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

and makes a lifting motion with her two open hands. One of the wooden pews in the front row of the Horangi section rises into the air. “Don’t you dare lay another finger on him!” she calls to the deity as the entire bench flies through the air and lands in her path.

The goddess takes a step back in annoyance, but then she simply climbs over the pew. This time she starts coming for me.

I gulp. I look down at my wrists and see the glaring absence of a Gi. I feel for the bump of the biochip, but thanks to the dokkaebi, that’s gone, too. I want to be able to do something to protect my families, but I’m powerless. Useless.

“I am going to enjoy this,” the goddess coos in my auntie’s voice. “I’m going to enjoy this very much.” She lifts her hand as she nears, preparing to attack.

I hold my breath. The fact of the matter is that I tried my best, but the goddess is right. We mortals are no match for divinity. Especially when she’s using a physical body. A body we don’t want to attack.

“Feel my wrath, mortal child.” She locks her eyes on me and claps her hands together. I close my lids, ready to surrender to whatever comes next.

Ca-caw! The sound of beating wings fills my ears as a full-size inmyeonjo blocks the goddess’s attack.

A power surge hits the bird-woman, and she shrieks and falls to the floor, her right wing bent at an unnatural angle.

“Areum!” I fall to my knees and hold her head. She shivers in pain. “Shh, it’s gonna be okay,” I soothe.

“Incorrect,” the goddess declares, raising her hand once more. “Let this be a lesson to all of you. Never start a job you can’t finish.”

She makes a scooping gesture, and I hunch over Areum’s body protectively. I won’t let her get hurt again.

The marble floor in front me begins to curve upward like a stone wave, and I tense, waiting for it to swallow me whole.

At that moment, a gust of wind sweeps me off my feet. For a second, I feel weightless. When I regain my footing, I’m somehow on the opposite side of the room with Areum at my side. And standing next to me are Noah Noh, Cosette Chung, David Kim, and Jennie Byun.

I rub my eyes. Am I hallucinating?

Noah regards me with concern. “I told you guys to be careful. And look where you are now.” His gaze flicks to Hattie’s body on the floor, and his chest hitches with a sob. Noah must have lifted Areum and me up and moved us out of the goddess’s path. And now that he’s seen what’s happened to Hattie, I can only imagine how he must be feeling.

“How did you guys know to come here?” I ask, still not sure if I’m imagining them.

Jennie shrugs. “I’m a seer, remember? I’m actually pretty good, if I do say so myself.”

Cosette nods. “Jennie had a vision that you were in trouble—that all the gifted clans were in need of help. We came as quickly as we could.”

I look between them and suddenly realize they remember me. They know who I am. A surge of gratitude washes over me, and I pull them into a group hug. “Thank you so much for coming, guys,” I say. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

“Watch out!” David calls out as the goddess throws several candle stands at us. Each one is almost as tall as we are, and one of the bronze arms slices my leg as it clatters to the floor. I hiss in pain and clamp down on my thigh.

Noah picks up two of the stands with ease, as if they’re made of cardboard. He leans back to throw them toward the goddess, and I shout, “Please don’t hurt my auntie’s body. She’s still in there somewhere!”

The candle stands fall uselessly a few inches from the goddess’s feet.

“We’re over here, bully!” Emmett taunts the goddess as he jumps onto Boris and starts to zoom around.

Her lips tighten into a line and she makes her way toward us. Cosette glamours herself to look just like Auntie Okja, and for a second, the goddess stares at her mirror image with her mouth ajar, momentarily thrown. David takes a few vials from his pocket and tosses one to Jennie. As the goddess comes within arm’s reach, David and Jennie uncork the vials and throw the contents at her. Liquid splashes into her open mouth and she wobbles on her feet, trying to keep her balance.

“It’s a disorientation potion,” David explains. “It won’t hurt her, but it will disable her for a while.”

Noah takes the opportunity to push four wooden pews into a square around the weakened goddess, and she falls to her knees. Sora uses her magic to lattice some pews on top, forming a wooden cage.

“How dare you try to imprison me?!” she shrieks.

Having been healed by my parents, Areum flies above the cage, squawking and clawing at the goddess’s hands as they emerge through the gaps.

I let out a breath of relief. We’ve contained our enemy for now. Now we just need to figure out how to get the goddess out of my auntie’s body.

I look around to see that each of the six clans is represented here. The Gom, the Horangi, the Samjogo, the Tokki, the Gumiho, and the Miru. All the gifted clans are working together for the first time in over a decade, united in a common cause. And I’m at the center of it.

I’ve spent my whole life thinking of myself as an outsider. I always kept my head down because I was different and never fit in. But as I look around now, something stirs inside me.

Despite not having achieved my wish of becoming a healer, I have never felt more Gom in my life. At the same time, even without my Horangi elemental magic, I feel more like a