“What do you have in mind?” Sabrina asked.
“Let’s go ask the man with the answers,” Granny said. She led everyone back into the living room, where Jake lay unconscious on the sofa. His arm was wrapped in the bandages Sabrina and Puck had made, but a small circular dot of red had appeared through the fabric and was growing rapidly. Sabrina’s father lifted his brother and eased him onto Poppa Bear’s back. Then everyone marched up the steps and into Mirror’s room. Once inside, his foreboding face appeared in the glass.
“This place is starting to resemble Grand Central Station, Relda,” Mirror said.
“You haven’t seen half of the guests,” Granny Relda said. “The Scarlet Hand has surrounded the house.”
“Well, that’s not going to help the property values,” Mirror said. “Jake! He’s injured!”
“We need to get him to a doctor,” Henry said. “And then we need to get out of this town. Mirror, we need the slippers.”
“Which slippers are you referring to, Hank?”
“Dorothy’s slippers,” Henry said. “Three clicks and we can teleport ourselves to safety.”
“Sorry, Hankster,” Mirror said. “The girls lost one of the slippers a while back.”
“You lost the slippers?” Hank cried, glaring at the girls.
“A giant was chasing us,” Sabrina said defensively.
“A big giant,” Daphne added.
“Fine. How about the Gnome King’s belt?” Henry said, turning his attention back to Mirror. “It’ll do the same thing.”
“Well, the girls tried that out about a month ago and they ran down the batteries. If you have forty-six size Ds then we’re back in business,” Mirror replied.
Henry frowned at the girls.
Sabrina shrugged. “Yeah, we’ve been meaning to take care of that.”
Henry sighed. “For once I’m turning to magic and there’s nothing available! What have we got that will zap us out of this house?”
“Well, as for zapping, we’ve got nothing,” Granny Relda said. “But there is a way out of the house.”
“There is?” Sabrina and Daphne asked.
Granny reached into her handbag and took out her set of keys. “Yes. We need to go to the Room of Reflections.”
Granny stepped through the mirror and vanished. Henry and Veronica followed, then Red, Daphne, Sabrina, and Puck. Elvis was next. The three bears growled nervously but Goldilocks growled back something that seemed to calm their nerves. A moment later Poppa Bear was carrying Uncle Jake through.
Sabrina never got used to the vastness of the room hidden on the other side of the mirror’s reflection. The ceiling was held aloft by marble columns taller and thicker than redwood trees. The hallway itself was as wide as Grand Central Station in Manhattan and was framed by hundreds of doors on either side. The doors were made from a countless variety of materials: Some were wood, others steel and stone, and Sabrina had seen some constructed of crystal, fire, ice, a waterfall, and even something Granny called protoplasm. All of the doors were adorned with brass plaques that explained the contents of the room on the other side.
“How come we’ve never heard of this Room of Reflections?” Daphne asked her grandmother.
“Because we don’t use it very often and it’s not exactly within walking distance,” the old woman replied. “It’s at the other end of the hall.”
This piqued Sabrina’s curiosity. She had often wondered what was at the end of the Hall of Wonders. She had tried to walk there once but after several hours she still couldn’t see the end. She’d started to imagine that the hall went on forever.
Granny handed Mirror her set of keys. “I think we’re going to need the trolley car.”
Mirror nodded and stepped through a set of double doors to his immediate right. A moment later Sabrina heard an engine roar and a brass bell ring, then an old-fashioned trolley car pulled out and stopped in front of the group. Sabrina had seen similar-looking trolleys on television. They were all the rage in San Francisco. Mirror was sitting in the driver’s seat, wearing a short, green jacket, a black cap, and a money-changer attached to his belt. He rang a polished brass bell and shouted, “All aboard!”
The girls climbed up while Henry helped Uncle Jake and the others get settled. Henry had the unfortunate task of helping Momma Bear onto the trolley. He shoved and pushed and inch by inch she climbed aboard. Puck found the whole spectacle hilarious. Every time Henry pushed on Momma Bear’s oversize rump, Puck made a farting sound. Puck laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks, leaving tracks on his grimy face.
Mirror rang the bell one final time and shouted, “Here we go!” The trolley zipped down the hall, gaining speed rapidly.
“I’ve always wanted to know what was at the end of the hall,” Daphne said.
“I remember when your father and Jacob walked it,” Granny Relda said. “We didn’t have the trolley back then so they brought a tent and sleeping bags.”
Henry grunted.