Normally, Hyejeong would’ve welcomed this battle, but not with Seolhyun nearby. She didn’t want Seolhyun exposed to these creatures. They could kill her with a snap of their wrists. Seolhyun needed to get out of there.

That was the priority.

Hyejeong reached down and yanked up her pants leg. There was a ripping sound, energetic. She held something long, dark, and shiny. Only when she shoved it into Seolhyun’s shaky hands, Seolhyun realized it was some kind of white glass shaped into a dagger, sharpened to a fine point on one end and a leather binding on the other.

“This is Culpa, volcanic glass. The edge is wicked sharp and will cut through anything,” Hyejeong explained quickly. “It’s the only thing on this planet, besides us, that can kill the Kloom. This is their Arc Reactor.”

Seolhyun stared at Hyejeong as her fingers wrapped around the leather sheath.

“Come on, pretty girl!” yelled the Kloom in the front, his voice sharp as razors and guttural. He had a thick, foreign-sounding accent. “Come out and play!”

Hyejeong ignored them and grabbed Seolhyun’s cheeks, her hands steady and strong. “Listen to me, Seolhyun. When I tell you to run, you run and you don’t look back no matter what. If any of them chase you, all you have to do is stab them anywhere with the Culpa.”

“Hyejeong–”

“No. You run when I tell you to run, Seolhyun. Please say you understand.”

There were three of them and only one of Hyejeong. The odds weren’t good. “Please don’t do this! Run with me–”

“I can’t. Mina is at that party.” Hyejeong’s eyes met hers for a second. “Run when I tell you.”

And then she turned, letting out a resigned sigh, and opened the car door. Hyejeong’s shoulders squared, and her swagger was full of confidence. That jerky smile, the one Seolhyun had wanted to smack off her face many times, appeared on her lips.

“Wow,” Hyejeong said. “You guys are uglier as humans than in your true form. Didn’t think that was possible. You look like you’ve been living under a rock. See the sun much?” She mocked at their sunglasses.

The one in the front, presumably their leader, snarled. “You have your arrogance now, like all Felix. But where will your arrogance be when we absorb your powers?”

“In the same place as my foot,” Hyejeong replied, hands balling into fists.

The leader looked confused.

“You know, as in up your .” Hyejeong smiled and the two Kloom hissed. “Wait. You guys look familiar. Yeah, I know. I’ve killed one of your brothers. Sorry about that. What was his name? You guys all look alike to me.”

Their forms started flickering in and out, turning from human to shade and back again. Seolhyun reached for the door handle, clenching the dagger in her hand. Blood pumped through her body so fast, everything slowed down.

“I’ll rip your essence from your body,” the Kloom growled, “and you will beg for mercy.”

“Like your brother did?” responded Hyejeong, voice low and cold. “Because he begged. He cried like a little girl before I ended his existence.”

And that was it. The Kloom bellowed in unison., the sound of howling winds and death. Seolhyun’s breath caught in .

Hyejeong threw up her hands and a great roar started under the car, shaking the road, and the trees thrashed outside. A loud crack sounded, like a blast of thunder, quickly followed by several more in succession. The earth seemed to shake and rumble.

Seolhyun turned to the window and gasped. Trees were being ripped from out of the ground, their thick and gnarled roots dripping clumps of moist dirt. An earthy scent filled the air.

Oh my God, Shin Hyejeong was uprooting trees.

One smacked right into the back of a Kloom, taking him several feet down the road. Trees toppled over. Some landed in the road, cutting off the potential for any innocent driver to happen upon the scene. Branches broke off, flying through the air. The other two Kloom avoided them, blinking in and out as they advanced on Hyejeong, the branches shooting through their shade form without resistance.

The ground under the SUV trembled. All along the side of the road, broke free from the road. Huge sections of asphalt spun into the air, zinged straight at the Kloom.

Seolhyun was so going to reconsider pissing Hyejeong off next time.

The Kloom dodged the asphalt and trees, throwing back what looked like globs of oil. Where the murky stuff landed, the road smoked. Burnt smell filled the air.

Then Hyejeong was nothing but blinding white light, a being that was not human, but otherworldly, beautiful and frightening in the same breath. The glow heightened around her outstretched limbs, forming a crackling ball of energy that snapped. Light dripped onto the road. Power lines overhead snapped and then exploded. The Kloom blinked out, but their shadows couldn’t hide from Hyejeong’s light.

Seolhyun could see them moving toward her still. One darted out to the side, rushing her.

Hyejeong brought her hands together and the blast that followed shook the car. Light erupted from her, zinging straight into the one nearest, sending the Kloom spinning up into the air, where for a moment he was in a human form. Dark sunglasses shattered. Pieces floated in the air, suspended. Another clap followed and the Kloom exploded in an array of dazzling lights that fell like a thousand twinkling stars.

Hyejeong threw out her arm, and the other Kloom flew back several feet, spinning and tumbling through the air, but he landed in a crouch.

“Run.”  The voice came in Seolhyun head. “Run now, Seolhyun. Don’t look back. Run!”

Seolhyun threw the car door open and stumbled out. Falling to her knees, she scrambled down the ditch, wincing at the sound of the Klooms’ howls. She made it to the first tree that was still standing and stopped. Instinct told Seolhyun to keep running, to do as Hyejeong instructed, but she couldn’t leave her there. She couldn’t run away.

With her heart leaping into , she turned around. The two remaining Kloom were circling Hyejeong, fading out to nothing more than shadows and then reforming back into the tall, imposing figures.

Thick globs of midnight oil shot past Hyejeong, narrowly missing the halo of light surrounding her. One of the dark streams smacked into a tree on the other side of the road, splitting it in two.

Hyejeong retaliated by throwing balls of light at them, wicked fast and deadly. They whizzed through the air, forming walls of flames that fizzled out when they didn’t hit one of the Kloom. The Kloom were not as fast as Hyejeong, but they managed to avoid each of her missiles.

After about thirty were lobbed, Seolhyun could tell Hyejeong’s light form was slowing down, the time between bombs stretching longer and longer. She remembered what Hyejeong had said after she’d stopped the truck. Using her powers wore her out. She couldn’t keep this up.

Terror trickled through Seolhyun as she saw them close in on Hyejeong, their darkness nearly enveloping her light. A ball of bright red flames formed and shot out toward the Kloom, but Hyejeong missed. The ball of fire skidded across the road, fizzing out harmlessly.

One of the Kloom flickered out completely, while the other kept throwing oily bombs at Hyejeong over and over, never slowing down. Hyejeong flickered in and out, reappearing a few feet away from each projectile. She was moving so fast, the entire scene started to look like Seolhyun was watching it unfold under strobe lights.

Hyejeong was focused on the one Kloom lobbing oil bombs and she didn’t see the other reappear behind her. The shadowy arms wrapped around what appeared to be Hyejeong’s head, bringing her down to her knees on the side of the road. Seolhyun cried out, but the sound was lost in the Kloom’s laugh.

“Ready to beg?” the Kloom in front of her taunted, taking human form. “Please do. It would mean a lot to hear the word ‘please’ leaking from your lips as I take everything from you.”

Hyejeong didn’t respond, but her light was crackling and intense.

“Silence to the end, eh? So be it.” The Kloom stepped forward, lifting his head. “Jin, it is time.”

Jin forced Hyejeong to stand. “Do it now, Jun!”

A part of Seolhyun’s brain clicked off. She was moving without thinking, running toward the very thing Hyejeong had ordered her to run away from. The Culpa grew warm in her hand as she rushed up the gully, burning like coals. A heel on her shoe snapped off when it became tangled in the downed branches, but she kept going.

Seolhyun wasn’t brave. She was desperate.

Jun turned into a shadow, ing an arm forward, into the center of Hyejeong’s chest. Hyejeong’s scream tore through Seolhyun, heightening the fear, flipping it into anger and desperation. Her light flared, blinding and concentrated. The ground shook with a giant tremor.

Only a few feet behind Jun now, Seolhyun threw her arm back, Culpa in hand, and jumped forward and brought it down with every ounce of strength she had. She expected to meet resistance, flesh and bone, but the Culpa cut through the shadow, like Jun was made of nothing more than smoke and air, and Seolhyun stumbled to her knees.

Jun jerked back, pulling his arm free of Hyejeong’s light. He spun around, his shadowy arms reaching for Seolhyun. She scrabbled backward, falling down. The Culpa glowed in her hand, humming with energy.

And then Jun stopped. Pieces of him broke free from his form, clumps of darkness drifting into the sky, obscuring the stars until all of him was there one minute and floating away the next.

Jin released Hyejeong, taking a step back. For a moment he was in human form, dark jeans and a jacket, his expression horrified, gaze locked on the glowing Culpa in Seolhyun’s grip. His eyes met Seolhyun’s for only a second. Vengeance had been promised in that minute stare. And then he was a shadow, pulling the darkness into him, fleeing toward the other side of the road like a coiled snake and disappearing into the night.

Seolhyun scuttled over branches