The door opened and in stepped the queen's personal cook followed by the queen herself and one of the queen's guards. The queen looked around the room for a second, probably looking for an intruder, then nodded to the other two birds. Their disguises dropped and, where before there had been a raven, a purple martin, and a burly falcon, there was now a vulture, a butcher bird, and a young mimic.
Bright Shimmer barely stifled a gasp. The butcher bird and mimic were famous outlaws known as the bloody crow and stalker. She shuffled closer to catch what they were saying and just barely managed not to trip on a stack of books. She looked up quickly to see if her scuffle had been heard, but the three birds were still conversing and Bright Shimmer could finally hear what they were saying.
"…. finally have the old goose under my spell." Grenta was saying to the others, "His resistance was stronger than most, but he now obeys my every word."
She must mean my father. Bright Shimmer realized. Then, I know she did hypnotize him! And now I know what to do about it! She was ready to rush out then, but those who had been blocking the doorway were, of course, still there, so she had to wait while they continued talking.
"Great!" she heard the butcher bird exclaim, "we have the king hypnotized, the princess lost in the woods, and the queen trapped in the mirror. Now, all we have to do is make the king name you heir and we can kill him and claim the throne!
The all agreed and began a conversation about what they would do when they claimed power, but Bright Shimmer wasn't listening she was still caught on one thing the butcher bird said "the queen trapped in the mirror" she put it together with the thing the mirror herself said "but when my kin seek answers…" Bright Shimmer put two and two together and concluded that her mother was inside the mirror, or possibly was the mirror. Bright Shimmer had to act quickly.