by Amy Sumida
A plant with little, white, yellow, and purple flowers appeared in it.
“Is that what eyebright looks like?” I took it from him in fascination and admired the flowers that looked like tiny orchids. “I always use the dried form.”
“Would you prefer dried?” He asked.
“No; this is fine,” I said.
“I don't think it will be the difference between dried and fresh that will make a difference,” Trevor said. “It's more the problem with that not actually being eyebright.”
“I didn't think about that.” I frowned. Then I brightened. “But the eyebright I use at Pride Palace is made with territory magic and it works fine. It should be okay.”
“Except zis is mirror territory,” Kirill pointed out. “Magic doesn't vork same, remember?”
“It may only work halfway,” Narcissus mused. “They might be able to see you and not hear you, or hear you and not see you.”
“That would be fine.” I shrugged. “If they can't hear me, we can write a message down and show it to them. And as far as not seeing me, as long as they can hear me, it won't matter.”
Narcissus frowned again.
“What's wrong? You can make paper and a pen, can't you?” I asked him.
“Of course.” He waved his hand dismissively. “That's not what concerns me. I was just thinking that if you write a message down and hold it up for someone to see on the other side of the glass, it will most likely be seen as a reflection.”
“So?”
“So it vill be backwards,” Kirill concluded.
“Oh, okay,” I said. “Then we write backwards.”
“Each letter will be backwards, Minn Elska,” Trevor said. “Can you write like that?”
“That will take more time to figure out,” I admitted.
“Or you could write normally and then hold up another mirror and show them the reflection,” Narcissus suggested. “They'd see the reflection of a reflection; that should make it look normal.”
We all stared at Narcissus in surprise.
“I've been here a very long time,” he said. “It changes your way of thinking; your perspective.”
“You have a reflective perspective?” I asked with a grin.
“Just so.” Narcissus laughed as my husbands shook their heads.
“All right.” I stood up. “Let's do this.”
“Right now?” Narcissus asked as he stood too.
“You wanna wait around for the proper moon phase?” I lifted a brow at him.
Narcissus laughed and produced a pen, a pad of paper, and a rectangular mirror the same size as the pad. “I believe any moon phase is acceptable for escaping a looking glass.”
Then he stared at us intensely. I was about to ask him what was wrong when my clothing changed. All of our attire did, actually. Suddenly, we were all dressed in warmer garments; wool pants and tunics for the men, a wool gown for me, and fur-lined cloaks for everyone. The clothes were medieval in design but the snow boots on our feet were modern.
“There; that's better,” Narcissus said. “It's cold out there.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. “That's a nice trick. I can change clothes in my territory but I've never tried to do it while the clothes were on me. I may have to try that.”
“It saves time,” Narcissus said as he led the way outside his palace and across the arching bridge.
A pair of perfectly white horses waited patiently there, their breath fogging the air. They were hitched to a silver sleigh. The rear portion was higher than the front, swooping up in an elaborate spiral that circled behind the conveyance. Intricate designs were etched into the silver and diamonds were set within them to add a little sparkle. It was quite a detailed illusion to have been created up so quickly. Narcissus had obviously become adept at transmutation during his incarceration.
Narcissus climbed into the back of the sleigh and settled a snowy fur blanket around him. “Are you coming?”
“Don't you have to drive?” I asked. “Or steer? Whatever you call it when it comes to carriages.”
Narcissus laughed. “The horses are illusions; they go where I will them to go.”
“Of course,” I whispered and exchanged an amazed look with my husbands. “It looks as if we're going to have a witch in a sleigh, after all.”
“If zere's turkish delight in zere, I'm not getting in,” Kirill declared mutinously.
Chapter Ten
As soon as we were settled in the sleigh—covered in fur blankets but without a single piece of turkish delight to munch on—our stately steeds pulled us swiftly through the woods and to the free-standing mirror with its two-way glass. It was a much more comfortable trip there than it had been when we first journeyed to the palace.
“It's so eerie without any other life here,” I noted as we came to a stop in the clearing.
“Yes; that's the hardest thing to get used to,” Narcissus agreed. “Quiet is nice, but it becomes oppressive after awhile. I sing sometimes just so I don't have to bear the weight of it.”
“I'm sorry; that sounds awful.”
“I suppose it's better than death.” He shrugged as my husbands got out of the sleigh.
Trevor helped me down as Narcissus gathered our stuff and followed.
“Vervain!” Kirill grabbed my hand and pulled me ahead. “Odin and Re are zere!”
I started running through the snow with Kirill—far harder to do than it sounds—and the other men came close on our heels. Re and Odin were indeed standing smack dab in front of the glass. It looked as if they were arguing; their hands waving wildly about and their expressions furious. I immediately pressed the eyebright against the glass and rubbed it in wide swaths as I called out Odin's and then Re's names.
They kept arguing.
The glass misted slightly and then cleared. I shouted for them, but they couldn't hear me so I waved wildly. They made several gestures toward the mirror but didn't look my way. Finally, Odin glanced to the side and then did a double take. His eyes widened as he stepped closer to the mirror. I shook my head and waved my hands in a No gesture before he could touch it. I didn't want him getting sucked in too. Odin pulled up short and grabbed Re before the Sun God got too close. I nodded and held up a hand to tell them to wait. And then I grabbed the sign we'd written just in case this experiment worked. I held it up facing inward while Trevor held the mirror to reflect it.
Re and Odin squinted and frowned at the words. They spoke to each other and then Odin turned and grabbed something that was off to the side. It was my old, full-length mirror. He angled it in front of Re's gift and twirled his finger in a motion to ask me to turn the paper his way. I grinned at him—that brilliant man—as I turned the paper around. It read:
Nemesis enchanted this mirror to trap Narcissus. It pulled us in. We're trapped here with him. No way out. Get Nemesis to break the enchantment!
They read the words and then Odin lifted his furious stare to Re. Re held up his hands, saying something as he backed away. Odin started toward him, but I waved at him and pointed.
“Not the time, Odin!” I growled even though he couldn't hear me.
Odin grimaced, nodded, and then held up his hand for us to wait. He ran off again and came back with one of my sketchpads and a pen. He wrote something quickly and held it up to the glass. We had to hold up our mirror to read it.
We will find her and fix this. Are you in imminent danger?
I quickly flipped to a fresh sheet and wrote:
No. We're fine. Just get her here fast. And don't let anyone else near the mirror. It pulled all three of us in! Stay away from it until you have Nemesis. Lock the dressing room door.
Odin's jaw clenched but he nodded and said something that I could easily read on his lips, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said with exaggerated lip movements. “And you too, you golden idiot,” I said to Re.
Re's expression was stricken; he obviously blamed himself. I shook my head at him and blew him a kiss
. He caught it, smiled in relief, and held his hand to his heart. Then I shooed them away from the glass; it had already been too long for my comfort. They risked themselves every moment they stood there. My two husbands nodded and reluctantly left the room.
“Do you really think she'll break the curse?” Narcissus asked.
“If it's the only way to free us, I would hope so,” I shared a look with Kirill and Trevor.
Nemesis and I weren't the closest of friends, but we weren't enemies either. We were what I'd call friendly acquaintances. The only thing that may hamper her goodwill towards me was the fact that the Greek Olympians recently executed her mother, Nyx, and I am one of those Olympians. I hadn't done the actual executing—that had been Hades—but I had been Nyx's target and the whole reason she wound up getting executed. I hoped that since Nemesis is the Goddess of Revenge she'd understand justice and wouldn't hold what happened to her mother against me. I also hoped that she'd be satisfied with Narcissus' punishment enough to release him if that's what it took to get all of us out of Mirrorland.
But that was a lot of hoping, and I'd never had a good relationship with hope. Most of the time, she was a malicious bitch.
Chapter Eleven
Waiting was the hardest part. We tried to brainstorm more ideas on how to get us out of the Mirror but came up with nothing. After hours of giving ourselves headaches to go with our bellyaches, we finally gave up.
“What do you do to amuse yourself around here?” I asked Narcissus.
Trevor and Kirill looked at me in surprise.
“There's nothing more we can do,” I said. “And I have no intention of sitting around worrying; that will only add negative energy to this volatile situation. I think we'd do far better to treat this as a vacation.”
Trevor laughed. “Leave it to you to find imprisonment relaxing.”
“Hey, we may not be able to get out, but no one is getting in either,” I pointed out. “We're safe here. Let's try and make the best of it.”
“I think that's a wonderful idea!” Narcissus exclaimed. “Turn a bad situation into a good one. And if this is going to be my last few days here, I think I'd like to enjoy the Mirror too.”
“Where shall we start?” I asked.
“Do you like to swim?” Narcissus countered.
“I'm assuming you mean somewhere indoors?” I asked cautiously.
“Of course.” Narcissus smirked. “Unless you wanted something more brisk.”
“I'm good with warm and indoors, thanks.” I looked at my husbands. “Up for a swim?”
The men shrugged and nodded, and Narcissus clapped in delight. With his clapping, our clothes changed into swimsuits. I flinched a little when I saw the string bikini he gave me while the men got to wear swimming trunks.
“Um, can I have a little more coverage here?” I asked.
“Oh, of course.” Narcissus waved a hand at me and the bikini turned into a one-piece.
“Thank you.” I smiled but inside my head, I was taking a tally; this was yet another piece of evidence that proved Narcissus had recent visitors. There were no bikinis a hundred years ago.
“Come on, the pool is this way,” Narcissus said with a grin.
Narcissus led us through the maze of mirror corridors—they stayed steady for him this time—and then opened a pair of silver doors nearly as detailed and as sparkly as the sleigh had been. He swept us into an enormous conservatory. The moisture level shot up as soon as we stepped inside but it was comfortable for me; reminding me of Hawaii. It was the perfect balance of heat and humidity for the plethora of plants in the glass-ceilinged room.
“It's a jungle in here,” Trevor said with wonder.
“It reminds me a little of Moonshine,” I said. “Except lusher and completely real. Well, I suppose it's all illusion so it's completely unreal, but you know what I mean.”
Trevor had gotten it right; it was indeed a jungle contained within the palace. Trees grew all the way up to the three-story-high ceiling; reaching languorously for the wintry sunlight. Large-leafed plants bowed before more delicate, frothy varieties and flowers blossomed everywhere; perfuming the air with a subtle sweetness. Vibrantly green grass grew over the ground, creating a narrow path through the jungle. It led from where we stood to a pool at the far end of the conservatory. And there wasn't just a pool; a river angled in front of us, cutting through our path, but it was spanned by a small, stone bridge.
We strolled over the bridge and headed toward the pool through the tunnel of foliage. A rock feature as high as the trees dominated the end of the room behind the pool; sleek black stone studded with billowing plants in lime, sage, and emerald green. Water rushed down a central, slick channel into a roughly circular pool that expanded out toward the center of the room. The churning water created mist but it shouldn't have made so much of it. The mist hung in places over the water's surface and reached up with spectral fingers for the sunshine. It collected above us but also clung to the treetops thickly.
“Is the water heated?” I asked as we approached the grassy bank.
“Yes, but I can turn it down if it gets too warm,” Narcissus offered.
“Vervain likes it hot,” Kirill said with a smirk.
“So, do I.” Narcissus winked at me. “The waterfall is a slide; there are steps along the side there if any of you would like to try it.”
The guys grinned at each other and went running for the rocks. I chuckled as I watched them push at each other to get at the slide first. Shaking my head, I wandered down the gradual incline and into the pool. The water was the perfect temperature; easing my aches without being too stifling.
“Don't you want to try the slide?” Narcissus asked as he strolled in beside me.
“Maybe later,” I said. “I don't want to get in the way of that.” I pointed at the men who had finally reached the top of the mountain.
Trevor had beat Kirill and gave a whoop as he slid down the slick runnel and splashed into the water like a werewolf torpedo. He barely had time to swim out of the way before Kirill plummeted in after him.
“This is great; the perfect distraction,” I said to Narcissus. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he said. “The pool feeds the river we crossed, and the river circles the room. It's nice if you want a long swim and it also has lovely little areas to explore. Would you like to go for a swim around the room with me? I'll show you the best spots. You may wish to bring your husbands back for a romantic interlude.”
“That's rather generous,” I said in surprise. “You don't mind us making out in your garden?”
Narcissus laughed. “I'd be ecstatic that it was being put to good use for once. Come on, I think your husbands are going to be sliding awhile.”
He nodded back at the men and, sure enough, they were running back for another round. I chuckled as I waded deeper with Narcissus.
“That's my boys.” I shook my head. Then I called to them. “Narcissus is going to show me the river that circles the room; we'll be back in a few.”
“Have fun!” Trevor called just before he slid down into the water.
“The entrance is over here,” Narcissus kicked off into the deep end and swam around an outcropping with a bowed tree that draped over the water.
I followed after him, my eyes widening as I rounded the bend. It was like another world behind the curtain of thick plant life. The light softened, the temperature rose, and the mist hung lower, caught in the canopy, and nearly filled the passage. Trevor and Kirill's voices muted and it felt as if they were miles away.
“Narcissus?” I called.
“This way,” his voice ghosted back to me.
I swam after him down a narrow channel. Plants grew all the way to the edge of the stream but it got shallower near the sides. I started wading through the shallows instead of swimming; trailing my fingertips over the exotic flowers. Their velvety petals were coated with moisture, reminding me of the Weeping Woods in Faerie. Soon, I couldn't hear my husbands at all;
just the shushing of the water and the drip of condensation off the plants. Then there was a splash ahead of me.
“Vervain? Are you coming?” Narcissus called to me.
“I'm sorry; I'm enjoying the peace,” I said softly. “It's beautiful in here.”
I rounded another bend in the stream and came to a little clearing in the trees; a soft, grassy bank surrounded by fragrant flowers and shrouded in mist. It looked like a lovers' bower. Narcissus was right; this was the perfect place for romance. The river curved out into it as if beckoning me to shore.
