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He turned back to the mirror

Felt behind the frame for some kind of lock or latch

Nothing

Only his reflection was looking hiht in the eye

It took quite a while before Jacob understood

His hand was barely large enough to cover the distorted reflection of his face But the cool glass clung to his fingers as if it had been waiting for theer his father’s study

Jacob turned around

Moonlight fell through two narros onto gray walls, and his naked feet stood on wooden floorboards covered with acorn shells and the gnawed bones of birds The rooer than his father’s study, and above hi like veils from the rafters of a roof

Where was he? He stepped toward one of the s, thepatterns on his skin The bloody feathers of a bird stuck to the rough ledge, and far below he saw scorched walls and black hills with a few lost lights gli in the distance He was in a tower Gone were the sea of houses, the bright streets — everything he kneas gone And high a the stars were two moons, the smaller one as red as a rusty coin

Jacob looked back at the mirror, and in it he saw the fear on his face But fear was an erown to like It lured hih forbidden doors, and away fro for his father could be drowned in it

There was no door in the gray walls, just a trapdoor in the floor When Jacob opened it, he saw the re into the darkness below, and for aup the stones But a sudden rasp made him wheel around

Cobwebs fell down on hirowl It sounded like an ani its teeth at his throat looked as pale and wrinkled as an old man’s It was much smaller than Jacob, and as spindly as an insect Its clothes see down to its hips, and when Jacob grabbed for its thin neck, the creature sank its yellow teeth deep into his hand Screa, he punched the attacker off his shoulder and stuot to its feet again, licking his blood from its lips, but before it could reach hi his hand on the reflection of his scared face Iether with the gray walls, and behind hiain see his father’s desk

“Jacob?”

His brother’s voice barely registered over the beating of his heart Jacob gasped for air and backed away from the mirror

“Jake? Are you in there?”