Mirror, Mirror {#Wattys2016}

Chapter 4- Grey

"Cassie, wake up. It's time to get ready," Adhita whispered.

Groaning, Cassandra rolled out of bed, and waited for her mother to exit the room. Considering how bright it was in her quaint room, she had overslept.

Crap! She could hardly afford tardiness at her job. With thoughts of instructions and paper dancing carelessly through Cassandra's head, she found it increasingly difficult to get anything done.

Luckily, Cassandra zipped through the library's glass door in the nick of time. Some of the multiple fans stationed throughout the library greeted her with a cool breeze.

Work that day seemed even more tedious than it usually did. Stretched above Echo, the plain grey sky held dark, heavy clouds which threatened to burst. The only citizen who visited the library came for just five minutes to browse the shelves, before skulking back where they came from.

Cassandra found herself unable to concentrate on anything. She kept tripping over the frayed edges of her robe, a careless gesture made while her mind was elsewhere. Cassandra's hands were constantly shaking with nervous anticipation, despite her best efforts to keep them concealed in her robes. The visitor she talked to was unable to hold her attention for much more than a second, and she repeatedly forgot what she was doing.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours. When she was free to leave, Cassandra walked amongst her fellow citizens. Nobody ever looked up from the cobbled ground, not even to look at the scenery around them. To Cassandra, the sight was beautiful, though not to the Other side's standards.

Queen Pandora's palace stretched to the left, it's sprawling expanse overlooking neatly trimmed gardens in the gloomy distance. Every hedge and bush was neatly manicured, each blade of grass the exact same height. The flowers in the garden were the only thing of colour throughout all of Echo. Their pale pinks, blues, and yellows stood out against the grey contrast everywhere else. Even the rushing river, which spanned the whole kingdom, was not enough to draw anybody's gaze upwards.

Looking into the distance, you could just barely see Sector B and its citizens. Each Sector sat in an imperfect circle. In the centre of that circle was the crown's jewel, Queen Pandora's palace. The hollow square of a building acted as the middle of town, everything else revolving around it. From Cassandra's angle, the view was fascinating, something to investigate further.

That was what made Cassandra so different from everybody else. She appreciated the beauty in everything she came across, no matter how slight and unimportant it might seem. Each wonder of nature was important and unique in its own way.

At home, Cassandra was finally able to pull out the sheet of paper imprinted so clearly onto her mind. Mentally, she went through the steps again, wondering if it was actually possible to do something so bold and daring without catching Queen Pandora's attention. Surely any attempt on crossing to the Other side would be found out, right?

The instructions were more complex than anything Cassandra had ever read, talking about things she was just barely able to comprehend. You were required to first place another Mirror in front of the one that you would travel through, in order to distract your Parallel from what you were attempting. Then, when it seemed to your Parallel that they were just staring into the Mirror like any other day, you slipped in between the two Mirrors, and transported to the Other side.

Of course, it was far more complicated than that, but as long as she understood the basics, Cassandra figured the rest would just fall into place. The sheet also mentioned something about the consequences of leaving Echo and going to the Other side, yet that seemed so unimportant compared to actually crossing over. Plus, there was the Queen to avoid, and Mirrors to purchase, on top of executing the procedure absolutely perfectly.

A soft knock came at the door.

Cassandra scrambled to conceal the unfolded paper from view as her mother limped in.

"Yes mother?" Cassandra asked politely, as way of greeting.

"Time for bed, you don't want to wake up tired in the morning," Athida replied.

Reluctantly, Cassandra turned out the lights and wished her mother a peaceful sleep. In the darkness, her mind raced, overloaded with information and unable to sleep. In the light of day, Cassandra had been so sure of everything, confident she would know what to do. Now she wasn't so sure, because somebody as plain as her was not meant to be extraordinary, just ordinary, another face in a seething crowd.