The Glass Magician

“You,” she said, eyes darting about the room. But he wasn’t there. He could only be seen in the mirror. She narrowed her eyes and dared to take a step closer. Grath grinned at her from the mirror’s smooth surface, his left cheek still burned from her Burst spell.

Calm, she told herself. Then, aloud, “How did you find me?”

Grath opened his hands and let his fingers flutter. “Magic,” he said. “Mirrors are eyes to anyone who knows how to use them.”

He held up the ornate makeup mirror Delilah had given her at the bistro. She had left it behind in her purse when she fled the restaurant. Had he somehow used it to find her?

Ceony didn’t respond; she folded her hands behind her back to hide their shaking. Staring into the mirror, past Grath, she studied his surroundings. There was an old, unpainted armoire, white blinds drawn over a sunny window, and the corner of a bed. If it was a hotel, it wasn’t a very nice one. Somewhere with an east-facing window. A Gaffer must be standing somewhere out of Ceony’s line of sight, for only a glass magician could enchant the mirrors Grath had used to reach her.

“Where are you?” she asked.

Grath laughed, then turned toward the bed, briefly revealing the unmarked door to his room. His image faltered for a moment as he mumbled something, then it expanded, revealing his body down to midthigh. He shut the makeup mirror in his hand and tossed it onto the bed.

The room seemed small, and Ceony hadn’t spied another magician. Wherever the Gaffer was hiding, Grath hadn’t given him orders to make a transfer to this larger mirror he now used.

“We never got to finish our conversation,” Grath said, his lips pulling back to reveal that feline smile. “You were about to explain a spell to me.”

Ceony’s heart pulsed in her throat. Her feet grew cold. Could Grath possibly be . . . but how? It was only possible for a magician to bond with one material.

“It’s you,” she whispered.

Grath raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Mirrors are eyes to anyone who knows how to use them,” Ceony repeated, her stomach swirling. “You’re . . . you’re not an Excisioner. You’re a Gaffer.”

Grath laughed, a hearty sound that would have shattered his mirror had it been just a little louder. “How astute of you,” he said. “Our little secret, hmm? A mistake I made a long time ago. But I want to remedy it, Ceony. In fact, I’m hoping the little spell you used on Lira might open a new window for me, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

“A window for what?” Ceony asked, sharpness leaking into her voice. “You can’t bond to blood, and I certainly won’t help you! Do you even care about Lira, or is power your only motivation?”

Grath scowled and stepped close enough to the mirror that his breath fogged the glass. “The first thing I’ll do with you when this is over is rip those flapping lips off your face, Folder. Lira and I had plans. We were going to get away from you and your self-righteous system, but you couldn’t let that happen, could you? I’m going to break whatever curse you put on her, and I’m going to make you my first test rat once blood is my domain.”

Test rat? Ceony stepped back from the mirror, standing just off-center of the room. “You’re serious,” she breathed, but she didn’t refer to the threats. Grath really did intend to break his bond to glass. But such a thing was impossible! Once a person formed a bond with a material, it couldn’t be undone. The oath said as much!

“Tell me what you did to her!” Grath shouted, his thick fingers clutching the edge of the mirror. “Tell me what strange magic you have, this spell that bridges materials!”

“Even if I could free Lira, I’d let you flay me before I let the secret slip!” she shouted.

A creaking sound to her right startled Ceony. When she glanced to the side, she spied Emery’s silhouette in the doorway, just out of sight of the mirror.

Grath didn’t seem to notice. “I can make you break that promise,” he said.

I have to keep him talking, Ceony thought, but before she could ask her next question, her mirror began to ripple, as though the glass was morphing into water.

Water . . . people could pass through water.

“Ceony!” Emery shouted. He threw open the door and pulled a Folded piece of paper from his long coat, but Ceony moved faster. She grabbed the chair by the makeup stand and flung it into the mirror, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. The glass rained over the floor, unmoving and solid. The pieces reflected only the ceiling and Ceony’s huffing shoulders.

Grath had vanished.

Emery lowered his spell, palmed it. “A blind box, quickly.”

Ceony pushed past him and into the living room. She ran to the desk, pulling four sheets of paper from its drawer. She Folded them, her flying fingers barely registering the tingling of the material. Emery had taught her the Blind Box spell two months after her arrival—a simple box that shut out everything beyond its paper walls, including light. Ceony had thought it fairly useless at the time, but it would prove efficient in nullifying Grath’s spell if he still held any control over the mirror’s shards.