by R. L. Austin
“I think so.” Emily took off the amulet and looked at it. Nothing about its appearance had changed. “My necklace tingled when I touch the triad, and it kept getting stronger. I think it’s reacting to the triad, but I’m not sure why.”
She slipped the necklace back into her pocket and nervously wiggled her fingers before she touched the triad again. The tingling had gone away, which confirmed that the necklace had reacted to the triad, but it didn’t explain why.
“Are you going to try again?” Tyler asked.
Emily jumped with surprise when Tyler’s usually faint voice blared out of the mirror. “Not so loud.”
“What?”
“Your voice, it’s so loud. Stop shouting, please.” Her hands went up to protect her ears.
“Oh, sorry, but it’s hard to hear myself in here, even when I yell. I didn’t know I was being that loud.”
Emily could tell that Tyler had gone to a whisper, but she had no trouble hearing him. “You weren’t loud, at least not until now. It only happened when I touched the triad. Your voice got amplified, a lot!”
“Sorry. I’ll try not to yell while you’re holding it. So what’s next?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it needs to be activated.” Emily saw no way to physically activate the triad, so she decided to use the same words that opened and closed the locks. She held the triad in both hands and said, “Open Sesame,” like it was a spell. Nothing happened, but she heard a peal of laughter from the mirror.
“Oh, man, that was great. Do it again!” Tyler let loose with more unrestrained laughter.
“Okay, wise guy. Pipe down in there.” She grinned at the mirror, knowing she must have looked silly. “Do you have a better idea?”
“Nope. At least nothing that hilarious.” Tyler was barely keeping his voice to a whisper.
“Well, I do.” Emily took a deep breath and stood. “So stand back.”
“Okay, but fair warning, if you say ‘Abra Cadabra’ or ‘Hocus Pocus,’ I’m going to bust a gut.”
Emily held up the triad and gave the mirror a smirk. “Ha, ha. Let me know when you’re ready.”
“Okay, okay.” Tyler suppressed a round of giggles. “I think I’m ready.”
Emily tried to place the triad against the mirror, but it passed right through the surface, along with her hand, up to the wrist. Her jaw fell open in disbelief before she jerked her hand back.
“Holy cow!” Tyler shouted with excitement. “Wait! Do that again.”
“Shhh,” Emily reminded him to keep his voice down while she made a quick count of her fingers. When she was sure they were all still there, she looked back at the mirror. “I don’t believe that just happened.”
“I don’t, either, but you need to do it again.”
The first time didn’t cause any damage, so Emily held up the triad. “Okay, here goes my imitation of Alice.”
“Who?”
“Alice. You know, from Through the Looking Glass.” Emily shrugged at the obviousness of the reference.
When Tyler didn’t respond, she asked, “You’ve heard of Alice in Wonderland, haven’t you?”
“Well, sure I recognize Alice in Wonderland. What was the other one again?”
“It was…” Emily decided the joke was too lame to warrant the effort. “Oh, never mind.” Tyler obviously hadn’t read the book, and it would take too long to explain.
“Okay, stand back.” With a deep breath to steady her nerves, Emily pushed the triad through the glass as far as her elbow. The lack of an arm below her elbow was unnerving to see. “Now what?”
Emily gave a surprised jerk when she felt a hand grab hers, but Tyler was quick to say, “It’s me…it’s me.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Emily sagged in relief.
“And you’re going to pull me back through the mirror,” he added.
“But…”
“But nothin’. You might as well pull, because I’m not letting go.”
“But we don’t know what we’re doing, what could happen.” Emily was horrified at the possibility of injuring him, and half her arm was also at stake.
“Try it. Please! I’ve got nothing to lose.”
The concept of pulling Tyler through the mirror sounded plausible. After all, he got in there somehow. But even so, it wasn’t easy to release her fear. “This is crazy.”
“It’s no crazier than me being stuck in a mirror.” Tyler gave her hand a squeeze for reassurance. “Now pull!”
Emily focused on the warmth of his hand while she withdrew from the mirror. Her arm came out like it had before, but she couldn’t contain a gasp of amazement when Tyler’s hand appeared, followed by the rest of him. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she would never have believed it.
Tyler stood in front of the mirror with a shell-shocked expression. “Incredible.” He looked like his photographs, except he was even cuter in person.
Emily was in shock herself, but her disbelief evaporated when Tyler threw his arms around her. Wrapped in his strong embrace, his chest pressed against hers, she felt a new sensation race through her. This one was much stronger than the tingling from her amulet, but it had nothing to do with the triad. It was purely a physical reaction, and it was exhilarating.
Her first rational thought was how good he smelled. The second was the realization that Tyler, his face buried in her shoulder, was crying. She dropped the triad and instinctively held him tight. “It’s okay…it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Tyler was slow to pull back, and when he did he turned away to wipe his eyes. “Sorry for being such a wuss.”
Emily grabbed his chin and pulled him back for a reassuring smile. “You’re not a wuss, and you have nothing to be ashamed of,” she assured him. “You were a lot braver than I would have been. That’s for sure.”
Tyler gave a final sniff before he brightened up and gave her a full display of dimples. “Really? You’re not just saying that?”
“Really,” Emily assured him. “I wouldn’t tease about something so important.”
“Thanks. It just got to me, you know? Being in there so long, and then getting out like that.” He wrapped his arms around her again and squeezed. “I don’t know how I can ever pay you back.”
Emily was enjoying the feel of Tyler’s arms when she heard a noise from the front of the house. It might have been one of the many creaks and groans the old house regularly produced, but it could also have been the front door. If someone was home, it couldn’t be her parents; she would have heard the squeal of the garage door. That meant it had to be her uncle. The possibility brought a twinge of fear at the prospect of being caught.
“I’ve got to hide you,” she whispered.
Tyler loosened his hug, but he didn’t let go. “Why?”
“I think someone just came in the house. It might be my Uncle Mansel.” Emily pulled free from Tyler’s arms and snatched up the triad to cram it back in its box. She slid the two halves of the lock together and whispered, “Close Sesame,” so Tyler wouldn’t hear. Of course it sounded corny, but at least it worked.
“I thought you said he was gone till midnight.”
“That’s what he said before he left.” Emily glanced over her shoulder. “It might not be him, but if it is, he’ll find out what we’re doing.”
The words had an ominous sound, and Tyler shifted nervously. “I ain’t going back in that mirror.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.” She grabbed his arm and took off at a run.
“Where’re we going?”
“To the roof. You can hide up there until I figure out what to do.”
“But what about the triad and the watch? He’ll know they’re missing, and he’ll come looking for them.”
Emily glanced at the box under her arm. He was right, but there was nothing she could do about that right now. “Let’s get to the roof first, and then we can figure out what to do about the box.” She opened the closet that gave access to the rear stairwell and ushered hi
m inside the cramped space.
“Wow, a secret staircase. This house is really cool.” Tyler was right on her heels as she bounded up the stairs to her bedroom.
Emily barged out of her closet and went right to the large window that opened to the roof and tried to open it. She grunted with effort, but it didn’t move.
Tyler used the opportunity to look over her tidy room. “Nice room. Are you expecting company?”
“No, why?” Emily scanned the window, trying to understand the problem, and realized that in her rush she had forgotten to unlatch the lock. “Duh!”
“Because you made your bed.”
“I always make my bed. Don’t you?” She gave the lock a quick twist, and the large window slid open with a dry scrape that drowned out Tyler’s response. She climbed onto the roof and held the window while Tyler ducked through to join her.
“Hey, this is cool. And look at that fog. It’s wild!” The three-story house stood slightly higher than a blanket of thick fog, making the roof appear to be an island in a sea of gray mist. The only sound was a distant clang of a trolley bell.
“Yeah, that is pretty neat.” Emily hadn’t seen this kind of fog before, eerie and beautiful, and in any other circumstance she would have sent pictures to Tracy.
Tyler walked to the edge of the roof and looked over the waist-high wall before he turned around. “So, what’s the plan?”
CHAPTER 6
Emily watched as Tyler leaned over the short wall that surrounded the roof and swiped at the fog. The vapor trailed after his hand to form a swirling column of mist that floated up in a lazy circle before it settled back into the gray blanket. She was amazed he could be so calm after what they had just experienced.
Tyler’s distraction with the fog also gave her a chance to think about her next move. When she was ready, she joined Tyler and casually bumped him. “Okay, I’ve got a plan. The first thing I’m going to do is find out if Uncle Mansel is home. If he is, I’ll try to find out why he came back.
Emily handed him the box. “You should keep this while I go downstairs, just in case it is him.”
“Sure. But maybe he just forgot something,” Tyler offered, but it had little conviction.
“It’s possible, I guess. I just hope he doesn’t notice the box with the triad is missing.”
“That would suck.” Tyler patted his pockets. “By the way, can I borrow your cell phone? I need to call my mom.”
“Sure.” Emily dug out her phone. “But what are you going to tell her? She’s going to want to know where you’ve been for the past few days. You can’t exactly tell her the truth.”
Tyler scratched his head. “That’s for sure. And if I tell her where I am, she’ll send the police over here to get me. There’s no way I can leave without Dad.” He gave a long look at the phone in Emily’s hand, but he didn’t reach for it. “I hate to do this, but she’s going to have to wait until we get Dad out of the mirror.”
“Okay. Wait here until I get back. And to be safe, you should hide behind the chimney. No one can see you there, even if they come in my room.”
“Sure thing, and good luck.” Tyler gave her a thumbs up before he ducked behind the chimney.
Emily went back inside and pulled the window shut. She knew her uncle would go to his study, so she hurried to the first floor. When she reached the front hallway, she peeked around the corner. The door of her uncle’s study was wide open, confirming it was him. She crept to the open door and glanced into the room. She didn’t see her uncle, but the chest with the black triangle was wide open. He already knew the box was missing, and he probably went looking for it. Emily felt an urge to run out the front door, but she knew she couldn’t leave. If her uncle was looking for her, he would go to her room. Tyler! Her feet were carrying her to the hidden stairway before she finished the thought.
Emily paused at the top of the staircase and peeked into her closet. Her closet door was wide open, which allowed Emily to see through the closet into her room. The hallway door was also open, so she knew her uncle had been there, but she didn’t see or hear anyone moving in the room. Maybe he was already gone. She tiptoed into the closet far enough to verify her room was empty and the window was still closed. Emily leaned forward and craned her neck to see the chimney, hoping to see Tyler. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until it came out as a long sigh of relief when Tyler waved to her. Emily motioned to Tyler that he should remain where he was before she turned and left again. She still needed to locate her uncle and find out what he was doing.
She made her way back down the hidden stairs, pausing at each landing to listen, until she reached the first floor. There was no sign of her uncle. The door to his study was still open and the room empty, so she made her way to the kitchen and looked in. Mansel wasn’t there, but she heard his voice coming from the dining room farther down the hallway. He was talking to somebody, which surprised her, because Mansel had no friends she knew of. Maybe someone had returned with him. She pressed herself against the wall and inched her way toward the open door until she could hear what he was saying.
“How you convinced my niece to help you, I don’t know, but I promise it won’t work.”
Emily didn’t hear a reply, but her uncle gave a derisive snort. “Don’t lie to me.”
She hadn’t expected a second person, and she had no idea who it could be until an idea occurred to her. Maybe he was talking to Tyler’s dad, Nick.
Her uncle’s growled response to an unheard question seemed to confirm it. “Because she’s the only one with the ability to enter my study, so I know it was her. She might hear you, true, but she doesn’t even know what she is. And my powers are stronger than hers will ever be. I’ll crush her when I find her.”
Crush me? Emily didn’t want to fight, and she had no idea what he meant by “what she is.” And what “powers” am I supposed to have? Emily thought about the tingling in her fingers. She had never felt it before, so maybe that’s what her uncle was talking about. Or maybe he knew about her trick of using “Open Sesame” to unlock things. There was also the triad. She had used it to reach into a mirror and pull Tyler out, which certainly felt like magic.
Emily realized Mansel had stopped talking, so she hurried back to her room with his words ringing in her ears. Could I really have powers? Because powers would be so cool. There was a great deal happening, and Emily needed time to sort everything out. Most importantly, she had to decide what to do about Tyler, Nick, the triad, and her uncle.
The sudden overload of concerns made Emily dizzy, so she locked her bedroom door and collapsed on the bed. “What a day!”
All she wanted to do was help Tyler, and now everything was going wrong. Her uncle knew she took the triad, and he seemed determined to get it back. The last thing she needed was to get into a fight with him, but she wasn’t sure how to avoid it.
A tap on the window brought her off the bed like a catapult shot. She whirled around to see Tyler at the window, pointing and laughing.
“Whew, that was great. I’ve never seen anybody move so fast.”
Emily snorted and her hands went to her hips. She had completely forgotten he was there. “Very funny,” she sniped, but his smile and laughter were infectious. Her first giggle triggered a second one, and then a third, and after that she couldn’t stop. It made it hard to open the window, but she finally managed to slide it open. “Get in here, and be serious.”
Tyler hopped through the window. “Yes, ma’am.” He settled on the bed next to her with an overly-serious expression. “Tell me, young lady, exactly what happened.”
When her giggles finally subsided, Emily gave him a whispered explanation of what she had seen and heard, leaving out the remarks about “what she is” and “powers.” It intrigued her, but she decided to keep those comments to herself until she could find out more.
“Your uncle looked pretty mad when he came in here, but he didn’t stay long. I’ll bet he doesn’t know you’re home.”
“Possibly.” Emily was sure she hadn’t been seen or heard, so there was no reason for her uncle to immediately return to her room. “And I doubt he knows you’re out of the mirror.”
Tyler gave her a calculating grin. “You’re right, and that gives us an advantage.”
“An advantage?” The idea of having an advantage sounded good, but Emily didn’t feel like she had one. “But he knows I took the triad and watch, and he’s looking for them.” She glanced at the door, nervous to mention them. “I think we need to get out of here.”
“Okay, but I have an idea that will mess with his mind. Let’s take the triad and watch with us, but we’ll leave the box here. When your uncle finds it, he’ll get all excited before he figures out we tricked him. We can even put something else in the box, just to piss him off. After all, I owe him one.”
“That’s mean, but I like it. We need only enough time to get to the dining room and get your dad out of the mirror. After that, you and Nick can get the heck out of here.” Emily wasn’t sure what she was going to do after they were gone, but she decided to worry about it later.
Tyler snapped his fingers. “Exactly!”
With a plan in place, as simple as it was, Emily looked for anything they could use to substitute for the triad and watch. She hadn’t brought much from New York, but she remembered seeing an old toy chest in the closet. It might have a few things they could use, so she went to find it while Tyler fetched the box from behind the chimney.
“How did you get this thing open?” Tyler asked as he ducked under the window and reentered the room with the box.
Emily had dragged the toy chest into the room and was kneeling in front of it. She looked up to see Tyler at the foot of her bed fumbling with the lock. “I know you’re going to laugh, but I said “Open Sesame” and the lock just popped open.”
As expected, the admission sparked a round of laughter. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Shh. Keep it down.” She knew trying to explain would bring more of the same, so she panned, “Give it a try. It won’t kill you.”
“Oh yes it could if I die of laughter,” Tyler whispered before he waved his arms like a Las Vegas magician. “Are you ready?”