Twin Reflection

Chapter 9 - Willow

After Ella had stomped upstairs to her room, Willow switched on the old family computer.

She searched and searched for over an hour. She watched stupid videos on YouTube of people pretending to be able to lift objects with their "powers", where all the objects had clearly been edited in. She scrolled down hundreds of websites giving makeup tutorials on how to change your appearance and was about to give up when she came across a website belonging to an organisation called FIIVE. Willow clicked on it impatiently but it didn't load. Groaning in frustration she rested her head against cluttered desk and waited.

After 10 minutes, during which Willow had almost fallen asleep, a message appeared on the screen: This device does not have the correct permissions to access this site. Willow read the message twice. She'd been on websites where you couldn't get on to before but that had been different because no one could access the site. Here apparently if your computer did have the right permissions then you could see anything at all on the site. As far as she knew there were no locks on this computer that would block her from accessing the website so then what was the problem?

She heard Ella making her way downstairs and decided she better go and talk to her. Willow knew it had been hard for her at school but she couldn't understand why she was so scared of what she could do. Willow thought it was amazing that she had oversensitive hearing and she could speak to animals, or at least dogs! She hadn't seen any other animals so far this morning but she intended to go outside and test the ability further. Ella could change her appearance at will and look like people she knew just by thinking about them. Didn't she understand what an amazing gift that was?!

Willow sighed and switched off the computer. All she really wanted to do was go and talk to Katie. She wasn't completely sure what she would make of this but she wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from her for very long.

Downstairs she found Ella sitting at the table drinking a glass of orange juice, Willow was determined to show her that it wasn't all bad. She walking into the kitchen her mouth open to talk to Ella when she smelt the overpowering smell of burning. She looked around trying to find the source of the smell, "Ella!" She shouted, scaring her sister half to death, "Somethings on fire!"

"Willow chill! It's only toast!" she said getting up and putting a reassuring arm on Willow's shoulder before going over to the toaster to fish out the toast. She buttered it then came and sat down next to Willow.

"I think I've worked it out." Ella explained, "When we either panic or feel a surge of strong emotions, our senses, or at least our hearing and, as you have just proved, our sense of smell are amplified."

"Yeah, I suppose!" Willow grinned at Ella's professional tone, "That would explain why everything sounds normal now. Listen, it's not all bad Ella, look on the bright side! You can change what you look like whenever you want and I can talk to Ollie!"

Ella smiled weakly, "I know, it's just all a bit too strange to believe..."

Back in her bedroom, Willow had a chance to think in peace for a bit. Of course it was strange but it was also an opportunity! How many girls discovered they could talk to animals on their 14th birthday? The fact that it was her birthday had seemed unimportant compared to what they had just discovered. Even though it meant keeping a secret from Katie, she and Ella had agreed not to tell anyone until they had figured out exactly what was going on. She knew it was for the best but couldn't help wondering about what would happen this evening; she and Ella would have to convince their parents that nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all today. Ella had always been the one that made up believable stories to cover up mishaps but she nervous about what would happen if they did find out.

However a rush of excitement sped through her at thethought of birthday presents and a fun evening with her family. She couldn'thelp wondering what she was going to get!