For a dangerous, stupid heartbeat, I almost believed him. Almost. His eyes stayed on me a moment too long, like he was pulling at a loose thread I couldn’t see. Heat climbed the back of my neck, and then?—
I blinked. My thoughts had thinned, like someone had turned down the volume in my own head. It was just for a second, but when I looked away, it felt like coming up for air.
Etan’s smile didn’t waver.
I told myself I’d imagined it, but the faint ache behind my eyes said otherwise.
I ducked under his arm so fast I clipped my shoulder on the lockers. “Stay out of my head,” I snapped, and didn’t look back until I’d put three turns between us.
Bianca intercepted me halfway to class, grinning like she’d just walked into a rom-com montage. “Okay, so, unpopular opinion, but maybe you should go with it.”
I stopped dead. “Go with it?”
“He’s clearly into you. I’m not saying I approve of mysterious mirror doppelgängers, but, like, look at him.”
“Bianca, he’s not Nate. He’s a magical parasite who could replace the real Nate forever.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I know, you already told me this morning,” Bianca said. “Doesn’t make him less distractingly hot.”
“I’m serious, Bee.”
“I hear you. We’ll keep an eye on him.”
The bell rang again before I could respond, and Bianca skipped off to class.
I tried to focus on my art textbook, but every time I glanced up, Etan was already looking at me. He’d smile, slow and deliberate, like he knew I couldn’t look away.
The worst part? He was right.
By last period, whispers about the ‘new Nate’ were everywhere. Someone swore the basketball team’s scoreboard had clicked over to a win mid-practice when he walked by. Someone else claimed their phone battery had jumped from almost dead to full after he touched the table they were sitting at.
Etan just laughed, leaning into the attention like he’d been born for it. Maybe, in a way, he had.
By the time the last bell rang, I’d survived four classes, two Etan smiles that should’ve been illegal, and one moment in the cafeteria where I swore his reflection winked at me from the juice machine.
I needed answers, which meant I needed Raven.
He flew down as soon as I exited the school’s main doors and we cut through the woods behind school. Raven perched on my shoulder like a very judgy pirate accessory. The air smelled of pine and the salt drifting in from the bay, but my head was full of one question: What happens if I can’t get rid of Etan?
When we reached my room, Raven hopped onto my desk and fluffed his wings. “Alright, Mirror Magic 101. Pay attention, or I’ll start charging tuition.”
I sat cross-legged on my bed. “Hit me.”
“The Mirror Realm,” he began, “is a shadow duplicate of our world. Same streets, same buildings, same people, but drained of color, sound, and warmth. Imagine living in a photocopy of your life where nothing tastes, smells, or feels right.”
“Sounds depressing.”
“That’s the point. The things in there, the mirror creatures, crave what we have here. Sunlight. Music. Chocolate cake. Touch. They’ll do anything to keep it once they get a taste.”
A chill slid down my spine. “So, Etan’s just what? Stealing Nate’s life?”
“Not just his life,” Raven said. “His existence. Mirror creatures are tethered to their real counterpart. The longer Etan stays here, the weaker the real Nate gets. Eventually…” He trailed off.
“Eventually what?” I asked, even though I already knew I wasn’t going to like the answer.
Raven’s eyes were steady. “The real Nate fades out. Completely. Gone for good. And that’s if time plays nice,” Raven added. “Time’s not the same over there, it runs like a scratched record. It skips forward when you’re not looking, loops a bad moment until you forget you ever had a good one. You could spend an hour there and come back to find days missing or the other way around. Guess which one’s more common?”
My stomach dropped and I felt sick. Black dots danced behind my eyes, and I was finding it hard to take a full breath. “Okay. That’s bad. Really bad. I can’t lose him, Raven.”
