Changeling Witch

(S2) Mirrors

Hunter's sickness wore off quickly—complete with fungus on his head—and Edric ended up giving him the rundown of what had happened at Eclipse Lake. He seemed pretty proud of himself for breaking the key (and Hunter promised to buy him a new pair of gloves), but he didn't really say much beyond "the Golden Guard's not exactly in the best place" on that subject, even when Hunter pressed for information. And for some reason, Amity looked a little bit scared when she heard about that.

But with the Titan's Blood on hand, they were finally able to actually construct the portal door—which they did as soon as they could.

"Y'know, Philip said that the hardest thing about constructing a portal was finding someone who knew how to build it," Hunter mentioned as he finished applying one of the ingredients to the old door they'd found. "Most of the ingredients are actually pretty easy to find, though, especially when you're living with someone who's got a bazillion supplies for the apocalypse."

King passed Hunter the glove with a downcast expression on his face. "Don't forget this."

"No chance of me forgetting." Hunter ran his thumb over the blue stain. "Jesus. All this time looking for Titan's Blood, and it was right here in our hands this whole time."

Eda and King exchanged a look.

He gave them an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, you two. If the old fuckweed's still trying to get to the human realm—" he ripped off one of the fingers of the glove— "then he'll have to beat me to it."

Hunter taped the glove finger to the door and stepped back.

Eda climbed into her bathtub bike. "You sure this isn't gonna, like, blow our faces off?"

"99 percent sure, and let's not worry about the 1 percent."

"Well, here goes something."

She started to cycle, sending a wave of electricity zipping towards the door from a string. All of the items attached to the door lit up as the blue blood soaked into it.

A flash of light came as all of the items collided, and then they formed...

Well.

It looked sort of like the portal door—similar carvings and with an eye—but it was crooked and seemed to defy the laws of physics, and the eye was actually two, broken up and an odd blue-green shade. And when it opened, there was no visage of green trees and blue skies—just an odd, shimmering space.

"I... I think it worked," Hunter finally said, putting his cloak on.

King wrinkled his nose. "Did it? That looks real different from the old door."

"This is my one chance to see my mom," he reminded him, grabbing a rope and tying it around his waist. "If it looks like it's closing, pull."

Eda looked a little unsure. "Hunter, as impressive as this is, I don't want you getting hurt—"

"Hey." He held up a hand. "Once I make sure Mom's okay, I'll be right back, okay?"

She cracked a smile. "Just be careful. Human realm's filled with some real weirdos."

"Don't forget to mention me!" King chirped.

Hunter gave them a quick hug, then turned back to the portal. Taking a deep breath, he jumped in.

...............

Hunter's eyes sprang open as he gasped for breath.

He was in a dark space with curving walls that didn't seem to follow any rhyme or reason in their patterns, with water both underneath his feet and high above his head. As he slowly stood up, a whispering sound came as glowing golden cubes floated up from the water below him. Whispers that he could almost make out.