Chapter 59 — Into the Shatter

Chapter 59 — Into the Shatter
It was official: this mirror realm had no concept of personal space, physics, or chill.

Lucas and I hit the ground—again—gasping from the cold that sliced through us the moment we landed. Around us, the mirror world shimmered in fractured twilight. The sky pulsed like broken glass suspended in oil, the ground cracked with moving reflections of us that didn’t always follow our movements.

One of them turned and winked.

“Okay. That’s horrifying,” I muttered, scrambling to my feet.

Lucas grabbed my arm and steadied me. “Yeah, next time let’s just open a portal to Disneyland.”

His hand lingered a second too long. Or maybe not long enough. Either way, I didn’t move.

We’d barely had time to talk since Jamie had disappeared—again—and the school lockdown turned into a mirror-hunting mission. Lena was helping track flickers of anomalies on her hacked campus map, but Lucas and I were the only ones stupid—or brave—enough to follow the signs back in.

“What if he’s not in here?” I said, trying to ignore the way Lucas’s hand brushed mine again as we started walking.

“He’s in here,” Lucas replied grimly. “The mirror only glitched when he was nearby. Same way it did with us.”

I didn’t reply. Mostly because I was watching our reflections and trying not to scream when one of mine suddenly grinned with teeth that weren’t mine.

Lucas saw it too. He pulled me behind him.

“They’re getting stronger,” he murmured. “The longer we’re in here… the more they can mimic.”

“And we still don’t know why,” I said.

He turned to me. “Actually… I think I might.”

I blinked. “Wait. You were gonna tell me that when, exactly? Before or after the creepy clone Rae eats me?”

Lucas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t sure. But remember the first time we switched back, after the kiss? It wasn’t just about the mirror. It was about us. How we felt.”

I frowned. “You think our emotions control the connection?”

“Or amplify it,” he said. “Like… the mirror is tied to identity. And what’s more identity-breaking than falling for someone you didn’t expect to?”

I stared at him. “Are you saying the mirror responds to feelings?”

“I’m saying maybe our feelings messed up the rules.”

A beat.

“So…” I said slowly. “Us being… close—like emotionally close—could be making the mirror go haywire?”

He nodded.

“Well, that explains why every time we’re almost honest with each other, someone gets possessed or dragged into a nightmare dimension.”

Lucas laughed—genuinely. “You saying our emotional intimacy is a hazard?”

“To our health? Absolutely.”

We walked in silence for a few steps, our footsteps echoing weirdly in the mirrored world.

Then I glanced sideways. “So… what does that mean for us?”

He didn’t answer right away. But he didn’t avoid the question, either.

“I don’t want to stop,” he said. “Feeling this. Being with you. But I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I swallowed. “Same.”

He reached over and gently took my hand. Not as a joke. Not as a tease. Just… because.

And this time, I didn’t joke or pull away.

We walked hand-in-hand into the shifting corridors of the mirror realm. The silence between us wasn’t awkward—it was steady. Strong. The kind that didn’t need to be filled.

Then the corridor curved, and everything changed.

The walls opened into a wide chamber, lit by warped reflections that pulsed like a heartbeat. In the center, tethered by chains made of mirrored shards, was Jamie.

He looked up.

“Don’t,” he said, voice ragged. “Don’t come closer.”

Lucas pulled me behind him instinctively. “Jamie?”

His eyes flickered mirror-bright. “It’s not safe.”

“We’re here to help,” I said.

“You can’t,” Jamie rasped. “He’s… inside. He’s using me.”

Lucas’s hand tightened on mine. “The Unself.”

The air twisted.

And then a voice—chilling, echoing, all wrong—spoke from Jamie’s mouth.

“Hello again, Rae. Lucas.”

We both froze.

“You’ve grown stronger,” it said. “Closer. Delicious.”

“Oh, ew,” I muttered. “Do all evil mirror demons talk like bad Tinder dates?”

Lucas tried not to smile. “Focus.”

The Unself tilted Jamie’s head. “You made a mistake coming here. This body is mine now. And soon, I’ll have yours again.”

I stepped forward. “Not if we stop you.”

The chains shimmered. Cracked. Jamie screamed.

Lucas surged forward—but the ground splintered beneath him, yanking him sideways into a mirrored pit.

“Lucas!” I shouted.

His hand clutched the edge, knuckles white.

“Go!” he gritted.

“Not without you!” I dropped to my knees and grabbed his wrist.

The mirror below pulsed like it wanted to eat us both.

Lucas locked eyes with me. “Whatever happens—don’t let him get inside your head.”

“Too late,” I whispered, pulling with everything I had.

With a groan and a shower of glass, I yanked him free.

We fell back together, landing in a tangled heap.

“Okay,” he gasped. “Teamwork.”

“More like near-death bonding,” I muttered, but didn’t let go.

He looked at me.

“Rae…”

I knew what he was going to say.

So I said it first.

“I love you.”

The world stilled.

Like even the mirror had to take a second.

Lucas stared.

Then, slowly—so slowly—I watched a smile grow on his face.

“I love you too,” he said.

And the mirror cracked.

Not a little. A lot.

The entire room shook. The Unself shrieked.

“No! Not now—not again!”

Light exploded from the broken edges. The chains around Jamie shattered. He collapsed.

Lucas and I threw our arms over our faces as the mirror dissolved into white.

I blinked as the light faded.

We were back.

School hallway. Locker row. Lena screaming down the corridor toward us.

“Are you okay?! Did it work?!”

Lucas and I looked at each other, breathless.

It had worked.

Except…

I glanced down.

And saw my reflection wink at me.

From the wrong side of the mirror.