The woman made no move to stop her when Tala approached Loki’s looking glass. Tala ruminated for a few minutes and then looked up at the adarna. “Do you think I can pull another song from you?”
The adarna chirped its agreement and puffed out its chest. As before, its music lifted Tala’s mood, and she felt some of her waning strength return. But nothing within the mirrors changed to reflect what it had done. The bird cut itself off after it came to the same realization and grumbled for a bit.
Tala eyed the shade next. It lurked in one corner, looking at the Japanese woman with obvious misgivings. It hadn’t attempted to flee or steal anything. If the shade was a nightwalker, it wasn’t any of the Snow Queen’s minions. Possibly something that had been stuck in the palace far longer than they had been and had gained independence after so long. “You seem to know more about this than any of us,” she said. “What do you propose we do?”
The shade skulked out of its dark alcove and drifted toward Loki’s mirror.
“Oh. Of course. Loki still has the lotus lantern, right? Adarna, could you do that thing you did to activate it like when we were in Kunlun?”
The bird brightened. Its response was to sing its heart out, the lovely melody echoing throughout the room. Tala focused her agimat, channeled all of it that she could into the looking glass, hoping it would be enough to offset whatever wards were keeping them spellbound.
From inside the mirror, Tala saw Loki turn, frowning. “Yes,” she muttered under her breath. “Yes. Come on, Loki. I know you can hear it.”
Loki glowed. Or rather, their ear glowed. They blinked, reached up, and stared open mouthed at Ruyi Jingu Bang and then down at the lotus lantern that had suddenly appeared in their hands.
Tala could see their not-real parents moving toward them, sensing the shift in magic. “No, Loki!” she hollered into the looking glass. “Don’t listen to them! Focus on the staff! This is all a lie! You need to—”
Loki was already a step ahead. They twirled the staff expertly and then swung the lantern about, looking for a way out…and finding it when the lantern glowed and shot a beam right onto where Tala was standing. Loki began running straight toward her, leaping into the air—
—and narrowly missing her as they hit the ground rolling, up on their feet in seconds, looking alert. “That wasn’t real,” they gasped. “I thought I was at the tree house I built with my parents when I was ten.”
“Yes, and we’re still inside the Ryugu-jo!” Tala grabbed them by the shoulders, waiting for them to breathe slower, to calm down. “The others are still trapped.”
“I saw something, some kind of vision, before I was able to jump out. I—” They shuddered. “Never mind.”
Tala turned toward the shade and stilled. It was gone. “Oh no,” she muttered. “Did you happen to see a shade somewhere around?”
“A shade? No. Is the ice maiden here too?”
“No, I don’t think it’s under the Snow Queen’s control. It was trying to help.” Tala spun around to no avail. Whatever the shade was, it had obviously decided that its services were no longer required.
Getting the rest out was easier than Tala expected now that they had possession of the lantern. With the adarna’s added support, all the Bandersnatchers shook free of the spell entrapping them and made their way out of their respective mirrors until everyone was gathered around the hallway, all visibly shaken. Ryker was the last one out, and the look of pain and regret on his face was hard to see.
“Well,” Ken said sourly. “That was fun.” He’d been muttering, “Two twenty-five,” over and over again when they finally pulled him out, though he had refused to elaborate on what he meant. Now he turned to glare at the strange woman, who had watched everything without a word. “And now that we’re out, are you going to let us go, or do we have to fight our way out of here too?”
“I will do nothing to stop you,” she said placidly. “You have paid the toll, and the mirrors have found you worthy. Take what you need and leave. But be warned. Sacrifice and pain always follow those who choose the tamatebako, as Urashima-san and Musashi-san learned.”
Zoe surveyed the table. “How are we gonna know which one houses Koschei’s, uh, soul or body part or whatever?”
A chirp from the adarna, who had temporarily abandoned Tala’s head to sit on top of a black box without any carvings or gemstones.
“I guess it’ll be that one.” Zoe gingerly picked it up.
“Does this mean we can grab more boxes if we want to?” Nya asked.
“I think so.” Tala rubbed at her head. “What does she mean when she said we were found worthy?”
“I think it was because we saw the future,” West said.
“What?”
But Nya was nodding, her face troubled. “When I was jumping back into the looking glass to get here, I saw…I saw myself with a jeweled box in my hand, and I was…”
“This black box?”
“No. Another.” Nya pointed. “That red one.”
“So we can take more than just Koschei’s box. Did everyone have visions?” Zoe asked, and only Tala shook her head. “Well, does anyone want to speak up about what they saw?”
Nobody volunteered either.
Zoe sighed. “Thought so.”
“Was I not able to see anything because of my agimat and my family’s penchant for negating prophecies?” Tala asked. “How bad were yours? If seeing the future can give us an advantage over the Snow Queen, then I think you all should—”
“It’s not that,” Ken broke in tersely. “In my case, I don’t think knowing what’s going to happen in advance is going to help matters. If anything…” He paused again. “If anything,” he said again, much more quietly, “I think the reason we saw it was to ensure that we actually make it happen.”
“I can share a bit of what mine was,” West said hesitantly. “We were standing in front of some grassy hill somewhere in Avalon, looking down at a village at its bottom. I don’t know where it is exactly, but I remember feeling at peace about everything. Except…except some of us were there, but some of us weren’t. I—I won’t say who.”
“So some of us didn’t make it.” Ryker was still looking a little weak, still not quite recovered from his fight with the Deathless outside the Ryugu-jo.
“I don’t know,” West said, miserable. “Maybe they just didn’t come with us to that valley.”
“I was surrounded by the dead,” Zoe said slowly. “They weren’t Deathless or nightwalkers. I wasn’t fighting them. I was fighting with them somehow. I remember feeling desperate, like we were losing. But everything went blurry after that.”
“I was fighting too,” Loki said shakily. “But I was fighting with the Neverland pirates. Something hit their ship, and then I don’t remember anything else.”
“Seems like most of us received visions of ourselves fighting,” Ken said. “Not surprising.”
But Nya was already looking suspicious. “What exactly did you see?”
“Is it really that important?” Ken asked airily. “I saw me sticking Kusanagi into various body parts of numerous nightwalkers and generally kicking ass, like I always do. I can give you the director’s cut later, but right now, we gotta get moving, or Alex will be a very old man by the time we’re out.”
Zoe looked at the table again. “This isn’t some kind of test where our faces melt off if we pick more than what we’re supposed to, right?”
The lady only smiled.
“Get the one with the rubies,” Nya said immediately.
“Are you sure?” Ken asked doubtfully. “I don’t know if there’s a difference, but if we pick the wrong one—”
“Just do it, Ken. Trust me.”
The boy shrugged and obediently took the container Nya was pointing at.
“You, too, must take your prize,” the lady told Tala.
“My prize?” Tala saw the turquoise box she’d inadvertently opened. “You mean this one?”
“It is rare enough for an owner to be chosen,” the woman said. “It opened for you and will no longer do so for another.”
“And how do we open this one?” Ken asked, holding up the ruby box.
“Only light and shadow can conspire to reveal its contents, sword wielder. Only pain and hope. It can only capture the darkness that can be seen in the light. You must guard it well, else all shall be lost.”
“That is the worst user’s manual I’ve ever heard of in my life, lady, and I had to build a cabinet from IKEA for my mum with instructions in Swedish.”
“Ken!” Nya barked, but the lady was fading from view, her whole body becoming translucent.
“There is another in the palace,” she whispered. “You must leave immediately.” And then she was gone.
“Was she a ghost?” West whispered. “Is this place haunted?”
“It doesn’t matter because we’re taking her advice and getting out of here—as soon as we figure out how to contact Alex.”
“—here,” something crackled through the comm, and they all jumped.
“Alex?” Tala shouted.
“—here—can’t—enough time—portal—”
“I’m only hearing about every third word coming from you, Your Majesty!” Ken yelled. “We got the tamatebako! If you can hear us, open up a port whenever you’re ready!”
A loud bang against the wall made them start a second time.
“The lady ghost said there was someone else here,” West said hopefully. “Maybe it’s Aunt Lumina?”
Ice began to form along the edges of one wall.
“I guess not.”
Brittle icicles sprouted along the floor, then shifted and reformed into the ice maiden, smiling cruelly. “I must thank your king for finally providing us with the means to enter the Ryugu-jo,” she purred. “His manipulation of the Nine Maidens anchors you here in the present but also allows a new pathway for me to enter.”
“You’re one to talk about manipulation, Jessika,” Ryker growled.
“Her Majesty strives to revive the Alatyr, the purest magic in all the land. How dare you use a poor imitation against her.”
A sudden sizzle went through the air, and a portal opened up behind them.
“Thank you, Alex,” Ken said, drawing out Kusanagi anyway. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
“No!” Zoe said sharply, already realizing what Ken hadn’t. “We can’t leave as long as she’s here! No telling how many of these tamatebako she’ll take with her when we do!”
“Smart as always, Carlisle. But can you really stop me?” The ice maiden moved toward the table, but Loki blocked her path. “You broke your little staff once before,” the ice maiden drawled, the icicle in her hand sharpening into an even deadlier point. “It would be a pity to see it destroyed again.”
The woman swiped and Loki ducked. Ruyi Jingu Bang jumped out of their grasp and batted at her, but a blow sent it spinning away. Zoe’s Ogmios wrapped around her wrist, but the ice maiden only smiled. Her arm melted away but reformed after the whip slipped out of her grasp.
It was Cole’s turn to attack, the thorns rising out from Gravekeeper a defense just as much as it was an offense, keeping the maiden’s icicle from reaching it. But the woman reached out with a finger, and one of the tendrils she touched promptly turned into ice, extending out and starting to wrap around the blade. Cole jumped back before it could completely freeze his sword, keeping out of reach.
Ken barreled into the fight next, and his Kusanagi matched the ice maiden’s weapon blow for ringing blow, neither giving ground. But however hard he swung, the icicle never shattered, though every attempt by the maiden to freeze his blade failed, the ice sloughing off just as quickly as it began to manifest.
“Yawarakai-Te merged within your sword is capable of cutting through everything,” Jessika said. “Including my ice. How creative.”
“Everything but human flesh, and I’m willing to bet you’ve lost yours ages ago.” Ken moved out of the way as her icicle came down where his head had been half a second ago, then crouched to jab his sword toward her abdomen. It grazed her side, water spilling out from where blood should have. The ice maiden hissed, the wound slowing her down not a whit, and her next slash took Kusanagi’s blow. Steam rose between them, and parts of Ken’s sword began to whiten, ice creeping toward the hilt.
Ken jerked his sword forward, and the ice that clung to his blade shattered, spraying back at the ice maiden’s face. She stumbled backward and he lunged, attempting to plant the tip of his blade in the center of her stomach, only for her to dissolve unexpectedly into water, the puddle at his feet moving away and then reshaping itself back into her previous form.
“Hurry!” Tala heard through the comm. “Too—can’t hold—”
“Ken, it’s either we go now, or the portal fails and we’re stuck here for God knows how long,” Zoe yelled. “Get your butts moving!”
“Give me a sec!” Ken began giving wary ground.
Taking it as a sign that he was weakening, the ice maiden surged forward, smiling coldly. “With these jewels, we can create as many immortal souls as we would like,” she gloated.
“It ain’t over till the adarna sings, lady.” Ken relaxed his grip on Kusanagi.
The ice maiden leaped forward, icicle ready to stab him through the heart.
“Ken!” Nya shrieked.
But rather than counter the incoming attack, Ken simply dove to the floor and rolled toward the ice maiden, tripping her in the process. In her surprise, the ice woman stumbled forward—straight into one of the mirrors. And went right through it. Her startled face disappeared into the reflective surface, followed by the rest of her. The mirror glowed brightly once she was all the way through, then returned to its normal hue afterward.
Tala couldn’t help herself. She glanced in and saw someone laughing, running through a meadow—no longer the ice maiden but just a young girl enjoying the summer day.
“Yeah,” West breathed, looking in beside her. “She’s never gonna get out.”
“Tala!” Zoe shouted. “We have to go, now!”
“I—but—”
“At least she’ll be happy in there,” Ryker said, grabbing her elbow. “Come on.”
With her hand in his, they raced toward the portal that was already shrinking, throwing themselves through and bursting back into the cold waters of the Sea of Japan. Behind them, the whole of the Ryugu-jo glowed with the same unearthly brightness as one of the many mirrors within it before falling back into darkness.
Her mother was still there, still fighting her father. Both had taken a pause, acknowledging their stalemate.
There was a gurgle beside her. Ken was flailing again. Nya hurriedly swam over to his side, her tail reappearing. Horse reached them both, neighing disapprovingly about being shut out of the adventure again.
“I’m going to stop you, Kay,” Lumina said, though her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “If you still had your mind, you know you’d tell me to stop you, and I will. We’ve both worked too hard to see her demolish everything. If you can hear me, Kay, please. I love you. Tala loves you. Please fight it.”
This time, Kay hesitated.
Tala’s hopes grew. He could hear them. Somewhere inside the curse the Snow Queen had inflicted on him, her father was struggling, fighting to break free for their sake.
But then the big man shook himself again, face hardening, and raised his ax.
A shrill scream ripped through the water like a sonic wave, the force of it sending Kay and many of the nightwalkers back. Tala’s eyes widened.
They were mermaids. Dark-skinned mermaids were swimming toward them, their mouths open as more screams burst from their throats, aimed with precision at the shades and at the ogre that the Japanese soldiers were still engaging with. The monstrous brute clasped its hands against its head and howled, but the mermaids were unrelenting.
Grinning, Nya helped Ken back on Horse and then swam forward to join her fellow villagers, toward where her grandmother was leading the fight, the latter’s tail the exact shade of purple as hers.
Their arrival was more than enough to turn the tide. West had shifted into a great white shark, and Tala and the other Banders swam to his side, latching on to his fin and clinging while he propelled them forward, back into the thick of battle. Zoe slashed at every shade that dared draw close, now more able to control the sizzle of her whip. A swipe of Gravekeeper turned several shades in an instant, all of whom now surged forward to aid the soldiers in combating the ogre.
Loki hopped onto West’s back, riding him like a bronco as their staff lengthened at will, taking out nightwalkers despite the distance. Tala still felt drained from everything that had happened inside the Ryugu-jo and remained on standby, taking out the rest of the shades within her agimat’s range while at the same time keeping a firm grip on Ryker, who was also lobbing ice projectiles at nightwalkers despite his own exhaustion.
Some unspoken signal passed between Kay and what remained of the Snow Queen’s horde. A portal opened nearby, and they all began a hasty retreat, slithering through the opening.
“Wait, Kay!” Lumina shouted before her husband could step through. “Fight it! We’ll find some way to cure you, I swear—”
Kay Warnock turned and regarded her with cold white eyes. “It is too late for us, mahal,” he rasped in a voice that sounded like Tala’s father’s yet like a stranger’s at the same time before turning away. The portal swallowed him up, disappearing before any of the soldiers or West could reach it.