“But you’re still too late.”
I looked up, my stomach tightening. Other Ash stood in front of Puck, one hand on the faery’s throat, pinning him to the wall. Puck dangled weakly, his face covered in blood, his daggers glinting several feet away.
“You defeated Goodfel ow’s ref lection,” Other Ash mused as I started forward, already knowing I wouldn’t get there in time. “Congratulations. Now it’s my turn.”
He raised his sword, and drove it through Puck’s chest, staking him to the wall. The mirror behind Puck shattered, raining to the f loor in a softer imitation of the havoc I had just caused. Puck’s mouth gaped; he clutched at the sword in his chest—
—and disappeared, vanishing in a shower of leaves. Other Ash blinked, startled for just a moment, then quickly yanked his sword out of the wall and stepped back.
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There was a blur over his shoulder, and he stiffened, jerking his head up. As I reached him, his sword fell from his hand, clattering to the ground, and he turned cold, hateful eyes on me.
“You…will fail,” he whispered in a choked voice, and disappeared, like mist in the sunlight.
Puck stood behind him, eyes hooded and grim. His dagger, where it had been stuck in the prince’s back, f loated in the air for a split second before plummeting toward the ground. Puck caught it as it fell and smoothly slid it back into its sheath, giving the broken mirror a rueful look.
“Yeah, two can play at that game, ice-boy,” he muttered, and shook his head. Glancing at me, he offered a wry, slightly pained grin. “I found that oddly therapeutic, how about you?”
“Idiot,” I told him, to hide the relief on my face. His grin widened as if he saw it anyway, and I scowled, embarrassed. “Come on, we’re not out of here yet.”
“No, you can’t leave!” hissed a voice behind me. I spun, bringing up my sword, as Other Ariel a lunged out of the mirror, her eyes blank and terrible.
Something streaked past my face from behind, and Other Ariel a jerked, freezing in place, as the shaft of an arrow jutted from her chest.
She slumped, reaching out for me, then evaporated from sight, the arrow dropping to the ground and shattering on the f loor.
I turned and saw Ariel a on her feet beside the Wolf, her bow raised and the string still vibrating from where it had loosed the shaft. Her gaze met mine, eyes hard, and she nodded.
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“Well, that was fun,” Puck stated as we hurried over, passing the two Grimalkins, watching us with identical bemused expressions. “I’ve always wanted to see myself die in a horrible ice explosion. You never pulled that stunt while we were dueling, ice-boy.”
“Save it for later,” I said quickly. “We have to keep moving.”
“It is too late.”
We turned as the Grimalkins stood, waving their tales. “You have failed,” one of them stated, regarding each of us imperiously. “Your time is up. The doors are getting ready to close.” And, in true Grimalkin fashion, he vanished without a trace.
“Hold on,” Puck said, pointing to the one remaining cat. “Which Grimalkin disappeared…?”
“Puck, there’s no time! Come on!”
We tore down the mirrored hallway, past our reflections, which were back to normal again. The corridor finally opened into a large circular room with pill ars soaring up into the darkness of the ceiling. On the other side, through another long corridor, I could just see a tall, rect-angular space of light.
And it was shrinking.
As we tore across the room, voices suddenly echoed around us, low moans and wailings, making the candles f licker. From the walls and the f loors, pale, misty figures began emerging, clawing at us as we passed. A troll, coming up through a broken pill ar, latched on to my belt, trying to drag me down. I struck out with my blade, cutting through its arm, dissolving it into mist. With a wail, the trol drew 231/387
back, but its arm reformed and knitted itself back onto the elbow, coming at me again. I dodged and continued my mad rush to the door.
The chamber was rapidly filling with wraiths, grabbing for us, snatch-ing at clothes and limbs as we passed. They didn’t hurt us, only latched on and held tight until we cut ourselves free. “Staaaaaay,” they whispered, reaching for us with ghostly hands, dragging us down.
“You cannot leave. Stay with us, those who have failed. Your essence can remain here with us forever.”
The Wolf gave a defiant growl and surged forward ahead of us all, but for the rest of us, it was too late. As we sped across the room and down the corridor, I already knew we wouldn’t make it. The rectangle was just a tiny square now, the stone door slowly grinding shut. So close.