"Your accent is terrible," Tory said bluntly. "You'll be coming through the portal to an unknown location. After you learn where you are, you'll have to travel to a strange place to free a heavily guarded man. If you manage to get him out, you then have to get him back to the local mirror and home to England. Someone so obviously English will never be able to do that."

"My French will have to do." Nick made a face. "I hated studying the language. It never occurred to me that French might be useful someday."

"More than useful. Vital," Allarde said, his expression thoughtful. "Luckily, most of us at Lackland Abbey were raised with French governesses and tutors. My French is excellent, so I'd better go with you."

CHAPTER 19.

Tory gasped at Allarde's calm statement that he'd go with Nick into a war zone. Was he trying to get himself killed? If so, could it be because of her? The thought was unbearable.

He continued slowly, his awareness turned inward, "I have some foreteller ability, and I have a powerful feeling this is something that should be done."

Biting back her instinctive protest in favor of logic, Tory said, "Surely you need some kind of plan. At this point, we don't know whether there's a mirror close enough to Dr. Weiss to be of use. Even if there is, are you sure you could reach it? It would be a jump in time and also place. A strange place you've never been before. Even though my mirror magic is the strongest, I don't know if I could do this."

Nick's jaw set stubbornly. "I'm probably next to you in strength of mirror magic, and I'm determined. That will have to be enough."

Cynthia said with exasperation, "Can't we just crack his head against the wall until he gets over this mad idea?"

"Tempting," Jack said, "but since this is a good cause, I'll go with you, Nick."

"You are mad!" Cynthia exclaimed, her expression horrified. "Is this why we have war? Because men are so keen on getting themselves killed?"

"There may be something to that," Jack said cheerfully. "One of my reasons for volunteering is to make sure Nick comes back safely. But another is that I missed the fun during the evacuation. I was sitting safe in England working the weather while the rest of you got to be heroic."

Tory shuddered as she thought of the destruction and fear that sometimes woke her up at night. "If you think what we did was fun, you really are mad!"

Jack sobered. "I shouldn't have been flippant. It bothers me that you and Polly went to war and I didn't. This feels like a chance to do something important, and maybe help Nick survive to do something equally stupid later."

"Thanks, cuz," Nick said wryly.

"I was glad to sit safely in England and work the weather." Cynthia's glare at Jack could have scorched paint. "It didn't leave me with the slightest desire to undertake a dimwitted, suicidal mission to France."

"That's because you're a girl," Jack explained.

A pillow whirled off the sofa and smacked him in the face. His muffled "Hey!" was drowned out by Cynthia's tart, "You're lucky I didn't have a rock to throw!"

Jack laughed as he tossed the pillow back on the sofa. "I see it's dangerous to tease girls who are mages."

"Let's get him, girls!" Cynthia purred. "The three of us can hang Jack from the ceiling if we work together."

"Tory's right, we need a plan," Nick said hastily. "I have a map of France, but it doesn't show Castle Bouchard. All I know is that it's south and east of Calais."

"Castle Bouchard?" Jack said, startled. "Over the holiday, Cynthia and I rescued the Comte du Bouchard and his children. He was fleeing arrest and likely execution by Napoleon's government. The castle is built on a huge outcropping of sheer rock with a small lake around half the base. The count said that he and his children escaped through a secret tunnel. But much might have changed between now and your time."

"But maybe it hasn't!" Nick leaned forward excitedly. "This sounds like fate, Jack. I need to talk to the count. Get him to draw maps. If there's a mirror portal nearby, we might be able to get in and out quickly and safely."

"You don't even know if there's a mirror in that area," Tory pointed out. "Plus, I think you'll have to go in two jumps. First back to your time, and you'll have to search for other portals during the passage, which isn't easy. If there is another portal where you want it, you'll probably have to jump there from Lackland. I think you could, but we really don't know if it's possible to jump from place to place in the same time."

Nick's jaw set stubbornly. "I'll experiment on my own so no one else will be at risk until I'm sure of where to go."

He would do it, too, the fool. And maybe kill himself in the process. Tory's brow furrowed as she thought about alternatives. "It might be possible to map the portals without going through the mirror. The energy always calls to me when I'm near. Usually I resist it, but if you and I combine our mirror and finder magic, we might be able to locate the portals from outside. Do you want to try?"

"Of course." Nick was still gray with exhaustion, but he gamely got to his feet. "As long as I don't have to go through again!"

He and Tory led the way to the mirror with the others trailing behind. "I wonder about the minimum time between trips," Elspeth mused. "It takes time to recover, but how much? Twelve hours? Twenty-four? More?"

Tory thought. "Nick made two trips about twenty-four hours apart when he came back to ask for weather magery. How bad was the second trip, Nick?"

"No worse than the first, but that's not saying much," he said tersely.

"I've been wondering if healing energy could make passage through the mirror easier," Elspeth explained. "I don't know quite how to apply it, though."

"Practice on me!" Nick said. "I'll try anything that might make the trip less awful."

They reached the mirror corridor. The mirror wasn't visible, but Tory could feel the blaze of its energy. "Take my hand as we go nearer, Nick. I'll try to open my mind to the energy without being swept into it. Use your finder ability to see if you can sense other portals. And if so, where they might be."

He nodded and took her hand. "Are you sure we won't go through the mirror?"

"No." She suspected her palm was damp. The tightness of Nick's grip showed that he was also nervous. "But what's the worst that can happen? We go through the mirror again and feel as if we've been chopped into small pieces and reassembled. The usual mirror passage."

"You are so comforting," Nick muttered, but he managed a smile.

Hand in hand, they approached Merlin's mirror. Tory sensed tension from the other Irregulars, Allarde in particular. The heightened magic of the Labyrinth made it easy to read him even when he was behind her. The bond between them might have been damaged, but it wasn't fully destroyed.

Tory stopped a yard or so short of the mirror, which was currently invisible. The silvery surface only appeared to normal eyes when the portal was open and ready to transport someone to another time. Then it turned black as the abyss.

"Close your eyes and share your energy with mine, Nick," she ordered. "When our energies are blended, I'll reach into the mirror magic and you can search for other portals."

"It's a good theory." Nick's voice was steady despite his fatigue. His energy flowed out to hers, sinking in until their powers were joined. Together they were much more powerful and had a wider range of abilities.

Tory closed her eyes and the mirror's power blazed through every corner of her mind. Could such magic have been created by one person, even the legendary Merlin? Or had it been the product of many powerful mages working together?

The mirror laughed at her! Never before had she deliberately chosen to explore the mirror's energy. Her first passage had been by accident. The other times she'd been anxious and concerned only with reaching her destination safely.

Now that she was consciously reaching out to the mirror, she experienced it as a kind of living entity that blazed through time and space. Not alive like a human, but she would swear that the ancient magic sensed her presence. It rather approved of her, like a powerful old uncle amused by a small girl child who was ignorant but had potential.

Cautiously she explored the dimensions of the mirror's power, Nick shadowing her awareness. She realized that there weren't multiple mirrors. Instead, one enormous conduit of power was anchored to several physical locations in her world. The energy ran centuries into the past and disappeared into the dim future.

As she immersed herself in the mirror energy, Nick extended his finder talent toward the places where it was anchored. Tory could sense the anchors, but couldn't connect them with a mental map.

Nick could. She let him set the lead as he located portals one by one. He started with his home time in the Lackland mirror. There was another to the north. Scotland? Another to the south. France? No, Nick rejected that and moved on.

There! She felt his excitement kindle as he discovered the portal he'd been seeking. Northern France, as Nick had hoped.

The mirror blazed with consuming fire. Dear God, Nick's excitement and desire to rescue his stranger had triggered it and they were being drawn through!

A hard hand clamped on her arm and then she was in the maelstrom, torn to pieces, disintegrating....

Her last conscious thought was Damn you, Nick Rainford!

Cynthia gasped and retreated involuntarily as the mirror blazed silver, then turned night-black and sucked in Tory and Nick. Allarde, too. He'd leaped forward to catch Tory's arm as the mirror came to life. Instead of saving her, he'd vanished into the portal with them.

"Nick is a damned fool for going through!" Jack swore, his hands knotting into fists. "He shouldn't have taken Tory. She hated the idea of another mirror passage!"

"I doubt it was deliberate." Elspeth's hand was pressed to her chest and she didn't look as imperturbable as usual. "The mirror energy was so intense that it might have only needed a thought to trigger it."

"Allarde should stop being so blasted heroic!" Cynthia snapped, her fear turning to anger. "Now he's gone, too. But I suppose it's another lesson in mirror magic. Anyone touching the wizard who opens the portal is going for a ride."

"I wonder where they are," Jack said. "And when. If there are several mirror portals, they could be anywhere."

"Let's wait and see if they return soon," Elspeth suggested. "Or at least send us a message." Looking tired, she slid gracefully down the wall to sit while she waited.

Cynthia had always hated the mirror, and now she hated it more. "What if they can't find their way back? Do we have to try to follow them?"

"Not if there's no clue where they are," Jack said. "Whoever built the mirrors probably placed them in concealed locations like the Labyrinth. Even if they end up in some strange place, they should be safe enough until they can return home. They're all clever, powerful mages."

"I hope you're right." Cynthia stared at the energy-charged space that held the mirror, wishing there was something she could do. But her trips through the mirror had half killed her, so she wasn't qualified to help.

Jack wrapped an arm around Cynthia's shoulders, snugging her close to his side. "If you want to fill the time while we wait, you can fight with me. You always seem to enjoy that."

For an instant Cynthia leaned against him, grateful for his warm strength. Then she jerked away, not wanting to give him the wrong idea. "At least you weren't stupid enough to go through the mirror, too. I half expected you to follow the others."

His lips twitched. "I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid."

As the minutes dragged, Cynthia paced the end of the corridor, keeping her distance from the mirror. How long should they wait? Not that there was any point in returning to her empty room. She'd never be able to sleep.

The mirror flared and a stone appeared, dropping to the floor and rolling close to Elspeth. She caught it up and swiftly scanned the paper tied around it. "It's from Allarde. He says they're safe, but not sure of when and where they are. They'll probably have to wait a day or two before Nick recovers enough for another passage. Tory thinks she can bring them back here safely."

"Thank heaven!" Cynthia pursed her lips. "But we'll have to make sure the school authorities won't wonder where Tory and Allarde are. I can say that Tory has caught the same cold I had. Since I'm over it, I can take her food. I'll ask Miss Wheaton to verify that Tory is unwell but not seriously ill."

"Allarde will have to be declared ill also." Elspeth frowned. "We'll have to get word to Mr. Stephens in the morning. He can talk to Allarde's roommate, Halliwell. But we won't be able to maintain the pretense for very long."

"It was easier for me during the holidays when almost no one was here," Cynthia agreed. "There will be another meeting of the Irregulars in two nights. If we haven't heard anything from them by then, we can take action."

What sort of action, she had no idea.

CHAPTER 20.

Tory landed on an unfamiliar stony floor in total darkness. Not the chalk tunnels of Lackland. She groaned as she pushed herself to a sitting position and wondered where and when she was.

"Tory, are you here?" It was Allarde's voice, tense with concern.

"Justin?" she asked in disbelief.

She created a wavery mage light that showed that he had also come through the mirror and landed about a yard away. He was leaning on one arm and looking around. When he saw Tory, he scooped her onto his lap, crushing her close. "Thank God you're all right! What just happened?"

She clung to his familiar strong, lean body. This was not the time to remember that they were no longer a couple. His warm embrace was the surest thing in a scrambled world. "Nick found the portal he was looking for, and his excitement triggered the mirror so we were drawn through," she explained. "How did you get here?"

"When I saw the mirror shimmer into sight, I grabbed your arm to pull you back," he said ruefully. "Instead, I was yanked through with you."

She made herself pull away, wishing he hadn't tried to catch her. Knowing that he could never be less than protective. Glad he was here. In his eyes, she saw a similar jumble of feelings as he released her.

"Where is Nick?" She looked around and saw irregular stone walls with moisture dripping in several places. They were in a natural cave whose floor had been smoothed for safe walking. A faint draft suggested that there was an exit not far away.

At the edge of the ring of mage light, Nick was sprawled on the ground, his face as pale as death. "Nick!"

She pulled away from Allarde and crawled over to Nick. His skin was cold and clammy, but she felt a pulse in his throat. "He's alive," she said. "But taking a second trip through the mirror so soon has been a tremendous strain."

Allarde straightened Nick out so he was lying on his back. "Can you manage some hearth witchery to warm him?"

"I'll see if I have any power left." She took Nick's hand and concentrated on warming him. It took most of her available energy, but she managed to channel heat into him and also warm a bubble of air around her and Allarde. Nick regained color and his breathing grew stronger, though he didn't awaken.

"The warmth feels good." Allarde rolled up his coat and tucked it under Nick's head. "Do you have any idea where we are? And when?"

"My best guess would be northern France in 1940 since Nick became excited when he found the portal. But I don't really know," she admitted. "We could be at that portal in our time, or a different portal altogether."

"Can you take us back where we came from?"

She closed her eyes and tried to recall every detail of the passage that had brought them here. "I think so, but we can't go through the mirror again until Nick has had time to recover. He might not be able to survive a third passage so soon. We should wait at least a couple of days, I think."

"I agree, but we should send a message back. Do you think you can reach Lackland at the right time?"

She reached deep and managed to summon the dregs of her power. "Perhaps. It's worth trying so everyone doesn't worry."

Allarde pulled a pencil and piece of paper from an inside pocket. After neatly printing a short message, he produced a piece of thin cord from another inside pocket and tied the message to an apple-sized rock. "I said that we're all right, but we won't return right away because we need recovery time."

Wearily Tory got to her feet. "Are you always equipped to send mirror messages?"

His eyes twinkled. "Yes."

Tory weighed the rock in her hand. The mirror wasn't visible, but its fierce energy blazed only a few yards away. She carefully touched the mirror with her own magic, then concentrated on the time and place she'd just left.

When she felt that the correct route was clear in her mind, she tossed the stone. The mirror flared silver for an instant, then turned night-black as it swallowed the stone. "With luck, that will reassure everyone."

Turning, she continued, "I'd like to get farther away from the mirror energy. It's not comfortable to be so close. Can we can move Nick if we work together?"