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.
Chapter 19
Etan
The mirror storm was beautiful.
Every shard spun slow enough for me to catch glimpses, a sliver of Jess’s face here, the curl of her hair there, the flicker of panic in her eyes when she thought she’d lost sight of me. The air smelled like lightning and dust, the kind that clings to your tongue and makes your chest feel alive.
I could hear her voice through the glass, reading the words she thought would send me back. Clever girl.
But she didn’t understand. This wasn’t just about winning or losing. This was about staying.
