25)

Cassy- Having a conversation through a glass, darkly.

There was a low murmur of a conversation from the other side of the glass as Riggs gave me a confused look from where he was cowering in the corner. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but sadly it was a fairly reasonable precaution for a Norm forced to be around Arcanes.

Finally a voice from the mirror, now dangling at an angle as it hung from the wall by one screw, responded.

"Good morning Agent Varrow, may I Inquire where such a meeting may take place? I am afraid I would be very reluctant to cross over to the other side of the glass for any such arrangements at this time.’

Fair enough considering what I had been told happened to him the last time he had body parts on both sides of the mirror. “It may be more of a matter of bringing the meeting to you. Your aunt believes that a mirror brought up top will still connect to your own.”

There was a brief pause. "Ah... Do we have a timetable on this? And who will be attending?"

Shoot. I wasn't sure how much in the way of details I'm supposed to share here. Nut when in doubt, leave people in the dark. "We should be arriving at the Thibedeau Estate in an hour or so, I’m afraid I was not informed just who all will be in attendance."

There. That sounded like an all nice and diplomatic way of saying I don't know if I can tell you. It sounded like he agreed. "Very well, carry on."

I glanced at Riggs who was deep in thought and picked up the screwdriver he had let fall in the sink to finish taking down the mirror. He looked up as I tossed the last screw into the trash can. “So, I could crawl through that mirror back to earth after you bring it up.”

I shrugged. “Maybe? The math for this level of spellwork is way over my head, but it might be the best chance you get rather than relying on someone else's forgiveness. But of course, you would first have to get to the side of the mirror with the guy who you shot, then helped cut the arm off of, who is hearing this entire conversation, before you can cross over through this one."

I tucked the mirror under my arm. “Seriously, good luck with that.”

He made some angry protesting noises but I wasn't paying him any more attention. If he found a way to save himself in time, good for him, but Donovan Riggs's fate was at best, nothing but an afterthought for me at this point. Sucks to be him.

The First was waiting for me as I headed for the door. “All set Agent Varrow?”

“Ah, yes sir. So what do you need from me for your trip upstairs?’

He glanced over at Riggs who looked deep in thought. “Oh I believe I have that well in hand Cassandra, all I need is a ride to the meeting. “

Well, that was easy enough for a deal with the devil. “Yes sir, I will be heading there now.”

I headed outside and gave Johanson, the male one, a nod. He said something to his sister, got another rib crushing hug from her, then nodded along to something she was saying before breaking the embrace and heading over to meet me. "All set Agent Varrow?"

I held up the stone tablet my boss had made. I would have liked to study it afterwards. But to trigger it all I had to do was raise it above my head and use a spurt of my personal mana to invoke it.

Just as I did, I heard a shout coming from behind me from Johanson's sister and felt someone grab me from behind. "Sorry big guy, only room for two."

As I felt the spell begin to activate, I had just enough time to yell "Riggs! You little piece of shi-"

Donovan- Hijacking an express ride out of Hell

Yeah, find a way over the other side of a mirror, when the guy who lived there knew where all the mirrors were. The guy who had made a point of doing something to most of them after wrapping them in paper towels or setting guards on them like the security one mounted in the corner ceiling of the store.

Right.

So only some people get to get out of here, and that little piece of stone was the way out. Then guess what? It was going to be my way out.

Clarice shouted as I ran past her and the other orc gave me a look and started to reach for me as I clamped onto the cop lady and held on for dear life. My life.

Colors began to swirl around me and I felt big boy's hand grab hold of me by the shoulder and take a firm grip on me before he yelled. Then I was lifting up in the air for a moment before dropping down on something solid made up of see through colors above a deep pit.

The big guy felt like he had let go of me as we started to go up, and as I let go of the cop lady and stepped back he was nowhere in sight.

Just another severed arm lying on the see through thing under my feet. It was kinda green colored, lying on the ground, and this time blood was coming out of it.

Dam, I need to stop doing that.

The cop lady looked down, a confused look on her face. But since I imagined she was going to be pretty pissed off at me, I didn't stick around long enough for her to put things together.

The see through plastic looking ground pretty much covered the whole pit, but on every side but one it looked like it was fading away. Of course the one side that was not fading away had a bunch of badass looking guys with guns and one guy with a black eye who had some kind of spear. As well as a burly looking girl who glanced down at the arm and then back up at me with a cold, hard, look promising death. “He’s mine.”

Nope. Time to run away. Do not want to deal with another psycho bitch.

I made the jump over the gap between the shrinking magic floor and the edge of the pit. I ended up landing hand enough to fall forward down to one knee, and as I stumbled to my feet I made the mistake of looking back to see the angry girl clearing the gap by a good ten feet and coming down at the end of her jump to sink her fist into my face. Hard.

It didn’t hurt

It knocked me on my ass. I even slide a few feet and I could hear my nose make a crunching sound. But after feeling at my face with my hand and pulling it away I could see that it was covered in something way too dark to be blood.

The angry girl looked back at the Cop lady, “Cassy you brought a demon back up with you. You need him alive?”

Demon?

Ah, crap. Think about it later, hell, it might even be cool. Demon powers and shit, but I got to get away now.

The Cop lady yelled back, “Alive yeah, intact, maybe?”

I got to my feet, so far it was just this one girl, near me. All the guys who had come running around the pit weren't doing nothing but making a circle around us two and placing bets.

I wiped away the dark stuff from my face. It still wasn't hurting and I could feel the all too familiar sensation of my nose healing back into place. Cool, demon powers. I faced off against the bitch who had punched me and pulled out the screwdriver the lady cop had left in the sink after taking down the mirror.

I was pretty sure I could take her.

She turned to me and smiled as her whole head changed into something with a lot of sharp teeth and lifted up her clawed hands.

Short version. I could not take her. I kept trying to get away, but her friends just kept pushing me back into the circle when I tried to run. Then she dragged me back by the ankle when I tried to crawl into the big hole.

She messed me up really bad. None of it hurt, but each time she hit me it was slower to heal and I just kept feeling weaker and weaker.

She finally got called away by the Cop lady telling her they had to get move on.

Some big bald guy zip tied my hands behind my back and tied my ankles together. Then he put a bag over my head.

“Not sure what’s going to happen to you kid, but if you ever need a job. I could use a guy that can take hit after hit."

Well, as least I got that going for me.

Martin- Prepping for a family gathering.

“Everything is going to be all right, I am going to be all right.”

The mirror, which was still wrapped up for now, was set in front of my desktop monitor. Was positioned to show me to anyone on the other side in much the same way as a webcam.

Now, since this was going to be my first meeting with anyone in my family, with the exception of my aunt Natalie since I was seven, appearances were going to matter.

I began to lay out a selection of clothing on my bed.

A light blue shirt with french cuffs, a rather somber lightweight jacket, and matching pants in black. A set of cuff links, a simple geometric squares set with onyx.

I had a matching tie clip, but tie or no tie?

No tie. This meeting was important, but a tie would be showing too much respect for my grandfather's old time values. Going without a tie but otherwise dressed up would show that I had taste and class, but was not out to impress the old man.

Before I could hop in the shower I could hear an angry shout followed by more yelling from the mirror. By the time I tore away some of the plastic to get a view of the other side of the mirror the yells had turned to cheers. My only view was of a now wrinkled white shirt with a charming copper necklace inscribed with the new school Egyptian hieroglyphs so beloved by the houseless mages.

“What is happening over there Agent Varrow?”

The woman in the white shirt jumped a bit. “Your assailant managed to hitch a ride back with me to the true world. But he injured another agent by severing his arm, and only the arm came with us.

"

Huh. "He does appear to have a talent for that, did the agent survive?"

"I don't know yet. Johanson's an orc so I think he can survive the loss of a limb. Plus his sister and some others were right there, so he should have someone helping him."

Oh, yes, those three. I’m sure they are just as competent in first aid as they are in diplomacy. “And my assailant?”

The agent gave a somewhat breathless laugh. “Your roommate caught up to him, and it turns out she had taken a shine to Johanson and is showing Riggs just how unhappy she is about the whole thing."

Well then, I guess I will have plenty of time for a shower. I thanked the agent and headed for the bath. I shooed a few imps out, only to find them sneaking back in despite the closed door until I turned on the water. “A little privacy please.”

I returned to my room to hear a murmur of voices coming from the mirror. “He was there a moment ago.”

I drifted into my office while combing back my hair, “Alive and present Agent Darrow.”

Sally Kinkade’s voice sounded off from the other side “Martin, are you okay? Can you get rid of this crap off the glass?”

I glanced down at the layers of duct tape wrapped around my arm. "Mostly and maybe it would be best to leave it on for a bit."

She was already tearing the plastic and paper away from her side before I even had the chance to finish asking her not to.

“Hey, I can reach right through. Mais my hands feel funny on that side.”

I could see her reaching through the mirror into my office tearing away at the last of the covering from it. “Where are you? Come over to your office so I can see you.”

I hastily began to get dressed. "Give me a moment, I need to get some clothes on."

I heard my keyboard hit the floor and winced, deciding on the dignity of at least pulling on my pants instead of dressing in proper order as she continued to ignore my protests “Who cares? I've seen it all before and I'm sure Varrow could use a trill. Never mind, I'm coming over."

I managed to get my belt on as the sounds of more of my things hitting the floor came from my office and my antique wheeled chair was knocked up against the back wall before she stumbled into the room. Her clothes were ripped and stained with something darker than blood. "I had to come over anyway. I need a change of... what is going on with your arm?"

She stared coldly at me, I shrugged a little and put my arm behind me. "A bit of an accident with a spatial distortion. I will get it fixed later." And she was already spinning me around and yanking my arm out from behind me to take a look at it. Pulling on it hard enough to make a gap between the upper and lower portions of my bisected arm.

"Move your fingers. Are you getting blood flow? Does this hurt?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ah, my mistake. I was worried you would be upset.”

She slapped me on the shoulder. “I am upset, but I need to fix this before I deal with freaking out over my best friend's arm being in two pieces."

Then she dragged me over to her room and rubbed something from a little bottle with the label torn away that smelled like oranges and took the duct tape right off without leaving any residue.

She set the lower end of my arm on a table and began studying the end piece closely. I cleared my throat and protested. “I am going to need that back.’

She waved her hand in a shooing motion and looked over at Tosser and another imp who has crept up behind her to look at the arm as well.

"That was the plan, but it looks like the effect is tied into the same spell that made this whole mess. By the way, what the hell are these things.”

I reached over and grabbed my arm. "Imps, maybe familiars. I never had one before so I am not sure, but for right now can you help me tape this back on? I need to get dressed and buttons are a lot easier with even a semi-attached arm."

She nodded and smirked “Sure, I’ll give you a hand.”

I shook my head. “No, do not start, I am dealing with this, mostly, but I can do without the jokes.”

She gave me a wide eyed completely faked look of sad innocence. “And after you just asked me to help, you know you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you.”