Chapter 6

Everything is so dark that it takes a while for my eyes to adjust enough to allow me to see hints of light and see my surroundings vaguely. Light streaks reflect on the edges and surfaces of what look like mirrors all around us. Seeing so many reflections staring back at me gave me the creeps and made me feel like I was in a horror movie. I had to look away immediately.

I suppress a scream when I feel something cold brush the skin on my arm. I turn to look, only to see that it's only Jade. I press a hand over my chest, feeling my heart beating rapidly under my shirt.

"Jade, I'm glad you're here. Where's Klovis?" Jade briefly looks down and whimpers before bringing his head up again. I completely understand what he's saying, but since the fairy in question hasn't said anything, I should tease him a little. "Jade, are you telling me that he's dead?"

"You know, you could have put a little more effort into sounding sad with your words." Klovis grumbles beneath me. "Also, could you get your knee off my chest? Who lands with their knee first on someone's chest!?"

"I would if I knew you were going to be my landing pad." I smirked before moving off of him.

Klovis grumbles as he sits up. He massages his chest and glares at me. "You know, you are as heavy as Jade."

"Would you like me to ask Jade to sit on you so you can compare again?"

"Er...no." He adds hastily, cognizant of the fact that Jade is more likely to pay attention to me than to him. Since Klovis has been so preoccupied, I have been the one to feed the emerald beast recently, so it should come as no surprise that he pays attention to my commands.

"Where are we?" I look around us at the array of mirrors surrounding us. There are mirrors lined up next to each other, while others are floating in the air. The only sources of light are the fairy lights floating around and settling on the ground, creating an ominous vibe.

Klovis looks around for the first time. His expression turns grim, which worries me. "The mirror maze." He answers. His attention was fully aimed at our surroundings. "Livia, Jade, look down! Don't stare at your reflection."

There's something about how alarmed he sounds that makes Jade and I quickly stare at the floor without even questioning him. I learned that in the fairy realm, mirrors can be dangerous. If Klovis says not to look at them, then I would stop looking at my reflection before I asked questions.

"Why are we here? Is this where the sap is?"

"We are on the right track towards it, at least." Klovis answers me. "According to the instructions, we have to pass certain floor levels before we can get to the sap. Each level has certain rules and is more dangerous the farther we go down. Right now, we are on the first floor."

"Great. What floor is the sap?"

"Fifth."

I bit down on my tongue to stop a cuss from emerging. "You said rules, right? What exactly is the rule here?"

"Don't look at your reflection in the mirror for more than five seconds."

"Right. Got it." I say, feeling my neck hurt a bit from looking at the ground for a long time. "What happens if we do glimpse at the mirror for more than five seconds?"

"Your reflection will materialize and..." Klovis swallows and shakes his head. "I rather not say what they might do after that."
I shudder at the thought of seeing my reflection climb out of the mirror and probably chase and kill me. I have seen enough scary movies to get a clear picture of them in my head. Come to think of it, maybe those scenes have a basis, and I may have just found out their source.

"How are we supposed to leave this place if we can't look forward?" This serves me right for not asking Klovis questions about our quest and fully trusting him about the mission.

Klovis grabs my hand. "I may have a vague idea." He suggest. "See the mirrors above us? They are our guides to an exit. We just have to follow their positioning."

I look up, remembering how I've seen those mirrors floating above us. I notice how they seem to be arranged in such a way that they are like guiding posts. I looked down immediately. "This is going to hurt our neck." I already feel sick from looking up and down so quickly out of fear of staring at my reflection.

"Don't worry. I've got about half of the way mapped out and memorized already." Klovis assures me. "Try looking on the ground far ahead. That'll help."

I did as he said. And although it worked, the fact that this place lacks light is still making it hard for me to progress. Clearly, this challenge isn't fit for humans to tackle.

Fortunately, Klovis is pretty capable of guiding us, making me think that this whole challenge is actually a walk in the park. Unfortunately, I would never really expect anything easy while I was in this realm.

I started to hear voices that I was familiar with.

"Did you guys hear something?"

"Hear what?" Klovis answers me perplexedly, despite the faint hum that I am hearing in the background.

"Someone's humming. Can't you hear it?" I insist. I hear it as clear as day, so I am sure that I am not hallucinating it—probably.

"It's most likely the maze trying to slow us down. Let's keep moving." I notice how Klovis seems to frown as he says it. He probably heard something as well but refuses to acknowledge it.

We hasten our pace, and it appears that the faster that we are moving, the louder the voices are calling out to me. I'm starting to recognize them now. They are the voices of my parents calling out to me. I hear their pained and confused screams as they are desperately searching for me. I unconsciously looked up. At a distance, I see the car where my father and I were riding not long before Zhier rescued us—or at least I hope he did. The vehicle is a wreck on the ground, covered in leaves and vines. Not far from it is my father, lying there unconsciously.

My legs carried me as I headed to where he was. An invisible barrier stopped me from getting to the other side. I keep pouting on the wall and yelling, but my father can't seem to hear me. Just then, I was tackled to the ground by a beast, or should I say, Jade?

Thanks to him, I have finally become aware of my surroundings. I am reminded of where we are by the mirrors hanging above us.

I was tricked. It was all an illusion!

"I didn't stare at the mirror for more than five seconds, did I?" I take Jade's calm silence as a good sign, but somehow, something got me concerned. Why am I only seeing Jade and not Klovis? "Jade, where's Klovis?"

The emerald beast seems taken aback and seems to have just remembered his master because, at the mere mention of his name, Jade looks back. I follow his gaze only to see that Klovis is pounding on the mirror like he is seeing something in there. I get up as quickly as I can and pull Klovis away as he continues to trash and makes an attempt to push me back.

"It's not me! Get away. It's not me!" Klovis yells. He's being hysterical that he can't seem to hear me. I need to wake him up. How did Jade manage to bring me back to my senses again? Klovis was flailing so much that he accidentally hit my hand.

"HEY, WHO RAISED YOU!?" My response comes automatic and I slap him right across the cheek.

That definitely did the trick because he suddenly stopped struggling. He looks at me with a bewildered expression. "Did you just slap me?!"

"You hit me first!" I defended. "And you were trapped in some sort of delusion that I had to hit you to snap you out of."

"I did? I'm sorry." Klovis blinks back confusion before a look of horror crosses his face when his gaze moves past me. "Livia, I didn't stare at the mirror for more than five seconds, did I?"

I follow his gaze and see that on the mirror where he was pounding a while ago, now stares back an exact mirror copy of him, peering at us with its cold glasslike gaze.

~*~*~*~END OF CHAPTER~*~*~*~