WebNovels

Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 : The Puppet's Shadow (2)

The words clung to their skin like frost.

Yume gripped Toru's sleeve tightly, whispering, "It's copying her. It's her shadow."

Reina smirked, her tone mocking even as her eyes flickered with unease. "Oh, how dramatic. You think I'd waste my reflection on something so ugly?"

Sayaka's voice cracked, sharp with panic. "It came out of your painting! How much more proof do you need?!"

Reina turned toward her, annoyed—but the shadow lagged behind by half a second, mimicking the motion just a beat too late. Toru noticed. The delay was small, almost imperceptible, but it was there.

He stepped closer. On the floor, there were two overlapping footprints—Reina's heel print and a darker one beneath, as if someone had stood in her exact place at a different time.

"Mina," he said quietly, "you saw it too, didn't you?"

Mina's hands trembled around her candle. "It moves wrong… I saw it twist its neck before she did."

Sayaka scoffed. "Or maybe you're just scared enough to imagine things."

Reina brushed her hair behind her ear, forcing a laugh. "If it's supposed to be my shadow, it could at least learn some rhythm. It's embarrassing."

But the shadow moved first this time—one jerky step forward. The sound of it scraping against the floor made everyone flinch.

Reina froze. "Okay," she said under her breath, "that's new."

Ms. Kaori stepped in front of them, her candle flickering. "Everyone, stop shouting. Grimm said 'find the one who lost their reflection.' That might not mean the one who created it. It could mean someone else entirely."

Her voice wavered, but it cut through the tension. "If this mansion feeds on our emotions… this shadow could be tied to whoever's heart broke the most."

"It means you're all suspects," Grimm's voice replied softly, amused.

The candles sputtered and dimmed, every flame shrinking—except for Toru's, which burned white-blue and steady as ever.

Ms. Kaori swallowed hard. "Everyone… check the mirrors. Just—look at your reflection."

Sayaka groaned. "This is ridiculous." But she obeyed.

They moved toward the cracked mirror on the wall. Sayaka's reflection stared back, warped but there. Mina's reflection trembled. Yume's eyes were wet, but her image held. Reina's looked normal. Toru's flame burned bright in both reality and reflection.

Then Ayaka stepped forward. Her reflection blinked out—just for a second—before returning.

No one noticed. She stepped back quickly, hugging her candle tight against her chest.

Toru brushed his fingers over the wall near the painting and found something carved faintly into the wood: The puppet mimics emotion, not soul.

He showed it to Ms. Kaori, who frowned. "Meaning it doesn't just copy movement—it copies feelings."

"That's why it twitches," Yume whispered. "It's not imitating how Reina moves—it's imitating what she feels."

Reina tilted her head. "Then it must be dying of boredom."

Sayaka spun on her. "Can you shut up for once?!"

Reina smiled, sweet and poisonous. "Oh, you're jealous. How cute."

"Enough!" Ms. Kaori's voice cracked into a scream. Her candle flared, throwing shadows across her face. "You're all feeding it! Every time you hate each other, it gets stronger!"

The words hit like a curse. The puppet's chest began to pulse, expanding as if it were breathing. And from its ribs leaked something black and thick—ink spilling onto the floor.

Grimm's laughter hummed from the walls.

"Yes… delicious. It feeds on you, as you feed on each other."

No one spoke after that. They kept walking, step by step, deeper into the west hall. The silence was so tight it hurt. Ms. Kaori muttered notes under her breath, Mina close beside her. Sayaka walked with her arms wrapped around herself, while Reina trailed behind, humming softly, her candlelight flickering over her grin.

Then Ayaka stumbled. Her candle tilted dangerously before she caught it.

Yume reached out instinctively to help—but froze. "Ayaka… your hand."

Dark stains marked her fingers, faintly glimmering in the candlelight. Not wax. Not dust. Something thicker.

Ayaka jerked her hand away. "It's nothing," she said too fast. "Just candle soot."

But Toru had already seen the black smear on the wall behind her—fresh and wet.

Grimm's voice returned, quiet and gleeful.

"A puppet never bleeds. Only the puppeteer does."

Everyone turned toward Reina, again. Everyone but Toru.

He looked at Ayaka. She avoided his eyes, clutching her candle so tightly her knuckles turned white.

They reached the end of the hall, where a massive mirror filled the wall from floor to ceiling. The glass shimmered faintly, reflecting their frightened faces.

Sayaka exhaled shakily. "So what now?"

No one answered.

The reflection in the glass seemed alive, almost breathing with them. Toru lifted his candle higher. Each of them stared at their own reflection—shivering, waiting.

Reina's reflection grinned faintly. Sayaka's face twitched. Yume looked pale but intact. Mina's lips moved as if she were praying. Ms. Kaori's eyes glistened with tears. Toru's reflection was steady.

Ayaka's reflection smiled.

She didn't.

Her scream pierced the silence. The mirror rippled like water, distorting her image into something grotesque. The puppet behind them dissolved into smoke.

Grimm's voice purred from the ceiling, calm and delighted.

"The strings are tightening. The show's about to begin."

The mirror cracked, webbing out from Ayaka's reflection like a spider's web. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the corridor.

One by one, their candles flickered.

Only Toru's stayed burning.

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