Free Mirrorlight by Jill Myles

grew quiet, and then she heard the sound of a power screwdriver, buzzing and angry. “I’m taking the door off the bloody hinges, Cora! And once I do, I’m throwing you out on your ass! You just wait until I talk to your mother, young lady!” The smoke continued to pour in. The door pounded and shook behind her. She coughed and tugged at him, but it was no use. It wouldn’t let him through—wouldn’t let him enter her world. As always, they would be forever separated by the mirrorlight.
    That goddamned mirrorlight.
    Anger burned through her, and she wrapped her arms around his torso. “I am not going to let you take him from me,” she told the mirror, punctuating each word with a tug at his body. “He belongs with me .”
    The screwdriver buzzed again, and the door shook, hard.
    “He…belongs…with…me!” She cried, and gave a tug with all her might, bracing her feet against the mirror. “I finally found something I want to fight for. I want him. You don’t get to keep him !”
    She felt the mirror fighting her, felt the mirrorlight wash over her and for a moment, felt the intense heat of the fire on her face.
    And she pulled. And pulled.
    “Aric,” she panted, wrapping her arms tight around his torso one last time. “I will fight heaven and earth to bring you to me. They’re not taking you from me. Not now. Not ever .”
    And she gave one last, final tug, putting everything she had—everything she had ever wanted—into this final pull.
    Aric fell through the mirror.
    They flew backward, tumbling into the small bedroom. Aric fell on top of her, his heavy form limp. Cora shuddered, watching as the mirrorlight receded and the mirror went back to normal in the blink of an eye. The smoke vanished. Her hands clenched around Aric’s shoulders.
    He didn’t vanish.
    After a moment, he coughed and stirred, and she cried out with joy, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him close.
    He would live. He would live and she was here with him, touching him. Feeling his hot skin pressed against her own. She’d found something she wanted enough to fight for, and she’d won him.
    A shadow loomed over her, and she saw Aunt Martha looming over her, blocking out the light.
    “So,” she said in an arch voice. “That’s what this is all about. You’re hiding a man in here.”
    Laughter bubbled up in Cora’s throat, and she just hugged Aric closer.

    #

    Thirty minutes later, she was standing outside of Stonewood Abbey, her suitcase brimming with her hastily-packed clothes. Aric stood next to her, staring at his surroundings like he’d just been dropped into another world. Which, she supposed, he had.
    Now that they were both on this side of the mirror, she felt a little awkward. Just because they’d had sex through a mirror—through a mirror!—didn’t mean that he would feel obligated in any way to her. She’d saved his life, but that was a poor reason to start a relationship. And would he even know what to do with himself in the twenty-first century? What if the shock was too much for him? Worry gnawed at her.
    Even worse, what would they do now that they’d been banned from the Abbey? Aunt Martha was so furious she wasn’t even speaking to Cora anymore. She’d tossed her suitcase out on the lawn without even a goodbye.
    “Yoohoo,” called a voice. “Over here.”

    Cora turned, and saw Muffin heading toward them, waving a lacy white handkerchief. She wore a gold-sequin spangled sweater that dripped with fringe. It was belted atop a pair of jeggings and a hot pink pair of cowboy boots.
    “There you two are,” Muffin called. “About time, too. I was starting to get worried.” Aric turned and gave Cora a confused look, then turned back to the elderly woman.
    “Marguerite?”
    Muffin simpered and waved her lacy handkerchief at him. “Oh you silly boy. They call me Muffin here.”
    He looked over at Cora and gestured at Muffin, reciting a litany of gibberish syllables that she didn’t