Page 81 of Can you take it?

I sneered at him. “I’m going to inspect the painting again,” I practically growled.

I checked every single inch of fencing between where I was and the ominous gold-framed painting that hung on a random post just as I had done three other times.

Except this time, the painting was gone. The black, charred canvas had been replaced with a mirror that rippled like liquid silver. When I kneeled in front of it to get a better look, I was startled by my face reflecting back. I opened my mouth to call for the others but stopped to really look at myself. Bags had settled under my eyes. I was tired—I was so tired. I rubbed my palm over my face to feel for stubble that should have been there but wasn’t. Apparently you didn’t need to worry about facial hair when you were dead. I settled deeper onto my knees to really look at myself. I don’t know what I had expected I would look like dead, but I suppose I thought I would look different than I did. Something moved in the mirror and my eyes caught the reflection of Anna over my shoulder as she continued to search the field. I looked back at my face.

I was so deeply in love with her, and I didn’t know what I was going to do about it.

“You’re the only fraud here.” As I said the words to myself, something changed, not just in the appearance of the mirror but within me. The mirror stretched from a rectangle into a large oval, still with the ornate gold frame surrounding it.

I was a good person but not as good as the person I projected was—not even close. Did I want the best for people? Of course. Did I enjoy the feeling of being pigeonholed as the hero? No. It set expectations for me that I was never truly able to meet—mostly because they would be impossible for anyone to meet. The truth was, I was just a normal guy trying to be something I wasn’t—trying to be something that would make people love and need me.

I looked at the creases around my eyes and wondered how many of those had formed from fake smiles designed to make everyone feel like I was okay. Everyone always knew me to be a smiling, lighthearted prince that lived to sacrifice and serve everyone else, but the truth was, once you sacrificed everything you had to give, there was nothing left for you to survive off of. Now more than ever, I needed to get into the Elysian Fields so that I could finally relax and feel at peace knowing I was in the place I was always destined to go.

I was so close to being able to just rest and I could physically see the effects being in Tartarus was having on my mind. I knew looking into my eyes that I had been the hero for too long and that I was done. I wondered what my mother would think when I turned down helping her in the Elysian Fields. No doubt she was scheming something even in her place of rest; she couldn’t help it. My skin began to itch thinking about seeing her again. After everything she had done to Tarani, Cal, Anna, Walter, and Mendax, I wasn’t sure how things would go between us when I arrived. I wanted to be perfect for her. Emotion flickered in my eyes as I continued to stare at my reflection, thinking of my childhood. I always thought if I could be the perfect hero, that maybe I could save her.

But I couldn’t. You can’t save someone that doesn’t want to be saved.

“Whoa, what’s it doing?” Bexley asked from behind me.

I quickly wiped the emotion away from my eyes and turned to him. “It just changed when I came over. I don’t know what it means.”

The others joined us to look at the now large mirror. “What is that dot?” Anna asked, pointing to a small black dot in the upper middle section of the mirror, reflecting just about the farthest point of the field we could see.

Eletha leaned in and squinted. “It’s moving toward us.” We all snapped our heads to look behind us in the opposite direction to see if something was in the field.

“Wait a second,” Walter said as he moved in front of Eletha to get a better look.

For a few minutes we waited, watching the black dot grow until…

“It’s the cloaked rabbit!” Bexley shouted. “It’s coming here for us!”

Sure enough, the black dot had grown large enough to make out the hooded black figure steadily walking toward us. Panic set in.

“Is it here but only showing in the mirror? Or is it coming from the mirror? What do we do?” Eletha shouted.

“Guys…” Anna said, drawing our attention. She pointed to the opposite end of the field, where the creepy, lifeless- looking rabbit head on a man’s body was walking directly toward us.

“Fuck!” Bexley shouted before shoving us aside and pushing his arms into the mirror.

“Bexley!” We called out, but it was too late, the last bit of his foot disappeared into the mirror.

“Well, what do we do?” Walter asked Anna. “For all we know, he just landed in a fire.”

A glance behind showed the creature had gained an unbelievable amount of distance and was alarmingly close to us.

Anna thought for a moment before appearing to decide on something. “Wait here,” she said and, without another second of hesitation, stepped into the mirror.

“Anna! Stop!” Eletha and I shouted, looking at each other briefly. My body moved to follow after her but came to a halt when the brown-haired heathen poked her head back out of the mirror.

“It’s the portal to Acedia, come on!” she shouted as she reached out to help Eletha in.

The monster was too close now. Its dead, empty black eyes looked out of the white rabbit’s giant face.

“Go!” Walter shouted at me, grabbing my arm.

“Wait…” I said getting a glimpse of the creature up close in broad daylight. It looked like a mask. Before I could do anything, Walter shoved me into the mirror.

Chapter 16