I woke up in my dorm. I didn't remember falling asleep. If I remember anything, I recall running Away from this dorm not into it.
The lights were on. My hoodie was hung over the desk chair. My sandwich was in the room...
I remember eating the whole thing but it sat there on the tray.
Untouched.
Perfect.
Everything seemed odd. Like I didn't almost get killed. Like Zayden didn't just give me terrible news. Like no one had tried to wear Draken's face and smile at me with borrowed teeth.
Like no one had jumped at me with eyes that weren't eyes and a voice that was layered wrong.
I sat up slowly.
The sheets didn't feel like mine.
The air didn't smell right.
And the world was quiet in that movie set kind of way — too staged, too still. It did feel right.
Then I noticed the mirror. It wasn't there. I don't remember getting a mirror.
"when did I get this?" I said as I shifted slowly towards it.
It was a small rectangular one, slightly above my desk. Fogged. Like someone had just showered.
I hadn't taken a shower...I don't even remember getting in here.
I hadn't been here since I ran.
And yet — there it was.
Fog.
And something written in it.
I stood up, legs trembling like I'd been asleep too long. I wiped the surface slowly, struggling to stay calm.
A single word stared back at me through the haze:
Ezra.
I stumbled back.
My mark flared beneath my sleeve. Not with heat — but with cold. The kind of cold that feels old. The kind that means something's watching.
I slowly started to understand this mark.
And that's when I saw it.
Not in the mirror. Not in the room.
Just — outside the door.
The shadow.
A tall silhouette, still and waiting.
I blinked. It was gone. Vanished.
No.
No, no, no.
I panicked and turned for my phone.
It wasn't on the nightstand.
It wasn't in my pocket.
It wasn't anywhere.
Fear gripped me hard. I reached for the door, desperate to get out, and...
I froze.
There was a sound.
Behind me. Water.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Slow. Steady. Wet.
It was coming from the bathroom.
Do not open it.
Do not open it.
DON'T BE THAT GUY.
I opened it. Eventually. I felt pathetic.
The shower was on.
Steam curling upward like breath.
And in the middle of the misted glass—
A handprint.
Not mine.
Too big. Too long. Too wrong.
The handprint on the shower glass wasn't mine.
It wasn't human.
And yet—
My hands were cold.
My heart was beating. I felt like I'd pass out.
I could feel the mark pulsing under my skin.
This wasn't sleep. I slapped myself, hoping I'd wake up.
I staggered back from the bathroom door, my breath catching in my throat.
"Zayden?" I called out. "This isn't funny—this isn't one of your creepy royal games. I'm—
Not okay.
I'm not okay"
No answer.
I turned to leave.
The door was gone.
Gone.
Just a smooth stretch of wall, painted beige like the rest of the dorm.
My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I swore the walls could hear it.
NO. NO. No. Where's the door—
Something laughed.
Soft.
Distorted.
From inside the mirror.
I turned slowly.
The fog was thicker now.
But something was forming behind the glass. No — inside the glass.
A shape.
Long hair.
Eyes like black pits.
Wearing my face.
The reflection smiled.
Not like me.
Like it knew me better than I did.
"You're not dreaming," it said in my voice.
"You're just where he left you." what does it mean? what's happening?!
I couldn't move. My reflection...that thing wearing my face tilted its head, still smiling.
Its eyes were wrong. All black. No whites. No light. I started to consider if that was how I actually looked.
It raised one hand. Pressed it flat to the inside of the mirror.
Like glass meant nothing.
"How's this even happening?" I trembled as my knees gave up on me.
"You're not supposed to be here," it said. "Not yet."
"DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE HERE?!" I screamed "ZAYDEN!!! YOU BASTARD! HELP ME!!" I screamed out of desperation.
Nothing.
My knees buckled. I backed into the desk, knocking the sandwich tray to the floor. It landed quietly. That was the least of my problems.
The air felt like there was something in it. The drowsiness hit again. I couldn't breathe or see.
Something behind the mirror cracked.
The hand inside it… pushed.
And the glass bowed outward like water.
No.
NO, NO, no, no.
I stumbled toward the corner, arms shaking, tears falling...
And then, the copy crawled out.
One hand.
Then another.
Then its head, peeling through the glass like plastic wrap.
It smiled wider.
"I thought I'd wear you again. Just for a little while."
I sat there, crying and awaiting my fate.
"is this how I die?" I cried under my breath.
Its skin rippled. Like it was remembering how to be human. All I could hear were the cracks as it struggled to come out.
It dragged itself halfway through the mirror, spine arching like something boneless. Almost elegant. Almost familiar but no.
I screamed again.
"ZAYDEN—!"
Nothing.
The copy reached a hand toward me—nails sharpened, fingers twitching like it could already feel my throat.
And then
The air exploded.
The mirror shattered.
Glass flew past me in a rush of wind and light.
The copy shrieked — not out of rage but fear. It almost looked like it regretted it's decision.
It was almost out. Inches from me and I couldn't do anything but cry.
It didn't reach me, because something tackled it mid-air.
Not something.
Zayden. He finally came.
He crashed through the wall like a storm, cloak flaring, eyes glowing. Not metaphorically. Literally. Gold and burning and furious. He was not happy.
"You don't touch him, He's mine" he snarled — voice deeper, more beast than man.
The copy hissed like steam and lunged again.
They collided.
Zayden's hand caught it by the throat, giving it no air to breathe. The thing that almost ended me looked like it was begging for mercy from Zayden.
The wall cracked.
The air split. The shadows clouded the room.
"Back to your hole," he growled, voice thick with power.
The thing writhed. It tried to shift. Tried to scream.
Zayden's hand pulsed with light. My mark flared in answer.
And then,
It shattered.
Not into pieces. Into ash.
It evaporated like it had never existed at all.
Zayden stood there in the wreckage. Breathing hard. Covered in ash and mirror dust and yet he still looked as beautiful as ever.
Eyes still glowing.
He looked at me with concern and all I could say was
"You took your damn time."