I tossed my hair. “Unlike you, vampyre, I still have breath. I prefer not to waste it.”
Khyber’s grin was swallowed up by shadows as he gazed into the upper reaches of the volcano. “Better.”
We sprang from the ledge. Khyber held me close as we soared above the poisoned lake. I gazed upon the tainted waters, in awe of the sheer size of Una’s shell. A Black Turtle. It sounded like a creature out of legend, as old and powerful as the White Tiger, or Xiang the Red Bird. Had Hyeon Bin known of his niece’s significance?
“Weather spirits guard the caldera, but they will not expect us to attack from the lava tube system.” Khyber alighted on the opposite side of the lake and gestured. “Come. We must break whatever they are protecting that is holding the Doorkeeper here. She alone will be able to destroy this chamber of curses.”
Just then, the toll of a gong echoed, shaking the magma chamber. Several stalactites rattled above as the peal rang on and on. Within its wake, I heard the unsettling cries of the Red Company returning from their hunt empty-handed.
“Hurry,” was all Khyber needed to say. Swallowing my fear, I followed the vampyre prince deeper into the dark.
Chapter 44: The Great King Rocks
~Raina~
We had flown for miles up the eastern coast of South Korea, but Ankor’s typhoon still stirred the deep and that awful green mist darkened the sky. Our wings beat with greater purpose, anxious to reach the Fourth Trial in time. Images flashed through my mind—Citlalli crumpled on the boat deck with a dark maroon pool leaking from her side, Yu Li’s white fur stained crimson, Rafael narrowly dodging a stray bullet, and Khyber, the mighty eldest vampyre prince, now little more than a splash in the sea—and I welcomed the lash of the wind. It made me forget, at least for a moment. The majority of our friends were lost or captured behind enemy lines, and the vampyres had rallied behind a horribly powerful Greater Dark Spirit known as Xec. Only the power of the yeouiju could help us now.
Heesu’s feathery wings tucked in for descent. Startled, I glanced down. We had reached the Final Trial. There was Bongil Beach, studded with white tents full of offerings and shrines for protection. And nearby off the sandy shores was none other than the Great King Rocks, which jutted up like a granite crown from the storm-churned sea.
Heesu circled me, her tail grazing my cheek. This is the underwater tomb of the original King Mun Mu, our father’s ancestor who asked for his ashes to be buried at sea so he could rise as a great red dragon and protect our people. Thus was our line born.
I sucked in my breath, feeling the allure of the teal-tinted waves draw me closer. This was an entrance to Eve. Underwater?
Scared, water dragon? Heesu teased. Then she dove.
The ocean opened its arms, and I followed. Froth crashed over my head as I swam dangerously close to the precarious rocks. An emerald tail waved at me from amidst the churning sea. My pupils adjusted in time to see Heesu disappear into a slender sea canyon, above which a single character was engraved:
Yong.
The chasm grew smaller and tighter the further I swam, until I feared I would get stuck. Several small black fish darted over my claws. My hide scraped against granite, chipping my scales. Heart pounding in my chest, I closed my eyes and then shifted. Shrinking down to human shape, I was able to squeeze through the tunnel and then pull myself up, panting and shivering, into a vast subterranean cavern gleaming with countless glass fishing floats and coral-encrusted nets. Reflective globes of green, gray, and blue carpeted the ground like a treacherous string of Christmas ornaments. Two lit candles sat just above the water’s reach, but even they would have no escape from high tide.
“Be careful, Raina!” Heesu extended a hand to help me up. We stood and surveyed the dangerous cavern, the fishing globes reflecting our hesitant faces.
“WHO DARES ENTER THE TOMB OF THE SERPENT?”
We jumped, nearly treading on broken glass. The silvery lights burned so brightly that they nearly blinded us, and then a filmy yellow eye appeared in every fishing globe in the cavern.
The eye stopped rolling and fixated on us. “STATE YOUR NAME AND BUSINESS HERE.”
Heesu inched forward and inclined her head hastily. “Annyeong hashimnikka. We mean no disrespect. I am Yong Heesu, and this is my sister, Yong Rai Na. We seek the Serpent Guardian to complete the Fourth Trial of Wisdom.”
The host of eyes magnified by pressing closer to get a better look at us. “YOU ARE THE CHILDREN OF YONG MUN MU, GUARDIAN OF THE EAST SEA. YOU SEEK THE SERPENT’S WISDOM TO GROW YOUR FOURTH CLAW. COME QUICKLY, AIR BREATHERS. FOLLOW THE TRAIL AND DO NOT STRAY. THE OCEAN WILL RISE SOON AND SWALLOW THIS CAVERN WHOLE. YOU MUST RETURN TO THE MORTAL WORLD BEFORE THE CANDLES GO OUT.”
The yellow eyes swelled and then vanished. One by one, the jade and cerulean globes rose into the air to reveal a path of gray sand. We tread our way cautiously into the depths of the tomb.
At last, we could go no further. A dark hole tore a gouge in the tunnel ahead. It moaned and rumbled with the sea. One fraying rope plunged into its depths.
I felt sour breath on my neck and spun about with a hiss, my eyes flaring violet. An elderly Korean woman with rheumy yellow eyes cackled and then gestured for me to put on a robe woven out of netting. Her gray-streaked hair was pinned on top of her head with an abalone shell, and it was only after I accepted the robe that I realized her fingers were webbed. Barely discernable black, white, and gold scales climbed up her arms and down her forehead.
“Are you the Serpent?” Heesu stammered.
The elderly woman snickered. “Ha! There’s no need to look so frightened. I am not the famed Dreaming Dragon who sees past, present, and future,” she clacked, cladding Heesu in a similar robe. “I am merely one of the sea snake people who guard this tomb. You seek the final Guardian of Wisdom. She lies in slumber below. Wait, now. I go wake her.”
The sea snake woman clambered over to the hole and then lowered herself in, disdaining the rope in favor of using her webbed hands and feet. We watched her descend until the blackness swallowed her completely. Then the song began.
It started as a low hum, like the push and pull of the sea. Eventually, the song began to swell. A few tinkling high notes cascaded down like a waterfall. Was it a lament? A love ballad? I gazed deeper into the darkness, my pupils glowing as luminous as coins. I was confident that if I just looked closer, then I would see the meaning behind the song…
A hand pulled me back.
“Careful, Raina,” Heesu whispered. “I have heard of the sea snake people. They are sirens, who lure many sailors to their deaths.”
“I thought she said we needn’t be frightened of her,” I grumbled but allowed Heesu to tow me away from the ledge. We retreated to the back of the cavern where the song’s lure faded amidst the echo of dripping water.
“We cannot stay here long.” Heesu glanced nervously back the way we had come. “It will be high tide soon. Our dragon forms are too large to escape this cave.”
“Tomb,” I reminded her unhelpfully, and we both huddled closer.
“Do you think they’re alive?” Her lips moved in a whisper.
My eyes were suddenly wet, and it had nothing to do with the salt water running down my forehead. ’Lalli. Sun. Ankor. Yu Li. Rafael. Khyber.
“Of course.” I smiled and leaned my sodden head against hers. “Otherwise their ghosts would be here, haunting us and demanding to know why we’re chickening out at the doorstep of the Final Trial.”
She gave a hollow chuckle that made her pixie cut sway around her ears. “I can’t believe it’s you and me, Raina. My father, Yong Enterprises, the International Were Council…everyone expected Sun and Ankor to be standing here, not us. Appa never prepared me the way he did the twins. He never even knew you existed. What if the Serpent says neither of us are ready, Raina? Or worse…” She swallowed hard. “What if the Guardians made the wrong choice, and neither of us sees the yeouiju when it falls?”
My face flushed as Ankor�
�s black agate eyes bore accusingly into mine. Bile rose in my throat, and I couldn’t choke down the guilt.
“Heesu,” I asked slowly, “during the Second Trial…did Baek Bo Ra ever ask you to share any secrets about me?”
Suddenly alert, Heesu shifted to sit on her heels. Her brown eyes searched mine. “Yes. She asked me what your fears were, and if I was willing to become the Celestial Dragon at the cost of you. I told her no, Raina. I would never betray my family.” Grinning, Heesu reclined back. “Why? You didn’t tell her I’m deathly afraid of peacocks, did you?”
My skin burned. “No—what? P-peacocks?”
“Don’t laugh!” Heesu begged. “When we were little, Appa took us to the zoo to lecture us about the evils of keeping animals in cages. The only animal that was free was a—peacock—and Sun thought it would be funny to shove me toward it. Then it chased me—”
I ducked my head, unable to stop a smile. “Don’t worry, Heesu. I did not say a word about you.”
She laughed lightly and threw an arm around my shoulder. “I knew I could count on you, unni. Poor Ankor, seeing visions of his broken dragon form exploding and destroying the world. Sun must have been—how do you say?—a rat on him.”
I said nothing. And I knew the exact moment when her arm began to stiffen.
“Raina,” she said in a voice not full of anger but something far worse—disappointment.
I felt her fury rise, but then the sea snake woman reappeared with her hands folded within her robes.
“Come,” she said, her voice solemn. “The Fourth Guardian is never with us for long.”
I hesitated above the creaky rope, but Heesu folded her arms. “You first,” she spoke with the cool disinterest of a stranger.
Swallowing, I allowed the darkness to envelop my reddened cheeks as I descended into the abyss. But on some level, a knot of discomfort uncoiled in my chest, and each breath came easier.
Someone finally knew.
Feral one-eyed Citlalli prowled amongst the shadowy ledges, leering at me. That you don’t belong here.
I remembered how proud I had felt when Bo Ra’s paw print had joined the Jackdaw’s. How I had stood my ground against a frost-breathing winter beast despite fearing I was about to leave Cambodia as an ice statue.
Away with you, I told wild Citlalli. I want this.
She cocked her head so her matted black curls fell across her face. Why? How can you say you deserve it after what you’ve done?
Her shadow hung over me long after I’d passed the ledge.
Finally, my feet touched down upon a cold and shimmering ground. As my eyes struggled to adjust to the eerie blackness of the abyss, I picked up other things: dripping water, the tinkle of what sounded like coins, and above it all: breathing.
Heesu landed next to me. I offered her a hand to steady herself. She ignored it. Suddenly, the entire cavern floor shifted.
We tumbled back into a dank tide pool, and I caught a glimpse of more fishing floats. They rose into the air and lit themselves like lanterns. It was then that I realized that the shadowy mounds surrounding us were actually mountains of treasure. And there, curling between egg-sized rubies and jade pendants, was a giant tail that gleamed like a thousand diamonds.
The silver dragon lowered her head from the upper regions of the cavern. A powdery white mane spilled from her neck, translucent crystal horns sprouted from her temples like antlers, and there, in the center of her head, lay not one pair of eyes but three: two sets were closed, but the middle pair was awake and shimmered like rain drops slipping down glass.
The silence was shattered by Heesu, who dashed forward and fell to her knees. She cried out a single word: “Umma!”
Chapter 45: The Final Trial
~Raina~
The vast treasure cavern caught Heesu’s cry and magnified it, bouncing it off of limpet-encrusted treasure chests and amethyst crystals the size of horses. My knees turned to water, and I fought the urge to flee.
Heesu’s mother was the Fourth Guardian? The so-called “Serpent”?
To my shame, I realized I had always assumed the mysterious Sun Young had died. All of the Yongs’ evasive comments about her falling ill and Mun Mu searching for a cure… I had never imagined this was the fate that befell her.
The rare Dreaming Dragon lowered her head so we could stare directly into her mirror eyes. All at once, her other two pairs opened as well. And I saw myself, all of my selves— I was the curious little girl climbing into the deep end of the pool while Citlalli wailed about getting wet; I was a toddler shaking habanero pepper enthusiastically into Mami’s churros while she cried out in horror; I was a baby opening her Asiatic eyes and seeing her father for the first time before he left the delivery room in shock; I was—
The Dreaming Dragon’s past eyes tumbled backwards into infinity, and I ducked my head, unable to comprehend what I saw there.
Of her future eyes, how I longed to gaze upon them and see what awaited me there. A massive weight settled over my mind when I tried, and its burden was too heavy for me to handle. I caught a glimpse: a terrible, horned king who bent to smile at me with teeth made from the bones of children—
Sun Young’s past and future eyes mercifully closed. Only her present ones remained awake, flickering like silver pools as they fixated on Heesu.
Her voice settled over our minds like light, wispy pillows, easy to sink into and drift peacefully away: I remember you now…Daughter.
Heesu burst into tears and seized the chrome dragon’s foreleg in a hug. Sun Young nudged her head and then rose to regard me from where I cringed beside a tangled net of Japanese fishing globes.
Name yourself.
A simple question, and yet my mind remained blank. Alvarez? Yong? Mejía?
“Raina,” I finally said.
The Serpent looked at me, and I knew she saw all of me and yet said nothing.
“Don’t be mad at her, Umma,” Heesu suddenly said, and I felt gratefulness pour toward my half-sister as she rose by my side. “Appa made a mistake, but it was not Raina’s fault.”
Your father has made many mistakes. Sun Young’s coils shifted as she slithered restlessly around her underwater tomb. Yet he sets; you rise.
“What is the Final Trial of Wisdom, Umma?” Heesu asked.
The Dreaming Dragon’s chrome scales flared with sudden light, which refracted off of the metallic treasure avalanches.
So eager, little imugi. But this Trial will not be like the others. Sun Young bowed her head amongst a trio of obelisk diamonds, which magnified her colorless eyes. Once, not so long ago, two young imugi stood where you do now, awaiting the Final Trial. One was a cunning shadow dragon, and the other was a young, powerful fire dragon. Sun Young paused. Your father.
Heesu and I glanced at each other. I inched closer despite myself, hypnotized by the lyrical beauty of the Dreaming Dragon’s voice:
Your father was formidable and charming, even for an imugi who had not grown his fourth claw. However, the shadow dragon was equally clever. The previous Serpent Guardian, Net, tested them for many days beneath the sea. Then Net discovered that the shadow dragon had stolen one of his precious treasures. The shadow dragon denied it, but Net disqualified her from the Trials. Net thanked your father for discovering the thief and blessed him with his fourth claw. Thus did your father rise above his siblings to become the first Celestial Dragon of Autumn for the New Age. Sun Young’s past eyes began to flicker rapidly with past memories: wars, freshly inked treaties, handshakes, explosions. The shadow dragon was punished.
“Why did Net believe the shadow imugi was the culprit?” I asked. Heesu swung toward me, her face darkening with anger. However, then she, too, awaited the Serpent’s answer.
Because of who she was. Sun Young gazed upward beyond the dark crevices of the underwater tomb. In the old days, the dragons were not the most powerful of all the serpent folk. There used to be gods. The shadow imugi was the reincarnation of the Korean goddess of wealth. So when his
favorite Serendibite Scepter was found in her possession, Net wasted no time in extracting his vengeance.
Sun Young’s past eyes suddenly awoke, flashing silver with the blood of the gods. I caught a glimpse of smoky black wings evaporating on the ground with a sigh.
“Gods are real?” I whispered.
The Dreaming Dragon’s lilting laughter hung aerially in my mind like a choir’s harmony gathering at the top of a cathedral. Every people has their gods who watch out for them. Once you could travel to Eve and seek out their counsel from the Beyond. These gods even elevated wise spirit walkers to the position of Elder Life Spirit, to serve as their messengers between the spirit and the mortal world. However, in recent times, the gods have begun to fade across the world from root, memory, and blood. The Serpent cocked her head. Why worship a god when you can become one yourself?
Heesu shook her head. “No, Umma. That doesn’t make sense. The Celestial Dragons are always born from our lineage. The past seasonal cycle was out of balance, true, but that was because Appa’s siblings died in the Korean War. He had to carry on the burden of being the sole Celestial Dragon for the entire age. He told us how the gods grew sick because of the Vampyre Court’s presence in the East. When their shrines remained empty, our deities weakened further. The Vampyre Queen saw her opportunity and tracked down the gods to lock them away, one by one. Soon only Appa and the Elder Life Spirits were left to defy her.”
I raised my head. “Then why haven’t they returned?”
Amongst the silence of shadows troubling Heesu’s face, the sea abruptly rushed up in an awful roar and crashed over the Great King Rocks. Sun Young’s present eyes fluttered like a candle about to wink out.
Many lips have been sealed to guard such a secret—her voice trickled across our minds, dwindling to a faint rasp—My duty as the Fourth Spirit Guardian forbids me from speaking of it. Yet I travel in the past and the future. I see what they want to remain hidden. From the age of a young girl, I always knew my sight would mean my death.
Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3) Page 29