Jessica was catching up on paperwork when the light in her room flickered. It was only for half a second, and most people would not have even noticed, but Jessica felt her heart sank. This hotel was not powered by electricity, but by a tree deity who happened to be thousands of miles away.

Yoona had changed Taeyeon and Jessica’s lives as much as they had changed hers. When she claimed her very first soul centuries ago, it was as if something within Yoona had awakened and she had an inner compass guiding her towards the Guest House of the Moon (now called “Hotel del Luna”), where they met Man Wol for the first time.

“I feel different,” Taeyeon had said the moment she had walked into the guest house, as dozens of candles lit up at the same time, flooding the room with a sudden brightness. They did not know this at the time, but many spirits, including the owner of the guest house had tried lighting the candles, but the flames simply would not catch. Man Wol had stepped into the foyer looking more like a lost spirit than the owner of the guest house - the first thing she did was attempt to blow out one of the candles, but the flame remained upright, as if no air had left her lips. “You have finally come home,” Man Wol had said, her eyes still fixated on the candle as if it held all the answers.

“Home” would not be the word Jessica used to describe Hotel del Luna. Though Taeyeon did not physically need to be at the hotel at all times, she was relatively weaker the further and longer she was away from it. To Jessica, this was Taeyeon’s prison as much as it was Man Wol’s, and because of her relationship with Taeyeon, most times it was also hers.

“Pick up pick up pick up,” Jessica chanted nervously as the call went straight to voicemail for the fourth time. She reached for her guestbook, flipping the pages to find the names of guests she was expecting for the day. By process of elimination, she settled on a name, and typed “Seo Ju-Hyun” into her phone. Jessica groaned in frustration the moment she realised that this girl did not have any trace of her on the internet, a rare occurrence for anyone living in the 21st century. Fortunately, by page 6, Jessica found a blog post from Ju-Hyun’s classmate, detailing that dreadful day she visited her friend, including the hospital name and room number.

The next few minutes flew by like a blur as Jessica appeared at the hospital, found three women lying on the ground, and brought two of them back to the hotel. Jessica had gotten into an argument with Yoona, the only conscious one at the time, about whether she should bring the human back. “SHE DID THIS!” Yoona had gestured fervently towards Taeyeon who was unconscious on the ground, and effectively ended the argument when she decided to chase the mysterious grim reaper who stole their guest.

Jessica wondered if it was intrusive to stare, but found it impossible to look away from the sleeping figure. Her worry dissipated the longer she watched Taeyeon, realising that she had not seen the other woman looking this peaceful in years. Taeyeon often had a lot on her mind – she felt responsible towards the happiness of each of her guests, felt guilty towards the ones who turned revengeful, worried about both Man Wol and Jessica, and generally felt the weight of the (after)world on her shoulders. “Does this make you feel important?” Jessica had yelled bitterly during one of their fights.

“One day, you will realise that I’m the only one who’s ever really needed you,” Jessica repeated her words from that night aloud, and felt tears stinging her eyes. She reached towards the sleeping Taeyeon and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, letting her hand linger, noticing how nervous she felt being this close. It was then that she noticed a rough and uneven texture on Taeyeon’s hair. Jessica’s instincts made her crawl on the bed next to Taeyeon to take a better look, the sudden movement waking the other person.

“Are you taking advantage of me?” Taeyeon mumbled sleepily, the surprise made Jessica shuffle backwards and fall off the edge of the bed, landing harshly on the floor. “Are you okay?” Taeyeon leaned towards the side of the bed but hesitated before her hand touched Jessica’s. She started worrying as Jessica burst into laughter. “When did we become so awkward with each other?” Jessica asked, the sadness apparent between her laughs. “I care about you, I worry about you, but I feel so uncomfortable showing it.” Jessica confessed, wondering if she was the one who had hit her head.

Taeyeon pushed the covers off herself, which took some effort since she got tangled while struggling to reach for Jessica as she fell. She moved onto the floor and sat next to Jessica, pursing her lips as her eyes stared blankly ahead. “Would it help if I apologised?” Taeyeon offered, hugging her knees. “But you’re not sorry,” Jessica stated, reminding them both of the truth. “No, I’m not. I’d do anything to keep you beside me,” Taeyeon admitted, as she gave Jessica’s hand a light squeeze. “Even if you’re miserable beside me, like now, I’m still happy you’re here.”

Jessica spaced out for half a minute, feeling, but not thinking. She suddenly remembered what she had seen and pulled Taeyeon’s chin towards her. Jessica could not help but smile when she realised that the other girl had closed her eyes. She tilted Taeyeon’s head and found the dark substance stuck to her hair. “It’s dried blood!” Jessica exclaimed, and Taeyeon’s hand instantly reached towards her head. “It can’t be…” Taeyeon muttered as she felt for the spot where the vase had hit her. Ow, she winced, feeling physical pain for second time in her lifetime.

“Where’s the girl?”

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Tiffany woke up wanting to scream. Except she couldn’t, because was gagged, her hands and feet bound to a chair. The last thing she remembered was the pain her body had felt as it crashed forcefully against the wall, her sister’s cries, and then nothingness. She thrashed against the ropes that held her at the thought of her sister, feeling the burn at her wrists.

She glanced around her surroundings, hoping to find anything that would help her escape. Tiffany realised that the room she was in was actually an office, to her left were classic velvet couches with a coffee table in the middle and to her right was a wide office desk and chairs, nothing particularly eye-catching in the room except for the fact that the walls were lined with portraits of the same petite woman throughout different eras. She tried to read the sign of the building pictured behind the woman, which seemed to travel with her across time.

“Welcome to Hotel del Luna,” an icy voice said, originating from her left, though there was no hint of warmth within her welcome. Tiffany’s head turned towards the couch, and saw two women now sat there, seemingly to have appeared out of nowhere.

“Is this really necessary?” Taeyeon asked, as she stood up and walked towards the bounded girl. Tiffany flinched as Taeyeon laid her hand on the chair, remembering that this was the person she had knocked unconscious at the hospital. “Jessica, she’s afraid,” Taeyeon said with concern, as she leaned forward to meet Tiffany’s eyes. “Promise you won’t scream?” she said, and the binds disappeared as Tiffany nodded.

“This is Hotel del Luna,” Tiffany repeated, trying to remember details of the stories her mother had told. “Named after its owner, Man Wol,” she recalled out loud, as Taeyeon retreated backwards, sharing a puzzled glance with Jessica. Tiffany’s scanned each of the frames slowly once again as she admired each picture, pausing when she saw an old painting that included the mystical tree. “And the source of its power is a tree deity named Tae…”

“Taeyeon,” Jessica called out as she grabbed the deity’s arm tightly, tugging her backwards to create some distance with the human who knew too much, the human who made a deity bleed. “Please leave,” Jessica pleaded in Taeyeon’s ear, “We don’t know what we’re dealing with.” Taeyeon chuckled at Jessica’s overreaction to a mere human but decided to take the warning seriously when she felt a nervous pinch on her arm. “As if I would leave you in a dangerous situation,” Taeyeon said sternly, mildly offended, as vines erupted from the wooden floor in front of Tiffany, seizing her legs and securing her feet to the ground, trapping her to her seat once again.

“You’re Taeyeon…” Tiffany gasped as the realisation hit, horrified at what she had done. She suspected that she had been wrong the moment another grim reaper showed up and took her sister, and now she was sure. Taeyeon had kind eyes dashed with caution, and Tiffany realised how easily her situation could have been misinterpreted.

“I’M SORRY!” Tiffany’s apology came out louder and more aggressive than intended, startling the two women in front of her. She cleared , as if resetting her volume. “I was just trying to protect my sister. I did not know who you were. It’s just that rogue grim reapers usually appear before the human body dies and I thought…”

“How do you know that?” Jessica asked, interrupting Tiffany’s rant, unable to contain her curiosity. It was true that rogue grim reapers exist, those who did not work for hotels like theirs, but instead hunted wanted spirits for the highest bidder. They would show up earlier than the assigned grim reapers, remove the wanted soul from the body prematurely to prevent unintended conflict between grim reapers. Taeyeon remembered that Yoona and her had shown up earlier at the hospital because she had wanted to skip airport security, cutting short their tour of LAX.

Tiffany sighed, unsure of how to start her story, worried about certain truths that might make them trust her less. “My name is Tiffany,” she started, thinking that putting a name to a face would help. “My family was blessed, or cursed, with the ability to see beyond the human realm. I do not know why, but we could. That is how I got familiar with folklores and stories from other worlds. My dad disappeared when we were young, and my mom died and was taken by a rouge grim reaper a few years ago. He took pity on me and my sister and told us that our souls were wanted, and that we should go into hiding. We moved a lot before deciding to stay in LA,” Tiffany took a deep breath, blinking away her tears, “ Then my sister got sick.”

“I’m sorry about your sister,” Yoona appeared slumped on the couch next to them, staring at the ceiling, looking distressed. “I have never lost a soul before, never in a thousand years,” she said softly, in disbelief. Jessica moved towards the couch, letting go of Taeyeon’s arm to comfort Yoona.

Taeyeon took a few steps backwards, feeling overwhelmed by the sensations from the room. One thing that Taeyeon had never revealed to Jessica, was that she was able to feel everything the guests in her hotel felt, as if a form of psychic link was developed between her and whoever stepped into the hotel. It was overwhelming the first few years, causing her to shut her friends out, frustrating Jessica to no end. Then there were the wars, forcing Taeyeon to go into hibernation. Taeyeon had known how Jessica felt about her the moment they had stepped foot into the guest house together. It scared her at the time, so Taeyeon had learnt to pretend to maintain whatever sense of normalcy she wanted to hold onto.

Grief. Disappointment. Fear. These emotions were as loud as screams. Taeyeon squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to find her centre before she lost herself to the noise.

“Are you okay?” a voice had asked quietly, and the room shifted back into focus as Taeyeon met the eyes of the girl in front of her. Jessica and Yoona were too engaged in a private discussion about the events of the day to notice a new conversation developing. “Hey, are you okay?” Tiffany mouthed, somehow sensing that Taeyeon did not want to draw the attention of the room. The grief emanating from Tiffany slowly turned into compassion, and Taeyeon noticed her breath steadying. “I’m sorry about your head,” she whispered, revealing a sincere smile that reached her eyes.

Taeyeon found herself smiling back.