Summary: Spencer purchases an old-fashioned mirror. What will happen when Sam discovers that the mirror is more than it seems?
Disclaimer: Knock, knock. Who's there? Pitiful attempt at saying I don't own iCarly. Pitiful attempt at saying I don't own iCarly who? …That question doesn't make any sense…
iWent Through the Glass: Chapter 11
Of course I was walking in the wrong direction.
Well, no, actually I had no idea where we were supposed to be going, but I was willing to bet that back towards my bedroom was not it. No matter, though—what was done, was done, and there wasn't any turning around. Not in this story.
But what had freed us? Why had the monster screamed? Why had the lock snapped?
Freddie was quieter than he'd ever been, probably assuming that this wasn't the time to talk to me. Smart boy. As much as I hated it, he knew me really well—knew, for the most part, what to do, and what not to do around me; what would set me off and what would shut me up.
During the silence, I thought back on my experience in the mirror world. I remembered Tara, and her story about the unattainable boy, Jonathan. I now realized why it was that I felt that I could relate to her so strongly. Because as cheesy as it sounded, the unattainable person in my story was standing right next to me.
But we all had a seemingly unattainable someone here, didn't we? Alex had Emily, my dad had my mom, and even Freddie had—
I turned to stare at Freddie who had moved up to walking by my side. He looked to me frowning, as if in disapproval of my thoughts.
Nobody here got a happy ending. It just wasn't possible; they never had a chance. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if someone here had.
Again, I glanced at Freddie. His arrival had changed everything. Suddenly, I did have a chance. But…
Maybe Freddie really did have feelings for me. Maybe he really did get over Carly. But maybe he didn't. Maybe he was just moving onto me because he finally got tired of Carly's rejection and needed a fallback.
Deep down, my thoughts told me that I was being unrealistic—that by thinking that, I was shaping Freddie into more of an actual boy than he was. A snobby know-nothing jerk would do that, but Freddie…
Still, desperation did weird things to people. And I wasn't willing to let my heart take that step that might either allow it to soar freely and ecstatically as it should, or cause it to plummet through a trap-hole in the ground, making it free-fall in a bottomless pit for the rest of eternity.
Whoa I'm thinking too much again. We're already in my room and I didn't even realize we walked inside.
"What are we doing back in here?" Freddie asks, confusion evident in his tone.
Oh, great, why couldn't I have thought about how to answer that? "To get new weapons." Yeah. That should be good enough for him. "In case you didn't notice, I'm kinda unarmed. That thing stole my sword."
His eyes widened for a moment and he paused—probably thinking about the horrors of me wielding a blade. Shaking himself out of his trance, Freddie looked around the room. "All I see is that candlestick you used before…"
"Good. You can use that, then," I said as I walked towards the window, in an attempt to see just how far from lovely the mirror world now was.
"What will you use?" he asked after a bit of silence. Oh, Fredward, sometimes, you just make this too easy.
I shrugged. "You."
He was shocked and confused. "Me?"
"Yeah. If an enemy with a sword comes by, I'll pull you in front of me so that you can act as a shield. And if—"
"That's not funny, Sam," he glared as he interrupted me.
"No, but your face is." I just couldn't resist the jab.
His face twisted in anger. "That—" but he broke off, probably not having anything to say, his finger still pointed at me. Balling his hands into fists, Freddie let out a loud groan.
"Yeah, good idea," I said sarcastically. "Let the guards know where we are so they can come and kill us faster."
Silently, he replied, "No one heard me."
"Well, why don't you try it again?" I rolled my eyes. "See if we get lucky this time."
Freddie glared right back at me, but I just nodded and turned right around to face the window. Everything I'd seen—everything that had changed since I'd been here—was there. There was what looked like a marsh, but what I knew better as the sea of corpses. There was Alex' horseless stable. And then there was something I hadn't seen before.
It was a black stone fortress, thin and much taller than the castle itself. Around it was a ring of blood-red light. Blood—seemingly a recurring motif in these parts. Black smoke rolled off the top of the fortress like fog.
"Whoa," I said, still appraising the place with my eyes. "I'm thinkin' that's where we need to go."
"What makes you say that?" Freddie asks from behind me.
"Look?" I moved over slightly to make room for him.
He moved into the space I made, though it was still cramped. "Yeah," Freddie said in the voice he specifically reserved for when he was scared. "Looks just about right."
"If I may," called a familiar voice. "I've brought a weapon for you, ma'am."
As I turned around, I saw that it was Jacque, carrying Alex' dagger. "Jacque!" I shouted as I ran over and gripped the knife. "What are you doing here?"
"While I was running away before, I realized it wasn't very noble of me at all. So, I decided to assist you, ma'am," he bowed his head with respect. "I raced back to Alex' barn and grabbed the weapon for you. Once I made it back to the castle, though, I saw you walking here with the boy."
"You're 'ma'am,' but I'm 'the boy'?" Freddie asked, offended.
"Be quiet, Fredwardo, let the guy talk," I scorned.
He rolled his eyes and Jacque continued. "I decided not to call out to you for fear of attracting guards. Were you able to find the mirror in time?"
"Yeah," I said hesitantly, rubbing my neck and averting eye contact. "But it's sort of…broken now."
"Broken?" Jacque cried in distress.
"Relax!" I commanded. "We're working on finding another way out."
"There is no other way—" Jacque began before cutting short. "We?" he asked after a moment of awkward silence.
"Yeah," my voice was perplexed-sounding. "Me and Freddie," I said, gesturing between us.
The jester boy gasped. "He's—?" Again he stopped short. Jacque began to nod. "Yes. Yes you certainly will find a way out, now."
I raised my eyebrow at him, and gave Freddie a chance to speak. "Uh," he sounded just as confused as I was. "Thanks for the sudden confidence…"
"You can slay the creature!" he called. "Love is its weakness! It is why we are still stuck here—we were deprived from it. But, now, we have you two!"
Freddie doesn't deny any of what's going on. I glare and speak up, not for myself, but for him. "No, he doesn't love me. He's just settling for me because he's tired of getting shot down by my friend."
"Sam!" he calls, sounding and looking offended.
"Sir," Jacque begins, looking at Freddie. "Why did you enter this world?"
Freddie shrugs, still looking hurt. "Because I saw Sam in the mirror instead of my reflection. She looked like she was in trouble and I wanted to help her."
I'm a little shocked, but I don't let that show. I just roll my eyes. "Big deal. Carly probably would've seen me, too, had she looked into the mirror."
There's a long pause, and Jacque's sudden sadness brings the energy of the whole room down. The jester stared at the floor, frowning.
"Wait!" Freddie calls with a snap of his fingers. "No, she wouldn't. And she didn't, because earlier, she was fixing her hair in that mirror! She saw herself!"
"You see?!" Jacque asks, bouncing with content again. "Reluctant as you both are to admit it, it is true!" He beams, pausing, looking between us. "You two…are in love."
The candles in the room suddenly flare to life, and the ground rumbles and shakes. Outside the piercing cry of the creature is heard, and the mission is once again fresh in our minds.
No one says anything. Jacque is still almost literally shaking with happiness, and Freddie and I are quiet. But I can't take that step. I'm being pushed toward the ledge, and sure, I can't walk away, but I sure as heck can push right back. "No, I'm not."
"Pardon?" I seem to have shocked Jacque as he looks up to me, blinking.
"I said, I'm not," I repeat. "I'm not in love with the stupid dork and I wish everyone would stop saying that I am."
"Stupid dork?" Freddie asks as he moves to stand in front of me. His tone is on the brink of angry and his expression is clearly offended. "What, is it embarrassing to actually admit that you're in love with me?"
"It would be, if I was. But I'm not!" I shout, getting up in his face. "So right now, it's just really irritating. But what else is new with you?"
"Stop! You two, stop!" Jacque calls. I think I see something smoky rise through the window but I put it aside. We're too deep in arguing to care about that right now.
"Oh, I'm irritating? I'm embarrassing?" Freddie asks rhetorically.
"If the nubby name fits, Fredward. And in this case, I think it does," I fire back.
"Please!" yells Jacque. "Please stop! This is very bad!" The lights are flickering around us now, but again, we can't stop.
"This coming from the girl who was trapped inside a mirror!" Freddie shouts. "A girl who eats nothing but fatcakes and meat and scrapes her feet everywhere and spends her time making fun of other people who've done nothing wrong to her!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" I yell sarcastically. "I didn't realize that getting tic-baths every Tuesday constituted as something unembarrassing!"
"Ahh!!!" Jacque seems to be struggling—good for him, little guy's got to build some muscle. Let him take care of whatever's going on.
"That's not even a word!" Freddie shouts. "And you don't even know what "constitute" means!"
"Sure I do!"
"What's it mean, then?"
"Something much more interesting than you!"
"I swear, Sam—!"
"What, Fredwimp?"
"I can't stand you!"
Again the ground shakes, and I can hear Jacque whimper in the background. But it's way too late to give up now—I have to fire back.
"The feeling's mutual! Finally we've got some truth around here!"
Lightning and thunder strike, the candles all go out, and our attention is at last broken from our fight. Looking around, I see we're surrounded by black fog. It has Jacque restrained and he's suddenly pulled out of the window by it.
Simultaneously, Freddie and I gasp as the shadow fog seems to form bodies—bodies with armor and weapons; shadow soldiers.
And easy as that, we're surrounded. "Look what you did, dork!" I yell over the booming thunder and pounding rain that's just started.
"What are you talking about?! This is your fault! You started the fighting!"
"Oh, ya always gotta blame me, huh, Benson?"
"Because it always is you!" he shouts. "Why don't you just come out and admit to it for once!"
With that, even more shadow soldiers appear.
"You made it worse, Benson!" Not that he's wrong, but I'll never admit to it. So, I settled with the next best thing—stating the obvious and making him shut up.
Freddie whines. "What are we supposed to do?"
"What do you think?" I ask. "We've gotta fight!" And then I slice through a soldier with my dagger.
"What good did that do? It just reformed!"
"But," I emphasize. "It gives us enough time to run to someplace safer! Now, fight and follow me!"
It takes Freddie a bit of time, but soon, he's bashing shadows with the candlestick and following close behind. We make it out of the castle in almost no time.
"Seize them!" calls Shane, and at that moment, the regular security crew—Shane, Jake, and Duke—plus one (Gary Wolff) joins us.
I scoff and shake my head. From one obstacle to the next. "Alright, bring it, you fudgebags. We can take you on."
As if hearing my challenge, a new foe emerges—the bodies from the pool of corpses are rising from their mucky graves and are coming toward us.
Freddie's in shock and it takes me a second to respond. "Zombies?!" I shout in disbelief. "What is this, Resident Evil?!"
An echoing laugh is heard above us. Guess the monster has a sense of humor. A sick and twisted sense of humor, but still, a sense of humor.
Freddie begins to ramble. "Actually, they're not zombies. Zombies act on their own accord, and I don't think that's what these are doing," he geekishly states. "Plus, zombies really only go after your brains, and I have a feeling—"
"Who cares what they are, they're trying to kill us, let's go!!!" I shout three sentences in one.
Gripping Freddie's hand, we run straight into the familiar stable.
"Help me close the doors!" I bark. It wasn't a request, it was a command—I'd gone straight into drill sergeant mode.
As quick as we could, we shut the heavy wooden doors and barricaded them with crates and other supplies.
The creatures and guards still banging at the doors outside, we slid to the floor panting and tired on opposite sides of the stable.
Suddenly, the safest place I had known in the mirror world had become our cage.
--
AN: Whoa, sorry this one took so long, you guys. I've been crazy busy around here, so, yeah =/ Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out by Friday, but no guarantees. This one took particularly long because originally, I wrote a much more…cheesy ending, I suppose. But I absolutely loved redoing it to get this one. Felt really accomplished when it was over. Poor Jacque! Hope the little guy's alright! Pulled out the window by the shadow fog, yeesh. But yeah! I hope you guys really liked this! Got some pretty cool stuff planned for Chapter 12, so stick tight. Can't wait to see your feedback!
-Fictions