Page 37 of The Midwinter Mirror
“It’s not your fault,” Zayne says as though he can read my mind. “This guy’s a fucking asshole. You’re not responsible for what he does.”
He’s right, but all the same, I feel the pressure building again.
My feet slow. Silvergate is up ahead, and I don’t want to get there. But I have to. This isn’t something I can put off. And what if I do manage to somehow open the mirror? What if this Khazim guy isn’t happy to see us? He kills people. For fun. “I don’t suppose anyone brought a gun?”
Zayne snorts. “Nope.”
“Me neither,” Josh says. “But Grim’s very good at throwing rocks.”
“Super,” I mutter, and he pulls my braid again. “Ouch.”
But we’re here now. As we step into the clearing, snow starts to fall, drifting down in the still air.
Prickles run over my skin. Inside me, the magic awakens.
How could I have missed this?
The place is steeped in magic.
Dark magic. There’s a deep, rotten core to it, as if something foul is seeping out of the very rocks and trees.
Together we walk toward the far side, coming to a halt at the spot we stood at earlier. I pull free of Zayne. This is something I need to face alone. And I can feel it in front of me, the mirror pulsing with magic.
I search my mind, and in the end, it isn't hard at all. The words flow through me. As I speak, they burn on my tongue, sharper than I expected.
“No more secrets, no more lies—
Show me the truth that Silvergate hides.”
The clearing goes still. Not quiet—still. Even the snow hangs mid-fall. My breath frosts and won’t leave. For a heartbeat, I wonder if I’ve broken something—ended the world with one stupid rhyme.
Then the ground shudders. Rocks split and groan like they’ve been waiting centuries. A low hum builds until my teeth ache. The air ripples—then it’s there. Not glass. Ice. A flawless sheet rising from nothing, twisting the weak winter light into a thousand fractured worlds. Beneath the cold shine, something darker stirs. Shapes moving. Eyes glinting.
My skin shudders. The air tastes metallic, sharp with magic.
Behind me, Zayne curses under his breath, his hand reaching for me, clamping around mine. His heat grounds me even as the mirror pulls at me, like it knows me. Like it’s been waiting.
There’s one more step. But before I can speak again, Josh steps forward.
“What—”
He reaches out a hand, and it disappears inside the mirror. He pulls it back.
“I was thinking,” he says. “It has to be open this way for the children to get through. And others have disappeared over thecenturies. It was designed to keep Khazim in, not everyone else out.”
“We need it open both ways,” Zayne says. “Otherwise, we might get stuck on the other side.”
He’s right. If we go through and I can’t open it, then we’re stuck.
I search deep inside myself, and the words come freely…
“Gate that takes, now give as well—
Outbound road, obey my spell.”
A ripple runs through the mirror, then stills.
I frown. “Do you think it worked?”
