Tobias
Ihad been here once before, racing toward a mirror with someone I loved on the other side, only to be a heartbeat too late. My imprisonment, and the circumstance under which I had been forced into that hellhole, made me brutally aware that life didn’t allow do-overs, no matter how much I wanted to.
This time, I wouldn’t fail.
This time, I didn’t hesitate.
Dagger in hand, I dove into the mirror.
I didn’t care if two of them were waiting for me or twenty. They would all die for daring to lay a finger on her.
It felt like an eternity and a blink before I was through.
My gaze found her the instant my body broke through the other side of the mirror.
Quinn struggled in the arms of the hooded figure from the bar, his companion leering at her in a way that made me want to tear him apart with my bare hands.
The first had her pinned against his chest, his meaty forearm pressed firmly against her throat and his other hand tight around her wrist so she couldn’t use her dagger.
I reached for my power, my fury so potent it alone might sear them to the bone—
There was nothing.
My whole body seized as my magic was ripped from my hold, the effect so violent I almost fell to my knees.
“You can’t use magic here,” the second one sneered as he came toward me.
No wonder their hearts were still beating.
I twisted just in time, barely dodging the ax he swung at me. My attacker was small and quicker on his feet than I expected. Dangerous, especially with the way my head swam as my memories threatened to overwhelm me—the loss of my magic worse than any blow.
But I couldn’t be distracted, couldn’t let that weakness win. Not when I had to save her.
I slammed those mental cell doors closed, shutting everything out until I was nothing but violence, vengeance, and one all-encompassing thought:
She needed me.
Quinn gasped out a warning. I drove my dagger upward in time to block my opponent’s next wild swing. She used the distraction to launch her own attack, clawing at the arm around her throat, kicking backward—trying desperately to find leverage as her face turned purple.
Rage ripped through me, electric and blinding, like a lightning bolt cleaving the sky.
I ducked underneath my opponent’s ax, turning into him before I threw my head back into his face.
His scream was wet as his nose crunched against my skull, his weapon thudding to the floor.
I spun, slicing my dagger across his throat.
His body fell with a dull thump as I turned to Quinn.
My eyes met hers as I raised my dagger. Quinn’s heel slammed into her kidnapper’s kneecap. He howled, his grip on her slackening.
It was all the distraction I needed. My thrown dagger lodged into his eye with deadly accuracy, his other eye flaring wide before the life left it.
He deserved a slower death for hurting her…but it would have to do.
I lunged forward, grabbing Quinn before he took her down with him. Blood splattered her cheeks, and I reached up, wiping it away from her cheekbone with my thumb. She coughed loudly as her hand flew to her throat, rubbing the area as she gasped for air.
We needed to get out of here so she could heal herself. My eyes ran over her, checking for any injuries I missed as I demanded, “Besides your throat, are you okay?”
She nodded, her chest heaving as she croaked, “Thank you.”
I yanked her into my arms, closing my eyes at the sense of relief that left me trembling. “No need to thank me for that either.”
“Where—where are we?”
My eyes flew open. I hadn’t taken much notice of our surroundings for once—not when my every thought had been consumed with saving her.
We were in another laboratory. Sterile and eerily familiar.
Quinn let out a small gasp. But no—we weren’t in Morehaven.
This was an almost exact replica of Silvius’s lab there: silver counters and white walls, the same furnishings down to the decanter on the desk.
There were no doors; not even a window to give us an idea of where we were.
I couldn’t even tell if we were still in Mayim.
And in the back of the room was a single cell. Iron bars. Hooks where shackles could be affixed to the stone.
My stomach bottomed out, my entire body shaking. A phantom band tightened around my neck.
“We need to get out of here,” Quinn murmured.
Her gaze was on the hand I had unknowingly wrapped around my opposite wrist, twisting it against my scars.
I dropped it to my side. “If Silvius can somehow block our magic here, there’s no telling what else he has up his sleeve.
We need to tell the others what happened and quickly. ”
It took a moment for me to find my voice.
“The second he sees the bodies, he’ll know he’s been compromised.
” I looked around like Silvius might be lurking beneath one of the ominously bubbling beakers, no doubt brewing whatever fresh nightmare he had planned.
“All he has to do is close off the mirror and we’ll never find this place again. ”
I turned to look over at the mirror we traveled through.
The frame on this side was embellished with twisting vines that cut into the sides of the glass in repeating loops.
Large flowers decorated the vines, each so intricate they looked like real flowers had been coated in gold and affixed to it, never to return to the sunlight.
It was smaller than most—the glass itself barely tall enough for me to walk through without ducking my head.
“He could be here any minute if he was supposed to meet them,” Quinn retorted, glancing at the mirror.
The mirror rippled faintly as I stepped closer. “I’m going to hazard a guess that this mirror isn’t connected to the one in the castle. Which means our only option is going back through the tunnels or finding a glamour.”
Quinn glanced around, a scowl pursing her lips as she realized I was right.
I clasped Quinn’s hands in mine. My magic warmed my fingertips as it reached for her too. “You go. Find the others and bring them back through the tunnels. I’ll wait for Silvius and do my best to keep the gate open.”
Quinn glared at me. “Don’t you dare even suggest that. I’m not leaving you.”
As much as I abhorred the thought of splitting up, she had to survive this, and not just because she was the key to saving everyone else.
“One of us needs to stay—” I tried to persuade her.
“Then you go,” she shouted, her suddenly blood-red eyes wild.
It was so unlike her it took me a second to respond.
“I’m not the one who can figure out the cure, Sagray.” I glanced at the door, knowing Silvius could return any minute. “We both know who should stay, and it isn’t you.”
“Then we both leave,” she said adamantly, her fingers threading through mine.
I shook my head. “We don’t have time to argue.”
“Then stop arguing, Maris.”
Quinn’s chest heaved, that stubborn look on her face nearly bringing a smile to mine. For a moment, all I could think was how beautiful she looked when she was angry, all fire and challenge.
“Quinn, I—” I cut off the words I wanted to say, weakly adding. “I’ll come back.”
Her eyes went wide. Her nails dug into the back of my hands, her voice going taut as she gasped, “We need to get out of here.”
“I just told you—”
“Look.”
Quinn pointed behind me, her gaze fixed above my head. A thick cloud of white gas leaked in from a vent on the ceiling, billowing right at us.
I pushed Quinn ahead of me towards the mirror, both of us immediately starting to run. The undoubtably noxious gas expanded toward us like a silent explosion, white tendrils grasping for us with deadly fingers.
Quinn reached back, her hand searching for mine as we neared the mirror without breaking her stride. I took it the moment before we collided with the glass.
Between one ripple and the next, we were gone.