The Girl in the Glass

eight

Eight

Cait hesitated for a second, but she knew that for Echinacea to summon you meant a great deal.

Cait's eyes darted to Gideon. His eyes slowly met hers, he nodded tersely.

As a pair, Cait and Gideon walked to Echinacea's caravan, the snow crunched loudly under their feet with every step.

As they drew nearer, the prickly sensation of being scrutinized climbed up the back of her neck.

The woman's appearance somehow perfectly matched her name. She had auburn hair that was not graying, and chalky white skin that came with sitting inside for the majority of the past years. Her eyes were deep blue, but it was her facial structure that betrayed her family roots. Echinacea was Nova's maternal great aunt.

As soon as Cait was an arm's length away from her, the old woman turned and retreated into her home. Cait took a deep breath and followed.

Gideon quietly closed the door after himself. "Catherine." Echinacea said "Gideon."

The names took a second to sink in.

"How-" Cait started, but Echinacea silenced her with the motion of a hand.

"Sit." The old woman commanded.

She left no room for negotiation. There was a pair of chairs at either end of a small square table. They each sat down and Cait fiddled with her thumbs.

Nova's aunt moved with a grace that had to have taken a long time to master. Her feet were bare, and made no sound, though she wore tiny bells on her ankles.

Echinacea set down a piece of paper in front of Cait. It said something about confidentiality. Cait pricked her finger with the sharp needle that Echinacea had lain on the table. She quickly pressed the welling blood against the paper. Cait then slid the paper to Gideon. He scrutinized every detail, but he finally pricked his finger and pressed it against the form.

"Now you do it." Gideon said sharply, shifting his eyes to Echinacea.

"Hold your tongue, boy." Echinacea answered, with enough venom to shut Gideon up.

She reached down and picked up the needle. She glared at Gideon sharply as she pricked her finger and pressed it on the paper.

"Ask your questions, I have a limited time." She snapped, tossing her head and whisking her hair over her shoulder.

Cait glanced to Gideon, who nodded slightly.

"You obviously know who we really are, so can you tell us how this happened to us?"

Echinacea stood and turned her back on Gideon and Cait, she picked something up off of a cluttered desk and moved it from hand to hand.

"You both come from realities that are running parallel to this one. None is the same as the other, yet they are all remarkably similar. Not one of these realities is more or less real than the others."

"Do you know how we got here?" Gideon asked, all the bite and anger gone from his voice.

"You both remember dying. Correct?" Echinacea turned around and met Cait's eyes, then Gideon's. She spread a deck of cards out on the table before them.

Cait glanced to Gideon, they both nodded.

Echinacea began to draw cards from the deck one at a time. The first was of a person lying on a mirror with their reflection sitting up.