“Oh yes!” Pahmut said suddenly, apparently in response to something Kima had said. He seemed to collect himself somewhat and regain his senses as he wiped at his face. “Your friends. They’re in peril. I guess I should help them,” he added, clearly amazed with his own words.
“Yes, please, dear,” Myra said sweetly to him. To Twist’s surprise, Pahmut seemed to both see and hear her spirit easily, despite her calm. “After all, I kept my word.”
“Yes…” Pahmut muttered, looking back to Kima. “You did. You didn’t lie. Are you really going to take me home?” he asked Kima in an astonished whisper.
“Well,” Kima began, frowning slightly. Her own tears had been wiped away, but her eyes remained red. “Home is a little complicated. But I’m going to take you away from here.”
“My master will come after me,” Pahmut said, fear growing in his eyes.
Without being asked, Jonas approached the boy and handed him one of the spare charms. “This will hide you in our world. They can’t snatch what they can’t see.”
Pahmut took the charm from him and stared at it curiously. “It would be stronger if I enchanted it.”
“You can do that?” Kima asked.
“Sure, I know lots of spells,” Pahmut said with a shrug. “Master doesn’t want to spend all his energy on them, so he makes me cast them for him.”
“He’s like a tiny wizard,” Myra said excitedly to Twist.
“Listen to me,” Kima said to her son, her voice growing firm without losing any kindness. “You don’t have a master anymore. You were born free. From now on, and for the rest of your life, you are free. Once we leave this place, you will never be anyone’s slave, ever again. Do you understand?”
Pahmut listened to her as if she’d just told him that the Earth was flat, but he nodded nonetheless. “You should leave before they see you,” he said to her. “The ghost lady and I can get the others out.”
“I’ve been looking for you for far too long,” Kima said, shaking her head. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“But if they see you, they’ll know something’s wrong,” Pahmut persisted. “You must go, or I won’t be able to get anyone out of the cage.”
Kima’s expression turned grim and determined. Jonas stepped closer to stand beside where she knelt before her son, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m not leaving him behind,” she declared, her eyes shifting toward him. “I can’t.”
Jonas paused but didn’t retreat. “Do you trust your son or not?”
Kima turned to Jonas with a startled expression, but he shifted his gaze just in time to miss her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“He just told you that he needs you to go on ahead,” Jonas went on, his voice smooth but low, almost submissive, while the buzzing at Twist’s neck vibrated with a tense energy. “And he’s right. Your charm doesn’t work here. They can see you. But,” he added, as Kima’s expression grew sour, “they can’t see me.”
Clearly not moved by this idea at all, Kima made no response. Jonas knelt down beside her, and to Twist’s astonishment, brought his naked gaze dangerously close to hers. His yellow-green eyes looked calm, open, and brimming with honesty, but Twist sensed his hidden anxiety.
“Normally,” he began, still speaking calmly, “my word isn’t worth very much at all. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. But I promise you, on my life, that I will bring your son back to you, Kima. You’re not going to lose him while I’m alive.”
Twist shuddered. Jonas so rarely spoke with true honesty that it hardly sounded like his voice at all. And this sort of promise seemed wildly out of character for him. But once he made his vow, the buzzing in Twist’s neck went quiet, calm, and certain beyond any shadow of doubt or fear.
“Please go on ahead, Kima,” Jonas added when she failed to respond, simply staring at him as if trying to judge the true value of his soul.
Pahmut glanced between them anxiously.
Kima finally moved, dropping her gaze wearily and breathing a sharp word that was foreign to Twist. “If you break your promise—” she began again in English, her voice tight.
“I won’t.”
Kima gave a sigh but didn’t protest again. Instead, she nodded and then looked to her son. She reached up to stroke the edge of his face, staring intently at his features as if burning them into her memory. Pahmut offered a small, encouraging smile. Kima smiled in response to it and leaned closer, placing a kiss on his forehead, while Pahmut’s face washed over with alarm. Twist remembered the first kiss he’d ever received. His had come from Myra—an innocent and gentle peck on his cheek—and it still blazed in his memory with a unique brightness.
“How do I find my way back to the mirror?” Kima asked, rising to her feet. “My footsteps are gone.”
“Oh, here,” Pahmut said, turning to one side.
He raised both hands, facing a bare patch of forest, and then began to mutter strange syllables to himself. A slight breeze kicked up on the still air, whispering at Twist’s skin and making him shiver. Pahmut suddenly stopped speaking and brought his hands together with a neat clap. The trees before him shuddered instantly, and then each of them crawled swiftly to one side, as if scurrying aside on their roots. Behind them, Twist could easily see the frameless mirror—the other side of the magical doorway—hanging in space just above the snow.
“Wow,” Jonas remarked. “The trees here do what you tell them to?”
Pahmut looked to him in confusion. “Of course. They’re only trees. What are they going to do? Argue?”
“Right, because that would be weird,” Jonas replied.
Pahmut, frowning at him now, seemed even more confused.
Kima only shook her head in amazement at her son’s casual display of magic. She looked down to him, her hand on his slight shoulder. “Be careful. I want to see you safe and sound when Jonas brings you back to me.”
Pahmut nodded, but still seemed a bit nervous.
“We’ll see you soon,” Jonas mentioned.
Kima didn't look back at him, but seeming to finally gather enough courage to do as Pahmut had asked. She took one final steadying breath and then walked to the mirror.
“Your charms are enchanted?” Pahmut asked as he led Twist, Jonas, and Myra deeper into the forest.
“Gypsy blood magic,” Jonas answered. “That means he and I are safe, right?”
“Well, the fae can’t see or hear you,” Pahmut began, “but that doesn’t mean they won’t feel it if you touch one of them. And, depending on which fae you carry, the queen might notice your presence.”
“Wait, what?” Jonas asked.
“She said you were both Sighted,” Pahmut said, pointing to Myra. “If you carry Winter fae, and the queen happened to know either of them very well, she might notice if you get too close to her.”
Twist silently realized that although Myra had mentioned their Sights, she clearly hadn’t said anything about the legend. If she had, Pahmut wouldn’t be talking about their Sights as being from more than one fae. Until the boy was no longer under fae control, it was a very good idea to keep this information from him. Once again, Twist marveled at how clever his future bride truly was.
“Oh, I see,” Jonas said casually. “So we’ll stay well clear of any queens then.”
“I’m just glad our charms don’t work on you,” Twist said to the boy, remembering how awkward it had been dealing with Storm before he’d found a way to hear and see Twist.
“I’m still too human for those charms to blind me,” Pahmut answered.
“Still?” Jonas asked with a frown. “Why would you be anything else?”
Pahmut looked up to him quietly, secrets and unreadable implications swimming in the depths of his dark eyes.
“Well, none of that matters now,” Myra said, her brightness a bit forced. “You’re not going to be here much longer.”
Again, Pahmut didn’t respond. He only looked back to the path before him, clearly dee
p in thought, as they walked on together. Twist could guess at the fears that still lingered in him. It would be frightening to anyone to leave their entire world behind for a new one, but Pahmut was still a child. His anxiety would only be made worse by his lack of positive experiences.
“You’ll be fine, Pahmut,” Twist said gently to the boy.
Pahmut looked up to him with a weighty gaze; the child seemed to struggle to find enough trust left within himself to believe this as well. Twist redoubled his efforts to look trustworthy. Pahmut gave a quiet sigh and looked forward again, leading them around another bend in the forest.
“I can’t talk to you from here on,” he whispered, slowing to a stop.
Twist glanced ahead but saw nothing that might be listening. There were only more trees and snow.
“Can we help at all?” Jonas asked, keeping his voice low as well.
Pahmut thought about this and then nodded. “If my master isn’t stopped by my spell, you could confuse and distract him. He won’t be able to see you, so he’d be very distracted if you did anything to him. You won’t be able to hurt him, of course, not really. But you could buy me enough time to blast him again.”
“Got it,” Jonas said. “Anything else?”
“Make sure the humans don’t cause any trouble,” Pahmut said. “We’ll have to move quickly if we’re going to get away. Make sure they all just run for the portal.”
“Understood,” Twist said.
“Oh, this is ever so exciting!” Myra exclaimed.
Twist smiled at her enjoyment of such a precarious situation, but Jonas only shook his head.
“You should go back to your puppet now,” Pahmut said to her.
“Right,” Myra said. She then turned to Twist and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a moment, darling.”
“We’re right behind you,” Twist replied
Myra turned away and hurried onward, disappearing almost immediately behind the trees. Pahmut closed his eyes and placed his hands together in front of himself. He muttered for a moment and then pulled his hands apart as a glowing orb of bright red smoke sprang to life between his palms. He watched the orb float in the air between his hands, as it seemed to form into a solid mass. He then plucked it out of the air with one hand.
“Here, hold this,” he said, handing the orb to Jonas as if it were nothing but a tennis ball.
“All right…” Jonas muttered, gingerly taking the red orb. “Huh,” he remarked. “It’s warm. What is this?”
Pahmut didn’t answer him but instead placed his hands together, closed his eyes, and began to mutter once again. This time, he produced a tightly swirling ball of arcing yellow lightning from the air between his palms. Snatching this too from the air with one hand, he held his other hand open to Jonas, who gave the red orb of smoke back to him. The boy then looked over the two magical items he held, as if amazed by them.
“This had better work,” he said softly, as if only to himself. “Come on,” he added, beginning to walk forward again.
Twist took a better grip of his walking stick and glanced to Jonas. Jonas met his glance and offered him a shrug, moving to follow after the boy. It was too late to bother asking questions now.
To Twist’s surprise, there was another, much larger clearing just beyond the next bend. The sound of voices reached him when he saw the crowd of figures that moved hurriedly to and fro in the clearing, and not an instant before. On second look, though, Twist saw that while these figures appeared mostly human, they had very long noses and ears that ended in needle-fine points. They all wore blue, white, and silver, and many of them had a blueness on the ends of their fine fingers and the toes of their bare feet.
A tall, circular, ceiling-less cage of silver and ice stood to one side of the space, and Twist noticed Tasha, Myra’s puppet, and a handful of other people inside it. Although there was no visible top to the cage, its walls were far too high to allow any easy escape. Twist felt a flash of relief, however, noting that none of the people inside it seemed obviously hurt. In the center of the clearing, however, stood a raised platform with a tall, lavish, and ornately carved throne made of blue, white, and crystal-clear ice sitting proudly atop it.
A woman of considerable beauty sat on the throne, her skin the gentle blue color of frozen flesh, and her eyes so black that they looked like twin holes in the world itself. Her long dress seemed to be made entirely of soft snow, piling up on her shoulders, clinging to her slender form, and pooling at her feet like a snowdrift. The crown of frosty filigree on her tightly bound white hair wasn’t needed at all for Twist to recognize her as the evil queen of the Winter fae.
Seeing her, Twist couldn’t help but wonder if this was the creature who had ordered his mother’s murder. Had one of these strange creatures been the one to carry it out? His heart began to pound in his chest as he watched the wretched things hurry about their business. So far, none of them had noticed either his or Jonas’s presence, or even Pahmut’s entrance into the clearing. They all seemed to be highly distracted by whatever they were doing. Pahmut took a deep breath, one magical orb gripped tightly in each hand and held behind his back, and took a step forward.
“There you are!” one of the creatures said suddenly, scowling at Pahmut. He looked much like a young man dressed in shimmering blue, except for the long, pointed ears and nose. He had been standing beside the queen’s throne but now approached. “Where have you been?” he demanded of Pahmut as he came to join him.
The boy stopped in his tracks, looking up at the creature fearfully but not responding.
“I asked you a question!” the creature bellowed angrily, raising a hand as if he meant to strike the child. Shocked, Twist readied to defend him if needed, while Jonas’s posture suggested the same.
“Jack Frost!” the queen called suddenly, her voice surprisingly deep and as loud as a thunderclap.
Every creature in the clearing stopped instantly, all turning to look to where she now stood, before her throne. As he looked to her as well, Twist was startled to find her staring back at him, directly. A shiver rushed up his spine as those two empty black eyes locked on to his own.
“Yes, Majesty?” the creature who had shouted at Pahmut asked meekly with a bow.
“Not you, you idiot,” the queen snapped at him.
Pahmut gasped, turning to stare back at Twist and Jonas in horror.
“But…” muttered the creature that had threatened Pahmut. He glanced down, obviously noticing the two orbs the boy held. “Hey, what are you doing?” he snapped at the boy, angry once again.
“I can’t see him!” the queen bellowed, pointing right at Twist’s nose as she rushed forward. “He must be charmed. Catch him, now!”
Before Twist could even gather enough sense to flee, Pahmut turned back toward the queen and his attacker, pulled his arm back, and threw the red orb at the snow just before the queen’s hurried steps. A wave of red mist exploded from the orb the moment it struck the snow, sending out a shock wave of heat that pushed Twist back a step. He threw his arms up to guard his face instinctively and struggled to retain his footing.
Just as quickly, the mist fell away and vanished into the snow. Twist lowered his arms and found every single creature now lying, unmoving, in the snow. Even the queen lay in an inelegant heap, only a few steps away from where Pahmut still stood. Jonas was still on his feet beside Twist, as were the others inside the cage. Pahmut seemed to stagger for a moment, as if the blast had affected him only slightly. He shook his head to clear it and then hurried toward the cage.
“Stand back!” he yelled in the new silence, already pulling back his arm with the other orb ready to throw.
Everyone inside the cage rushed to the far side of it with a murmur of startled voices. Pahmut hardly waited until he was near enough to throw his second weapon, which struck the side of the cage and burst into a fireball. The people in the cage let out frightened screams, but the fire didn’t seem to reach them. Instead, it blasted a l
arge hole in the side of the cage and then promptly vanished.
“Come on!” Pahmut shouted at the people in the cage. “Follow me. And hurry! There’s not much time before they all wake up.”
Everyone rushed out of the hole in the cage immediately, led by Myra and Tasha. Jonas and Twist joined them quickly. Jonas began to hand out charms as people emerged, while Twist took hold of Myra’s clockwork hand. Now that she’d returned to her puppet, her thrilled and happy emotions bled into Twist’s Sight the moment he touched her.
“This is so exciting!” she exclaimed.
“It’s wonderful to see you two,” Tasha said to Twist, already holding one of the charms in her hand, as Jonas gave one to the last person to exit the cage behind her.
“Come on, come on!” Pahmut urged, beckoning everyone back the way he, Twist, and Jonas had come.
No one asked for explanation or made any complaint. They all hurried to follow after the boy as he broke into a run. Not slowing a single step, Pahmut began to shout in the same strange language he used for all his magic. The trees before him moved once again, clearing out of his way as he ran straight ahead. In moments, the mirror reappeared from the forest, hanging in space before them.
“Everyone through the mirror!” Jonas yelled.
“It’s not solid?” asked a voice in the crowd that ran with them.
“No, just jump though,” Jonas answered as he, Pahmut, and a few of the fastest runners reached the mirror.
Pahmut veered to the side, remaining in the fairy world as the first few people crossed through the doorway. Jonas also remained behind, ushering the others through. Tasha slipped through the mirror without a moment’s hesitation, followed closely by Ranjit and a young Rook Twist had met at the Sight circle.
“Come on, come on,” Pahmut muttered to himself, watching behind them anxiously.
Twist and Myra arrived last, hand in hand, and paused before the mirror together. Breathing heavily, Twist gestured for her to go through ahead of him. Just as she stepped though the mirror, Twist heard a deep, inhuman howl erupt from behind him.
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