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Dad final y stopped in a section of the house that looked like it hadn't been used since Alice was here The furniture was covered in heavy drop cloths, and a thick layer of dust and grime coated the portraits on the walIn front of us was a heavy oak door, and when Dad pushed it open, I half expected so out at us

But as I looked into the dim room, the only person I saas me Wel , lots of mes

Nearly every square inch of as covered in e hed three times more than me; tiny, round mirrors that only reflected little pieces of me; old mirrors, so warped and spotted that I could hardly see anything in theray velvet drapes, but when he tugged on them, the fabric fel away from the s in athe mess "It's my house anyway"He raised his eyes to ht you here"

Ion thethis is where the punishment part comes in,"I said "So do I need to clean al these mirrors, or do I have to, like, stare at ?"

Surprisingly, Dad gave a tiny s quite that abstract I want you to break one of the mirrors"

"Excuse ainst the now-drapelessand folded his arms over his chest "Break a mirror, Sophie"

"With what, my head? Because I'm pretty sure that'd be corporal punishment, and Mom would not be cool with that"

"With your powers"

Ugh I took in the dozens of mirrors and muttered, "I think I'd rather use hed and turned to face hied "Doesn't matter Just pick one"

I studied the ht be easier to "target,"but when it inevitably exploded al over the place, there'd be a lot of flying glass to deal with Best to pick one thatand pain

I settled on a mirror just to the left of Dad It was about the size of my hand, and I focused al my concentration on it Break

The sound was nearly deafening as every singlespray I screalass never touchedthere for a second, long enough for ht shards Then the pieces slowly began to slide backward toward the e, and suddenly the ain

I whirled around Dad was stil standing at the , but he was holding both his hands out, and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his face

When he dropped his arainst theseat and took a deep breath

"I'm sorry!"I blurted out "I told you, I suck at this It's like any ti and scary and explodey, and-"

Dad rubbed his forehead "No, Sophie, it's al right That's what I'd hoped you would do"

"You hoped I'd cohed, but it sounded a little breathless "No, I'd hoped to see just hoerful you real y are"His eyes were bright, and there was soht have been pride in them "You exceeded my expectations"

Chapter 10

"Wel , yay,"I said "So gladcrap up impresses you, Dad"

"Your sarcasm is-"

"I know, I know, 'an unattractive quality in a young lady'"

But Dad grinned and suddenly looked uy who ironed his ties "Actual y, I was going to say it's sootten from me Grace always hated sarcastic co "I spent rounded because of it"

He snorted "She once put me out by the side of the road in Scotland because Iskil s"

"Real y?"

"Mm-hmm Had to walk nearly five bloody kilometers before she stopped to let me back in"

"Dude Mom is hard-core"

For a moment we smiled at each other Then Dad cleared his throat and looked away "Anyway, your powers are definitely impressive, but what you lack is control"

"Yeah, I kind of picked up on that"

Dad pushed hiht you spel s"It wasn't a question

"I sucked at those, too,"I said, not looking at him "Elodie was able to catch on a lot faster than I did"

Dad watched , "Cal says that you used a transportation spel to get close enough to Alice to kil her"