Chapter 10
When Grace pulled into school on Thursday, she felt sluggish. She hadn’t been able to fall asleep again last night after that horrible nightmare.
She parked so crooked that her car was at a thirty-degree angle in the spot. But she didn’t have the energy to redo it.
Grace forced herself to climb out of the car despite the overwhelming desire to curl up in the back seat and nap until the first bell rang. She had too much to do today.
And yesterday she’d lost most of her evening to worrying about her surprise visitor.
Nope, not going there, Grace thought as she pulled out her phone to review her to-do list.
She had to check in on volunteer sign-ups for the carnival ticket booth, since tomorrow was opening night.
How did that boy even know where I live?
Make sure every student club and team had their assigned booths.
Has he told anyone else I’m the creator of Sun God?
Talk to Mr. Gray about extra credit for AP Physics, since she was pretty sure she hadn’t done well on the quiz yesterday.
What if that boy shows up again?
“Stop it.” She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. “Just focus. Stop worrying about things that don’t matter.”
The beep of a car made her jump. She barely missed getting hit by the side mirror. The driver glared at her as they probably called her unsavory names.
“Great, now you’re going to get run over because you can’t stop thinking about stalker boy.” Grace adjusted her bag higher on her shoulder and walked onto campus.
The hallway that housed the junior lockers felt more crowded than normal, and Grace had to squeeze between the lingering bodies, uttering apologies as she went.
She heard the high giggle of one of her classmates and the murmur of a deep voice.
Her stomach stirred with unease, her body registering danger before she saw it.
There, leaning against her locker, was the boy from yesterday.
“Seems to me, you should tell him you’re tired of waiting,” he was saying to Heather Duncan, captain of the dance team. “If he can’t commit, you deserve to know.”
“That’s what I keep telling her,” Heather’s friend replied, sending the boy a bright smile. “You give really good advice.”
The boy grinned, but instead of directing it at the flirtatious girl, his eyes lifted, immediately finding Grace.
“Finally.” He pushed away from the lockers, earning protests from the girl trying to cling to his arm. “I was beginning to think you were still avoiding me.”
“Do you two know each other?” asked Heather, glaring at them suspiciously. This was probably the first time she’d spoken to Grace all school year.
“You could say we’ve met,” the boy replied. The corner of his lips quirked like it was a funny joke.
Grace was not amused. She wondered what he’d do if Grace announced that he was a delusional stalker who’d followed her home yesterday.
But she knew the burden of proof for this kind of stuff fell on the victim.
Her eyes moved among the crowd, almost hoping to see Chuck Wilson to back her up.
But he wasn’t there. And Grace decided it was for the best. To accuse the boy of stalking meant she’d have to admit she was the author of Sun God.
Grace realized now that everyone in the hallway was watching them, or pretending not to. And after his wild claim yesterday, Grace definitely didn’t want to have any conversations with this kid in front of half the junior class. So she stormed over to him and whispered, “You shouldn’t be here.”
“We need to talk,” he said back.
“Not here.” She pulled him toward the exit.
A few of the kids let out a long “oooh” in unison. Like she’d just jumped him instead of yanking him away.
Grace glanced back and spotted Heather, her eyes wide and full of speculation. Great, there were definitely going to be rumors flying around school before the first bell rang.
She picked up her pace.
“I like this place,” the boy chirped, seemingly content with letting her pull him along. “Those kids seem to adore me the way I deserve.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Grace grumbled. Of course, anyone would love the attention that came with being the attractive transfer student.
Humid air hit her face as she pushed into the courtyard and veered toward the parking lot, when someone called her name. Zoe.
They jogged between the cars, keys still dangling between their fingers. Zoe’s eyes swept curiously over the Haemosu look-alike, gleaming in aesthetic approval.
“What’s up? Who’s the hot new kid?”
The boy grinned, clearly liking the attention.
Zoe stuck out their hand. “I’m Zoe Ortiz. They/them. Grace’s best friend.”
Grace tensed. Some of the kids could be awful about Zoe’s pronouns. But the boy just took their hand. “I’m Haemosu. He/him. Celestial prince.”
Grace groaned at his insistence at playing this charade.
But Zoe grinned. “Oh, I like the way you play baseball.”
“Baseball?” His brows knit in confusion.
“It’s just a saying.” Grace didn’t bother to explain that it was specifically a Zoe-ism.
Then their eyes narrowed, refusing to let go of Hae’s hand. “Wait, Haemosu? Celestial prince? Do you read webtoons?”
“Hold that thought.” Grace hurriedly pulled Zoe aside.
“Gracie, is this the model for Sun God? You’ve been holding out.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s the thing. He just showed up. And he doesn’t just look like Haemosu. He claims he is him.”
Zoe peeked around Grace to study the guy again, now with a more critical gaze. “Yeah, I mean, it’s uncanny. Maybe it’s a fan thing.”
“Yeah, except how does he know I’m the author?”
“Internet sleuthing?”
“Do you think I should report this?” Grace asked.
Zoe looked surprised before their face settled into angry lines. “Why? Has he threatened you?”
“No, it’s not that serious.” Grace hurriedly corrected herself. “Let me see if I can just deal with him quietly.”
“Maybe I should stick around.” Zoe looked reluctant to go.
“No, it’s okay. If he doesn’t back down, I’ll threaten to call the cops or something.” Grace loved Zoe, but she was afraid her friend’s temper could cause this to blow up bigger than it had to be.
“All right, but update me as soon as you finish talking to him.” Zoe gave Grace a firm stare down until Grace nodded.
“Promise.”
Before Zoe left, they sent the boy a warning death glare, pointing two fingers at their own eyes before jabbing them in his direction.
“They were nice,” the boy said with a grin.
“Yeah, they’re sunshine personified. Now, can you tell me what your game is? Why do you keep following me?”
“I’m not following you. You’re just where I end up.” He looked frustrated, but she was the one who was completely lost.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means, if I tried to walk away from you, inevitably, I’d still end up wherever you are. Something about you pulls me to you. Like a magnet.”
Grace laughed at how ridiculous that sounded, but at his unamused glare, she slowly quieted. “You can’t be serious. That makes no sense.”
“On that we agree,” the boy said. “But it must mean something. Nothing is coincidence when it comes to the gods.”
This was getting out of hand. Even if it upset him, Grace had to be firm. “Look, I get it. You’re used to getting what you want, but this is getting creepy.”
Instead of being properly chastised by her, he smiled almost wistfully. “Yes, I did used to get whatever I wanted. It was quite nice.”
“Okay,” Grace said slowly. “If that’s the case, can’t you just find someone else to cosplay with?”
“I don’t know what ‘cosplay’ is. But can you honestly claim that you do not feel this connection between us?” His voice warmed, like hard caramel melted into a smooth, warm taffy. It was pulling her in.
Grace blinked hard, trying to break free from the confusing haze. “I can’t. I mean, I don’t, um, know what you think you felt, but you don’t even know me.”
“No, I don’t. But I do know you’re special.”
A shaky breath escaped her.
In a way, these words were something she’d always wanted to hear. Just not from a strange boy who happened to think he was the personification of a fictional god.
“I’m not special,” she said, desperately trying to convince him to stop this weird game. “I’m no one.”
Now he scowled. “Stop that. When a god tells you you’re special, you should believe him.”
Don’t let him pull you in. Stand strong.
“If you’re a Korean god, then where did you learn to speak English? God school?”
That seemed to stump him, his eyes lowering as he tried to come up with an answer. This was it, he had to give up his weird game now, right?
“I do not know,” he said slowly. “When I woke up, I just knew it. Like it had been implanted in my mind. Along with odd memories of this world.”
Oh great, she’d somehow gotten him to dig his heels further into this delusion. “Maybe I should take him to the hospital,” Grace mumbled.
He huffed, crossing his arms. “I do not get sick. I’m just trying to explain things to you before you run away like you did yesterday.”
“I ran away because you’re pretending to be a character from the webtoon I write,” Grace said.
“Webtoon?”
His confusion was so convincing, Grace’s resolve started to waver.
“Uh, yeah. This one?” She pulled up Sun God on her phone and waited for him to be embarrassed at being called out.
Instead, eyes wide, he snatched her phone out of her hand.
“Hey!” When Grace tried to grab it back, he lifted it out of her reach.
He was poking at her phone, jabbing it so hard, she was worried he’d break it.
Before Grace could protest again, his eyes whipped back to hers.
The fierceness in his gaze gave her a momentary twinge of fear.
In those silent seconds, she was convinced that there really was a deep power simmering within him.
“You drew this?” His voice was low and shocked.
“Yeah.” Was he implying she hadn’t?
“Webtoon,” he murmured. “And this was what you envisioned me to look like?” He spread out his arms to gesture to himself.
Grace sighed. The time had come to acknowledge the freaky coincidence.
She reminded herself that she hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
And there was no way he could prove she’d stolen his likeness.
Grabbing her phone back, she said, “I made this look up. I swear I’ve never seen you before.
And if you’re here to, like, sue me or something, then I’m sure there’s allowances for coincidences in the law. ”
“What? No, that’s not…” He shook his head and then started again. “I’m telling you, I’m the true god, Haemosu. What will make you believe me?”
Grace laughed. “Short of showing me actual godly powers, I don’t think anything could.”
“My powers?” Doubt shadowed his face.
Finally she’d gotten through to him. “Yeah, if you’re a god, I want to see your powers.”
“You can’t.”
“Exactly.” Her lips curved into a triumphant smile.
“Not because I do not have any powers,” he insisted.
Grace bit back a groan at his level of delusion.
“Because they’re not working correctly. It’s hard to access them right now.”
“All right, that’s enough,” Grace said as the first warning bell rang. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Wait.” There was a desperation in his voice, a flash of panic in his eyes.
And in this moment, she believed he wasn’t pretending. His fear was just too real to be faked. As she looked at him, she wondered if, at least to him, this convoluted fantastical story was real.
“I’m sorry,” Grace said. What did one say to someone who was living with such delusions? “I wish I could do something.”
“You can. You can believe me.” He took her by the shoulders.
His grip was warm. Like the sun wasn’t hiding behind the clouds, but under his skin.
As Grace looked into his beseeching eyes, a part of her did want to believe.
Not just that he believed in a delusion.
But that this gorgeous boy really was a god.
And that Grace really was someone special enough that she could help him.
“Shouldn’t you kids be in class?” Mrs. Krol drove up to them in her golf cart on her usual morning rounds to catch truants and yell at loitering students.
The security guard always reminded Grace of the character of the Trunchbull in her favorite childhood book.
Wide shoulders and square face, constantly plastered with a scowl.
Just the idea of being yelled at activated Grace’s buzz of anxiety. “Yes, sorry.”
When the boy didn’t reply, Mrs. Krol eyed him suspiciously. “Where are you supposed to be this period?”
“What?” he asked.
Mrs. Krol pulled out her tablet. “Name?”
“Haemosu.”
Grace saw Mrs. Krol type it in: Hae Mosu. “I don’t see you in here, Hae.”
He blinked at the inadvertent nickname. “Why would I be in there?”
“All students are on my roster.”
“Oh, no, I am not a student. I’m the celestial prince,” he said, like it was a simple misunderstanding.
Mrs. Krol’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t go to this school, then you can’t be here.”
“I can’t leave,” he said. “I have to explain to her—”
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to have to call the cops.”
Faux Haemosu glanced over for help. But Grace just shrugged. She had no intention of standing up to Mrs. Krol. She’d once given a girl detention for running to the gas station across the street to buy tampons.
“I’m going.” He took a step back, meeting Grace’s eyes. “But we’ll talk again.”