Dash is at my side in an instant. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m something. But I wouldn’t call it okay,” I snap.
“I think I should take you home.”
“Yeah, right after I see the car I was driving.”
Dash and Officer Jimmy exchange looks.
“I’ll have to take you to the evidence garage. We haven’t released it yet,” he says.
The garage isempty aside from the vehicles stored there. We weave through a few until I see the car I’m searching for. I circle it before standing at the driver’s side. The front door is mangled from more than just the accident where it was popped open with a spreader to extricate my sister and me. It’s shut but not closed.
I lean in closer to get a better look at the interior. I try not to stare at the blood still in the car on both sides.
“Hold my hand.”
I hear the whisper again; the same one I heard when I woke up in the hospital. I close my eyes trying to cling to the memory, but my head starts to throb.
I can almost hear the breaking glass and twisting metal. And I can almost taste blood before it all goes dark again, and I feel myself starting to fall.
“Lennon!” I hear Dash shout before I feel his arms around me. Then, I close my eyes.
When I open my eyes again, Hendrix is staring at me.
“Hey, beautiful. How are you feeling?”
“Where am I?” I ask.
I start to sit up but grab my head instead.
“Hey, no. You need to rest,” Hendrix says.
“Where’s Dash?” I ask, suddenly worried.
Hendrix turns toward the corner of the darkened room, and I see Dash sitting in a chair with his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled under his chin.
That’s when the beeping registers. I’m hooked to a monitor in a hospital room.
“Why am I here?”
“You’re fine. Dash did the right thing by bringing you here. You collapsed. He just wants to make sure you’re all right. So do I.”
“Why does my head hurt?” I ask.
“My opinion…your brain was trying to remember something important. The pain is a warning you might not like what you’ll see. But I’m not a neurologist. And honestly, anyone in neurology or neurosurgery will tell you the brain is a bit of a mystery. I just know the mind can do strange things when it’s trying to shield you from pain.”
“Mirror, mirror. My heart to shield,” I repeat the engraving from earlier.
Dash hangs his head and Hendrix looks confused.
“What’s that mean?”
“It was in my…in Lennon’s race car. It’s an engraving on a bracelet. London has a similar one. It says ‘Mirror, mirror. My heart to embolden.’ Have you seen it before?”
He still seems confused. “No, I don’t believe I have.”
I stare at him, unsure why he wouldn’t know about the bracelets. Although Dash didn’t seem to either. It was a sister thing I suppose. A twin secret.
