“Hattie!” Noah cries, kneeling down and hugging her tight. “You came back! I’m so glad you came back!”
He suddenly realizes everyone is watching him, and he quickly gets up and walks backward, step-by-step, until he’s completely out of the circle. “I mean, I’m pleased you’ve returned safely, just like everyone else is….”
Hattie smiles weakly, but I see some much-needed color flash on her cheeks. They are so getting together, Mr. and Mrs. Oh-Noh. I’d bet the Haetae’s bell on it.
“Thank you so much for bringing her back to us,” Eomma cries, looking at me the way people look at firefighters after a blaze. Grateful but respectfully distanced.
Appa says nothing but reaches over Hattie’s chest and takes my hands, resting his head on them. And that gesture says more than words ever could.
“Hat,” I whisper, tracing my finger along her pale, gaunt face.
She looks at me blankly, and a burning heat builds behind my eyes.
She has no idea who I am.
One lone fat tear falls from my face onto her heart vial. It splashes off the glass and drips down onto her chest.
“I know you don’t remember me,” I whisper, “but I just want you to know that I love you more than anything. And you are the best sister a girl could ever dream of.”
She blinks once, as if to clear her vision. A pause. Then her blank look disappears and is replaced by one of puzzlement. “Uh, Rye, why in the three realms wouldn’t I remember you?” She breaks into a wide, toothy grin. “But thanks for the nice words. You’re the best sister I could ever have dreamed of, too.”
My heart stops, and I clutch my chest with both hands. “Wait, you remember me?! Do you really remember me?!” I pull her into a bear hug and I hold her so tight, she coughs a few times.
“Whoa, easy does it!” she croaks, smiling. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I don’t know how, but against all odds, my sister remembers me. I wonder if the Haetae had something to do with it. Or if it’s because she wasn’t technically in the Mortalrealm when the dokkaebi and I made the deal. But Areum offers her own theory from my shoulder.
“It is a well-known fact,” she says into my ear, “that true love conquers all.”
Hattie squeezes my arm, and I feel the weight of the last few days melt off me. With Hattie by my side, there’s nothing we can’t do.
“So, it’s Riley, right?” Taeyo asks, adjusting his purple bow tie. “Maybe at some point you could give us a blow-by-blow of everything that happened today? It was, well, out of this realm.”
Emmett nods, hugging Boris close and tickling behind his ears. “Yeah, what he said! Also, has anyone ever told you you’re a badass?”
I chuckle as a new warmth fills my chest. There is definitely hope. And, as always, it tastes ever so sweet on my tongue.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get my elemental magic back, or whether everyone will remember me again. I don’t know what it means to be a fragment of the Godrealm’s dark sun, and I definitely don’t know what the rest of the goddesses might do now that I’ve destroyed one of their sisters.
But the truth is, right here, right now, none of that matters. Looking around at the diverse group of people surrounding me—the people who fought for me and stood with me—I understand just how right the Haetae was.
Because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I’m not alone. I am surrounded by people I love and who love me.
I belong.
Despite everything that’s happened, my heart has never felt so full.
“BTW, I had a premonition dream this morning,” Jennie starts.
“Wow! Go on,” Taeyo encourages earnestly. “Tell us. Knowledge is best shared.”
“OMG, isn’t that totally the type of cheesy thing Professor Ryu would say?” Jennie says, smirking at Taeyo.
Noah and David nod in agreement.
“Totally.”
“Absolutely.”
Cosette stands up for Taeyo. “Hey, let the dude be cheesy if that’s his jam.”
Jennie shrugs, but I see a small smile on the edges of her lips. “Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, I had a premonition dream, and even you were in it, new kid.”
Taeyo beams, obviously chuffed he’s now part of this gang.
“We were on a mission to find the lost memories of Riley.”
Areum rustles her feathers and squawks. And I can guess what she’s thinking: This is proof.
This can’t be where the story ends. No way, not today, definitely not when there is hope on the horizon. I will restore my families’ lost memories, and it looks like I won’t have to do it alone.
“So,” Hattie says, pulling on my hand and searching my eyes. “Did I miss much?”
I lie down and rest my head in my sister’s lap. “Oh, you have no idea.”
She pouts. “Guess I missed out on all the fun then, huh?”
I chuckle. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. This is only the beginning.”
When the fragments of the dark sun and the dark moon fell from the Godrealm’s sky, the Haetae noticed they fell in pairs. One piece of the sun and one piece of the moon, falling together as one.
As the six goddesses became consumed with their desire to destroy the fallen pieces, Mago Halmi grew worried. “We must ensure my children do not destroy them all,” she said.
So she commanded the Haetae to find one of the fallen stars and separate it into its two parts. “Leave the dark-sun piece in the Mortalrealm,” she said. “But take the piece of the dark moon and hide it well, my loyal guardian. For when the day comes that the dark sun and moon are united, a new era will be born. They will call it the Age of the Final Eclipse. This is my prophecy.”
And so the Haetae did as Mago Halmi commanded.
He separated one of the fallen stars and left the piece of the dark sun in the Mortalrealm. Then he took the piece
