Megan, who had half expected to see something in the mirror, was just about to make a snide comment when Lisa gasped. She was bent over the mirror, still staring at it. To Megan the mirror appeared just the same, but Lisa seemed to be seeing something else. She stiffened, then softly chanted what sounded like the same incantation she had recited. She nodded her head with the cadence of the words.
Megan could tell something was going on with Lisa, but aside from her sister’s behavior couldn’t see anything happening at all. Was this an act put on just for her benefit? She wouldn’t put it past her younger sister. At least she wouldn’t have in the past, but both sisters had become much more serious lately; Megan with her renovation project and Lisa with…whatever this was. Megan was about to call Lisa’s bluff (if that’s what it was) when Lisa sighed deeply and visibly relaxed, still on her knees.
“Well?” asked Megan. “Did you see something?”
“I saw it all. Didn’t you?”
“All I saw was you, Liss.”
“You didn’t see…in the mirror…”
“Not a thing.”
“I…well…that is, it worked. There is a treasure, and you wouldn’t believe it. It’s vast. And I know how to find it. We just follow the dog and he’ll take us there.”
“What dog?”
“That dog.” Lisa pointed, and by the moonlight Megan saw a large black dog emerge from the bushes. She stiffened, but the dog didn’t seem aggressive. In fact it didn’t even glance at her; it seemed to have eyes only for Lisa, who got up, returning the mirror to its box and brushing off her knees. “Come on.”
“Now? Right now? Liss, it’s the middle of the night.”
“Right now.” The dog turned to the east and Lisa followed it without even glancing at Megan.
“OK, OK, just…how far are we supposed to go, anyway?”
“Don’t know,” called Lisa as she walked after the dog.
Megan hesitated. They were still strangers to this country, and although they’d now lived in the town for a few months, they knew very little about the surrounding area. Other than a few brief daytrips, they had stayed in the mansion, and in the town. Megan made up her mind and trotted after Lisa. She was the big sister, after all; she had to look after Lisa.
The cemetery was on what was still an edge of the town, which had grown in other directions, and very quickly the sisters found themselves in the woods. The dog still led them on, never slowing, and never making a sound. Both Lisa and Megan had brought flashlights, but even so they stumbled and tripped in the underbrush; the dog seemed sure of where it was going but this definitely wasn’t a trail. When a branch scratched Megan’s face she exclaimed out loud and called “Liss, hang on a sec,” but Lisa said nothing and simply continued. Megan clenched her teeth and set off after her. She wondered how they were going to find their way out of the woods, and looked around for any memorable landmarks, but one tree was indistinguishable from another. At one point they crossed a brook that flowed from left to right, and Megan made a mental note. But she also noticed that in the mud next to the brook she could see Lisa’s footprints. But that was all; there was no sign of the black dog’s paws that she could see in the beam of the flashlight. She wanted to stop and look more closely, but the dog didn’t slow down, and neither did Lisa.
They walked on and on, finally emerging from the woods. Megan looked around, still trying to find a landmark, but in the moonlight all she could see was that there were hills all around them now. Was the moon still in the same place in the sky? No, that couldn’t be; they’d been walking for what felt like hours. Then, smacking herself in the head for stupidity, Megan checked her watch. Then checked it again, then held it to her ear. The thing must be broken, it still said a few minutes after 1. But she heard it ticking regularly. What exactly was going on?
“Lisa!” she called. “Slow down, there’s something…” But Lisa kept on walking, and she and the dog were going faster now that they weren’t hampered by underbrush. Megan hurried to catch up. She trotted up to her sister and turned the beam of her flashlight into Lisa’s face. Lisa didn’t flinch. In fact it seemed like Lisa didn’t even see the light; her eyes were fixed straight ahead on the dog. Megan grabbed her sister by the shoulder and shook her as best she could as they walked. No reaction. She trotted a couple of steps and stopped directly in front of Lisa, expecting her to stop. But Lisa simply sidestepped around her and kept going. Nothing Megan tried even slowed her sister down. Finally Megan gave in and marched grimly behind Lisa. She cast her flashlight beam around on the ground, looking for something like a big stick, but they had left the forest and all she could find to pick up was a softball-sized rock. Better than nothing, she thought.
Megan felt like they’d been walking forever when Lisa stopped so suddenly in front of her that they collided. They were a little way up a rocky hillside, right next to some gigantic boulders in an unruly pile.
“Oof…what’s going on?”
“We’re here,” said Lisa, sounding more like herself.
“Where’s the dog?”
“He’s gone.”
If he was ever here, thought Megan. “So now what?”
“This is what the mirror showed me, Meg. Now we go in.”
