Gloria… my Gloria.

  The words looped in Gloria’s ears as she tumbled through watery depths. She thrashed in the water as Seth’s voice wrapped around her like a suffocating embrace. She was drowning. Drowning. Drowning! Gloria tried to swim to the surface, but the closer she got, the stronger his voice became.

  My Gloria…

  A scarred arm plunged into the water and tried to reach for her. Fear sank in her stomach like a weight of iron, and she shrank from the surface.

  Gloria…

  She stared at the hand reaching out for her.

  Give him a chance…

  Gloria squeezed her eyes shut and reached out to take his outstretched hand, but before their fingers touched, something coiled around her leg and jerked her away from Seth’s hand.

  She looked down and saw a long black tendril around her leg, dragging her down into the dark. Water rushed past her ears as she was pulled further and further away from the surface. She tried to scream for Seth, but water filled her lungs, stealing her breath. She kicked and pulled, but nothing loosened the tendril’s grip.

  Then she passed through the water and was gracelessly dropped into a cold, dark room. Gloria lay on the stony floor for a moment, gasping for breath. Then, she slowly pulled herself up and looked around, shaking.

  As she climbed to her feet, an iridescent blue glow grew in smooth ice walls. Gloria held herself tight and shuddered. I remember this place.

  In the corner of her eye, Gloria spied a little orb of light dancing on the walls. She looked towards it and could faintly see Seth racing after it. “Gloria!” he cried, reaching for the light that zipped out of reach. “Gloria! Come back!”

  Gloria gasped. She raced to a wall and pounded on the ice. “Seth!” she cried. “I’m over here! I’m right here!” But Seth continued to run around the walls, chasing after his little light, calling her name.

  Gloria hit the wall again and let out a little sob before resting her forehead on the slick ice.

  “Worthless…” A voice whispered in her ear.

  Gloria started and looked up to see her reflection in the ice wall staring back at her. Its eyes narrowed and shook its head at her. “Utterly worthless,” it repeated.

  Gloria blinked, then slowly stepped back from the wall, hoping that distance would make the reflection fade away, but her reflection snorted at her. “That won’t erase me or the rest of us.”

  Gloria swallowed and looked around her. “The rest of you?”

  A giggle drew Gloria’s attention to an adjacent wall where another reflection formed. A slender form of Gloria appeared and smiled coyly at her before spinning alluringly on the tips of her toes. Golden wings cast a soft glow about her and crimson curls danced like rolling waves. She dipped back and eyed Gloria with a mischievous glint. “Of course the rest of us.”

  Seth raced past through the walls, continuing his eternal circuit after the elusive light. The fairy reflection gazed after him, biting her lip. “You think he’d like me?” she asked, turning glittering green eyes on Gloria. “Or would the stories drive him away?” She giggled and leaned back with a sigh and chewed on the end of a curl. “Maybe the stories are just what would make him stay…”

  Gloria clenched her fists. “No. Leave him alone.”

  “Why?” The first reflection asked. “So we can watch our heart get ripped out of our chest? At least she wants to have a little bit of fun before it happens.”

  The fairy reflection giggled again and let out another sigh as her eyes followed Seth.

  Gloria met her reflection’s eyes. “That… won’t happen.”

  Her reflection raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what proof do you have?”

  The question caught her off guard for a moment and she shuffled her feet, struggling for an answer. Then her head snapped up. “He… he called me his. He wants me to come home with him. He saved me from Father! He punched a man for me!”

  Her reflections exchanged glances, then laughed.

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  Gloria bristled and glared at the two. “What? That’s proof!”

  Her reflection snorted. “Hardly. That’s all you have? The fickle promise of a man? And violence? You do remember how he got you out.”

  Gloria ground her teeth. “Seth’s not fickle!”

  “But he is a man,” her reflection retorted grimly, folding her arms. “What makes you think he’ll be any different?”

  Gloria glared at the reflections. “Because he cares!” she shouted. “He cares about me!”

  Her reflection was unfazed. “He cared once too.”

  Then from behind Gloria, a child began to sing softly. She froze. That tune… A lump rose in her throat. Oh Crim… not that song.

  Her reflection jutted her chin at her. “Turn around.”

  Gloria shook her head.

  Her reflection glowered at her, then stepped out of the wall. She marched over to Gloria and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to turn back. “Turn. Around.”

  Gloria fought against the grip. “No!”

  There was a giggle, and slender hands joined the coarse rough hands. “Come now, Gloria,” the fairy reflection said, helping spin her back before pinning her in place. “How would we understand who we are if we never look back?”

  Gloria’s heart pounded as the two reflections held her tight and forced her to look at a third wall. A little girl sitting in the sunny plains faded into view. A crown of wild daisies adorned her frizzy curls as she sang and plucked the petals off wildflowers.

  “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, then it is yours.”

  A warm deep laugh echoed through the chamber. “Ah, Gloria… My sweet Gloria!”

  The girl’s face lit up and she spun back with a squeal and ran into the embrace of a tall man with dark hair. He grinned and scooped her up before spinning around with her.

  The girl laughed and clung to him. “Faster, Daddy! Faster!”

  Tears welled up in Gloria’s eyes and she tried to pull away from the reflection. “No. I can’t… I can’t see this. Not again.”

  The reflections’ grip tightened. “You need to remember,” her reflection murmured in her ear.

  The girl’s laughter faded, and the scene shifted to the girl and the man lying in the fields staring up at the sky. “Daddy?” she asked, snuggling closer to her father. “When’s Mommy coming back?”

  The father’s face fell, and he inched away from the girl. “I don’t know, sweetheart…”

  Tears filled Gloria’s eyes, and she jerked her face away. “Let me go! I don’t want to see any more!”

  But the fairy reflection captured her face and pulled it back. “Do you remember the night it changed?” She leaned in. “I do.”

  The room went dark, and the sharp bite of alcohol filled Gloria’s nose, and the rolling clink of glass bottles echoed through the chamber. Then, there was a ringing slap.

  Gloria’s vision flashed red and white, and her cheek burned. She blinked and met Father’s bloodshot eyes. “You… bitch,” he slurred, alcohol heavy on his breath. “You lied to me… You promised you would come back…” Then he shook his head and hit his forehead on the floor, sobbing. “You promised!”

  Gloria blinked back the memory and felt something tugging on her dress. She looked down and met her own wide green eyes. The girl pointed at Seth as he ran past on the walls. “Will he hurt me too?”

  Gloria ripped herself from the grip of her reflections and stumbled back, panting. The three reflections eyed her curiously.

  The first one folded her arms. “She was right, you know. Just look at us. What makes you think he’d want to stay with us? We don’t fit into his life—the life he wants. It won’t be long before he realizes it and that’ll be the end of this foolish dream.”

  Gloria’s fists shook with fear and rage. “That’s not true!” she cried. “It can’t be! Not after everything we’ve been through together! He wouldn’t!”

  Her reflections exchanged glances, then looked up at Seth’s shadow as he passed by. “Gloria! Please! Come back!” His hand almost closed around the light, but it slipped away just before his hand closed around it.

  “He’s chasing a phantom,” her reflection said. “And with the way you’ve been stringing him along, it won’t be long before he realizes it.” She met Gloria’s with a hard gaze. “So let me ask you this: why do you insist on chasing heartache?”

  “Because I love him!” Gloria burst. “And it’s worth being burned if I can get even a scrap of love back!”

  The fairy reflection giggled and danced over to her before kneeling down and gazing into her eyes. “You really are like her then.” She smiled. “Like mother, like daughter.”

  The accusation cut deep. Gloria stammered and looked down at her hands. “No… no I would never—”

  The fairy reflection tipped up Gloria’s chin. “Come now Gloria, it’s just us here, you can be honest.”

  Gloria looked up just as Seth finally caught the little light. He cradled it in his hands and gazed at it with wondrous awe, but then his face fell, and his shoulder sagged with disappointment. Tears rolled down Gloria’s cheeks when he let the light fall from his hands to the ground where it shattered into tiny glowing pieces, then he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away.

  Gloria dropped to her knees, shaking. “Seth!” she sobbed. “Come back. Please don’t leave me!”

  But he didn’t turn back, and his form faded like a shadow. The blue glow in the walls died away, taking her reflections along with it until it was just Gloria, alone, in the dark.

  She dropped her head into her hands and wept.

  Then a heavy pressure clamped around her mouth, silencing her. Gloria panicked and tried to claw at her lips—until Seth’s voice hissed in her ear.

  “Shh! He’ll hear us.”