"What does it mean?" asked Ethan who followed Nairn's gaze.
"It means," Selena said, "that we have to put a ticket into the slot to leave."
Or enter, Nairn thought.
But enter what? A voice in his head asked, A new universe?
Shut up. He thought.
"But a ticket from where?" Bea was questioning.
"I think we need to find it," Nairn replied, ignoring the stupid voice in his head. "You know, look for clues."
Ethan nodded, looking eager to get this done with.
"The ace can serve as the first clue," Selena said, trying - and failing terribly - to sound calm.
"We have our first clue - the ace. Now, I know it sounds weird," Nairn said a bit cautiously, "but we need to go back to the teeth."
Bea and Ethan looked horrified but Selena, looking incredibly pale, only nodded. Who she was looking brave for, Nairn didn't know.
"Then let's go."
*
Just like he remembered , the teeth were arranged in an arrow pointing to the house of mirrors, a dark manor-looking building that we're laced with broken glass and probably rats. The roof was pitch black and, according to what Nairn's mother said, if you look at it from inside, it's like looking at the future. Though she never expanded on what the future she saw was even though Nairn had begged her.
"The House of Mirrors," Bea whispered shakily.
"Doesn't the movies say we should stay away from the House of Mirrors?" Ethan said nervously.
"I personally find you scarier. You could eat me off in less than a minute, I'm sure," Nairn scoffed.
"The House of Mirrors is probably the safest place in an entire carnival. The idiots in movies just doesn't know how to use it to their advantage."
He sniffed and walked towards it, Selena and Bea following close behind. Ethan looked around him and shuddered at the sound of an owl before running to catch up with them.
Nairn stumbled on a loose weed and fell face first on the granite steps leading to the door.
"You okay?" Selena asked, reaching a hand out for him.
He took it. "Just with my luck," he muttered under his breath then to Selena he said, "I'm not dead so I'm okay."
Just as Nairn was brushing dirt off him, they heard the front door creak open. Bea was standing beside it looking terrified but determined.
"Come on," she hissed, "unless you want needles in your eyes or in Nairn's case, Mother Earth's shit."
Selena giggled and Ethan gave a confused smile; he wasn't there when Nairn fell.
"Haha," Nairn said but internally, he was relieved that they were laughing again.
The House of Mirrors was dark, dusty and desolute. Mirrors of all shapes and sizes sat down and collected dust yet still had the glass to look mockingly at you.
Nairn couldn't ignore them and kept staring at them and noting how they changed his shape and size. He turned to a long one with orange tinted glass and gasped.
It was his mom. Dark hair like his packed into a messy bun, looking haggle, her usually flawless golden skin seeming to have found wrinkles. She was walking in circles, ya bing nonstop and occasionally turning to look at his dad who sat on their blue couch, smoking cigarettes. He looked tired and hid dazzling green eyes were empty and lost hope.
He only saw it for a second but it seemed like an hour.
He would've kept looking if not for Selena who dragged him away. He let out a reluctant grunt.
"Why did you drag me away?"
She turned to look at him. "Do you want to leave this place or not?"
He opened his mouth to retort or agree or say something, anything, then SNAP.
Balls of light flickered on, dust disappeared from the mirrors, faint music began to play at the background.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked.
Bea said, "Isn't that the Peppa Pig song?"
Sure enough, it was. And Nairn couldn't stop himself from rolling on the floor, laughing as the Peppa began saying: "Hi, I'm Peppa pig."
Selena looked at a squiggly mirror and gasped.
"What is it?" Ethan asked when he saw her.
"That." She pointed at the mirror. "What is that?"
Bea stepped beside her as Nairn stopped laughing and looked at Selena. "I believe," she said gravely, "that is a person banging on the mirror to get out."