The Mirror Path – Instinct

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Danni! Where are you?

Diana searched for her twin, listening for any sounds in the passageway, but it was silent. She had a feeling she was close, a strange gut feeling that they’d ended up in the same strange reality and her instinct told her that they’d have ended up with the Fae, no matter which direction they’d chosen in the maze.

Still she was afraid. There was little light in the tunnels and she was alone.

“That café sounds good right about now,” she muttered. Great, now I’m talking to myself!

“W-Who’s there?” A voice replied.

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Diana stopped walking. There was a halo of light ahead of her coming through down through a grate in the ceiling. As she approached she could just make out a figure standing beneath it.

“Is that you Diana?”

It sounded like her but something felt wrong. She stepped forward and saw Danni standing in the light. Or at least it looked like Danni, an immaculate version of her that she had never seen before.

“I was lost,” she said. “I tried to find you but there were these creatures and this monster.”

Diana stared into it’s eyes. It wasn’t her sister. Her instincts screamed at her that it wasn’t. All the body language was different, overblown and dramatic, like it was pretending to be scared but wasn’t. Danni was never so expressive.

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Diana edged back a step towards the darkness, getting ready to escape.

“What are you doing in here?” she asked, keeping as much distance between them as she could.

It looked at her with a puzzled expression, its head tilted.

“What’s wrong?”

It was then that Diana heard another scream in one of the tunnels behind her; one that she knew was the real Danni. The creature turned its head to listen and then grinned at her. It eyes were full of menace; hungry and laughing at her. It looked ecstatic at being found out.

“Sounds like your sister’s in trouble,” it said. “But running won’t help. Not in here.”

Diana turned and ran. She pushed her body forward, her trainers hitting the concrete hard as she gave in to the adrenaline rush. Tunnels flew past her, gushes of cold air hitting her skin as she passed pockets of air but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop, not until she had found Danni.