Blinking, I stared at my spell books. My mirror wasn’t there. “It’s gone!” I exclaimed, then remembered it was still in my bag.

“You don’t scare me,” Lee said to Pierce, oblivious to my disappointment.

“Then I’m of the mind you’ve not been paying attention,” Pierce said, making it a threat.

Above me, Bis crawled along the ceiling, almost matching the color perfectly. His ears were pinned to his head as Pierce and Lee argued. Ignored, I lurched back to the table, falling when I misjudged it, and pulling not only my bag, but all the coats down on me. I sat for a moment, figuring things out, then decided to stay there. If I was on the floor, I couldn’t fall down. Slipping my mirror out, I struggled with the heavy glass. “Al?” I shouted, my mirror finally on my lap. “Get your butt over here!” I added, my hand splayed over the middle of it.

The argument suddenly stopped, and Lee edged into my sight from around the center counter. “Should she be doing this right now?” he asked, looking worried.

Ivy was suddenly beside me. “No,” she said dryly, lips tight and brow furrowed as she leaned under the table and tried to take the mirror.

“Mine!” I said, yanking it back. “Let go!” I threatened, and she stood, hands on her hips and looking at me in disgust. “I want my name back. Too many people know Al’s.” I turned back to the mirror, seeing that there were no lines on it. It was empty. “What happened to my mirror?” I said, bewildered. Then realizing that I was looking at the back of the dumb thing, I swore and turned it over. The crystalline beauty of the contrasting wine-colored depths and the sharp diamond lines sparkled in the artificial light, and I lovingly ran my fingers over the glass. It was beautiful. Too bad it took a curse to run it.

The three of them stood over me, all watching with concern. “You’re going to let her do this?” Lee asked, his brow furrowed.

“You’re the one who drugged her,” Ivy said. “Maybe one of you boys can make a circle in case she figures out which hole in her head the words come out of.”

“I’m fine!” I said, squinting up at them. “I want my … name back,” I said breathlessly, putting my back against a heavy table leg so I wouldn’t fall over. “Get in a circle. All of you.”

Hot damn, I felt good. That last shot Lee had given me had been the icing. “Al!” I shouted, hand splayed on the mirror, crossing lines and totally in the wrong place. “Talk to me!”