Lonely Castle in the Mirror Read online

  She looked behind her—the full-length mirror was still on the wall.

  It was no longer glowing.

  It merely reflected her dazed expression.

  Her heart was racing.

  What on earth had happened? She instinctively reached out to the mirror, then quickly pulled her arm back. Perhaps someone was watching her from the other side. Maybe that little wolf girl’s skinny hand would reach out and pinch her. She shuddered.

  But the mirror remained still and mirror-like.

  She glanced at the clock on the wall above the TV and drew in a quick breath. Her favorite soap had already started. More time had passed than she’d realized.

  Perhaps it was just the clock that was fast? But sure enough, when she turned on the TV, the soap had been airing for some time. The clock was definitely not wrong.

  What is going on?

  She silently bit her lip. Then she stepped backwards from the mirror for more perspective, and gazed steadily into it.

  Is it real?

  In her PJs, she could still feel someone squeezing her sides.

  Keeping her feet at a distance, but with arms outstretched and bending from the waist, she turned the mirror around to face the wall.

  Her fingers were trembling.

  “What is going on?” she said aloud. She remembered shouting at the top of her voice. She didn’t talk to people much, so her voice was usually a little hoarse, but she remembered how clear it was, like a bell.

  Is this what’s called a daydream?

  Or am I losing it?

  After she’d calmed down enough to think, she realized what was a distinct possibility. Oh no, oh no, oh no! What if staying at home all day is making me hallucinate? Then what?

  Your wish will come true.

  The little girl had said: As I was saying—we’ll grant you a single wish. It will come true, even for a dullard like you.

  The words came back to her, loud and clear. Too distinct to be some hallucination.

  “Hi, I’m back!”

  Her mother’s voice at the front door.

  She’d be annoyed if she found her daughter watching TV, so Kokoro grabbed the remote and switched it off. “Hi, Mum!” she called. Her mother had told her on the phone that she’d be back early, and sure enough she was.

  Kokoro was about to go downstairs when she shot another glance at the mirror, but it was no longer shining.

  Her mother was in a good mood.

  “I know you like gyoza, so would you like to help me make some from scratch?” Her mother placed her shopping bags on the floor. They were full of cans of milk, coffee, yoghurt, fish, sausage. She had been complaining that, with Kokoro at home so much, she had to restock the fridge more often.

  “Mum?”

  “Hmm?”

  Her mother, decked out in business wear, slid off her shoes, unclipped the silver barrette in her hair, and headed into the kitchen.

  Kokoro wanted to share what she’d experienced earlier, but as she contemplated her mother’s back she knew she couldn’t. It would probably ruin her mother’s good mood, and anyway she wouldn’t believe her. Kokoro herself still couldn’t believe it.

  “Um . . . never mind.”

  Kokoro skidded on the floor towards the kitchen to help put away the shopping.

  “Don’t worry,” her mother said. And she gave her a gentle pat on the back. “I’m not upset about you not going to the School today.” Kokoro realized with a start that her mother thought Kokoro was feeling guilty.

  “It was your first time today, after all. But I do think it’s a lovely place, so whenever you feel up to it, let me know. When I called this morning, the teacher you met said to come in whenever you’re ready. She’s really very nice, I think.”

  The events earlier had stirred Kokoro so much she’d completely forgotten about abandoning school.

  It was now clearer than ever that her mum really hoped Kokoro would decide to go, and Kokoro began to feel extremely guilty.

  “They said their next session is on Friday,” her mother said.

  “OK,” Kokoro managed to say.

  Her mother had probably called her father, because he came home earlier than usual too, in time for dinner.

  He didn’t mention the School. “Wow, gyoza!” he said, as he sank down in his usual chair at the dining table.

  “Darling,” her mother said, “do you remember when Kokoro was little, how all she could eat whenever we had gyoza were the wrappers?”

  “I do! She’d take out all the filling and I ended up eating the rest.”

  “So I started making the skins from scratch. I thought if she doesn’t eat the filling, at least I could make some delicious wrappers for her.”

  Kokoro picked at her bowl of rice.

  “Do you remember that, Kokoro?” her father asked.

  Of course not. All she knew was the story they had made out of it, which they repeated every time they had gyoza.

  “I don’t remember,” Kokoro said. She’d told her mother so many times that she couldn’t eat such a huge portion, but she still insisted on loading her rice bowl to the brim.

  Did her parents always want her to be the kid who only ate the skins of the gyoza?

  They want me to be how I was before I became the girl who won’t go to school.

  Kokoro wondered what she should do if the mirror began to glow again, but no light seemed to come from it now that it was turned towards the wall.

  She felt a surge of relief. And yet, with the mirror lurking in the corner of her eye, its presence still weighed on her. Even after she’d gone to bed and closed her eyes, she turned over a few times to snatch a look.

  I must be hoping for something, she thought vaguely as she drifted off.

  You could be on the brink of an adventure, and you’re telling me you really don’t care? the little wolf girl had said, and truthfully Kokoro was hoping for something—at least a little. Hoping that this would be the beginning of something special.

  The Chronicles of Narnia, which sat in the bookcase downstairs, crept into her mind. How could a portal into a different world not be appealing?

  Maybe she shouldn’t have run away. She may have wasted an opportunity. Of course, she would have preferred it if a rabbit had shown her around, like in Alice in Wonderland, not some shrill girl in a wolf mask.

  She was beginning to feel expectant. So what did she want to happen, anyway? Now that the mirror wasn’t glowing anymore, she suddenly began to regret what she’d done.

  What if . . .

  What if the mirror started to shine again?

  Then she might decide to enter it one last time.

  With these thoughts in mind, she melted into sleep.

  The next morning, the mirror still wasn’t shining.

  Feeling a bit bolder, she gently turned it around to face her, but all she could see was her own reflection—in her PJs, with her messy bed-head hair.

  As usual, Kokoro had breakfast with her mum before she left for work; she then washed up, before heading back upstairs. She would often spend the entire day in her PJs, but today she decided to change and even made an attempt to tidy her hair.

  At nine o’clock the mirror began to shine.

  It glittered like a pool of water reflecting the sunlight.

  Breathing slowly, she reached out and slipped her hand inside. She pushed further until her whole body had been sucked in.

  Her vision turned a dazzling yellow, and then white, as she passed into the other world.

  Instead of the emerald-green floor and the mighty gate of the previous visit, what she saw as her vision gradually cleared were two staircases and a large grandfather clock above them.

  She blinked slowly.

  It looked like the set for a Hollywood film: a grand foyer inside a mansion, with thick carpeted stairs like the ones Cinderella ran down in the film.

  The staircases led up to a landing with the tall grandfather clock halfway along. Inside it, a large pendulum
swung gently back and forth, revealing a sun and moon design.

  Kokoro knew it—this was exactly the same castle she’d been to the previous day.

  A group of people were gathered at the bottom between the staircases. She blinked at them in astonishment. They stared back in silence.

  There were seven of them, including Kokoro. They appeared to be of a similar age.

  “So you came.”

  The little wolf girl came bounding towards her, wearing as before a mask and a smart dress. She stood with her legs hip-width apart in front of Kokoro, her expression unreadable.

  “You ran away yesterday but now you’re back, eh?”

  “Well, the thing is . . .”

  With the others there—a mix of boys and girls—she felt less intimidated. She noticed how one of the boys, head bent, was holding what looked like a game console. Beside him stood a girl with glasses, and a plump-looking boy. Another boy leaning against the wall under the clock seemed at first glance quite good looking. Even in his sweats, he looked a bit like a celebrity.

  As Kokoro inspected them, she began to feel as if she’d seen something she shouldn’t have, and dropped her eyes quickly.

  “Hello,” a voice said, and she looked up. A tall girl with a ponytail was smiling at her. “We’ve also just arrived. We heard you ran off yesterday, so this child told us to wait here for you, so you wouldn’t run away again.”

  “This child?”

  “Call me the Wolf Queen,” announced the child stiffly.

  “OK, OK,” the girl said. “The Wolf Queen told us to wait for you. She said there would be seven of us.”

  “You’re the only one who ran off,” the little girl—the Wolf Queen—said. “I thought it would be too chaotic if you all arrived at the same time, so I got you in one by one.”

  “But . . . what is this place?”

  The girl gave a haughty little laugh.

  “Well, I was trying to explain things to you when you ran off like a dumb fool.”

  “We’re in the same boat as you,” the ponytailed girl said. Kokoro had thought they were about the same age, but this girl sounded older. Calmer and more grown-up.

  “She told us we’re all in a castle that can grant us a wish.”

  This from someone else, a sharp, high-pitched voice. A sort of actorly voiceover tone that Kokoro might normally have found off-putting.

  Kokoro turned to see the girl in glasses, sitting on the bottom step of one of the staircases. Her hair was in a bowl cut, and she wore a beige parka and jeans.

  “Correct!” the Wolf Queen trilled loudly.

  Kokoro thought she could hear a distant howl ringing in her ears. It made her freeze.

  Eyes widening in alarm, they stared at the Wolf Queen.

  Unconcerned, she carried on. “Deep inside this castle is a room none of you is permitted to enter. It is a Wishing Room. Only one person will eventually have access. Only one of you will have your wish come true. One Little Red Riding Hood.”

  “Little Red Riding Hood?”

  “You are all lost Little Red Riding Hoods,” the Wolf Queen said. “From now until next March, you will need to search for the key that will unlock the Wishing Room. The person who finds it will have the right to enter and their wish will be granted. In the meantime, every one of you must hunt for it. Do you follow me?”

  Kokoro did not know what to say. The others exchanged silent glances.

  “Don’t expect someone else to answer!” the Wolf Queen squealed suddenly. “If you have something to say, then speak up!”

  “I do.” It was the bold, ponytailed girl who’d first welcomed Kokoro. “I’d like a bit more on this,” the girl said. “How can a wish come true? Also, I just don’t get it: why have you even called us here? Where are we? I mean—is this real? And who are you?”

  “Yeeee!” The Wolf Queen covered her ears at this sudden barrage of questions. Not the wolf ears, but her own, human ears. “You people have no imagination. At all. Can’t you simply be satisfied that you’ve been chosen as heroes in a story?”

  “It has nothing to do with being satisfied.”

  This not from the ponytailed girl but from one of the boys. Since Kokoro had arrived, a boy had been perched on the left-hand staircase, absorbed in his game console. He had a booming voice, and a defensive look in his eyes behind thick glasses.

  “I also don’t get it,” he said. “Yesterday the mirror in my bedroom suddenly started to shine and now we’ve ended up here. You need to tell us what’s going on.”

  “Ah, a boy has finally found his voice,” the Wolf Queen cackled. “It takes boys longer to open up. So now I’m expecting great things of you.”

  The boy frowned and glared at her. The Wolf Queen was unfazed.

  “We make selections periodically,” she said, trying to sound managerial. She gave a forced cough. “You’re not the only ones to have entered the castle. At various times we’ve invited other lost Little Red Riding Hoods. And quite a lot of them in the past have had their wish come true. You should consider yourselves lucky to be selected.”

  “Can I go home?”

  A boy at the top of the stairs who’d remained silent until now had stood up. A lean, quiet boy, his pale face and freckled nose reminded Kokoro of Ron in Harry Potter.

  “No, you cannot!” the Wolf Queen shrieked, and the air was disturbed by another howl. The boy suddenly leaned backwards, as if struck by a blast of air.

  “Let me finish,” the Wolf Queen said, glaring at him. “Hear me out before you decide to do anything. First, your entry and exit will be through the mirrors in your bedrooms or in the castle. From now on, you’ll come straight here, to this foyer. To prevent anyone from attempting to flee.”

  The Wolf Queen looked meaningfully at Kokoro, and she felt everyone’s eyes on her. A wave of shame flooded through her.

  “The castle will be open from now until the thirtieth of March. If you don’t find the key by then, the entire castle will vanish and you will never have access ever again.”

  “So—what if we do find it?”

  This was another new voice, and the Wolf Queen turned towards it. The boy gave a small yelp and crouched behind the banister of the stairs. Only his chubby fingers were visible.

  “So if someone finds the key and their wish is granted, then the mirrors won’t connect up here anymore?” he carried on bravely from his hiding place.

  “Once the Wishing Room has been unlocked, it’s game over. The castle will immediately close down.” The Wolf Queen nodded sagely at her own words. “I should add that the castle is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Japan time. So you absolutely must get back through the mirrors by five. If you stay in the castle any later, you’ll face a truly horrible penalty.”

  “A penalty?”

  “A simple punishment. You’ll be eaten by a wolf.”

  “What?!” The group gaped at the Wolf Queen.

  You’re joking, aren’t you? Kokoro wanted to ask but couldn’t.

  “Eaten? You mean—by you?”

  A chilly silence fell over them.

  With a moment to think, a new possibility occurred to Kokoro. Yesterday the Wolf Queen had said to her, It’s already four o’clock and I’m nearly out of time. When she got back home, her favorite TV soap had already started. The hands on her clock had moved forward. Meaning that while they were in the castle, time had passed in the real world as well.

  The castle was open from nine to five. Until 30 March.

  It sounded a lot like a school timetable.

  Kokoro scanned the faces of her peers:

  The handsome boy in the sweats.

  The girl with the ponytail who seemed to have her act together.

  The girl in glasses, with the high-pitched anime voice.

  The brash boy absorbed in the game console.

  The quiet boy with freckles who reminded her of Ron.

  The meek, chubby boy hiding behind the banister.

  Seven of them altogether
.

  Kokoro thought about the question posed by the ponytailed girl. Why have you even called us here? Kokoro didn’t know, but she was sure everyone here had one thing in common.

  Not a single one of them was going to school.

  “About that—penalty you mentioned.”

  It was the ponytailed girl.

  “Being eaten by a wolf.” She seemed much calmer than the rest. “When you say eaten, do you mean this literally?”

  The Wolf Queen gave an exaggerated nod. “That I do. You’ll be swallowed up whole. But don’t be tempted to do anything you’ve read in a story, such as calling your mum to come and rip open the wolf’s stomach and stuff it with rocks. Just make sure you’re very, very careful.”

  Her words only confused them further.

  “Are you going to eat us?”

  “I’ll leave that to your imagination, but a huge wolf will indeed appear. A powerful force will punish you. And once it’s triggered, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. Not even me.”

  The Wolf Queen looked at each of them in turn.

  “And if one of you is punished, each of you will be held equally responsible. If one of you is barred from going home, then none of you can leave. So watch your step.”

  “Are you saying all the others will be eaten, too?”

  “I suppose I am,” the Wolf Queen said vaguely and with a small wave of the hand. “Anyway, stick to the opening hours. Don’t sneak in here when the castle is closed to search for the Wishing Key.”

  As the Wolf Queen continued to lecture them, it seemed more and more as if the wolf lips on the mask were actually moving.

  “We’ve barely met, but we’re still supposed to be responsible for each other?” the girl with the glasses and bowl cut said in her high-pitched voice. “We don’t actually know each other, but we have to trust everyone?”

  “Correct. So do your best to get on. I leave it up to you.”

  Silence.

  “Will you be here when the castle is open?” Kokoro screwed up her courage to ask a question for the first time. The Wolf Queen spun around, stared at her, and Kokoro flinched.

  “I’ll be here, and not here. I won’t be here all the time. Call on me and I’ll come out. Consider me your caretaker and supervisor.”