His new antique was weird.

His brother, Sawyer, acquired an antique mirror from a mutual friend and had immediately mailed it to him for his antique shop.

But it was very odd.

Solomon had encountered a variety of odd things in his lifetime, from haunted amusement parks to prophetic typewriters to parallel worlds, so a haunted and possibly cursed mirror wasn't anything new.

It was why he had an antique shop in the first place, afterall. It makes it easier to acquire and investigate such items.

The downside was the stream of people who had heard of his expertise and would come to him to seek counsel. (One particularly annoying mention being Micheal Jeffrey Saulman, the local private investigator. He had once called him in the middle of the night, utterly spooking his husband. He was happy to help, but it was 4 AM, did he have to call so late?).

It paid well and satisfied his curiosity, which is the only reason he hasn't cursed anyone yet.

That and the fact his brother might just kill him, but that was for future Solomon to worry about.

Right now, he had a most-likely cursed object in the middle of his living room that he had to ascertain was dangerous or not.

Seeing as how his brother hadn't given him a string of names or any ominous warnings, chances are that it wasn't something that would kill people on contact.

The power on the mirror smelled old, older than most of the things in his shop. With an elegant bronze frame engraved with simple markings and a murky gray surface, it sat innocently in the box it was delivered in.

It was also very tall, a foot taller than him, in fact.

He adjusted his amulet, his strongest protective item, then hesitantly peeked over the mirror.

The surface cleared instantly, and the mirror reflected the room and all of its objects, along with a face.

Except that it wasn't his face.

Reflected back was a little boy of about eleven. He had black hair and black eyes, seemingly of asian descent, and a sickly pallor.

The boy blinked at the same time he did, reflecting his bewildered expression.

He raised his hand.

The boy raised his hand.

He made a peace sign.

The boy copied him.

He frowned and stepped back, the boy mimicking his movements until he couldn't see him anymore.

The mirror turned murky once more but he wasn't paying any attention to it, much more interested in deciphering this new mystery.

He didn't feel any negative or malicious powers flaring, so the mirror must be enchanted instead of cursed.

But what did it show, exactly?

Was it connected to another mirror? Did it show him someone the mirror itself saw?

The answer would be revealed once he found more information on the boy.

Nodding to himself, he called in his husband and moved the mirror, resting it against the far wall.

This time, there was a young woman next to the boy. She had short blonde hair and blue eyes, looking like a picture perfect house-wife from the 90s.

His husband, Kyle, hummed in contemplation at the image.

“Doesn't seem like it's dangerous.” He concluded, putting his arms around his shoulder.

This made the woman in the mirror stretch her arms around thin air.

He put his arms around his husband's waist, and the boy looped his skinny arm around the woman's leg.

Solomon pushed Kyle away and crouched down to examine the boy.

The boy also crouched down.

He swallowed his embarrassment and straightened, pretending he didn't see the reflection of the woman staring at him in glee.

The boy was very small and very skinny. His eyes were protruding and his cheeks were sunken in. He wore a coarse white medical gown and had a worryingly large swath of bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, with a brace around his neck.

He turned around, letting the boy copy his movements, but didn't seem to find any discerning features about him.

He then turned to the woman who Kyle was also examining.

She had a little bit more to work with, her clothing seemed to be branded, and her jewelry also seemed very expensive.

He took his phone out to search and ended up opening the camera on a whim.

He saw the woman and the boy perfectly on screen.

“Well, that certainly makes things easier,” He murmured as he snapped some pictures and sent them to Micheal. The man owed him a boatload of favors, after all.

Barely any time passed before he was forwarded some information.

The woman was Hailey Bakersville, born in 1970 and died in 1993. She was married with three kids, all of whom were still alive. She was weak from a young age, leading her to fall ill with a sickness that took her life.

Shirogane Haruki, eleven years old, born in 1984 and died in 1995. He and his elder sister were taken care of by a single mother. Had a nasty car accident, and died a few days later.

The interesting part was that the day they died seemed to coincide with their birthdate.

Kyle was born on August 10th, 1998. The woman had also passed away on August 10th, just a few years back.

Solomon, however, was born on 1995, March 3rd, the exact same day and year the boy died.

“What are the chances it's showing us our previous lives?” He asked Kyle, who was skimming the information from over his shoulder.

“I think a better question would be, how are we going to sell this without freaking anyone out?”

Solomon gave him a hard stare.

“What I meant to say was, who exactly was powerful enough to enchant a mirror to show past lives, and should we be worried about them?”

He sighed, pushing his glasses up to rub his temples. “I don't know, but on the off chance that the mirror does have an owner, we might be able to get a reward for returning it safely.”

His husband perked up at the sound of money, causing him to let out another deep sigh.

“Want me to, uhh… Contact a few trackers?” He asked sheepishly.

Solomon nodded, then ignored him as he happily bounded out the room, focusing on the mirror instead.

He had a limited amount of time before the Trackers got back to them. Surely the mirror's owner wouldn't fault him for playing around a bit with its enchantments? He didn't even know whether the mirror had an owner or not, after all. Curiosity wasn't a punishable crime. Maybe. Probably.

The cover image was created in Canva!