Chapter 18 A Hall of Mirrors

Oh my gosh, the reviews…

Chapter Summary: Val begins her first task, Flame and Heat battle it out, and the return of a friend…

WARNING!: Spoilers for the Guardians of Childhood series ahead.

(Jack's POV)

I paced, glancing at Val's lifeless body. "What's taking so long?"

"It takes a while for a spirit to return," Grim replied. "It has to perform tasks to be allowed back into the world of the living."

"Three tasks," Willa said. She pointed to her head. "One of the mind," she pointed to her throat, "one of the voice," she pointed to her heart, "an' one of the heart."

"The test of the mind tests what you remember from your life. It will try to trick you if you aren't smart. The test of the voice tests how well you remember others, normally those close to you. And the test of your heart, well, most don't make it there. Even I don't know what it is."

I looked at Val worriedly. This was going to take awhile.

(Third POV)

Leaving this scene, we return to the battle.

Flame threw his staff out forcefully, a large fireball slamming into Heat. Heat growled angrily at him after getting back up. Heat created another massive fireball and threw it at Flame, who dodged and grinned back. "Ready to give up, old man?"

Heat scowled. "Never."

Flame shrugged. "Your choice."

The kids below, led by Katie, attacked the Fearlings around them. The twins touched several which all turned to dreamsand; Caroline blocked one from grabbing a small three-year-old boy named Will and karate-chopped it, splitting in half and changing it to dreamsand, which formed into the shape of a large bird; Tomas touched one which turned into an enormous dreamsand dinosaur, much to the cheering of younger kids; and Katie led them all towards where the sand seemed to be leading, which was to a large swirling vortex of dreamsand. They fought against the Fearlings outside this and fed it dreamsand, making it glow brighter and brighter.

Katie got close to the vortex, feeling drawn to it. A voice seemed to whisper in her ear, True magic comes from belief. It was not a Fearling, but a voice she felt she should know; an old man's voice. Another voice, younger and femmine, whispered to her, Ombric's first lesson. Her eyes widened, becoming tinted with green. She knew these voices, and knew what they were talking about. "I believe! I believe! I believe!" she said aloud enthusiascally. "I believe in the Sandman!"

The others caught on quickly and joined in on her chant. "I believe in the Sandman! I believe in the Sandman! I believe in the Sandman!"

Caroline, Sammy, and little Will chanted happily; the twins shouted it in unison; Tomas cried it out with Katie as loud as he could; even Flame found himself chanting it under his breath with them. As they chanted, the dreamsand swirled faster and glowed brighter. Then, from the vortex, emerged Sandy, to the joy of all. (Except Pitch and Heat, of course.)

(Valentine's POV)

I blinked open my eyes, trying to get used to the bright glare of light. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw myself in a white room filled with mirrors. I looked in a mirror at myself to see I had changed from the white ghostly robes into skinny jeans, a white silk shirt, and black boots. A quiver of black arrows was strapped to my back, a black bow slung over one shoulder. I looked around at all the mirrors.

A mirror me to my left smiled wickedly at me. It's smile was slightly unsettling. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes," I responded bravely.

"What is invisible yet seen, felt yet intangible, fearful yet brave, and the devil yet an angel?what owed life before. and . once done.1" said a mirror me to my right.

Okay, I thought. What can be seen that isn't solid and invisible? And is fearful? What does that even mean? That it's afraid or that it brings fear?

I looked at a mirror nearby and saw an image from my past. It was Jack and I as little kids, playing hide-and-seek by the lake. Children. Could that be it? Children can be afraid of so many things, but be brave and stand up for themselves too. They can be bad like devils, and also be as sweet as angels. They can leave a big impact, but do almost nothing. And like hide-and-seek; sometimes they're there and sometimes they're not.

I was about to answer, when another image in another mirror to my far left caught my eye. I watched it for a moment, curious. The image depicted Pitch, and a woman with long black hair in a green dress. He looked at her with slight fear. She was looking at him with forgiving kindness. I couldn't hear anything, but I could read her lips: Daddy.

Daddy? I remembered a story I'd been told about Pitch presumably having a daughter, and that was part of the reason he became evil, but I'd just passed it off as just that: a story.

Children are just about the most beloved things, being the reason humanity goes on and why many things in history happen, I thought. Then I realized: it's not the completely the children, but the love that pushes them towards a brighter future.

"The answer is Love!" I cried, out of breath, though why, I wasn't sure.

The mirror me in front of me smiled disarmingly. "Very good. You may continue." Her mirror swung open before me. Behind it, I saw a golden hallway. "Remember this warning for the journey to come: Things are not always what they seem to be. Trust your heart, not your mind."

"Thank you. And I will," I breathed. I ran out to the valley as fast as I could. Trust my heart, not my mind? I thought to myself. What does that even mean?

…Okay, I probably should explain what happened with Katie.

I had this weird idea that she was the reincarnation of Sascha, one of the kids in the GoC series. Since I had no description of her appearance, I assumed she had dark, dark brown hair, cocoa colored skin, and teal green eyes. Just a random little thing as an idea. What happens here is that Sascha sort of "wakes up" and sees the danger of the Fearlings and tries her hardest to remember what she had learned about magic in her past life(as a reincarnation, she wasn't supposed to remember anything) to help her current self.

Anyways, I need ideas for the other two tasks Val has to perform.

Remember:

Task 2 needs to have her recognize how well she remembers others.

Task 3 will need to be something random. I'm thinking it should be how pure her heart is or something.

Leave a review if you have an idea on what I could do. BTW, no idea is a bad idea unless it's unspoken.

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