Page 43 of Nightmare's Dance

That my manager was some sort of dream court jester was blowing my mind, although maybe not as much as Geraint being some sort of actual knight from Nightmare. Putting all of that and the rest of my distress out of my mind, I stepped up on the brick hearth and touched my hand to the mirror.

“What do I do?” I glanced at Nic.

“I don’t have the power to repair mirrors and arches. You do. Remember what you did when we were running from the hounds, and do it again,” Nic answered.

“Right, just that easy,” I muttered. He was correct, though, which didn’t make me any less annoyed. I shut my eyes and pictured the essence flowing between the cracks in the glass, making it whole again. The energy Nic had shared with me left my body through my hand, flowed through the mirror, and a smaller amount returned to me.

When I opened my eyes, the mirror was whole once again. Now that I had a tiny bit more experience, I could feel where the silver backing was still fractured, and the connection to Dream broken. Bloody Mary could still get through, so I guessed that meant that mirror dwellers could look out of even broken mirrors, but no one else could use the glass as a gateway. I even thought I knew how to fix the arch. Unfortunately, repairing the mirror had used up more than half of the energy I’d taken from Nic. That could be a problem.

I’d address it with him once we were at the cabin. Right now, I needed to say goodbye to Ash and my parents.

Stepping off the hearth, I went over to Ash and held out my arms for a hug. She squished me tight. “Be careful, Spark.”

“You too, Ash. Can you make sure my parents take care of my plant while I’m gone?”

We released each other.

“Yeah. You’re coming back here after you get Knight, yes?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be back.”

“Good, because I need to kick his ass for keeping this from us.” Ash smiled, but I caught the shine of tears in her eyes.

I gave my cousin another quick hug before turning away.

“Your parents are in the gym,” Ash said as I headed for the front door.

Nic eyed the sun streaming through the front windows and sighed. “I will meet you at the edge of the woods.”

“You really can’t do a little sunlight?” I had to ask again, though I had seen him walk across the lawn in the sun once already.

He stuck his arm into the shaft of sunlight. It didn’t burst into flame, but the sun leached all the tawny color from his skin, and he looked like a black and white painting. “I can. I can even appear normal when forced, but it takes a great deal of energy. If we’re going to confront Baz, I should conserve as much energy as I can. It’s easier simply to step from this shadow to the ones in the forest.”

“That’s really cool,” I said, then a thought occurred to me. “Hey! Is that how you always found me when we would play hide and seek?”

His lips twisted into an embarrassed smile, and he cast his gaze to the ground. “That might have something to do with it. My range is much farther than when I was young.”

“Explains why I did occasionally manage to hide from you.”

Nic chuckled. “Yes.”

“Okay, go lurk in the forest. I’m going to hug my parents, promise them not to die, and I’ll meet you there in a few.”

The prince nodded and stepped back into the shadow behind him, dissolving into black wisps of essence before vanishing.

“Holy shit,” Ash breathed.

“Most impressive,” Robby agreed. “Let’s find your parents. It’s been too long since I’ve been in Dream, and I’m eager to get there. Even if it’s the darker side of home.”

I glared at Robby. “Yeah, let’s get right on that.”

He smiled, tilting his head. “I want Geraint rescued, too, Spark. I also want to see him squirm when Nic tells him how naughty he’s been.”

Shutting my eyes and clenching my jaw, I tried to keep my temper. “Robby,” I snapped.

“Yes, princess?”

“Shut up.”

---