CHAPTER

35

Calib brought his sword down on the mirror’s wooden frame, hacking it clean through. The mirror froze over, as if it were the surface of a winter lake, and then shattered like ice. He turned to tell Cecily that everything was all right, that Percival was gone, when—

Thwack!

Something hard and feathery slammed into him from behind, sending him flying across the floor. Calib felt a sharp talon scrape down his side. He rolled away, skidding to a stop before he nearly fell through a mirror that showed a rocky island shore.

He clutched at his injury, and his paw came away red. He looked up and stared right into the cruel, hooked beak of Theodora the hawk. In her taloned claw was Cecily, struggling to wriggle free.

The hawk screeched loud and triumphant, “Gotch-aaa!”

“You’ll pay for hurting my friends!” Cecily shouted. “Horatio won’t be down for long!”

“Now, now, Theodora, I know you’re excited to see your old friends again,” said an oily voice. “But that’s no excuse for poor manners.”

At the sound, Calib felt his entire being sag. He’d been foolish. The fight between good and bad was never over. He choked back a cry as the Manderlean emerged from a mirror on the far side of the room, stepping through the glass as easily as if it were fog. He wore a gold, fox-like mask that shimmered beneath a bloodred hood.

The Manderlean held out his gloved paws in a mock welcome. “Even under the layers of grime and dirt, I can still smell a Christopher from a league away.”

His eyes flashed like a hungry predator’s, but there was also a weariness behind them. The scent of raw magic, like fresh tar, rolled off the beast, so strong it made Calib choke. Whatever the Manderlean had just done, he had more magic than Calib had ever encountered.

“You don’t smell so great, either,” Calib said, holding back a gag.

“The price paid for powers such as mine require more than you can fathom, little beast.” The Manderlean strode forward, moving his paws in a continuous circular motion, like he was trying to contain something slippery.

A glowing red fireball formed in the space between his paws, pulsing and crackling.

“The only cowards I see are you and your vermin army hiding away in these caves,” Cecily spat. She was still pinned to the ground by Theodora.

The Manderlean turned his golden face toward Cecily, and though Calib could not see the creature’s expression, he could feel disdain dripping from the creature like a leaky cauldron. “Big words from such a small mouse. But we have no more reason to hide, now that Galahad has joined our side.”

The memory of bright-red blood flashed in Calib’s head, but he banished it quickly.

“I don’t know what you did to him,” Calib said shakily, “but we’re going to break whatever spell you put him under!”

At that moment, Cecily managed to free one of her arms, and she bit right into the hawk’s right foot. Theodora squawked and flew up in surprise. Cecily sprang to her feet and charged at the Manderlean at full tilt.

The Manderlean tried to dodge, but Cecily was too fast.

“Show us your true face!” she shouted, and then ripped the Manderlean’s mask off.

Where Cecily had expected a creature’s face, there was nothing. Just empty space.

The Manderlean collapsed into a pile of clothes.

Calib had known fear before, but never like this. His insides turned to liquid; his blood turned to ice. A disembodied voice began to giggle.

The spectral laughter surrounded them on all sides, reverberating from every mirror. Calib pulled his ears flat to his head—the sound was making him dizzy. Then slowly, the voice began to change and concentrate to one area.

The Manderlean’s cloak shot up from the ground and hovered above their heads, expanding and changing into a long curtain of red hair. A Two-Legger body began to emerge from the hair, clad in a velvet dress the color of midnight. With a screech, the hawk came to perch on her shoulder, its talons still dripping Calib’s blood onto the floor.

“Wish granted,” the woman said in a cruel voice as Calib stumbled back with recognition.

The Manderlean had been Morgan le Fay all along.