“I gathered that,” I pant. “I’ll just have to stop these fuckers the old-fashioned way.”
“I’m not sure you can,” Captain Seo says grimly.
“But we have to try.” Ethan and our friends need us. We willnotdie in hell. “Wannabe Daeseong and Un-Mother are from my nightmare. I’m guessing the anti-Jihun is from yours, Captain? Are the rest of the fake Sentinels from your nightmare, Minju?”
“Y ... yes.” She releases my arms when I pat her hand, signaling I’m okay now.
“All right. We got this.” I raise the Shin’gwangdo in a two-handed grip and widen my stance. “Stay behind me, Minju.”
Anti-Jihun reaches us first, and Captain Seo slices his head off in a single swing. Before I can finish wondering if the head will reattach itself to the body or if the body will regrow a head, the captain stabs the fake Hailey in the chest.
In the span of seconds, Anti-Jihun regrows his head and rushes us, with the demon Jaeseok at his side, their mouths snarling and snapping. Captain Seo meets them halfway, swinging her swords with deadly precision. Minju claps a hand over her mouth when the captain cuts Demon Jaeseok’s legs off at his knees. I squeeze her shoulder, then run into the fray.
I cleave Wannabe Daeseong from his shoulder to waist and kick him to the side as Fake Hailey comes at me. I slash her across the chest in a slanted X. But when the not Draco lunges at me, I freeze and stare at their distorted face, searching for what ... I don’t know. I scream when a blade bursts out of their chest and their face goes slack.
“Sunny, you need to keep it together.” Captain Seo pulls her sword out of Not Draco, and they slump to the side. “They’re demons. Only demons.”
I come to my senses with a gasp—just in time to kick Un-Mother away from Minju. But the demons keep coming, everything about them grotesque and wrong.
“This isn’t going to work.” I nudge Minju toward Captain Seo. “Take care of her, Cheyun. I have to get this fucking door open.”
I run to the door leaf closest to me and hover my hands over it. With a bracing breath, I press my palms against it, squeezing my eyes shut. The door feels hot, but not enough to burn. I crack one eye open.Yup.My hands show no signs of melting off.
“What did we decide on?” I yell over my shoulder. “Pull or push?”
The captain cuts down one demon and jumps over its limp body to slash another, while Minju smacks one—Wannabe Daeseong, I think—over the head with her romance novel. I don’t think they heard me.
“Shit.” I look up at the handle bars. My fingertips would barely graze the bottom of the handle even if I took a running leap. They must be decorative. “Push, it is.”
I brace my shoulder against the door and push with a roar. My feet slip on the silver road, but I step forward and push harder. I shift into mygumihoform, flaring my nine tails behind me. Now the size of a full-grown lion, I give the door a mighty heave. It doesn’t budge an inch.
Use your head, Sunny.
An amused snort escapes my snout as I imagine ramming the door with my head. I guess even mygumihoisn’t immune to my morbid loopy humor. The situation is more dire than I thought.
What did Minju say about the stolen magic? I shift back to my human form and stop straining against the door.
Think, Sunny. Think.
How did I draw Blondie’s magic out of him? I step back and summon an orb of white light to my palm. It flickers, threatening to fade away.You know what?Thinking is overrated.
I let instinct take over.
I close my eyes andsensethe magic warding the door. Many people contributed to protect this entryway—many powerful beings of Underworld. The black metal is knit together by magic. I can’t parse out the spells, but I can sense each life force powering the magic.
When I open my eyes again, I see the strands of redgiswirling around the door, forming intricate runes. My Yeoiju hums in my chest, calling to the magic, and the surface of the door shimmers, dimly at first, then glows brighter and brighter.
My physical senses vaguely note the captain’s grunts and labored breathing, her sword whooshing and ringing through the air. I faintly hear Minju’s squeaks of alarm followed by dull thwacks. But I turn my mind inward again. This is where my focus belongs.
I don’t force the magic from the doors. I coax it out.You aren’t needed here anymore.The white orb on my palm shines—no longer weak and flickering—as the redgiflows into it in a gentle ribbon.You can return to your life source.
The white light burns bright, and my lungs expand on a full, satiating inhale. For a fleeting second, I wonder if my Yeoiju wants to cling on to the life force of Underworld—it’s so powerful and beautiful. But when I release a flowing exhale, the glowing orb disperses the redgiinto the air, and everything, including my white light, returns to where it belongs.
My Yeoiju hums softly in my chest, warm like a banked fire, and I blink away the white flame from my eyes. Disappointingly, the door is still just a door. A big, heavy door that I can’t open. I slap my palm against it, dropping my head in defeat.
“Oh shit.” I barely catch myself before I fall flat on my face.
When I regain my balance, the right half of the door stands ajar. I nudge it with the tips of my fingers, and the door opens wider without resistance. With an excited squeak, I spin around to face my friends.
