Once Upon A [Stolen] Time - [Stolen] Series I

CHAPTER 10

MYRA
APRIL 2015

Standing in front of the haunted mirror gave me déjà vu. Something deep behind the black screen was not visible to the naked eye. Watching it so close, I felt my breath growing shallow. I didn't know what I was supposed to be seeing. What if the man I saw was King David, who lived in this castle, and what if Julia was right and that wasn't me in the reflection? Could she be Jasmine? Was it possible that I could look like her? I'd never believed in reincarnation, so if that proved to be accurate, then what would it mean?

I turned around to check on my friends, who were waiting for my decision. "I want to know what we're trying to accomplish here."

They all remained quiet. Perhaps no one had the answer yet.

"I think the mirror keeps changing the image every time you see it," Julia suggested.

"I don't get you." I knitted my eyebrows in concern.

"The first time you looked into it, you said it was just you in the mirror." She paused. "Then next time you noticed a man standing behind the bride, who looks just like King David, according to the portraits."

"I can't forget his face," I said. "I know he is David. Same eyes as mine—I couldn't mistake it."

"What if it's not David?" she asked. "What if he was Edward?"

I inhaled sharply, feeling nervous and jittery, not wanting to see through it. Julia was confusing me now. I wasn't afraid earlier, but now, after what she said, I didn't know what this mirror would show me.

"You know what?" Tyler interrupted. "If she doesn't wanna look into it, that's okay. We came here to film the castle, not solve the mystery."

"Wouldn't it be great if we could solve the mystery that no one has been able to solve all these years?" Steve asked.

"Yeah? To gain what, dude?" Tyler snapped. "The queen will call you and give you the Victoria Cross or something? What if unlocking the mystery comes with risking our lives?"

Steve shook his head in amusement. He was not afraid of anything. Right now, the only thing that mattered to him was his game concept, and I believed I was his concept. He wanted me to explore the mysteries through my previously unknown and undiscovered powers—to look past the mirror.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Myra, if that king was looking at you or some queen in the past?" Steve was tempting me. He knew I'd risk doing anything that could give me an adrenaline rush. He took a step towards me. "What if that man was looking at you? Wouldn't you like to find that out?"

"You're a sinner, dude," Tyler chuckled. Steve had just hit a sensitive nerve. He knew I would cross any boundary to talk to a king personally.

Mustering my courage, I turned around, approached the mirror, closed my hands around my temples, and focused on looking past it.

After watching for a minute, I jerked back with a sudden bolt. Steve was right behind me to hold me. Fear trapped my body.

"He's been flogged." Tears clouded my eyes. I had never seen a man so brutally tortured in real life. His entire chest was welted cruelly as he stared back at me with rage, but I felt he wanted to talk to me. I could see blood in his eyes. They were grey, but there was a death in them. "His chest is dripping blood from open wounds. He's hurt badly. Someone needs to heal him." I didn't know who he was, but I could feel his pain. "He needs help, Steve."

"Calm down." Pulling me into his embrace, Steve rubbed my back gently. I was shivering badly. "The man has been dead for many centuries. You don't need to worry about him."