Chapter 58 – Reflection Games

Chapter 58 – Reflection Games
“Okay,” I whispered, crouching behind the dusty row of desks. “Why do abandoned classrooms always smell like despair and expired printer ink?”

Lucas smirked beside me, peeking through the cracked window of the old science lab. “Maybe they bottle it and sell it to other cursed schools.”

“I’m serious,” I said, trying not to sneeze from the dust. “I think my lungs just aged fifty years.”

“Shhh.” He leaned closer, and my breath caught.

His shoulder brushed mine, and suddenly all I could hear was the thump of my heart instead of creaky floorboards and faint mirror hums. He smelled like cinnamon gum and adrenaline.

Which was a weirdly good combo.

“There,” he whispered, pointing. “Third mirror down the hall. That one’s still glowing.”

I nodded, gripping the handle of my compact mirror like it was a weapon. Maybe it was. The Unselfs were drawn to reflections, and we were learning—very slowly and with lots of trauma—that mirrors could be used against them.

Rae and Lucas: Mirror Slayers.

It’d make a great comic book. Less great for our actual sanity.

We slipped out of the lab and crept toward the hallway. The East Building was supposed to be shut down. But a dim, unnatural glow leaked from the far end, flickering like a haunted candle.

“Do you think Jamie’s still… switched?” I asked, voice low.

Lucas glanced at me, jaw tight. “If the mirror’s active, probably. And if he’s anything like we were, he might not even know what’s happening.”

I remembered the confusion, the panic, the way I had hated the thought of being trapped in Lucas’s body forever.

And yet, a part of me had missed it too.

Not the switch. But the connection. The way we’d started to understand each other without words.

“I think we should try to talk to him,” I said. “If there’s any part of Jamie still in there, maybe we can reach him.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow. “You want to emotionally negotiate with a possessed lacrosse player?”

“Hey,” I said, nudging him. “I’m an optimist.”

“No,” he said dryly. “You’re a chaos goblin with too much hope.”

“Same difference.”

We reached the mirror.

It was warped—taller than a normal school mirror, like it had grown with the energy swelling inside it. The surface pulsed faintly, as if breathing. For a second, I swore I saw my reflection blink before I did.

Creepy.

“Rae?” Lucas said softly.

“Yeah?”

“If something happens… if we get pulled in again…”

I turned toward him. “We’ll face it together.”

His eyes locked on mine, dark and intense. “I know. That’s what scares me.”

Before I could ask what that meant, the mirror rippled—and a hand burst through the surface.

“LOOK OUT!”

Lucas shoved me aside just as Jamie lunged forward. Or… what looked like Jamie.

But his eyes were still wrong. Too shiny. Too glassy. And when he grinned, it was like his face cracked in places human faces shouldn’t.

“Rae,” Lucas growled. “Run.”

“Like hell!” I snatched the compact mirror from my jacket pocket and flicked it open. “Hey, Jamie! Ever seen your soul in HD?”

I shoved the reflection at him.

He recoiled like I’d slapped him with holy water.

Lucas lunged, tackling him back toward the mirror. They crashed into the wall with a sickening sound, the mirror flashing and vibrating like it was short-circuiting.

“Lucas!”

He grunted, shoving Jamie away, who was twitching like he’d been electrocuted. “The mirror—Rae! It’s weakening!”

I didn’t think. I just moved.

I held up the compact again, aiming the reflection directly at the wall mirror. The pulse of the Unself’s energy shuddered.

And then, like a popped balloon, the entire thing imploded with a shriek of wind and light. Glass shards exploded outward—

Lucas threw himself over me, shielding us both with his body.

When the storm died, silence fell.

Glass crunched underfoot. The mirror was gone. Just jagged edges remained in the frame.

And Jamie—

Jamie groaned softly, curled in the corner, eyes fluttering open. Normal eyes.

We’d done it.

I sat up slowly, Lucas still partially draped over me.

“You okay?” I asked, breathless.

He looked down at me. “Are you?”

“Depends. Are you going to move or are you planning to crush me to death in a protective gesture?”

He didn’t budge. “I don’t know. It’s kind of comfortable.”

My cheeks flamed. “Lucas!”

He grinned and rolled off with a laugh. I helped Jamie sit up, and he looked around, dazed.

“What… happened?”

“We’ll explain later,” I said, patting his arm. “You’re safe now. Sort of.”

Lucas stood and offered me a hand. I took it without hesitation.

And when he pulled me to my feet, he didn’t let go.

We walked Jamie out of the East Building together, quietly slipping him back to the nurse’s office with a convenient “he fainted during PE” excuse Lena came up with over text. (Bless her ability to lie with confidence.)

Once he was settled, Lucas and I lingered in the hallway.

That strange stillness hung between us again.

“So,” I said finally. “That happened.”

“Yeah.”

I looked up at him. “Are you gonna make some joke to deflect from your feelings?”

“Probably.”

I waited.

He didn’t joke.

Instead, he stepped closer.

“You scared the hell out of me back there,” he said quietly.

I swallowed. “You shoved me out of the way of glass shards. You literally took a mirror grenade for me.”

“Guess we’re even.”

“Not even close,” I whispered.

And then, because the tension was too much—and because I’d almost lost him again—I grabbed the collar of his hoodie and pulled him down.

And kissed him.

This time, it wasn’t rushed or panicked or heat-of-the-moment.

It was soft. Sure. Real.

When we broke apart, Lucas’s hands were still on my waist. His forehead rested against mine.

“I’ve been waiting to do that since the first time you yelled at me,” he murmured.

“Which time?” I grinned.

“Literally any of them.”

We both laughed.

But the moment didn’t last.

Because down the hall, every light suddenly flickered.

A cold draft swept past us. And for just a second, the glass display case by the office door shimmered.

I turned slowly.

Inside, a faint shape stood in the reflection.

Not mine. Not Lucas’s.

Something else.

Its eyes were white. Hollow.

Watching.

I stepped back. “Lucas…”

He followed my gaze.

And froze.

Because the reflection didn’t move with us.

It just stood there.

Smiling.

Lucas grabbed my hand. “We’re not done yet.”

“No,” I breathed, staring into the empty eyes in the glass. “And I think this time… it’s coming after us.”