Lindell and Cory searched the library for anything on a mirror matching the description of the one at the museum, but it wasn’t as though the mirror was distinctive. Around midday, they took a break, agreeing to meet back at the library. Lindell went out to the forest ruins. He was standing at the well for only a moment before Eireen joined him.

  “You look tired,” Eireen said, sitting beside him in front of the well.

  “Cory and I are trying to find out about a mirror,” Lindell said. He told her about the museum’s newest artifact, then about what the Dark Mirror had shown him as well.

  Eireen frowned.

  “Is something wrong?” Lindell asked.

  “I think that really was Evelyn’s Dark Mirror,” Eireen said quietly, then she smiled. “Though I may be biased, considering what it showed you.” She absently touched one of her antlers. She hesitated. “You know the truth about the gods and their full priests? You’ve read a lot of ancient books…”

  “I know they’re demons,” Lindell said.

  “Our magic is different from that of witches, but we too can allow ourselves to see magic,” Eireen said. “As you know, we also live much longer than humans. I haven’t been around as long as Nevyn, but I have been around long enough to see the chaos a lost artifact of the gods can cause in the wrong hands. Or any object with a powerful enchantment.”

  Lindell’s shoulders drooped. “Cory and Wallace are still working on checking out the artifacts.”

  Eireen started to say more, but Nevyn came out of the forest. Up close, he really did look about Lindell’s age, though so did Eireen.

  “I know we agreed you would bring it up your way,” Nevyn said, “but at this rate, you’ll be here until tomorrow.”

  Eireen blushed. She and Lindell got to their feet.

  Nevyn frowned hard at Lindell. “I’ve heard of a Lord Fairweather who is trying to shut down the museum, but you run the museum with Bazza Hardy.”

  “Lord Fairweather is my brother, Hector,” Lindell said.

  Nevyn sighed. “I came with Eireen this time because Iterna heard about the dangerous artifacts the museum is gathering. We’ve heard about the incidents caused by these artifacts. I came to find out why you are gathering these artifacts, though Eireen has told me you didn’t know they were dangerous.” He stared at Lindell dubiously. “There is also one artifact in particular I’m hoping to find. A seed meant to restore the desert of Oenum. Iterna would have to pour much more power into it to hold back the curse of the desert, but the seed is still very dangerous in the wrong hands.”

  “I really didn’t know the artifacts were dangerous,” Lindell said.

  “I suppose it could be true, since you can’t see magic,” Nevyn said. “Is there a seed at the museum? It would be in a vial.”

  That sounded familiar. “I can find out if it’s there,” Lindell said. “Could it really restore the desert if Iterna gave it more power?”

  “Maybe not entirely, but some of it,” Nevyn said. “It is a very powerful curse…” He shook his head. “I will describe it to you. I will trust you for now since Eireen trusts you, but know that I will be keeping an eye on you. If you betray us, you will live just long enough to regret it.”

  Lindell hoped he didn’t look as terrified as he felt. “I won’t betray you.”

  “He won’t,” Eireen said.

  Nevyn still didn’t look convinced. “We will see.” He described the seed and its vial. “I will leave it for Eireen to tell you about Bazza’s father.” He walked away without another word.

  Lindell had been wondering what more Nevyn knew about the cursed desert, since he clearly knew something, but those last words brought him back to the moment.

  “Sorry,” Eireen said quietly. “He can be a bit severe, but he’s really nice once you get to know him.”

  “What about Bazza’s father?” Lindell dreaded what she would say. “His father died three years ago in Ivra.”

  Eireen nodded. “Did he tell you how it happened?”

  Lindell hesitated. “No.”

  “His father, Cormac Hardy, was the leader of a group called the Flame of Ivra,” Eireen said. “It was wiped out three years ago on order of the new King and Queen of Ivra.”

  It took Lindell a moment to process that, and to figure out why Eireen had wanted to tell him.

  “You think Bazza was part of the group,” Lindell said.

  Eireen stared at him, worry in her eyes. “I do. I’m worried he will want to finish what his father started and will do something against Oenum.”

  Lindell shook his head, fighting to ignore the scrap of doubt in his mind. “Bazza wouldn’t do that.”

  Now there was pity in Eireen’s eyes.

  “He wouldn’t,” Lindell said. “I’ll look for the seed at the museum.”

  “Thank you,” she said quietly, then she walked away in the same direction Nevyn had gone.

  Lindell watched her go, her words echoing in his head. Bazza wouldn’t do that. Would he? That question haunted him the entire way back to the library.

  Cory was still reading among the shelves, holding an especially thick leather bound book. He closed the book and slid it back onto the shelf. “Did you find anything?” he asked.

  Lindell shook his head.

  “Wallace came by,” Cory said. “He told me a few things to look for with the mirror. Do you think Bazza will let me look at it again?”

  “He’ll grumble, but I think he’ll let you,” Lindell said, trying to put his questions and worries out of his mind for the moment.

  Cory was staring at him. “Are you alright?”

  Lindell nodded. “I’m fine.”

  Cory didn’t look convinced, but he said nothing more as the two of them left the library and returned to the museum. Bazza did grumble, but he went with Lindell and Cory back upstairs to the room with the mirror. Cory didn’t remove the cloth this time, going around to the back of the mirror instead. Lindell took a step closer to the mirror. He heard the voice again, and this time he heard the words clearly.

  “Is anyone out there?” the voice asked. It sounded like a man’s voice, but it was quiet and it shook.

  Lindell moved the cloth aside. The reflection in the mirror was still blurry.

  “Hello,” the voice said. “Can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you,” Lindell said.

  “Who are you talking to?” Bazza asked.

  Cory came around from the back of the mirror quickly. “What did you hear?”

  “There’s a voice,” Lindell said. “You didn’t hear it?”

  Bazza and Cory shook their heads.

  “My voice can’t reach the short one with the strange magic,” the voice said quietly. “And the other isn’t willing to hear me.”

  “What is the voice saying?” Bazza asked.

  “Are you bound to the mirror?” Lindell asked, looking back at the mirror.

  “I am,” the voice said. “My name is Ricliri. I am a spirit.” He sighed, sounding deeply weary. “I’m dying. I cannot survive outside the mirror on my own. I did not want to be bound, did not want to be a part of a curse. Someone forced me in here long ago. When the magic that binds me here fades, I will die.” He sounded resigned to this. The voice sounded so sad and hopeless.

  “Is there anything we can do to help?” Lindell asked.

  “Thank you, but no,” Ricliri said. “I would need to share a body with someone.”

  Lindell thought about this, thought about Evelyn’s Dark Mirror. It had been right so far, right about trusting Eireen and Cory.

  “I could be your host,” Lindell said.

  “No!” Bazza said, pulling Lindell away from the mirror and covering it with the cloth. “Whatever you’re talking to, don’t agree to anything!”

  “This is the mirror Evelyn’s Mirror showed me,” Lindell said.

  Bazza’s face turned red. “You need to stop trusting what that thing showed you! Don’t let some being into your body!”

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  “He’ll die otherwise,” Lindell said.

  Lindell could tell there would be no convincing Bazza, but this wasn’t Bazza’s choice to make. Lindell didn’t want to leave Ricliri to die when he could prevent it. Evelyn’s Mirror had shown him this mirror for a reason.

  Bazza glared at the mirror. “I suggest we be rid of it. Give it to Phoenix.”

  “There’s no dangerous magic in it,” Cory said.

  “It still has magic!” Bazza said. He took a deep breath, likely trying to calm himself. “Phoenix deals with magical trouble, don’t they? This mirror is trouble and it has magic. Take it away.”

  “I’ll talk to Wallace about it,” Cory said quietly.

  Bazza looked at Lindell sharply. “Promise me you won’t go near the mirror again.”

  Lindell said nothing. He didn’t want to have an argument with Bazza, but he also wouldn’t make a promise he wasn’t going to keep.

  “You should at least think about it more,” Cory said. “It’s not a choice to make lightly.”

  Lindell sighed. “Alright.” Cory was right.

  “Thank you,” Bazza said to Cory, then he left the room.

  Lindell and Cory followed close behind. Lindell spent the rest of the day at the library, trying to find out more about the rod, but his thoughts kept wandering back to the mirror. He wasn’t going to just let Ricliri die. And he trusted what Evelyn’s Dark Mirror had shown him. He was still thinking about it when the sun set, and he was still at the library. When he left the library, he hesitated, then he headed for the museum.

  The door was locked, but he had a key. No candlelight came from Bazza’s office, so he must have gone home for the night. Lindell went upstairs, the only light that of the moon through the windows. There was a window in the room with the mirror as well. He removed the cloth from the mirror, sneezing when it released a cloud of dust.

  “You came back,” Ricliri said, his voice even fainter than before.

  “I will be your host,” Lindell said.

  “My magic could change your body,” Ricliri said. “It would be permanent. Are you sure about this?”

  Lindell hesitated for only a moment. “I’m sure.” He touched the frame with both hands, trying not to fear what might happen.

  He felt a presence in the mirror, felt something holding onto that presence. Was that magic? Ricliri left the mirror, going into Lindell. The spirit felt like a warmth deep inside of him. The binding on the mirror was gone. The glass of the mirror crumbled away, leaving only the frame. The shards of mirror on the floor glowed faintly before melting away into nothing.

  Lindell was suddenly very tired. He went home and went to bed. In the morning, he was just as he’d always been. He felt Ricliri within him, but the spirit seemed to be asleep. This had been his choice to make, but Lindell couldn’t keep this from Bazza, even if he would be furious. Bazza would know something had happened when he saw the empty mirror frame.

  -- --

  When Lindell left for the museum, Ricliri stirred, waking up for the first time since leaving the mirror.

  “Thank you.” Ricliri’s voice was in Lindell’s mind.

  “I wasn’t going to let you die if I could help,” Lindell thought.

  “I am still very weakened,” Ricliri said. It sounded like he yawned. “I need more sleep.”

  Lindell felt the spirit go back to sleep. The presence inside of him wasn’t a bad feeling at all. So far, Ricliri’s magic had no effect that he’d noticed. When Lindell entered the office, Bazza was pacing. He looked relieved when Lindell came in.

  “What did you do?” Bazza asked, his expression unreadable. “The mirror frame is empty. The glass is gone.”

  “I became the spirit’s host,” Lindell said.

  “You let that spirit inside of you?” Bazza’s words were almost a whisper. He had gone pale.

  “He’s still weakened from being in the mirror,” Lindell said. “He’s asleep.” He hesitated. “His magic is becoming a part of me.”

  Bazza was breathing hard, his face turning red. That couldn’t be good.

  “Are you angry?” Lindell asked when Bazza continued to say nothing.

  “Worried, not angry,” Bazza said, the words coming out strained. “You need to go to Phoenix. Maybe they can help. Maybe they can get that spirit out of you.”

  “This was my choice,” Lindell said. “I’m not going back on it.”

  Bazza ran a shaking hand through his hair. “You don’t know what that spirit will do to you. Please, at least see if Phoenix can help. It’s worth a try to get it out of you before anything happens.”

  “I don’t want them to try!” Lindell said. He hadn’t meant to shout.

  Bazza started to say something, but a knock came on the office door. Lindell couldn’t help but sigh. They would have to talk about this more later, not that there was much to talk about. The knock came again just before Lindell opened the door. A young man stood on the other side. Lindell had seen him around the museum before, knew he worked there, but he was new to the museum and Lindell didn’t know his name. He wasn’t usually so pale.

  “Did something happen?” Lindell asked.

  “The Ivran rod was stolen,” the man said, his voice shaking. “It’s gone. It must have happened sometime last night…”

  Had it already been gone when Lindell came last night? He had locked the door behind him when he went up to the room with the mirror and when he left for home.

  “Thank you,” Bazza said quietly, even paler than the man.

  The man still stood in the doorway, looking uncertain.

  “You may go,” Bazza said stiffly, sinking into the chair behind his desk.

  The man hurried away.

  Lindell closed the door. “We need to inform the knights,” he said. “We still don’t know what the rod does, but we do know it has magic. Magic someone could wake up and use.”

  Bazza’s jaw clenched. “Very well. I will inform the knights.” He had a hard look in his eyes Lindell had never seen before.

  “I’ll tell Phoenix,” Lindell said.

  Bazza nodded absently.

  Lindell set out for the office of Phoenix, at the already busy market crescent. He thought of that hard, cold look in Bazza’s eyes and shivered, thinking of what Eireen had said. No. Bazza wasn’t the last member of some Ivran group that wanted to put an end to Oenum.

  Cory was the only one at the office, sitting at the desk to the left of the door. He sighed when Lindell walked in. “What happened?”

  “Is it that obvious?” Lindell asked.

  “It is,” Cory said. “Did the mirror do something?”

  Lindell hesitated.

  Cory frowned. “You let the spirit in, didn’t you?”

  “I don’t regret it,” Lindell said. “And that’s not why I’m here. The Ivran rod was stolen.”

  Cory groaned. “We still don’t know anything about it, just that it has magic that someone could wake up.”

  “Do we know if it’s dangerous?” Lindell asked.

  Cory shook his head. “I’ll go to the library and try to find out more, even though we haven’t had much luck.”

  “I’ll help,” Lindell said.

  He went ahead to the library, since Cory had to close up the office. Wallace was out dealing with a case, and Vedrix wasn’t currently in Shale. All the other members of Phoenix were still away. Lindell wasn’t searching at the library long before Hector joined him there.

  “The nobles will use the theft of the rod against the museum,” Hector said as way of greeting.

  A sigh escaped Lindell. “You already heard about it.”

  “The knights are searching for the rod,” Hector said.

  Lindell closed the book he was holding and slid it back onto the shelf. He looked at his brother, surprised to see he looked worried. Really worried.

  “I don’t want things to get messier than they already have,” Hector said. “I’m not sure Irwin has a limit to what he will do to shut down the museum. Please, Lindell, shut the museum down. If you shut it down yourself, it will get Irwin’s attention away from you. For now, at least.”

  “I can’t do that without Bazza’s agreement,” Lindell said. “We started the museum together. And he would never agree to shut it down.”

  Hector sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You can’t go to the court?”

  “I won’t do that to Bazza,” Lindell said.

  Hector frowned. “But if it were entirely up to you, would you close the museum?”

  Lindell hesitated, but only for a moment this time. “I would.” The words came out quiet. “The artifacts are dangerous. I don’t think I actually want the museum to remain. Even if they weren’t dangerous… I’ve seen too many things, been too many horrible places, to still have any love for the artifacts or for travel.”

  Hector’s expression softened. “I’m sorry. Hopefully the court will sort it out quickly. They haven’t gotten to the matter of the museum yet, but they will soon.”

  The two stood in awkward silence for a moment.

  “What did you find out about the murder of our parents?” Lindell asked.

  Hector looked away.

  “I know you aren’t telling me something,” Lindell said.

  Hector’s brows furrowed. Then he looked at Lindell again. “It’s something you won’t believe. And it’s only a theory.” He glanced around them. Was he nervous? That wasn’t usual for him. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter. “Has Hardy asked you about Rimlek’s Embers or suggested you find them?”

  Hector didn’t need more reason to distrust Bazza, and it was Lindell who had mentioned the embers first when he told Bazza what the mirror had shown him.

  “No,” Lindell said. He didn’t want to lie to his brother, but neither did he want the nobles using that against Bazza as well. “He hasn’t asked me about them.”

  Hector gave him a sad look. It was clear he had noticed Lindell hadn’t answered the rest of that question, about whether Bazza had suggested finding the embers. Hector turned and walked away. Lindell went back to the search for anything about the rod, but now he was distracted with wondering what Hector wasn’t telling him, and the guilt of not telling his brother everything.