司氏姐妹 第20章：银色钥匙

玛拉抓住她的衣裙蹦了起来。快速跑到牢房的栏杆处，她看起来不像同一个女人，瘫在地上，勉强能抬起她的头。

“米娜！”她在黑暗中低声喊道。三个姐姐呆呆地愣在那儿，不敢发出任何声音，从而淹没米娜可能的轻声回应。黑暗非常沉寂。

在她的身后，玛丽开始急速而沉重地喘气，在一生中她第一次感到无法控制她的恐慌。 “米娜”，玛丽喃喃自语，她的内心闪过各种可以想象的最坏可能性。 “哦，上帝，我做了什么.....”

“不，”玛拉说。 “是我的错。如果你们上次来时我不是这么固执......我以为我做了正确的事情......“她的话被满脸新涌上的眼泪而打断，她以为她已经为格雷厄姆流干了眼泪。“我不知道你们也处在危险中！如果我早知道格雷厄姆的父亲......你们上次来时我就不会执意留下......，我们可能都已远走高飞，离开这个是非之地，而米娜......“

“好吧，”摩根说，她的声音虽然有些颤抖但很坚定。 “现在不是责怪谁做错了什么的时候。我们甚至不知道米娜发生了什么。我们都知道几分钟前她还是完好无损。我们最后一次看到她是什么时候？“

玛拉哼了一下。玛丽深吸了一口气，坐了下来。 “你说得对，”她说道，并回想着。 “在我们来到这个拘留所的楼梯口时， 她肯定是牵着我的手的。因此，她肯定在这里的某个地方。对了，她被市长带走了，而我们没有注意到...但这是怎么发生的呢？“

姐妹们沉默地思考着。

最后，玛拉打破了沉默。 “不管米娜身在何处，我们所知道的是，她现在没有与我们一起在这间牢房里。因此，我们必须做的第一件事，是从牢房里出去。“

摩根点了点头。

玛拉朝向双胞胎。 “上次你们是怎么进来的？摩根，你不打算把门上的锁融化吗？你现在能做吗？“

玛丽和摩根摇了摇头，举起他们的手臂，让手上的翡翠手镯清晰可见。玛拉的脸，闪亮了一下，在看见手镯后马上阴沉下来。

“妈妈为了追悼会让我们带上这个，”摩根说。

“这是对那天晚上我们偷偷出去救你的处罚，”玛丽补充说。

玛拉走向前，仔细看了看手镯。她也只戴过一次她的手镯，并没有比双胞胎更了解它们是如何工作的。

“哎哟！痛！“当玛拉试图拿下她的手镯时，摩根叫骂起来。孪生姐妹俩手腕上的手镯都无法拿下。

“我就是不相信没有办法能把它们拿下！”玛拉说。 “我知道妈妈可以。。。但她也从来没有说过它们不能被打碎！我知道它们很贵重，但这是紧急情况，不是吗？如果任何时候需要它......“

“你说得对，我们应该试试打破它们，”玛丽说。 “无论市长有什么魔力或秘密武器，他不可能对付我们三个联合在一起。”她和摩根举起她们的手臂，准备把手镯砸向石墙。她们用尽全力把手镯砸向墙壁，不管这会产生多大的声音，因为她们回复的魔力足以抵消为此引起的关注。

然而，没有玉石的碎片掉在地上。手镯没有被打碎。相反，黑暗的牢房里充满了金属的撞击声，不断回荡和增强。

“好吧，这个办法行不通，”玛丽说着，很快退回来。 “虽然不是很理想，但是，玛拉，你觉得你是否可以发起一个小小的地震让这些栏杆松动？”就像摩根和玛丽有火和水的魔力，玛拉有控制地的魔力。她有惊人的方向感，并可以在地面上行走而不留下任何脚印。然而，毫无疑问她最强大的魔力是让她站着的地面震动。事实上，在格雷厄姆去世以后的日子里，她的悲痛使她无法控制自己，在她感到特别沮丧时，地面就会轻微地颤抖起来。

摩根和玛丽期待地看着她们的姐姐，想起了当时她们第一次如何羡慕地看着她，让她显示一点魔法－－当时她们还太年轻，自己还没有任何魔力，央求着玛拉向她们展示只是一点点小魔术。她非常勉强－－她一直以来都是这样，非常希望她是正常的，但是她还是答应了，她用卡片搭起一个房子，然后让地面轻微摇晃，卡片就全倒在了桌面上。这对双胞胎高兴地拍掌，那天晚上彻夜未睡， 彼此做着白日梦， 期待着她们自己的魔力显示的那一天的到来。

玛拉慢慢地摇了摇头，泪水再次在眼眶里涌现。 “我不认为我能做到这一点，”她说。 “我已经太久不练习了，多年来我总是想拒绝我自己。现在是，我不希望地震时，大地震动， 我希望地震时，它又不动。这不单只是格雷厄姆的生活，我的生活，或你们的或米娜的。我觉得我已经失去了对一切的控制。“

“就试一下，”玛丽说。

“是啊，”摩根说。 “我们相信你。”

就在这时，进入前室的门开了，进来一束银色的矩形光束，但没有看到别的，然后门悄悄地关闭。

摩根和玛丽在玛拉两侧抓住玛拉。 “谁在那儿？”玛丽大声问道。

“现身吧！”摩根说，声音比她想的更大。

“嘘！”一个轻柔的声音在她们面前说，虽然她们看不到它来自何方。 “你们太吵了！”

然后，在黑暗中，一个小女孩朦胧的轮廓出现在栏杆的另一边。

“见。。鬼”

“米娜！”

三位姐姐跑向米娜，蹲下她们的膝盖，通过栏杆拥抱自己的小妹妹，她们感到如此宽下心来，如此纯粹高兴地看到她，有一刻她们忘记了自己在哪儿。

“你吓死我们了！”玛拉说。

“是啊，天哪，如何。。。哪里。。。干什么.....“玛丽跟着说，她用手抚摸着米娜的头发，仿佛无法相信她是真的。

“对不起！”米娜说，焦急地从这个姐姐看到那个姐姐。 “我并不是想让你们担心！”她在她的口袋里掏了一会儿，然后拿出一样东西。

“但是我拿到了它，看！”

一个闪闪发光的银钥匙从她的指尖摇晃着，照亮了米娜那带着歉意，但无可否认是绽放着灿烂笑容的脸。

Chapter 20 – The Silver Key

Mara grabbed the skirt of her dress and jumped up. Moving quickly to the bars of the cell, she didn’t look like the same woman who had been crumpled on the ground, barely able to lift her head.

“Mina!” She whispered into the dark. The three older sisters froze, afraid to make any noise that would obscure a quiet response. The darkness was silent. 

Behind her, Marie started to breathe heavily and quickly, for the first time in her life unable to control her panic. “Mina…” Marie muttered, her mind wandering to the worst imaginable possibilities. “Oh God, what did I do…”

“No,” Mara said. “This is my fault. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn last time you came…I thought I was doing the right thing…” She broke down in fresh tears, tears she thought she had exhausted for Graham. “I didn’t know that you were in danger! If I’d known that Graham’s father…if I’d known I would have left with you when you came to get me…and we could have all been far far away from this mess by now, and Mina…”

“All right,” Morgan said, her voice shaking yet determined. “Now’s not the time to think about who did what wrong. We don’t even know what happened to Mina. For all we know, she’s perfectly fine. When was the last time any of us saw her?”

Mara sniffed. Marie took a deep breath and sat down.  “You’re right,” she said, collecting herself. “She was definitely holding my hand when we came up the stairs into this holding house. So she’s here, somewhere. Or, she was taken by the mayor and we didn’t notice…but how?”

The sisters were silent as they thought.

Finally, Mara spoke. “It doesn’t matter where Mina is. What we know is that she isn’t here in this cell with us. So the first thing we have to do is get out.”

Morgan nodded.

Mara turned to the twins. “What were you going to do last time to get me out? Morgan, weren’t you going to melt the lock on the door? Can you do that now?”

Marie and Morgan shook their heads, holding up their arms so that the jade bracelets were clearly visible. Mara’s face, lit up for a moment, fell the instant she saw them.

“Ma put these on us for the memorial service,” Morgan said.

“Punishment for sneaking out to get you that night,” Marie added.

Mara walked forward and examined the bracelets. She had only worn hers once as well, and did not have a better idea than the twins how they worked.

“Ouch! That hurts!” Morgan cursed as Mara tried to pull her bracelet off. They would not slip past either twin’s wrist.

“I just don’t believe that there’s no way to take these off!” Mara said. “I know Ma can…well she never said that they weren’t breakable! I know they’re valuable, but this is an emergency, isn’t it?  If any time would call for it…”

“You’re right, we should try to break them,” Marie said. “Whatever power or secret weapon that mayor has, he can’t fight against all three of us at once.” She and Morgan lifted their arms into the air, ready to strike the bracelets against the stone wall. They pounded on the wall with their bracelets as hard as they could, not caring about the din they were creating, for whatever attention they got would be counteracted by the return of their powers.

However, no broken jade shards fell to the floor. The bracelets wouldn’t break. Instead, the dark cell filled with metallic bangs that echoed and grew.

“Okay, so that didn’t work,” Marie said, bouncing back quickly. “It’s not ideal, but Mara, do you think you can make a small earthquake to dislodge these bars?” Just like Morgan and Marie had power over fire and water, Mara had power over the earth. She had an amazing sense of direction, and could walk over the ground without leaving footprints. However, her most powerful asset without a doubt was her ability to move the ground she stood on. In fact, in the days after Graham’s death, her grief leaving her uncontrolled, the ground had trembled ever so slightly whenever she had felt particularly despondent.

Morgan and Marie looked at their older sister expectantly, remembering the first time they had looked up to her for a piece of magic—when they were still too young to have any powers, and had begged Mara to show them a little something. She was reluctant—she always had been, wishing very much to act like she was normal—but she gave in, building a house of cards and shaking the ground ever so slightly so that the cards fell into a heap on the tabletop. The twins had clapped their hands in glee and spent all of that night awake, daydreaming to each other about the day their own powers would start to show.

Mara shook her head slowly, tears forming again at the corner of her eyes. “I don’t think I can do it,” she said. “I’m so…out of practice from all those years of denying who I was. Now, the earth shakes when I don’t want it to, and hardly moves when I want it move. It’s not just Graham’s life or my life or yours or Mina’s. I feel like I’ve lost control of everything.”

“Just try,” Marie said.

“Yeah,” said Morgan. “We believe in you.”

Just then, the door leading into the front room opened a sliver, letting in a rectangle light but nothing else, and then closed quietly.

Morgan and Marie grabbed onto either side of Mara. “Who’s there?” Marie demanded.

“Show yourself!” Morgan said, louder than she meant to.

“Ssh!” A soft voice spoke in front of them, though they could not see where it was coming from. “You guys are so noisy!”

Then, in the dark, the dim outline of a small girl appeared on the other side of the bars.

“What the—”

“Mina!”

The three older sisters ran towards Mina, dropping to their knees to hug their little sister through the bars, so relieved and purely happy to see her that they forgot for a moment where they were.

“You scared us to death!” Mara said.

“Yeah, how in the world—what—where…” Marie trailed off, running her hand through Mina’s hair, as if unable to believe she was actually there.

“Sorry!” Mina said, looking anxiously from one sister to the next. “I didn’t mean to make you guys worry!” She dug in her pockets for a moment, and then pulled something out.

“But I got this—look!”

A glittering silver key dangled from her fingertips, lighting up an apologetic yet undeniably wide smile on Mina’s face.