‘Don’t you dare run away!’ the little girl shrieked in her ear. ‘I’ve been interviewing six others all day, and you’re the last. It’s already four o’clock and I’m nearly out of time!’

‘I really don’t care!’ Kokoro found her voice.

She was sure she sounded extremely harsh to this girl, so much younger than her, but Kokoro was feeling panicked.

Lying on the floor, she tried to prise the clinging girl off her back. She twisted her head sideways for another look at her surroundings.

This has got to be a dream, she thought. But the girl now pinning her to the floor with her legs around her waist had tangible weight and substance.

She continued crawling towards the shining mirror, when she felt the little wolf girl begin to pound her with her fists.

‘What’s wrong with you? Don’t you want to know where you are? You could be on the brink of an adventure, and you’re telling me you really don’t care? Use your imagination for once in your life!’

‘I will not!’ Kokoro shouted back, nearly in tears. In her head she was thinking she could still get back. Pretend it never happened.

But she was becoming more certain: this was no dream.

The girl tightened her grip around Kokoro’s waist, squeezing her sides so hard Kokoro could hardly breathe.

‘As I was saying – we’ll grant you a single wish. It will come true, even for a dullard like you. So listen to me!’

As I was saying, the girl had said, but this was the first time Kokoro had heard anything about a wish. She was too out of breath to respond. She tried as hard as she could to shake her off, shoving the wolf girl’s snout away from her shoulder, where it was rubbing on her neck. Visible above the mask, the girl’s hair was so soft, the head Kokoro had pushed against so tiny, it surprised Kokoro how much it really did feel like a very small child. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth and shook her sideways to the floor.

She crawled further, then struggled to her feet, and reached out to touch the shining mirror. Within seconds, her hand was being sucked into the surface, as if passing through water.

‘Wait!’ a voice shouted, and she held her breath. Shutting her eyes, she pushed against the mirror with her whole body, and leapt into the light.

‘Hey! You’d better come back tomorrow!’

She was assailed by a deafening, blurry noise. Then it faded away.

SHE BLINKED SEVERAL TIMES, and found herself on the floor back in her room. The TV, her bed, the stuffed animals lined up along the window, the bookshelf, desk, chair, dressing table with hairbrush, clips, comb. Everything was in place.

She looked behind her – the full-length mirror was still on the wall.

It was no longer glowing.