The wound on my chest burned and I pressed a hand to it while I gripped my other hand at my side, clenched into a tight ball of fury. “What?”
My whole body shuddered with cold until my mother’s necklace warmed like the sun and sent rays of warmth out to battle against the cold. I touched my fingertips lightly to the surface. I hadn’t been wearing it before - though I couldn’t remember taking it off. Miri must have put it on me while I lay unconscious. I feared its protection would never be enough. I wondered if I even still wanted it.
“Whatever you came to say, say it.” I stared at the mirror, expecting to see Father take shape behind me.
But I saw nothing.
His presence lingered for a while longer and I tried not to rip the sink out of the wall.
A fierce pain, like a knife to the wound over my heart, skewered me and then suddenly fled - and with it, Father.
Even after the cold had lifted, I stood there, hands clenched, breath ragged.