The Mirror

The clock chimes at 3:00 am, and the piano plays again. Sonya wakes up, pulled by something, and Trey and Cleo follow her. Sonya goes to the music room, where she can see the memory tableau of the first Owen Poole with his second wife and his daughter Lisbeth. Owen’s wife plays the piano as Lisbeth and Owen watch. Lisbeth tells Sonya how happy her parents were when she got engaged to Edward. The happiness didn’t last, as Lisbeth died on her wedding day. She pleads with Sonya to stop Dobbs from wrecking families and find the rings. Sonya asks where the rings are, and Lisbeth replies, “[W]ell, silly, I don’t know” (90). The vision disappears.

The next morning, Cleo heads off to the market to buy spicy sausages for the jambalaya she plans to cook—she was taught the recipe by her Creole grandmother Imogene. She is also going to the animal shelter, and although Sonya is sure Cleo will adopt a cat, she remains noncommittal. After Cleo leaves, an icy wind rushes into the library, and the wall screen explodes with the sound of gunfire, scaring Sonya. She gathers her courage and stays put. Later, she makes an appointment at a hair salon.

Cleo returns with a sleek black cat named Pyewacket (Pye). The name is a reference to a character in Bell, Book and Candle, an old movie about witches. As Pye and Yoda play, Sonya feels that despite all Dobbs’s attempts to scare her, things are good at the manor.

When Owen comes to see Cleo’s painting, Pye attaches herself to him. Owen is stunned at the beauty of Cleo’s art and shows her his drawings for the ship, with carved mermaids on its sides. Cleo is taken aback by the sheer skill of his draftsmanship. She claims the ship and decides to call it The Siren. Owen says it is a deal and extends his hand. Cleo says this deal must be sealed with a kiss. They kiss passionately, but Cleo breaks it off, telling Owen she needs time to think about a relationship.

Cleo likes Owen because he never resented Sonya for inheriting the house and fearlessly faced the mirror with her, but she doesn’t want to jeopardize their friendship by rushing into sex. Owen tells Cleo to take her time. They talk about their relationship rules. Sonya comes to get them for dinner and finds them standing close together.

Over dinner, Sonya tells the others about the scare Dobbs gave her in the library. Trey and Cleo suggest they all go upstairs to show Dobbs that they will not back down. Sonya feels this is not the right time to upset Dobbs but relents.

The group goes to Cleo’s studio to look at her painting. On their way back, they see a red glow around the Gold Room’s door. The door slams open, and Owen’s dog Jones rushes in. Owen and Trey go in after Jones, and the door shuts again.

Inside the room, an icy wind begins and the bed rises in the air. Blood runs down the walls. Dobbs floats in the air. She tells Owen that she knows he is a Poole—he looks like the first Collin, Astrid’s husband, who had sex with her and then abandoned her. She damns the man, Owen, and all other Pooles, claiming that she rules the manor. Owen tells Dobbs she is pathetic, and she hits him in the nose. As Owen’s blood hits the floor, Jones leaps at Dobbs. Outside, Cleo lights a white sage stick, and the smoke enters the room. Dobbs screams and vanishes just as Jones bites her dress.

Owen and Trey open the door. Cleo and Sonya wait in the hallway. Cleo tells them her grand-mère taught her that burning sage is a remedy to ward off dark magic. As they discuss what happened, Cleo deduces that the combination of burning sage, Poole blood, and Jones’s barking defeated Dobbs. Sage brought calm, blood brought power, and Jones’s barking brought courage. Owen decides to take the scrap from Dobbs’s dress to his house. To show Dobbs she cannot scare them, they watch a movie in the movie room.

The next day, Trey meets his family for their semiannual business meeting, presided over by his grandfather Ace, the Doyle law firm’s founder. The family discusses their cases, arriving at the subject of Sonya’s inheritance. Trey tells them he is proud of the way Sonya is standing her ground at the manor, unfazed by the paranormal phenomenon.

When the topic turns to Patricia Poole, Trey’s grandmother Pauline tells him that Patricia had asked her to convince Collin to give up the manor. When Pauline refused, Patricia threatened to ruin her family. Pauline fought back, and Patricia backed down. Trey is amazed that his grandmother kept her face-off with Patricia a secret, but she tells him that she isn’t proud of losing her temper with Patricia.

At 3:00 am that night, Sonya has a dream. She sees Clover on her bed, laboring to give birth to Drew and Collin, with Charlie by her side. The young couple is trapped alone in the house with a storm raging outside. Charlie sings to comfort Clover during labor. As the first baby is born, Charlie swears his eternal love to Clover. The second twin is delivered, and Sonya somehow knows this is her father Drew.

Charlie goes to get pillows and soup, but Sonya can see that there is far too much blood on the sheets. Clover turns to Sonya and tells her that she is hemorrhaging and that Dobbs will come for her ring soon. Clover tells Sonya she must get the ring back. Sonya watches helplessly as Dobbs floats in and removes the ring from Clover’s finger.