“Almostzero, you say?” Gabriel let out a soft laugh, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Better thanactualzero. I can work with those odds.”
Jaci nodded, the tiniest smile touching her lips.
“Once we’re in there, we’ll need to draw them to us. I’ll focus on my father, you focus on Aiden.”
“Focus… as in, just think about him?”
“Yes. Picture him clearly in your mind. Try to call up a strong memory—an experience you shared. One that was equally resonant for you both.”
Gabriel smirked. “Does it have to be a good memory?”
“Not necessarily, but… Knowing what I know about Aiden? I think he’d respond better to a good one.”
“Yes, Vampire Ken has always been a bit of a sap.” Gabriel’s smirk faded into a warm smile, genuine affection shining in his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ve got just the thing.”
“We’ll need to walk the corridors—slowly, carefully—sending out our energy.”
“How will we know when we’ve found them?”
“We’ll feel them before we see them—like a tug or a rush of warmth. You’ll know it when it happens. Then, we stop. Wait for them to come to us. We don’t want to frighten them off.” She squeezed his hand. “We’re their beacons, Gabriel. We can’t lose sight of that.”
He nodded, suddenly very serious.
Then, she pushed open the door. “Whatever you do, donotlook into the mirrors.”
They stepped inside.
And what they saw there nearly brought her to her knees.
“Bloody hell, Jace.” Gabriel gasped. “Are those… are they all…”
She nodded, unable to find words.
The hall was like a museum gallery, only instead of artwork, the cruel black mirrors were on full display. Standing along the walls and floating near the ceiling, crowding into every available bit of space, the doomed souls stared into the mirrors with vacant eyes, hands pressed to the glass, twisted mouths stretched open in perpetual torment.
The corridor was soundless.
Jaci grabbed his hand, laced their fingers together. And slowly, step by step, they made their way down the center of the corridor.
While Gabriel thought of Aiden, Jaci called up a memory of her father—the last time she’d seen him wholly alive, soul intact, just after they’d arrived in New York. She remembered the smell of pizza and pasta drifting on the air, the snowflakes she’d never before seen. She remembered how they’d laughed and spun in circles in that alley, catching the snowflakes, finally free.
She didn’t think about what had come after that. Just the best moments, the ones that she’d always carry with her, no matter what happened today.
I love you so much, Dad. Come back to me. Please come back to me. Let me take you home. Let me take you home…
She repeated the mantra in her mind, remembering the snow in Little Italy on their arrival, thinking of the snow at Ravenswood, wanting so badly to share it with him. Not just Ravenswood itself, but the Redthornes, her expanding family, her life. Her vampire prince.
Let me take you home…
Something brushed along the back of her neck, raising the hairs on her arms, making her heart flutter.
“I can feel him!” Jaci whispered. “Gabriel, he’s close!”
She turned on her heel, slowly scanning the souls for a hint of familiarity, a glimpse of him, anything, and then…
“Dad,” she breathed, and at her barest whisper, the man at the mirror beside her turned to face her.
His bight blue eyes had lost none of their luster, but his face held no expression, no hint that he had any idea the woman who stood before him was his daughter.
