Page 22 of Curse the Flame

I’ve gotten lucky so far. My biggest problem has been figuring out how to pee outside without getting it all over my formerly white slippers once Cassandra told me that the babbling brooks were safe to drink from, and that the fruit from the trees could feed me. But, if this is some mythical re-do of Ancient Greece I’ve found myself in, where are the monsters? The other gods? The heroes and the kings and the places where they live?

Where am I?

I don’t know, but, so far, we’re alone again. It’s just me and Sir, and as though he thinks that something is going to come along and swoop me away, he keeps yipping and turning over his shoulder, checking to see if I’m still there.

He’s obviously leading me somewhere. To his owner, maybe? A smart, cute puppy like Sir can’t be a stray, can he? If he is, I might as well keep him with me. As small as he is, one of those monsters I can’t help but imagine could gobble him up, and I would feel absolutely terrible if that happened.

I’ll keep him safe. Even if Sir seems to think that he’s watching me at the same time, at least we’re making it through the woods together⁠—

Wait a second? Where did Sir go?

Darn it. I got distracted, watching a goldenrod poke its way through the dirt, sprouting into existence by the toe of my slipper. I took my eyes off of the puppy for a second, and now I’ve lost him in the ever-growing darkness.

“Sir?”

A small bark comes from somewhere off to my right.

I follow the sound, pushing through a thicket of bushes until I find him standing beside a moss-covered stone. It comes up to his little shoulders and, because I’m apparently traveling with a puppy who refuses to admit that some obstacles are bigger than he is, he attempts to climb it.

His front paws make it to the top. His back ones scramble against the side.

He slides down, then immediately tries again.

I hide my smile. I don’t want to make Sir feel bad as I suggest, “You could just go around it.”

He ignores me. Okay. So maybe he can’t understand me, but he sure has some determination as he tries a third time.

Sir gets a better grip this go-round. With a fierce, little growl, he hauls himself onto the rock, stands proudly at the top, then hops off the other side, bounding toward something in the distance.

I watch him go, a small, sad smile playing on my lips. That was a lot of effort for something kind of unnecessary, and while I’m proud that Sir didn’t give up, I’m not so sure that I can follow his example. It’s barely been one day—now that’s almost night—and I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

At first, I was amazed that I somehow found myself in the middle of a portal fantasy. Like, magic is real. How awesome is that? Well, it would be a lot more awesome if I could find another portal and hop right back home.

Look at me. I’m not in a position to judge whatever makes Sir happy. I followed a puppy through a mirror because I thought he was in danger. Now I’m lost in a magical world, worrying about what sort of monsters might be watching me where I can’t see them, and there’s no way for me to go home yet if I can believe Cassandra.

And I do. Don’t know why—maybe because I always felt bad for Cassndra, princess of Troy, whenever I read The Odyssey—but when she told me that I won’t be able to leave until I do whatever it takes to summon a portal out of this place, I believed her.

I’m also freaking out that no one back home has any idea what happened to me.

Did Mr. Z and his wife miss their trip when I didn’t show up to use their cabin and camp on their grounds? What about Daph? Has she completely lost it, worrying about me since I never got the chance to send her that proof of life pic?

My phone is on the floor beside the mirror. I dropped it before I fell through, so Daphne’s text is still unanswered. She’s probably asleep by now. At least, I hope she is. Otherwise she might start calling, and when I don’t answer, she’ll assume I’m dead, kidnapped, or trapped beneath a piece of furniture because I attempted to move it by myself.

She won’t guess that I fell into a magical mirror, and maybe that’s a blessing.

Daphne is open-minded in some ways. She believes people can change if they prove they deserve another chance. She believes love is real, even though she says romance is mostly manipulation with flowers attached. She believes in hard work, and that there’s a glass ceiling that she’ll bust through, even if she has to kick it in with one of her stilettos.

Magic portals?

That might be a hard sell. Though, after what I’ve seen since I landed here, I could probably send her a picture of Sir breathing fire and she’d accuse me of using a filter. The only way she would ever admit that magic was real was if she came to this side of the mirror herself, and there’s no way that’s going to happen…

“Maybe we should find shelter,” I call out to Sir because speaking, whether he can understand me or not, makes me feel a tiny bit better. “Or people. Nice people, preferably. No more witches who speak in riddles. Definitely no monsters. Maybe someone who might be able to tell me what the hell is going on more than ‘surprise, you’re a goddess, good luck!’.”

Sir’s yip is all the answer I get, and since it sounds a little too far away, I start moving again.

I nod to myself. “Okay. You’re right. That last one might be asking too much.”

He barks, louder this time, if still not that close to where I am.