A gazebo rests just inside the gate, decorated with flowers, ribbon, and rows of wooden ducks. It reminds me of traditional Korean weddings. I shiver at the thought. A golden building stands at the far end of the courtyard. A massive pearl, as plump and round as the moon itself, sits inside its wall, and I feel the overwhelming urge to touch it. I step closer. My slippered feet lie inches from the groove in the ground where the gate must lock in place.
“Please, my love,” Haemosu says, “your aunt waits for you inside.”
I balk, my legs wooden. I nearly skipped into his trap willingly!
“No,” I say. “It’s a trick.”
With effort I step back. I’ve failed. Again. Merely opening the gate won’t release my ancestors’ spirits. And I’ve no idea where Komo is either.
I need to get out of here. The pull from the palace intensifies, like a metal chain has been wrapped around me. Tugging. Heaving.
Haemosu grins. He’s saying something, but it’s taking every effort to keep my legs from prancing straight through that gate.
But the pearl. Smooth and pure. Just one touch.
“Jae Hwa!”
It’s Marc’s voice. I blink and realize I am almost inside the courtyard. Haemosu scans the forest, a scowl on his face, and suddenly I’m terrified for Marc and what Haemosu might do to him.
“Marc!” I yell. “Stay away!”
I pick up my skirts and sprint back to the forest, back to where Marc’s voice came from. A growl splits the silence. I glance over my shoulder just as Haemosu leaps through the air, transforming into a tiger.
He pounces on top of me, snarling as he throws his body against mine. I fall hard to the ground, and his paws pin me down. I choke on dirt and squirm under him, my chin screaming in pain.
I twist so I’m facing him and push against his chest with my palms. He flies off me and crashes into the bushes. If I wasn’t so panicked or hurt, I’d be thrilled at the power I’m discovering.
“You are a difficult one,” he says. “Stubborn.” He’s a man again, standing and brushing the dirt off his clothes with a look of annoyance. I struggle to my feet, and the realization hits me. He wants me to enter the queen’s palace. He tried seduction. That sure didn’t work. He tried brute strength, but in the end he can’t force me. Something is stopping him.
I must enter of my own free will, I realize.
“You know I won’t do it.” I lift my throbbing chin higher. “I’m going to find a way to save them.”
“Oh, you will enter, my princess. Trust me. You will.”
CHAPTER 30
“And if you will not go inside on your own”—Haemosu steps away, and a sly grin forms on his face—“I have my ways of enticement.”
He claps his hands. A thick shadow slides across the ground between the two of us. I crane my neck back and stare up at the most gruesome, horrific monster I have ever seen: a Minotaur look-alike with horns, fire-breathing nostrils, and clawed feet larger than my entire body. His skin shines in the sun like plated metal. He stands on hind legs and roars. The ground vibrates as the creature clomps closer to me.
I dart for the tree line, but a bolt of fire from the creature’s mouth rains down, creating a wall of searing flames. I duck, covering my face from the heat, and stagger backward. The creature clomps closer. There’s no other choice: I have to backtrack and race to the other side of the gate. But even there I’m blocked by another wall of fire.
My path is now blocked on both sides. Behind me is the queen’s palace entrance and before me stands Grossness at its finest, drooling green slime.
Sweat beads on my forehead. My legs tremble. I take a deep breath and spread out my arms as I focus all my thoughts on morphing into a bird like I did once before. The sky is my only option.
A tremor shakes my body. It’s working.
As if sensing my intent, Godzilla’s cousin roars. He arches his back to the sky and spews out a ball of fire. It rolls across the blue—a swirl of crimson, yellow, and orange—and curves to meet with the wall on either side of me.
My focus shatters. My body pulls in twisting agony, and I collapse to the ground, morphed back to my human self. My stomach is heaving again. My body shakes uncontrollably with the aftereffects of the metamorphosis.
Then the creature blasts another burst of flames behind him. The two of us are now in a dome of fire. The only escape lies behind me—through the gate.
My skin burns, my eyes burn, my throat burns.
I should be dead. Incinerated. But no, that would be too convenient for Haemosu. No dying for me today. Because he doesn’t want me dead.
He wants my soul.
“You can’t have it!” I scream. “You can’t—” But my voice crumbles.
I can feel my skin bubbling. Pieces of my hair are burning, falling out. I cover my head with my skirts, wanting to cry, except my tears are dried up. And then I hear it, deep within me. A voice.
Believe, it tells me. Believe in the power within you!
Marc? Or Komo?
No, it’s something beyond even them. I think about Mom and how she’d say that God gives us strength in our valleys of death. I used to think she was just saying that to help me recover after she died. Now her words make sense as a power wells up within me, ready to burst. I throw back the skirts from over my head and stand. The monster snorts and stomps closer. Would the monster lose its power if it was distracted?
I reach for my crown and rip it off.
I lock onto the image of the beast as my target. My crown is my arrow. I toss hard. The crown hits the creature smack in the eye and bounces off. He wavers, blinking, while I’m there catching the crown and tossing it up at the other eye. The creature roars and moans. My own eyes blur until all I can see is yellow. I ignore it as the beast doubles over in pain.
Then the fire walls fizzle and so does the brimstone ceiling above me. The monster’s concentration is connected to his power. Spitting flames rain down on me. I duck beneath the monster’s staggering legs for protection.
Once the fire walls dissipate, I bolt for the forest, pumping my legs and arms. I cut through the trees, letting the branches swipe my face. The forest blurs past me in a world of yellow. My slippers are gone, probably a pile of ashes by now, but I’m racing at a speed faster than I ever imagined. The sharp prick in my hip I felt earlier is back, jabbing into me.
I stop at a pond. Lily pads are scattered across the surface, and a golden pagoda rests in its center. I slosh into it, and though my skin screams in agony, I keep moving until my whole body is submerged in its cool depths.
“Jae!” It’s Marc’s voice for sure this time. I pull my face out of the water and look around. I think it’s coming from inside the pagoda. Should I trust it, or is this another one of Haemosu’s tricks?
A growl erupts in the stillness as something dives into the water and lands on top of me. I scream and then choke as the water surges into my lunges. It’s Haemosu in his tiger form. I shove against him, swim underwater. and wade to the shoreline, my dress’s heavy weight dragging me down.
His claw rips down my back. My vision blurs with pain. I roll in the mud away from him and stumble to my feet, gritting my teeth. His fangs are bared. He paws the ground, eying me.
I reach deep within myself to shape-shift again, but I don’t have the strength.
I make the ready stance, but I can hardly hold up my arms, and my body sways.
He leaps again.
I draw up the last of my energy and jump. I slice the air and hit a side kick at his jaw. My skirts whip around me as I twist and punch. He grunts, knocked off guard. But I’m weakened by the effort and fall, tangling myself in the dress. I scramble back up and punch again, harder than I ever did when breaking through my wooden boards in practices. His jaw snaps back, but with a pounce he’s on me again. His weight is too much. I’m pinned to the muddy embankment. All that power I had earlier is gone.