“The beast is out of the cage. And she thirsts for vengeance.”

In the world of Mirrordom, secrets lurk like shadows. For every child that’s born is entirely Good, unable to kill, steal or lie. But immediately after it appears a Mirror twin, capable of only bad things.

Fable, a Mirror girl with a twisted past, dares the impossible—to find her Good twin. Along the way, she meets Cobalt, a mind-reader with secrets of his own. As alliances shift and betrayal beckons, can Fable protect Cobalt from someone who wants to kill him? Or will the darkness consume them both?

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Available: January 28, 2025
Teen

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Excerpt

Prologue

People lock away the things that scare them. That’s why the tiger is caged. The beast is tamed. The criminals are taken captive.

But sometimes, just sometimes, those things escape. And, when they do, they just might come for revenge.

The Five couldn’t be locked away forever.

They say the first lives in the caves. The second ran away to a different land. The third vanished and reinvented herself. The fourth was killed.

But the fifth? She stands on top of the hillside, eyeing the castle in the moat as if the power of her gaze could set it on fire.

Chance events lead to the crossing of paths. One single choice can change the entire future. It’s quite dizzying to think of all the possibilities – all the narrow escapes and all the missed opportunities.

Who knows what would have happen if one single thing had been different? Perhaps the entire story would have been different.

And who can pinpoint the exact moments that set the entire chain reaction in motion?

Perhaps it truly began two years ago, with a pauper’s funeral on a rainy day. When a box was lowered into the ground with only a fifteen-year-old, stone-faced boy dressed in black to watch the earth cover it.

Or perhaps it began with the girl who wanted to belong. Who risked everything she had to find who she was. Who lost her heart but found her soul.

Or perhaps it really began with the girl who wanted revenge. Who wanted revenge so badly that she was willing to do the unthinkable.

The beast is out of the cage. And she thirsts for vengeance.

 

 

Chapter One
Ballad

There are no guidelines for what to wear and how to conduct yourself when you’re trying to hire an assassin.

Perhaps if there was such a guide, the girl with the terrified expression would be able to blend in a little more. But she can’t seem to take more than two steps without looking over her shoulder. She doesn’t seem at home in the dimly lit streets, and she knows it’s showing. Her high heeled shoes keep slipping on the uneven cobble stones and her feet are starting to ache. When she arrives at the underground tavern she’s been trying so hard to find, she knocks three times at the door and waits.

The Glittering City is home to Mirrordom’s richest residents. But it’s also home to people with reputations for breaking the rules, for finding the loopholes between what is Good and what is possible. And the girl with the terrified expression is looking for someone who can do exactly that.

As she waits outside the tavern door, she sees a lilac flower, drawn crudely on the door. Above the tavern glitters a sign, with most of the lights either dead or buzzing, that says Lilac’s Lair.

She seems to have been waiting outside the door for hours until suddenly a grate is slid roughly open, and a grisly face appears. “State your name and business.”

The girl hesitates. “I’ve got an appointment. I’m expected.”

“Name and business or no entry.” The face belongs to a man who looks at her as if she has crawled out from a bog somewhere.

The girl takes a deep breath. “Ballad Birch. I’m here to see Lilac.”

The grate slams shut, and the girl is left standing outside, with a fast-beating heart, wondering if she passed whatever test she had been set. She waits for what seems like an eternity and then the door swings open and the large man she had been speaking to beckons her into the brightly-lit tavern.

A Good girl, in a very short skirt with a low-cut top, sashays over. “Here for Lilac?”

Ballad nods, nervously. She doesn’t know what to look at or how to conduct herself. This place, that she worked so hard to find, seems so decadent. What are those people doing in the corner? Does she even want to know? And that Good boy on the stage... do people really pay to watch someone do that? She doesn’t want to look but she can’t seem to stop.

The man guarding the door leers at her. “You’re out of your depth, little girlie. Best watch your back.”

Ballad doesn’t have time to reply, struggling to keep up with the scantily-clad Good girl who leads her through some beaded curtains that click and clatter behind her. She raps three times on a large door and a musical female voice says: “Who is it?”

“It’s the girl to see you, Madam.”

“Send her in.”

The Good girl smiles at Ballad. “She’s all yours. Mind your Ps and Qs. I’ve seen her slit someone’s throat just because they said she was looking tired. Good luck!” With a cheerful wink, she’s gone—back to the brightness of the main tavern.

Ballad feels suddenly very much alone. A lump forms in her throat and she tries to swallow it down. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Maybe she shouldn’t do this. It’s not too late—she could run. Back through that sweaty, stale room of decadence, back out in the street. She could act like none of this had happened. She could go back home to the manor and forget she was ever here.

But then the voice booms again. “Are you coming in or are you going to stand there all night?”

Taking a deep breath, Ballad pushes open the door and slinks in. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but this room and this girl are not it.

Every wall around the room is covered with floor-to-ceiling maroon curtains, rich in colour and texture, giving Ballad the unpleasant sensation that there are either multiple doors or no door at all, and she isn’t sure which prospect is worse. Someone could sneak up behind her at any minute, or she might never get out of here. The door she just came through is directly behind her, she is sure, but it is impossible to tell given the thickness of the curtain. The room is lit by five enormous candles, each pooling their wax on the floor. The effect of their dancing shadows makes Ballad feel like she’s surrounded by demons, creeping up behind her, flanking her on either side, dancing right in front of her.

And, in the centre of the room, sits something that looks very much like a throne. On it is a girl, dressed in a bright pink ballgown. Her black hair is curled into hundreds of ringlets. She looks more like a princess than an assassin. She even has a tiny crown on her head and a sceptre in her hand. She looks like something out of a fairy tale, and far too small and slim to kill anyone.

“You’re definitely Lilac?” checks Ballad.

The girl rolls her eyes. “The one and only.”

Ballad’s voice is barely louder than a whisper. “I was told you could kill. I was told you could kill someone for me.”

“For a price.” The girl takes out a knife and runs her finger over the edge of it. A scarlet bead of blood appears on her fingertip. Ballad winces, but the girl just smiles like she doesn’t feel any pain at all.

“What price?” falters Ballad.

“A bagful of gold now. And a second bagful when the job is done.”

Ballad winces. “That’s steep.”

“They tell me you’re rich.” Lilac stands up and walks towards Ballad. Up close, Ballad can see pale, almost translucent skin, with every blue vein visible. It’s a sharp contrast with the blackness of the girl’s hair and the darkness of her navy eyes. Her wrists are so thin, Ballad thinks she could almost snap them herself, if the Good were able to do harm. Not for the first time, she curses whatever anomaly made her Good, made her unable to kill or lie or steal or hurt. She wouldn’t need to risk her life in this underground dive, speaking to this girl who looks like she’d blow away if there was a sudden breeze.

“How do I know you can do what you say you can?” asks Ballad.

The knife is at her throat before she can finish the words. Ballad never even saw Lilac move, never saw her lift the weapon. But she can feel the edge of it, biting into her neck.

“You dare to question me?” Lilac asks. There’s no anger in her voice. In fact, there’s no emotion at all. She sounds almost bored. “I have the power to end life and you dare to question me?”

“Forgive me, my lady,” babbles Ballad. “I should know better.”

The knife is lifted from her throat and Lilac barks, “On your knees.”

Ballad unhesitatingly sinks to the wooden floor, feeling the hard planks dig into her soft skin. “Forgive me, please.”

Lilac laughs. “I could kill you this second and you’d be powerless to stop me. Fortunately, for you, I’m feeling generous today. And quite inquisitive. I’ve had my people look into you, Ballad Birch. I know exactly who you are and where you come from. And I have to ask: why would such a rich girl need a paid killer?”

“Because the person I want killed deserves to be eviscerated and you’re the only one who can do the job.” Ballad raises her eyes to Lilac’s.

“And why is that?” The cat-like girl turns away, pausing to straighten her tiara. “You Good do amuse me, by the way. You like to think of yourself as being above everyone else. And yet, when it comes right down to it, you’re worse than the rest of us. Your Goodness is weakness – because you’re not capable of anything else.”

Ballad keeps her eyes firmly on the floor. “This person deserves to die. He took everything from me. Everything I care about.”

Lilac smiles. “Sounds like a good reason to want someone dead. So, tell me, Ballad Birch. Who do you want me to kill?”

Ballad reaches into the folds of her cloak and pulls out a poorly-drawn likeness of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes. “Cobalt. I need you to kill a boy called Cobalt.”

 

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