I'd never been to the Mira Helm before, Miss Morin-Mor was telling me.

I didn't expect it to be so dangerous, and I certainly didn't expect you to come in after me.

We were sitting on the porch of a cottage, sipping lemonade.

He'd arrived the night before and after the Midwest suburbs I was used to. It felt like being

inside of a fairy tale. The white walls were criss-crossed with timber beams that were wider than I was.

The flagstone floor was worn smooth by ages of use.

A fine layer of dust covered everything. I got the feeling that this place didn't belong to Miss

Mortimer, but I kept my mouth shut about that. I was much more concerned with why we were

on the run in the first place. The idea that there was things

out there that even Miss Mortimer was afraid of chilled my blood. To be honest, I never

wanted to be involved with any of this. It was my best friend Matilda who wanted to be a...

Miss Mortimer paused, who wanted to walk through walls and things like that.

I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.

Can you believe that?

So, why didn't you?

I asked.

Leaning forward in the creaky porch swing.

The things Matilda was studying kept getting darker and more dangerous.

I warned her that she was getting in over her head, but she didn't listen.

In the end, she wound up in a very bad place and couldn't find her way back.

That's what I was doing on the other side of the mirror. I was trying to reach her and are you going to keep trying to try and are you going to keep

trying I think so although there isn't really much hope for finding her now. It's a shame. If only the situation was reversed, I'm sure Matilda would have found me a long time ago. These things never came as natural to me as they did to her.

...