Through the Looking Glass

Kat opened the door and walked into her friends' house dressed in leggings and a t-shirt. "Daisy? Lauren?" she called out.

She heard them in the living room and followed their voices. "So the orbs came to you guys too?" she asked after they greeted her.

They nodded and vaguely spoke of what had happened. Kat shuddered as she remembered the previous night. She might've locked up her sex toys better if she knew something could bring them to life. Well...maybe not locked that tight.

Her attention was brought to a mason jar sitting on the coffee table with what looked like a pile of some clear goo resting at the bottom. "What's that about?" she asked, reaching for it.

"Careful!" the other girls cried at once.

Before her hand reached it, she yelped and pulled it back as the jelly surged up the glass towards her, rocking the container. Lauren grabbed it and held it steady for a moment before letting go. "One of the orbs possessed a bottle of petroleum jelly last night. Daisy managed to get it in the container earlier after it finished...um...well..."

Daisy blushed and shifted her legs. Kat ignored them for the most part, still staring at the jar. "So one of the orbs is possessing that stuff?" she asked.

Lauren said yes, and Kat picked up the jar carefully. She held it up to look inside as the goo sloshed and jumped around. It was a bizarre sight to see the cream animated in such a fashion. "Was this the only orb you guys saw last night?"

"No, not by a long shot. The others are all gone we think. We don't know why this one stayed." Daisy answered.

The goo seemed to realize it was trapped, and settled down. "What's it doing?" Kat asked, and they all gathered to look.

The jelly shuddered and seemed to congeal, when suddenly a bright orb flew out from the now still cream. Kat nearly dropped the glass in surprise, and quickly set it back down as they all backed away. The orb flew up to the lid, which suddenly began to unscrew itself.

"What do we do?" Lauren asked nervously.

"I don't know!" Kat responded as the lid popped off.

The orb floated out above the table to eye level, seeming to observe the girls. After another tense few seconds, it darted towards a large vanity mirror that hung on the wall. It flew into the silvery surface, which then seemed to ripple in waves before settling.

The three girls looked at each other, then cautiously approached the mirror. The mirror rose from the floor to just above their heads, and was about three feet wide. Lauren always said it made the room look bigger. As they looked at the silvery surface, they noted that all of their reflections were missing.

"Weird." Kat muttered, as she slowly reached towards the surface.

"What are you doing!?" Lauren exclaimed.

"What? I don't think these things are trying to hurt us." she looked at her friend defensively.

"We don't know anything!" Lauren declared.

"Exactly." Kat replied, and poked the mirror.

She yanked her hand back as the mirror rippled away from her touch like a pool of water. Daisy and Lauren looked from the mirror to Kat. "It felt cool. Like water almost, but not quite."

Reaching forward again, Kat pressed harder, and her whole hand suddenly slipped through and stuck out the other side. She quickly pulled it back through and looked at them with wide eyes. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

The tested the mirror for a few more minutes. Daisy managed to toss one of her shoes through the portal, before immediately regretting the decision. "Damn it, how am I supposed to get it back?"

"I'll get it." Kat declared, and before either of the two girls could stop her, she stepped through the mirror.

The silvery surface rippled around her like a cool liquid, and a moment later she stood on the other side. She looked around curiously. Wherever this was looked identical to the room she'd just left, only as if under a slightly different filter she couldn't quite explain. She picked up the shoe and turned back to the mirror. Daisy and Lauren seemed to be yelling at her from the other side, but their voices were halted by the mirror apparently. Kat smiled and waved before tossing the shoe back through.

She turned and looked around the room some more. She walked up to the window to look outside, but the window panes were just mirrors themselves, throwing her curious reflection back at her. Deciding she should head back, she turned and walked toward the mirror. As she approached it, she froze as it began to ripple again. Suddenly, the orb shot out of the reflective surface and flew at her. She quickly side stepped and it flew past her, turning sharply at the wall before darting out of sight around the corner into the hallway.

Kat let out a breath and turned back to the mirror. She froze. Instead of Daisy and Lauren, all she saw was her own reflection. Her way back was gone.

Liz frantically rifled through the forum she'd found the spell on that had started this whole mess. There had to be something here! Aside from the initial post, it was just a bunch of crap she couldn't use or understand. She kept looking. A little while ago the spectral woman had disappeared as suddenly as she'd arrived when Liz started messing with the board again. Liz didn't really know what was going on, but she knew she'd started it.

As she scanned the website, she found another post by the same author and quickly clicked on it. The post was just a link to a p.d.f. titled "Investigations Into The Realm". Too **** too worry about it containing some weird virus, she quickly began the download. As she sat there waiting, she heard a strange noise and turned around.

The small mirror she used for makeup was rattling slightly on her dresser. She slowly stood and turned to approach it. Before she could reach it, dozens of glowing orbs erupted from the small silver circle. They swarmed around the room as the last of them flew out to join the rest.

'At least I know where they're all at.' she thought as the first one dipped towards her.