Beyond (Book Two of The Whispered Tales)

Chapter 9

It's been a couple of days since Victoria hadn't left the house, guarded by her uncle and aunt. After finishing her daily chores, she would go back to her room, crying herself to sleep on the hard straw mattress. One night, a night like all the other nights back home, she suddenly woke up. A twinkle in the mirror. She touched the surface with shaky hands, but it was cold and rough. But it was a sign, a sign that the gate was going to open again. She fell asleep, curled up in front of it, her hand stuck to the cold polish.

The next day she tried to do her chores without letting the aunt and uncle know how troubled she was. And she looked for any excuse to go back to her room and examine, for the thousandth time, the mirror. But nothing foretold anything unusual.

Come night time, she was unable to sleep, going around the room like a chicken without a head. Under her light steps, the old floor creaked with different moans. But at the foot of the bed, the screak was sharper and the wooden board bent under her foot. She examined that piece of wood and, indeed, it had a hidden compartment underneath. She managed to lift it up with the iron hook next to the fireplace. It was a hidden shaft in the floor, hosting a chest. With trembling hands, Victoria took out the chest and opened it. Inside she found a book. A book with fairy tales, not very old, with a blonde fairy with a flower wreath on her head. The fairy was framed by climbing roses with red buds.

In the dim candlelight, Victoria started reading uneasily. The book wasn't very thick. It told the stories of fairies from a land far, far away, dancing stunningly in the middle of the summer, enchanting every traveler that was unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of their dance. Another story was that of a princess who defeated the forces of evil and her own destiny with strong will and courage. And the last one was about a girl who entered a strange world through a gate hidden in a mirror. Victoria read the last story, word by word. It said that the gate between the worlds opened every thirteenth summer, before the summer solstice, and the longest day of the year would be the last. And another thirteen years should have passed before it would open again. And for the balance to be in its place, the girl in the story and her double had to go back to their own worlds. The story had a happy ending, with the two becoming best friends and traveling to different worlds every thirteen years. But how was her story going to end? Will her double come back? But how could she come back to such a miserable life?

A sparkle in the mirror made her twitch. And for a moment, she saw her room, back at her aunt's house. The gate was about to open, so she had to do something. Somebody on the other side must have figured out what was happening. It was her only hope. So she ripped up a piece of the wallpaper and with a rusty nail she scrawled: 'It's me, Victoria and I want to come back home! Please, help me!' She stuck the piece of paper to the window with her chest pumping and tears coming down from her eyes. All she could do now was waiting. The summer solstice was three days away.

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The woman in black and Aunt Alice took the news of the other Victoria's death hard enough. They couldn't believe it. The aunt was cracking her knuckles and Matilda was sobbing, even after she found out that the dead girl wasn't really Victoria. How could a pious woman like her believe such blasphemies? She was convinced they had all lost their minds.

'This girl, whoever she was, deserves a proper burial,' Aunt Alice said. 'I'll take care of everything, but what will I tell Victoria's parents? How can I tell them that Victoria is missing and can't be brought back because her double is now dead? They wouldn't believe me...' and she cried, burying her nose in her handkerchief.

The old woman and Paul were silent, with their heads down. It was late and you could see how tired everyone was.

'Could we see the mirror?' the old woman almost whispered.