34

Portia opened her eyes on her bed and screamed when she saw Aeric lying beside her, with his shirt off.

He slowly opened his sunset coloured eyes and looked into her's with a smirk.

"Good morning sweetie."He said.

"What's going on?!"She yelled.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"He asked,"Let me make it right."

He said coming closer.

She screamed then scampered away and screamed again before covering her bare chest with the bed sheet.

He looked concerned as he came closer and asked,"Babe, is something the matter?"

"Yes! Why are you in my bed?! Naked?!"She yelled.

"The same reason Kofi's here, we're married."

"What?! I'm too young to be married! I'm barely a sophomore!"

She almost jumped through the roof when two large palms rested on her forearms and she looked back and widened her eyes to see Kofi.

She backed off then ran to the bathroom to get a towel then immediately ran to the door.

Aeric and Kofi wanted to follow but she said they should stay.

She barely got out of the room when she was stopped in her tracks...

"Vulpine?!"Portia called,"What are you doing here?!"

"I'm sorry Mistress..."She said in a soft tone,"I just wanted to make sure my Mistress was comfortable."

"What the...why are you...follow me."

Vulpine seemed like the life had been drained out of her as Portia dragged her into her...the master bedroom, and kicked both her husbands out, barely dressed.

She banged the door and the lock closed on its own, right before Portia caused ice to form on the suture with her powers.

She looked at her palm, then the gem, at least it still worked, she was going to need it to find answers.

She barely turned when Vulpine fell prostrate and begged for her life, clinging to Portia's foot as if for her life.

"Mistress, I'm sorry if I offended you,please do not take my life, I'll do anything but if you do, at least, take my sister as your maid, to take care of my family, please!"

"Just get off!"

"Yes mistress..."

Vulpine stood up, and wiped tears of fear from her eyes then Portia said,"I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to ask you a question."

"I'll gladly have my head chopped off..."

"I don't mean how you want to die, I mean...why are you working as my maid? And why is Kofi married...to me?"

"Oh Mistress, ever since I cheated on Master Kofi, he was never the same again and sought refuge in you, who were kind enough to take him back, my media presence suffered an all time blow and my family lost money as investors abandoned my cause, my only other choice was to come to you and beg of you to have mercy upon me..."

Portia got even more furious with her with every word that escaped her lying, sweet scented lips, Portia had to restrain herself from banishing her to the abyss as well, or some other place, some other worse place.

Portia just clung tightly to the gem and said,"I really could do with getting the heck out of this crazy place right now."

Portia opened her eyes then saw a child of about five of age, running and falling at her feet.

The infant immediately began crying and Portia picked her up then looked up and said,"Ms Terra... tikka."

"What?"Ms TT asked grumpily.

"You look... amazing."Portia lied.

Ms Terratikka looked nothing like the epitome of perfection that Portia knew, she had bags under her eyes, had lost weight and looked and smelled like she hadn't bathed in weeks.

"Don't lie to me Ms Busybody."She said.

"What happened to you?"Portia asked, concerned.

"Oh so now you care about my life and affairs? I thought you were too busy living your perfect life with your two dream husbands."

Portia was still disgusted by the fact that two men were literally... sharing her.

"What? I'll never be too busy for you."Portia said, sitting by her.

"Really?"Ms TT asked.

"Really."Portia said, putting the baby on Ms TT's lap.

Ms Terra burst into tears then said,"I got married!"

"What? That's wonderful!"Portia exclaimed, falsely.

"Not in my shoes."

"But what's wrong with marriage?"Portia asked.

"There's nothing wrong with it, neither is anything wrong with Manny, it's just, it was too soon, now I'm stuck with six kids, I have no idea how to take care of any of them and have lost my figure forever!"

Portia wanted to ask why she didn't just reverse time on herself to look better but just decided not to.

After consoling her for like, three seconds, Ms Terra asked what she wanted, then Portia asked,"Do I look any older to you?"

"Is that a rhetorical question or a mockery of my life?"Ms Terra asked.

"No, I'm serious, do I look sixteen to you?"

"What? No, you're twenty five."

Portia almost fainted, had she jumped forward in time?

She then asked Ms TT if she found anything odd and she replied that she had been having nightmares which only added to her troubles about herself being imprisoned in a clock, she thought that was just time's way of saying she was stuck in that life forever.

Portia then asked about more emotional and less urgent matters...

"Well yes, she technically cheated on him, Kofi was stuck in the mirror realm by a Mirror Breaker who impersonated him and as the saying goes, ' Anyone who can't tell the difference between you and a reflection of you is not a friend true ', but you found out and rescued him, then banished the creature back into its realm forever."

Vulpine had done nothing wrong but...

"When did this happen?"Portia asked.

"Exactly eight years, two months and one day ago."

The gem filled in the gaps and she remembered, that was when Kofi went crazy...he was being haunted by a Mirror Mirage?

Portia had to get back home, asap, to her real home.

She closed her eyes and felt the gem pulsating on her chest, unifying with her heart beat, then breathed out after giving it the command and opened her eyes in her bed again, with no man in sight.

She ran to Aeric's room and saw him painting then he frowned at her as she asked,"Do you love me?"

"No."

"Thank you!"

She then ran away excitedly, leaving him confused.

She then ran down the stairs and remembered something and appeared in Vulpine's house and saw her making out with... Kofi's reflection.

Portia frowned then pointed at a reflection of the reflection then started clenching her fist then Kofi pulled back and frowned at Vulpine.

She asked what was wrong as he said,"We're through."

"What?"She asked.

"Kofi, this isn't her fault, she couldn't tell the difference between you and your reflection and Vulpine, for about eighteen minutes, you've been with a Mirror Mirage of Kofi."

"What?!"She yelled.

She looked into his hurt and furious eyes, shocked then tried to stop him but he vanished in a flash of lightning, leaving Vulpine and Portia alone together.

Vulpine began to cry but Portia couldn't help but comfort her, even though she hated her more than anyone else.

The next day at school, Portia walked out of her class only to meet Kofi leaning against a wall, frowning.

Before she could ask, he asked,"Are you happy now?"

"What?"

"Sending that Mirror Breaker to ruin my relationship, are you happy now you've succeeded?"He asked again.

"What? Why would I ever do something like that?"

"You were the one who dropped me and broke my heart then tried your best to make my life miserable, all before trying to take me back and managed to be the only one who detected the Mirror Breaker, and expected me not to notice?"

"I'd never do something like that to you, trust me."

"I can't trust you, I can't trust anyone now, thanks for that."He then left.

Portia took a deep breath then turned slowly to meet Ms Terratikka squealing in the classroom.

Portia asked what was going on then she answered,"Manny asked me to marry him."

"No."

"What?"

"It's too soon, trust me, just date for a little longer, look into the future to see the right time, but it's not now."

Ms Terratikka tried to speak but the words were stuck behind her tongue, Portia was right, she hadn't even tried seeing forward in time to consider the consequences, she just thanked her.

Portia went home early, to sulk since she was feeling like a grade A jerk for what she did to Vulpine, even Ms TT and especially Kofi.

She groaned as she heard a distant quarrel, then her eyebrows furrowed as she vanished and appeared in the next room.

She then heard the words,"You're lucky I had that Mirror Breaker on standby otherwise things would have gone haywire, Portia and Aeric?! Give me a break!"

"Uncle Cloud?"Portia called quietly.

He widened his eyes and looked at her as she stood behind him.

She looked at his wife then asked with tears,"Did you send the Mirror Breaker to Kofi?"

"Portia, things like this are..."

"Did you?!"

"...yes, but it was for a reason."

"What?! What reason could be worth hurting two people in love so much? People who were united with the strongest of bonds, how could you do that to them? To me?"

"Because you are the one for him, I know because, Skylar told me."

She was going to speak but just held back her tongue and left.

He asked where she was going but she didn't respond as she entered her room and her suitcase appeared and unzipped itself as her clothes flew and folded into it.

Uncle Cloud came to the doorpost then said,"Please don't leave me, I love you."

"It doesn't seem like it."She said.

Griffin, confused ran to her as she walked through an open portal to a forested part of the region, then it closed, Cloud decided to let her vent on her own.