The Queen's Curls

-10 104- Mirrors

She hadn't heard the bell above her door in a very long time, and she had to admit, she missed it dearly.

It had been one hundred and one years since she had first been rudely awoken with a slap to the face, and her imprisonment had definitely taken its toll on her.

She had summoned a mirror from one of her rings and now, as she looked upon her sunken cheeks, weak curves, and long, limp hair, she finally thought that maybe Jack's sister had been right.

She wasn't getting out of here anytime soon.

x x x

The lady prisoner had just finished her meal of the day when she felt a tiny tap on her hand. She looked down to see Yūrei pressing one of her tiny legs to the only ring she wore -- Bendrauti. The small stone embedded into the band of the ring was glowing.

It was glowing. Someone had found the twin ring.

The parlour woman lifts her hand close to her mouth. "I know you have found the twin to my ring," she says, her voice hoarse and quiet from misuse.

No reply.

"Please." Her voice takes on a tone of desperation. "I can't stay here any longer."

"Who are you?" a voice answers.

Just those three words lit a spark in her chest that she hadn't heard from in a century. "My name is Anastasia Elizabeth Huntington. I have been imprisoned here for longer than I can remember. Please get me out. I'm begging you."

"Where are you?" the voice says.

The parlour woman begins to pace. "Have you heard of the Traveler's Correction Institution?"

The voice huffs out a laugh. "The legend about the prison for time travelers?"

The parlour woman pauses in her pacing. "Well, this certain legend is real. That's where I am."

"So you're a time traveler?"

"Yes."

"I'm guessing you can't just travel out?"

The parlour woman sighs and continues her pacing. "No. The people who built this place put wards up to stop us from traveling."

"What do you think I'd be able to do against that?"

The woman pauses and looks in her mirror. "How much do you know about magic?"

x x x

What did he know about magic?

Nothing. That's what.

"Uh," he starts. "I mean, not a lot. I know that time travelers exist and that's pretty much it."

The woman on the other end sighs. "I'm going to tell you some very, very important things. You have to listen very closely, understand?"

He swallows down the nervous lump in his throat. "I understand."

"Do you have a piece of nickel near you?"

He looks around his cluttered desk for a coin. "Yes. Will a coin be big enough?"

The voice hums in thought. "Do you have two?"

"Most likely."

The voice had been shedding its rasp with every word spoken, and now her voice was as clear as the water glass on his desk. "I need you to touch them to either side of the ring that I'm talking through."