“NO!” 

It’s Faris. 

“No! No, no, no. Why didn’t it work? Do you hear it?” Lu shakes her head, but Faris ignores her. “The monster is coming for me. It won’t wait any longer.” He backs up, trembling, to look at the mirror.

All that is left on the wall is the frame. There is no portal. Faris kneels down and fingers the bits of glass. Farris growls, breathing hard. He grabs the pan and throws it, breaking the handle off. His eyes are wild. Lu runs to the ballroom door and shakes it, but it is locked. She glances back at the small figure of Faris at the other end of the room. Again and again and again he throws the pan. The glass around him pulverized into smaller and smaller pieces. Lu cowers against the wall. 

Boom. 

Boom. 

Boom. 

Lu leaps away from the door as it shudders, then swings in. Mrs. Herbert pushes through. She covers her mouth and staggers back. Lilith sweeps in and sees Faris. The blood drains out of her face.

“Mother!” He screeches and hurls both pans down the stairs, then collapses into sobs. “It’s not my imagination.” He meets her eyes, suddenly still. “You were wrong. It is coming.” 

Lilith gasps and steps back. She must be able to feel his gaze piercing her because she jerks her head away. She sees Lu frozen on the ground and snatches her up, then grabs Mrs. Herbert’s elbow and yanks her through the doorway, banging the door closed after them. 

She fumbles for the key, breathing hard and muttering hysterically, “It’s hopeless!… that boy… my son? Ha!… it is a phase, they say… always imagining things… country air will help, my foot… scare me to death… thinks they’re real… poor girl… poor me!”

Lu begins to cry.

He never escaped. Aunt Lilith called the police and they took him away in a straight jacket because of me. I missed the signs. If only I had seen! My poor cousin, my best friend. 

But at six, how could I know the symptoms of schizophrenia?