Chapter Text
It had been a week since the Honmoon had returned in full force, but none of the girls had heard from Celine. Not a phone call, not a single text, not a peep. They were glad for their well-deserved break, but while lounging around on the couch, Zoey was checking her phone anxiously every minute.
“Zoey, if she hasn't reached out yet, why would she reach out now?” Mira groaned, her phone laying several feet away on the dining room table. She had given up on Celine reaching out by Day 3 - she'd contact them when she wanted to. For now, she was as horizontal as she could be, sprawled out and comfy.
“Okay, but maybe we should check on her. Has anyone been to her apartment? Maybe the spirit world?”
Rumi sighed. Zoey's insecurities weren't easy to assuage, so she got up with a groan.
“Alright Zoey, I'll go check on her.”
“Really?” Zoey said, eyes brightening. “I can go with you.”
“No, it's okay,” Rumi said gently. “You enjoy the couch.”
Breathing deeply, Rumi backed away from the couch and coffee table, giving herself some space.
“Whoa, you're going to go to the spirit world first? Why not her apartment?” Mira said, and Rumi shrugged.
“It was the last place I saw her. Maybe she's still there.”
On an exhale, Rumi closed her eyes and raised her arms. Slowly, in a clockwise manner, she circled her arms and brought them to the center in a tranquil, prayer position. There was a flash, and Rumi was gone.
“She's always so much better at that than us,” Zoey sighed. Mira nodded, crunching on a shrimp cracker.
-
Celine was in exactly the same spot that Rumi had left her - bowed, with her head by the tree in the spirit world. Rumi appearing there didn't seem to startle her this time - instead, she lifted her head and smiled weakly at Rumi.
“You got it back.” Celine said, her voice barely a whisper.
“I did,” Rumi said.
“You did good,” Celine said, and rose to her feet. “We can still create the Golden Honmoon in the coming year, there's no need to worry. As long as we complete it a thousand years from the first Honmoon, the cycle will be complete.“
Rumi just stared, feeling the tension between them. Celine was just going to ignore their last conversation then, just as she ignored everything else. Great.
“Seriously? You're just going to pretend that everything is normal?” Rumi hissed. “I don't know if I even want to make the Golden Honmoon anymore.”
“Don't say that,” Celine said, coming closer to Rumi. “I know that you don't mind having these marks visible anymore, but we still need to make the world safe for everyone in it. We need to seal the demons away for good.“
”I knew you would say that.“ Rumi sighed. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to complete the gestures to return to the overworld, but Celine reached over and grabbed her arm.
“Wait, please.” Celine's voice had a more desperate edge to it this time.
“What?“ Rumi couldn’t help the irritation that creeped into her voice.
”I... I can't get out.“
Rumi furrowed her brow. ”What?”
“I can't return to the overworld. The ritual isn't working.”
Rumi stared at her. “The Honmoon trapped you in here?"
“I suppose it did. I've never been in the spirit world when you strengthened it before, but now, I can't get out. And you know that my hunter powers are a lot weaker now.” Celine took a deep breath. “Please. You have to help me.”
Rumi cast an uncertain look at her mentor. Given all of their history, all of the horrendous things that Celine had made her push down, she was surprised how easy it was to forgive her. She was like her mother, after all.
“Okay.” Rumi said, then stepped away from Celine once more. Taking a deep breath, she completed the transportation ritual, leaving only a glimmer behind.
-
“What do you mean she's stuck?” Zoey said, pulling at her hair.
“She said she had never been in the spirit world when we strengthened the Honmoon before, so she must have gotten stuck this time.” Rumi explained patiently.
“How are we supposed to get her out?” Mira said, now chewing on a lychee flavored gummy.
“I don't know!” Rumi said, leaping off of the couch and pacing the room.
Mira looked incredibly bored. “Maybe we could look in the hunter libraries to see if this has happened before.“
Zoey groaned. ”Ugh, I hate the library. It always smells the worst.“
”Or,“ Rumi said, stopping in her tracks. ”Or we could ask a demon.”
The two other girls turned to her slowly, slack-jawed. “Whaaaaaat?” Zoey said, looking horrified.
“I mean, they always get through cracks in the Honmoon, right? Maybe it’s the same thing for the spirit world, and we can ask them how they find the cracks.”
“Do you think Jinu will know?” Mira said, peering at Rumi.
“Maybe,” Rumi said, biting her lip. She reached for her phone, and after a moment’s pause, called Jinu.
The phone rang for a couple moments before connecting. “Rumi,” he said, by way of greeting.
“Hi Jinu, we have a problem, can you come over?”
“Be right there,” he said, and appeared right beside Rumi in a cloud of smoke.
She hung up the phone and looked up at him with a smile. Jinu was acclimating surprisingly well to the human world, now that he was trapped on this side of the Honmoon. Of course, he had already studied human clothes and mannerisms carefully when he was studying to be a Saja boy, but he was really enjoying the mundanity of the human world as well. They had just gotten him a phone last week.
“Hi,” Rumi gave him a small peck. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“I swear, it’s almost like you’re just waiting around all day for Rumi to call,” Mira rolled her eyes.
“Sometimes,” Jinu said with a small smile. “How are you both?”
Zoey and Mira replied at the same time. “Good.” “Fine.”
“Good to hear,” he said, turning back to Rumi. “So what’s the problem?”
Rumi sighed. “Celine is stuck in the spirit world. She’s never been there when we’ve strengthened the Honmoon before, and her powers aren’t strong enough for her to get out. I thought, since you slipped through a crack to get here from the demon world, maybe you know how to do it?”
“Hm,” Jinu said, “We were usually able to find cracks with our energies. It kind of felt like ground that was a little staticky, like sand. Kind of how you guys can feel when there’s a disturbance in the Honmoon with your hunter powers.”
“But Celine can’t feel those disturbances anymore,” Zoey said, flopping over. “The Sunlight Sisters gave us most of their power when they retired.”
“Oh. So that might not work then,” Jinu said, scratching his chin.
At that moment, there was a small flutter of movement at the windowed wall of their living room. The three-eyed bird was hovering gently, flapping its wings and staring at the four of them.
”Does that bird have three eyes?“ Mira asked incredulously.
“So that’s where you’ve been…” Jinu said, rolling his eyes. Rumi smacked him playfully. “I’ll, uh, get them.” She disappeared into her bedroom.
”Where are you going?“ Zoey called after her.
A few moments passed, and Rumi returned to the living room, smiling nervously as the blue tiger sauntered in behind her, the three-eyed bird perched on its head.
“Um, okay, Mira, Zoey, I, uh forgot to mention something.”
“Keep going...” Mira said, eyes still narrowed.
“Okay, so when I first met up with Jinu, he didn't just show up at our apartment. He sent some messengers.” Rumi said, glancing at Jinu. He looked incredibly amused, but leaned back, content to let her explain.
“So these two are yours?” Zoey asked him.
“Well, they don’t really belong to anybody,” Jinu said, striding up beside them. He scratched the tiger’s back, and it nuzzled his hand comfortably. “But yes, they tend to follow me around.”
“They look like… spirits,” Zoey said, and cautiously approached the tiger. Its irises tracked her carefully, and when she was close, blinked appreciatively at her.
“Aww, that means he likes you!” Jinu said, and Zoey looked like she could burst from excitement.
“Wait, wait. Are these two demons? Can demons even go to the spirit world?” Mira asked, still looking a bit suspicious at the two glimmering beasts.
“Yes,” Jinu confirmed. “They’re not demons, they’re spirits. So their forms are not bound to any one dimension, like ours are.”
“So they can help get Celine out!” Zoey said excitedly.
“Maybe,” Jinu said. “If you want to travel between worlds, for any person, all you have to do is sit on the tiger’s back and have the bird rest on your head.”
“Whoa,” Rumi said, looking at the two animals with a new appreciation. Obviously they were spirit animals, so they were bound to have some magical abilities. Rumi just didn’t think that it was dimensional travel.
“Okay, so Celine just has to ride the tiger and have the bird on her head, and they’ll take her back to our world?” Mira said, and Jinu nodded.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Rumi said, and squatted down in front of the tiger. The bird was still perched on her shoulder, so she carefully provided it with a finger to jump down, and placed it on the tiger’s head. “Can you meet me in the spirit world?”
The bird cawed, and the two of them started sinking downward, a blue glow emanating from their feet.
“Okay,” Rumi said. “Jinu, Mira, Zoey, I’ll be back.” And she focused on her own ritual. In a flash, she was back, although the blue of the spirit world was tinged lighter with the glow from the tiger.
“Rumi!” Celine said, rushing over this time instead of letting Rumi come to her. “What is this, a tiger spirit and a three-eyed bird? Where did you find them?“
”They followed one of the Saja Boys,“ Rumi said, knowing that Celine wouldn't know Jinu by name. “But they also sort of follow me now.”
”Good, very good. Always good to have a spirit companion help in your duties,“ Celine nodded appraisingly. The tiger blinked at her.
”I thought they might be able to help you get out,“ Rumi said. “I was told you had to sit between the tiger and the bird for their powers to work.”
Celine nodded. “That’s right, who told you that?”
Rumi froze. Celine still didn’t know about how Jinu had survived Gwi-Ma’s deadly fire, and how Rumi was now sort of dating him. Given her aversion to all things demon, Rumi thought that she might not take it so well, if she found out that a demon hunter was dating a demon. “I found it in the hunter libraries,” she lied.
Celine hummed thoughtfully. “Good, good. I’m glad you girls are consulting the library. I never used it enough when I was a hunter.” She approached the tiger tentatively, offering an open palm to it before it nuzzled her hand affectionately.
”Can I ride you, great tiger spirit?“ Celine whispered, and the tiger turned to allow Celine to sit on its back. She climbed on swiftly, with the grace of someone that might still have been a hunter. She had been training them for years, after all.
”Okay, now all that's needed is for the bird to sit on my head,“ Celine said, eyeing the three-eyed bird on Rumi's shoulder. None of its eyes were looking very appreciatingly at Celine.
”Great three-eyed bird, may I ask you to sit atop my head and provide me safe transport to the overworld?“ Celine asked the bird reverently.
The bird cawed, but made no move to budge from Rumi's shoulder. After waiting several seconds, it appeared not to change its mind, and settled more deeply on Rumi.
”It seems as if it doesn't wish to help,” Celine sighed, and slid off of the tiger. She petted it affectionately, before stepping away again.
“Why?” Rumi asked.
“I'm not sure. Maybe I need to get to know it better,” Celine said, approaching the bird carefully. None of its eyes were looking particularly pleased with that gesture, and it fluttered to Rumi's other shoulder.
Celine sighed again. ”Without the cooperation of both the bird and the tiger spirit, I still cannot leave the spirit world.“
Rumi’s brow furrowed. “There must be some other way,” she said. “I know the demons can find cracks in the Honmoon, so you should be able to as well.”
Celine smiled sadly. “Keep checking the library, Rumi. There’s so much knowledge there, there must be something that can help. And don’t worry about me,” Celine went back to her post by the tree’s roots. “Because we’re in the spirit world, I’m not at all hungry or tired. Just a bit stir-crazy.” She tried to crack a small smile. Rumi stared back stonily.
A moment passed, and Celine spoke again. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks,” Rumi said. Then, to the tiger and the bird, she said, “Let’s go.”
“Good luck,” Celine waved. Rumi was gone faster than she could perceive.
-
“It didn’t work,” Rumi said, the minute she got back to the apartment.
“What?” Mira and Zoey said simultaneously.
“Why not?” Jinu asked.
“The bird didn’t want to get on her head,” Rumi sighed. Its three eyes rolled in response. “Maybe it doesn’t feel comfortable with her?”
“That could be it,” Jinu said.
Mira groaned. “Okay, so what now?”
The room was silent, and then they all turned to Jinu. “Okay,” he admitted. “There is one last method to find cracks in the Honmoon, but I don’t know it. Not fully.”
“What is it?” Zoey asked.
He sighed. “In really desperate times, Gwi-Ma would have us conduct some sort of ritual to weaken the Honmoon so we could make more cracks. Maybe we can do that with the Honmoon to the spirit world.”
“But how? If you don’t know how to do it, then who does?” Mira asked.
“I know one person who might know,” Jinu admitted. “But we can’t go to him.”
“Why?” Zoey asked.
“Because he’s in the demon world.”