"Shit," I hiss, jumping to my feet. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"This must be your sister," Aiden says, getting up. His tone is cool, but I can sense tension that wasn't there moments before. "The school most be over early."

I hear the front door open, then close. I dart to the fridge, open it and shove the casserole with the remainders of the lasagna inside, then accept the cola bottle from Aiden and return it to its place. I slowly close the fridge door to prevent it from making noise, and then we both stand there, listening. A bag gets dropped to the floor by the front door—yes, it's got to be Liz, my parents wouldn't do that. There are shuffling sounds as she takes her shoes off.

I stand there, paralyzed by all the horrible possibilities, everything that could go wrong if she finds us here. Aiden will have to do something about it, but what? Will he fetch her, too, take her away and lock her up somewhere, like they did me? Holy crap, that would kill my folks for sure. I look at Aiden with horror. What on earth was I thinking, bringing a monster into our home?

Please, go to your room, I mentally plead with Liz—but no such luck. I hear her approaching footsteps in the corridor. She'll enter in a moment and find us trapped in this stupid kitchen.

"Go, go!" I hiss, pushing Aiden to the open kitchen door, forcing him to stand behind it. He flattens himself against the wall, and I squeeze in next to him. The door won't open all the way now, but she might not notice.

I hold my breath as she walks into the kitchen. At first, I only hear her, but when I turn my head I see her back as she opens the fridge door. She was a little girl when I saw her last, and now she seems so grown up, despite her school uniform. She's tall, probably as tall as I am now, and she's still growing. Must have taken after Dad, while I got Mom's genes in that department. Kind of unfair when you think about it.

She examines the contents of the fridge, humming something to herself, nodding her head. It puzzles me at first, but then I notice she's wearing headphones. Holy crap, some luck at last! She hears nothing but her music.

I turn to Aiden and put a finger to my lips, then slide out from behind the door, making sure he follows. We stand behind her, at hand's reach, and she's still completely unaware of our presence. I pause, struck by the thought that this might be the closest I will ever get to anyone in my family again. But I must keep them safe, and if staying away will achieve that, it must be done.

I back away, into the corridor, with Aiden following. I can breathe a little easier now that we can't see her, but she might decide to exit the kitchen any moment, to retrieve something from her bag or to take her food to her room. I look around in panic. How did we even arrive here?

Then, I see it. The mirror in front of the clothes rack. It's simple and narrow and doesn't look special in the least, but Aiden takes my hand and leads me toward it.

"Close your eyes," he whispers, and I squeeze my eyes shut. He leads me forward, and I wince, expecting to walk face first into hard glass, but that doesn't happen. As before, we make a few steps and stop, with nothing really changing, apart from the air getting slightly cooler.

I open my eyes and see white walls again. I swirl around, and the corridor is still there, the rack and the pictures on the wall, and Liz's schoolbag lying discarded on the floor. A nervous giggle escapes me. I'm giddy with relief, as if we've just escaped some danger, although, in this situation, we were the danger. I look at Aiden to find him smiling, too.

"Lucky escape," he says. "Quick thinking with the door."

I gesture at my head. "She had headphones on."

"Yeah, I noticed."

I look back at the corridor just in time to see Liz exit the kitchen, carrying a bowl of food with a fork sticking out of it. I can't even tell if it's lasagna or something else, because she is gone in a moment, just walking out of my field of vision, utterly unaware of being watched. I stare at the empty corridor, my brief elation subsiding. Perhaps this was the last time I'll ever see her in person.

Aiden walks over to the code lock and presses a button. The wall fades to white again.

"Mirrors," I say. "You use mirrors as portals to move through?"

"Yes."

"Any mirror, or special ones?"

He hums. "There's only one kind."

"So, all mirrors work like that? And nobody ever noticed anything?"

"We're very careful. And, in fact, some people can sense that something's not quite right with mirrors. It's called spectrophobia—fear of mirrors. It's considered a mental disorder, but, unlike many other phobias, it has something real at its base." He smiles. "Not that anyone knows about that."

"How did you come up with that idea, to use mirrors?" A thought strikes me. "Or did you invent them, just for that purpose? I mean, not you personally, but back in the time..."

He shrugs. "We might have."

"Wow, that was..." I shake my head. I'll need more time to process what's just happened. There are too many emotions—joy, grief, regret, even a kind of hope, although it's hard to tell for what. One thing for sure is that I'm feeling alive. It's been a while since I've felt like that.

"It was... interesting?" Aiden prompts, watching me.

"More than that." I come closer, not sure what reaction he's expecting from me, and so I just end up saying one thing I'm sure about. "I'm glad we did that. Thank you for making it happen, Aiden."