Reflection

22

"Stop!" I tried to yell, but my voice came out as a whisper. When I hadn't answered, Cain had raised the stake, had brought it down—

And froze. I stared at James in horror, he looked at me through half-lidded eyes. It must have been a spell, I realized. That's why he was so drowsy. Part of me was relieved that he wasn't hurt, the other part was sickened. The man who had dragged James in stood in the open doorway, and I realized that he was the one keeping him like this.

"Leave him alone," I whispered, trying to scoot forward. My body resisted, and I winced. I scanned the room desperately. There had to be a way out of this.

For the first time, I noticed a mirror next to me. It was tall and rectangular, the frame a light wood. I inched towards it, but no one stopped me. In fact, no one seemed to notice. A small burst of hope bloomed inside me as I reached the mirror—and was met by my own reflection.

The first thing I noticed was how horrible I looked. Shadows plagued the skin under my eyes—which were rimmed with red. Blood streaked my face and sweat beaded it. My hair had fallen out of its bun and now hung over my shoulder knotted and dampened with sweat.

Then I realized why they put the mirror there. It was to mock me, to give me a spark of hope and then crush it. I felt the chain around my wrist, pulled tight; I could go no farther.

There was what sounded like a choking noise behind me, and I whipped my head around, afraid for James. What I found was Cain laughing. At me. The anger that had already built up inside of me escalated, and I felt my face heat up, my hands tremble.

Suddenly, the mirror next to me exploded. I buried my head in the crook of my elbow, but not fast enough to avoid the shattered glass that lodged itself in the side of my face and upper arm. I almost cried out, but it was nothing compared to the pain I had been in, the pain that still made my body throb.

I waited a couple of seconds after the glass had stopped raining down on my hair before peeking over my arm at the astonished faces staring down at me. The one Cain had called Elijah looked shocked, and, glancing at James, I could see that Elijah's surprise had caused him to release him a little. James sat up, looking a little dazed.

A sudden burst of adrenaline coursed through my body. In one quick, powerful motion, I yanked on my chain, breaking it in half. The rest dangled from my wrist, but I made no move to remove it. Staggering to my feet, I was met with the incredulous stares of everyone in the room. "Impossible," Cain breathed. "Only the Elders can do that." He wasted no more time. "If you join us—"

"I'm fairly certain I've made my decision clear," I said. I let my anger overwhelm my emotions, and using my new-found power, I focused on the mirror behind me until it flew from the ground and across the room, moving too fast for Elijah to duck before it crashed into him, sending him sprawling on the ground, unconscious or maybe even dead. Could witches (or warlocks?) die that easily? I didn't know, nor did I care.

James looked as if he'd just woken up, and now sat, blinking rapidly and staring at me in bewilderment. Only a small part of my brain was aware of breaking his chains. His broke off at the wrist, which he rubbed absentmindedly as he rose warily to his feet. "Go," I whispered to him. "Help them." James nodded, and moved to run out of the room, but a flash of wood flew towards him.

Before I even realized I was doing it, I had stopped the stake inches from its target, without taking so much as a step forward. James glanced at it once in horror before running the rest of the way out the door. The wood spun around and hovered over Cain's chest, just above his heart.

In the few moments since I had shattered the mirror, I felt like I could do anything. An aura of power surrounded me, and I felt no fear, and no pain. It was undeniably thrilling.

The rational part of my brain knew that even though I couldn't feel it, I was tiring. The use of this much power was draining me, and I was already weak. I was running on adrenaline, that was all. And soon it's going to wear off and I'm going to drop.

But I didn't care about any of that right now. All I cared about was that, with one quick motion, Cain would be dead. His look of fear turned to a snarl. "Two can play at that game."

To my surprise, the stake spun around and shot towards me. I was caught off guard, and had time only to redirect it so that it hit my stomach, not my heart. The stake lodged itself in my abdomen, and I gasped and stumbled. Yanking it out, I dropped it and it hit the ground with a clatter. Blood flowed down my waist in rivulets.

In the moment it took the wound to heal, I focused on the stake, and felt a small tug, like a string being pulled within me, as it lifted and shot towards Cain. He stopped it without moving, looking rather bored, and shot it back at me. I stopped it halfway, but he continued to thrust it at me, and I did the same. The stake didn't move, it stayed between us. I focused and willed it to move, but he was doing the same, and it was slowly inching its way towards me.

I was so focused, I hadn't noticed Marcus had a stake in his hand until it was spiraling towards me. With a sinking feeling, I realized I couldn't stop them both. I was going to die.

I didn't see her coming. I never would've let her do it if I had.

Serenity suddenly dove in front of me. "No!" I screamed. "No!" She looked down at the stake impaled in her chest, and dropped to the ground. Marcus stared in horror at what he'd done.

I hadn't realized I'd been holding back until then. In a sudden burst of rage, of hatred, I spun the stake and it shot forward, the small string tightening as it drew closer to the Elder. Once it reached him, the string seemed to snap, and I felt it loosen, felt my body relax, as though that one little string had pulled every muscle in my body tight. Cain dove out of the way, and the stake only sliced his side. He didn't seem to notice, but blood trickled down his parchment robes.

Marcus knelt next to Serenity. "I'm sorry," he whispered, taking her hand as tears slipped down his face. "I'm so sorry."

Cain grabbed onto Marcus' shirt, yanking him to his feet. "She's more powerful," he said frantically. When Marcus didn't respond, he shook him violently. "Come on, you idiot, get me out of here!"

With one last horrified glance at his sister, he muttered something under his breath and they disappeared.

I dropped down next to Serenity, all my energy leaving me at once. I took her hand as she gasped shallow breaths. "It broke," she said weakly, using her free hand to reach into a pocket of her dress that I hadn't noticed before.

She pulled out a large shard of glass and handed it to me with trembling bloody fingers. I looked at it, and found my reflection staring back at me. "This is the one E-Ellie gave you." She took a deep, rattling breath, and started coughing.

"Tell Adam that I l-love him." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I will," I said softly.

Serenity nodded. Then she took another painful-sounding breath. "And tell him that I'm sorry."

Those were Serenity Hathorne's last words.