Page 88 of The Eternal Mirror
“How do you suggest I do that?” she snarls, looking around the cell. “I don’t exactly have anything to pack.”
I sort of like her. “Well, just see if you can stand. What’s your name?”
“Hella.”
How the hell are we going to get them out of here if they can’t walk? There are only four of us, five if you count Winter’s brother. We can’t carry them all.
In the next cell, the woman is unconscious. I unlock the shackle, and she collapses in a heap on the ground. Sheela crouches down and feels for a pulse. “She’s alive. Just.” She lays a hand on her and does her thing but then stands up and shakes her head. “I don’t know if I have enough magic to heal what was done here.”
She hasn’t asked which cell her mother is in. Maybe she’s afraid to. Perhaps she’s putting off asking so she doesn’t have to face what she might find.
As I head to the next cell, I pray that Yasmin is still alive. Holding my breath, I open the door and peer inside. I sense Sheela behind me. The woman’s eyes are closed, and she’s still. I step inside, and Sheela almost pushes me out of the way as she hurries to her mother’s side. Dropping to her knees in front of her, she reaches out with a shaky hand and touches her throat. Then her hand drops, and she bursts into tears.
Oh God, is she dead? I shouldn’t have waited. I should have taken her from here when I first found her.
Then I see the slight rise and fall of Yasmin’s chest. She’s alive. I whisper the spell to unlock the shackle, then move to stand in the doorway.
Sheela reaches out and rests a hand on her mother’s heart, sending a pulse of magic. At first, nothing happens, but then she takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.
For a few seconds, they are clear and aware. “Sheela?” Her voice is thin and raspy.
I leave them together, feeling a little teary myself. Khronus has clearly lied about the dying thing, probably to stop them from even thinking about escape.
More cells. More witches. Some are too weak to move. I do what I can. I push magic into their limbs, into their lungs. Just enough to get them moving.
When I exit the last cell, I find Hella helping Sheela get everyone into the central room. I run my eyes over the group.
The cells are all empty except for the second one, where the woman lies curled in on herself. I look at Sheela, and she shakes herhead. But I’m not leaving her here. We all get out. Or none of us do. Probably the latter. Someone will have to carry her. And there’s one other who doesn’t look as though she’s able to get out under her own steam. But that’s doable.
I sense him before I see the others. Khaos is here.
Now to tell him the good news.
Chapter 31
Khaos
“The mirror is gone,” she says.
No kidding. It’s hard to miss that fact.
Which means I’d better start thinking of a way to get us all out of here.
Amber whispers the spell to make me visible again, and I hear a few gasps around the room as I materialize.
I look around and do a quick count. There are eleven witches, plus the four of us and Winter’s brother, who I took an instant dislike to. Probably because his sister betrayed us. I never trusted Winter either. But then I don’t trust many people.
Across the room, Sheela has her arm wrapped around the shoulder of a frail woman, who I presume is her mother, Yasmin. She’smy aunt, I suppose, but she disappeared nearly two hundred years ago, long before I was born.
My father apparently executed her husband—his own brother. But then, I’m his son and I’m pretty sure if he catches me this time, I’m a dead man. So I’d better not let him.
Amber steps up close to me. “Any ideas?” she almost whispers. Presumably, she doesn’t want to let the rest of them know just how precarious our situation is.
It’s very fucking precarious.
Suddenly, a woman comes to stand in front of me, her hands on her hips, her eyes narrow. She’s staring at me with a level of loathing usually reserved for the shadowguard and my father.
“What is it, Hella?” Amber asks.
