Tracy
“To get me?” Tracy asked warily. “And where do you plan to take me?”
“Home,” Jared said.
“I get to go home? Just like that?”
He shrugged.
“But I thought they were going to take me—” Tracy bit off the word. What if this was just a trick to get her to come along quietly? Last she heard, they were taking her to Walt to wipe her mind. “I don't believe you.”
“Look, I don't care if you don't believe me,” Jared sounded bored, “but my aunt said to tell you that she'll protect you. I think they're gonna sneak you out or something.”
“Who's your aunt?”
“Beth.”
“Oh.” Tracy still wasn't sure she believed him, but she believed that Beth didn't want to hurt her. She had stood up for Tracy in the computer room. Besides, Tracy had to get out of the library. She didn't like the tingly feeling in her stomach, and she didn't like that she'd fallen asleep and almost forgotten her plans.
“All right,” she said to Jared. “Let's go.” At the first sign of a lie, she'd figure out a way to ditch him.
“Fine.” Jared walked to the door/mirror, but stopped right in front of it. It didn't have that yellow glow anymore.
Jared touched it, and…nothing happened. It didn't shiver or swirl or look anything like it did before. It was just a mirror, a lot like the one in Tracy's bathroom.
She watched Jared's reflection as he leaned in close and squinted, like he was trying to see through it to the other side. His face was round and scrunched up like a cartoon character. He tapped the mirror a couple more times, then he took a step back, crossed his arms across his chest, and frowned. “Huh.”
Tracy stepped up beside the mirror, put her fingers under one of the side edges, and lifted. Maybe a real mirror had slid into place, covering the doorway. When she peered behind the mirror, all she saw was a blank wall. She even slid her hand behind the mirror to feel the wall, thinking it could be another illusion. It wasn't. The wall was as solid as the mirror. That left her with only one logical conclusion.
She turned to Jared with her hands on her hips and a nasty look on her face. “What's going on here? This isn't the same room I went to sleep in. You must have carried me here while I was sleeping.” He was big enough.
Jared put his hands on his hips in a perfect imitation of her and snapped right back. “I didn't do anything. I came through that mirror, same as you. Maybe it broke when you looked at it.”
The insult made Tracy turn her back to him and huff. Clearly, this boy had no intention of helping her get home. “Fine. If you're going to be that way, I'll find my own way home.” She headed for the actual door, which was on the far side of the room, to the left of the fireplace.
Jared laughed as she opened the door. “Good luck with that.”
Tracy stepped through and gave him a snotty little wave.
He crossed the room like he was going to stop her. “Just see if you can find your way without—” His words cut off when Tracy shut the door in his face.