17

I moved toward my brother, then stopped. I suddenly realized that he was behind a wall of glass. Luke and I were in different rooms.

"Hey — where's the opening?" I asked him.

Luke glanced around. "What do you mean, Lizzy?"

"You and I — we're not in the same room," I replied. I walked up to the glass wall and tapped on it with my fist.

"Huh?" Luke's face filled with surprise. He made his way over to me. Then he tapped on his side of the glass, as if making sure it really did exist.

"How'd that get there?" he murmured.

Clay started moving around his room, sliding his hands along the panes of glass, searching for the opening.

"Stand right there," I told Luke. "I'll find a way into your room."

I followed Clay's example. I moved slowly around the room, keeping a hand pressed against the glass. The light was dim. My shadow fell over the glass as I walked. I could see my face reflected darkly in the glass. My eyes stared back at me, dark and desperate.

Before I realized it, I had made a complete circle.

I was back where I had started. And there was no opening. No doorway.

No way out.

"Hey! I'm trapped in here!" Clay called shrilly.

"So am I," I told him.

"There's got to be an opening," Luke said. "How did we get in?"

"You're right," I replied fretfully. "We should be able to get out the way we came in." I began to search along the walls again, moving quickly.

My heart began to pound. I had a fluttering feeling in my chest. There had to be a way out. There had to be.

Luke pounded hard on the glass. In the other room, I could see Clay jogging frantically around his room, pushing on the walls as he moved.

I went all the way around twice, then stopped.

There was no way out.

"I — I'm trapped," I stammered. "It's like a box. A glass box."

"We're all trapped!" Clay cried.

Luke was still pounding frantically on the glass with his fists. "Luke — stop!" I cried shrilly. "That isn't helping!"

He lowered his fists to his sides.

This is ridiculous," he muttered. "There's got to be a way out."

"Maybe there's a trapdoor or something," I suggested. I began to search the mirrored floor. It was too dark to see well. The floor appeared solid to me.

I returned to the glass wall. "This isn't much fun," I said glumly.

Luke and Clay nodded. I could see they were both really frightened. So was I. But I decided I was two years older than them, so I had to try to be the brave one.

I wasn't feeling very brave, though. Uttering a worried sigh, I leaned against the wall that separated Luke and me.

And as I leaned, the wall started to move.

I jumped back with a sharp cry.

The wall was sliding toward me, closing in on me.

I took another step back.

Glancing around frantically, I saw that all the walls were sliding in.

"Luke!" I cried. I turned to see him backing up, too.

"The walls!" Clay called. "Help me!"

"They're sliding in on me, too!" Luke screamed. "Each room must have its own glass walls!"

All three of us were trapped.

With a desperate groan, I threw myself against one of the walls and tried to push it back.

But I couldn't stop it.