The Mirror of Infinite Endings

1. Evangeline

Evangeline tiptoes down the Hollow's stairs, whispering for the steps not to creak. She takes another careful step, feet barely touching the floor. Sneaking up on Jacks is difficult. As a Fate, he has preternatural senses, and the heart-shaped scar on her wrist makes him ever aware of where she is. On rare occasions, when she is very careful and he is deep in thought, she catches him unawares. It usually lasts only a second or two, but she loves those stolen moments when he thinks he is alone and he is just Jacks. Her Jacks. The Jacks who rewrote history for her, stole her heart, saved her life, and turned her world into a fairytale. She likes to think he looks a little more human than when they first met, though she would never tell him. If she said he seemed softer, he would take it as an insult. Even in his softest moments, an inhuman quality remains. It is in the liquid way he moves, the way his unnaturally blue eyes change color.

This morning she finds him in the Hollow's tavern. He looks ridiculously handsome and careless in a wrinkled linen shirt and dark brown trousers with frayed hems. Evangeline pauses at the doorway with a pinprick of something like nostalgia, if it is possible to feel nostalgia for something that has not yet passed. The tavern is one of her favorite rooms, the heart of the Hollow, with wood and candles and one wall of windows looking out on a lake. At night the lake seems full of stars instead of water. During the day it reflects clouds and buttery sunlight. Food appears whenever the clock in the hall strikes a meal or a drink: Dumplings & Meat, Fish Stew, Mystery Stew, Toast and Tea, Porridge, Ale, Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider, Honey Pie, Brambleberry Crisp, Forest Cakes. Sometimes the clock has more items than hours in the day, other times fewer, as if it borrows time from the future and must pay it back. Evangeline does not fully understand the clock, but she loves it. This morning the tavern smells like cinnamon-spiced tea and warm, gooey baked toast topped with sweetened strawberries. Even when the Hollow makes tea and toast, it is never just tea and toast. Nothing in the Hollow is just anything. Everything is a little extra, a little more, a little other.

It would be easy to say the Hollow is where Evangeline and Jacks fell in love, but that is not entirely true. Jacks first brought her here on a cold starlit night when she was covered in blood. He carried her in his arms with the fortitude of a soldier who would have held her forever if needed. Everything that night was torture for Evangeline, but Jacks was there, steady as a compass pointing north. He brought her to a place he had never intentionally brought a girl before. But this is not when she fell for him. The Hollow is where Evangeline stopped falling and was just in it: in love with him. No more falling. Her feelings are here to stay. Some loves, once found, are never lost. Such a love is a gift, deep and unwavering, that no amount of time or act of nature or man can destroy. The love remains even when the person is gone. That makes the gift beautiful and treacherous. Love like this cannot be lost, but sometimes people can be. Luckily for Evangeline Fox, the great love of her life is not a person. Jacks is a Fate. She does not have to worry about him dying. He will never grow old. She will. But Evangeline does a good job of not thinking about that.

Quietly, she watches him a little longer, wanting one more bite of this perfect moment before moving on to the next and worrying about everything she needs to do before the sun goes down. Jacks sits on a stool at the bar, ignoring his delicious breakfast and reading something that looks like a letter. One of the little baby dragons, which he is also ignoring, heats up his mug of tea with its sparks. Jacks pays no attention to the tea either. He reads carefully, his blue eyes ocean-bright and sickle-sharp, no softness in them today. Her gaze drops to his mouth, looking for a hint of a smile or a scowl, but his lips remain perfectly flat. Evangeline cannot tell what kind of news he has received. She wonders who the letter is from. Perhaps Chaos? He is Jacks's closest and oldest friend, but because of the whole vampire situation, Jacks does not really like him near Evangeline. Letters make sense as a form of communication, but Evangeline cannot picture Chaos writing letters. He seems far more likely to step out of dark shadows and offer a cryptic message, which he has actually done to her on occasion. Curious, she watches Jacks stare at the letter until she knows she has wasted enough time, dallied in this moment a little too long, and finally she calls, "Good morning, love!"

Jacks looks up from the letter, mouth tilting into a smile at last. It is small, just a tiny quirk, but it grows wider as he looks her over. His blue eyes skim her pale blue-and-violet dress, glide slowly over her hips and the apron tied tight around her waist, and light up when they reach her face. "Are you ready for your big day tomorrow?" he asks, tossing the letter aside as if it were nothing. It falls on top of the little dragon who has been heating Jacks's tea and, poof, in an instant the note is in flames. "Oh no! Bruce!" Evangeline cries, for that is the name of the little dragon. You cannot have a pet dragon, Jacks says nearly every day. She is fairly certain he only says it because he does not like any of the names she has chosen for the dragons. While she has chosen some ridiculous names, like Princess of the Fluffikins, to tease him, she has also given some dragons perfectly respectable names, like Bruce, who is particularly fond of Jacks. Jacks does not return the sentiment. He scowls at the little blue-and-violet dragon as Evangeline rushes across the tavern. She picks up a full mug of tea and dumps it on the burning letter. But she is too late. Only ashy scraps remain.

"Oh, Jacks! I'm so sorry. I hope it was nothing important." He waves a hand dismissively. "It was just a bunch of words. Not anything that mattered." Before she can question him or say much of anything, he tucks his fingers into her apron strings, pulling her closer, drawing her knees between his legs. Then he is kissing her, saying hello and good morning and a few other things that can only be said with lips and hands. Evangeline kisses him back and feels very tempted to throw away tomorrow's plans. This is all she needs for happily ever after. Food, sunlight, sleep, they could be replaced by lips and hearts beating too close together. "Anything else I can help you with?" he murmurs as he pulls away. That again, please and thank you, is what she wants to say.

But the Hollow has other ideas. The tall glass cupboard at the end of the bar begins to rattle. It is just a tiny shake at first. The cupboard, as wide as two bookcases put together, is impossibly old. There are small bubbles in the glass, scuffs on the wood, and shelves full of pies. Cinnamon pie and clove pie, peach pie and cream pie, berry pie and shortbread pie, sugar pie and custard pie, caramel apple pie and double-chocolate banana pie with chocolate crust. According to The Happy Innkeeper's Guide to All Things Wonderful, you can never have too many pies. It seems the Hollow does not think Evangeline has quite enough just yet. The bottom shelves of the cupboard are empty, and the glass doors in front of those shelves rattle open next, as if to tell Evangeline that her work for tomorrow is not done. There is no time for kissing or cupcaking or whatever she and Jacks are doing. The cupboard is probably right. For months, Evangeline has been preparing for the Hollow's Grand Reopening and First Annual Happy Hollowfest Holiday. Tomorrow, it is finally happening.

"LaLa will be here this afternoon," Evangeline says. About a week ago, she and LaLa made plans to go shopping for last-minute thises and thats. Now Evangeline worries they should have planned to do this yesterday or the day before, or any of the other days leading up to today. "Before she arrives, I just need to bake about two dozen more pies. Then I need to finish all the outdoor bunting. And then if there's time, I was thinking I could put a fresh coat of paint on the clock." "The clock doesn't need a fresh coat of paint," Jacks assures her. "But if you want, I'll do it." He leans in for another kiss. The glass cupboards rattle again and the clock in the hall chimes Cider unnecessarily, as if warning him not to get carried away. Although later, Evangeline will wonder if the Hollow was warning her about something else.

2. Evangeline

Evangeline and Jacks have settled into the Hollow, the inn for travelers and adventurers, though neither can say exactly how long they have been there. After the battle at the Tree of Souls, they wandered with no fixed destination, imagining all the places they might go, until their steps brought them to this rounded blue door. The Hollow opened for them before they even knocked. Birds flit in and out of the windows, and while the loss of the mirth stone means the inn is no longer immune to curses and now experiences time much as the rest of the world does, its peculiar magic has not vanished entirely. The clock still works its strange enchantments, the faucets still pour scented water, and the candles and fireplaces still light themselves. Jacks murmurs one morning that the old place never truly needed the stone for everything, and the Hollow responds by rattling its windows open and shut with a loud, synchronized thwack, as if offended. Evangeline whispers that she does not think it liked that. Jacks merely shrugs and tells her she will get used to the inn's moods.

Today the Hollow's mood is impatient. The hall clock darts forward with surprising quickness, chiming every few minutes to announce a new dish: Mystery Stew, Berry Porridge, Hot Chocolate. It behaves as though eager guests have already arrived, and Evangeline dearly hopes they will. She keeps looking out the window toward her sign, which welcomes travelers to the grand reopening and the first annual Happy Hollowfest, scheduled for tomorrow. Every glance, she hopes to see a queue forming down the lane. She knows the hope is ridiculous, but Evangeline has always believed in the ridiculous. She wants the inn full of smiling people sharing food and stories, children chasing baby dragons, bards telling tales by the fire, and at the end of the night, a quiet moment with pie and Jacks's hand in hers, with no poisonings, no evil princes, no vampires, no curses, no stolen memories, and no Wanted posters bearing their faces. There is no room for any of that in a happily ever after.

She turns back to her cherry-berry-almond pie and lifts it from the counter before the nearby dragons can nibble it, adding it to her cupboard. There are now six dozen pies, and still it does not feel like enough. She wonders if she needs more lattice pies, more rock sugar crusts, cakes, something else entirely. For so long she relied on her mother's stories to guide her, but those tales always ended at happily ever after without ever showing the ever after. Her gentle mother never told her what to do after falling in love. Perhaps that is what is missing. Perhaps she simply wants one more piece of advice from her mother or father, telling her what she is supposed to do now.

She wipes her hands on her lace apron and opens the closest thing she has to that guidance: The Happy Innkeeper's Guide to All Things Wonderful. Its chapters promise that you can never have too many pies, that a little magic goes a long way and sometimes the wrong way, and offer checklists, advice on inviting old friends, dealing with complications, mistakes, unfortunate choices, and adjusting to a new life. Jacks drawls from the arched doorway that he still does not know if she has made enough pies. She twirls to find him done with painting, leaning against the frame and surveying her wall of pies. She mock-frowns, but the part of her that keeps checking the guide wonders if he is actually right. She offers to make a chocolate pumpkin pie or another chess pie, and he interrupts gently, crossing the room to pry her hands away from the book. He tells her she has enough pies for all of Merrywood Village. She blurts out her fear that no one will come. He promises people will be there, his mouth tipping into an overconfident smile.

Evangeline narrows her eyes. When they first moved to the Hollow, she was too happy to notice the whispers whenever she went into Merrywood Village. When she finally became aware of them, she thought they would stop in time. She cannot truly blame the townsfolk. She is the same Evangeline whom Prince Apollo married after Nocte Neverending, the marriage that set off a scandalous chain of events ending with Apollo's disappearance and a new king on the throne. She hopes that sooner rather than later she will go from being Evangeline from the scandal sheets to Evangeline who helps run the Magnificent North's coziest inn, or who makes really good pies. She does not want that change to happen because Jacks is manipulating the emotions of everyone she meets. She tells him she does not want anyone there because of his magic. He flashes a dimple, attempting innocence, and she insists she knows him far too well to be fooled. He admits he would absolutely love to do it, his grin turning wicked, but as much as he enjoys ruining the lives of people who deserve it, no one will be there because of him.

He uses the strings of her apron to pull her toward the window, where a delight of little dragons nibbles crumbs from pies cooling on the sill. He orders her to stop worrying about the pies, then tilts her chin up with his hand so she is looking past the dragons toward the garden. There they have set up booths and stands and cheerful bunting. Local vendors will sell traditional Northern treats: glass-blown pumpkins, dragon-roasted apples, miniature ships in bottles. Other stands are entirely for Evangeline's creations, including the Tree of Treasure Hunts, which children can climb to retrieve a map leading to actual treasure hidden throughout the grounds. There is also a Tent of Curiosities, inspired by her father's shop. Her parents are not there to advise her, so she tried to imagine what they would have done. The tent is still small and needs more things, but one day she hopes it will grow into a proper curiosity shop like her father's. Jacks tells her this is why people will come, his voice soft. This is all her magic, he says, calling her Little Fox. He presses a kiss to her neck, sending a shiver down her spine, then another to the corner of her jaw. She closes her eyes.

A gust of wind blows through the open window, slamming it against the wall. Glass rattles. Pies shake. The kissing stops. The wind sounds like whispering thunder, loud and quiet at once, whooshing and whirling into a cylinder in the center of the tavern. Dragons squeak little sparks of fire that the circling wind catches. Evangeline has never seen anything like it. It looks almost like a dance, as if wind and fire could choose to dance. Jacks pulls her away from the window as the wind moves through the room. She tries to grab The Happy Innkeeper's Guide to All Things Wonderful, afraid it will be swept up, its pages flipping wildly, but Jacks will not let her near it. He will not let her go. He often holds her tight, but something about this feels different. Then the whirlwind stops as abruptly as it began. The tavern is still. All the dragons have vanished. Leaves and flowers and twigs are scattered everywhere, on the floor, the bar, the tables. And Jacks's arms are no longer around her. He is still standing near the bar, but Evangeline is alone in the center of the room. Gooseflesh covers her arms. She stands there holding a fistful of brilliant, bright red berries, so fresh their deep red juice drips down her hands onto the wooden tavern floor.

3. Evangeline

Spring flowers bloom in the garden regardless of the season in the Hollow, and food appears with the chime of a clock. But when berries suddenly materialize in Evangeline’s hand, it is something entirely new. She looks around for a red-pawed dragon, but the only thing dripping red is her. Jacks shrugs carelessly when she asks, though his attention snags on the fruit. When she suggests baking them into a pie, his refusal comes sharp and quick. He tells her to toss them out, insisting they look too ripe, though to Evangeline they seem perfect. He picks up a broom but keeps glaring at the berries like they are part of a nefarious plot. Evangeline senses he is being overly cautious for reasons he won’t share. She knows he still thinks she is breakable. But she has survived curses, arrows, betrayals, poisonings, and marriage to a very evil prince. She tosses the berries away anyway, washing her hands. They leave no stains, only lingering questions.

While Jacks cleans stray bits of nature from the tavern floor, Evangeline retrieves The Happy Innkeeper’s Guide to All Things Wonderful. The wind shifts its pages, and the cover changes with it. Now a border of swords, arrows, stars, and flowers surrounds a new title: A Guide to the North Before It Was Magnificent. She mutters that she doesn’t have time for this, but curiosity wins. The pages inside are transformed too. Instead of advice about ironing and flower arrangements, the current page reads When There Were Fairies.

Evangeline has read fantasy stories about fae in the Meridian Empire, but never anything about them in the North, and no one here has ever mentioned them. She fears the page might vanish if she closes the book. The text describes an age both magical and terrible, when fae kingdoms lived in forests but many fairies dwelt among humans. Fairies can pass for human, muting their painful beauty, but their pointed ears always betray them. Those points can be concealed with glamour except the first time a person sees them. Fairies cannot lie, but they twist the truth, especially when making bargains with humans. The following pages catalogue awful fairy bargains: a girl turned into a portrait, a boy given a tail for perfect teeth, a mother whose children become loaves of bread. Evangeline finds herself skeptical. If bargains were always terrible, why did so many people enter into them? Something is missing.

She asks Jacks what he knows about fairies. His eyebrow rises, and the way he says fae suggests the word leaves a bad taste in his mouth. When she shows him the book, he tries to school his features but his jaw stays tight. She asks if he ever made a fairy bargain. He runs a finger down the page to the words dangerous and misleading. She presses: is that his way of saying yes? He looks like he wants to answer, like he wants to say unpleasant things, but he only taps the words. That is definitely a yes. Yet he doesn’t speak a single word. Evangeline wonders if he cannot answer aloud. The book mentioned memories being wiped, but what if all stories about fairies in the North are cursed, so even those who remember can never mention them? She asks if the story curse prevents him from telling her. She waits for a nod. He opens his mouth, his blue eyes sharp and decisive, then presses his lips together and closes the book. Instantly the title reverts to The Happy Innkeeper’s Guide. Jacks exhales, tells her there is no need to worry today, and runs his knuckles down her cheek. But his jaw remains clenched, as if he is biting back words at odds with what he just said. Evangeline wonders if what he’s hiding is only about fairies, or about the berries, or the letter he was reading that morning. Before she can ask, LaLa’s voice rings through the Hollow, announcing her arrival and asking if Evangeline is ready.

4. Evangeline

LaLa sweeps into the tavern in a teal dress threaded with gold, gold bangles stacked up her arms. She is another Fate, the Unwed Bride, all daring smiles and reckless choices, and Evangeline adores her. LaLa grabs a mug of cocoa and surveys the mess. Jacks jokes that he and Evangeline were getting frisky until she interrupted. Evangeline scolds him and tells LaLa it was the wind. LaLa looks at the open window. Outside, the day is calm, a pink baby dragon rolling on a mushroom, untouched by wind. Jacks frowns, unsettled.

LaLa says she is taking Evangeline to a wonderful new shop for her curiosity tent. Jacks asks its name. LaLa asks if he trusts her. He says he does not want her cursed or killed again. LaLa huffs that they have both made mistakes, only one curse was her fault, and worry is giving him wrinkles. Jacks repeats the question. LaLa claims there was no sign, that she found it in a dungeon off a sulfur swamp full of beasties, then laughs and names the Tinkering Toy Chest outside Merrywood Village, run by a cute old couple who have never cursed or killed anyone.

Evangeline leans toward Jacks for a goodbye kiss, but their lips brush too quickly before LaLa pulls her away. Evangeline looks back and drags her feet. She still has so much to do before tomorrow, and Jacks is acting odd. She starts to say she does not know if this is best. LaLa carries her outside with preternatural strength, warning her not to break plans with a Fate. She teases that Evangeline and Jacks are like two sexy magnets. Evangeline blushes and wonders if she made too much of Jacks's mood. Fates are notoriously jealous.

At her Grand Reopening sign, Evangeline halts. A postcard is nailed to the center. She rips it off. The card is thick, velvety, and edged in shimmering gold. It invites her to the Emporium of Else, opening today, promising whatnots, what-is-thises, and wonders that might change the course of your life. Normally she would be excited, but she thinks people will go there instead of the Hollow. LaLa agrees someone stuck it there, then asks if she is curious. Evangeline says it looks like competition, or they would not have put it on her sign.

LaLa tells her not to fret. Evangeline starts to imagine the worst, but LaLa scolds her. Evangeline refuses to go and asks about the Tinkering Toy Chest. LaLa says toys are no longer what they need and spying on the competition is wise. She flips the postcard over. A map shows the Emporium is in the heart of Merrywood Forest, and there is a painted token for free caramels. She is curious. She asks if they should tell Jacks. LaLa says to keep it a secret, because Jacks only thinks he needs to know everything. They leave the Hollow behind.