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Chapter 19
When I finished my prayers for the hunters’ safe passage to the other plane, the shifters were all staring at me from the opposite side of the fire, where I remained a safe distance from Shadow and Flare.
“What?” I asked.
Shadow spoke for them because the other two looked like they’d lost their tongues.
“You’re shimmering.”
I checked my wrists, and they indeed blinked orange, like tiny fragments of glass reflecting the firelight. “Sea god,” I said, trying to brush off my skin.
“What the fuck is that freaky shit?” Wariness streaked Flare’s eyes.
“The mirror,” I stuttered. “Ever since my friend gave me the mirror, strange things have happened to me. It showed me things. Images of a coming evil.”
Shadow and Flare stared at me as if I’d gone mad.
To prove I wasn’t crazy, I hunted in my cape pocket until I found the mirror.
“Stand behind me,” I said.
Shadow and Flare did as I requested but kept their distance.
The glass face twinkled in the light from my skin. I held it up to my face and glanced in it. Instantly, the glass rippled, scenery gathering inside. Cart upon cart of apples all lined up, ready for transport. A pot boiled on a stove, and someone added a purple flower to it. Someone sliced up one of the apples. I jabbed the mirror at the shifters for them to witness what I saw.
“Whoa.” Flare walked away and grabbed a rabbit. “That’s some hoodoo shit.” His claws extended from his fingers, and he slashed the side of the dead animal, ripping the skin from its thigh.
I jerked at each tear his claws made.
“Now do you believe me?” I asked.
Phantom picked up a stick to nudge the fire with it. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
Wow.A man who apologized.
Shadow’s furrowed brow spoke of his unease. “What else did the mirror show you?” He collected sticks to fashion a stand with which to roast the rabbits over the fire.
Phantom kept glancing at me as he assisted Flare in skinning the other two rabbits.
I clutched the mirror to my chest as I explained where my stepmother hailed from, her bloodline, the cruel man keeping her from her daughter unless she fulfilled his dark orders. The glitter on my skin darkened with each word until it faded completely.
“If I don’t stop my stepmother’s plans…” My voice was barely a whisper. “The darkness will rise and consume Haven—and everyone in it.”
Flare pierced a rabbit with a sharp stick. “I told you that was dark shit.”
Shadow removed some twine from his satchel, wrapping it around the sticks. Hmm. I liked a prepared man.
“Did the mirror tell you how to stop her?” he asked.
“No.” My shoulders squared with defeat. I didn’t have the slightest clue, either. That witch had countless mercenaries, hunters, guards, and trained soldiers on her side. Who did I have? Three panther shifters and a bunch of ragtag resistance members, most of whom weren’t trained fighters.
Phantom sat beside me as Flare lifted the first rabbit onto the fire. “Don’t worry, Snow. We’ll figure out a way. The panther goddess protected us today. She has a purpose for us.”
I wished I possessed an ounce of his confidence. If it weren’t for the mirror revealing that witch’s secrets or this strange magic I’d somehow acquired, I might not have stood a chance against this evil.
“We need to rescue those shifters,” Shadow said. “Before the evil queen uses them for her dark-magic ritual.”
That was the plan. But for some reason, real life never followed the plan…did it? I didn’t understand my powers, and the mirror was no help in that department, so I had to work out how to harness them. Until then, I was nowhere near up to facing my stepmother and trying to destroy her. In the meantime, the shifters and I, along with the resistance, could be a real thorn in her side and delay or ruin her plans.
