Page 47 of Professor and the Seer

Frieda neared it, head cocked. “I’m going to assume it’s magic.”

“Yes.” He unhooked it from the wall. “To use it, we’ll have to exit the archive.”

“Use it how?” she asked, sticking close to him as they exited the archive and entered the main library.

He hung the mirror on a hook just outside the door. “Fix an image in your mind and touch its surface.”

“It’s going to read my mind?” She looked anxious.

“Kind of. It will display a visual of your thought, and then I will take a picture with my camera.” He waggled his phone.

“What if I remember it wrong?”

“Then you remember it wrong. This isn’t a test, vixen.”

She made a face at him. “I don’t want this to be the first one I fail.”

He laughed. “You’ll be fine. Are you ready?”

With a nod, she neared the mirror, and he waited. Waited as she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She reached out and touched the surface. A cloudy film covered it as Frieda began to speak softly.

“Did you know this mirror isn’t from this world?” Her breathing came fast. “It was brought here as part of a larger treasure used to bargain for safety. Only its owner was betrayed.” For a moment, the surface showed a woman, her ears pointed, her hair white and bound back by a circlet. “The one she asked for help slayed her and took it.”

“Who was she?”

“A princess desperate to escape her home.” Her brow creased. “I can’t see anything else.”

Interesting but not what they were after. Later they could find out more, especially since this was the second time he’d witnessed Frieda displaying an ability to see the past.

“Don’t worry about the mirror’s original owner. Let’s focus on your dream. Show me the room with the door,” he said.

The mirror fogged and then showed an impressive chamber hewn from stone, or so it appeared since he saw no stonework or mortar.

He held up his camera and clicked several images before flipping to video mode. “I can see the braziers you spoke of with their strangely colored flames and the big door, but what about the tunnel? Can you show me that?”

The image blurred before shifting to show a tunnel at least ten feet in height, the stone grayish in hue, especially dark underfoot but much lighter by the ceiling. He suspected at one time it might have been closer to white. The soot of torches and the passage of people and goods would have grimed the surface. He noticed the single electrical bulb she’d spoken of strung on a line.

“Show me the doorway that was busted open.”

The view shifted, and the rubble on the ground sat where it had fallen around a jagged opening.

She spoke, and the reflection shifted. “I saw a hint of light past that doorway and the trailing edge of his cloak.” The memory appeared in the mirror, the glow showing a wisp of smoke. “I followed him.” The image moved as she went past the ragged opening. “There were stairs going down.”

To his amazement, the mirror showed her journey, not just a static image. The steps ended in a ledge overlooking the cavern with the braziers. A massive chamber, the walls and even the ceiling carved as she’d mentioned.

She spoke as her mirror-self descended the steps. “When I touched the floor, it lit up.” The mirror showed a yellow glow underfoot, illuminating sigils that lit a path that ended at the door. “I followed it, which was probably dumb.”

“Did you feel anything?”

“Other than fear, no.” Her rueful reply. “I thought I was dreaming.”

“You said when you touched the walls your hand passed through.”

“Walls, yes, and yet my feet could touch the ground. And the flames in the brazier were cold.” The view shifted to give him a closer look.

“Did they snap or crackle?”

“No. There was no sound at all. Not even the echo of my steps.”