“And you had the mirror made from it?” Esme asked.
Valerius nodded. “Only hellfire melted it and when it cooled, the mirror was created. Not like any other mirror in existence. And I’ve taken it with me. Everywhere.”
Another silence fell as they wondered at this.
“It’s like the walls that the Behemoth uses,” Jahara said quietly. “The mirror. It lets us see into the Spirit Realm.”
“While the walls let things pass between?” Esme asked.
“I think the mirror can too,” Valerius said. “I believe the spirits of the people the Behemoth displaced will be able to return to their bodies. Including…” Valerius cradled Caden close. “Including Caden.”
“Better not let anything happen to that bloody mirror then,” Illarion growled.
Valerius kissed Caden’s cool, unresponsive forehead.
Caden… Caden, we’re coming. Hold on.
“But Illarion is not completely wrong to be nervous. The horde is after us,” Mei said.
“High Reach is the safest place,” Jahara said, “but the throne room is the least protected part of it.”
“We just have to hold out for a little while. Once the Behemoth is taken care of, the horde won’t be a problem,” Mei said.
“You act as if taking care of the Behemoth will be some kind of side adventure and not the main event,” Illarion grunted. “But Raziel has not returned after challenging it.”
Valerius felt the weight of every one of those words.
Raziel has not returned…
Not returned...
Would Raziel return? Was Raziel all right? Could Spirits be destroyed forever? Wasn’t that what they were trying to do to the Behemoth?
“We need to get to High Reach first before our Dragon Spirits can leave us,” Jahara pointed out. “First things first.”
Jahara wrenched the wheel to the right as they took a hairpin curve. Valerius slid the few inches there were between his bare shoulder and the door.
“We just need to survive your driving. What else could happen?” Illarion muttered.
Valerius glanced outside to see how far they were from High Reach. He saw the final turn up ahead before the bridge. There was a stone wall on their right side except for a metal door that interrupted the white stone. Even before Valerius saw it suddenly bulge out as if a great hammer struck it.
“HORDE!” Valerius shouted.
And then the door flew outwards across their path. There was a squeal of tires as Jahara tried to steer around the metal door that looked like the ripped off lid of a container. She had to slow down and that was when the horde poured out of the doorway like water streaming out of a fire hose at full speed.
“Watch out!” Esme cried.
Jahara slammed on the brakes even as the horde appeared before them.
“Don’t stop!” Illarion screamed. “Run them over!”
“I’ll kill them if I don’t!” Jahara cried. “Those are people!”
“Who cares?! They made their damned choices!” Illarion snarled. “If they slow us down too much everything is lost! We have to think of all the innocent people who will die if we don’t kill them!”
Valerius saw Landry, her brothers and Jasper Hawes staring out at those faces pressed all around the SUV. They were snarling. Their expressions were hardly human. One of those faces though was Landry’s. She gasped and covered her mouth as she saw herself.
“Oh, my God!” Landry cried. “Oh, my God. What have I done?”
