"That was really Erik?!" I asked Lee incredulously.
"Yeah. We can hear you Erik. Are you ok?" Lee said, somehow speaking to Erik.
"Yes, I'm fine. I have Linn with me in the mirror. She must have come with me somehow. Are you guys alright? Are you in the mirror too?" Erik asked through Lee.
"No, we managed to escape. We are heading back to the school to get help from the teachers. I don't really know what else to do. Erik, I promise I'll find a way to get you out of there." I said. It was such a relief to hear that Erik was ok. There had to be a way to get out of the mirror.
"Hello? I don't know how this works. Who am I talking to? Lee? Wait, my sister is out there?! Can you hear me?!" a new voice said.
"Um yes? Who is this?" I asked, worried.
"Alastor."
"I'm here too! It's Ayshlin! You probably don't remember me, but I'm your older sister!"
I sat for a moment in silence. He had found them. The real Alastor and Ayshlin, and now they were talking to me for the first time in years.
"Hello? Can she hear us? Are you still there Little Bird?" Ayshlin asked,
"I'm here. Wait. Where did you hear Little Bird from? Master Ginsing calls me that." I said, surprised.
"I used to call you that when I visited home. You were still a tiny baby, and you would make little chirping sounds when you were happy, so I called you my Little Bird. Ginsing must have picked it up from me. Mom, Dad, Alastor and I all went to HMABS. It's part of our family's tradition to go there." Ayshlin said. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you little one. I wish I could have watched you grow up, but I got stuck in here before you could even walk."
"I thought Alastor got trapped in there first, then he captured you?" I said. I glanced up and noticed that the sun had drifted further across the sky. I quickly scooped up Lee, set him on my shoulder, and started running through the fields, not as fast as before, but at a more moderate pace.
"No, I've been in here for 26 years, Ayshlin has been in here for, how long? 33 years." Alastor said sadly.
"So you both got stuck in there pretty much as soon as you left the house? Then why didn't I get stuck in there as well?" I questioned. How could they have been in there for that long without me noticing? Who put them in there? Why hadn't I gotten taken? I had so many questions and not enough time to ask them all.
"Because you were the favorite. Mom and Dad are the reason we are in here. They made the mirror without realizing what it did. They gifted it to Ayshlin when she moved out, and a year later we never saw her again. It wasn't until I had moved out that I went to look for her, and I discovered the mirror. There was an inscription on the back, that Ayshlin had translated but I had gotten pulled in before I could read it."
"So the Mirror King holds this powerful mirror that can capture people, and no one has tried to stop him? No one has tried to take the mirror?" Erik asked all of us.
"The Mirror King doesn't have the mirror anymore. I do." I said. I had reached the edge of the forest that surrounds the school, and paused. I pulled the mirror out of the loop it was in and flipped it to the back to read the inscription. It looked like it had been written in some otherworldly language, but the letters looked familiar.
"Wait, this is backwards! The letters are backwards! I just have to find another mirror and read what it says, then maybe I can find a way to free you all!" I exclaimed. Finally, there was hope of getting my family out.
"I have to get to the school. I have to, I guess hang up would work in this situation, with you guys because I don't want anyone to hear us." I said softly to everyone. We said quick goodbyes and made a promise to talk again soon, before I hid Lee back in my pocket. I knew these woods like the back of my hand, I could easily walk them blind, but I opted to keep my eyes peeled for any Patrols or Admin that may still be searching for me. Creeping through the woods, dodging traps and wards, I went over everything I had to do once again. First, get into school without being caught. Second, find the teachers. Third, convince them to help me. Finally, take down the King and get my family out of this mirror.
As I snuck up to the school, I heard the sounds of students, milling about in between classes.
"Damn," I whispered glaring at the sun, "Everyone is still out. I need it to be clear to make it to the teachers." Ever since I could remember the Admin always have a meeting on Sunday to go over lesson plans for the week, to catch up, gossip, everything that normal teachers do. They usually waited until evening to officially start the meetings, that where there were next to no students on campus to bother them.
"Great," I mumbled, "Now I have to wait until evening. I guess I can try to sneak back to my room." I slipped around the building and made my way towards the dorms. Skipping steps, I raced up the stairs, staying quiet so no one would hear me, and I crept down the hall towards my room. I stopped at the door and saw the note Erik and I put on the door, and saw another attached to the side. It read, "See me, now." in the scratchy writing of Master Ginsing. Sighing, I stalked down the stairs and walked across campus, in full view of the gaping students, and went into the teachers conference room.
"Hello Little Bird. Welcome home."