After school, they did as Shirley had suggested since no one had seen Angela that day. They all got on the bus together and when they reached a stop near her house, got off. Then they walked the rest of the way to Angela’s house. Arthur didn’t hesitate for even a second before ringing the doorbell. A few seconds later, Angela’s mother opened the door.
While Merlin wasn’t a great judge of expressions, the mother did seem a little worried as she said, “Yes?”
Shirley stepped forward, looked at the mother for a moment, and then said, “We know that Angela is sick right now. We believe that this morning, she started feeling a little tired and found it very difficult to stay awake. You probably don’t know why. Is that correct? If so, we think we might know what made her this way.”
The mother looked at Shirley in astonishment. To Merlin, it looked like she didn’t know whether to be angry or hopeful. After a few seconds of staring at Shirley, Angela’s mother turned to look at the rest of the group and then motioned them inside, obviously a little confused. “Uh...she’s upstairs. Please don’t stay long though. The doctor said to allow her to rest and see if she is better tomorrow.”
“We promise,” Shirley said. Everyone else nodded in agreement as well.
Silently, she led them all up to Angela’s room. Inside, they found her lying in her bed. She definitely looked asleep. Merlin felt really awkward being in the room of a sleeping girl. Uh, what had they really expected to see? She seemed to hear them and slowly opened her eyes, smiling weakly at them all.
“Hey guys,” she said. “What’s up? I’m sorry I couldn’t come to school today.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Shirley said. “We were wondering if you started feeling bad this morning. We think it might be tied into what happened with the mirror last night.”
Angela seemed confused. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Shirley looked at the rest of the group and then nodded to them. “Don’t worry about it. Get some rest and we will come back and see you later.”
She turned to Merlin and asked, “Can you do anything for her?”
Merlin shrugged his shoulders and said, “I can try.” He stood there for a few seconds and then tried a spell he had thought up. It wasn’t really for this, but maybe he could get it to work after all.
“Let her fate be unsealed
And my friend be healed.
Let her fate be unsealed
And my friend be healed.
Let her fate be unsealed
And my friend be healed.”
They all watched her for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He held up a hand, letting them know he wanted to try again.
He stood there thinking for a few minutes, wondering what rhymed with sleep. “Beep, creep, deep, heap, jeep, keep, leap, peep, reap, steep, weep.” Nodding, he decided he might have enough to try again.
“Do not make my friends weep,
Please wake her from her sleep.
Do not make my friends weep,
Please wake her from her sleep.
Do not make my friends weep,
Please wake her from her sleep.”
He thought nothing was going to happen again when she stirred just a little and opened her eyes, but then immediately fell asleep again. There had been no feeling of pressure or anything. In fact, it was as if he had lost his power. Just to make sure, he tried another.”
“Light light,
Shining bright.
Light light,
Shining bright.
Light light,
Shining bright.”
A light appeared in the room, then faded away. Merlin turned to the others. “I don’t know why it didn’t work. Maybe since the power came from the mirror it doesn’t affect what the mirror does.”
“It was worth a try,” Shirley said. “We will come up with another plan. For now, we have gathered some information and tested some hypotheses. Tomorrow we can try a new direction of attack.”
Attack probably sounded good to Arthur, Merlin thought, but then chided himself. He really needed to watch picking on Arthur, even if it was only in his own mind. He didn’t know why he was always picking on Arthur, even if only in his mind. After all, Arthur might not be the brightest guy, but he really wasn’t that bad. He might be a little too sure of himself and only treat them well because they were HIS friends, but at least Arthur treated them well, even if Merlin felt like a pet sometimes.
Looking at the others, he shook his head and nodded toward the door. Shirley motioned for everyone to leave, and everyone started filing out of the room.
They left the house silently. Merlin didn’t know what they were thinking, but more than likely, they were probably trying to figure out what to do with their friend. Once at the street curb, they started talking about what they had seen. Arthur started by stating the obvious. “She was Sleeping Beauty last night, and now she can’t stay awake.”
“I know,” said Robert. “Who knows how long she will be able to stay awake each day? What if she gets worse?”
“Yes, we need to find that mirror,” said Shirley. “Maybe we can reverse the curse somehow.”
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“We might have a problem keeping her awake long enough to say the magic words,” Merlin said.
“Maybe we can just break the mirror,” said Arthur. “That might break the curse.”
“It might also take away our powers,” Peter said. “Personally, I like my power.”
“I think we need to find the mirror and bring it back,” Shirley said. “That sounds like the best plan for now.”
“How are we going to find it, however?” Merlin asked. “After all, Ms. White doesn’t go to our school anymore. Who knows where she is.”
“I suggest we all ask everyone we can think of tomorrow to find out where she went,” Shirley said. “Maybe one of the teachers will know. If not, we can ask one of the counselors or principals.”
They stood there in silence for a few more minutes until Shirley’s brother showed up and took everyone home. No one said anything on the ride home, each person is lost in thought. How could they find Ms. White? Even if they did find her, were they just going to steal it from her? How? After all, she seemed to see and know everything.
That evening he spent all night creating different spells. Surprisingly, he was able to memorize everything much easier than before the mirror. That was great because he would need to memorize a lot of spells since he could only use each one once.
The next morning, he went to school like normal. He hung around the teacher’s lounge and office hoping to hear something, anything, about Ms. White. When that didn’t help, he began asking around about where she might have gone. The teachers he asked didn’t know where she had gone, however. In fact, they didn’t seem to know much about her at all. They didn’t even know her first name apparently. Weird.
Merlin hoped the others were having better luck than he was. They definitely couldn’t be learning any less than he was. Maybe Shirley would find something. After all, the mirror had given her the powers of Sherlock Holmes.
At lunch, however, Merlin found out that no one had discovered anything that would help them. Maybe they would have better luck after lunch, he thought.
When they all met after school for a moment before the buses arrived, Shirley told them that hope had actually arrived in the form of a strange old man. She was in the office when he came in and asked for Ms. White.
“What did he look like?” Arthur asked.
Shirley gave him a look, but answered anyway, “He was an old man, maybe 70 or 80. He had white hair. The old man also looked rich. His clothing looked expensive, as did his watch.”
“Go on, what happened next,” Peter said, urging her to tell them more about what the old man had said.
Shirley nodded, and began again, “When the secretary told him Ms. White was no longer at the school, he asked if she knew where Ms. White had gone? She told him no. After that, he asked if she had left anyway to contact her. Again, the secretary told him no. He seemed disappointed, and asked to be called if they discovered a way he could contact Ms. White.”
Robert blurted something out then. “Don’t they have to have some records or some way to send her a check? Why weren’t they able to tell him anything?”
Shirley gave him a dirty look. After a brief pause, she answered, “Probably because she was given the check at work. Perhaps she put the wrong number or address on her application. It’s also possible that they lied and really do have the information but didn’t want to share it with him.
“Anyway,” she continued, “I stopped him and said we were trying to locate her as well so we could send her a letter. He seemed a little suspicious but agreed to call me if he discovered anything.”
Merlin didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he said, “Do you really think he will find anything out, and even if he does, do you think he will share it with us?”
“I don’t know, but it was worth a try.”
It was at that moment that Shirley’s phone rang. She looked at them and then answered. After listening to the person on the phone, she said, “That will be fine. We’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”
As soon as she hung up, Peter asked, “Who was that? Was that him?”
Shirley said, “Yes, it was and he wants to meet us at the front of the school. Right now.”
Merlin asked, “Uh, what about the bus? How will we get home?”
Shirley said, “My brother, of course. I made a deal with him, and he is more than willing to give us a ride anytime anywhere as long as we pay the gas, and I do his homework.”
“Hmm, okay,” Arthur said. The others looked at each other and shrugged as if each of them was saying they might as well meet with the old man then.
Together, they headed to the front of the school. No one really knew what to say, so they didn’t say much of anything. As they got closer, Merlin noticed that there was a man matching Shirley’s description standing near the flagpole.
Once they got near, Shirley said, “Hi there. I’m glad you called. Do you find out anything?”
The old man took a moment to look at each of them before responding, “A little. I found out what city she is in, Little Rock, but haven’t narrowed it down further than that yet. I wanted to let you know that I should have more information by tomorrow.”
Shirley looked confused for a moment, “Why couldn’t you tell me that over the phone?”
“Actually,” he answered, “I could have, but I wanted to meet you all. After I met you, I knew she must have used the mirror. And knowing her, I figured that she wouldn’t be satisfied with just showing the mirror to one person.”
“So, she’s done this before?” Peter blurted out.
“Yes, she has. In fact, she has done this several times in the last few years.”
Robert asked the next question, “Why is she doing this?”
While not the question he would have asked, it was a valid question. Why was Ms. White using the magic mirror on different groups of students?
The old man paused as if weighing his response. Finally, he said, “She’s possessed the mirror for a long time, but only recently learned how to use its full power.”
Everybody waited for him to say more, and perhaps realizing this, the old man continued, “She discovered that while the mirror does grant those who use it their desires, there is always a price.”
Arthur chimed in, “That doesn’t sound good. What price is there?”
The old man seemed torn as if he didn’t really want to say that, as if it might be personally embarrassing to him. “Part of the price of the mirror is the chance of receiving a curse instead of a blessing. Another part is that each person who receives a blessing also gives up a piece of themselves.”
Merlin couldn’t resist, and added, “Could you explain that a little more? That doesn’t explain much.”
“I suppose not,” the old man said. “Basically, some people have personality changes. Other people start having impulses, such as needing to eat certain foods or do certain activities. They generally take on the disadvantages of whatever they were given. For example, if you gained power over fire, you might feel deep aversions to water and rain. These are some of the things, but there could be others.”
Shirley said, “You still haven’t told us why she is doing this. What does she get out of it?”
The old man nodded. “You’re right. I haven’t. What she gets out of it is that each person also gives up a tiny portion of their soul as well. She found a way to use the mirror to keep herself young by absorbing these pieces of souls.”
Everyone looked at each other at that. Arthur even touched his face and chest, as if searching for the lost bit of soul. Before he could say anything, however, Peter asked, “How do you know all of this?”
“That is a tale for another day. Let us just say that I found out the hard way that the mirror not only gives out blessings but curses as well. I hope to find her. Perhaps then, I can break the curse upon me.”
“One more question,” Peter said, “How long do the blessings and curses last?”
“They are permanent. In fact, they generally get stronger as time progresses. If you have a friend who was cursed, which I think you do, then you need to do something soon. I will be here tomorrow at this time to tell you what I discover.”
No one really knew what to say after that. Seeing that they had no more questions, he nodded to them and turned around and left.
They wondered how old Ms. White might be, and what else the old man had not told them. Was he holding things back? Why hadn’t he been able to stop her already? Where had the mirror come from in the first place? Was the old man lying to them?
Before they could even come up with a good hypothesis, Shirley’s brother arrived and took them to Angela’s home. Merlin wondered if Shirley was telling the truth. After all, just how much homework could her brother have? Did she have some blackmail on him or something?