but willed herself to regain focus. She’d finally reached the right headspace for performing when the room began to shake as if the Alastor Place were careening off the surface of Glorian with every thunderous boom.
The force had sent a few small paintings clattering off their nails, along with the drape she’d thrown over the dressing room mirror. She waited a few beats for her heart to slow. Her pre-show ritual was a sacred time. It would take longer to achieve that concentration again. Meditate and relax. Separate.
Separate from all else, and you will conquer on your own.
Jack’s words. His centering mantra that had become hers. She wanted nothing of him fixed in her mind, and yet his words were all she knew.
Nothing could ever be just a coincidence.
Furiously, she shoved the nearest portrait back into place and began setting the room to rights. Did he have to intrude upon everything she did? Ironic how fear was the last thing coursing through her blood. Only irritation.
“Jack.” She sighed sharply, reaching for the drape to hang over the mirror. “What did you do this time?”
Terrible things
Kallia dropped the drape. She spun around at the voice, finding no one else with her.
The worst things imaginable, to those like us
Her blood drew cold. If the icy wind in the darkest parts of the Dire Woods could talk, it would sound just like this. A choir of voices becoming one, all-knowing and watching.
And much closer than she realized. The mirror had frosted at the edges, fogging the center until her reflection was no more than a blur the color of her gown. Kallia didn’t dare touch the surface; the chill seeped through her dress, deep into her bones. She couldn’t stop shivering.
“Sh-shut up,” Kallia muttered, unwilling to entertain the illusion further.
She was not afraid.
Not of glass, or what lurked behind it.
Taking a deep breath, she ignored her reflection and picked up the drape again, rising to her toes to hang it over the ornate frame.
Don’t
Don’t let him win
You’ve been hidden for so long
Let us help you, Kallia
At her name, she froze, grateful the drape partly covered her face.
What if he steals you away again?
Then you’ll never know
“Leave me alone.” Her fingers trembled, the drape slipping between them as she tried securing it tightly. “Whatever you are, I want nothing to do with you.”
Did he teach you that?
Everything in her paused. The whispered question struck her like a knife; she’d never considered it like that. Never once thought that his warnings and lessons could all be lies.
The undercurrent of anger that always seemed to linger inside spiked.
Here, you can choose
He hid from you
Lied to you
To make sure you would never find out
“Find out what?” she demanded.
No answer came. She let the drape fall, searching the mirror with abandon. But the spiky webs of frost along the edges were gone. Kallia saw only a clear reflection of herself. Her lips painted bold red, her eyes wide and stained with fear, wet at the edges. Wary to touch the surface as if it would ripple like water.
Cold traveled down her spine, an odd scent flooding her nose. Like smoke, blown from whiskey-laced mouths. The muffled cry of a trumpet rang out nearby, and when Kallia blinked, her reflection had darkened. Showing not her, but someone else.
Jack.
Kallia lurched back, but he didn’t notice. He gazed right into her, fixing his bow tie without concern. His brass knuckles glinted by his collar, designed like black piano keys down his fingers. “I don’t care if anyone survived. It’s not my concern anymore.”
She startled at his voice, the clear smooth tenor right in her ear. He was in conversation with someone, but she heard no response. Only knew someone had spoken from his answering snort.
“Oh they are, down there?” Jack smoothed his hair back, which appeared longer than how he usually wore it. “They’ll spend a long time waiting, then. This place will never recover. It’s as good as lost to the rest of the island. Thanks to them.”
Kallia’s thoughts spun, trying to place what he was saying. Who he was talking about. The image of him looked like a different Jack altogether, from a different time.
Anger flashed in his gaze. Whoever he was talking to was not giving the answer he wanted. “I don’t need to stay any longer than I already have. It’s humiliating. The world of humans and mortal magicians can rot for all I care.”
A knock sounded behind Kallia, but the line repeated in the back of