The Iron Seer

(Bonus) Chapter 27 - The Seeing Glass

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a familiar corridor of the castle.

It had worked.

Dizzied for a moment, I took in my surroundings in an attempt to orient myself. The light that streamed between the pillars on either side of the corridor was an unnatural, almost blinding white, painting everything in washed-out shades - the stones beneath my feet, the courtyard just beyond the archway in front of me where a long, rectangular table sat, heaped with food. At the table Rowan and Narissa were seated beside each other, leaning toward each other as if engaged in a conversation.

Ducking behind a pillar as quickly as I could, I waited for a sign that they'd seen me.

Silence.

There was nothing - I couldn't hear them speaking. I paused, feeling as if my heart should be thundering as I waited to be spotted.

Then I realized that I couldn't hear the regular noises of the castle, nor the distant sounds of the city beyond. My ears strained to pick up the slightest noise, but silence - like the stillness of the forests outside of Glassbarrow at twilight - was the only thing that fell upon my ears. I could not even hear the sound of my own heartbeat.

I held my palm to the empty air within my chest, astonished at the hollowness there. My form had become incorporeal - I had no physical chest to touch. I lifted my hand in front of my face, startled by its transparent appearance. Through it, I could see the light dusting of snow on the cobblestones in the courtyard, the pillars lining the pathway.

"So you've found the Glass, Ariella Tularyn," said a voice behind me.

I whirled.

On the path stood a hunched figure, a cowl pulled over its face, concealing it in shadow. Its - or her, as the voice was distinctly female - voice was dusty and worn, and her hands, where they were clasped in front of her, were shriveled and clawed, withered like the hands of a corpse.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice echoing strangely in this alternate dimension that I had stumbled across through the mirror.

"You can do better than that," said the crone, chuckling.

I swallowed. Another creature who seemed to know more about myself than I did. First the fire elemental, then that cait sith. Neither of them had given me clear answers. "I'm the Seer. Tell me what that means - what these visions mean."

In the shadows of her hood, the crone's lips curved in a broken smile. "It means, Seer, that you're cursed," she said, with a sharp bark of laughter. "Like me."

"What - do you mean?" I demanded, m my phantom heart plummeting. "Please - I need to know why -"

"Someday, I'll explain," she said. "When you find me."

"How will I find you?"

"You'll have help," was all she disclosed. Her body began to fade into mist, dissolving right before my eyes. "Think of this Glass as practice for your visions. My gift to you, whatever that's worth." She cackled. "You're going to need it."

"Wait -" I called, but she had gone.

I slumped against the pillar, frustrated and terrified and alone in something I didn't understand.

Practice for my visions. Did the crone mean I could control them?

I turned and found Narissa and Rowan still in conversation at the table. Neither of them had noticed the crone's appearance, or my conversation with her. This mirror really did make me invisible.