Chapter 54 – Through the Shattered Looking Glass

Chapter 54 – Through the Shattered Looking Glass
The problem with chasing a mirror-possessed student into a cursed building was that there were approximately a thousand ways it could go horribly wrong.

And Lucas and I had just chosen option one.

We were trapped. Again.

Except this time, we weren’t in some warped dream-version of the school. No, this was the real East Building—its abandoned science wing—and the door we’d come through? Now just a wall of smooth, cold mirror.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, banging my palm against it. “Of course it closed behind us. Why wouldn’t it?”

Lucas tilted his head, squinting at the wall like it had personally offended him. “This place really needs to learn boundaries.”

I let out a breath that sounded dangerously close to a growl. “I swear, if I see Jamie pop out of the wall like some cursed funhouse clown, I’m throwing a Bunsen burner at him.”

“That’s the spirit,” Lucas said, his voice dry. “Though maybe don’t start a fire. Yet.”

I turned, scanning the dim hallway. Lockers were rusted shut. Glass panels were shattered. The air smelled like dust and something sharp, like ozone. And somewhere deeper in the dark came the unmistakable sound of footsteps.

Lucas reached for my hand instinctively. I let him take it.

I didn’t even hesitate.

“Do you think he’s trying to trap us?” I asked, my voice quieter now.

Lucas’s grip tightened. “I think he’s trying to lead us somewhere.”

“And that’s better?”

He shrugged. “Not really. But at least we know he wants us to follow.”

“Or die trying.”

“Rae.” Lucas stopped and turned to me. “If things go sideways… you know I’ve got your back, right?”

The words were simple, but the way he said them—quiet and steady and meant just for me—made something shift in my chest.

I nodded. “I’ve got yours too.”

There was a beat of silence between us, heavy with everything unspoken.

Then I smirked. “Even if you make me chase another possessed lacrosse player through a cursed death maze.”

Lucas actually grinned. “That’s true loyalty right there.”

We followed the faint sound of movement deeper into the building. The floor creaked under our feet, and flickering lights above made every shadow look like it wanted to murder us.

And yet—being next to Lucas made it bearable.

Infuriating, reckless Lucas… who still hadn’t let go of my hand.

“This is starting to feel familiar,” I murmured.

“What, being surrounded by danger with only me as backup?”

“No,” I said. “Being alone with you. Fighting something together. Kinda feels like our thing now.”

Lucas smirked. “Romantic.”

“It’s the trauma bonding.”

“You always say the sweetest things.”

We turned a corner—and stopped cold.

There, in the center of the hall, stood Jamie Carter. Or… what was left of him.

His body was still. Too still. His eyes were glassy, reflecting the light like a mirror. And when he spoke, it was like hearing a voice filtered through a cracked speaker.

“Why do you keep interfering?”

Lucas stepped forward. “Because you’re hurting people. Whatever this thing is—it’s using you.”

Jamie’s head tilted at an unnatural angle. “You don’t understand. You can’t. You gave in once. You touched the mirror.”

I froze.

Lucas tensed. “That wasn’t us. Not completely.”

“But it was,” Jamie—no, the Unself—whispered. “You saw yourselves clearly. You saw what you really are. And still, you chose to go back.”

“We chose to fight,” I snapped. “You want to scare us into giving up? Not gonna work.”

The Unself’s expression didn’t change, but the shadows behind him twisted. Warped.

“Then let me show you what surrender feels like.”

Before we could react, the floor beneath us shimmered. Not broke, not collapsed—shimmered. Like liquid mirror spreading out in a pool.

I yanked Lucas back, but too late—the ground gave way and we fell.

Except we didn’t fall down.

We fell through.

—

It was like being torn in two.

Colors, memories, feelings—everything stretched and pulled. My breath caught in my throat, and the world flipped upside down. When it stopped, I landed hard on marble. Cold, polished, blindingly white marble.

I blinked, gasping.

Lucas groaned beside me.

We weren’t in the East Building anymore.

We were in a massive room made entirely of mirrors.

Ceiling, walls, floor—all of it. Dozens of reflections of me and Lucas stared back. Some looked normal. Some looked... wrong. Twisted. Crying. Laughing. Bleeding.

“This place sucks,” Lucas muttered, getting to his feet.

I stood too, wobbling slightly. “Okay, mirror world again. Cool, cool. Totally normal teen experience.”

Lucas turned slowly in a circle. “There’s something different this time.”

And he was right. The last time we were here, it was a distorted copy of our school. This? This felt ancient. Eternal. Like the core of the curse.

Like the heart of the mirror itself.

A voice echoed from every direction: “You cannot run from what you are.”

Lucas’s fists clenched. “Watch me.”

Then, one of the reflections stepped out of the mirror.

It was me.

But not me.

Her smile was wrong. Too wide. Too perfect.

“Rae?” Lucas asked, stepping protectively between us.

“Not Rae,” I said grimly. “That’s my Unself.”

The copy tilted her head, regarding Lucas with mock interest. “You’re getting so close to her now. It’s cute. Tragic, but cute.”

Lucas didn’t answer. But his posture said everything.

The Unself-Rae stepped closer. “You think you know her, Lucas? Think you’re different from everyone else? Wait until she pushes you away. Wait until she chooses safety over you.”

“Shut up,” I hissed.

She turned to me, eyes gleaming. “You’ve already started to doubt him. Haven’t you? Wondering if the kiss meant as much to him as it did to you.”

“That’s enough!”

I rushed her—but she vanished into the mirrors, her laughter echoing behind me.

“Okay,” I panted. “I hate my evil twin.”

Lucas touched my shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah. No. Maybe. This place messes with your head.”

“I know,” he said. “But I don’t care what some creepy mirror says. I know what’s real.”

I looked at him, heart thudding. “And what’s that?”

He stepped close, his voice low. “Us.”

For a second, everything else—the mirror realm, the twisted doppelgängers, the curse—faded into the background.

I leaned in.

So did he.

Our lips brushed—tentative, warm, familiar.

And just as I started to fall into the kiss—

Glass shattered.

Dozens of mirror versions of Lucas stepped out from the walls.

Some angry.

Some crying.

Some laughing like they’d lost their minds.

I grabbed the real Lucas’s hand. “This is bad.”

He nodded, eyes scanning our warped army of selves. “On a scale of ‘slightly inconvenient’ to ‘soul-crushing disaster’?”

“I’m gonna go with ‘mirror army of doom’ bad.”

The Unself-Rae reappeared, smirking. “Let’s see how long your love lasts… when you have to fight yourselves.”

We backed up until our shoulders touched.

Lucas took a breath. “Still think we earned the right to try?”

I squeezed his hand. “Only way out is through.”

And as the first Unself charged, we leapt into battle together.

Cliffhanger Ending:

Behind the swarm of reflections, a shadow loomed. Larger than the rest. Not a copy of us—

—but something else entirely.

The original mirror.

Cracked.

Bleeding light.

And waiting.

For us.