Chapter 15
Etan
Slipping back into the real world was always a rush.
One step and the air changed. It was warmer, heavier, alive with smells and sounds the Mirror Realm could never fake.
The grey drained from my skin before I’d even cleared the hallway.
My lungs expanded like they’d been empty for years, drinking in air that carried layers of scent: floor polish, pencil shavings, perfume from a passing cheerleader, the sweet scorch of something overbaked in the cafeteria ovens.
Nate was still pounding at the glass behind me when I left. His voice didn’t carry, but I knew what he was saying. He was begging or warning Jess, maybe both. His fists struck the barrier with the desperation of someone who still believed it would matter. I almost admired it. Almost.
Down the corridor, the school hummed with life. Students jostled past, lockers slammed, and a phone blared tinny pop music. Every glance and laugh brushed against me like a current, feeding that quiet hunger under my ribs.
I moved through the crowd without touching anyone.
I felt them, though. The subtle shift of their attention when I passed, the hitch in someone’s breath, or the quick flicker of eyes tracking me.
I was stitching myself into this place, thread by invisible thread, until tearing me out would mean ripping the whole fabric.
And Jess… Jess wasn’t immune. She wanted to hate me, and maybe she did, but her gaze lingered just long enough to tell me she felt the pull too. I could taste it in the air between us sweet, sharp, like the moment before lightning strikes.
I paused at the glass trophy case by the gym. My reflection winked back at me, but it wasn’t alone. Just for a second, Jess’s reflection joined mine, her brow furrowed, lips parting like she was about to speak.
I smiled. “Soon.”
Because I wasn’t just going to survive here. I was going to make her wonder which side of the glass she really wanted to be on.