Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis Read Free Book Online Page A

folded mirror. With the light, I heard voices, faint but unmistakable, just at the edge of my perception. Either the mirror itself was alive, or there were people somehow trapped inside it.
    I stared at it, breathing hard.
    The sensible thing would be to peel it off my hand, fling it back into the cabinet, and lock the door as fast as I could. Even Angeline would tell me that. Only a ninny would do anything else.
    But if I put it back, I would never know what might have happened.
    It was Mama’s own mirror, after all. It couldn’t be that dangerous.
    I snapped open the clasp and flipped the case open to reveal the mirror inside.
    Golden light exploded in my chest, and I lost consciousness.

Five
    Unfamiliar voices battered against my aching head. As my mind cleared, I started to pick out words in the jumble of sound, and two distinct voices.
    “She doesn’t look like Olivia, I must say,” said a woman.
    There was a hesitant male cough that sounded like disagreement. “She came through Olivia’s mirror. I should call that indisputable evidence.”
    The woman let out an irritated huff of air that blew directly against my prickling, uncomfortable skin. “What a very odd outfit she is wearing. Do you think she often wanders around in public in her nightgown? There always were some signs of instability in Olivia’s family, you know. That might account for her ridiculous hairstyle as well.”
    There are some things that cannot be tolerated, even inside a magic mirror. I forced my eyes open with a scowl.
    As my vision cleared, I saw two faces peering down at me—a lady and a gentleman, kneeling on either side of me—both illuminated by a deep, golden glow that didn’t feel like candlelight. As they examined me, both of their faces pursed into exactly the same expression Stepmama always wore when she was inspecting a particularly inadequate sample of my embroidery.
    I directed my scowl at the lady and spoke clearly, even though every word hurt my head.
    “I was not intending to go out in public,” I said, with all the hauteur Angeline herself could have summoned. “I am wearing my nightgown because I am in my own house, and so are you. This is my mother’s magic mirror we’re all inside, so you might care to show a little more respect.”
    “Well!” The lady drew back from me, scowling. She was very elegantly dressed, with a dark green gown every bit as low-cut as the pictures in the Mirror of Fashion , and bright jewels sparkling in her black hair. And she was every bit as good as Stepmama at looking down her nose at me.
    I pushed myself up to my feet, setting my teeth so I couldn’t let out any humiliating whimpers of pain. Everything inside me felt as if it had been scalded with fire. When my head finally stopped reeling, I turned pointedly away from the others to look around me. I was determined not to show any signs of surprise or awe, but it was more difficult than I’d expected.
    I’d never in my life seen so huge a room, nor one so strange and empty. There were no candles to account for the bright light that flooded through the hall. The floor and walls were smooth and gold, like the outer casing of the mirror had been, and the rounded ceiling above us arched almost as high as the sky itself. I couldn’t see any doors or windows, no matter how hard I looked.
    “Welcome to the Golden Hall, my dear,” the gentleman said. “As Olivia Amberson’s daughter, you are most heartily—”
    “Olivia Stephenson’s daughter,” I corrected him, and turned back to face them both. “She was only Olivia Amberson until she married Papa.”
    The lady let out a disdainful crack of laughter and turned away.
    “Mm. Yes. Well, the less said about that, the better,” said the gentleman. He drew a handkerchief from his pocket and began to polish his spectacles with quick, exact movements. The lenses glittered distractingly in the golden light. Meanwhile, he peered at me from pale, washed-out blue eyes. His thin brown