Chapter 62 – Mirror Games and Almost Moments
Chapter 62 – Mirror Games and Almost Moments
I never thought I’d be sneaking into the school’s old auditorium in the middle of the night with my kinda-boyfriend, kinda-ex-enemy, kinda-soulmate.
But here we were.
Lucas pushed the creaky side door open with way too much ease for someone who claimed he didn’t know how to pick locks. I squinted at him suspiciously. “Did you take a secret delinquent course over summer break or…?”
He grinned. “Please. I just watched a lot of crime dramas.”
“Remind me never to piss you off,” I muttered, stepping inside.
The air inside was thick—dusty, still, almost too quiet. Moonlight spilled through the grimy windows, casting long shadows across the stage and empty rows of seats. And in the center, like something out of a horror movie, stood the mirror.
Cracked.
Buzzing faintly.
Waiting.
I shivered. “You sure we’re ready for this?”
Lucas’s hand brushed mine. “Nope. Not even close.”
Somehow, that was comforting.
We moved forward together, step by step, until we stood just a few feet away. The mirror rippled—like it recognized us. My stomach flipped.
“I hate that it looks like water,” I whispered. “Like it wants to pull us in.”
Lucas tilted his head. “You think it can hear us?”
“If it can, I hope it’s offended.”
We stared at the mirror, neither of us speaking. The silence stretched, heavy with the weight of everything we still didn’t understand. Then Lucas said, “Do you ever think about how this all started?”
My heart skipped. “Like… the switch?”
“Yeah. I mean—we were fighting. You’d just confessed, and I’d just—” He winced. “Rejected you. Badly.”
I looked down. “Yeah. Not your finest moment.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly. “My point is… maybe the mirror didn’t do it. Maybe it just reacted. Like it saw the worst versions of ourselves in that moment and… reflected them.”
I glanced at him. “You’re saying we triggered it?”
He shrugged. “Maybe not on purpose. But we were so full of anger and fear and—feelings we didn’t know what to do with. Maybe that was enough.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s terrifying.”
“But also kind of… hopeful?”
I blinked. “How is that hopeful?”
He took a breath. “Because if we triggered it… maybe we can stop it.”
For a second, I let myself believe that. That this mess had a fix. That maybe we weren’t just two kids caught in a supernatural spiral—but two people with the power to change the ending.
“Okay,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “So how do we stop it?”
Lucas’s jaw tightened. “We draw it out. We get its attention. And then we trap it.”
“That’s your big plan?”
“Got a better one?”
I hesitated. “Well, no. But your plans tend to end with bruises and trauma.”
“True,” he said with a grin. “But they also tend to work.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Let’s do it. But if I end up stuck in your body again, I’m never forgiving you.”
“No promises.”
We stepped closer to the mirror. It pulsed again—like it was breathing. Lucas reached into his backpack and pulled out the shard we’d taken from the last mirror we destroyed. The edges still shimmered faintly.
He held it up toward the cracked surface.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the mirror rippled violently.
And something stepped through.
Not a person.
Not exactly.
It was us.
But wrong.
Distorted. Warped. Rae and Lucas, but darker. Their eyes gleamed silver. Their expressions were twisted versions of ours—cold, cruel, empty.
I gasped. “Is that—?”
Lucas swore. “Our Unselves.”
The Rae-thing smiled. “Hello, us.”
The Lucas-thing tilted its head. “Did you miss us?”
“Not even a little,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Lucas moved in front of me. “We’re not scared of you.”
“Liar,” his Unself replied. “You’re always scared. Of losing control. Of hurting her. Of being just like him.”
Lucas stiffened.
The Unself Rae stepped toward me. “And you. Always pretending you’re fine. That you don’t need anyone. That it didn’t hurt when he pushed you away.”
My breath hitched.
She smiled. “You’re so good at pretending, Rae. But I know the truth. You wanted to disappear.”
“Stop,” Lucas growled. “You don’t get to talk to her.”
His double smirked. “She’s already heard it all. In her head. A thousand times.”
Lucas didn’t hesitate. He threw the mirror shard like a dagger—aiming straight for his Unself’s heart.
The glass exploded in a burst of light and sound.
The Unselves screamed, a sound like shattering metal. I grabbed Lucas’s arm, anchoring us both.
“Now!” he yelled. “Pull it—pull it into the shard!”
I focused. I didn’t know how, exactly—I just wanted them gone. I thought of every awful thing they said, every fear they represented—and I pushed.
The mirror twisted.
Ripped.
And with a final shriek, the Unselves were sucked back through the glass—along with the shards. The surface sealed behind them.
Silence.
I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
Lucas dropped beside me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “I think… yeah. Are they gone?”
He looked at the mirror. Still. Silent. Cracked—but no longer pulsing.
“Looks like it.”
For a moment, we just sat there. Breathing.
Then I turned to him. “What they said—”
“Don’t,” he said gently. “They’re gone. They don’t get the last word.”
My heart ached. “But what if they were right? What if—what if we are scared? Broken?”
He looked at me like I’d just asked if the sky was blue. “Of course we are. But that doesn’t mean we’re not worth loving.”
I blinked. “Lucas…”
He reached up, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You think I wasn’t terrified when I kissed you? That I’m not still terrified? I’ve never felt anything this real before, Rae. That’s what makes it scary. But that’s also what makes it worth it.”
I exhaled shakily. “So what now?”
“We figure it out. Together.”
He leaned in.
This time, nothing interrupted us.
His lips met mine—soft, certain, warm.
And I kissed him back like I’d been waiting forever.
Because I had.
And for the first time in a long time, everything felt like it might just be okay.
For like two seconds.
Because then—
CRASH.
The mirror behind us exploded.
We broke apart, spinning to face it.
And standing in the swirling glass and smoke—
Was someone else.
Someone I recognized immediately.
“Principal Marin?” I gasped.
But it wasn’t her.
Not really.
Her eyes gleamed silver.
And she smiled, too wide, too sharp.
“Oh, Rae,” she said sweetly. “You didn’t really think it was over… did you?”
The mirror’s curse isn’t done. And now, it’s wearing the face of authority.