司氏姐妹 第22章 - 废墟下

“你是怎么拿到它的？”摩根急切地问，盯着米娜正在用来打开牢房门的银钥匙。“

米娜一边转动着钥匙，一边悄声说：“嗯，我一直有这么一种感觉，有时候，当我不希望人们看到我时，他们就不能看到我，”她说。 “最近我一直在努力试练，所以我可以让人们看不到我，像这样。”

米娜的身形如水中的倒影在粼粼波光中闪烁着，然后消失得无影无踪。没有看见有手拿着它，那个银色钥匙在锁孔里自动转动着。

“噢，我的天哪，米娜！”玛丽说道，“这太奇妙了。”

“是啊，”摩根遥相呼应道。 “我一点也不能看到你。”

米娜再次现身，虽然看上去气喘吁吁，但满脸笑容。 “上次我们在这里救玛拉时我试了一次－－我就是这样从看守那儿偷到了钥匙！但是我不能确定我是否真能隐身，因为当我隐形时，我仍然可以看到自己。 刚才，我决定再试一下，果然，我跟着市长溜进前面的房间而没有任何问题，而当他坐下来后，我只是静悄悄地从他的口袋里拿出了钥匙。”她拉开门，三个姐姐从牢房里爬出来。

“在危急时刻你对自己充满信心，”玛拉说道，紧紧地抱住小妹妹的肩膀。“ 我真为你感到自豪。感谢你。“

摩根已经走向通往拘留所前半部分的门，这时，玛丽的声音在她的脑袋里响起，等一等！

玛丽牵住米娜的手，看着她的姐妹们。 “好，米娜，我想你隐形时，是否也能让我与你一起隐身。摩根，玛拉，告诉我，你们是否仍然可以看到我。“

不一会儿，米娜消失了，而玛丽仍然可见。摩根和玛拉对玛丽摇摇头，玛丽对米娜说道，“好吧，回来吧。”，米娜再次出现，带着期待的眼神。玛丽微笑着摇摇头。 “不要难过！我只是想试试看。如果一下子成功，事情也太容易了，你不觉得这样吗？“

“好了，”摩根说道，她的手有些不耐烦地抓在门的把手上。 “我们一共四个人，而他只有一人。如果必要的话，我们完全可以对付他。另外，米娜可以隐形，可以在他后面突然惊吓他。让我们快离开这里。对这个地方我有一种不好的预感。“

“不，”玛利说道。“还有另一个方法。”姐妹们围着玛丽，听她讲诉她的计划。

一分钟后，姐妹们各就各位。摩根，玛丽，和玛拉蹲在黑黑的走廊的另一端，靠近早些时候三个妹妹从隧道里出来时经过的那间牢房。而米娜则站在半开着门的另一间牢房里。她对着她的姐姐们看过去，她们对她点点头，给了她一个竖起拇指的信号。 米娜突然消失了，变为无形无踪。然后，她的喊声在空气中响起，“亨特先生！快来这里！有什么事情发生了！ 亨特先生！快！”

可以听到椅子刮动的声音从另一个房间传来，接着是沉重的脚步声。 亨特先生把门猛地打开，冲到另一间牢房，环顾四周，惊讶地发现牢房门开着。然后，他的身体突然被一个无形的力量推向前－－显然是米娜——她也正在把牢房的门用力关上。 “开始！”摩根低语道，三位姐姐冲出牢门和拘留所的前门，相信米娜会把市长锁在牢房里，跟着她们跑出来。她们在离拘留所前一百多英尺的地方停下，急速地呼吸着晚上的新鲜空气，在黑暗中寻找着她们小妹妹的身形在她们面前出现。

“噢。。！” 一声震耳的叫喊震动了整个房子，伴随着沉重的脚步声，似乎整个大地都摇晃起来。尖锐的叫声划破了夜空。

“米娜！”玛拉冲回拘留所，洁白的婚纱在她身后飘荡着。米娜出现在门口，跑过来，扑入玛拉怀中。 “对不起！”她说，泪水顺着她的脸流下，“我不知道究竟是怎么回事！他一定是猜到了我在那里，他抓住了我的胳膊......”

在她身后，市长猛地冲出前门，追过来，他的眼睛奇怪的发白。玛拉牵着米娜的手，往家里方向跑去，不远处，摩根和玛丽正站在一棵树后。

市长追得越来越近。一阵强风吹在她们的脸上。 “等一等！”米娜突然说，拉着玛拉停下。 “握紧我的手。”她转过身来，面对市长，市长正在顶风冲向她们。

米娜的脸上皱起眉头，显得全神贯注。当她这样做时，有一小股正对着市长的风吹得更为猛烈。亨特市长在强风的威力下踉跄倒退，脸上的皮肤在眼睛和嘴巴周围被吹得平平坦坦，嘴上还在不停地尖叫和吐着口沫。然后，就像似胶片倒转，强风迫使市长一步一步地退回到拘留所，在那里风向又倒转过来，在他的身后把门砰的一声关住。突然风静止了。

玛丽和摩根跑了出来，她们的眼睛睁得大大的，充满着惊奇。 “哦，我的妈呀！”摩根说，“那是你吗，米娜？”

“当然......”玛丽说道。 “土，风，火，水。四个元素。显然，你的魔力在风和气，米娜！”

双胞姐妹奔向前，四姐妹紧紧拥抱。“我太感谢了，我们大家都安全。”玛拉说道： “我也很难过你们大家不得不为我经历这一切，我永远永远永远不会让我的妹妹们再次处在危险中！”眼泪从她的脸上滑下，然后地面开始轻轻摇晃。玛拉用她的胳膊围住她的三个妹妹，当轻震逐渐变成一个强大的地震时，她用胸部紧紧把三姐妹靠紧，震中就在她们曾被关押的拘留所。

当地面震动时墙壁开始倒塌，屋顶沉没，整个拘留所土崩瓦解。然后，地震静止了，夜显得很安静。

“我讨厌那个地方，”玛拉说道。她被囚禁在那里有一个星期了。她擦干脸，站得高高的。 “让我们回家吧。妈妈一定在寻找你们小孩们在哪里呢。“

当司氏姐妹们准备转身离开时，她们对拘留所看了最后一眼。在堆满石块，金属，木料的废墟上，她们看到了她们过去生活的残迹，那个生活，也像这个拘留所一样，在短短一个星期前，显得无可动摇，但是某些事件似一场突如其来的地震，把它瓦解为无可识别的残渣。四姐妹手牵着手，走向自己的家，想象着迎接她们的会是什么。

Chapter 22 – Under the Rubble

“How did you get that?” Morgan asked, staring at the silver key that Mina was now using to open the door of their cell.

Mina whispered as she turned the key. “Well I’ve always had this feeling that sometimes, when I don’t want people to see me, they can’t,” she said. “Lately I’ve been trying harder to make it so people can’t see me, like this.”

Mina’s form shimmered and then disappeared into the air. The silver key turned in its keyhole without any visible hand turning it.

“Oh my gosh, Mina!” said Marie, “That’s fantastic.”

“Yeah,” chimed Morgan. “I can’t see you at all.”

Mina reappeared, looking breathless but smiling from ear to ear. “I tried it last time when we were here to get Mara—that’s how I stole the keys from the guard last time too! I wasn’t sure if it worked or not because I can still see myself when I turn invisible, but I decided to try it just a while ago, and sure enough, I slipped into the front room after the mayor no problem, and when he had settled in for a bit I just walked up quietly and took the key from his pocket.” She pulled open the gate, and the three older sisters scrambled out.

“You had faith in yourself in a time of crisis,” Mara said, squeezing her little sister’s shoulders. “I’m so proud of you. And thank you.”

Morgan had already walked towards the door leading to the front part of the holding house when Marie’s voice sounded in her head, Wait!

Marie held onto Mina’s hand and looked at her sisters. “Okay. Mina I want you to try to become invisible and make me invisible with you. Morgan, Mara, tell me if you can see me still.”

In the next moment, Mina disappeared while Marie stayed visible. Morgan and Mara shook their heads at Marie, who said to Mina, “Alright, come back.” Mina appeared again, an expectant look in her eyes. Marie shook her head with a smile. “Don’t feel bad! I just wanted to see if it would work. But that would just make things too easy, don’t you think?”

“Alright,” Morgan said, her hand resting impatiently on the knob. “There’s four of us, one of him. We can totally tackle him if we need to. Plus, Mina can go invisible and surprise him from behind or something. Let’s get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

“No,” said Marie. “There’s another way.” The sisters huddled around Marie as she told them her plan.

A minute later, the sisters were in their positions. Morgan, Marie, and Mara were huddled at the other end of the dark hallway, near the cell where the three younger sisters had emerged from the tunnel earlier. Meanwhile, Mina stood by the half-open gate of the other cell. She looked over at her sisters and they nodded at her, giving her a thumbs up sign. Mina disappeared, becoming invisible. Then, her voice shouted into the air, “Mr. Hunter! Come here! Something’s happened! Mr. Hunter! Quick!”

The sound of a chair scraping could be heard from the other room, followed by heavy footsteps. Mr. Hunter threw open the door and rushed to the other cell, looking around in surprise as he saw the door open. Then, his body was suddenly thrust forward by an invisible force—evidently, Mina—who was also pulling the gate of the cell shut. “Now!” whispered Morgan, and the three older sisters dashed out of the door and through the front door of the holding cell, trusting that Mina would lock the mayor in the cell and come running after them. They stopped a hundred feet from the front of the holding house, gasping in the fresh night air, looking into the dark for the form of their little sister to appear in front of them.

“Aaarrrggh!” The house shook with a loud yell, accompanied by thudding footsteps that seemed to shake the very ground. A sharp scream pierced the air.

“Mina!” Mara dashed back towards the house, her white wedding dress billowing behind her. Mina appeared in the doorway, running, and shot into her arms. “I’m sorry!” she said, tears running down her face, “I don’t know what happened! He must have figured out that I was there, he grabbed onto my arm…”

Behind her, the mayor was bursting through the first door and charging out, his eyes strangely blank. Mara grabbed Mina’s hand and ran from the house towards where Morgan and Marie were standing behind a tree.

The mayor was gaining on them. A strong wind started to blow in their faces. “Wait!” Mina said suddenly, pulling on Mara to stop. “Hold my hand tight.” She turned around and faced the mayor, who was struggling towards them against the wind.

Mina’s face crunched up in concentration. As she did this, the wind blew harder in a thin column that seemed to be directed at the mayor. Mayor Hunter staggered backwards with the force of it, the skin on his face flattened around his eyes and screaming, spitting mouth. Then, as if on rewind, the wind forced the mayor step by step back into the holding house, where it turned around and slammed the door shut on him. The air was suddenly still.

Marie and Morgan ran out, their eyes wide with shock. “Oh my word,” said Morgan, “was that you, Mina?”

“Of course…” said Marie. “Earth, wind, fire, water. The four elements. Of course, you’ve got power over wind and air, Mina!”

The twins reached forward, and the four sisters embraced. “I’m so thankful we’re all safe,” Mara said. “And I’m so sad that you girls had to go through all of this for me…never never never again will I ever put my younger sisters in danger!” Tears started to slide down her face, and then the ground started to shake, ever so slightly. Mara wrapped her arms around her three younger sisters, clutching them tight to her chest as the light tremor turned into a full quake, the epicenter of which was the holding cell where they had all been imprisoned.

As the ground shook, the walls of the holding cell toppled and the roof sunk in with an earth-shattering crash. Then, the ground was still and the night was quiet.

“I hated that place,” Mara said. She had been imprisoned in there for a week now. She wiped her face dry and stood up tall. “Let’s go home. Mom is probably wondering where you kids are.”

As the Switch sisters turned to leave, they took one last look at the holding house. In the rubble of stone, metal, and wood, they saw the remnants of their lives, which had too seemed so unshakeable just a week before, until, in a sudden quake of events they were broken into unrecognizable remnants of what they once were. The four sisters held hands and walked towards their home, wondering what lay ahead.