Snow White's Mirror

by Shonna Slayton

“Care to elaborate?” Billie shifted her position to stand between Fremont and the door.

  Meanwhile, the helpful man returned with a surprising amount of donated clothing for Fremont, who excused himself to get changed. Billie followed to stand guard at the bathroom door. No chance was she letting him get away.

  When he came out wearing the mismatched and ill-fitting clothes, he rubbed his hands together. “If you will not leave me alone, how about you feed me?”

  “I can do that.” She indicated that he should walk ahead of her to the small restaurant where a table had just opened up.

  Fremont ate bowl after bowl of chili until Billie was sure he would explode. She peppered him with questions, but his mouth was always full of food. It was something to behold. It was like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

  “Where is my watch?” he finally said, leaving a smear of chili drippings on his white napkin.

  “Lou has it,” Billie said.

  Fremont stood. He tossed his napkin onto his plate and stormed out of the restaurant.

  Billie threw some money on the table and ran out after him. He couldn’t be serious about going back outside in the storm.

  “What’s the hurry?” Billie called as she hurried to catch up in the lobby.

  “It is mine; I want it back.”

  “But the flood.”

  She followed Fremont outside, and was pleasantly surprised to see the bulk of the storm had passed, and the river in the street had subsided to mere creek status. People were out on the sidewalks again, but the street was still impassible with the muddy, swirling water. Winn? She searched up and down the street, but there was no sign of him.

  Billie set her lips and chased Fremont out of town and up the mountain.

  What a sight they must look. Billie’s long skirt was now fully caked in brown mud, despite the fine sprinkling of rain washing her from above. She slipped and fell several times while climbing the mountain but Fremont never stopped to help. What a gentleman.

  Lou must have seen them coming for she was outside the door, shock registering on her face. “Fremont?” Her gaze darted to Billie and then back to Fremont. “Where did you go? All your belongings were left behind. I thought maybe you were dead. I even sent word back to your family in Germany that you were missing.”

  He marched into the shack, his gaze roaming the room. “Did you leave everything where I left it in the mine?” he asked. His tone indicated a weighted question.

  “Almost everything,” Lou hedged. “There was a window I put in the wall when mine broke.

  “Was not my window. Can I see my things?” He approached the mine door, but halfway across the room he stopped, noticing the oval window. He froze.

  Lou walked over to the magic mirror. “You sure this wasn’t yours?”

  Fremont squinted at the frame, listing his head to the right. He made a move as if to go closer, but then took a step away like it repulsed him. “What happened to it? It is supposed to be a mirror.”

  “The magic mirror from Snow White?” Lou said. She put her hands on her hips, rising to her full height. “You could have told me before leaving. You have no idea how much trouble that thing has caused.” She jabbed her finger in its direction.

  “Ach. I did not leave by choice. She tricked me.”

  “Didn’t you think to give me some warning?” Lou said.

  “That’s not something you spring on someone right away, now is it?”

  Lou frowned like she wasn’t buying his excuses. “Tell me now. Why did you bring the magic mirror here? You owe us an explanation.”

  “You’re family. If something happened, I knew you could step into my role.”

  Billie and Lou looked at each other.

  “What role?” Billie asked.

  “Protector of the mirror.”

  Billie sucked in a breath, reminded of an earlier conversation when Lou said the name Wilhelmina meant protector. A sense of foreboding settled into the pit of her stomach.

  But they weren’t looking at her, they were too busy staring angrily at each another.

  “The world thinks the evil queen danced herself to death in those iron shoes. But she didn’t. She danced herself right into her magic mirror.”

  Knew it. Billie nodded, pleased she’d already figured that part out.

  “Ever since, our family has been guarding the mirror to make sure the queen never hurt anyone else again.”

  “But she has.” Billie couldn’t stay quiet.

  Fremont glanced her way. “Matron was getting inside my head.” He pulled at his hair in frustration. “I had to get away from her before it was too late. That’s why I brought the mirror to you here. I thought I could bury it in the mountain, so far away from our homeland that I could keep us all safe.”

  “Thanks a lot. If you had said something I would have known to leave it back there.” Lou crossed her arms.

  “Would you? Wouldn’t you have wanted to test the mirror out first? See if it really was the magic mirror from Snow White? Curiosity can be a dangerous thing, cousin.”

  “Yes, I would have left it alone.”

  Lou said it with such conviction, Billie believed she was speaking the truth. Especially so after seeing all the luxury goods stored inside the mine, bribes that went unheeded.

  But Fremont scoffed. “The queen probably broke your window so you’d replace it with the one in the mine. You can’t beat her. She’s relentless. She works you over and over until the next thing you know, you’re trapped in the mirror yourself.”

  Billie gasped. “You were in the mirror, weren’t you? You never left town at all.”

  He turned red and nodded.

  “How? Why didn’t any of us see you?” Billie said. “I’ve been all over that misty land and it’s empty.”

  Now it was Fremont’s turn to look shocked. “You were in the mirror, too?”

  She nodded, then pointed to the magic mirror while raising her eyebrows at Lou. Who is listening in?

  “Go ahead. It’s Winn.”

  “Mirror, mirror on the wall.” Billie completed the poem and Winn’s face became clear.

  “Took you long enough to call me.” His eyes shot daggers in Fremont’s direction.

  The cousin startled. “You, too? How many people are in there?” He peered in as though looking for more faces.

  “Only one at a time, we thought,” Winn said. “We keep changing places. It used to be pretty consistent between me and Matron, but since Billie joined us, it’s all over the place.”

  Fremont scratched his beard, but when he remained quiet, Billie wondered if he was hiding something.

  “How could you be in the mirror, and we not know it?” Billie asked. “Shouldn’t you have landed back out in Lou’s cabin? Please, don’t keep secrets. We’re desperate, and you’re the one who’s responsible for bringing the mirror here.”

  Fremont paced from the mirror to the kitchen and back again, as if wrestling with what to tell them. “I found another portal.”

  Chapter 44

  “Is like a back door,” Fremont said to his stunned audience. “One that is not controlled by her or that big mirror.”

  “I knew it.” Billie clasped her fingers together and brought them to her lips. There was another way out. She met Winn’s gaze and smiled. He didn’t return her optimism.

  “Where is this other portal?” Winn asked. “How do I get to it?”

  “You will not find it.”

  Winn’s eyes grew angrier. “Try me.” He looked like he wanted to jump out of the mirror and pin Fremont to the floor.

  “I cannot.”

  “You mean you don’t know,” Billie said. She guessed that Fremont was as clueless as they were. “You stumbled into it by accident.”

  Fremont scowled. “I might be able to find it again, but I cannot give you directions. Is not like there are road signs in the mirror. Look around. That mist is everywhere. Nothing changes except the sounds.”

  Billie’s time in the mirror had
been void of sound, simply a vast ocean of white mist. “Winn said he heard music sometimes. What sounds did you hear?”

  Fremont shrugged. “Like I said. Cannot help you.”

  “Were you able to leave at will, then, or did the mirror push you out?” Winn asked. “We have no control here.”

  “Oh, I left at will. Stepped right out a few days ago. It was the best feeling I have had in a long time. To be free after one has been a prisoner.” A smile lit his face for the first time.

  “Where did you land when you stepped out?” Billie asked. If she were a gambler she’d bet it was at the Poisoned Apple.

  “I was not paying much attention,” he said, but his eyes shifted away. “Some saloon in town. The first thing I did was get away in case she found me.”

  “Can you describe anything?” Billie tried to impress on him the importance of his answer in her tone. “Even the smallest detail might help us.”

  “I landed inside a closet in an office. That is all I know. It was dark, and when I ran I hit the corner of a desk.” He rubbed his side. “Left a hefty bruise.”

  Matron’s office? Billie looked pointedly at Winn.

  “Since you left by this other portal, have you stayed out?” Winn asked.

  “Has been a few days. I think I am clear.” He folded his arms like he was cold. “Except I am back here standing in front of it. Thanks to that flood washing me out of my hiding place.” Fremont turned to Lou. “What day is it today? Or rather, how many days have I been gone?”

  “Days? You’ve been gone for months.”

  “Ach. Longer than I thought. Where are my things?” He pointed to his ill-fitting clothes. “I would like to dress.”

  “Wait. What direction do I start walking in?” Winn asked, looking over his shoulder at the mist.

  “No, no, no. That is the wrong question to ask. It is too late.” He pointed at Winn. “Something is wrong. That is supposed to be a mirror. Not a window.”

  “Matron said it was a window of opportunity when the portal became thin.”

  “Yes, but even then, it has always been a mirror.” Fremont cocked his head, thinking. “How long has it been like that?”

  “I don’t know, but I put it in my wall early spring.”

  “Matron said the window has stayed open for a long time because of the copper in the hills,” Billie said.

  Fremont nodded. “When I learned copper was a good conductor of electricity, we began researching its other attributes. Our theory is that copper, as a conductor, would stretch the boundaries of the mirror to allow for breaks in the portal where one could pass through. It would magnify the alternating charge. In theory.”

  “Who is we?” Billie asked, more interested in relationships than a talk on electricity.

  Fremont looked skittish. “My English; is wrong pronoun.” He cleared his throat. “Back to properties of copper. These hills are filled with copper and I—” he bugged his eyes at Billie, “underestimated the effect it would have on the magic mirror. Looks like my experiment had mixed results.”

  “Your experiment?” Lou said. “I thought you planned to bury the mirror, never to be found again?”

  “Ja, ja. But I wanted to see what the copper would do to it first. I did not realize it would be so unpredictable. Gone for months, you say?”

  The way he was talking raised alarms for Billie, but she didn’t know why, yet.

  He turned to Lou. “Where is my watch?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s here somewhere.”

  “The watch is the portal into the mirror, isn’t it?” Winn said. “The way the shoes were for Billie.”

  “How would you know?” Fremont said.

  Winn didn’t answer, so Billie did. “He found your watch near the mirror back in the mine, and when he touched it, he fell in.”

  “Interesting. Why were you in Lou’s mine?”

  Winn let out a long breath. “Matron told me to meet her for a private Faro game, but when I got here the place was empty. She had told me to go through into the mine to bring out some bottles of whiskey stored in there, and that’s when I saw the watch. She knew I’d be tempted to take it. Billie was being kind, but the reality was I was going to steal it.”

  Winn paced, working out what happened. “But why me? If she had already put you in place to take her spot in the mirror?”

  Fremont snorted. “You cannot blame your sticky fingers on her. That is your own moral downfall. You could have walked away, but your envious heart sold you out.”

  “The instant I touched it,” Winn said.

  Fremont nodded. “Matron thought I would replace her, but it only half worked. She needed another to finish the job. Meanwhile, I was doing everything I could to get out. I tried mailing the watch to Chester to see if distance could break the spell on me since the mirror would not let me leave town. I suppose it almost worked, but not in my favor. That must have been when I got locked in for those months away.”

  Billie started to speak, but Fremont held up his hand.

  “Before you ask, I chose your father because I knew that if I needed the piece back, I could contact him for it. If my theory was correct, he wouldn’t be tied to the mirror, so I wasn’t putting him at risk.”

  “Lou kept catching me in her mine, and I could never explain to her why I was there,” Winn said. “It was just happening, and it was always dark, so I didn’t know what was going on. Matron told everyone I was blacking out from drinking, but I knew I wasn’t. I really thought I was losing my mind until Lou put the mirror into her wall and discovered me.”

  Fremont chuckled. “That I would have liked to see. Lou chewing you out for breaking into her mine I mean.”

  “I’ll show you a chewing out, Fremont,” chided Lou. “What are you going to do to help these young people?”

  “Me?”

  “You’re the one responsible. If it weren’t for you, the mirror would be tucked away in the family mines in Germany, and these kids would be free to live their lives.”

  “I had my reasons. I thought this was the best way. I made a mistake, all right? Is that what you want to hear? Can I have the timepiece now?”

  “Why do you want it so badly?” Lou said, her eyes narrowed.

  “The queen gave it to me. I should never have accepted it. But now I need to check something.”

  Lou opened up her mine and returned with the pocket watch wrapped in a cotton towel. “Now that I know what it is I’m not touching it,” she said.

  “Does not work like that,” Fremont said. “Give it to me.”

  “First, you said you had a theory. What is it?” Lou asked.

  “I think the mirror trap works on those who covet. Matron wanted to be the fairest in the land; she coveted Snow White’s beauty. Young Winn there coveted riches, and my watch was his final undoing.”

  “What did you covet?” Billie asked as she repositioned a hair pin. This one piece of hair had fallen down and was bothering her.

  “None of your business,” he said, “but I can guess your downfall.” He pointed at her.

  Billie’s face warmed, and she lowered her hand. Can’t a girl fix her hair? “If we all have…issues, then why hasn’t the mirror released Matron with us in her place?”

  “Seems it’s got a hold on her in a way that it can’t hold us, but she’s trying, and I think getting closer.” He turned to Lou. “The watch?”

  She started to hand it over, but then stopped. “Listen. It started ticking.”

  “What does that mean?” Billie said.

  “The timepiece is tuned to the mirror, so now that it is ticking again it means the window of opportunity is closing.” Fremont avoided their gazes. “Is going to become a mirror again, soon. And when it does, whoever is inside stays until the next window opens.”

  Everyone began talking at once: “What do you mean?” and “How much time do we have?” and “How do we stop it?”

  “One at a time,” Fremont said, holding up his hand. “You cannot stop
it, and I do not know how much time you have. Once it closes, you cannot open again.”

  “It’s like the law of apex,” Billie said. “Whoever is tops in the rotation when the window closes is trapped. We need to force it so that Matron is in the mirror when the window closes.”

  Chapter 45

  Billie took Winn’s place inside the mirror at some point during the night, and by early morning, before the sun was up, they’d devised a plan based on what they knew about Matron and the mirror.

  Billie made a mental checklist of what they knew:

  The window was closing.

  They could speed the process by getting the mirror away from the copper in the hills.

  Whoever was in the mirror when the window closed would be trapped until the next opening.

  Matron didn’t have all the secrets but knew more than they did.

  She was able to push herself out of the mirror seemingly whenever she wanted; a new and frightening development.

  Matron was still tied to the mirror, however tenuous those ties had become.

  Minute to minute, Billie still spent the least amount of time in the mirror than either Matron or Winn, as if the mirror had trouble holding on to her.

  There was a back door, and only Fremont knew roughly where it was.

  He thought he could find it again. If he had to. Okay, he would do it, leave him alone, already.

  Fremont also knew the secret of how to get inside the mirror. Ach, no, he wouldn’t tell. That was not information you gave out to people, but Matron knew, too.

  And one thing that Billie knew, but still hadn’t shared: She was going to try to get a cure for her mother.

  Billie figured the others wouldn’t agree to try to get the cure for her mom, not because they wouldn’t want to help, but because they wouldn’t want her to get it from Matron, who could not be trusted.

  Billie had also come up with a theory about what made herself so disruptive to Matron’s plans. It all centered around copper.

  “You know how Matron said there was something about me that was preventing the mirror from doing what she expected?”

  Billie held up her reticule into the center of the frame so the others in the shack could see it. Her collection of pennies represented hope and planning for her future. “I carry more copper than the average girl. Do you think that might have something to do with it?”