THE MYSTICAL MIRROR (THE MISTRESS OF MAGIC)

CH-13 THE DOOR OF FIRE AND EARTH (PART-1)

PHOEBE

*

Phoebe finds herself in front of the red and orange door with Rachel in front of the green one. That Alyssa had convinced them to go through this stupid maze. "Don't you want to honor your father?" She had said. Rachel was easy to persuade, as all thirteen-year-olds are. She cried all night but Alyssa managed to get her here.

The wing-girl tried to get Phoebe here as well. She repeated a thousand times about how her Dad would have wanted them to go through this maze. As if she knew who Dad was. Phoebe almost punched her in the face but Rachel interrupted them. It was only when she started talking about 'harnessing powers' did Phoebe think about it. That fire-bird scene had played in her head through the night. The things she could do if she would be a queen.

So, in the morning, her, Alyssa, Rachel, and that Queen's group had ridden in a carriage to reach here. The maze was already there, with Caroline doing these stupid tasks inside. But Caroline isn't the only one who can do dangerous stuff.

Phoebe opens the door as Rachel opens hers. Darkness surrounds the room, and she can't see anything. But then she hears a high-pitched voice. "No! No!"

It's not any high-pitched voice though, it is her own voice. "Where the hell is everybody!"

Phoebe moves further and stands in front of...herself. The girl shouting has the same mocha skin as hers. But her amber eyes have big bags under them. Her otherwise straight teeth are crooked. The curly brown hair she currently has in a stylish bun is open and in the worst possible condition.

The girl is visible through some invisible source of light. "Who are you?" Phoebe asks disgustingly.

"Nobody is here. Everyone has left me. Everyone has left you. Mom is gone, and so is Rachel. The whole squad at Alaman High has left you. Even Leah. You are all alone." The voice turns more sinister as she finishes.

"Leah? What the heck do you know about Leah, you ugly idiot?" Phoebe asks the dumb girl about her best and childhood friend. The one friend who has stayed alongside her every day. The only person she can cry to as much as she wants to.

"I know everything about everything. Your best friend has left you. She is sick of you whining about your dead father. Even your own mother has given up on you. And your sisters? Well, you know they have never liked you in the first place. Nobody likes you, and nobody wants to stay with you. As I said, you are all alone in the whole world." Her duplicate tells her in a whisper-like tone.

The word 'alone' echoes through the whole room. Phoebe covers her ears, and shouts, "Stop it! Stop it!"

You are not alone, Pheebs. Someone told her that a few years ago. But who?

Yes, you are. The idiot ghost thing tells her mind. You are not alone, Pheebs. A soft yet harsh voice keeps repeating. Mom, it's Mom. Phoebe thinks to herself. Her mother had said this to her during dad's funeral. When Phoebe was secretly crying her eyes out on the stairs.

She removes her hand from her ears and plucks out the phoenix feather from her hair. Without any warning, she throws it towards her ugly version, and the sharp tip of the feather finds its target on her eye. And an orange design of a ring surrounds Phoebe's little finger.

As she hears another door open, she walks to the girl and pulls the feather out of her now decapitated eye. The creature cries out in agony. Phoebe kicks her one last time, and tells the dumb being, "I'll never be alone." 

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RACHEL

*

"Caroline has decided to go in the maze, your father had decided to go in the maze. Why can't you?" Alyssa had asked both the sisters. Phoebe had shouted at the top of her lungs scolding the dark fairy. But not Rachel. She had been red-eyed from all the tears that dropped after Carry had left them. And now she is in the same spot as her.