The Man in the Mirror
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
Ceri
C eri was exhausted. She’d gone from hauling people back and forth across the river to frantically pouring over books in the library with the others, trying to find something to make sense of the world Leo described, and all of it on only a few hours of sleep.
The best they could come up with for a locket that caused a woman to whisper for people to come closer was some sort of scorned lover situation. Because Rinka had turned from it when she encountered the same thing, they couldn’t know what she would do if she got ahold of Leo.
Ceri guessed it was nothing good.
She wrote to him what she knew and took a nice, hot bath. The ‘lectrics had finally come back.
She crawled into bed and was fast asleep before she even thought to check the mirror.
When she woke, she checked the journal and was disappointed to see his message.
Not that she didn’t want to hear from him. She’d just been hoping he would be back here instead.
She dressed in the bathroom, pulling on another jumper and tidying her hair in the mirror.
Leo was there.
Ceri froze. She was terrified if she turned around, he would vanish.
“Can you hear me?” she whispered. Ana was still sleeping in their bedroom.
Leo shook his head. Alright, he couldn’t hear her, but he could see her.
Ceri wished she’d learned sign language. He was right there, so close that she could see him, but she couldn’t speak to him.
He stepped closer.
In the reflection, it looked as though he was right behind her.
He mouthed her name, and though she couldn’t hear it, she could feel it deep within her.
He brushed his hand at the hair on her neck. She couldn’t feel anything.
She brushed away the hair herself, revealing the soft skin underneath.
The Leo in the mirror wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed her to him. She could almost feel the sensation.
She leaned back into it.
He leaned over and pressed his lips to her neck. She felt the phantom touch on her skin, like the moments after he’d touched her for the first time in the library.
She sighed.
In the reflection, he touched the jumper she’d just put on. She pulled it over her head.
He kissed the strap of her brassiere. She pushed it off her shoulder.
She pressed herself back against him. She felt him there or maybe imagined it. Maybe both.
This was somewhere between dream and reality. A liminal space where the veil between worlds was thin.
She wanted him. She could feel he wanted her.
She couldn’t turn around.
She had to turn around, had to see him, to give herself to him.
She couldn’t. She must.
She turned.
Nothing. There was nothing.
He was gone.
Ceri ran across the room to the journal.
“What’s going on?” asked Ana, her head still on the pillow.
“Nothing important,” said Ceri. “Go back to sleep.”
“You got it,” said Ana, beginning to snore again almost immediately.
Leo had already written something by the time she opened the journal.
I don’t know for certain if what I just saw was truly you. I hope that it was.
I want you, desperately.
I want to tell you what I’d do if I was there.
Do you want me to?
Did she want him to?
Yes.
Gods, yes, Ceri replied.
Then she watched the page fill, and she added in some of her own ideas as well.
And when they were done, she ripped it from the journal and placed it with the other secrets.
Leo’s next entry was far more fit for public consumption.
Ceri had noticed him writing it while she was having her breakfast, and she’d let him continue without interruption: she knew how much the observations in the journal meant to him, and the more detail he was able to provide them, the better.
Sunday? Day 7? of Autumn Term
I’m finding it difficult to keep an accurate accounting of the time in this place. I went to sleep at night and awoke during what appears to be the afternoon, although I can’t imagine more than eight hours had passed. Ceri, if you’re able to add the approximate dates and times in our world to my entries, that would be most helpful for the sake of future reference.
The school is much as it was before, but the ‘lectrics are entirely missing. The Norminster Yew has some fragments of its heartwood remaining where none exist in our time, and, most interestingly, the ruined western side of the cloister is in intact. If I recall correctly from my fresher orientation, that part of the school was severely damaged in a fire some fifty years ago or more.
I find it hard to believe it merely a coincidence that the lighter is most active under such conditions. Indeed, I believe it likely that this is the very lighter used to start the infamous fire. Although I’d very much like to observe the western cloister as it once was, I have avoided the area for this reason.
My last and truly most remarkable observation is that I am not alone here. I first spotted the young dwarf walking around the courtyard from the bedroom window. He appears to be harmless, merely walking around the yew and whistling, but I thought it best to avoid him. I took the longer route through the eastern buildings to reach the library, hoping to refresh my memory on the circumstances of the fire, but of course that book has yet to be written.
As I left the library, I noted the dwarf walking into the western cloister and the building beyond. I continued to avoid it and the courtyard, entering the dining hall from the eastern corridor. There is once again fresh food and drink on the table, although I’ll note that it is severely lacking in seasoning compared to what I’m accustomed to. It seems I shan’t starve while I’m here, except for the starvation of my palate for the variety it so craves.
I feel much more at ease now that the ring has gone. Although I don’t doubt the power of the remaining objects, it feels as if I can prevent much of their danger by carefully avoiding the circumstances that surround them.
I have a theory that these movements in time are related to the watch in some way. It is a simple explanation, but the simplest explanation is often the most likely to be correct. Unfortunately, without further data points, it’s impossible to determine how, exactly, that the watch is responsible for the transitions. The first occurred due to what seemed to be a natural lightning strike. The second possibly occurred due to the influence of my dream. I’m hoping I can measure the watch’s activity during the next transition, assuming there is one. I have tried to wind it manually, but it won’t budge. Perhaps the lightning fused its gears in some way.
I shall try the library again tomorrow once the sun is up. I had forgotten how difficult it is to conduct research by candlelight. And although I never thought I’d say it, I miss whatever magic the library in our world possesses that enables it to suggest books, no matter how temperamental and insulting it may be. Its absence is more of a hindrance than I’d imagined.
“He’s right about the watch,” said Idris once he’d finished chewing his toast.
“You think he’s traveling in time?” asked Rinka.
“No, not in the sense that it’s the same timeline we’re on or that he can impact it in any way. I think the things he’s seeing are more like echoes of things that happened related to his objects. You said he’d found them all in town, right?”
“At charity shops in town. Maybe he found one of them in the school; it’s in here somewhere—” said Ceri, flipping through the pages.
“I bet they all were here at the school at some point, and he’s living through those memories,” said Idris. “The watch is what’s carrying him from one to another.”
“Do you think if he breaks it, he’ll come back here?” asked Alison.
“Possibly,” said Idris. “Although it seems as though it’s already broken. It also could leave him trapped where he is. I think what’s more likely is he needs to do something with each object, possibly during its own time, to move between them. It seems like getting rid of the locket took him out of its time. I wish the nightmare had brought more of the objects back, but maybe it could only bring back what was active. I still think the best bet is to try to neutralize each one. Whatever he’s meant to do with them should probably be avoided.”
“But would it even hurt him?” asked Keir. “If, say, he became trapped by the fire like I was. The fire was clearly an illusion of some kind. Was there any true danger in it? In the vine’s world, Alison fell to her death, and it just restarted the loop.”
“But I didn’t die,” said Alison. “Charlotte didn’t die.”
Idris rubbed his neck where he’d been choked. That danger at least had seemed real enough. “Keir, the curse you created was not born out of the kind of malice I detected on those objects,” said Idris. “I asked Dean Whittaker last night about any fires connected to the school, and the dwarf that set that fire died in it.”
Ceri thought of the dwarf Leo had seen. Do not approach the dwarf, she wrote as Idris continued.
“I don’t think the world he’s in is like the world you inadvertently created. I think it’s a world born out of the malice of those cursed objects, and I think it’s very dangerous indeed.”
“But if that’s the case, why has he been safe in my room?” asked Ceri. “Why can’t whatever’s there approach him when he’s inside?”
Idris frowned. “No idea. I guess we’d better go find out.
Ceri had worried there would be some sort of embarrassing answer tied to their flirtation, but the true answer, it turned out, was Ana.
“There’s fairy magic here, or something exactly like it,” said Alison when she entered the room. “It has that same feeling of invitation I felt a few months ago.”
“Oh, that was me,” said Ana shyly. “Just something my dad taught me. I don’t really know how it works, but he said it’s for keeping me safe, and I should perform the ritual everywhere I sleep. It’s a little bizarre. You have to rub this serum over the doorway and chant something in the fairy tongue. It’s really hard to pronounce; it’s kind of like speaking backwards. I’m actually excited that I did it right. He’s going to be really proud when I tell him.”
She handed a vial of sparkling liquid to Idris, who opened it and gave it a sniff.
His eyes bulged from the strength of it. “At least ten different flowers and a lot of alcohol.”
“It’s keeping Leo safe?” asked Ceri.
“Probably. Fairy magic is beyond me,” said Idris.
“Thanks, Ana!” Ceri gave her roommate a hug. She was still a little awkward at it, but showing affection was beginning to feel more natural.
“Are you heading to the library?” asked Ana. “I’ve got a paper to start for Ancient Languages. I could come with you and help during my breaks.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Ceri. She sighed with relief; although she was still worried about Leo, it felt like they were starting to get somewhere.
Everything felt a little more possible with the help of friends.