I could have moved away from the place I had popped out from. Tried to put distance between myself and the mirror, so that the glass dog couldn’t hunt me down.
But the problem was, there was no mirror.
I looked around as wildly as I could, and maybe it was the head injury messing up my vision, but I swear, there. Was. No. Mirror. Just an endless void of rain and mud. Eventually, I stumbled upon a tree, its branches drooping from excess watering and its trunk swollen. Even under the boughs, there was no respite from the continuous barrage of rain.
Still, it was a place to sit and breathe and process what had happened. So that was what I did. Rainwater washed away scents, I thought, so surely the demon glass dog wouldn’t be able to track me down, even if I hadn’t moved far enough away from the place I had broken out from.
My head was heavy. Sinuses thick. Water was clogging up my ears and everything sounded so far away, I simply couldn’t jolt my body into action.
How was this my life? I wondered to myself. Two weeks ago, it had been a repetitive, introverted lifestyle for me. And now here I was, being chased by a beast that had left behind at least twenty bodies, and only one survivor. My chances were abysmal.
Maybe it was selfish of me, but the one detail that took over my mind, as rainwater dripped over the brim of my hat and into my eyes, was: “Why me?”
The mirrors had picked me out specifically to communicate with. It was unthinkable to me that after all my wanderings, I would be the one to be selected by the dog as its next victim. Was there a throughline that I was missing? Something that was making it pick out the people it went after?
I had never attracted its attention before this, I was sure of it. Something must have changed, but try as I might, it just wasn’t clicking for me.
Riley and Fold should be told about this, I decided. Not because they were more analytical than me. That was debatable, but also probably true, but because a lot more people being able to look at this case from every possible angle would be much more helpful.
Because you couldn’t pay me to go back to the mirror, even if I could find it, I decided to walk. Trudging through the flooded scenery with my waterlogged coat. With every step I took, I could feel my boots sloshing with more and more water. There was no end in sight, but I kept walking onwards.
And then, the water cut out. It wasn’t a gradual slowing, like most rain. No, it was abrupt. Planned. As if a waterspout had been turned off. Almost too similar to that. I squinted up at the sky, but the misty vapors of the rain shower were hanging low above my head, obscuring my view of the sky. Or what I assumed was the sky. Because I had the striking suspicion that this place wasn’t completely organic.
If it was a man-made structure, then that meant there was a wall nearby. Though, since it was so dark, even without the rain I couldn’t see any such wall. No wall, no escape. Desperate measures had to be taken.
I emptied out my bag, looking for anything useful. There wasn’t much. A bottle of lukewarm water, but I had already had enough of water. A makeup mirror I used for particularly daring tricks, but I wasn’t going to head back into the hallways anytime soon. I had been hoping for a flashlight but wasn’t surprised to see that there wasn’t one.
Finally, I picked up my work pager, which I should have handed in during my leave, and fired off an emergency signal. The device beeped, indicating that the signal had been sent, and everything was in motion. Now, I had to sit tight, and hope that a small, underfunded branch of the governmental postal service cared enough about a mailwoman who was already on her last threads and was also supposed to be on leave.
…I was screwed, wasn’t I?
Nothing could be done about it except sitting in the darkness. Sleeping was an absolute no-no, because the dog was somewhere out there, hunting me, and I couldn’t sit down, because the moment I leaned my head back and rested my legs, my eyes would flutter shut and my aching head would soothe itself, and I would be lulled of to sleep, which I could not do.
That last point comment snapped me out of the stupor I had found myself in, blinking wildly.
I was alive. Awake. Still completely whole.
Dave was waiting for me back at the hospital. He had made it. I had to, as well.
Despite my best efforts, I found myself milling in and out of consciousness, delirious, almost. What I didn’t miss was the faint sounds of bustling people. The flashes of helmet lamps. Strong hands travelling up my arms and hoisting me up.
“…Who?” I whispered, faintly.
“Shhh, it’s going to be alright, kid.” This stranger murmured, “I’m getting you out.”
This was followed by a familiar sensation of dry, malleable material slipping by me, colder than ice. Except there was a weird twisting sensation alongside it. As I was being put into a piping bag and squeezed with all the might of a giantess.
It was with mounting horror that I realized that I was being brought back into the mirrors. I tried to protest as much as I could, wiggling about weakly, “No- I- you can’t…”
“Just stay calm, you’re safe now.” The so-called rescuer consoled me.
We were both going to die, I thought hysterically. This thought was so alarming to me that I passed out. It was humiliating how often that was happening today. I was supposed to be better, smarter, stronger.
All I felt was tired.
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There were reporters all around her. People clamoring for her attention. Celina felt almost self-conscious. She had never been in such a mainstream spotlight before, so it was an alien experience.
Not for long, she hoped. This was her breakout stunt. The one that would shock the whole world into finally taking notice.
Riley was skeptical, her darling little sister was just so cynical about everything that involved reflection-hopping. Celina would bring her around to it, eventually. She hadn’t been hopping at Riley’s age, so there was plenty of time to brew up a passion for it.
She amused herself at the idea of Riley training for reflection-hopping, keeping a serene expression on her face as the reporters continued to press in from all directions.
“Do you really think that you can make it?”
“Is it possible to go through several tiny mirrors in one go?”
“No one’s ever heard of it before!”
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Will there be any doctors on site? People with more expertise than you?”
“Some people consider you to be too new to the scene for this. What do you have in response?”
All questions she had been asked before. But they kept asking over and over again. Hoping that she would slip up. Give them a different answer, and expose herself as a fraud of some kind.
She didn’t see why they wished to see her fall so much. Everything she put on camera was as authentic as she could get. Sure, there was a level of privacy and distance she liked to put between herself and her audience, but it was never in an attempt to deceive.
Celina was a stunt performer. She jumped through mirrors set up in impossible places and stuck every landing. Every jump was new challenge. A new trick. An invitation to try something new. Diving through a standard mirror and then coming out through a chandelier was just another one of those tricks.
Next time, she thinks she’ll do a dance piece. Something like a waltz, where the two dancers swept through the mirrors in a mesmerizing pattern. She hadn’t quite had the time to choreograph it, but it had a lot of promise. Or maybe, she could do a waterfall. A bit repetitive after this one, but the idea appealed enough for her to jot it down in her notebook.
She walked past all the questions, willing herself to keep her spine straight and head back.
The only thing that she could afford to worry about was getting through that chandelier.
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I wasn’t entirely sure when I woke up. All I knew was that the moment my eyes had opened, they had latched onto my tiny makeup mirror, and thrown me into a vision.
A vision through the eyes of Celina Minto. Of all people, I had not expected to see her in these glimpses of the past. But at least the visions were back to their regular format, I supposed. The closer they stuck to the rules, the easier I felt. I liked uniform rules, even when I couldn’t figure them out.
But the vision was gone now. All that was left was the tiny mirror, with none of that mesmerizing gravity sucking me in anymore. I turned my eyes away from it, blinking harshly against the gritty dryness that had taken over my sight.
“You feeling alright?” A voice murmured next to me. Oh, right. Where was I, again? The bed was stiff but reasonably comfortable, and there was a clean smell in the air. The white, plain decorations of the room I was placed in all came together to point towards me being in a hospital room.
Stolen story; please report.
It took all my strength to turn my head around to look at the person who had called out to me. She was a woman, slightly older than me, and an undercut that had the left side of her scalp shaved. In the fuzz, an intricate pattern was etched, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many times a month she had to redo that in the mirror by herself.
More concerning than her shaved hair, however, was the jacket she was wearing. A brown waterproofed bomber jacket with yellow high visibility stripes going down the arms and across the back. On the lapel and the center of the back, there was stamped a silver emblem. The silhouette of a swirling mirror frame encasing the words ‘RHR’ written in a fancy script.
I was more than familiar with that logo. In both good ways and bad.
“You’re from the Reflection-Hopping Rangers.” I told her rather than asking. We both knew it was true.
“What makes you think that?” She asked, grinning at me.
“Gee, I don’t know.” I stared her down, “What’re you doing here? Don’t you need to be out there, playing the hero or something?”
“Well, I played the hero for you, didn’t I?” She laughed, “Just checking up on you before I head back out. You’re an… unusual kid, you know? Definitely one of the most memorable cases I’ve had in years.”
Glad I could provide some entertainment to someone a millimeter away from being a reflection-hopping cop. Most people said that that wasn’t exactly what the RHR does, but I knew better. They couldn’t be trusted, always looking over your shoulder, attempting to tame something that simply couldn’t be tamed.
You could say that I had a chip on my shoulder for the Rangers. That would be correct, but it was also an understatement.
“How did you do it?” I asked, deciding to put my disgruntlement aside.
“Do what?” The woman asked, sitting down beside me.
“Find me. Got me out. I remember paging my work but never hinted what trouble I was in.”
“They were given your coordinates in that message.” She replied, “One look at the map, and they were calling our 585 hotline. And then, there I was. Found you because your face was displayed on the mirror you had nearby, even when unconscious. Very clever of you.”
“Hah, yep.” I nodded along as if that was an intentional trick of mine. My opinion of her rose, however, when I realized she had successfully jumped through a makeup mirror alongside a person with no conscious thought. She must be really good.
“Did you get a good look around the place we were in?” I asked, desperate for answers. Had it really been a manmade contraption after all? Or was it just a normal, very rainy cave?
“Was a bit busy trying to grab you, kid.” She laughed, “Why’re you so desperate to know?”
“…No reason.” I replied, looking away from her. Best to keep anyone who couldn’t be trusted at arm’s length from the investigation. Besides, the coordinates had been logged by the post office communications. I could track it down later and figure out what was happening there. That was enough to calm my desperation.
“Who’re you, anyways?” I asked.
“Lian Cruz.” She introduced herself with a flourish of her hand, “Three-Striped Ranger, at your service.”
That didn’t mean anything to me. I knew about the RF Rangers but not their ranks. But she sounded proud of it, so I assumed that it was a big deal. Very reminiscent of police, just like I had noticed before.
“Well, Lian, I’m Madison Gardner, but I’m sure you know that.” I shook her hand, “You weren’t worried about me, were you?” I gave her a sly look, but the woman wasn’t even the slightest bit fazed.
“It’s a job where I have to save people from dying constantly from stupid stunts.” She told me drily, “I can’t afford to worry about every dumbass I find.”
“Listen, this wasn’t a stunt-” I bristled in my own defense, before forcefully cutting myself off. Let her think I was an inexperienced fool. What did it matter in the grand scheme of things?
She seemed to take my outburst as an admission of my mistake and patted me on the shoulder, “Well, know your limits the next time you try something like this, okay? I need to go, but the doctors still want to look you over for that concussion you got. And see if there are any other injuries I may have missed.”
I didn’t fully process her getting up and walking out of the room, but before she could fully leave, I managed to summon up the energy to call after her.
“I know I don’t sound it, but thanks.”
She nodded, looking a little confused, “Err… you’re welcome. Usually people are a lot more petulant after I pick them up.”
“You put yourself in a lot of danger for me.” I told her, “Was the walk back really okay?”
“Yeah.” Lian confirmed, though her eyebrows were scrunched together as if she wasn’t really sure. Suspicion was quickly taking over her expression, “What kind of danger are we talking about here? You involved in some gang?”
Of course, that was where her mind first jumped to. The hallways were no stranger to illicit schemes of all kinds. It was actually tame of Lian to be suggesting a gang and not an international terrorist group. And yet, my true purpose was darker than any of that. It was a truly terrible type of irony.
“No.” I replied quickly, shaking my head as much as I could manage, “Not really the type to deal with gangs. I just remember something chasing me. Something inhuman.”
I meant to keep it vague, but it came off just ominous enough that Lian’s eyes narrowed. Then, before I could make an excuse or masterfully change the subject, she was smiling again, “How interesting. I’ll direct animal control over to the place I found you.” And she turned around and walked away for good.
Some part of me wanted to drag her back and spill out the whole story. Doing this when only I was the one who understood the finer details of what was going on was incredibly isolating. I wanted someone else who got it to be on my side, too. But I didn’t do that. I let her walk away.
My thoughts tormented me in the solitude, but not for long. A steady stream of doctors and nurses went in and out of my room, checking up on me and running tests. It all became background noise as I waited for someone to tell me when I would be allowed to leave.
Finally, the monotony was broken by the arrival of someone I recognized.
Dave, leaning against the door, bruised and nibbled on and down one arm, but grinning at me with so much life that all the weight in my heart was immediately lifted. He was staring back at me, eyes wide, as if he couldn’t quite believe it himself.
“Come, sit.” I shifted immediately, allowing him access to the side of the bed. He came closer and sat down gratefully. Clearly, he hadn’t recovered as much as I had thought. But he didn’t look away from me, still staring with that continued, single-minded focus. It was enough to make me blush.
“I didn’t think you were going to make it.” He whispered, his eyes shining like stars on a lake’s reflection.
“I’m okay.” I tried to reassure him, which was hard to do given that I had been fading in and out of consciousness, “What about you?”
He stared at me for a moment, “I’m not supposed to be here.” He finally blurted out, looking horrified by his own admission. I snorted.
“You snuck out?”
“Listen, I walked out. No one saw me. I was just really, really desperate, and I wanted to see you, and next thing I know… I’m breaking bed rest mandates.”
“Wow, look at you, rebel.” I cackled, even though my head hurt when I threw it back to laugh harder, “Real bad boy vibes.”
“I hate you.” He mumbled, covering his face with his hands. Hand. He had one hand. Because he had lost the whole arm in a horrific act by the monster I had left to run wild. I fell silent after that, and he picked up on the drop in my mood quickly, “I don’t really.” He rushed to clarify, peeking out from between his fingers.
“Yeah, I know.” I assured him, “I was just thinking about-”
We were interrupted from our talk when the door was thrown open with so much force it hit the wall and bounced back. The familiarly sweet face of Riley Minto poked it, mouth widening into a smile as she took in the room, “Oh, good, you’re both here!” She leaned back out of the room to yell back at someone else, “Henry, I’ve found them both! Stop panicking and come here!”
Of course, she had brought Fold along. I wouldn’t have expected anything less. What I didn’t expect, however, was the sheer amount of desperation on Fold’s face when he skidded into the room. An urgency that only lifted when he caught sight of me sitting up and looking at him.
“Oh, thank goodness, Maddy.” He deflated, “I thought…” He gave a sniffle, small enough to be disguised, but the redness in his eyes and the lines in his face told a different story.
“Let’s put a pause on the waterworks.” I suggested to him, as gently as I could, “We’ve still got the case to work on.”
“After being MIA for nearly seventy-two hours?” Fold demanded. I winced; had it been that long?
But there was nothing to be done about it. I couldn’t stop and process that now, or else I would never be able to charge myself into motion. Once I told them about my evidence, they would be taken over by excitement, too, and the case could finally, finally come to a close.
“I made a breakthrough.” I told them, “We can’t stop now, or it’s going to get away.”
“Who’s ‘it’?” Dave frowned, “What’re you talking about?”
“The mirror hallways’ monster.” Fold explained, “You missed a lot in that nap.”
“I wouldn’t call it a ‘nap’-” Riley began to interject, but I interrupted forcefully.
“Will you please just listen to what I have to say?”
Everyone’s heads swiveled around to look at me. Fold made a zipping motion across his lips.
“I found it.” I announced, “I found the monster in the hallways. I didn’t wait to get a proper look at it, but it was chasing me with four legs, and definitely had a tail made of glass. So, my ‘dog that was experimented on’ theory still holds water. But it was bigger than a normal dog. Definitely twice as big as a normal person.”
“The Clifford breed.” Riley nodded sagely. Dave rolled his eyes.
I took a deep breath, going down the bullet list of paradigm-shifting events that had happened after I had left Dave’s hospital room.
“I had another vision.” I told them. A sharp intake of breath.
“A vision?” Dave frowned, “What’re you talking about?”
“…Oh boy, we’re going to have to fill you in about this.” Fold sighed.
“Please don’t.” He begged, “I’m not part of this.”
“You’re in the room where it’s happening.” Riley told him, matter of factly, “You may dislike it, but you are part of this.”
Dave grumbled, but he had lost the argument. Everyone could see it. Fold cleared his throat, “Well, what was the vision, Maddy?”
“A still image.” I explained, “Not an event, or a story, or a character. Though, I had one like that just now.”
“These visions… they’ve been picking up steam.” Riley noted, her voice tinged with worry. She was going to be much more upset once I told her about the latest one. But this was about the hint it had left me.
“The mirrors showed me a factory.” I told them, “Something to do with trees. It’s been a lot more communicative recently, so I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I’m sure it has something very important to do with that monster dog.”
There was a lot that needed to be discussed here. Thoughts were scampering through my head in a frenzy as I tried to sort them out.
“It couldn’t find me.” I whispered, “Before, it was practically salivating to get ahold of me, but when Lian the Ranger, it couldn’t give a single fuck. What changed? Something was pulling it towards me, but then it stopped. I need to figure out why.”
Now that was something that made everyone sit up and pay attention.
“Was there any difference between those times?” Dave suggested, “Do you think being awake had any effect?”
“I don’t think so.” I told him, “How is it supposed to know the difference?”
“Well, it’s a police dog.” Riley noted, “Were you carrying something the first time around that you dropped between jumps?”
I scrunched my eyebrows, thinking over the events of that incident. My mind was frazzled by the hit to the head I’d taken, and all the memories were a mess, but I tried to recall as hard as I could. Then it struck me.
The bag I’d emptied. Most of the stuff I had shoved back in, but a few scraps of paper had been left in the muddy ground.
Not just any scraps of paper. Those were the ticket stubs I had picked up for Riley.
“I lost some shredded tickets Riley had dropped.” I confessed, “That’s all I can think of.”
Riley blinked, taken by surprise, “Tickets?” She parroted, “I don’t have any reason to buy…” Her hands flew over her skirt, patting down her pockets, “Oh God, the tickets for Celina’s last show, they’re- they’re gone.” Her voice was strangled, almost near tears, “She liked to carry tickets to hand out to fans who couldn’t afford it. You don’t suppose…”
“There’s something in the tickets?” Fold mused, “The ink or the paper?”
Factory. Dealing with trees.
“The paper, obviously.” I answered reflexively, “The dog’s being led around by something in the paper. We need to find out which factory that vision was referring to, see if there’s any connection.”
“And then?” Dave frowned.
I turned to look at him, and my heart leapt with delight at seeing him awake and moving around.
“Then, we’re going to go straight to its home and hit it straight on.” I announced.