Chapter 24
Her brain screamed at her feet to move, to carry her away from here. But they wouldn’t listen.
She realized now that the creatures were wearing shredded pieces of cloth. So torn and dirtied that she couldn’t tell what they used to be.
The Ferris wheel lights shifted from red to green to blue to yellow, flashing across the trees in a monochrome wash with each spin. It created whirling shadows that stretched and retracted along the brown grass and gravel.
And through those shadows stalked the creatures. Pale flesh picked up the hue of whichever light slashed across their forms. Haunting blue. Angry red. Sickening yellow.
The first creature’s foot crushed the foil of an empty popcorn bag, making a nerve-racking crunch.
“What are they?” Grace whispered.
“I’m not sure. But I can feel a dark energy from them,” Hae said. “Get back.”
She retreated a step, her foot knocking against a can. The sound of it skittering across gravel pulled the creatures’ terrifying focus to her.
“Go,” Hae gritted out. “I’ll lead them away from the carnival.”
“Wait,” Grace protested, but Hae already lifted his arms to draw focus.
“Ya!” he shouted. “You looking for me?”
The pale creatures let out low angry hisses as they zeroed in on him. Their dark eyes glinting.
Hae widened his stance, lifting his fists.
A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. An ominous warning that made Grace shiver.
The creatures rushed forward together, their movements almost coordinated like a pack on a hunt. Grace screamed as Hae lifted his palm, and a light as brilliant as the sun burst from it. Grace covered her eyes, and still the glow left bright dots in her vision.
She stumbled back again, this time falling. She felt the scrape of gravel cutting into her palms. She cursed, still trying to blink away the dots that danced in front of her eyes.
When her vision cleared, she saw that the creatures were now on all fours, just as disoriented as she was.
But where was Hae? She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the sting as the cuts on her hand met dirt.
The lights of the Ferris wheel shifted from red to white and lit up a body splayed on the ground mere feet from her. Hae. She hurried to him, checked for a pulse.
He was pale and hot to the touch, but she found it. Weak, but there.
The creatures hissed as they straightened, recovering from the attack.
“Hae!” Grace grabbed his shoulder.
He groaned, and she shook him urgently. “Hae, we’ve got to run!”
But his head just lolled to the side.
Grace realized he wasn’t going to be able to help. Not in this state. She was on her own for now. Slowly, she turned to face the monsters, lifting shaking fists.
She frantically tried to recall the one lesson Zoe had given her about how to punch. Thumbs inside the fist or outside? She couldn’t remember. This was going to end so badly.
The first creature charged, and she cringed, shielding her face.
But before the attack could come, a high whistle sounded behind her and Grace spun around, blinking in disbelief.
Behind her stood a teenage girl with long dark hair and ivory skin.
Her features were mostly in shadow, but Grace could tell she was gorgeous.
“There you are.” The girl’s full lips quirked into a grim smile as she sprinted forward.
Her movements were graceful, her steps light. Like those of a dancer. Or a fighter. And she didn’t seem surprised or scared as she charged at the pale monsters across the field. Her eyes hard and focused.
She easily dodged a swipe from the first monster, lifting into an effortless spin kick that caught it in the chest. It went skidding across the ground.
Hae groaned again and Grace reached down to help him as he struggled to stand. “Careful, you might be hurt.”
“Don’t worry about me.” He pushed her hands away. “Just get somewhere safe.”
“What about you?”
He rose to his feet. “We’ll take care of them.”
“We?” Grace asked.
Hae leapt forward, grabbing the second creature from behind. Holding it in a chokehold as the girl launched at it, a kick landing squarely in its solar plexus.
The monster went down as Hae doubled over from the residual force of the blow. “You never did pull your punches.”
“That was a kick.” The girl corrected Hae as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
“You’re here,” he said into her hair, sounding relieved. Almost happy.
And even as Grace tried to figure out what was going on, her heart constricted uncomfortably in her chest. “Um, do you guys know each other?”
The two separated and the girl glanced over at Grace. The flash of the Ferris wheel lights spotlighting the planes of her face.
Grace gasped with horrified recognition.
The girl truly was gorgeous. Webtoon-like in her beauty.
“It can’t be,” Grace said as she stared into a face she’d drawn hundreds of times. A goddess, and the webtoon’s main love interest.
An angry hiss sounded from the tree line.
“Yuhwa!” Hae warned as another creature arrived.
Any doubt Grace held on to evaporated when Hae said her name.
The girl’s lip curled into a scowl. The expression was one Grace had drawn a lot on webtoon Yuhwa’s face. A goddess. The daughter of the water god, Habaek. And Haemosu’s fabled first love.
Now the gorgeous girl that Grace had once dreamed up was real and fighting with the skill of Buffy the vampire slayer.
“Crap.” Grace had brought a second god back to life, and she still didn’t know how.
Sun God
Main Character Sheet
Name: Yuhwa
Age: 17 Mortal Age (Actual Age Unknown)
Occupation: Goddess
Height: 5’ 7” (170 cm)
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Family: Habaek (father)
Powers: Unknown
Known for:
One of the daughters of Habaek
Almost wife of Haemosu
Once turned into a fish bher father as punishment for fleeing her wedding to Haemosu. She fell into the ocean and was rescued bthe human king.