The Mirror Room Only One Leaves

d her eyes, ther

ery angle. Walls. Floor. Even above her - all mirrors. The air was co

eyes multiplied into infinity. The room was a perfect cube of mirrors, the

, but her chest felt like

re

The mirror was flawless - and wrong. Too clean. Too smooth. Too... alive. She pulled her

hing moved

sp

re was

efore. A simple metal folding chair, now standing in the cent

e kicked

just to ground the rising panic. "E

ame th

Like a lo

. A vertical line split the wall, opening like a door, but r

ma

in confusion. Shirt half untucked. He

hell-" h

lid shut behind h

red at e

Her voice sounded too loud in the

hair. "Jace," he replied, his voice

ook he

A prank? A set for some weird art film? I swear, i

her

panel sl

tightly coiled black hair in a bun. She wore a dark blazer and had a

room like a threat

u people?"

lara repea

man said. "A

answered. "Where

had an

her

me, two

with warm brown eyes and a nervous expression. The man looked like he'

exchanged

," the

" the wo

tered hoodie, headphones dangling from his neck. "Teo," h

- the last m

osed as a chess master. He wore a neatly tailor

said. "You all appear..

eyes n

yl

ew tha

rom w

appear across the mirrored walls in dark red letters. Not glow

turned

cracks. Lie twic

t followed was

mean?" Jace muttered, ste

playing a very sick g

loser to the mirrored writing, her

chill crawl d

, mirror

was rea

s trying to

beginning to real

n't just

as a

erything for

testing pressure points on the floor. Dorian slammed a fist against one mirro

e a damn jewelry box,"

ring to himself. "This is performance art.

lming this,"

o you

's no system response. No environm

said. "It's... calc

, fingers steepled under his chin.

ca

ing," Elara said

amused. "I know enough not

," she pressed. "This isn'

said more

is a test," he growled. "We

rper asked, he

e ans

the one Elara had

, now rested

. Unla

cautious st

h it yet,"

d, and opened the lid

ay a sin

ite

eld i

TRUTH. OR

mechani

- genderless, tonele

One of you is a liar. Identif

lved into dust

c er

ullshit is this

even know each ot

e all lie?

sh?" Elara whis

. "This could all be psychological manipul

an art film?" Dori

say one thing about ourselves. Someth

ce muttered. "Excep

e," the vo

eacher. Kindergarten. In Phoe

id murals in L.A. before

army. Discharged seven

rnetics division. I worked on

roadway, mostly. I played

Private practice. Tr

turned

reelance. I write exposés. Re

ice fa

eyes s

he said softly

at suppose

," the voi

ghts d

- C

ractured across one

one f

?" Harper

e ans

ne k

or beneath T

warning -

o

ust a flicker of ligh

Harper

already runnin

ooth mirr

gn of

tra

sil

as calm. "That

pped shouting, the mi

f fracture stretched across one mirrored

e spot where Teo had been, "You said memo

hesi

coul

want

t every mir

he admitted. "An institute. They were trying to

Doria

was a tes

ence wa

finished. "Or... th

n't look

m. "You worked a

said. "I've wor

sn't a

... this isn't random. We

s. They used a mirror mo

dent. Bright, imaginative. She said her

rt of it,"

t him. "How do

ors bega

Like pressure ris

and quiet, whispered fro

aga

age trai

, the fractured truth bleeding

only the

be all of them -