Master of Ceremonies: Part Seven

     Twenty years later…

      "She still revisits these woods, hoping to find her other self and take back what was stolen," Gorunda the Wise explained in her wavering, elderly voice, "but to no avail. The beauty in the yellow dress has never been seen again."

      "That’s tragic!" I said, teary eyed from the emotional and frightening story. To combat my sniffling nose, I took a napkin off of the kitchen table and lifted it to my upper lip.

      I looked over at my Red Pteri, Yuruyuki, whose demeanor was also expressing much sorrow. As my camera-bird, Yu was responsible for recording my interviews and capturing live broadcasts, but, to my disappointment, the News Neocam rested in her lap untouched and powered off.

      We had come to Gorunda the Wise today begging for assistance in our search for truth. This swamp witch was perhaps the most knowledgeable Neopet alive, especially when it came to Neopia’s oldest and untold secrets, and we were desperate for her help in our ongoing investigation.

      Neopia’s current and dire situation was that thousands of Neopets and their owners had lost their reflections. Mass hysteria swept Neopia!

      Rumors began spreading that people without reflections had become vampires or zombies, and that another Neopocalypse was on its way. Both those who were victims of this strange phenomenon as well as all those who were yet unaffected were struck with great fear. The Neopian Times headquarters was swamped with inquiries and false leads about the cause of the disappearances.

      To make matters worse, Neopia’s greatest villains were all disappearing as well; one by one they had been slipping off of the Defenders of Neopia’s watchful radar.

      No one knew the cause of the disappearing reflections or why the greatest villains were following suit, but Gorunda’s knowledge of Vira’s past did enlighten us of the situation and give us hints as to how to proceed with the investigation.

      "Is there anything else you know about Vira?" I asked.

      Gorunda stared at me through her enlarged eye. "Not really, sweetie," she croaked, "but her family did blame the whole tragedy on her."

      "Why would they do that?" Yuruyuki politely asked.

      The old crone continued, "Mr. Claymore thought that it was Vira who summoned the mutants that night and unleashed them into his fairground. She had been antagonistic with him for years, and everyone who attended the evening social at the mansion had heard her shout threats to him and predict the company’s downfall. When she showed up the next day as a mutant herself, all evidence pointed to her.

      "After the fairground catastrophe, the company went under and her family broke apart. Even if she had tried to go back to her old life, there was nothing left for her."

      "That must have been absolutely devastating to have gone through," I commented, shaking my head. "It’s sad that Vira chose to let her heart become so ugly as well, but I can’t blame her for it. She really did have everything stolen from her."

      Yuruyuki put her wings over her eyes and commented, "I’m never going back to the Deserted Fairground ever again!"

      I placed my hands on the table and leaned toward Gorunda who sat in a nearby armchair.

      "Thank you for providing us with her story. It’s very important to us, but it doesn’t help us understand the current phenomena. First off, Vira spoke with her reflection and interacted with it before it disappeared. In the cases that are occurring now, no one has reported that their reflection actually talked to them before vanishing.

      "And second, Vira has been giving out her magic mirrors and cursing everything she touches for decades, but never has she been able to do something on such a widespread scale. She can’t possibly be behind this; I think that someone else is setting things into motion."

      Gorunda narrowed her eyes at me. "You are very unwise to not see the truth. I have given you what you seek."

      "I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s Vira! I mean, what about Count Von Roo?" I added, tossing my hands into the air. "He doesn’t have a reflection at all."

      Yuruyuki excitedly interrupted. "Oh! It must be vampires."

      I looked back at the witch. "Vira isn’t the source of the problem. Whoever cursed Vira is now attacking Neopia on a larger scale, and I need to know where to find him."

      "Sin Hui, that is not true," Gorunda declared. "Vira is the one behind this."

      After a few moments of impatience on my part, I calmly excused myself from the table and walked down the hall to the small bathroom. I shut the door behind me; a magical, green flame dimly lit the shabby room.

      I pressed my hands against the sink, locking my arms in at the elbows. I looked into the mirror and stared at my tired eyes.

      "I can’t do this anymore," I said, shaking my head. "You stupid girl!"

      It had been three years since my last publication in the Neopian Times. As an investigative journalist, it was my duty and my passion to bring to light the truth behind Neopia’s greatest mysteries, but this most recent case was mindboggling.

      Reflections disappearing? Villains disappearing? Was any of it even true? There was no physical evidence, only stories and accounts of things missing. What was there to prove?

      No matter how much Gorunda the Wise insisted that it was Vira, my suspicions told me otherwise, but I couldn’t wrap my finger around it.

      If I didn’t discover the answer soon, though, I would be kicked out of my department at the Neopian Times… and either demoted or out of a job.

      I slowly lowered myself to my knees, defeated. Putting my elbows around the sink’s rim, I rested my head between my hands and pushed upward on my temples.

      Without a job, I would have no income. Who would provide for Yuruyuki’s needs and keep her off the streets? Who would keep her from starving?

      I would have to put her up for adoption.

      On top of that, reporting was my favorite thing to do in all of Neopia. If I lost this job… and my only pet, I would have no reason to stay here. I would have to leave Neopia for good.

      The girl in the glass cried with me at the thought…

      Neopia would get along just fine without me.

      "No!" I breathed out, slamming the faucet knobs with my fists. A tear rolled down my cheek. "I’m better than this! I’ve gone through too much to give up now."

      I stood back up again. Angrily, I thrust all of the negative thoughts out of my mind and pointed a finger at the mirror.

      "We’ll get through this, I promise. I’m going to solve this case… and save your life!"

      Suddenly, Yuruyuki knocked on the bathroom door. "Are you okay, Sin?" She rattled the doorknob a few times, but it was locked.

      Slightly embarrassed that she could have heard me talking to myself, I put my hand against the doorframe and said, "Sorry, Yu, I was just having a moment. I’m feeling much better now."

      "Okay," Yuruyuki warbled. I heard her footsteps fade down the hall.

      Wiping my eyes, I looked back at the mirror.

      Then my body froze in panic, and I felt my heart pounding against my chest. I gaped in amazement.

      In the eerie, green torchlight, I saw a strange figure standing in front of me where my reflection should have been. Instead of a face, there was only long, black hair.

      I was looking at the back of my own head! My reflection was facing away from me; it stood there motionless.

      "Oh my gosh," I whispered, leaving my mouth wide open.

      Suddenly the girl in the mirror turned around. She opened her eyes wide and thrust herself right at me! I screamed in terror and pushed myself against the wall as the smiling, deranged maniac lunged forward.

      The girl in the mirror hit the glass with a repulsive thud. She pressed her hands and forehead against it, staring at me wildly and tilting her head to one side!

      "You want a good story? Here’s one!" she yelled maniacally before removing herself from the glass.

      "I can’t believe it," I sputtered, still pressing myself against the wall. "It’s all true!"

      My reflection giggled, and its loony enthusiasm dissipated. "Yes, it is! And it’s nice to finally have some freedom."

      "Tell me what’s going on," I implored her.

      "If you want to know what’s going on," she said, reaching a hand out for me to shake, "all you have to do is grab onto this."

      "No way," I laughed nervously. "I’m well aware of the consequences!"

      My reflection put her hand back down. "What, you don’t want to play our little game? That’s too bad, Sin, because you could have been the queen in my master’s game of chess."

      "Who’s behind all of this? Who created you?"

      "I like you," she smirked, "so I’ll give you a hint."

      I opened my eyes wider without saying a word.

      She took something out of her pocket and held it tightly between her fingers. Reaching forward, she used the object to scratch the glass and etch in it one backwards word…

      Enchanted.

      I pressed my hands over my eyes.

      Memories of the twisted, Wraith Draik flooded my mind. He was a creature so evil… so bent on destroying everyone around him that he wanted to take himself out along with everyone else.

      He was only known as "the enchanter," and he spread seeds of chaos wherever he went.

      I thought I had finally defeated him by sending him through a black hole a few years back. He had destroyed a parallel Neopia in another dimension and almost succeeded in destroying our Neopia, but my friends and I overcame his malicious powers and sent him back from whence he came.

      But somehow he had returned.

      What terrible destruction was heading our way now?

      I took my wet hands off of my eyes, but before I could voice that question aloud, I realized that I was staring through the scratched-up mirror at the wall behind me.

      My reflection was nowhere to be found…

To be continued…