The Real Folktale Blues (Beyond Ever After #1)

by Random Jordan

  “Yes, easy. You can’t be held to the mirror unless I choose to keep you.” The copy fox explained while its nose twitched.

  “Which you wouldn’t do, since I am helping you get out of here.”

  “Right.” It agreed.

  I still wasn’t feeling too great, agreeing to this, but I needed my cloak; my grandmamma gave me that cloak. And the mirror creature was more than helpful, and could be useful later on.

  Hopefully.

  “Okay, then we’ll just come in there and help you get this done. So last thing, what’s your name?” I asked bluntly.

  “Kitoredilura” The mirror-fox nodded and grinned up at me. It was shivering with excitement. Or maybe it was just as cold on the other side of the looking-glass as it was on this side.

  “Do all of you mirror things have ridiculous names?”

  “I am not a thing! Or an it. I’m a person too. And what kind of name could you possibly have that would be better?” The copy fox exclaimed while standing up on its hind legs. I bet if it could have folded its arms it would have.

  “Gnidori Hodder.” I said matter-of-factly and shifted all my weight to one hip.

  “Ha! Your name isn’t much better. At least mine rolls off the tongue smoother.”

  “I am not going to argue over names with you. So let’s just move on.” I threw up my hands at my side before letting them fall away and spewing a breath. “Can I just call you Kit instead?”

  “Kit.” It said the name a few times. Letting it linger in the air like a stink. “I will accept that for a pseudo name.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So glad I could please you.”

  “Oh goodie. You may please me all you want.” The fox in the mirror smiled and nodded. The fox on the floor looked up at me then looked away and flopped over onto his side to lie down again.

  I just rolled my eyes at both of them.

  After a pause of silence, I pushed a hand against the lengthy looking-glass and glanced down at the fox near my feet, then at the mirror-fox. “So, Kit. Let me into your mirror that way we can all get out of this place, sound good?”

  “Yay! I’m finally leaving!” Kit exclaimed, clearly not realizing the severity of what I was doing. Fey, I didn’t even realize the severity of what I was doing.

  The mirror shimmered as I reached down to scoop up the baby fox, whom looked annoyed at me for waking him so soon. Then I pressed my hand against the glass and watched it inch into the mirror,

  Stepping through a mirror is not a pretty sight. Nor is it comfortable in any possible way. My fingers felt like they igniting on fire yet at the same time were simmering in frigid ice. It was like jumping straight into frigid water that is sitting right above the sun, but one piece of my body at a time.

  The sensations threw my head for a loop, feeling a tingling course through me, and worsen my headache as I just forced myself as quickly as possible past the looking-glass.

  Once the icy burning pain was gone, my eyes popped open to take in the new mirror world around me. Goose bumps were still trailing down my bare body and a shiver shook me up as well while Kit stared at me in the form of the hooded figure from before.

  The eyes shook my nerves and I had to look away again.

  “What happened to the fox form?” I had to ask while looking toward the area where the clothes were supposed to be. But the only thing in that direction was a large gaping hole like a massive fire ball had exploded part of the tower away.

  “I can’t assume the forms of those who are in my mirror.” The figure explained as I turned to look back, before regretting that I had. The eyes under the hood were staring with spine-shivering intensity.

  “Okay, so then what happens if every form you could use was in the mirror?”

  The hooded figure turned its head inquisitively. “I… do not know.”

  I laughed softly as I stepped toward the exploded section of the room. “At least that is something you don’t know.”

  “I do not think that is funny.”

  “It is…” My entire train of thought completely crashed as I stood at the edge of the hole in the wall and looked out to see… I don’t even know what.

  Kit leaned over, next to me and I looked to the spirit. “Is this… normal?”

  The hooded spirit chuckled. “That would depend upon your definition of normal.”

  Five

  Distorted Images

  “Nothing is ever simple when magic is involved.” I muttered while staring at the set of stairs hanging upside down, above Kit and me.

  “You said it.” Kit mused before we both leaned away from the hole in front of us. Other than the stairs, which led further into a red sky, there was no ground, walls or anything to stand on or cling against except the tower we were in.

  This was making less sense than the Wonderlands.

  “I don’t understand.” I shook my head in disbelief. “How the flying fey did the little fox come from this direction?”

  Both Kit and I looked down at the fluff-ball in my hands. He just yawned and moved his head around before staring back up at me with those silvery slit-eyes, as if nothing was wrong with the world.

  Kit’s shadowy figure shrugged. “Maybe he can fly.”

  I blink then turn a seriously skeptical look to the spirit. “He’s a fox. Not a dragon.”

  “So? Dragons aren’t the only ones who can fly.”

  “When…” I began with annoyance, “…have you ever heard of a flying fox? Ever? That’s even more bizarre than flying pigs.”

  “Well I don’t see you offering an explanation.” Kit concluded firmly as the spirit’s hand waved out in front of him, hanging over the ravine.

  I watched the hooded figure’s arm rise then steady, like Kit was straining against something. There wasn’t any trace of a breeze from the gaping hole, but there was something else…

  “Wait.” My hand reached out to pull the spirit back by the long sleeve of the hooded robe. Then I nodded and let the mirror creature go. “Do that again.”

  Kit hesitated, only briefly, before thrusting a hand back toward the hole in the wall. It rose in the air again before settling with a light shake.

  “Are you pushing against something with your arm?” I never thought a question of such obviousness would leave my lips.

  I never heard Kit’s answer though. The little fox decided it was time for action and not yawning. I had been so concerned with watching Kit, that I hadn’t paid attention to the fox. He leapt from my hands before I could even realize he was doing it.

  I could feel the edges of the fur from the fox’s tail with my attempt to catch him before he plummeted to his death. Somehow I had miscalculated his descent and he literally slipped through my fingers.

  He dropped a few more feet forward before my jaw sunk open as I watched him steady and float in the air over the hole in the tower. The hovering only lasted a second before the fox was softly rising toward the stairs above us. He landed with a few movements between steps then sat down and looked up… or was it down… at me, with a vulpine grin.

  “I guess he proved you wrong.” Kit laughed while I just stood speechless, looking up at the stairs.

  I lifted my hands up to my face and rubbed at my cheeks and eyes then blinked a few times before looking back to the fox. Finally I breathed a chuckle. “I really am beyond the looking glass.”

  I couldn’t explain it, and honestly the last thing anyone should ever do is try to explain the looking glass world. It often didn’t make any normal sense. Even to me; and my definition of normal, as Kit put it, is incredibly skewed.

  “After you…” Kit said while waving a hand out in front of both of us.

  “No…” I raised an eyebrow toward the cloaked figure, and then promptly pushed Kit off the side of the tower with the palm of my hand. “…You first.”

  The hooded version of Kit flailed arms around while dropping off the side of the tower. I watched, but the mirror creature just kept falling.

  Suddenly I fe
lt terrible for what I had just done. Did I kill the poor spirit?

  I leaned and glanced over the side. Brick was crumbling at my feet and falling down the makeshift cliff, but other than that, I couldn’t see even the spirit falling anymore.

  Great… I killed a mirror spirit. Yet another tally to add to my conscience.

  At least I thought, until the scales of a scarlet dragon flew right by my face and caused me to fall backward in surprise. Its snaking body barely missed the stairs and the little fox as it coiled back around until a red face, with three horns adorning it like a crown, was staring at me.

  I stumbled to my feet and held my breath.

  Once upon my time! This was not possible…

  “You could have killed me!” The dragon roared and I cringed back in instinct before even registering what the red scaled monster had said.

  “Kit?” I asked while stepping forward cautiously.

  “Well I’m certainly not the gingerbread man.” The dragon rumbled with laughter.

  I glared at the spirit. “I thought you fell to your death!”

  “I would have… if it hadn’t been for changing into a dragon. Whatever is keeping that fox up there wasn’t strong enough for me.”

  “Which means it wouldn’t be strong enough for me either.” I groaned and stepped around the dragon’s head to glance up at the fox. He was curled up in a ball and napping on the stairs.

  “I wouldn’t say that. It just isn’t as strong against me.” The dragon tilted its head and looked up at the fuzz ball, then shook out a mane of hair growing behind the horns.

  “What? Are you special or something?”

  The dragon turned back. “Magic like that just isn’t as effective on me, it’s not my fault.”

  “I wasn’t saying it was. But do you really think I’m going to risk my life to jump off this cliff just because you said you’re special?”

  “What do I care?” I could hear the shrugging in Kit’s voice. “You are the one that wants to go out there, for only faeries know what.”

  “Fine.” I growled and stepped to the edge of the tower again. My palms pushed Kit’s giant head away from me. “You better catch me if I fall.”

  “Of course.” The dragon backed up and pulled away from the opening in the tower. “How else am I going to get out of here?”

  I nodded then looked down at the drop into nothingness. My breath escaped me in a method to try and soothe my nerves. “Well… if the fox can do it, then so can I.”

  I swallowed hard before taking one step forward and letting my foot hang in the air over the ledge. My leg dangled while I caught my breath and tried to relax.

  It wasn’t every day that I jumped off a ledge. Leaps of faith just weren’t my thing.

  Heights weren’t my thing either.

  But I couldn’t just stand there and hyperventilate. So I pushed off the ledge with my other foot and instantly felt tugged in multiple directions. It was like the world was spinning so fast that I was going to be tossed out into the sky.

  The breath was completely knocked out of me as I was no longer falling for the sky but instead landing hard against the stairs. I wasn’t even sure when I had gotten turned around. It was just all jumbling and confusing.

  I groaned and squinted as my hands gripped the stairs and pushed off. My vision settled to see the fox sitting up and staring at me from inches away. He licked my face before I managed to pull up into a crouch, sitting on my feet.

  “Well…” I cricked my neck as it made an audible sound. “…that could have gone better.”

  “It could have gone worse too.” Kit added as he swirled around in the air above me… or was it below me?

  “Yeah, yeah.” I let out a deep breath before reaching forward and scooping up the little fox.

  “Let’s go.” I stood up and gazed toward the top of the stairs. There was nothing I could see other than more steps, so I started ascending them.

  “Do you know where the fey this goes?”

  The dragon floated above my head, red scales almost blending in with the dark red sky. “Why would I know that?”

  “Because you lived here for how long?” I glance up at the spirit, but then quickly focus on the steps as I nearly miss one.

  “I have never been out of that tower until now.”

  I frowned. “Why? You can clearly fly. You could go anywhere in this looking glass world. You act just like a princess in a tower. You wait around for your knight to come, instead of leaving the tower yourself.”

  “Well…” The spirit stumbled for additional words. “I guess that means you are my knight?”

  “Ugh… no way. I am nobody’s knight or prince, thank you very much.”

  “Whatever you say…” The dragon fidgeted in the air then flew past me and beyond the area up ahead where the steps vanish from my line of sight.

  It didn’t take long before the spirit returned, walking along the steps behind me. “I don’t think you are going to like what is up ahead.”

  I didn’t ask what it was, because I really didn’t want to know. At this point I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were a horde of flying hippos hanging around at the top of the steps.

  I was almost close.

  I grunted while taking the last step onto grass that was continually shifting and waving about like there was a strong wind, but I could feel no such thing.

  To my left was a flock of some kind of rainbow-colored birds. Their wings were flapping but they weren’t soaring any higher than just barely off the ground.

  To my right was an orange waterfall, which was flowing upwards and had orange droplets frozen in the air all around it.

  And that wasn’t even the end of the bizarre distortions.

  “Is this normal?” My mouth gaped open as I finally looked ahead of me to see massive flowers, like giant sunflowers but various colors, bobbing back and forward gently. I would have almost said the flora was dancing.

  Kit had taken to the sky above my head again. “Not any different than what you would find in the other world.”

  “Oh yeah, waterfalls flow upstream all the time in the real world.” I shook my head and took a few more steps.

  Then suddenly, my heart jumped as a piercing screech ran through my ears. One hand shot over my ear and I bent into a few backward steps. The fox and Kit were writhing as well, before the shriek died out.

  As my hand came away from my ears, I glanced around, but couldn’t find a single soul around besides the ones that came with me.

  “What was that?” I gasped while rubbing at the ear I wasn’t able to cover.

  The last thing I was expecting was a completely different voice crying at me. “You killed Petunia!”

  I scanned around but couldn’t find the source.

  “How dare you! You stupid moving flower!” The voice continued, and my eyebrows lowered as I looked down. Next to the spot where my footprint had smashed down the grass there were a few assortments of tiny flowers with faces on them.

  I blinked. “You can’t be serious…”

  “How could I not be serious when it comes to cold-blooded murder?” The rose shrieked from the ground as I stepped closer and bent over.

  “But you’re a flower.”

  “So are you, murderer!” The rose spat up at me while Kit landed nearby the larger flowers, gripping the grass.

  “No I’m not. I’m a human.”

  “There are only flowers here! You are a liar and a murderer!” The rose continued and then started chanting, “Murderer!”

  A tulip and a few of the smaller flowers around it started chanting with the rose.

  “I’m not a murderer!” I yelled back and wanted to be able to cover both my ears, but the fox was in one of my hands. Instead Kit whipped a tail around and slammed it over the ground where the patch of flowers had been. More high-pitched and low-pitched shrieks occurred, but then it went mostly silent.

  “There.” The fake dragon concluded after the silence fell. “Anno
ying flowers.”

  I couldn’t breathe I was so stunned. “You just killed them.”

  “Yes, and? You killed one too.”

  “That…” The spirit was right…so were the flowers. “That doesn’t mean you kill them too! I did it on accident.”

  “I’ve heard that before. I believe they call them excuses.” Kit grinned and I didn’t even hold back this time as I threw my fist across the spirit’s face and actually launched him toward the birds flapping in place.

  “It was an accident!” I hollered while watching the dragon’s long snaking body land with an unusually soft thump on top of many of the birds. Feathers fluttered out into the air slowly but mostly froze in place.

  My rage was soothed, but not completely. I stepped closer with one foot, before discovering a vine had wrapped around my other leg and kept me from moving any further. I glanced back and followed the vine to the large flowers, which were looking at me with wide eyes.

  I dropped the fox as my body hit the floor and I was dragged across the dancing grass then flung in the air to hang from a single vine holding me up by my ankle. My face was inches from the red-petal flora.

  “Who are you?”

  I kept repeating to myself not to say I was Alice. But it still came out of my mouth. “Alice.”

  Sometimes my mouth is quicker than my mind.

  “You are not the Alice flower, you look nothing like her. You don’t even have any blue petals.”

  “I’m not a flower, period! Do you flowers hang out at the entrance of mirrors waiting for people to come around so you can call them flowers?”

  “Of course not.” The sunflower with a deep voice said. “We don’t have the same luxury of moving around like you do. So we hang out, as you put it, because it is all we can do.”

  “Well, have fun with that then.” I started kicking my foot around but that just forced me to swing back and forward. “Now, put me down!”

  “That cannot be done.” The fey-blasted flower said so calmly.

  “Of course it can. Just let me go.”

  “I’m afraid you don’t understand the risk you are in walking around here. This is for your own safety.”