No exits.
No windows.
No way out.
The panic tries to claw up again, but I shove it down.
Think. I need to think.
But I can’t focus. My thoughts keep slipping, sliding away like water through my fingers.
How long have I been here?
The question hits me suddenly, sharp and disorienting.
I don’t know.
I woke up after he left, but when was that? Minutes ago? Hours?
There’s no way to tell.
No sun. No clock. No sense of time passing at all.
I try to count back. Trace the moments from when I fell through the mirror to now.
But everything blurs together. The void, the snake, the chamber, the darkness, his voice—
It all runs into one endless stretch of fear and exhaustion.
I could have been here for an hour.
Or a day.
Or longer.
My breath comes faster.
If time doesn’t work here—if it moves differently—then how long have the guys been searching?
Are they even searching?
The thought twists like a knife.
I saw them in the mirror. Withher. With Riley wearing my face.
Do they know?
Do they realize she’s not me?
Or are they—
My stomach lurches.
What if they’re with her right now? Touching her. Talking to her. Believing every lie she tells them because she looks like me and sounds like me and they have no reason to doubt—
I press my hands to my face, trying to breathe through the nausea.
What if time’s passed differently and they’ve already moved on? What if Riley’s had days or weeks to convince them she’s me, and they’ve just… accepted it?
