Clawful Reflections

by Harper Lin

  “Take her in front of the mirror, Jake,” Aunt Astrid said. “Cath, get the sage burning, and make sure you’ve got a flame on each white candle.”

  As soon as she said my name, Bea really let loose.

  “Cath! Don’t you do it! Get me out of here, Cath!”

  “Bea, we’re trying to help you. Just relax in the arms of the man you love, and this will all be over soon,” I said without looking anywhere but my task at hand.

  “You’re worthless,” she started. “Look at you. I can’t believe anyone would ever want to be around you. How Blake can be in love with you I have no idea. You’re disgusting.”

  At the mention of Blake and the word love, I looked up at Bea. She didn’t even resemble my cousin. She was filled with vile conceit and disgust for everything around her. It wasn’t her at all. But she said those words, and now I was distracted. My hand trembled, and one of the candles just wouldn’t light.

  “Cath! Get the home fires burning!” Aunt Astrid yelled.

  “I’m trying,” I muttered. The wick was too small. It wasn’t catching. Just as I picked it up to roll it over an open flame and melt some of the wax, all the cats started hissing.

  “It’s coming, Cath!” Treacle warned.

  “I’m hurrying!” I said. This wick wouldn’t light.

  “I love you so much, Bea.” Jake did as Aunt Astrid instructed. It was obvious every word came from his heart. The more he spoke, the harder she fought. “I was willing to let your mom blind me. And you know what? She was right. I can see you better now than I ever could before. You are beautiful. You have something in your heart that glows. It’s your gift. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen how you can help people, and only an angel from heaven could do what you do. Oh, Bea. You are my whole world. I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

  “Cath! Get that candle lit!” my aunt screamed. I dripped the wax around the wick onto the floor. Finally, the flame took hold of the little tip and glowed blue and then orange.

  But it was too late. Something was coming through the mirror. Aunt Astrid, whose eyes had rolled back, white in her head, stood in front of the full-length mirror just beyond the line of knotted twine.

  I wanted to look in the mirror. Something was pulling my face toward it, but I fought. Instead, I turned my head and saw it out of the corner of my eye. It was that same bluish-gray color. Except this thing was bigger. A hoof came out first. Then I saw what looked like a sagging belly and thin, old breasts hanging low.

  I didn’t see its face. I felt it looking at me, pulling my eyes toward it, but I didn’t look. Bea was screaming and kicking. I didn’t know if she saw the thing or not.

  “That one is mine.” The voice was lovely, like a song.

  “No. She isn’t. Medusa Praesentia! Go back to the dimension you came from!” my aunt yelled. I saw her pick up one of the mirrors and hold it up in front of her. But before she could catch the thing in its own reflection, it knocked her to the ground. The mirror shattered into a thousand pieces.

  “That one has a gift. She’s mine.” A hand appeared at the mirror and started to pull the rest of the creature out from the portal.

  21

  Fallen

  “No! She isn’t!” I yelled.

  Treacle and Marshmallow attacked the thing, their fur standing on edge, their cries sounding wild. It was just enough of a distraction for me to yank the smallest mirror from the wall and hold it up in front of my face as I stood toe-to-toe with the Medusa Praesentia.

  I was like a Lilliputian compared to this thing. But I squeezed my eyes shut as I held the mirror up in my trembling hands. Everything in the house froze. I could smell sulfur. Never a good sign. I waited for some giant claw to swat me into the wall or teeth to sink into my head. Nothing happened.

  “Aunt Astrid?” There was no reply. “Bea?”

  I opened my eyes and made sure they were looking at the floor. Except, there was no floor. I looked up, and I was still holding the mirror.

  The thing with the hooves and the wilting skin was still in front of me. Its hands were dangerously close to mine, holding the mirror. It was caught in its own hideous gaze.

  When I looked behind me, I saw the Lourdeses’ living room. I saw Aunt Astrid screaming. Bea had collapsed, and Jake, who couldn’t see, was holding her in his arms. Treacle was standing there, staring at me.

  I’ve fallen into the mirror, I thought. How did that happen?

  I didn’t know, but if I didn’t do something, the Medusa Praesentia was going to realize I was on the other side of the mirror, and well, I didn’t want to think of what it was going to do. Did I let go and try and swim or run to the opening? Or did I hold on and risk that thing seeing me?

  Holding on quickly became a bad idea, as the Medusa Praesentia was falling farther and farther into darkness. The mirror fell aside, and I saw its face.

  I gasped, but still there was no sound. Its eyes were huge circles set wide on a head that looked too heavy for the thin neck to support. It had more than one row of pointy teeth and a narrow chin. Spreading up from its back over its head were smaller heads with fangs and wide eyes set far apart.

  “So that’s why they called it Medusa,” I muttered.

  It looked like the drawings in my aunt’s book. Except those had no color. It was sickly looking. Blue like it was choking or had succumbed to hypothermia. Its body twitched and jerked as it continued to stare at itself. And then I watched as its petrification started.

  I knew I should have just looked away and started pushing my way back toward my family. The smaller heads on the big head started to crack. It was like they were drying up from the inside out. Just like Mrs. Kitt’s heart.

  At the same time, the hooves were also drying up. Everything was cracking and snapping. As it started to crack in the middle, I decided I’d seen enough. There was a strange glow coming from deep inside the thing, and I didn’t want to be around to see what happened once it consumed the entire body.

  I turned myself in this weird, freefalling space and tried to run toward my family. The opening was smaller than it had been. Either it was shrinking, or I was falling farther and farther away.

  All around me was the most pitch-black darkness I’d ever seen. It was like a cloth that blocked out every shred of light. It was becoming suffocating. It was going to drown me if I didn’t hurry.

  Treacle sat at the edge, looking in at me. Could he see me? I wasn’t sure. I started to windmill my arms like I was swimming. I pushed my legs, making my thighs burn. Still the hole seemed to be getting smaller. I looked behind me, and the Medusa Praesentia blinked one evil eye as it began its half-dead pursuit. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. I couldn’t even be sure there was air in this place.

  My heart began to pound so loudly that the blood rushing in my veins sounded like a raging waterfall. Tears stung my eyes, and I stretched and pushed myself farther as the thing reached its bony, almost-dead arm out to me.

  Its fingers curled and uncurled as if it were pushing itself closer and closer to me. A forked blue tongue licked its rows of teeth just as it cracked and began to fall off into pieces. I looked to where the mirror was. I was never going to make it.

  I took one last look at Aunt Astrid. Bea was still unconscious in Jake’s arms. I hoped she wouldn’t blame herself for this, like I’d done over my mother for so long. It wasn’t her fault.

  Then I looked at Treacle. He was no longer sitting. He was up on his hind legs. I could see his little mouth meowing, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Aunt Astrid would take good care of him.

  I felt hot breath on the back of my neck. I didn’t want to turn around, but something said I needed to face this evil.

  As I peered over my shoulder, the Medusa Praesentia was riddled with cracks that were pulsing and growing brighter and brighter as it reached for me. They spread out and pushed its body into painfully contorted angles until, finally, in a silent instant, it exploded.

  The force of the b
last sent me hurtling toward the opening. Before I could stop myself, I broke through a slimy, thin membrane and crashed onto the Lourdeses’ living room floor with a splat.

  “Cath!” Aunt Astrid cried as she hobbled over to me. “Oh, Cath! I thought I lost you! My sweet darling girl!”

  She knelt down on the floor next to me and scooped me into her arms.

  I’d hit my head on impact. But I was able to sit up. Treacle wedged himself in between Aunt Astrid and me. He butted his head against my chin, his motor sounding more like a Harley than just his purring.

  “What did you think you were doing?” he asked as he proceeded to get slime all over himself.

  “I don’t even know,” I replied telepathically as I rubbed my forehead and felt the goose egg that was developing there. “How long was I in there?”

  “Too long. You had me scared. Let’s not do that again. Don’t go where I can’t follow.” He went back and forth on my chin and cheek before I kissed him and assured him I was all right.

  “Promise,” I replied and looked at Jake and Bea.

  “Cath. You saved her,” Jake stammered. His eyes didn’t see, but they were shedding tears all the same. He reached his hand out to me, and I took hold of it.

  “Sorry about the mess,” I said as he recoiled from the slime. “I sneezed in my hand.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t listen to her, Jake.” Aunt Astrid was laughing with relief. Tears were in her eyes too, but they were more relieved than anything else. That is, until she looked at Bea.

  “Can we get out of this creepy house?” I asked, slowly getting to my knees and using the couch to pull myself up. “I know we did some damage here, but can’t we just let it go for now?”

  “We’re going to have to,” my aunt said. “We need to get Bea home. Jake, can you walk?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said bravely.

  “Good. You carry her. Cath and I will lead you to your house. She’ll need to rest.” Aunt Astrid also got to her feet and dusted the debris from her skirt. “This is gross, Cath.”

  “I know, right?” I ran my hand over my head and came away with a handful of goo. “Do I have to worry about this? I’m not going to grow a third eye or come down with shingles because of this stuff, am I?”

  “I don’t think the astral membrane between dimensions causes any illnesses. If it did, we wouldn’t have vampires, bigfoot, chupacabras, and the like,” Aunt Astrid said as she helped lead Jake out of the house.

  “Mom, can you take a picture of Cath for me?” Jake asked as he stood, with Bea in his arms. “I’d like to see what I’m missing.”

  “Okay, that’s a nice thing to say,” I blurted out as I steered him by the shoulders from behind. It was dark outside. Most of the neighborhood houses had their porch lights on. It gave us enough light to see by but kept the gory details of our sorry state hidden from prying eyes.

  Treacle stayed close by my side, but I saw the fearful look on Peanut Butter’s face and could sense it from his body language.

  “Don’t worry, Peanut. Aunt Astrid says she’ll be all right,” I soothed.

  “She doesn’t look all right.”

  I looked at Bea, and to be honest, Peanut Butter was right. She still had all that heavy makeup on. It had run down her face, making her look like she’d spent the last hour in a sauna.

  “We just need to clean her up,” I added. “You’ll see. Plus, she’s been through so much. Her body is going to need time to recover. But she’ll be back to herself in no time.”

  “Promise?” The cat looked up at me innocently.

  “I promise.”

  “Plus, we won’t leave her side,” Marshmallow added as she came up to Peanut Butter and walked protectively next to him. “We’ll keep her warm and share our life force with her. We’ve got energy to spare. Besides, she’s just exhausted. She’s not in a coma.”

  “Oh no!” I cried and put my hand to my chest. “Jake, before you came over, did you hear anything more about Tom?”

  “No, Cath. As far as I know, there’s no change,” he said as Aunt Astrid told him to be careful going up the porch steps. He counted them, planting both feet firmly on each step before advancing to the next one. We all piled into the house.

  “Do you need to set her down and take a rest?” Aunt Astrid asked. “You can set her on the couch and—”

  “No, Mom. I’ve been trying to hold her in my arms for the past couple of days. It feels good. I can carry her.” He ascended the stairs to their bedroom as if he were carrying nothing more than a basket of clean laundry. Even blind, he was determined to take care of her. That made my stomach twist, but I kept the sour feeling to myself.

  “Jake, mind if I use your shower?” I asked quietly as he laid Bea down on the bed. “I’ve got to get this stuff off me.”

  “Of course, Cath. Anything you need,” he said as he snuggled in next to her.

  As I walked out of the room, I heard my aunt whispering a reversal spell over Jake. It would just be about twenty minutes and his eyesight would return.

  I flipped on the light and looked in the mirror before shutting the door. I was covered in bluish-gray snot from head to toe.

  “Well, these clothes will go in the garbage. In fact…” I talked to myself as I peeled off my clothes and hopped underneath the hot spray of water from the shower. “Maybe they should be burned. Just to be on the safe side.”

  I nodded to myself. I was trying to focus on anything and everything that didn’t have to do with Tom. I’d forgotten about him. I totally forgot that my boyfriend was in the hospital in a coma. What kind of person was I?

  Leave it to Bea to have half a dozen different shampoos and body soaps that all smelled like either lavender or cherry blossoms. I grabbed the one that was closest, squeezed a handful out, and slapped it on my head. While I worked up a lather, I felt the slime quickly leaving my hair. Thankfully, my hair was still staying in my head.

  “Can I come in?” my aunt called from outside the bathroom door.

  “Sure?” I wrinkled my nose. What in the world did she need while I was in the shower?

  “Is all that stuff coming off?” she asked.

  “It seems to be,” I admitted as I rubbed my arms with the lather from my head. “How are Bea and Jake?”

  “Bea hasn’t woken up yet. I don’t suspect she will for quite some time. Her body has to heal itself. Unfortunately, she is the only empath I know. If I knew of another one, I’d have them here in an instant.”

  “And Jake?” I asked.

  “He’s worried, but he’s in the bed next to her, talking sweetly to her. That helps.” Those words stung, and I cried under the water falling down but didn’t say anything to my aunt about it.

  “Cath, I’m so proud of you,” my aunt said. “I didn’t even realize your other gift. I’m so sorry. I guess I’ve known you for so long that I take some of your characteristics for granted.”

  “Okay. You aren’t making any sense, Auntie,” I said from behind Bea’s pink shower curtain. “But that’s okay.”

  “No. Your other gift. I’m sorry I never acknowledged it.”

  “That makes two of us because I don’t know what you are talking about.” I rolled my eyes. I was throwing myself quite a pleasant little pity party over my forgetfulness and bad-girlfriend characteristics. My aunt barging in to tell me how wonderful I was wasn’t fitting with the theme.

  “I assumed we all needed to cover our eyes from the Medusa Praesentia. We would see ourselves and fall in love like we do on a much smaller scale every day when we get dressed. But you don’t ever look at yourself, do you?” My aunt had taken a seat on the toilet.

  “I mean, if I’ve eaten any of Bea’s spinach salad, I do just to make sure I don’t gross anyone out.” I shrugged as I wiped myself off with a soapy loofa.

  “No. What I mean is you are humble. You didn’t get caught by the mirror, because you don’t care to look in them. And when you went into the vortex, you didn’t se
e the horror of your vanity in the Medusa Praesentia. Nothing was going to turn you to stone.” She said it proudly. “It almost tore you limb from limb, but it could never petrify your heart. Your heart beats with too much life.”

  “I don’t know about all that, Aunt Astrid.” I let the tears fall since no one would know the difference. “I forgot about Tom. That sounds like a pretty selfish person to me.”

  “Why? You think you are selfish because you wanted to help your cousin who you’ve known your whole life? You wanted to help the one person you know could help him?”

  “Oh gosh! See? I forgot about that!” I whined. “I forgot Bea’s gift could help him! I forgot that she could help unwrap whatever might be keeping him in that dark place. What’s wrong with me?” I splashed more water on my face.

  “Cath, you act like we just went for a walk in the park. If you didn’t focus on the task at hand, we could have lost Bea.” She cleared her throat. “I like Tom. But he isn’t like Jake. Sometimes we have to pick.”

  “You know how people are, Aunt Astrid. A boyfriend is in the hospital, you drop everything and put life on hold and stay at the hospital for hours and hours until he’s in the clear. I barely gave him a pep talk, let alone made any kind of effort to visit every day.”

  I looked at my fingers, making sure none of that blue stuff was caught around my cuticles or under my nails.

  “Well, let’s not forget about Patience. You did have a bit of a roadblock in your way.” I shrugged at Aunt Astrid’s reply. “You know, Cath, I’ve heard people say they would die for their significant other. I hear Bea and Jake say it. And although it’s a beautiful concept, no one ever says they will live for their significant other. You are an example of someone who lives for who they love.”

  She stood up and opened the door. She didn’t know that I didn’t love Tom anymore. That I’d just woken up one day and didn’t feel the same anymore. How could I tell her? She loved Tom.

  “Whether that love be the real deal or whether it is more brotherly, you live for the people you love. I think that is a great gift too.” She stepped out of the bathroom. “Oh, and Jake says don’t use all the hot water.”