Page 39 of The Eternal Mirror
The guards don't move.
I wait, breath locked in my throat, until one of them shifts slightly—just enough to confirm they're not statues.
Okay. I can work with that.
Keeping low, I hug the opposite wall, inching along the darker stretch of corridor. Every footstep is agony—slow, deliberate, silent. If one of them so much as blinks in my direction...
But they don't.
I pass the junction. My heart doesn’t start beating again until I’m three turns away, back in the familiar rot and stone of the dungeons.
I told myself I’d come back later to deal with the weirdness.
But with that screech still echoing in my head? It just moved to the top of my to-do list. Because whatever’s down there—whatever Khronus is hiding—it isn’t just dangerous. It’salive.
And I don’t know what I saw in that flash of silver.
But I have the strangest feeling that it sawmetoo.
Chapter 13
How Many Times Do I Have to Say It...?
After leaving the stench of the dungeons behind me, I head slowly back toward our quarters. I have a lot to think about.
Mainly, what do I do next?
I keep telling myself I’ll know what to dotomorrow. That everything will become clear. But what if there is no tomorrow? Or tomorrow turns to complete crap. Khronus thinks I was sent by the gods to help him “ascend.” I’m not quite sure how that’s going to work, or what I’ll be expected to do. But it’s unlikely to be something I’m happy doing, and if I refuse, then he’ll likely use Zayne and Josh to force my hand.
I can’t let that happen.
The fact is, while I’m stuck in the palace, I still can’t make a mirror to take us all out of here. But—and it’s a big but—my magic is back to full strength. I can feel it roiling inside me, almost like a live thing desperate to be used. I hold out my hand, and the celestial fire flickers from my fingertips. Spells are running through my mind.
The problem is, the whole magic thing is relatively new to me, and magic is different for each witch, so there was only so much Hecate could teach me. At this stage, I should be experimenting, playing—though I haven’t been feeling particularly playful recently—finding out what I can do.
Well, there’s no time like the present.
Hmm...what would come in useful? I think for a moment and whisper the words, envisioning the result in my mind...
“Veil the flesh and dim the light.
Hide me now from mortal sight.”
And poof! I’m gone. Invisible. I lift my hand, wave it in front of my face, but there’s nothing there. Wow, I’m good. I could walk straight out of the palace gates, and no one would see me. Immediately, a whole load of interesting scenarios run through my mind.
Maybe not.
But it could definitely come in useful if I want to leave the palace. Right now though...
“Lift the veil and break the night.
Return me now to mortal sight.”
And I’m back.
So, if I really wanted to get us out of here, there’s a good chance I could. And once we’re free of the palace—and whatever dark magic is warding the place—I could make a mirror. We could go anywhere we want.
Another big “but”—I don’t know where I want to go.
