The sanctuary is empty today. Just my luck. I was hoping for a Gi ceremony or initiation, or at least a clan gathering so I could find someone from Saturday service who’d recognize me. Instead, the goddess statues stare blankly at us from each of the six hexagonal walls.

Austin hasn’t stopped evil-eyeing me since we left room 44, and now he raises his crossed wrists in a threatening motion. “This better not be some kind of trap.”

I shake my head furiously. “No trap, not at all.” I hold up the fallen-star compass. “But as long as you trust me, we finally have everything we need. We just need the goddess to—”

There is a shift in the atmosphere, a sudden thickness to the air, and my words stop dead in my throat. I know this feeling. It’s the same one I had at Santa Monica Pier when Hattie tried to summon Mago Halmi. A fierce gust blows over the chamber, and I cover my face. That’s when I hear her voice.

“Well, hello again, my favorite new recruit!”

I freeze, and even Areum tightens her talons on my shoulder.

She has returned.

“Cave Bear Goddess?” Auntie Okja says, stunned. She bows her head automatically in reverence.

“How is she here without being summoned?” Eomma whispers to Appa, gripping his arm.

“If the goddess has an outstanding deal with a mortal, she is able to return to collect on that arrangement,” Areum explains.

Even though I saw her once before, the sight of the goddess still surprises me. She doesn’t have her Winnie the Pooh apron or saucy ladle with her today, but she’s still a frumpy middle-aged woman with frizzy hair and dated clothes.

She smiles at me with that soft, kindly face, and I will myself to smile back. Did this Korean Mrs. Weasley really manipulate us all so she and her sisters could freely roam the Earth again? What a shrewd disguise!

If the goddess has seen the other people in the sanctuary, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she pinches my cheek affectionately. “So tell me, dearie, are you enjoying the new job? Do you think you’re in the running for employee of the month?” She chuckles, and her soft belly jiggles under her knitted vest.

I keep the smile plastered on my face. I have to be careful about my next steps. Despite her convincing act, she is not the benevolent goddess we all thought she was. She’s responsible for the Horangi clan’s expulsion, and the deaths of Emmett’s mom, my birth parents, and Taeyo’s parents. She could bring on the end of the gifted clans and mortalkind as we know it. This is not a simple trade anymore.

“I don’t know about employee of the month,” I say modestly, “but I have found the Godrealm’s last fallen star, just as you asked.”