Page 30 of The Midwinter Mirror
Ashiver runs through me as I watch her disappear into the snow.
“Stubborn witch,” Grimlet mutters.
“It’s not her fault.” Josh defends Holly, and he’s right. It’s not her fault. I know how messed up magic can get.
Holly’s a witch—and a mirror mage. How fucking cool is that?
I should have known. I’ve always recognized the similarities between Amber and Holly. It’s why I was drawn to Amber from the moment I met her. Certainly not in looks: Amber is small and dark-haired, while Holly’s tall and her hair is almost silver. But there’s a vibe about both of them, a presence, a tingle in the air—pure magic.
Of course, before I left here at fifteen, I didn’t believe in magic, so I wouldn’t have recognized that tingle. Even if somebody had turned me into a toad, I probably would have argued.
Now it’s hard to miss.
Something occurs to me.
“Do you think Holly’s mother brought her here to keep her from Khronus?” Khronus was king of Astrali, and he murdered most of the mirror mages; drained their magic and used it himself. He’s dead now—Amber killed him—so at least Holly doesn’t have to worry about the “bad” man.
“I think so. It’s funny, isn’t it, how everything is connected?”
“Fucking hilarious.” I rub my forehead. “Only in Elderfell.”
“Selene told me that there are places in all the worlds where magic is strongest, like her temple on Valandria. Mostly they’re good places, but something bad happened here.”
“Believe me, lots of bad things happened here.”
“But they all started with one bad person: Khazim.”
The light is fading. Time is running out. I take one last look at the spot Josh assures me is where the mirror should be. We’ve tried every spell we can think of to call it up, but none of them worked.
Of course, it’s not going to be that easy.
“Don’t give up, Zayne,” Josh says. “We’ll find a way.”
“Of course we will.” I ruffle his hair.
“Maybe there’s something else in the library that we missed. Milo is still looking.”
“Then we’d better go check in with him.” And make sure Holly is safe. Then we need to get back here. Because if anything happens, it will happen here. “Should we fly?” I ask.
Josh nods.
I shift, feeling the familiar tingle running through me. Raze throws back his head and roars. He’s glad to be free; Raze loves the snow.
I spread my wings and launch into the air. Then I head toward the house. I spot Holly within seconds. She’s slower than me. She must sense me because she stops and looks up. She stares, her eyes wide.
I dive down toward her, circle her, and blow out just a little bit of fire. Yeah, I’m magnificent—at least Raze is.
I leave her behind. She needs time alone to get her head around everything.
I fly to the house and land. Josh jumps down, and I shift back. The worry immediately returns. How many hours do we have? What are those children going through? What’s happening to Tansy?
Josh tugs on my sleeve, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Yeah?”
“I had an idea,” he says. “I remembered something.” He sounds excited.
“What?”
He drags me toward the steps. “You remember when we were escaping the palace on Astrali?”
