Haemosu soars high above me now, screeching out some battle cry. I have a few moments. I close my eyes and focus, desperately blocking everything around me. I visualize the form of a bird, something to fly me away. Didn’t Habaek in the legend turn into a bird? The picture of a hawk in Mom’s book comes to mind.
Another screech erupts in the stillness.
I snap my eyes open. He’s in a nosedive. I break into a sprint so that I’m running in his direction, hoping to force him to redirect. My feet pound the ground, kicking up dust.
Then I realize I’m racing full speed directly toward the cliff. He cornered me.
“Jae! Jae!” Marc’s voice calls from the nothingness beyond the cliff.
I must concentrate on becoming a bird. It’s my only chance. I run toward Marc’s voice, not thinking about the cliff anymore, only the air, its fullness and blueness stretching out beyond me, waiting to be flown through. A tingling prickles over my skin. My vision blurs as the cliff edge looms. I pump my legs harder, my muscles screaming, Haemosu screeching.
The ground falls away.
All that is left is empty air, and my heart lodges in my throat as I freefall. My chest tightens, and something inside me explodes, energy coursing to every tip of my body, from my ears to my toes. I flail my arms through the void, and that’s when I realize I don’t have arms anymore. They’re feathered wings.
And I’m flying.
The wind fans my face. I beat my wings faster. The air abruptly changes from clear cold to warm dry. My skin bristles again, and I watch in horror as my wings twist and the feathers fall away. The sky blurs. I’m losing my focus.
Once again I’m human.
My limbs jumble around me as I fall. My arms flail, and my feet can’t find the ground fast enough. I trip over a thin metal edge, and then I’m tumbling through my locker onto the floor, back at school, sprawled across the hallway.
CHAPTER 19
Slowly I sit up, my stomach heaving. I know I’m having side effects from the metamorphosis, but I can’t stop shaking uncontrollably. Marc grabs my shoulders, kneeling next to me. His eyes look oddly golden and wild. I blink and stare at my locker, which at this moment looks perfectly normal.
I search the area for Haemosu. He’s nowhere in sight. I slide forward on my bottom and kick the locker closed.
“You okay?” Marc asks, a sharpness to his voice. “You’re bleeding. I’m taking you to the nurse’s office.”
Bleeding? I look at my palms, and sure enough they’re scratched and bloody. I gingerly touch my back. It’s warm, and my shirt clings to it. Marc helps me up, and I glance around to see if anyone has noticed. But the hallway is empty. Everyone must be in class.
The hall lies in deadly silence. Marc’s shouts still vibrate in my ears. Marc’s voice. It was his voice that called me back. He was calling for me. It had to have been him. Did he see me? Does he know?
Then my heart stops, remembering the golden liquid Haemosu shot across the chasm. I can’t help myself. I reach out and lightly touch Marc’s arm to see if he’s safe. He feels warm and solid. At first glance he seems perfectly normal. Jeans. Navy T-shirt. Ruffled brown hair.
But his eyes still show hints of that shimmery gold Haemosu blasted.
My heart skitters as my fingers reach for his face. “Your eyes. Are you hurt? What happened?”
“Don’t worry about me. We need to get you to the nurse. You look like a horde of fire ants has been feasting on you.”
Marc draws me to him. I’m still in shock, and allow myself to lean against his chest and let my body relax. I know I should be worried about my injuries, about his eyes, but right now I’m just glad to be alive.
We shuffle our way down the hall and step outside. A light dusting of snow covers the path. I shiver, wishing the nurse’s office was connected to the main building. When we enter the nurse’s office, Nurse Lah and the two assistants rush over.
“What happened to her?” Nurse Lah asks, directing us to a cot lined with a crisp white sheet.
“She fell.” Marc rubs his eyes.
“Fell?” Nurse Lah grabs a bottle of antiseptic and gauze, then sits on a stool and rolls over to me. “On ice?”
“Right outside the gym next to the bushes,” Marc confirms.
I shoot Marc a grateful smile. Ice makes a lot more sense than telling her I was pulled into another dimension and confronted by an immortal who transformed himself into a savage red bird.
Marc gives me a hard look as if trying to tell me something. His skin looks paler than usual, but his eyes are also back to their piercing green except for a hint of golden speckles. I can almost convince myself that I imagined the gold, but there’s something in his gaze that tells me he knows more than he should. Oddly, that’s exactly what I want. For someone other than my aunt and Grandfather to know the truth about me.
I wince at the sting of the medicine as the nurse cleans out the scratches on my hand and then wraps them. She moves to inspect my back but first gives Marc the eye.
He shifts on his feet, saying, “I’ll be right by the door.”
I nod, and Nurse Lah draws back a curtain to give us privacy.
“Well, it looks worse than it actually is,” she says as she cleans away the blood. I cringe and grit my teeth. “Scratches will do that. I’m going to put some ointment and large bandages on them. That should heal you up and keep them from scarring or infection.”
How can I have only a few scratches after that attack?
Once the nurse leaves I take a few moments to collect myself. I peel away one of the bandages on my hand. The scratch has healed up almost perfectly. Only a thin line is left. Impossible.
It seems that what happens in the Spirit World doesn’t apply to the real world. And there’s Marc, again, right in the middle of my mess. Is it coincidental that he’s been there for me both times I’ve encountered Haemosu? And what about that article his dad wrote? Does Marc know more than he’s letting on, or am I completely paranoid?
Beyond the white curtain, I hear Marc chatting with the nurse about the weather. He sounds so normal and relaxed. Maybe I just imagined that look in his eyes earlier. Maybe I imagined him calling my name over the chasm.
I push the bandage back in place, pressing my lips together as I slide off the bed. I can’t handle anything else magical or otherworldly right now. I find Marc sitting by the entrance on a blue plastic chair, a book in his lap. A quick glance at the cover tells me it’s written in Hanguclass="underline" Legends and Myths of Korea. I know it because I have the exact same book back home.
“Looks like you didn’t need to stay after all.” I won’t get him involved in my mess of a life. I think of Haemosu’s rage upon hearing Marc’s voice in the Spirit World. I can’t risk Haemosu taking out his vengeance on Marc. I say, “Nurse Lah says I’m scratched up, but I’ll be fine. Thanks for helping, though.”
“Does this mean I can’t carry you to class?” He grins.
“I’d flatten you, Brainiac. Better not.”
The nurse laughs from her desk, and even I can’t stop the smile crossing my face as I push open the cool glass door and step into the frigid air. How does Marc know exactly what to say to make me feel comfortable? He stands, tucks the book under his arm, and follows.
“You read Korean?” I ask.
“Naw, I just stare at the pretty characters for fun.”
“Cultured and a comedian.”
“I try to please. I expect to get through college on my comedy skills alone.”
I burst into a ridiculous laugh, and I can’t seem to stop. This is probably what hysterics are, I decide as I snort and hiccup like a complete idiot. At least the pressure in my chest seems to have released as we hurry up the stairs into the high school, away from the February cold. I grab the side door, but the chill from the handle seeps through my bandages. Even with the wounds healing at impossible speeds, it still hurts.