The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim (the mitten read aloud .TXT) 📗

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 laundromat.”

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