Book Three: Double Feature — 27.

Donna and Colin drive north from the slaughter. Nodding off against memories of her brother, Donna senses Donovan’s nearness, imagining him waiting for her at the shoreline of sleep and glimpsing him later in mirrors—visions that persist long after his funeral.

Her thoughts slide back to the night at the Briars when they summoned King Sorrow. The group passed what some remembered as a cracked mirror (others a conch shell or a helmet) while the hallway door slammed open onto impossible skies and a vast staring eye. Allie moved to the piano and hammered “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Outside, Arthur trudged after a fleeing figure through the snow. Colin lingered at the French doors, blowing smoke rings.

Donna and Donovan, seated side by side, peered into the split mirror and saw each other in opposite panes, each holding up a dragon card—hearts for Donovan, spades for Donna—signaling what to do. Donovan shuffled two decks, and the twins began playing War on the floor while the piano thumped and the door kept opening onto the unreal.

As they played, their banter turned into mind-to-mind speech; they realized they were conversing without opening their mouths. The game mixed standard cards and Zener symbols, and the twins intuitively knew which cards outranked which, needing no rules spoken aloud.

At the climax, Donna laid down the dragon of spades as Donovan set the dragon of hearts. The cards caught fire—hers burning from within, his from the corner—and the telepathic link snapped. “Game suspended on account of dragons,” Donovan said aloud, as the rite’s completion opened the way for King Sorrow.