Mirror, Mirror

3.16 The Unknown

When Starla opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that it was still snowing outside.

She had failed.

The next, and perhaps most obvious thing, was that she was back in her room, in her bed back at the palace. Except, things were different. There was no mirror on her ceiling for one thing. For another, everything glittered slightly, and the colors were muted. It was as if everything was made of glass.

Or ice.

She didn't feel cold, though. She hardly felt anything at all.

It was silent.

"Rayvin?" Starla called. Rayvin would know what to do. They could figure this out together.

She carefully slipped out of bed. Her head felt heavy and throbbed with a dull pain... It felt like a spike had been driven through her skull. Many spikes, in fact.

She touched a hand to her head, then flinched as her hand grazed needle-sharp ice.

Right. The Winter Crown. Her stupid brain had thought it was a good idea to put it on. And NOW look what happened. She wasn't supposed to be here.

"Stupid, stupid..." Starla muttered to herself, hiking up the dress she found herself in and making her way to the window. Even her own voice sounded faraway when she spoke. Her eyes watered as she stared out the window, trying to focus on anything. It was like trying to bring into focus a dream, when the best you can do is just accept the distortion and blurriness of the world around you. It was just... snow and white and cold. Wherever Starla was, she knew deep down that something was NOT right.

She had to get out of here. She had to find Rayvin.

Starla made her way back across the room, to the door and out into the hallway.

Empty. It was beautiful, though. There was something peaceful about this ice castle, this parallel of the palace she was used to, everything cast in a silver and blueish hue.

Starla made her way down the hallway, disturbed by the way her footsteps made no sound.

She passed the dining hall, where all the portraits of the Ice Princesses hung on the wall. Except, in place of the portraits, there were mirrors. Starla saw herself and clapped a hand across her mouth.

The crown of ice and glass had hungrily rooted itself into her skull. It was hard to tell where her ice blond hair ended and the silver crown began. It looked like it should hurt, but the pain had faded by now. If anything, Starla was more disturbed by the lack of pain.

And her dress. She looked like a proper Ice Princess. She looked the way she was supposed to on what was going to be her debutante night. A gown in an explosion of silver, white, and blue ruffles. Diamond earrings, diamond heels.

She was dazed by the sight of herself.

She wasn't alone. She finally heard a noise. Arguing. Starla turned toward the sound, reaching for a weapon that she doubted would be there in this dream world. If nothing else, maybe she could headbutt them with the Winter Crown? That didn't seem particularly dignified for herself, but she had to admit that being skewered by an ancient kebab didn't sound fun for the other party either.

She rounded the corner to find two women, both wearing silvery dresses of different styles, arguing. She recognized them.

Queen Glacenda and Queen Aurorae.

What were they doing here? They were dead.

"I'm dead," Starla said with realization. The two women paused their argument to look at her.

"Oh, a new one," Queen Glacenda said flatly. "Nice crown, darling." She had dark hair and dark eyes, the darkest of the family. Some said she was the fiercest Ice Princess there ever was. No one could beat her in a fight.

"Already? I swear time passes faster and faster the longer we are here," said Queen Aurorae. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about her appearance, with her light brown hair and blue eyes, aside from being tall and willowy like the rest of the family. She was pretty. But she was known for being the most cunning of the Ice Princesses, with a mind like a blade. Starla knew because she recognized the birthmark above her lip.

They were twins. Legend had it that they were an awful pair. Everyone held their breath, wondering what would happen to the Ice Princess bloodline with twins. When Glacenda had her first daughter, and Aurorae suddenly died at the same time as her twin, everyone was the tiniest bit relieved.

They were both very pretty. Starla... felt nothing.

The two women went back to arguing. Starla did not really understand what they were arguing about, but she understood that they could not care less if she was there or not.

"Excuse me," Starla said. "I don't think I'm supposed to be here, and I need to find my way out. If you please."

The women blinked at her incredulously.

"You won't find a way out," Glacenda said.

"Good luck, dear," Aurorae added helpfully.

"OK," Starla said. "Thanks, I guess. I'll be on my way then."

As Starla walked away from them, she heard them argue again. Oddly, it was as if their argument was on loop. They went back to the beginning, as if Starla had never talked to them in the first place.

The rest of Starla's "day" continued like that. She kept wandering the palace. She ran into several other ghosts of past Ice Princesses. Like the twins, they seemed to repeat or loop on a same set of actions or words. There were a lot of similar patterns, too. Lamenting a lost love one, regretting a life serving the crown.

It was sad, Starla thought. If only they walked a little further, perhaps they could find solidarity in each other. They were all family, after all. They were each other's mothers and daughters. But instead, they were stuck on loop.

Starla was able to gather that all the spirits of dead Ice Princesses were here in this glassy realm that the crown had transported her to. But why was she here? Why hadn't her plan to become the next vessel of Winter worked? Or had it, and Queen Winter had experienced this as well when she'd donned the crown?

Starla had a feeling in her gut that she'd have to find and confront Queen Winter's ghost before she found a way out of this place. Before that, however, there was one particular ghost Starla wanted to try talking, but part of her was scared of what she'd find. Still, on a hunch, she decided to make her way to the palace library.