One lady cries out, “Seizure! The boy is having a seizure!”
I push my way to Marc, but a security guard catches my arm and drags me back. “Marc!” I scream.
“Run, Jae!” Marc yells.
I kick and squirm in the guard’s arms until I wrestle my way free with a back elbow punch, turn, and knee to the groin. This guard messed with the wrong girl. I race into the empty circle where I last saw Marc. Neither Haemosu nor Marc is there.
“Marc!” I shriek, spinning around, distantly aware that I must look as insane as a banshee. “Marc!”
My screaming is pointless. Haemosu has taken him.
CHAPTER 36
I stand on the gangplank, indecision pulling me in both directions. Get on the boat with Grandfather or back to land to find Haemosu and Marc? The wind cuts against my face, salt water spraying my legs. All I can think about is how Marc is gone. Can I save him? Is he still alive?
“Jae Hwa,” Grandfather says, “get on the boat!”
“But Marc,” I say, and my heart squeezes. Grandfather drags me onto the boat deck, and I don’t have the energy to fight him. My feet weigh a thousand pounds as the gate lowers and the plank rises. I’ve never felt so weak and helpless in my entire life.
It’s all my fault.
I shove Grandfather’s hand off me and run to the edge of the boat. Should I jump? I’d have to jump just right so as not to hit the deck or the propeller. A guard pushes me backward, but all I can think about is how Marc saved me and I did nothing. There must have been something I could’ve done.
My vision blurs as Grandfather guides me into the boat’s cafeteria. My insides feel numb. The door slams shut behind us. The boat engines rev up.
“No!” I say. “We can’t leave Marc. Haemosu took him. I have to help him.”
Everyone is sitting at tables to watch the departure, but my shouting has obviously gotten their attention. I suppose that’s because I sound like a raving lunatic.
“You are safe. That is all that matters right now,” Grandfather says, leading me to a table with padded chairs that look out to the water. “There is nothing that you could have done to stop what happened. He saved you. We will be in international waters soon. Haemosu has no power over you there. This is what Marc wanted.”
I stare blankly ahead while Grandfather’s hand grips the side of the table, knuckles white. He’s visibly upset, his lips tight and hair tussled. Even now he’s so confident that we’re doing the right thing. What has happened to me? What kind of person am I to stand by and watch as Haemosu takes all the people I love?
The boat slides away from the dock. I study the massive terminal; the roofline swoops down like white waves over the aqua walls. People wave from the observation dock as a heavy mist settles in. Marc isn’t there. Of course he isn’t there.
I should’ve known Haemosu would try to take him. Ever since that day I entered the locker and Haemosu heard Marc’s voice, Haemosu has been jealous. I knew I shouldn’t have let him come, but I’m so freaking selfish. He’d be safe at home if it wasn’t for me.
I spot gulls in the distance flying toward the boat like gold coins in the sky. Slowly I stand. No, not gulls. Those creatures glinting in the morning sun are not from this world.
I know what I must do. I pull out my quiver and the Blue Dragon bow from its case. The wooden arch vibrates as if it’s alive in my hands.
“What are you doing?” Grandfather’s hands form fists. “Sit.”
“I have to go.” I strap the bow to my back and the quiver on my hip.
“No, you do not! Think of all those who have sacrificed to save you. To stop the curse.”
“I hear their voices every night crying for help, Haraboji! I can’t live knowing he has Marc and Komo. I can’t live knowing Haemosu will come and take you and Dad next. And it’s all my fault. So, yeah, I have to!”
I dash up the stairs to the upper deck before he can respond. The air rushes around me, whipping my hair across my face, and I weave my way past the lifeboats to the bow of the boat. No one is standing outside; it’s too cold, which is all the better. I step onto a metal box, slip on my gloves, notch an arrow into place.
And wait.
Not for long. They come, riding the morning rays, as red as the sun’s flames themselves. Haemosu’s dragons.
I aim, pull, and let my arrow fly. It hits the first dragon in the eye. The creature screeches and pulls back. The second is an easy mark; for its belly hovers just above me. It makes a sound like thunder rumbling as the arrow pierces it. Before I can notch another arrow, the three remaining dragons have landed, their golden claws scratching the surface, radiating streaks of light.
“Listen, Dragons of Haemosu!” I yell over the rush of wind. The boat has picked up speed, riding along the hydrofoils and skimming over the ocean toward Japan. But that isn’t my destination. I say, “I wish you to take me to your master.”
The dragons blink their wide red eyes in surprise. The largest, cocking its head and flicking out a forked tongue, speaks in my mind. We bear a message, Princess. From the glorious Haemosu.
“I know. That’s why I want you to take me to him.”
You betrayed his love. Now all whom you love will pay.
My vision blurs, I’m so angry.
The message has been delivered. We must fulfill the master’s desire.
One lets out a piercing screech and wrenches the dragon bow from my grasp. The largest dragon whips his head to stare at Grandfather, who has just come onto the deck.
“No!” I lunge for Grandfather, but I’m too slow as the dragon’s talon snatches the back of his jacket.
“Run, Jae Hwa!” Grandfather says.
He doesn’t realize that they aren’t here for me, that this is one of Haemosu’s awful tricks. They’re here for him. Haemosu knows me better than I thought. He knows I’ll do what he asks to free everyone I love.
I leap down and seize the bow as Grandfather’s body is lifted airborne. I pull back and release an arrow, aiming for the talon holding Grandfather. With a cry, the dragon drops Grandfather, but then the second dragon swoops in and snatches him again in midair.
I take off running across the deck until I’m at the boat’s edge. I launch onto the railing and jump up in the air, the ocean below me, and grab ahold of Grandfather’s leg.
“No, Jae Hwa!” Grandfather shouts.
Too late. I’m soaring through the air with the dragons as I hold on to Grandfather, watching the boat speed away. It looks like a toy now, surrounded by a sea of blue.
We rise higher and higher. Above, I can hear Grandfather groan from my weight pulling on his leg. He shrugs off his backpack and hands it to me. “Take this,” he says. “It will lighten my load.”
I don’t understand how that will lighten his load, but I’m in too much pain from holding on to argue. I slide the pack over my shoulder and clutch Grandfather’s leg with every ounce of strength I have left. Below, I can see we are flying back toward Korea, the beaches below us and then the sprawling city of Busan, with its tall buildings and the mountains rising in the distance.
A cloud moves in and cloaks us in a world of white. I realize we’re about to leave this world. I grow light-headed; waves of nausea push at my stomach. My arm aches. I just need to hold on a little longer. Pressure pushes on me from all sides.
You are not allowed to pass.
Talons take hold of me, and I’m yanked from Grandfather’s leg.
“No!” I scream.