A Mirror Made of Diamonds

Something... something didn’t feel right.

The slow certainty that there was something... different... welled up from the pit of Dray’s stomach, crawling slowly up the back of his throat like a sinus infection as his eyelids dragged themselves open.

Like a distant feeling that wasn’t quite pain, but more pressure sitting under the skin on the side of his neck, like a pimple forming.

His breath stuttered faintly against a fluttering edge of sheet, hand twitching to cover the bite, trembling. It was barely there, but he could feel it. He noticed it. Maybe it was just his imagination, but.... A coil twisted in his stomach, and he swallowed.

Couldn’t even tell... what it was. Just... something.

Something... something’s not right.

He forced himself to sit up, his body moving easily and too heavily at the same time. And it was his body. That wasn’t what was wrong—thank Ley. It was... he couldn’t put a pin in it.

The smell of breakfast—quick and easy toasteritos, not brekk-cakes, since it was a work day—wafted through the cracked door. Outside, birds twittered, faint sounds of traffic rushing by; a low murmur drifting from the living room. Normal. Mundane.

But something....

A flash of movement snatched his eye, a bird fluttering in the crack between the curtains, its beak stabbing out for a spider, little throat bobbing—

When had he tensed? He abruptly unclenched his hand from the edge of the mattress as it flew away, pulse thudding in his ears, breath puffing quickly through his nose.

He laughed quietly, a little shakily, at himself as he scrubbed fingers through his hair. A bird? It said something about how on-edge he was after everything if that was enough to startle him.

Eyah. He closed his eyes, trying to shake it off. Probably just jumping over nothing, waking up on the wrong side of the bed. After all, he had been pretty feverish last night—

Huh.

He checked his own forehead. It was gone.

Must be what’s messing me up. It felt as if he’d never had a fever at all. He’d been expecting to wake up with it still there instead of feeling... pretty good, actually.

...Niff this healing factor. A light shiver that had nothing to do with chills ran through his shoulders, and he pushed off the bed, stretching aggressively. Apparently therrolves didn’t need decent sleep, either. Good to know.

Dropping his arms, he went about his morning routine, ignoring the window and its little flickers of early-morning birds in the corner of his eye. There was no reason to jump at shadows.

Rubbing idly at his wrist with his thumb, he turned his back firmly on it and headed for the bathroom, opening his MIP to message Stov after he was done. Should probably swing by the nook for the floffie—

The ignored torrent of messages from yesterday immediately assaulted him.

<Hey Dray have you seen this?>

<...They're saying it was down in the....>

<...This whole time! That place was always so sluhking creepy....>

<Dray? Hey, you alive?>

<Maybe he was the guy who got eaten by the therrolf :laughing:>

<Damn, he's still not around? Maybe we should break out the casket. Hey, has anyone Stov, either?>

<*seen. Or heard, I guess.>

<He never checks his messages anyway.>

Dray sighed. He disappeared for one day and they started making funeral arrangements. Starting to type, he—

<Hey, he's lit! Hide the flowers and the candles. Heyyyyyyyy miffer! What's on! Thought you were dead!>

He deleted what he'd been about to send with a twisted smile. <Hey Frihn. Flowers and candles, huh? :eye-roll: Were you gonna invite me?>

<Yeah, you were the centre. There's a nice picture of you in the casket. Still gotta bury it, btw. You wanna spade?>

<*want a.>

<Shut up Ranz>

<Eyah,> Dray rolled his eyes for real, <I just got sick and left my MIP off. No daster, brood-hens.>

Laif's indicator blinked on. <You did see the news though, right?>

<About the therrolf? Yeah> They'd had it on yesterday. He hadn't listened to much of it, not after....

<They said some teen got bit trying to run away and then broke out of the jrahking hospital. Frihn almost convinced me to put bets on it being you.>

Yeah.... <Nah, I was home the whole time with the flu. Didn't even go out that night. Was feeling sick.>

He cringed. As if that didn't sound suspicious as creaky-springs. <If I start howling I'll let you know, though :laughing:>

...Somehow that just sounded worse. Niff.

<Hey, if you do you'd be our dominus on the howler team :smirk: You gonna be out there tomorrow?> Frihn messaged before he could really start sweating.

Dray grimaced. Yeah, he'd love to go out for the annual Dragon's Crown "pretend you're a therrolf and hunt/hoard all the light-spirits you can" event with a damn bite on his neck and everyone howling in his ears. <Nah. Don't think I'll be up for it. Still pretty jrahked.>

<Aw miff. We would've had a real team this war. We could've had a real hoard>

<Yeah. Sorry.> Last war'd kind of drooped after Ranz had to drop out and Laif got sick. They'd been planning this one for a while. <Guess you'll have to keep the strategy board for next war.>

<Niffin' kritz>

<If you're not there I'm not on this team,> Ranz promptly sent.

<You can't just dip!>

<If there's no one to keep Frihn in check, we'll all break our necks.>

<Stov could be lead,> he suggested.

Dead silence.

<Ehhhhhh. He'd kind of a grump. He's just take it too seriously>

<...*He's, He'd>

<Shut up Ranz.>

<Frihn has a point, though>

Stov wasn't that bad. Dray sighed. <You guys can sort it out. I need to go. Seeya later.>

Flicking them away, he brought up Stov's direct messaging. <Hey, thinking of going out to the nook and see if we can pick up the floffie.>

He hesitated for a moment, hovering over send, and decided to tack onto the end, <Feeling a little off, but I’ll be fine to hop on the tops.>

He sent it before he could second-guess himself, and got a ping back before he’d even stepped through the door. <Half an hour.>

Brood-hens. He rolled his eyes, a twitch of a smile flicking up the corner of his mouth.

Poking his head into the living room, he spotted his siblings at the table, Mum and Dad in the kitchen. Just a normal day. He could've almost forgotten everything if it wasn't so... muted.

He padded in, feeling irrationally like a ghost spying on someone else’s life, watching ‘Tia pick at her toasterito, heels beating the legs of her chair as she tried to start up a conversation with a silent Erold and failed. Dray could only see the back of his head, leaning on his fist and scooting the uneaten half of his folded pocket around his plate.

Mum immediately caught sight of him, though. “Morning’s light, Dray. How are you feeling?”

That was a loaded question. He summoned a smile back, glancing at his siblings as they whipped around. “I’m okay. Morning.”

Erold’s face twisted, and he turned away, pushing off and gathering up his plate. Well.... Dray fought back the urge to sigh, stepping into the kitchen and giving his little brother his space as he took a hug from Mum and Dad. They could talk later.

“I want a hug too!” Atia called out, and he rolled his eyes, smiling.

“You’ve got filling all over your face.” Backtracking, he ruffled her hair, dodging her attempt to snag him into a bear hug. Not that... anything actually hurt anymore. Huh.

“Brm wrnn huu!” She pouted as she chewed on another bite, deploying the puppy-eyes.

He shielded his eyes, pretending to look desperately at anything but her and spotting Erold sneaking away. “Look, it’s Erold! Looks like he needs a hug, you should go get him!”

Redirecting her off in his little brother’s direction, he sorted out his breakfast, listening to Erold’s protests floating across the house as ‘Tia chased him, and sat at the table, checking his MIP again. Still about quarter of an hour until Stov dropped by, so he had a few minutes to kill—

A couple of quick raps on the front door slammed through his thoughts mid-chew. An Uncle Ment-patented knock.

Dray’s brain went blank. Jrahk. Uncle Menton.

What in Hahll was Uncle Ment doing here—? No, no there was only one reason he’d be here. His eyes flicked to his parents, toasterito frozen halfway to his mouth.

Dad caught his eye, smiling in a way that was probably meant to be reassuring. “I’ll go get it. He’ll just be stopping by for a visit, though you still might want to stay out of sight, Dray.”

“Yeah.” He was already snatching up his plate and stuffing down the crispy corner by the time Dad finished, scrambling to leave. “I was heading out with Stov later anyway. We’re just checking out the nook.”

Mum did a worried double-take, Dad’s brows coming down in a frown. Right, might’ve forgotten to mention that earlier.

Dad just waved him off when he hesitated. “Don’t get into any trouble.”

“Stay safe,” Mum called after him, obviously not happy about it, but he was halfway through the door already, tapping at his MIP, scratching a vague itch on his jaw.

<Change of plans. Uncle just stopped by. Meet you on the way.>