After searching for a while, Ric sat down on the guest bed that he was using while staying
with Mr. Mendes. Ric thought about how much trouble he was in. Mr. Mendes had
disappeared. Then his brother Josh had disappeared and the book of transformation was
gone too.
When Ric was finally quiet, he heard a faint noise as if someone was screaming. "Josh is
that you?"
Ric heard the noise again but it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Ric moved
around to try to figure it out and the noise seemed to be coming from upstairs. The closer
Ric got to the noise, the clearer it was that it was Josh screaming but the sound was still
faint.
Ric yelled, "Josh where are you?" and he heard the faint reply, "I'm in the attic."
Ric pulled open the attic access and a ladder descended. It was not a very large attic but it
was being used for some storage. Ric climbed the ladder and looked around but still
couldn't see Josh.
"Where are you?"
"I'm in the mirror." exclaimed Josh.
Then Ric noticed a piece of furniture in the far corner. It was an old fashioned vanity like
the ones women used to sit at when they applied their makeup. It looked like a desk except
that the back part where the monitor would go had a large mirror instead and Josh was
reflecting back from the mirror stark naked.
"Josh, what happened?"
"You're the one who read the spell. You tell me what happened."
"Josh, why are you naked?"
"I don't know. Everything disappeared and then when I could see again, I had nothing with
me. No clothes, no book."
"You don't have the book either?"
"No I don't Mr. Know-it-all. Why'd you make me disappear anyway?"
"I didn't mean to. I thought I was reading a reversal spell."
"Well you're in big trouble anyway when mom finds out you trapped me in a mirror."
"Sh, sh. We'll think of something. I found you. We can find the book. How about you put
some clothes on."
"I can't. None of the boxes will open."
Ric watched as Josh inside the mirror moved over to a box of old clothes and tried to open
it. The room was perfectly reflected in the mirror in it's entirety with one exception. Instead
of seeing himself reflected in the mirror, he saw Josh.
Ric suggested, "Maybe I can open it for you." Ric went over to the box in the real world and
opened it but the box in the reflection didn't open. Instead the reflection of the box
disappeared completely from the mirror leaving a strange hole in the reflection.
Josh scolded, "Is that all you know how to do, make stuff disappear."
Ric sat down on the box. "If only you hadn't taken the book when you disappeared, I might
be able to read it and figure out what happened."
Josh said, "Or you might read it and make the whole house disappear."
Ric said, "Shut up" and the two of them got into an argument. Ric stood up and got face to
face with the mirror reflection of Josh and they fought like brothers.
Then Ric said, "Wait, the box reappeared."
The reflection of the box had reappeared in the mirror and it was open and looking exactly
like the box in real life. Josh went over to pick up a shirt but it wouldn't move.
"I still can't move anything."
"Wait, I'll help." Ric went over to the real shirt and picked it up but the reflection of the shirt
disappeared again leaving a strange hole in the reflection where the shirt should have
been.
"Ric, quit making stuff disappear."
Ric sat down on the box discouraged. "Josh, I think we need to forget about clothing for a
while. It looks like even if we could figure out a way for you to wear clothes, the clothes
would disappear the moment the clothes in the real world moved."
"I can't hang out naked."
Ric said, "Maybe we can figure something out later but I think it's more important to find
the book and get you out of the mirror. Then you can wear clothes normally again."
"I don't know where the book is. Your spell sent it to who knows where."
Ric said, "Have you tried looking for it?"
Josh moaned, "Yes, I tried. It's not here."
Ric said, "How about searching the rest of the house. You search the house in the mirror
reflection there and I'll search the house here."
Josh said, "I couldn't open the door before to get out."
Ric said, "I'll open the door."
Ric opened the door and as expected, the reflection of the door disappeared. Then Josh
shouted, "Ric, there's nothing down there. The rest of the house is gone."
Ric went to the mirror and everything that was supposed to be reflected in the mirror was
there except what had recently moved. Then Ric snapped his fingers, "The mirror only
reflects what it sees. It can't see the rest of the house so it can't reflect it. What do you see
instead, Josh?"
"I just see a great big empty space. There's absolutely nothing out there."
Ric said, "Don't go out there then. I guess you'll just have to wait here while I look around.
But keep looking where you are. The sooner we find the book, the sooner we can fix this."