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“Quinn,” she says.
Never in my life has someone uttered my name with so much love in it that it physically hurts, but she does. All the missing years are an aching emptiness and now, knowing she sacrificed herself for me not even to have the peace of death but to be doomed to an empty realm of constant torture? What words can encompass any of that?
“Mom,” I say, and I don’t know if it conveys all that I feel or not, but my throat is tight and my chest clenches so that I can’t say more.
We rush into one another and embrace, clinging tightly to each other, and tears of relief, joy, and sadness blend as we give ourselves a moment. It’s not a long moment. There isn’t time for one and we know it, but a few seconds. A slight passage of time that renews hope in my soul and makes my heart pound with joy and love.
“I am,” Mom says, her voice muffled in my hair, “so proud of you.”
I choke again and nod, clinging to her, but time is moving, and we don’t have any more to share. I force myself to let go and she does the same, her hands trailing across my back and arms as she tries to maintain a touch for as long as possible.
“I love you,” I manage to say, and she nods, her eyes glistening.
“I know,” she says, then without further preamble she turns and leaps through the mirror.
A brick breaks free of the tower wall and the wind whistles through the newly made hole. An instant later another brick is gone and then the tower is literally crumbling around me. I jump into the mirror.
It’s cold, which I knew, but when I touch down on the far side there is nothing but pitch-black darkness.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
“Mom? Dugald? Duncan?”The sound of my voice is muted by the cloying darkness.
I can see, sort of. I see myself fine. Itfeelslike I can see a few feet in any direction, but there is no light. It’s less like darkness and more nothingness. Yes, that’s it. Nothing. There is nothing to be seen. An empty space that goes forever.
“Hello?” I call.
An echoing sound of footsteps approaching answers my call. I turn towards the sound and the empty black seems to coalesce until I have the idea of a hallway and a shape coming down it. It’s a nebulous concept and feels more like I’m projecting it than it being there.
“Hello, Quinn.”
The speaker emerges from the hall, stepping into the empty area. He’s tall and handsome. He has rich, beautiful dark skin and thick wavy hair that is not quite curls which is slicked back on his head, but random strands emerge of their own obvious will. He’s wearing an incredibly well fitted dark blue suit that looks to be made of the finest cloth. His shoes gleam with a high shine and his crimson red tie is perfect too.
His smile reveals perfect, straight teeth. His face is youthful, but old at the same time. He has an aura of agelessness. As if time doesn’t really affect him. He holds his hands crossed over each other in front of himself and waits for me with an air of patience.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Ah, sweet, innocent Quinn.” He shakes his head. “You know me. You’ve always known me.”
“You’re the Darkness?”
He bows his head and sweeps his hand in a flourish before giving a half-bow.
“At your service.”
“Great. How about you go back into your cage, and we call it a day?”
He laughs. A full-on belly laugh, then pretends to wipe away a tear.
“You’re sassy. I love it,” he says.
“Thanks, now about that cage.”
“No, Quinn. That’s not how this works.”
“Then how does it work?”
The satchel on my side feels as if it’s growing heavier. I try to be casual and not call attention as I move one hand over it to make sure he doesn’t try something. The spells in the book are burned into my brain but I can’t cast them without it.
