Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber

Here is a summary with spoilers for Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber

Evangeline Fox and Jacks are living together at the Hollow, an enchanted inn that they have been preparing to reopen. Evangeline is busy organizing the inn's Grand Reopening and its first annual Happy Hollowfest Holiday. She has settled into life with Jacks, although she still occasionally worries about their future. Jacks is immortal, while Evangeline is human and will eventually grow old. They have never properly discussed what that difference will mean for their relationship, and Evangeline sometimes wonders whether Jacks intends to spend his immortal life with her or whether their happiness is temporary.

While preparing for the reopening, Evangeline notices Jacks reading a mysterious letter. He quickly burns it using their baby dragon, Bruce, and insists that it is nothing important. Shortly afterward, a powerful windstorm sweeps through the Hollow, and Evangeline finds herself holding a handful of bright red berries that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Jacks immediately tells her to throw them away, refusing to explain why they are dangerous. His reaction makes her suspicious, especially because he has been keeping other things from her.

Evangeline retrieves her copy of The Happy Innkeeper's Guide to All Things Wonderful and discovers that it has changed. A new chapter has appeared discussing the Age of Fae, when fairies lived openly in the Magnificent North. The book explains that fairies have pointed ears that they can disguise after someone has seen their true appearance. They cannot technically lie, but they are skilled at twisting the truth, making bargains, and manipulating people into agreements with consequences they do not fully understand. When Evangeline asks Jacks about fairies, he becomes visibly uncomfortable and refuses to discuss them.

LaLa arrives to take Evangeline shopping before the reopening. During their conversation, Evangeline learns more about LaLa's changing feelings toward Prince Dane. LaLa has spent a long time believing she was in love with Dane, and her arms still carry the dragon-fire tattoos associated with him, but she no longer feels the same romantic connection. Evangeline suspects that LaLa's feelings are more complicated because of Chaos, Dane's brother and Jacks's closest friend. Chaos is now a vampire, and his relationship with LaLa remains unresolved.

As they leave the Hollow, LaLa notices a postcard advertising a new establishment called the Emporium of Else. Someone has nailed it directly onto the Hollow's Grand Reopening sign. The shop promises unusual magical objects and items capable of changing people's lives. LaLa convinces Evangeline that they should investigate the competition, and the two head into Merrywood Forest without telling Jacks.

The Emporium of Else is a strange, enchanted shop filled with unusual objects, magical creatures, and twisting corridors. When they enter, Evangeline notices a young man with pointed ears, although his ears appear to change after she looks at him again. She recognizes this as the type of fairy disguise described in her guidebook. While exploring, a small creature steals Evangeline's coin purse and leads her into a fog-filled room at the back of the establishment. There she discovers an enormous mirror framed in pale wood. It is called the Mirror of Infinite Endings.

When Evangeline looks into the mirror, her reflection changes. Instead of seeing herself as she currently is, she sees herself wearing a wedding dress. The image makes her think about the fact that she and Jacks have never discussed marriage. She also thinks about the difference between their lifespans and what will happen when she begins aging. Written across the mirror is an instruction explaining that someone can touch the glass and say, "I'd like to see what else could be," to experience one day in an alternate version of their life. Curious about what her future could look like and frustrated by Jacks's secrecy, Evangeline places her hands against the glass and repeats the words.

The story then shifts to Jacks's perspective. He immediately realizes something is wrong because the heart-shaped scar on his wrist, which connects him to Evangeline, suddenly goes empty. He can no longer sense her presence. Jacks rushes to the Emporium with Chaos, where LaLa is already waiting. They discover that Evangeline has entered the mirror and is now living inside another reality. They can see her through the glass, but they cannot reach her. The fairy who operates the Emporium explains that breaking the mirror would trap Evangeline permanently. She must complete the experience and return on her own.

Jacks's earlier secrecy is also explained. He has been corresponding with Poison, another Fate, because he wants to find a way to prevent Evangeline from aging. Poison has been investigating ways to bind a human's lifespan to that of an immortal. During the earlier windstorm, a fairy disguised as a child appeared at the Hollow and offered Jacks a bargain. The fairy could stop Evangeline from aging by magically binding their lives together. However, the bargain would mean that if either Jacks or Evangeline died, the other would die as well. Both would also have to pass separate tests before the binding could be completed. Jacks refused because he would not risk Evangeline's life for the possibility of keeping her with him forever. He had not told Evangeline about any of this because he did not want her to feel pressured into a dangerous agreement.

Inside the mirror, Evangeline wakes up in her family's old home in Valenda, the southern city where she grew up. Her memories of Jacks and their life at the Hollow are gone. In this version of her life, her father, Maximilian Fox, is alive, and she is preparing to marry Luc Navarro, her childhood sweetheart. She has a golden hourglass tattoo on her wrist, and the sand inside it is slowly running out. She does not understand what it means or why she has it.

While looking out of her window, Evangeline notices a strange golden-haired man tossing a white apple. There is something familiar about him, and she feels an immediate attraction despite having no idea who he is. The man is Jacks, although this version of him has not fallen in love with her. He is still the Prince of Hearts, and his kiss is still deadly to anyone who is not his true love.

During Evangeline's wedding ceremony, Jacks appears and disrupts the proceedings. Her stepsister, Marisol, has arranged for enchanted drinks to be distributed among the wedding guests. Anyone who drinks from the goblets becomes frozen in place, including Evangeline's father and the other people attending the ceremony. Marisol reveals that she arranged the situation because she wanted Jacks to kiss Evangeline, knowing that his kiss would kill her. She has essentially used the wedding to put Evangeline in danger.

Luc urges Evangeline to escape, but she refuses to leave her father and the other frozen guests behind. Instead, she follows Jacks into the streets during the Sun Festival. She tries to convince him that he should help her, arguing that there is still goodness in people and that hope is worth holding onto. Jacks dismisses her optimism and tells her that he will be her ending rather than her hero. He is cold and dismissive, behaving much like the dangerous Fate Evangeline originally encountered in her own reality.

Evangeline eventually follows Jacks to his gambling establishment. There she encounters Mistress Luck, another Fate, who tells Evangeline that she has already found true love. Evangeline does not understand the statement because she has no memory of her relationship with the real Jacks. Mistress Luck also draws attention to the hourglass tattoo, reminding Evangeline that her time is running out.

Determined to save her family, Evangeline challenges Jacks to a game of blackjack. She offers to wager her life in exchange for the freedom of her father and the other wedding guests. However, she loses the game because Luc had previously taught her the rules incorrectly. Jacks realizes that she does not understand how the game works, and before they can properly settle the situation, Donatella appears. She is a woman from Jacks's past who arrives claiming that she needs his help. Her appearance interrupts the encounter, and Jacks dismisses her rather than allowing the situation to develop.

Jacks eventually tells Evangeline that the enchanted drinks were never intended to permanently harm the wedding guests. The spell is temporary, and everyone will recover. He has not actually killed or permanently harmed her family. However, he continues to insist that Evangeline should stay away from him. Despite his attempts to push her away, he pulls her close one last time and calls her "Little Fox." The nickname surprises Evangeline because she has no memory of ever being called that before, but it feels strangely familiar. She leaves the gambling establishment feeling that she is making the wrong decision by returning to Luc.

When Evangeline returns home, her father speaks with her about the kind of love he hopes she will find. He tells her that he wants her to have a North Star love: something steady, dependable, and unmistakable, so that she never has to question where she stands or wonder whether the person she loves will choose her. His words make Evangeline reconsider the difference between her relationship with Luc and the inexplicable connection she feels toward Jacks.

The Mirror of Infinite Endings appears again, and this time its reflection shows Evangeline with Jacks's arms wrapped around her. She recognizes that the life she is currently living does not feel right, even though it contains everything she once wanted, including her living father and the possibility of marrying her childhood sweetheart. She chooses Jacks and touches the mirror again, returning to her original reality.

When Evangeline emerges, her memories return. She remembers Jacks, the Hollow, and everything that happened before she entered the mirror. The fairy explains that both she and Jacks have passed the tests required for the bargain. Jacks passed his test by refusing to put Evangeline in danger, even though doing so meant giving up the opportunity to make her immortal. Evangeline passed by falling in love with Jacks again in an alternate reality, despite having no memories of their relationship, and choosing to return to him before her time in the mirror expired.

The fairy gives them two pale pink sugar cookies shaped like the halves of a broken heart. The cookies contain the magic needed to bind their lives together. If they both eat them, Evangeline will stop aging, and their lives will become permanently connected. However, the bargain also means that if one of them dies, the other will die too.

As they leave the Emporium, Jacks finally explains everything to Evangeline, including his correspondence with Poison, the fairy's original offer, and why he refused the bargain initially. Evangeline is not angry that he wanted to protect her, but she is upset that he made the decision without discussing it with her. They both admit that they have been afraid to discuss her mortality and what their future might look like. Evangeline tells Jacks that her experience in the mirror showed her that even when their circumstances change and their memories disappear, she would still find her way back to him. She agrees to the bargain.

Back at the Hollow, preparations for the Grand Reopening are complete. Jacks has also made changes around the inn, including a detail on the magical clock that reads "E.O.T.H.," meaning Evangeline of the Hollow. The following morning, the Hollowfest celebration begins, and the reopening is a success. A large number of visitors arrive, including people from Valenda who have heard about the event through an article in the scandal sheet The Whisper Gazette. Jacks secretly arranged for the journalist Kutlass Knightlinger to write about the reopening, helping bring additional visitors to the inn.

Evangeline also discovers that she has brought something back from the alternate reality: a Luckless Coin that belonged to the other version of Jacks. The alternate Jacks slipped it into her possession, and it functions as a tracking device. This suggests that the Jacks from the mirror world may be able to use the coin to locate her, despite belonging to a different reality.

Later that evening, Jacks takes Evangeline to a private dock beside the lake. The two spend time together away from the Hollowfest celebration. Evangeline eats her half of the enchanted cookie, accepting the bargain that will stop her from aging and bind her life to Jacks's. Jacks also tells her that he wants to marry her. He wants the world to know that she belongs with him and that he belongs with her. Their relationship has finally reached a point where they can openly discuss a permanent future together.g

The epilogue shifts to LaLa's perspective.

Although the Hollowfest is successful, LaLa continues to experience a strange feeling she describes as missingness. She feels as though something important has been taken from her, leaving an emptiness that she cannot explain. Her feelings about Dane and Chaos remain complicated, and she is increasingly aware of the connection she has with Chaos.

During the celebration, LaLa senses that Chaos is watching her from the shadows. When she accidentally looks directly into his mesmerizing vampire eyes, he immediately grabs her shoulders and tells her never to do that again. He then disappears, leaving her confused and unsettled by his reaction.

LaLa eventually wanders away from the celebration and encounters the mysterious young man from the Emporium of Else. He is standing between two different mirrors. One is the Mirror of Second Chances. When LaLa looks into it, she sees a version of herself from when she was still human, before becoming a Fate. The reflection shows her meeting Castor Valor, who is Chaos's human name, for the first time.

The young man explains that the Mirror of Second Chances can send someone back to an earlier point in their life, allowing them to relive their experiences and make different choices. However, the price is everything they have accumulated in their current life. They would lose all their present memories and would not be able to return to the life they are currently living.

LaLa considers what she could potentially change if she accepted the mirror's offer. She thinks about her dead parents, her brother Lyric, and Castor. She also thinks about everything she has lost and the possibility of returning to a time when things were different. She initially refuses the opportunity, but she cannot completely dismiss it.

In my ending , she eventually reaches toward the glass, and the story ends before revealing whether she actually enters. Apparently there are other published books that have a different ending.