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Brian was scowling mistrustfully at the Ouija board, but Ollie didn’t care. Her entire concentration was locked on the planchette under her fingers. She wished it would spell faster. “What do I do?”
MIRROR, said the planchette. LOOK MIRROR. ANSWER IN MIRROR.
All four of them stared up at the mirror. It hung almost directly in front of them, o
pposite the fireplace, big and dark. Ollie could see the red coals of the fire reflected in it. And, dimly, the dark shapes of chairs and tables and their own faces. What else? Was there something else?
“Owl,” said Brian, low.
Ollie ignored him. She got up and took a step closer to the mirror. Before she could take another, Brian’s hand fell heavily on her shoulder. “Ollie, where are you going?” Brian wasn’t even bothering to be quiet now. “Remember the mirror upstairs? Be careful.”
Ollie shot an agonized glance at her sleeping dad, but still, strangely, none of the adults stirred. She threw off Brian’s hand and took another step toward the mirror. “I just want to see, Brian,” she whispered. “That was my mom. She was talking to me. I’m careful.”
“Owl,” said Brian. “Don’t believe everything the board tells you.”
“It’s my mom. She called me Olivia. Only my mom ever called me that,” Ollie retorted. “We believed my watch when we were in the corn maze. I’m going to believe the board now. What else do we have to believe in? How else are we going to figure this out? I’m just going to look. Come with me if you want to help.”
Ollie’s dad murmured something in his sleep. It sounded like Ollie.
“Hang on—” Brian began.
“Guys,” broke in Coco. To Ollie, it sounded like she’d been trying to get their attention for a while. “Guys, listen.”
Ollie and Brian fell silent. And they heard it. A tap.
Tap.
Where was it coming from?
Then Ollie realized it was coming from the mirror. Someone was tapping on the mirror. But who? Ollie took another step, craning to see.
Mr. Voland watched with slitted eyes.
Tap. Tap.
“Ollie,” said Brian, still following her, “please be careful.”
“It’s okay. I’m careful,” she whispered back. She stared into the glimmering depths of the mirror so hard that her eyes watered.
Behind her, she heard Mr. Voland talking. “Don’t worry, Coco. She’ll be all right.”
Ollie saw her own reflection. And Brian’s reflection. And the reflection of someone else. A woman.
But was it a reflection? The woman in the mirror was tapping on the glass.
Tap.
Tap.
“Olivia,” whispered a voice in her ear, as though the person reflected in the mirror really were standing next to her. “Olivia, I’m here.”
“Ollie, I don’t like this,” said Brian.
Was it her mother’s voice? It might have been her mother’s voice.
“Mom?” Ollie whispered. In the mirror, she could see curling dark hair like her own. She still couldn’t make out a face.
But that voice in her ear said, “Olivia, come here. You’re in danger, and we don’t have much time.”
