A Reflection's Tale

2 - First Glimpse

An hour later, Lyra and Yuri returned to the hotel.

While Yuri had romped around in the huge city park, Lyra had sent her mum a message about the pizza order of the strange new guest; then she had looked up the words from the note. It was an old German font style called Sütterlin, and it said, I know the mirror's secret.

***

Lyra's heart skipped a beat when she arrived at home. The bright blue lights of two police cars danced on the house facades near and of the hotel, and the hotel entry was shut off and guarded by two young police officers.

"What happened here?" Lyra came closer.

"A murder in room 13. You can't enter the hotel at the moment, girl," the man said.

"Aren't you the hotel managers' daughter?" the woman asked and Lyra nodded.

"Oh." The woman looked away. "It's not clear when you will be allowed to enter the hotel again. Maybe in an hour, maybe in two or maybe even later."

"Damn." Lyra walked away towards a side street, her tiger followed her.

"Listen, Yuri, you have to stay here in the street, okay? I will be back in a few minutes." Truth was, she didn't know when she would return. She didn't even know how to leave.

For a few seconds, she knelt on the asphalt, caressing Yuri's fur, and in her mind, a plan formed.

Her magic witch powers had to help her. She wasn't really good at neither of them – when she tried telekinesis, the objects didn't really move, and when she tried experiencing the past, she could barely even smell or hear something. But, man, it just had to work this time!

Lyra wandered along the front of the hotel, and when the police officers looked away, she rushed over to the façade.

Staring at the window handle, she prayed that it would work.

And it worked. The handle moved, and the window slowly cracked open.

"Hey, you, girl! What are you doing there?" The officers came running over.

"Fuck!" Lyra cursed and climbed, or rather stumbled inside the room, smashed the window close and hasted out of the room.

As fast as she could, she rushed upstairs to room 13, where two more police officers stood.

On the floor of the hotel room was the yellow silhouette of a victim; and inside the drawing lay the strange guest. Dead, obviously.

"What happened here?" Lyra asked without thinking about it.

"A murder, what else?" the small blonde officer replied.

"This guy there called us saying that in a few minutes, somebody was going to attempt to murder him," a tall officer said and absent-mindedly chewed the temples of his glasses. "And when we arrived, he was already dead."

Lyra gazed into the room again. "A murder, in the hotel? So why aren't my parents here?"

"Well..." The officer put his glasses onto the collar of his uniform and turned to Lyra. "They are the main suspects."

Lyra stared at him, incapable of replying. Finally, she repeated, "My parents are the main suspects?" Her voice cracked. "But they didn't- They could never-"

"I don't think so, either." He put his hand on her shoulder. "But we have to work with the facts, and the facts are that when we arrived, your parents both came running away from this room, exhausted and shocked."

"Sorry?" Lyra wiped away his hand. "Who the actual fuck would not be exhausted and shocked when finding a dead corpse in the own hotel?"

"Corpses are always dead, girl!" the blonde officer replied.

"Idiot." The tall one shook his head and turned back to Lyra. "Your parents said they only wanted to bring Mister... ahem..." He reached for his glasses, put them on the tip of his nose and read from his notebook, "Mister Quintinus Dexter his pepperoni pizza. But why did it take them two people to deliver one pizza to his room?"

Lyra didn't really know what to say. "And where's the pizza now?"

The blonde officer pointed to an empty plate. "We ate it, of course! It was still warm and this dead guy there hadn't eaten anything of it, and so we didn't want to waste food and-"

"Heaven, help," Lyra mumbled and rolled her eyes, then she cleared her throat. "One of my witch powers is to experience the past. I could try to find out what happened here."

"Good idea, girl." The officers nodded. "Do it."

Lyra closed her eyes. Her heart beat faster. Hopefully, it was going to work... Voices. Distant, faint voices. Lyra couldn't understand a word they said. The scent of cherry blossoms and rain.

Nothing else happened, so she opened her eyes again. Her gaze strayed around the room while she considered what to tell the officers. She didn't really like the idea of telling them how inexperienced she was concerning magic powers... and that her mum's perfume had the scent of cherry blossoms and rain.

Her eyes met the strange mirror. It was lying on the floor, nothing more than a frame and thousands of fragments. And while she was staring at them, they lifted in the air and started to move, faster and faster. Then, the dance was over and the mirror looked just like back then, when he still hung on the wall.

And suddenly, Lyra knew what it was.

A portal to another world.

Lyra was hypnotized. She couldn't think of anything else than the portal.

She had almost reached the mirror, could already feel the suction pulling her into another world, when two strong hands grabbed her upper arms and dragged her away.

"What-" Slowly, Lyra's mind returned to the present.

"Crime scene." The officer let go of her arms and pointed to the corpse. "You are not allowed to go in there!"

"But the portal..." Lyra rubbed her eyes. The short hypnosis had made her exhausted and tired.

"Go to bed, girl. It's late." The officer softly pushed her towards the stairway. "Maybe, we'll also have news from your parents tomorrow. We'll call you as soon as we know more, okay?"

Lyra faked a yawn and nodded. "Okay. See ya tomorrow."

She walked upstairs and then took the lift down again. She had to look after Yuri before she would enter the portal.

The tiger was still roaming around the streets, but when Lyra called his name, his ears twitched and he followed the voice.

His owner was terribly worried about something; he could tell it from her restless glance straying through the streets and her right hand that nervously twisted the cable of Lyra's headphones on her pocket. She did that always, but even more when she was nervous.

Yuri purred and let Lyra caress his fur, but they both looked up in shock as someone's voice echoed through the streets.

"Hey! Why are you still up?"

Lyra turned to the officer behind her. "I had to pick up my tiger from the street. But I'll go to bed now, I promise. And I will not enter the crime scene." She crossed her fingers behind her back.

"I hope it for you, girl." The officer walked to his car and they left.

Lyra remained on the street, alone with Yuri. Then, she took a deep breath. "Let's go."

Yuri followed her upstairs into her room, where Lyra threw some of her belongings in a backpack.

"Ready?"

Yuri yawned.

"Think that's a yes." Lyra smiled and they left the room.

***

The door to room 13 wasn't even locked – incredible.

Lyra opened the door, trying not to leave any fingerprints. The corpse wasn't there anymore, just the yellow silhouette.

And the mirror. Lyra closed her eyes and took another deep breath, then she felt something drag her over to another world.