Through a Mirror, Darkly

Chapter 2

Using the spirit mirror turned out to not be so simple. According to Edwin, there were several different types of spirit mirrors, constructed in different ways, and each functioned slightly differently. So the first step was to identify what exactly they had.

"If I thought Cat would tell me details about where he got this, I'd ask. The mirror's provenance would certainly make our task easier," said Edwin as he turned a page in a book.

Charles sat behind a desk, a stack of books in front of him. His knee jackrabbited as he scanned the pages. "You know...I feel it's important to point out that the last time the Cat King gave you a present, it turned out to be stolen from Desire of the Endless. And he got his throat slit for his trouble."

Edwin tensed and turned a bit pale. "Yes, well..."

Charles immediately regretted bringing up Cat's brush with death. He still didn't like or fully trust the Cat King, but he had accepted his courtship of Edwin. He was also relatively confident that he meant them no harm and wouldn't do anything to hurt either of them. At least...not deliberately. "It is a pretty aces gift, though. Once we get the thing working, we might be able to solve cases with just a simple mirror phone call."

"Precisely why I've been on the trail of one for so long," said Edwin. A bit of bitchy testiness had slipped into his voice. He turned a page rather aggressively. "We shall have to be careful. Talking to the dead on the other side is frowned upon, even for us. The Night Nurse can't know that we have it."

Charles looked around the office, then got up out of the chair. "We'll need to sort out a way to hide it quickly. She's known for just sort of popping round unannounced. Here, help me with this." He gestured to a bookshelf they'd just procured but not yet stacked full of books.

A little grunting and maneuvering later and the bookshelf was positioned in front of the mirror.

"That should do, at least for now," said Charles as he examined their handiwork. Then, as he tried to see if the mirror was visible with the shelf in front of it, something caught his eye. "Hold on..."

"What is it?" asked Edwin.

Charles dropped his shoulder and braced himself, then nudged the bookshelf out of the way. "C'mere." He grabbed hold of Edwin's shoulder and pushed him in front of him. "Look at the bit where the frame is attached to the mirror."

Charles' hand lingered on Edwin's shoulder, though it didn't need to. Thanks to the bit of Desire's heart he was wearing in his earring and the bit on Edwin's ring, he could feel Edwin's muscles flexing beneath his hand and warmth radiating from his skin.

At first, the piece of Desire's heart had been set into a collar that the Cat King wore. But once they discovered that wearing part of the heart gave them the ability to deal damage against Desire, they kept a small bit of it before returning the rest. It was an insurance policy in more ways than one. The knock-on effect is that he could feel Edwin now - a fact that he'd tried to keep out of his mind. Crystal had a piece of the heart as well, but things had been awkward between them so they hadn't taken advantage of it.

Edwin knelt down and took a closer look at the mirror. "Bloody hell. You're right. This frame is not original. Which means we've been focusing our research in the wrong place. It's likely this mirror is far older than we thought."

Charles kept his hand between Edwin's shoulderblades for a moment longer, then let his hand drop. He looked up and saw his own reflection, which continued to startle him. What also surprised him was the look he saw in his own eyes. He looked conflicted and a bit pained.

By the time Edwin straightened up, Charles had plastered that 'everything is fine' smile back on his face. "Back to the books, then?"

"Yes," said Edwin. "Good eye. We could have been beating our heads against the wall for days before we ever sorted that out, otherwise."