My grip loosened around his palm, his magic growing quieter as only my fingertips brushed against his skin.
But then, another voice cut through the dying embers of magic.
Yes, you do.
My eyes snapped open.
I felt it then, as real as Yejun’s hand in mine—I had done this before.
Maybe in another timeline, maybe in a moment that no longer existed. But nothing could be erased completely, and everything I had ever done—everyone I had ever been—was still inside me.
I relaxed my shoulders, imagining Hana in front of me, her hand instead of Yejun’s closed tight around mine.
You know how to do this, she would say.You’ve always known.
I let out a breath, a white cloud of condensation fogging the air between me and Yejun, washing the world away.
I fell into a frigid ocean, sand scraping my palms, sparks of salt water stinging my eyes. The dark waters rose over my head and filled my mouth, my lungs, my soul.
I was on the back of a turtle racing against the current, yearsflashing past me in glinting silver scales. I reached my hand out and centuries bled through my fingers. Time was mine, as infinite as the ocean and its cold, devouring expanse.
I was floating in a lightless sea, weightless in a palace of pearls and seashells.
I was a princess of time at the bottom of the ocean.
I was a man on the shore dissolving into dust.
I was the sharp teeth of a dragon god.
I opened my eyes and caught my reflection in the elevator, my irises gleaming violet.
I am a descendant, I thought, as my magic reached out and seized Yejun’s. The colors tangled together into royal blue, darkening Yejun’s eyes and brightening mine. His heartbeat pulsed through me, bright and fast with excitement.
“The year 2007, March 5, 15:45:11,” he said, just as the elevator clicked into place at the top of the tower.
The elevator doors opened, and we stepped out into a wall of light.
Chapter Eight
The gray clouds of the present day had lifted. Sunshine blared through the 360-degree windows at the top of the tower, where schoolchildren and tourists pressed close to the glass and took pictures. Above their heads, white paint traced the silhouette of the mountain range that was usually hidden by fog, but today was carved in gray and green across the horizon.
As I stepped off the elevator into this new world, I was sure the tiles would disappear beneath my feet and drop me into the pale blue sky. Visiting the past with Hyebin had always felt like riding shotgun while she reluctantly chauffeured me around the timeline, but arriving with my own magic was like writing my own story—Ihad conjured the blue sky and glass skyscrapers and shadowed mountains disappearing into the horizon. This world was my creation.
Well… mine and Yejun’s.
I realized belatedly that I was still holding his hand and took a deliberate step away from him, stuffing both hands in my pockets.
“Not bad,” he said, “though you cut it a bit close there. I thought the timeline was gonna chop me in half for a sec.”
“Can that actually happen?” I said, imagining the elevator doors opening to a pile of severed limbs.
“Let’s not find out,” Yejun said, waving for me to start walking.
I followed him outside, half a level down, where people were allowed to gawk at the panoramic views from behind carefully installed fences to make sure no one plummeted all the way down. There were more love locks hitched to the fences on this level, which Yejun walked annoyingly close to before shrugging off his backpack and pulling out a shoebox that looked like it had been stabbed to death with a blunt pair of scissors.
“Would you like to do the honors?” he said, holding the box out to me.
I edged away, crossing my arms. “What’s inside?”
