Page 49 of The Eternal Mirror
Nosy Witch Problems
Ican’t believe that it is less than a day since I promised myself that I was done with this saving-the-world shit. Over it. Totally. Zayne and Josh are the absolute last people I will rescue.
And yet somehow, here I am, sneaking down into the dungeons. Again.
I’ll keep my word to Zayne. I will get my brothers to safety. We’re leaving tonight. Zayne’s counting on it. But I still want to know what’s going on here. I want to know what Khronus is up to down in the dungeons. It’s something big—I know it is. Huge. And I want to stop him.
Actually, I want to annihilate that fucker.
And okay, maybe I am nosy. I do want to know everything. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Knowledge is power. I was tellingthe truth when I said to Zayne that we wouldn’t be safe while Khronus was still at large. So I’m doing us all a favor. I’m seeing the job through to the end—Khronus’s end, to be precise.
Which means I have maybe an hour or two before I need to be back and start lying my ass off about how I’m totally ready for this escape plan.
I intend to use that time well. So, I’m back, heading down into the bowels of the earth, again.
I reach the main door to the dungeons and whisper a spell. It opens.
This time I can hear voices up ahead. There are men at the guard station—do they know I’ve been down here? I do the invisibility thing and tiptoe past them. One of them glances up as I pass within feet of him, but then he shakes his head and goes back to his game of cards.
I retrace my steps from yesterday. Down. Down. Finally, I reach that place where the magic lingers. Tainted magic. I run my fingertips lightly over the wall. I feel it before I see it: the image of a black flame etched into the rock. I know that symbol. It’s the birthmark that all the witches of the Coven of the Lost Flame and the Coven of the Dark Flame have etched into their skin. Winter had the mark on her wrist.
After they helped Khronus create the spell that made my father into the monster he became, the Coven of the First Flame split into the Coven of the Lost Flame—Winter’s people—and the Coven of the Dark Flame, the witches who chose to join forces with Lucifer.The last of those witches died alongside Lucifer when I destroyed Hell. She’d been a complete bitch.
I don’t think any stayed with Khronus. I suspect they felt betrayed by him and probably a little worried about their chances of survival. Or maybe some did stay but were never seen again.
Now here is the mark. The dark flame.
What does it mean?
Is this where he created the spell that turned my father into the devil? Down here, in his dungeon of horrors?
The air is thick with magic—but it doesn’t just tingle. It crawls, wrapping around my skin like static laced with rot, sharp at the edges, oily underneath. Like it wants to get inside me.
It feels...wrong. Just like all of Khronus’s magic—his beastmaster powers, his little magic tricks. But worse. I suspect that’s intentional, maybe a spell to keep people away.
The sign of the dark flame marks the place where Khronus entered. An invisible door—perfect for keeping out the inquisitive.
I press my palm to the sign and whisper the standard unlock spell:
“Release the latch and open wide.”
Nothing. Not even a rattle. I narrow my eyes. “Okay. Rude.” I try again, this time with more force:
“By will and word, I break your bind.”
Still nothing.
The air pulses, as if the door just snickered at me.
I frown. Alright. If it’s not just locked—it’s sealed. Warded. Fine. Let’s get weird. I press both hands to the door and whisperthe kind of spell Hecate warned me not to use unless I was really sure I wanted to be inside. I’m sure.
“Let me be where I need to be.
Open this door and let me see.”
The air around me warps. The wall dissolves into smoke.
I step through, and it closes behind me. I swallow; I hope I can get out again, but then all thoughts freeze in my mind as I take in my surroundings.
