STEP BROTHER DEAREST
Some were cracked, others pristine, but all reflected not just us, but versions of us that weren’t quite right.
In one, Ian stood alone, spear dripping blood, his grin manic and wild. In another, Madison towered above us, her shadows forming not a crown this time, but chains, binding the rest of us to the ground. In yet another, Vera glowed so brightly it burned the city around her to ash.
And me—always me, strings spreading from my fingers, threading through my friends’ reflections, pulling them like marionettes.
Ian laughed, slapping one mirror hard enough to crack it. “Cute. They think showing me a bloodthirsty version of myself will rattle me. Too bad I don’t rattle anymore.”