Page 35 of The Eternal Mirror (Lucifer’s Mirror #3)

When There’s No Plan B.

W e spend the day laying low.

Sheela wanted to go straight to her mother, but apparently, Khronus is still there, no doubt sucking up magic that he has no right to and gloating over his mirror and his imminent transformation into the re-embodiment of the first god, Vortex.

Sheela and Killian traveled through the previous night, so I offer them the use of the bed. And they take it. Boy, do they take it.

At one point, I bang on the door and shout, “Keep the noise down, we’re supposed to be laying low.”

I’m going crazy, with lots of pent-up energy. I need to go for a run or…something. But that something isn’t happening. Not here anyway. “You want to get out of here?”

Khaos glances at the bedroom door and nods. “Hell, yes. ”

I make Khaos invisible, and we take ourselves out. We’re silent for a long time, but I can feel him beside me, and the bond hums happily.

Khaos gives me directions and takes me on a tour of the palace, all the places he spent time growing up, including his old room; it’s stripped bare, with no feel of him, but we both lie back on the four-poster bed and stare at the canopy.

“So, if you don’t want to be king,” I ask, “what do you want to do when you grow up? You know, when this is all over?”

“I don’t know. I feel like my whole life, until the last few months, has been about following orders. Maybe I just want to spend some time seeing the worlds. I don’t want to make plans.”

“Probably just as well. You do know we’re likely heading into a trap.”

“Of course. You look after everyone else, and I will look after you.”

Finally, it’s dusk. We’re back in the room when we hear a light tap on the door—three knocks, silence, then three more. It’s the sign. Khronus has left the building.

The journey down to the dungeons goes without a hitch. But for all that, I can’t dismiss the sense of foreboding that fills me with dread.

At least I’m more appropriately dressed. In black pants and a black shirt and my own boots, I feel a little more like myself. I left the pink dress behind; I don’t think I’ll be wearing that again .

Khaos is invisible, just in case we do bump into anyone. I’d like to keep his continued existence a secret at least as long as I possibly can. And he’s too recognizable to anyone here.

Once down in the dungeons, Khaos and Killian head to the right, and Sheela and I go left. Khaos is to free Winter’s brother and bring him to the mirror room. Killian is going along with him, just in case Niall doesn’t feel comfortable in the company of a man he can’t see.

“I hate this place,” Sheela mutters.

“I don’t actually think you’re supposed to like dungeons,” I reply.

“That’s the point.” And it’s the only dungeon I’ve ever been in, so I don’t really have anything to compare it with.

There are no guards tonight. I think Khaos was right—the dungeons have been cleared out.

Maybe Khronus is making room for new prisoners.

We come to a halt in front of the invisible entrance. I touch the wall lightly and it fades to nothing—it knows me now.

“I never even suspected this place existed,” Sheela says. “And I’ve been down here a lot to heal the prisoners.”

“It’s warded,” I say. It’s a bit like my bedroom back on Earth. I’d warded it to prevent people from wandering in. “Not a physical ward, like Khronus uses to protect himself, but more...psychological. It makes you think something bad is going to get you. So, you avoid the place.”

“I can’t believe my mother was down here all those years. Beneath me. Going through god knows what.”

She’ll see for herself soon enough. I step into the room, and I know in that moment that we are so fucked. Because the heavy presence of dark magic has faded to a lingering hush—like a silence that falls after the screaming stops.

The mirror is gone.

Just not there.

The chamber is empty. There are faint lines where the trails of silver once led from the mirror to the cells.

“What’s wrong?” Sheela asks from behind me. I’ve come to a halt just inside the room.

“The mirror is gone,” I say. Khronus must have taken it somewhere else. Because he doesn’t trust me? To be honest, if I were him, I wouldn’t trust me either. But then I’m sane, most of the time, and he lost his hold on sanity a long time ago.

Maybe he’s just taken it somewhere for safety.

“Well, there goes plan A,” I mutter. Pity we never bothered with a plan B.

“What was plan A?” Sheela asks as I move out of the doorway so she can come up alongside me.

“We use the mirror to get out of here. That’s clearly not happening.

” It probably would have dropped us in the middle of the void, anyway, though even that would be better than here.

I press my lips together. “Let’s get them out of the cells, then we’ll decide what to do next.

” That will depend on what state they are in.

She breathes in, undoubtedly inhaling that unique blend of despair and terror that lingers in the air.

Most of the cell doors are locked, which I’m hoping means that the occupants are still inside and alive.

I remember Yasmin saying that she would die if released from the mirror. I really hope that’s not true .

Fingers crossed, I head to the closest closed door and open it.

A woman is huddled on the floor, her arm chained to the wall. But she’s awake.

“Are you alright?” I ask.

A flash of disbelief crosses her face. “No.”

At least she seems sane. I cross toward her, and she flinches but then holds still as I whisper the spell to unlock the single shackle that holds her to the wall. She winces as her arm falls to her side and then rubs her shoulder.

“We’re getting out of here,” I say. “Get ready.”

“How do you suggest I do that?” she snarls, looking around the cell. “I don’t exactly have anything to pack.”

I sort of like her. “Well, just see if you can stand. What’s your name?”

“Hella.”

How the hell are we going to get them out of here if they can’t walk? There are only four of us, five if you count Winter’s brother. We can’t carry them all.

In the next cell, the woman is unconscious.

I unlock the shackle, and she collapses in a heap on the ground.

Sheela crouches down and feels for a pulse.

“She’s alive. Just.” She lays a hand on her and does her thing but then stands up and shakes her head.

“I don’t know if I have enough magic to heal what was done here. ”

She hasn’t asked which cell her mother is in. Maybe she’s afraid to. Perhaps she’s putting off asking so she doesn’t have to face what she might find .

As I head to the next cell, I pray that Yasmin is still alive.

Holding my breath, I open the door and peer inside.

I sense Sheela behind me. The woman’s eyes are closed, and she’s still.

I step inside, and Sheela almost pushes me out of the way as she hurries to her mother’s side.

Dropping to her knees in front of her, she reaches out with a shaky hand and touches her throat.

Then her hand drops, and she bursts into tears.

Oh God, is she dead? I shouldn’t have waited. I should have taken her from here when I first found her.

Then I see the slight rise and fall of Yasmin’s chest. She’s alive. I whisper the spell to unlock the shackle, then move to stand in the doorway.

Sheela reaches out and rests a hand on her mother’s heart, sending a pulse of magic. At first, nothing happens, but then she takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.

For a few seconds, they are clear and aware. “Sheela?” Her voice is thin and raspy.

I leave them together, feeling a little teary myself. Khronus has clearly lied about the dying thing, probably to stop them from even thinking about escape.

More cells. More witches. Some are too weak to move. I do what I can. I push magic into their limbs, into their lungs. Just enough to get them moving.

When I exit the last cell, I find Hella helping Sheela get everyone into the central room. I run my eyes over the group.

The cells are all empty except for the second one, where the woman lies curled in on herself.

I look at Sheela, and she shakes her head.

But I’m not leaving her here. We all get out.

Or none of us do. Probably the latter. Someone will have to carry her.

And there’s one other who doesn’t look as though she’s able to get out under her own steam. But that’s doable.

I sense him before I see the others. Khaos is here.

Now to tell him the good news.