Court of Nightmares and Ruin

Chapter 44

Kohl

My muscles were so tense I was afraid they might snap under pressure. Nothing and no one made me fearful, but whatever was in that mirror was so evil that I could taste its threat in the air.

An oddly familiar laugh came from within the mirror, and Icelyn gasped behind me. I reached around and pressed her closer to my back. I could feel her tremble against my skin, which made me angry. So angry, in fact, that whatever comes from within that mirror, better be prepared for instantaneous death.

I drove Icelyn back with my body as a grotesque, bony leg pushed through the glass and stepped onto the floor. The creature that followed was nothing like anything I had ever seen before. Its body was spindly, and its dark, gray skin drooped from the bones like this creature had wasted away to nothing. The haggard appearance does not bother me in the least. What bothered me was that it had the book and seemed a little too familiar with it.

My mist began to swirl, putting a protective hedge around everyone in the room.

"Now, is that any way to greet me, Kohl, after all these years?"

My mind would not accept what my ears had just heard, but there was no mistaking that sultry voice.

"Isadora?" I hissed as the haggard creature smiled at me.

"I'm touched. You do remember me after all these years. You'll excuse me while I refresh myself."

My heart clenched as she caressed the book in her hands. This cannot happen, not again. I sent all the power I had hurled toward her and tried to shatter her brain with her fears. Instead of her body falling dead to the ground, she looked up at me and smiled.

"Silly Night King, you know that never worked on me." Her crusty lips perked up into a devious smile, making my stomach churn.

I glanced back at Icelyn and then rushed toward Isadora. If I could not kill her with my powers, I would do so with my bare hands.

"Aperta!" Isadora spoke to the book while caressing it with her fingers.

I was quick, but not quick enough. The book opened quickly to her command, the force of its magic bounded from the open pages like a tsunami, its power knocking me and everyone else to the far wall. I bounded to my feet, scooped Icelyn up off the ground, and shielded her protectively in the cocoon of my arms. I didn't miss the hate in Isadora's eyes as she looked down at Icelyn.

"Yes! I have been waiting for eternity to feel this power again!" Isadora leaned her head back and cackled like the witch she was as she absorbed the book's power.

What was left of her skin began to glow, and the book's magic soon encompassed her entire being. I shielded Icelyn's face from the glow of the magic as it hissed and popped through the air.

Once the magic had settled, Isadora reemerged from the mist, completely restored. Her once charred and ashy skin was renewed to the purest of ivory, and her curves and edges to their former glory. She pressed her blood-red lips together as she swept her long, straight silver-blue hair behind her pointy ears. She was everything I remembered from years ago. She disgusted me then, just as she did now. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and blew herself a conceited kiss.

"Thank you, Leon." She smiled at the mirror again and turned her black, lifeless eyes to my brother.

I followed her gaze and stared at him. I knew he was in love with her all those years ago, but I would have never believed that his love went so deep that he would double-cross me, especially after all the havoc she had caused before we stopped her.