Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Chapter Five- My emminent death and cosplay elves

My brain was starting to seriously hurt, and it might have been messing with my hearing, but I'm pretty sure I just heard Maio say I was going to die.

"What? Then I really will be killed by a mirror.." I let my sentence drift off as Maio continued to rush me down the hallway.

"C'mon, we're almost there! You have to stay conscious!" Maio grunted as I sagged against him. "Keep talking! What's your name?"

It takes a second for me to remember my own name.

"R-rose."

"That's a great name, Rose. Listen, we're almost there. Jasi's gone to get you some water. You've just got to make it to that corner." We're going about the pace of a snail, and I tried to see how far away the corner is, but my head feels like five hundred pounds, and I can't lift it.

"I don't want to die." I whisper, my brain screaming. All that pain in my bones and muscles was back too. "This hurts, why does it hurt?"

"You are not dying. First human through the mirrorsystem? I won't ALLOW you to die. How old are you?" Maio tried to distract me. It wasn't working, but my brain answered anyway.

"Sixteen. Don't.... don't get any... ideas..." I closed my eyes.

"NO, wake up!" yelled Maio in my ear. He was now fully dragging me onwards. "Rose, you've got to stay conscious!"

"Maio! I'm coming!" Jasiana's voice sounded close.

"HURRY UP, SHE'S DYING!"

"I...thought you said I ...wasn't," I said, wishing the pain would stop. Their voices were starting to sound further away. I couldn't hear Jasiana's footsteps as she hurtled down the passageway towards her brother and the idiot human she was trying to save.

"Rose, you've got to drink this."

I heard Maio's voice a little clearer as something hard and wet touched my lips. I couldn't think... What was drinking? Why did I need to? Something about water.....

Suddenly, what felt like a ton of water slammed into my face and chest, freezing cold. I sat straight up, gasping, opening my eyes. Maio must have put me down on the floor. He was kneeling next to me holding a metal cup full of water, as sopping as I was. Standing over us was Jasiana, smugly holding an empty bucket. There wasn't a drop on her. The gold flecks in her eyes danced.

"Hey, what's the idea?" I ask, my head clearing. No, wait the dizziness had come back.

"Good, you're still alive," she gestured to the cup Maio was holding."You need to drink that, we can't have you dying. First human and everything."

Maio started laughing as she turned back the way she came. I grabbed the cup from him and started guzzlling.

......

By the time Jasiana had returned from getting another bucket of water from the kitchen, Maio had convinced me to drink slowly. After a few glasses, I was able to stand. Still drinking as much as I could, we started to head back to Jasiana's room (she made me carry the bucket).

On the way there, I asked,"So, which elves are you two Cosplaying? You've got some cool weapons and tricks, I'll give you that. Are you doing it for the movie?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasiana's fists clench. Maio cast her a worried look before saying,"We're not Cosplaying. We find that kind of offensive, actually."

"What, you guys just like to dress up like elves? And how is Cosplaying offensive?"

Jaisiana stepped in front of me so fast I almost ran into her. She turned, and I toook a step back once I saw her eyes. They were crackling with anger as her mouth formed a snarl.

"We. Are. Not. Dressing. UP. LIKE. ELVES!" She spat, raising her fists.

"Jasiana, don't do something foolish," said Maio warningly.

Jasiana paid no attention, instead she just seemed to get angrier.

"You humans and your COSPLAY!" she yelled,"With your plastic knives and armor and ears!! Look at my ears! DO THEY LOOK FAKE?!?" With a flick of her hands, she pushed back her hair and I saw her ears fully.

They were pointed, really pointed, that much I had seen already. They didn't look much different than regular ears, and I was just thinking, wow, they did a good job on matching her skin tone, when I saw something that almost made me stop breathing. I couldn't see the edge of the ears. There WASN'T an edge to be seen. The ears merged into the side of her head, and if I didn't know better, I'd say they were real.

"Touch them, if you still don't believe me!" She said, brandishing her head proudly."I am an Elf, my brother is an Elf, my entire family are Elves! I am of the royal house of Raingdor, and I am an ELF!"

Freaking out a little bit, I looked at Maio, but all he did was push his hair back too, revealing the same pointy ears as Jasiana. Taking another step back, I looked at Jasiana.

"You really think..." I said softly, becoming scared in the face of madness.

"THINK?! You still don't believe me? Fine," she said reaching into her boot. It was only when she was holding a knife to her palm when I realized she had a small throwing knife in her boot that she'd just pulled out."Look, Human, and see!"

With a shrill cry, Jasiana cut a line in her hand. One of Maio's hands seemed to appear out of thin air and grab the knife away from her. Jasiana sent him a condencending look.

"Don't worry, brother, I have made my point." She raised her hand, palm outwards, so I could see. Where Jasiana had sliced her hand, there was a long cut, just starting to bleed. All normal, except one thing.

Her palm was gushing out a deep blue colored blood.