[Galaxy Of Fear] - 04(13)

“I’d like to visit the lagoon again,” Tash suggested.

“All right,” Zak agreed. “It’s over here.” He turned to his left.

“No it’s not,” Tash laughed. “It’s over here.” She pointed to the right. Between two buildings, they could just see a thin blue strip of water.

Zak shook his head. “That’s funny, I could have sworn I saw it over on this side.”

Deevee tilted his head understandingly. “The large number of holographic projections in this space could confuse a species. Unless, of course, one happens to be a droid of superior quality.”

“Right, Deevee,” Tash groaned. “Let’s go.”

But Zak wasn’t listening. As he looked around to get his bearings, he caught a glimpse of something disturbingly familiar. A large, pale creature clung to the side of a wall, its double-jointed arms and legs twisted at bizarre angles. Zak saw the flashing blood-red eyes and an enormous head. But by the time he’d turned to look directly at the thing, it was gone.

“What’s wrong?” Tash asked.

“Did you see that?”

She looked around. “See what?”

Zak didn’t respond. The creature had been clinging to the outside wall of the Hall of Reflection. Zak thought he’d seen it slip inside.

“Zak?” Tash prompted him.

“I think I saw it,” he replied. “The creature I saw in The Nightmare Machine.”

Deevee heaved an electronic sigh. “Zak, we’ve been through this already. That was merely a hologram.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Zak said. He started toward the building.

He didn’t have time to argue. By the time he convinced them to follow, the creature would be long gone.

Zak reached the steps of the Hall of Reflection. The building looked basically the same as it did yesterday, yet somehow different. It was darker and more shadowy. Zak did not pause to dwell on the change. He plunged into the mirror maze.

Inside, there was no sign of the brain creature. But Zak decided to keep looking.

He saw his own image reflected dozens of times. Just as before, the reflections were distorted, but now they were even more hideous. Zak wasn’t just reflected as a silly-looking troll. Now he looked like a monster. With each twist and turn that took him deeper into the hall of mirrors, Zak’s reflection became more hideous.

Finally, as he reached what he guessed was the center of the maze, Zak saw an image that made him gag. He was looking at his own face, but his skin had melted and hung from his cheeks in sagging clumps. His eyes had sunk back into their sockets so that they looked like holes in his skull. His arms had grown twice as long. His knuckles dragged on the floor. His elbows reached down to his knees, which were now jointed in the opposite direction so that they pointed backward instead of forward.

“Agh!” he cried. He reached out to touch the glass that held his distorted image. His reflection jiggled as it moved and reached forward in the same motion. As Zak touched the glass, his reflection touched the glass at exactly the same point, and the whole image shimmered into a blur.

When the mirror cleared again, Zak was looking at a perfect image of his true self. He saw his own messy brown hair and his own face. His reflection was grinning wickedly. That was odd, because Zak didn’t think he was smiling.

He tried to raise one hand to touch his face, but his arm felt heavy and awkward. With some effort he managed to lift his hand… only to find that it was as long and deformed as the horrible image he’d seen before.

He tried to step back from the mirror but stumbled. His own knees bent backward. Zak dragged his two clumsy hands up to his face, and felt the skin hanging limp and soft from his cheeks. He let out a wail. Zak had turned into a monster.





CHAPTER 8


Zak tried to speak, but his words were garbled and lost in the folds of melted flesh around his lips.

“Zak?” Tash’s voice drifted in from outside the Hall of Reflection. “Zak, are you in here?”

Trying to balance on his backward legs, Zak staggered through the maze. The mirrors reflected his own hideous form back at him.

“Zak!” Tash called again. “I’m coming in to look for you!”

No! Zak thought. If Tash comes in here she’ll be changed, too. Zak struggled to make his mouth work properly.

“Nnnaaa!” he bellowed. “Shtay bach!”

“Zak?” Tash’s voice deepened with concern. “Is that you? You’re scaring me!”

Zak could not stop slurring his words. “Don commm ind!”

He had to do something! Turning his head, Zak caught a glimpse of himself-his real self-in one of the mirrors.

“Gotja!” he mumbled. He reached out and touched the mirror. Just as before, the reflection shimmered. When it stopped, Zak looked down at his own hand. It looked normal.