Chapter 18
Jess
We rounded the corner to the auditorium doors, and I froze.
The hot-dog squirrel was perched on the windowsill, tail twitching. In the real world, it was just a squirrel, licking its paws.
But the reflection? Doll-sized armour, complete with a plumed helmet, and something glittering clutched in its little hands; a brooch, maybe, or the kind of trinket you only found at the bottom of a cursed treasure chest.
“That thing’s been collecting enchanted junk for years,” Raven muttered, eyeing the reflection. “Wonder who it stole that from?”
The squirrel flicked an ear, like it had heard him, then scampered off into the shadows.
My stomach tightened. Even the wildlife seemed to know seams like this one weren’t safe.
The auditorium smelled like dust, leftover hairspray from last week’s Romeo and Juliet production, and now, faintly, like peaches and rose dust.
The prom committee had already transformed the place.
Paper lanterns hung from the rafters, streamers twisted in the faint draft, and clusters of balloons bobbed in the corners.
Silver tinsel framed the old mirror near the wings, its glitter catching the ghost light in a way that made the whole thing look ready for some Pinterest-perfect prom photo. Or a magical disaster.
It was the perfect place for a magical showdown, according to Bianca.
“Spacious, good acoustics, and if we set anything on fire, it’ll just look like a special effect,” she’d said.
I wasn’t as confident. My pulse was still skipping from Ms. Galloway’s glare in the hallway. The fact that Etan had the nerve to smirk through the whole thing, wasn’t helping.
“She’s watching you,” Bianca whispered as we crossed the stage. “You need to be careful.”
“I’m aware,” I muttered.
My mind replayed the way Ms. Galloway’s gaze had flicked between us, like she was putting pieces together. The last thing I needed was for her to stumble into the wrong part of this plan. Or the wrong realm.
I knelt and set the flamingo mirror in place on the floor, right in front of the tinsel arch. In front of it, I laid out the bait: three tubes of lip gloss from my stash, their glitter winking in the stage lights and, in the centre, the peach-gold tube that had started all of this.
Etan stepped out from behind the curtain like this was his show.
“You could have just asked me to prom,” he said.
“I’ll save the promposals for people who aren’t trying to erase my crush from existence,” I shot back.
His grin was infuriating. “You keep calling me the enemy, but here you are, inviting me to centre stage.”
“Yeah, because I’m trying to kick you off the stage,” I said, gesturing to the setup.
Bianca handed me the spell. “Just read it exactly as written. Don’t get distracted by his stupid perfect face.”
“Rude,” Etan said, adjusting his hoodie like he was posing for a yearbook photo.
Raven fluttered down to the back of a chair. “Focus. He’s going to try to get in your head before the magic does.”
I uncapped the peach-gold gloss and let its scent flood the air. The seam in the mirror hummed like a low drumbeat, tugging at my hair and making the balloons shiver in their ribbon ties.
I started the incantation.
“Glass that guards and glass that binds,
Return the thief to where he hides…”
The mirror shimmered, a silver wind curling across the stage. At first, it seemed to be working. Etan’s outline flickered like bad reception.
Then, the air filled with a sound like shattering glass. Dozens of mirror shards floated up around us, spinning into a glittering storm. Reflections in the shards twisted, lockers, classrooms, faces I half-recognized.
Etan’s voice cut through the chaos. “You think you can just send me back? I like it here.”
With a lazy flick of his wrist, the prom decorations turned against me.
Streamers whipped into the air like ribbons in a hurricane, tangling around my arms and legs.
A cluster of balloons burst in rapid pops, the sound as sharp as gunfire.
One of the paper lanterns tore free from the rafters and spun toward me like a slow-motion wrecking ball.
“Jess!” Bianca’s voice echoed somewhere to my left. “Which one’s real?”
“No idea! Don’t touch anything shiny!”
Raven dive-bombed past my head, cawing insults at Etan. I twisted free of the streamers, my shoulder screaming in protest, and lunged forward, clutching the gloss and focusing on the flamingo mirror. It was the only anchor we had.
Etan’s voice slid along the mirrored walls. “One word, and we keep the real Nate right where he is. You’d never have to wonder if he liked you back, I already do.”
“That’s not love, Etan,” I said, gripping the tube harder. “That’s theft.”
I found my footing between two walls of spinning shards, the ghost light a faint glow ahead. The flamingo mirror shimmered at the center of the tinsel arch, and I forced my voice steady.
“Trade the false for truth once more,
Let the rightful cross this door.”
The seam yanked like a riptide. The lip glosses clattered against the floor as a rush of cold air tore through the stage, snapping streamers and sending the surviving balloons spinning madly.
For a second, just a second, I saw him. Nate. His outline in the mirror was pale but real, his eyes wide as they found mine. I reached for him.
Etan’s hand shot out of the glass and grabbed his shoulder.
Nate’s mouth moved, but the wind from the seam swallowed his words. The mirror rippled violently, the tinsel arch twisting like it was being wrung by invisible hands.
“Jess!” Bianca shouted.
I shoved forward, fingers brushing Nate’s sleeve.
The seam collapsed. The wind died. My hands closed on empty air.
The mirror was still again, reflecting nothing but me, the glosses, and the hollow ache in my chest.
Etan was gone. So was Nate.
Raven landed heavily beside me. “We’ll try again.”
My throat felt tight. “We have to.”
It was Tuesday night. There were only two days left until the deadline.
I couldn’t lose Nate forever. I just couldn’t.
All around us, the prom decorations swayed gently in the ghost light, less like applause now and more like they were whispering too late.
Paper roses and fading perfume filled the air as it grew heavy with the kind of stillness that meant magic was watching.