“Well,” Komo says with a frown. “I heard you went skiing even after I advised against it. Still alive, I see.”
I don’t bother telling her Dad thought it would be a good idea. Help me get my mind off stuff. Instead I show her the bracelet.
She scowls, her eyebrows knitting close together. “I told you not to let him touch you.”
It’s as if I’d been slapped. Of all people in the whole entire planet, I thought she’d understand. Now she’s treating me as if I’d done something wrong. “How did you know?”
“My sister had the same bracelet.” Komo starts down the hall and sits on the floor at a small table.
I want to kick myself. Haemosu made me feel as if I was special, different. How wrong I was. I fell for the same bracelet trick he’s been using for a thousand years.
“That piece of information might have been helpful,” I say.
After I slip off my boots, I settle onto one of the cushions as she pours me green tea. I scrunch up my nose at its sharp flavor and search for sugar.
“It is good for your health,” she says. “Drink it.”
I cup my hands around the green teacup. “I know I shouldn’t have touched him. It’s just—” I don’t even know where to begin with all the questions I have. “I need to understand what is happening to me.”
“You are being gilded in preparation for the marriage ceremony.” She calmly sips her tea as if we’re just chatting about the weather. “Remember how Haemosu visited Princess Yuhwa five times and still she rejected him?” I nod. “It is my theory that he is reliving that rejection with each girl but hoping this time for acceptance. Those dragons’ eyes on your bracelet reflect each encounter with Haemosu. Think of it as a dating ritual; but in this case he takes a little part of your soul every time you meet until all five eyes burn red and you are his forever.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all this earlier?”
“I was hoping it might never come to this. You had enough to worry about without knowing about the bracelet.”
I wrap my arms around myself. “So he takes a little part of me each time? What does that mean?”
“I only know what Sun told me.” Komo stares into her teacup, and her voice softens. “As time progressed, she felt a greater connection with the Spirit World. It was like she was half in our world and half in that world. She started seeing more otherworldly creatures. Portals between the Spirit World and our world opened up to her.”
“Did that help her fight Haemosu?”
“She was distant by that point. She never talked about it much. She used to write down her thoughts in her journal, but I never found it.” Komo focuses on me as if she had forgotten I was even in the room. “This is why you need to practice your Tae Kwon Do. With those skills you will have the power to defeat him. Tell me everything. Tell me how it happened to you.”
So I tell her, even about my ski stunt on the slopes, the stars, and the weird deer part. She doesn’t interrupt. And once I start, there’s no stopping.
Afterward she’s quiet. The room lies silent except for my fingers tapping the table as I wait for her to tell me what to do. I need her to have the answers. I sure don’t.
The room has grown dark, and the house seems to creak under the strain of the wind. I search for a light switch to drown out the gloom settling in.
“There were girls inside a palace,” I tell her. “They were trying to escape. Last night I dreamed about them, and it was so real. Maybe it was real like that connection thing you were talking about. They kept begging me to help them. I think that’s what the dokkaebi was talking about. I think Haemosu’s not only been taking the girls, but imprisoning them, too. I just haven’t figured out why he would do that.”
Komo’s eyes widen. She stands, knocking over her teacup in the process, and crosses the room to stare out the window. Her hand covers her mouth, and I see she’s shaking. When she doesn’t say anything, I go to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
“That would be something Haemosu would do,” she finally says. A tear trickles down her cheek. “Not just take them, but torture them. Never let their spirits reach heaven.”
That’s when I realize both of us have lost someone who meant the world to us. I think about Michelle and her thoughts about everyone having a purpose. Is this my purpose? Is that what Palk is hoping for and what Haemosu is so worried about? That I could be the one to save them? An insane idea, but if I don’t act soon, I’ll join those girls.
I pull Komo into a hug because I can’t help but think this is exactly what Mom would do at this exact moment.
“My sister is in there,” Komo whispers. “I am sure of it. We must free her. We must.” Then she wipes her face and clears her throat. “There is no time for looking back. Only time for what lies ahead.”
“Is it even possible to stop Haemosu?” I ask as we begin to clear the table. “I felt so powerless against him.”
“It would have helped if you had stayed out of the sunlight. Or fought him in our world.” Komo is all brisk-like again. “If you had not let him touch you and pull you into his lands. If you had listened to me.”
“Komo, I can’t just live in some hole for the rest of my life.”
“True enough.”
I wander to the far wall and study the sword hanging on it. “The Spirit World has magical powers, doesn’t it? Like him turning me into a deer.”
“Yes, that is one component. It is called metamorphosis. The transformation of one being into another.” She pulls the sword off the wall and hands it to me. “But he did not turn you. He gave you the idea, but you had to have the power within you to change. Even in his own lands, he does not have the power over you. Ultimately, it is your choice. Did he force you to run?”
I bite my inner lip. “No.”
“Did he make you take his hand?”
“No. But I didn’t really understand at first. It was like a dream. And then when I realized he was touching me, I pulled away.”
“Precisely. So there is your way to destroy him.” She takes the sword from me and sets it back on the wall.
“I’m lost.”
She smiles, which is really annoying. “When you said no, you took some of his power away.”
“He let me go. I’m like his toy.”
She lowers herself onto the cushion and glares at me. “Are you here to learn or to teach? Stop pacing the room like some caged animal.”
I move to the window. Komo is right. I do feel like some caged animal, just waiting to be snatched up. And I hate it. “How am I supposed to fight an immortal—a demigod—with Tae Kwon Do? It’s not like I have special powers or anything.”
“It was through your own strength that you escaped. Perhaps you have a chance to defeat him in his world after all. You were able to shape-shift; you have the talent. Like Princess Yuhwa.”
I think of how quick I’d been when I ran across that field and how I had turned into the deer. “I did seem to have some kind of power, but I don’t think that will be enough.”
“Disbelief is the root of the impossible.”
That sounds like something Mom would say.
Can I do what Komo is asking me to do: confront Haemosu and put a stop to all this? Komo makes it sound simple. But Haemosu isn’t a typical target where I aim for the bull’s-eye.
My heart tells me he’s far smarter and more complicated.
CHAPTER 17
As I ride up the elevator to my apartment, leaning against the cold silver wall, I wonder at Komo’s explanation about the bracelet. I hold up my arm so the eyes gleam in the florescent light, and her words echo through my head: He takes a little part of your soul every time you meet until all five eyes burn red and you are his forever.