The conversation didn’t last long. They wanted to be sure that I was firm on my belief that it wasn’t a killer whale that took Ashling. I assured them it wasn’t and we hung up, conversation over.

Darkness was starting to fall and with it my hopes of finding Ashling tonight. Maybe the police were right, maybe it had been a killer whale. I found myself in the bathroom staring into the mirror. Ashling and I were alike in build and riotous curls, and if I squinted my eyes, fuzzing my vision, I could convince myself that indeed I was looking at my little sister. I wanted it so badly that for a moment I believed I could make it happen.

The power I’d felt inside me, that answered Luke’s lips, surged upwards once more. I felt it move through me, tightening every muscle as it seemed to seek a way out, my skin feeling as if it was filling, stretching. On an instinct I didn’t realize I had until that moment, I coaxed the power down my arms and to the tips of my fingers where it tingled and seemed to dance just at the edges of my body. I let out a slow breath, and opened my eyes.

The room dimmed as the hotel shook with another—what I had to assume was small—earthquake. I put my hands against the mirror to steady myself. It was a nauseating feeling, to know the ground was so unsteady below my feet, as if my legs didn’t want to hold me up.

As the lights continued to flicker, I glanced up. The mirror seemed to be dancing with blue lights that appeared to be coming from my fingertips. I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped my lips as the gleaming surface cleared. No longer was the image in the mirror showing the shower behind me with beautiful white and gold hand-laid tiles.

No, now it showed me a dark cell with stone walls that dripped with water and slime. And huddled in the corner of the cell was Ashling.

~~

8

I threw myself at the mirror. “Ashling!”

Her head jerked around and she leapt to her feet, scrambling across the stone floor to reach me. Our hands, though not touching, were pressed against both sides of the mirror. I smiled a stupid goofy grin. She was alive! I knew it!

“Quinn! How the . . .what’s going on?” She asked, her voice distorted and echoing in the stone chamber.

“I can’t get to the beach, something, a type of invisible wall is stopping me. Did they hurt you?” I asked.

“No, they just threw me in this cell and locked the door. I haven’t seen any of them since they dragged me down here.”

“But you’re okay? They didn’t try to hurt you?”

“No. They just left me alone,” she said, shaking her head, curls bouncing.