'd like to see you try," Puck said defiantly. A six-foot-high circle of fire snaked around the group, trapping them inside. The flames licked at the pots and pans the children had hoped would act as armor, and managed to scorch Sabrina's hand. She pulled it close to her and rubbed the painful burn.
"I WILL ROAST THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!" the face threatened. Dark gray clouds framed the bulbous head in a violent thunderstorm. Lighting crackled around the face, exploding in light and sound with every twitch of its eyebrows. "Who dares to invade my sanctuary?"
Sabrina pulled Daphne close to her, while Puck stepped between them and the closest flame, thrusting his little sword into the wall of fire. "We're not invaders! We live here!" he shouted over the roaring fire.
The face cocked an eyebrow and looked at them sternly.
"You're the grandchildren?"
"Yes! Sabrina and Daphne!" Sabrina shouted.
"And Puck!" Puck chimed in.
Suddenly, the fire puttered out, as if someone had turned off a stove.
"Oh, thank goodness. I thought carnival folk had broken into the house," the head cried. "You can hardly blame me, three kids break into my room and they're dressed like escaped inmates from the Ferryport Landing Asylum. You may not have heard, but the whole circus-clown-meets-crazy-street-vagrant-look is so over."
Sabrina looked down at her outfit: the torn, bright-blue pants, the orange sweatshirt with the monkey, the pressure-cooker lid strapped to her behind. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she took off her spaghetti-strainer helmet.
"What are you?" Sabrina asked, regaining her composure.
"I'm not a what, I'm a who!" the face in the mirror croaked, looking deeply insulted.
"Then who are you?" Sabrina said impatiently.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, why I'm the seer of seers, the visionary of visionaries, the man who puts the fun in your reflection," he replied with a dramatic flourish.
Sabrina looked at her sister for help. Daphne had read more fairy tales than Sabrina, but the little girl returned her sister's glance with a dumbfounded shrug. The face in the mirror frowned, sensing that the girls were far from star-struck and, in fact, had no idea who he was.
"I'm the magic mirror!" the face snapped.
"We could have guessed you were a magic mirror," Puck muttered.
"Not a magic mirror! The magic mirror! 'Mirror, mirror, on the wall'?"
"From 'Snow White'?" Daphne asked.
"Is there another?" The face growled. "You can call me Mirror. Your grandma told me you were coming from New York City, though she didn't tell me she was giving you a set of keys."
"She didn't. Granny threw hers to us before she was carried off by a giant," Daphne explained.
Mirror's eyes grew wide with astonishment.
"Well, there's a sentence you don't hear every day." He chuckled. "And I suppose you are in the midst of a rescue plan?"
"They are," Puck said defensively. "I'm a villain."
"So, let's hear this thrilling plan," said Mirror.
"We haven't got all the details worked out yet," Sabrina said, trying to make herself sound older and more mature.
"You don't have a plan!" Mirror exclaimed.
"We're still working on it," Sabrina muttered. "We thought there might be something up here that could help us."
"You're just like Henry." Mirror sighed. "Ready to jump headfirst into an adventure, hoping he'd come up with a plan along the way."
The girl was shocked. Headfirst didn't sound like her dad at all. My dad read the labels on cans of food before everyone could eat, she thought.
"You knew our father?" Daphne exclaimed.
"Knew him? I was Henry's babysitter most of the time. I saw him off to the prom. I was even invited to your parents' wedding. They propped me up on my own seat. I am a member of this family, after all."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to offend you," the little girl said. "So if you're the magic mirror, what do you do?"
"I can show you anything you want to see; all you have to do is ask," Mirror said proudly.
"What are you talking about?" Sabrina asked with growing impatience. All this chatter was keeping them from acting. Who knew what that monster was doing to Granny and Mr. Canis.
"You got a question. I got an answer," the face bragged. "All you got to do is ask."
"Are Granny Relda and Mr. Canis still alive?" Daphne asked.
"Sorry, kiddo, that's not how it works. You have to ask me the right way."
"What's the right way?" Sabrina demanded.
"Well, if you're going to be cranky, then just forget it!" Mirror said. He jutted out his lower lip.
Puck swung his carrot peeler menacingly at the face, then realized what he was doing, and flashed his little sword. "Listen, Mirror, you tell us what we want to know or you're going to find yourself cracked and broken all over the floor!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Just see if I wouldn't!"
Daphne tugged on Puck's arm. Acting as the diplomat for the group, she apologized to Mirror. "We're just very eager to find our granny and Mr. Canis, and we don't understand what you are saying."
The face's expression changed to a huge smile. "Apology accepted. Now, like I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted," he said as he eyed Sabrina disapprovingly, "you have to ask your questions in a special way to activate the magic. You have to . . ."
"Rhyme them!" Daphne interrupted with a happy cry.