Morning sunlight passed through the narrow gaps between the curtains and fell across Maria Brennan’s face.
Her eyelashes trembled before her eyes slowly opened.
However, the person who awakened inside Maria’s body was no longer Maria.
Airam sat up and examined her hands.
She felt warm blood moving through her veins and listened to the steady beat of the heart inside her chest.
Every breath and movement carried a physical sensation she had never experienced while trapped behind the mirror.
A satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Airam climbed out of bed and crossed the room barefoot.
She entered the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror.
A terrified girl stared back from the other side of the glass.
The real Maria pressed both hands against the mirror.
Her face was pale and desperate as she silently begged Airam to return her body.
“Good morning, my dear sister.” Airam placed one finger against the cold surface.
She slowly traced the outline of Maria’s reflected cheek while enjoying the fear in her eyes.
“From today forward, I’ll live the life you were always too afraid to claim.
I’ll experience everything you wanted but never had the courage to reach for.” Maria shook her head frantically.
Her mouth opened as she tried to speak, but no sound crossed the barrier between them.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry.” Airam’s smile grew brighter.
“You should be grateful.
I’m going to punish everyone who humiliated you.
Mark, Lily, your father, and every other person who treated you like something worthless will finally understand what they created.” Maria continued pounding against the glass.
Airam watched for several seconds before losing interest.
“You stay there and watch.
I’ll handle the difficult part.” She turned away from the mirror and opened Maria’s closet.
Most of the clothes inside were plain and conservative.
They had been chosen to avoid attention and satisfy Dan’s rigid standards.
Airam pushed the loose dresses and oversized sweaters aside.
She selected a fitted black T-shirt, ripped jeans, and black ankle boots.
The outfit revealed a confidence Maria had always hidden.
Airam brushed out her hair and allowed it to fall naturally around her shoulders instead of tying it back.
When she returned to the mirror, Maria still stood behind the glass.
Airam examined her new appearance and smiled.
“This is much better.” The breakfast table fell silent when Airam entered the dining room.
Amy looked up with visible surprise while Dan immediately frowned.
His critical gaze moved over her clothes and hair.
Disapproval hardened every line of his face.
“Maria, what are you wearing?” Airam calmly took her usual seat.
“Clothes.” “That outfit is inappropriate.” Dan placed his coffee cup on the table.
“Your jeans are torn and your hair is a mess.
You don’t look like a respectable young woman.” The real Maria would have lowered her head and apologized.
She had spent years trying to avoid her father’s anger even though nothing she did ever satisfied him.
Airam met his gaze without hesitation.
“I think I look good.” Dan seemed startled by the direct answer.
“That isn’t the point.” “It is to me.” Airam picked up a slice of toast and spread butter across it.
“I would rather dress in a way that pleases me than spend my life trying to satisfy everyone else.” Amy gasped softly.
Dan’s expression darkened.
“You should watch your tone.” Airam took a slow bite of toast and continued looking at him.
“You should watch yours.” Amy stared at her daughter as though a stranger had entered the house.
Maria had never spoken back to Dan so openly.
Dan’s jaw tightened.
He appeared ready to continue the argument but something in Airam’s eyes made him hesitate.
There was no fear inside them.
The daughter he had controlled through criticism and intimidation now looked almost amused by his anger.
Dan released a cold snort and returned to his breakfast rather than risk losing authority in front of Amy.
An unnatural silence settled over the dining room.
Airam finished eating at her own pace.
Once she was done, she stood and collected her schoolbag.
“Have a wonderful day.” Her mocking politeness made Dan’s hand tighten around his coffee cup.
Airam left before he could respond.
Maria watched everything from the mirror in the hallway.
Her expression contained fear, but a faint trace of satisfaction appeared when Airam defied their father.
Airam noticed it and winked at her reflection before walking outside.
The hallways at school were crowded when she arrived.
Conversations and laughter echoed between the lockers while students hurried toward their morning classes.
People began noticing her almost immediately.
Maria usually walked with her shoulders hunched and her eyes fixed on the floor.
She tried to move through the building without attracting attention.
Airam did the opposite.
Her boots struck the floor with steady confidence.
She kept her head raised and met every curious stare without discomfort.
Whispers followed her down the hallway.
“Is that Maria?” “What happened to her?” “She looks completely different.” Airam ignored them.
She enjoyed the attention because every shocked expression proved how invisible Maria had allowed herself to become.
A familiar mocking voice came from ahead.
“Well, look who finally learned how to hold her head up.” Mark stood in the middle of the hallway with two of his friends.
He wore his football jacket and carried the same arrogant smile that appeared whenever he found someone weaker to torment.
The surrounding students slowed down.
Many expected Maria to retreat or search for another way around him.
Airam stopped several feet away.
Her eyes narrowed as she examined Mark like a cat studying an injured animal.
Mark mistook her silence for fear.
“What happened to the old clothes?” he asked.
“Did your father finally buy you a new personality?” His friends laughed.
Airam remained still.
Mark stepped closer.
“Did you forget how to talk?” He reached toward her shoulder with the same casual cruelty he had used countless times before.
His fingers almost touched the fabric of her shirt when Airam moved.
Her hand closed around his wrist.
The motion happened so quickly that Mark barely saw it.
Airam pressed her thumb against a sensitive point beneath his palm and twisted.
A sharp wave of pain shot through his arm.
Mark cried out.
“What the hell?” Airam increased the pressure.
Mark’s knees bent as the pain forced his body downward.
Despite being more than six feet tall and much heavier than her, he could not pull free.
His friends stared without understanding what had happened.
Airam leaned closer until her lips were near Mark’s ear.
Her voice remained soft enough that only he could hear.
“I hate being touched.” Mark’s face had turned pale.
“Let go.” “If you place this hand on me again, you won’t need it afterward.” The threat carried no anger.
Her calm delivery made it far more frightening because Mark could sense that she meant every word.
He looked into her eyes and saw something he had never found in Maria.
Coldness.
Cruelty.
A willingness to hurt him without regret.
“You’re not Maria,” Mark whispered.
“Who are you?” Airam released his wrist.
Mark stumbled backward and clutched his injured arm against his chest.
His two friends moved toward him but kept their distance from her.
Airam adjusted her sleeve.
“My identity doesn’t matter.” She looked across the three frightened boys.
“What matters is that you stay out of my way from now on.” Mark opened his mouth but no insult came out.
The memory of Dante lifting him on the school bus had already damaged his confidence.
Being overpowered by Maria in front of another crowd shattered what remained.
Airam walked past them without another glance.
The hallway remained silent until she disappeared into the gathering of students.
Only then did conversations slowly begin again.
Mark continued staring after her.
The timid girl he had bullied for years seemed to have become another person overnight.
Airam already knew where she was going.
She moved through the crowd until she reached the row of lockers near Dante’s classroom.
A large group of students had gathered in that area.
Dante stood at the center of them.
His capture of Stu Macher had transformed him from a popular student into a local celebrity.
Everyone wanted to hear how he had defeated Ghostface or ask whether Gale Weathers planned to interview him again.
A boy near the front leaned closer with open excitement.
“Is it true you shot the knife out of his hand?” “No,” Dante answered.
“I didn’t need to.” Another student spoke before the first could respond.
“I heard you knocked him unconscious with one punch.” “People hear a lot of things.” Dante handled the questions with an easy smile.
He gave them enough information to remain interested without revealing anything about Ebony and Ivory, Carrie’s telekinesis, or Marquis.
The surrounding students suddenly began moving aside.
Dante looked toward the opening in the crowd and saw Maria walking directly toward him.
His expression shifted slightly.
Something about her was wrong.
The Maria he remembered could barely maintain eye contact.
She blushed whenever he spoke to her and seemed prepared to apologize for taking up space.
The girl approaching him moved with complete confidence.
Her clothing had changed, but that was not the most important difference.
The aggression inside her eyes belonged to someone who had never feared the people around her.
Dante leaned against his locker and waited.
Airam stopped directly in front of him.
She ignored the students surrounding them and stepped close enough that only a narrow space remained between their bodies.
Dante raised an eyebrow.
“Is something wrong, Maria?” Airam studied his face.
From behind the mirror, Maria watched through her own eyes.
Her trapped expression became desperate when she realized what Airam intended to do.
Airam enjoyed that reaction.
“Dante.” She spoke his name clearly enough for everyone nearby to hear.
The remaining conversations faded.
Airam tilted her head while maintaining eye contact.
“This Saturday, you’re taking me on a date.” Her words were not phrased as a request.
They sounded like an announcement that had already been decided.
The hallway became completely silent.
Several students stared at Airam as though she had lost her mind.
Others turned toward Dante and waited for his response.
The transformation was impossible to ignore.
Maria Brennan had gone from struggling to speak with him on the ice to publicly demanding a date.
Dante looked into her eyes.
The face belonged to Maria, but the person standing before him felt unfamiliar.
Her posture, voice, and confidence had changed too much to be explained by a sudden improvement in self-esteem.
His curiosity grew.
A playful smile appeared on Dante’s face as he leaned slightly closer.
“All right.” Surprise moved through the surrounding crowd.
Airam’s smile deepened.
Dante kept his voice low enough that the nearest students had to strain to hear him.
“May I ask what caused this sudden burst of courage?
You’ve managed to surprise me today.” “You don’t need to know why.” A cunning light flashed through Airam’s eyes.
“Saturday morning at ten.
Meet me in front of the Derry movie theater.” Dante nodded.
“I’ll be there.” “Good.” Airam turned away without waiting for another answer.
She walked down the hallway while dozens of students continued watching her.
Maria remained trapped behind her own eyes.
She could only witness Airam taking control of the feelings she had hidden for so long.
Dante watched the confident figure disappear around the corner.
Frank pushed through the crowd and stopped beside him.
“What just happened?” Dante rubbed his chin while considering the strange change in Maria’s behavior.
“I’m not entirely sure.” “She demanded a date in front of half the school.” “I noticed.” Frank stared in the direction Airam had gone.
“Yesterday she could barely look at you.” “That’s what makes this interesting.” Dante’s smile slowly grew.
Maria Brennan had changed overnight.
Whether the cause was confidence, supernatural influence, or something far stranger remained unclear.
Whatever had happened, Dante intended to discover the truth.
“Very interesting.” [Goal Tracker]