by Graci Kim
Suddenly, my body feels strange. “Are there ants crawling on me?” I whine, scratching at every inch of my skin.
Emmett is squirming and scratching himself, too. Then he starts to change in front of my eyes. His body stretches like one of his homemade pizza doughs, being pulled from top to toe. His hair grows out and flows down his back in luscious dark curls, his legs lengthen, and his face starts to look like another I’ve seen before. Like, just before.
“Whoa, Em, you are the spitting image of Adeline!” I exclaim.
He looks down his body and then yelps. “Holy shirtballs, I have boobs!”
I stare at him in awe. Even his voice sounds just like Adeline’s.
He fumbles with his hands, not knowing where to put them. He reaches over his shoulder and feels for his backpack, which is still on his—well, Adeline’s—back. “Oh phew! My cookies are safe.”
He then turns to me and gasps. “Whoa, and you look just like Cosette!” His eyes shift between me and real Cosette, and he shakes his head. “So trippy. I’m seeing double.”
Cosette laughs. “Sorry. Hope you guys don’t mind looking like my sister and me. It’s much easier to glamour you into people I know well.”
Emmett and I shrug. “I’m not complaining,” Emmett says.
“Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t, okay?” She points to me. “Especially you.”
“Hey—” I start, but then we hear the chatter of other young astronomers coming from down the hall.
“C’mon,” says Cosette. “Time for you to get a move on.” She quickly sneaks us out the way we entered.
When we leave, Emmett gives her a Space Pirate salute while I check out my reflection in the glass door. I can’t help but stare. That girl definitely looks like Cosette, with Boris tucked under her arm.
I shake my head in disbelief and put my hand over Hattie’s heart vial.
Just hang on a bit longer, sis.
I promise I’ll bring you back home, if it’s the last thing I do.
DESPITE EMMETT’S RELUCTANCE, WE RIDE BORIS all the way to Koreatown. Every second counts when Hattie’s life is on the line, and he’s the fastest form of transport we’ve got. I’ll even admit that his wagging tail is starting to grow on me. He’s kind of cute—for a scooter, anyway.
I’m not sure what time it is, but as we approach the H-Mart, the streets are full of people grabbing their morning coffee on the way to work. I squirm inside, thinking of how worried Eomma and Appa must be by now…. I wonder if they even got any sleep.
The image of their tired, red-rimmed eyes lights a fire under my butt. We rush to the Korean fried chicken counter in the H-Mart, and I hold my breath as the Miru guard checks our gifted marks. Cosette’s glamour works like a charm, though, and as the symbols glow silver on our wrists, the protector gives us entry.
The temple lobby is lively today. Clan witches are busily going about their business, entering and exiting the elevators. By the number of people dressed in green robes, I’m guessing there’s some kind of event happening for the infusers today.
“Wow,” breathes Emmett, looking around. “I knew this place existed, but seeing it with my own eyes is something else. Can’t believe all this is inside that walk-in fridge.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I feel a small flower of pride bloom in my chest as I show Emmett this part of my world. I want him to know how amazing it is, to understand why it’s so important for me to be accepted here.
I lead him to the elevators and we jump into the first one that opens. Thankfully, no one else is waiting to use it. We don’t know who might recognize Cosette and Adeline, so we need to keep our distance from everyone and keep moving. I press the button for the basement floor and hold my breath. I remember Auntie Okja once telling my eomma that it was fitting the gifted library was in the basement, since the Horangi clan were “beneath us.”
I jab the CLOSE DOOR button over and over again in a vain attempt to make the elevator shut faster. Eventually, the doors begin to slide together. I’m about to let out a sigh of relief when a loud (and frustratingly familiar) voice calls out.
“Hold that elevator!” A hand slides between the doors, which causes them to open.
I immediately groan and make a face at Emmett before hiding Boris behind my back. Two people walk in, and it’s just our luck that one of them happens to be my favorite person in the entire world. Not.
I force a smile. “Hi, Jennie,” I say with fake cheer. “Hi, David.”
“Hi, Cosette,” David Kim, the Tokki infuser from Saturday School says. His cheeks are as round and ruddy as usual, but he’s got a queasy look about him that makes me worry he’s going to puke. His hand shakes a little as he pushes the button for level 88, and I plaster my back against the elevator wall.
“Cosette?” Jennie raises her eyebrows. “I thought you couldn’t make it to David’s initiation because of space camp.”
I suddenly realize why there are so many infusers at the temple, and why David is looking so nervous.
“Oh, um…” I try an upward inflection to come across as Cosette-like as I can. “The camp got canceled? So Adeline gave me a lift. Surprise!”
“You should have told me. We could have picked you up.” She pauses and studies me as if I’m one of those spot-the-difference puzzles. “Hey, are you feeling all right?”
I giggle nervously. “Of course. Great. Never better!” My voice is an octave too high.
The elevator stops at the basement. “That’s weird,” I say, way louder than I need to. “I wonder why we went down. We’re obviously going to the sanctuary like you, right, Em—I mean, Adeline?”
Emmett nods awkwardly and Jennie studies me suspiciously. “You sure you’re feeling all right? You seem a bit…off.”
“Of course I’m fine.” I quickly change the subject as the doors close and the elevator starts moving back up again. “So, David, you all ready for the initiation?”
He wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Not really. I mean, I hope so.”
“Dude, no offense, but you’re not looking too hot,” Emmett/Adeline points out.
Jennie reaches into David’s backpack as if it’s her own and takes out a small glass vial from the inside pocket. When she opens it, the scent of omija berries, passionflowers, and lemon balm fills the elevator. I immediately recognize it as a calming tonic Eomma and Appa get from David’s mom to use at the clinic.
“I told you to take this ages ago, you dummy.” Jennie hands it to David, who gratefully downs it in one gulp. “You’re hella useless, you know that?”
It strikes me as odd that someone as sweet and gentle as David would be friends with someone as harsh and prickly as Jennie. But if I’ve learned anything from talking to Cosette earlier, it’s that people aren’t always as they seem on the surface. Still, though…Jennie?
The elevator finally reaches level 88 and the doors start to open. I quickly tug on Emmett’s hand to keep him with me, and instead of getting out, I say, “Oh, sticks! I totally forgot my bag down in the lobby. You guys go ahead—we’ll see you in there.”
Jennie gives me another side-eye of suspicion but eventually relents and steps out of the elevator with David. And when the doors finally close again, Emmett and I both breathe out the biggest sighs of relief. That was hella awkward, as Jennie would say.
Thankfully, the second time around, we manage to get to the basement without being caught. “That was close,” I whisper to Emmett as the doors open.
I haven’t forgotten what Jennie said—about there being Miru guards patrolling the library’s entrance. We’ll need to be super stealthy. I also haven’t forgotten that our disguises won’t last much longer. Cosette said we’d only have an hour or so. We’ll have to move fast.
But as we step out of the elevator and survey our surroundings, a wave of confusion washes over me.
“I thought you said the gifted library was on this floor,” Emmett says, scratching his head. “This just looks like a laundr
omat.”
I frown. It’s bigger than any laundromat I’ve ever seen, with rows and rows of humongous washers and driers. But it’s definitely a laundromat. It even has, at the end of each row, those funny ironing contraptions that look like standing coatracks with vacuum hoses. A brightly lit vending machine selling single-use boxes of detergent and fabric softener is tucked into one corner, and next to the familiar brands is a detergent I’ve never seen before called Pure and Divine. Its slogan says it’s tough enough for even the holiest of stains and the price is an astronomical twenty dollars per box. What a rip-off!
“Maybe the guests from the Godrealm need somewhere to do their washing?” I say. “But I’m sure Auntie Okja said it was on this floor….” I’d assumed the library’s entrance would be protected somehow—perhaps with a Gumiho glamour or something. But this is the last thing I was expecting. The only good news is that there are no Miru guards around. In fact, there’s no one here at all.
Emmett walks over to one of the washers. “Aw, look, Rye! It’s a cute little horsey statue.” He reaches up and pats the head of a small black stone horse that’s sitting on top of the machine. “And wow, it’s nice being tall for a change,” he says, stretching Adeline’s long arm as high as it can go. “I can reach everything.”
“Hey, that’s a sculpture of a cheollima!” I walk over to get a closer look. The stallion is the size of a Chihuahua, and his angel-like wings are spread wide, as if he’s about to take flight.
“What’s a cheollima?”
“They’re winged horses known for being too big, too swift, and too majestic to be mounted by any mortal being. They’re supposed to be the goddesses’ preferred mode of transport in the Godrealm. I even heard all horses on Earth are descendants of a cheollima that lost his wings and fell to Earth.”
Emmett studies the figure and grins. “But this one’s so smol!”
“I know, right?!”
Emmett pats the cheollima’s smooth stone back and coos at him like he’s a cute puppy. “Who’s a good little horsey? And what are you doing here all by your lonesome?”
The statue suddenly splinters and cracks under Emmett’s hand, and little pieces of debris fall on the machine and the ground.
“Shirtballs!” Emmett jumps back in horror. “I think I broke him!”
Little by little, patches of glossy hair are revealed underneath the stone, until a teeny-weeny black winged horse emerges from his shell. He shakes off the last bits with a flutter of his mini wings.
“Who dares disturb my slumber?” He has a high-pitched, nasal voice, and for some reason, he speaks with a British accent. “You have disrupted my rest, and now you will pay with your lives. Say your final good-byes, mortals, and prepare to die.”
Oh no….What have we awoken?
I hiccup and jump back, only to collide with Emmett. He yelps and falls down, and his container of cookies tumbles out of his backpack.
The cheollima clicks his little hooves on the washing machine and holds his head high. He pauses with his wings outstretched as if he’s about to Hulk out at any minute. I quickly glance behind us, wondering if we’ll be able to get back to the elevators before he makes his next move.
Then out of the blue, he grins. It’s a million-dollar smile, revealing every single one of his tiny perfect equine teeth.
“Did I get you? Were you scared?” He neighs with glee. “Oh, I’ve been wanting to try that out for so long. It’s been a while since I’ve had any visitors.”
Emmett and I look at each other and then back at the cheollima, stunned. Is he for real?
“Is this the entrance to the gifted library?” I tentatively ask, taking another step away from the cheollima, just in case.
He nods, and I feel a rush of relief. Auntie Okja was right, after all.
“This is indeed the protected entrance to the gifted library, my cherry cupcakes.” He jumps up onto his two hind legs, and suddenly, a tiny clipboard with a piece of paper appears in his front hooves. “Your names, please?” he asks, looking from his paper back to us.
“Why do you need our names?” Emmett asks, narrowing his eyes.
“To see if you’re on the list, of course! I can’t ask you the verification questions if you’re not an authorized council member, now, can I?”
I let out another hiccup. Even glamoured as the Chung sisters, we couldn’t pass as council members. We’re doomed.
“Why are you protecting the entrance, anyway?” Emmett asks. “Aren’t the Miru guards supposed to be watching it?”
The cheollima drops his clipboard and stomps his hooves. “I am a guard, thank you very much.”
Emmett raises an eyebrow. “Are you, though? I thought cheollimas normally lived in the Godrealm?”
The winged horse sighs dramatically. “Indeed they do, my sweet sausage. But look at me.” He spins once so we get a sense of his full size. “Do you know how difficult it is for a runt to find stable employment in the Godrealm? No divine being wants to ride a cheollima who only comes up to their calves! It’s tough pickings up there, I tell you.”
“So you got a job working as security for the Miru,” I say. “Good for you.”
“Yeah, you do you, dude,” Emmett echoes. “It sucks to be small.”
The cheollima smiles his pearly whites. “Shucks, thanks, ladies. But, enough about me. As nice as this wee chat has been, if your names aren’t on the list, I will have no choice but to end your lives, right here, right now. I may be small, but I am deadly.”
We laugh uncomfortably at his second attempt at the killing-us joke, but this time he doesn’t smile. His poker face is next-level. He’s either got a really dry sense of humor, or we might not make it out of here alive.
Emmett slowly picks his fallen cookie container off the ground, sensing that we may have to make a run for it very soon.
“Wait a bloomin’ minute!” the cheollima shouts, his eyes widening. “What do you have there?”
“Cookies,” Emmett says, prying open the Tupperware. “Salted caramel. Baked fresh yesterday.”
The cheollima gasps and hops up and down on his back legs. “My favorite! What do I have to do to get my hooves on one of those, sugar plum?”
Emmett and I look at each other, and the same lightbulb goes on in both our heads.
“If you let us into the library, I’ll happily give you a cookie,” Emmett says.
“His—I mean, her cookies are the best,” I add. “I can definitely vouch for them.”
The cheollima taps his front hoof on the washing machine, considering the offer. Eventually, he stops and turns to us. “Hmm. Well, I could waive the authorized-personnel requirement in exchange for a cookie. But the portal still won’t open if you don’t pass the verification process.”
“What does that involve?” I ask.
“You have to answer my three riddles correctly. The people on the list know the correct answers.” He glances at Emmett’s cookies and licks his horsey lips. “Although, if you were willing to part with two of those, I might let you get away with just one correct answer out of three.”
“We’ll do it,” Emmett says.
The cheollima flaps his wings. “Deal!” He clears his throat and puts on one of those fake game-show-host voices. “All right, contestants, let’s get this party started. Verification question attempt number one: Who’s the more powerful of the two, the ant or the elephant?”
I shoot my hand into the air. “Ooh, ooh, that’s way too easy,” I squeal. “It’s the elephant. They’re the largest land animal on Earth.”
I hold up my palm for a high-five from Emmett, but a loud neigh escapes from the cheollima’s mouth.
“Incorrect!” he announces. “While the elephant is indeed very powerful, the humble ant is able to lift up to one thousand times its own body weight. The correct answer is ant!”
I lower my palm. “Sorry, Em,” I say sheepishly. “I should have checked with you before answering.”
“It’s okay,” Emmett s
ays, a determined-to-win look on his face. “He said we have three tries.”
The cheollima shakes out his wings. “Better luck next round, contestants. And remember, two minds are better than one. Verification question attempt number two: Which is stronger, steel or silk?”
This time, I keep my mouth shut and look to Emmett. “What do you think?”
He pouts in thought. “I mean, steel seems like the obvious answer. But the obvious answer was wrong before. So maybe it’s silk?”
I nod. “That logic makes sense. There’ll be some kind of technicality that makes silk stronger. Let’s go with that.”
Emmett puts his hands on his hips. “Our answer is silk.”
We look hopefully at the cheollima, but he bleats out another incorrect-buzzer sound and looks disappointed. “Wrong again, my delicate macarons. Everyone knows steel is stronger than silk. I thought I’d throw in an easy one to help you out, but it looks like you threw it down the loo!”
My hands start to sweat, and Emmett lowers his head. “Sorry, Rye. That was my bad.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “We’re in this together, Em. No need to apologize.”
The cheollima does a final twirl on his right hind leg and clears his throat. “So, contestants, this is the moment of truth. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. My last chance to obtain those cookies, and your last chance to gain passage into the gifted library or face certain death. Are you ready to hear the question for your final verification attempt?”
We both nod, swallowing hard. I really hope he’s joking about the certain death part….
“Third and final attempt: Which is the mightier of the two, the sun or the wind?”
Emmett and I take our time working this one out.
“The answer that first comes to mind is the wind,” Emmett muses. “I mean, the sun just shines, but the wind can be strong and blustery, right? It can create hurricanes, destroy entire houses, that kinda thing.”
I nod, thinking hard. “That’s what I was gonna say, too. The wind is the obvious choice.” But then I remember the story Auntie Okja used to tell me about the power of empathy over brute force. “Wait, do you know the old Aesop’s fable about the wind and the sun?”