The woman in the mirror frowned, yet no wrinkles formed in her skin. She seemed both young and old at the same time. Ageless. “You are not seeking to return the changeling?”
“No. I just want my sister back.”
“Well, this is interesting.” The woman’s strangely ageless face registered mild surprise. “Your sister has been exchanged for a child whose mother did not want her.”
“She— Why would you do that?” Rebecca demanded.
“Because that is our way.”
“Our, who? I—” Rebecca swallowed her outrage. Angering the woman in the mirror would not help. “Fine. How do I get my sister back?”
“These things may only be reversed at the mother’s behest.”
“My mother’s in prison. She can’t... I mean,Iwant my sister back. I’ll take care of her. My grandmother will help.”
In truth, she hadn’t really given the plan much thought, beyond finding her real sister. Grandma Janice was too old to be saddled with an eleven-year-old on her own, and Rebecca was too young to raise a child, but together they could probably manage. Becca could delay her sophomore year to help get her sister settled into what was left of a family she’d never even met, then start school again next semester, someplace within commuting distance. She would make it work. “Just...tell me what to do. How to get her back.”
“You must offer to exchange your sister for the natural child of the woman raising her—the child she didn’t want. She may agree to make the trade. Or she may decide to keep your sister as her own. The choice is hers.”
“Why doessheget to decide whether or not I get my sister back? How is that fair?”
The woman raised one dark eyebrow in disdain. “Only children whine about fairness.”
“Fine. How am I supposed to exchange this other kid for my sister if I don’thavethis other kid?”
“You do have her. Turn around.”
Rebecca turned, but the only thing behind her was the bathtub. Heart thumping in her ears, she pulled back the floral print shower curtain and found an infant, tightly swaddled in a white blanket, lying on the rubber shower mat, sound asleep.
She stumbled back from the tub, a fluttery panic building in the center of her chest. “That’s a baby.” She turned back to the mirror. “What am I supposed to do with a baby?” A surprise middle-schooler would be hard enough to explain to Grandma Janice, but ababy?
“That is the other woman’s child. In a month, you may ask her mother if she is willing to make a trade.”
“Wait,what? You took my sister from the hospital nursery eleven years ago. How is the kid she was exchanged for still a baby?”
“Time is not consistent among different worlds, child.” The woman’s impatience suggested she’d be no happier explaining that water was wet. “Eleven years for you have passed in only a handful of weeks for me.”
“What does that...? You’re saying that you only took my sister a few weeks ago, in your...time?”
“Precisely. The infant sleeping behind you is the natural child of the woman who has your sister. If she is amenable, you may make the exchange. Either way, the infant is in your hands now. You and I will have no further business.”
“Wait! What am I supposed to do with a baby?”
“Take her to Charity Marlow in the state of Oklahoma, one month from today. She will be expecting...someone.”
“Why one month? Why can’t I take her today?”
But the glass was already starting to shimmer, the woman’s image beginning to fade.
“Wait!” Rebecca shouted, and behind her, the infant began to fuss. “Wait, come back!” She picked up the little purple dress and smeared another streak of red on the glass, but the woman in the mirror did not answer the summons.
“Damn it!” Rebecca smeared blood on the glass again. And again. But the mirror remained steady, reflecting nothing but her own image back at her.
“No!” Rebecca slammed her fist down on the countertop hard enough to bruise.
Behind her the baby began to cry.
Delilah
