Slowly the Brig filled in around them and the two girls were in the frozen dungeon, their bodies slack, their faces ash white. Professor Sader floated in front of Vanessa’s tomb, gazing back at them.

“But I had hope, even if I couldn’t see what your ending was. Look at how far you’ve come already, against all odds. That’s why I moved your mother here, so you could see the truth about your story. That’s why I sacrificed my life for the both of you. Because by breaking all the rules of our world, you have the chance to save it when we need it most. To find a bridge between Good and Evil. To put love first, whether it’s a Boy’s or Girl’s. To shatter the chain between your parents’ Old story and your New one. No one knows if you will succeed, children. Even me. But the Storian chose you for a reason and it’s time to face it. No more running. No more hiding. The only way out is through your fairy tale.”

His hazel eyes sparkled with tears. “Now go and open the door.”

Professor Sader smiled at the two girls one last time. Then his phantom dissipated to darkness, like the last tears of a sun.

34

The War of All Things

Neither girl could look at the other. They just stared at Vanessa, dead and beautiful in her frozen grave.

“We’re sisters,” said Sophie, a strange flatness in her voice.

“But not,” said Agatha softly. “Family but not family. Blood but not blood. Together but apart.” She could feel a wave of emotions trapped behind her heart, too big and powerful to let in. “That’s why I saw Sader in my dreams like he was my father,” she rasped. “Because he always reminded me of your father. Somewhere, I knew I was Stefan’s daughter all along.”

Both of them were quiet, watching each other’s blurred reflection in the iced tomb.

“Sophie?” Agatha finally looked at her. “We have to go. We have to go right now.”

Sophie didn’t meet her eyes. Her muscles were tense, her entire body on edge.

“Did you hear me?” Agatha pressed. “We have to g—”

“It doesn’t change anything, Agatha,” said Sophie coldly, still staring at her mother.

“What? Sophie, it changes everything—”

“No,” she retorted. “It proves I was Evil from the start. That my mother was never Good and cursed me to relive her miserable little life, rotting away alone while you get a happy ending with Tedros the same way my father gets a happy ending with Honora. Good gets Good; Evil gets nothing. Except I have the chance to change my ending. Now, more than ever, Rafal is my only hope to not end up alone. To not end up like her.”

She shoved past Agatha and started jostling random tombs. “Bloody hell! There has to be another door somewhere.”