Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tulip lay quietly on her bed, staring up at her ceiling fan as it lazily drifted in circles. Even though her bedroom door was closed, she could still hear the muffled sounds of her mother talking quietly with the police officer.

Home. I’m home.

That thought cycled in her mind over and over, matching the rhythm of the ceiling fan as it made its slow revolutions. Tulip was home. She was off the train. When she went to sleep tonight, it would be in her own room, not in a makeshift shelter on an island in a lake full of Jell-O, or underneath a tree that grew balloons instead of leaves. And when she woke up in the morning, she wouldn’t be greeted by the bright faces of Atticus and One-One – just the simple monotony of life, her parents, and her various online communities.

She let out a quiet sigh. Her thoughts and feelings and memories were all tangled up inside her. Was it really only this morning that she had declared bankruptcy and followed a stuffed rabbit through a mystical indoor jungle gym? Was it only a few hours ago that she had watched her best friend get shot and turned into an eldritch horror by a woman in a terrifying robot suit – since she had witnessed that same woman’s tragic memories, and fended her off with her trusty doughnut holer?

Somehow, the faint hum of the space heater and the unfamiliar feel of her pillow beneath her ponytail felt less real than all of her adventures had been. Even the most bizarre and unbelievable things she’d been through – like that time she defeated an ankylosaurus in a game of Uno, or when she’d impressed the crystal giant with her rendition of Word Up by Cameo – felt more real and solid in her mind than the feel of her mother’s arms around her as they hugged for the first time in almost half a year.

Tulip sighed again. It wasn’t that she missed the adventure exactly, it was just… okay, she did kinda miss it. One-One and Atticus’ absence left an aching hole in her heart. And to go from the chaotic, exciting, and often confounding lifestyle of the train to the dull mundanity of everyday life was a jarring transition. She didn’t regret leaving, she just… wished it could have been less sudden. That she could’ve had more time to prepare.

It hurt. But she knew that, eventually, the hurt would heal over time. She was arbitrarily named after a perennial flower, after all.

There was a light rap at the door. “Tulip?” Her mother’s voice called hesitantly. Her voice sounded hoarse from the emotional toll of the day.

“Yeah?” Tulip responded blearily.

“The policeman just left,” Mrs. Olsen said. “Can I… Can I come in?”

“Go for it.”

The door creaked open, and Mrs. Olsen stepped cautiously into the room. Tulip glanced at her mother. Megan Olsen looked exhausted. There were tear tracks down her face and heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair was unkempt. But she smiled gently at Tulip, and the sagging in her shoulders spoke of profound relief, not despair.

“How are you doing?” she said.

Tulip shrugged – it was awkward to shrug while lying down. “Pretty well, I guess?”  She tried to find words that would encompass everything she felt and came up empty. “Feels weird to be home again.”

“May I sit?” Mrs. Olsen gestured to the bed. In lieu of answering, Tulip rearranged her legs so there was room for a second person on the mattress. Mrs. Olsen sat down, placing a gentle hand on her daughter’s knee and rubbing affectionately. For a long moment, neither of them said anything.

Finally, Mrs. Olsen took a deep breath. “Tulip, I- I’m sorry.”

The teenager looked at her mother curiously. “What do you have to be sorry for? I’m the one who ran away.”

Megan Olsen sat quietly, collecting her thoughts. “I’m sorry for- for making you feel as though you had to,” she finally whispered, hugging herself. “Me and your dad, we… we failed you as parents. I’m sorry.”

Tulip considered that.

“Everyone fails, Mom. That doesn’t make you bad parents,” she said. “You tried your best, and it didn’t work out, and yeah it sucks but at the end of the day, me running away was my own bad decision. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, what did I do to deserve a daughter like you,” Megan said jokingly, reaching over to boop her daughter’s nose. “I’m the mom, comforting people is my job.”

Tulip grinned and batted her mother’s hand away. “Hey, everyone needs comforted sometimes. Even moms.”

“Especially moms,” Megan leaned over to engulf Tulip in a hug. It was awkward because Tulip was lying down and her knees were in the way, but the warmth and affection came through anyway. “I love you, Tulip. You’ve grown up so much. And I don’t just mean how tall you’ve gotten.”

“Love you, too, Mom.”

Mrs. Olsen placed a kiss on Tulip’s forehead and stood up to leave the room. “Sweet dreams, okay?”

“Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we get a dog?”

Mrs. Olsen paused in the threshold. She seemed taken aback. “We’ll, um – we can talk about it tomorrow, okay? Good night, Tulip.”

“G’night.”

Then the door closed, and Tulip was alone with her thoughts once more.

~o~O~o~

Tulip was brushing her teeth the next morning when her mother knocked on the bathroom door.

“Tulip? Are you decent? I think I left my phone in there – could I come in and get it, please?”

Tulip spat a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink. “Yeah, sure.”

The door opened and Megan bustled in, dressed in scrubs and ready for her shift at the hospital. She spotted her phone on the counter and gave a relieved sigh as she snatched it up. She raised her head to give Tulip a smile in the mirror – and stopped dead in her tracks, casual smile giving way to confusion. “Tulip?”

“Yeah?”

Mrs. Olsen whirled on her, eyes wide. She turned back to the mirror. Back to Tulip. For a moment, Tulip was confused – was something wrong?

“G- what- wha- how-” Megan Olsen appeared to be in the throes of crisis. Finally she stopped and swallowed. “Tulip? How… how are you doing this?”

Tulip looked curiously at her mother, who was opening and closing her mouth like a fish as she stared incredulously at the mirror. Finally, it clicked.

Tulip had no reflection.

In her defense, it was very early in the morning, and her brain wasn’t fully awake yet. Also in her defense, she had spent the last month or so without being able to see herself in reflective surfaces; it had almost ceased to be a novelty. So it was with only mild embarrassment that Tulip realized she had forgotten about her missing reflection and had been mindlessly staring at the wall behind her as she brushed her teeth.

“Ohhhhh, right. I forgot about that.”

“You forgot about it? What, exactly, did you forget about?”

Tulip bent down to rinse her mouth out. “So, uh, funny story. Turns out reflections are real people, and mine didn’t want to copy everything I did anymore. She tricked me into trading places with her, but uh, long story short we both ended up on the same side of the mirror? And then she went off to do her own thing while-”

“Tulip Meredith Olsen, why don’t you have a reflection?”

“I was literally in the middle of telling you,” Tulip replied, trying to hold back her annoyance. “Okay, look. You remember what I told you last night? About the train?”

“Tulip, I don’t-”

“It’s real, mom. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s real. I know you didn’t believe me when I explained last night even though you tried to pretend you did. I know it’s kind of unbelievable, and I don’t blame you for being skeptical. But at least Dad thinks I got abducted by aliens, and while I don’t think that’s exactly right it’s also the only explanation that even kind of makes sense, so maybe instead of brushing my explanation off as impossible you could, I dunno, listen to me for once?”

Mrs. Olsen folded her hands over her face as her breath started to hitch. Tulip immediately regretted her harsh words. “Hey,” she said, much more quietly, tugging on her mom’s elbow. “Let’s get out of the bathroom, yeah? I think the mirror is freaking you out.”

Megan allowed herself to be led from the bathroom into the hallway, and finally into the bedroom she used to share with Andy. Tulip sat her gently down on the bed and then sat beside her.

For a long time they remained like that, just breathing together.

Finally, after what felt like an hour but was probably only five minutes or so, Megan lifted her head and wiped her eyes, letting out a massive sigh as she did so.

“I’m gonna be late for work,” she said, voice quavering.

Tulip didn’t reply. Instead, she just rubbed comforting circles into her mom’s back.

“I’m sorry for not believing you,” Mrs. Olsen said at last. “I just… I looked in the mirror, and you weren’t there, and for one horrible moment I thought I’d lost you all over again.”

“Hey, it’s okay, Mom,” Tulip said. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be here when you get home. I promise.”

“You’d better keep that promise,” Megan said, her voice breaking. “And, Tulip, maybe this evening you could… tell me the story again? Now that I know it’s true, I want to… I want to really listen, this time. Yesterday, I was too… everything was still so raw. I need time to process it all.”

“Sure, Mom. Whatever you want.”

Megan sighed irritably. “I hate leaving you alone again, but three nurses called in sick and I can’t do that to my team. I’m going to take the next week off. We’ll spend some time together, just you and me.”

“Can I invite Mikayla over while you’re at work?”

“Please do. I’d feel better knowing you aren’t alone. And text me every hour,” she said, sharply.

“Mom,” Tulip said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“Every hour, Tulip,” Megan reiterated. “If you don’t, I’m gonna assume something terrible has happened and I don’t think my heart can take that. Set some alarms or something. And Tulip?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you so much.” Megan leaned over to engulf her daughter in a hug.

“I love you, too, Mom,” Tulip replied, hugging back just as desperately.

Chapter Text

[Texting MIKAYLA👾]

Tulip: I lived b****

Tulip: ugh stupid parental controls

MIKAYLA👾: omg TULIP?! where R U?!

Tulip: *sent a picture*

MIKAYLA👾: girl its been FIVE MONTHS! where have yuo been?

Tulip: long story

Tulip: I just got back

MIKAYLA👾: GIRL YOU DONT GET TO JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT

MIKAYLA👾: FIVE MONTHS TULIP

MIKAYLA👾: I WAS WORRIED SICK

Tulip: I know. I’m sorry

MIKAYLA👾: you better be

MIKAYLA👾: I’m coming over

Tulip: wanna come over

Tulip: dang ninja’d

Tulip: see you in a few

~o~O~o~

Mikayla skidded to a halt in front of her best friend’s home. Not bothering to set up the kickstand, she let her bike fall over into the snow as she raced toward the door. Mrs. Olsen’s car wasn’t in the driveway – she must’ve left for work already. Mikayla launched herself against the doorbell with all the force of a hurtling fourteen-year-old driven by spite, fury, and an unhinged need to see her best friend safe and sound and possibly scream at her to never ever disappear like that again.

The doorbell rang sweetly through the house, almost immediately followed by a series of muffled thumps like sock-clad feet galumphing with appropriate energy across hardwood flooring. Then the door opened, and Mikayla looked into the bespectacled face of her best friend, who she hadn’t seen in months and had been half-convinced was dead.

“Tulip!”

“Mikayla!”

Tulip’s face broke out into an open-mouthed grin, and then they were hugging, squeezing each other tightly. Tulip’s grip was tight enough that Mikayla felt the wind being squeezed out of her even through her thick winter coat.

“Dang, girl, you been workin’ out? I know you weren’t that strong last time I hugged you.”

“Good to see you, too, buddy. Come on in, I got us some snacks.”

Mikayla followed her friend into the house, shedding her snow boots and puffy purple jacket. She couldn’t keep the smile from her face.

Tulip was back.

“Tulip, where the heck have you been?! Everyone thought you were dead!”

“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” Tulip quipped casually, grabbing a bagel from the counter and popping it in the toaster. “Bagel?”

“Sure, thanks. And you’re quoting Mark Twain now? I thought you hated English class.”

“Wait, that’s a Twain quote? I thought it was just some memey internet phrase.”

Mikayla rolled her eyes. Tulip was apparently still Tulip. “See, this is what happens when you miss five months of school, Tulip. You get stupid. Well, stupid-er.”

“Aw man, I didn’t even think about that. Am I gonna hafta take summer classes?”

“Probably! Serves you right for abandoning me.”

“I didn’t abandon you! At least, uh, not intentionally. I didn’t think I’d be gone so long.” Tulip had the decency to look contrite. Mikayla narrowed her eyes at her and crossed her arms expectantly.

Tulip gave an exasperated sigh. “Okay, fine. So, you remember back in November, how I was supposed to go to Oshkosh for game design camp?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Dad was supposed to drive me there, but he ended up pulling out at the last second,” The toaster popped and Tulip began to spread cream cheese over the bagel halves. “Mom couldn’t take me, either, and I guess I… didn’t handle it well. I was so upset at both of them, and I… decided if they wouldn’t take me, I’d go to Oshkosh on my own. I ran away.”

“To Wisconsin?”

Tulip shrugged and passed the plate with the bagel to her friend. “Yeah, I guess,” she said, popping another bagel in for herself. “I never actually got to Wisconsin, but that was my intended destination. Anyway, I uh…” she trailed off.

“Tulip.”

Tulip sighed. “Listen, there’s nothing about this story that makes sense, so I’m not gonna pretend like it does, okay? I walked for maybe two hours, and then I stumbled across this random train station…”

The girls sat at the kitchen table as Tulip told the whole story. Getting on the train, waking up with a glowing green number on her hand, finding One-One. Getting chased by giant cockroach-monsters. Meeting Atticus, fighting off the doll-faced tentacle robot, going through the train cars one by one while trying to figure out where she was and how to get home. Freeing her reflection. Facing the conductor. She glossed over some details – Atticus’ “death” was still a particularly raw wound (was it really only yesterday morning?) and she didn’t feel confident she could talk about it without crying. Through it all, Mikayla stayed quiet, occasionally nibbling on her bagel.

“So, yeah. Then the train spat me out in the front yard, and now I’m home.”

Mikayla stared at her, bagel forgotten.

“What the eff, Tulip,” she deadpanned. “What the actual eff.”

Tulip just shrugged. “Yeah, my parents didn’t believe me either.”

Mikayla put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. Let it out again. “No duh, Tulip! I can’t – you disappear. For five months! And then when you do come back you just- make up some story about a magical train and talking dogs?”  Mikayla felt hot tears brimming in her eyes. “I thought you were dead, Tulip! Do you know what that feels like? I can’t – why would you joke about this? Why can’t you take this seriously?!”

Tulip was quiet. “It’s not a joke, Mikayla,” she said, voice tinged with sympathy. “I wouldn’t mess with you like that. I know it sounds crazy, and I know it sounds like I’m making it up, but I’m not. And I can prove it.”

“How?” Mikayla snapped.

A small smile crept over Tulip’s face.

“Follow me.”

Mikayla glanced doubtfully at her. “Tulip, if this is another joke, I swear-”

“No joke,” Tulip said, getting up and walking over to the big mirror in the entryway. Just come here for a second. You remember I told you about freeing my reflection?”

“Yeah, I guess?”

“Look.”

Mikayla stepped over stand beside her friend, studying her skeptically. Finally, she turned to look in the mirror.

Outside the Olsen residence, a small flock of birds were startled into flight as an ear-piercing shriek erupted from within the house.

~o~O~o~

“So, you’re, like, a vampire now.”

“I promise I have zero desire to suck your blood.”

“Everyone at school is gonna call you a vampire.”

“They already do.”

“Well, they’re gonna call you one even more, now.”

“Probably.”

“Are you gonna, like, tell anyone about this?”

“Nah. I figure I’ll just let it happen organically, you know? I kinda want to see the look on Rachel Bluth’s face when I sneak up behind her in the bathroom.”

“That’s so evil. I’m so proud of you.”

“Eh, I aim to please. Now c’mon, let’s go outside before the snow melts. I’ve only made one snowman all winter, and that one came to life and tried to sell me real estate.”

“I’m gonna pretend that was a normal thing you just said. Sure, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

The dulcet tones of a teenage girl dramatically groaning in abject misery echoed throughout the house.

“UGGGGHHHH, come on! Why do I hafta go to the dentist?!”

“Because you missed your last appointment in favour of running around on a magic alien train,” Andy Olsen replied, flat voice an immovable monolith in the face of Tulip’s contrarian protests. “And because healthy teeth are important. And because I don’t trust that you weren’t gorging yourself on sugar in all those candyland cars.”

“That was one car!” Tulip argued. If she had even a smidgen less self-respect, she would collapse to the floor like a ragdoll and refuse to go anywhere without being dragged. But alas, she was fourteen now, not two; such physical displays of protest were beneath her. “Besides, I barely ate any of it! You know I like savoury stuff better!”

“Nice try, bud. I’ve seen you go after ice cream cake – I still have the scars.”

“But I brushed every day!” Tulip’s voice began to take on a whining quality.

“Great!” her dad said, clapping her on the shoulder. “Then your teeth should be completely healthy and it should be a short and painless visit. But you still have to go.”

“But I don’t wanna!” And yup, she was definitely whining now.

“Tough. Grab your homework, you can do it in the waiting room. Let’s go.”

“UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” With one final groan that spoke plainly of torture and suffering, Tulip stomped off to collect her pencil case and folder of science assignments. She’d missed months of school, and at this point she was so far behind her parents had decided it wasn’t fair to put her back in classes so far behind her peers. Instead, they’d worked with the school to develop a homework regimen that would extend over the summer and allow her to rejoin school at the same grade level she would have been at if not for the train incident. Tulip was ambivalent toward this arrangement – she liked school, but not enough to miss it, and as long as she got to visit Mikayla regularly she didn’t get lonely. But she hated the heavy homework load. Somehow everything was ten times harder when she had to fight the distraction of being in her room, with her computer and phone right there.

Eventually (though it took longer than was strictly necessary) Tulip emerged from her room, backpack halfheartedly slung over her shoulder. She gave her dad a frustrated Hmph! as she stalked past him, roughly shoving her feet into her shoes without bothering to untie them first. Andy just rolled his eyes and followed her out the door.

A few minutes later, they were in Andy’s truck, Tulip leaning grumpily against the passenger side window and scowling. Andy glanced over occasionally, but they made the ride to the dentist’s office without interrupting the tinny country music playing over the speaker. Tulip’s recalcitrance about the dentist was nothing new - if anything, she’d put up less of a fight than he’d expected. He remembered, when she was about seven and had to go in for a routine cleaning, that she’d gotten so furious that she’d actually screamed and tried to bite him when they tried to take her to the dentist.

Finally, they pulled into the parking lot and Tulip let out a disgusted huff. She glared daggers at the door, marked brightly with a colourful sign reading Happy Teeth Children’s Dental. She reached for the door. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

“You’re being weirdly cooperative today,” Andy remarked.

“I guess once you’ve been challenged by your own teeth to a game of poker, the horrors of the dentist’s office become a little more mundane,” Tulip grumbled, sounding absolutely disgusted  yet resigned to her fate.

“Uh-huh. It’s almost like you’re looking forward to this,” he teased. “I guess all those dramatics earlier were just for show, then, huh?”

If looks could kill, Andy would be reduced to a dark smear on the pavement. As it was, he just smirked at his daughter and held the door open for her as she stalked into the waiting room. They checked in and took a seat in the little waiting area. Andy had to prod Tulip into taking out her homework and working on it. She gave a disgusted scoff of protest, but complied. She’d made it through six math problems when a young woman in blue scrubs poked her head through the door and called for Tulip.

“You can stay here if you want, Dad. I don’t mind,” Tulip said when Andy moved to get up.

Andy looked at his daughter curiously. “You sure?”

Tulip rolled her eyes, and Andy was struck once more by how much of a teenager she was. “Dad. I survived being assaulted by a lady with a mech suit and a steel pipe. I think I can handle this.”

Andy felt his heart constrict, like it always did when Tulip brought up the dangerous parts of her adventure on the train. It hurt to let her out of his sight – he got so little time with her as it was. But he couldn’t have her thinking he was being clingy, so he tried to laugh it off.

“That’s what I’m afraid of, bud. If the last few times are any indication, I’m not so sure the dentist can handle it.” He gave her what he hoped was a confident smile.

Unexpectedly, Tulip’s face softened, and she gave a small smile. “Dad.”

“Yeah, bud?”

“It’s okay. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Andy felt his breath hitch.

“When did you get so darned introspective?” he said, standing up and giving her a side hug. Internally, he blamed Tulip’s onion-eating habits for making his eyes water at the most inopportune times. Ignore the fact that she didn’t have an onion on her at the moment. “When you lost your reflection, did you trade it for the ability to read minds?”

Tulip smiled and rolled her eyes again, and suddenly she was back to being a normal teenager.

“No, you just have an awful poker face,” she said, and poked him in the ribs. “Fine, if you absolutely have to you can come in with me. I guess.”

Andy poked her back, and they laughed together as they followed the young woman down the hall and into the dentist’s office.

The woman got Tulip settled in the chair, too-bright light positioned far too close to her face. Andy moved to the side, sitting in a guest chair and pulling a dog-eared magazine from a basket on the side. The magazine cover read Person of the Year 1999 and had a picture of a bald guy creepily staring out of a box full of colourful packing peanuts. Tulip’s opinion of the dentist lowered – if their reading material hadn’t been replaced in that many years, what did that say about their dental equipment? Or those little candy suckers they gave you at the front desk after you were done?

Tulip shuddered at the thought of eating 20-year-old candy as she begrudgingly opened her mouth and allowed the dental hygienist to begin the process of cleaning her teeth. The feeling of a stranger’s fingers inside her mouth was supremely unpleasant, and it took clenching her entire body to stop herself from biting down on the little scraper tools. She desperately wanted to grit her teeth at the sensation of the tiny metal pick dragging across her enamel, but couldn’t.

Time dragged on. Tulip felt like she was in that one car on the train where everything moved in slow-motion. The dental hygienist switched tools and moved from cleaning the front of her teeth (horror, torture, misery) to the back. But this time, it wasn’t more than a few moments before the incessant scrape, scrape, scraaape of the dental pick slowed to a halt.

“Um,” the hygienist said.

“Is there a problem?” Tulip said. Or at least she tried to say it; with her mouth firmly held open by the fingers currently inhabiting it, the words came out more like “Ih’ har’ a hrohle’h?”

“G-give me a moment,” the young woman replied, sounding bewildered. “I, uh, think I my tools might need replacing. I’ll um, I’ll be right back.”

Tulip was grateful for the reprieve as the hygienist removed her fingers and assorted metal objects from her mouth and left the room. But it wasn’t more than a moment before she was back, and Tulip uggggghhhh’d as she was directed to open up again and she was right back into torture city. The hygienist poked around in her mouth for almost a minute before pulling out and poking her head into the hallway.

“Hey, Jerry, come look at this.”

Tulip frowned. What, had that poker game not taken enough from her? Was losing her capacity to differentiate between the smells of cilantro and eggnog not enough – had her swindling molars turned her gums blue, or painted graffiti on her palate, or something equally embarrassing? Had she not suffered enough?

Another orderly in scrubs followed the hygienist back into the room – Jerry, presumably, and with a glare Tulip begrudgingly opened her mouth wide for the third time. Just get it over with already, she thought, as the two dental professionals leaned in far too close for comfort and inspected her teeth. Tulip felt like a specimen in a lab, being poked and prodded by aloof and detached scientists with no regard for personal space.

“What in the name of hot fudge sundaes,” the newcomer – Jerry – muttered under his breath.

“See? They didn’t teach us anything like this in dental school,” the first woman replied.

“Everything okay over there?” Andy said. He’d been quietly watching the exchange with a nervous expression.

“Am I going crazy?” Jerry said again, either ignoring or not hearing Tulip’s Dad’s query. “Angela, you sure it’s not just your tools?”

“Pretty sure. I switched ‘em out already – they both did the same thing,” Angela replied.

“Is there a problem?” Andy said, a bit louder, and stood up from his chair.

“Well, sir, I can’t say one way or another,” Jerry said, glancing over as if registering the other man’s presence for the first time. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Couldn’t even begin to guess.”

“What’s wrong with my daughter’s teeth?” Andy’s voice was defensive, even dangerous. There was a problem with his little girl, and he had better know what it was or else. Tulip felt bad for the dentists – she didn’t know what kind of wacky shenanigans the train had done to the inside of her mouth, but it wasn’t worth the full overprotective wrath of Andy Olsen in papa-bear mode.

Both dentists stood straight to address Andy, and Tulip gratefully closed her mouth. They looked at each other briefly, as if trying to sort their thoughts. “We, uh – we can’t find them,” Jerry finally said.

“Whaddya mean, you can’t find them?” Andy said incredulously. “This lady’s been cleaning them for the fast ten minutes.”

“Oh, no, they’re there, all right,” Angela replied, holding her hands up to placate the man. “When you look at them directly. But when you try to use the mirror on ‘em it’s like she-”

The mirror.

Abruptly, Tulip burst out laughing. The sound was so unexpected that both dentists visibly jumped, turning to look at her with incredulous faces. Andy realized the situation almost at the same moment, and heaved a great longsuffering sigh while rolling his eyes almost as violently as Tulip habitually did. Tulip just cackled even harder, tears of mirth brimming under her eyes, bending forward as her diaphragm spasmed.

“We forgot! We forgot that dentists use mirrors!” Tulip shrieked, voice shrill with laughter. Andy rubbed the bridge of his nose as if trying to stave off a headache. The dentists just looked back and forth between the two, utterly at a loss for words.

“Of all the – I can’t believe we forgot dentists use mirrors,” Andy muttered. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tulip, I’m going to hunt your train down and tear it to pieces, then sell it for scrap metal.”

“Um… can I just ask- what’s going on?” Angela ventured. Tulip tried to reply, but only managed to wheeze. She felt like she was about to hyperventilate.

“Tulip had an… adventure over the winter,” Andy said, glaring at his daughter with an expression that said how could you do this to me. “It’s very long and very weird, and I don’t pretend to understand it, but basically… as far as anyone can tell, she was abducted by aliens. And they stole her reflection-”

“It wasn’t stolen, I set her free,” Tulip managed to reply, still chuckling maniacally. “She wanted to live her own life. Who was I to deny her?”

“And now she doesn’t show up in mirrors anymore and it’s the freakiest thing and I’m constantly wondering if my daughter is a vampire, even though she insists she isn’t,” Andy continued peevishly, talking over Tulip. He sighed miserably. “Is there any way you can finish cleaning her teeth without using a mirror?”

The dentists blinked.

“Um,” Angela said.

“Well, uh – this is a totally unprecedented situation,” Jerry babbled. “We can, uh – we can brainstorm maybe? I don’t – I don’t think – oh, man, I gotta sit down.” Without further ado he leaned against the cabinets against the wall and slid to the floor.

Tulip let out one final giggle. Angela stared at her as though she was insane. Tulip didn’t mind. She hadn’t laughed this much in a long time.

“A… aliens?” she said, voice quavering. “And they… turned you into a vampire?”

“No,” Tulip snorted, struggling to force her face into a neutral expression. “Not aliens. At least, I don’t think so. I can’t actually rule extraterrestrials out yet. Anyway, I’m not a vampire. See?” She lifted her lip with a finger, exposing her blunt canines. The irony of showing her teeth to a woman who had been inspecting them with clinical rigour just moments before was not lost on her. “No fangs.”

“This is the weirdest day of my life,” Jerry said from his position on the floor. He had his elbows resting on his knees, fingers cradling his temple like he was afraid his head was about to break, and his eyes were fixed in a thousand-yard stare.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then:

“Wait, you’re saying you don’t show up in any mirror? Not just the dental mirror probes?” Jerry spoke up, eyes suddenly curious.

“Yup. No reflection at all,” Tulip said smugly.

Jerry held her gaze for a full second. Then he grinned and jumped up from the floor. “Wait right there. I gotta see this for myself.” And he rushed from the room. Angela hesitated, shot an uncertain glance at Tulip, and then followed, leaving Tulip alone in the room with her dad.

Andy stared at Tulip tiredly and sank back into his chair, muttering something about teenagers and gray hairs and how other dads never had to deal with stuff like this. He opened his magazine and resolutely went back to scanning the pages. Tulip sank back against the cushioned seat, feeling much less morose than she had when she’d first arrived at the dentist.

And when, a few minutes later, Jerry and Angela returned with a larger handheld mirror and a gaggle of curious office staff, Tulip laughed along with them and entertained their incredulous questioning to the best of her ability.

Yep. As far as dentist visits went, this was one of the better ones.

~o~O~o~

The back of Tulip’s teeth didn’t get cleaned that day – without the mirror, there was no way for the dentists to see what they were doing; so, the appointment ended early, which just suited Tulip. Angela the hygienist was the one who came up with an idea that seemed workable – replacing the mirror with a tiny camera, like the ones used for endoscopies, and connecting it to a screen. It would take time to get the camera, put everything together, and practice with it, so after some discussion they ended up scheduling a follow-up appointment (which, groan) in about a month.

On their way out the door, Tulip was given a new toothbrush, a pack of floss, and a blue candy sucker, which Tulip savoured on the drive back. It didn’t, she reflected, taste like it was 20 years old. Then again, she really didn’t know what 20-year-old candy was supposed to taste like.