The Last Mirror on the Left, page 1
Contents
* * *
Title Page
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Sheed’s Probably Going to Punch Otto
Upon Further Reflection
Smoke and . . . You Know
This Is Not the Way to Motivate People
A Warped Perspective
Welcome to My Parlor
Tiny Meat People
Now We’re Cooking
The Spuds Have Eyes
An Epic Sale
The Beat Really IS Sick, Though
Kangaroo Court
A Stone Cold Punchin’
The Scent of Cranberries
Dance Break
Who’s a Good Wolverine?
Finding Yourself
The Perils of Not Changing the Locks
The Chapter Where the Villain Tells You His Plan
01:25:43
A Name and Desire
Go with the Flow
00:03:56
The Morty Look
Joyful Noise
Evian’s Reveal
Search and Rescue
A Little Math Goes a Long Way
A Contentious Legal Battle
Side Effects
Appendix: Maneuvers
Acknowledgments
More Books from Versify
About the Author
Connect with HMH on Social Media
Copyright © 2020 by Lamar Giles
Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Dapo Adeola
All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to trade.permissions@hmhco.com or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.
Versify® is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Versify is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
hmhbooks.com
Title hand lettered by Maeve Norton
Cover design by Whitney Leader-Picone
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Giles, L. R. (Lamar R.), author. | Adeola, Dapo, illustrator.
Title: Last mirror on the left / by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola.
Description: Boston ; New York : Versify, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2021] | Audience: Ages 10 to 12. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: Otto and Sheed, The Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County, are ordered by Missus Nedraw to bring a fugitive to justice in a world that mirrors their own but has its own rules.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019036656 (print) | LCCN 2019036657 (ebook) | ISBN 9780358129417 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780358130437 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Time—Fiction. | Supernatural—Fiction. | Cousins—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.G39235 Law 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.G39235 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019036656
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019036657
v1.0920
For Aaliyah, Jaiden, Laurence, and your future cousins
kangaroo court
(noun) a court held by a group of people in order to find someone guilty of a crime or misdemeanor without good evidence
1
Sheed’s Probably Going to Punch Otto
In the opinion of Sheed Alston—one half of the duo known as the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County—his cousin Otto (the other, more annoying half) sometimes needed to be punched.
Sheed had come to the conclusion a few years ago, when Otto got on this whole dinosaur thing. Don’t get it twisted—dinosaurs were, and still are, super cool! But even something super cool, like dinosaurs, became less cool when Otto insisted on knowing every single fact in the world about them, then insisted Sheed know that he knew every single fact in the world about them. All day. Every day.
Like, okay, Otto, a lot of movies got it wrong, because some dinosaurs had feathers . . . but did he ever think movies don’t show that because then the dinosaurs would look like chickens and that’s just dumb?
Around the fourth time Otto mentioned that the heaviest dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus and it weighed ninety tons, Sheed had had enough. He’d slugged Otto in the chest.
Not a hard punch. He didn’t want to hurt Otto. It was just enough to make a point. Otto stopped talking about dinosaurs so much after that.
And now that Otto was onto a new topic, one so much less cool than dinosaurs, Sheed knew another punch was coming. For sure.
“Did you know,” Otto said, “doctors who play video games are twenty-seven percent faster than doctors who don’t?”
It was Saturday in Logan County, Virginia. The sun was shining. The leaves were shifting from green to brown/orange/gold, and they hadn’t had any legend-worthy cases lately so Sheed wanted to eat his Frosty Loops with just the right amount of milk—the loops only damp, not soggy—in peace. Then maybe ride bikes to Fry Park and do flips off the swings. He did not want to talk about doctors. Again.
“Faster at what?” Grandma sang. She had choir rehearsal that afternoon, and while she worked the dough for the biscuits she was taking to the church, she also practiced. Low notes, high notes. Their conversation was at least one half song. Sheed didn’t like this tune, though.
“Diagnosing illnesses,” Otto said. “And surgeries. They make fewer mistakes, too. Do you think Dr. Bell plays video games?”
Grandma cut off a high C note and resorted to her speaking voice, giving her vocal cords a break. “I don’t know about that. Dr. Bell likes fly fishing, I heard him speak on that many occasions.”
“People can like fly fishing and video games, Grandma. Maybe you should make an appointment for me and Sheed, and we can ask him.”
Sheed dropped his spoon into his Frosty Loops bowl, splashing milk on the table. He leaned into Otto and whispered through clenched teeth, “Are you crazy?”
Visiting Dr. Bell usually meant shots. That man was scarier than the dentist and were-bears combined.
“We’re overdue for checkups,” Otto said, looking at the floor. “They’re important.”
“Stop. Talking.” Sheed flexed his punching hand.
Grandma left her biscuit dough alone and checked the teacup-pig calendar on the wall, humming while she flipped back a few months. “Y’all went at the beginning of summer. We barely into fall, so you don’t need a checkup yet.” She crossed the kitchen, rubbing dusty flour on her apron before pressing the back of her hand to Otto’s forehead. “You feeling all right, sugar?”
Sheed wondered the same thing.
“I’m fine, Grandma.” Otto still wouldn’t meet Sheed’s eyes.
“What about you?” Grandma said, reaching for Sheed.
Sheed tried to execute Maneuver #1 (run), but Otto turned full traitor and grabbed his wrist so he couldn’t get away. He was so getting punched when they were alone.
“Hold still,” Grandma said sharply, and Sheed knew better than to resist.
When she pressed her hand to his forehead, she said, “Hmm.”
Grandma then grazed his cheek. “You do seem a bit warm.”
“I’m fine, Grandma. It’s just hot in here from the oven.” He slipped away, headed upstairs, cranky because he knew his Frosty Loops were too soggy now—the optimal milk absorption window was a narrow one—and he was almost certain his cousin had just bought him a trip to Dr. Bell’s. What was wrong with Otto?
“Rasheed Alston! I know you ain’t stomping up no stairs in my house!”
Sheed stopped stomping. “No, Grandma.”
Otto padded out of the kitchen but skidded to a halt at the base of the stairs when Sheed gave him the we have unfinished business look they saw all the time in kung fu movies. Otto said, “Um? Where you going?”
This! On top of doctors-doctors all the time, Otto acted like he couldn’t let Sheed out of his sight for one second these days.
“To brush my teeth!” Sheed said. At the top of the stairs, he entered the bathroom and slammed the door.
“Rasheed Alston! I know you ain’t slamming no doors in my house!”
“No, Grandma.”
He sat on the edge of the bathtub, cupping his chin in both hands. If there was a way to mess up a Saturday, leave it to Otto to discover it.
A couple of sharp knocks sounded. Sheed yelled at the door, “Leave me alone.”
Two more knocks, like he hadn’t said a word. Not from the door, and not even close to the sound you get when knuckles hit wood. This sound was a hollow echo. Maybe a pipe? The house was old so that happened sometimes. He leaned into the bathtub, ear angled toward the drain.
Two more knocks, followed by a voice that almost made Sheed run screaming.
It said, “I know you’re there, Mr. Alston. I’d prefer not to be rude about this, but you and your cousin have already worn my patience razor thin.”
Sheed stood slowly, tracing the sound to a place it should not be coming from: the mirror over the sink.
When he faced it, the usual sight—his own reflection—was not where it should be. Instead, the mirror had become something like a window, looking into an all-too-familiar building. The Rorrim Mirror Emporium in downtown Fry.
Obscuring the view of the massive mirror warehouse was the magically weird proprietor of the emporium.
“Missus Nedraw?” Sheed said.
“Of course it’s me. I require you and the annoying one’s assistance. Get him now. Chop-chop!”
Sheed had no idea what this was, but he and Missus Nedraw agreed on Otto being annoying, so that was something.
2
Upon Further Reflection
Grandma got back to her biscuits, and Otto returned to the kitchen table, sulking, to finish his Frosty Loops. He wasn’t hungry anyway. His appetite had taken a real beating in the last few weeks.
It was Saturday in Logan County, Virginia. Clouds kept blotting out the sun—and Otto usually liked clouds. The leaves were drooping and dying. It was starting to get chilly, which meant everybody at school would be sniffly with extra snot. Otto missed how things were before the last day of summer, when everything had gone so terribly wrong.
Since that day, there’d been so much on his mind, so many observations and not nearly enough deductions. All about his cousin. None more important—and terrifying—than the one that changed everything.
If Otto didn’t do something, Sheed was going to die.
Maybe not next week, or even next year, but there was no timeline that Otto would accept. Hadn’t he himself come from the future—as the traveler TimeStar—to keep from losing Sheed? Didn’t he have to do everything in his power to complete the mission TimeStar had given him?
He shoved his Frosty Loops aside and left Grandma to her singing and baking. He drifted into the living room and flopped in his favorite spot on the old lumpy couch, where he fished his notepad from his pocket. Otto did his best thinking on paper.
Otto’s Legendary Log, Volume 24
Entry #25
Sheed’s not going to ever WANT to go to the doctor, and I can feel him getting super annoyed with me. It’s the dinosaurs all over again. BUT, if it saves his life, I’ll be annoying.
DEDUCTION: Keep working Grandma. If she believes Sheed is sick, she’ll MAKE him go to the doctor, and we can maybe get a jump on whatever’s wrong with him.
Of course, it had occurred to Otto that he might simply tell Grandma what he knew. Or tell Sheed. Every time he felt he might break and spill it all, he was reminded that he—TimeStar—hadn’t conquered the laws of time and space, hadn’t come back to Logan County from decades in the future, to run to Grandma. TimeStar also hadn’t revealed his true identity to Sheed. It was a secret Otto was meant to keep. And fix. On his own.
To save Grandma the pain he’d felt when he deduced there was no future for Sheed. To save Sheed the knowledge of death chasing him with much less distance to make up than anyone would’ve expected. To—
“Otto! Come up here, please.”
Uh-oh. Sheed said please. I’m definitely getting punched now, Otto thought.
But it would be worth it if Otto saved him.
“Why do you want me to come up there?” Otto wasn’t necessarily eager to catch hands.
“I can’t find the toothpaste. I need your help.”
Nope. Not falling for that. “It’s where it always is.”
“The special toothpaste. Now, get up here!”
The special—? Oh, this was one of the new maneuvers. #83: Put special in front of something that’s not special, so you know something actually special—Logan County Special—is happening.
Grandma was too busy kneading her dough and humming her church songs to catch on, so Otto slipped away, stuffing his notepad into a pocket on his cargo pants while creeping upstairs very carefully, in case the Logan County Special thing had Sheed hostage or something.
At the top landing, Sheed’s head protruded from the bathroom, his Afro pick wedged tight in his hair, and he waved Otto over. If this was a punching trick, it was a good one, because Sheed didn’t look annoyed at all. He looked scared.
“What is it?” Otto asked.
Sheed grabbed his shirt, yanked him inside, then shut the door behind them. “Look.”
He pointed at the mirror that wasn’t doing what a mirror was supposed to. It looked more like a TV screen, and Otto did not like the footage being displayed.
Otto said, “Missus Nedraw?”
She cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m right here.”
“Ack!” Otto shouted.
“Ack,” Missus Nedraw said, drolly, “is correct. There’s more ‘ack’ than I care for going on today, and you two are going to help me fix all the ‘ack.’”
Otto said. “What’s wrong?”
Missus Nedraw sneered. “Of course you have no clue. You think you can do whatever you want and your choices won’t affect those around you. It’s the same sort of shortsighted inconsiderate behavior that lands my prisoners where they are. You two should be glad we’re addressing this early. With my intervention, perhaps I can turn you . . . you . . . criminals from your wayward path before it’s too late.”
The boys had only recently discovered the truth about the Rorrim Mirror Emporium. That it was a prison. The various mirrors it housed were cells, the prisoners locked behind the glass. Missus Nedraw was the warden.
Otto and Sheed accepted what should’ve been an overwhelming discovery because it was made on that strange last day of summer, and honestly, there were weirder things happening. Now the idea of a secret mirror prison hidden in downtown Fry, and the truly insulting comment Missus Nedraw just made, required some revisiting.
“Don’t call us criminals!” Sheed said. “Grandma told us not to let anyone call us out of our names. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“In fact”—Otto kept his voice low because he didn’t want Grandma hearing, though he was about to make a good point that deserved to be heard—“we’re the premier heroes of this county. The opposite of criminals. Legends. Thank you very much.”
Missus Nedraw nodded sharply and paced on her side of her the mirror, with her arms clasped behind her back, giving them a full view of the crowded emporium floor as she left the mirror frame, then returned, blocking their view until she disappeared on the opposite side.
She didn’t look like her normal, put-together self. Usually she wore wool jackets over frilly blouses with high collars, long skirts, and striped socks with boots. Her mouth was always pinched, her glasses spot-free, and her silver-black hair pulled into a flawless tight bun. From what Otto could see of her, the outfit was about the same, just messier. The jacket seemed smudged with crusty stains. One lens of her glasses was cracked. Stray hairs protruded from her scalp at odd angles, like she’d had an unfortunate run-in with some aggressive static electricity.
Otto grabbed his notebook while she wasn’t paying attention, scribbled furiously.
Entry #26
Missus Nedraw looks like a hot mess.
DEDUCTION: Something’s happened at the emporium. Something bad.
She retraced her steps a few times, appeared to be thinking mightily. Then she stopped in the dead center of the bathroom mirror frame and said, “So you’d like the court to believe that you are not criminals?”
“We’re not,” Otto and Sheed said at once.
Then Otto thought, What court?
Missus Nedraw said, “Tell me, then, who took mirrors from my emporium, without permission, to fight a being named Mr. Flux several weeks ago?”
The boys said nothing.
“Need I remind you,” she said, “that you are under oath?”
Sheed said, “No, we’re not. What?”
Sheed looked to Otto, perplexed. Otto shook his head. He didn’t know what she was talking about either.
Missus Nedraw wobbled a bit, like she was dizzy, or weak. It didn’t stop her crazy talk. “Well? Who took mirrors from the emporium?”
Reluctantly, Otto raised his hand.
“What’s it called when you take something that does not belong to you, without permission?” she prodded.
Otto couldn’t bring himself to say it. Mostly because he knew she wasn’t wrong.
“Stealing,” she finished. “You two stole from me. That is a crime.”
Otto didn’t like lies. Almost as much as he didn’t like secrets. But he needed to clear up one thing. “Sheed didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Which was true, because Sheed had been Mr. Flux’s captive when Otto orchestrated his plan.
Sheed, however, jumped in. “He did it to save all of Logan from being frozen forever. How do you even remember?”
