Through a Mirror, Darkly

Chapter 10

"That's really Niko in there, isn't it?" asked Crystal as she held the snowglobe with the tiny igloo and equally tiny figures of Niko, Litty and Kingham occasionally moving in and out of said igloo.

"Not precisely in there. What you're holding is a crystal ball that allows us to see into the realm where Niko is being held. Which gives us peace of mind that she is in fact, safe. The energy coming from it should be attunable to the spirit mirror to allow us to connect to the realm where she's being held," said Edwin as he bustled around the London office, searching for a few books and items he wanted to take back with him to Port Townsend. "Did you learn anything about the offering needed to use the mirror?"

"People weren't being especially forthcoming, so I had to use my powers on a shady magic dealer. But I did get us an answer," said Crystal as she leaned against the desk. "The good news is, using the mirror to connect to the ordinary afterlife just requires something the person you're trying to contact owned in life."

"Well, that shouldn't prove too difficult a barrier for normal case work," said Edwin as he stood up on a small stepstool and ran his fingers down the length of a bookshelf until he found a volume on Inuit mythology. "Unfortunately, not helpful for connecting with Niko's realm, specifically." He hopped off the stool, book already open. He checked a few pages, then added it to a growing pile. He paused and looked at the stack and realized he'd either have to send Charles back or curate his selection seeing as he didn't have the bag of tricks - nor could he use it if he did.

"Yeah. For her," Crystal looked at the snowglobe again, "...the consensus is we need to find an offering that appeases the master of the realm where she's being held along with the proof that we knew her when she was alive."

"We've got a start on that at least," said Edwin. He was antsy to go back and check on Cat, even though he'd only been gone about an hour. He felt a stab of guilt that he was more focused on his boyfriend than the case at hand, but he tried to tell himself he was capable of prioritizing both. "I believe Niko is in Sedna's realm, called Adlivun. It's a sort of purgatory for the Inuit peoples. The soapstone polar bear Mick gave her marked her soul in a way that allowed Sedna to claim her."

Crystal pushed off the desk and folded her arms over her chest. "So what's the next step? What do you need me to do?"

Edwin shifted the books around and focused on one about traversing realms, and the other on mythology. "We need another one of those polar bears, or a similar genuine Inuk artifact. Although it would seem to make more sense for us to look for that sort of talisman in Port Townsend, located more closely to the homeland of the Inuit as it is, we simply don't have the capacity. We've got our hands rather full between searching for Mick, hunting down dangerous stolen artifacts and the rogue witch summoning monsters she cannot control."

"God, I wish Cat could just...teleport me there," said Crystal, frustration entering her tone. "I feel so useless here. I could get on a plane but that's a hell of a flight and a lot could happen in ten to fourteen hours of travel time."

Edwin's instinct was to be snippy at Crystal and say something about how he and Charles handled cases by themselves for decades very well before she came along, thank you. But the more sensitive and considerate part of him that Charles had been encouraging made him realize she was speaking out of a sense of uselessness and not as an indictment of their ability to handle the situation.

So instead he stood up straight and huffed. "Crystal. You can and will help us. For one, you can guard that and check at regular intervals to confirm Niko is indeed safe," he pointed to the snowglobe. "And you can scour London's art and antiquities dealers to try and find us a genuine artifact. This is a task you are particularly well-suited to with your monetary resources to purchase those items, and with your psychic abilities which will help you determine if the dealer is trying to swindle you. Even if you think your piece is genuine, you will have to get it appraised and confirmed as presenting a forgery could be disastrous and risk angering Sedna which would put Niko at risk."