MirrorMask Page #3

Well, young lady.

I suggest you give back

what you've stolen...

or we shall have to stake you out

for the shadows.

I haven't stolen anything.

I only got here just now.

This is all just a stupid dream!

Lying won't help you.

Now what have you done with the charm?

Yes, you look like her...

but you're not her, are you?

She said she was a princess.

- Are you a princess?

- I'm not anyone.

I'm just me.

I'm Helena Campbell.

Well, then explain yourself.

What are you doing here?

Why have you come to our city?

- Shall we lock her up for you?

- Extort a confession?

Deny her ice cream?

For heaven's sake, look at her.

Listen to her. She's not her.

I mean, she's not her.

- I wonder.

- Who am I meant to be?

Follow me.

Take over, Spiny. You're in charge.

Is she dead?

No, she's asleep.

This was her favorite room.

She could see the sun from here.

We used to have a marvelous sun,

shone like anything, all over the place.

Once we had days, nights...

with suns and moons

and all those little twinkly things.

The city was filled with joy.

We would entertain each other

with our astonishing skills.

"Excuse me, sir, are you in show business?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then kindly get your feet off the stage."

Those days are gone.

But what happened?

The balance was broken.

This is the City of Light.

Across the border is the Land of Shadows.

We had our queen, just as they had theirs.

Then one day,

a girl like you came to our city...

from the darkness.

She told us she was a princess.

Our queen took her in, we had a party.

The next day, the princess had vanished...

and without the charm,

we couldn't wake the queen.

Dangerous shadows and black birds and

terrible things came out of the darkness.

You keep talking about a charm.

What kind of a charm?

It's a gateway.

The scales on which

the whole world balances.

What does it look like?

I don't know.

Right.

- How big is it?

- I don't know.

What kind of places could it be in?

I don't know.

What do you know?

- I think I'd know it if I saw it.

- Would you?

I don't know.

What if I have seen and I didn't know it?

What if it was the chicken?

No, I don't think it was the chicken.

- Helena?

- Mum?

I wish there was something I could do

to help.

This is my dream.

I'll find it for you. I'll wake her up.

That's very kind of you, young lady,

it really is. But it's too late.

Soon, the city will fall

completely into shadow.

This palace and the Queen will be gone.

Just let me try.

It would be like looking for a needle...

No, not a needle, something smaller

than a needle in a haystack...

when you don't even know

if you're in the right field.

I mean, as propositions go...

I have to say, it's completely, utterly,

unarguably, quintessentially hopeless.

Look!

What does it mean?

It means that it's maybe not...

quintessentially hopeless.

So did he mention a reward?

The reward is

we wake the Queen and save the world.

No, reward:
Money, jewels.

You can't come into these quest things

without your manager present.

- You're not my manager.

- We'll sort out the contractual stuff after.

Where are we going, again?

We need to find where the charm might be.

Where do you go for information?

The library. Of course.

It's full of books and...

Predominantly books.

Excuse me.

Excuse me,

we're looking for "A really useful book."

Information, paperbacks.

Top floor, you'll need a net.

That princess that they were talking about.

Did you ever meet her?

To be honest,

all you people look alike to me.

With no proper faces,

you could be anybody.

Hang on! I've got a proper face.

Can you do this?

That's disgusting.

Valentine, I had no idea

books had such different personalities.

In the beginning...

she found herself in a new and empty space.

And all was white...

and the corners were a bit flaky,

and the carpet was a bit manky...

but it was a good space.

And she sat in the center

and saw a clean white sheet of void.

She held the charm to her face.

And reflected in the charm

was a city of lost horizons...

and tall and towering stories.

And just as it had been reflected

in the charm...

so it appeared in the void.

And when there was no more room...

she turned it over

and continued on the other side.

So the void was filled

from corner to corner on both sides.

A city of front and back.

A city of light and shadow.

Then she rested on her bed

and dreamed of her creation...

and the lives that inhabited it.

And in the days that followed...

there were other voids and other lights

and other shadows.

The charm,

she placed beneath the sign of the queen...

to show the city

that she knew it would never be finished...

because the city was her life

and her dream...

and it would live forever.

Thank you, I think.

I'm not quite sure I understood it all.

Yeah, well, who does? I certainly don't.

Hello. I think you've made a friend.

"A really useful book."

"Remember what your mother said."

"Why don't you look out the window?"

Really useful? Utter piffle.

Sounds perfectly useless to me.

"Placed it beneath the sign of the queen."

It's all rubbish, isn't it?

Doesn't mean anything.

The Queen's sign.

The Queen's sign is the sun.

It was all over her bedroom.

And look, at the end of that little street,

that's where we need to go.

You really are a useful book, aren't you?

You'd better take the book with you.

If you leave it behind,

it will just depress the rest of them.

Before you know it, they'll start molting.

Pages everywhere.

- That's really kind of you. Thank you.

- Oh, sure.

Stop it.

So we find this thing quickly,

save the world...

they give us the contents of the treasury,

and we can be out of the city by tomorrow.

You stick with me, kiddo.

You'll have a tower all of your own.

Almost as nice is mine.

That's just for starters.

Forget juggling.

We'll do what rich people do.

We'll bathe in...

fish.

Eat our own weight in chocolate buttons.

Learn to play the concertina.

I definitely don't need a manager.

Actually, I'm not sure I even need you.

Now, do you think I'd look good in a crown?

I've always thought

I was more of a hat person myself.

I knew there was something familiar

about the houses here.

They all look like things I drew.

What are we looking for, again?

How do we know when we've found it?

I wonder...

Now that's odd.

I should be in there, shouldn't I,

if I'm asleep?

You're asleep?

Well, yes.

I think we've rather definitely

established that, Valentine.

This is all just a dream. But look at it.

- I can't see anything. It's just a window.

- It's my bedroom!

- It's not. It's somebody's junk room.

- You don't see my bedroom in there?

Look. My bed, my wardrobe,

my moon mask...

my little cuddly sea anemone.

Whether this is a dream or not,

we're definitely heading the right way.

Well, this is where I stop.

What?

"Giants orbiting"?

Sounds a bit iffy, doesn't it? Good luck.

I'll be here when you come back.

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