Tears well in my eyes, and suddenly I don’t care that they were cursed or that they were power-obsessed or that they were outcast from the community. For a moment, I just miss them with all my heart. I know it sounds weird to miss people I don’t remember, but right now, I wish for nothing more than to be held in their arms.

Taeyo hands me a tissue, and Sora opens another photo. This one is of Mina and Yoon sitting side by side in front of their computers, working intently. Lines of concentration mask their faces.

“Your biological parents were some of the first scholars to use complex algorithms to decrypt our oldest, most indecipherable sacred texts,” she explains. “And before they died, they made an incredible discovery.”

I lean into the photo, wishing I could jump into the scene and ask them about their discovery myself.

“They decrypted one of our oldest prophecies,” Sora continues. “One that we believe predicts a frightening future.”

She opens a third document—this time an encrypted file that she runs through a program called Decryptonite. The loading bar boots into action, and when it reaches 100 percent, a simple text file opens with the following words:

When the blood moon and black sun appear to the gaze

To mark the start of the end of all days,

In the one last divine, a weapon shall rise;

Unless the gold-destroyer ends the soul who lies.

I read the prophecy over and over and feel my head go light as I digest the first two lines.

“A lunar and solar eclipse recently happened on the same day,” I say, frowning hard. “Do you think that was the blood moon and black sun?”

Sora’s mouth tightens as she nods. “We don’t know what the second couplet means yet. But if we don’t locate the eighth artifact—which we believe is the one last divine weapon—and destroy it, our days may be numbered.”

My heart races. Were Sora and Taeyo telling the truth about the council, my biological parents, and this prophecy? Could the entire Mortalrealm actually be at risk if I don’t find this star?

I grip Hattie’s heart vial through my top. Maybe the Horangi aren’t the villainous clan I always believed them to be. Maybe the bearded man at the temple was right and there really are two sides to every story.

There’s a thundering crash down the hall, and I jolt out of my chair and out of my thoughts. “What was that?!”

Taeyo and Sora look at each other with worried expressions.

“Was it you? Did you kill my mom?” I hear someone scream in the distance.

“Emmett,” I explain in a rush. “We need to get to him now.”

17: Why Is There Always a Catch?