The Mirror On The Wall: Chapter 3

Chapter Three
Oh no! The Hunter!

No, wait. You've lost me. Who's the Hunter?

That's one problem with being a mirror. You never get a chance to get out and meet people. The only living things I know are the Queen, and her cat Shalizar.

Shalizar is actually not bad for a witch's cat. He has piercing green eyes and medium long shiny black fur. He is an excellent conversationalist, if you speak cat. And if he's in the mood to talk, which is not often.

The door opened and a very, very, very scary man slipped in like a shadow.

He was dressed in multiple shades of dark olive green, and his stature was average. He had filed teeth, sharp and pointed, and his eyes were a strange pale blue. Somehow he had split the tip of his tongue, making it forked like a snake's. He had no hair on his head.

Shalizar slipped in behind the Hunter as the latter bowed low to the Queen. The former jumped onto a table and stared hungrily around the room.

The Queen turned to the Hunter. "We have been displeased by someone. Find them and bring their heart to us!"
"Tell me who it is and they will die," the Hunter said in a husky voice. He sounded like he would cry at any moment, but the guy was probably a crocodile at heart. Any tears he wept would be false.

"It is a girl in our palace. Her name is Snow White!"

"She will be dead by the time the week is over."

Since it was only Monday, the guy was clearly not a very efficient assassin. The Queen seemed satisfied by this reply, though, and nodded. "Good. Set off at once!"

And the Hunter was gone. He was quieter than Shalizar!

The Queen touched Shalizar's head lightly and smiled. "I am the only one allowed to be fair," she chuckled, and swept out of the room.

Okay, not my plan. Sarcastic and rude I may be, but I am not a murderer. I had to save Snow White! I saw Shalizar walking unconcernedly through a maze of delicate potion bottles on a high shelf. "Hey! Shalizar!" I hissed, in Cat.

He stopped and looked at me. "Quentin!" he said, as if surprised.

"Uh huh. Me. Can you get me the fourth mauve potion on the left? The one marked Sselnoitom eht ot Noitom?"

"What?"

"Sselnoitom eht ot Noiton!"

"Gesundheit."

"Just get me the mauve potion from the left, Shalizar!" I snapped.

Shalizar's black paw hovered tauntingly over the bottle I watned. "This one?"

"Yes. Pour it over me, will you?"

"Mm...what will you give me?" He knocked the bottle slightly. It teetered dangerously.

"Uh...I don't know?" What was I supposed to give a cat?

"This bottle gives motion to the motionless," Shalizar meowed. His emerald eyes flashed a little. "You're going to run away if I give this to you. Well, I want to come."

"Why?" A lifetime of working with a witch leaves you a little suspicious. Can you blame me?

"I'm bored."

An evasive answer. Typical Shalizar. "Okay, you can come. Just pour it over me!"

Shalizar picked the bottle up in his teeth and sauntered to the end of the shelf closest to me. He set down the bottle I wanted, popped the cork with his fangs, and tipped it over me.

The liquid flowed across my glass, colder than anything I had ever felt before. Cold, and painful, and dizzying. I felt my frame bulging. Strangely it itched. I had never felt itching before. But it itched now, and I had no hands to scratch. Was this how I would gain motion?

Spindly arms and legs sprouted from my frame. Arms! Legs! This was terrific! Now I could pick things up! Walk! Run! Jump!

Yeah, I know, I know, you do that all the time. I'm a mirror, okay?

I lifted up on my hook and landed awkwardly on the knotted wooden floor. Shalizar touched down gracefully next to me. I glared at him. What a show-off.

We were a mirror and a cat, off to rescue the creepiest girl on the planet.

Not your typical fairy-tale, huh?