“I don’t like to think about it.”
“It could help us?”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” Haley said, then her mist rose out of the radio and zipped through the wall.
“She seems upset. Maybe we should leave her alone and check the mirror first,” Taran said.
“She probably needs a minute. I’ll leave the radio here and we can go look at it,” Eilonwy agreed.
Taran followed her into the office, turning his blue witch light back on. Eilonwy took a pair of white cotton gloves out of one coat pocket. Then she took out a pair of glasses with pink-tinted round lenses.
“What do those do?”
“They help me see leftover magick while protecting my eyes,” she said while putting them on. “I don’t want you to look at the mirror while I do this.”
“Should I wait outside the room?”
“No, my witch light is too dark, and if something goes wrong, you’ll have to pull me away.”
“What could go wrong?”
“My pentacle should protect me from most things. Are you wearing yours?”
“Always.”
“Do you have salt packets?”
“Yes,” he said and pulled them out of his pocket.
“Excellent, now close your eyes.”
Taran closed his eyes and listened while Eilonwy examined the mirror. She didn’t look directly into it, but looked at the frame, then the glass, without meeting her own eyes. It had a basic, dark shimmer of a scrying mirror.
She pulled a small box of eight spell crayons out of her pocket and selected the dark blue one, putting the rest back in her coat. Then she touched the crayon to the glass in a star pattern while saying, “Scry to me the other side.”
As soon as she finished the words, the mirror showed a room with a bed and a book laid on top. It was a cozy-looking space, with floral wallpaper and a reading lamp.
Eilonwy took off her glasses to see better. “Taran,” she whispered, then beckoned him to look. She put a finger to her lips, then pointed at his witch light.
He turned off his light and joined her at the mirror.
Dante Valentine strode into the room, stark naked, holding a glass of wine. He was lithe and sinewy, with broad shoulders. His hair was pulled back, and he had a prominent nose, cheekbones, and chin. He put the glass on a side table and got into bed to read. They watched for a minute. He sipped his wine, turned a page, and then sipped again. His eyes seemed to dart toward them for a second, but he just kept reading.
Eilonwy took the crayon and made a cross across the star. The mirror went back to being a strangely dark mirror.
“Why did you close it?”
She brought Taran back out of the tiny office and closed the door behind them. “Because he can use whatever mirror is on the other side to see us as well. Haley may have used it as a focusto talk to Carey, but Dante could also use it as a viewing scry to eavesdrop.”
“Do you think there’s one in her little room?”
“It’s possible.”
“We need to see in there.”
“Let’s be careful. We should treat it as though it’s her bedroom. She’s upset, and we don’t want her to stop talking to us.”
They went to the closet, and Taran knocked on the door. “Haley, can we come in?”
