Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 24 : The Hearing

Marylin POV

Me, Zarina and Fleur, as well as Kate and Sam, sat in a chocolate kitchen in the house of the Hoary Hag.

"Okay, we should summarize what has happened so far," I said in a loud voice, standing on an old apple crate. Kate used it to collect fruit right after Margaret's death, for an apple pie. Now the box served as a pedestal.

"Zarina, why don't you start?" Fleur urged our brown-skinned sister, cousin... actually I still can't understand if any blood connects us in any way. "How did you get here?"

We all wondered all the time whether the mirrors were throwing us to random places, or if there was a pattern.

"Say everything that seems most important," said Kate, sitting at a small table with Sam and slurping milk with honey.

"Well," Zarina began, standing on the crate. "I'm from Egypt and I live there, in Cairo."

"D'accord [T/N: okay], that's enough. How did you get here?" Fleur asked the question again, sitting backwards on her chair. She leaned her flat stomach against the back and her ribs became more visible.

"Well," Zarina repeated the same phrase, and then began to elaborate on the topic. "There are a few mirrors hanging in my room, I don't remember exactly how many. Oddly enough, only the one where I can look through while sitting on the bed, can suck me in, so to speak."

Sam's silver hand shot up in the air like lightning, but with one gesture of my hand I let his enthusiasm die and he began to lower his shoulder slowly, as if the air was coming out of him. Like he was a deflating balloon.

"Where did you after the mirror pulled you in?" I asked as if I were a judge in a real court hearing.

"I found myself on some meadow, actually I had to get to it first. I have materialized on some beach, if I remember correctly."

I exchanged significant glances with Fleur, but we didn't interrupt.

"I've walked a nice few kilometers," Zarina continued, "and then I noticed a small village in the distance. It was the middle of the night, and I didn't want to wake anyone. Besides, I wanted to get back home as soon as possible and start looking for my pen. So, I sneaked inside through the ajar window and went to look for a mirror. It just happened that it was in front of the bed as well. I didn't pay much attention to that back then. I just let myself get pulled in."

Fleur's face went limp and slightly paler, but she made no sound, except maybe a slight sigh. 'When I get home, I have to teach my grandma to shut the windows properly' was her thought for sure, because she smiled slightly under her tiny nose.

"Where did you get to after entering that mirror?" I asked another question.

"I got there," the interrogatee pointed to the window. "On the beach. I noticed the bar, so I went in to cool down a bit. And later you know what happened."

"Perfect," I thanked her and turned to Sam. "What did you want to say, Sam?"

The ghost didn't hear at first, and when Kate snapped her fingers, it seemed like he woke up from sleep.

"I forgot," he replied in an absent voice.

I looked in the direction he was staring in for some time. A small mirror was hanging on the wall, one of several fragments of it to be precise. Two roses were attached to it - black and blue. I could've sworn it wasn't there before. Those roses at least. I decided, however, that we should finish the interrogation first.

"Fleur, if I can ask you, take Zara's place, please," I said to Fleur. "And you, Zarina, take Fleur's."

The Frenchwoman reluctantly gave way to Arab, but she got up and stepped on the box eventually. While reviewing the notes written while questioning Zarina, I prepared another, blank next page. Fleur was already on standby, so I started the interrogation.