Work Text:
It’s said that if a person looks in a mirror at midnight on All Hallows Eve, they’ll see the person they’re meant to marry standing behind them. Lewis hasn’t ever tried, scrying is incredibly difficult and there’s way too much that can go wrong. Trying to pull apart the veil never ends well.
But then one year, about a month before All Hallows, Lewis is grinding herbs in the workshop off his kitchen. There’s a decent-sized mirror there, not quite full length but close. Mirrors give protection when preparing spells, but after that Lewis always turns it to the wall because reflections can be bad news when spell casting. On that day, he’s reaching for the mirror’s frame, and he sees him. There’s a guy, young and pretty, reflected in the mirror, looking like he’s running, eyes wide and desperate. He’s in profile but he whips his head round when Lewis makes some kind of shocked noise. The stranger is just as shocked and opens his mouth.
Then he’s gone. Lewis stares, Roscoe barks round his feet, wanting to know what’s wrong. Lewis shakes his head, eyes fixed on the mirror. All he sees is himself.
“I don’t know, buddy,” he murmurs at his pet. “Did you see that?”
Lewis stares at the mirror for a while but nothing else appears. He hasn’t been working long hours recently, and he doesn’t fall asleep at work anymore. He sleeps when he needs to, the work’s not going anywhere and he doesn’t want to make mistakes. He feels wide-awake right now, though his concentration’s obviously a little wild now. Stll, he powers through, Jenson needs these herbs by tomorrow.
Once he’s done, every jar and bag neatly labelled and sealed, Lewis clears up his workshop and examines the mirror again, carefully. It hasn’t been tampered with. Lewis isn’t going to raise any alarms yet, though he’s seriously concerned. It could be a prank or practice gone wrong, or someone could have put the guy in there. But why Lewis’s mirror then?
Lewis is still asking himself those questions the next day. He can’t get the guy’s face out of his head. But first, he has a full morning of work ahead - a couple of demonstrations to give of his new line of enspelled beakers and an interview about the same thing, before he continues work on a new spell. He checks the wards around his house; everything is still strong. He touches the mirror’s cool surface.
The demonstration and interview both go well, and he makes a lot of progress in his new spell work - he’s focusing on making artificial light easier to conjure. He makes sure he turns the mirror to the wall first, he’s almost gentle, touching the frame silently. The stranger trapped under the surface stays on his mind throughout, but Lewis works. Once he’s done and brushed coloured powder off his loose-necked sweater, he turns the mirror back around.
Nothing happens for a while, so he starts to pace very slowly past the mirror, to see if any change of angle will bring the image back. He’s almost made it past the mirror when he sees the guy running again. Lewis’s heart pounds, he wasn’t seeing something that wasn’t there.
“Hey.”
It’s not a loud sound and it falls awkwardly in the empty house but the guy immediately turns to look at him, his pretty face as shocked as before. Lewis steps closer, careful not to touch the mirror’s surface.
“I can see you, you can see me and hear me?”
The guy nods vigorously. He tries to speak but no sound comes out and his expression is frustrated but not surprised. Lewis frowns.
“You can hear me but I can’t hear you.”
The guy nods again and cups a hand around his ear, shaking his head. He mimes talking, shouting in all directions, and waving hard like he’s trying to get someone’s attention. Wait, Lewis’s frown deepens.
“You’ve been trying to talk to other people? It’s not just my mirror you’re stuck in?”
The guy’s face lights up and he points at Lewis with some serious joy. Lewis nods, shot through with adrenaline. His mind turns the problem over in every way possible, instinct guiding him. It’s what he’s good at. The guy is watching him, looking awed and thrilled and, now that Lewis looks intently, really tired. Lewis touches the mirror, really wanting to drag the guy out of there. The guy presses his hand up against what must be his side of the mirror. But he’s really far away, it’s like he’s in the background behind Lewis. Their hands look like they’re miles apart.
“Am I the first person you’ve been able to talk to?”
Another nod. That’s a cruel punishment. People don’t always question what they see in mirrors, it can be a trick of the light. Lewis’s hand is still pressed against the mirror’s surface, he can feel his own frustration in the guy’s face. This isn’t getting them anywhere, but neither of them move away.
“I’m Lewis.”
The guy smiles and traces letters against his side of the mirror. They’re backwards of course but he moves slowly and with a lot of exaggeration. Lewis concentrates.
“G, E,O. George?”
The guy, George, smiles wider and pumps his fist. Lewis offers his fist like a fist bump, smiling, the adrenaline is still pumping. It’s not progress to an exit, but he knows more now. Knowledge really is power. He starts to plan.
“Do you know the way to my mirror now? I can be here most nights.”
George nods quickly and mouths a very obvious thank you. He looks so grateful. How the hell did he end up in there?
“Can you cast?” Lewis asks, moving his fingers in the most obvious spell formation.
George nods, miming trying a couple of escape spells but getting hit in the face. Then he turns his empty pockets out.
“You tried to escape but you’re sealed in somehow against casting, and you haven’t got any supplies on you to try anything more powerful.”
George looks so pleased at being heard and understood. He looks like he’s going to sit down but then he suddenly looks at something over Lewis’s left shoulder and tenses. He sweeps his forearm across his face, like something is gonna pass in front of him. Maybe the mirrors move, so he can’t stay in one place for too long. How can he sleep? Or eat? Someone really wanted to punish him.
Lewis feels a burst of concern, and hot silent anger at whoever did this. He presses his hand to the mirror again, meeting George’s gaze decisively.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, stay safe.”
George presses his hand up again too, looking at Lewis like he wants to remember every detail. Then he nods sharply, determination on his face as he starts running and disappears. Lewis’s hand stays on the surface of the mirror for a long moment after. Then he grabs his phone and plans a conference call.
///
Jenson has a lot of questions about timings. He’s making notes, and Lewis can hear Fernando muttering in Spanish beside Jenson, checking computer tablets for different stories. Fernando’s capacity for divining the truth of myths and stories every child knows is a unique specialism. He usually uses it to untangle older ideas for adapting into his own casting. It’s a gift right now because someone else could have had the same idea. There’s the sound of a kiss as Jenson and Fernando work fluidly beside each other.
Sebastian has already weaponised his apprentices; Charles and Pierre are trying to work out exactly who George is. Pierre’s locator spells are the best out of the whole group. If they can give him enough information, maybe they can find where George should be, outside of the mirror. Sebastian is taking mirror research, an enormous area that needs refining if they want to get anywhere. Kimi isn’t saying anything yet but he’s there, someone for Sebastian to bounce ideas off using the shorthand only the two of them understand.
“I don’t think he’s been in there years,” Lewis estimates. “His clothing was recent, nothing identifiable though. Jean shorts and a white henley with long sleeves.”
“No shoe size,” teases Jenson lightly.
“He was doing too much running.”
George is tall though, and lean. He’s got a long stride. He looks tanned and in good shape, his legs are powerful. Sebastian breaks through Lewis’s thoughts.
“You have thought this could be a trap? A man appears in your mirror and preoccupies you.”
“If he wants to pull me in, he’s had chances already,” Lewis points out, turning his thoughts that way though because Sebastian is right. “My house wards haven’t been broken. He doesn’t have to stay in my mirror anyway, if he wants to hurt and grab.”
Sebastian makes a conceding sound, then, “He’s moving between mirrors.”
Lewis thinks about the tense look on George’s face, “I don’t think he has a choice.”
“It sounds most definitely like a punishment,” Fernando pronounces. “You should ask him about that, and about his friends and colleagues. If we find them, we will have more insight into him and maybe how he ended up this way. Then we can pull him out”
Lewis starts that the next night, bringing Roscoe with him, holding the dog up for George to meet, “Roscoe wants to meet you.”
Roscoe barks and paws the mirror, he can definitely see George. He reacts way differently to his own reflection. George gasps and grins, looking purely delighted, waving at the dog. Lewis smiles softly, something important relaxing in him at how George reacts to Roscoe.
“We need more information, so we can get to you,” Lewis tells him, putting Roscoe down.
George cocks his head, mouthing “We?”
“My friends, they’ve got a lot of skills and knowledge. I think Sebastian might write a paper about whatever got you in there.”
George doesn’t look offended, he sits down, giving Lewis a good look at his long toned legs. It also gives Lewis a good estimation of George’s shoe size. He gestures for Lewis to ask.
“Do you know how you ended up in there?”
George looks angry then and strangely, worried. He gestures to himself and then to the space beside him, mimes shaking hands with someone who’s not there. Lewis sets his mind to this, taking notes on his phone for the call he’s going to make right after George has to move on.
“Someone else? Someone you know.”
George nods but then shakes his head, mimes the person beside him getting punched and kicked, but then points to himself and shakes his head. Lewis has an idea forming now and he doesn’t like it.
“Someone you know was getting hurt.”
George nods and confirms Lewis’s suspicions by miming the beat down again, then turning sharply, stepping back to mime himself being there, horrified and upset, trying to get to his friend, then jumping back, mouth open in shock. Lewis’s hand clenches, he smooths it out and rests it against the mirror instead.
“You walked in on it happening, whoever was doing it trapped you in the mirrors.”
George nods again, mouth hard and worry filling his eyes. Lewis’s fingers shift slightly against the mirror, he wants to wipe away George’s tension and pain.
“I’m sorry.”
George gestures to where he’d mimed his friend getting hurt, then raises a hand palm up. Yeah.
“You don’t know what happened to your friend.”
His friend could be badly hurt, he could be dead. God knows how the friend felt seeing George blasted away like that. Lewis nods, a plan slotting together.
“Okay, I need your surname and maybe your friend’s name. We can try to find out what happened and where it happened. Any friends of yours who might be looking for you?”
George’s eyes light up and he begins sketching big exaggerated letters against the mirror again. Alex is easy to get, thanks to the A and the X, and Lando is unusual enough to be a real moment of hope. George even manages to communicate the surnames, as they’re pretty short. Then he tells Lewis the name of his friend who was hurt - Nick. Lewis smiles widely, noting everything down and pressing his hand against the mirror afterwards. They’re a good team. There’s a lightness in his chest now, the kind he gets when he knows he’s close to locking down the final combination for a good strong spell.
“This is good, George,” he says. “Thank you for your patience.”
George smiles but then his gaze slides to Lewis’s side and Lewis knows what’s about to happen, the lightness dropping out of him as George gets swiftly to his feet. Lewis makes sure to leave his hand on the mirror, his gaze locked on George. George looks resigned but determined, he’s still so tired but he keeps going. Lewis feels oddly, warmly, proud; George isn’t giving up.
“Stay safe,” Lewis tells him.
George nods, pointing at Lewis before pressing his own hand to the mirror. Then he runs. Lewis watches him disappear, his own determination to solve this growing stronger every time he watches George forced into an exit.
///
Unexpectedly, it’s Seb’s apprentices that offer the next bit of progress. Charles exclaims in loud French when Lewis relays the names of George’s friends.
“Lando Norris? He and Alex are part of our online study group!”
There’s a moment of stunned silence, before Pierre adds, “Yes, and they’ve been absent recently. No one has heard from them.”
Not surprising if their friend suddenly disappeared.
“George’s friend that got hurt is called Nick.”
There isn’t a Nick in the online study group. Seb gives the orders.
“You have their numbers? Call them, leave a message, whatever you have to do. Tell them you’re looking for George and that you’ve got a friend who’s seen him.”
Lewis feels tension knot inside of him. He strokes Roscoe, who cuddles close. This could bring George nearer to getting out.
“I think it is a traveller spell, changed,” Fernando says suddenly, as Charles and Pierre murmur somewhere in the background. “It could be used for easy travelling, yes? Everyone has a mirror in their house, the traveller would cast to start their journey and then whoever has a mirror at their destination would cast to create the exit.”
“Which story is that from?” Jenson asks, audibly beaming.
“One of the princess ones, with the wicked queen and the magic mirror. How else did she find the princess so quickly?”
Jenson is kissing Fernando now, declaring his husband gorgeous and clever, and Lewis places this new information into what he already knows. The tension knots are starting to loosen, he voices his thoughts.
“Whoever did this either studies classics or knew enough to retool it like that. Maybe they’re the only ones who know the exit key.”
It’s some powerful adaptive casting. But if George stumbled in on his friend being attacked, the spell was instinctively unleashed as a defence, not a planned attack. Maybe the lock in part came later, after they’d finished with George’s friend. Lewis feels that hot anger again, it grows to a simmer as Pierre comes back into the conversation.
"Lando needs to be convinced we're not the ones holding George."
"Sensible," states Kimi.
"Can I give him your number, Lewis?" Pierre checks.
"Absolutely."
After everyone hangs up, Lewis's phone rings, it’s an unknown number.
"Where’s George?" demands a young furious voice. “He’s been missing for months!”
"I don't know if I can show you."
Lewis explains the mirrors and George's appearances and having to move on. He describes what George is wearing, what he's said about his friend Nick getting hurt and how that led to George getting trapped. When he talks about George wanting to say hello to Roscoe every night, Lando sniffs loudly.
"He's okay?"
"He's not hurt."
"What can we do?" asks another voice.
Lewis guesses that's Alex. "We need to find out what happened when the spell was cast and where. That should help us get him out."
"We'll look through his work and see where he was before it happened. I think Nick was a friend from one of his classes. We’ll look for him.”
Lando and Alex talk over each other and eventually give their numbers to Lewis so they can join in the conference calls.
“Please keep talking to him,” Lando asks before they hang up. “He needs to know we're looking.”
Lewis talks to him every evening without fail, and takes notes so he can tell Lando and Alex as much detail as possible. George’s eyes glisten when he hears Lando and Alex are involved, he says thank you a few times and shoves his hand against the mirror in a way that makes them both smile and Lewis feel simmering again, but not because of anger this time. George’s henley is unbuttoned at the neck today and Lewis can see a triangle of bare skin.
“Charles and Pierre are Sebastian’s apprentices,” he explains. “They know Lando and Alex so that really helps.”
George looks surprised and flaps his fingers together to signal someone talking a lot. Lewis chuckles, “Lando talks about them a lot?”
George laughs too. Lando’s been very vocal in the regular conference calls, talking about coming to Lewis’s house from London but he and Alex are needed where they are.
“They’re trying to work out who did this to you. They’re trying to narrow it down.”
George frowns, he doesn’t look like he’s keeping anything back, it’s more like he’s seriously pissed off. He’s saying something Lewis can’t hear. Lewis doesn’t tell him to calm down, George is bottled up enough in there already. It’s becoming incredibly frustrating though, Lewis wants to know George’s voice.
George takes a deep breath at last, then makes a show of it. He shakes his head, gesturing a punch, and shakes his head again.
"You didn't know them," at George's nod, Lewis continues. "Lando and Alex are trying to find out what happened to Nick. It doesn't look like he's in a local hospital."
Pain spreads through George's expression and he shakes his head, turning away for a moment. If only Lewis could touch his back, wrap an arm around him, he wants to smooth away all that hurt.
"They're still looking," he reminds George softly.
He and George stay quiet after that, together, until George needs to leave.
///
"Nicholas Latifi," Lando says triumphantly. "He went back to Canada right after George’s disappearance."
"Did he actually go back though?" asks Jenson.
Because it could be a cover up by his attackers. Charles's voice comes through loudly.
"I will check. This won't take long."
He's got a serious knack for techno casting and it's less than fifteen minutes before he says. "It was him on the plane. Airport footage matches his passport photo. He looked very banged up though, he couldn't open one eye."
But he's alive. Okay. So either Nick left as soon as he was able to get away, understandably terrified, or his attackers made him leave.
"Can you contact him?" Lewis asks. "Something he might have seen could help us get to George."
"I've found him on Facebook," pipes up Lando. "I'll send him a DM."
"Be careful how you word it," warns Seb. "He might think it's a threat."
There's no progress on how to physically get George out. But Lewis tells George that Nick is okay and home at least. George's relief is huge, Lewis feels like he can hear George's sighs, even though he can't. He taps fingers against the mirror softly as George breathes in the good news. Lewis is really glad he can give George that. He firmly presses his hand against the mirror glass.
“There you go,” he murmurs gently.
George leans forward, against the mirror. He’s still so far away. Frustration eats at Lewis; he’s built a reputation for spotting details and creating what people need to improve their spell casting. Now, when it really matters, and with so much help, it’s proving too hard to make happen.
George hasn't turned away from him though, he’s trying to come closer. Lewis leans a forearm against the mirror, trying to frame George under it, shielding him. George reclines into Lewis's reflection. Lewis smiles softly, his determination getting stronger from a touch that isn’t even there.
It’s a moment they repeat most nights after that.
///
A lot of things happen at once. Lewis spends an evening on the phone to Alex and Lando, relaying their words to George who tries to communicate back. All three choke back laughter and tears, Lewis is honoured to be trusted with the raw depth of their friendship. Lando thanks him a lot but it’s the smile George gives him after that Lewis values most.
Sebastian and Fernando combine to decode what spell was used against George. Fernando has been working hard through Spanish and German archives, employing Sebastian’s language skills and mirror research.
“He’s going to write a lot of papers about this,” Jenson tells Lewis, full of pride. “You’ll get credited.”
They’re meeting up for a drink, the only two of the group who live anywhere near each other these days and it’s not often they have time.
“George should be too,” Lewis points out.
“George will be,” Jenson replies with a gentle smile.
“This is how it is,” Fernando tells them all later, excited. “All Souls Day, we can get him out then. The locks of the spell will be fainter. It is a spell of exact words. Like, who is the fairest of them all? And the mirror must answer truthfully, because the exact words are used.”
Lando and Alex have long talks with Nick, who’s wary and reticent for a while. But he talks to Lewis on the phone, sounding drained and with a slight lisp from his injuries.
“They hate my family’s roots,” he says quietly. “They hate that I combine Iranian and Canadian ideas in my casting.”
Lewis’s mouth flattens to an angry line. The blending of different cultures and the different shapes of magic produced is controversial to some people. Lewis has been told more than once that his own casting skews too American, too urban, too angry, when what they really want to say is too black. His ideas aren’t British enough, only he’s British too. His experience of British culture and its presentation through his casting is just as valid.
“I’d like to see your work,” Lewis tells him. “Seriously, I’ll give you my email, send me everything.”
Nick tells Lewis, and Lando and Alex, all he can remember about the night he was attacked. He was out buying supplies when he was dragged into a side street and beaten to a pulp by a group of men he only vaguely recognised. George found them and was thrown into a wall. Before he could recover, one of the group said something and George disappeared. Nick passed out not long after. When he woke, he was dumped in the side street, remembering a warning in his ear that anyone he tried to talk to would get hurt like George. He needed to go home. He did.
No one blames him or tells him he needs to talk to the police. It’d be hard with him out of the country anyway. George is the focus.
“I didn’t know what had happened to him. I can’t believe he’s okay,” Nick tells Lewis, relief rich in his voice, the words kind of breaking in the middle.
“He’s really glad you’re okay,” Lewis says, thinking about George putting down that burden at last.
Nick talks to Sebastian and Kimi. Kimi can recreate other people’s spellwork with incredible accuracy, usually to break it down for his forensics work. If he can recreate the casting that trapped George, a reversal can be made and Lewis can free George on All Souls.
The words Nick is able to remember chill Lewis, “You won’t be seen again.”
But it isn’t enough to make George permanently unreachable. A word choice can someone's undoing - they used won’t, not can’t. Details matter.
“All Souls Day,” Lewis tells George. “I’m going to get you out.”
George is so hopeful. He presses both hands to the mirror and his expression is full of faith, in Lewis. He mouths clearly,
“You can do this.”
Lewis nods, thinking of all the work people have put in. Lando and Alex have been making favoured luck charms with Lewis’s name on, Nick wants daily updates and keeps trying to think of more details. Fernando and Sebastian work with Kimi to get the spell absolutely exact. Lewis watches the demonstration videos they send and buys supplies to strengthen his attempt.
“Call us as soon as it’s done,” Lando demands on the night, tension wrecking his voice.
“And be careful,” Alex adds. “You’ve done so much already, really.”
Lewis smiles, touched. “Thank you, I’ve got your charms with me.”
They’re attached to his chain bracelet. Honestly, he’s not too tense himself. He’s got support, he’s got a job to do and the best tools to do it. These are the situations where he thrives. He locks Roscoe in the kitchen, telling him he’ll meet George properly soon, and clears the workshop of everything he doesn’t need. He preps all the ingredients, lighting the right candles and setting them beside herbs in vases - angelica for inspiration, bay laurel for success, lavender for devotion. He waits until George appears in the mirror.
Lewis moves his hands, smooth through the air, making sigils that the attacker made sloppily because it was a reaction casting, not a well-prepared one like Lewis’s. Lewis keeps his eyes fixed on George. At the right time, he reaches for the mirror.
“You will be seen.”
It’s a command, George reaches out too. There’s a moment when there’s nothing but air between Lewis’s fingers. The moon is thickly yellow, the light travels across the mirror like a gold veil being ripped away. People everywhere are remembering people they’ve lost.
George’s hand is in Lewis’s, Lewis pulls, wraps his other hand around George’s wrist and they both fall to the floor, George on top of Lewis. They breathe heavily, the candles are all guttering loudly and the smell of lavender fills the room. George is grinning and gasping against Lewis’s throat.
Lewis doesn't think he's ever been this breathless before. George is here, Lewis can feel the soft cotton of his henley and the smoothness of his skin. He’s here. George starts pressing his mouth to Lewis’s throat, then to his jaw. Lewis runs his fingers through George’s hair.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” George mutters as he kisses.
Lewis grins, he might not stop for a while, his heartbeat definitely isn’t gonna slow down either, “It’s so good to hear your voice, man.”
George laughs, an amazing sound, and tips his head up so Lewis can look him in the eye, “Hi. Thanks for saving me. This isn’t just gratitude.”
Lewis laughs now, stroking George’s back, feeling George’s body dance in response. He kisses George’s forehead, off centre, savouring the feel. He can feel George now.
“We need to call Lando and Alex,” he tells George, reaching for his phone but not wanting to let go of George.
George presses closer, grabbing Lewis’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “We will, right after-.”
He fuses his mouth to Lewis’s, like it’s so urgent he can’t even finish his own sentence. His hands go under Lewis’s t-shirt, trying to touch as much skin as possible. Lewis is doing the same. He can touch and taste George, there’s no way he’s had enough yet.
In the morning, after a night of phone calls, three huge meals and everything by candlelight, they still haven’t let go of each other.
.