The Birdcage

Discovery

Nyx limped drunkenly into the canteen, leaning hard on Jayson. Around her, the world was swimming and she was feeling distant and light-headed. Gently Jayson helped her to a table out of the way in the corner and pulled out a chair for her which she slumped down into.

"Let's get you some food." Jayson said, gesturing for her to stay put, and he disappeared into the lunch throng towards the serving station.  Moments later he was back with food and a bottle of soda. "I hope you like lemonade."

"Nope." Nyx said, taking the bottle and twisting off the lid with a loud hiss. Jayson watched in awe as she raised the bottle to her lips and chugged the whole lot in one go, swallowing it down in rapid gulps. Lowering the empty bottle she pulled a face of disgust. "Eurgh! Battery acid." But the sugar was good.

Jayson slid a cardboard tray of fries across the table towards her and ravenously she stuck in with both hands.
Jayson pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down; he watched her in silence for a few minutes, an expression of thought on her face. Then, he spoke. "So, I think we might be siblings."

Nyx choked on her food.

After several minutes of coughing and Jayson reaching around to pat her on the back, she managed to find her voice. "Wha... Why? Why do you think this?"

"The eyes." He said. He lent towards her across the table and suddenly he caught her hand, forcing her to look up at his face. Her mouth opened in surprise, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat; he'd blinked once, and his eyes had changed, from a soft grey tone to a familiar brilliant silver. It was as quick as a flash and then gone again, before settling on a happy blue. "And... other clues."

"Whoa." Nyx breathed. "I hadn't noticed that..."

"It's very subtle." He grinned. Teasingly, he chuckled her under the chin. "See, I knew there was a reason I liked you. Little Sis."

Nyx drew back a little out of his reach, still not completely convinced.

"See, I've actually suspected it for a while." Jayson continued conversationally, stealing some of her fries. "But after today, I'm pretty convinced. Eat up; too much too soon, your powers can be quite draining. It's a bitch- but you'll adapt. So how's Alysha? You said you knew her. Mind you, there's quite a bit of family resemblance going on." He gestured at Nyx's face. "That's also how I could tell."

Nyx's eyes went wide. "You know Alysha?"

"Yes."

"She's..." Nyx trailed off.

"Alysha?" Jayson suggested with a knowing smile.

"... never mentioned you." Nyx finished.

"Ouch." He winced. "But somewhat expected. What did she tell you?"

"About my powers? She's teaching me. About family? She said 'Don't ask, you don't want to know.' "

"She's teaching you?!" Jayson exclaimed loudly, genuinely surprised. Then, he seemed to calm himself, realised something and put on a jokey smile and a voice laced in sarcasm. "Oh yeah, how's that going?"

"It's... going." Nyx said vaguely.

Jayson snorted loudly. "And 'Don't ask, you don't want to know'? Bullshit! Of course you want to know!" He paused, looking intently at her across the table, his eyes shining with dark secrets. "You do want to know, don't you?"

Nyx paused. Did she? She didn't know.

Then something else caught her attention, across the room, and she stood up in shock. "Ronnie?"

Ronnie was being guided towards them by Katherine; a terrible, distraught mess.

Sorry for taking so long! Lots of work after Uni restarted and before I knew it, half of January had gone. XD I'm sorry.

But also, who saw the revelation of them being siblings coming? Of course, if you've been reading Reflections of Angels alongside this, you knew it was coming XD