“You said it, kiddo. The light show outside isn’t a storm. It’s a temper tantrum,” Reggie said. When he spoke, his long, thick dreadlocks shimmied like streamers at a New Year’s Eve party. “He’s as stuck as ever, and quite salty, if the storm’s any indication.”
Daphne slipped her hand into Sabrina’s and gave it a squeeze. Sabrina knew her sister must be just as relieved as she was. Since Mirror hijacked their grandmother’s body two days prior, Sabrina had feared his plan to escape the town had worked. If Mirror had gotten free, he could have gone anywhere, unleashing his magic on an unsuspecting and unprepared world and taking their grandmother with him. But now . . .
“Serves him right!” Titan roared, and Sabrina spun to face his mirror. He was a rugged man with long rust-colored hair and a scraggy beard. Everything he said came out in a blustery rage, turning his face the shade of his mane. He appeared in front of a medieval torture chamber filled with spiked weapons and boiling oils. Despite his fearsome appearance and strange living quarters, Sabrina could see his heart was in the right place. Now he cried, “If only I were a living, breathing man, I would put a painful end to our brother’s atrocity!”
“He’s no brother of mine,” Reggie grumbled in his thick Caribbean accent. “The First is a scoundrel of the worst kind.”
“The First?” Sabrina asked.
“That’s what we’ve been calling him, sister. He was the first magic mirror the Wicked Queen ever made—you know, the prototype,” Donovan explained.
“Anything is better than his other name,” Red said. “‘The Master’ is—”
“Creep-tastic?” Daphne asked, pretending to shudder.
Sabrina didn’t have to pretend. Every time anyone mentioned Mirror her blood cells flash-froze inside her veins. How could she have ever called him friend? How could she have confided all of her hopes and fears to him? He had played her like a child’s toy, betraying her and her entire family, and now he had her grandmother, manipulating the old woman like a helpless marionette in his twisted puppet show.
“Whatever his name, our brother will pay! He has stained the honor of magic mirrors everywhere!” Titan roared.
“You mean, all four of us?” Donovan said. “We’re all that’s left of the original twenty-five.”
Titan snarled. “All the more reason to respect our heritage.”
“Calm down, sugar.” Fanny applied another layer of ruby-red lipstick as she spun around like a top. “You’ll get your blood pressure up again. Now that we know where our brother is, it’s time to focus our energies on how to catch him and free Relda Grimm from his control.”
“Please tell me you have some ideas,” Sabrina said. Her plea was met with heartbreaking silence.
“What about you?” Daphne said to the fifth undamaged mirror. Its surface appeared empty. Was its guardian in there . . . listening? Daphne softly caressed its frame as if coaxing a shy puppy out from under the bed. “What do you think?”
“You’re wasting your time,” Canis said. “I haven’t heard so much as a peep from that one.”
Daphne turned from the empty mirror with a sigh. “Have you spotted Uncle Jake yet?” she asked.
Donovan shook his head. “He’s harder to find than your granny. It’s like he disappeared off the map. We can sense his presence but can’t pinpoint it. Wherever he is, he doesn’t want to be found, and I suspect he’s using magic to make sure he stays that way.”
“What about these broken pieces? Any sign of him in here?” Sabrina examined the shards. Most people would sweep a broken mirror into a dustpan and toss it in the trash, but these pieces were far too special to throw away. Though their guardians were long gone, these pieces retained powerful magic. One look and a person could peek through the reflections of ordinary mirrors all over the world. Now Sabrina glimpsed a man putting on a necktie in a department store, a woman washing the makeup off her face, and a high school student practicing a speech in a bathroom mirror. In other shards she saw people closer to home. One showed Sheriff Nottingham struggling to tie Mayor Heart’s corset. His boot was planted squarely on her back for leverage as he tugged and tugged. In another, an ogre smashed through the bicycle store on Main Street. In yet another, dwarfs looted the local grocery.
Canis shook his head in disgust. “Nothing.”
“Well, Uncle Jake can take care of himself,” Sabrina said. “We need to focus on Granny. Now that we know where she is we can go rescue—”
“You and your sister are sitting this one out,” a voice said from behind her. Sabrina spun around to find her father and mother along with her baby brother, Basil, standing in the doorway. Henry was a good-looking man dressed in a heavy jacket and hiking boots. Like Canis, he looked tired. “I can’t put you girls into that kind of danger.”
“But danger is my middle name,” Daphne said.
“Your middle name is Delilah, young lady,” Veronica said. Sabrina’s mother was a true knockout, but her face also showed signs of weariness. “Some jobs are just for grown-ups. Besides, I could use your help with Basil.”