The Lark Taps Twice

Chapter 13: The Rabbit Hole Opens

Jonatham bolted across the few feet that separated his chair from the not-mirror. "Really? So soon?"

Jim puffed out his chest. "My father and grandfather started my tinkering education on my second birthday, and by the time I was twelve, I bested both of them in reassembling antique pocket watches and flip phones for speed and function. You did excellent work on the larger components, but a few of the widgets were misaligned, one spring was upside down, and one switch was missing completely. I realigned all of the wiring connections, and they're all in the clear. It's as ready as it will ever be."

Jonatham flashed a grin at Miriam and gestured for her to join him. As she scurried to his side, the grin slid away, leaving grim determination. He grasped her wrist firmly with one hand and tugged her close to his side; his other hand extended in front of them, fingers spread wide and tendons straining as though he pushed against a glass wall.

"Jim, flick on the switch, then run around the chairs to stand behind me as quickly as you can. Your life may depend on it. Anything may be waiting on the other side of that portal, and few of them will be friendly. Do you understand?" The prince's words brimmed with authority and dark knowledge, and Jim's eyes widened at the implications. He nodded vigorously and hovered his fingers over a small lever on the side of the device.

"On my mark. Three, two, one. Now!"

At Jonatham's shout, the tinkerer slapped the switch and dashed away from them to the far wall of the room, then around the perimeter of the room to flop down panting into one of the chairs.

The damp room's silence was broken only by his footsteps and gasping breaths. No hum of electricity, no crackle of static, no scream of rage as some crazed beast or spirit burst into the room.

The hand about Miriam's wrist tightened as second by second the quiet stretched, and the not-mirror frame remained empty. The man beside her fairly vibrated with tension, and it only grew as Jim's breathing slowed and quieted. She sighed and prepared to ask what they should do next, just to have something to break the oppressive quiet.

The not-mirror flared sun-bright, instantly searing Miriam's retinas and causing her eyes to tear up and squint nearly closed; she may have squealed in surprise and not a little pain. Barely able to see anything except blazing brightness, she swayed with disorientation when Jonatham's hold on her wrist abruptly vanished, and then the brilliance vanished, too.

Actually, the impression of light remained, an echo in her optic nerves, but the source no longer added aggravation to her eyes, as though it were covered or muffled...

Muffled? Isn't that how he described what the spells did to the light in his world? DId something already come through the portal and that flare of light will be the last glow I ever view? Because I am feeling more than a little muffled myself right now...

"The Flash has dissipated, my Miriam. I'm going to take my coat off your head now." Just his husky whisper sent sparks racing along my nerve endings now, combined with the cinnamon scent of the darkness around me, penetrating my senses as my panic faded.

A whoosh returned light to my eyes, a low glow emanating from the not-mirror. All the other lights in the room were out, whether on purpose or because of the surge of energy that had just blasted through, she could not tell. She squinted to focus on the glow, and it resolved into a slowly spiraling oval field of tiny yellow dots; it was a cloud of fireflies in a hurricane pattern, one firefly remaining motionless in the eye of the storm. Even the frame of the device gave off warm orange illumination, seeping from all the weld spots between different elements. The entire effect stole her breath with its beauty.

Hands on Miriam's face turned her head from the center of the room to the man beside her. Concern twisted his handsome features, and without his suit coat, his tailored silk shirt clung to him, flowing over bulging muscles and tapered rippling torso and leaving little to her imagination. The object of her inspection groaned softly, adding an embarrassed blush to the flames already burning in her cheeks at his touch.

"Need I remind you I can hear everything you're thinking, Miriam? There is no need to be ashamed of looking at your mate, and I am glad you can see well enough to appreciate my body. However, for now, please keep your eyes and thoughts on -"

Jonatham's soothing murmur cut off abruptly as a metallic rattling filled the chamber, starting softly but building in volume second by second, until the walls fairly vibrated with the racket. Miriam cupped her hands over her ears and faced the mirror again, and Jonatham shifted his hands to cover hers, effectively blocking much of the noise. Jim pulled a pair of earplugs from a pocket and fit them into place without a word.

All at once, the fireflies circling around the surface of the not-mirror froze, then blurred into lines as they congealed into a ball at the center of the oval frame. Just as quickly, the dots exploded outward to line the inside edges of the frame, and in their wake, the oval no longer reflected the room, nor was it transparent anymore, either. Instead a black tunnel filled the oval, lit only near the edges which revealed only a few inches of dirt, as though they looked not into a mirror, but a mining tunnel or bunny burrow deep underground.

As Miriam absorbed all this information, the rattling increased in pitch, nearly concealing the thunder of approaching bootfalls on gravel. A flickering halo of flame bobbed in the midst of the darkness, racing closer and closer, and a sudden fright gripped Miriam's chest. Friend or foe? Who or what is coming?

Jonatham's hands lifted from her head, taking her own hands with them. She turned to look at him right as he pressed the hilt of an etched dagger into her palm, keeping its twin for himself.

"Just in case," he grumbled, pinning her with his intense stare.

"Just in case," she muttered back, and in unison they spun apart to face the unknown.

"Son! Jonatham! Is that you?"

The deep timber of the authoritative voice issuing from the black tunnel was embroidered with equal parts hope and panic, and its first word sent a surge of tension through Miriam from Jonatham. She whipped her gaze toward him to assess his state and found him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He twisted his head to meet her gaze before seizing her free hand in his own and striding closer to the rattling device just as a man bearing a spherical lantern stumbled through the frame, nearly tumbling to the floor before catching his balance and straightening to his full height, frantically scanning the room for something.

When he caught sight of Jonatham, he ran across the few feet separating them and threw his arms around him. "Thank the Maker, you're alive! They said ... they said evidence indicated ..." His voice whispered into a soft sob, and a matching shudder shook through Miriam and Jonatham's joined hands.

Suddenly feeling entirely out of place, Miriam tugged her hand free from the prince's hold; without pause, he wrapped both arms around the older man and returned his snug embrace in kind. She turned to join Jim, still seated on one of the abandoned ladder-back chairs, only to be halted by a brush of warm fingers around her elbow. The barest pressure guided her back to Jonatham's side, but she kept her gaze fixed on the floor, sure the men might need another moment or two to collect themselves.

"Miriam, allow me to introduce you to my father, King Riquero of Dyza. Father, it is my greatest pleasure to introduce you to Lady Miriam Rogers, my destined mate."

Jonatham's matter-of-fact description left me as stunned as he'd been upon his father's appearance. I knew he was serious about the whole 'soulmates' business, but telling Dad right after seeing him for the first time in years is a level of commitment I'm not sure I'm ready for. I've always been too busy for anything more than a casual friendly dinner with a coworker or classmate, and now I have a soulmate?

Jonatham wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush with his side. He pressed a firm kiss into her hair, and she knew he'd heard her thoughts again. A wave of peace not her own broke over her mind, and she let it wash her anxious thoughts away just as the king grinned at them.

"You cannot imagine how pleased I am to hear this news! It comes at the most opportune time, when the fate of so many rests on your shoulders." The king sobered, continuing, "The time has come, lad, for you to take the throne and save this world and ours. I know what you both must do, and I pray you are strong enough for the task; if not, I believe we are all doomed."