Part 13 (1/2)
”You should know,” Diana muttered, hands flat against the door, straining to hear if they'd been followed.
”That was an accident.”
”Maybe the first time. I can't hear anything moving in the storeroom.” She turned to her sister. ”You?”
”Nothing. Wait here. I'll go back for Austin.”
”No need.”
”Sam!” Claire glared down at the younger cat. . .
. . . who ignored her, his head raised, his eyes locked on the back corner by the ceiling.
The mirror on the Otherside was a sheet of thick, silvered gla.s.s, about half a meter wide by a meter long, in an antique wooden frame. It was currently reflecting the store they'd just left. The troll flirted with the two teenage girls standing by the counter, a woman pushed a baby stroller out into the concourse, one of the rubber snakes disappeared under the pile of stuffed toys, and Austin stared down at them from beside a basket of tiny plastic music boxes.
”He's all right.” Claire released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. ”Thank G.o.d.”
”You're welcome.”
Diana rubbed her hands over the goose b.u.mps texturing her arms. ”Uh, Claire, ixnay on the anking-thay odgay while we're erehay. Attracts the wrong kind of attention.”
”I know.”
”I know you know. You were just relieved to see, you know.” She nodded toward the cat in the mirror.
”What's he trying to ... oh. Dean. He's going to go to Dean.”
Eyes narrowed, Diana peered up at the ceramic name plate Austin had pushed out into the aisle. ”Are those mice eating a pixie?”
”What? No, they're eating a straw . . . Okay, that's really, really gross.”
Then they were staring up at themselves.
”Hey!” Claire folded her arms and stomped one foot, which would have been a more effective protest had the tar residue not temporarily attached her heel to the carpet. She jerked it free, caught hold of a display shelf as her backpack s.h.i.+fted suddenly, threatening to topple her over, and snapped, ”What happened?”
The blue-on-blue eyes managed to look slightly sheepish. ”Sorry. Lost the signal.”
”How?” Diana demanded. ”You forgot to disable call waiting?”
”No, it's a hardware problem, those newfangled convex mirrors distort everything. Look, I've got to get back on duty, but don't forget what you promised.”
She nodded. ”To get you out of here before we shut the place down. I remember.”
”You remember now,” the mirror acknowledged. ”Harder to remember when you're pinned down under enemy fire.”
”What enemy fire?” But the eyes were gone and her reflection looked as annoyed as she felt. ”What enemy fire?” she repeated in her sister's general direction.
”What difference does it make? Stop thinking about it!”
Diana blanched. The Otherside built substance from the subconscious of its inhabitants and she was suddenly unable to think about anything else. Distraction, distraction . . . ”OW!”