The halls of Blackwood Manor twisted around them as Sera ran, her breath ragged, her hand still gripped tightly in Elias's.
The sound of the footsteps slow, deliberate, inhuman grew closer. The very walls of the house seemed to pulse in response, as if the mansion itself was breathing,Watching,Trapping them.
Elias suddenly pulled her sideways, shoving open a door that hadn't been there before.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them. The footsteps ceased Silence thickened the air.
Sera pressed a hand against her chest, trying to catch her breath Where were they?
The room was different from the others smaller, almost intimate, with walls lined in faded blue wallpaper and bookshelves that curved inward. A window let in the dim glow of the storm outside, casting silver light across the wooden floor.
At the center of the room stood an ornate mirror.
Unlike the cursed black mirror from the hallway, this one gleamed with moonlight, its silver frame pulsing faintly. But the glass wasn't normal,it didn't reflect them at all Instead, it showed something else entirely.
A different version of the manor.
One where candles still burned, the chandeliers glowed, and voices whispered in the air.
Sera stepped forward, mesmerized. "What is this?"
Elias's expression was unreadable. "The house as it once was."
She turned to him, her pulse hammering. "And now?"
His silver eyes met hers. "A prison."
Sera's fingers hovered over the mirror's surface, drawn to it despite the fear curling in her stomach. The moment her skin touched the glass, a shock of energy ran through her.
The world shifted.
Suddenly, the room wasn't cold anymore. The wallpaper was restored, the scent of candle wax and roses filled the air, and Laughter.
Soft, warm. A woman's laugh, her laugh.
Sera gasped as she saw herself **or someone who looked just like her**reflected in the mirror's world Dressed in deep emerald, her hair pinned with silver combs, she twirled in the arms of a man,Elias....
But not the Elias she knew, This version of him was alive, breathing, human. His dark hair fell over his forehead as he smiled at her, a look so full of devotion it made her chest tighten.
It was intimate,Familiar As if she had known him once, As if they had belonged to each other.
Sera stumbled back from the mirror, breaking the vision. The room snapped back into the present, cold and dark once more.
Her breath came fast. "That was me."
Elias didn't speak, but his silence said enough.
Sera shook her head. "How? Why did I" She swallowed, "Why did I see myself?"
His jaw tensed. "Because you were here before."
Her blood turned to ice.
"That's impossible."
Elias stepped closer, his gaze burning into hers. "Is it?"
Sera's heart pounded, No It didn't make sense.
She wasn't part of this house,She wasn't part of Elias's past, She had never been here before.
And yet
Why did the air feel like home?
Why did Elias's touch feel like something she had already lost once?
Before she could demand more answers, the silver mirror flickered again This time, the reflection wasn't warm.
It was dark. Twisted.
The elegant manor had turned into ruins, fire licking at the edges of the glass. And in the center of the burning wreckage stood a shadowy figure.
Watching them.
Sera shuddered. It wasn't Elias.
It was something else.
And it was waiting for her.