She lowered the glowing camera. Out of nowhere, Harlan’s explanation of how his chaos talent worked whispered at the edge of her consciousness: I look for the places where the circles overlap. Connections.

She raised the camera again and examined the storm of energy that swirled around the pyramid the same way she studied an aura.

“What am I looking at, Grandma?”

The answer was obvious. Out-of-control currents of energy were slamming back and forth. The oscillating waves were growing increasingly wild, out of sync. At the center of it all was the pyramid.

She had to calm the raging currents. She needed the last image on the camera.

“I need a little help here, Grandma.”

She gathered her senses, focused on the artifact and pressed the crystal button that brought up the holograms.

An image flashed into existence, one she had not viewed previously. Somehow she knew it was the final hologram. At first she did not recognize the scene of slanting walls lined with mirrors. A heartbeat later she realized the picture had been taken from inside the pyramid. In the center of the scene was a crystal the size of a man’s two fists. The stone was cut in the shape of a pyramid.

The heart of Vortex.

Words crashed through her head and she fell into her other voice.

“To stop the monsters you must quench the lightning in the mirrors.”

To get to the crystal she would have to enter the storm-filled chamber. If she survived the energies inside, she would be faced with the cobalt blue mirror that guarded the interior of the pyramid.

Before she could give herself any more time to think about it, she went to the glass door of the chamber and turned the handle. She was vaguely amazed when the heavy door swung slowly inward.

She stepped into the storm . . .

. . . and was amazed again when she did not immediately lose consciousness. She looked down at the camera. It was glowing much more strongly now. She was glowing. No, not exactly. She was enveloped in the energy field of the camera. It was acting like a shield, protecting her from the paranormal storm.

No, not a shield; a cloak of energy. She was wearing the paranormal version of the cloak her grandmother had worn in the paintings.

She walked through the storm and stopped in front of the blue mirror that sealed the pyramid. Now that she was close she could see the reflective effect was an optical illusion. Instead of a solid sheet of glass, she was confronting a gate of shimmering energy. All she had to do was go through it.

Right.

She reminded herself that she and her mother had escaped through a similar gate in her grandmother’s safe room.

When the time comes you will know how to go through the mirror.

“Thanks, Grandma. I hope you know what I’m doing here.”