THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

The only survivors were Logan, Brooke, and Raven. The other THOR agents had fallen in combat, but when the rescue team found them, Brooke didn’t want to leave—not until someone went through the portal to retrieve her friends. She sobbed as she tried to break free from the THOR agent who led her away, even though she knew there was nothing they could do.

Brooke had overheard that most of Von Strife’s employees had fled the facility. Those who hadn’t were arrested, but none could so much as remember his or her name. It was as though their memories had been erased.

Most of the clockworks, including the machines that had attacked the Griffins, had been shut down by the time the rescue team arrived. The few that still worked were service models that performed mundane tasks like emptying trash cans and sweeping floors. The only explanation Brooke could think of was that Von Strife accomplished his objective.

The problem was that nobody knew what that objective was, including Raven. She had attempted to get the walls, machines, and every inanimate object she could find to tell her, but they were silent. Either they didn’t know, or like the employees, their memories had been wiped clean.

At least no monsters or dark faeries had poured through the Paragon Engine, which meant that a gateway to the Shadowlands hadn’t been opened. Still, Brooke had seen video footage taken from the facility showing the Grey Griffins—her friends—being pulled through the Paragon Engine before it was shut down.

It was over a week later, and she was still having trouble sleeping. Every night, she lay in bed looking at the ceiling as the realization that her friends were lost forever burned in her mind. Then late one night a light caught her eye. It had come from the lamp on her writing desk. The lamp flickered like the erratic beats of a moth’s wings. Figuring it was just a short in the cord, she pulled her blankets off and walked over to unplug the lamp from the wall.

She bent down to unplug it, but then her jaw dropped. “That’s funny,” she said. The lamp hadn’t been plugged in.

As Brooke stood up, all the lights in her room started to flicker. Brooke moved to the mirror, where she could see the hair on her head standing on end. It was as if her whole room was charged with electricity.

Then she noticed frost creeping across the edges of the mirror as the surface turned ghostly blue. Brooke gasped when her reflection faded and was replaced by an image of Max, with the other Grey Griffins standing behind him.

“Brooke, is that you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Where are you?”

“How long have we been gone?”

“A week.”

“That’s impossible.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll have to explain later,” Max said. “Look, I think we found a way back, but we need help.”

“Anything.”

“Tell your dad to initiate the Omega Option. He’ll know what that means.”

She nodded.

“You have to hurry. When Strange finds out we’ve escaped, we won’t have much time.”

“Wait, did you mean to say Von Strife?”

“It’s the same person.”

“What?” Brooke said. She shook her head as her mind raced, trying to grasp what Max had said. Had he just told her that Obadiah Strange, one of the teachers at Iron Bridge Academy, was actually Otto Von Strife in disguise? It was impossible.

She frowned and then tilted her head. She had so many questions that she didn’t know where to begin. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a chance to ask any of them.

“We have to go now,” Max said. “Send word to our families. We’re coming home.”

“Max, wait!” Brooke said, desperate to hold on to the image. She needed to know that it was real, that she wasn’t dreaming, but Max was gone.