And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 6-2

AZIOLITH STORMED OUT of the bar and across the street. I followed behind him, barely able to keep up. “What is wrong with you?”

“That mirror...it is priceless. I can’t just give it away for a pittance.”

“It’s not a pittance. It’s a little girl’s life. And what do you care anyway? It’s just one of a million treasures you have in your possession. What’s one less?”

“This is different. This one is special.”

“So is that little girl.”

Aziolith growled again. “Very well, but now Charlie’s debt passes to you. Take me to my cavern.”

He grabbed my hand and we vanished together, rematerializing inside his cave. He stomped toward the middle of his lair, where he had rested for the past two years.

“This girl had better be worth it,” he said.

“It’s less the girl and more the Apocalypse I’m trying to avoid,” I said behind him. “Who knows what would happen if a live body made it into Hell?”

Aziolith reached behind the chest which kept his potions and pulled out a shining, silver mirror just big enough to fit inside his hand. “The mirror of Yilir. It can see anybody on Earth at any time if you can imagine them in your mind’s eye.”

“Wait,” I said. “Anybody? What about magical creatures?”

“I suppose,” Aziolith replied.

I snatched the mirror from Aziolith. “That little sneak. He wasn’t going to help us. He was going to trick us and use the mirror to find Imogen.”

“Yes, but you don’t know what Imogen looks like.”

“No,” I replied. “But I know what the girl looks like. How does this thing work?”

“You just imagine the person you wish to see, and then you will see them. If they are alive, they will be seen in the reflection. If they are dead, you will only see black.”

I closed my eyes and remembered the photo of Kimberly. I pictured every hair on her head, her smile, her cheeks, her hands, and when she was real in my mind, I opened my eyes.

For a moment the mirror didn’t do anything but reflect me back to myself. I thought it was broken, but before I could ask Aziolith what to do next, the image clouded, and a blue light swirled around like a whirlpool. When the mirror settled into focus again it showed Kimberly, sitting in a dark forest, crying.

“That’s her!” I shouted.

“Yes, but, where is she?” Aziolith asked, peering over my shoulder.

“I don’t know, but I know who would know.”

I didn’t have to tell him. He already knew what we had to do. We had to go back to Frank’s house and see if Charlie knew anything about those woods.