’, since some captains weren’t above mistreating unauthorized passengers.

Unlike other runaways, though, I had the advantage of fox powers. As I joined the line to get in, which was only a few people long, I exerted just a touch of Charm, hoping it would get me past security. I didn’t want to wear myself out using it too often, but this particular hurdle—making it into the spaceport—was a critical one.

The person in front of me was clearly a spacer. The sleeve of their suit was covered with tiny enamel pins, one for each of the worlds they had visited. Jun and I used to make a game of memorizing the different pins. I’d never been able to remember more than just a few of the most famous worlds. Now I spotted some I knew, though, like Madang, fabled for its gardens. And Cheongok, mostly ocean with scattered archipelagos, where the descendants of dragons sent their children to learn the art of weather-craft. The spacer had even visited Jaebo, known for its staggering wealth, where the rulers of the Thousand Worlds governed from the Pearled Halls.

Jun had always wanted to visit every one of those worlds. When we were younger, he’d been glued to the holo shows that showed glimpses of life elsewhere. I’d sit by him, enthralled by the stories he spun about traveling together as we squinted at the staticky images. If only I had enough jades to book a tour and see them all myself! It wouldn’t be the same without my brother, though.

I looked away from the pins, reminding myself of my goal: getting to Jun’s ship. I double-checked my Charm, just in case. The license, when I fished it out, still listed me as Kim Bora, so I’d have to get used to answering to her name.

“Come forward, citizen, and present your identification,” the security inspector snapped from her booth.

I flushed. While I’d been woolgathering, my turn had come. I approached and showed her my medallion.

The inspector scowled at the ID. I started to sweat. But she waved me through the doorway scanner. I heard a faint hum. “Nothing amiss,” the inspector said. “Please continue.”

Dizzy with relief, I emerged into the brightly lit foyer and paused to get my bearings. The spaceport was busier than I’d expected. Jinju wasn’t exactly a popular destination. Spacers only stopped here to resupply on the way to more interesting places.

People paid me little attention as they bustled back and forth. Eateries promised the best food in the outer rim, which I doubted, but the smell of vegetable fritters made my mouth water. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day. It was tempting to grab a bite, but I knew I shouldn’t delay.

Elsewhere, shops hawked sad-looking souvenirs, such as pieces of cloth embroidered in the local style. When I looked at them up close, I could see the stitching was crooked. I wasn’t great at fancy needlework, mostly because it wasn’t something I had time for, but I did do a lot of mending.

I headed for one of the digital information kiosks along the wall. Below one of the display screens, someone had scratched graffiti with a knife. It said, in unsteady letters, don’t play dice at nari’s. What looked suspiciously like a blotch of dried blood underscored the word dice. Well, that advice was easy enough for me to follow. I wasn’t good at playing dice, and Charm didn’t make me any better at it, as I’d discovered as a child.

Too bad I couldn’t simply look up the last known location of my brother’s battle cruiser. That kind of information wouldn’t be available on a public kiosk. I could, however, check a galactic map to see if anyone docked here was headed toward the Ghost Sector. If a lot of Space Forces ships were in that area, maybe the Pale Lightning was among them. The closer I could get to the battle cruiser, the more clues about Jun’s disappearance I could gather. At least that’s what I hoped.

I hated the idea of my brother being anywhere near the cursed Fourth Colony. I thought back to his message: Together we’ve been exploring a new world, just like Dad. Was that why he had mentioned Dad, because he had somehow gotten involved with ghosts? I shivered at the thought.

I asked the kiosk for a list of commercial transports that had room for a passenger and might be willing to leave tonight. Just my luck, only one starship was headed anywhere near the Ghost Sector in the next several days: the Red Azalea. It listed its next major stop as a big space hub, Gingko Station, at the edge of the sector. That would work. Once there, I might be able to find out more about the Pale Lightning’s current location.

I checked the Red Azalea’s safety record and reputation. It was a freighter, not a luxury cruiser, but that wasn’t such a bad thing—it would be easier for me to keep a low profile on a freighter. The kiosk indicated that the captain—Captain Hye—was willing to take on “working passengers” and that she could be found at . . . oh. Nari’s. Apparently Captain Hye liked to gamble during her downtime.

Fine. I pulled up a directory of the spaceport and memorized the directions to Nari’s gambling parlor, as well as the Red Azalea’s current berth. Then I took a deep breath to steady myself and headed for the stairs to the upper level.

Even if I hadn’t consulted a map first, finding Nari’s would’ve been easy. As I approached, I heard the clattering of dice and the sounds of shouts and laughter, as well as the faint strains of sinuous music. A surprisingly tasteful statue of a three-tailed fox stood next to the open doorway, one paw upraised as if in greeting. In the lore, fox shifters gained tails as they aged—up to nine, anyway—as a reflection of their power. I once asked Mom why I only had the one tail, and she told me not to be so literal. The statue gave me pause, though. Most people thought foxes were bad luck, so why would a gambling parlor put one up on display?

I stepped over the threshold to find a tall, broad man lurking in the dim light of the foyer. A bouncer, I assumed. As he looked me over, a diminutive woman came up to greet me. She wore a sleeveless dress of fine silk, and I could just make out an elaborate tattoo of a fox and a pine tree covering most of her upper left arm. “Welcome to Nari’s,” she said, smiling as if I were a particularly delicious snack.

I was taken aback for a moment, because normally I wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near a gambling parlor. Then I remembered that I looked sixteen in my current disguise.

I embarrassed myself by sneezing all over her. I wasn’t even able to cover my mouth in time. Normally I didn’t sneeze in reaction to my own magic, which meant—

The woman’s smile froze. “You’re . . .”

I stared at her, silently begging her not to say it out loud. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was a fox, too—one I didn’t know. Which made sense, since my mother never would’ve let me near anyone involved with gambling.

“My name is Kim Bora,” I said rapidly. “I’m just here to talk to one of your, um, guests.”

“I see,” the woman said, her eyes narrowing. “Come with me. Quickly, now.”

I followed, somewhat reluctantly, but I needed to find Captain Hye.

The woman led me past tables of gamers rolling dice in cups, and others where people were playing with flower cards that had distinctive red backs. In another room, an audience watched in intent silence as a pair of opponents played janggi. The player with the grumpier face moved a cannon to capture a piece. I couldn’t tell who was winning. I wouldn’t have minded lingering, but the woman shooed me into a cramped back office. My palms began to sweat. Maybe this hadn’t been the brightest idea. What did she want with me?

To calm my nerves, I surveyed the room. Despite its small size, it was crammed with luxuries. One wall displayed a painting of a starship shooting over an ice planet’s horizon, with highlights picked out in luminous gold and silver. The desk was made of real wood, with grain so deep and lustrous I could have lost myself tracing it with my eyes. A small shelf unit even contained books, the old-fashioned kind, heavy with the sooty smell of ink and aging paper. I thought of the rickety dome dwelling I had left behind and wished I could live surrounded by such wealth.

“You have the look of Areum and her sisters,” the woman said without inviting me to sit. She didn’t sit, either.

Oh no. She knew my family.

And she wasn’t done. “But your magic smells most like Seonmi’s.”

This was a wrinkle I hadn’t considered. I’d never realized that someone would recognize the scent of my family’s magic. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, looking the woman squarely in the eye.

She snorted. “Don’t play games with me. You’re that daughter of Seonmi’s, aren’t you?”

A pit opened at the bottom of my stomach. She’d figured out who I was. Was she going to turn me in? Maybe my best move was to run—

The woman shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she said with an odd bitterness. “I’m the cousin they never talk about—Nari.”

“I have no idea who you are,” I said with perfect honesty. Still, I couldn’t resist sniffing the air. She did smell a little like my aunts, now that I was paying attention. There wasn’t much physical resemblance—she had an exaggerated prettiness that I’d never seen in Mom or my aunties—but with a fox, that didn’t mean much. Why hadn’t Mom ever told me about her?

“Your mother and aunts and I all grew up together,” the woman said. She pointed toward a chair. “Sit, sit.”

Now I did. “I’m sorry about whatever happened,” I said, wondering what could have gone so wrong.

“Well, you didn’t come here to discuss old history, I’m sure,” Nari said. “So, Min—did I get that right?”

I started. I hadn’t told her my name. She couldn’t be completely out of touch with my family if she knew it.

“You must be . . . how old beneath that Charm of yours?” She sniffed the air, and I wondered what my scent revealed to her. “Not old enough to follow Jun into the Space Forces, or you’d be gone already.”

So she knew about my brother, too. Perhaps Mom still talked to her once in a while, even if they were estranged? I could only imagine that she’d kept Nari a secret from me to protect me from a “bad influence.”

Nari smiled at me, her teeth glinting. I was forcibly reminded that we were both foxes, and foxes were predators. “I’ve been keeping track,” she said, “in case I can ever repay your mother the favor I owe.”

That sounded promising. “Favor?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She gestured toward the doorway and the cards, the dice, the excited chatter of gamblers. “She and I started this business together. After she met your father, though, Seonmi wanted to leave it behind and start a family. She gave me full ownership and wished me well.” Now she sounded resigned rather than bitter.

My eyes prickled, and I blinked away sudden tears. I had asked my aunties about my parents’ past on a few occasions, but they’d always looked so sad that I hadn’t had the heart to persist. And after trying in vain a few times, I’d learned not to ask Mom herself. Never had I imagined, though, that my mother’s background had involved a gambling parlor. I couldn’t envision her in a place like this.

“The rest of the family disapproved of our business, of course,” Nari went on. “They didn’t care how profitable it was. In fact, they considered the money tainted. They cut all ties to me and it took so long to forgive Seonmi that they never really got to know your father before he . . .” She trailed off. “Well, you know how that story ended, and you have the look of someone in a hurry.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. My older relatives, including the ones I had been living with all these years, had once turned their backs on my parents? I was tempted to keep Nari talking so I could learn more, but she wasn’t wrong about my being in a hurry.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Aunt Nari,” I said, trying out the name. “It was very . . . eye-opening. But right now I’m looking for the captain of the Red Azalea.”

Nari’s expression softened. “Your mother brought you up to be polite, I see.” She smiled. “So, you seek Captain Hye. I have a better idea, though.”

I wasn’t interested in hearing it. I had to keep sight of my mission. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do need to talk to the captain. Please.” I said please in the same tone I used when I needed to convince Mom I wasn’t up to any tricks.

“Hear me out first,” Nari said. “What’s your rush, anyway?”

I didn’t want to give her any details. It would be too dangerous to tell her what I had done to the investigator. Then again, I had to come up with a plausible reason for running away. So I landed somewhere in between. “Mom thinks I’m a troublemaker,” I said. “She’s threatening to send me to the middle of nowhere until I straighten out. I’d rather go and see the rest of the galaxy. I have to leave before my family catches up to me.”

Nari’s eyes glinted cunningly. “Stay here and work for me instead. I can keep you hidden from our relatives. You’re a bit young, but your Charm will compensate. Whatever your family’s told you about foxes having to lie low, if I know them, they’ve exaggerated the risk. You can serve refreshments and use your magic to make people comfortable. There’d be profit in it for both of us. Once you’ve saved enough, you can move on—but maybe by then you’ll have changed your mind about getting off Jinju in such a hurry.” She winked at me then.

I wavered. I didn’t plan to hang around. On the other hand, if she thought I did, maybe she would advance me some pay. I was still worried about not having any money for passage.

“The stories I could tell you about the wild days your mother and I had as kits!” Nari went on, sensing my weakness. “Of course, if you’re really in a hurry, I won’t have time. . . .”

If I was honest with myself, I was dying of curiosity. I couldn’t imagine my mom as having been anything like Nari, ever. I supposed I could safely afford to spend a few hours at the gambling parlor. At the very least, I could earn some tips.

“I’ll think it over,” I said, knowing better than to agree to anything too quickly. “Let me try it out tonight and see how it goes.” I could ask one of the patrons or a bouncer to point Captain Hye out to me when Nari wasn’t looking.

She smiled, her teeth gleaming white and sharp, like fangs. “Excellent,” she said. “You’ll fit right in here.”

don’t play dice at nari’s, the graffiti had said. I wondered what had happened to the person who’d left that warning. I’m a fox, too, I told myself, and ready for anything Nari can throw at me.

But what if I was wrong?