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“Your mom said you were here,” Erin explained, looking from Lefty to me.
“What are you guys doing up here?” April asked.
“Oh… just hanging out,” I said, casting an angry glance at my brother, who stuck his tongue out
in reply.
April picked up an old Life magazine from a stack of yellowed magazines and began flipping
through it. But the pages crumbled as she looked at them. “Yuck,” she said, putting it down. “This stuff
is so old.”
“That’s what attics are for,” I said, starting to feel a little more normal. “Whoever heard of
keeping new stuff in an attic?”
“Ha-ha,” Lefty laughed sarcastically.
“Where’s that mirror?” Erin asked, stepping into the center of the room. “The one that made that
weird optical illusion last Saturday.”
“It wasn’t an optical illusion,” I blurted out. I didn’t really feel like messing with the mirror
anymore. I’d had enough scares for one afternoon. But the words just tumbled out of me.
I can never keep a secret. It’s a real character flaw.
“What do you mean?” Erin asked, very interested. She walked past me, heading to the open
doorway of the little room.
“You mean that wasn’t an optical illusion last week?” April asked, following her.
“No, not really,” I said, glancing at Lefty, who hadn’t budged from the windowsill across the
large room. “The mirror has strange powers or something. It really can turn you invisible.”
April laughed scornfully. “Yeah. Right,” she said. “And I’m going to fly to Mars in a flying
saucer tonight after dinner.”
“Give me a break,” I muttered. I turned my eyes to Erin. “I’m serious.”
Erin stared back at me, her face filled with doubt. “You’re trying to tell us that you’ve gone in
that room and become invisible?”
“I’m not trying to tell you,” I replied heatedly. “I am telling you!”
April laughed.
Erin continued to stare at me, studying my face. “You are serious,” she decided.
“It’s a trick mirror,” April told her. “That’s all. That light on top of it is so bright, it makes your
eyes go weird.”
“Show us,” Erin said to me.
“Yeah. Show them!” Lefty exclaimed eagerly. He jumped up from the windowsill and started
running to the little room. “I’ll go this time! Let me do it!”
“No way,” I said.
“Let me try it,” Erin volunteered.
“Hey, do you know who else is here?” I asked the girls, following them to the room. “Zack is
here.” I called to him. “Hey, Zack. Erin wants to go invisible. Think we should let her?”
I stepped into the room. “Zack?”
“Where’s he hiding?” Erin asked.
I uttered a silent gasp.
The mirror light was on. Zack was gone.