A Reflection's Tale

6 - The Poisoning Party

The alarm of her phone ripped Lyra out of her thoughts. Again, her breath went quick and her heart raced. Where did all the flashbacks come from? Was this... her power to experience the past? Did it improve so much in just a few hours?

Lyra sighed and walked towards the prison. It felt strange, and she just hoped that Autumn's plan had worked. The hallways were empty and from some rooms, Lyra heard someone snoring.

Autumn was already waiting for her, sitting on the counter. "It worked."

"Obviously." Lyra grinned relieved.

"Room 24 – Hunter and Jennifer Paris." Autumn handed her a key and jumped from the counter. "Let's go."

When the two girls opened the door to the prison cell, Lyra's parents didn't even look up at first. They sat on a small bed on the wall and stared at the floor.

"Mum, Dad," Lyra finally said. Her voice was hoarse and she could hardly hold back the tears that filled her eyes.

"Lyra?" Her mum raised her head. She had dark rings under her eyes and her lips trembled when she spoke, but there was still a lively, almost fierce glance in her eyes. "Lyra, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Lyra sat down on the other bed, opposite of them, and Autumn followed her a little hesitantly.

"Autumn?" Lyra's father looked to her, his eyes widened in surprise. "I can't believe- How-" He cleared his throat. "Close the door, girls. We do need to talk."

Autumn closed the door and sat down next to Lyra.

"How come you are here?" Lyra's mum repeated.

Autumn bit her lip to hide the satisfied grin on her face. "Well, I sneaked to the kitchen and gave a strong sleeping aid into the prison guards' coffee. My magic power is potions, poisons, and herbs, so it was really easy."

Contrary than the girls had expected, Lyra's parents weren't really happy about that.

"You should've never come here!" Lyra's mother said. "We are all in danger! The hotel is in danger! The portal is in danger! Aestria, help!"

"Aestria?" Lyra repeated.

"The other world. Its name is kinda... holy, you know?" her father explained.

"But why are we all in danger?"

"Because of Quintinus." Her mum Jennifer sighed.

"You... you didn't really kill him, did you?" Lyra didn't even want to hear the answer.

"Sure." Jennifer seemed surprised that her daughter didn't think so. "But it won't last for long, you know?"

"It won't... what?"

"He's immortal concerning murder. Guess he'll just stand up and leave in a few minutes."

"He has already left," Lyra said with an exhausted sigh. "And caused a lot of problems for me."

She quickly summed up all the events of the last hours – the portal, Aestria, Professor Maddox, old Rúna in the library, the other professor, the flashbacks.

"Autumn is your twin, Lyra," Hunter said without hesitating. "I guess it's time to tell you, innit?"

Lyra's eyes widened and she turned to Autumn. "You... you knew it, didn't you?"

"Yes. Listen, it is an old tradition that the oldest sibling of the Paris family inherits the hotel and becomes the next gatekeeper in this world, and the next sibling is raised in Aestria to become the new gatekeeper. You are thirteen minutes older and so I was given to aunt Astriel, the younger sister of Dad."