The Mirror Fifth Edition | Page 46

done the job! “How did it happen?” someone wondered. “He tripped over the box!” retorted someone else. “It came out of absolutely nowhere!” the security guard gaped. The crowds chatted and cheered. “The Blackout Burglar is caught!” they chanted. Eliana grinned invisibly, thinking to herself, You caught the Blackout Burglar! You did! Then, as crowds wandered back inside and dispersed and interviewers and news reporters flooded the mall, Eliana spotted a shiny item under the dumpster. It was the item he’d stolen from the store. As the last people at the scene left, Eliana reached under the dumpsters with her pale arms. She was so close to touching the mysterious object. But it didn’t matter, for the dumpsters had begun to disappear. Everything blended together and spun and twisted and twirled just as it had before, and Eliana began to scream. She fell to and from absolute nowhere. KaBOOM! Eliana gasped and found herself sitting erect in the short grass, the sun blinding her golden eyes. Colors filled in around her, as if her world was a canvas and someone was making a watercolor painting. She squinted around, the weeping willow branches fluttering gracefully above her. When she calmed down, she breathed a sigh of relief. Eliana reverted her eyes to her backpack pocket, for something glimmered inside. She crawled over and unzipped the zipper. To her astonishment, a gorgeous diamond gem shimmered inside. 46