Page 42 of More Than Meets the Eye

He told me about what was happening on his farm, and I tried to avoid shuddering at the memory of his flock of dangerous geese. I told him about life in the pawn business, focusing on the funny stuff.

“I haven’t danced the polka in thirty years!” He gave me a look filled with anticipation.

“Sorry, but not today. I’ve had too much weird this week. I’m looking forward to a nice, quiet afternoon.”

Rooster flinched. “Tess, you know better to say something like that in Dead End.”

I groaned.

He wasn’t wrong.

Not long after Rooster went home, Phin rushed into the shop carrying the mirror.

“We figured it out!”

“That’s wonderful! Tell me!”

I unwrapped the mirror and waved hello to the distant figure of Mr. Mercury, who was trudging toward the glass.

“It’s a spell of three, so we need all three of us to say the words to get him out of the mirror!”

I took a step back, frowning. “Okay, a few things. First, you found out for sure he’s a …” I switched to a whisper: “Person?”

When Phin nodded, I held up a second finger. “What happens when he comes out? Does the mirror explode? Will there be shrapnel? Should we do this outside or at a firing range or with the bomb squad from Orlando?”

“No, it’s perfectly safe,” Phin said, impatience snapping in his voice.

“Perfectly safe!” Mr. Mercury shouted.

Since he could hear me anyway, I moved back to the counter and looked down into the mirror. “You regained your memory?”

“I did! I was—I guess Iama wizard. A spell went wrong, and I got myself trapped in this mirror.”

Okay.

“Are you a good wizard? You won’t do something evil when we get you out of there, right?”

Horatio drew himself up and looked down his tiny mirror nose at me. “I am a very good wizard, in all meanings of the word. And I would never harm those who’ve helped me.”

I blew out a breath. “Okay, I guess that takes care of all my concerns, except the most important one.”

“What’s that?” Phin asked.

“I can’t help you perform a spell. I’m not a witch!”

Turned out, I didn’t need to be.

Phin had pages from a grimoire one of his friends sent him, and all we had to do was read our lines.

[I won’t include those here, because they’re secret.—Tess]

First, we put the mirror on the floor, standing up against the wall, to help Horatio climb out if it worked. Then we took turns reading from the pages. After Horatio said the last line, the mirror lit up, and Phin and I both backed away.

Just in case.

The glass surface shimmered and rippled, expanding, and then Horatio stepped out of the light and into my pawnshop!

Where he immediately collapsed.

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