Chapter 48
The moment the blade hit the floor, it reverted to its daggerlike size.
Hae had dropped to his hands and knees, gasping and shaking. Grace pulled at his shoulders, worried he was about to pass out. He was burning up, like he’d been the last time he’d used his powers.
But he hadn’t used them just now.
“Hae, what’s wrong?”
He just shook his head with a grunt, and stayed hunched over the ground, gasping for breath.
“Okay, great, this is just great,” Grace muttered as she gathered the empty box and used it to scoop up the sword, careful not to touch it herself.
She wasn’t sure how it might affect her, and she didn’t want to take any chances.
“So all we’ve done is find an ancient energy-sucking sword. This is just fabulous.”
The weight was startling as she shoved the box into her bag, hoping that it wouldn’t somehow fry her cell phone.
“We should get out of here,” Grace said. “Do you think you can walk?”
“Yeah.” Sitting back, Hae groaned softly.
Grace started to help him, but he pushed her hands away. “I’m fine. It’s just been a while since I’ve held the sword.”
“Maybe you should rest a bit more.” She was worried about how pale he looked.
“I said, ‘I’m fine.’ Let’s go.”
Grace didn’t like how unsteady he seemed, but she’d learned that when he got this expression, it was impossible to argue.
“Then, let’s get out of here.” But she told herself it was just a pause in the conversation. She was worried that something really wasn’t right here, but she couldn’t put her finger on it yet.
It was raining in earnest now, putting the windshield wipers to the test.
Grace leaned forward, trying her best to see through the sheets of rain. It was almost impossible to make out the lines on the road, and she was terrified of swerving into another car.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Hae said, glancing out his window.
“We’ll be okay. We’re almost home.”
“No, this feels wrong,” Hae said as the car swerved, hydroplaning over a deep puddle. “Grace, give me the sword.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I can feel something coming. I need my sword.”
Grace bit her lip. “I just think we’re missing something important.”
“I could feel my full strength returning when I held it. It’ll help me fight Habaek.” Hae twisted in his seat to pluck her bag from the back.
“Wait. Stop!” Grace tried to yank it away from him but instead jerked the wheel. The car slid across the road.
Grace slammed on the brakes, locking her wheel. She braced as the car careened onto the shoulder before thudding to a stop.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to find the front end of the car sitting at the edge of a retention pond beside the road.
She still held the wheel so tightly, her knuckles were white. There was a high-pitched buzzing in her head as her pulse raced. But soon Hae’s voice broke through the white noise. He was calling her name.
“Grace, are you okay? Did you get hurt?” He was unbuckling her seat belt. Leaning over to shake her shoulders gently.
“I told you to leave the sword alone,” she shouted. “You distracted me, and I could have totaled my car. I could have hit someone.” She was almost hyperventilating now.
She was cut off as the car rocked. For a moment, she thought they were about to tip into the pond. But water pushed them back as it crashed into the car.
“It’s a flash flood!” Grace shouted over the thunder of the deluge. Or maybe that was the rush of blood through her ears as her heart rate rose.
“It’s Habaek,” Hae said grimly.
Grace pushed against the door, but it wouldn’t budge as the flood waters slammed against the car. It poured in through the frame of the door, soaking Grace.
“We have to get out of here,” she said.
Hae had also given up on trying his door. “We could open the windows.”
But when Grace pressed the button, it didn’t work. The system must have been waterlogged. And now the car was almost completely submerged, the water inside up to their laps.
Hae cursed and kicked his window, but Grace knew that wouldn’t work.
“Wait,” she said. “I have something.”
She reached for the glove compartment. Her hands shook so hard it took her three tries before she could click it open. She found the tool her halmeoni had bought for the car. It was meant to safely shatter the windows.
“Thank you, Halmeoni,” Grace whispered before pressing it to the window. “Okay, sit back,” she said as she hit the button. The window exploded into pieces with a loud crack. She let out a shout of triumph before water and glass crashed in.
She yelped as it flowed in with such force that she was knocked back into Hae.
“Take a breath!” he shouted, and she was able to gasp in air just before the water covered her head.
Submerged like this, it was impossible to see anything. Grace reached blindly for the open window, pulling herself out of the car. She aimed for the surface, but her arms wouldn’t move. The water pressed against her, the current held her in place.
No, this can’t be happening! She struggled mightily to kick her legs or move her arms. Her lungs burned with the effort. Her instinct to live overpowered her logic, and her mouth opened to find air.
Grace felt her brain starting to fog, the telltale sign of asphyxiation. Her body was shutting down. No, she couldn’t die like this. She had to fight.
Suddenly something slammed into her. It would have taken her breath away if she’d had any air left in her lungs. She blinked away her haze as vivid orange scales swam around her. Fins as big as her arms. And a bright golden eye.
She didn’t know what told her to hold on, but she did, clinging to the back of this giant creature.
When her fingers closed around its fin, it shot to the surface.
The moment air hit her skin, she coughed up the water in her lungs, gasping for air.
And it was then that she realized she was clinging to a carp, one as big as a bus.
Yuhwa? she thought hazily, remembering the legend. But at the warmth of the scales beneath her hands, she realized, Hae.
He swam downstream until the water began to recede into the retention pond. Hae began to flop more than swim in the shallows. And just as Grace was worried he would beach himself, the scales under her began to glow, so vibrant and warm that Grace’s clothes partially dried.
Hae shrank beneath her, and Grace fell onto the damp grass. She turned away from the overwhelming light emanating from the carp. And when it abated, she blinked her eyes open to see Hae standing in front her. Damp and pale.
He took a stumbling step toward her. “You’re okay?”
She nodded. “You saved me.”
But he didn’t seem to hear as his eyes rolled back a second before he collapsed.
He was burning up when Grace tried to lift him. So hot that the rain was turning to steam on his skin.
And when she tried to wake him, his body began to seize.
Grace tried to hold on to him, but he was too slippery and he flopped out of her hold to convulse against the rough asphalt.
“This is so bad. This is so, so bad.” Grace was hyperventilating, her vision wavering.
I can’t lose someone else, I can’t.
She pulled out her phone, relieved when it still worked. And, with no other options, she called 911.