Clair de Lune

36. Cranium

Everything seemed harsh as I opened my eyes. The light, the noise, everything. The only thing I was faintly aware of besides the onslaught of my senses was the feeling of arms around my bare skin. I shifted the smallest amount and they tightened around me, and I froze. The memory of the night before came flooding back and I inhaled sharply, now entirely too aware of my surroundings.

I peered around the room, seeing that there were only one or two lumps left in the blankets, and knew that quite a few people had probably taken notice of us. I let out a small puff of annoyance before shifting in the blankets and coming face to face with the sleeping boy beside me. His breathing was even and his eyes weren't spastically twitching behind his eyelids. No nightmares.

"Necro, psst." I shook his shoulder gently, attempting to get his attention. His eyelids fluttered softly as he opened them, and he let out a noise of complaint.

"I'll be up in a few minutes..." He mumbled, getting ready to go back to sleep.

"Necro, we are both stark naked, and we're going to have very important company in the building." I hissed, and he finally snapped out of it.

"Agnes...?" He said softly, lifting a hand up to place it on my cheek. His expression changed almost instantly and his eyes widened.

"We have to get up." I told him, and he nodded, releasing his grip around me and allowing me to pull out of his grasp.

I grabbed a change of clothing out of my bag, pulling on a white knitted crop top and a pair of black jeans. Just as I was finishing the last button I saw Necro sit up out of the corner of my eye, and a number of raised lines on his back caught my attention. A massive blush crawled across my cheeks and I felt my breathing hasten, my heartbeat doing a mad dance within my chest. I finished off my outfit with my mary janes, and took one more look at Necro before walking out into the center stage of the room.

"Hey there Sleeping Beauty," Murmur called out from his corner of the room, and I shrunk back, embarrassed by nothing in particular, "where's the zombie?"

"Right here." Necro called, turning around the corner and running his hand through his hair in a sheepish manner. I took a deep breath and steadied myself, telling all the screaming thoughts in my mind to take a breath and relax.

"So did you guys hear the news?" Thamyris walked up to as as we crossed the room, "the head honcho from Skull and Bones is paying us a visit."

"Yeah, I was the one who invited him over," I groaned, "now I'm regretting it."

"What? Are you scared?" Thamyris snorted, "if he turns out to be an asshole all you have to do is go inferno and burn him."

"She's...technically right, you know." Necro chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I laughed humorlessly, "come on, let's get some breakfast before anyone shows up."

We walked into the kitchen to see Osiris and Marshall at the table, talking over a cup of coffee while Sergei was at the stove. The smell of waffle mix wafted through the room and my stomach snarled, causing me to grasp it uncomfortably while Necro laughed at me.

"Someone hungry?" He asked.

"A little more than I thought I was." I chuckled, taking a seat at the table while he grabbed us both a plate.

"It's nine thirty now, so we have about a half hour before Kelvin shows up." Sergei said as he finished cooking, placing the last waffle on his own plate before taking a seat. "He's interested in mainly Agnes, Necro, and Murmur, but I'm sure he'll be more than happy to see what the rest of you can do."