Page 68 of Sweet Nightmares
Even without her magic, the mirror sang to her, and it was in the same key as the song from the towering invisible mirror in the Royalle Ballet. Maybe even the same song. Because they were both Blood Mirrors.
Fuck.
Jane had found both of the remaining two.
“What do you want to tell me?”
A force hit Jane in the chest, and she fell to her knees. The memories flooded into her.
A scream pierced the night, coming from down the hall. Little Quinnevere ran out of her room toward it, and before Jane could yell to warn her, the girl had turned the corner. So, dressed only in her shift and no shoes, a ten-year-old Jane sprinted after her sister and caught her just in time. Jane wrapped a hand around her mouth and threw them both underneath the side table. The girl had run to the ballroom, where the massive mirror rested.
Only Jane and Quinnevere could see the thing, and her parents had told them they were not allowed to tell anyone about it.
And Jane hadn’t, right?
Except Uncle Gideon—he wasn’t her uncle, only her father’s best friend—had asked about it last week. So, of course, she had told him. But he was family, right? Well, she hadn’t technically known Gideon. She’d only seen him in pictures, but she first met him last week. But her daddy loved him; they were often seen together in many photos. Her daddy had said he died tragically, but then here he was, alive and standing before her, asking about her dad and the mirror.
Mommy had told her not to tell anyone except family.
Had she done something wrong?
Another scream rang out, and the floor grew red. A pool of redness was coming toward them. Quinnevere tried to scream, but Jane held her tightly.
So much red.
“Gideon, you’re supposed to be dead,” Daddy said in a low, shaky voice. “We killed you.”
“Well, it didn’t seem to stick, did it?” Gideon’s voice was wicked, cold, and cruel, taunting her father. “Don’t worry, next time, maybe it will. Unfortunately, you won’t be alive to see it.”
Just as Jane peeked her head out from the tablecloth, she saw the tall man with redwood hair and hazel eyes stab her father in the heart. Gideon, her father’s once-best friend, killed him. Jane couldn’t contain her scream.
Gideon’s harsh gaze landed on her. “Ah, the little snitch.” A sinister smile lifted on his lips. “Come out, little dove.”
Jane shook her head and held her sister’s mouth tighter.
“Now, girl.”
Jane gulped. She knew if she didn’t move, he’d come over and find her sister, too, and that could not happen. So she turned back to Quinnevere and whispered, “Do not make a sound. If you do, you will die. Do you understand me?”
Quinnevere nodded and slammed her tiny little four-year-old fingers to her mouth, tears leaking from her eyes.
Jane placed her hands on the floor and slowly lifted herself up and out from under the table. As she did, her eyes scanned the room. Five bodies littered the floor, blood gushing everywhere, but as her gaze tracked through them, she realized her mother wasn’t there. “Where’s Mommy?”
Gideon pointed to the mirror with his thumb. “In there, getting me some paintings.”
“Why do you need paintings?”
“Hush, child, I am trying to think.” He took a menacing step toward her. “I want to kill you, but they say the little Ashelle girls are special. They say old magic rests in your veins, girl.”
“Magic?”
“And that could one day be useful. So call me your savior, girl, because today is your lucky day.” He pinched her face between both hands. “Forget me, forget this.” A tingling sensation clawed at her brain, and she fell to her knees and collapsed into a dark slumber, blood sticking to her dress and hair.
It was the last thing she saw. Jane never knew if her mother made it out of the mirror alive. But she learned from the reports and aftermath that she never came back, and that mirror was destroyed and killed, too. So, if she never made it out, she would have died inside it.
Jane screamed, coming out of the memory, and found Nightmare holding her. Jane turned her head into his chest. “It’s my fault,” Jane sobbed. “I am the reason my parents died. I told him about the mirror. I even told him where it was.”
“Who?” Nightmare asked darkly.
