"There's no more windows left. It's over. She won."
As light returned to the room, Helena slowly removed the Mirrormask. She had looked beautiful in it, Valentine thought. Shiny, and certainly more natural. But it had also made her look rather more intimidating. Where was the logic in that?
"You know, I'm not really sure silver's your color," Valentine said, and turned away awkwardly when Helena glared at him. She leaned out the window a little. After that weird flash of darkness, everything outside had turned white. They seemed to be floating high above the clouds-or, more likely, the land beneath them had just been wiped clean.
"Everything's gone," Helena said quietly. She walked over to the staircase behind them and sat down heavily. "She destroyed everything."
"Well, except for us," Valentine pointed out. "Us and the tower. That's lucky, eh?"
Helena stared at the ground. Her dark eyes slowly widened, and she leapt to her feet. "That's more than just lucky, Valentine! We're still here! That means she hasn't destroyed all of my drawings!" She looked around, those odd eyes looking this way and that. "I've drawn loads of windows, there must be one somewhere. All we've got to do is find it." She started running up the stairs, still clutching the Mirrormask.
"Hold on!" Valentine said, running after her. "Even if you could draw the windows, what you really need is a door."
Helena paused. "A door?"
"Maybe that's why the window didn't work, see? Can't exactly crawl through a window when you're going between worlds. No, wouldn't be proper."
She was staring at him with that face of hers, giving him that weird looked at feeling. Her dark eyes went wide again in what he guessed might be surprise? Or maybe amazement? In any case, she started running back down the stairs towards the front door.
"The front door!" She yelled, and Valentine followed her back down the stairs. "Maybe it's connected to the one on the roof-" She nearly crashed into the front door, stopping herself with the hand that wasn't holding the mask. It had a shade pulled down over the window, and she yanked it up. Sure enough, there was a view of the apartment roof, weirdly vivid when she compared it to the dreamscape around her.
"Valentine, you're a genius!" she said happily, throwing her arms around the skinny figure that had appeared behind her.
"Oh, well, it comes with the job," Valentine said modestly, patting her back. Helena laughed and went up on her tiptoes, kissing him swiftly on the mouth. But her laughter echoed behind her, and she released him so quickly that he almost thought it hadn't happened, but for the lingering tingle on his lips. He stumbled back and fell on his backside, sputtering. Helena had already turned back to the front door, holding the Mirrormask in both hands. She took one final glance at him.
"Goodbye, Valentine. And thank you." She opened the door and then slammed it again, and although Valentine couldn't see whatever was through the window, he could hear the Other Helena's voice.
"No! I'm not going back!"
"This is my world!" Real Helena said.
"No, I like it here! I just want a real life!"
"Real life? You couldn't handle real life." And she lifted the mask to her face.