11. Reverie
Chapter 11
Reverie
I walked into the gym, dreading what was coming. I had seen Kristine come out of a doorway near the stands. She walked by and made a point to look up at me with a malicious smirk. Her friend Sophie joined her, and they sat in the stands, putting their heads close together and whispering back and forth.
Just great, the bitch ran right to her brother. Well, fuck them both. I wasn’t scared of him or the bow-legged bitch. My parents had taught me the importance of standing up for myself, and I had no problem showing the Storm siblings what an open can of whoop ass looked like—Texas style.
A large man walked out of the shadows and came to stand in front of them. I felt goosebumps all over my body, and my stomach bottomed out. I closed my eyes briefly, willing the sensation away. No way was it what I thought it was. He was good-looking. He had beautiful dark brown hair, and his eyes were a striking seafoam green. His hair reached his shoulders, and he had the middle pulled back with a piece of leather. A close-cropped beard and full lips completed the devastating picture. He was taller than the Moon twins but shorter than Jet. His brown leather pants were well-worn and paired with a short-sleeved black shirt and tall black boots. Was he going to a cosplay event after class? I smirked thinking of him posing for pictures at Ren Fest.
All Aurathions were attractive, but it felt like every guy I’d met at the Academy was next level. Then he began to speak and became a lot less pretty. You could tell that he gave no shits about any of the Passives gathered here.
Staring directly at me, he narrowed his eyes, “We will begin with obstacle courses blah, blah, I’m an asshole, blah.” Or something like that. I zoned out after he began talking in his evil villain voice. I bet he went through breath mints like no other with all the shit that was coming out of his mouth.
I saw Kristine smiling evilly in my direction. It didn’t carry the sting I’m sure she was hoping for with the medical tape on her nose. Focusing back on the asshole, I saw him frowning at me. Way to go, Reverie. Good job pissing him off even more.
Oren started separating us into groups, and with zero surprises, I was put in his.
“Fuck this shit,” Nathan growled. “You’re not dealing with him by yourself.”
“Do you not think I can handle him?” I widened my eyes at Nathan. Nathan was no fool.
“Of course you can, but you shouldn’t have to with me here.” He grumped.
“Go catch up with Zeke. I’ve got this. If I need help, you know I have no problem asking, but I feel like he’ll underestimate me and that will work in my favor.” Blowing him a kiss, I followed my group, to what was beginning to look like, my own personal ShitStorm.
After listening to more crap come out of his mouth (I especially loved it when he said he didn’t need weak Passives blocking the line), his status was confirmed as a giant bag of dicks. This was going to be fun.
“OK, first up, Cassandra Silt. Step to the front and begin when you’re ready.” When no one immediately walked up, ShitStorm narrowed his eyes, “Silt, you better get your ass up here, or I’m sending you back to your family. I don’t have time for cowards.”
The slim blond girl, that had found the courage to ask a question earlier, stepped up to the front. Storm motioned for her to enter the course. She walked up the steps leading to the beam, looking completely terrified. I felt sorry for her because it was apparent she hadn’t been prepared well. Why would the Council send these poor Passives directly to the Academy without training? It was like sending lambs to slaughter.
The girl turned and gave Oren a pleading look, but he impatiently waved her on. The poor thing was wearing a dress with ballet flats. The shoes would be fine, but I hoped she had shorts on under her dress. As she climbed higher, it became apparent that was a no.
The boys started laughing and yelling at her, acting like complete morons. Didn’t they understand every move was life or death here? Surprising me, Oren spoke in a harsh voice,
“Shut the fuck up. As weak as you all look, I’d be more worried about my turn instead of looking up girls’ skirts like virgins who had never seen a pair of panties in their lives.”
When the morons showed enough sense to shut up, I looked back at Cassandra. She was balancing precariously on the beam, looking like a drunk sailor on leave. You could see the sweat running down her face, cheeks red from exertion. Finely crossing the beam, she came to the first climbing wall. This wall was reasonably easy because the hand and foot holds were spaced close. Cassandra tentatively grabbed the first hold and started to climb. She was having difficulty with her skirt. The length was causing her trouble when she needed to bend her legs.
“Tie your skirt above your knees!” I yelled, the fashion choices a lot of us had made today were going to get us killed, me included. It was a stupid mistake that I wouldn’t make again. The morons below started yelling in excitement again, and this time Storm let them be. “Ignore them and do what I said, or you won’t make it over the next one,” I urged the terrified girl.
Cassandra looked down at me and nodded her head. Climbing the rest of the way to the top, she sat on the wall and slowly pulled her skirt up, tying it in a large knot at her upper thigh. Looking down at me, she gave a thumbs up. I returned the thumbs up.
“You got this!” I hoped she had this.
“This isn’t a sporting event Miss Hawthorne,” ShitStorm said in a pissy voice. “Keep your mouth shut and wait for your turn.”
“Absolutely, instructor Shi- I mean Instructor Storm.” I smirked. He frowned at me, looking confused, he knew I was insulting him but unsure how.
Turning back to Cassandra, I saw that she had descended the first climbing wall and was starting to as difficult because the hand and footholds were much further apart. Luckily, she was tall and had no difficulty getting to the top. As she threw her leg over and started to climb down, water started slowly dripping from the top down the sides in slow rivulets. Oh shit, the level of difficulty was about to get a whole lot harder. Cassandra lost the confident look on her face and glanced at me in panic. Completely ignoring what ShitStorm had said, I gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.
“You can do this!”
Instructor Storm turned to me, “If you yell one more thing, I’ll make her do this course twice, that’s assuming she even makes it out this time.” I nodded at the dick and turned my attention back to Cassandra once more.
Cassandra took a deep breath and started climbing down. The water that had begun slowly sped up considerably and ran down in streams. Her foot slipped; letting out a scream, she scrambled to find another foothold before she lost her grip and fell to the bottom. She was able to get the tip of her toe on the next hold and, slipping and sliding, finally reached the bottom.
I released the breath I had been holding but wanted to start biting my nails when I looked at the next wall. The hand and footholds were spaced so far apart that you had to push off with your foot to get enough height to grab the next handhold. If that wasn’t bad enough, they were positioned where you had to climb the wall in a zigzag pattern. It would take much longer to get to the top of this wall, and upper body strength would come into play.
As Cassandra stepped up to start her climb, water began dripping from the top of this wall, too. Taking a deep breath, she stepped on the first hold; pushing off, she grabbed the next hold and carefully pulled herself up until she could place her foot on the hold to the right, stretching her legs to their limit. Even though she had tied her skirt up, it was still impeding her movements. I heard a crackling noise and looked up. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The water was slowly freezing into sheets of ice. Looking back at Cassandra, I saw her face lose all color. Fuck! This was crazy, I was scared to see what the Academy threw out next.
“Did you Passives really believe the Academy would make it easy for you?” Instructor Storm laughed. “Emberhold has all kinds of surprises to test your mettle and ensure you’re worthy of being part of a Faction.”
Cassandra had come to a complete halt. She was too terrified to move. This rock wall was probably about 30 feet tall, so she had a way to go. Hearing laughter and jeering coming from the stands, I saw the Bitch Brigade had joined Kristine and Sophie.
“What a fucking idiot. This dumbass hasn’t spent any time training. She needs to fall already and let the next Passive go.” Sophie started laughing loudly, encouraging the other girls to join in. I hoped Instructor Storm would put an end to it.
“You better get moving girl. I don’t think Emberhold will allow you to just hang there like a piece of meat,” His smile looked identical to the Grinch’s after he ruined Christmas. What a taint-licking asshole.
I opened my mouth to encourage Cassandra, but no sound came out. Trying again, it felt like my throat had closed. I turned to look at Instructor Storm, he winked at me. What the fuck? Was he doing this? But how? He wasn’t part of a Faction.
Trying not to panic, I looked up and saw Cassandra had started moving again and made it about halfway. I felt the hold on my voice release and glanced back at Storm, but he wasn’t paying me any attention. Hearing gasps all around me, I looked up just in time to see Cassandra’s holds disappear and her falling swiftly through the air.
Right when she should have hit the ground, the gym floor opened, and Cassandra disappeared through it. What in the fucking, fuck just happened?!
“Well, it seems that Emberhold felt like it was a good time for Cassandra Silt to be initiated,” Oren laughed maliciously. “I have serious doubts that we’ll be seeing her again.”
I saw panic on the faces around me and heard sobbing. A few Passives started running for the doors. Hearing my name yelled, I saw Nathan running in my direction. When he was almost to me, Oren stepped into his path. Nathan started to shove him out of the way, but right before he made contact, he fell onto his back like he had run into a brick wall.
“I guess you’re not as strong as you think you are. You better start working out, or you’ll be following right behind Miss Silt.” Storm smirked.
Nathan looked stunned but flipped from his back to his feet instantly. I was ninety nine percent sure Nathan had never made contact with him, so how had he fallen? Nathan walked up to Oren and reached into his pocket.
I yelled, “Don’t, Nathan, I’m OK. Go back to your group.”
Nathan halted his hand and gazed around Oren. “Are you sure, Reverie? I will slit this asshole’s throat if you need me,” he narrowed his eyes at Storm.
“I’d like to see you fucking try Passive,” Storm smiled in challenge.
“You’re a Passive too motherfucker, and I don’t need special powers to beat your ass,” Nathan gritted his teeth, stepping closer to Storm.
“Try me, boy, I dare you,” Storm was still smiling, but his right eye started twitching. Nathan had that effect on people.
“Yes, I’m sure. Please go.” I begged. Using our connection, I told Nathan, “We must be careful with him. Something's not right." He stared at me for a moment but nodded slightly in agreement. Both twins had walked up behind him and were staring at Oren in confusion. Reluctantly, Nathan turned and walked back to his group.
Zeke and Zane looked at me in concern but when I gave them a nod, they turned and followed Nathan. Of course, Nathan had to turn around and give ShitStorm the finger. I shouldn’t have expected any less.
“Your boyfriend better be glad you talked him into leaving. Any aggression perpetrated against a professor leads to instant expulsion and no chance of becoming Faction.” Storm told me in a bored voice.
Speaking to him with more caution than before, I said, “Nathan is a hothead, but he won’t cause any trouble.” I didn’t know what was going on, but I was determined to find out. Until then, I needed to be careful of antagonizing the dick.
“He better not because I’ll be watching closely. It would be a real shame if I had to report him before his initiation.” Winking at me, he called the next student to the course. The fool thought that Nathan was the threat. He had no idea I was the real danger. As much as my Psycho loved me, I returned those feelings twofold and wouldn’t tolerate any menace directed his way.
The next several Passives made it through the course, barely and not without trauma. These Passives had grown up in the Aurathion culture and had training. When they emerged from the tunnel, some had tears running down their faces, and some were so terrified that they had trouble speaking. But they did make it.
Several found Passives opted to drop out and had returned to their dorms to pack. I’d be surprised if they were allowed to leave that easily after the Council had gone to so much trouble to find them. Emberhold hadn’t taken anyone else to initiation, but each Passive knew it was only a matter of time.
Instructor Storm faced me, “It’s your turn, Hawthorne. I hope you inherited some talent from your famous mother. You’re going to need it.” Letting my temper get the best of me, I flipped him off. I knew he had left me last to build the anticipation and try to get in my head. “Temper, temper. I’d hate to see you fail spectacularly in front of your boy toys.” He smiled mockingly in the direction of the Moon twins and Nathan. All three had walked closer, the twins looked worried, but Nathan was smiling in anticipation. He knew what I was capable of.
The other two groups had finished with just four Passives failing to complete their obstacle course. It made sense that Instructor ShitStorm would oversee the more difficult one. He was a dick like that.
Staring him dead in the eyes, I started taking off my boots, unstrapping the holster around my ankle containing my knife, and unbuttoning my pants. Other Passives had adjusted their wardrobe, but I was the first to strip down to my skivvies. I didn’t just want to complete the course; I wanted to make it my bitch.
“What the hell are you doing?” Storm raised his brows.
“Is there a rule about doing the obstacle course in your underwear?” I raised one eyebrow.
“No, you can do it buck naked if you want. It’s your funeral.” He smirked.
I continued to pull my jeans down, took my shirt off, calmly folded both, took the hair tie off my wrist, and threw my hair up in a messy bun. Looking up at the course I took a deep breath.
The bitches in the stands started criticizing my body like I gave a tinker’s damn what they thought.
“Look at those hips, I can’t believe I saw her eating that huge plate of food in the cafeteria. She should be eating nothing but salad.” a redheaded girl, sitting behind Kristine said.
“Check out those tits. They look saggy, even in a bra. Gross.” Sophie fake gagged. Nathan turned and started laughing at them. They looked stunned at his amusement, clearly hoping to get a different reaction.
“If all y’all can do is throw insults at her body, you girls are bigger dumbasses than I thought. She is perfection in human form. Anybody with half a brain can see that. Like her or not, that’s just fact.”
“No shit. These bitches would give both tits to look in the mirror and see a body like that reflected back at them.” Zane laughed along with Nathan.
Turning red in anger and embarrassment, they quieted down, but the whispering started back up. I had a feeling they weren’t done with their shit and were just regrouping. No matter, I put my focus back on what was important.
I couldn’t believe I didn’t think about initiation when dressing this morning. My parents stressed that you could be pulled away at any time. I couldn’t afford these kinds of mistakes. Bought wits were the best kind, and I won’t forget it again. I didn’t need to do it naked, but I had more movement without my jeans. Lucky for me, I had my boy shorts on and a decent bra that wasn’t overly skimpy, so it was no different than wearing a bikini. I just wished I wasn’t so into minions. Suddenly, I heard Nathan say in my head dreamily, “So fluffy." I rolled my eyes.
“Any day now, Miss Hawthorne,” Oren tried sounding impatient, but his voice was a little hoarse and shaky. I stretched making sure to arch my back so he could get a good look. Take that dickhead!
Nathan spoke to me through our connection, “Storm seems to be having trouble keeping his eyes off you." He laughed evilly. “ You’ve got this, my Nexi. Show this ball sack just how amazing you are. ”
Smiling, I started to climb.