The dungeon under the castle was cold and smelled like old wet stone. Vesper sat on the floor, shivering. She wasn't shivering because of the cold; she was shivering because she was going to die.
Tomorrow morning, when the sun came up, the guards would take her to the town square. They would cut off her head. Everyone thought she had poisoned the King, but she hadn't done it. Her step-brother had framed her. Vesper was too shy and too scared to defend herself. She had always been the quiet girl who hid in the library. Now, her silence was going to get her killed.
The only thing in the cell was a metal bowl filled with dirty water. Vesper crawled over to it. She looked down at the water.
Her Reflection looked back.
But the Reflection wasn't acting like Vesper. Vesper was crying, with red eyes and a runny nose. The Reflection was calm. It stared at her with sharp, hard eyes. It didn't blink.
"Are you there?" Vesper whispered. Her voice shook.
"I am always here, Vesper," a voice said.
It didn't come from the room. It came from inside Vesper's head. It sounded like her, but stronger. It sounded like a version of her that wasn't afraid of anything.
"I want to make the deal," Vesper said. "I want to use the Mirror's Debt."
In this world, everyone knew the secret legend. You could trade places with your Reflection. If you had to do something terrible, like get a painful surgery or give a speech to a thousand people, you could swap. The Reflection would take the pain. You would go into the mirror, where it was safe and quiet.
Usually, people only swapped for an hour. But Vesper wanted more.
"The execution is at dawn," the Reflection said. "You want me to die for you?"
"I have a plan," Vesper lied. She didn't really have a plan. She just was too scared to walk up the stairs to the execution block. "My friends will save me at the last second. I just can't handle the fear. Please. Take my place for twenty-four hours. Then we swap back."
The Reflection smiled. It was a perfect, cold smile. Vesper never smiled like that.
"Okay," the Reflection said. "Twenty-four hours. You give me the body. You take the glass."
Vesper stopped shivering for a second. She reached her hand down to the water. "Ready."
"Ready," the Reflection echoed.
When their fingers touched, the world turned upside down. It felt like falling into a freezing cold swimming pool. All the air left Vesper's lungs. There was a loud pop sound, like a bubble bursting.
Then, silence.
Vesper opened her eyes. The world looked grey. The stone walls looked like a black-and-white drawing. She looked down at her hands. They were see-through, like smoke. She was floating.
She looked up. Standing in the cell was Vesper's body.
The body stretched its arms. It cracked its neck loud and hard. It took a deep breath of the smelly dungeon air like it was smelling flowers.
"Finally," the body said. The voice was loud and clear.
"The guards are coming," Vesper said. Her voice didn't make a sound in the room, but the Reflection could hear it in her mind. "Remember the deal. You go to the square."
The Reflection smoothed down her dress. She looked at the metal bowl where Vesper was hiding.
"Don't worry, little ghost," the Reflection said. "I'm not going to die today."