The results from the lab came back. One of my coworkers delivered it to Fold’s apartment. I mean, of course it was a coworker. I was a mailwoman, even if on medical leave. It’s just that he certainly wasn’t expecting me to open the door and receive the package.
“Madison?” Colin blinked, “You live here?”
“No.” I replied, as if that wasn’t a logical conclusion to seeing me open the door dressed in pajamas, “Friend’s house.”
A beat passed as he leaned out of the door to check the apartment number, just to make sure this was the right place. It was.
“Well then, tell your friend that he’s gotten his results back from Rabri Laboratories.” Colin told me, handing over a large white envelope.
“Thanks!” I grinned, taking it from him, “Been waiting for this.”
It had been so long since the discovery of the clear gel substance that I had almost completely forgotten about it. In all honesty, it hadn’t even been a business week, but it was a very anxiety inducing three days. Now, though, I was excited for the discovery all over again.
Colin, however, didn’t leave. He stood there, adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
“How have you been?” He asked finally, “After they called up the RHR to save you, I thought you were a goner. Everyone’s really worried.”
I definitely remembered checking in with work after the hospital had let me go. They had given me an extension on my leave, given the circumstances, though I may have played up my injuries a bit much to secure that. Still, whatever it took to get that dog under control.
“I’m fine.” I assured him, wincing a little as his eyes wandered down to the bruises all over my arms, “A little banged up, and its going to take some time to recover, but I’m going to be fine.”
That seemed to be ample consolation to Colin, whose shoulders loosened.
“Good.” He smiled at me, “Come back soon, okay? Even the managers miss you. We need our long-distance delivery girl back on staff.”
“A trick like that isn’t going to pass anytime soon, pal.” I sighed, “Like, I’ll come back, for sure, but I’m not going to be able to do all the faraway trips through the mirrors.”
His eyes widened and he took a reflexive step forward, “Are you really that hurt?” He asked, looking me over even more intensely than before, “Did that monster fuck you up as badly as that? Is it a psychological trauma response, or-” A pause, as realization hit him and he took a step back, “This is about Action 210, isn’t it?”
“Yep.” I agreed, popping the end of the word as if I didn’t have a care in the world. As if I didn’t stay up at night thinking about it, running my head through possibilities and hypotheticals that all came out to the exact same conclusion: I could not afford to lose my reflection-hopping abilities. I simply didn’t have any other skills that could keep me employed, as a mailwoman or otherwise.
He had the audacity to laugh in the face of my anxieties, “You don’t think it’s actually going to pass, do you?” He asked, “Have you seen that freaking document? It’s nonsense! Wouldn’t pass in a million years, I guarantee. You just can’t police something like that.”
“It’s not about how viable it is.” I told him shortly, “Whether or not they can police it, they won’t care. The Senate just wants people to think they’re being proactive. Staying on top of things. And this is there way of showing that yes, they do care about the problems stemming from reflection-hopping and now that a celebrity is dying, of course they’re going to take charge and stop all this madness.”
Every word was spat out with hate and vitriol that had been building up inside me ever since those cream-colored signs had first been hung over the mirrors, besmirching the perfect hallways. And Colin didn’t ask to be put in the line of fire of every hurled statement, but he was the closest one there as I started ranting and ranting and-
“I’m sorry.” I whispered, clenching my fists as my tirade ground to a halt, “You don’t- you don’t deserve this.”
“I’ll say.” He nodded shakily, already several feet away from me than before, “I’ll just… leave. Hope those test results are good!”
“Have a good round!” I called after his hastily retreating back. No response.
I sighed and shut the door behind me. Fold was in the kitchen, watching the toaster attentively as he fried some eggs. I’d taken to sleeping over on his couch since I had no patience for the early morning bus commute to get to his office.
Mirrors were still a sticking point for me. Even though we were working off the theory that the dog was after the tickets when it had attacked me, I still wasn’t going to take any chances. Every time I reached for a mirror after that, I could hear the sound of its quietly pattering paws and clunking tail, and the fear would freeze me in place. The trauma of the incident was debilitating, but I couldn’t let that stop me. I was the only experienced reflection-hopper we had. When the confrontation happened, and I was adamant that it happened, I would have to play an integral part in the plan. There just wasn’t anyone else to do it.
“Are those the test results?” Fold asked, looking over to me, his eyes locking onto the folder under my arm.
“Yeah, colleague named Colin just delivered it.” I told him, gingerly placing it on a part of the counter that was the least likely to get splashed with grease or milk or breadcrumbs, “You wanna open it now, or wait till the others get here?”
“This isn’t a college acceptance letter, of course we want to open it now.” He rolled his eyes, then clicked his tongue as he reached to turn off the toaster, “Actually, how about until after breakfast?”
“Brilliant idea, Einstein.” I snidely remarked as I poured myself a glass of orange juice, “Truly, you’re a detective with no match.”
“Shut up.” He waved me off with a laugh, “You know what I meant, so don’t misconstrue things.”
We had breakfast in relative silence, working through the food quickly and efficiently. Once that was done and cleaned up, Fold reached for the folder, opening it with more ceremony than was required.
He peeled out the papers, one by one, reading them with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Well, get a move on.” I pressed, feeling anticipation grow.
He cast the papers aside, “It’s been identified to be shepherd dog saliva.” He confirmed, “But with also some crystalline formations in the mix. That bit confused them, actually, because the crystals hadn’t been dissolved into the saliva. It had formed from it, almost organically. Which, according to them, is impossible. I’m not the crystal expert here.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn’t help the pride that swirled through my chest.
“Glass crystals in dog saliva? I knew I was right about that.” I crowed, “You believe me yet?”
“Believed you from the start.” Fold told me, “Exactly why I brought you into this case. This is simply more evidence to back up your hypothesis. Also gives us more information about what that dog is now. It isn’t just a dog anymore. The creature’s been changed to its very genetic code.”
“Yeah, I could tell when I saw the size of those teeth. Nothing but intense gene mods could cause that.”
“Shush, appreciate the proof you have.”
A knock sounded on the front door.
“Open up!” Riley called, continuing to bang insistently on the door, “I’ve got Dave with me, too!”
I rushed over to open the latch of the door and wrench the door open. Riley was standing there, her hands folded demurely and hair tucked perfectly under the straw hat. Beside her, Dave stood, looking immensely tired.
“You’re supposed to be doing physical therapy.” I told him, “Not walking around like this.”
He laughed, just a hint sheepish, but not enough for me to excuse him, “She’s very convincing. And it’s like I told you, the firefighters know a lot more restricted info than you’d think.”
“What about your recovery?” I protested, letting them come inside anyway, “You’ve been unconscious for a while, your body is weak, and your arm is still a wreck. You can’t do this.”
“We need to play all the cards we can get.” Riley told me seriously, “And after our last debriefing, the nurses nearly called for the police about ‘suspicious activities’.” She seemed almost affronted at the idea. This girl kept on a sweet façade, but her mind was shrewd and calculating. If she hadn’t been on our side, I would’ve been scared of her.
“Where are we, as of now?” Riley continued, sweeping into the kitchen to look over Fold’s shoulder.
“The dog is confirmed to be genetically spliced with glass.” Fold explained, “Totally possible to be twice as big as a person.”
“You think its using itself to reflection-hop?” Dave asked, helping himself to Fold’s scraps of toast.
“No conspiracy theories, man.” Fold laughed, “How would that even work?”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“That’s rich coming from Mr. ‘The Mirrors Are Eating People’.” I rolled my eyes, “But, yeah, I don’t see how it could physically do that. Like a cat chasing its own tail.”
“Anyways, I’ve been looking into the bit about the paper factory hint you gave me.” Riley barreled forward, “Tracked down the source of the paper used in tickets by the Medley National Theater to three specific factories in the country.”
“None imported?” Fold joked.
“Patriots.” Everyone else offered as an answer.
Riley reached into her bag and spread out three photographs onto the table. They were pictures of paper factories, with tall chimneys and a constant array of trucks piled high with logs coming in and out.
“These are images I found in the library of each of those factories.” She explained, “Any of these look like the ones in your vision?”
I frowned, looking at each one of them. They all looked pretty similar. Different colors, branding, and some changes in layout, but that was only minutiae. It was after much careful comparison and deliberation that I pointed at the photo in the middle.
“That’s the one.” I announced, “It’s exactly like the one I saw. Angle of the picture and everything.”
“Perfect!” Riley smiled, pulling out a bright blue binder from her bag. She riffled through the papers and finally opened it to the section she wanted and shoved it at my face, “I didn’t have much to do in that time, so I researched all three. This one is what I found on Wellerby Paper Factories, the place you identified. That way we can figure out what’s different about their paper production process.”
I nodded, my eyes drifting down. Instead of looking at the details of the process, they latched onto the list of places the factory was publicly affiliated with.
“The Police Department’s Experimental Branch? What’s up with that?”
Riley shrugged, “I don’t know. They put it on their brochures, though, so it can’t just be for their fax machine. Think it’s for something special?”
Fold frowned, shooting up to his feet, “Riley, did you bring a sample of the paper with you? Maybe a… ticket or something?”
“Yes, I did.” The girl brandished another ticket stub out, “What did you want with- Hey!”
He snatched it out of her hand, barely even paying attention as he skittered over to the chest of drawers in the living room, muttering to himself. We followed suit, watching him as he pulled out boxes and shuffled through them impatiently until finally pulling out a scroll of rough, thick paper with intricate designs all over. Reflection-hopping charms.
No, not just any reflection-hopping charms. These were more… distinctive that that.
“Are those the charms used by the police when entering the Gateway?” I asked, the second the dots connected in my mind, “Did you steal that?!”
“I didn’t steal it, per se.” Fold hummed innocently, “I just… put it in my pocket when they weren’t looking.”
“We’re all going to get arrested.” I bemoaned.
“I mean, I took the ones they gave me, too, and they never called me out on it, so maybe it’s fine?” Dave shrugged.
“You did what?” I asked, turning my worry on Dave, “Have you lost it?!”
“Reflection-hopping charms are expensive! I didn’t want to pay for fresh ones and decided to workshop those ones.”
“Well, you paid for it! You paid an arm for it!” My voice had hit a new pitch. Dave flinched, curling in on himself. I cursed myself out internally as I tried to soften my voice, “…Too soon?”
“No, no, I needed to hear it.” He replied, even though he still looked torn up about it.
“Good. Because Maddy was right.” Fold told him, still poring over the paper samples, “This is the same type of paper. Same thickness, flexibility, and durability. Even the edges are equally sharp.”
“Explains why they went after the police you saw.” Riley noted, clearly running through the list of victims, “The Haber couple from case number 12? They were dressed to go to the theater. Must have had tickets in their bags when they walked through the mirrors. And Celina did, too. And Dave, judging by his testimony.”
“It’s a strange type of paper.” I agreed. I had thought that before. When I first saw the charms. They were bulky and different from any other charm I had seen.
“Now, the question stands, is there something strange in the paper that’s attracting the dog towards it?” Fold asked, “Or is it because the dog remembers the paper from its time in the science experiment?”
“Only one way to find out.” Riley pointed out, “We break into the place and figure out what happened.”
Incredible. More crimes. I hadn’t thought there would be so much lawbreaking when trying to solve the serial killings. I think these people were almost eager to have the excuse to break a law or ten.
As if to prove my point, Fold nodded along gleefully, “The place shut down ages ago, so it’ll be easy!”
“And there’s also that rainy place that shows up whenever the dog strikes.” Dave pointed out, “We have the coordinates of it, so we should check that out eventually.”
“Show me the coordinates?” Dave asked, kneeling down to pull out a massive rolled up map from the bottom of the chest of drawers, “Then we can plan out the teams and trips between us.”
I dutifully nodded and looked over the unrolled map, looking through the lines of longitude and latitude until finally a circled a blurry corner of a faraway town with my finger.
“It’s somewhere here.” I announced.
Fold hummed again, this time more amused.
“Would you look at that?” He grinned, “They’re in the same place. How convenient.”
I blinked, taken by surprise.
“Wait, this is your hometown?”
“Yes, that’s what I said.”
Maybe he should’ve been the main character if all of this was so intrinsically linked to his past.
“So, we’re going to head back to where you live?” Dave asked eagerly, “I’ll be so down for that!”
“No, you’re not.” Riley told him, crossing her arms, “You’re staying here. Keep going to the hospital and working on recovering. Nothing’s going to get you there.”
“I want to help, though! You were the one to drag me here, and now I’m going to get there.”
“Well, you’re very noticeable.” Riley explained, not even bothering to soften her blunt tone, “Everyone who reads the newspapers knows who you are, and we can’t afford that attention. It’ll be more useful if you stay here and work the media game. Get some eyes on the story until we come back with all the evidence and hopefully a dead or captured monster mirror dog.”
This assignment did nothing to endear the idea to Dave, who simply looked more skeptical, “You’re more famous than me. More recognizable, too. If I can’t come, then you should be stuck here, too.”
For the first time ever, Riley gave a laugh, sharp and cruel and thorny, “You think these two could stop that freaking dog? Bet they can’t even lift one of these!” She reached into her bag of miracles to pull out an axe. An undulating blade with a wicked gleam and a mahogany handle polished to a bright finish.
Everyone immediately reared back, the tension in the room ratcheting up several notches.
“Have you just been carrying that along with you the entire time?” I asked, trying not to sound too freaked out.
“Yeah. I’ve been an axe thrower for the last few years.” She explained, “You guys don’t seem much like fighters, so I thought it would be prudent.”
Fold nodded approvingly, much more relaxed now that he had realized she wasn’t going to turn the axe against us. I elbowed him in the gut for being so calm about the whole situation.
“We can’t just let the kid carry around an axe.” I snapped, “It’s irresponsible.”
“I’m not that young.” Riley pouted, crossing her arms over the heavy blade of the axe in a charmingly immature display. It was all very off-putting, “So, we’re going to go check up on those leads?” She prompted, more than a little forcefully.
The fight quickly faded out of us. Fold and I exchanged glances of weary defeat.
“…Fine.”
----------------------------------------
We ended up walking through a surprisingly charming town, all picturesque cobblestone pathways and thatched roofs and young newspaper boys doing their rounds and being exploited for cash.
“It’s always the nicest places.” Riley muttered darkly, “Why do we keep falling for this? Should’ve sent the hounds here the second shit went south.”
“Because there’s a lot of towns like this.” Fold explained, “More than a hundred, at least. We can’t just go marching through each of them. It’s completely impractical.”
I looked around myself, trying to pick out the gentile thatched roofs of the houses and the silhouettes of warehouses in the distance.
“Can you see any place where that rainy place could happen?” I asked, “The large storage areas have a lot of potential. We’re looking for a place where a lot of water can be stored. And hopefully where no one nearby can hear the dog tearing apart its enemies.”
“The last part is optional.” Riley pointed out, “All the people living here could just be ignoring the sounds, making them all accomplices.”
“They’d never.” Fold gasped, “I’ve known these people all my life, and they aren’t the type to just overlook something like this.”
“How long has it been since you’ve met them?” She asked innocently.
“Please, stop.” Fold shook his head tiredly, “Let’s head over to the testing building.”
“And then we stalk every suspicious person?” Riley repeated, her eyes opened wide.
“Knock yourself out.” I laughed.
“I have to come back here for the holiday season.” Fold stared at her, “You better not fuck this up for me.”
“I can be stealthy!” She insisted, “Never been part of a full investigation before, but I’ll try my best. Keep my ears close to the ground and get a sense of all the possible suspects we’re dealing with.”
She shouldn’t have said that so openly, because a passing old woman wrinkled her nose and crossed the road to pointedly get away from them. Fold cringed and closed his eyes.
“Maybe they just think we’re part of the police?” I suggested.
He let out a sigh, “Sure, yeah, let’s go with that.”
We made our way to the outskirts of the town, where a lot of tall, bulky buildings were set up, towering over the quaint town. I didn’t remember a lot of them from the vision I had about Fold. There was a lot more greenery back then, for the dogs to wander around to their hearts’ content.
“The export and transportation sector has really grown here since then.” Fold explained, shoving his hands into his pockets, “So the warehouses have been built up real quick. Took over the entire landscape.”
“If space is such a problem, wouldn’t they tear up the building?” I asked, “Or reuse it, whatever’s more financially viable, I suppose.”
“No, I called ahead.” Fold replied, taking another turn between the well-worn dirt roads, “It’s still standing, but no one’s been inside for ages, so even if we get spotted, chances are no one’s going to call the cops.”
When we reached the test building in question, everything was exactly as Fold had described it. Incredibly dirty, with a layer of dust obscuring the nameplate on the front so much that I couldn’t make out what it said. But I knew what the faded, sun-bleached words were meant to say, because I had seen the exact sign before, in the mirror vision. Except not from this angle. It was a couple degrees to the left.
I began to step around it in a slow circle, trying to remember the exact image of the sign the mirrors had given me, until it finally clicked into place. The mirrors had been showing the sign to me from exactly this spot, every time during that vision.
Something solid and cool was directly behind me when I leaned my head back. There was a mirror. A grimy, broken mirror, but one, nonetheless. I turned around to stare at it in shock. So the mirrors really were showing me things that had been reflected directly into it. I had been expecting it, somewhat, but it was a shock to see it be supported.
“Come on, Maddy, I’ve gotten the window open.” Riley called over to me, trying to keep her voice down.
The inside was made of entirely musty, tight hallways, all covered in mirrors on the floors, walls, and ceiling. Each one was cracked, but that wasn’t surprising. What was interesting were the cracks on the ceiling mirrors. They looked like a series of feet had run over them with enough force to break them.
We all stared at it for a second, and then cleared our throats and looked away.
“Let’s split up and explore.” I suggested, which was followed by quick agreement.
I went through the hallways, checking every door and bend, which only led to more dull hallways. When I finally found a room that was wide and not a hallway, I stepped inside immediately.
The door began to screech shut, but I managed to brace it open at the last second. Voices bounced off the walls from some distance away. Riley. Followed quickly by a twisting, metallic sign.
That was my only warning when water suddenly slammed on top of me. It wasn’t the rainy place. I knew that. But it was painfully similar.
I tensed immediately, my heart pounding. Something was breathing behind me, in sync with my heartbeat. It took all the resolve I had to turn around. The creature hadn’t bitten my head off yet, so it was a good sign.
The dog’s head was the size of half my body, and its fur was a greenish blue made of a million shards of fibrous glass. Its eyes were as big as dinner plates and reflected my shaken face right back at me.
For all the running I had done, and how far we had come, I was going to die. Looking into a face that looked absolutely terrified.