Lanarra

It was a dare, and I took the bait.

I was drunk, true, but I was also chockful of youth and the desire to prove myself. To whom? I’m not sure. It was the first week of college, and I wanted fellow students to see my bravery. Stupidity, more like. Identifying as female, I had so much more to prove than my male companions.

‘Is this a good idea?’ asked Priya, my best friend from school who had started college with me. ‘It’s getting dark.’ She was kind and never cared what anyone else thought about her. On reflection, I could’ve learned a lot from Priya.

‘I can do this,’ I said. ‘All I’ve got to do is take that path into the woods until I find the mirror. Then I have to say—’

‘Lanarra,’ whispered Priya. Her dark eyes stared at the path ahead. We were on the college field.

I laughed. My mirth was because of her quiet respect of the mysterious name, and because I was afraid. Alcohol had squashed most of my inhibitions, but a few stalwarts remained.

Everyone had heard the stories.

Lanarra was a student at the college back when women were rarely educated. Some claimed the college had once been a place for wise women to learn arcane crafts. Lanarra walked into the woods one night and disappeared. Her body was discovered in a wall when the old foundations were torn down to build the modern college. Her body was wrapped in rare silks and pinned with priceless jewels.

They say she sold her soul to a demon. Some say living with a demon in exchange for riches was easier than being female in normal society.

‘I’m going in!’ I shouted to the drunken group around the fire.

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The trees cast shadows over the narrow path as the fat moon beamed down. Skeletal branches pointed me deeper into the forest as autumn turned to winter. Moonlight guided me.

The woods smelled like mushrooms. Needles of cold air pricked my skin through my hoodie, and night arrived too quickly. The laughter of my peers grew distant, until trees caged me in. Alone, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

A shape etched in light approached, and I realised with a jolt of fear that it was me. A mirror, framed with burnished gold curlicues, reared up in front of me.

Hunched oaks, trunks lumpy with age, made me feel insignificant in the little clearing. That’s when a dark shape stretched up behind me in the mirror’s reflection. My body went rigid.

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His skin was bone-white against his dark embossed velvet garments that belonged to a long-passed epoch. His collar was high and his coat hem was low. A pattern of knotted ivy, which slithered as if alive, decorated his waistcoat.

‘Who are you?’ I asked.

‘Not who am I,’ he replied. ‘Who are you?’

‘Susan.’ I couldn’t tell if this was still reality, or if alcohol was playing tricks on my mind. Maybe my drink had been spiked. Perhaps I had fallen over and was now hallucinating. This thought calmed me; hallucinations could do me no harm.

‘You’re here about her,’ he hissed. The word “her” fell from his wet lips with disdain, as if he dribbled venom. ‘Like the others, you’ll fail.’ He pointed to a mound of bones beside the mirror. Human bones. To my horror, there must have been a dozen skeletons there spotted with lichens and moss. ‘You have to say her name thrice to be rid of me,’ he said.

‘Lan—’

He put a cold finger to my lips and the name died there. Worse still, the name slipped from my mind. His touch terrified me. He wafted between me and the mirror with all the substance of moth’s wings.

‘Fear me, dearest,’ he growled. ‘I’ve been trapped in an unearthly struggle with her. If one of us fails the other succeeds. You cannot win. Stay with me, and I will spoil you with riches until you die.’

This felt like myth re-enacted, not reality. I kept quiet.

‘Won’t you stay awhile? drink tea with me. It’s the finest hemlock infusion.’

I looked behind me. A round table with flickering candles appeared between me and the path, my only escape. A bouquet of toadstools bloomed from a bulbous vase at the centre of the spread and a black china tea set sat beside the centrepiece. He poured tea from a black teapot. It steamed in the frigid night air.

‘Sit,’ he said with a grin. ‘Drink.’

Dazed, I sat down and lifted the teacup to my lips.

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The steam lit neon danger signs in my brain, and I tossed the cup aside. It smashed against a tree trunk. Unlike the other skeletons here, I would not fall for this demon’s tricks. I knocked the table as I got up and spilled his tea. I ran for the mirror even as the man, demon-like now, lunged for my boots.

‘LANARRA! LANARRA! LANARRA!’ I yelled.

He wrapped his fingers around my neck, each digit like a dead slug.

_________________________

‘Lanarra?’ I fought away shadows.

‘No. It’s me, Priyanka. You were gone for ages.’

‘Oh.’ I rubbed my temples. My bum was numb from sitting on cold wet leaves. The man and the mirror had disappeared. ‘I guess I passed out,’ I said, though I didn’t believe that. Something was wrong.

Priya and I parted under a streetlight between our houses. I waited until she had gone before I dared look at my shadow. It looked back at me, jewels twinkling all over its withered form. It moved when I didn’t.

‘By saying my name thrice, you escaped the demon,’ a whisper crackled in my head. ‘By saying my name thrice, you have gained a ghost.’

My foolish bravado had gained me a paranormal parasite. I’d rather have crabs. Only the demon could help me now, and I headed back to the woods where the mirror awaited.