The MirrorMasters

Chapter 10

"David is going to kill me," I moaned. "He may have said he was fine with us looking into my past, but he's not expecting it to happen today." I'd met Kara and Jenny after work to walk over to the social services agency together.

Laughing, Kara slung an arm around me. "I'm surprised he didn't show up at Celia's and make sure you didn't go through with this."

"He has another hour to go." Still, I scanned the boardwalk, searching for anyone we knew and needed to avoid.

"Works out well, then. Leave it to me. I'll make sure he understands what's at stake and why all of this is so important."

"He does, Kara. Or, at least he would if he'd let himself believe. It's just that all of this is such a huge risk, and there's so little to go on."

"What more evidence do we need?" Kara asked, ticking off the list with her fingers. "We have futuristic weapons, a glowing necklace and other alien artifacts, and a prophecy handed down from a man who came from another planet. Once we get the key, I'm sure we'll find even more clues to this whole thing."

"An alleged prophecy written in an ancient language we can't decipher," Jenny reminded us. "The ring will be your guide," I said.

"What?" Kara stopped short, grabbing my arm and gazing at me expectantly.

"That's what Madame Helena said. Maybe the ring will help translate the prophecy. I'll try it later tonight. If that doesn't work, we need to find someone to decipher the prophecy and get me to that other world." Too fast. This was all happening too fast, but I couldn't waste time stalling just to prepare mentally for leaving my life here behind. Every day that passed meant more deaths, more disasters.

"The answer is probably closer than you think."

Jenny's cryptic statement hung in the air, leaving me to puzzle over it as we reached the agency. How would Jenny know that?

"Leah! Girls, what can I do for you? We'll be closing soon," Melinda Barrett greeted us, a wide smile gracing her freckled, youthful face. She stood shorter than me in her flats.

"Ms. Barrett, I was wondering if I could look over my record," I said. "You know, my adoption file with whatever information there might have been at the time I was found. Sorry we got here so late, but we all had our first day of work today."

Melinda swiped her pale blond hair from her face. "Of course. I'd been wondering when you were going to ask for your file. This way."

I heaved a sigh of relief; I hadn't expected it to be this easy. Fidgeting with my hands, I wondered what I would discover in my file and what David's reaction would be later when he found out what I'd done. No — I was not going to think about that. Not yet, anyway. Melinda led us into a reading room, a private conference area with a round table and several chairs set up so that people could comfortably view their records or complete chart reviews.

"Wait right here while I locate that file," Melinda instructed. Soon, she had returned with a thin file in hand and sat down with them. She glanced through everything before handing me the record. "I'm afraid there isn't much here. We completed genetic testing, of course, to see if there were any matches in government databases. That was our effort to locate your parents, but nothing ever turned up. There was something abnormal in the results, though. An odd genetic marker that's never turned up before in any other known genetic analysis."

Kara and Jenny glanced at me pointedly, and I shifted in my seat, keeping my gaze lowered to the file. "What kind of marker?" I asked, swallowing.

"I don't know for certain, and I don't believe even the geneticists understand it. There's much more to learn in that field. Anyway, it's probably nothing to worry about. You're obviously healthy."