mirror shards // matthew fairchild {1}

sixteen // pyxis practice

"You're sure this is a good idea?" asks Sydney, looking skeptically at the pyxis in the middle of the ballroom floor.

"It's the best idea we have," says James, "unless you know another one."

"...not particularly."

"Cordelia!" cries Lucie, turning towards the young woman closing the ballroom doors. "We were just exchanging information. We learned a great deal that was important at the Enclave meeting last night, and it sounds as if you did something or other at the Hell Ruelle. Nothing that compelling, no doubt, but we cannot all be spies."

"Nothing that compelling?" says Sydney. "She seduced an entire house party."

"I heard about the meeting from my brother this morning," says Cordelia, glaring spears at Sydney. Yes, spears. Spears are twice as deadly as daggers. "The quarantine and – and all the rest. It seems even more urgent to find and trap the demon responsible for this contagion now, before it attacks anyone else."

"Well, then..." Sydney turns to Christopher. "Kit?"

Kit holds up a tome about the size of the Martyr's Mirror and waves it enthusiastically in the air. "It appears that this generation of Pyxis is fairly simple. When you wish to trap a demon, you first wound or weaken it. Then you place the Pyxis on the ground nearby and speak the words 'Thaam Tholach Thechembaor,' and the demon will be sucked into the box."

The Pyxis wobbles sharply, nearly tipping onto its side. Everyone jumps about a foot back. Sydney eyes it warily. "People? I think there might still be something in there."

"It's alive," says Thomas. "Not the Pyxis, I mean...well, you know what I mean."

"Indeed," James says. "I see a flaw in our plan."

Matthew nods. "I do as well. There was no real reason to assume the box at Hypatia's was empty. It could have had a demon in it all these years."

There's a long, long moment of dead silence.

Sydney puts her head in her hands. "People, I told you."

"What would happen if we tried to put another demon in there?" Cordelia asks. "Could they both fit?"

"It isn't a good idea," says Christopher. "Since we don't know what kind of demon is already in there, we don't know if there will be enough space. Pyxides are bigger inside than they appear, but still finite."

"Besides," says Sydney, "they might get into a fight, and who knows what would happen then."

"Well, then we have to empty this Pyxis out," Lucie says. "Anything could be in there. It could be a Greater Demon."

"What ho," says Christopher.

"I'm sure it isn't," says James. "Still – let's relocate to the Sanctuary. No matter what happens, we can at least keep it contained until help arrives."

"Why not?" says Matthew. "Surely there's no way this plan can go wrong."

"Watch," Sydney adds, "it'll be Big Ears, and then we'll have to fight off a drunk cat-man wielding a fire poker."

James raises an eyebrow. "Have you got another idea?"

"I think we should do it," says Thomas. "It's ridiculous to come this far and turn back."

Lucie sniffs. "Well, you'd all better hope it works. Especially you, James, because if Mam and Papa find out you released a demon in the Sanctuary, they will feed you to it."

James glares at her, and Sydney whacks him on the shoulder. "No, silly, they'd feed me to it, for not stopping him. I'm the adult, technically, so I'm supposed to be the responsible one."