The illusion around the town of Tempestmist had fallen. Its true character revealed. Atop the stage in the center of the town's square stood Owen, myself, the Portly Brothers, and Zeno, the tailor. We watched and waited for Vanity to make her next move. The Shadows surrounding the stage moaned and reached up at our feet through gaps in the floorboards. I moved closer to Owen trying to avoid being touched. Owen's eyes darted all around the square looking for a way out, but he saw none. They were surrounded, trapped. The Portly Brother's whimpered and hid behind Zeno's large green coat, but unlike the other members of the group, Zeno appeared calm. He had a plan.

"You know, Vanity," said Zeno amused. "Even though you had me trapped for ten years and removed all my memories, I still remained one step ahead of you."

"Whatever could you mean?" asked Vanity. A twinge of puzzlement broke across her face. "No one can outwit me, the Great Deceiver." Vanity started to move forward, but Zeno was ready for her.

"Vanity is always weakened by pride. Now it is time this tailor makes some adjustments to your wardrobe," Zeno raised his hands in the air. Vanity's dress tightened around her neck, arms, and legs, stiffening as though made of stone. Vanity froze in place; her eyes widened.

"Why can't I move!" she screamed. "What have you done to me?" The tailor laughed.

"You can remove a memory from a person, but you cannot remove a talent. Even when they forgot their purpose, these hands continued to out smart you." Zeno turned to Owen and myself. "Now is our chance to run. As long as she wears the clothes I made for her, Vanity cannot harm us." The tailor stuck out his tongue at Vanity. "Must have been too much starch.".

"Curse you, tailor!" screamed Vanity as she shook in her hardened dress. "Curse you and your magic thread. Shadows get them!"

The Shadows began ascending the stage. Owen reacted immediately by activating his WEAKs. Yellow light appeared and out popped his daggers. With each swing of his blade, a Shadow burst in a cloud of sand.

While Owen fought off the Shadows rising up on one side of the stage, Zeno took care of the rest. He jumped and twisted into the air. The long sleeves of his coat extended and flattened turning into giant green knives. I watched amazed as Zeno playfully sliced through hoards of encroaching Shadows with his enchanted coat. Regaining his memories was the best thing to happen to him. Zeno was no longer the timid tailor I had seen hiding in the shop. Fierceness reflected in his eyes and confidence showed in his stride. His level of crazy still remained as high as ever for with each successful blow he inflicted on a Shadow, he would make a funny sound. "Yah! Wooo! Zing!"

Feeling helpless, I tried to fight off the one or two straggling Shadows that happened to dodge Owen and Zeno's attacks with Vanity's sword. I swung it's heavy blade at the Shadows, missing half the time. The Portly Brothers unable to determine their position in the fight, cowered in each others arms as Shadows hissed passed them.

"We can't fight them all!" I cried seeing no end to the Shadow army. I jabbed at another Shadow cutting it open causing sand to fall upon the stage in large heaps. "There are too many!"

"We have to get out of here!" responded Owen as a plume of dust began overtaking the stage from all the Shadows he had killed. "Everyone! Down the stairs!" We descended the stage, knocking over the Shadows that attempted to climb up it.

"This way!" cried Zeno as he cleared a small path through the barrage of transformed townsfolk.

"Come on, Bran and Stan," I said motioning to the two hogs. "You are coming with us."

"Why?" snorted Bran. "We've been bad hogs, yes."

"We don't deserve the kindness of a Mirrorbender, no," said Stan. The two pigs bowed their tiny heads in shame.

"Don't be ridiculous, you two," I argued. "You are my friends. So come on. I'm not leaving you behind to die like this." The pigs nodded and jumped down. All together our little group of five pushed through wave after wave of shadowy monsters. Zeno lead in front as Owen took up the rear. When we reached the edge of the square, I glanced back. On top of the stage, Shadows had fallen onto Vanity. They ripped her dress as she blared angry demands into the air. With each tear of the dress upon her, it was replaced by the same black mist that had formed her cloak. By the time the group left the square, Vanity's left arm was free from the tailor's spellbinding grip.

We dashed down the street as all around us the townsfolk turned into their Shadow forms. The ones high up in the balconies crawled down the building sides like spiders on a wall. The Portly Brothers did their best to keep up, but their little animal legs caused them to lag behind. I too found my tight sequined dress was limiting my ability to run. By now I had abandoned my beautiful new shoes and resorted to a barefoot sprint.

Owen did his best in the rear slicing through the Shadows that got too close to the group. Zeno showed his amazing control over fabric by lifting off his raggedy top hat and flinging it into the air. It flattened into a swirling blade swishing through packs of Shadows that blocked our way before returning to his head as a hat once more.

"Why didn't you mention you had such powerful magic when we talked before," I asked the tailor.

"Because, Hope, I forgot I had it until you broke Vanity's spell. I was always gifted. My father was a powerful sage, and it was always his dream to have his son follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, I disappointed him when I instead took up sewing and clothes making over sage training. Instead I used what little he managed to teach me and complied it to my passion for fashion. Soon I had a reputation for some of the best clothing in all of Tartarus. I once clothed the mightiest kings and fiercest queens. Their courts would be aglow with my efforts. Then one day ten years ago I got a letter from a powerful Duchess who wished me to design a garment for her. I jumped to the opportunity without thinking and snatched the next carriage ride here. The rest as you know is history. Oh, the horror, the humanity, not to mention all that cheap fabric I was forced to use. Such a waste of my talents making dresses for that selfish Half-Life. Ugh, I think I'm going to vomit."

"Keep your head in the game, tailor," cried Owen.

"I would much prefer you to call me by my name...now that I have just recently acquired it, thank you."

"You know," grunted Owen as he swung at another Shadow, "You are just as bad as Hope is with this name business while being chased by Half-Lives. Both of you guys need to learn that introductions and back stories should be saved for times when our lives are not in danger."

I tripped on a hole in the road and fell to the ground. I cried out in pain.

"Ow! My ankle!"

"We can't stop!" cried Owen as everyone turned to the injured me. "The Shadows are closing in."

"Can you walk, my dear?" asked Zeno.

"No," I said wincing at the pain. "I think I sprained it! If this dress weren't so tight, I could maybe hop on one leg."

"We have no time for that!" yelled Owen as the Shadows began advancing. "We will have to carry her."

"Let us help!" squealed the Portly Brothers. "We will carry the Mirrorbender." The brothers quickly transformed into their human forms. Portly Bran lifted Hope gently.

"Come, Mirrorbender friend. We help you now, yes!"

We continued down the street. Our path was now clear as most of the Shadows had been huddled in the town square.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I bounced in Portly Bran's arms.

"To the mansion," said Zeno. "We have to find Vanity's mirror and destroy it. Otherwise we will be trapped in this hell forever."

"But, Zeno, I checked every mirror I could find," I said. "I couldn't find that one without my reflection."

"Let me guess, Vanessa told you not to go upstairs?"

"Yeah," I said. Zeno laughed.

"Then that is where she is keeping it. Come on, everyone!"

We soon reached the tall iron gate to Beatrice's Mansion. We entered and hurried down the narrow garden path to the mansion's doors. Once inside, Owen turned around and raised his hands to the door.

"Blockage!" A yellow light burst from his WEAK and fell upon the doors. The doors wiggled a bit and then sealed shut. He did so with the lock so that this time even the misty figure of a Half-Life could not get in. "I'm going to go seal all the doors and windows. You three help Hope."

Portly Bran placed me kindly on the floor.

"Thank you, my friend," I said as the brothers changed back into pigs. Zeno rushed over to me.

"Let's see what we can do about this ankle." Zeno removed a thin strip of fabric from his pocket. Using his magic he wrapped it around my ankle. "Your dress is a bit tight like you said. Let me make an adjustment." He pulled on the end of the dress, and it expanded outward.

"You are certainly magic with fabric," I said with a smile.

"You haven't seen half of what I can do yet," said Zeno smiling. I pointed to his head. His white hair was changing to black and his teeth whitening. He was looking younger.

"Seems like Vanity's illusion over you is also waning."

"Yes, so it seems," he cheered looking at his reflection in one of the mirrors. "I figured I hadn't aged that much in ten years. I am only 27 years old."

"Hey," said Owen arriving back in the foyer out of breath. He carried in his arms my clothes. "I figured you might want to change out of that dress. Not that it looks bad or anything. Oh, and here are your glasses."

"Thank you, Owen. I'll go and change."

"And just after I made that adjustment." Zeno smiled. "I'll make you a better one soon." As I moved away to change behind the stairs, Owen informed the group.

"I finished sealing all the windows and doors. There is no way Vanity can get in now."

"I don't know," I said returning and hopping on one foot. "She appeared in my room after I blocked the door. This world is her illusion after all. We don't know what's real and what's not."

"Whatever," huffed Owen. "I did what I could. Now this mirror?"

"We need to get upstairs," said Zeno. "Vanity must have it stored up there."

"You sure this will work?" asked Owen. "You sure this will stop her?"

"I don't hear any other plans of getting us out of here." Zeno pointed up. "I've seen it. I saw how she treated it. It must be valuable."

"Then that is our goal. Destroy this mirror." Owen turned to the stairs. "Let's go."

I struggled with the steps. My ankle felt better but it still hurt. Owen came to my aide. I placed my arm around his shoulder to help stabilize myself as I inched up the staircase.

"So how did you meet Zeno?" I asked.

"Well I discovered the townsfolk were Shadows because they stood motionless when you were not around to see them. Zeno was the only person in town who was moving. He handed me your mirror saying he spoke to you and you were under a powerful spell and that I too would become so if I did not leave. So I covered myself with a shield spell and kept my memories. It's how I was able to free him and then plan to save you.

"And like you said," I interrupted. "Because the Shadows can't move in sunlight, Vanity altered our perception of day and night with her illusions to throw us off guard."

"It was genius and nearly fooled me. Everything we saw, all the people, the buildings, the mirrors, everything was what she wanted us to see."

"And," added Zeno, "If Vanity had succeeded she would have possessed you and gained all the powers of the Mirrorbenders. Whatever the Half-Lives want with you, Ms. Hope, it cannot be good."

"I can't believe I was so foolish." I sighed. "I won't be so easily manipulated next time."

Upon reaching the top of the stairs we instantly saw our hunt for the elusive mirror would be more difficult than we thought. The second floor hallway was filled with doors. None of them labeled.

"So many doors," I said looking worried. "How are we going to check them all in time? Vanity will be here soon."

"Do you remember which one you saw the mirror behind?" asked Owen to Zeno.

"A lot has changed in ten years," said Zeno. "There are more doors than I remember. What about you, brothers?"

"We've never been up here, no," said Stan.

"We've never even been in the house," said Bran.

"Then let's try the first one." Owen opened the door. Behind it was a brick wall. "Well," he said biting his lip. "I should have expected that from a place built out of illusion." We decided to split up and each check a door for any sign of that elusive mirror. Most doors led to other strange illusions such as upside down rooms where furniture sat on the ceiling, or doors within doors within doors leading no where, or rooms full of clocks twirling in different directions and speeds.

Suddenly a few doors down at the end of the hall, Zeno began to scream. We rushed to his side.

"Ah!" cried Zeno. "Oh my! I found it!"

"What?" I said. "You found the mirror?"

"No," said Zeno ecstatically jumping up and down and pointing. "I found something better." We peered into the room. It was filled top to bottom with beautiful dresses.

"You can't be serious," said Owen face-palming.

"All the dresses I have made these last ten years are all right here in this closet!" Zeno chuckled. "I'm so happy."

"Well," I said looking at the end of the hallway, "That was the last room and still no mirror. You sure this thing exists?"

"It does exist," came a sly voice from behind. We turned around and sitting there flicking its tail was the ginger cat.

"Mr. Gato?" I said puzzled. "You can talk?"

"I can do more than talk," said the cat. His fur changed from ginger to purple and his eye's to bright yellow. He smiled. "See."

"My my," said Zeno bending down. "Seems like we have another fairy here." The Portly Brothers hoped around and sniffed the purple cat.

"Yep," said Stan. "I smell magic on him. Yes. Definitely a fairy."

"The name is Hijinx." The purple cat bowed. "I am in your debt Mirrorbender. I was trapped in the mind of a simple house cat until you broke the spell."

"I didn't really do anything," I said. "I just remembered who I was."

"Precisely," purred Hijinx. "A Mirrorbender has a power that can shatter even the most hardened of evil magic. All that was connected to the Vanity's illusion has faded away, all except this house."

I bent down and reached out a welcoming hand. "I'm Hope Martinez by the way. And this is Zeno, the tailor, my Glasswalker, Owen, and the Portly Brothers, Bran and Stan."

"Please spare me the introductions until after you defeat Vanity," said Hijinx rolling his eyes.

"I like this guy already," said Owen fixing the strap on his satchel.

"What makes you think we can trust him?" said Zeno giving Hijinx another good look.

"For the same reason I trusted you, Zeno," I said standing up. "We are all in this together, and we need to work together to get out."

"But, Hope," said Owen. "We checked every door up here, and still we can't find the mirror."

"Funny humans," said Hijinx arching his back, "you have been looking at this all wrong. You don't expect Vanity to hide her most precious mirror behind a door you can easily see. No, no. Vanity is much more cunning than you give her credit for."

"Then what must we do?" I asked. The whole group turned to the purple cat.

"It won't be long before Vanity arrives here and breaks through your barriers. That much is inevitable. She will come at us with the full force of her Shadow army. Us six will be helpless."

"That doesn't give us much hope," said Zeno.

"You are wrong, Mr. Zeno," said Hijinx with a smile. "Hope will find the mirror. She must see through the deception the only way a Mirrorbender can."

"But I don't know how?" I cried.

"In the hands of a Mirrorbender even an ordinary mirror can be a great weapon, a great tool. To a Mirrorbender, a reflection never lies." The cat swatted at Zeno's pockets. The tailor pulled out my small mirror. He handed it to me and I looked inside. My reflection was gone. "Sometimes," said Hijinx, "when the world around us becomes the illusion, we need a mirror to reflect the truth."