Page 67 of Lovesick Titan

Taking a few deep breaths as he waited for Mal to join him, Danny walked in front of the mirror to look at himself, and he could admit that he looked good, all things considered. What was different, what had changed from only days ago, was that in his eyes was hope, hope for the possibility of beating back the darkness that had plagued him for so long.

Moving out of the way of a rushing nurse headed for the elevators caused Danny to bump into the table, disrupting the plant and nearly sending it toppling. He caught it at the last second and settled everything back into place with a sigh as he leaned against the glass.

“Time to say goodbye, Danny,” said a voice—hisvoice—sending chills through him as impossibly strong hands gripped his shoulders from behind. From themirror. “You can’t have him. He’smine.”

The scream Danny tried to release cut off as he was pulled, struggling in vain against the sudden hold on him, into the darkness of the mirror world.

Chapter17

Danny couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t—

He hit the ground and gasped in air as he fought to right himself. Blackness beneath him. Mirrors everywhere,everywhereas he turned in a desperate circle.No.

“You can’t have him!” Danny screamed as he spun in place, looking for his reflection but only seeing flickers of light from the mirrors nearest him. Not even the ones close to him showed a version of himself, reflecting only each other like he was alone in a dark room with no sense of space and making him feel strangely isolated rather than surrounded. “Where are you…?” he said, breathless as he backed up, trying to keep from having any mirrors behind him, but it was impossible with how they littered the landscape. “What do you want?!”

“You,” his own voice whispered from behind him, and when Danny whirled around, he faced himself in the closest mirror—his clothes, his face, but with a sneer in the expression. “Then I’m going to ruin him. Just like we planned.Remember, Danny? Our plan? To make him want us…” he grew larger in the reflection as he walked forward, right up to the glass like he might—

Danny backpedaled.

“Make him love us. Make it so he can never, ever live without us.” The glass rippled as he steppedthrough it, steppedout of itinto the mirror world to join Danny, only he didn’t shift into Ludgate as he appeared whole and solid for the first time. It was justDannystanding there with a twisted grin. “And thenriphis heart out while it’s still beating.”

“No…” Danny said, because it wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real. It was Ludgate. It was supposed to beLudgate. But all Danny saw, only inches in front of him, was his own face—with black eyes.

He couldn’t move, not even as his mirror-self stepped closer, right up to him, and reached out with his own hand.

I’m not like him, I’m not like him, I’m not—

“I told you, Danny, that one day I’d be all that’s left. Now you’re the one who gets to watch from the mirror world.” With the same impossible strength he’d used to bring Danny here, he pushed Danny’s chest, knocking him backward to strike the mirror behind him.

But he didn’t collide or fall through it back to the real world. He fellintoit, and the image before him rippled with a solidifying seal. Danny was trapped, trapped beneath glass like a butterfly on display.

He screamed but no sound left him. He pounded the glass, but it didn’t shake or quiver. He couldn’t get out. He could barely move. All he could do was watch, while on the other side, his reflectionlaughed.

The other Danny straightened his collar, his jacket, his belt, with a cruel confidence before he grinned and turned back to the array of mirrors before him, all of which flickered to life, leading to the places and people Danny loved most.

R

Mal closed the hospital room door behind him and turned down the hallway to find Danny. He was surprised the kid wasn’t sitting on the bench twiddling his thumbs. He’d probably gone to get coffee or a bite to eat.

Moving slowly down the hallway, Mal peered toward the elevators first, then walked to the reception desk, expecting that at any moment Danny would appear from around a corner with vending machine spoils. Eventually, Mal returned to the bench to wait and discovered Danny’s messenger bag beneath it.

When Lucy came out of the room several minutes later, saying that the nurse was kicking them out for a while, Mal started to worry but relaxed when he checked his phone.

One new message from ‘Sparky’:Zeus business. Rain check?

Mal wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed that once again their conversation had been put on hold, but the anxiousness in his gut told him that right now what he wanted more than anything else was to see Danny again. Besides, now he had something to return to him.

Peeking inside the messenger bag, he discovered his goggles, the set of comms he’d lost, and the shirt and sleep pants Danny had borrowed.

Name the place and time, Sparky. I’ll be there.

R

Mal fell asleep at the hospital. Carla and baby were fine, but they still needed to spend the night. Michael’s grandmother had indeed taken him home, and Mal had elected to stay, even when Oz and Lucy headed out planning to return in the morning. There was always the chance that Dunkirk or one of his goons might find Carla. Too risky to leave her alone.

So Mal sat in the chair in her room and allowed himself to doze, certain that he’d awaken immediately if anything was amiss. What did finally wake him was his phone buzzing in his pocket.

It was early, only six, but the text was from Danny, finally an answer to Mal’s message last night.

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