ater that afternoon, after finally getting some lunch, Kat and Marc settled down, laying face to face on Kat's bed. Then Kat told Marc everything, from the paintings, to the mirrors, to the strange thread she'd sensed in Jade's mind. Marc thought for a long while, then asked to see the mirror. Kat produced it, and Marc carefully observed it out of the corner of his eye. Then, he proposed a plan. He suggested that Kat link minds with him, and he would keep her anchored, and be ready to yank her back, if the need arose. Kat would look within the mirror, and see what she could discover. It was a risky plan, but the only way Marc could see out of the situation.

Firstly, Kat ensured that there was lots of light in the room, and then she carefully formed a link with Marc. She closed her eyes, and the link firmed up. He was looking at her. Kat smiled, and her mind laughed.
I don't look like that! she laughed.
You do to me, Marc replied. We have lots of time to explore this later, angel. Right now, we have a job to do.
And so Marc closed his eyes, and Kat opened hers, picked up the mirror, and gazed deep inside.

Leo felt a strange tugging, and realised one of the twins was looking into the mirror, searching for him. Stuck on the inside of the mirror though, Leo wasn't sure how he was going to make contact. His reflection, who was currently out and about using his body, would be furious if he found out what had happened. Leo strained, and then, he realised he had made contact.
It was Kat.
Hello, he thought, cautiously.
Hello.
Her thought patterns were just as cautious. Leo realised she had an anchor, who was already tugging her back. He realised he'd have to talk swiftly, and convincingly.
No, wait, he thought, genuine pain halting her withdrawal.
Yes?
She was willing to listen.
Quickly as he could, Leo told her all that had happened. The cursed mirror, his reflection, the way he fed, and his fixation with twins - for more than the feeding on souls, it was the separation of soul from body that the reflection relished. And with twins, there was more pain and therefore more nourishment for this most evil of souls. The closer the twins were, the more pleasure to be had by the separation. The reflection had made Leo move here after sensing the bond between Jade and Kat. Continuing on, Leo told of how he'd gained the teaching position at the university, and denied the demon when he wanted him to lure Jade back to his flat. The final denial had enraged the demon, who had then taken over Leo's body, and was trying with all his might to take the girls. And he was close to taking Jade. Her illness made her vulnerable.
How can we stop him? Kat asked, belief in her tone.
Leo praised the gods that she had trusted him.
We have to break the mirror, Leo replied. I need to get back in my body, and we need to break the mirror.
From the back ground, Marc's voice chimed, I think I know how to do that.

***

Kat entered the hospital, mirror in hand. Leo was lurking in the halls, scowling. The nurses, and hospital security had been more than successful at keeping Leo away from Jade. When he saw that mirror, however, Leo frowned, and swiftly moved to intercept Kat.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To see my sister, you jerk, get out of my damned way."
"A present?" he asked, innocently, only to be met with a furious scowl.
"It *belongs*," she stressed, "to my sister. She asked for it, I am providing it. Now if you don't get out of my way *right* now, I'll-"
Kat never got to finish her threat, as Leo stepped back, and melted away into the crowds. Kat allowed herself a small smile, as she made a show of stalking angrily into Jade's room. He had swallowed the bait, hook, line, and sinker.

***

Leo arrived back at his house roughly 15 minutes after seeing Kat. He immediately stalked into the darkened mirror room, and threw back the cover. His reflection, in this case, the real Leo, was waiting for him.
"Back so soon?" Leo taunted from the mirror.
The soul in Leo's body pushed him roughly aside, and peered through Jade's mirror. He saw the white ceiling and bright lights of the hospital room, and grinned. Then he allowed the real Leo to return.
"You wanted your body back?" he taunted. "You can have it! You are so weak now you can't even stop me - I am so strong I can easily manifest in the room through the mirror and *wrest* her soul from her body!"
Leo's body rested against the mirror, and the soul returned to the mirror, while Leo's soul returned to his body. The instant the transferral had taken place, Leo slumped to the floor. What his reflection had said was true - he had absolutely no strength. The reflection paused for a moment to gloat, then began to fade away.
"Now, Marc," whispered Leo hoarsely.

It was loud enough for Marc to hear. He stepped out from where he had been concealed in the corner of a wardrobe, Kat's mirror in hand. The reflection hissed, and instantly began to reverse his direction, but Marc was too swift. He swung Kat's mirror hard into the demonic one, cracking it. A second blow caused the glass to fall out onto the floor, and Marc leaped across the room to tear open the curtains.

As the sunlight hit the shards of glass, there was a demonic howl, and the glass in Kat's mirror also shattered. In the hospital, Jade's mirror also cracked, and then shattered as the whole mirror jerked off the dresser onto the floor. Leo lay there, on the floor, shuddering. He could barely believe it was over. Marc cautiously lowered his protective shield, and sensed the air. The demonic trace was gone. Marc helped Leo to his feet, and together, they collected every shard of glass they could find, and took that and the frame of the mirror, and placed them both in the back seat of Marc's car. Before they left, Leo opened every set of curtains in the house, allowing the cleansing sunlight to spill into the house.

Marc drove swiftly to the hospital, and he and Leo rushed up the stairs to intensive care. Leo was stopped by the nurses, but Marc entered the room. He collected the fragments of Jade's mirror too, and wrapped them carefully.
"Did it work?" Kat asked him.
"Yes," Marc replied, and she threw her arms around him enthusiastically.
From the bed, Jade heaved a relieved sigh, and finally relaxed. Darryl grinned.
"Did you want to see him?" Marc asked. "He's outside."
Jade shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. I think it's better that I don't."
"I understand," Marc replied, holding the shards of the mirror closer. "I am going to destroy the remainder of the mirror now."
"I'll come."
Kat and Marc left Darryl and Jade in the hospital room, and they, with Leo, left the hospital.

The shards of mirror had been ground to dust, and the wooden frame was burning down to ash in Kat's fireplace when Kat finally asked Leo what he'd be doing next.
"Moving on," he replied. "There's too many bad memories here. I think perhaps I'll head to Florida. I've never been there, and I've heard it's a nice place."
The pewter was melted down into a gloopy mess, that set into a hard grey blob. Marc then took a file to it, and reduced it to nothing more than a pile of metal shavings. The ash from the fire, the glass dust, and the shavings were scattered from the top of a cliff over looking the ocean, and Kat, Leo, and Marc all felt satisfied that the mirror had been destroyed. At the end of the evening, Leo bid them farewell, and they never heard from him again.

With the reflection's presence gone from her mind, Jade swiftly returned to health. By the time the girls parents had arrived in Fiji, she was back at home, with Darryl looking after her, and she assured her parents that it had been nothing more than a minor relapse, caused by missing a tablet - and she was much better now. She did not end up entering the art competition - though she was working on a fantastic idea for the next one.

Kat and Marc explored their "Meeting of Minds" quite thoroughly, and by the time they'd finished that, both were quite sure that they never wanted to let go of the other. They decided they would still take things slowly, however. It didn't do to rush in matters of love.

The sisters regained the bond between them with an intensity that startled the boys. There was always traffic between the two houses, and whenever one wasn't at the house, she was usually at the other. It seemed that, in this case, distance did make the heart grow fonder. The news of the house fire that completely gutted the house Leo had been living in set any final anxiety at rest, and, finally able to relax, they all lived happily ever after :)