I take a deep breath. “Then let’s go.”
We turn left and then right. Then left. We just keep picking random arches, hoping our luck changes, and we see something different, but it’s just endless hedge and onyx sand.
We’re almost to the point of feeling delirious when we walk through a small arch and come to a pathway filled with mirrors. Hedges still line both sides, same as all the other pathways, but this one has mirrors hanging from them in varying sizes. Some are simple in design, others are intricate and antique-looking.
My fingers trail down the bronze frame of a particularly old-looking mirror. The attention to detail is magnificent. The creator poured their love and creativity into it.
Finnley hasn’t stepped forward yet and is looking at the mirrors through narrowed eyes, as if they’re going to sprout legs and chase us.
“Got any tricks hidden up your sleeve to help with this one?” he tosses nonchalantly my way.
I look at him and roll my eyes.
“Well, just thought I’d ask,” he says before proceeding to walk down the pathway.
“No, the only trick I had was saving your ass,” I shoot back, using my middle finger to apply imaginary lipstick before blowing him a kiss.
He catches it and shoves it in his pocket. “For later,” he says while giving me an exaggerated wink.
I bet he practiced that for hours while looking at himself.
I walk in front of the mirror I was admiring and peer at my reflection. Vibrant red hair sticks out in various places, my long braid almost entirely undone at this point. Black blood splatters are splashed across the right side of my face and the bridge of my nose. My usual vibrant green eyes appear tired and dull. Even my expression is muted and monotonous.
I look like a dim version of myself.
I shift to the side, and my reflection does the same. I stick out my tongue, and it follows suit. Long, slender fingers wiggle back at me as I raise my hands and move them. But then the subdued expression on my face slowly morphs into something else. Full lips pull up into a taunting sneer with one delicate brow arching sinisterly.
I instinctively touch my face.
The reflection in the mirror never raises her hands. She just continues to watch me with morbid satisfaction shining in her eyes. I glance over at Finnley, who is walking from mirror to mirror, investigating each of them.
“Why are you looking at him?” it mocks in a cynical tone. “Have you settled on the knight in shining armor since Ambrose will never love you the way you love him?”
I rear back as if I’ve been struck, refocusing on my likeness.
“Haven’t you learned that no one will ever truly love you?” it hums, raking its eyes up and down my body. “You just keep being the good girl, the one who yearns for the approval and admiration of others, all the while putting on a brave front of not caring what anyone thinks.”
I throw my head back and laugh. Or rather, it does.
I just go completely still.
Clutching its sides, it tampers down its maniacal laughter long enough to spit more poison in my direction. “You can’t even make Mommy Dearest proud, can you? And how could you? It’s because of you that the love of her life left,” it delivers with dark pleasure.
Fatality.
She just killed me with a wound to the heart.
I’d love to just cover my ears like a small child and pretend nothing she said wasn’t already festering inside me, but that would be a lie.
Instead, I retaliate.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I say with all the conviction I can muster.
Finnley’s head whips toward me. “I didn’t say anything.”
The reflection laughs at me in pity. I step back, retreating from the merciless taunts. Quickly, I turn and flee toward Finnley, who’s watching me with curiosity.
“You good?” he asks me, his eyes laced with concern.
