"I think it might be." She is silent for a long time, her head bowed, thinking. Such thoughts.

"I suppose you should know the whole story," she finally says, and begins.

"I knew you were my sister as I saw you in my dreams. And her dreams. I saw mother and you, smiling and laughing. It broke my heart."

I glance quickly at her, and she smiles sadly. The tears twinkle softly in her eyes.

Did mother hold you like she held me did she smile in the same way was she ever cruel why did she let you go to London how can she be magical why is she dead?

"Mother and I did not get along. She detested London, and everyone we knew here. She didn't want me to turn out like some boring, insipid little woman, capable of being nothing more than a weak wife and satisfactory mother. I knew I was going to be more, but ... she did not believe me. We fought ... and, oh, we were cruel. I hated being sent away to school, and so did she, but she would not convince father to let me stay at home. She was the weak one."

I have never heard my mother be described in this light before. Powerful, serene, beautiful, elegant ... I could understand all of these. But weak? Never.

Why am I here why are you trapped why did mother turn Felicity's eyes so black am I going to die?

Are you going to die?

"I was home when I heard mother tell father she was with child. With you. He began dancing her around the room, and they looked so happy, I hated them. I hated myself. And I told myself that whatever you were – male, female, tall, short, cruel, kind, anything – I would despise you."

The poison in her words makes me pull away from her slightly, and she laughed softly and brushes the tears from her cheeks.

"And I meant it, too. Not any more, of course. Never. I often saw you, in her dreams, in your dreams, and I saw what you had become, what you were. You were beautiful, strong, intelligent, wonderful. And I saw you and mother, and how much you loved one another. You weren't sent away to school. You were together, always."

I don't know what to say. How mother could have had two daughters, and yet have treated them so differently. I couldn't see it. I didn't want to.

"India, I think it was." When I nod, she continues. "She often talked of India, how she longed to visit. I used to dream of it too, but to spite her, I would tell her how frightful I thought it would be. Hot and dirty and completely unsuitable." She laughs bitterly, and I sense something alien in her tone, in her voice, that makes me want to run. Very fast.

"Evelyn..."

"Please, let me continue. I knew mother always felt guilty. I knew that she had tried, and failed, to reach me, but she couldn't. One of the rules of the realms is that you are there for each other. For those who love you, and those who you love. Loyalty. She betrayed me, she betrayed all of them. She hadn't realised I was the one. And now it's too late. When I stepped under the waterfall, not only was I trapped in here for eternity, but mother was trapped out there."

I still don't understand. I long to float away down that river, carefree and cool, perhaps with a dark skinned dangerous man for company. I long for the reassuring weight of his body atop mine. I long for him. I can remember it all now. I remember how we kissed, under the moonlight and beside the silvery water of that lake, that lake where...

"Gemma, listen to me." Evelyn shakes my shoulder gently, and I return to her side, in both body and mind.

"Gemma, is there anything that mother gave you? A clue, a note, a warning?"

A locket.

"Evelyn, why isn't this with you anymore?"

She smiled sadly. "When we came here, for the last time, I had to send it back. It took an inordinate amount of strength and effort, and I was drained and exhausted afterwards. But I knew that it had to be kept, given to the next member. You. We started a fire that night, in the school. But the locket was mysteriously untouched." Here she smiles, as if coming to the punch line of a joke. "The last little bit of magic in it." There is something curious about her, as if she has memorised this. I wonder if she is telling the truth, but then her eyes soften and my heart melts.

"Mother needs your forgiveness, Evelyn. It is my responsibility. What can I do? Have you forgiven her?"

Evelyn frowns, biting her lip, reminding me so much of mother. My mother. Her mother. Our mother. Is she to be believed?

Is anyone?

"I thought I had. Long ago. I had always loved her, I know that. But ... I have to tell you something else." Her eyes darken, and once again I want to run. Far and fast. Hide away, oh God, don't let it find me, don't let that darkness find me, find my eyes, no, no, it won't, it shan't, oh God I can feel it, drowning me, taking me, Felicity...

I feel her cold hands on my skin, dragging me up, a look of concern and amusement intertwined perfectly in her eyes. Her black eyes. Her grey eyes. I know that they are grey.

"Gemma, what on earth are you doing? What happened?" I stumble over to the water. I have to check. My glass green eyes gazed impertinently back at me, a look of relief in them.

But when I look back Evelyn is gone.

I see him again this evening. It seems like a day cannot pass without his heads of curls and mocking eyes reflecting back at me in my mirror. This time he seems distracted, bashful, almost. It makes him vulnerable and endearing, and I want to touch my locket again, but his hand flies to mine before I can.

"Gemma, don't. We don't want you to get into trouble, do we?"

I do.

"Kartik, take your hand off me. I shall do what I want."

His eyes cloud over with amusement and anger, and he lets go, but my hand, instead of clutching at my locket, like I want it to do, travels down and rests in my lap. Ann, once again, is asleep, dreaming of being beautiful and dreaming of being loved. My eyes rest on her bulky form for a second, until meeting those of Kartik.

"Gemma, I know you went back. You have to tell me what you saw. Who you saw."

"I have to tell you nothing." I am being purposefully impertinent, flashing glances at him that he cannot decipher. I begin to brush my hair, teasing out the knots and tangles, and he falls silent. When I glance up, looking into my mirror, he is gazing at me with an unreadable expression on his face. My hands fly to my necklace, but this time I will be in control. This time I will do as I want.

I probe further than last time, but my power means he is helpless to stop me. He was admiring my hair, he thinks I am being childish, thinks I am being dangerous, thinks I am intoxicating, wants to kiss me like last night, wants to feel my skin and stroke my hair and kill me.

And kill me.

And suddenly I am back and I do not want to look any further. I have seen enough.