Bare Reflections Novels & Stories

Staring at the mirrored wall. His reflection? Shattered.

"When are you coming back, then?" "I don't know. You don't have to wait for me anymore for I will not come. Please forget about me, I don't deserve you. Look at yourself in the mirror! You are so gorgeous and sexy before you got pregnant and until now - you looked great...but I have no feelings for you so don't waste your time on me, find someone else's."

Mia's POV The following day, morning precisely I woke up with a slight headache. I went into the bathroom and washed my face twice. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and I could swear I saw something or was it my imagination. I saw one of my eyeball turn red for a second. I picked my toothbrush from the cup on the sink and applied the toothpaste over it before I began brushing my teeth. Whatever is going wrong with me is absolutely new. I wish Kai would just find the damn repeller hag...geez! Language...older repeller. The woman or man deserve some respect but I was getting pissed off for no reason.

A variety of a dozen or so tents litter the small clearing. A small group is gathered around a fire, far off to our right, on the edge of the clearing, consisting of three Omegas Cody, David and Tony, and an Elder, Alazaer. The Omegas are each holding a glass beer bottle and seem to be taking turns trying to get Alazaer to laugh. However, each time, he just raises a thick gray eyebrow at them with a blank and unamused expression on his tan wrinkled face.

The reflection smiled faintly. “Hello,” it said. Avery’s stomach lurched. “Who—” “Don’t you recognize me?” the other Avery asked. “You left me behind.” The voice was soft, but it reverberated unnaturally through the room. Avery pressed her palm to her temple. “You’re not real.” The reflection tilted its head. “Neither are you. Not anymore.” A cold tremor ran through her spine. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe. Containment. Psychological bleed. They warned you about this. Reapers who touched the Between sometimes brought fragments back — echoes, spectral memories that clawed their way into the conscious mind.

Zara stared at it, something primal in her blood waking. “This isn’t just a mirror,” she breathed. “No,” Maxim said. “It’s called the Umbraglass. One of the last magical relics from the Age of the Thirteen Clans. It shows truth… and threat.” As she watched, her reflection flickered. Not one Zara—but many. In one, she wore a crown of moonlight. In another, she bled from a wound she couldn't see. One version burned in violet fire. One stood alone.

One after another they emerged. Reflection-Alexander: taller, shoulders broader, the rebar in his hand now a burning red crowbar, his storm-gray eyes replaced by solid crimson. Reflection-Mamá: youthful, well untouched, by cancer yet her smile was precise the grin of a person who had removed her own heart and carried on. Reflection-Lila: arms intact, flare gun filled with a substance glowing like ruby Etienne’s spirit, beside her—present, grinning, disturbed. Reflection-Marco: crown intact, scars fully red, tablet whole and floating beside him like an obedient demon.

No red eyes. Just silence. And in front of her A mirror. She stepped closer. Her reflection blinked independently. And smiled. Not kindly. “Integration is complete.” Ariella’s heart slammed. “You’re not me.” The reflection tilted its head. “I am the version that does not hesitate.” Behind the reflection, billions of stars ignited at once. “You can save them,” it whispered. “All of them.” Her breath trembled. “How?” The reflection’s smile widened. “By ending them.” Ariella gasped