The MirrorMasters by Lora Palmer Page A

none of us can do this? What do you propose we do then?" Jenny asked, raising an eyebrow.
    "We have to," I said, my voice fierce, determined. "If this doesn't work, I don't think we have much chance of finding her, or of confirming Madame Helena’s tale." I didn’t for a second think it was as simple as Kara made it sound. Kara wouldn’t want to believe there were risks involved. A part of me dreaded another brush with that power, but I would face it again a million times if it meant I could help save lives.
    "Madame Helena must have some reason for thinking it's one of us," Kara pointed out. She waved her hand over the box, and I held my breath. I didn’t want it to light up and snap open for her because it would mark her as a target, like I probably was now. When the box did nothing, Kara sighed in disappointment while I sighed in relief. "Okay, that rules me out, because the box doesn’t get all glowy for me. But it could be you, Leah. Nobody knows anything about your birth parents."
    "Wait, what?" Jenny asked, then quickly corrected herself. "Oh, right. I forgot you were adopted, Leah. It's not something we talk much about."
    I nodded. It was weird that Jenny had forgotten, but I let the subject drop. "So, we focus on the location of the MirrorMaster, right? Maybe if all three of us focus together, it will help."
    "Sounds logical," Jenny said. "Let's give it a try."
    We sat on Kara's bed, facing the mirror. Concentrating in silence, we prepared ourselves until I voiced the question, "Where is the First Daughter?" Kara repeated it, and it soon became a chant.
    "I feel silly doing this." Jenny smirked and crossed her arms.
    "Concentrate!" Kara protested, laughing.
    "Come on, you guys! We have to do this," I reminded them. "If there’s any chance Madame Helena’s right about a disaster threatening not only Earth, but some other planet, and we can do something to stop it — shouldn’t we?"
    This sobered the mood, and we returned to focusing on the mirror, taking deep breaths to calm ourselves. I held the question in my mind, attempting to visualize the First Daughter and where we might find her. Intuitively, I brushed aside any other distractions that could hinder us reaching that goal. My body started to tingle from my fingertips to my toes, and a tidal wave of energy flowed through my veins so strong that it raised the hair on my arms. For a moment, an image of a crystal palace by a sparkling purple ocean shimmered into view, but the shock of seeing it jarred me out of the vision.
    "Did you see that?" I asked, eyes widening in amazement.
    "I think so!" Jenny exclaimed.
    "Try again," Kara encouraged.
    "Okay." I pushed away doubts about being able to do this again, but it took longer this time to focus my thoughts on the lost MirrorMaster. My whole body hummed and buzzed with power. Sharp tingles spread from my stomach out to my fingers, my head, and my toes. The tingles stabbed and burned. Overcome, I didn’t know if I was about to make a breakthrough in controlling the mirror, or if I was about to spontaneously combust.
    When I attempted to channel the energy, one hazy image after another appeared in random bursts, then fizzled out before I could catch any details. Again and again, my mental push to sustain an image in the mirror — any image — failed. Ten minutes of fruitless effort later, red-faced, sweaty, and quivering with pent-up power, I wanted to scream in frustration.
    Jenny grabbed my hand. "Breathe. And focus," she ordered. "Use my energy."
    " Our energy," Kara said, taking my other hand.
    A soothing, cooling relief like being plunged into ice water flooded my veins and seemed to wash the tingles away. In the mirror, another image appeared. This time, it showed Brian with his arms outstretched, confronting his father while Janice Stanford ran into the forest. Brian was protecting her?
    The scene disappeared from the mirror, replaced by a barrage of devastated