The stories don't stop there. They carry on flowing out into the open, as though they've been waiting to be shared for the longest time. Not just Sky's stories: mine, Iris's, everything we've kept to ourselves for our whole lives are shared with two people we hardly know. Yet somehow I don't feel self-conscious. I don't hold back.

With the stories comes layers and layers of emotion. I think sharing the pain we each carry within us is too much to handle. We cry a million tears, all of us. With every tale we tell, a little piece of the armour Sky hides behind disappears, until I can see her for who she is for the first time. Someone lost and broken, but under the smokescreen of anger and hate, she really is a very sweet person.

I think I've realised for the first time that all three of us want the same thing: to be free. Iris from her mother. Sky from her past and the darkness it brings her. Me from my future. We're more alike than I ever dreamed.

Once we start talking about ourselves, we can't stop. It's as if the walls between us have somehow come crashing down. We talk about our lives before we started looking for Orbis, our family, friends. Our futures, what we plan to do when we get there. Even just little things about ourselves that we've never shared with anyone before. And after each story, I feel us coming a little closer, the threads between us pulled a little bit tighter. It feels like we've travelled a hundred miles in just a few hours. We're talking and listening so hard that we almost miss it when the sun crawls through the sky until it's directly above us, bringing a thousand new possibilities with it. I feel it warm my shoulders through my wet clothes, still drenched from the flood Sky caused.

"It's noon," I gasp. Sky hands me the mirror and I trail my fingers across its cool surface, standing up. "How does it work, exactly?"

Iris straightens up too, helping Sky to her feet. "Just hold it out to the sunlight and let the glass catch the rays of light. Wherever the light is reflected becomes a portal to wherever you need to go. Then all we have to do is step through it."

"How are you feeling? I ask Sky. She gives me a faint smile.

"The wound is completely healed," she says. "As for everything else...? It's still painful. But I feel a lot better."

The three of us grin at each other.

"So, what are you going to do when you get to Orbis?" Iris asks Sky. "Are you trying to find a way to get rid of your powers forever?"

Sky shakes her head without hesitation. "I don't want to get rid of my power, I want to be able to control it. To be free to use it my own way." She looks thoughtfully at Iris. "Why? Do you want to get rid of yours?"

Iris laughs. "My power may have caused me a lot of pain, but it's the only thing I have," she replies. "In fact, my magic has always helped me through the pain, if that makes sense. It reminded me I was special, when I was lead to believe I was nothing. I can't give it up."

"Ready?" I ask them. They nod, and I hold the mirror out to the sun. The light is reflected onto the ground before us, and starts to shimmer until it doesn't look solid at all, but more like mist. It widens and widens until we have to step back to avoid tumbling headfirst down it. We look at each other, as though for reassurance, then we jump together.

What follows is something between floating and falling. I think it would be almost impossible to describe. We tumble into the sparkling mist, the world suddenly a blur of dazing colour. The scream that sprang to my lips dies away and I start to enjoy it: the sense of elation and freedom as we surrender completely to the portal, letting it pull us in every direction. At one point it feels like we're falling upwards. All at once, I am beyond fear. There's nothing for me to lose. I let my body relax into the air, laughing as we fall.

Suddenly, I feel grass under my feet. We've stopped falling, but I never felt myself hit the ground. I look around, taking in my surroundings carefully. We seem to be standing in the middle of an endless, golden field. Behind me is a tall marble podium, on which sits a huge crystal ball.

"Where do you think we are?" Sky asks, making me jump. Until she spoke, I hadn't realised how deep the silence was; it felt like the world was underwater, calmly yet eerily quiet.

"Wherever we are, it isn't Orbis," replies Iris. "I read somewhere that you have to pass a test to enter... do you think this is where we'll be tested?"

"It must have something to do with this," I say, starting towards the crystal ball.

"To do with what?"

"This, of course," I answer impatiently. "Iris, do you know how to use a crystal ball?"

Nobody replies. I stop and turn around to face them. Both of them are frowning at me."

"Cressida..." begins Sky slowly. "There's nothing there."

"What do you mean there's nothing..." I trail off. My fingers reach out tentatively and brush the crystal ball's surface. I shiver at the touch without meaning to.

"This... must be part of your test," ponders Iris. "We must have a test each... and this is yours. Something is stopping us from helping you."

"So I just look into it?" I ask,  interested. I let my eyes wander into the crystal ball. I expect to see images deep in the glass, but instead the pictures drift outwards towards me, until I'm surrounded by hazy picture that gradually become clearer.

A little rides a beautiful white horse around a field, laughing as the wind  drags her hair behind her like a black, curly flag. It's me, I realise in shock. A privileged little princess, with no idea how lucky she was, having fun in the field with her horse. A princess who had no idea what her fate would be.

The horse gallops towards a makeshift horse jump, and leaps over it at the girl's command. But suddenly, the laugh becomes a scream. As though in slow motion, she tumbles from the horse-

The image vanishes before she hits the ground.

"Your daughter..." whispers a familiar voice. I blink, seeing a bizarre vision of Iris kneeling in front of me in the throne room, studying my hand. "Cressida... She only has a few days to live."

The past Cressida stares at her, fear darkening her eyes-

The image vanishes once more.

Sky sends Iris and me shooting backwards against a tree, ropes snaking around us, binding us to the trunk-

I slam against the ground, unconscious. Sky does the same to Iris then grabs the mirror, running out of the woods-

I tear my eyes away. Something settles in my heart like a stone, an motion I can't quite put my finger on...

"You're a disgrace to the family," I hear. I whip around to see my father towering over a dark-haired girl around the age of eleven. I bite my lip. I'd almost forgotten this memory... I'd wanted to forget it... The king glares down at his daughter, a growl breaking through his lips. "I dread to think what will happen when you become queen, Cressida."

The girl stares at her feet, biting her lip hard-

"Cressida...! No!"

Iris and Sky lean over a slumped figure on the ground. Her face is deathly pale, and on her arm, a black mark is visible-

"You can't do it."

I gaze around with a gasp, trying to locate the source of this new voice. Then I realise: it isn't part of the visions, the memories. It's in my own head.

"You can't do it.

You can't fight your future.

You're not strong enough.

You're weak."

"Cressida!"

I turn away from the new voice, feeling hot tears well up in my eyes. I can't listen to another bitter jibe. I can't watch another memory.

"Listen to me! It's us!"

I recognise the voice. I see Iris and Sky coming towards me, and I know it isn't a vision this time. They're more distinct, more solid-looking than the half-formed images around me.

"Listen!" shrieks Sky. "We don't know what's happening to you, but it's just a test, remember? You can do this!"

"You can't.

You can't do it.

You're dying."

"Don't give up, Cressida!" yells Iris. "We know you can do this! We know you're stronger than whatever it is you're fighting!"

"Remember what you're fighting for!" Sky shouts. "Remember why you have to get to Orbis! Remember what you have to live for! Don't let it control you!"

I meet her eyes, and determination floods me.

"NO! YOU'RE A FAILURE! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!"

Sky and Iris stand at either side of me, and their hands slip into mine.

"Yes!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "Yes, I can!"

And suddenly, it's all over.

The images have died away.

The voices have gone. 

It's just us.