No one really knew what to do, so they just stood around and watched as Ms. White took over. She placed a pillow under Mr. Prince’s head and covered the wound until the bleeding stopped. Merlin had tried to cast a spell but was so tired he couldn’t focus his thoughts enough to do anything.

Instead, he sat down in one of the chairs while Ms. White took care of Mr. Prince. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep. It seemed like just seconds before someone was shaking him awake. Blearily, he looked to see who it was and what they wanted.

“Come on,” Frank said. “We’re heading back home. Ms. White says she will help Mr. Prince. We need to get back and break the curse on the others.”

“How are we going to all get back?” They had one scooter to share among four people.

“After I drop you off, I will be going to come back for the others,” Frank said.

“Wait, what about the mirror pieces?” Merlin asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Ruth said. “Ms. White had us shatter all the remaining pieces of the mirror with a hammer until they were the size of grains of sand. No one will be using them again.”

“We saved the one you used on us though so you can use it on your friends,” Lucas added.

Nodding, Merlin joined Frank as they walked to the scooter. Sitting on the back of the scooter didn’t seem as bad as it had before. He had plenty to think about. While he was tempted to see Shirley first, he decided to go see Peter and Belle first instead. Then again, Robert was pretty gone as well. Still, by seeing Peter and Belle first, he could take care of two of them at the same time. Belle did seem like she might do something any moment as well.

Merlin wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have dozed on the way back. If he did doze off, he was lucky enough that he unconsciously kept his arms clutched around Frank. Either way, he was much more rested and felt like he could probably cast some spells again. During the last few miles of the trip, he went over the spells he would use in his head.

Once they reached Peter and Belle’s house, Frank dropped him off and sped back to pick up Lucas or Ruth. That left him to face the two siblings. Hopefully, they would cooperate. If not, he wasn’t sure what he would do. Was it even possible to force them to look at the mirror to break the curse?

Merlin knocked on the door. Peter opened the door and ushered Merlin inside. Belle was in her room, which actually was probably for the best. It would be much easier to convince them individually than try to get them to look at the mirror together.

“Hey there,” Merlin said. “Guess what I got.” He didn’t give Peter time to answer, but instead held up the piece of mirror. “I found some interesting things out about the mirror too. Want me to tell you a story about the adventure?”

“That sounds great,” Peter said. “Mother always used to tell me stories.”

Instead of telling the story, however, Merlin launched into the spell while he had Peter’s attention.

“Let my friend be once again,

Who he has always been.

Let the curse be now broken,

As these words are spoken.”

Peter seemed confused at first, but didn’t look away. Merlin continued on quickly. He ignored the pressure building, not wanting to risk looking away and messing up the spell.

“Let my friend be once again,

Who he has always been.

Let the curse be now broken,

As these words are spoken.

Let my friend be once again,

Who he has always been.

Let the curse be now broken,

As these words are spoken.”

When the spell was finished, Merlin felt a wave of relief even greater than the wave of pressure from the breaking of the curse.

“One down,” he said softly to himself. Peter seemed a little stunned by what had happened, and Merlin didn’t have to work too hard at convincing him to stay while he talked to Peter’s sister. After entering the room, Merlin noticed that Belle was even smaller than she had been the day before. Closing the door behind him, he spoke quietly, afraid he might startle her. “Hey, Belle. Peter wanted me to show you something. He thought every beautiful young girl should have a mirror to look at and he wanted me to show you the one I had found.”

This seemed to make Belle happy, and she came over immediately to look at the mirror he was holding. Starting the spell, he tried to speak the words as quickly as possible before she lost interest.

“Look into the magic glass,

And see what you used to be,

A sweet innocent young lass

No longer cursed, but now free.”

Again, he felt the pressure of the spell building, but he continued on. Belle seemed content to continue gazing into the mirror.

“Look into the magic glass,

And see what you used to be,

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A sweet innocent young lass

No longer cursed, but now free.

Look into the magic glass,

And see what you used to be,

A sweet innocent young lass

No longer cursed, but now free.”

Merlin watched Belle as she began to regain her size. As the last words of the magic spell snapped into place, the curse broke with an explosion of pressure. Wincing, Merlin rubbed his forehead. He was definitely getting a migraine.

Now all he had to worry about were Robert, Shirley, and Arthur. Robert seemed to be the next most unstable after the siblings. Shirley probably hadn’t even left her room except to go to the bathroom. As for Arthur, for some reason, Merlin wasn’t quite ready to see him yet. Part of him feared Arthur might demand the mirror piece.

Belle came around quickly and was mortified at what she remembered. “Did I really do all those things?”

Merlin nodded. “You can help fix things though by driving me over to Robert’s house. I need to help him next.”

“Anything,” Belle said. “I can’t believe I was thinking about…” She stopped and shuddered. Maybe it was a good thing he didn’t know what she had been planning.

Belle gave him a ride to Robert’s house first, and then to Shirley’s house. Breaking the curse on Robert and Shirley was sort of anti-climactic. Nothing happened. No big problem jumped out at him. It all seemed too easy. All it did was leave him more tired, but also more relieved.

Robert had been making a stockpile of food and drinks. He had already packed his bags and prepared a plan of action. Apparently, he thought it would be a good idea to move into a patch of woods in Sherwood. Just thinking about Robert’s plan made Merlin shake his head. Robert had really planned on living in the forest and robbing the rich people.

While he could certainly sympathize with the idea, that sounded crazy. What could Robert do with a bow and arrow? Now, if he had magical powers, maybe. Sheesh, he had arrived just in time. One man might be able to make a difference, but forcing your ideas on others didn’t sound like the right thing to do, even if you could do it. Somehow, he doubted Robert would have succeeded.

Shirley had been another story. She seemed to know everything, but knowing everything seemed to be her curse. She saw too many options and didn’t have enough information to make the right decision. Her knowledge had proven to be the chains that bound her. Too many people acted without thinking about the consequences to others.

She had seen so many possible consequences from so many different actions that she had been paralyzed with indecision. She had felt that there was no right answer, so she didn’t have to do anything. She could just stand by and watch everything burn.

Luckily, he hadn’t felt that way. If he had, none of his friends would have become free of their curses. In fact, almost everyone had been taken care of and things were finally starting to look great. Merlin was beginning to think everything would be fine.

That was until they arrived at Arthur’s house. Apparently, Arthur had left instructions for the servants not to let Merlin enter. Yep, he thought. He had to start thinking everything was over. Nope, he should have saved the celebratory lap until after the race was over.

While he was tempted to try to sneak into Arthur’s right then and there, he doubted that would be a good idea. Maybe he should wait until night, he thought. There would be fewer people around. Finally, he decided he would come to try when it turned dark. It would be easier to sneak in and maybe he could catch Arthur by surprise. It definitely wasn’t going to be easy, however.

That night, Merlin was standing near the gates of Arthur’s mansion once again. Once more, he placed the mask on his face. Patting each of his pockets, he checked to make sure all the enchanted items he had created were ready for use. Somehow, he knew breaking the curse on Arthur was going to be the hardest part of the last few days.

He had figured out earlier that Arthur must still have the mirror piece. Ms. White, Mr. Prince, and the others hadn’t stolen the mirror piece. That meant Arthur had been lying. Now, it was possible Arthur didn’t think it was safe to use the mirror. More than likely, however, Arthur had been keeping it to himself.

While it wasn’t a pleasant thought, he also feared Arthur might be trying to gain more power from the mirror. Maybe he had seen how much power the mirror could bestow and wanted more than just a magic sword and a strong sword arm. Yep, it could get pretty nasty if Arthur had been abusing the mirror’s power.

Merlin found sneaking into the mansion easier than he expected. Unfortunately, Arthur wasn’t in his room. Not sure where else to look, Merlin started looking around the house. Finally, he found Arthur in the wine cellar. Arthur was standing in front of a mirror dressed in a cosplay outfit he had created for himself last year. Taped to that mirror was the mirror piece.

While all the guys liked to read comic books, Arthur had taken his to the point of designing his own character, complete with powers and costume. Everyone had been pretty jealous of Arthur there for a few weeks.

Oh. That wasn’t good. From what he remembered, the character Arthur had made could do just about anything he wanted to do. Oh yeah, he had to start thinking things were going great. If Arthur had all the powers of that character, Merlin wasn’t even certain his spells would work on Arthur anymore. Taking out one of his mirrors, he thought about what he should do.

He didn’t get the chance to do anything, however. Apparently, Arthur really did have the powers of his character. Somehow, he knew Merlin was there. With a wave of the hand, the mirror flew from Merlin’s hand and disintegrated. Almost as an afterthought, Arthur turned and also vaporized the other mirror.

Turning back to Merlin, he said, “We don’t need those anymore.”

Merlin didn’t say anything. He also didn’t try anything. There was a time for everything, and confronting Arthur directly at that moment wasn’t the smartest thing to do. He better bide his time until he found an opening.

“I spoke with Shirley and Robert,” Arthur said. “They told me what you and the Monster Mob did. While I do appreciate your destroying the mirror pieces, I don’t think I want to lose my powers. As you can see, now that there are no mirrors, there is no way to break the curse.”

“That’s true. So, I’m free to go?” Merlin asked tentatively.

“Now, normally, I would give you the option of leaving,” Arthur said. “Somehow though, I don’t think you will stop until you break the curse. After all, there might be another mirror out there. So, no, I don’t think I can let you go.”

Merlin didn’t like the feeling of where things might be going. It certainly didn’t sound good for him.

Arthur continued, “You gave me my powers by giving me the mirror. So, I’m not going to kill you.”

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief at that, but Arthur wasn’t done.

“I actually think it might be appropriate for you to face the fate of Merlin,” Arthur said. Arthur then snapped his fingers. After a moment, he looked away, as if he didn’t want to see what would happen to his one-time friend.

Merlin didn’t know what to expect until crystals began growing around his feet, rooting him in place. They continued to grow. Looking down, he panicked and reached for the last piece of the mirror. By the time he had taken it out of his pocket, the crystal had grown over his hand and was up to his waist. Looking down, he tried to see the mirror through the crystal. Seconds later, he was surrounded completely by crystal.

From the corner of his eyes, he was able to see Arthur leaving the room. Then he was alone in the wine cellar, trapped within the crystals. He couldn’t even speak. The only thing he could do was look down at the mirror in his hand.

Merlin tried casting a spell in his mind, but nothing happened. Just as he had feared, he couldn’t cast a spell unless he said the words aloud. He stood there, wondering how he could escape, worried that he would be trapped there forever, never aging, never dying.

Merlin almost cried when he couldn’t even shudder. He couldn’t move at all. He had once thought he was only afraid of a few things. Now he realized there was one thing he was really frightened of. He hated being trapped, unable to move. It was worse than claustrophobia. It was torture. Slowly, he finally regained control of himself. Think, think, think. There had to be a way out of the situation. Maybe one of the others would come looking for him. No, that wouldn’t work. He had magical powers, and Arthur had taken him down as if he were an insect. None of his friends had their powers anymore.

What could they do? What could anyone do against Arthur? He had made his character one of the strongest heroes in comic books. Well, Arthur wasn’t a hero anymore. He was a villain now. And a villain who had beaten the hero for that matter.