“She isn’t lying,” she says wryly. “Can’t you see the queen’s armor around her?”
Armor? I thought it was a wetsuit.
The male guard squints hard at me. “You’re right.”
“Then stepaside.” I’m a little less polite this time.
He complies with a scowl, making sure I know he isn’t happy about it. I can’t think why.Idon’t give a shit whether he’s happy or not. The female guard’s eyes nearly roll to the back of her head. She and I are in agreement.
The guards open the gates, revealing the dark water beyond. Yet not a single drop enters through the impenetrable dome.
“So how do I get out?” I pinch my nose with the King of Underworld’s clothespin. “Do I have to push through it?”
“Going out doesn’t take much effort at all,” the female guard explains. “Just step out as though you are walking through.”
“Thank you.” I face the gates and inhale, ignoring how my breath seems to rattle. I shake out my arms, then mutter under my breath, “Stop stalling, Sunny.”
I step out and plunge straight into the icy water. Swallowing my gasp, I kick toward the portal, not looking over my shoulder. I don’t want to see the Amheuk’s slithering tentacles, or its slimy tongue, branching out toward me.
I block out everything and swim. The queen’s wetsuit, or armor, works wonders. The water feels cold against me, but it doesn’t seep into my clothes and chill me to the bone. But I jerk to a stop with a watery scream when a tentacle grabs me by the ankle.
Gods damn it. Maybe I should’ve looked back.
It swiftly wraps itself around my calf, while several more serpentine strands flap toward me. I’m done for if I get snagged by the rest. I summon the Shin’gwangdo and slice off the tentacle climbing up my leg. The Amheuk roars in fury—I can’t hear it, but the sound vibrates through me.
I swim toward the portal again, working my limbs so hard they burn. This time, a dark arm snakes around my waist and squeezes the breath out of me. I kick and thrash in panic as it slithers and tightens around my entire torso.
I hack at the tentacle until it loosens enough for me to swim free. The Amheuk must be distracted with its attack on the Kingdom of Water. If I had the privilege of its full focus, I would be dead by now. I’m sure of it.
“Fuck.”
Four tentacles grab my arms and legs and wrap around them like corkscrews. Then they stretch my limbs out to the sides, holding me spread-eagle. I twist and thrash against their grip, but they only pull harder, and my left shoulder pops out of its socket. I groan, gritting my teeth.
They’re going to tear me apart.
I swing the Shin’gwangdo in wild half arcs, only able to move my wrist, but I can’t reach the Amheuk’s serpentine arms at this angle. I need to switch my grip to point the blade down so I can slice upward toward my underarm. My vision swims with pain, and I take a huge gamble. I throw my sword in the water, nudging it so it tips and rotates while it sinks.
With my blood pounding in my ears, I force myself to wait until the blade floats past my reach. Then, I shoot my hand out, as far as I can, and grab for the hilt. My fingertips graze the handle.So close.But the sword slips and starts to spin away.
I scream and strain against the tentacle on my right arm. I barely gain an inch, but it’s enough for me to snatch the hilt of the Shin’gwangdo, the blade pointing down.
Fuck, yeah.
I twist my wrist and slash the sword toward my armpit, hoping to cut the dark limb wrapped around my arm without hurting myself. I hack at it, but the water makes my movements sluggish. I have no choice but to keep going.
Then the tentacle slides limply off my arm, a furious roar vibrating through the water. With my sword arm free, I slash at the tentacles restraining the rest of me, scoring deep gashes into them. They finally drop away from me, and I kick toward the portal once more.
But the Amheuk’s wrath reverberates around me, and I feel its focus shifting more fully onto me. I swim another yard, agonizingly slow with one arm out of commission. Then, a dozen strands of darkness shoot out from all directions and mummify me from ankles to shoulders, trapping my arms—and my sword—to my sides.
I thrash against the Amheuk’s hold, panic overriding logic. The violence of my movement dislodges the clothespin from my nose and snaps the string tied around my neck. And the soil in the small pouch, my token to the Kingdom of Sky, spills into the water. It might not have opened the portal, but at least there was a chance.
Now . . . I’m dead.
My lungs burn as my oxygen supply depletes, and everything turns hazy. I want to inhale, even if it means sucking in a lungful of water. But my Yeoiju hums at my heart’s center, reminding me that I am not alone.
I need your help,I speak to the nature around me.
I stop struggling and close my eyes, reaching out with my senses for thegiof nature. When I open my eyes again, only a pale-blue glow surrounds me.I don’t understand.Nature’s life force is so much more powerful than this.
