“Mr. Snuggles is always the best thing to see when you first wake up,” Fitz told her—and Sophie almost blurted that his glittering teal eyes were even better, but managed to spare herself the humiliation.

Biana laughed from the doorway. “You two are ridiculous—has anyone told you that? Now get dressed.” She tossed a very long, very fitted, very red tunic onto Sophie’s bed.

“Don’t scowl at me like that—its camouflage,” Biana told her. “The fancier your clothes are, the more people won’t wonder about your new gloves. And you look awesome in red. All you need is a white blouse and some black leggings—you have those, right? Oh—and a killer pair of boots. In fact, I have the perfect ones!”

Sophie sighed as Biana raced off. “She’s going to turn me into her little doll.”

“Probably,” Fitz agreed. “But at least she’s right.” Sophie figured he was referring to Biana’s camouflage-the-gloves strategy—which was pretty brilliant, despite how annoying Sophie was sure it was going to be.

But Fitz gave her his most charming smile and added, “Red is definitely your color.”

If she were a cartoon character, Sophie’s eyes would’ve turned into little hearts.

“Hurry up and get dressed,” Biana shouted from down the hall, saving Sophie from having to come up with a coherent response.

“Why, are we going somewhere?” Sophie called after her.

“Yep.” Biana rushed back into the room, proudly holding up a pair of boots with alarmingly tall wedge heels. “While someone was getting their beauty sleep, I went to the Silver Tower with Tam to see if having a Vanisher with him made a difference. And we finally figured out how the Neverseen got in!”

SIXTY-EIGHT

I THOUGHT WE’D ruled out the Lodestar mirror,” Sophie said as she stood in the center of the Hall of Illumination, surrounded by a circle of twenty mirrors reflecting their group from every angle.

Dex, Fitz, Linh, Alden, Della, Mr. Forkle, and Sandor, Grizel, Lovise, and Woltzer had all come with them to see what Biana and Tam had discovered.

“We have ruled it out,” Tam told Sophie. “Believe me, I’ve stared at that thing so long, I’ve gone cross-eyed. All it does is reflect pure light and make me tear up from the glare.”

“Then, um . . . why are we here?” Dex asked.

“Because I’m a genius,” Biana informed him. “I knew the Neverseen wouldn’t be obvious enough to have the actual mirror be the answer. But I kept thinking the name couldn’t totally be a coincidence. So I spent way too long staring at my reflection.” She ignored Fitz when he coughed, “What else is new?” and several in their group laughed. “And that’s when I thought to ask: What do lodestars do?”

“Guide people?” Sophie guessed.

Biana nodded. “They show you the way. So what do you see when you look in the mirror—besides your really bright reflection?”

Mr. Forkle sucked in a breath. “You see the mirror directly across from it!”

Everyone rushed to the other mirror, stepping on toes and knocking elbows as they crushed closer.

“It’s the Cimmerian,” Alden said, tracing a hand down the smooth glass. “One of the hardest mirrors to understand the meaning of.”

“It really is,” Mr. Forkle said, “I’ve always suspected it’s because many are too distracted by the disruption to their appearance.”

“Can’t say I blame them,” Della mumbled, glaring at the heavy shadows in her reflection. “This mirror is the only thing that ever makes me feel haggard.”

“But I still don’t understand,” Grizel said. “How does it give the Neverseen access to the tower?”

“Because they brought a Shade,” Biana said, nudging Tam forward. “Go on. Show them how cool you are.”

Tam flushed, squaring his shoulders as he approached the glass. “This is hard to explain. But the mirror multiplies shadows, so I decided to see what’d happen if I messed with them.”

He stretched his hand toward the glass and pulled his fingers into a fist, dragging every shadow from their reflections into the center of the mirror like a big black hole.

“And don’t ask me why,” Tam said, “but my instincts told me to do this.”

He spun his wrist in a tight circle, and the shadows followed—curling into a spiral that seemed to sink in on itself as the pattern spun round and round and round.

“What exactly are we looking at?” Mr. Forkle asked.

“I’m not totally sure,” Tam admitted. “At first I thought it was just an optical illusion. But then I did this”—he shoved his hand through the center of the spiral, making his arm disappear up to the elbow and earning a chorus of gasps—“and I realized it’s a gateway. Something about the shadowvapor moving through the glass changes its density.”

He pulled his arm back and wiggled his perfectly healthy, normal fingers.

“Just don’t ask me to explain the crazy science behind it, okay?” Tam said, “But this is how the Neverseen got into the tower. Maybe they levitated once they were inside so they wouldn’t leave a scent trail. But they came from here.”

He pushed his whole body through the mirror, disappearing into the glass. Everyone yelped when he peeked his head back from the other side—and all four goblins drew their swords.

“It’s a pretty tight space, so if you want to check it out, you’ll have to take turns,” he told them. “Probably no more than two or three at a time. But basically, I’m in a secret room hidden somewhere between the towers.”

“Someone needs to make sure the space is truly secure before any more of us go through,” Sandor decided, blocking Sophie as he pushed forward.

Grizel jumped in front of him, placing a hand in the center of his chest. “I’m smaller and my senses are sharper.”

Sandor’s jaw twitched—ready to argue—but when Grizel leaned in and whispered something, he nodded and took a slow step back.

Tam disappeared through the mirror to clear the path as Grizel tapped Sandor’s nose and turned to study the glass. She skimmed her fingers across the swirling shadows before she shrugged and leaped through like a gazelle.