The Other Side of the Mirror : Chapter 8

I stood in the center of the nursery. What he was claiming was total madness, yet, my mind continued to cling to his story. I needed to prove him wrong for my own sanity’s sake. Closing my eyes, I willed the room to speak to me. Common sense told me that there was no truth to Lance’s story, but, just to appease my mind and free it from all doubts, I would investigate. If there was any truth to his wild tale, it would come forth.

When nothing happened, I inwardly smiled with smugness. I knew that his tale was that of a madman. Even so, I was still being nagged by his story. Not getting a vision just wasn’t enough to satisfy the nagging in the recesses of my mind. I needed to do more to prove to myself that his story was completely off-the-charts crazy.

Opening my eyes, I said in a voice as gentle as I could manage in my flustered state, “If you don’t mind, it would be better if I was in here alone.”

He looked surprised and then aghast at the fact that he hadn’t realized that in the first place. Making his apologies, he quickly exited the room.

Pulling a straight-backed wooden chair from a nearby table that I assumed had been used to serve the children their lunch on, I positioned it in the center of the room and sat down. Closing my eyes again, I said aloud, “If I was ever an infant in this room, then, show me.”

Normally, when I made a request of a room or an object, an image would flash through my head. It took total control and concentration to trap it long enough for it to register in my mind. This time, it was different. I felt the room swirl around me to the point that I became dizzy. I was grateful for the fact that I was sitting and not standing.

When the swirling stopped and no vision appeared in my mind, I assumed that I had failed. To my surprise, when I opened my eyes, the nursery was abuzz with life. It was incredible.

The question of how I got there didn’t even enter my mind. Between Lance’s stories and my own inherent gut feeling, I knew that magical forces were in play. What concerned me was how the people in the room would react to my sudden appearance.

He’d claimed to have traveled from his time to mine. Had I done the same in reverse? Had I traveled to his time and simply popped into the room? If so, did the others in his time know about time travel? If not, my sudden appearance was going to be a fun thing to try to explain. I looked down at my modern clothing and sighed. Oh, yes, a real fun thing to explain.

Did they still do witch hunts?, I wondered.

I held my breath and waited. When they continued about their business as if I wasn’t even there, I realized that they couldn’t see me. The temptation to get up off the chair and walk around was great, but something told me that I’d be breaking the magic if I did and I’d either be stuck in a time warp or lose the vision. So, I sat quietly and observed.

With the fear of being noticed squelched, I was able to focus on other things. It was both unnerving and exciting that everything about the scene looked familiar to me. It even smelled familiar. I knew the dark skinned woman who was rocking the young girl in a chair not far from me. In fact, I knew the young girl. She was me and the woman was my nanny.

Another dark skinned woman entered the room. She wore servant’s clothes that were impeccable. In fact, everything about the room was impeccable. Not one thing was out of place. Even so, it felt warm and lived in.

It finally registered in my mind that I was in pre-civil war time when a dark skinned male dressed in livery clothing walked in with the stately grace that you’d expect from a footman. These were probably not servants, but slaves. A tinge of disapproval touched my core before I remembered that this was a vision and not reality.

Skipping into the room in hot pursuit of the second woman was a young boy who I guessed to be around nine or ten. One look at eyes that were like melted chocolate orbs that were framed by raven black hair told me all that I needed to know that I was looking at a younger version of Lance.

I wouldn’t have had to see him to know that he’d entered the room. I could feel the powerful energy that he emitted. It was even more potent than what I’d experienced from his adult body prior to our bonding. I could see a thin veil of air swirling around him. I assumed that it was some form of magic, but I wasn’t sure if it was in him or around him.

Before I could investigate further, a man in a dark robe appeared in the doorway. He stood for a good deal of time without anyone in the room noticing. I began to wonder if he too was invisible. If so, then why was I able to see him?

With a broad wave of his arm, I watched as all of the occupants in the room -both old and young- fell into a deep sleep. Those who weren’t sitting, fell to the floor.

His strides were long and sure as he quickly went to the rocking chair and robbed my young sleeping form from the arms of my nanny. When he stood up, he turned so that his beady black eyes locked with my dumfounded blue-grey ones. It was then that I realized that he was aware of me.

Lips that were barely visible beneath his thick, black beard formed a wicked grin; displaying yellowed, crooked teeth. My body shuddered as I fought back an overwhelming sense of fear. Then, before my very eyes, he and my younger self disappeared into thin air.

As the vision slowly began to fade around me, I caught a glimpse of an extremely handsome man standing in the doorway of the room. He reminded me of Lance with his dark hair and rich brown eyes. I found his look of satisfaction as he surveyed the sleeping bodies in the room disconcerting, but not frightening.

I don’t know if I’d been unwittingly holding my breath or if the process of coming back from my magical vision made me breathless. Whatever the cause, I found myself gasping for air as my surroundings slowly appeared to me.

Lance’s voice was panicked. “Esmerelda! What happened? Are you alright?” He took my face in his hands and, then, positioned his so that it was only inches away from mine. “Look at me.”

The oh so familiar sense of well-being and safety that swept over me when I felt the firm warmth of his strong hands and I looked into eyes that were filled with concern was such a welcome sensation after seeing the unfriendly evilness of the magician and who I assumed was his uncle that I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung like a child would to her protector. He made no move to pull away, but he also didn’t pull me closer. He simply allowed me the time that I needed to process what I’d just experienced while he gently rubbed my back and assured me that all was well.

“I saw you,” I murmured into his neck. “I saw both of us.”

“So, you believe me now?” he asked with a hopeful voice.

I nodded, but said nothing as I continued to bury my face in his neck.

“Why are you trembling so hard?” he asked with concern.

He was right. My entire body was trembling. Instead of lessening as time progressed, it was getting worse.

I finally pulled back so that I could look at him. My hand shook as I pushed my wild hair out of my face and my voice was unsteady. “I can’t stop it.”

The look of concern on his face belied his calm demeanor as he lifted me off the chair and carried me across the room. He gently laid me on the antique bed that both of our young bodies had once occupied each night. It was low to the ground, lumpy, and smelled of must, but, in a way,needed those assaults on my senses to help bring me completely back to the here and now.

“Does this happen every time you get visions from places?” he asked with concern.

I vigorously shook my head. “It was different this time. Usually I just get a flash of something in my mind. This time the world spun and I was inside the vision.”

“You say you spun?” he asked with undisguised concern.

I nodded. “It was like the chair was twirling and when it stopped, I was surrounded by life. I saw a black servant -or more likely a slave- rocking me and another enter the room with linens and then a footman came in with you running in behind him.”

“Did they see you?” he asked with trepidation.

“No one paid me any notice, so I don’t think so,” I assured him. Then, remembering the magician’s evil eyes, I added, “Except…”

“Except what?” he anxiously interrupted me.

“Just before the magician disappeared with my younger self, he looked me in the eyes,” I said with remorse.

I couldn’t explain why, but I knew that little incident would not bode well for me.

Lance rubbed my hands almost absent-mindedly while he thought in silence. I found the gesture to be soothing to my trembling body, so I made no move to stop him.

“I think you did not just get a vision,” he finally said. “I think you traveled back in time, but did not go through the veil.”

“I don’t understand,” I admitted.

“There is a veil in each dimension that separates the astral from the physical. It is what keeps us from seeing ghosts, etc. It is transparent from the astral side, but not from the physical,” he explained. “Even though it is transparent, it takes a lot of energy and know how to move through it and enter the physical realm.”

It made sense, so I didn’t question him more. I did, however, elaborate on the fact that the magic man saw me.

“He has the magic and the skills needed to see beyond the veil,” he said in a flat tone.

“Why is it that I feel like him seeing me wasn’t such a good thing?” I asked with trepidation.

“He now knows that you have abilities,” Lance admitted with regret. “It would have been nice to have kept that bit of information to ourselves.”

My heart felt heavy. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. “It is not your fault and it certainly Is not the end of the world, my love.”

“At least I’m only psychic and not magical,” I offered. “It would be worse if he thought that I was magical, right?”

He nodded. “It would present greater challenges for us, yes.” Then, looking at me as if he was looking through me, he added, “I am not so certain that you are not magical. That remains to be seen. We were paired together, after all.”