“ I know you’re watching me. “

Grackle stared into the mirror, gripping the sink. His tail flicked back and forth apprehensively as he scowled into his own reflection. At least, where he’s supposed to have a reflection. In its place, was something else.

The fox on the other side of the mirror acted nothing like him. It looked just like him, but Grackle knew that it wasn’t. The distorted version of him grinned, all of his teeth showing. It looked more like a grimace than a smile, the way his mouth stretched upwards unnaturally. As Grackle furrowed his brow at this, it laughed.

It wasn’t a normal laugh. That, Grackle was used to. Instead it echoed, seeming to come from all around him all at once. It sounded like a hyena, not a fellow fox. And it most definitely did not sound like Grackle’s laugh. It made the fur on his neck stand straight up, but he didn’t let any fear show on his face.

“Of course I am, silly! Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s rude.”

“Aw, I suppose so.” It said, pouting for a minute, mocking Grackle. And then it smiled again, the corners of its mouth curling like a cheshire cat’s. “But hey, who cares! I don’t need to be polite to please you.”

Grackle rolled his eyes, let go of the sink, and brushed himself off. It only had power if he let it get to him, he reminded himself. He huffed, and walked off.

“Hey! Wait! Where’re you going?” The distortion whined, following him onto any reflective surface around him. Now it was pouting for real, disappointed that Grackle wasn’t entertained. “Don’t you want to play?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t like your games.” He growled, not looking at it. He kept walking down the hall, heading towards his study. He’d just wanted to use the restroom for a moment, not deal with some kind of spirit.

“C’mon! Surely there’s something you’d want to play?”

“I said no. Now, bugger off.” Grackle hissed again, stepping into his study. He knew it would be able to follow him into there, but there was nothing it could do about him ignoring it. He picked up his pen again and got back to doing his schoolwork.

It started laughing again, nervously. It echoed throughout the room the same as the first time, but Grackle could hear it starting to get desperate. “Surely there’s something we can do together!”

Grackle didn’t respond, but raised an eyebrow slightly. He doubted that. Mirror spirits always have the same goal; to trick someone into taking their place. They thought a child like him to be stupid, to just want to play another game, but he wasn’t. He had work to do and he was going to do it.

After a while it huffed, and faked leaving him alone. But whenever Grackle glanced at his reflection, he could still see it. Even though it looked just like him, it couldn’t mirror his face exactly. He saw the differences.

Once he finished his schoolwork, Grackle took to the towering bookshelf that took up an entire wall of his study. After a bit of searching, he found a book about various spirits and sprites. After blowing off the dust, he cracked it open to find the table of contents.

Eventually he found what he was looking for, just as the spirit noticed what he was doing. “Hey, wait a minute-” it said, voice becoming a little aggressive. “Don’t-” Before it had a change to do anything, Grackle started speaking.

“ Cogitatio mea in speculo non est mea. Ejice, aufer. “

He chanted a few more times, as the spirit started screaming. It was worse than it’s laugh, and so much louder. Grackle continued, drawing runes onto any reflective surface in the room with some ink he kept on his desk.

The ink began to bubble, as if it were boiling. It started to smell like burning, but Grackle continued. The spirit’s scream sounded like hundreds of kettles shrilling at once, making Grackle feel like his head was about to explode. But he continued, knowing there wasn’t really a choice to back down at this point.

He kept chanting, using the voice he’d been taught to cast spells. He could see the spirit cracking, beginning to lose its grip on his form. It distorted ever more, it’s scream changing in pitch and increasing in volume. Terrifying as it was, Grackle held himself steady. If he ever wanted to be worth his fur he’d need to learn to cast spells in conditions like this. If his voice so much as trembled something could go wrong, but it didn’t.

Eventually it disintegrated, leaving nothing. Grackle stared, expecting to see himself but observing nothing. “Great. Another reason for people to call me a vampire: missing my reflection,” he growled under his breath, looking at where the spirit once had been.

Grackle looked at the pages. It didn’t say how long his reflection would be missing, but he knew any amount of time was enough for someone to make a remark. He shut the book, put it away, and left the study.