Mirror Mirror

Chapter 23

Katherine was nearly there.  The height of her power was so strong she could almost taste it.  The four moons were hovering just above her head.  Someone was coming.  Stephen and Lacey watched silently.  Her strength was increasing with each passing second.  She screamed again, but this time, out of frustration because she knew it was not Sarah.  North, South, East and West-She had called each moon to her.  The large luminous balls danced around in a circle.  She knew who they were.  She knew who had come.

Hands outstretched towards her source of strength, she turned to face them.  She would drain them of their strength, and wait till Sarah arrived.  What they saw was nothing more than an illusion.  She rose into the air, like an ancient Goddess-long red tresses, voluptuous curves, every man’s dream, every woman’s envy.  Pieces of white fabric were wrapped around her torso-small pieces of fabric that could have passed for bandages.  A breeze blew around her and made her seem even more mysterious.  Little did they know, that something sinister was lurking there, just beneath the surface of the thinly woven fantasies. 

They tasted victory.  Terry turned to Ashleigh, happiness bubbling inside her.  They had done it without Sarah!  She laughed to herself.  Before the words could follow, Katherine reads her thoughts.  She knows that Sarah is not with them.  She cannot continue without Sarah!  Her green eyes fly open, and she is no longer what she had them believe.

For the first time since all this had begun, the three girls finally saw Katherine for what she was.  Excitement once again turned to fear.  None of them could speak a word, nor move a muscle.  The thing that now stood before them was not a woman.  Instead of hair, a large red fire burned brightly from her head, untamed and upwards into the sky.  Her long white dress was neither silk nor satin.  They could see right through it as though she were an illusion.  Her face...her once pretty face, was covered in blisters, and her green eyes protruded wildly from her head as she gaped at them.  She rose on and off the ground in a dance swirling, swaying, chanting, and strangely, smiling.  She was what she was, neither a woman nor a demon-a being without a heart, without a soul.

Finally realizing that their greed for power had led hem to their doom, the girls stood there, completely helpless.  Terry tried to run, scream, anything, but everything failed her.  All she could do was quiver in fear like a frightened child.  The earth trembled beneath them.  The twins held on to each other.  There they stood, facing a power that none of them could even dream of defeating.  One by one, they began to fade away.  All it took was a finger pointing in their direction, and their end was near.  Fierce vibrations racked through their weakening bodies.  They were almost completely gone, when from some unseen place, a voice boomed, loud and clear.

“Leave them!”

Matilda could vaguely hear what was being said.  She was too busy trying to figure out what was happening to her body.  She felt as light as a feather. 

“Emily!  Don’t you dare interfere with what I’m about to do!”  Her mother screamed.

Nothing.  No response.  What she had done was very subtly divert Katherine’s attention.  Glittering green eyes searched for the perpetrator.  In the mere second it took for her to realize what had been done, the three girls were wrapped in a protective cocoon.  Between blue and green, earth and sky, it safeguarded them from Katherine.

“Damn you!  You stupid meddlesome girl!  I asked you not to mess with my life!”  Katherine’s voice sounded like a tuneless orchestra.  Still not getting a response, she turned all her energy to locating Sarah, before it got too late.

Jarrod and Sarah inched their way upwards towards her bedroom.  With each step they took, the last one crumbled and fell behind them.  Jarrod knew in his heart that this game Katherine had been playing with them was nearing its end.  Jarrod could feel terror like he never felt before, all the while fighting it because he had promised to take care of Sarah.  The mirror beckoned to them.  It looked hauntingly beautiful in the dim light, but this was not the time to dwell on such trivial matters.  Bigger things lay in store for them.