“Of course.” He waved his hand dismissively. “That's not what concerns me. I was just thinking that if you write a message down and hold it up for someone to see on the other side of the glass, it will most likely be seen as a reflection.”
“So?”
“So it vill be backwards,” Kirill concluded.
“Oh, okay,” I said. “Then we write backwards.”
“Each letter will be backwards, Minn Elska,” Trevor said. “Can you write like that?”
“That will take more time to figure out,” I admitted.
“Or you could write normally and then hold up another mirror and show them the reflection,” Narcissus suggested. “They'd see the reflection of a reflection; that should make it look normal.”
We all stared at Narcissus in surprise.
“I've been here a very long time,” he said. “It changes your way of thinking; your perspective.”
“You have a reflective perspective?” I asked with a grin.
“Just so.” Narcissus laughed as my husbands shook their heads.
“All right.” I stood up. “Let's do this.”
“Right now?” Narcissus asked as he stood too.
“You wanna wait around for the proper moon phase?” I lifted a brow at him.
Narcissus laughed and produced a pen, a pad of paper, and a rectangular mirror the same size as the pad. “I believe any moon phase is acceptable for escaping a looking glass.”
Then he stared at us intensely. I was about to ask him what was wrong when my clothing changed. All of our attire did, actually. Suddenly, we were all dressed in warmer garments; wool pants and tunics for the men, a wool gown for me, and fur-lined cloaks for everyone. The clothes were medieval in design but the snow boots on our feet were modern.
“There; that's better,” Narcissus said. “It's cold out there.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. “That's a nice trick. I can change clothes in my territory but I've never tried to do it while the clothes were on me. I may have to try that.”
“It saves time,” Narcissus said as he led the way outside his palace and across the arching bridge.
A pair of perfectly white horses waited patiently there, their breath fogging the air. They were hitched to a silver sleigh. The rear portion was higher than the front, swooping up in an elaborate spiral that circled behind the conveyance. Intricate designs were etched into the silver and diamonds were set within them to add a little sparkle. It was quite a detailed illusion to have been created up so quickly. Narcissus had obviously become adept at transmutation during his incarceration.
Narcissus climbed into the back of the sleigh and settled a snowy fur blanket around him. “Are you coming?”
“Don't you have to drive?” I asked. “Or steer? Whatever you call it when it comes to carriages.”
Narcissus laughed. “The horses are illusions; they go where I will them to go.”
“Of course,” I whispered and exchanged an amazed look with my husbands. “It looks as if we're going to have a witch in a sleigh, after all.”
“If zere's turkish delight in zere, I'm not getting in,” Kirill declared mutinously.
Chapter Ten
As soon as we were settled in the sleigh—covered in fur blankets but without a single piece of turkish delight to munch on—our stately steeds pulled us swiftly through the woods and to the free-standing mirror with its two-way glass. It was a much more comfortable trip there than it had been when we first journeyed to the palace.
“It's so eerie without any other life here,” I noted as we came to a stop in the clearing.
“Yes; that's the hardest thing to get used to,” Narcissus agreed. “Quiet is nice, but it becomes oppressive after awhile. I sing sometimes just so I don't have to bear the weight of it.”
“I'm sorry; that sounds awful.”
