Mirror, Mirror (Book 2)

Chapter 22: The Meeting

Using the flame from his candle, Oliver guides his way across the fragile wood to get to the ghosts. His mind went blank, but his heart quickened at the sight of them.

Of all the spirits he encountered, Oliver felt so scared to be in their presence; ghosts looking at him like he was dead meat, the haunting whispers-it was like being back in middle school.

"Who is this guy?" the blind spirit rasped.

"My name is Oliver Harper," Oliver introduced.

Pointing to Amelia, he adds: "and this is my friend, Amelia Parker. We're here to set you free from this mortal world."

The African-American ghost snickers as if he had made a joke.

"Seriously?" she scoffed. "You bring this prick over here?"

"Hey Barbecued Barbie," Amelia snarled, stepping in front of Oliver. "leave him alone."

"Excuse me?" the ghost hissed at Amelia. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Please," the vampire scoffed. "I am a century older than you."

"Wow," the girl said sarcastically. "so you're basically saying that you're a Grandma?"

"You could say that," snapped Amelia.

Sighing, Oliver says politely, "please forgive her: she's very. . . honest, but that's what makes her special."

"Whatever," Clarissa grumbled. "Anyway, why are you guys here?"

"Like your friend said, we're here to help you cross over," Oliver explained, "but tell us something about you. For instance, your names."

Looking at each other hesitantly, the spirits reluctantly took a step forward and introduced themselves.

"My name is Haley Derek." the blind spirit introduced.

"Jessica Bakers." says the disfigured ghost girl.

"Clarissa Jackson." says the African-American ghost girl reluctantly.

Nodding, Oliver reached out his left hand and each of the three spirits shook it.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." he beamed. "Now, what can tell us about the Fire of '87?"

"Okay," responded Jessica, "before the fire, we were having a slumber party."

"We had popcorn, listened to music, gossiped about boys until all of a sudden, some fire broke out and wiped out half of the cabins."

"Do you know how the fire started?" asked Oliver.

The spirits all shake their heads.

"We woke up looking like this," Haley Derek sighed. "Apparently, something or someone stole my eyes, Clarissa lost half of her leg and Jessica her face."

"We have been in this shithole for a while now and we want to go home."

"Yeah," Jessica agreed. "Can you help us?"

Oliver nodded, "sure, where do you want us to go?"

"There is a map somewhere in the counselor's office," Clarissa says. "You can use it to explore parts of the camp."

"Okay," said Oliver. "but what if Jake's in there?"

"You don't have to," Amelia says. "I already have the map."

"Wait, what?"

"I was going to give it to you as a birthday surprise, but I guess it can wait."