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"Yes, sweetheart," I said quietly. "I believe she would have." And I meant it.

Lucinda always had a fondness for people who spoke their minds, and she would undoubtedly have found Celeste's sharp wit and stubborn nature highly entertaining. Though I suspected the two women would have made my life extremely difficult if they'd ever met.

Fortunately, Bartleby chose that moment to interrupt us.

"Well, if you two are finished admiring the family portraits, the mirror is right over here," he called impatiently. "Honestly, Garrik, for a man who's been haunting this house for a hundred years, you certainly don't seem to know where anything is!"

"That is quite enough out of you!" I growled.

Celeste laughed and carefully replaced the sheet over the portrait.

"We'll come back and look at more of these another time," she promised.

Another time…such a simple phrase, and yet it sent a strange warmth through my chest. Because it meant she was already imagining coming back.

I followed her towards the far end of the attic, where Bartleby was sitting beside an enormous oval object covered in a faded green velvet cloth.

"There it is," the cat announced triumphantly.

I frowned.

"That?"

"Yes, that," Bartleby replied. "Really, Garrik, do you have to question everything?"

"It hardly looks like a magical communication device," I remarked.

"Well, maybe you should take the cover off before passing judgment," he suggested.

Celeste gave a little laugh and reached for the cloth.

"Okay, let's see what we've got."

She pulled the heavy velvet covering away, sending a small cloud of dust into the air, and revealed an enormous oval mirror set in an elaborate silver frame.

The glass itself was dark and slightly cloudy, as though it hadn't been polished in decades, but the frame was extraordinary. Delicate silver vines wound around its edges, interspersed with crescent moons, stars, and little carved Gryphons whose wings seemed almost ready to move.

At the very top of the frame was a large silver Gryphon with its wings spread wide and its head thrown back as though it was calling to the heavens.

I recognized the design at once.

"By the Ancients!" I exclaimed. "I haven't seen this thing since I was a boy!"

Celeste looked at me in surprise.

"So you do know what it is?"

"Well, yes," I admitted, stepping closer. "Though I had quite forgotten about it. This belonged to my great-aunt Imelda. She was forever using it to communicate with various relatives and acquaintances throughout the magical realms."

"Sounds like an early version of FaceTime," Celeste remarked.

"A version of what?" I frowned.

"Oh, never mind!" She waved a hand. "It's something we use in the Human Realm. So how does it work?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, one simply touches the glass and speaks the name of the person one wishes to contact," I told her. "Though I'm not certain whether it still functions. I believe my great-aunt complained that it had become unreliable shortly before it was put away."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Celeste said.