“Will you be okay?” I ask, noticing the queen’s pallor.
“My remaining troops and the Suhoshin will assist with the evacuation.” She evades my question, and unease flickers across my skin. “The young shinbiins under twenty-four will go first.”
The ones who are as mortal as humans because they have yet to reach the peak of their powers. I wrap my arms around my midriff as dread churns in my stomach. They are so vulnerable.
“Do you ...” I glance over my shoulder at Haesan and lower my voice. “Do you know anyone with the ability to harness the power of the waves?”
She looks past my shoulder and opens her mouth.
“Not him.” I grit my teeth. “Someone else.”
“Most of them have been deployed to the Kingdom of Mountains.” She purses her lips in thought. “We can search for older shinbiins who remained behind ...”
“Stop, Sunny.” Haesan places a heavy hand on my shoulder. “It has to be me. Tell me what I have to do.”
I hate that he is right.
“That jug holds the token to the Kingdom of Sky.” I blink to clear my fuzzy vision. “But to keep the portal open for everyone to pass, you need to create a tunnel with the enchanted water.”
“This isn’t enough water to create a tunnel big enough for people to pass through.” He bows his head in thought. After a moment, he raises his gaze back to me. “I have to go out of the dome and mix the token with our waters. That’s the only way to generate a tunnel that big.”
“And the bigger the better so we can get as many across at once,” the queen murmurs, twin lines of worry between her brows. “I could lend you my strength ...”
“No, Your Majesty. You are going to need every drop of yourgito grant our people safe passage to the portal,” Haesan says. My lips part, ready to protest, but he lays a gentle hand over my mouth. “I can do this, Stormy. I am stronger than you think.”
“When all hell breaks loose and the Kingdom of Water falls to the Amheuk,” I say, pulling his hand off my mouth, “I need you to hightail it out of here. Get yourself through the portal. Go to the Kingdom of Sky. Promise me you won’t die.”
Haesan gives me a guileless smile, his ceruleangipulsing around him. Heisstrong. If anyone can do this, he can. When he reaches out and ruffles my hair, I let him. I must be getting soft in my old age.
“I miss cadet training.” I plant my palms on my thighs, bent into an invertedL, and pant like a dehydrated puppy. I’ll rest for just one minute, soaking in the warmth of the late-afternoon sun.
I glance at the long line of people waiting to cross through the portal, then look beyond the crowd to the shimmering tunnel of water connected to the dome. Haesan floats just outside, with his eyes burning blue, and he circles his hands in front of him like he’s levitating a bowling ball. He must be freezing and exhausted. He’s been at it for hours.
I’m so fucking proud of him.
But the indolent tentacles of darkness stir restlessly over the dome, signaling the setting of the sun. Soon, it will be night, and Haesan will be vulnerable. With one last glance at my friend and an apprehensive squint at the serpentine arms beyond the dome, I sprint toward the Queen of Water at the opposite end of the palace courtyard.
She stands with her palms outstretched, as her magic extends the dome to the last village. She sways lightly, but she widens her stance with grim determination.
“This way.” I help the villagers coming through and point them toward the line to the portal. “Hurry.”
Sweat drips down the queen’s bloodless face as she takes labored breaths through her blue-tinged lips. She won’t last much longer.
“Come on, people.” I glance at the darkening sky. The sun is setting much too quickly. The vise around my heart tightens with each passing second. I practically push the villagers toward the portal. “Let’s go.”
“I . . . can’t . . .” the queen whispers.
I reach her side before her knees buckle.
“Whoa.” I wrap an arm around her waist and lean into her side to carry some of her weight. “You’re almost there.”
But her eyes roll back, and she collapses against me in a dead faint.
With an earsplitting crash, the dome extending to the village snaps back to the Dragon Palace. And the villagers ... The dark tentacles snatch the shinbiins left flailing in the water, one by one, until no trace remains of them.
The Amheuk is awake ... and hungry.
“Haesan.” I crane my neck, trying to see if the dome extending to the portal is holding, but the orderly line of shinbiins has become a swarm of panicked people, blocking my line of sight.
