"Oh, it's OK. Look, we're almost there, anyhow."
Trubel parked the car at the curb.
A loud noise and a blinding flash from the upstairs window shook the still air.
Both startled at the noise.
"What the heck was that?!" Claudia exclaimed.
"Dunno, but it can't be good."
As they got out of the car, they heard screams.
Both raced to the door, Trubel unlocking it quickly.
She scrambled through the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the counter, and ran up the stairs.
Claudia followed shortly, her Tesla drawn.
As they climbed the stairs, they could hear loud voices in the bedroom.
Trubel nodded to Claudia, who gave a thumbs up before kicking the door open.
"What's—" Claudia began, but stopped.
"I don't know!" Juliet shouted, pointing at the mirror on the wall. "Trubel, who's that? And please, somebody get Nick. We have to figure out what the hell's going on!"
Claudia approached the mirror so that she could see into it, stopping short in shock.
"HG?" She asked, dumbfounded.
"Hello Claudia." HG waved, smiling. "I seem to have..well, I'm not quite sure. I seem to be trapped somehow in this mirror. I'm afraid I frightened her a good bit, but…everything's alright otherwise."
Claudia nodded, before turning to Juliet.
"Hi, Sorry about all this… Anyways, what's your name?" Claudia offered, putting her Tesla away, extending a hand to Juliet, who returned the handshake.
"I'm Juliet. And you're…Claudia?"
"Yep," Claudia replied.
"Yeah, sorry about not calling first, she kind of…well, she kind of is…just appeared, kind of like that woman," Trubel explained, pointing to the mirror.
"Appeared?" Juliet asked.
"Yeah," both Trubel and Claudia said at once.
"Trust me, I didn't plan on coming to Portland this afternoon, buuuut…life. Nothing's ever dull in my line of work, y'know?"
Juliet made a face, nodding. "Nothing ever is with Nick around, either."
"So…Nick, are you going to call this Nick guy?"
"Yeah, I think I will go do that now," Juliet replied, making her way toward the door. "Trubel, as long as you stay up here with the mirror woman, I think we'll be OK."
As she left the room, Claudia took a seat on the trunk at the end of the bed.
"So, HG, it's been a while," she said.
"Yes, it has," HG replied, nodding.
"Wait, how do you two know each other exactly?" Trubel cut in, stepping toward the mirror to look at HG.
"We've been coworkers for quite some time now," HG replied, watching Trubel as she spoke.
"Yeah, that's the short story," Claudia said.
HG sighed.
"And your name was…?" Trubel asked.
"I'm Helena G. Wells."
"Wait…Claudia was calling you HG… like HG Wells?" Trubel's face conveyed her excitement, she stepped toward the mirror to speak directly to her. "But you can't be, that was so long ago—you aren't related to the novelist, are you?"
"He was my brother. Although I was the one with the ideas, he was the one everyone attributed the books to. It wasn't a time that a woman's work would be taken seriously." HG said, gesturing as she made her point.
"Oh." Trubel bit her lip, as if thinking of something.
"Yeah, but she's pretty awesome, in general, aren't ya?" Claudia said.
"I suppose." HG replied, smiling demurely.
"Oh, come on! You have the coolest machines ever!" Claudia exclaimed, breaking into a grin as she said so.
This earned a small smile from HG.
"Thanks, but perhaps we shouldn't speak of my inventions anymore, since they're rather sensitive information for the team." HG said, sighing.
"Actually, I'm not even sure if there's a warehouse here. There doesn't seem to be an Artie or Myka, Pete, Steve or even Mrs. F here. None of their numbers worked. Believe me, I tried. I landed in the middle of a park before Trubel brought me here. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, I think, we're in a parallel universe." Claudia said, her face expression and tone both conveying her uncertainty.
"Well, it's a reasonable possibility. It's as strange an occurrence as I've seen, certainly."