Chapter 21

21

     Later that afternoon Jordan and Stacey sat with their milkshakes in the pastel yellow booth of Jo Jo’s- the local ice cream parlor decked out in pastel yellows, minty greens, petal soft pinks and baby blues. It was always a relaxing atmosphere and a lot of kids came here after school for their famous milk shakes and ice cream.

Jordan sipped on her milkshake contemplating how to start, but Stacey, sensing Jordan beating around the bush, interrupted her thoughts with, “So?”

“So…” Jordan began, again unsure how to even start this story. She decided she would have to start from the beginning so slowly in stops and starts, she spilled the story about Bethany, the mirror, the arcade, stopping Teresa from harming herself and then the fire. Stacey sat chewing on her bottom lip, occasionally stopping Jordan here and there for brief clarifications until both girls sat staring at one another in silence.

“Wow,” is all Stacey breathed and Jordan sat forward on her seat waiting for more. “Dear God, Jordan,” Stacey whispered, “This is serious. You’ve got to destroy it.”

  “What?” Jordan yelped, not expecting this to be Stacey’s response. “Destroy it? I saved your life because of it. If I destroy it then how can I help, how can I stop-“

     “Stop what, Jordan?” Stacey interrupted. “Stop the inevitable?  What God wants to happen? You’re playing God and the consequences…”

Here she stopped and looked at Jordan with pleading eyes, nonetheless it was obvious that even she didn’t know what the consequences might be, if any.

     “The mirror was forced into my life for a reason, Stace, I can’t just destroy it. It’s ancient and has been passed on for centuries. I can’t let Bethany down like that. I can’t not know.”

     “Well, one thing’s for sure, Teresa knows, Jordan. Did you change your blog password?”

     “Yeah, I changed it the next morning just in case. I just don’t see how she could have stolen that notebook right under my nose! Either way, I need your help, Stace. I want to show you what the mirror does.”

     Stacey shivered at the thought, but silently nodded her head in consent. The two girls finished their milk shakes and rode back to Jordan’s in silence. Jordan’s mother wasn’t home, no doubt at the airport to pick up her father who was returning from his flight that evening. His car was in the shop and they were working on one car for now. This caused Jordan distress as she knew that if anything came up, using the car would be out of the question. It was a good thing that Stacey now knew the truth and had a car, just in case.

     Jordan led Stacey up the stairs and into the dusty attic. The mirror stood in place covered in its ghostly shroud, awaiting Jordan’s return. She could feel it- the pull of the mirror and she had felt it all day. She knew the mirror called to her and that’s why she knew that Stacey had to see for herself.

     She pulled the sheet from the mirror and heard Stacey’s low whistle and she stood before it appraising its ancient beauty. Stacey reached forth tentatively and touched the glass, the dark wooden frame, her eyes travelling its length to the symbols at the top.

     “What are those?” Stacey whispered.

     “Runes,” Jordan replied, “I researched them in the library and have a list here…” she reached for her notebook and handed it to Stacey to survey the strange symbols and their corresponding meaning.

     “Obviously you’ve done a lot of work here,” Stacey stated, palpable hurt in her voice at having been left out for so long.

“I’m so sorry, Stacey. I just didn’t know how to tell you. If I should tell you… anyone for that matter. The point is that you know now and you’re the only other person who knows. I just can’t do this alone. I really need your help.”

     Satisfied with the apology and the fantastic reality the mirror presented, Stacey nodded her head and waited expectantly for Jordan to begin.

     Jordan stepped forward tentatively, tilted the mirror forward, stood on her tiptoes as had become accustomed, and she rubbed her fingertips over the runes carved deep into the mirror’s upper arch. Wind swept their hair wildly and that stinging smell of chlorine and acrid electricity filled the air as pictures and symbols flashed forward in the glass. Quickly, Jordan scribbled down what she saw as Stacey stood, dumbfounded, her mouth gaping open like a fish.

     “Holy Crap!” was all Stacey could muster, as Jordan threw the sheet back over the mirror and the two girls descended to her bedroom.

     “That’s just- just unbelievable!” Stacey nearly shouted as she plopped on Jordan’s neatly made bed, staring at Jordan like she had two heads.

     “Well, believe it,” Jordan replied with a grim smile on her face. “We have a life to save IF we can figure out the clues.”

     Jordan grabbed a blank sheet of printer paper and handed it to Stacey and the two girls poured over the symbols and pictures that had appeared in the mirror.

     “That’s just so strange,” Jordan murmured to herself.

     “What? What’s strange?” Stacey yelped, obviously tense as to what all the signs and symbols could mean.

     “Some of the pictures and symbols have increasingly become more modern,” Jordan replied, putting her finger on the image of a cross and the caduceus- a short staff with two serpents twined around it surmounted by wings, both not so modern, but then there was also a wheelchair and flowers in reds, yellows and purples and a heart. The kind of heart any child would cut from red construction paper on Valentine’s Day.  Jordan recalled the same splash of red, explaining to Stacey that this meant imminent death and the rune symbol ansuz, for authority figure or leader.

     “So the president is gonna get shot?” Stacey asked, trying to make a joke, but its humor falling flat as she watched Jordan’s furrowed brow.

     “I have no idea what all this means,” Jordan finally hissed, knocking the paper from the bed, throwing herself across the bed in obvious frustration. They had poured over the symbols for over an hour and still didn’t have a clue.

     Stacey, sensing it was time to take charge, started, “OK, so the cross, um… someone who’s religious. What the heck is this symbol?” She asked, pointing to the Caduceus.

Jordan, who knew what the symbol was thanks to her dad’s inclination toward puzzles of any kind, recalled a puzzle he was working once that involved symbols. You had to fill in the word for each symbol, one of the letters falling into a circled space- once you had them all filled in- each circled letter worked together to spell out a message. Jordan was always amazed at her father’s intelligence and recalled once asking what the symbol of the Caduceus meant.

     “It’s called a Caduceus, Jordan.” Her father had replied. “In North America it is often confused for a medical symbol. The true symbol for healing and medicine is the Rod of Asclepius, but in our life and times, the Caduceus is what people see as related to medicine and the medical arts.”

     Jordan quickly explained this to Stacey, realizing that it was possible that the Caduceus was not meant to indicate medicine at all. She sprang to her computer and after a few tries at spelling, found the symbol and read aloud. “It’s a symbol of commerce and negotiation and it also represents printing…” Her voice trailed off and she erupted in more aggravation, “How are we ever going to figure this out?”

     “I don’t know,” Stacey sighed, “but according to you we have 13 hours to get it right. We saw this message at 3:30 so let’s see,” after a few silent moments of calculation, she continued, “we have until 4:30 this morning. Another problem,” she murmured more to herself than to Jordan now.

     Picking up on what she meant, Jordan replied, “Yeah, like how in the world are we going to get out at 4:30 am to deal with this? I guess you could spend the night.”

     “It’s a school night, Jordan. There’s no way either of our parents would allow this. I just don’t know what to say. Let’s work on this as long as we can- stay in touch online, and we’ll just have to do our best to figure this thing out.”

     “Do our best?” Jordan fumed. “That’s not good enough, Stacey. We have to do something. We know and we can’t just let it happen!”

Frustrated herself now, Stacey retorted, “You can’t save the world, Jordan. You’re not superhuman you know!”

The two girls redoubled their efforts and worked for hours to figure it out, but in the end, they both sighed in defeat. They had lists of friends, family, school mates, teachers and all had been crossed out due to one symbol or the other that had been presented through the mirror. Finally beyond frustration and in response to Jordan’s mom’s gentle yet firm hints, Stacey left for the evening and headed home.

     As the night went on, both stayed in sporadic touch online, but neither came any closer to solving the riddle. It was the first time since the very beginning that Jordan was clueless as to how to stop the impending doom of another. She slept fitfully that night and awoke with a deep sense of guilt the next morning. Whatever had happened, had happened and it was too late to stop it even if she had figured it out.

     It all fell into place when she stepped out her door, waiting for Stacey’s ride to school. On the corner an ambulance set silently, its lights splashing across the front of old Mr. Simmon’s house. He had become an invalid in the last few weeks when he fell and broke his hip after slipping off the steps after church one morning. The pastor of the church, he was determined to return to what he loved best, and he was thankful that he’d been able to continue with his second love, working with flowers. That’s when it hit Jordan, just as Stacey drove up sensing her friend’s anger and helplessness.

     “It was him, wasn’t it?” Stacey asked, springing from the car to run to Jordan’s side. “Why didn’t we think of Pastor Simmons?” Stacey wailed, her fists pounding her thighs as she stalked about in circles.

     “I don’t know,” was all that Jordan could say as she slowly walked toward the house and the medical team, now carrying a covered gurney from the house.

     “Not sure,” she overhead one of the men say. “Maybe a heart attack. The old man should’ve had someone with him, it might’ve been a better end…”

     Jordan froze and it took all Stacey had to get her out of the yard and back to her car. Coaxing Jordan like a child, Stacey got her in the car and they drove in the opposite direction.

     “We tried, Jordan. We just didn’t figure it out. It’s bound to happen. At some point we just won’t know. How can we?” Stacey left the question hanging in the air, imploring Jordan for a response. But Jordan could say nothing. All she could do was sit there, clenching her fists in frustration, tears running down her cheeks in utter exhaustion and despair.