Hannah sprinted across the open courtyard and ducked behind the stone deck beneath a lion statue, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of her chest.
She crouched low, gasping for air, eyes roving around in fear.
Coming here was a mistake.
She had tried to infiltrate the palace to find Violet, but it was impossible. The place was massive with endless halls, twisting corridors, and strange turns that led her nowhere. The eerie part was that there were barely any guards. Not even one. No palace this grand could ever be this unprotected. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
And she was too exposed.
Hannah pulled out her compact mirror and whispered, "Soror vocat te."
But nothing happened. The surface stayed smooth and still, only her pale reflection staring back.
Her pulse quickened, and she checked the back of the mirror to be sure it was the right one. It was. So why wasn't it responding?
