Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Veyra opens the door for us after we both pound on it for what feels like forever.
She doesn’t get to finish rubbing the sleep from her eyes before we pull her into a broom closet in the hallway.
Finnick starts telling her what’s going on while I search the small area, making sure there’s nothing reflective in here with us.
There’s a clear glass vase, and I’m taking no chances.
I open the door and send it flying as hard as I can.
It lands a good distance down the hall and shatters on the floor.
“Hell yeah,” I say proudly. Finn’s fist clutches the back of my shirt, and he pulls me back into the closet, shutting the door behind me.
Veyra listens to everything. About what I saw, what Finn saw. It turns out, mirrors have also been feeding on Finnick’s insecurities, telling him I would never want to be with a goblin. I interrupt him to tell him that’s not true.
“Maybe that can wait til after,” Veyra says, halting our version of a romantic moment. She rubs her temples. “It seems like this only happens when the two of you aren’t together.” We hadn’t realized that.
“I’ve noticed the energy changing around here,” she admits. “It’s been happening since before Claudia came through to our realm. It seems like something’s been building up. The villagers have been a bit restless and weary, even of me.” She’s silent again.
“I think that Claudia didn’t cause the rift,” she says after a bit.
“I think that the rift caused Claudia to come here. Someone, somewhere, knew and opened it. I’m not sure who, but it’s the most likely scenario.
The fact that it only happens when the two of you are apart leads me to believe she’s not strong enough when you’re together. ”
Finnick and I stay quiet while Veyra works through it all in her head.
“The fates chose you to come back now to stop Miryn’s return.
The seal must be weakening. The illusions don’t seem strong enough to suggest she’s able to return physically, so she’s casting them to tear you apart.
To weaken your bond would allow the spell to dissolve. ”
“But how? Why now?” Finnick asks.
“I’m not sure,” she concedes. “But something is coming. That’s why the storms are brewing. She must have an anchor here that she’s been drawing from.”
She and Finnick begin to brainstorm, but I know exactly where it is. “I saw it when I came through,” I blurt out. I throw open the door and start running to the throne room I saw in the portal. Finnick is right on my heels.
When I find the room I’m looking for, I have to use my body weight to open the door. It’s been shut for so long that the hinges are rusted. I finally get through and come face-to-face with hundreds of mirrors.
And I start smashing every fucking one of them.