of my aromatherapy body lotion and coconut water shampoo. The laundry basket was empty and the bed was made. Frazzle was on the sofa, curled up tightly with his paws crossed over his nose. There were worse things than being alone, I supposed. I’d managed it – enjoyed it, even – for years and I could continue to do so.
I locked the door and walked down the stairs, passing the kitchen and entering the bar, a customer again instead of an employee. I bought a bottle of wine and headed over to the Dungeons & Dragons table, where Nat and Archie were already sitting, sipping their drinks and chatting.
‘You look amazing, Zoë,’ Nat said. ‘Heading out somewhere later?’
‘Nah. I just felt like making a bit of an effort. I’ve been dressing like a slob for too long.’
Freddie hurried over and flopped into a chair. ‘Looking good, Zoë. Nothing’s too much trouble for your fight with the evil lord, right?’
‘You’ve scrubbed up a bit too,’ I said. ‘Not sure a silk shirt is ideal for crawling through mazes looking for treasure.’
‘But think of all the quality gear I’ll be able to buy once we find it.’
We all laughed, slightly awkward in the moments before the game began, when we were half our characters and half ourselves; half in the Ginger Cat and half in the dungeons below Castle Drakeford; aware that this was a slightly tragic, dorky game but also caught up in the magic of the story Adam had woven for us.
‘And here’s the man himself,’ Lana said.
Adam approached our table, half-smiling, his heavy bag slung over his shoulder. The shirt he was wearing looked new too – it was a dark bottle-green that seemed to have turned his eyes exactly the same colour. I said hi to him and he replied, but his was more of a general greeting to the whole table. It was like he’d barely noticed me there at all. The others followed shortly after him, and soon the usual rituals of drinks-pouring and food-ordering were complete, and we began.
As soon as Adam started speaking, the real world receded. I stopped being Zoë, stopped thinking about my future as a crazy cat lady who lived above a pub, and became Galena. I wasn’t wearing my jumper dress and faux suede boots any more, but leather armour and boots, because Galena had other things on her mind than animal rights, like not getting her head chopped off with a broadsword.
‘We return to the upper levels of the castle, where Galena and the others are continuing their quest to find young Zarah. Last week, we left you in an antechamber near to the rooms where you believe the evil Lord Brandrel is holding the girl prisoner. The walls are hung with slightly faded tapestries and lit by oil lamps. There is woven rush matting on the floor and a wooden chest in one corner. On the wall, you notice a large mirror in a heavy wrought-iron frame.’
‘Oh God, I’d better not look,’ Nat said. ‘My root growth will be horrendous after all this time on an adventure.’
I said, ‘We should examine the looking glass; it may be somehow enchanted.’
‘I sense the power of magic here,’ Annella agreed.
‘Let’s bolt the door we came in through,’ I said. ‘Then we can examine this place in relative safety.’
‘You push the door closed and slide the iron bolt home with a rasp and a click. Strangely, you do not now feel safer in this place but less so – as if you have walked into a trap.’
‘Oh shit,’ I said. ‘Well, there’s nothing for it but to take a look around.’
‘I will keep watch on the far door,’ said Torvid.
‘You approach the mirror. In its surface, slightly foxed by time, your frightened faces stare back at you, with the chamber in the background.’
‘What if we try and take the mirror off the wall? Could there be something behind it?’
Adam rolled the dice. ‘You carefully lift the mirror away from the wall, its iron frame chilly in your hands.’
‘Fucking hell, don’t drop it, whatever you do, you two.’
‘Without letting the glass fall, you lower the mirror carefully to the ground. It was suspended from a fine steel chain, which looped over a hooked spike driven deep into the stone.’
‘Is there anything on the back of the mirror? A note, maybe?’
‘You turn the looking glass and examine its reverse side. Faintly, on the wooden surface, you can see runes, which appear to have been