We hurry to the door, and Emmett pushes on the bar. “Ugh, it’s jammed!”

I join in, and we ram the door over and over until it starts opening, inch by inch.

“Again,” Emmett says, breathing heavily. “Push together in one, two, three!”

As we fight with the door, there is a low and deep growl behind us. I freeze in my tracks. “Did you hear that?”

Emmett continues pushing as if he hasn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. But the hairs on my arms stand tall as the rumble sounds again. “Em,” I whisper. “Can’t you hear that?”

I wrap my hand around Hattie’s heart vial and turn slowly. My eyes land on a creature that is at once familiar and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

He’s the size of an elephant, but he kind of looks like a mastiff. Well, except for the iridescent scales all over him, the lion’s mane, the single blunt horn, and the red eyes that shine like rubies. His back twitches as he takes a step toward me, and his scales glisten as though they’re wet. A bell tinkles on his collar. And when his nostrils flare, I can’t help but pee a little. “Em, turn around!”

He looks over his shoulder and I wait for his jaw to drop. Instead, his eyebrows furrow. “Why are you just standing there like a dodo? This door isn’t going to open itself. Come on, help me push.” He turns back to the door and gives it another thrust.

I blink and rub my eyes, expecting the apparition to have disappeared. But as certain as the hairs on my arms, the Haetae—the real Haetae—is still standing in front of me. Had our finding his book in the library somehow called upon him to appear in the flesh?

I know I should be very careful. His teeth are sharp enough to bite the sun and the moon, after all. But in that moment, I stop thinking altogether. Instead, I reach out to touch him.

The Haetae sniffs my hand, and just when I think I’ve made a big mistake, he leans in to nuzzle his cheek against my palm. His scales are warm and hard and smooth, like heated marble. I exhale slowly, trying not to freak out. I just touched Mago Halmi’s guardian pet!

He growls again, but this time it sounds more like a deep purr, and he lifts his head in pleasure, revealing the brass bell tied around his neck. In its shiny surface a scene appears, like on a miniature TV screen.

I peer closer.