"Why," rumbled the Cowardly Lion, "the room's empty!"
In a sense the lion was right. There was no one in the Grand Ballroom, it was true. But Dorothy and the others could plainly see the flitting, shifting shadow shapes of the Mimics in the mirrors that paneled the walls and ceiling of the great room—shadow creatures caught and confined in the depths of the mirrors!
"I wonder," Dorothy whispered, "what will become of them."
CHAPTER 21
The Shattering of the Mirrors
"Now we can send the Mimics back to Mount Illuso at will," said Ozana in answer to Dorothy's question. "All we need to do is shatter the mirrors and the Mimics will return to their gloomy realm, banished forever from Oz."
It was Ozma who followed Ozana's suggestion and brought about the breaking of the mirrors. The dainty ruler lifted her wand and murmured a fairy charm. Instantly every mirror in the Grand Ballroom shivered and shattered with a vast, tinkling sound. Not one of the scores of mirrors in the great chamber was left whole.