believing in magic

‘I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. You know what people from the village said,’ Jackie warned her friend.

‘What do you care what a bunch of uneducated villagers say? I thought you were intelligent enough not to believe in ghost stories. Besides, it’s daytime. Your ghosts will be sleeping now, so nothing to worry about,’ replied Diana.

The two girls had decided to rent a car and make a weekend road trip around the Highlands. It was starting to be a bit shameful to have grown up in Scotland and never have visited Loch Ness.

They stopped at a small village for the night, after having driven for several hours. The only place to stay in the village was a two storey house run by a family, with no more than four bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and the local pub on the ground floor. Since there was not much to do, the girls decided to hang out with the locals. They had seen a castle on their way there and had thought it might be a good idea to visit it in the morning.

‘They say it belonged to some Prince from the XVIII century… After his second wife died in strange circumstances, he went out of his mind and started to get rid of all his servants until he was left alone. He let himself go until he passed away as well, but rumour has it that his ghost still inhabits the castle,’ finished the villager in a sombre voice. Then he had the remaining half of his drink in one drop, and burped loudly. The girls looked at one another in disgust.

‘You win, Diana. But promise me we’ll head back immediately if things start getting creepy.’

But, as usual, Diana wasn’t listening to her friend. As Jackie finished her last sentence, Diana was already going through the arch that led to the main courtyard of the castle. They crossed the courtyard and Diana pushed the door that would take them inside the castle. They found it quite surprising that it wasn’t even locked. As the door opened, a cold wind blew from the inside.

‘Oh my goodness,’ said Jackie in astonishment.

The villager had told them that no one had lived in that castle for more than two hundred years. Nonetheless, the main hall that opened up before them was preserved in a perfect state, as if someone had held a party there the night before: half burnt candles at the chandelier that hung from the high wooden ceiling with mouldings, thick dark blue curtains before the windows, tapestries at the walls and even a very long red carpet that started at the door and went up the steps of the magnificent staircase that rose in front of them. The same happened in every room that they went through.

‘Do you know what I think?’ Jackie said ‘Probably that drunkard was just teasing us and someone is actually living here.’

‘You may be right. Still, I have an awkward feeling. There’s something that doesn’t quite fit here. It’s just as if time had been frozen inside the castle.’

Eventually, they got to a room that they thought could have been the wife’s, since there was a very big wardrobe with lots of woman dresses like the ones depicted on the portraits from the late XVIII century. There was also a bed with a silk canopy with embroideries in gold, and a boudoir. The decoration of this chamber was notably more luxurious than the one in the rest of the rooms in the castle, so it could have perfectly belonged to a princess or a queen.

But what attracted Diana’s attention was a full-length mirror that stood on one corner of the room. It was quite plain, the only remarkable thing about it being some butterfly and flower motifs on its top. And you couldn’t even see your reflection, as a layer of dirt covered the glass. Even so, she was drawn to it by some strange force, and she immediately knew that she had to take that mirror home with her…