But she was his mother, and he didn't blame her. He blamed Charlie Bone, who had caused his mother to reveal herself. Charlie, who had stolen the Mirror of Amoret and made Joshua break it.
Not many children would choose to spend their Saturday afternoons in a dank basement room at Bloor's Academy, but Dorcas Loom and the Branko twins, Idith and Inez, were great admirers of Fairy Tilpin (as they liked to call her). This description might once have applied, but not since Mrs. Tilpin had been communicating with Harken the Enchanter.
Joshua82was, of course, in attendance, but the last member of the group, Dagbert Endless, was less enthusiastic. While the others leaned over Mrs. Tilpin's table, listening with rapt attention, Dagbert preferred to pace in the shadows. Occasionally, he would glance at the little group with a slightly superior expression on his face. This annoyed Mrs. Tilpin, but she never once criticized Dagbert, for she knew that he was the most powerful of all the children, and if she were to bring Harken the Enchanter back into the world, then Dagbert would be an invaluable ally.
Today, Mrs. Tilpin was feeling especially optimistic. The children were ready to proceed.
She put TheCollected Charms and Enchantments of Steffania Sugwashinto a cabinet and locked the door with the small silver key that she kept in her pocket.
"Aww! Aren't you going to tell us about Steffania today?" One of the Branko twins sent a spindly chair teetering across the room.
"Petulance will get you nowhere," admonished Mrs. Tilpin. "Who did it?"83"I did," said the twin who was responsible.
"Yes, but which twin are you?"
"Can't you tell, Mrs. "I.?" The voice came from the shadows beside a looming cabinet.
"And I thought you knew everything."
Mrs. Tilpin decided to ignore Dagbert. "If you don't tell me which twin you are, then the lesson is over."
The Branko twins, sitting close to each other, stared at Mrs. Tilpin from under their deep black bangs. Their round, porcelain-white faces showed not a trace of emotion, but then one of them suddenly cried, "Inez, Fairy Tilpin. I'm Inez."
"No, you're not, you're Idith," said Dagbert.
This time he had gone too far. "Dagbert Endless, if you don't stop sabotaging my class, I shall have no alternative but to dismiss you."
"OK." Dagbert strode toward the dilapidated planks of wood that served as a door to the so-called classroom.84"Stop!" Mrs. Tilpin commanded.
Dagbert reached the door and glanced back.
Mrs. Tilpin eyed the sullen-looking boy with distaste. He smelled of fish, his face had a greenish hue, and his lank hair reminded her of seaweed. But she needed him.
"I didn't say you WERE dismissed," said Mrs. Tilpin in a slightly wheedling tone. "I'm sure we can get along if we try a little harder. There's something I wanted to show you, in particular, Dagbert."
"Why Dagbert?" asked Joshua.
"Well, all of you," said his mother, and with a dramatic flourish, she reached under the table and produced a gleaming, jewel-framed mirror. Holding it out so that each one of them received an almost blinding flash from its shining surface, she announced, "The Mirror of Amoret."
"It's cracked," Dagbert observed.
"Exactly." Mrs. Tilpin smiled.
"What do you mean, 'exactly'?" asked Dorcas Loom in her monotonous voice.85Mrs.
Tilpin wasn't completely without feeling. She felt sorry for Dorcas, with her large pink face and drab, overly permed hair. "Well dear, the reason I'm showing you the mirror is because it's cracked. I thought if we combined our considerable powers, then we might, just might, be able to fix it." She laid the mirror on the table, noting with satisfaction that Dagbert had moved closer.
The three girls leaned eagerly over the table and peered into the silvery glass. Expecting to find themselves reflected in the mirror, they were surprised to see a mist of subtle colors swirling over the surface.
"It's like water," said Inez.
Dagbert stepped closer and looked over Joshua's shoulder.
"Why can't we see ourselves?" asked Dorcas.
"Because you are not there," murmured the witch.
Dagbert directed a skeptical look at her. "We're here," he stated, "so we should be there."
He pointed at the mirror.86"Ah. But this is the Mirror of Amoret," said Mrs. Tilpin. "I can see that you don't know the story, Dagbert. I shall enlighten you. Nine hundred years ago, the Red King, whom we in this room acknowledge to be our ancestor, had ..."
"Not the only ancestor," Dagbert pointed out.
"Shhh!" hissed everyone.
Mrs. Tilpin continued as though the interruption had not happened. "Had ten children.
Lilith, his eldest daughter, married Harken the Enchanter, and I am descended from their union."
"Phew!" Dagbert whistled.
"Amoret, the king's youngest daughter, married a" - Mrs. Tilpin waved her white fingers in the air - "a giant, I believe."
Dagbert whistled again, but everyone ignored him.
"The king made a mirror for Amoret, a mirror that enabled her to travel. She had only to look into this mirror and think of the person she wished to see, and there she would be, beside them."87At this point Joshua took up the story that by now he knew only too well.
"But Amoret died and Count Harken inherited the mirror."
"Really? Inherited the mirror, did he?" Dagbert gave a very slight snort of disbelief.
Mrs. Tilpin's gray eyes flashed. "Yes! Inherited!"
"I wish you wouldn't keep interrupting, Dagbert," Idith complained. "It spoils it for the rest of us."
"SO sorry!" Dagbert shrugged and walked away.
"Wait!" commanded Mrs. Tilpin. "I brought Harken back with this." She grabbed the mirror and held it up.
"But Charlie Bone got it, and we had a fight and I broke it," said Joshua. "And then he found a spell to send the enchanter back into Badlock."
"And there he stays until the mirror can be fixed," continued Mrs. Tilpin. "But we can do it, can't we, children? You and I together, so that Harken can walk among us once again."
They gazed up at the sallow-skinned, beetle-browed woman, who had once been so blond and88pleasant-looking. Her hair was now lank and colorless, her eyes ringed with black shadows, even her lips had shrunk to a thin purple line. Is this what happened when you gave in to witchery? wondered the girls.
Dagbert Endless moved restlessly toward the makeshift door. "I drown people," he said.
"Don't see how I can fix glass."
"Look!" ordered Mrs. Tilpin, desperately waving the mirror. "Be surprised, Dagbert Endless. Be awed, wonder-struck, amazed."
Dagbert obliged her with a cursory glance at the jewel-framed mirror. And then he looked again. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. For there, among the constantly shifting shapes and colors, a figure was forming. First a bright emerald tunic, then an olive-skinned, but oddly featureless, face appeared beneath a cloud of golden brown hair.
Gradually, in the oval of the face, two dark green eyes emerged; they seemed to be staring directly at Dagbert, and under their fierce, compelling gaze, he found himself moving toward the mirror.89But Mrs. Tilpin's moment of triumph was stolen by an earsplitting crash. The rotten wood of the door suddenly gave way and a small white-haired boy fell into the room. He lay facedown on the shattered panels, and everyone stared at him in astonished silence, until Mrs. Tilpin found her voice.
"Billy Raven!" she screamed. "Spy!"
"Snoop!" cried Joshua.
"Eavesdropping snitch!" said Dorcas.
"Sneak!" shouted the twins.
"How did you find us, Billy?" asked Dagbert, who had shaken himself free of the dark green gaze.
Billy Raven got to his feet, a little awkwardly, and adjusted his glasses. "I was looking for the dog," he said.
"That scabby old Blessed," snorted Joshua.
Mrs. Tilpin laid her mirror very gently on the table and walked over to Billy. "Why are you not staying with Charlie Bone?" she asked in a cold voice.