Page 41 of The Midwinter Mirror
“He’s gone,” I whisper, but the words scrape out of my throat, raw and broken.
Zayne’s curse cuts through the icy air, sharp and furious. The children huddle closer together, Josh’s arms tight around the littlest one. Even Grimlet has gone still, wings folded, his usual muttering silenced.
I thought it was over. We could all get out and close the mirror—properly this time—and he’d be gone forever. How could I have been so stupid? He played us. Kept us busy while he escaped.
“I’m going to end him,” I growl. My voice doesn’t sound like mine. Too thin. Too scared. But inside, my anger rises, spilling over.
Zayne grips my hand, his silver eyes burning. “We’ll destroy him together,” he says. “But we need to get the children safe first.”
I give a sharp nod. “Then we hunt the Hunter.”
“Come on, we’ll take them to the manor. Your mum and dad will call around and let the villagers know.”
I step through the mirror, and they all follow. A sense of relief flows through me as we step out of that place. Even the children seem to perk up.
Inside me, the magic stirs—like something huge just sat up in the dark and screamed—I’m back. I turn to face the mirror.
“Thread be severed, mirror undone
—Fracture, fade, be nothing—gone.”
Power bites the air; frost spider-webs across the ice. A shudder runs through it, and the ice shatters. And the mirror is gone forever.
Zayne looks at me, one eyebrow raised.
“We don’t want anyone else wandering in there,” I say. “And Khazim isn’t going back to prison. This time we finish him.”
Nobody argues.
We head home as fast as the children can go. It’s the early hours of Christmas morning.
As we near the manor, I hear it—the faint echo of screams drifting from the village. The sound is too soft, too fragile, and suddenly I know with every cell in my body that he’s there. In Elderfell.
Zayne has stopped in front of me. He looks at me.
“Can you hear it?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“He’s there. Oh God, he’s going to kill them all.”
“Go,” he says, his eyes flashing silver. “Take the children. Get them to safety. Josh, you go with her.”
“What are you going to do?” But I already know.
“Stop him.” He lowers Tansy to the ground. “Go with Holly, sweetheart.”
“Is your monster going to kill the bad man? I saw him through the ice.”
“Yeah, he’s going to kill the bad man.”
She nods solemnly.
Zayne steps closer to me, cups my cheek, and lowers his head, taking my mouth in a fierce kiss. “I love you. Everything will be all right,” he whispers.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
