Chapter 170: You Knew

The door shut with the captain raging down the hallway, leaving them in a still silence. Her mother sat in a chair beside the bed, legs crossed, now wearing a melancholy smile. Coral almost seemed to melt between her ears as she entered a hibernation-like state, becoming mostly invisible.

“It’s been lively since everything changed,” her mother whispered, staring down at her lap. “It’s nice having so many people around lately. Scarlet’s sweet and so respectful…and you seem to have mellowed out a lot in some areas. Everything is almost…perfect.”

Rachel didn’t miss her knotted hands, and she used the bed’s remote to lift into a sitting position. Knowing there wasn’t any better way to address the topic, she dove right into the rabbit hole.

“Mom…did you know The Oscillation was going to happen?” Fingers locking together against her stomach, she swallowed, feeling Coral stir between her parted ears as her mother looked up, all but confirming the answer. “I don’t understand… Looking back, when you called, you weren’t scared because you didn’t know what was happening… You knew.”

Her mom’s dark brown eyes refused to meet hers as her arms moved to hug herself. “It’s…complicated, Honey. I didn’t know exactly when it would happen. I only knew that it would.”

“How?” Rachel breathed, fighting a groan from her exhausted muscles as she tried to sit straighter. “The stories you told me growing up about the Limpid Jade Hare and Pure Onyx Rabbit, the Korean deities in the heavens, and the heroes of our country…they weren’t just stories, were they?”

An uncomfortable silence brought the sounds of the building into the foreground to Rachel, but she focused in on her fidgeting mother. How could this be happening right now? It was as if she were looking at a stranger.

“Mom, are you…a part of the Scarlet Hand?”

She felt Nia give a shriek through their connection, the girl obviously listening in.

“No! No way, Major!”

Shhhh. Don’t butt in! Rachel internally growled, waiting for her mom to answer.

Her mother took a deep breath before her nerves firmed, and she looked straight into her eyes. “No. I would never associate myself with such a cult. I never hid who I was from you, Rachel. You believed what you wanted, and I wasn’t going to try to indoctrinate you to my ways. What was I supposed to do? If I told you this would happen, would you believe me, or would that have put a barrier between us? I did my best.”

It was Rachel’s turn to gulp, stomach squirming at the firm tone that was one of the very few voices that could make her nervous; even Coral woke and quivered a bit.

Relaxing a little, Rachel rubbed her face and forced a laugh. “No, you’re right, Mom. I’m sorry. It’s just…”

Her mother’s voice softened as she scooted the chair forward to take her hand. “Rachel, I’m not trying to skirt your very valid questions. Am I scared of how you will react? Absolutely! How couldn’t I be? I’m sure this is a…lot to take in,” she whispered, shifting to rub her arm. “Give it a moment to sink in. Yes, Rachel… I knew.”

Pulling in her bottom lip and trying not to let her big ears draw back, she streamed out a long, hot puff of air, letting her jitters quell. It took several seconds, but eventually, she found her voice. “What else can you tell me now that you know I will believe you? Who told you?”

Her brown eyes drifted to the side, and a somber note came over her mother as she looked for the right words. “My…knowledge is probably much more lacking than you would like regarding how you changed. Most of what I know involves you,” she admitted, forcing a smile. “It’s because my only objective is to be your mother and…and protect you.

“Nam, you, your father, and now, heh, Alexa is included in that number… You all are my responsibility. I do fear what I feel is coming. I fear what part you will inevitably play in this grand order of lesser gods, choosing sides and gathering their forces. You’re my little girl,” she whimpered, leaning forward to take her hand again. “I know you’re the Bringer of Misfortune, but it can hurt you if you rely too heavily on it; there is a balance.”

Rachel squeezed her mom’s fingers; for the first time, she felt unnerved by her vast, totally focused vision, unable to find an angle where she wasn’t seeing the stress and apprehension on her mother’s face.

“Chang’e said the same about the Positive and Negative moons,” she mumbled, swallowing and turning her mom’s hand over to trace her veins. “My own misfortune can hurt me if I overuse it? I suppose that’s karma…”

A very uncomfortable thought and emotion welled up in her chest as she processed every one of her mother’s words, [Mental Acceleration] making her mind move a million kilometers a second. Heat rising up her throat, she fought back tears while glancing into her mother’s own watery eyes.

“Mom, did—mmm… You know about Relica, right? I’m sure you’ve heard about the infamous terrorist by now since some images of her seem to have gone viral—at least from what I’m hearing. Right?”

Her dark brown eyes shifted a little, becoming somewhat guarded. “Yes, I know about her…”

“Well, when I was nine,” Rachel paused, her throat thick and trying to figure out how to exactly articulate it. “The accident… Relica caused that… Umm. Was I the reason why—why Seo died… Was that why you were so broken up over it because I was—”

Her mother’s fingers tightened around hers; her brown eyes became firm. “No, Rachel, it is not your fault, and you cannot believe that! That is my burden to bear because I knew that Seo would be taken from us at some point…I was warned it would happen, and there was nothing I could do about it. If anything, it is because of you that your aunt is still alive to hate me for driving the car.”