CHAPTER FOURTEEN

REFLECTION

The door past the sphinxes opened to another narrow corridor, empty of fire-breathing dragons this time, but no less strange. It stretched away into the darkness, lit only by orange candlelight, flickering against walls. The flames seemed to float in the air, reflecting off the surfaces of hundreds of full-length mirrors lining the corridor on both sides.

Glancing at my own image, I paused, faintly surprised at the stranger in the mirror. The pale, dark-haired reflection stared back grimly, clothes tattered around the edges, eyes touched with exhaustion. I barely recognized myself, but maybe that was a good thing. After all, that was why I was here; to become something else, someone else. If all went as planned, Ashallayn’darkmyr Tallyn, third prince of the Unseelie Court, would no longer exist.

What will it be like as a human? I wondered at my reflection. Will I still be myself? Will I remember everything about my life in the Winter Court, or will all those memories disappear? I shook my head. It was useless to wonder about that now, when we were so close, but still….

“Come on, handsome.” Puck put a hand on my shoulder, and I brushed it off. “Quit preening. I think we’re almost there.”

As we started down the corridor, wary of traps and pits and ambushes, I thought of Meghan, back in the Iron Kingdom. It would be dreadfully ironic, I mused, if once I earned a soul, I forgot everything about being fey, including all my memories of her. That sort of ending seemed appropriately tragic; the smitten fey creature becomes human but forgets why he wanted to in the first place. Old fairy tales loved that sort of irony.

I won’t let that happen, I told myself, clenching my fists. If I have to have Puck tell me everything, even if he has to go through our entire history, I will find a way to make it back to her. I will not become human only to forget it all.

The hallway went on. The flickering candles cast strange lights in the opposite mirrors, endless rows of flame, stretching to infinity. From the corner of my eye, I saw my own dark reflection, walking along beside me. Smirking.

Except, I wasn’t.

I stopped and slowly turned toward the mirror, dropping my hand to my sword. In the glass, my reflection did the same…but it wasn’t me. It was someone who looked like me, pale and tall, with dark hair and silver eyes. He wore black armor, a tattered cape and a crown of ice rested on his brow. I drew in a slow breath and I recognized him.

It was me, the me I’d seen in the dream, the Ash who gave in to the darkness. Who killed Mab, claimed the throne and cut a bloody path through the Nevernever and the other courts. Ash the Winter King.

He was smiling at me, that same cold, empty smirk that showed the madness behind it, but otherwise our movements were the same, identical.

Backing away, I looked to my companions, who had also discovered the new reflections in the mirrors. Behind me, Ariella stared in horror at herself, pale and statuesque in an elegant court gown. Her slender hands gripped an icy scepter. But her eyes were empty and cruel, her face without emotion. A circlet glittered on her forehead, not unlike the crown of the Unseelie King. A Queen of Winter, she stared with cold, impassive eyes until Ariella turned away with a shudder.

“Prince,” Puck murmured, coming up beside me, standing so that he faced my shoulder, his back to the mirror. His voice, though light, was curiously shaken. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing, or is it just me?”

I glanced at Puck in the mirror behind us and had to stifle the urge to shove him away and draw my sword. Puck’s head gazed over my shoulder, lips pulled into a vicious grin that was almost animalistic, teeth gleaming in the firelight. His eyes were narrowed gleefully, but it was the kind of mad glee that sent shivers through you, the type of glee that found humor in drowned kittens and poisoned cattle. This was the prankster whose jokes had turned deadly, who put adders in pillowcases, let wolves in with the sheep and made all light go away at the edge of a cliff. He was shirtless, barefooted and wild looking, the Robin Goodfellow I’d seen glimpses of when he was truly angry and out for revenge. The Robin Goodfellow that everyone worried about, because we all knew Puck could turn into this.

“You can see it too, huh?” Puck murmured when I didn’t say anything right away. I nodded, once. “Well, your reflection isn’t too encouraging either, ice-boy. In fact, it’s kinda weird seeing us like this, because you look like you really, really want to cut my head off.”

I pushed him away, and our images did the same. “Ignore them,” I said, walking toward Ariella. “They’re only reflections of what could be. They don’t mean anything.”

“Wrong.” Grimalkin appeared, trotting up and sitting down in front of a mirror, curling his tail around his legs. His golden eyes observed me lazily. “It is not what could be, prince. It is what already is. You all have that reflection inside you. You just choose to suppress it. Take the dog, for example,” he continued as the Wolf came loping back, his ruff standing on end. Ariella gasped, shrinking against me, and Puck muttered a curse under his breath.

The Wolf’s reflection was enormous, filling three mirrors side by side, a huge, snarling monster with blazing eyes and foaming jaws. It stared at us hungrily, red tongue lolling between huge fangs, eyes empty of rational thought.

“A beast,” Grimalkin said calmly as the real Wolf curled a lip at him. “A beast in its truest, savage nature. With no intelligence, no clear thoughts, no morals, just raw animal instincts and the desire to kill. That is what your reflections show you—yourself in your purest form. Do not dismiss them as having no meaning. You only deceive yourself if you do.” He stood and curled his whiskers at us. “Now, hurry. We have no time to stand around doing nothing. If the mirrors upset you, the logical answer would be not to look at them. Let us go.”

He lashed his tail and trotted off, back down the hallway into the dark. As he padded away, not bothering to glance back, I noticed that the cait sith’s reflection looked no different from the real Grimalkin. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised.

As we hurried after Grimalkin, I glanced at my reflection once more and received another shock. It wasn’t there anymore, and neither were any of the others. The candles, the flickering flames, still cast their reflections, stretching away into infinity, but our images were gone.

“Hurry!” came Grimalkin’s voice, echoing out of the darkness. “Time is running out.”

We broke into a sprint, footsteps echoing down the narrow corridor, passing hundreds of eerily empty mirrors. I could see the candles flickering around us, thousands of orange lights reflected in the glassy walls. But other than the lights and the opposite walls, the mirrors showed nothing else. It was like we weren’t even there.

We came to a crossing, where another hallway stretched away in opposite directions, vanishing into the black. In the middle sat Grimalkin, calmly washing a front paw. He blinked as we stopped, gazing up with a bemused expression on his face.

“Yes?”

“What do you mean, yes?” Puck said. “Did your feline brain finally snap? You said to hurry, and now you’re just sitting here. What’s the deal?”

“The exit is farther down.” Grimalkin yawned, curled his tail around his legs, and smiled at us. “But I doubt you will ever reach it. I find it amusing that you can speak so freely of intelligence, when you cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not.”

“What?” Puck looked startled, but the Wolf suddenly let out a snarl that raised the hair on the back of my neck. I drew my sword and looked up, searching for hidden attackers.

Robin Goodfellow smiled at me from the mirror’s reflection, arms crossed to his chest, a demonic grin on his face. I spared a quick glance at Puck, and saw him backing away, pulling his daggers, different actions from his image on the wall. His reflection waved cheerfully…

…and stepped out of the mirror.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Goodfellow smiled, drawing his own weapons as he faced the real Puck. “The party’s just getting started.”

Movement rippled behind me. I spun, throwing myself to the side as the monstrous head of the other Wolf exploded from the frame and lunged at me. I felt its hot breath and heard the snap of its massive jaws inches from my head. Backing away, I drew my sword as it slid out of the mirror and into the hall, a monstrous creature with burning green eyes, drool hanging in ribbons from its teeth. It howled, making the mirrors tremble, and crouched to spring at me, and that’s when the real Wolf hit it from behind.

I leaped aside as the two giant wolves careened past, ripping and tearing at each other, vanishing down the side hallway. The smell of blood filled the air, the roars and snarls adding to the din of chaos. I turned to see Puck locked in battle with his twin and a second Robin Goodfellow stepping out of the mirror behind him, raising his blade.

An arrow streaked through the air, striking the second false Puck in the chest, causing him to explode in a swirl of leaves. Ariella, grim-faced and determined, raised her bow again, but a tall, pale figure slid out of the mirror beside her. I shouted and lunged forward, but the false Ariella raised her scepter and struck her twin in the back of the head. Ariella crumpled to the floor, dazed, and the false Ariella loomed over her with a vicious smile.

Roaring, I flew at the false Ariella, but the Ice Queen raised dead, cold eyes to me and slipped back into the mirror. I swung at her retreating form, and my blade struck the surface of the glass, shattering it. Shards flew from the force of the blow, glinting in the light, and the entire surface collapsed in a ringing cacophony, scattering pieces over the floor.

“My love.” The false Ariella appeared in another frame, empty gaze boring into me. I slashed at her, shattering another mirror, but she slipped into the one beside it, her eyes beseeching mine. “Why?” she murmured, fading back, appearing in a frame on the opposite wall. “Why was I not enough? Why could I not keep you from giving in to despair?” She slid away, vanishing from sight, and I turned warily, waiting for her to appear again. “I loved you,” her voice whispered, giving no indication of where she was. “I would have given everything for you. But you couldn’t stop thinking of her. A human! You let a human replace me.” She finally appeared again, her face twisted into a mask of bitter hate, her eyes blazing with jealously. “So now you can die for her!”

Too late, I realized where she was looking and spun, bringing up my sword. Not fast enough. The point of a blade bit my shoulder as the other Ash stepped from the mirror behind me, slamming me against the wall.

I gritted my teeth as fire bloomed through my shoulder, nearly making me drop my sword. The other Ash smiled as he pushed the blade in farther, pinning me to the wall. Focusing through the pain, I switched my weapon to my other hand and stabbed at his chest, but he yanked his sword free and parried as if he’d been expecting it.

We circled each other, movements identical, almost as if I was looking through a mirror again. Other Ash smiled and lunged, a familiar attack I’d done thousands of times. I spun away and slashed at his head, but he was ducking almost before I had moved. We surged forward and met in the center of the hall, blue sparks flying as we cut and blocked and parried, the din of swords ringing down the corridor.

Other Ash slid away, lashing out with his sword. “You can’t beat me,” he said as I parried. We went up and down the hall, blades clashing, Other Ash’s face blank but calm. “I am you. I know all your secrets, all your weaknesses. And unlike you, I can keep this up forever.” He thrust out a hand, and an ice spear erupted from his palm, stabbing at my chest. I twisted aside and returned with a flurry of daggers. He stepped back into a mirror, and the shards fractured the surface into a spiderweb of cracks.

I spared a moment waiting for him to appear again. When he did not, I broke away and hurried toward Ariella, slumped against one of the walls. Puck still fought with two of his doppelgängers, the Other Pucks grinning madly as they took turns darting in. Somewhere in the shadows beyond, the snarls and howls of the Wolves rang out even over the clash of blades. A screaming, high-pitched yelp suddenly echoed through the din, making my stomach clench. I’d hunted often enough to know a death cry when I heard it.

“Ari!” I called as I approached her, and she raised her head, a flicker of pain crossing her face. “Don’t move, I’ll be right there.”

A flock of screeching ravens suddenly burst out from one of the mirrors, surrounding me and diving at my face, pecking and clawing. Wincing, I flung up one arm and slashed at them with the other, cutting them from the air. Blood and dismembered crows rained down on me, before the last one broke off, changing to a familiar grinning figure in an explosion of feathers.

“Where ya going, ice-boy?” Other Puck smiled and dodged back as I stabbed at him. “You can’t leave now, it’s just getting interesting.”

“Get out of my way, Goodfellow,” I threatened, but the other Puck only laughed.

“My other half seems a bit preoccupied at the moment, so I thought I’d come say hello. La-la-la-lee,” he sang, pulling his daggers, “which one is the real me?” He gave me that demonic grin and twirled his weapons. “You only get one chance to guess right, prince.”

“Oy, ice-boy,” the real Puck called, still fighting his two doppelgängers. “Quit playing around with my evil twin—you have your own!”

Frustrated, I glanced at Ariella, beyond the Puck blocking my way, and my blood ran cold. The Ice Queen, the other Ariella, was kneeling over her twin’s body, looking down with her teeth bared in a wicked smile, one hand pressing Ariella’s throat to the floor. Ariella struggled weakly, but her twin didn’t relent. Slowly, she raised a thin, jagged knife over her head, the twisted blade gleaming red in the candlelight, her eyes filled with hate.

“No!” I shouted, and tried lunging past Other Puck. He blocked my way, grinning, swiping at me with his dagger. With a roar of fury, I grabbed his wrist and jerked him to me, plunging my blade through his chest. His eyes bugged, and he exploded in a scattering of leaves, fluttering around me. Without sparing him a glance, I hurled myself at the Ice Queen, knowing it was already too late.

A different roar echoed through the hall behind her, and she turned, her eyes going wide with fear. Scrambling off Ariella, she leaped back, vanishing into a mirror, barely avoiding the huge jaws of the Wolf as he lunged out of the darkness. Snarling, the Wolf, our Wolf, met my eyes, his muzzle covered in blood and gore, and shook himself vigorously.

“Ari—” I panted, flinging myself down beside her. Taking her wrist, I eased her into a sitting position, as the Wolf loomed over us, growling. “Are you all right? Can you stand?”

“Maybe in a minute.” Ariella winced, holding her head. “If the room would kindly stop spinning.” Glancing at my worried expression, she gave me a weak smile. “Don’t worry about me, Ash. I think I’m going to sit here and shoot at anything that comes within twenty yards of me. Go help Puck. I’ll be fine.”

I nodded reluctantly and glanced at the Wolf. “What about you? Where’s the other Wolf?”

Our Wolf bared his fangs.

“Pale imitations cannot hope to take me down,” he snarled. But he favored his left forepaw, and his shaggy coat was streaked with blood. Glancing down the hall, he narrowed his eyes at the melee behind me. “Too many Goodfellows for my taste.” He snorted, and curled a lip. “Should I start biting off heads?”

“No.” I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “You’re hurt. Stay here and guard Ariella. Make sure nothing happens to her. Don’t leave her side, no matter what happens to me, understand?”

The Wolf growled, but nodded. I glanced over my shoulder at Puck; he was still hanging on, surrounded by his twins. “Watch out for her reflection,” I said, backing away from the Wolf. “It’s still around here somewhere.”

“So is yours,” the Wolf replied. “In fact, I’d say it’s waiting for you.”

I looked up. Other Ash stood within a mirror a few yards away, gazing right at me. He gave me a mocking salute, then walked away, through the mirrors, around a corner and into the other hallway.

I rose, gripping my sword tightly. “Take care of her,” I said without turning around. “I’m ending this now.”

I walked steadily to the place where Other Ash waited, cutting down another Puck as he lunged out of a mirror. Two more Pucks stepped out to face me, grinning, but a pair of ice arrows struck them in the chest, one after the other, and they vanished in a swirl of leaves and twigs. Around the corner, out of reach of the deadly arrows, Ash the Winter King waited for me, the walls and mirrors around him coated in frost.

My reflection regarded me with a look that was almost pitying, his sword held at his side. “What are you doing, Ash?” he asked coldly, and gestured around the hallway. “What are we doing here? Becoming human? Gaining a soul?” He chuckled without humor, shaking his head. “Souls aren’t meant for us. Do you think, with all the blood and death on our hands, that we could ever earn something as pure as a soul?” He narrowed his eyes, seeming to stare right into me. “She’s lost to us, Ash,” he whispered. “We were never meant to be together. Let it go. Let it go, and give yourself to the darkness. It’s the only way we’ll survive.”

“Shut up,” I growled, and lunged at him.

He parried my thrust easily, cutting at my face. I dodged, and we circled each other in the hall, looking for weaknesses. There weren’t many I could exploit, however. This opponent knew all my moves, my fighting techniques, and though I could say the same of him, it didn’t help that I was fighting an enemy who knew exactly what I was thinking before I knew myself.

“You can’t beat me.” Other Ash smiled, cold and vicious, reading my mind. “And your time is running out. The doors are about to close, and I have all the time in the world.”

I took a half step back and bumped into Puck, retreating from his own doppelgängers.

“Hey, ice-boy,” Puck greeted without looking at me. I could feel him breathing hard against my back. “I’m getting kinda bored of this. Wanna trade?”

I blocked Other Ash’s jab to the face and slashed at him in return. “Can’t you take anything seriously?”

“I am serious! Duck.”

I ducked as a dagger flew overhead, barely missing my ear. A false Goodfellow whooped with laughter, and my anger flared. “All right,” I snapped, swinging my sword in a wide arc, forcing Other Ash back a step. “On three, then. One…two…three!”

We spun, half circling to the left, taking each other’s places and the reflections that came with them. The two Other Pucks blinked at me, surprised, and leaped back as I lunged at them with a snarl. One pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at me, but I’d fought Puck on countless occasions and knew all of his tricks. The furry ball erupted into a squealing badger, flying at my face, but I was already slicing at it, cutting it from the air. It shattered in a tangle of twigs and pine needles, and I lunged through the cascade, plunging my sword into Robin Goodfellow’s chest.

He dissolved into a swirl of autumn leaves as the last Puck leaped through the curtain with a howl, stabbing viciously with his dagger.

“This seems familiar, ice-boy,” Other Puck said, grinning savagely as we parried and sliced at each other. “Think you’ve got the guts to actually go through with it this time?”

I responded by slashing at his face, barely missing him as he ducked. “Oooh, that had a bit of temper behind it.” He sneered, eyes gleaming as he circled back. “But don’t think I’ll go easy on you, just because of our history. I’m not like my other half—weak, pathetic, restrained…”

“Loud, obnoxious, immature,” I added.

“Hey!” the real Puck called from farther down, dodging as Other Ash slashed at him. “I’m standing right here, you two!”

Other Puck laughed, a cruel sound that made me bristle with loathing. “That’s the problem with my other half,” he said, lunging forward with a series of vicious cuts that forced me back a few steps. “Somewhere in the long centuries, he managed to grow a conscience and turn completely boring. If he dies here, I’ll be all that’s left. As it should be.”

“Interesting.” Grimalkin appeared in front of a mirror. “I do not know which is more annoying, the real Goodfellow or the reflection.”

“Well, considering they are one and the same,” said a second, identical Grimalkin, materializing next to the first, “we should be thankful that there will be only one left when this is all over.”

“Agreed. Two Goodfellows would be more than anyone in this world could take.”

“I shudder to think of the implications.”

“You are so not helping, Grimalkin!” the real Puck called, ducking beneath a savage head strike. “And we’re not here to have tea with our evil doppelgängers! Shouldn’t you two be trying to kill each other?”

The Grimalkins sniffed. “Please,” they said at the same time.

Over my opponent’s shoulder, I saw Other Ash block an upward strike, then lash out with a kick that sent Puck sprawling onto his back. The reflection stepped forward, raising his sword, but Puck reached back, grabbed a handful of twigs and flung it at his assailant. They turned into a swarm of yellow jackets, buzzing around the fake prince, until a vicious burst of cold sent them plummeting to the ground, coated in frost.

“Hey!” Other Puck stabbed forward viciously, making me leap back to avoid him. “The fight’s here, ice-boy. Don’t worry about your boyfriend, worry about yourself.”

I backed farther into the hall, and Other Puck followed, smiling demonically. “Running away?” he taunted, as I drew my glamour to me, feeling it surge beneath my skin. “Always a coward, weren’t you, prince? Never had the guts to really go for the kill.”

“You’re right,” I murmured, startling him. He frowned in wary surprise, and I smiled. “I always regretted my words against Puck. There was always a part of me that didn’t want to go through with it.” I lowered my blade, touching the tip to the floor. Ice spread from the point of the weapon, coating the ground and the walls, freezing the mirrors with sharp crinkling sounds.

“But, with you,” I continued, narrowing my eyes, “it’s different. You’re the part of him that I hate. The part that revels in the chaos you cause, the lives you destroy. And I can say this with complete certainty—killing you will be a pleasure.”

Robin Goodfellow’s face twisted into a vicious sneer. Snarling like a beast, he lunged at me, dagger gleaming in the icy hallway. I stepped back, raised my arms and brought them forward with a shout and a burst of glamour. The frozen mirrors shattered, flying outward in an explosion of deadly, razor-sharp shrapnel, catching Puck in the very center.

There was one high-pitched yell of dismay.

And then there was nothing except the shards tinkling to the ground and a few black feathers spiraling down to the floor. Other Puck was gone.

“Very nice, Ash.” My reflection’s voice echoed through the hallway. “But you’re still too late.”

I looked up, my stomach tightening. Other Ash stood in front of Puck, one hand on the faery’s throat, pinning him to the wall. Puck dangled weakly, his face covered in blood, his daggers glinting several feet away.

“You defeated Goodfellow’s reflection,” Other Ash mused as I started forward, already knowing I wouldn’t get there in time. “Congratulations. Now it’s my turn.”

He raised his sword, and drove it through Puck’s chest, staking him to the wall. The mirror behind Puck shattered, raining to the floor in a softer imitation of the havoc I had just caused. Puck’s mouth gaped; he clutched at the sword in his chest—

—and disappeared, vanishing in a shower of leaves. Other Ash blinked, startled for just a moment, then quickly yanked his sword out of the wall and stepped back.

There was a blur over his shoulder, and he stiffened, jerking his head up. As I reached him, his sword fell from his hand, clattering to the ground, and he turned cold, hateful eyes on me.

“You…will fail,” he whispered in a choked voice, and disappeared, like mist in the sunlight.

Puck stood behind him, eyes hooded and grim. His dagger, where it had been stuck in the prince’s back, floated in the air for a split second before plummeting toward the ground. Puck caught it as it fell and smoothly slid it back into its sheath, giving the broken mirror a rueful look.

“Yeah, two can play at that game, ice-boy,” he muttered, and shook his head. Glancing at me, he offered a wry, slightly pained grin. “I found that oddly therapeutic, how about you?”

“Idiot,” I told him, to hide the relief on my face. His grin widened as if he saw it anyway, and I scowled, embarrassed. “Come on, we’re not out of here yet.”

“No, you can’t leave!” hissed a voice behind me. I spun, bringing up my sword, as Other Ariella lunged out of the mirror, her eyes blank and terrible.

Something streaked past my face from behind, and Other Ariella jerked, freezing in place, as the shaft of an arrow jutted from her chest. She slumped, reaching out for me, then evaporated from sight, the arrow dropping to the ground and shattering on the floor.

I turned and saw Ariella on her feet beside the Wolf, her bow raised and the string still vibrating from where it had loosed the shaft. Her gaze met mine, eyes hard, and she nodded.

“Well, that was fun,” Puck stated as we hurried over, passing the two Grimalkins, watching us with identical bemused expressions. “I’ve always wanted to see myself die in a horrible ice explosion. You never pulled that stunt while we were dueling, ice-boy.”

“Save it for later,” I said quickly. “We have to keep moving.”

“It is too late.”

We turned as the Grimalkins stood, waving their tales. “You have failed,” one of them stated, regarding each of us imperiously. “Your time is up. The doors are getting ready to close.” And, in true Grimalkin fashion, he vanished without a trace.

“Hold on,” Puck said, pointing to the one remaining cat. “Which Grimalkin disappeared…?”

“Puck, there’s no time! Come on!”

We tore down the mirrored hallway, past our reflections, which were back to normal again. The corridor finally opened into a large circular room with pillars soaring up into the darkness of the ceiling. On the other side, through another long corridor, I could just see a tall, rectangular space of light.

And it was shrinking.

As we tore across the room, voices suddenly echoed around us, low moans and wailings, making the candles flicker. From the walls and the floors, pale, misty figures began emerging, clawing at us as we passed. A troll, coming up through a broken pillar, latched on to my belt, trying to drag me down. I struck out with my blade, cutting through its arm, dissolving it into mist. With a wail, the troll drew back, but its arm reformed and knitted itself back onto the elbow, coming at me again. I dodged and continued my mad rush to the door.

The chamber was rapidly filling with wraiths, grabbing for us, snatching at clothes and limbs as we passed. They didn’t hurt us, only latched on and held tight until we cut ourselves free. “Staaaaaay,” they whispered, reaching for us with ghostly hands, dragging us down. “You cannot leave. Stay with us, those who have failed. Your essence can remain here with us forever.”

The Wolf gave a defiant growl and surged forward ahead of us all, but for the rest of us, it was too late. As we sped across the room and down the corridor, I already knew we wouldn’t make it. The rectangle was just a tiny square now, the stone door slowly grinding shut. So close. We were so close, only to run out of time in the end.

The Wolf hit the door with just enough room to slide out, lowering his head to dart beneath the opening. But instead of going through, he slammed his broad shoulders into the bottom edge, splaying his feet to brace himself in the opening. Panting, he locked his legs against the frame and heaved up against the inevitable push of the door, and amazingly, the huge stone rectangle ground to a halt. Wraiths crowded around him, grabbing his legs and fur, leaping onto his back. He snarled and snapped at them, but didn’t move from his position in the doorway, and the ghostly figures could not budge him.

Slashing at wraiths, I reached the doorway first and whirled around, waiting for Puck and Ariella. Wraiths followed them, clawing and grabbing. One snagged Ariella by the hair, yanking her back, but Puck’s dagger sliced down, cutting through its hand and pushing Ariella on. She stumbled into me, and I caught her before she could fall.

“Puck—” She gasped, turning in my arms.

“I’m fine, Ari!” Puck howled, leaping back from the crowding wraiths. “Just go!”

I nodded and released her. “Go,” I repeated, echoing Puck. “We’re right behind you.”

She rolled beneath the door, barely avoiding a banshee that lurched out of the floor. I stabbed the wraith through the head and glanced at Puck.

He was backing down the corridor, stabbing at hands and dodging the fingers that grabbed for him.

“Geez, you guys. I know I’m popular and all, but seriously, you’re a bit too co-dependent for me. I’m going to need you to step away from my personal bubble.” A wispy vine-woman curled ivy tendrils around his arm, and he sliced through them with his dagger. “No! Bad wraith! No touchie!”

“Will you get over here?” I shouted, stabbing a redcap clinging to my leg.

Puck gave a final swipe with his dagger and lunged toward the door, scrambling through the opening. I turned to help the Wolf.

He was covered in wraiths, so many that I could barely see him through the ghostly figures. And more were floating up, rising out of the floor and coming through the walls, trying to drag us back into the room. An ogre lunged through the wall from behind, reaching for my arm, and I twisted away.

“Don’t worry about me,” the Wolf snarled. “Just go!”

I sliced through a ghostly sidhe knight that reminded me faintly of Rowan. He dissolved instantly but began reforming as soon as my blade passed through his body. “I’m not leaving you here to die.”

“Foolish prince!” The Wolf glared back at me, baring his fangs. “This is your story. You must reach the end of it. This is why I came—to ensure the story would go on.” He snapped at a goblin near his face, and the thing erupted into a misty cloud. “The wraiths cannot leave the temple, it seems, but they are not letting me through, either. Go now, while there is still time!”

“Ash!” Puck called from the other side of the door. “Come on, ice-boy, what are you waiting for?”

I gave the Wolf one last glance, then dove through the opening, rolling to my feet on the other side. The wraiths wailed, crowding beneath the door, reaching out for us, but they could not get past the threshold.

The Wolf panted, shaking from the strain of holding the door and the dozens of bodies that tugged and yanked at him. “Get going, prince,” he growled, looking me in the eye. “You cannot help me now. Finish your quest, complete the story, and don’t forget to mention me when you pass it on. That was our bargain.”

I stared at the Wolf, my mind churning, trying to think of a way to help him. But the Wolf was right; there was nothing we could do. Raising my sword, I gave him a solemn salute. “I won’t forget what you’ve done.”

“Pah!” The Wolf, despite the strain, bared his teeth in a disdainful laugh. “You think this will kill me, boy? You should know better than that. Nothing in this pitiful gauntlet can harm me. Nothing.”

I seriously doubted that. The Wolf was strong, and he was immortal, but he could be killed. He could die, same as anything else.

“Now, go,” he told us, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice. “I’m getting tired of watching you gape like a herd of startled deer. I will hold the door for your return, assuming we will have to come back the same way. Nothing will move me until we are done here for good.”

“How very…doglike,” said Grimalkin, appearing beside Ariella, gazing at the Wolf in disdain. “Brave. Loyal. And ultimately stupid.”

The Wolf panted, baring his teeth. “You wouldn’t understand, cat,” he growled, curling a lip in his own show of contempt. “Your kind knows nothing of loyalty.”

“As if that is a bad thing.” Grimalkin sniffed and turned away, waving his tail. “And yet, who is on the correct side of the door? Come, prince.” He twitched an ear at me. “We did not come all this way to be stopped at the finish line. The dog has made his choice. Let us move on.”

I gave the Wolf one last glance. “I’ll be back,” I told him. “Try to hang on. When I’m done with this, I’m coming back for you.”

He snorted. Whether it was because he didn’t believe me, or because it took too much strength to talk, I didn’t know. But I turned my back on him and walked the final few paces out of the temple.

Grimalkin was sitting at the end of the hall, silhouetted beneath a stone archway, his tail curled primly around himself. Beyond him, I could see a black sky littered with stars. But they were huge, glowing things, almost blinding, as if we were far closer than we had been in the Nevernever. I heard the roar of water as I approached Grimalkin, and heard Puck’s slow exhale as we joined the cat at the end of the hall.

The vast emptiness of space stretched before us, endless and eternal. Stars and constellations glimmered above and below, from tiny pinpricks of light to huge pulsing giants so bright it hurt to look at them. Comets streaked through the night sky, and in the distance, I could see the gaping maw of a black hole sucking in the surrounding galaxy, billions of miles away. Huge chunks of rock and land floated, weightless, in empty space. I saw a cottage perched on a boulder, spinning endlessly through space, and a massive tree grew from a tiny plot of grass, its roots dangling through the bottom. Beyond a stream of jagged rocks, past a treacherous-looking rope bridge over nothing, an enormous castle floated among the stars.

Below our feet, the River of Dreams flowed from beneath the hall and roared over the edge into empty space, falling into the void until we couldn’t see it anymore.

I drew in a deep, slow breath, feeling my companions’ amazement match my own.

We had reached the End of the World.