Briefly, Mina wondered why Nan wasn’t out there enjoying the boat ride, until she remembered her famous company. Nan was hiding out in the kitchen trying to keep Peter all to herself. She knew that once everyone else saw him the party would quickly congregate to wherever he was, which also meant that she was probably going to hide him from most of her guests for as long as possible. She had no idea how Nan was going to accomplish keeping his anonymity; she was just glad that she didn’t have to do it.

Brody followed Mina to the snack table and began to fill up a paper plate with small, rectangular sandwich bites. Mina grabbed a two liter bottle of Coke and began to fill her own blue plastic cup with the bubbly goodness when Nan caught her off guard.

“Mina, have you seen Jared lately? I invited him, but I haven’t seen him at school.” Nan spoke innocently enough, but the question spooked Mina and she lost control of the two liter bottle, dropping it into her cup and flipping both onto the floor. The two liter rolled under the table spilling pop in its wake.

“Stink!” Mina dropped to her knees and raced under the table to upright the bottle. With a pile of napkins, she haphazardly began to mop up the spilled mess. It wasn’t even close to enough napkins.

Brody ducked under the table and handed her another stack of napkins. With his own stack, he began to help clean up the quickly spreading puddle. Her hands shook in embarrassment; she could feel her cheeks and neck burning. She stopped mopping to glance at him. He wore a blue shirt, which complemented his eyes, and in this close of quarters she could smell his cologne. He must have sensed her staring at him because he looked right at her and smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

Mortified at being caught staring, Mina jumped up but bashed her head on the underside of the table making it move three inches to the right.

It didn’t matter how much of a gentleman he was, no one could see that and not laugh.

He chuckled at her clumsiness when she plopped right back down into her soppy napkin and pop mess. “Are you all right?” he asked trying to mask his own laughter.

Mina clutched her head and shot dagger filled looks of hate at the table. “No, I doubt I will ever be classified as all right.”

The table moved above her as Nan and Peter shifted the heavy oak table away. Nan had found a mop, and Peter had retrieved a large roll of paper towels. Between the two of them, they cleaned up Mina’s mess in record time.

There were no words to describe her humiliation at having Brody, and his rock star cousin cleaning up her mess. What was worse was that Mina was now soaked in brown pop. It had spilled all over her shirt and shorts. She was on the verge of crying when Nan came to the rescue again.

“Hey,” she whispered, grabbing Mina’s hand and pulling her to the side. “Go upstairs, and the first door on the right is the guest room. It’s where you will be sleeping tonight. You brought extra clothes right? Then just go change and throw your clothes in the upstairs washer.” She patted Mina encouragingly on the shoulder and nudged her toward the stairs.

Slowly she trudged up the stairs. Her feet felt like lead as her own worries and anxiety weighed her down emotionally. She found the bedroom and opened her backpack to grab the first pair of shorts and shirts she found. Not even caring if they matched, she slowly walked into the bathroom to rinse out her clothes and change. Her movements became sluggish as she tried to delay her return to the kitchen.

In a house filled with people, she felt completely alone. When she had cleaned her clothes as much as possible, Mina wiped her hands on a soft hand towel, gathering the courage to look into the bathroom mirror and inspect her eye makeup. Only it wasn’t her soft brown eyes looking back at her in the mirror. They were someone else’s, and they were angry.

Chapter 17

Mina screamed. She leapt away from the bathroom sink and crashed into the wall, her mouth open wide in terror as she tried to process what she was seeing. She could barely see her reflection in the bathroom mirror because it was faded in comparison to the other reflection coming through the mirror. She recognized those grey eyes. They were Jared’s. Once again, she was seeing his reflection.

He was angry and yelling at her. She couldn’t hear him, but she only needed to read his facial expressions and lips. He ran his hands through his dark hair in frustration, turned and pointed at her again, and continued yelling.

Mina shrugged her shoulders in response and pointed to her ears, symbolizing she couldn’t hear him. Jared cursed, or at least she thought he did. Clenching his fist, he slammed it against the mirror over and over in frustration and desperation. She saw the mirror twitch a little each time he hit it, or maybe she just imagined it. But either way, it looked like Jared was trapped in the mirror.

Jared became still and walked toward the glass. He leaned forward bringing his mouth close to the other side of the mirror. Taking a deep breath, he slowly breathed warm air onto the invisible barrier leaving a large circle of condensation. Quickly, he reached out one finger and began to write furiously backwards.

The words appeared on Mina’s side, simple, and short: HELP ME!

She reached her hand out to touch the words and felt the coolness of the condensation on her side of the mirror. How was that possible? She touched the mirror and left a small fingerprint in the disappearing condensation. Whatever he was doing was moving through the mirror and having an effect on her side. Mina imitated Jared’s actions and breathed on the mirror. She watched as his eyes widened in hope.

She took her finger and drew three letters. HOW ? But she forgot to write them backward so it looked like, WOH to Jared. He quickly read the letters, and his shoulders dropped in disappointment. Obviously, he didn’t know the answer and was hoping she did. He took a step away from the mirror into the darkness that was surrounding him. He was leaving!

“NO!” Mina yelled. “Don’t give up!” Desperately she grabbed the first thing her hand rested on, a bronze vase. She climbed onto the countertop and raised the vase over her head to bring it down.

Jared saw her actions and began to violently shake his head no and wave his arms, but it was too late. The vase connected with the mirror, shattering it. The force of the blow brought the frame down with it.

Mina stared at where the mirror had hung and was confused by the plain blank wall behind it. She looked around at the shards of mirror on the floor and didn’t see a single reflection of Jared in any of them. She put the vase back down on the counter and stepped back to the floor. Letting her back slide against the cupboards, she sank into the mess of glass. Not caring about her scratched and bleeding hands, she picked up a piece of the mirror and called Jared’s name. Nothing. He didn’t appear. He was gone.

Footsteps sounded loudly on the stairs, and the bathroom door flew open. Dr. Martin came into the bathroom and wrestled the piece of glass out of her hands. Mina argued with him and tried to get it back.

“Stop it!” he commanded angrily. “I will not let you harm yourself. Do you understand? I don’t care what happened; it is no reason to take your own life.” He reached for a towel and pressed it against the cut across her palm.

Mina stilled at his words. He thought she had broken the mirror and was trying to commit suicide. It was completely absurd, but she couldn’t argue when the evidence spoke against her.

“No, it’s not what it looks like! I wasn’t trying to- I don’t know how to explain- I wasn’t…” She bit her lip when he pulled open a drawer and poured peroxide on the cut. He began to wrap the wound with bandages from the same drawer. She had to hand it to him; the good doctor sure did keep his supplies stocked.