Dark Side Of The Mirror (Emily's War)

by R. L. Austin

  The ability to wear whatever clothes she wanted was a treat, but Emily continued to wear some of the dresses she once hated. Tyler gave her compliments every time she did, but she also wore them because she had grown to like them. Not many girls wore dresses, so they made her stand out. She used to dread that feeling, but once she knew she had powers that most people didn’t, she rather enjoyed being different.

  The freedom to use electronics was another luxury Emily enjoyed, but it soon became apparent that the house’s antiquated electrical system was woefully inadequate for modern electronics. It was impossible to get her television to work, so Emily gave up and spent her time reading Dimensional Magic from cover to cover and memorizing the spells. Her favorite spell allowed her to find lost objects. After some practice, she didn’t even need to be told what was missing. All she had to do was touch a person who had lost something to know what was missing and where to find it.

  Her first chance to use the spell to help someone came while visiting Tyler. They were walking through a neighborhood park, hand in hand, when Emily noticed a young girl sitting on a swing. She was crying. Emily pulled Tyler over to the little girl to ask what was wrong, and she tearfully explained that her new puppy was missing.

  “If I find him for you, will that cheer you up?”

  “You can do that?”

  “You bet I can.” The spell took Emily to a nearby field where she found the tiny puppy. He was tired and hungry, but no worse for his adventure.

  The little girl clapped her hands with delight when Emily presented the puppy. “Thank you for finding Mr. Biggles.”

  Emily gave her the squirming handful and leaned over so the two of them were at eye level. “You’re very welcome. Now take care of Mr. Biggles and don’t let him wander off again.”

  “I won’t.” The little girl turned and ran to a woman reading a book on a nearby bench. “Mommy, look, he’s back.”

  Emily felt proud that she had helped someone, and it led her to a firm decision. She was only going to use her powers for good.

  ***

  The first positive news in Jean’s lawsuit came when the handwritten will was confirmed as authentic and the will Mansel had produced was deemed a forgery. In celebration, Jean made the bold announcement that she was going to remodel the mansion.

  “You are going to put in a new electrical system, aren’t you?” Emily made a show of crossing her fingers.

  “Yes, dear. I’ll even have them install a Wi-Fi system for your computer.”

  The silver bracelet, or saffa, turned out to be useful during the remodel. The added strength enabled Emily to lift and carry furniture and boxes that even a grown man would have difficulty moving. It also allowed her to run faster and farther, which she put to good use by joining Tyler on his daily runs. The two of them, jogging side by side, soon became a regular sight in Walnut Creek.

  Emily loved everything about spending time with Tyler, but her favorite part was the way he introduced her. He would hold her hand and announce, “This is Emily, my girlfriend.” Hearing those words made Emily’s heart beat a little faster every time.

  The local boys were quick to accept Emily and make friends, but the girls in Walnut Creek were another matter. Emily was always polite to them, but it was impossible to ignore the resentment she saw in their eyes. When she noticed it, she would slip her arm through Tyler’s and purposely brush her hip against his. It didn’t win her many female friends, but she enjoyed the smoldering looks of jealousy she could create without magic.

  ***

  While Emily enjoyed spending time in Walnut Creek, Tyler preferred the bustling action of San Francisco. The two of them were exploring China Town together when they bumped into a man with gray hair and dressed head to toe in black clothes. It wasn’t Mansel, but Emily thought about her last encounter with her uncle and wondered what would happen when he was released from jail.

  Tyler must have had similar thoughts, because he said, “I hope your uncle never comes back.”

  “Me too.” Emily used the excuse to snuggle against Tyler. “I’ve learned all the spells in the first book I read. Most of them require a mirror, and it takes a lot of practice to get them to work right.”

  “What have you learned so far?”

  “Well, I can lock a door or open it without a key. I can also make myself invisible, at least when I’m standing in front of a mirror.”

  “Not bad! Can you fly or turn lead into gold?”

  “Nope, sorry, I haven’t figured out how to fly. And if I could turn lead into gold I’d be wearing a ton of it.”

  Tyler gave a warm chuckle before Emily continued, “I also found a spell that allows me to be a spy.”

  “A spy?”

  “Yeah. I can use one mirror to see through another one, no matter how far away it is. It’s kind of like watching a webcam, except there’s no camera.”

  “That’s pretty cool.”

  “I thought so too. But you’re never going to believe the best one.”

  “I’ve seen some weird stuff already, so I might.”

  “Yeah, but this one is pretty unbelievable. I can pull my image out of the mirror.”

  Tyler stopped walking. “Wow! That is awesome. I can’t wait to see you do that.”

  “It’s pretty cool,” Emily admitted. “The image doesn’t talk, but it will respond to my commands.”

  Tyler smirked and rubbed his chin, the same way Nick did when he was thinking. “Hey, can I get one of those things to clean my room—or do my homework?”

  “Sure, but only after it’s finished with mine.” Emily gave his shoulder a playful shove. “But seriously, I don’t think that’s what they’re meant for. And I don’t like to use magic unless I have to. It’s kind of a pain.”

  “A pain? Are you kiddin’ me?”

  “No, I’m not kidding. And it’s not the magic that’s such a pain. It’s the side effects.”

  “Whataya mean?”

  “Every time I use a spell, my phone loses its signal, or the power goes out. It’s always something. Mom and Dad know I can’t help it, but I’m sure they’re tired of using candles every time I practice spells. And the more I practice, the worse it gets. I can’t even touch my computer unless I’m wearing my amulet. If I ever forget, I’ll just know I’ll blow the thing up.”

  Tyler offered a sympathetic grin. “At least you’ve got the necklace.”

  Emily loved the way Tyler found the bright side of any problem. “I know how good I’ve got it. And the reason I keep practicing is because I can’t stop thinking about all those people in the mirrors. They must have families that miss them.”

  “Yeah, I keep thinking about them too.”

  Emily turned to Tyler with a look of determination and snapped her fingers. “We’ve still got a month until school starts. Why don’t we start getting them out of the mirrors and helping them find their families?”

  Tyler gave her a smile and nodded. “Okay, I’m in. But this time let’s start with a little old lady. Okay?”

  ***

  Emily was awakened before dawn by a police siren and flashing lights. By the time she got dressed and went downstairs, the police were leaving. She found her parents holding hands across the kitchen table. Her father was shirtless, allowing her to see the bullet wound on his shoulder was mostly healed. “What’s going on?”

  Jean looked up with a worried expression. “Mansel has escaped.”

  “Escaped? How?”

  Paul patted Jean’s hand before he turned to Emily. “The police don’t know. All they were able to tell us was that he was being moved from the jail to a holding facility at the courthouse for his sentencing. When they got there, he asked to use the bathroom. It had no windows, so the police let him go in alone. When he didn’t come out, they went in to check on him, but he was gone.”

  Emily managed to look calm on the outside, but her heart was thumping in her chest. There must have been a mirror in the bathroom, she realized, but she had no
idea how he used it to escape without the triad. “What are the police going to do about it?”

  “They are looking for him, of course, and they offered to make extra patrols of the neighborhood. They also advised that if we see or hear anything suspicious, we should call 911.”

  Emily and her father spent the day changing every lock on the house.

  That evening, Emily left the family room while her parents were discussing Mansel’s escape and the lawsuit. She went to her uncle’s study, which she now considered her own, to investigate the bag of powder Tyler had found in Mansel’s pocket. She poured a tiny pile of the white powder onto the top of her desk and examined it from every angle. It didn’t have any smell, but it sparkled in the light of a nearby lamp. Emily grabbed a magnifying glass from a nearby shelf and gave it a closer look. The powder contained tiny granules that looked like finely ground pieces of mirror.

  “No surprise.”

  She swiped the tip of a pencil through the powder and waved the triad over it, but nothing happened. A small mirror, held over the powder, also caused no reaction. The powder might not be magical at all, but Emily wasn’t going to take the risk of touching it. Not yet.

  Emily was reaching for the watch on the far side of the powder when she bumped the triad and knocked it over. The powder erupted in a puff of fine dust that settled over the watch at the same time Emily grabbed it. She didn’t feel anything, but when she tried to let go, the watch stuck to her fingers as if it had been coated with glue.

  She remembered the doorknob in her parent’s bedroom and how she had used her amulet to get free. The amulet was in her pocket, so she reached in and touched it with her clenched hand. Her fingers released and the watch fell to the bottom of her pocket.

  “Whew. Thanks, grandma, you saved me again.”

  Emily was nervous to touch the watch again, but she had the amulet if it stuck to her. She pulled the watch out of her pocket and held it over the desk before she tried to release her fingers. The watch slipped free without difficulty.

  A few more tests confirmed the powder’s glue-like quality worked only once per application.

  It was late and Emily was tired, so she took the triad and the watch to the roof and put them in the iron box behind the chimney. She locked the box with a standard padlock, followed by a second lock that snapped shut when she said “close.” The double security made her confident they would be safe.

  Emily wanted to say goodnight to her parents, so she went back downstairs. Jean and Paul were still discussing Mansel’s escape, so Emily poked her head into the room and wished them sweet dreams. She was passing her study on the way back to her room when she made a last-second decision to take the powder with her.

  The first thing Emily noticed when she entered the room was the closed lid on the trunk. She couldn’t remember if she had left it open or closed, so she lifted the lid and looked inside. Nothing looked out of place, so she grabbed the bag of powder from the desk and started to leave. She was at the door when she heard a noise behind her. When she turned, her uncle was emerging from a mirror directly over the trunk.

  He jumped to the floor with an evil smile on his thin lips before she could react. “I was hoping I’d find you here.”

  Emily felt too surprised to be scared, and her mind raced to understand. She had the triad locked in the metal box behind the chimney, so how he was using a mirror without it?

  Her uncle must have recognized her confusion, because he lifted his foot to show her the sole of his shoe. A small blue triangle had been inserted into the rubber material. “You know so little, otherwise you’d understand the triad is a key. And I always make copies of my keys.”

  “Why did you come back? You’ve got your own triad now.”

  “It’s simple, really.” Her uncle glanced down at his shoe. “This crude copy can only be used a few times without a recharge, so I still need the original.”

  He made a lunge for Emily, but she darted out of the room before he could reach her. As soon as the door slammed shut, she whispered, “close,” knowing Mansel would need a few seconds to figure out what she had done and reverse the spell.

  Emily used the moment to think. She decided her first priority was to protect her parents and the second was to capture Mansel—again.

  She ran for the rear stairwell, which would take them away from her parents, with the bag of powder clenched in her fist. Emily reached the end of the hallway at the same time her uncle got the door open and charged after her. She ducked into the stairwell and bounded up the stairs two at a time, pausing at each landing to gauge how close he was. When she reached the third floor she stopped, because she could no longer hear her uncle’s footsteps. She spotted him standing on a lower landing, hunched over and trying to catch his breath.

  On a whim, Emily leaned over the railing and called down, “Hey! What’s the matter, old man? Can’t keep up?”

  Her uncle looked up with a snarl, so Emily gave him a friendly little wave. The cheeky gesture brought Mansel pounding up the stairs with a growl that sounded like an enraged grizzly bear.

  Emily darted into the back of her closet and said, “Close,” to lock the door at the top of the stairs. Despite the seriousness of the moment, she was enjoying her ability to frustrate her uncle over and over. But she knew he would catch on sooner or later, so it was time to end the chase before he did. She sprinkled a small amount of powder on the inside handle of the closet door that opened to her room. With her trap set, she stepped into her room to wait.

  Her uncle burst out of the closet, “There you are,” but he was almost yanked off his feet when his fingers refused to let go of the door handle. “Damn you!” He grabbed his clenched fist and tried to pull it free, but that got his other hand stuck.

  Emily was delighted to see her plan work so well. “Gotcha! And you’re not getting away this time.”

  Mansel had to twist around to see her. “I’m not going back to jail. I promise you that.” He gave a strong tug at the doorknob, groaning with the effort to pull free, but he was stuck.

  His futile effort gave Emily the confidence to snap back, “We’ll see about that.”

  The police hadn’t done a good job of holding Mansel, and Emily didn’t want to risk another escape, so she made the decision to deal with her uncle in her own way. The thought of facing her uncle, one on one, was definitely scary, but she was undaunted.

  Emily was looking around her room, hoping for inspiration, when her gaze fell on the mirror that Tyler had given her as a gift. The sight of it gave her an idea that was simple, yet effective. She slid the window open and hurried to the box behind the chimney.

  Her uncle gave her a wary look when she climbed back in the window with the triad, but it wasn’t until she picked up the mirror that he realized she intended to put him in it. He gave several frantic tugs on the knob, but to no avail. “You can’t do this!”

  Emily heard fear in her uncle’s voice for the first time, and she knew he was thinking of the vast emptiness of the other dimension. Once he was inside the mirror without a triad, he would be trapped. Even if he managed to be in the right place to catch one of the mirrors as they randomly appeared and disappeared, he would have no way of escaping through it. It was the perfect way to hold him until she could decide on a permanent solution.

  Emily held the mirror over his head, but Mansel jerked wildly, trying to keep her from lowering it over him.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Emily warned. “I might drop the triad while only part of you is inside the mirror.”

  Mansel looked at her with narrowed eyes, but he stopped jerking. He also switched to a new tactic. “Wait! I can teach you. I’ve got knowledge and experience you can only imagine.”

  Emily knew he would use his skills to escape rather than teach, and he would probably hurt her and her parents in the process. “No, thanks. I’ll figure out how to use my powers on my own.”

  She was lowering the mirror again when he blurted, “I’v
e got secrets. If you put me in there, you’ll never know…” He clamped his mouth shut, as if he had said more than he intended.

  Emily stopped. “Know? Know what?”

  Mansel licked his lips and stared at the mirror over his head before he answered. “I know where your grandmother is.”

  Emily almost dropped the mirror before she was able to catch it. Could her grandmother be alive? A moment of pure joy quickly changed to anger. “What did you do to her?” It sounded even more ominous than Emily intended, and she was glad it came out that way.

  “She’s alive, and she’s safe, but I want a deal before I say more.”

  “No deals!” Emily could feel a growing rage at the thought of Mansel staging his own mother’s death. The horrible incident had caused a great deal of pain, and someone’s body was in that car. It was also possible that he was telling a lie to stay out of the mirror. “Tell me where she is, or I might put only half of you in the mirror.” She wiggled the mirror in warning.

  Mansel gave her a wide-eyed stare. “She’s in a mirror, but only I know which one.”

  Emily glared at him with all the anger she was feeling, and a growing determination to get the truth. “What’s the setting for her mirror? You better tell me.”

  “I’m not going to tell you anything. Not if you’re going to put me in there.” He shrugged at the mirror she was holding.

  Emily hefted it back over his head in an unspoken threat. “Tell me. Now!”

  “No! Not unless we have a deal.”

  Emily had no intention of making a deal. She would find her grandmother on her own, even if she had to visit every mirror, one by one. “Like I said before, no deals.”

  She lowered the mirror over her uncle until the frame bumped against his fists that were still clenched around the door handle.

  In all the excitement, Emily had forgotten a small but important detail. The only way she could free his hands was by using the amulet, and when she did, he would be free to attack. She also couldn’t touch the amulet while her uncle was only halfway in the mirror. If her power was blocked, it might cut him in half. It might be a fitting punishment for the things he’d done, but Emily dismissed the dark thought with a shake of her head.