Page 37 of Exordium

“Reverie Cleopatra Hawthorne!” Pop frowned, trying his best to look stern. He failed miserably. “Your mother has much to answer for where your language is concerned.”

I just rolled my eyes. My middle name was ridiculous. Mom told me Cleopatra was Aurathion and a distant relative. I knew bullshit when I heard it. Knowing Pop wasn’t nearly as offended as he tried to act, I ignored his outrage.

“I’m just afraid of losing my friends, of never getting to experience everyday human things, disappointing y’all at Emberhold, giving in to Nathan, and being heartbroken when I leave. Sometimes, I want to hide under my bed and never come out.”

“Honey, you must face what scares you. Fix the things you can and accept what you can’t. Every person you know fears something.” He smiled softly.

“That’s not true. You, Grumpy, and Mom aren’t scared of anything.” I said in a quiet voice.

“It is true. I hate to break it to you, kid, but we’re scared of many things. One of the obstacles we had to defeat at Emberhold made us face our fears. The Academy makes you face and understand what you fear to help you through initiation. I found it to be the most challenging thing I had to do up to that point.” Pop frowned, obviously thinking about losing two Faction members.

“What did the Academy show you?” I questioned.

“What my life would be like if I never found a Faction,” Pop pulled me into a hug.

“That was your greatest fear?” I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“At the time, yes. Both of my parents were Passive since they never found a Nexus. They loved each other deeply but never got to experience their power. The thought of that terrified me.” He grimaced.

“How did you get through it?” I asked softly.

“I realized that being afraid won’t help change the outcome of anything. If I stayed Passive, I could help our people in other ways. It didn’t mean giving up our culture. I had to realize that fixing the things I could and accepting what I couldn’t was the only way to deal with my fear.”

“Luckily, you found Mom,” I smiled.

“Exactly. I was worrying about something that hadn’t even happened yet. I was fortunate that Adelaide always ran late and crashed into your Grumpy in the hallway. When she looked up at us, I knew we had found our Nexus. Her only fault was, and still is her foul mouth.” He said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Mom has told me that story so many times,” I said dreamily. “It’s so romantic.”

“Not long after, we met your other fathers, Sly and Rue, and our Faction was complete.” He smiled in remembrance.

I pondered my solution outloud, “Well, I can’t appease my friends, but I guess if they don’t respect my decisions, they aren’t my friends anyway. I can act by going to the dance and having a good time with my real friends,” I said hesitantly, looking at Pops. He smiled at me encouragingly. “And I’m going to put in the work so I can kill it at Emberhold; lastly, I can’t control Nathan’s actions, so I’m just going to roll with it as they come.”

“You never need to worry about disappointing us. We’ll be proud of you if you put forth your best effort. We all love you very much, Tator Tot.”

“I love y’all too.” I replied, so happy I had been gifted my wonderful parents.

The darkness was absolute. I couldn’t see anything. Moving carefully forward, using my other senses, I could hear water dripping and feel cool air blowing on my face. The farther I walked, the lighter it became until I could make out shapes.

Suddenly, I heard Nathan calling for me in a frantic voice. I panicked and started running in the direction his voice was coming from. How in the world did he get in here without ShitStorm seeing him?

“Reverie, hurry!” Nathan yelled, sounding pained.

I felt like I was flying, moving so fast I could barely see my feet. Coming into a large, cavernous room, I saw Nathan being held between several robed figures. The robes looked like the ones worn by the Council during ceremonies.

“Let go of him!” I demanded. This couldn’t possibly be real. It had to be an illusion. The figures holding Nathan pushed him to his knees. Oh shit, the Council must have found out the truth about Nathan and that we formed a Faction without the ritual.

“Please don’t hurt him. It was an accident.” I pleaded.

Just then, I heard my mom say, “It’s ok, sweetheart. They were bound to find out the truth. We’ll never regret covering for you.”

I saw two more robed figures standing next to my parents, who were in chains. My fathers were struggling trying to reach my mom.

A booming voice from one of the robed figures said, “You are all found guilty of perpetuating a lie and keeping vital information from your people.”

“No, they aren’t at fault. It was all me! Please let them go!” I begged.

This had to be the Academy. Fight this, Reverie, it’s not real, I kept chanting. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried blocking it all out. Hearing footsteps, I opened my eyes.

---