Twin Reflection

Chapter 23 - Willow

An awkward silence filled the room and Willow shivered slightly in her seat. Evan was sat at the opposite side of the room, watching her with interest.

"So," he said, "You're powers are invisibility and communicating with animals, am I right?"

Willow nodded, she hoped she could keep him distracted for a while so she could see if there was any way to escape this place, without him seeing what she was up to. The ropes that attached her wrists to the chair were cutting into her skin as she tried to wriggle out of them.

"And then of course you also have the ability to fly and have very powerful senses just like your sister?" He continued as if he was having a pleasant conversation with someone in a coffee shop, when really the person he was talking to was strapped to chair and unable to move. "I was wondering... would you be able to show me how you can turn yourself invisible? I would quite like to see it in real life."

Willow realised that she had no choice in the matter so nodded her head once again. She was just preparing herself to become completely invisible when she realised what exactly he was asking her to do. He wanted her to turn invisible, meaning he wouldn't be able to see her at all. If she was ever going to have any chance of escaping, it was now. Her mind reeled with possible options of how to escape. She needed to undo the ropes on her wrists as soon as she was invisible and get to the door without him noticing. She wasn't sure exactly where this room was located but had the distinct impression that is was underground. She looked up at Evan who was staring at her intently; waiting for her to turn invisible.

"W-Well I'm still...er... having trouble turning my whole body invisible." Willow stuttered, playing for time.

"Turn your hand invisible." Evan commanded, ignoring her.

Willow obeyed, as soon as her hand disappeared she frantically began moving it around, hoping she was be able to wriggle out of the ropes that bound her to the chair. Each of her hands were attached to the chair handles and there seemed to be no way to slip her hands through without undoing the rope itself. She gave up feeling defeated, but tried not to let it show on her face.

"Can you please attempt to turn all of your body invisible now?" he said, looking curiously at the empty space where her hand should have been.

"I've told you, I still can't – " she began.

His eyes flashed angrily and he snarled, "Don't lie to me Willow. I know you've done it before, now DO IT!"

Willow shrank back in her seat, terrified. How did he know she had turned completely invisible before? For how long had he been watching them before he decided to catch them? Then she suddenly had an idea. "I need to be able to stand to turn my body invisible." She said, putting as much force in her voice as she could muster.

He smirked and shook his head. "I'm not untying you so you can slip away again, Willow. I'm not that stupid. Now, I asked you to turn yourself invisible..."

Willow looked him straight in the eye, where the courage came from to do this, she had no idea. She only knew she had to get out of this room as quick as she could before the other man came back so she could call the police, and this was the only way she could do it. "I can't do it sat down. If you don't untie me I won't do it."

Her venomous words filled the room and the man's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "If you do so much as move when you turn invisible I will not hesitate to use this." He indicated the gun in his hand. "You will turn yourself invisible for no longer than 5 seconds too. Do you understand me?"

Willow nodded, he mind working furiously. She had 5 seconds to get through the heavy metal door to her right otherwise he would shoot her. She would have to cover the 3 metres to the door, pull it open and slip behind it before he started shooting. Surely that was impossible? If that wasn't enough to worry about the man had now untied the ropes that attached her to the chair but had kept one of the ropes on her wrist on to her could hold on to the end of it. What on earth was she supposed to do now? She got to her feet shakily and stood opposite the man.

"Go on then." He growled menacingly, holding his gun at the ready. "One wrong move..." he mimed shooting the gun. "And you're dead."

Willow slowed her breathing, trying to keep her thoughts off the gun in his hand and focussed on allowing her body to turn invisible.

It happened in a matter of seconds...

Willow felt as if an icy wind had passed over her body and yanked the rope from the man's hands. Before he had realised what had happened, she ran to the door and seized the handle, adrenaline coursing through her as she pulled open the door.

In a moment of panic she let herself become visible once again. Ahead of her long stairwell stretched out, ending in a patch of light near the top. She went to move forward but was roughly grabbed by her shoulders and pulled backwards down on the floor, smashing her head on the cold tiles. The world swam before her eyes. Evan reached forward and slammed the door shut hastily before turning to Willow. "You silly girl. You can't escape from here. As soon as my colleague returns with your sister we're leaving and going somewhere else. Nobody knows where you are apart from the four of us and it will remain that way." He moved forwards threateningly and grabbed her by the arm. "Now get back to the chair right now!"

However Willow was unable to get up. He shouted at her to move but her head was throbbing painfully. He yanked her to her feet and pushed her towards the chair. "SIT!" he yelled and hit her across the face. Willow cried out in pain and sank down onto the chair, tears streaming down her face as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She was unable to think properly and just about managed to register the tight ropes that were tying her wrists back to the chair, when she fainted...