The reflection's hand brushed the glass, and for a terrifying heartbeat, Emma thought it had slipped through. She stumbled backward, clutching the edge of the fireplace for support. Luke's voice broke the silence, sharp and urgent.
"Emma! Stop looking at it!"
Her eyes stayed fixed on the mirror. The reflection wasn't just imitating her anymore. It was watching, calculating, alive with a hunger she could feel crawling over her skin.
Luke grabbed her arm. "You need to know… the fire wasn't an accident."
Emma's head spun. "What do you mean? It was my house, your accident… everything burned!"
He pulled her toward the center of the room, his grip firm, almost desperate. "It's tied to us — tied to our promise. Do you remember, Emma? Before the fire… in the old garden, the night we swore we'd be together no matter what?"
Her breath caught. The memory flared in her mind — a circle of candles, the scent of wet earth, Luke's hands trembling as they held hers. A vow, whispered beneath the shadows of the Ashmere oaks:
"Even if the world burns, we burn together."
The memory made her stomach twist. That promise hadn't been just a metaphor.
Luke's voice softened, almost pleading. "The fire answered us. It took something from me… something from us. And now, it's here, in the house, in the mirrors. It's feeding on the secret we've kept. Our love… our lies."
Emma shook, fear and awe mingling in her chest. "Then… what do we do?"
Luke's eyes were dark, but resolute. "We have to finish it. We either destroy it… or it destroys everything — us, the house, the past we thought we could hide from."
The storm outside howled, and lightning struck the tallest tree on the hill, sending a shower of sparks through the rain. The reflection in the mirror smiled wider, showing teeth that weren't quite human.
Emma took a shaky breath. "And if we fail?"
Luke's hand found hers again, their fingers interlacing. "Then the fire takes everything we promised each other."
For a moment, silence fell, the kind that presses against your lungs. Then a single whisper rose from the mirror:
"You cannot escape the fire…"
Emma's heart pounded as the air around them seemed to thicken. The promise they had made, so long ago, was no longer theirs to keep — it belonged to something older, something waiting beneath the glass.
And the night had only just begun.