Lavinia giggled. “Touchy-feely?” The smile grew wider and wider, stretching from ear to ear. The whole of the woman-child shifted forward. Cracks appeared, the lines becoming regular. Her skin turning to scales.
The cameo at her neck tingled. Grace thought this was the final vision. Eyesight became narrow, dim, blurry. An image filled it. She thought it would be the maw of a giant snake opening. Instead, it was something else. Grace cringed from a furry nightmare, fangs and claws, snarling, slavering. In a second, it was gone.
Normal eyesight revealed something worse. Lavinia grew taller, narrower, but her arms shrank down to baby size. She kneeled on the floor, webs of flesh sealing her two legs into a single tail. Grace knew she would grow so large, the hallway couldn’t contain her.
She shot a glance at the mirror at her back. In the depths, Carlotta was a tiny figure, running into infinite black.
“It’s not gonna hurt. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt.” Lavinia’s voice dropped several octaves. “Stay still. Ssstay ssstill.”
Forked tongue darted from her scaly lips, the face of Lavinia now nearly completely swallowed by the giant constrictor snake.
“Lavinia, listen to me. It’s the mirrors. They’re possessing you.”
“Whispering,” Lavinia hissed. “Always whissspering in my sssskull.”
“Fight it, Lavinia. C’mon, don’t let it take over.” Grace knew it could be fought. Even at her most powerful, Manasa could be resisted. But Lavinia was more than hypnotized, more than influenced. Her body was now fully stretched, head weaving through the air, neck resting on fat coils that nearly reached the ceiling, tail trailing out through the door.
“Don’t resist. It only hurts to resissst.”
The snake struck. It was too big to be fast. Grace was so mesmerized, she was caught flat footed. Even if constrictors weren’t poisonous, Lavinia’s bite could take huge chunks of her. Her dodge was more of a stumbling fall. The snake head bashed the mirror, shook the wall. But this wasn’t the mirror that turned. Manasa/Lavinia recoiled, sharp teeth bared.
Grace regained her feet, ready to dodge again. Hopefully in a better way this time. “You can resist. Even if it hurts.”
Could reptilian eyes project anger? Up until now, Grace thought of snakes as being emotionless. This one seemed pissed off. She knew that Lavinia could put a high school quarterback in the hospital. But as a giant snake? Grace thought this was going to hurt—and hurt a lot.
The head darted forward. This time, Grace fell into a batter’s stance. With both hands on the hammer, she led with her hips and swung. There was a clink of steel on stone, a spark. It felt like hitting a seven ton boulder. Even though it felt like Grace hadn’t the least effect, the snake reared back, head taking out the ceiling plaster. It gave Grace just enough space to race past, slip out the door, the snake probably too big to follow--
Are you trying to hurt me? You are small! You can’t hurt me!
Like thunder, Lavinia’s monster voice boomed in Grace’s head.
Too big to hurt! Too big to be made fun of! Too big to be scared!
Grace had blown her chance. Lavinia was uncoiling, the mass of her filling the room. Scaly flesh knocked Grace back, but not against the mirror. No, back into a winding coil. Manasa writhed around her. The coils tightened. Immediately, Grace felt the blood pound in her heart and her head.
Chapter 28
Just as spots danced before Grace’s eyes, she heard a high pitched sound. In the doorway stood Linda. Her oversized ears shook. Tiny fangs appeared as she growled, belly low to the ground, her body quivering.
Linda, no! Be a good girl! It’s sleepy time!
The sub-basso voice rang Grace’s skull like a bell. The Papillion appeared unaffected. It ran in, giving a coil three times its size a fierce bite. The dog backed off a few paces, still fierce in its stance.
Somewhere in her dog consciousness, Linda fought to protect her owner.
Down Linda! Down! Be a good girl!
Coils slipped from Grace. She sucked in a breath. The hammer was still in her hand. Cannon fire thoughts sent her to the verge of passing out. What could she do?
Linda darted in for another chomp. Lavinia/Manasa tried to maneuver from the sharp teeth. Grace leapt from the surrounding coils. She was free for the moment, but the whole hall was full of twisting snake. If she pressed herself to the wall, maybe she couldn’t be entwined again.
Back against the mirror, she watched the strange battle unfold. The snake struck at the dog—but not for real. On a deep level, Lavinia could never hurt her baby. The minuscule dog danced back from the attack, but lunged anew. Snapping jaws found a mark. Did it even hurt the snake? Grace thought not—at least, not physically. Emotionally, though, Lavinia would be torn up by her baby Linda’s onslaught. Grace could feel the ragged edge of frustrated sorrow in her own head.
Grace still had to get the hell out of there. The Papillion’s distraction only agitated the snake further. She might get past the scaly coils. Lavinia could strike at her from behind. Hell, it was more likely that Grace would be accidentally crushed.
The mirror.
Somehow, Carlotta had escaped into the mirror, like Alice thought the looking glass. But was that really an escape? And how the hell had she done it? Maybe Lavinia had dragged her into that mirror dimension. Perhaps she wanted her sister safe. Or, perhaps she wanted to deal with Grace first.
With constant glances over her shoulder, Grace pressed her hands against the reflective surface. It was stone. Fancy, yes, blacker than night, yes, but still it was just polished stone.
The cameo crackled with each touch, sending electric sparks shooting from her fingertips to the mirror. So, apparently, along with nonsensical visions, her mother’s pendant also detected magic objects. It was nice to know, but a little late.
Giant snake and toy dog continued to fight. The dog attacked, and the snake tried to move away. But this time, one of the meandering coils struck Linda. With a whine, she rolled out the doorway.
The scream in Grace’s mind threatened to shake her fillings loose.
Linda, no! Are you okay? Please be okay!
The endless body of the snake moved suddenly. Grace was pounded by scaled flesh. Her upper body was squished against the mirror, her face pressed flat, her arms painfully pressed. The hammer hit the onyx surface. A tiny chip flew away.
Then, the snake froze as still as a sculpture. Grace managed to pry herself free. Damage to the mirror was too small to see. But Manasa felt it.
You are too small!
Painfully loud thoughts returned, Lavinia winding around, once again facing Grace.
“Back off!” Grace raised the hammer.
Coils wound around themselves, the snake’s mouth opening wide for a bite that would likely take her head off. Carlotta was inside the mirror. What would happen to her? Grace had no choice.
She hit the mirror, hard, both hands on the hammer. A crack formed.
Half expecting a cry of agony to split her skull, Grace braced herself. But the snake only resumed its sculptural stillness. As if carved from stone…
With fierce grunts, Grace bashed the stone mirror. Once, twice. More cracks appeared. A look over her shoulder showed the snake unmoving. Cracks formed in the head of it, and along the coils. Grace hauled back and slammed the mirror with everything she had.
The stone trembled, cracks running wildly through the black surface. A loud noise issued from the far side of the hall. She saw the black stone of the other mirror disintegrate, as if in sympathy.
All around her, she felt the house shaking. It took a moment to realize what it was from. Huge chunks of the giant snake fell from the body, striking the floor with tremendous reports. After a few boulder-sized pieces threatened to smash the floorboards, Grace fled.
“Linda, c’mon!”
The toy Papillion ran in a confused circle. Then she followed Grace. Then she ran ahead of Grace. Certain the dog knew the house better than Grace, she followed. In
a moment, they reached the stairs. Racing to the second floor, the rumble above intensified.
Breathlessly, three steps at a time, Grace took the grand staircase to the first floor. Three servants stood at the landing, faces round in shock. “Outside!” Grace shouted. “Get outside!”
Linda, the servants and Grace raced out the front door. For a while, the house continued to shake and thunder. Siding on the third story splintered and fell. Then, as the tip of the sun broke the horizon, silence fell.
Chapter 29
Grace crept into the mirror hall. Mounds of black and green stone filled the room waist deep. But it was gone, the snake monster lay in pieces and pebbles and dust. Neither mirror looked like a mirror anymore—they just looked like ornate gold frames. Snake themed.
As she surveyed the destruction, Grace took a step back. Rocks tumbled away, dust rising. Something moved beneath the rubble.
“Carlotta?” she called. “Lavinia?”
Suddenly, a hand clawed free of the debris. It was black, striped with green, and covered in glossy scales. A second hand broke free, clawing for purchase. In a heartbeat, the arms lifted a grotesque shape from the grave of rocks. The monster gave a shrill scream.
Grace’s eyes popped open. A seagull soared above the water, the waves creating a steady, calming roar. Nightmare. It was only a nightmare.
Paisley sat beneath her broad black beach parasol.
“Are you ever going to tell me what really happened?”
Grace took a breath. No one knew what to think. But that’s what always happened. As far as the cops believed, according to Pete anyway, Lavinia and Carlotta were in the wind. The ME said that despite outward signs, Tibby Myerscough was dead before she was hanged. No one in authority, however, seemed eager to pursue the case, or the Myerscough girls.
“I can only speculate, but imagine this: A few hundred years ago, a Myerscough ancestor stole two mirrors from the temple of a snake goddess, probably in northern India. He smuggled them back here. Some sort of evil being existed in the mirrors, perhaps the snake goddess herself. Over the years, this evil influenced the Myerscough clan. It turned a philanthropist into a hermit, drove a beautiful woman to drugs, drink and insanity, altered a daughter into a giant four-year-old, and who knows what else. In the end, the entity in question got tired of playing around.” Grace shrugged. “When the snake goddess got serious, she got murderously serious.”
Behind the black circles of her shades, Paisley’s face was unreadable. “On some level, if any of that were true, it would be wicked cool beyond belief.”
“‘Wicked cool?’”
Paisley frowned. “Fine. Don’t tell me what happened.”
If it weren’t for the nightmares, Grace wouldn’t believe it herself. And the nightmares were fading.
“So I guess the case is closed.”
“Did you get paid?”
Grace fidgeted in her folding chair. “The firm sent me another check.”
“Uh-huh.” Paisley tapped black fingernails on the armrests of chair. “You realize that while acting as your assistant, I developed an expensive coffee addiction, right?”
“My assistant? You tagged along like my kid sister.”
“Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”
Grace closed her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense. That doesn’t apply here.”
“I’m thinking ten percent. Isn’t that the kind of bonus you make when you close a fraud case? Sure, this is my first one ever, but still, I think I did—“
“Fine!”
“Plus expenses.”
“No!”
Paisley adjusted the square collar of her black sailor-style swim dress, circa 1902. “Okay. Ten percent is good. I ruined a good pair of boots, but, I guess investigators need to make sacrifices.”
The sound of a laboring engine reached Grace’s ears. She gazed up the hilly road to The Cove. A loaf-shaped silver van worked its way up the incline. Grace didn’t need to be able to read the logo on the side to know it belonged to L’art de L’occulte. Maybe Jack Stoughton would have better luck with the Mirrors of Manasa.
“Is that thunder?” Paisley pulled down her shades, gazing at the horizon.
Grace sighed. “I heard we’re supposed to have thunderstorms.”
“Awesome. I love the beach during a thunderstorm.” The Goth put her hands behind her head and wiggled her boots in the sand. “Washes away all the footprints. It’s like starting fresh, y’know?”
Clouds gathered, piling high. Grace could use a little bit of starting fresh. It had been a rough week. She lowered her umbrella and waited for the rain.
*****
Get the next exciting book in the Sinister Case Series:
The Sinister Secrets of the Deadly Summoner
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Catalog of Books
The Witch Sisters of Stillwater
Hoodoo and Just Desserts
A Shade of Murder
The Monkey’s Eyebrow Tea Room Series
A Tiny Bite of Murder
Murder on the Ghost Walk
The Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub Series
A Frosty Mug of Murder
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A Highball and a Low Blow
Cursed With a Twist
The Chronicles of Agnes Astor Smith
The Peculiar Case of Agnes Astor Smith
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The Peculiar Case of the Lost Colony
Old School Diner Cozy Mysteries
Murder at Stake
Murder Well Done
A Side Order of Deception
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The Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries
The Curious Case of the Cursed Spectacles
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger
The Curious Case of the Cursed Looking Glass
The Curious Case of the Cursed Crucible
The We’re Not Dead Yet Club
Fetch a Pail of Murder
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Murder or Bust
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The Witching on the Wall
A Witching Well of Magic
Witching the Night Away
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Witching Your Life Away
Witching You Wouldn’t Go
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A Hair Raising Blowout
Wash, Rinse, Die
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Color Me Dead
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Double Dip Dilemma (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Five)
Melted Memories (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Six)
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The Sinister Secrets of the Snake Mirror Page 10
