by Dan Poblocki
But where had Poppy’s Girl gone?
“You’ve gotten us trapped inside two of these stupid tents now, Poppy,” said Dash, glaring toward the grassy path that bent in an L shape a few yards away.
Poppy glanced around, looking into the mirrors as if for help. “We’re out of danger, aren’t we?” she said softly. Her voice was stiff with guilt.
“That’s the thing,” said Dash. “We don’t know if we are or if we aren’t. If we’d stayed on our path to the driveway—”
“We saved Aloysius,” Poppy interrupted. “Isn’t that worth something?”
Dash’s gaze darkened. “Dylan would have been worth more.”
Poppy pursed her lips, as if answering him might be as dangerous as meeting one of the Specials in this glimmering corridor.
“Hey!” Azumi snapped her fingers between them. “We’re still together. And that’s saying a whole lot. Let’s just … keep moving.” Her voice echoed into the distance, as if her many reflections were mocking her.
“Azumi’s right,” said Poppy. She nodded toward the bend in the maze. “Connie’s in here somewhere. She’ll lead the way.”
As Dash followed Poppy, he glanced at Azumi with a look that told her he was losing patience. But before Azumi could respond, something in the mirror caught her eye.
When she turned to look, the tunnel of reflection had disappeared. In its place was a forest. All around her, daylight filtered through the twisted, moss-covered trees. It was the forest in Japan where she’d last seen her sister.
Azumi was unable to move. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Poppy and Dash continuing on without her. Again.
Something pounded at the frame behind her. When she turned, Azumi almost jumped out of her skin. Moriko was there, palms pressed against the glass, her eyes wide and fearful. Azumi covered her eyes and shook her head. “No,” she whispered to herself. “Not again.” She knew it was the creature, hiding inside her sister’s skin, trying to scare her and feed on her fear.
Moriko’s voice echoed through the corridor. “Leave the path, Azumi. Run …” Even behind her eyelids, the voice made Azumi’s skin tingle.
This one sounded … frightened. Really, truly frightened.
Taking her hands away from her face, Azumi gazed into Moriko’s eyes. They were dark brown—not the amber gold that the creature’s had been.
There was a stinging behind the bridge of Azumi’s nose, tears threatening to fall. This was Moriko. Or her spirit, at least. Recognition buzzed Azumi’s bones. “Moriko,” she whispered, her voice choked. “I’m so sorry. I need you with me now. Please!”
“Leave the path, Azumi,” Moriko repeated, desperate. “Get out. Run …”
Azumi shuddered. “But how?”
The ground began to tremble. Moriko reached out to Azumi. Azumi reached back, her hands smacking the glass. Then something strange happened to Moriko’s face. Her eyes seemed to bulge and then droop, pooling near her bottom lid and oozing down her cheeks. Her lips twisted into a sneer before smearing toward her chin and dripping like melting wax, dragging open in a long, silent howl.
Azumi’s scream resounded through the mirror maze.
Soon, the rest of Moriko’s body appeared to slip and streak down the glass, as the forest all around them liquefied like a sand castle in rough surf. Within seconds, the landscape had transformed back into the dark reflection, the little globes of light dangling overhead, stretching into the endless distance.
“Moriko!” Azumi cried out, slamming her fists against the mirror again and again. But her sister was gone.
AZUMI’S TERRIFIED SHOUTING stopped Dash in his tracks. She was several yards behind him, pounding on one of the mirrors as if she were trying to smash through it and get at something on the other side.
He ran to her and pulled her away from the glass. To his surprise, she clasped his neck and shoved her face into his shoulder, her body heaving with sobs.
Thunder smashed overhead, and a sudden downpour rattled the tent’s canvas roof. The rain was so loud, it almost drowned out Azumi’s voice as she muttered, “My sister … My sister …”
“It’s okay,” Poppy said, coming up behind Dash, making him jump. “We’re all together. Now what about your sister?”
Azumi’s face was already blotchy, but now it turned red. “I saw her in the mirror. She stood in the forest we visited in Japan, where she got lost. She told me to … to leave the path. To get out. To run … And then … And then she …” Her voice hitched and then rose. “She melted!”
“We already told you,” said Dash softly. “It’s the house. That wasn’t your sister.”
Azumi shook her head. “But I think it was. Her eyes were brown. I think her message was a real warning.”
“Leave the path?” Poppy repeated. “What does that mean? What path?”
Dash shook his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We can’t trust anything we see here anymore. It’s only the house trying to get us back inside so it can drive us insane and slurp up our fear …”
“But what if Azumi’s right?” Poppy asked. “What if it was a message from Moriko’s spirit? The real Moriko. What if she melted because Larkspur was trying to stop her from communicating with Azumi?”
“And what if that’s what Larkspur wants you to think?” asked Dash. “Remember what happened in the games tent, Poppy? We need to stick to our own plan—get to the driveway and get out!”
“Look around,” said Poppy. “We can’t get to the driveway right now.”
“My point exactly,” said Dash, narrowing his eyes.
Poppy sighed. “According to the sign outside, we’re in a mirror maze. Mazes have entries and exits. We just have to find the way out.”
“You’re talking as if reality applies here,” Dash argued. “It doesn’t.”
“C’mon,” said Poppy. “What would Marcus have said? I bet he’d have wanted to try and beat the house’s game.”
“Should we leave a bread-crumb trail?” asked Dash.
Poppy raised her eyebrows. “You have bread crumbs?”
Dash rolled his eyes. “That was a joke.”
“It was my sister,” said Azumi. “She was talking to me. Maybe I should get a say this time.”
“But you’re …” Poppy clamped her mouth shut.
“I’m what?” asked Azumi.
Poppy shook her head, as if her thoughts had suddenly flown away. She wasn’t sure what she’d almost said. But Poppy knew she needed Azumi’s support, especially since Dash was starting to doubt her.
Azumi took Poppy’s arm roughly and then pulled her farther into the tunnel of mirrors. Ahead, the path forked. “Which way?” asked Azumi, her voice cold.
Dash followed them slowly, stepping carefully. He wore a smirk, as if he was amused that Poppy might be losing her leader position.
A word slipped into Poppy’s mind: mutiny.
Something flickered in Poppy’s vision—a dark fluttering in one of the mirrors to the right. Her heart leapt and she rushed forward. “Connie!” she cried out, dragging Azumi along with her.
Dash ran to keep up. “Poppy, slow down!” he yelled.
“She’s helping us! She’ll lead the way.” The shadow began to fade. “Connie! Connie, wait!”
The trio ventured into the new passage. Ahead, the mirrors formed a wide, circular clearing. Several openings led off toward tunnels like legs from a spider’s body. At the center of the new space, the mirror frames turned their reflections kaleidoscopic. Hundreds of themselves stared back, all focused in different directions, making the doorways hidden, almost invisible.
“Connie,” Poppy whispered. “Which way?”
“I hate to be the one to point this out,” said Dash, “but what if your cousin is leading us the wrong way?”
“She wouldn’t do that,” said Poppy.
Azumi spoke up quietly. “I thought the same thing about Moriko.”
Poppy ignored them. “Connie, please!” A single shadow ap
peared near a doorway on the far side of the space. Poppy pointed. “There … see?”
Consolida’s pale face was visible briefly before it began to twitch and thrash, just as her reflections had done since Poppy had arrived at Larkspur. Of course, the house didn’t want Connie helping. “Look!” Poppy said. “The exit!”
“You’re not listening to anything we’re saying,” said Dash, keeping up as Poppy moved across the space.
“The house wants us to argue. We need to be on the same page.”
“Your page, you mean,” said Dash, his voice rising.
Well, yeah! thought Poppy. My ancestors lived here. Connie and Cyrus were my cousins. If any of us should be in charge, it should be the one with the connection to Larkspur House. Me!
Poppy felt her body jolt, realizing what she’d just thought. This wasn’t like her. Maybe the others were right, and she needed to step back and listen to them for a change.
Not if you wish to leave, said a voice in her head, a voice that sounded like her own.
“Hold on,” said Azumi. “If Connie is over there, then who’s that?” She nodded toward a different exit. Poppy turned to find another figure standing there, also waving. She was wearing the same black dress with the white pinafore, and she twitched in a rhythm similar to the first girl.
Poppy’s face burned. “I … I don’t know.”
“And there,” said Dash, pointing toward yet another of the doorways. A third Connie watched them, twitching and waving, as if trying to get them to approach her too.
“What in the … ?” Poppy’s heart began to pound. She glanced back at the first Connie, who flickered and flinched, raising both hands over her head, desperate now.
“Oh, no,” said Azumi, turning slowly, observing what was happening in the mirrors. Now every frame contained an image of Poppy’s Girl in the mirrors. Each of them raised two hands, mimicking the first Connie, then started to move, and twitched and blurred. The reflections flooded the room with endless Connies. There were too many of them to tell them apart.
“We need to leave,” Dash whispered. “Now.”
“But which way do we go?” asked Azumi.
“The house is trying to confuse us,” said Poppy. “We just need to figure out which Connie is the real one.”
“How?” asked Dash, crossing his arms, trying to control his trembling.
“Their eyes,” said Poppy. “The fake ones will have golden irises. We just need a closer look.” She rushed toward the side of the circular space where she’d first noticed her Girl appear. But as she got closer, she realized that the blurred figures were shaking too hard for her to see details in their faces. “Connie, please, let me know which one is you,” Poppy pleaded.
Except for the sound of the rain hitting the roof, the room was eerily quiet.
Cautiously, Poppy approached the one standing beside an exit that she thought might’ve been the first. To Poppy’s surprise, the girl in the mirror suddenly froze, her face darkened by shadow. “Please,” Poppy whispered, reaching out toward the reflection, which stood beside her own. “Show me your eyes.”
But the figure did not open her eyes. Instead, a dark line creased across the bottom half of her face, curving into a wide, demented smile. Thin lips parted, revealing a mouth crowded with teeth that were jagged pieces of broken glass.
Poppy screamed and stumbled back. Behind her, Dash and Azumi let out terrified shrieks that resounded off the mirrors. Looking around, Poppy noticed that all the Connies were grinning in the same horrible way. They opened their mouths, their teeth sparkling, and then they all stepped forward onto the grass, their bodies pulling away from the frames like black mercury. They solidified into an army of shadows, reached toward Poppy, Azumi, and Dash, and then, all at once, they rushed forward.
DASH GRABBED AZUMI’S arm and then raced toward Poppy as the mass of mirror girls began to close in on them. He shoved the others through the nearest opening as whispers of fingertips brushed against his back. Poppy stumbled slightly, and he shouted out, “Go! Go! Go!” She reached out to the mirrors on either side to steady herself. Then, without looking back, she bolted forward.
The string of dim lights led the way down the corridor and the walls seemed to constrict. Ahead, there was another fork.
Dash groaned. There was no time to consider which direction would be best. What if they chose a path that took them to a dead end? There were shards of glass teeth inside the girls’ mouths! Dash tried to put the image out of his mind, but it was stuck. The girls would swarm, and then …
Poppy flew down the left path at the fork. Dash and Azumi followed.
Dash could hear Dylan’s voice in his head, telling him to buck up, straighten out, get strong. You’ve come this far. You’ll find the way to get out.
They ran and ran. And suddenly, it hit him. Get out. That’s what Moriko’s reflection had said to Azumi only minutes earlier. She’d said something else …
A whooshing sound echoed through the corridor as the crowd of girls came faster and faster. What else had she said … ? Dash felt his lungs ache as he struggled for breath.
Get off the path …
They were on a path right now. This was the path that Moriko had meant.
But how were they supposed to get off it without exiting the maze first?
Thunder crashed, and the mirror frames rattled.
Get off the path …
A lesson from an old tutor flashed into Dash’s memory. Something from a poem.
The best way out is … through!
“Poppy!” he shouted. “Your bag!”
Ahead, Poppy glanced over her shoulder, the messenger bag still bouncing at her hip. “What about it?” she called back.
“Use it to smash the mirrors!”
She kept running. “How?”
The grass rustled behind them, trampled by hundreds of shadowy feet.
“Swing it like you did at the clowns!”
A T-shaped fork appeared in the path, a complete stop that branched to their left and right. In the mirrors, Dash could see his group racing toward this wall, fear painted across their faces. Just behind them was a flickering wave of darkness, threatening to crash over them. Thousands of specks glimmered like stars—the girls’ glass-shard teeth caught the light from above as their grins widened further.
“Do it, now!” Dash yelled.
Poppy lifted the strap over her head and spun as she sprinted, the weight from the bag carrying her forward even faster. It hit the mirror with a hard crack, and the glass in one of the frames splintered. A muffled shriek echoed down the corridor toward them, as if the mass of girls had somehow felt the hit.
“Again!” Azumi cried out, pausing by Poppy and glancing back. Her eyes widened as she saw the dark wave cresting over their heads. “Hurry, Poppy!”
Dash faced the girls. They poured toward him—a smoky liquid made of shivering hands and teeth and hair. He held out his arms, as if that might be enough to stop them before they could reach Poppy and Azumi.
From the edge of his vision, he watched Azumi help Poppy lift the messenger bag over her head. Quickly, the girls brought the bag back down onto the glass. Their force splintered it further. The wave of Connies shuddered, feeling the blow again. The dark mass slowed, but only for a moment.
“Dash!” Poppy called out. “Help us!” She and Azumi backed up several paces, and Dash moved forward with them.
The three bolted toward the cracked mirror, covering their faces with their hands as they tilted their shoulders toward the glass. Dash heard a fracturing as the glass gave way, and they passed through the jagged wooden frame. He felt himself drop into a wet darkness beyond.
Dash rolled across the sopping grass outside the tent, crunching large glass shards that fell around him. A terrible cry rose up from the mirror maze. As he looked back, he saw cracks race from mirror to mirror. The ghostly girls were all frozen in place, staring with their golden eyes out at Azumi, Poppy, and him.
Then
the frames exploded inward, the glass ripping into the shadowy mass of girls. All at once, the phantoms disappeared, their sharp teeth mixing with the blast.
The strings of lights flickered out, leaving Dash, Poppy, and Azumi lying in the meadow’s pitch-darkness.
DRIZZLE CAME DOWN from the thick clouds overhead. Lightning flashed, giving Azumi a brief glimpse of the tent from which she’d tumbled. To her surprise, its wall was solid again, the dark stripes looking like tall figures staring down at her. She scrambled backward, scraping her palms on tiny bits of broken glass scattered on the ground.
Poppy and Dash were already rising to their feet. They held out their hands to help her up. No one said a word as they turned and ran from the fairgrounds.
Leave the path, Azumi … Get out. Run.
Moriko! Her sister had been in there. She had tried to help. And it hadn’t been a trick!
Maybe that’s what the house wants you to think …
Shut up, shut up!
Another flash, and the house appeared on the hill to their left. One corner of it was closer now, but they still had a ways to go before they reached the driveway, especially if they kept on their path along the edge of the woods.
The wind whipped at them, and Azumi’s long dress caught the gust like a sail, almost knocking her backward. Dash and Poppy fought to push forward.
At least they were heading in the right direction.
How much more of this can you take before you shatter into bits … just like the mirrors?
Azumi stopped running. Get out of my head!
Laughter swirled around her. Shaking with fear, she glanced about, seeking its source. But the sound almost seemed to be part of the storm itself. The tents were already far behind them. And ahead … Poppy and Dash were still running through the tall grass.
“Hey!” Azumi shouted out. “Wait for me!”
As they paused to look back, a blinding shock of electricity struck the ground just yards in front of where they were standing. Poppy and Dash flew into the air and landed on their backs. Azumi gasped and rushed toward them.
