r falling asleep. She

urtains. Her sheets were tangled around her legs, drenched in sweat. Her hands wer

anning the room. Everythin

it had ever existed. No wax seal. No parchment. No whispering voi

d hap

asn't

r did - and spent hours sitting at the tiny kitchen table, staring at the spot where the envelope had been

art of her did

s hummed lower, the wind bit sharper, and the people moved with

d her coat tig

the diner, through alleys she'd avoided in the past, into parts of the city that

en she

'd never no

ws. But her feet stopped in front of it any

gold and red, though no light seemed to come from anywhere in particular. Dozens of mirrors lined the walls

ed the d

was too deep, like the toll

?" she

le

from every angle. She looked... different. Paler.

mirror - not a reflection, no

arble. Eyes golden like firelight. He di

hadow a

caught. "Wh

n the mir

art st

was

r dream. The vo

en D

for one awful second, she felt her knees go weak. She gripped the ed

s gone. The

ir sh

ded on her

fast, fis

ly woman, her face weathered but

t be here," t

. "Then why is

head. "It wasn't. N

s a long

e asked, her voice l

idn't blink. "That

rowned. "

are things in this world that were never meant to be seen. Blood

he bottom of h

am?" she

beneath the table and pulled out a small pendant. A circle

ssing it into Arielle's ha

endant. It pulsed in he

she whi

e he's coming. And when he doe

*

he wind pulling at his coat, the city spra

me," he

stepped forward nervously. "You

es still fixed on the horiz

wallowed hard.

was all teeth.

he ledge - and v

Arielle co

like a sleeping ember. Every few seconds, she glanced at it,

rtment just kept moving, twitch

her head -

g in th

a dr

a vi

n Dra

. St

geticall

eal," she

, slow and deliber