Page 80 of Lovesick Titan

Trapped inside a mirror, forced to stand, forced to witness his other self revel in doing so many terrible things, Danny knew true torture. He didn’t care about the stealing, much as it ruined his good name as Zeus. He’d been ready to go to jail for Mal, after all. Then his reflection had gone to the precinct and Danny panicked.

He was looking through a mirror into the morgue as the other him grinned, and Andre came in asking why the Miasma Maker was off. Danny’s heart trip-hammered, he was so afraid for his friends, for hisfamilywhen they showed up too because Andre and Lynn had seen what Other Danny did—the stealing, causing chaos in his Zeus costume instead of helping people—so they’d called in the cavalry.

Other Dannylaughedat them, said such awful things, things Danny had said before and regretted,worsethings, but he wasn’t himself when he talked like that. Only maybe he was. Lynn had convinced him that his reflection was only Ludgate, just a trick, an illusion, but how could another Danny exist outside the mirrors? Maybethatwas the real Danny. Maybe he was just crazy, trapped in his own mind, and Ludgate had nothing to do with any of it.

Lynn tried to get Other Danny with a needle when he wouldn’t listen to reason, and it broke as if his skin was tougher than it should be. He’d grabbed her arm, squeezed until she gasped, until shescreamed, and watching it all, unable to do anything, Danny heard the bones crack.Just like that night, what could have happened,wouldhave happened to that petty thief at the smoke shop if Andre and Lynn hadn’t talked some sense into him.

Now it was too late. Now nothing could reach Danny anymore.

He didn’t know what could be worse than what he’d already witnessed as the other him locked everyone away. Then morning came, and as Danny woke, he found himself looking through a mirror into Pronto. Other Danny sat there smiling with coffee in hand and waved someone over to join him.

Mal. He looked so strange in a hat and glasses—adorably strange—but Danny couldn’t enjoy the sight. His stomach clenched when he heard himself say even more terrible things than he’d said to the others.

And Mal’sface. Danny wanted to pass out again when he saw the tightly-controlled thief make a swift exit. He cried andcriedand pounded the glass, but there was no escape. He was getting weaker, fading away, disappearing until that other Danny was all that would remain. He could feel it, and he didn’t know if he could fight it.

Only when he watched Mal take two shots of whiskey, one after the other like all he wanted was to drown himself, did Danny pound the glass one more time and scream.

As he cried out, pouring every ounce of emotion and remaining strength into the bellow, his powers surged within him, sparking lightning all around his body. He screamed louder, pulsed stronger, hotter,brighter, and in that moment, when he didn’t think he had any more to give, his power shot out like a lightbulb bursting, and the glass around him shattered.

Danny toppled forward, landing on his knees inside the mirror world—free.

But no…no. He was still trapped. His prison just had wider walls. But if he could get out of one mirror, maybe he didn’t have to resign himself to being erased. He needed to find the right mirror home, the one he came through, that led to the hospital. If he could get back to the real world, maybe he could force his other self into the shadows again where he belonged.

Get up. Get up, get up, get up!Danny yelled at himself, and despite his fatigue, he pushed up onto unsteady legs.

His friends and family needed him. The city needed him.Malneeded him. He couldn’t sit back and cry, let life pass by in front of him and do nothing like he’d been allowing for so many months. He was so tired, hungry, weak, but he couldn’t give up. Not yet. Not until his last breath, and he no longer wanted that to happen any time soon.

Pulling the jacket from his shoulders, Danny tossed it over what was left of the mirror he’d broken out of as a beacon to remember where he’d started. Then he started to walk, touching a hand to the surfaces of every mirror he passed. Once he found the one he could pass through, then he’d be able to go home.

Hours must have gone by, but his reflection hadn’t felt his escape. He must be distracted enough that if he was still playing footage for Danny, it was back by that neglected jacket.

A few times, Danny caught sight of his other self, moving through the mirror world—a blur of color in an otherwise wasteland of crystal clear glass. Danny always hid, but Other Danny wasn’t looking for him, wasn’t paying attention to where he was, and never caught sight of the jacket in the distance, the only reprieve Danny had been given.

He had to keep going. Had to find the right mirror. Had to get home. He would not let his reflection win.

Occasionally, while glancing around for his marker, instead of glaring light from the mirrors he passed, he’d swear he caught sight of himself, of black eyes in the depths of the glass. Danny would flinch, fearing his reverse self had caught him after all, or that maybe…maybe he’d been the monster all along from the moment he killed Thanatos.

His jacket was so far away now, down a decline that made no sense with the way the mirrors spread out, the black floor that had no substance. Danny tried to move in an ever-widening circle, but it wasn’t as simple as finding a mirror that should have been close to the one he’d been pushed into. The mirrors moved—they had to—shifted as they were used. It would be impossible for anyone to navigate unless they were a human compass, always pointing north.

That thought made Danny pause, and he thought of Ludgate.Ludgate, who had to be real, didn’t he? But only Danny had ever been inside the mirror world with him. Maybe it was all in his head, but if it wasn’t, if Ludgate existed, if he could traverse this place without getting lost, then he had to—

Danny nearly fell, lost in thought as he mechanically reached out, only for the mirror he touched to offer no resistance.

This was it. This was the one. He couldn’t see through to the other side, Ludgate had to allow him that, it seemed, but this had to be the way home. Without knowing how long his window of opportunity might remain open or even knowing for sure where he might end up, Danny took a breath and dove through the mirror into the blinding light beyond.

R

Mal squared his shoulders as he readied a blast of ice. God help Ludgate if he’d hurt Danny.

“Cho, please,” Stella said, but Mal shook his head at the man wearing Danny’s skin. He couldn’t reach any reflective surfaces with the lights on and everyone looking at him unless he gave away that he couldn’t lightning jump.

“No dice,” Mal said, ignoring the sting in his throat as he spoke and how bruised he’d be tomorrow. “I don’t need to hold back for fear of hurting Danny. Becauseyou’re.Not.Danny.”

With Dom and the others behind Ludgate, they could easily see the profile of the frightful grin that marred Danny’s face. Lucy steadied her outstretched hands, trusting Mal implicitly, as the others all gaped in various stages of confusion and horror.

Mal barely blinked as he waited to see how Ludgate would respond. The man took a step forward, and Mal let the ice mist from his hands in threat.

“You sure about that?” Ludgate asked.

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