thinking I had actually gotten the better of the deal.
I caught sight of my smile in the now sparkling mirror and backed up, studying my reflection for a minute. The angry words Quinn had spoken as he left echoed in my head and washed the smile from my lips. As I stared at my reflection I began to take off my clothes, letting them slide to a heap at my feet until I was naked before the mirror. Quinn was right. I didn’t have a body like Miss Starlight, the stripper he had left me for. She was lush with dramatic curves while I was small and petite in every way.
“Delicate,” I said defending my body from his sharply remembered words. I turned a little, watching my reflection move. I tilted my chin a little higher. I may not have Miss. Starlight’s form but I was certainly not the grotesque Quinn had painted me. I stuck my tongue out at the mirror and giggled to myself as I pulled my clothes back on.
For the rest of the day, I washed, dried, folded and put away my laundry and through the use of these and other household chores I managed to push Quinn to the back of my mind. But there he simmered until bedtime.
When I crawled into bed with no more physical tasks to keep my mind away from him, he came to the front. My mind turned over the details of the conversation so many times, worrying each word so that I was sure I would dream of him. When I did finally drift off however it was the mirror that once again took hold not Quinn.
Once again I could see the mirror glowing dimly in the dark. As tendrils of blue smoke once again began to reach for me. I realized that I couldn’t move. The cold had returned, freezing me in place. I felt my lips turn as blue as the smoke slithering towards me. My eyes darted around the room seeking anything I could use to help me. It slid its long fingers under the covers, and wrapped around me. The glowing blue tendrils bound my arms, legs, neck and torso. When it touched my skin all the warmth left my bones. I was as cold as death.
It formed iron like bands around me and when it felt that I was secure in its grasp, it pulled me towards the mirror. I tried to fight it but I still could not move. My body felt like a rag doll, no muscle or bone, just a loose bag of flesh. Finally it reached the surface of the mirror and I braced myself for the cut of glass as I slammed into it. Instead I passed through the glass like a diver passing through water.
Once on the other side, the smoke disappeared. I realized I could move. I rubbed my arms with my hands, trying to erase the icy feel of the smoke. I looked through the glass I had been pulled through and saw my bedroom on the other side. Inside my bedroom was a man about my age dressed in a nightshirt that reached to mid calf. He had large mutton chop side burns and seemed very much out of place. I realized two things at once. One, that the man was the reflection I had seen in the mirror the night before and two that I was no longer asleep. I made my hands into fists and began to bang against the glass, trying to break my way out.
“Ah, that feels better,” he said. “I’ve been trapped in that curse-ed thing for damn near a hundred years if my timing has been correct.” He turned and studied the mirror. I realized he was studying the mirror in much the same way I had when I was naked. I blushed, the heat of it wiping away the last of the aching cold of the smoke.
“I can no longer see you my dear, but I would like to apologize. You seem like such a nice young lady. If I could have chosen someone else, then I would have. But with these mirrors falling so out of fashion as bedroom accouterments, I was getting rather desperate. No one has fallen asleep in front of me in years. I became trapped in the mirror in much the same way as you were. You see the mirror appears to need someone inside it. At least that was what I was told by the man who imprisoned me. He never said why. You can’t break your way out of it, believe me I tried.” I stopped pounding on the glass even though he obviously could not hear me.
“You can only affect someone when you are sleeping and you can only pull yourself out by pulling someone else in. I really am sorry my dear. If it could have been any other…” The strange man’s apologies were cut off by a heavy banging on the door. A loud bellowing sound came along with the pounding and I recognized Quinn’s voice. He was drunk again and had decided this time not to settle with a phone call. The man in front of the mirror raised his eyebrow in question.
“My first guess would be to believe that is the Quinn who called last night? Hmm, you didn’t seem to care for him,” he tapped his chin in thought. “Very nice timing indeed. Maybe we can help each other out. After all things do appear to have changed a bit since I’ve been in the mirror. I could use the help.”
He looked at me as he started walking towards the door. “All you have to do is press your hands flat against the glass. The mirror will do the rest, as long as he remains asleep.” He went to answer the door. From my place in the mirror I heard Quinn roar into the apartment, demanding to know both who the strange man was and where I was to be found. I raised my eyebrow and put my hands on my hips as he claimed the status of my boyfriend when confronting a strange man in my apartment. Quinn quieted as the stranger explained things and led him to my bedroom.
“…just an old family friend in town for the wedding you see,” he was saying as they entered the room. “She was kind enough to put me up for my stay. I believe she is expected back soon,” the stranger shot a mischievous grin in my direction. “Why don’t you just lie down and wait for her here. You do look awfully tired. I’ll just go back to the main room and have a lie down there. I’ll be sure to send her right in to you when she returns.” With a wink in my direction, the strange man closed the bedroom door, leaving the room in darkness and me to wait for Quinn to fall asleep.
Other Books By
Valerie Gaumont
The Channel Riders Series
Pilot (Book 1)
Storm Chaser (Book 2)
Alliance (Book 3)
Roses for Juliet
Mirror, Mirror Page 3