Chapter 7 7.Chapter 7:Splinters in the Glass

Chapter 7: Splinters in the Glass

The morning brought no sunlight.

Only a deep crimson hue seeping through the clouds-the second night of the Blood Moon drawing near. Kira woke feeling hollow, like something had been scooped out of her in the night. She couldn't remember what her mother's favorite flower was. Or what her own voice used to sound like in old videos.

The mirror was taking pieces of her.

She had to fight back.

Kira pulled out Elias Vane's journal again and flipped through the pages, searching for anything she hadn't noticed before. Near the back, hidden between pages stuck together by age and dampness, she found a folded note written in a different hand.

Elias hadn't written it.

It was addressed to him-from Evelyn Langley.

"Elias, if you're reading this, you're already too far gone. But if somehow your mind is still your own, remember this: The mirror does not take everything at once. It fractures you-splinters. Look for the pieces it hides."

Kira whispered, "Splinters..."

Maybe she could get parts of herself back.

Maybe the mirror hadn't devoured everything yet.

She began searching the house-not just rooms, but reflections. Each mirror, polished metal, even dark glass became a portal. In the reflection of a cracked photo frame, she saw a memory-herself at seven, running through the garden, chased by her laughing mother.

She blinked.

Gone.

In the reflection of the kettle's side, a glimpse of her father, though he'd died long ago.

Gone.

Every mirror held fragments. Snippets of who she was.

But they never lasted.

She went back to the attic and faced the Obsidian Mirror. "You're breaking me," she said. "But I'm going to break you first."

The mirror trembled.

A crack appeared-thin as a hairline-at the top right corner.

Kira stepped back.

It could be damaged.

That night, she set a plan into motion.

Using the old symbols from Elias's notes, she drew a protective circle around the mirror using salt, chalk, and iron filings. Then she placed candles at each cardinal direction and began reciting the only incantation Elias had scribbled clearly in the journal:

"Let what was stolen be seen,

Let what was hidden be known,

Let the truth reflect no lies."

The attic grew colder. The flames of the candles flickered against an unseen wind.

And then, the mirror shouted.

Not in words-but in images.

Memory after memory burst across its surface: her first day of school, Evelyn locking away the mirror, Elias screaming in the woods, her mother whispering something into the locket as she wept-

"You must never look too long..."

Kira collapsed to her knees, overwhelmed. But before she lost consciousness, she saw it again:

The crack.

Wider now.

The mirror was vulnerable.

When she woke, the attic was dark and silent. The circle of protection had been smudged. Something had crossed it.

In her hand, she clutched a shard of obsidian glass.

Not from the floor.

From the mirror itself.

And inside that shard, she could see something-someone-trapped, reaching out with familiar eyes.

It was herself.

But younger. Whole. Untouched.

The mirror hadn't taken everything yet.

There was still time.

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