Moonstrike 23: the invisible boy

“I won't be in town much longer. Meet me late tonight or we can't work together. Tell me where.”

Ji Min sent her ultimatum to the Investigator and put her phone away to focus on family time. This time Ari drove. She parked in a paid lot by the planetarium and dropped the car key in her purse carelessly. “Let's go!” She threw open her door and burst out.

Ji Min got out at a more sedate pace and gave her sister a confused look. “You're way too energetic. What's going on?”

Ari and Min Joon’s eyes met.

“Nothing, I'm just happy,” Ari said.

“Lie!” Ji Min hissed. Her hackles were up. “You two are in some kind of conspiracy.”

M.J. snorted. “That's a bit paranoid. I thought your job didn't want you making theories.”

“Yeah, that's not what you do,” Ari teased, walking backwards past the elevator. “That's vi-”

Ji Min cleared her throat and cut off the word ‘vigilante’ before it came out. Ari turned a little pink when she realized her faux pas. The three of them easily jogged up the cement staircase to the main entrance without saying anything.

There was a wide pavilion with extremely optimistic cording creating a winding path for a long line. There were 3 other mortal souls within sight, 2 of whom were clearly employees. The last person was on a bench, tossing frozen peas from a bag to a hopping pack of excited birds.

This meant that her siblings had won by default, unfortunately. Ji Min sighed. She couldn't interrogate them in public. “Come on, tickets.” She led them towards the counter.

The elevator dinged ahead of them. The doors opened and a single figure got out. The layout meant that they were deposited ahead of Ji Min.

It looked like a teenage boy, hands deep in pockets, with messy hair sticking out from a hood and sleepy eyes. He seemed to sigh with his whole body when he looked up and saw the pavilion.

Teenager, unsupervised. Hmm. Ji Min resisted the urge to snag him as she passed him. He was a child but he wasn't her child. They didn't all belong to her just because she saw them.

It felt like he watched her go.

He was barely conscious from the look of him. Poor thing was probably struggling to process the visual input of movement.

He fell in line behind them, footsteps shuffling quietly in a way that she was hyper aware of. Both of her siblings walked silently.

The cashier seemed to perk up at their arrival. “Good evening, welcome to the planetarium! Do you have reserved tickets?” When she moved, the golden name tag pinned to her chest caught the light. It said “Amanda.”

“No.” Ji Min rolled her shoulder. “Do we need them?”

“It's best to get time reservations for the show!” Amanda delivered her script with admirable cheer and seriousness, considering how empty the place was. “How many tickets would you like for entry?”

“4,” Ji Min said, and then blinked in surprise. Whoops. She'd already told herself that she couldn't steal that child. Apparently her subconscious didn't get the memo.

Ari wasn't paying attention. Min Joon leaned forward and made a questioning eyebrow wiggle at her. She ignored him.

Amanda was unphased, tapping away so rapidly that there was no way to correct her error. “Right. That'll be $60. Cash or credit?”

“Cash is fine,” Ji Min said, a little awkward. Whoops. Would it be weird to give the kid the ticket? She hated the idea of wasting it. It was probably better to risk social awkwardness. She opened her wallet and put the right amount on the tray.

Amanda spun her wheelchair a precise 45 degrees, took something from a printer, and spun back. She handed it over with a bright smile. “Here you are. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Nope, we're good. Thanks.” She took the tickets and started separating them. “Have a good day.” She handed one to Ari.

“You too!” Amanda called. And then she -

She didn't turn to the next person in line. She just sort of waited.

It struck Ji Min as extremely weird for a moment until she realized that she'd bought four tickets, of course Amanda assumed they were together. She gave Min Joon his ticket and then turned all the way around to try to make eye contact with the teenager.

He wasn't looking at a phone screen or anything. He might have been watching the back of her head, judging by how quickly he met her eyes. He had green eyes and a steady gaze. His neutral expression turned baffled- no, panicked, when Ji Min held out the last ticket.

Oh no. He was experiencing stranger danger. She felt absolutely mortified. To cover it, her voice came out gruff. “Here.”

Slowly, he raised a hand. He took the ticket.

Ari jumped straight up like a cat. “Shit!” Her eyes were wide. “Uh, sorry.” She gave the kid a thin smile.

Ji Min instantly felt better that she wasn't the weirdest person present. She gave her sister an arch look and sailed away, into the building. As she did, she saw open confusion on Amanda's face.

Huh.

The three siblings walked in together. Once they'd covered a few dozen feet Ari leaned in and hissed, “That kid came out of nowhere.”

Ji Min looked at her skeptically. “He came out of the elevator?” She pointed out. “It dinged. He was right in front of us and then we walked past him.”

“You need to work on your situational awareness,” Min Joon agreed without looking up from his phone. He was tapping away madly at a game. Something brightly colored was falling across his screen.

Ari huffed. “Like you saw him?”

“I didn't,” Min Joon admitted. “But I heard her order four tickets and I knew there was an unattended child in the vicinity.”

Ji Min felt the smile slip off her face. Hey. It was true, but hey. She swiveled around to confirm that they were alone, even though she'd heard the boy's footsteps go in another direction.

“Are you two going to tell me what you're plotting?”

“This again?” Ari groaned. “We aren't up to anything.”

“We might just like astrology,” Min Joon said.

“Astronomy?” Ji Min asked, tone a little superior. “They're different.”

“You're a nerd,” Ari said.

Ji Min scoffed and tossed her hair. “I'm a college dropout and a certified dumbass,” she said. “I've failed activities you can only dream of.”

That silenced her siblings.

“You're making me feel kind of sad,” Min Joon muttered. He put away his phone.

“I win!” Ji Min stuck her tongue out. Then she frowned. “No. Tell me what you're up to.”

“Oh my god,” Min Joon sighed. “We are just going to brainstorm names.”

“Names for theoretical superheroes,” Ari said. “That would go well with an astrologically themed main hero.”

Oh. Boring. Ji Min nodded. “I see.” They were nosy. She was pretty sure Alex wasn't going to let her little siblings choose his hero name. But it was harmless. “Let's go this way.”