A warm smile spreads across his face. “Indeed it was.”

“But why?” I rub the back of my neck. “Why did you help me?”

“I am Mago Halmi’s guardian. I made a grave mistake when I bit the dark sun and the dark moon at the goddesses’ request. I have been roaming the Mortalrealm since the pieces fell here, to ensure that the remaining stars do not get into the goddesses’ hands. Something at which I admit I have not been very successful.”

I frown. “But why didn’t you just tell me you were the Haetae when we were at the library? You knew what I was looking for. Why not tell me the truth about who I really was? You could have saved me so much time. I could have saved my sist…” I trail off, choked by my tears.

His ruby eyes soften. “Mago Halmi wanted you to discover the truth for yourself. This was your journey to take. I was just here to guide you in the right direction.”

He solidifies in Haetae form, and my eyes lower to the shiny bell around his neck. A scene materializes in its reflection like it did at the library, and I recognize it like I remember an old dream—hazy and fragile, drifting just beyond my grasp.

I’m falling from the sky—a screaming ball of pure, divine heat. A piece of the Godrealm’s dark sun. I burn through the Earth’s atmosphere and, as the Haetae’s voice guides me, I fall into the Mortalrealm.

The Haetae flickers back into his human form, and I blink a few times, the scene receding back into the cloudiness of my memory.

“So I’m a piece of the dark sun that fell to Earth, and you hid me in my Horangi mother?”

“That’s correct,” he confirms. “You now know the full truth. And like I said, you performed your prescribed duty beautifully. But listen well, because you must remain vigilant. You may have destroyed the Cave Bear Goddess today, as the prophecy predicted, but there are five more goddesses in the Godrealm who crave access to the three realms. Now that one of their sisters has fallen, there is no knowing if, or how, they may retaliate.”

“But, Haetae, my families don’t remember me anymore. What do I do now? I have nowhere to go. I’m all alone.”

“Do not despair, fallen star. There are ways lost memories can be recovered. Nothing is ever truly lost, after all. And as for being alone, I think you already know how wrong you are.”

He removes a marble from his pocket and holds it up to me. I immediately take a step back, remembering the blue-and-purple gas that knocked Emmett and me unconscious.