The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen - Delia Sherman [55]
“So the mirror’s here?”
“I couldn’t do a thing with it,” she said disgustedly. “All it would do was show me my real face, in extreme close-up. I couldn’t wait to get rid of it.”
“Who did you give it to?”
“I don’t know,” said Madame. “Hnya, hnya.”
I stepped up to the closest mirror and swung the drumstick threateningly.
“Don’t!” she screeched. “It’s true. Every Equinox, the Dowager starts sending me the latest crop of debs so I can make them beautiful for the Solstice Ball. I never pay attention to their names.”
“Was one of them blonde?”
“My dear.” Madame Factor shrugged. “When I’m done with them, they’re all blonde. One was almost elfin—there really wasn’t much to do. But she thought there was. You ought to have seen what she thought she looked like. Yes, I have a mirror for that, too. She thought she was too fat—that type always does—and her nose was too big. I said I’d grant her wish if she’d get rid of Snowbell’s mirror for me.” She glanced at my drumstick and licked her lips. Her tongue was pointed, and an unpleasant shade of gray. “Can you put that thing away?”
Tiffany was a member of the Dowager’s court, and she was going to be presented at Midwinter. But so were a couple of the other girls. “When did all this happen?” I asked.
“How should I know?” Madame Factor said, honestly surprised. “I’m not a mortal. That’s all I can tell you. Now will you go away?”
As I was about to put the drumstick back into Satchel, I caught sight of Airboy, still frozen between two mirrors. I’d totally forgotten him. “You have to release my sidekick first,” I said hastily.
Elizabeth Factor growled and waved her hand, now tipped with scarlet claws. The imprisoning mirrors rolled away and Airboy staggered forward, looking furious.
“You okay?” I asked.
Ignoring me, he stalked toward the mirrors in front of the door, which slid aside to let us through. As we left her salon and ran down the steps, the last thing I heard was Madame Factor neighing after us. “You are ugly, you know. You’re fat and sloppy and your hair’s a disaster. You’ll never look like a hero. Never.”
Chapter 16
RULE 98: STUDENTS MUST NEVER LAUGH AT ANOTHER MORTAL’S TEARS.
Miss Van Loon’s Big Book of Rules
“Well!” I said as the geranium red door of Elizabeth Factor’s Beauty Salon closed behind us. “I think that went pretty well, considering.”
Airboy glared at me. “Considering you made a total mess of it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You. Bombing around without a plan or telling me what you were going to do next. One minute I’m an Ambassador; the next, I’m a sidekick. What happened to cooperating?”
“That’s not fair,” I said. “You were the one who said being an Ambassador was a bad idea. I was just trying to divert her attention.”
“You were taking over.” Airboy’s eyes burned like black coals. “I cooperated. I saved you. If I hadn’t stopped you, you’d have ended up being her slave.”
This was true, but I was in no mood to admit it. “I got her to release you from those mirrors,” I pointed out.
“Once you remembered I existed.” And he stomped off, taking the magic map with him.
I had to ask a brownie the way to the nearest Betweenway station.
Back at school after the weekend, I went looking for Airboy.
After an evening spent on the window seat in my room staring out over the Park, I’d come to the conclusion that Airboy had a point. I had kind of taken over. Ad he had definitely saved me from becoming Elizabeth Factor’s slave.
His reaction had been kind of extreme, though. And it had been truly un-groovy of him to leave me in Midtown without a map.
Still, I was ready to apologize if he was.
I didn’t see Airboy until lunch. He was sitting as far from our table as he could get, hunched over his usual sushi. When he looked up, I gave him a friendly nod. He looked right past me.
Cooperation. Right. I should