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It’s the following morning. After my announcement, we decided to go to bed. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was getting up this morning that wasn’t so smart. I wish I was back in bed, with the blankets pulled over my head. Instead, I’m in Thanouq’s Council chambers ready to have a “War Council.” I have to admit, I’ve never had one of those before, and I sort of wish I wasn’t having one now.

How had my life come to this?

It’s a bare room—less distractions from the important subject of potentially being slaughtered—with white stone walls, a flagstone floor, narrow windows that let in the light, but not big enough for even me to crawl through—if the need ever arose. But also too small for any bad guys to get in—which makes it easy to defend. Though I bet a shadowguard could slip through there. No worries, I have Nightfall at my back. I’m ready for anything.

Okay, maybe notanything.

The big oval table and chairs are the only furniture. Thanouq sits at one end in a bigger chair than everyone else. Therion is on his left and Hecate on his right. He placed me at the other end. Khaosti is on one side of me and Zayne on the other. And in between our two little groups there are ten other people, some I’ve been introduced to before, others are new, but they are a mix of generals and political advisors.

I frown as I think of something. “Just how many shadowguard are there?” I ask. “Does anyone have any idea?” I glance at Khaosti. “I mean, if they are guardians who went over to the dark side, is there any record of them?”

“None that I know of. My father kept the information of what the shadowguard truly are, a deep secret. I presumed, until recently, that they were creatures created in Hell.”

It amazes me how little he knows. And how little he questioned his world. But maybe he saw no reason to question. “Could you make a guess as to how many guardians there are? Have a lot gone missing?”

“The war has been going on for thousands of years. The guardians were created as soldiers to fight against Lucifer’s armies. So many have been lost in the war. But how many of them were killed and how many were lured over to Lucifer’s side? Probably only my father has any idea.”

“Khendril looked into it after he discovered what the shadowguard truly were, but found no answers,” Hecate says. “What he did find was a deep unrest among the remaining guardians.”

“Where are the guardians?” I ask. “I mean they were created to fight this war. Are there any left?”

“Their numbers have dwindled to almost nothing in recent years,” Hecate says. “I suspect Khronus stopped replacing those that were lost. It’s one of the reasons Lucifer’s armies have been making so much ground.”

“The ones who went over to Lucifer are now immortal,” I say. “Their numbers would just keep increasing. So I guess the answer is: a lot.” That’s not good. The shadowguard are formidable fighters. Plus, if they are killed here—unless their corporeal bodies are drawn from Hell—they just re-manifest in Hell and live to fight another day. Only a powerful witch can call them from Hell. I suspect the ability is tied somehow to mirror magic, which means I’m likely the only one who can do it, but I can’t be everywhere at once.

“Do you know where they are?” Thanouq asks.

“Not for sure.” I close my eyes again and re-picture the vision. “I think they are amassing somewhere. Then they’ll come in force. I don’t recognize the place.”

“How do they get here?” Khaos asks. “Do we know?”

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, especially since meeting Killian and his little clean-up crew of wolf shifters. “I think they come through the portals,” I say.

“Portals?” Thanouq and Khaosti say the word together. They’d probably make a great synchronized choir.

“Like at Killian’s?” Zayne says.

“Exactly.”

“What are these portals?” Thanouq asks.

I give them a brief rundown of what happened at Killian’s.

“Shadow creatures?” Thanouq asks.

“Yeah. They were scary as shit. And the bad news is, I spotted some among the army I saw in my vision.” But back to the portals. “I’ve been thinking about it,” I say. “And I think they exist where a mirror used to be. The mirrors open a pathway between worlds. They can be destroyed, and the pathway is closed, but they leave a…weakness, a sort of tear in reality. Actual things can’t pass through. But the shadowguard can because they are not real. They leave their bodies behind and just their…essence comes through.”

“Their essence?” Zayne says.

“Hey, I’m making this up as I go along. But it makes sense. My mother destroyed all the mirrors between Hell and other worlds, and there were quite a few.”

“How do you know all this?” Khaosti asks.

“Some of it my mother implanted in my mind before she handed me off to Hecate.” Like unwanted baggage. Am I bitter? A little bit. I understand why, but I still don’t like it. “The rest I’ve come up with on my own. I doubt my mother knew that destroying the mirrors would create portals, though.”

“But all mirrors pass through the Chamber of Mirrors,” Khaosti says. “And I’ve never heard of shadowguard entering Astrali.”

“I suspect that’s another one of your father’s lies. A way to control travel between the worlds.” I shrug. “We can make mirrors between any two places.”