Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Two

Hanna watched the ice slowly melt away, water pooling on the floor. Misty got up from her seat and returned with a towel. DJ thanked her, but Hanna didn’t say a word. Nor did she offer to help unfreeze EDJ in any way. She was thinking about all the clues they had up until now. Lui’s body dissolved into particles and ended up in a mirror. He could move around like it was its own room, but not by much. Chains. He mentioned chains and broken glass. I wish I could hear him better. I wish he wasn’t in there at all. Of all the people in that castle this could have happened to, why’d it have to be you? You were supposed to be home already. I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have yelled. I shouldn’t have let her out. She was glaring at EDJ, but didn’t realize she was chewing on her chapped lips again. Hanna glanced back at the mirror. “Lui… are… are you ok in there?” 

“I guess… slightly… painful… though.” Lui shrugged. He looked down at his arms.

Painful? What if we go to all this trouble and we can’t get Lui out? What if we never… Hanna stood up and stepped closer to the frozen block. Lui continued speaking, though no one heard him. When his head lifted again, she had already walked away. He sighed, disheartened and crestfallen with the severe lack of clear communication. 

“How are things coming along with the ice?” Hanna asked, stepping closer to DJ with her arms crossed. 

The Original was kneeling next to his Evil Other, tapping the ice and leaning in to listen. “His face is still covered, but I think I can actually hear him breathing a little now.” He adjusted the angle, ready to pull the frozen figure away from the heat source as soon as the ice gave way. He knew better than to trust a pyromancer near an open flame, frozen or not. “I think he’s coming around.” 

Clumps of ice and slush dropped to the floor with a splat as the last bit around EDJ’s head melted off. With a burst of life, the Evil Other woke up gasping and coughing violently. DJ yanked the ice block away from the fire and set it upright. 

“Gwuah!” EDJ shook his head and blinked, trying to get his bearings. “What happened? Where am I?” 

“You’re in my cabin on Everest,” Misty offered from her seat. 

“And who are you?” EDJ asked, gray hair and shoulders soaked through from the melted ice. 

“Misty,” she answered with a smile and a little wave.

EDJ blankly stared at the stranger in confusion before he realized DJ and Hanna were also in the room. A sly smile crossed his face when he spotted Hanna’s sour expression. “Hah! I knew you’d come back for me eventually. Couldn’t stay away, could you?” 

“I certainly tried,” she muttered bitterly. 

EDJ observed his environment, as much as he was able to while still 90% frozen. Brand new cabin, serious Original, angry Hanna, friendly stranger. Something was missing, but he couldn’t place exactly what. Aside from the fact that he was no longer in the familiar surroundings of his own castle, of course. “How can I be of service, Hanna?” he asked with a polite smile. 

She snorted in contempt. “We both know helping me is the last thing you want to do. However, we have no other choice…” She turned around to collect something.

The Evil Other looked DJ up and down as the Original remained silent and calm. “Do you always have to stare at me like I just drowned your-”

“How do we get someone out of a mirror?” Hanna interrupted, turning back with the ugly book in hand. 

EDJ stared at her. If he was expecting a specific response, this was not on his list. “Why should I tell you?” he asked cooly, pretending he had any idea what she was talking about. He raised a brow at the large, yellow tome in her arms. “What do you think you’re going to do with that?” 

“Trap you into a mirror if you don’t cooperate,” she answered confidently. 

Now he was thoroughly confused. “With a haunted house prop?” he asked. 

Hanna shifted awkwardly. She flipped the book open before anyone could stop her. Thankfully, every page was blank. “I could always smack you over the head with it,” she threatened, lifting the book as if to do so for the fun of it before tossing it on the couch. 

Hehehe, honestly, I could tell her ‘gullible’ was written on the ceiling and she’d- The missing piece finally hit EDJ. “Hang on. Where is the little carbon copy at?” he asked, looking around. DJ took one large step aside, giving his EO a full view of the mirror on the armchair. Lui watched him from behind the glass. EDJ’s once blank stare turned into a wicked grin as he realized the extent of the situation. “Ah, I see.”  

“Tell us how to get him out,” Hanna demanded. 

“Why?” EDJ repeated with a smug smirk. 

Hanna brought her face close to his, pure hatred in her voice as she whispered, “Because, I hold your very life in the palm of my hand. Don’t think for a moment that I won’t cause you as much pain as humanly possible. Because I will, if that’s what it takes for me to get him out of there alive.” When she pulled back, Misty was watching her with an expression of deep concern. 

Instead of being intimidated, EDJ started laughing. He laughed so hard the sound filled the entire room. When he finally stopped, he shook his head. “You?! Inflict pain on me?! You wouldn’t dare hurt me! Not when I’m the only one who can tell you how to rescue your precious Lui.” The look on her face after that last line was priceless, causing EDJ to go into another maniacal laughing fit. 

Hanna’s voice did not waver, in spite of her red-faced, furious glare. “Tell us how to get him out before I run out of patience.” 

EDJ stopped laughing long enough to collect himself and give a semi-serious answer. “Well, I’m no expert, but maybe if you say, ‘mirror, be gone’ and throw it against a jagged rock, you might see some interesting results.” 

“Are you out of your mind?!” she exploded. “That could kill him!”

“It might,” he agreed, watching her with a sadistic smile. “Then again, killing him would only shorten his agony… and why would I want that?”

Agony? Painful. Hanna’s hands clenched into fists at her sides.“You…” she faltered, anger, disbelief, and doubt her ever-present companions. “You want him to suffer? Why? Lui is innocent here.” 

“There you heroes go again.” EDJ rolled his eyes. “Thinking you get to decide who deserves to suffer and who doesn’t.” 

She glared daggers at him until the Original broke her line of sight, stepping between them. “Don’t do anything reckless,” DJ warned her in a low voice. 

Hanna glanced from DJ back to the frozen enemy. “Heartless,” she vehemently hissed. EDJ grinned as though he found it a compliment. “You deal with him then,” she said to DJ before twisting around and marching to the other side of the room. 

“Running away?” EDJ loudly mocked. “Ok, your choice. You can watch him suffer!” He laughed again. 

Hanna stormed outside, slamming the door behind her, and paced in circles in the snow. Calm down. You’re of no use to anyone like this. EDJ’s just trying to get on your bad side again. Don’t let him trick you. He might not even know how to get Lui out at all and here you are letting him play you like a fiddle. She stopped and took a deep breath. Idiot. He knows all your weaknesses. He’s going to use every single one of them against you. How are you supposed to come up with a plan to help if you’re all riled up like this? She took another deep breath of frosty mountain air. She reached down and scooped up a clump of snow, packing it together between her hands. She formed the snow into a ball and stared at it. “Ugh! You're useless!” She smashed her face into the snowball, hoping the ice would make her flushed cheeks go back to a normal shade. After wiping her face off and taking one more deep breath, Hanna re-entered the cabin. Deciding not to engage with EDJ, she went to the mirror. “Lui…” she started. “Is it true… what EDJ said about being in there?” 

“You… mean… painful?” he responded. “Only… little… really… except… for… chains…” If he was truly in pain and agony, he smiled in spite of it. It was the same smile he gave when Hanna found him stranded at the North Pole. The same smile he used in Svalbard and again in the castle. He used it when he faced off against Shard and after they defeated EDJ. It was the smile that told Hanna everything was going to turn out okay, if she just held on a little longer. It gave her hope. Little did she know it would be the last time she ever saw that smile through the mirror again.