14. Jacks
Jacks
Jacks didn’t often look in mirrors. He would glance here or there, but he never felt the need to look. He knew what he looked like and he knew how people reacted to him.
He knew people assumed he belonged wherever he went when his boots were polished and his clothes were starched.
He also knew what they thought when he appeared wrinkled and untucked, wearing ripped shirts, dressed in a manner that made it clear he could not care less what anyone thought.
He knew how it flustered and unbalanced most, how they let down their guard because they were trying to figure out what he was, what he wanted, and where he fit.
Therefore, usually Jacks dressed, glanced, and left.
He usually did not look at himself the way he did now, as he peered into a mirror showing another version of himself—one dressed like a fashionable degenerate—putting his arm around Evangeline’s waist and pulling her uncomfortably close.
Jacks watched her blush, heat rising to her cheeks, and he waited for her to pull back, to shove away this other him, to run, to realize he was a filthy impostor. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Are you jealous of yourself?” asked LaLa.
“No.”
“I don’t know,” Chaos said. “You just said you’re going to murder someone, and you have that jealous look—you’ve given it to me before.”
Jacks glared at both of them. One at a time, as they were on separate sides of this absurd fog-filled room. “I’m not saying I’m not jealous.” Jacks in fact was very jealous. “I’m just not jealous of myself. That’s not me.”
“It looks like you,” LaLa said. Minutes ago, when Jacks had first arrived at the Emporium of Else and had found this room, LaLa had been hysterical.
Her voice high-pitched and her hands fluttering frantically, she’d told him that Evangeline had somehow entered into this mirror and seemed to have no idea that the reality she was now in was not her true world.
LaLa had relayed what she knew as quickly as she could, only pausing to breathe when she saw Chaos step into the room.
Now she had calmed. She was back to her typical level of drama as the three of them peered into the mirror.
“I will say, he’s dressed more fashionably than you,” LaLa said. “I rather like that burgundy coat he has on. It’s very ringmaster.”
Jacks was not a fan of ringmasters.
He would never be caught dead in a coat like that, or a striped shirt like the one the impostor was wearing. Except now, as Jacks took a closer look, he did remember a time when he’d worn the exact same outfit.
Not just the time.
He knew the exact day.
He knew this version of himself.
And he hated what he saw a little bit more.
This version of him didn’t love Evangeline. This version of him didn’t love anyone.
“I have to get her out of the mirror.”
“You think I didn’t try?” LaLa asked.
“You tried to go into the mirror?” This was from Chaos.
“Of course I tried.” LaLa’s golden bracelets jangled as she put a hand on her hip and petulantly cocked it to the side. “Evangeline is my dearest friend. I would do anything for her. But as soon as I stepped close, the mirror changed, and I didn’t see her anymore…”
“What do you mean it changed?” Jacks asked.
“Oh, you know. It showed a different image that was not Evangeline.” LaLa waved a hand dismissively, and Jacks wondered if Chaos had also noticed that she was purposefully not telling them what she had seen.
Jacks took a step toward the mirror, bracing himself, but he could still see Evangeline and the impostor. He had let go of her waist, but they were still standing close. Looking at each other. His eyes were rimmed in a familiar shade of red. Hers were wide, innocent.
Jacks didn’t even think; he just put both hands on the glass and pressed.
Nothing happened.
He shoved a little harder. He would find a way to curse every fairy in existence if he didn’t get her back, alive and unharmed.
Fog swirled. The glass shook, but it refused to let him in. “Evangeline!” he yelled, loud enough to rattle the glass.
She didn’t even flinch.
She was in another world and there was nothing he could do except watch her and that bastard impostor.
“Maybe you need to break it,” Chaos offered.
“Aren’t there superstitions about breaking magic glass?” LaLa shot a pointed look at Chaos. And then the two of them were bickering again.
“Superstitions don’t apply to us,” said Chaos.
“Then why are we all so miserable?” LaLa volleyed back. “We’re supposed to be Fates, but don’t you feel as if we’re all a little cursed?”
“I’m not actually a Fate,” Chaos corrected, speaking over her, and then suddenly they were face-to-face, looking at each other in the way that Evangeline had been looking at impostor Jacks.
“Why don’t you just bite her and get it over with,” Jacks growled at Chaos.
LaLa made an outraged sound, but it didn’t match the breathless expression on her face. Then Chaos was on the other side of the room again, fog swirling around him. And for one precious second, it was silent.
Wind swept into the room as Jacks formed his hand into a fist—
“Ah, ah, ah—you don’t want to do that,” chimed a light voice that Jacks had hoped never to hear again.
He told himself to ignore it.
“If you break the glass, she can’t come back,” warned the voice.
Jacks was still very tempted to shatter the mirror, particularly the part that showed the other Jacks’s face.
Then LaLa asked, “Who exactly are you?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jacks saw Chaos shaking his head, warning LaLa not to engage with the fae.
One of the only good things about fae was that you could trust their words. This fairy had warned Jacks about the consequences of sharing her visit with Evangeline, but she had said nothing about Jacks remaining quiet when it came to others.
Chaos knew exactly what this fairy was and what she had done to Evangeline. But from the bewildered look on LaLa’s face, she had no idea there were even any fae left in the world. Jacks hoped she didn’t ruin this with any of her careless words.
Although, Jacks was also feeling quite reckless at the moment. It took him longer than it should have to lower his fist. When he turned around, the fae had materialized—bare feet covered in vines, crown made of sticks, long, flowering hair blowing in the wind that seemed to always accompany her.
“How do I get her back?” Jacks demanded.
The fae’s eyes narrowed, a warning. But Jacks could not bring himself to be polite anymore, not with Evangeline stuck in a mirror with another version of himself that she definitely shouldn’t trust. “I told you that I didn’t want this.”
“Ah, but you didn’t say that first.” The fairy’s too-large eyes twinkled in disturbing amusement. “You should know better, Jacks of the Hollow.”
Another wind blew into the foggy room, taking pieces of the fairy with it. A lock of hair, half an eyebrow, the edge of her smile.
Jacks really hated fairies and their theatrics. “What do I need to do to get her back?”
“There is nothing you can do. She has to pass the test.” The feet beneath the fairy’s billowing gown disappeared, same as before, leaving only vines.
“What’s the test?” Jacks demanded.
“You’ll have to watch and see,” said the fae as more and more of her quickly vanished, until there was only the outline of her pretty face. “Just hope she doesn’t run out of time…”