“Please, I-I’ll give you the ring and Vanity’s Mirror.” I reached inside my coat pocket and took out the mirror, holding it up.
Tsaeb, Sophia and Taurus all three gasped.
“What are you doing?” shouted Tsaeb.
Sophia lunged for the mirror but missed and fell as I raised it above me.
The woman’s eyes widened with intrigue.
“I don’t need it anymore,” I said hesitantly, though I wasn’t so sure that was exactly true. “It took me where I needed to go and I no longer have a use for it.”
I regretted that, but the offer was already put out there and the woman probably would want nothing less now. I remembered too late that the Tree of Life told me the mirror would show me the way to the Center of Eden. The unexpected help it had given me that eventually led me to Hell had overshadowed that important fact and blinded me in my desperation.
“No, Norman!” Sophia screamed. “You can’t give that to
her
! I wanted it! Please!”
As the woman took Vanity’s Mirror by its painted wooden handle, Sophia lunged at her. The scuffle was brief, and in seconds, the young woman stood over Sophia with the heel of her boot pressed harshly against Sophia’s chest. Sophia looked more stunned than she looked defeated. It was clear to everyone that this type of defeat was not something she was used to.
Taurus hoisted Sophia up, dusting off her dress with both of his giant hands. Then Sophia came for me next, grabbing tightly to my clothes and letting her weight drop. “Norman, please! That mirror can give me the one thing an imp bean probably never will!” The heels of her shoes dug deeply into the wet gravel.
“I accept your offer,” said the woman. “Now give me the ring.”
I swallowed hard, handing the ring back to her. She put both of her new possessions away safely behind the folds of her cloak. I knew I had just made an idiot mistake.
I’ll think of a way to get it back
, I thought.
I’ll take it from her if I have to. I’ll let Tsaeb have his way with her.
I felt like shit for thinking that way, but it had to be that way. I was no longer at home in the only reality I believed before existed. I was in a place that demanded my full worth and ability. Reality was different here, and petty things such as human morals and laws were more likely to help kill me than they would do anything else.
“Thanks, now can we go?” I said, feeling my anxiety only subside a little.
Tsaeb was already sitting in the back of the boat, clearly still disgruntled about the lackluster outcome of the scene before. Sophia was completely devastated. “Should’ve just killed her like you said and took the friggin’ boat, Norman.” She spat at me and crawled inside the boat, too.
I may have to after all, Sophia...I may just have to....
I hopped in last after the woman and took a seat on the center bench.
“Thanks, Taurus,” I said waving from the boat. “When this is all over, hopefully you won’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Taurus helped out by giving the bow one big push, which sent the boat easily off into the water and left it with a bit of speed to spare. “Quite welcome,” he answered as he waved us on. “I wish you luck!”
Taurus added, “Goodbye my little friend!” and Sophia, putting her anger aside for only a moment, waved back at him.
The woman stood near the front of the boat and pushed it along with the ferryman’s pole. The mist covering the water thickened and soon I could not see more than eight feet in front of me, but as we pushed our way through it and the silence, the mist eventually tapered. Visibility of the shore we had left seemed only a memory and whenever I tried to look back at it, I could see nothing but the overcast sky above the mist. The air was getting cooler; this was a welcome change. I studied my reflection in the crystal-clear water, watching it ripple calmly in and out of my vision. I hated how my hair looked, a messy mop of chestnut that matched an ever-growing scruffy beard that itched like mad. I was sure I had lice by now.
“Sorry to deter you from your original destination,” I said to the woman.
She replied with her back to me, “I wasn’t heading anywhere special, and for the price you paid I’d make the trip more than once.” She turned her head barely enough to see me. “I almost feel bad for accepting it.”
“Yeah, well I feel stupid for giving it up.”
“You
are
stupid for giving it up,” snapped Sophia, “and I
hate
you for it.” She crossed her arms and glared out ahead with a fat puckered bottom lip.
Tsaeb looked bored.
“Well a deal’s a deal,” the woman replied.
Silence consumed most of the way. The tension among everyone made conversation difficult, but Tsaeb and Sophia’s quiet behavior I was thankful for. I knew I would pay for what I had done later. I dreaded what Sophia would do to get her revenge. Tsaeb would make it a point to remind me every time I faced an issue, that giving up the mirror was a grave mistake and that the issue was caused by it somehow.
I could just take the mirror now and shove her out of the boat.
Sure, I could do that; but of course, I didn’t.
The new shore slowly began to come into view as the mist broke apart over generous sections of water. I could see the waterfall much better now than I could from across the lake, but it was still a considerable distance away. I noticed that Taurus was right about the sun. Everywhere the sky was overcast, but in one particular area behind a dense patch of trees, there was a great beam of light spilling out over the treetops. That was my destination and I was both eager to get there and tense about what I would face when I did.
I began to think of home. Visions of my apartment, my job and my friends all went by slowly and sadly in my mind. I thought about the park where I met the Devil, but not of the day it happened; it was two years earlier that I remembered. I had decided to take my sketchpad that day and draw the old abandoned train bridge that had become a landmark for sightseers. I was an excellent artist and could sketch anything in black and white so well that one would expect it to come alive from the page. For years, it was all that I wanted to do, to draw, and I dreamt of making a career out of my talent. But life took me on another road, one that had so far only landed me a dead-end job, a cheating ex-wife and a burnt body caused by a chain-smoking hag.
“Are you going to try to free the Angel?” said the woman. “It’s not easy to do, you know.”
“I wouldn’t imagine it was,” I said, “but yes, that’s what I’m going there to do...I think.” It occurred to me only then what I might have to do once I found the ‘Serpent that braids the Angel’s hair’, even though Taurus had already mentioned the Angel was a prisoner. Somehow, I knew freeing her would probably not involve guns or swords, or stealthy ninja moves
—
something I did not have in the slightest. I had the Devil’s eyes, and when I reminded myself of that, I moved my fingers over the outside of my coat to feel the contours of them and make sure that they were still there.
“You never did say where you ran off to, Norman,” said Tsaeb.
I flashed him an aggravated look.
“I’m sure you have some idea,” I replied. “I’m sure you could be more help to me than you have been so far, too.”
“No arguing on my boat,” the woman barked. “We’re almost there so save it for land.”
Sophia leaned over the side of the boat and began oaring the water with her hands. “Well, can’t this thing go any faster?”
“You’re saying I haven’t helped you?” Tsaeb sneered. “I didn’t almost lose my head with that succubus because of you, or keep you from losing yours in the Field?”
“Enough!” the young woman shouted.
“Not to mention,” Tsaeb went on, “giving up
my
ring to
her
.”
The pole came out of the water and smacked against the floor of the boat between Tsaeb and me. “One more word and you’ll both swim the rest of the way. Got it?”
The fury in her features demanded instant respect. Even Tsaeb, taken by surprise, stiffened and became silent without objection. The woman put the pole back in the water. She seemed more edgy than before. She was, however, a woman stuck in a small boat with two demons and a man who just happened to be the most wanted man in Creation. She had every right to be whatever she wanted to be, considering. She moved the boat a little faster now.
I stood carefully so as not to wobble the boat and dump us all in the lake.
“Would you like me to help?” I offered. I thought it was rude of me to be sitting back while she pushed the four of us across the giant lake. The only thing that stopped me from offering sooner was because of the substantial and unfair form of payment it took just to get the ride.
“No,” she said, still with her back turned, “but thank you.”
Tsaeb struggled to keep his comments to himself. He probably wanted to point out how I might surely steer us in the wrong direction, or get the pole stuck in the lake floor, or any variation of ‘Norman can’t steer a boat’. I choked back a laugh, finding it the funniest thing ever that someone actually succeeded in shutting Tsaeb up for once.
The boat slowed to a stop on the shore and everyone took no time getting out. As Tsaeb sloshed through the water the woman said, “Hey, wait,” and tossed the golden ring back to him the moment he turned. He caught it, looked at her oddly and shrugged while slipping it back on his undersized finger.
“That’s his way of saying ‘
thank you
’,” I said to the woman, putting extra emphasis on the words Tsaeb should have said himself.
“Hey, give me a break already!” Tsaeb argued. “I’m getting tired of being your punching bag.”
Maybe I
was
being too hard on him.
Sophia approached the woman and I was instantly put on alert. Sophia’s hands were folded gently in front of her and she looked sad and not at all threatening or mischievous. With her left hand, she touched her right eye and sniffled. Was it a tear? I was instantly taken aback.
“Please give back the mirror,” she said. “You really don’t need it, lady. I’m sure we can give you something else of value.”
The woman let the hood of her cloak fall away from her head and she felt inside for the mirror. Taking it out by the wooden handle, she kept the glass face down. It was apparent she knew already the danger of Vanity’s Mirror. “This,” she said to Sophia, “is certainly not something one like you needs in her possession. Imps are wretched, devious things that do not fear consequence, and I know this all too well.”
Sophia maintained her sad act, if it was really an act at all. I still was not sure.
“I’m really not all that bad,” said Sophia. “But come on lady, it’s not just about me. I know Vanity’s Mirror will show Norman the way to the Center of Eden and it’s where he’s got to go.”
I stepped beside Sophia. “She’s telling the truth,” I said, “but it’s okay, like you said, a deal’s a deal. I’ll find another way there.” I took Sophia by the shoulder. “We won’t bother you anymore.” I felt Sophia become rigid under my hand and this was the sign I needed to know that she was putting on an act after all. Sophia felt the mirror quickly slipping away and she was going to show her true colors again any second now. I needed to prevent that, because I was putting on a show, too.
“Wait,” said the woman, stopping us not a second too soon. “Look, I do feel bad about taking the mirror like this. Now, I’m not saying I’m willing to give it back, but I think maybe I could go along with you a little farther. Maybe stick around until you find your way?”
This was too easy. It was my intention to guilt her into giving the mirror up so I wouldn’t be forced to take it from her at any cost, but for her to offer to go along
—last thing
I expected. A half an hour ago the woman didn’t want to help at all. She practically recoiled at the mention of Samyaza’s name. She complained about being a target if she were to be seen with me. Now, she wanted to help and she wanted to go with us? I thought about the warning the Tree of Life gave to me, about how women of all kinds would be drawn to me. It was dangerous trusting anyone at all, most of all a woman. But I needed the mirror and I didn’t want to have to do anything that would later weigh terribly on my conscience just to get it back.