30. Violet

30

VIOLET

The mirrors stretch endlessly in every direction, each one showing a slightly different reflection. Some show me as I am now, others as I was before being turned, human, innocent, unaware of the supernatural world, and some show something else entirely.

"Right," I mutter, trying to stay calm. "Just need to find the others and get out. Simple."

A reflection catches my eye, one where I'm wearing that bastard white dress again, but this time it's stained with blood. The reflection moves independently, tilting its head as it studies me.

"Nope," I say firmly, turning away. "Not dealing with creepy mirror selves today."

But every reflection I turn to shows something different now. Me with glowing eyes and black veins. Me wielding Morgan's power with casual cruelty. Me standing beside Nathaniel, looking coldly pleased.

"They're not real," I remind myself. "Just illusions. "

"Are they?" My voice echoes around me. One of the reflections has stepped forward, pressing against its glass like a barrier. "Are you sure about that?"

"Pretty sure I'm not having a conversation with myself, yeah."

The reflection laughs, the sound like breaking glass. "We're all you, little flower. Every possibility, every choice, every path not taken. Yet."

More reflections move now, pressing against their mirrors, speaking in overlapping voices.

"The power could be yours."

"All you have to do is embrace it."

"Stop fighting what you are."

"Shut up," I growl, but my voice shakes. Without my vampire strength, I feel vulnerable and exposed. These reflections show truths I've been trying to ignore.

"You're afraid," one reflection says softly—this one showing me as I was just after being turned, terrified and alone. "You've always been afraid."

"Of course I'm bloody afraid!" I shout, my voice echoing off the endless mirrors. "Everything I thought I knew about myself, about the world, keeps changing. I'm a vampire who can walk in sunlight all of a sudden, an orphan who might be the heir to the most powerful witch in history, and my psychotic sire won't leave me alone, and I am in love with three very powerful creatures who sometimes make me feel so inferior, I want to run and hide so they don't have to deal with me and my issues. Who wouldn't be afraid?"

The reflections fall silent, watching .

"But you know what?" I continue, my anger building. "I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of running from what I am, what I might become. Yes, I'm Morgan's heir. Yes, I'm a vampire. Yes, I have power I barely understand. But that doesn't mean I have to become what you're showing me."

I turn slowly, meeting each reflection's gaze. " I choose who I become. Not Nathaniel, not Morgan's legacy, not some creepy mirror versions of myself. Me."

The mirrors vibrate with my words, humming at a frequency that makes my teeth ache.

"Right now," I say firmly, "I choose to find my guys and get out the fuck of here."

Something shifts in the reflections. They all point to the left, and a path appears between them, leading into darkness.

"Always the left." I hesitate only for a moment before starting down it. The reflections return to normal as I walk, showing only my current self.

The path twists and turns, but I keep moving forward. Eventually, I hear voices - real ones this time.

"Violet?" Thorne's voice, tight with worry.

"Here!" I call back, picking up my pace.

I round a corner and nearly collide with them. They look as relieved to see me as I am to see them.

"What happened?" Flint asks, steadying me. "One minute you were there, then..."

"Mirror maze," I explain. "But I think I passed whatever test it was."

"Speaking of tests," Caine says, pointing ahead .

The passage opens into another chamber, smaller than the last. In its centre floats the purple book, suspended in mid-air.

"Please tell me our powers are back," I say.

Thorne raises his hand, and shadows swirl around his fingers. "Looks like."

Flint's hands ignite with Dragon lightning, while ice crystals form around Caine's cane. I reach for my vampire strength and find it humming beneath my skin, along with that deeper power of Morgan's legacy.

I approach the book. This time, when I reach for it, nothing terrible happens. It drops gently into my hands, feeling warm and alive, like it's been waiting for us.

"Now what?" Flint asks.

Before I can answer, the chamber shakes. Dust and small stones rain down from above.

"Now we run," I say, clutching the book to my chest.

A roar of crumbling stone echoes behind us as we race through the tunnel, chunks of ceiling crashing down mere inches from our heels.

"Left!" Thorne shouts, his shadows whipping out to yank me away from a falling boulder. The darkness writhes and points like desperate fingers toward a narrow passage.

Flint's lightning surges ahead, casting frantic light that dances over slick walls. "Watch it!" He throws up a wall of electricity, crumbling a cascade of rocks before they can crush Caine.

"Less watching, more running!" Caine's breath comes in frozen puffs as he slams his cane down. Ice crystallises instantly, forming a bridge over a suddenly appearing chasm. "Move!"

I blur ahead, vampire speed letting me scout the branching tunnels. "Dead end right! Take centre!"

"What, not left?" Flint pants.

I throw him a grin. "Not this time."

We leap over Caine's ice bridge single file, the crystal structure shattering behind us as the tunnel continues to collapse. My enhanced hearing picks up the thunder of falling stone, getting closer.

"Duck!" I scream, diving forward as a massive section of the ceiling gives way. Thorne's shadows wrap around us all, pulling us into a roll as tons of rock crash down where we stood a heartbeat before.

Flint's magick roars upward, illuminating a small cavity in the cave-in. "Through here! Before the academy comes crashing down on us!"

We squeeze through the gap one by one, scraping against rough stone as the rumbling grows deafening. I grab Caine's arm, hauling him through just as the last of the tunnel collapses with a sound like the end of the world.

For a moment, we lay there in the darkness, gasping for breath, covered in rock dust and sweat.

"Well," Thorne manages between breaths. "That was fun."

"Speak for yourself," Caine mutters, checking his cane as Flint lights up the area.

"Can we maybe celebrate staying alive after we're actually out of here?" Flint suggests .

He's right. We're not safe yet. But at least now we know what we're running from.

And why we can never let it catch us.

Finally, impossibly, we emerge back in the library. The statue of Morgan seems to watch with approval as the passage seals behind us.

We stand there for a moment, covered in dust and drainage tunnel muck, breathing hard.

But we're all grinning, high on adrenaline and success. We did it—without powers, facing our fears, and working together.

Now we just have to figure out what this book actually means for me, and hope it was worth almost dying for.

Again.