Chapter 38: Reflecting on the Past
The group all stood in awe at the mirror that was sitting in the middle of the cabinet before them.
"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Ingrid. "Can this really be it?"
"I memorized the directions as best as I could," replied Kendra. "Since I couldn't bring anything with me back in time. If this mirror isn't the Reflector, I don't know what I'd do!"
Seth gazed at the hand mirror. Build into a silver frame and studded with gemstones, something about the mirror just gave him the impression that it simply had to be the real deal. "I'd like to believe you," said Seth, "but how do we know that this really is the Reflector, and not some decoy?"
"Seth's got a point," said Bright. "We may have had information that led us here. But who's to say that the mirror before us really is the Reflector?"
"Why don't we just test it first?" asked Raxtus. "Then we'd know."
"It's better we don't mess with this thing," said Bracken. "Being a mirror, this thing is going to be very delicate. Besides, we don't even know how it works."
"We only came here so that Kendra and Seth could merely see the Reflector," said Geminus. "Now that we know what it looks like, they can search for it in the present."
"You have a point," said Kendra. "That way, if something bad does happen to it when we retrieve it in the present, at least it won't cause any unwanted alterations to time."
"We can always come back here if there's a problem," said Bracken. "It's not like it was hard to get here or anything."
Closing the cabinet, the group made their way back upstairs, then exited the house through the front door. As they came out, Raxtus and Geminus reverted to their dragon forms.
"Did you find it?" asked Skyfrost, who had been waiting by the porch along with Firesquall.
"Presumably," replied Bright. "But we didn't come here to retrieve it, just to see it so that we can look for it in the present."
"As long as they found it, mission accomplished," said Firesquall.
The group then walked around to the side of the house, to the same spot where they had arrived upon travelling back in time.
"It'd be a lot simpler if we could just take the Reflector right here and now," said Seth. "Instead of going back to the present."
"Yeah, it's a shame the present is years away," said Kendra slyly, as she held out the Chronometer after fidgeting with it. Once everybody made contact with it, Kendra pushed the main button.
Suddenly, the group found themselves standing in the middle of the garden by the side of the hotel. Naked once again, at the very least, their clothes from before were lying on the ground. Not wanting to make a big deal over it, all of the humans and fairies began to scramble around for their clothes without saying anything.
"Seems the like the present hasn't changed," said Geminus, looking away from the rest of the group.
"Okay," said Seth, slipping his underwear back on, "we found the Reflector. Now we've just got to go home and search for it."
Once everybody was fully clothed, Kendra removed the Translocator from her bag. "Okay, let's get back to Fablehaven."
As soon as everybody was touching the Translocator, Kendra twisted the artifact. In a flash, the group was suddenly transported from the grounds of Peré Maison to the yard back at Fablehaven.
"We did it!" exclaimed Kendra. "We got exactly what we came for!"
"And we did this without Warren's help too," noted Seth. "Not that it was really any trouble."
"Well, I am I getting the hang of these artifacts pretty well," said Kendra, as she held up the Translocator in one hand and the Chronometer in the other.
"Come on," said Ingrid, "now you guys can search for the Reflector using the Oculus!"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Seth, as he dashed towards the house, while Kendra, Ingrid, Bracken and Bright followed behind him.
"You're back!" exclaimed Grandma, as the group entered the house through the front door. "Were you able to go back in time safely?"
"You bet!" replied Kendra. "And, we found the Reflector!"
"Really?" asked Grandpa.
"Yeah," replied Bracken, "but we figured that it might be too risky to remove from its place in the past, so we were hoping to stick to the original plan of letting Kendra or Seth use the Oculus to find where it is in the present."
"Understood," said Grandma. "Why don't you all sit down while I get the Oculus."
"Sure," said Ingrid, as the group found their way into the living room, "but this mission was really easy."
"I'll say," said Mr. Sorenson. "You were gone for like ten minutes!"
Once everybody else was seated, Grandma returned to the living room, this time bringing the Oculus with her.
"Here it is," said Grandpa, placing the Oculus down on the coffee table. "Seth, you should try first, since the using the Oculus comes more naturally for you."
"Sure," said Seth, as he picked up the spherical artifact. Closing his eyes, Seth envisioned the Reflector in his mind. Although he had only been able to see it for a moment, at least now he had a proper idea as to what the magical mirror actually looked like.
All that Seth could see was blackness. He tried focusing on the mirror more intensely, but alas, nothing was coming into view.
"What's wrong, Seth?" asked Grandpa. "You're frowning. Can you not find the Reflector?"
"I'm trying!" moaned Seth. "The stupid thing isn't showing up for me."
"Maybe you should let Kendra have a try," said Mrs. Sorenson.
"I know what I'm doing!" blurted Seth, still unable to detect the Reflector through the Oculus.
"Can you really not find it?" asked Bright.
"Look, if I found it, I'd let you know! Now if everybody would just shut up for a moment and stop distracting me..."
"Sor-ree!" muttered Ingrid. "But if you can't find it, it probably can't be found."
Seth sighed, then opened his eyes. "You've got a point. Buy why can't I find this stupid thing?"
"Let's at least let Kendra try as well," said Grandpa. "Maybe she'll have more success. Go on, you have a turn."
"Okay," said Kendra, accepting the Oculus from Seth.
Kendra clenched the Oculus in her hands, and then proceeded to fixate her mind on the Reflector. Picturing what it looked like as best as she humanly could, nothing seemed to be coming into view. Figuring that failure would be inevitable, Kendra opened her eyes and released her grasp on the Oculus.
"Seth was right. It's impossible to find the Reflector using this thing."
"You think maybe the Reflector is just undetectable?" asked Bracken.
"This is a mirror we're talking about," said Seth. "Chances are it probably broke at some point between 1894 and now. Most likely when they started doing construction on Peré Maison, which wouldn't surprise me."
"And the Oculus probably can't detect an intact mirror if in actuality, it's been shattered," noted Ingrid.
"Maybe," said Bright. "But this isn't the first time that the Oculus has been unable to detect something that does exist. It's incapable of locating anything within the Demon Domain, as well as the demon relics."
"Even so," said Grandpa, "I see little reason to suspect that the Reflector would end up in the Demon Domain. Also, I have no reason to believe that the Reflector is a tool of demon origin. If you kids were unsuccessful in locating it, my assumption would be that the Refelctor was broken at some point."
"If it is broken," said Mrs. Sorenson, "then there's no way anybody's ever going to find it!"
"It's too bad we can't just bring the Oculus back in time with us," said Seth. "Then we could just search for the Reflector in the past. Sure, we know where it is in the past, but at least we'd know if it can be detected by the Oculus."
"We may not be able to bring the Oculus back in time," said Kendra, "but we can always bring the Reflector forward."
"How?" asked Ingrid.
"You remember how we told you about what we went through to recover the Skullifier?"
"Yeah. Something to do with with hiding the Skullifier in the past, then retrieving it in the present."
"Exactly," said Kendra. "We can hide the Reflector somewhere safe in the past, where it won't get found or destroyed, and then just retrieve it in the present."
"Hold it!" exclaimed Grandpa. "If you remove the Reflector from its position in the past, you'll interfere with it being found at a later point."
"The Reflector was locked up in some cabinet," said Seth. "Raxtus could barely get it open."
"And it seemed to lock itself again when we closed the door," said Kendra.
"The way I see it," said Seth, "if the Reflector remains in the past, it's just going to get shattered when the cabinet is removed from the catacombs. Which is probably why we can't find it. But if we remove the Reflector from the cabinet, there's a good chance that nobody will care."
Grandpa shook his head. "I don't really like the sound of this. If someone found the Reflector in the past, it won't be there for them to find if you take it first."
"Think about it, Stan," said Bracken. "The only information we have on the Reflector whatsoever is what lead us to Peré Maison in the first place. It stands to believe that it was ultimately destroyed, probably by accident. Nobody else likely even knew of its true power."
"Yes," said Grandpa. "But that's all just conjecture. We don't know for sure now, do we? And messing with the past could have disastrous effects on the present."
"I understand completely where you're going with this," said Kendra. "But, my heart is telling me that the best choice of action would be to retrieve the Reflector from the past."
"You have good intentions," said Grandpa, "but opinions alone do not hold water."
"I'd be willing to give her a chance," said Bracken. "In order to be elected as the Fairy Queen's handmaiden, one must be pure of heart. One that is free of falsities."
"It still doesn't prove anything," said Grandpa.
"What about the theory that time can't be changed?" asked Seth. "As in, if we do go back in time, we'd allow events to play out the way there were supposed to?"
"Hmm. You do seem so certain about all of this. And the path to the Reflector seems to end at it's home in Peré Maison. All right, you win."
"You mean it?" exclaimed Seth, as his face lit up in delight.
"I suppose. But if this seriously messes up the timestream without wiping us all from existence, I'll insist that you put things back the way they were."
"Got it!" said Kendra. "Let's go back in time and see what we can do about salvaging the Reflector!"
After leaving the room, Kendra, Seth, Ingrid, Bracken and Bright all gathered in the hallway.
"You know," said Bright, "we don't really need the dragons for this mission."
"You've got a point," said Seth. "We know where we're going, and we know what we want."
"If you're all ready, we can go back right now," said Kendra, removing the Translocator from her bag.
"Let's do it!" said Ingrid, as she and the others all placed their hand on the artifact. Kendra then twisted the Translocator, and the group was suddenly transported to the garden on the grounds of Peré Maison.
"Before we go back in time," said Kendra, "we need to think of a place where we can hide the Reflector in the past. Somewhere nearby, where it won't attract attention.
"What's wrong with right here?" asked Ingrid, looking around the garden.
Seth rolled his eyes "For one thing, there's no landmark. When we hid the Skullifier in the past, it was in a very specific, protected spot."
"So, why can't we bury the Reflector exactly where we're standing? All we need to do is put it in something safe, and we can hide it right where we are now. All that seems to be here now is a garden. It wouldn't require the same amount of excavation as the hotel."
"It's worth a try," said Bright. "Let's go for it!"
Kendra pulled out the Chronometer, and allowed the others to all touch it. She then fiddled with the controls. Once again, the group was hurled back in time like they had done so before. And just like the last trip, everybody was naked again.
Ingrid groaned, until the group quickly noticed that the fairy clothes from their last trip were lying on the ground. They then proceeded to slip them on.
"I sent us back to just after we left on our previous visit," said Kendra. "Come on!"
The group went around to the front of the mansion, then passed through the front door. They continued through the house and into the kitchen, then ventured down the stairs into the catacombs. From there, they made their way to the cabinet, where the Reflector had been located.
"Thank Raxtus for opening the door earlier," said Kendra, as Seth proceeded to open the unlocked cabinet.
"I got it!" said Seth, as he picked up the Reflector. Now that he was holding it, Seth couldn't help but stare into the frame of the mirror. Although intriguing, there did not appear to be anything unusual about it. All that Seth saw was his own reflection in the mirror.
"Good," said Bright. "Now let's get back to the garden."
The group then headed back upstairs and through the house, exiting via the front door. From there, they made their way to the side of the house, where they had initially arrived upon traveling back in time.
"Okay," said Bright ."Now what?"
"I guess we should just bury it somewhere," said Ingrid.
"And what, pray tell, are we supposed to dig with?" asked Seth.
"Try using this," said Bright. She then snapped her fingers, prompting a shovel to appear next to Seth, handle in his hand.
"This'll be fun," said Seth sarcastically, as he thrust the shovel into the ground, then dug out a clump of dirt.
"How deep does this hole need to be?" asked Ingrid, as Seth excavated more dirt from the hole, causing it to grow slightly deeper.
"Not that deep, honestly," said Bright. "Two feet should be sufficient."
"Almost there," said Seth, as he chucked another clump of dirt out of the hole, then stopped to wipe his brow.
"Uh, we can't just bury a mirror like this," said Kendra, holding up the Reflector. "It's too fragile. I'm sure it'll crack."
"Leave that to us," said Bright. "Set the Reflector down in the hole."
"Okay," said Kendra, as she knelt down and lowered the mirror into the hole, as Bright had instructed.
"Bracken and I are going to place two enchantments upon the Reflector. First, the cocoon."
Bright and Bracken held out their hands. The kids watched as rainbow-colored sparkles rained down from both of them and into the hole. A moment later, a green, spongy, oval-shaped surface appeared around the Reflector.
"What is that?" asked Ingrid.
"The cocoon?" asked Bright. "Why, it's going to protect the Reflector while it's buried, so that it won't be broken before we retrieve it in the present."
"And now for the distractor spell," said Bracken. He and Bright released more sparkles upon the cocoon for a moment, then stopped.
"There," said Bright. "Now that it's protected, nobody's going to stumble upon the Reflector by accident."
"But what about the garden?" asked Ingrid.
"It's a weak spell," replied Bracken. "It won't stop the garden from being developed, but it'll stop people from accidentally digging the Reflector up."
"I guess we're good to go," said Seth. He then began to scoop the dirt he had dug up back into the hole. Now that it had been loosened, it was a lot easier for Seth to place the dirt back where it belonged. As he was done with the shovel, Bright used her magic to make it vanish.
"Now we return to the present," said Kendra, holding out the Chronometer. "Hopefully, this whole thing goes according to plan."
Once everybody was touching the Chronometer, Kendra pressed the main button. As she had anticipated, the group was hurled through time, returning to the present.
"I never cared for this part," said Seth, scrambling to place his clothing, which had been lying on the ground, back on.
"And now, the big question," said Kendra. "Is the Reflector still where we buried it?"
"Only one way to find out," said Bright, using her magic to summon another shovel.
"I'm pretty sure this was the spot," said Seth, setting the shovel down against a particular spot in the soil.
Seth then started to dig a hole in the spot where he believed the Reflector belonged. After digging down a bit, he could feel something firm.
"I see it!" exclaimed Ingrid, looking down into the hole. "It's the cocoon!"
Kendra looked down into the hole and surely enough, the cocoon that Bright and Clover had produced in the past was in it. Reaching in with her hands, Kendra removed the cocoon from the hole. "How do I get it open?" she asked.
"Allow me," said Bracken, as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the cocoon vanished, leaving behind the Reflector that had been inside of it in Kendra's hands.
"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Seth. "We did it! We retrieved the Reflector from the past!"
"And we're still alive!" noted Ingrid. "I sure hope everything else stayed the same."
"Yeah. I hope our actions in the past didn't turn Earth into Planet of the Apes or anything."
"Looks like normal people to me," said Kendra, watching as several humans walked past the edge of the garden in the distance.
"Great!" said Seth. "We got the Reflector! We didn't mess up! And we even did it without Warren's help! Come on! Let's get back to Fablehaven so we can show the Reflector to the others!"