by Karen Frost
~*~
The three children tumbled out of the mirror back in the attic, blinking in the sudden darkness. Through the small hole in the roof, they could see that the sun had set, but only just. Enough light was still in the sky to paint it a muddy brown, speckled with the bright white spots of the first evening stars. The children felt disjointed by the transition from their last minutes in Devorian to the familiar scene of the attic. In comparison to the bright colors of Devorian and the chaos of the fight between Ragnar and Mirrin, the house on Baker's Row was mundane and colorless. The three children sat on the floor blinking for a moment.
Jack came to his senses first. Recognizing that he and his sisters had been gone for days, he wondered how they could possibly explain their absence to their parents. Certainly, Mother and Father would have been called home from their conference when Mrs. Peters discovered that the children were missing. They must have mad with worry. How could he and his sisters simply show up in the house without an explanation? They could never tell anyone about Devorian. Even if they had wanted to, one would ever believe them. His mind whirled.
"Well, it's over," Mary Jane said, breaking through his thoughts.
"Yes," Jack agreed. "It's over."
He looked at his sisters and saw the fatigue in their eyes and in their faces. There was a hollowness to their cheeks that had not been there before, and the purple beneath their eyes looked like spreading bruises. They were older than they had been just a few days ago, he thought. Maude wrapped her arms around her small body in a hug. Her stomach growled hungrily.
"What will we tell Mother and Father?" Mary Jane asked anxiously.
"I don't know. I can't think."
"But we must think of something! Quickly, before they discover we've returned," She said urgently.
"I know!" Jack growled.
The silence of the house was broken by the sound of a door opening and closing downstairs. A moment later, Mrs. Peters' voice called, "Children, time for dinner!"
Time stood still as the children looked at each other incredulously.
"No. It can't be," Jack said. "We were there for days."
"How?" Mary Jane asked at the same time.
"Could it be possible?" Jack asked hopefully.
"Let us go and see," Maude suggested reasonably.
"Maybe…maybe time passed at a different rate while we were in Devorian? What there was days was only a few hours here," Jack suggested.
"I hope so. But first, before we leave the attic, we must destroy the mirror," Mary Jane said. "Nothing from Devorian can ever come through into our world."
She pictured the terrible gray harpies with their glowing yellow cat eyes crawling through the mirror and shivered. Jack and Maude had similar thoughts. The children began rifling through the various boxes and trunks in the attic as quickly as possible, casting clothing and trinkets on the floor heedlessly as they went. Just when it seemed that there was nothing they could use to destroy the mirror, Jack opened one of the dust-covered trunks and found a small axe. Though its edge was covered in rust, he knew it could still do what was necessary. If only they had done this when they first promised to!
"Stand back," Jack ordered his sisters.
Mary Jane and Maude stepped away from the mirror and pressed themselves against the far wall. Jack flipped the mirror so that its wooden back faced him, then braced his legs and swung the axe above his head. He brought the blade of the axe down upon the mirror's frame with all the strength he could muster. The axe crashed into the wood and glass with a sound like thunder followed by rain, and the glass flew in tiny shards in all directions. Jack pumped the handle of the axe up and down to free the blade from where it had lodged in the wood, then swung again. He swung until the mirror lay entirely in pieces around him, then he wiped his forehead and put the axe down. It had taken barely a minute to destroy the door to another world.
Mrs. Peters called again from downstairs, asking what they were doing to cause such a terrible racket and reminding them to come down. Mary Jane called back that they would be there presently. The three children looked solemnly at the remains of the mirror. Maude asked quietly, "Do you think it will all be okay?"
Jack and Mary Jane understood what she meant. She wanted to know whether Mrs. Peters would know that they had been gone. Whether Mr. Bushy and Mr. Brumby, Godrick and Archipel would be safe now. Whether the magical beasts such as Alcide, Aldair, Gildas, and Ragnar would be able to chase away the monsters roaming free in Devorian. Jack put his arm around Maude's shoulders and hugged her.
"I think it will be," Jack replied, and he meant it.
"I wish we could go back," Maude sighed wistfully.
Jack and Mary Jane looked at her with horror and surprise.
Maude clarified, "Some day. When it's safe again."
"Well, Maude, it will just have to be our secret," Mary Jane said. "A story we can tell each other when we're old and gray."
"Because no one else would ever believe us," Maude said.
"No, but we'll know it was true. And we'll never forget, will we?"
They heard heavy steps upon the attic stairs and they looked to see Mrs. Peters' gray head pop into view. Mrs. Peters took in the sight of the smashed mirror, clearly destroyed by the axe that lay against the wall, and the tired children in their strange clothing and said with mild surprise, "Whatever are you wearing? Is that what you wore to the zoo? You look filthy. What have you done to that mirror?"
"Yes, we wore this to the zoo," Mary Jane said slowly. "It was…a costume party. I'm afraid we did get a bit dirty, didn't we? We'll wash up, I promise."
"Well, you had better," Mrs. Peters warned.
Jack asked cautiously, "Mrs. Peters, is it still Saturday?"
"Silly boy," Mrs. Peters replied, "of course it is. It's not Sunday. Now go downstairs and get your supper. It will be cold if you wait any longer."
She frowned and looked up. "Is that a hole in the roof?"
The children were so overcome by it all that they did not move for a minute. Mrs. Peters clucked and grabbed hold of Jack and Mary Jane in each hand, dragging them with her to the stairs. She tisked over the ruined mirror as she passed it, but asked no more about it. They disappeared down the stairs, leaving Maude alone in the attic. The pieces of the mirror lay lifeless and dull upon the floor around her, a thousand slivers of glass. She knelt and picked up one of the pieces. It was warm in her hand. She looked into it and saw only her reflection. Never more would it show the other world. She fingered the clasp of the pouch at her side, then slipped the piece inside. It clinked as it hit the white horn already in the pouch.
"Maude! Come on, girl!" Mrs. Peters called.
"Coming!" Maude replied.
She did not look back.
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