“That’s it!” he said, in sudden wonder. “That’s it!”
“What’s what?” asked a startled Mrs Sinclair as he hugged her and started to laugh. “Mrs Sinclair, you’re totally fab!”
“Well, now,” she said, pleased despite herself, “you just calm down and I’ll get you a drink. What’s it to be?”
“Irn Bru, please,” he grinned as he waltzed round the kitchen, eyes alight with excitement.
Casimir stirred uneasily inside him. He couldn’t read Lewis’s thoughts but he could sense his moods, and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why he was suddenly so blazingly happy. Perhaps, he thought, it was because all the treasures had gone back to their rightful owners and the police couldn’t charge him with anything. Not, he thought, that the police would ever have found out, but Lewis, for all his weird ideas, was turning out to be surprisingly law-abiding.
Needless to say, the news that night was full of it! The sudden, mystifying return of the Mona Lisa, to say nothing of all the other stolen items, was headline news on all the channels and as reporters revelled in the mystery, the speculation looked like lasting for days to come. Lewis, however, had almost forgotten the return of the Mona Lisa in his anxiety to get the better of Casimir.
“We had a bargain, Casimir,” Lewis reminded him when he’d finished watching the news and gone upstairs to his room. “I seem to remember you saying that if I gave you a task that you couldn’t do, then you would be my slave and your magic would be mine?”
Casimir nodded from the mirror and watched sourly as Lewis emptied a box of chocolates onto his desk and counted them.
“This is the test?” Casimir said in surprise. “A test with chocolates?”
Lewis nodded. “There are eleven chocolates on the desk,” he said. “I want you to make them into four sets of three. Now go ahead and do it!”
Casimir’s eyes rounded in amazement. Such a simple test but he knew just by looking at them that there was no way he could make four sets of three out of eleven chocolates. He didn’t even bother to try and his face was set in lines of absolute disbelief as he was forced to concede defeat.
“I can’t do it!” he admitted, totally stunned at the turn of events.
“Right!” said Lewis triumphantly. “Now you are my slave and your magic is mine! Agreed?”
Casimir didn’t answer and, looking at him apprehensively, Lewis was suddenly assailed by doubt. Rather than keep the bargain, Casimir might just turn him into a toad or a frog or whatever magicians did when they were cornered. In actual fact, he needn’t have worried, however, for Casimir was not only a very grand magician but also a prince. It would never have entered his head to renege on the agreement they had made.
“Yes,” muttered Casimir, looking suddenly very old indeed. “Yes, that is the case. There is, however, one thing, Master. One favour I’d like to ask you.”
“What’s that?” Lewis asked suspiciously.
“It’s about my son, Prince Kalman.”
“What about Prince Kalman?” Lewis asked.
“The goblin said Kalman was trapped in a magic mirror that was set for Edinburgh. That means that somewhere in Edinburgh there must be a mirror that holds my son prisoner.”
“But there are thousands of mirrors in Edinburgh!” Lewis frowned. “How on earth will you recognize it?”
“Magic mirrors are special mirrors, Master. They are at least seven feet tall and have iron frames decorated with beasts, birds and flowers.”
“Well, that ought to be easy enough to spot,” Lewis said interestedly. “But why do you have to look for it? Can’t you just magic it here like you did your carpet?”
“Magic mirrors have two halves, Master. That is how they work. They have to be set so that they connect. If you walk through a mirror in Edinburgh you can step out of it anywhere in the world, depending on the setting. But if one half disintegrates the connection is broken and you can’t magic up half a mirror. It has to be found. So, if by any chance I ever see a magic mirror, can I bring it to your notice, Master? And ask you to release my son?”
“I’ll do that on one condition, Casimir,” Lewis said. “If I release your son from the magic mirror, I want you both out of my life completely. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” nodded Casimir. “Thank you, Master.”
And with that, his face disappeared from the little hand mirror.
Lewis started in surprise as, for the first time in weeks, he saw his own reflection appear instead. Full of sudden hope, he got up and ran first to his dressing table, and then to the mirror in the bathroom just to make sure Casimir had really gone — and gave a heartfelt sigh of relief as his own reflection stared back at him.