A woman stands in front of a mirror. The mirror’s glass, once gleaming, is now filled up with dust. The frame is rusted, once would have had a silver sheen, with beautiful patterns carved around it. 

It wore a dull look. 

The reflection in the mirror rippled. It wasn’t her anymore. 

Someone was looking back at her, blinking slowly. 

The figure formed, draped in a white lace dress with sleeves shaped like a bell. Its pale, barely alabaster skin showed under——silvery blonde ringlets framing the face, and hair half in a bun and half cascading down the shoulders. Eyebrows slightly arched upwards, dark, almost like it was questioning or judging one constantly. Eyes, I couldn't tell. Hands were delicate, nails stained with a dark rouge. Lips, a rosy shade, curled upward in a slight smirk. 

She was here. 

And she could help.

***

The year was 1964. Clara chewed at her pencil. She was trying to find the answer to a math problem in her class. 

Generally, she was good at math but today she was a bit distracted. She couldn't find the solution to the problem, and instead just stared at her problem set. The numbers seemed to float up, and around, until it merged into different blobs. She rubbed her eyes, and looked outside. 

It was a beautiful spring day. The little birds harmonized. The sun casted its rays through the window. The leaves had little buds that were blooming. The branches swayed to the tune of the breeze. The grass was a rich green color she thought was only found in crayons. Across her classroom in Burton, she could see the William Allen Neilson Library. 

She heard a knock rap at the door. She looked up to see a professor by the doorway, a professor she was familiar with, Dr. Aradia Worlen. She had taken a class with Dr. Worlen, and was well acquainted with her as they had spent time together under social pretenses. 

Her math professor looked up from his notes on the subject matter and got up, walking in a careful manner, not to disturb the students from their work. 

As Clara was distracted anyways, her eyes followed her math professor. She could see them whispering, hand closed over their mouths, exchanging words back and forth. 

What got Clara’s attention was the concerned look her Professor shot at her. Surely, it had nothing to do with the fact that she didn’t turn in an assignment or anything. That would be an after class discussion between her and her professor. But she genuinely didn’t have time. Normally, she wasn’t interested in faculty gossip, but her boredom was so vast that she tried to listen in. 

She heard glimpses of words, one being her name. 

“Clara”…”come now”…”didn’t expect it to be like this”. 

She was alarmed, her name was in one of those sentences along with other not so fun, wonderful phrases. Her current professor, Professor Nirmishaw walked over to her, told her to pack her bag, and didn’t give many details beyond that. He gave a pitying look as Clara walked away towards the door. 

She narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 

Packing my bag? This ought to be something serious for sure. 

She put her textbook and notebook into her colorful tote bag, and slung it over her shoulder. 

As she walked out of class, she could feel all her classmates' eyes on her. As she left she could hear some whisperings amongst them. Clara shrugged off the thoughts as the wooden door closed behind her. 

“I will explain in a few seconds,” Dr. Worlen replied, acknowledging her confusion. Once they were out of earshot, Dr. Worlen started discussing the current issue.

“I had to get you out of class because I needed your expertise on the subject,” she said hurriedly. “Something has gone wrong with one of the spells one of the coven members casted. We need something to counter it, because it seems like it is dark energy, not casper, the friendly kind.”

“Dark energy? I thought we had placed certain kinds of ruins to forbid any such entity from entering space.” 

“Yes, but one of them was broken, and the other disappeared,” she said, her eyebrows furrowing. “But such things are hard to break, and even harder to vanish,” Clara replied.

“Yes, so someone who must have helped you cast such things, must have also played a part in taking it or breaking it.” 

“You are suggesting a betrayal? But they know they will face consequences for it. Besides, all of them have been very good about being members.”  Clara said skeptically.

“Exactly, that’s what they want you to think. Besides, who else in the organization would know about this? We must find out quickly, before they do anything worse,” Dr. Worlen advised.