The Other Side of the Mirror PROLOGUE   The smoke was everywhere, curling around a framed picture of our family like it would strangle them with those dark tendrils. Just as it was trying to do to us now. The fire had spread too fast, moving too quickly to be real, as though the blaze was a living creature bent on destroying us. I took a deep breath, then coughed harshly as the smoke scorched my throat. Covering my nose and mouth with my sleeve, I started to move down the hallway toward the back door…but my mother grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a stop. The gold that encircled the pupils of her hazel eyes glowed in the light of the flames as she wordlessly dragged me in the other direction, her other hand clenched around my brother’s. Tobias’s eyes were wide as he took in the flames engulfing our home. “We need to help Dad—” “No.” My mother pulled us away from the closest exit and into our living room. “This way.” I struggled as I realized where she was taking us, but her hand was like a steel vise around my wrist. “There’s no way out from…