Chapter 1 #2
Mom had worked to teach me that confidence in yourself was the key to success. I took that advice to heart, and even when I felt unsure, I tried never to show it. "Fake it till you make it" was my motto.
I was a good student, and I always tried to embody what I thought a Nexus should be.
It wasn’t hard because I had the best role model.
I tried to be kind, but some people confused that with being a pushover, and I was far from that.
I couldn’t wait to put everything my parents had taught me to the test, and Emberhold Academy was the place to do it.
“I promise I won’t forget a single lesson, and I plan on showing them I’m not to be fu-”
“Reverie! I’ll wash your mouth out with soap!” Grumpy growled, and I died laughing.
“Fudged with. Fudged was all I was going to say!”
“Riiight!” Mom winked and laughed. “Keep that attitude, and remember that if you need us, we’ll come running!”
I kissed and hugged each of my sweet parents and climbed into My Precious, a 1995 baby blue Jeep Wrangler.
Grumpy had bought it the summer before. He and I restored it to absolute perfection.
Other than my parents and Nathan, it was the love of my life.
I’d caught him giving it the evil eye several times-the psycho!
The intense training sessions, late-night reading, and relentless practices led to this moment. With the wind in my hair and Creedence singing Bad Moon Rising in the background, my mind drifted to the last few months of preparation.
***
“Reverie, pick up the pace!” Grumpy yelled as I exited the woods on my second lap around the property. “Conditioning is your friend. It could mean the difference between life and death!”
I groaned, but dug deep to increase my speed. I wanted to make my parents proud and wasn’t afraid to put in the work.
“Look at her go!” Nathan yelled proudly.
“Less looking and more running, baby man!” Grumpy growled out. “You still have a lot of work to put in before you’re good enough for my little girl’s Faction.”
“You know I’m a machine, Daddy Grump!” Nathen blew Grumpy a kiss.
“Do not call me Daddy! Twenty more laps for you, asshead!” Grumpy growled. He nodded his head in Nathan’s direction after making eye contact with the solid black jaguar Samson, lazing on the ground beside him.
“After you get warmed up, I get your candy ass. It’s Krav Maga time, baby!” Pop yelled in a gleeful voice.
“If I call you Daddy, will it get me out of it?” Nathan joked, trying to catch his breath.
“Not even if you called me Daddy and meant it!” Pop laughed, “Get your ass in gear.”
“If you kill me, my Nexi will be pissed!” Nathan yelled, laughing as he started running again.
“Don’t call her Nexi!” Grumpy shouted. “You’ll slip up, and everyone will know what she is to you!”
Nathan started running backwards and shot finger guns in Grumpy’s direction, giving him a cocky smile. The smile dropped from his face and he shouted in alarm when he saw Samson coming up behind him.
Grumpy sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself, “Don’t kill him.
Don’t kill the boy.” but started laughing his ass off when he opened his eyes and saw Samson holding a piece of Nathan’s shorts in his mouth.
Nathan was running in terror into the woods with the ass of his shorts torn out and his crack shining in the sun.
Hearing their banter made me happy. At times, I didn’t think they would ever get to this point. The laughter Nathan had brought into our lives was worth all the pain we had both endured. I thought Mom even smiled more when he was around.
Since bonding with him, I felt more powerful physically. That really shouldn’t happen until my Faction was complete. I wasn’t surprised. Nothing about mine and Nathan’s relationship was ordinary.
Aurathions were stronger and faster than humans and lived much longer. The exception to this was if we remained Passive, never finding our Nexus. My parents were powerful, so I’d always been just a little stronger and faster than Aurathions of the same age, even before bonding with Nathan.
I was excited to be Nexus. Following in Mom’s footsteps was a dream of mine.
She was my hero, and rightfully so. The Nexus brought out the latent abilities in their Faction when they bonded.
The abilities could range from controlling the weather to invisibility and a variety of things in between.
The powers Mom brought out in her Faction were nothing short of amazing!
Grumpy could control and communicate with any animal on land or sea. As long as I can remember, there had been animals everywhere. Thank God we lived relatively secluded because most of the animals were not native to Texas.
Pop, being his twin, had the flip side of his power.
Pop could shift into any animal he’d seen in person, on television, and in print.
To say he could tell a hell of a bedtime story was putting it mildly.
How many kids get to pet the actual characters in their book as the story is read? Reverie for the win!
Even though I was raised with the expectation of being Nexus, it wasn’t a known fact until I bonded with Nathan.
After becoming Faction, Nathan gained the ability to teleport, and I had increased strength and speed.
When I gained more Faction, I would gain more abilities.
As Nexus, I shouldn’t have access until my Faction was complete.
I had learned everything my parents could teach me, and their knowledge was vast. I had trained in various fighting styles.
Krav Maga was the one I enjoyed the most. It combined aikido, boxing, judo, karate, and wrestling.
Also, the Aurathion culture had several fighting methods passed down through the generations that I was proficient in.
I wish I could say it would improve my odds, but the truth is, most children raised in the Aurathion culture were more than familiar with those fighting styles.
I didn’t envy Nathan having to play catch up and train with Pop.
His joking nature didn’t translate to the training mat.
Holding back wasn’t something he did. My psycho was going to be bitching about the bruises he was likely to collect on his “perfect ass.” I was asked to refer to it as such at his request, but the boy wasn’t lying. His ass was nice to look at.
Nathan took it all because even though he liked to rile up my fathers, being able to protect me was his priority.
Nathan’s power was unstable, but he worked tirelessly to perfect it.
I was so thankful he would be waiting at Emberhold.
Hopefully, we could meet under the guise of friendship until we could perform the ritual and begin building our Faction in earnest. We had a rocky start, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
I doubt he cared how I felt. He was a stage five clinger from kindergarten to our senior year in high school.
No way would he allow me to contemplate life without him.
I should have known our bonding would be extraordinarily different.
My thoughts stopped when I pulled up to the trail leading to the portal.
It was concealed from all pure-blooded humans.
Aurathion illusionists had cast a mirage of a large hillside surrounded by a thick forest. I continued to drive until I saw the massive stone pillars with bright swirls of color rotating lazily in a circle.
This was it. It was time to see if I had what it took to become the Nexus of an Aurathion Faction.
I had a huge grin on my face as I drove through the portal. I couldn’t wait to see Nathan. I had missed his crazy ass. Together we were going to form the strongest Faction Emberhold had ever seen.