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

to the bottom of this.” Then he slowly rises to his feet, looking determined. “I will find out who did this to you, I promise.”

I grip Hattie’s vial and hold it close to my own heart. Before, I thought it surely couldn’t be Auntie Okja. But now, I can’t ignore my suspicions. She was Sookhee’s best friend. She could’ve been the one working with the council, the one who coveted Sookhee’s position as elder, so she could get her hands on the artifact. Plus, it was Auntie Okja who told me all those horrible stories about the Horangi. And now I know she was wrong.

My head spins as I swallow the bitter pill. My auntie and the council really did falsely accuse the Horangi. They framed the scholars so the other clans wouldn’t find out that the council had tried to steal the artifact. Then Auntie Okja stole me from my birth clan.

My whole life has been a lie.

Gwisin Halmeoni opens her eyes, and they look apologetic. “I’m sorry again for delivering such news.”

Then her human body shimmers and changes, shrinking into the form of a magpie. Her black-and-purple feathers are glossy, and she utters a soft, chattering call that makes me feel warm and gooey inside.

Jennie gasps, and Taeyo explains, “When we pass into the Spiritrealm, we can choose to shed our human bodies and take on our soul-animal forms. Our bodies will change with each new life, but our soul animals will always remain the same. This is your halmeoni’s true soul form.”

As we all watch, Jennie’s halmeoni opens her wings and flaps them, slowly at first, but then stronger and faster, until soon, the parlor room is full of wind. We cover our eyes as a warm light blooms inside the four walls, and suddenly, with a great burst of energy, Jennie’s halmeoni disappears.

“She’s gone,” Jennie murmurs. “She’s really gone.” But she doesn’t look sad. Nor does she look like her normal, mean self. She somehow seems softer around the edges. Fluffier. Nicer.

David takes two vials from his pocket and gives one to Jennie and one to Emmett. “These are calming tonics. I figure you guys might need one right about now.” When Emmett frowns, David quickly adds, “They’re totally natural and nonaddictive. I help my mom make them for the Gom clinics around town.”

When I corroborate David’s claim, Emmett accepts the vial and swigs it in one go. “How are we gonna find the fallen star now?” he asks quietly. “We wasted the favor on me, and we don’t have the time to match with another gwisin.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “We didn’t waste anything. It was worth asking, wasn’t it? For the chance that we could help her?”

Emmett nods imperceptibly. “Thank you,” he whispers to me. “For trying. I know how much you sacrificed to give me that opportunity.”

He looks at his feet, and I feel another lump forming in my throat. “You would have done the same for me.”

It’s not exactly forgiveness, but it feels like a start. I’ll take it.

“Besides,” I say, “I have a plan.”

“You do?” Taeyo asks.

I breathe in deeply. “I’m going back to the campus to do the initiation. I’m gonna pledge my allegiance to the Horangi.”

The whole room gasps, and even the pug seems to look surprised (although that could just be her buggy walleyes).

“This is a circle of trust, right?” I ask Jennie. “We helped you, so you’ll help us? Because I’d rather you kept this information to yourself.” I hold up both palms. “I promise I’m not planning a takeover or anything. I just want to save my sister.”

“The Horangi aren’t what they’ve been made out to be,” says Emmett, putting his hand on Taeyo’s shoulder. “This guy is one, and he brought your halmeoni.”

“You can count on us,” says David. “Right, Jennie?”

Jennie doesn’t nod or agree, but she doesn’t give me the snide comeback she normally would, either. Something in my gut tells me she’ll keep my secret. I mean, stranger things have happened of late.

“What made you change your mind?” Taeyo asks me.

“Yeah,” Emmett echoes. “I thought you said you’d never do that in a million years.”

“I did say that.” I think of Taeyo and his altruistic app. I think of Hattie and her quest for choice. I think of what it means to be Gom. “But I feel different about things now.”

“How?” Emmett asks.

I take a big breath. “You’ll see, Em. You’ll see.”

DAVID, BEING THE TOP-NOTCH GUY he is, decides to stay with Jennie to make sure she’s okay. She seems grateful, and I finally understand why the two of them are friends. It’s just like in Adeline’s monologue, when Mago Halmi said to the goddesses: There is light within us all, as there is darkness within us all. These two absolutes make us whole. Jennie may have some dark bits, but there’s light inside her, too. Just as there is in the Horangi.

“So I guess I’ll be seeing you around,” I awkwardly say to Jennie as I put on my shoes and give the door-sin a farewell compliment.

She scowls. “Not likely.”

“Really?” I say. “We’re back to this already?”

She gives me a sheepish smile in return. “Sorry, old habits die hard. Yeah, I guess I’ll be seeing you. And uh, thanks for today.”

When we get back to the campus, there’s a nervous energy in the air. People have started to gather in one of the forest clearings by the lake, milling about in groups and whispering anxiously to one another. It’s like they’re waiting for something to happen. Something bad.

“Do you know what’s going on?” I ask Taeyo.

He looks down at his phone. His notifications have been going off like fireworks since we left Jennie’s house. “It looks like we have a pest problem. Several of our offices have been destroyed already. Everyone’s talking about it on our community Slack channel.”

Emmett and I share a look. What kind of pest is big enough to destroy