“Well, well, well,” the dokkaebi says to me, amusement dancing at the edges of his mouth. “This is an interesting turn of events. It seems, Miss Oh, that you are already in possession of the fallen star.”

I’m already what?!

He chuckles, quietly at first, and then it crescendos into an avalanche of sound. “Such a shame, considering that you had to pay a price, but I upheld my end of the bargain. So I believe my work here is done. It has been a pleasure doing business with you.” He starts walking toward the door.

“No, stop!” I yell. “What do you mean I’m already in possession of it?”

But he’s already gone.

I hear a birdlike squawking faintly in the distance. I listen harder, and I can hear Eomma’s and Appa’s voices, too. The sounds are getting louder, closer, and now I feel someone’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me. I must be waking up back in the real room.

And the thing is, I should be grateful that this nightmare is ending. But instead, all I feel is doom.

I have lost everyone I love, and for what?

No, this is a nightmare I would rather not wake from.

27: Ticktock, Ticktock Goes the Heart

“WELCOME BACK, RILEY OH,” Areum greets me when I wake. I’m lying on the bed, and the lamps are no longer glowing blue. I must be back in the real room 44.

I rub my eyes and sit up. The inmyeonjo knows my name! Thank Mago, it was all just a horrible dream.

“Who are you?” Appa asks, frowning at me.

Six sets of eyes are staring at me. The rest of the crew must have come into the room while I was out.

A sharp pain stabs me in the chest. “It’s me, Appa,” I say, my voice shaking. “Riley. Your daughter.”

Eomma furrows her eyebrows. “We only have one daughter, and her name is Hattie.”

And just like that, the nightmarish deal I made with the goblin becomes a terrible reality. I gave up my newfound magic, as well as the Gom and Horangi clans’ memories of me, in exchange for the last fallen star. Only the dokkaebi didn’t keep his part of the bargain. Now, thanks to his tricks, I have nothing—no star and no family. Not one that remembers me, anyway.

I take out Hattie’s heart vial and hold it up for them to see. My hand is trembling so much the cylinder swings from side to side. “I know this must be confusing for you, but I have been working with you to find the last fallen star to save Hattie, and to sever the Gom’s link to the Cave Bear Goddess.”

“How does she know our plans?” Emmett asks suspiciously.

“And why do you have our Hattie’s heart?” Auntie Okja says.