司氏姐妹 第20章：銀色鑰匙

瑪拉抓住她的衣裙蹦了起來。快速跑到牢房的欄桿處，她看起來不像同一個女人，癱在地上，勉強能抬起她的頭。

「米娜！」她在黑暗中低聲喊道。三個姐姐獃獃地愣在那兒，不敢發出任何聲音，從而淹沒米娜可能的輕聲回應。黑暗非常沉寂。

在她的身後，瑪麗開始急速而沉重地喘氣，在一生中她第一次感到無法控制她的恐慌。 「米娜」，瑪麗喃喃自語，她的內心閃過各種可以想象的最壞可能性。 「哦，上帝，我做了什麼.....」

「不，」瑪拉說。 「是我的錯。如果你們上次來時我不是這么固執......我以為我做了正確的事情......「她的話被滿臉新湧上的眼淚而打斷，她以為她已經為格雷厄姆流幹了眼淚。「我不知道你們也處在危險中！如果我早知道格雷厄姆的父親......你們上次來時我就不會執意留下......，我們可能都已遠走高飛，離開這個是非之地，而米娜......「

「好吧，」摩根說，她的聲音雖然有些顫抖但很堅定。 「現在不是責怪誰做錯了什麼的時候。我們甚至不知道米娜發生了什么。我們都知道幾分鐘前她還是完好無損。我們最後一次看到她是什麼時候？「

瑪拉哼了一下。瑪麗深吸了一口氣，坐了下來。 「你說得對，」她說道，並回想著。 「在我們來到這個拘留所的樓梯口時， 她肯定是牽著我的手的。因此，她肯定在這里的某個地方。對了，她被市長帶走了，而我們沒有注意到...但這是怎麼發生的呢？「

姐妹們沉默地思考著。

最後，瑪拉打破了沉默。 「不管米娜身在何處，我們所知道的是，她現在沒有與我們一起在這間牢房裡。因此，我們必須做的第一件事，是從牢房裡出去。「

摩根點了點頭。

瑪拉朝向雙胞胎。 「上次你們是怎么進來的？摩根，你不打算把門上的鎖融化嗎？你現在能做嗎？「

瑪麗和摩根搖了搖頭，舉起他們的手臂，讓手上的翡翠手鐲清晰可見。瑪拉的臉，閃亮了一下，在看見手鐲后馬上陰沉下來。

「媽媽為了追悼會讓我們帶上這個，」摩根說。

「這是對那天晚上我們偷偷出去救你的處罰，」瑪麗補充說。

瑪拉走向前，仔細看了看手鐲。她也只戴過一次她的手鐲，並沒有比雙胞胎更了解它們是如何工作的。

「哎喲！痛！「當瑪拉試圖拿下她的手鐲時，摩根叫罵起來。孿生姐妹倆手腕上的手鐲都無法拿下。

「我就是不相信沒有辦法能把它們拿下！」瑪拉說。 「我知道媽媽可以。。。但她也從來沒有說過它們不能被打碎！我知道它們很貴重，但這是緊急情況，不是嗎？如果任何時候需要它......「

「你說得對，我們應該試試打破它們，」瑪麗說。 「無論市長有什麼魔力或秘密武器，他不可能對付我們三個聯合在一起。」她和摩根舉起她們的手臂，准備把手鐲砸向石牆。她們用盡全力把手鐲砸向牆壁，不管這會產生多大的聲音，因為她們回復的魔力足以抵消為此引起的關注。

然而，沒有玉石的碎片掉在地上。手鐲沒有被打碎。相反，黑暗的牢房裡充滿了金屬的撞擊聲，不斷回蕩和增強。

「好吧，這個辦法行不通，」瑪麗說著，很快退回來。 「雖然不是很理想，但是，瑪拉，你覺得你是否可以發起一個小小的地震讓這些欄桿鬆動？」就像摩根和瑪麗有火和水的魔力，瑪拉有控制地的魔力。她有驚人的方向感，並可以在地面上行走而不留下任何腳印。然而，毫無疑問她最強大的魔力是讓她站著的地面震動。事實上，在格雷厄姆去世以後的日子裡，她的悲痛使她無法控制自己，在她感到特別沮喪時，地面就會輕微地顫抖起來。

摩根和瑪麗期待地看著她們的姐姐，想起了當時她們第一次如何羨慕地看著她，讓她顯示一點魔法－－當時她們還太年輕，自己還沒有任何魔力，央求著瑪拉向她們展示只是一點點小魔術。她非常勉強－－她一直以來都是這樣，非常希望她是正常的，但是她還是答應了，她用卡片搭起一個房子，然後讓地面輕微搖晃，卡片就全倒在了桌面上。這對雙胞胎高興地拍掌，那天晚上徹夜未睡， 彼此做著白日夢， 期待著她們自己的魔力顯示的那一天的到來。

瑪拉慢慢地搖了搖頭，淚水再次在眼眶裡湧現。 「我不認為我能做到這一點，」她說。 「我已經太久不練習了，多年來我總是想拒絕我自己。現在是，我不希望地震時，大地震動， 我希望地震時，它又不動。這不單隻是格雷厄姆的生活，我的生活，或你們的或米娜的。我覺得我已經失去了對一切的控制。「

「就試一下，」瑪麗說。

「是啊，」摩根說。 「我們相信你。」

就在這時，進入前室的門開了，進來一束銀色的矩形光束，但沒有看到別的，然後門悄悄地關閉。

摩根和瑪麗在瑪拉兩側抓住瑪拉。 「誰在那兒？」瑪麗大聲問道。

「現身吧！」摩根說，聲音比她想的更大。

「噓！」一個輕柔的聲音在她們面前說，雖然她們看不到它來自何方。 「你們太吵了！」

然後，在黑暗中，一個小女孩朦朧的輪廓出現在欄桿的另一邊。

「見。。鬼」

「米娜！」

三位姐姐跑向米娜，蹲下她們的膝蓋，通過欄桿擁抱自己的小妹妹，她們感到如此寬下心來，如此純粹高興地看到她，有一刻她們忘記了自己在哪兒。

「你嚇死我們了！」瑪拉說。

「是啊，天哪，如何。。。哪裡。。。干什么.....「瑪麗跟著說，她用手撫摸著米娜的頭髮，仿佛無法相信她是真的。

「對不起！」米娜說，焦急地從這個姐姐看到那個姐姐。 「我並不是想讓你們擔心！」她在她的口袋裡掏了一會兒，然後拿出一樣東西。

「但是我拿到了它，看！」

一個閃閃發光的銀鑰匙從她的指尖搖晃著，照亮了米娜那帶著歉意，但無可否認是綻放著燦爛笑容的臉。

Chapter 20 – The Silver Key

Mara grabbed the skirt of her dress and jumped up. Moving quickly to the bars of the cell, she didn』t look like the same woman who had been crumpled on the ground, barely able to lift her head.

「Mina!」 She whispered into the dark. The three older sisters froze, afraid to make any noise that would obscure a quiet response. The darkness was silent. 

Behind her, Marie started to breathe heavily and quickly, for the first time in her life unable to control her panic. 「Mina…」 Marie muttered, her mind wandering to the worst imaginable possibilities. 「Oh God, what did I do…」

「No,」 Mara said. 「This is my fault. If only I hadn』t been so stubborn last time you came…I thought I was doing the right thing…」 She broke down in fresh tears, tears she thought she had exhausted for Graham. 「I didn』t know that you were in danger! If I』d known that Graham』s father…if I』d known I would have left with you when you came to get me…and we could have all been far far away from this mess by now, and Mina…」

「All right,」 Morgan said, her voice shaking yet determined. 「Now』s not the time to think about who did what wrong. We don』t even know what happened to Mina. For all we know, she』s perfectly fine. When was the last time any of us saw her?」

Mara sniffed. Marie took a deep breath and sat down.  「You』re right,」 she said, collecting herself. 「She was definitely holding my hand when we came up the stairs into this holding house. So she』s here, somewhere. Or, she was taken by the mayor and we didn』t notice…but how?」

The sisters were silent as they thought.

Finally, Mara spoke. 「It doesn』t matter where Mina is. What we know is that she isn』t here in this cell with us. So the first thing we have to do is get out.」

Morgan nodded.

Mara turned to the twins. 「What were you going to do last time to get me out? Morgan, weren』t you going to melt the lock on the door? Can you do that now?」

Marie and Morgan shook their heads, holding up their arms so that the jade bracelets were clearly visible. Mara』s face, lit up for a moment, fell the instant she saw them.

「Ma put these on us for the memorial service,」 Morgan said.

「Punishment for sneaking out to get you that night,」 Marie added.

Mara walked forward and examined the bracelets. She had only worn hers once as well, and did not have a better idea than the twins how they worked.

「Ouch! That hurts!」 Morgan cursed as Mara tried to pull her bracelet off. They would not slip past either twin』s wrist.

「I just don』t believe that there』s no way to take these off!」 Mara said. 「I know Ma can…well she never said that they weren』t breakable! I know they』re valuable, but this is an emergency, isn』t it?  If any time would call for it…」

「You』re right, we should try to break them,」 Marie said. 「Whatever power or secret weapon that mayor has, he can』t fight against all three of us at once.」 She and Morgan lifted their arms into the air, ready to strike the bracelets against the stone wall. They pounded on the wall with their bracelets as hard as they could, not caring about the din they were creating, for whatever attention they got would be counteracted by the return of their powers.

However, no broken jade shards fell to the floor. The bracelets wouldn』t break. Instead, the dark cell filled with metallic bangs that echoed and grew.

「Okay, so that didn』t work,」 Marie said, bouncing back quickly. 「It』s not ideal, but Mara, do you think you can make a small earthquake to dislodge these bars?」 Just like Morgan and Marie had power over fire and water, Mara had power over the earth. She had an amazing sense of direction, and could walk over the ground without leaving footprints. However, her most powerful asset without a doubt was her ability to move the ground she stood on. In fact, in the days after Graham』s death, her grief leaving her uncontrolled, the ground had trembled ever so slightly whenever she had felt particularly despondent.

Morgan and Marie looked at their older sister expectantly, remembering the first time they had looked up to her for a piece of magic—when they were still too young to have any powers, and had begged Mara to show them a little something. She was reluctant—she always had been, wishing very much to act like she was normal—but she gave in, building a house of cards and shaking the ground ever so slightly so that the cards fell into a heap on the tabletop. The twins had clapped their hands in glee and spent all of that night awake, daydreaming to each other about the day their own powers would start to show.

Mara shook her head slowly, tears forming again at the corner of her eyes. 「I don』t think I can do it,」 she said. 「I』m so…out of practice from all those years of denying who I was. Now, the earth shakes when I don』t want it to, and hardly moves when I want it move. It』s not just Graham』s life or my life or yours or Mina』s. I feel like I』ve lost control of everything.」

「Just try,」 Marie said.

「Yeah,」 said Morgan. 「We believe in you.」

Just then, the door leading into the front room opened a sliver, letting in a rectangle light but nothing else, and then closed quietly.

Morgan and Marie grabbed onto either side of Mara. 「Who』s there?」 Marie demanded.

「Show yourself!」 Morgan said, louder than she meant to.

「Ssh!」 A soft voice spoke in front of them, though they could not see where it was coming from. 「You guys are so noisy!」

Then, in the dark, the dim outline of a small girl appeared on the other side of the bars.

「What the—」

「Mina!」

The three older sisters ran towards Mina, dropping to their knees to hug their little sister through the bars, so relieved and purely happy to see her that they forgot for a moment where they were.

「You scared us to death!」 Mara said.

「Yeah, how in the world—what—where…」 Marie trailed off, running her hand through Mina』s hair, as if unable to believe she was actually there.

「Sorry!」 Mina said, looking anxiously from one sister to the next. 「I didn』t mean to make you guys worry!」 She dug in her pockets for a moment, and then pulled something out.

「But I got this—look!」

A glittering silver key dangled from her fingertips, lighting up an apologetic yet undeniably wide smile on Mina』s face. 

• [10/15]The Switch Sisters: Chapter 17-- Into The Dark
• [11/04]司氏姐妹 第18章：入侵者
• [11/04]The Switch Sisters: Chapter 18 - The intruder
• [11/11]司氏姐妹 第19章：姐妹們
• [11/11]The Switch Sisters: Chapter 19 - Sisters
• [11/25] 司氏姐妹 第20章：銀色鑰匙
• [11/25]The Switch Sisters: Chapter 20 -- The Silver Key
• [12/03]司氏姐妹 第21章：巫婆
• [12/03]The Switch Sisters: Chapter 21 - Witches
• [12/16]司氏姐妹 第22章 - 廢墟下
• [12/16]The Switch Sisters：Chapter 22 – Under the Rubble
• [12/23]司氏姐妹 第23章：土氣火水
• [12/30]司氏姐妹： 尾聲

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