Never Just One Apocalypse by Karen L Mead

Author:Karen L Mead [Mead, Karen L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

When Cassie awoke, a soft hand was on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

“Miss Cassie. It is time for breakfast.”

Through half-opened eyes, Cassie saw the blurry figure of Lisette sitting on the side of her bed. At first she snuggled under the covers, prepared to do her typical “five more minutes,” routine, but then the image of the disintegrating skeleton she had seen in the mirror forced its way violently into her mind’s eye, and she was suddenly fully awake. She sat bolt upright in bed and pulled back from Lisette, feeling an odd prickling sensation on her bare shoulder where the strange creature had touched her.

Lisette pursed her lips, looking somber but not surprised.

“Milady, I know the sight of me must frighten you, but I am what you see, not a pile of bones.” Gently, she held out an arm for Cassie to examine.

Cassie didn’t want to touch her, but her curiosity began to get the better of her. The girl’s arm looked so clean, so healthy, with soft blond down and several copper-colored beauty marks lightly dappling the skin; which was the illusion, the girl, or the skeleton?

Tentatively she touched Lisette’s forearm with her fingertips, realizing quickly that the skin was exactly as soft as it looked. She wrapped her hand gently around the arm, feeling the weight of it, and felt strongly that the girl’s body was as healthy and full of life as her own. Relieved, her fear of Lisette retreated.

Cassie sat forward, stretching. She was wearing an odd muslin nightgown that looked like it was hundreds of years old; strangely, she’d found it oddly comfortable, and had slept well.

“But if you’re not a skeleton, then why did the mirror…where did that come from?”

Lisette stood up off the bed, her long white skirt twirling gracefully with every movement. She looked at her own arms, as though considering them for the first time in a while.

“Here, I keep the shape that I had in your world; for better or for worse. The mirror only shows what I would look like in your world, were I not in the service of Lord Sammael,” Lisette said evenly.

Cassie got out of bed and stretched again, frowning.

What’s the point of having the mirror at all, then? Is it just to remind Sammael’s servants that they can’t ever go back? Seems like a dick move, even for him.

“If you are at ease now, shall we go down to breakfast? Milord wishes you to break your fast.”

Cassie began following Lisette out of the elaborately furnished guest bedroom. When they reached the hallway, Lisette’s slippered feet quickly moved toward a part of the house that Cassie hadn’t seen yet. The two of them went down a staircase, much plainer and narrower than the glittering marble stairs in the main hallway, then ended up coming in through the back door of the kitchen.

Cassie was surprised. Unlike the rest of the house, the kitchen looked positively plain. The gray-tiled floor looked clean, but homely. The walls

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