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They bolted over to it. There was nothing special about the mirror; it looked like an old one, chipped and scratched. Then something began to materialize inside the glass, and suddenly Kit was looking through the mirror as if it were a window. He could see a small, bare room, and inside the room sat a glum-looking faerie in overalls and a plaid shirt, leaning against the wall.

And not just any faerie, either. Kit knew him. He’d worked for Emma and Julian when they’d fixed up Blackthorn Hall, though everyone had known that he was more than just a foreman. “Round Tom?” Kit exclaimed.

Round Tom blinked blearily at Kit. He could clearly see him and Ty, and he didn’t seem surprised at their appearance. “Well,” he said. “The Heir. And friend.” He squinted at Ty. “You look like your brother. Julian.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” said Ty, matter-of-factly. “Julian is very good-looking.”

“Well, so are you,” said Kit.

Round Tom rolled his eyes. “This is all very nice,” he said, “but we don’t have eternity, so let’s get on with it, shall we? I’d have at least thought you’d want to know why I was locked up in this blasted mirror.”

“I assumed you were here on purpose,” said Kit. “You’re a Guardian, aren’t you? Part of the Order of the Briar?”

“Yes,” Tom said irritably, “and as such, I ought to be guarding, oughtn’t I? Instead, four of the Riders of Mannan shattered the mirrors, stuck me in here, and laughed about it. Never been so insulted in all my life—”

“The Riders?” Ty interrupted. “They were here?”

“Well, of course they were,” said Tom. “Why else would I be in the mirror?”

Kit closed his eyes and counted to five. “Tom,” he said. “We need to know what happened. With the Riders, where the artifact is, the test—all of it.”

Tom let out a gusty sigh. “Guarding this object, whatever it is, has been a tremendous bore. I was looking forward to a little freedom. Ironic, eh?” He sensed Kit glaring at him and went on a little faster. “There was a test. You were meant to fight a basilisk. Pretty simple hero business.”

Ty looked as if he was developing a headache.

“Anyway, the bloody Riders showed up and chased me around, demanding I turn you over to them. There are only four of them now, I gather the other three couldn’t be raised, but they’re still pests. They only stopped bothering me when they got antsy. I had the feeling they can’t stay long in holy places.”

Round Tom looked a little puzzled, and Kit didn’t blame him. He’d never heard of faeries being bothered by sanctified ground.

“Anyway, I told them I didn’t know where you were, so they imprisoned me in this mirror out of sheer spite, and they let the basilisk loose.”

“They let it LOOSE?” Kit demanded. “Are you saying there’s a basilisk wandering around Munich? Killing Germans?”

“And probably a few tourists,” Ty noted.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” said Round Tom. “There’s a basilisk out there, causing great danger and annoyance to the public—though to be fair, they can’t see it until it’s too late—and it’s got the artifact piece you need tied around its neck. I guess Mother Hawthorn thought that would be clever.”

“The artifact is still with the basilisk? The Riders didn’t take it?” Kit’s head was spinning.

“You must understand: They don’t just want you, boy, they want the completed artifact too. But one piece of the artifact, if it was possible for them to get it, wouldn’t do them any good. They want the whole thing, and you’re the only one who can put the whole thing together.”

Round Tom seemed to know a lot more than the other Guardians had about the tests and the artifact, Kit thought. Not totally surprising: Round Tom had friends in high places, for all he pretended otherwise.

Round Tom went on. “You’re a Shadowhunter, Kit; they’re gambling that you’ll feel obligated to save the public from the monster. So all they have to do is follow the monster and”—Tom shrugged—“you’ll show up.”

Ty shook his head. “We can’t just walk into a trap like that,” he said. “We need your advice.”

“Never get into a hot-air balloon with an angry clown,” said Round Tom. “That’s the best advice I have.”

“We were thinking of something more specific,” Ty said. “Can you tell us what our next destination is? We can go on ahead, lose the Riders, double back later for this artifact—”

“There is no next destination,” said Round Tom. “This is the last piece of the artifact, this bit. This is the key to Faerie.”

“And we can’t just let a basilisk wander around Munich,” said Kit. “We could try to get a message to someone…Ragnor, or Magnus…”

Round Tom’s sharp black eyes flicked over Kit, and for a moment, Kit thought he saw the expression in them soften. “Just like Auraline,” he said. “She was kindhearted, too.” He sat up straighter. “There’s a gold bottle on top of the altar in the chapel,” he said. “It’s a potion made by the Lady Nene. For a span of eight hours, it will make you invisible to the fey. Julian and Emma used something like it in the past, in the Unseelie Court. The Riders will not guess you might have it.”

“The basilisk is a fey creature too,” said Ty. “If it can’t see us…”