Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]

FOUR

Ruby-Rose stood in front of the biggest set of doors she'd ever seen in her life, and she'd seen quite a few big doors in big old palaces and castles. Her mother was a renowned historian and restorer, and Ruby and Robbie had had the pleasure—or rather, the displeasure—of being dragged across the globe with mummy dearest for her work. Yes, growing up, Ruby had never felt she'd belonged anywhere, nor that she had close friends or love for any place long enough to say it made an impact.

Ruby, in her in-tow travels around the world with her history-obsessed mother, had seen exotic, remote, old grand palaces. She'd seen French, English Isles, Spanish forts and castles, to the grand, intricate darbar of the Mughals, but never in her life had she—nor her mother—seen such a door in their mere mortal lives.

The door Ruby stood bewitched by was made of wood she had never laid eyes on. A dark green tinge seeped through its grain; near-blazing white, intricate veins, as if patterns on a fabric, laced the span of its surface, ebbing and glowing—breathing. Images of what Ruby could only explain as men and womenfolk flashed across the surface as flames of the torches danced from the brackets on the walls. Scenes of a nomadic village life in a world she didn't know.

Ruby peeked above her, trying to see where the door ended as two guards stood either side of it. There seemed to be no end to the door; no end she could see. It went up into the dark recesses of a dark, unseen ceiling.

Before her, Sir Happy, whom Ruby had already dubbed 'Mr Grouchy Pants,' in her head, stood tall in his military regalia. It made her think of the question Millie had asked earlier. "Why are the knights so small?"

Well, this one definitely wasn't.

If this world existed—Snow White's world and her knights, who Ruby thought were supposed to be dwarves—existed? Ruby stared at the back of the knight's head, a knight who was clearly an entire head taller than her lanky, near-six-foot, stinky-breath, lazy-butt brother. If he was so tall, she wondered—do the other six knights exist, and if so, are they just as tall, or is he the only one who defied the story she'd grown up with?

Ruby hadn't realized she'd been staring at the back of Sir Happy-in-name, sour-in-disposition until Millie jabbed her freakishly pointy index finger somewhere about her left kidney.

It made Ruby jump—obviously. So sharp was the finger on her assailant.

"Eyes ahead, Princess," Millie whispered beside her ear. Warm, soured breath hit Ruby's nose. "And whatever you do, don't look the Queen in the eyes."

Why? Will she turn me to stone, like Medusa? The thought flitted into Ruby-Rose II's mind but before her snappy brain voiced it, the enormous set of doors glided open impossibly silent on the hinges and before them lay a long, quiet hallway that seemed to go on forever.

"Presenting Princess Ruby-Rose Mabel Florentine White, and her handmaiden, your Majesty. Permission to enter." Sir Happy stepped into the hallway and disappeared in the mirage that rippled before Ruby's very eyes.