Lexis couldn't help the smirk that cut across her face. Without having met Kallai, she had never guessed him to be so infuriating. All the warnings that came with him understated the degree of his "moody streak" massively. She wondered if all their arguments were silent because there were just no words to say.

Somewhere along the way, her legs had grown tired. Making sure he knew it was nothing to do with him, Lexis sat down, the bench's dried tears of paint dotting its legs.

She'd never tell Sage - couldn't, when it was so obvious that she was still considering the boy in ways she'd never understand - but Kallai's eternal rage set her own blood boiling. Her muscles tensed dangerously when he snarled at her; his reaction made her glad she could fight back with a fierce glower on command.

A short, frustrated growl escaped him when she then used his nickname, and she commended herself again on the creation of Firecracker. With an almost constant fiery anger and unpredictability, it had seemed fitting.

Moments before his eyes turned so black that she thought he was going to lash out physically, Sage's voice cut through. Lexis leaned back; only then aware she'd ever leaned forward. She noted that Kallai had done the same. Neither were smirking when they turned back to Sage, who was closing the lid on the laptop Lexis had barely registered had been brought out to start with. Sage's chestnut hair cut lines over the olive skin of her neck when she leaned forward to replace the laptop into her bag. Perhaps it wasn't sheer luck that someone so pale had been drawn to someone of such colour.

"My best guess is that," Sage started in her ever-serious business-like tone, "The mirror, or portal as it will be, is in Kromlau." She paused. Even after the years of spending time with only each other, Lexis couldn't tell whether she was pausing for effect, for input or for applause. "I did a little digging and that family friend who wrote one of the articles? He was both born in Kromlau and on holiday there over the time period we're looking at. The nurse wasn't born there at all, she has no heritage there what-so-ever, but she was working over there at the time. Kromlau doesn't have its own hospital so there's no official record as such but it looks like she worked alongside midwives for the home births. Which I assume all of you were." Lexis smiled into her lap and rolled her eyes - for effect, then.

"We're going to Germany?" Kailani beamed, enthusiasm written all over her pretty little face. Lexis chuckled. The fifteen-year-old was a breath of fresh air that everyone needed after dealing with her brother.

"Seems that way," Tallie said, smiling at Kailani too.

Lexis wondered if the young girl ever got tired of people smiling at her, if she ever wanted someone to glower or leer at her just to mix things up a bit. Or perhaps Lexis was just a little broken. Maybe she'd grown too used to negativity.

"How do you expect us to get there?" Kallai asked, eyes lighter now. His voice still held that deep rumble of thunder that promised lightening. Lexis had to stop herself from walking into the storm.

Sage sighed, "I haven't figured that part out yet." Admitting defeat seemed to drain her.

It was Tallie who spoke next. Lexis admired the girl - the calm clarity she held all the time, the honesty she reflected and the laid-back attitude that could rival a koala's. "It would be a great holiday. We could stay with my grandparents too, so accommodation and food would be free. We'd still have to find a way to pay for flights though."

Going back to Germany suddenly felt like too real a possibility and her skin crawled. She was on her feet in seconds and her defences tripled. There were some things she didn't want others to know and Kallai seemed too perceptive for his own good.

As soon as she felt the absence of the bench beneath her, she felt the pressure of eight eyes on her. Tallie let her gaze fall away a moment later, wearing a lazy smile. Kailani's usual grin caught her but the girl also took her eyes away, finding something more interesting to look at. Sage seemed to take a moment to acknowledge her and give a subtle nod before she too let her vision zoom out and looked back to the whole group.

Lexis could only have dreamt the same would happen with Kallai. Instead, the boy shot his questions straight through to her soul, rattling the very foundations of her strengthened walls before she could push back. Caught in their temporary stalemate, Lexis took the time to stop her walls shaking and deflected his prodding thoughts. She didn't know why, but she felt that, of all people, he could never know.

Kallai pulled his eyes away first, as Lexis had every faith he would, but not without her noticing Kailani's hand on his shoulder. She felt cheated, betrayed - there weren't many things worse than winning by default. She glared at the side of his head, willing him to turn around and try again - to lose for real - but she could see him fighting her gaze. Finally, she pulled away her eyes, willing her anger to ebb away before Sage noticed.

But Kallai wasn't done. Too late, she noticed him turn back towards her; Kailani's hand had dropped. "Share your secrets, Shadow," he hissed, his growl more snake-like than she'd heard it before, "What worries can a White girl have in a White world?"

It almost surprised her just how easily she masked all of her emotions as she absorbed the shock wave that made her teeth rattle. Face straight and eyes set, her voice a little more cutting than intended, she asked, "How many white shadows do you know?" She looked away as he tried to work out what she meant. He'd work it out eventually, but just for that one moment, it was only Sage who really understood.

Looking into Kallai's eyes, she wondered just how much control she really had. If he tried, could he pull the truth from her lips? She could only hope there would never be a chance to find out.

"So how are we paying for flights?" Tallie asked, throwing the original conversation back into the air between them, not completely diffusing the tension between Lexis and the boy. Lexis was only half surprised it had been Tallie to ask the question. The girl was both easygoing enough not to question things, but ready enough to get on the plane already.

Lexis' parents would probably pay for her flights for her, but she wanted them to stay out of it, so she certainly wasn't about to tell that to the group. "Fundraiser?"

Sage nodded, "Unless we can convince the school to organise it instead of the ski trip this year." Lexis could see the doubt rolling off her in the midday sun.

"No one will let you cancel the ski trip though," Tallie said matter-of-factly. "And the school will want to plan as many educational visits as possible. We'd never get free time, never mind the chance to go off on our own to find this mirror."

A slow nod from Sage, whose brain Lexis didn't doubt was already coming up with a plan. "So, a fundraiser. The park will be our best bet of a venue. It's early March so the weather, as unpredictable as it is, is still more likely to be warm than wet. Plus, it's public property." Public property it might be, but that still meant the council owned it and had the right to decline any events from taking place there. Still, Lexis didn't doubt her friend had ways to make it work. When no one else questioned her on it, she finished with a question, "What type of fundraiser are we going to do?"

"I'd love to sit and chat, really," Kallai said, the sarcasm in his voice laced with venom, "But the bell's about to go." Lexis had to give him points for caring about school, something she had long since failed at. And to the surprise of both herself and Kallai, she nodded to him.

Sage sighed and looked at her watch and nodded with a flat sigh. "How about my house after school?"

No one objected, though Lexis suspected Kallai would have done if he'd managed to get a word in edge ways. Kailani seemed more than keen to make this happen. It was a pity the girl wasn't - as far as Sage had read, anyway - essential to opening the portal in the mirror.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to share contact details," Tallie suggested, "And then you could send us your address."

"Does Snapchat work for you guys?" Sage asked, always the sceptic. Lexis didn't even think Sage would give out her phone number if the man of her dreams rode out of salt-tipped waves on a gleaming white stallion with the breeze blowing against them. Even so, Snapchat remained a good option and, very shortly, a group chat was set up by Sage_K, inviting Lexis-Atwood, KallaiBlackburn, Kailani333 and Tall-E.

Immediately, Kailani and Tallie started discussing chat names, throwing them into the chat for voting. As they all walked to their classes, Lexis flicked through ones like Portal Openers and off to see the wizard. She left three saved to the chat: Mission Not So Impossible, The Fantastic Five and Through The Looking Glass. She wasn't a fan of the movies or literature, but she figured it would serve them well as a cover for anyone looking over their shoulders - specifically Tallie's because she didn't look like she'd spend too much effort stopping that from happening.

Once she'd got to maths and laid all her stuff out on the desk in front of her, Lexis checked her phone beneath the table. Sage's address was saved in the chat called Through The Looking Glass - the title chosen by Kallai.