And with that he was gone.
Chapter Three
HMM, I could definitely get used to having him around a lot
, Silver thought with a smile on her face.
Now, I want to go investigate my mirror some more.
She still couldn’t understand what she had seen in the mirror.
Scurrying back upstairs, she went back into her bedroom and stood before the mirror. As she stood there looking at her reflection, there was a subtle change, like a kind of light swirling mist encircling her reflection.
What the hell
, she thought, with a bit of panic.
When the mist cleared, she was still staring at her reflection but with a few differences.
Her hair was done up in a rather old fashioned ringlet style and her clothing, well, she had certainly never worn anything of this sort. It was a dress with a low cut front that showed off her cleavage and a cinched in waist of a size that was totally abnormal. Her waist had certainly never been that small!
Just as she was starting to think that she was losing her mind, she blinked and everything had changed back again.
Silver slowly sank down on the foot of her bed somewhat stunned. What was it about this mirror? She knew she would never feel at ease until she understood more about what was going on with it.
There was only one place to begin and that was where she first found the mirror and that would be at the antique shop. She would have to pay a visit there tomorrow first thing because something was definitely off.
Silver didn’t sleep well that night because she continued to keep staring at the mirror. Finally, she put a pillow over her head and turned her back to the mirror.
After a while, she was able to fall asleep.
The next morning, she found herself avoiding the mirror, which kind of made her sad because she had been so excited to get it. Now she was, what, afraid of it? That couldn’t be right because you simply couldn’t be afraid of an inanimate object! But this “inanimate object” had become quite animated and she wasn’t sure what to do. She still felt that the answers lay in the antique shop.
Silver got dressed, and headed down to her kitchen for coffee and a bagel. She checked her email as she ate and saw that she had a couple of potential clients. Composing emails to them, she sent them off and was ready to head out to the antique shop. The little shop had been located at the other end of town in an isolated area, but she was confident that she could find it again. She did remember that she had wondered why she had never seen it until that day, though.
An hour later, she was still driving up and down the street that she was positive the shop had been located on. It had been a rather crowded and dusty place on the inside and she remembered sneezing while in there browsing around. The woman that had sold her the mirror had been older, close to 70 at least, but she was also rather friendly and spry for her age. Silver tried to remember more about their conversation as she paid for the mirror. She remembered having to pay cash for it because the lady said they didn’t accept credit or debit cards. But, then, it had only been $25, and she was carrying that much in her wallet. When Silver had expressed surprise at the inexpensive price for such an obviously valuable antique mirror, the old lady had said something rather strange.
“You’re never charged more than you can afford to pay once you’re matched with an item,”
she had said.
At the time, Silver thought it was odd but she was also very caught up in her purchase and had put it right out of her mind.
Now, she wished she had paid more attention to a lot of things on that day. But she hadn’t and now she couldn’t even find the shop.
Chapter Four
AFTER SILVER made what had to be her tenth trip around the block, there was a woman watching her from inside of a gift shop nestled in among the other buildings.
What the hell
, Silver thought, and pulled over to parallel park by the sidewalk. Then, she exited her car and went into the gift shop.
A little bell jingled as she opened the door and the woman who had been watching her from the window approached her.
“May I help you with something?” she asked.
“You know, I honestly don’t know,” Silver answered. “Beautiful shop you’ve got here, by the way. I was wondering if you can tell me where the antique shop is. I know I’m in the right vicinity because I was just here two days ago and I bought the most amazing antique mirror there. I’ve got a couple of questions about it and I simply cannot find the shop now. Isn’t that crazy?”
Although Silver had tried to turn it into a small joke, she could see that the shop owner wasn’t amused. In fact, she was starting to look at Silver with something like alarm on her face. At last, she spoke.
“Um, well, I’m not sure what antique shop you’re talking about,” she said. “My grandmother used to talk about an antique shop that was down in here someplace. But that place closed years ago. To my knowledge, that’s the only one that was ever here.”
“Oh, that can’t be right,” Silver replied. “I was just there the day before yesterday.”
“Well, it’s the only one I can think of and I’m sure there’s no antique shop here now.”
Silver spent a few more minutes talking to the gift shop owner but it became clearer that there was little else to be gained from her. She was dead set that there wasn’t an antique shop in the area or within any of several blocks. So after spending some time politely browsing the shop and actually buying a miniature ceramic house that seemed to look just like the house she was living in now, she took her leave.
Once leaving the shop, Silver went back to her car and simply sat in it for several minutes trying to make sense of everything.
I know that shop was here,
she thought as she hit the steering wheel. She was upset because of the things she had seen in the mirror and now it seemed that she had imagined an antique shop where she had bought the mirror.
There had to be a reason for all of this, but she couldn’t find it.
When she spotted the gift shop owner watching her again, she decided she better leave or the police may be called on her. Pulling away slowly, she looked carefully at each of the shops and buildings aligned on the street as she drove past them. Not one of them was the antique shop. In fact, she couldn’t even remember the name of the shop now. Was she losing her mind?
She wasn’t even sure what she should be thinking at this point. At any rate, she needed to head back home because Colton had said he would be there sometime this afternoon to discuss plans for her garden and the gazebo.
Silver was so lost in thought as she drove home, she was surprised to see her street come up. She pulled into her driveway and sat there just staring straight ahead.
How could she have imagined a complete shop filled with dusty old furniture? And on top of that, how was it that she paid for a mirror that was delivered and now sitting upstairs in her bedroom?
I’ve really got to get this figured out,
she thought.
Finally, she got out of her car and went inside her house. She headed into the kitchen and fixed a chicken salad sandwich and glass of iced tea, then carried it out onto her back patio to eat while overlooking her beautiful garden.
Usually, this was one of her favorite times of the day, but this time she may as well have been eating sawdust and enjoying a view of the town dump.
All she could think of was the mystery of the vanishing antique store and her mirror.
Chapter Five
SILVER WAS still sitting and sipping tea when she heard a car pull into her driveway. Getting up, she went back into the house and straight to the front door.
Sure enough, it was Colton. She opened the door and greeted him.
“Hi, there,” she said. “Come on in. I’ll get you a glass of tea. Oh, have you had lunch?”
“Tea would be great” he replied. “I had lunch on the way over here, but thanks for the offer.”
She led him into her kitchen where she fixed him a glass of tea. As she handed it to him, she said “Oh, you didn’t get the full tour of the house yesterday. Would you like it now before we head out to the garden?”
“That sounds great,” he said. “Lead the way.”
Silver showed him all over the downstairs. The kitchen, of course, and a formal dining room. Then there was the parlor or formal living room. The den was one of her favorite rooms in the house because it opened out onto the pool area and the garden was also visible from there. A powder room opened off of the hallway and then there was Silver’s office. She had turned a study into the perfect home office.
Upstairs were four bedrooms and three baths. Of course, the master bedroom was the most amazing room of all and she saved it for last. Colton’s reaction to her huge room made her smile. Everyone that ever saw this room had the same slack-jawed reaction and she loved it every time.
“This is some room,” he exclaimed. “I’ve lived in apartments that you could fit completely in this one room and still have room left over.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Silver replied.
As he looked around the room, Colton’s gaze landed on the mirror. He walked over to it slowly and looked it over thoroughly.
“Where did you manage to find this beautiful piece?”
“Well, that’s a bit of a story in and of itself,” Silver said.
“I’ve got some time and I love to hear personal stories,” Colton grinned at her.
“Honestly, Colton, I’m not sure you’ll believe me. Hell, I’m not even sure that I believe what’s happened.”
While they were talking, Colton was looking at his reflection in the mirror. He noticed a slight change as he stared. A light mist started to swirl up around his reflection and when it cleared, he was dressed totally differently and the room had different, older furniture in it. Silver came over to stand beside him and gasped at what she saw.
The two of them stood there, side by side, dressed in clothes from the 1800’s but looking very familiar with each other except for the stunned expressions on their faces. Then, just as it was registering what they were seeing, everything went back to normal.
“Whoa,” said Colton as he backed away from the mirror, hands held out in front of him. “What the fuck was that?”
Silver sighed.
On the one hand, she was relieved that someone else other than herself had seen this very odd occurrence.
But now she had to figure out what to say that would not make him think she's gone crazy...
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Continue reading The Mystic Mirror: Erotic Fairy Tale Romance
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