Chapter 17
Jess
That night’s unease hadn’t faded by morning. It clung to me like static, the kind you can’t see but can feel crackling just under your skin.
I’d dreamt of Nate. Not the half-smiles or the quiet way he always set his pencil down when I spoke to him, but him trapped in that glass again, banging on the inside until his hands went red. I’d woken with the taste of panic still in my mouth.
The ache of not knowing where he was sat heavy in my chest. I’d seen him last night, and yet it felt like he’d been gone for years. My brain kept replaying the way Etan’s arm had pulled him backward into the shadows.
I pushed out of bed and headed downstairs, thinking maybe caffeine would at least clear the fog. The smell of burnt toast met me halfway down the stairs, followed by the sight of my mother standing in front of the coffee maker, frowning like it had personally betrayed her.
“Morning,” I mumbled, still rubbing sleep from my eyes. “You okay?”
“It’s not working,” she muttered, jabbing the power button with the stubborn precision of someone expecting it to give in eventually. “The one time I want coffee instead of tea…”
Guilt pinched hard in my gut. I’d broken it yesterday in a glitter-coffee explosion while trying to shortcut my way to caffeine.
“Uh… Maybe the universe is saying you should stick to tea,” I offered weakly.
She gave me the patented Mom Look, the one that could boil water faster than a kettle and went back to glaring at the machine.
I backed slowly toward the hallway, deciding that coffee wasn’t worth a second magical appliance homicide, and that maybe my day was going to be caffeine-free whether I liked it or not.
Raven swooped down from the curtain rod, landing on the back of a chair. “Three days left. Are you planning to actually do something about our mirror problem today?”
“Yes,” I said, grabbing my bag. “Step one: find Etan. Step two: figure out the fastest way to shove him back where he belongs before Nate—” I cut myself off before saying the ‘fades out completely’ part.
My phone buzzed.
Bianca: Meet you at school. No coffee = dangerous Jess, but I’ll risk it. Today, we find a seam. And Etan.
“Today we find him and send him home,” I muttered, shoving my phone into my pocket.
The walk to school was a parade of things I didn’t want to see.
Every reflective surface I passed seemed to hold its breath for a half-second longer than it should.
In the bakery window, my reflection blinked slower than I did.
In the chrome bumper of a parked car, a faint silver glint flickered behind my shoulder and was gone.
By the time I rounded the corner outside the gym, my pulse was already pounding like I’d been running.
Of course, when I rounded the corner outside the gym, he was there.
Etan leaned against the rail like the hallway had been built just for him. He had one hand tucked into his hoodie pocket, the other resting on the metal as if testing its warmth. His silver-glint eyes found me instantly, and his smile was a slow, deliberate thing.
“Jessica,” he said, like my name was a secret only he was allowed to say. “We need to talk.”
I crossed my arms. “We do. Bring Nate back.”
His smile didn’t falter, but something sharpened underneath. “You mean me.”
“I mean the real Nate, the one you stuck in the Mirror Realm so you could play High School Heartthrob.”
Somewhere down the hall, the squirrel strutted through the open doors like it owned the place, the hot dog now missing one defiant bite. It stopped dead, stared at me and Etan, then slowly sidestepped into the nearest locker bay.
Etan didn’t look away from me. “Your school’s interesting.
” He pushed off the rail, closing the space between us until I could see the faint shimmer of his reflection in the gym door glass.
“You think that’s all I’m doing? I was going to replace him, yes.
But…” His voice dropped, turning warm and coaxing.
“It’s different now. I’m different. Being here, feeling everything… it’s addictive. And you—”
“Don’t,” I said, sharper than I meant to. “Don’t make this about your feelings.”
He looked almost hurt. Almost. “I wasn’t lying when I said I’m falling for you.”
Before I could answer, Bianca barrelled into the space like a human firework. “Oh, my God. Are you seriously trying to romance her right now? You’re a walking identity theft case with cheekbones.”
Etan glanced at her with a smirk. “You must be Bianca. She talks about you.”
“Cool,” Bianca shot back. “I talk about you, too, but my version involves salt, holy water, and a large hammer.”
I tried not to smile, but my pulse was still doing cartwheels.
Etan’s gaze returned to me, steady and unreadable.
His eyes rested on my lips for a few moments before he dipped his head close enough to kiss me, but then he spoke instead.
“You’re going to have to choose, Jessica.
Send me back, or see what it’s like when someone really wants you. ”
My heart did a stupid, traitorous lurch. I hated that he could get under my skin like this.
“Jessica Knox!”
The sharp call cut through everything. We all turned to see Ms. Galloway in the gym doorway, her eyes narrowed like she’d been watching longer than she should have.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on you,” she said. “If you don’t start explaining some of this strange behaviour, I may have to escalate it.”
Translation: she’d call my mother. If that happened, it was game over.
I forced a smile, the one I used on substitute teachers and suspicious shopkeepers. “Just discussing a group project. For English.”
Ms. Galloway’s gaze slid to Etan, then to Bianca, then back to me. “Really?”
“Really,” I said, holding her eyes, willing her to buy it.
Etan, of course, couldn’t resist. “I think we’re making great progress,” he said smoothly, like we were in the middle of a rom-com montage instead of a slow-motion disaster.
Bianca elbowed me so hard I almost lost my balance.
Ms. Galloway didn’t look convinced, but after a long pause, she said, “Make sure your project doesn’t interfere with your grades.” With that, she turned and disappeared into the gym.
I exhaled slowly, knowing it wasn’t over. Not with Ms. Galloway, and definitely not with Etan.
Bianca hooked her arm through mine, muttering just loud enough for him to hear. “Come on, before I actually commit assault.”
I let her steer me down the hall, but I couldn’t shake the weight of his gaze pressing between my shoulder blades. The air felt too still, like the building itself was holding its breath.
We turned the corner, the echoes of our footsteps chasing us. I told myself we were putting distance between us and trouble, just as Raven swooped down and landed on my shoulder.
“We still doing this now?” Bianca asked under her breath.
I nodded, jaw tight. “Before he gets any deeper into this world.”