A Court of Shadows and Lies / ACOTAR FF

Chapter 23

"Where the Sun and Earth meet, when the gates open to you, feathered daughters old and new will return home. He is coming to take his seat there. He is already in the underworld looking for the script agreed upon. A breeze in the wind. The darkness in your light. He will look to drain the octadic. The Mother's Light will die and be reborn in the shadow, gifted from the son whose father bore the darkness. He will look to give an eternal eclipse, and they will burn, and she will come forth as new."

The prophecy, the full one in its correct order, in Niamh's ghostly voice was sung as I walked down the familiar luxurious corridor of my family home. My eyes were trained on the shadows that were dancing along, skirting around the bright light emanating from the gas lamp I held in my left hand. The walls were painted a bright white, with gold accents running up the panels and over the ceiling. Paintings of myself, my sisters and Mother's history lined the walls, each moving ever so slightly.

I paused abruptly at the floor length, towering mirror, that was as wide as my wings if I had them on display, and small round tables on either side of it. The female in the mirror was one I hadn't seen in a very long time: young, carefree, not battle-worn. Her eyes, my eyes, were in fact silver in the dark. The character in front of me furrowed her brows just as I did, confused. They had never been silver. Neither had my sisters. I was wearing a dressing gown that hadn't been touched in several millennia, the Chaostrite glowing gently above it.

"Jez?" a familiar, husky voice called out.

"Cel?" I replied and turned to find her standing to my right, where I had just walked. She now sported a sharp, straight bob, her black hair shining in the light from my lamp. Her gorgeous tawny coloured skin emphasised not only her black hair, but her now jarring silver eyes as well. She too wore the same dressing gown, bar from the necklace. "Cel!"

Celeste ran towards me and I quickly placed the lamp on the table. As soon as she was in reach, she threw her arms around my neck, pulling me into a hug. I instantly buried my face into her neck, tears streaming down my face as I took in her soft spring scent. "We have been looking for you, my sister," Celeste murmured into my hair. "We don't know where you are."

I pulled back, looking at my sister who was only slightly taller than me. "I'm...I'm safe-ish."

Celeste pulled a face and let go of me. "That's not comforting."

"Alright, the next time I die or disappear, I'll send a unicorn to let you know before I do."

"That isn't funny."

"I thought it was," I shrugged, drying my face of any last tears.

"Are you with someone where you are? You smell."

It was my turn to pull a face at her. "How the fuck can you smell that in a dream?"

"Can you not?"

I shook my head. Cel looked confused and I didn't want to linger on the conversation too long. "Your eyes."

"I was going to ask you as well. It's been like this since Summer."

"Since I fell," I murmured, looking back at the mirror to look at our reflections. Cel followed, her head cocked. "I fell a few months ago. I was chased by-"

"Stygians," Cel and I said in unison. I nodded.

"Interesting that they're back, isn't it?" she questioned. That was odd. She knew. "Our sisters' eyes have been like this a while after that."