Helenka and Kuba find a hidden portal in the abandoned wing of the town library, and when they step through, a strange world and a whispered warning await them.
Helenka loved old books. They smelled of dust, glue, and distant places, and when she turned a page, it always felt as if something was waking up.
One grey afternoon, her mother sent her to the town library to fetch a book for her little brother. Kuba insisted on coming too. He was brave in the way that made adults sigh and Helenka roll her eyes, which meant he was also stubborn enough to follow her anywhere.
The main library was quiet, as usual, but Helenka felt something strange in the air that day. The elderly librarian looked up from her desk, gave them a quick, knowing smile, and then disappeared between the shelves without a word.
Kuba leaned close. "That door was shut before," he whispered.
Helenka turned. At the far end of the hall, half hidden behind a tall bookcase, stood a narrow wooden door with a tarnished brass handle. A thin line of cold air slipped from beneath it.
They should have left it alone. Instead, Kuba reached for the handle.
The door opened with a long, complaining creak.
Beyond it was the abandoned wing of the library, where the windows were pale with dust and the shelves sagged under crooked rows of forgotten books. The air smelled colder there, as if the room had been waiting a very long time for someone to enter. At the end of the corridor stood a large oval mirror in a carved brass frame, tangled with metal vines.
Helenka stepped closer.
The glass should have shown her face, but it did not. Mist swirled inside it instead, silver and blue, and something beyond the fog flickered like sunlight on water. Then the mirror gave off a soft, singing hum, almost like a voice trying to remember a song.
Kuba gasped and touched the surface.
His fingers sank straight through.
"Helenka," he breathed, wide-eyed, "it’s a portal."
On the other side, she saw a bright green clearing, trees with red leaves, and tiny glowing shapes darting between the branches. For one dizzy second, the world looked impossible and beautiful.
Then a small face appeared in the mist. It had sharp ears, bright eyes, and the unmistakable look of a fox.
Another fox peeked out beside it.
Then another.
"Help us," a voice whispered from the other side of the mirror. "You are the ones we were waiting for."
Before Helenka could answer, heavy footsteps thudded somewhere deep in the dark corridor behind them, and the mirror’s song changed into a low, trembling note.