Chapter 7
Etan
The school was a maze of windows, glass doors, and polished floors, perfect for keeping an eye on things.
From the outside, I was leaning against a locker, laughing with a couple of basketball players about some ridiculous inside joke. From the inside, the silver-glint view of the mirror in the trophy case across the hall, I was somewhere else entirely.
I watched Jess in her bedroom, bent over a flamingo-shaped mirror like it was a lifeline. Her fingers brushed the glass, full, perfect, lips moving in careful rhythm. Raven hopped at her elbow, beak sharp with instructions.
Was the bird training her?
Smart girl.
I didn’t mind. Watching her prepare to face me only made the game more interesting.
Every time her gaze narrowed in concentration, I could see the moment her thoughts shifted toward me.
The way her jaw set, the way her shoulders tensed.
I liked knowing she was thinking about me, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
“Hey, Nate!” called a cheerleader with a bounce in her step and a hand brushing my arm as she passed.
I gave her my best easy smile, felt the warm ripple of attention follow me down the hallway.
It was almost too easy, this feeding, a touch here, a laugh there.
Each little spark knitted me deeper into Nate’s life, threading my presence into the fabric of this place until it would be hard to pull me out without tearing something vital.
The air was so thick with life. I could taste the cafeteria’s burnt coffee from three classrooms away.
The smell of cheap floor polish clung to the air after the janitor’s cart rolled past, sharp and a little sweet.
Even the echoes of voices in the hall had weight to them, bouncing in my chest before fading.
In the Mirror Realm, sound was hollow; you could clap your hands and feel it vanish before it reached your ears.
I slipped into the cafeteria. The clatter of trays, the sharp tang of ketchup, the sweet warmth of apple pie cooling on the counter was dizzying, intoxicating.
Every sound and scent wrapped around me like a living thing.
This was life, messy, loud, and delicious. The Mirror Realm could never touch it.
In the reflection of the juice machine, Jess appeared again, this time glancing over her shoulder as if she’d felt me watching. Our eyes met in the glass. I let my smile sharpen a fraction, just enough to make her hesitate.
The best thing about mirrors is that they’re never one-way. Even better, Jess hadn’t figured out yet that I could push back.
Back in the trophy case reflection, her bedroom came into view again.
She had stopped the exercise, sitting cross-legged on her bed, chewing her lip the way she did when she was thinking too hard.
For a heartbeat, I considered stepping through right then, showing her how close I could get whenever I wanted. That would spoil the fun, though.
Instead, I stayed where I was, weaving myself deeper into this world. Every second here was a thread in the net I was casting around her life. Soon, she’d have to decide whether she wanted to cut it, or let me pull her in.