17. Talking Through the Looking Glass

Chapter 17

Talking Through the Looking Glass

H ugo focused on the bronze mask before him, the tormented face haunting him. He breathed deeply in short, rapid bursts. He gritted his teeth to prepare for whatever fate held before him.

"I wanted you to join us. Reuse your abilities over and over. After all, why should I pay for your special gift once when I can get you to use it for free?" Madeline Sinclair taunted Hugo by waving the mask in front of his face. "You wanted to do this the hard way. Why can't you see there is no other way? If you aren't willing to do it for me, then I'll extract it from you. You put on this mask, and I'll rip it out of you."

She turned the mask around and positioned it in front of Hugo. She pressed it against his face. The cold bronze burned as it fused with him. Hugo let out an agonizing scream. Every part of his soul burned. The world faded from view. A darkness overtook him. He was slipping into nothingness; only the excruciating pain was left.

"Wait," Thaddeus said. "Take it off."

He ripped the mask off Hugo's face. Hugo's body went limp, his head falling forward. He writhed in pain, but he was still there. His breath labored.

Madeline snapped to Thaddeus. "I will not suffer such insubordination," she said as she moved in front of Thaddeus.

"Your highness," Thaddeus said. "He does not know . . . That is why he still has hope."

"Know what?" Hugo mustered through shallow, raspy breaths.

Thaddeus glanced at Hugo. "He still thinks it was real. He does not know the truth. He made it all up. It was all in his head. He should face the final trial. He will learn the truth."

"Made what up?" Hugo asked in a raspy voice. His body was still held by Madeline's ghouls.

Thaddeus said, "Give me a little more time. If the last trial does not work, then you can put the mask on him."

Madeline held her gaze on Thaddeus for a moment. Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed.

"Besides," Thaddeus stated, waving his hands in a grand gesture. "Why continue to pay for someone's services when you can buy them and use it forever? Do you want to risk only having one shot at it instead of him becoming a part of your army?"

Madeline stood stoic in her expression. Her eyes never wavered from Thaddeus. Her lips pursed.

Thaddeus asked, "It is your father's saying, is it not?"

"You better be right," she answered. "Or else I'll put the mask on you first."

Thaddeus bowed his head, tipping his tricorn hat. "As you wish, your highness."

"Drop him," Madeline commanded.

Hugo crashed to the floor as the ghouls let him go. The pain reverberated through him as his face bounced off the hardwood. The mask zapped him of energy, as if trying to break him down and destroy him bit by bit. His body told him to lie on the cold hardwood forever. He had to continue. To keep the faith. But his body was weakened.

Hang on , Hugo thought. Just hang on.

An older man entered the living room. He wore a finely tailored frock coat with matching pants. He didn't hurry, but he walked with purpose and his head held high. He carried himself with dignity and grace, standing tall and properly greeting Madeline. He too had a mask of white with black circles over his face. "Ms. Sinclair, it is the beast."

Madeline spun around to face him, anger in her voice. "What about the beast, Mr. Farnsworth?"

"It has become erratic. Wild. Untamable. It is not like the other souls we have encountered," Russell Farnsworth responded.

"I want the creature for my army. It will be a powerful ally," she said.

"Understandable, but none of the usual trials are working. It keeps attacking the images," he said with his voice raising. "Not to mention, the insistent knocking. All it does is knock against the walls, the wood, the windows. It attacks everyone who has gotten close to it."

"Good," she said. "I want to retain its fiery spirit."

"Perhaps the rider should deal with it," he suggested.

Madeline approached Russell and placed a hand on his shoulder. "My dear Farnsworth. It's all a part of the grand vision. We need the beast. You'll have to tame the beast. It's not often we get something of such spirit."

"We have never had such a beast," he replied.

"Precisely," she said.

The four ghouls wailed an ear-piercing shriek at the same time. Hugo covered his ears as the shrieking ripped through his body. Madeline smacked the ground with her parasol, dangerously close to Hugo's head.

"Now what?" she muttered under her breath. She moved toward the front door. "Everyone, follow me. Let's deal with this issue. Mr. Price, I expect it done before I get back."

The ghouls, the rider, and Russell Farnsworth followed her out of the house.

Thaddeus followed as well. "Your highness, might I have a word with you first?"

"Walk and talk," she said.

Thaddeus followed the group and disappeared out of the house. Hugo was alone. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Hugo was alone in this wretched, ghoulish house. He pushed himself up off the floor.

His body hurt and burned with every movement. The mask, even if placed on his face for a moment, had nearly destroyed him. Every step was searing pain, but he kept moving forward. He shambled past the couch where moments before—or was it an eternity?—Alice sat. He spoke with her. Touched her. She was real. He knew it.

"What did he mean by made-up?" Hugo asked.

There was someone who would know. He had to talk to Alice's reflection.

Hugo stumbled into the hallway, falling to the hardwood floor. The pain reverberated through his bones. His body begged him to remain on the cold floor, but his soul wouldn't let him. He crawled to the base of the steps. Hugo gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up off the floor and regained his footing. The pain seared through him.

Hugo climbed up the stairs. Each step burned his legs. His body wasn't recovering as quickly from the mask as he had hoped. He braced himself on the wall, sliding his body up with every step. He grunted with every climb until he reached the top.

He entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him. He shambled to the bathroom, sealing himself inside. He flicked the light switch. The gold-framed mirror awaited him.

He wasn't surefooted, and his body wobbled. He lifted the mirror and removed it from the wall. He carefully placed it on the black and white checkerboard tile flooring. He collapsed on his side next to it, his face laying on top of the looking glass.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"I can hear you," Alice's reflection said.

"Is she on her way?"

"Yes, she's coming."

"Are you real?"

"What a silly question to ask."

His voice wavered, growing low. "I need to know. Are you real?"

"Of course I'm real, Hugo Dodds. You doofus."

Hugo chuckled. "I see you still have your sense of humor."

"Do you still have yours?"

"I wish," Hugo said. "I could use it right now."

"What's happening?"

"They're torturing me. They want me to submit to their despair and become like them. It's hard. Part of me wants to give in. Part of me is holding out hope."

"You have to hold on, Hugo. She's coming. Hang on."

Hugo belted out a few lines from the chorus of "Hang On Sloopy." With his hands, he gestured the spelling of Ohio. "O . . . H . . . I . . . O . . ."

"What are you doing? A spelling bee?"

"I was thinking. Years ago, I made a decision that altered my life. I had a scholarship to play hockey at a small school. Elizabeth wanted to go to Ohio State. I had a choice to make. I could have gone and played hockey. I would have never gone pro, but I would have kept playing." Hugo rolled onto his back. "We might still have gotten married, but we knew we would be far apart. We could have found someone else. Fallen in love with other people. Never married. Then I would have never met you. I probably wouldn't have returned to Newbury Grove."

"I never knew," Alice's reflection said. "Why didn't you tell her?"

"Didn't think it mattered. I gave up my hockey playing days and decided to follow Elizabeth to college. She was more important to me than playing hockey. I knew I wanted a life with her. So, I went. Then I ended up living next to a purple-haired witch. Funny how one decision changed my life forever."

"For the worse?"

"No, for the better. I wouldn't change a thing, and I loved every minute of it. Elizabeth and I loved each other. But with Alice . . .I was alive in ways I never felt before. She's the hope stopping me from slipping into despair."

There was a pause.

"Can you see me?" Alice's reflection asked.

"No."

"Good. I don't want you seeing me ugly crying."

Hugo chuckled. "I haven't forgotten about you. We'll get my reflection back."

"You better. Or else I'll have her stake you again."

"Point received. I wouldn't recommend it again."

They both laughed.

"I see your sense of humor is still there," she said.

"Yeah, it's still there," Hugo muttered. "I'm still a vampire, you know. I have the fangs."

"Vampires can be fun."

"I know. I'm surprised she's still able to walk after our last . . . umm. . . fun night."

"You're nasty," Alice's reflection said in a playful voice.

"What? I'm speaking the truth. When I get out of here, it's going to be a marathon weekend. Both of us."

"I look forward to it."

Hugo paused. He licked his lips. There was something he wanted to say, but he didn't want to sour the moment. He had to say it. He would regret not saying it should anything happen.

"I want you to know something," Hugo said.

"Anything."

"I want you to know I love you and her. Please tell her."

"She knows. I know. We both love you too. She's willing to risk her soul to damnation for you. You can tell her yourself when you see her again."

"She isn't a good witch or a bad witch, but a great witch."

The door to the bathroom flew open. Thaddeus stood in the entryway, his eyebrows furled into fierce anger. "So, this is how you're communicating!"