Sarah looks perplexed for a moment, then puts the book down and brushes her hair out of her eyes. She holds out her hands, almost defiantly, as if she doesn't quite believe Nic.
Nic takes her hands.
Nic: OK, Sarah. Close your eyes, and think of Mingxia. I mean, really concentrate on her. You've seen her a hundred times, so picture her face the last time you told her a really good joke. See her face again in your mind, see her smile. I want you to think about how it sounded when she laughed really loud at your joke. Hear that laugh again in your mind. Smell the perfume she wore, or the hand lotion she always used. See her, and hear her, and smell these things right now, Sarah. Then open you eyes, and look into the mirror. But you won't see you, you'll see your friend Mingxia, wherever she is, right now.
[i]Nic knows that most magicians will certainly think to hide the victim with cloaking magic, but sometimes inexperienced ones forget to enspell the actual room that they put the kidnappee in. Nic's already seen the room briefly, so he focuses on that image. Maybe he can get a reading on where the room is more easily than the magically-shadowed occupant.
Nic begins chanting a low, almost inaudible sing-song incantation that he learned form a Tibetan mystic, as he and Sarah look into the mirror.[/i]
[i](Sorcery 19) The mirror begins to fog. Sarah catches her breath, obviously surprised by such a dramatic response. The moisture begins to sublime off the mirror. An image appears, blurred and confused, almost as if two images are trying to occupy the same space. One seems to be the room Nic saw earlier, or at least one very much like it, but empty. The second seems like a supine figure lying on a bed. Steam rises from the frame of the mirror. Before any details can be made out, or one image replace the other fully, there's a crack like a gunshot, and the mirror is reduced to a mess of crazed shards.
Sarah flinches, and the sorcery is broken.
The frame of the mirror makes small noises as it cools. Parts of it seem to have melted. Everyone one is taking stock of events when Sarah lets out a small cry.
The points to the mirror, where the glass is cracked to resemble a cackling face.[/i]
Nic raises an eyebrow, and steps closer to look at the face in the cracked glass.
Nic: Huh. That's new.
A sharp burst of music breaks the silence. Ming's pager is going off.
Huang's eyes go steel. He's seen enough crazy shit in his day to know what this generally means. He's getting really sick of this go cao de liu mang who has Mingxia, and he silently vows to give that someone a face full of twelve-gauge when they finally catch up to him or her.
Huang: Your next mirror's on us. Ming?
Ming checks her pager.
There's a short message:
GARAGE RENTED WITH CREDIT CARD NAME OF AARON THOMAS
[i]The knuckles of Huang's fist crack audibly and his jaw visibly sets.
This can mean one of two things: Either Mr. Thomas is indeed behind this, or someone close to Mr. Thomas is using his credit card identity to further whatever hell Mingxia is being put through, and doing serious damage to Mr. Thomas's reputation in the process. Either way, the fact that Mr. Thomas's name is connected to the garage Huang and the crew has just fought its way out of is pretty damned suspicious in his book.
He jots some more notes into his notepad.[/i]
Huang: We need to leave now. I have to speak with Mr. Thomas concerning his credit account and who in his family has accessed it recently.
Ming nods and heads for the door.
Ming: Thanks for your help, Sarah. Be sure to call us if you think of anything else. And keep your chin up ... we're doing everything we can to find her!
Nic hustles out the door behind his partners, nodding to Sarah and her mom on the way out. As he passes Sarah, he leans close and whispers.
Nic: Oh, and Sarah... don't play with things you don't understand. Most of the books in your room are harmless, but if you want to know what's really what, visit Two-Tooth Chung over in the park on Sunday mornings. He can teach you a thing or two.
He follows Huang and Ming towards the car.
As the car pulls away, lights still flashing, Sarah and her mother stand in the doorway watching. After the car is gone, they look at each other, as if to say 'What's with them?'.