41. Chapter 40 #2
His reflection laughed coldly, and she swore the sharp breaths clinked against the mirror’s surface.
“You can’t lie to me,” it said, punctuating each word.
“You can’t lie to yourself. Necromancers only bring floating spirits back into physical bodies—those lost for centuries and barely remembering who they were.
More power is needed if you wish to drag your sister’s soul away from the dead and back to the living.
You need something far more dangerous than simple necromancy. ”
“My parents never heard her last words,” Liam said after a moment of silence, his voice shaking. His shoulders curled in as he shrank into himself. “They wouldn’t have wanted to anyway. I hear them all the time.”
“Liam? Liam?” a woman’s voice screamed out from the mirror, coming from the reflection’s lips. He covered his ears as he sank to the ground. “It hurts! Why does it hurt! I can’t…I can’t…I.”
The reflection repeated the words over again until he smacked his palms against the glass beneath him. “STOP!”
“You want to bring her back? Bring her soul back into a broken body and forever change yourself in the process?”
Liam shook his head. “Not broken. I…I would find a way to bring her back whole. If it means I have to sacrifice myself in the process, so be it.”
“And if you have to unleash a horror into the world?”
“I…” Liam’s head hung low. “Yes. I’d bring her back and do whatever it takes to defeat what comes after.”
The reflection grinned eerily before fading away into nothing.
“You have faced your true self. Please step away from the mirror,” the first voice called out.
He pushed himself off the floor and shuffled back to where the four of them were waiting.
Maeve immediately wrapped her arms around his middle in a tight hug, and Ivy couldn’t help but hug him as well.
She had no idea he’d been carrying around this weight by himself.
Nor did she know what the mirror meant by unleashing a horror into the world.
Ezra laid his hand on Liam’s shoulder next, and Rhea placed her hand gently on his other arm.
“Thanks, guys.” Liam sniffled and wiped his tears as the group dispersed a few moments later.
“We’re here for you,” Maeve said. “You can talk to any of us about this, you know?”
Liam nodded silently, trying his best to put on a smile and failing before he moved behind them.
“Maeve Amerie-Scott, stand before the mirror to acknowledge your true self.” She peeked at Liam, who was now sitting on the floor against the back wall, before stepping towards it.
Maeve’s image reflected on every surface in the room.
It reflected her image—her dark bouncy curls tied into two buns at the base of her skull, a deep purple jacket, and tight black jeans—but the sinister grin it wore was an expression she’d never seen from Maeve.
And, just like with Liam’s image, her eyes were completely black.
“Little Miss Perfect,” the reflection teased. “So focused on yourself, you don’t care what happens to those around you. Those you hurt for your own ambition.”
“No, I care,” Maeve argued back.
“Oh, do you? Calling upon the Fates has a terrible cost. Thought you were the smartest in the family? Or is that something you tell yourself late at night when you’re second guessing that everything you’ve done to keep your family safe will be for nothing?”
“I know the cost, and I’ll be the one to pay it.”
Her reflection clicked her tongue. “If only it were something you could choose. If your friends or your family were the ones to pay it, would you still seek it?”
“I…” Maeve balled her hands into fists. “I don’t know.”
“Stop lying to yourself. You know. You always have. Why else would you use your role at the library to sneak through the archives?”
Ivy’s eyes widened. She knew Maeve had gone into the archives, but she figured it was to retrieve approved books.
“You’re willing to break the rules at the school where your family built a legacy. What would they think of your selfishness?”
“Fine,” Maeve choked. “You’re right! I’d access that power, no matter the cost. Yeah, my family would be disappointed, but I know what would happen if I didn’t try.”
“And what could be so dangerous that you would dare pursue the Fates? Even though you know they would not answer?”
“Because the gate to the Nether will open again,” she cried out. “There’s one at the school somewhere. And…” Maeve’s bottom lip trembled, her head turning to meet Ivy’s stare. “And I think you’ve got something to do with it.”
Ivy’s throat dried. Her head spun, and her knees buckled. She stumbled backward, and Ezra’s arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling. “What do you mean?”
“Yes, explain,” the reflection sneered.
Maeve turned around, but the mirrors around them shook violently. The reflection glared through the glass. “Don’t turn your back on me, Maeve Amerie-Scott!”
She faced the mirror once again, and her image calmed. “Fine. I didn’t wanna tell nobody. I keep it a secret because, at best, it can change things or, at worst, get me killed.”
Maeve’s gaze fell to the ground as she sighed. “I…have foresight. I can see glimpses of the near future.”
Foresight was illegal. Not that she believed it should be.
Those with it couldn’t control the fact that they have visions, but using it under any circumstance was strictly forbidden over three hundred years ago, when a politician was found guilty of using it to provoke a war with a neighboring country’s arcane cities and destabilizing an entire region.
What came after that ruling was…horrifying.
Too many arcane lives were taken because of it.
“In the past, it was typically things like how I’d do on a test or figuring out what Christmas presents I’d get.
But when I got my acceptance letter…I saw bodies lying on the ground of some dank, stone room I’ve never seen before.
There was an open red door. I didn’t know who was on the ground at the time.
Until I met you, Ivy, and then Ezra. Both of you were there.
And a blonde, but I didn’t see her face. ”
Ivy gasped. “Briar.”
“Maybe,” Maeve whispered. “There was blood. So much blood. Smoke came from the doorway, like remnants of the Nether entering our world once again. Then the vision faded.”
“How will it happen?” Ivy asked quietly.
“It changes each time I see it, but that’s always the same.
No matter what happens now, the door will open again.
I’ve been using nearly all my free time trying to figure out how to stop it,” Maeve said.
“It’s been exhausting. The Nether has existed for thousands of years, ever since those arcanes found the Well of Magic and corrupted it, and everything inside its realm is just as sick.
We need something powerful to seal all the gates. Permanently.”
“And if the Fates no longer have their power?”
Maeve crossed her arms. “I’ll find who does.”
The mirror fell silent, but her reflection didn’t fade. It wasn’t satisfied yet. A question nagged at the back of Ivy’s brain. She kept her focus on the reflections, unable to meet her friend’s real gaze.
“You knew this whole time I would…die?” Ivy asked.