It was a rough landing that interrupted Mickey's visions. Suspended from the gnarled branches of a sycamore tree, in the middle of a dark forest, hung an antique mirror, a portal between two worlds, through which Mickey had just fallen.

He felt dazed—his bones ached, he was confused and his head was spinning wildly. “Come on! Some people have come off far worse when they've gone through the portal for the first time.” Pipwolf congratulated Mickey, but Mickey was more interested in getting to the bottom of things than compliments.

Mickey looked around and realized that the forest was watching them.

“Where are we?” he asked beneath the gaze of unseen eyes and to the sound of mysterious moans.

Pipwolf had always described it as there rather than here so he pulled out the Manual in search of a better answer. “Here it says it's called When-in-Rome.” he explained.

Mickey smiled, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do! It's a proverb. Should I take it as a warning?”

As usual, however, Pipwolf was distracted. His acute sense of smell was telling him that they should leave the forest.

“This way.” he pointed, “The portals don't hang around for long and they always change position. Let's move quickly!”

Once they were out of the forest, Mickey and Pipwolf found themselves in a clearing. The werewolf's face changed suddenly—he was startled, but the tremor in his voice made it clear that, more precisely, he was frightened.

“This entrance leads directly to MANNY's house.” he cried.

Lit by a full moon and surrounded by a horde of bats, a sinister-looking mansion stood amid precarious tombstones poking up into the fog. Mickey gasped and turned to Pipwolf to ask if Manny was the girl he'd mistaken Minnie for. But his companion had disappeared.

At that point it wasn't the shiver but logic that made Mickey ponder. He remembered that at The White Mouse Pipwolf had pleaded with him not to take him to her; at the time, he didn't really think anything of it, but there was also the fact that Pipwolf had entrusted the mirror to him, avoiding having to deliver it directly into Manny's hands. This surely was no coincidence. He must be scared of her. And perhaps it was best for Mickey to avoid her? Mickey made his way cautiously through the garden, pushed the front door, and was plunged into silence and darkness.

“May I come in? Is there anybody home?”

His words were lost in the darkness. The entrance was dark and dusty and the only light shone feebly from a window at the top of the grand staircase. Mickey stepped forward gingerly and a floorboard groaned. He stopped, frightened.

The groan continued. Mickey stopped breathing. Only then he realized he wasn't the only one in the room.

Something was approaching him. His heart was pounding when he saw, at the bottom of the stairs, two sinister eyes staring at him from the dark, just before he heard a beastly growl. EXr6287u6NNVz+GYLY+7SBsrcqIjTEksQl6hvkLhtOzogwUEg6k7NKkMkEKPp6LyPax8lT9VnO+uJTeQipvxVw==