The Silent Paw and The Gentle Bark

🐾 Chapter 54: The House of Secrets🐾

They ran.

Again.

But this time, it wasn't fear driving them—it was urgency. Behind them, the Mirrorborn didn't follow fast. It didn't need to.

It knew them now.

It would wait. Watch. Learn.

That was the terrifying part.

Back at the house, Poppy slammed the door shut and pulled every curtain. "Stay away from the windows. It can watch through any reflection."

Dogday's ears were flat. "That thing... it used our voices."

Catnap was silent, staring into the unlit fireplace.

Poppy turned to them. "That wasn't the first Mirrorborn," she said. "The Prototype? It was just a corrupted version—a failed one. The Mirrorborn is pure. It doesn't kill with claws. It invades. It copies. It becomes."

"Becomes what?" Catnap asked.

"Whoever looks at it," she said softly. "And the more time it has with your reflection... the more perfect it becomes."

Dogday grabbed her shoulder. "How do we stop it?"

Poppy hesitated.

Then she pulled a dusty file out of her coat—a thin manila folder marked:
PROJECT: REVERB

She opened it slowly. Inside were old schematics, scribbled notes, and photos—one of which stopped Catnap cold.

A lab photo.

Of himself.

Younger. Smaller. A mirror behind him.

"I— I don't remember this," he muttered.

Poppy nodded. "You wouldn't. That's the worst part. The Mirrorborn isn't just an entity—it was born from a mirrored memory. A backup of minds from the early experiments at Playtime Co."

She handed him the note.

"If the subject's reflection is harvested for more than 60 seconds, a duplicate state may manifest—mirror-locked. Do not engage directly."

"That's why it's you," Dogday said slowly, reading over his shoulder. "It's been watching you. Waiting to finish copying."

"And once it does," Poppy said grimly, "it replaces you."

Silence.

Then Catnap stood.

"Then we stop it before that happens. Before it finishes."

He walked to the corner of the room and uncovered something wrapped in a blanket.

A mirror.

Cracked. Small. Faintly glowing.

"It left a piece of itself inside this house," he whispered. "And I think I know how to send it back."