Cursed to the Bone

19. Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

My leading expectation on being nabbed by the mirror was that we'd be teleported out. That, or we'd go to another room in the terrible sequence of the screwed up haunted house. Instead, we were in a strange, purple haze that looked like the fair but wasn't. We were alone. The new world lacked the laughter and screams of the fair. The only things I could even faintly hear were my uneven breaths and the creaking metal in the distance.

It was also significantly cooler. I considered casting a spell to warm myself up, but without any idea what to expect, I held off. Naomi shivered beside me. She was quiet, too. Just as confused. Maybe as terrified.

"I don't think this is part of the haunted house," Naomi whispered, her eyes flashing wildly back and forth.

I didn't blame her for not speaking louder. It was so quiet, I didn't even want to whisper in fear of what may be hiding around us. In that situation, I just knew there'd be something. Licking my lips, I wrapped my hand around hers and whispered back, "Let's try to find a mirror."

The house wasn't there. We were standing where it should be, though. The floor-length frame stood on the ground, but the reflective glass was gone. It seemed we'd have to find another mirror. I really hoped there was one. Slow and quiet, we trudged through the ghost town.

Mannequins lingered around the fair, creepy ones that sat at stalls and stood in lines. I had this terrible, itchy feeling on the back of my neck that told me they were watching as we passed. I glanced back. It didn't seem like they moved any.

Naomi's hand held mine so tightly I could feel her nails in my skin. I didn't mind. It hardly hurt and it reminded me that I may be in trouble, but I wasn't alone. It made a difference.

The hunt for the mirror started to get a little concerning, though. There weren't any mirrors, and nothing reflective but glass. I couldn't say how long we walked, but it seemed to go on forever. No matter which direction we traveled, no matter how fast we went, we ended up right back where we started.

"It's only a matter of time before whatever is meant to happen, does," Naomi whispered, stopping us by one of the stands.

"I was really hoping it wouldn't."

She squeezed my hand and I squeezed back. The idea of pointlessly fighting an army of mannequins to a bloody end was sickening.

"We're in another plane, I think." Naomi twisted in place, her stare flicking from stall to stall. "Maybe we can get to another one. If there's a way in, there has to be a way out."

"We have no idea which plane we're in," I whispered back, scratching an itch on my arm. "There could be even worse ones between us and home. That's assuming, too, that we know which planes to enter."

"We aren't exactly in a good place, Vee. I'd rather die a faster death trying to escape than whatever's supposed to happen here."

"Fine. Worst case, we can go inside a Remnant. There might be one around here."

"You can go inside them?" Naomi's eyes widened. "What are we waiting for? Let's go find one."

I nodded, a little anxious. "Yeah. At least, I did once. They connect to the Fields of Fright. It's like a, um, world where memories are stored. The only problem is that the nine planes and everything between connects so—"

An awful screech interrupted me. I snapped my mouth shut. It sounded like metal being ripped and might have been the most unpleasant thing I ever heard. Sneaking a look at Naomi, I found her staring back, her brows furrowed and her forehead creased with lines of worry.

Naomi mouthed, Hide.

I nodded.

We scurried behind the counter of a stall, and I prayed to the Goddess that the mannequins wouldn't choose that moment to come to life and screw us over. Through the smudged, glass counter, a tall, spindly figure passed on two legs that tapered into small feet. Hooves. Its hunched-over body was pale with dark veins, and had a long, human-looking face. A sickle hung loosely at its side, coated in dark, dried blood. That creature absolutely had to be the Warden of the plane.