I expected the fall through the mirror to be the same as before, but instead of a vast ocean lacking color and light, Owen and I were swept into a tunnel of vibrant landscapes. From mountains with snow spotted sides to grand cities with castles, every image we passed felt like a window to someplace new. Just as I felt one of those windows would be our stop, an unsettling jolt would hurl us towards another in an ever tightening vortex. I was reminded of the first and last roller coaster I ever rode. Even that did not feel this intense.

"So it's true!" yelled Owen glancing around at the swirl of confusing images. "You are a Mirrorbender!" He looked at me in astonishment.

"A what?," I cried, spitting the hair out of my mouth.

"I said you're a Mirrorbender," Owen yelled again.

"A mirror what?" I shouted. "I can't hear you! It seems to be getting louder in here!"

Indeed it was. A derailed train skidding along its tracks would have been quieter than the pounding wind that blew into my ears. Suddenly there came a final jolt, and we surged towards a small misshapen image of a bright blue sky. I extended my hand out from Owen's waist, far enough to break the veil between that place and this one. My fingers emerged into a chilly windswept landscape and like a vacuum sucking air out of a tube, Owen and I flung upward from this mysterious place of swirling images and landed against a golden field of wheat and soft patterned dirt. I glanced over my shoulder spying a small water puddle ripple until it became still as glass. There was no doubt we had exited from there. But how?

The wind whistled around us creating waves in the tall grass, and the large fluffy clouds above shifted calmly across the sky as though the unlikely event of two people leaping out from a puddle was no big deal. For a moment the two of us laid there, our hearts racing and limbs shaking. We both stood up and rubbed our aching muscles. As the pain died down, Owen stared at me with a look of bewilderment.

"I...just traveled... with a Mirrorbender," he said, clutching his chest. He glanced over the tops of the grass at the distant horizon. "And we scryed half a world away." Owen jumped with jubilation. "Take that Desire! Ah ha!"

"This is not a time for celebration!" I cried, stomping my foot. "I demand to know what just happened and where you have taken me. Explain yourself!" I gripped my head and spun around. Stress beamed off my face.

"Whoa, calm down. This is where you took us. I had nothing to do with what just happened."

"What are you talking about?"

Owen rolled his eyes and twirled in a circle with his arms outstretched. "You seriously have no idea what you did?" I shook my head. "Wow." He slammed his arms to his side. "A Mirrorbender who has no idea what she is doing. That's the first for the history books."

"Wait," I said. "I don't understand anything that you're saying. An hour ago I was leaving school and on my way home when this man chased me. Then somehow I landed in that creepy place with you, the boy I've seen in my reflection for so many years. Who the hell are you? Where the hell am I? What happened to me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Owen. "Perhaps I jumped to conclusions. But to answer some of your questions. My name is Owen, and we are now standing in the Plains of Penia, hundreds of miles from where we were in the Vaulted River. You scryed us here through the Mirror Passages. You know that place with all the crazy images." Owen placed his hands on his hips and smiled. "And to think you're more confused than I am when all of this, all of you should be a myth. Mirrorbenders are for children's stories."

"Scryed? Mirror Passages? Plains of Penia? Mirrorbender? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Earth?" puzzled Owen looking down at his feet. "No, no, my mirrorbending friend. You are in Tartarus, and that traveling we did is called scrying, a movement between two reflective surfaces. Only Mirrorbenders can do it." Owen turned to me. "Mirrorbenders like you."

"So I teleported from my world to your world and then between two reflective surfaces. Do you know how crazy that sounds."

"Y...y...yes," stuttered Owen. He pointed to the water puddle. "But it happened somehow. That place, that tunnel, that is the Mirror Passages. It's like a space between spaces." I gave Owen an unamused glare. "Hey, I'm not an expert at Mirrorbender magic. That's your power not mine." He sighed seeing my confusion. "Well this is awkward. You don't believe a word I'm saying, do you?"

"No," I said as I pushed my glasses back into place. Such things were scientifically impossible unless this was a dream that I hadn't woken up from. I looked to the sky and shouted. "Hello! I am ready to wake up now! Can anyone hear me? Hello—"

"Hush," shrieked Owen, dropping low to the ground. "Not so loud. You Mirrorbenders are plum insane. Do you want some other creature to find us?"

"I want to wake up," I argued. "None of this can possibly be happening. I'm just in my bed sleeping and you and that...that thing back there are just some silly creation of my subconscious."

"Well I hate to break it to you, but girl, this is no dream. Not even your imagination could make believe me out of the blue. No way."

I pinched my arm. "Ouch! Well, that proves it. I must be lucid dreaming or in a coma." I looked around at the vast sea of grass and the distant mountains. Wherever I had landed it was certainly far from Texas. "But it's so real."

Owen plopped himself down and rubbed his neck.

"Whenever you convince yourself, we need to get going. I don't want to be exposed out in the open after dark."

I ran my hand over the grass. The leaves crunched between my fingers and tickled my palm. I sniffed a nearby flower. It smelled heavenly. I sighed and joined Owen on the ground.

"So, Owen DuBois, was it?" I asked.

"Yes," said the young man, running his heel through the dirt. "And you are Hope Martinez if I remember correctly."

"I am." There was a moment of silence between us.

"Well I guess I should thank you for saving my life." Owen bowed his head. "I am in your debt."

"First off," I said, raising a demanding finger. "I had no idea what I was doing. It just popped into my head. Secondly, the only thing you owe me is an explanation." I pointed to the far off mountains. "That thing that was chasing us...what was that and why did it want you?"

Owen leaned back and exhaled. "That was a Half-Life, one of ten supposedly. No one knows where they herald from only that they have existed for many ages and cannot be killed."

"Are they human?"

"If they ever were the only trace of humanity left is the disguise they take to walk amongst us. Otherwise, their intentions are unknown, but no matter who you ask, everyone says they are evil. And only evil people make deals with them."

"And were you making a deal?"

"No," said Owen, glancing at his satchel. "I was there on business. Something that doesn't concern you."

"Okay," I said. "And back there you did something to the door. Was that magic?"

"Yeah." Owen rubbed the crystal embedded into his leather glove. "A weak form of magic. Nothing compared to the feats you performed."

I pointed over this head far across the fields.

"And those mountains. Do they have a name?"

"The Snowfell. They are the border between the Juprus Nation and the Neptus Nation. Which means to the east is where we came from. South is the mud pits of Duga. North is the Loblolly Forest. So that leaves us in the largest crop bearing lowlands, the Plains of Penia. And that is only a small part of Tartarus. If you don't count all the fighting and spying and backstabbing. Hell, it's a beautiful world on the outside until you start digging deep."

"Tartarus?" I glanced again at the jagged snow capped mountains, the darkening sky, and the soft soil beneath my feet. While it certainly looked like a place on Earth, it somehow felt strange and unfamiliar. "So I am not in Texas anymore?" I started to laugh. "Now I sound like Dorothy Gale. That must mean that you are the scarecrow, and I just fell somewhere over the rainbow."

"If that's what you want to call it then yes." Owen stood up. "Whether or not you believe all this is real, we should get going."

I placed my head between my knees.

"Someday this has turned out to be." I began to whimper and cry. "I just want to go home. What is my mother going to say when I don't show up for dinner?" The wind blew again, brushing through a rip in my yellow coat. A chill ran up my spine. I glanced at my jeans. They were dirtied, wet, and covered in dark stains. Even my once white shoes were scuffed from all the running and stumbling I did earlier. "And I thought those bullies at home were bad, but this place has monsters and a bunch of confusing words. I hate it here."

Owen turned his chin up to the sky making a loud, humph. "You need to stop your complaining, Hope Martinez. Isn't that what your name implies? Hope. Now get up. I may not have met a Mirrorbender before you today, but from the stories I have heard this is no way for a Mirrorbender to act."

I stood up angrily and stomped towards Owen. My feet pounded the grass flat. "Stop calling me that!"

"Hey," said Owen, raising two empty palms in surrender. "No need to get so angry, Ms. Martinez. It's a term of respect for someone with your power. I meant no insult." Owen rubbed his arm nervously. "But again, I'm no expert."

"What else about Mirrorbenders do you know?"

"Not much," said Owen. "The stories say the last one came almost three centuries ago and left this world in a terrible state. Maybe you're here to fix it."

"I doubt it," I said, glancing into the water puddle. I hesitated looking into it, but the temptation was once again too great. "One more question, Mr. DuBois. When that Half-Life glanced in the mirror, she knew immediately what I was and I couldn't help but seeing you did too." I waved my hand over the puddle. No reflection appeared within. "Do things in this world normally have reflections?"

"Only the most vile and cruel beasts of this world do not cast reflections." Owen placed his hand on mine as we both stared into the puddle. "Which makes me wonder why neither of us do too." He removed his hand, walked away, and glanced at the sky. "About three hours of daylight left. We should get a move on and find a safe place to stay for the night. I am guessing you don't have any money or a map?"

"I am afraid not," I said, turning out my pockets. "Just my mirror and my cellphone."

"What's a cellphone?" Owen snatched the object out of my hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" I cried.

Owen turned the strange device over in his hands. "What does it do?"

"It is for talking to people far away or playing video games or searching the internet."

"Here," said Owen, handing the phone back. "I may not understand what you said, but I can tell if it originates from your world then it has no use to us here. Now if it could magically change your clothes or get us some food that would be great. I hear Mirrorbenders can do that. Can you do it?"

"No," I said, pulling at my ponytail. "But I guess I can try."

Owen laughed. "Of course not, silly. I am only joking."

"Oh," I said with a faint smile.

"See," cried Owen, "I knew I could make you smile. You do have a cute smile for a girl, Ms. Martinez."

"Thanks," I said blushing. "But call me, Hope. Just Hope. Okay?"

"Sure. Hope it is. And you can call me, Owen. Just Owen."

"Ok, Owen," I said, raising my arm forward through the tall grass. "Lead the way."

"We head north," said Owen, throwing his satchel over his shoulder. "To Bristondale."