She saw the house on the train ride there. It spoke of their wealth, even if they weren’t technically a part of the nobility.

That, and the amount of money they had offered her father to bribe him into sending her here before all her other tasks.

She wasn’t intimidated, nor necessarily awed, by its size or extravagance—the gardens filled with exotic flowers, the statues from various prolific artists. Casually, she spoke through the intercom by the glimmering gates, “This is Officer Mernia Vacaryn of Maeqa. I’ve been sent here to help investigate what happened.”

It took a moment but, eventually, there was a soft click and hum as the gates parted. “Come in, please,” a crackling voice said. “Someone will meet you at the front door.”

Mernia could see someone darting across some of the lower rooms through the window. By the time she reached the front door, a servant had pushed it open and was vigorously gesturing her inside.

“The master and mistress are this way,” he declared, though didn’t wait long before rushing into a different room. She trailed after him more slowly, preferring to take in the unfamiliar surroundings as soon as possible.

Everything seemed almost… too perfect. The floor was polished enough to reflect anyone walking on it and the chandeliers above them, the walls decorated with silks and portraits of the family’s ancestors. As she passed by, other servants fled out of sight or found somewhere else to spread their gossip.

The servant she was following dutifully stood by one of the doors, then pushed it open for her when she came closer. She was motioned inside but he didn’t go any further; this wasn’t the kind of room he was allowed access to. The room featured a large painting of the current owners overtop a decorative fireplace. Two identical, quite frankly gaudy, sofas sat parallel to each other, between them a small table where a radio, newspapers, and a few books sat. The master and mistress of the house were sitting there, though the master stood up as soon as Mernia entered.

“I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you to come on such short notice!” he said, his voice resonating through the room. He shook her hand, smiling, until the door had closed again. His tone dropped lower as he continued, “Thank goodness you’re here. We couldn’t think of anything else to do! We don’t know where she could be. Do you realize the stresses my wife must put up with on an average day? Can you imagine what losing our daughter is doing to her health?”

The mistress weakly nodded and mumbled something, holding a photo of their daughter. She was faking, though—or at least, over exaggerating. Only her makeup suggested that she wasn’t in perfect health, and even that looked like it had been intentionally done wrong.

Neither of them must’ve realized that Mernia was really just doing her job. And one that didn’t get quicker the more they tried to make her empathize with them, for that matter.

She managed a small smile regardless. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to find your daughter. Could you tell me more about what happened? Anything helps, even just as a starting point.”

“We already told you,” the mistress mumbled, “in that letter we sent to the station.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, you told the chief that your daughter had mysteriously disappeared, and illegally tried bribing him to make her a high priority case,” Mernia pointed out casually. Neither the master nor mistress even looked like they would deny it. “For the record, I am not here because of the bribe. I’m here because it is my job to help you find her. A job that gets a lot easier if you’re capable of telling me anything else you know about what happened. Is there a chance that she—”

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“She’d never run away!” the master insisted, shaking his head. “She has everything she could ever want here. Besides, we’ve sent people to look—no one’s seen her. And, well… you wouldn’t think that, when you see the room she was last in.”

He gestured for her to follow him through the house and to the second floor. Any servants they passed along the way immediately darted out of view. She couldn’t place it, but there was something more foreboding here. Maybe it just came down to the view of the endless sea outside or the less impressive decorations compared to before.

She was at least partially distracted from it as the master explained, “Our dear Nebli had decided to play in one of our guest rooms alone. Now, she often likes playing alone—it’s the only time she will, in fact, so we let her. With servants outside, of course, in case she needed anything. She didn’t come down for dinner so we sent a servant to bring it to her; she must’ve lost track of time playing, no need to interrupt her from her fun. But she didn’t answer when the servant knocked. He entered… to find the room completely empty.”

The master stopped at one of the rooms and pushed open the door.

That was what made Mernia acknowledge what was wrong about this case. The room had no windows or appeared to have any other exits aside from the door. If there had been a struggle, there was no sign of it; the bed was neatly made, the dresser untouched, each and every one of the toys carefully put off to the side. She stepped inside to get a closer look at everything and shivered—there was something that just didn’t feel right. The master nervously trailed behind her.

“Are you sure that there aren’t any other exits?” she asked.

“This door is the only way,” he confirmed. “There was always someone by it and no one saw her leave. In fact, a few of them said that they could hear her playing, up until a couple minutes before the servant came with her dinner. And when it stopped, it just stopped—they said it was simply complete silence.”

Mernia started running her hand along each of the walls. “When was this house built?”

“Some three hundred years ago, I believe. It has been my family’s generational home for all that time.”

“You know the place pretty well? Some houses this old have hidden passages or exits somewhere—it made it easier to get out if there was an attack.”

“I have the blueprints, if those are what you want to see. But I know this place inside and out and I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that. We’re a proud and forceful family, we had nothing to fear about demons. Even their temptation can’t stop us.”

She stopped when she got to a mirror. Standing this close to it, she realized this must’ve been the source of foreboding she had felt—even if she couldn’t really explain why. The carvings along the edges had a kind of craftswork she’d never seen before; they weren’t the standard styles nor ones being made popular through the Nivia nobles. It looked old, and yet… there didn’t seem to be a scratch on it.

“Is this a family heirloom of yours?” She turned to the master of the house.

Seeming confused, he answered, “No, we bought that a few weeks ago. Someone had found it by the coast and it was put up for auction. We all fell in love with its intricate border. It cost us a fair bit, you know. Do you like it?”

She glanced at it, her reflection glaring right back at her. She felt a chill run down her spine. “Are you sure this thing is normal?”

“Officer Mernia, what are you implying? It’s a mirror.”

“Did you know that there are folk legends about mirrors? Well, technically lakes, but some say that it applies to all reflective surfaces. It says that if you ever encounter something that seems foreboding, that turns your friendly smile into a devilish grin, where the reflection shows someone behind you… you should get as far away from it as possible. And probably burn it. It will swallow all those who come too close to it.”

“Mirrors don’t eat people, Officer Mernia. I thought you were supposed to be the best investigator the Istrus police force has to offer. I didn’t think you’d believe in such folktales.”

“Well, if you think you can do my job better than me, you’re welcome to try.”

Silence.

“You can head back to your wife, let her know that I’m not going to rest until I get to the bottom of this. I’ll just need a bit of time alone here.”

He hesitated for a moment but eventually left.

Mernia kept staring at the mirror. As unsettling as it was… she knew this was where her next clue was going to be. She took a deep breath and ran her hand along the glass.