“So why aren’t we transported?” A lonely trickle of sweat glided down his forehead.
“Because the scene takes place in this room,” she said. “Keep watching.”
25
The Queen of Sorrow
Carmilla, as beautiful and glowing as ever, stood by the threshold of the room.
Her majesty was looking at the mirrors lined up in what seemed like a circle, making it harder for her to step in. She was standing in her elegant red dress and golden crown braided into her hair, golden locks hanging down her shoulders. Loki thought it was strange that the Queen wore her crown at home, and how it was always braided into her hair as if fearing that someone would steal it from her.
Carmilla took a deep breath before she stepped into the middle of the room. She avoided looking at her dark reflection in the mirrors as she walked ahead—even Loki avoided looking at her reflection; for some reason, he didn’t want to distort Carmilla’s beautiful image in his memory.
Carmilla hadn’t been in her daughter’s room because of those mirrors. But this time she was here for the mirror Snow White had told her about. Her curiosity had peaked, and she couldn’t help but investigate the talking mirror that promised to show her reflection as the beauty she was.
Carmilla could easily identify the mirror. It was the only one with a silvered surface, but that wasn’t its greatest attribute. Of all the mirrors in the world, this one granted the Queen the illusion of a gorgeous face even though she was half-vampire.
Carmilla cocked her head, unable to comprehend such a miracle. She approached the mirror eagerly, touching her face. It didn’t matter that all the other mirrors in the room showed her beastly nature. All that mattered was the one single mirror that made her look like the beautiful Queen she’d been before.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall?” Carmilla wondered slowly, her eyes investigating the mirror as if it were alive. She wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or actually expecting the mirror to respond.
“Yes, my dearest Queen?” the invisible girl in the mirror replied.
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall,” Carmilla repeated, as if to make sure the mirror was really talking to her.
“I’m at your service, Queen of Sorrow,” the girl in the mirror said.
It was the first time someone had ever addressed her as the Queen of Sorrow, and it made something shimmer in Carmilla’s eyes. “Just ask, and I shall answer,” the girl continued. “Your wish is my command.”
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall,” Carmilla repeated again. “Who’s that I see, standing tall?” she inched closer, straightening her back, and pushing her chest forward, her voice implying power.
“It’s you, Queen of Sorrow,” the girl in the mirror replied. “You’re the fairest of them all.”
Carmilla narrowed her eyes, worried and also suspicious of a mirror that talked, but seeing her reflection blinded her judgment.
It occurred to Loki that he was watching the real version of one of the most famous scenes in the history of storytelling; the moment the Snow White Queen first talked to the mirror.
“Who’s the girl in the mirror, and did Justus send it as a gift, or did he work for someone?” Loki asked.
“Of course, Justus worked for someone,” Snow White told him. “The mirror was sent by Night Sorrow who had been working tirelessly to turn my parents into full vampires so they could join his forces. Night Sorrow had found a way to reach my mother without having to breach through the kingdom’s barriers. A haunted mirror was just enough. As for the girl in the mirror, I assure you that you know who she is. At least, you must have heard of her.”
“You’re mistaken,” Loki argued. “I don’t recognize the girl in the mirror.”
“You do, Loki,” Snow White insisted. “Think harder about how fairy tales turned out to be real, how the world of stories is connected and interwoven. Think about nursery rhymes you’ve heard, and about urban legends. It’s all so obvious. You only need to connect the dots.”
Loki tried harder to identify the girl in the mirror for a moment, but nothing came to mind. “I really don’t know.”
“What’s the name of the scary girl that hides in the mirror that most kids know about?” Snow White said. “Think of an evil girl who escaped a mirror, her prison, a girl that when you say her name three times in the dark, comes out and hurts you.”
“You don’t mean:--” The name was on the tip of Loki’s tongue.
“Bloody Mary,” Snow White nodded. “She’s real, and she’s the girl who turned my mother into a beast by appearing to her in the mirror.”
“That’s—“Loki was at a loss for words.
“That’s the truth,” Snow White said. “Sometimes, I wonder why no one ever questions where the mirror in my fairy tale came from. The person in the mirror who the Snow White Queen talked to was Bloody Mary.”