Jihun’s lips quirk at their antics. This isn’t the trio’s first mission together. I feel a twinge of envy at their camaraderie. I don’twantto need anyone, but that doesn’t mean Idon’tneed anyone. And this group? I could get used to them. Maybe I already have.
Ethan would like these guys.Are you okay out there?Of course he is. The alternative is not acceptable. I bite down on my bottom lip to stop it from quivering. I miss him so much that I can’t breathe.
“The primary objective of this mission is to obtain the dragon scales.” Jihun levels a steely gaze on me. “This is not a rescue mission. We do not confront Daeseong until we forge the sword of light from the sacred ashes and the dragon scales. Is that understood?”
I cross my arms and arch an eyebrow at him, my lips pressed into a mutinous line.
“You will not only be risking your own life,” he says softly, vulnerability flashing in his eyes, “but the lives of everyone here.”
“Understood.” I nod once. He doesn’t want to lose his friends any more than I want to lose Ethan. We get the dragon scales, forge the sword,thensave Ethan from the evil motherfucker.I will save him. There’s still time.My stomach takes a dip as another thought occurs to me. “Do we have to go through the ... whatever we went through to get here?”
Jihun hesitates, and I want to throw up. He doesn’t hesitate unless it’s something really bad. I already know his answer before he says, “It gets easier the more you do it.”
“Is she worried about the Gray Void?” Hailey whispers. At Jihun’s nod, she waves her hand, and a honeyed cookie appears on her palm. “Here, Sunny. It’ll help if you hold this in your mouth as we go through.”
“A cookie?” I side-eye her.
“Don’t knock the powers of a good cookie.” She clicks her tongue and holds it out to me. I have no choice but to accept it.
“Thank you,” I say morosely.
“The sweetness will ground you. Remind you that you’re still alive,” Jaeseok explains. “It took me months to go through the Gray Void without something sweet in my mouth.”
“Okay.” I offer him a weak smile. Ethan better be alive, because he’s the only reason I’m going through that terrifying experience again. Even so, I have to take a bracing breath. “Come on, guys. Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I come hurtling out of the Gray Void, free-falling toward the mountain peak. How did I forget that the portal is in the middle of the sky? As a scream builds in my throat, Jihun swoops me into his arms, his powerful wings beating behind him. I do okay with heights, but this is a bit much. To my eternal shame, I cling to his shoulders and bury my face in his neck as he flies us down to a clearing on the mountain.
Hailey and Jaeseok land lightly on their feet beside us, despite the fact that they don’t have wings. When I stare bug eyed at her, Hailey says with a small shrug, “Flying is part of the high magic we learn as suhoshins.”
I nod with a mixture of awe and envy, making my cheek rub against the fabric of Jihun’s shirt. I freeze as heat rushes to my face.Shit.I’m still in his arms. I relax my death grip on his shoulders and say with as much dignity as I can muster, “You can put me down.”
He carefully sets me down on the ground, and I promptly sway on my feet. He steps toward me as though he might scoop me right back up, but Hailey rushes to my side and puts her arm around my shoulders. I let myself lean into her and offer her a grateful smile.
“Chocolate,” I wheeze. “Chocolate will work better.”
I nearly choked on the damned cookie, but I don’t want to say anything. The Gray Void did seem less hopeless and terrifying withsomething sweet in my mouth. But if I want to be reminded that I’m alive without suffocating on a glob of fried dough, a small piece of chocolate would be perfect. The best solution would be not going through the Gray Void ever again. It’s gods awful even with the cookie. Too bad that’s not an option.
I glance around the mountain and breathe in a lungful of crisp night air. I missed the Mortal Realm. In this realm—in America—I can carve out a place for myself even if I don’t fit in perfectly. But in the Realm of Four Kingdoms, I can’t evenexistwithout someone vouching for my trustworthiness. I can do without that bullshit.
Unfortunately, I have no choice but to endure all that and more until we forge the sword of light. Or until I miraculously figure out how to use the Yeoiju. I huff a weary sigh. I just have to remember it’ll all be worth it to save Ethan.
“Chocolate? That’s ingenious,” Hailey says, bringing me back to the present. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Who says I didn’t?” Jaeseok wiggles his eyebrows. “I’ve made bank, peddling chocolate to new recruits for years.”
“You did what?” Jihun glowers at him.
“I’m kidding, Captain.” Jaeseok turns to Hailey and mouths,I’m not kidding.
I take a moment to study my surroundings. A crescent moon casts a silvery glow on the mountain not far from my childhood home—or at least the ruins of it. I can’t believe I’ve only been gone from the Mortal Realm for less than two weeks. Yet my life will never be the same, knowing that the Realm of Four Kingdoms is out there. But I need to hold off on my existential crisis until I have Ethan safely by my side.
“Where are you supposed to meet your informant?” I ask Jaeseok.
“At the base of Mount Baekdu on the North Korean side. Not the Chinese side,” he says. “She refuses to step outside Korea.”
“We should get going.” Jihun nods toward a shallow pond at the edge of the clearing.
