The MirrorMasters

S
trange things happen
in Sea Cliff Heights every single year on this date, June 15th. Mysterious pulses of light flickered in the forest. Not-quite-solid figures appeared in the cemetery one second and disappeared the next. All day, I couldn't shake the intuition that this year would bring something much worse than the usual weirdness, much worse than the usual gibes about how it began thirteen years ago, the same night my parents found me abandoned on the beach.

"Let's watch something light — not a horror movie," I said.

"Leah, Leah, Leah." My brother David shook his head and scooted closer to Kara, my best friend, on their loveseat. They shared a conspiratorial grin. "Don't tell me you want to watch some lame comedy when we can have a slasher fest. It's tradition."

A shiver raced down my spine at the mental image the idea conjured, one of chilling music, strangled sobs and hitching breaths, followed by silenced screams. Tonight also marked the town tragedy of the 1870s, when strangers murdered the Stanford twins, the mayor's daughters. Of course David would insist we do something scary to commemorate the anniversary.

"Come on!" I shot him a pleading look. "I'm sure you breezed through exams, but I took three AP finals this week and fielded a million alien jokes today. Enough already — I deserve a break from crazy."

"Just go out to the cemetery with us," Kara said, her eyes sparkling. "We won't do anything risky, I promise."

Sure. Why wait for trouble to find us when we could seek it out and bring it right here?

 Glancing out the sliding glass doors toward the church beyond, I couldn't help checking for signs of unusual activity. My hands fidgeted, and I fought to still them. I thought I could just make out the sound of otherworldly voices speaking in urgent whispers outside. A gust of wind rustled the palm trees, obscuring any other noise and causing moonlight and shadows to flit across the lawn. Every muscle in my body tensed. Whatever might lurk out there, we'd be safer staying away from it.

"No. No way. I'm not playing around with that stuff. If there are ghosts, or aliens, or whatever, I don't want to know about it."

"Aren't you the least bit curious? Those girls lived in your house. They could still be here. Maybe you're connected to all this somehow. I mean, you're another Sea Cliff Heights mystery, and you have superhuman intuition. You could find out the answers…"

"How? An abandoned child isn't the same thing. It doesn't mean I'm from another planet, or the reincarnation of one of the Stanford twins, or whatever. Either way, we shouldn't go searching for answers in a cemetery, Kara."

Kara pulled a puppy face, complete with dimples.

"Don't give me that look!" Trying to act casual, I held up a pillow to shield my face. "David, talk some sense into her."

If David knew how rattled tonight had me, he'd tease me mercilessly. Kara, with her love of all things sci-fi and paranormal, would never understand.

"Oh, I don't know. What's the harm? Unless you're too scared." David snickered, his brown eyes crinkling with mischief.

Kara leaned over and ruffled his sandy blond hair. "See? Even David's game."

I flashed her a knowing smirk. Of course he'd be game for whatever Kara wanted to do. With a chuckle, I threw my pillow at him. "David, you don't even believe in that stuff."

"Hey!" David caught the pillow and tossed it back at me. "Ergo, there's no harm in going."

Laughing, I raised my arm to block his throw. "You don't know that."

Kara grabbed the pillow and whacked David with it. "You're supposed to be on my side."

Their eyes lit up as they wrestled each other for control over the pillow, laughing the whole time. I glanced away, a pang in my heart. In our group, I was a third wheel. 

"On that note, I'm going to go splash some water on my face. Maybe it'll help me stay awake."

Maybe it would give David and Kara the chance to have The Talk, but I doubted any serious discussion would happen. It would take an act of divine intervention to get them to admit their feelings for each other. Too bad — awkwardness aside, I wished they'd get past this aimless flirting already and finally start dating. If love brought them happiness, they deserved every bit of it.

Neither of them noticed as I crossed the game room and made my way down the hall to the bathroom. Good. At least they wouldn't pick up on how alone, how odd-girl-out, I felt.

The cool water invigorated me as it splashed against my skin. I wiped my hands and patted my face dry with a towel, meeting my eyes in the mirror. In the florescent lighting, my complexion shone snow-pale, ghostly pale, even though I'd already started working on a "summer tan." It was a hopeless cause.

Jenny should have showed by now. Kevin should have, too. He didn't have to babysit tonight. My nerves would ease, at least a little, once all my friends arrived. I wanted to hear Kevin say he didn't notice anything strange by the cemetery. It would start there, if anywhere, and he lived the closest to it.

The lights flickered, then went out. Startled, I jumped. Darkness and the scent of cucumber-melon air freshener enveloped me. My breaths quickened. Limbs trembling, I groped for the light switch and managed to find it, but flicking it up and down did nothing. Midway toward the doorknob, my hand paused as a bright flash in the mirror caught my gaze. I froze. Where was that light coming from? This bathroom didn't have a window.

It was coming from the mirror.

Transfixed, I saw the images in fragments. A soft glow of white light amid the trees. A blonde girl struggling out on the church grounds to protect herself and her sister — the Stanford twins! — against a man with ice-blue eyes. Strange symbols on his weapon that flashed, faster and faster, and hummed, higher and higher in pitch until it emitted a burst of green energy. One sister crumpled, while a boy with those same ice-blue eyes chased the other into the woods.

Then a wave of a hand, and shattered glass reassembling itself. Lightning bolts of electricity from a dark, cloaked figure striking a brunette girl. Her body, small and slender, falling to the floor — Jenny?

A hole in the ground, surrounded by headstones.

I stepped back, toward implied safety. That did not just happen. Oh, blazes, it did. The last trace shadows of a freshly dug grave, now covered, lingered in the glass.

"What is that?" My voice sounded small and tight to my ears in this enclosed space. I rubbed my arms in a vain effort to warm myself. Goosebumps prickled all along them. Dread seized me, settling like lead in the pit of my stomach.

I blinked as the images disappeared, leaving me in complete blackness again. Heart pounding in my chest with a desperate need to escape, I fumbled for the doorknob, barely restraining the impulse to pound the door like a crazy person when my fingers failed to find it. Out in the game room, I heard the patio door slide open. Kevin said something to David and Kara, but his words were muffled, indistinct, worried. A jolt of fear shot through me. What if Kevin told them Jenny had been hurt — or worse — just like the mirror had shown?

"Leah, come on," David called.

"Coming!" My hand finally grasped the doorknob. When I turned it and pushed, the bathroom door wouldn't budge. I pushed again, harder. The door still didn't move. "Guys, wait! I'm stuck."

Their only reply was the sliding glass door slamming shut.

"Help me get out of here!" I pounded the door, frantic now. Nobody came. They must have already gone outside, leaving me trapped with these images and unable to help them, warn them — they had no idea they were walking into real danger. Summoning every ounce of strength I possessed, I threw my body against the door to force it open. It stubbornly stayed in place. Again and again I tried, until my shoulder ached so badly I had to stop.

Wait. I would not let a little power outage, a stuck door, or strange noises freak me out. In an old house like this, I should expect stuff like that to happen. No, they were just a product of my wild imagination, fueled by my fears about tonight. Besides, the others would be back for me when they realized I wasn't coming, wouldn't they?

"Use logic to rule out all other possibilities until you're left with the correct explanation," Dad would say. Logically, it made the most sense to believe I'd imagined it all.

But what if it was real?

"Trust your instincts," Mom would say. The last time I'd had an instinct, something awful was about to happen: Mom and Dad got into a bad car crash on the way home from a movie after I'd begged them not to go out that night. And the time before that, Jenny would have died of complications from surgery if I hadn't told Mrs. Taylor to take her back to the hospital.

Maybe I'd experienced those glimpses for a reason. Maybe I'd gotten trapped in here, with no other option but to face my fears, for a reason. If it meant finding out what might happen so I could protect myself and the people I loved, I wanted — no, needed — to know.

The mirror lit with an eerie glow again, as if responding to my desire. All thoughts of fleeing gone, I peered in closer, willing the images to become clearer.

I
n a secluded forest
clearing stood two shadowy figures illuminated by the white light of a glowing crystal orb. A reverberating melody, sweet and clear, began to sound. The light brightened and danced to its rhythm until both figures had to shield their eyes against its brilliance. Eventually it faded, but enough light remained to see through the darkness.

I squinted but kept my gaze on the mirror, straining to make out the details of their faces. One thing I could tell for certain: the taller of the two, the man, had attacked that girl with electricity like lightning. He'd reassembled shattered glass with a wave of his hand to keep her from escaping him. Or, maybe it hadn't happened yet.

"Everything's ready. Now we can begin," the woman said, holding the silver crystal in the palm of her hand. It warmed to her touch, the first sensation she'd experienced in an eternity. She had succeeded. A laugh of pure joy escaped her lips. Tonight they would end their banishment and return home.

Stunned, I stepped back from the mirror. How could I know this woman's thoughts, sense her emotions? Shock almost made me lose my connection to the scene, but I held on. I had to watch what would happen next.

The man waved his hand over the crystal, an elegant gesture that attracted my attention. His ice blue eyes glittered, electric in their intensity. "Good," he said. "I wanted to begin this an hour ago."

Those eyes — I recognized them. Some distant memory sparked, a memory of tears and wanting to hide. My mind refused to give any other details. I shook my head. Impossible
.
Where would I have met this man before?

"The preparations take time," the woman replied, taking a deliberate step toward him. Leaves and twigs crunched beneath her feet, and she relished the sound. "They're out there waiting for us. Do you doubt me or my abilities?" Defiance laced her words as she met his gaze.

"Doubt you, Aedalina? Never. I'm rather impressed that you summoned all those earthbound spirits so quickly."

Aedalina gave him an appraising glance, assessing his motives for the flattery. Most likely, to put her off guard — a calculated risk on his part, and one that would not pay off. She was not so easily dominated. A whirlwind of emotions coursed through her — irritation, amusement, anticipation — all too overwhelming and new after being trapped so long in that hazy nothingness.

"I was not aiming to impress. The spell merely drew them here like it was supposed to. They're awaiting their freedom, the fools! Still, I cannot blame them; they have no idea what is in store for them."

"They should be grateful for the time they were given. To roam the earth wherever they pleased while in spirit form is more than most ever receive."

"Hmm…you don't believe there is anything more beyond, do you?" Aedalina shook her head in wonder. A gentle breeze stirred, rustling the branches above. When it quieted, she could make out the sounds of the surf far below, crashing against the nearby cliff.

"I have yet to decide what I believe, but for them, there is not."

"You say that with such confidence. As familiar as I am with the workings of this spell and the Soul Crystal, I cannot say they have no chance of continued existence. No matter. Since you're so impatient to get started, go retrieve the one we are looking for, now that you've found her. How ironic that she will be the one to complete the final ritual! You're absolutely certain it's her? There's no room for mistakes, or we'll be discovered."

My heart constricted. So they did plan to take someone tonight. If they would give me a clue about their intended victim, I might have a chance to stop it. Unfortunately, the sound chose that moment to fade in and out like static. Keeping the connection going was draining me. What did the man say?

"Yes, yes, I'm certain. I know what's at stake. The girl looks just as the lost MirrorMaster would, assuming she takes after her father. And she knows her true heritage. She confessed that to her human father once, during one of her weekly visits. Such a tragic sight, watching her kneel in front of his grave crying her poor eyes out while telling all the pitiful details of her life. Maybe she will welcome the ritual if she thinks it will reunite them. At least I could have a little fun and persuade her to believe she feels that way." A smirk played across his aristocratic features, sharpening the refined curve of his brows, his thin lips and aquiline nose into sinister angles, and he placed a hand over his heart in mock concern.

Aedalina quirked an eyebrow, torn between amusement and exasperation. "You and your fun."

"If we had not been waiting so long to do this, I'd much rather have fun with you now that we can," he replied, giving her a teasing smirk. He circled Aedalina, his eyes never straying from her. Standing in front of her once more, he toyed with a strand of her hair.

"So soft. I wonder if your lips are still as soft..." He reached his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him, capturing her lips in a voracious kiss filled with more than a decade full of desire.

The crush of his body against hers took her by surprise, and she found herself unable to resist melting into him. His familiar scent of sandalwood aftershave, heady and alluring, reached her nostrils.

"Erik," she murmured, dazed and clinging to him for support.

He smirked once more, pleased by her reaction.

That snapped her back to her senses. Eyes smoldering with fury, she shoved him away. She longed to slap him but didn't dare and lowered her outstretched hand. Her every instinct screamed at her to step farther away from him, but she refused to yield her ground. It irked her that he had already managed to beguile her. Clearly, she could not afford to trust him, and she still could not trust herself around him.

"It's back to the task at hand, is it?" he asked with a shrug, his tone cold. "Fine, then. We'd better go collect her while we still can."

"I should rejoin the others and keep them from getting too restless. Surely only one of us is needed for the task, as the girl will not prove too much of a challenge. I'll be waiting for you in the cemetery when you've retrieved her."