Thoughts fly faster than reason. He’s right. After less than an hour of intense fighting, I’m worn out. My tentacles are already turning from solid to shadow as he struggles and screams. The leg I managed to wrap flies free as another part of me fades, and his foot hits me in the chin. My teeth snap shut on my tongue, making shadowy black blood flow down my face.
Blinded and fading—I have to get back to my mirror or I’ll die.
But if I leave Arnie out here, Aggie could die. Maybe not tonight, but soon. Or maybe... Maybe it would be tonight.
“You’re right,” I say, opening my swollen eyes. I was a soldier. I’ve had worse. “I won’t always be around. Neither will you—but at least I’ll get to say goodbye.”
With the last bit of strength I have, I throw Arnie into the mirror—and he sinks through it.
“HEY, GUYS! I’M HOMEearly. Can you believe I left the book for tonight on the kitchen counter? If I— Lucius!”
Lucius is lying in the living room, pale and almost entirely see-through.
“My empress. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Honey! Babe, why are you out of the mirror? What happened to you?” I demand, slamming the door shut and dropping to my knees.
Lucius is about to reply, opening his bloodied lips and peering at me through swollen, slitted eyes that are almost entirely puffed shut when I hear the screaming.
Hoarse shouts, angry curses. Unhinged pleading and wailing.
“Arnie?” I gasp.
“He came. With pills. So many pills. You’re right. He was mixing your medications all along. For all I know, he’s been slipping your poor mother pills as well to keep her docile and unaware of what a conniving evil piece of shit he is,” Lucius wheezes. “I was fading fast—”
“When did he get here?” I try to cup his face, but my hand slides right through, and it feels like ice plunges into my heart.
“Not long ago. Made up a story about losing the key you gave. Someone let him in. I couldn’t fight him as long as—”
“You put him in the mirror.”
“He said I wouldn’t always be around to protect you. He was right. But in there... You smash the mirror, and he’s gone forever.”
“But so are you! Bring him out, baby, and you go in,” I beg, trying to scoop him up and failing. I’m afraid to leave his side, afraid he won’t be there when I get back if I do, but I have to. I run to the mirror and grab it off the wall—almost dropping it when I see Arnie inside.
He’s not human anymore. He’s not handsome like Lucius. He’s a scabbed, red, wormy thing, with short, stumpy arms and mouths all over him.
If I let him out, he’ll kill me in a second.
“Smash the mirror, empress. For the good of your legion,” Lucius whispers.
“No! No, I can’t, you’ll die.”
“If he comes out, he won’t be human. He’s changed now, and there is no undoing it. In there, there is no body, no judge and jury, save the eternal one. He’s a poisoner, a liar, and he would have used your body after he finished with your mind. End him. End him, or I will.” Lucius sits up, and I believe him. I believe he will die saving me, using the last of his little strength to protect me, wasting the last few minutes of our lives together.
I turn the mirror’s surface to the floor and raise my heel above it, intending to stamp the back in and shatter the glassy front.
“Will you go? As soon as it breaks?” I ask, voice shaking with the sobs I haven't let out yet.
“I don’t know. I wish I could stay. I wish I—”
“Wait! Wait, wait, wait,” I beg and fumble for my phone, yanking it out of the slender pocket of my skirt. Thank goodness my boss is a nice guy—and a warlock. Thank goodness he actually gave me his home number in case of emergency. It’s only when I grab the phone that I see all the missed callnotifications from the apartment manager and realize I put my phone on silent earlier while I took notes for one of Alain’s conference calls and never turned the volume back up.
“I’m waiting. I could last for hours like this, I think. Please don’t cry, my love. You know now that you’ll live happy and free from his trickery. You and your mother might mend things. Your father is coming home soon...”
“I want you in my life, too. Shh. Alban! Alban, please come over. It's an emergency, a magical emergency, please! Lucius is dying, and you have to help me save him!”
THE WARLOCK RETURNS, but like honorable gentlemen, we say nothing about our previous encounter. He looks at my sobbing Agatha, and then my almost lifeless puddle of shadow on the ground.
