CHAPTER THREE
got arachnophobia?

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NADINE USED TO LET spiders crawl across her bare arms, their eight legs scurrying up and down her pale skin. She'd place them on the knuckle of her middle finger, and they'd often creep around to her palm, or perhaps making themselves at home on her usually painted fingernails. Then, after they got bored of the limited playground that was Nadine's hand, they'd make their way up her arm, scuttling across every scar, every freckle, every vein, until it reached the sleeves of her shirt and she forced it back on her knuckle again. It'd do the same little dance up her arm, its tiny legs tickling her skin, again and again, until she got disinterested and let it outside. It was a sort of routine for her—she'd used to be scared of the arachnids, and letting her fear prick her way across her skin made her pulse race and her palms sweat—and one that Louise Vidal absolutely despised.

Nadine's mother hated spiders—when she saw one, she'd often go into a shrieking frenzy and try to stomp on it with her high-heels—so when she'd come into her daughter's room and see that her miracle girl had made her bare skin a playground to the deplorable creatures, she'd often crawl back into her room and blot the world away. Louise could never understand where she'd gone wrong when it came to her angel, why she was so different, and Nadine could never understand why different was such a bad thing.

Her childhood habit had made it so she could picture all sorts of spiders clearly in her mind, making them a reliable image to bring forth in case of illusion emergency. It was effortless for her to bring spiders to life, which made it effortless for her to freak people out. And now, standing here in the Hargreeves' living room, subjected to five bewildered stares, she was seriously thinking about bringing the arachnids out again.

They were all here (well, the ones who were confirmed alive, anyway). It took Nadine's tense brain a moment to match their faces to their identities, because it had been so long since most of them were in the spotlight. The burly man wearing the trench coat and the turtleneck must've been Luther. Diego was the one dressed in a bizarre outfit, all leather straps, currently polishing one of his signature knives with a cloth. Allison was easy for Nadine to recognize—she looked identical to her character, Ruby, who was the star in the movie Nadine had watched on the plane—and just as beautiful as she had been as a teenager. And Klaus was the man sitting on the floor, with his hair sticking out in all directions and clad in a kooky outfit, all necklaces and feathers.

That left Vanya. She was the smallest of her siblings, a dwarf to their giants. Her hair was tucked into a bun and she seemed to be shrinking in on herself, her eyes darting around like she wasn't sure she was supposed to be here. Or maybe she was trying to make herself invisible.

After a moment of staring and nothing else, Nadine taking in the faces of the Academy and the Academy taking in her unexpected appearance, Diego Hargreeves, one of Nadine's idols, flipped his knife into the air, caught it, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Right. Nadine realized she'd just been standing there, which must've been uncomfortable, given the fact that she was a stranger in someone else's house. "Pogo let me in," she explained, gesturing over her shoulder to the elderly chimpanzee, who was shrinking back into the front hall. "I, euh, needed to talk to you. All of you."

"I'm sorry," said Luther. He'd swelled up since Nadine had last seen him on television, inflating from a reasonably muscled man to a behemoth, towering over them all. Nadine didn't know if this was a side effect of his powers—super strength—or something else was the cause, but she knew this wasn't the right time to ask. "We're kind of in the middle of something. Our father just died, and we were trying to plan his funeral."

Nadine winced. Right. Bursting in on funeral preparations to demand people talk about her probably wouldn't get her into people's good books, but desperation and curiosity had fueled her motivations, and she hadn't really thought about what the members of the Umbrella Academy might think of her unforeseen arrival.

But she had no other choice, so she found herself launching into her prepared speech anyway. "My name is Nadine Vidal, and I, like all of you, was born on October first, nineteen-eighty-nine. And, like all of you, I'm not ordinary. Just like you, I have abilities. But I've never been good at controlling them. I thought that you might know more about superpowers than my doctors."

Vanya shrunk in even more at that. Nadine swallowed, guilt flooding through her. She knew from Vanya's book that the woman was ordinary. She'd been the ant to everyone else's ladybird. And this conversation was probably an unwelcome reminder of that.

None of the other siblings seemed to notice. They were just staring at her like she'd grown a second head. Which was not the reaction Nadine would've liked of them. She'd have preferred they immediately welcome her in or something.

Klaus was the first to speak up from his spot on the floor, though it wasn't to inquire about her statement. "Wait a second," he said instead, "are you French?"

Nadine blinked. "Yes?"

"That's so cool! I've always wanted to go to France."

"Ignore Klaus," Allison said, rolling her eyes. She was ethereal in person, seeming to emanate an aura of sunshine. "He's a little weird sometimes."

Diego spoke up next. "So, what, you think you're like us? What can you do?"

His tone was blunt and judgmental, and seemed to be full of doubt. Nadine knew it was possible that the Hargreeves siblings had been fed this story before by another kid claiming to have superpowers, but she'd thought he'd still have a more open mind. Wouldn't it have been nice for him to know he wasn't alone?

Nadine answered anyway. "I can create illusions. You know, make things appear that aren't really there."

Diego kept his eyes locked on hers. "Prove it."

Nadine smirked. That she could do. Splaying out her hands, she let a spider come to life in her mind instead of the butterfly she'd shown Pogo. Because she'd just been thinking about the arachnids, it sparked almost immediately, and, as her head buzzed, forming that blue light, she splayed out her fingers. "Afraid of spiders, Number Two?" she asked, and unleashed the swarm.

"Jesus!" Diego hopped up as the spiders began to crawl up his seat and onto the legs of his pants. He tried to hit at one, but his hand just phased right through. He continued this panicked dance for a few moments before he realized that all of his siblings were looking at him like he'd gone mad.

Nadine waved her hand, and the spiders disappeared. Her head, which had previously been aching a little, inflamed to a throb that seemed to chip at her skull, and she clutched at it, dazed, as Allison, Vanya, and Luther stared at Diego, their bodies trembling as they attempted not to laugh.

Klaus made no such attempt, immediately bursting into cackles and leaning back, his body shaking.

Diego narrowed his eyes, and he looked like he wanted to jump up and strangle Nadine, but he seemed to smother the impulse. "Okay, point made. You are one of us."

"But... how?" Luther asked. "I thought dad said he'd gotten all of the kids like us."

"Well, he didn't," said Nadine. "Because my mère was not interested in selling me for money. She turned down your father's offer. Which is why I wasn't adopted, too."

"So, what, you want us to teach you how to control your illusions, or something?" Diego, still fuming, asked. "Because that's not going to happen. One, you seem to have pretty good control over them already, and two, we're not interested. If you wanted a trainer, you should've asked my father. But he's gone."

"Diego, don't be rude," Allison scolded. Nadine, who was still clutching at her head, swallowed. Hopefully this wasn't all for nothing. "She's like us. We can't just turn her away."

"Sure we can."

"I can help," Vanya suggested, speaking for the first time since Nadine had come in here. Her voice was slightly timid, mirroring her body language, but it was lovely.

"Help?" Luther echoed. "Vanya, you don't even have powers."

"I used to help Ben when his powers got out of control," she shot back. "It's the same thing here. I've lived around you guys for most of my life—I think I'm sort of a power expert here."

"I'd like that," Nadine blurted out without thinking. "I mean... if you'd help me, I'd be grateful. I've been sort of going about this blind my entire life, so if you even have one pointer to give me, I'd love that."

Vanya smiled. "Okay. I can help you after the funeral, if you want." She looked around awkwardly. "We were sort of about to start planning it before you got here."

"Which reminds me," said Klaus, standing up on wobbly legs. "I'm going to make some drinks. I can't go to dear ol' dad's funeral sober, that's for sure."

He headed to the bar, leaving the other four to adjust their positions on their various couches and chairs they were sitting on. Eventually, Allison said to Nadine, "So, you're from France, right? Did you recently move here, or...?"

"No, no, I don't live in America," said Nadine, standing up a little straighter. "I still live in France. I flew here to... to, well, talk to all of you."

"Wow," Allison breathed. "Well, then, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like. Do you want to sit down? Or have a drink, or something?"

"You and your hospitalities," Diego muttered. "She doesn't have to stay. I'm pretty sure she's staying in a motel or something. She can just go back there."

Allison reached over and hit him. "I'm being nice, Diego. You should try it sometime."

Nadine felt the sting of Diego's rejection and let it roll off her. If worse came to worst, she could always unleash the spiders on him again—now that had gotten a reaction. "I think I'll stay here for a bit, if you don't mind," she said.

It wasn't like she was going to leave. Not yet.

NADINE SOON FOUND HERSELF perched on the couch besides Vanya, who she'd now decided she'd liked the best out of all of them, planning for a funeral of someone she'd never met. She sipped a glass of wine—it wasn't as good as the wine at home (her favourite was Le Newbie, like Louise), but it wasn't bad—that Klaus had offered her (okay, so maybe he was also a contender for her favourite Hargreeves sibling) and tried not to look too uncomfortable. She was sure Diego, at least, wasn't too thrilled she was here, intruding on a family meeting she definitely wasn't really welcome to (no matter what Allison said), and she got the feeling that Luther was glancing at her when she wasn't looking. Well, whatever. At least this whole trip to America hadn't been a bust, and Vanya had agreed to help her. That made Nadine feel significantly better.

Eventually, in between sips of their various drinks, Luther got to his feet. Standing Luther made Nadine feel like the dwarf; he was just so large. Nadine was just above average in height—174 cm (five-foot-eight)—but Luther must've been at least seven feet. He was the giant on the top of the beanstalk.

"Um, I guess we should get this started," he said. Nadine shifted slightly, taking another sip of wine. It took the edge off her headache—which was still shaking in her skull—and provided a moment of discomfort to flicker onto her face. Then the wine was down her throat, and she was back to looking neutral as Luther continued.

"So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just as Dad's favourite spot."

"Dad had a favourite spot?" Allison asked. Nadine sipped her wine again and looked back to the bar, where Klaus was bustling about, making more drinks. Perhaps she should ask for a refill.

"Yeah, you know, under the oak tree."

Nadine looked around. None of the Hargreeves siblings seemed to know what he was talking about, which made her think that Reginald Hargreeves definitely had a favourite child. Confusion glimmered on Luther's face. "We used to sit there all the time. None of you ever did that?"

Before anyone could respond, Klaus came sauntering back, glasses in one hand and a smoking joint in the other, wearing a skirt he certainly hadn't been clad in before. The scent of weed filled the air as he asked, "Will there be refreshments? Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."

"What? No. And put that out. You know Dad didn't allow smoking in here," Luther ordered.

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked.

"What?" Klaus turned, his joint dangling in his lips now. "Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathey on the bits."

Nadine let out a laugh, causing Klaus to turn to her and bow. Then he extended his joint to her. "Madame? Vous voulez un peu?"

"Non, merci," said Nadine. She was impressed with the man's French, and gave him another grin, even if she didn't support his apparent drug habit. Klaus shrugged and took another drag from his joint just as Luther decided to ruin all of the fun.

"Listen up," he snapped. "Still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?"

"Like what?" Diego asked.

"Like the way he died."

"And here we go."

Klaus nestled himself on the couch beside Nadine, and she shifted over slightly, inadvertently getting herself closer to Vanya. Now she was jammed in between the two of them, packed together like sardines, and her headache was getting even worse. She clutched at it and took another sip of wine, finishing her glass.

"I don't understand," said Vanya. "I thought they said it was a heart attack."

Nadine nodded. "That's true. It was all over the news."

"According to the coroner," said Luther.

"Well, wouldn't they know?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?" Allison echoed.

Nadine blinked. It was possible for someone to die, and the murder to be perceived as a heart attack, but why was this the first conclusion Luther was jumping to? It didn't seem all that unrealistic that an old man living alone (with the exception of Pogo and perhaps Grace, who Nadine hadn't seen yet) would die of a heart attack, even if he was a billionaire. As she looked around the room uneasily, she realized that there was a lot of family baggage she wasn't, and probably would never be, caught up with. The things tabloids didn't know about.

"I'm just saying," Luther said now, "at the very least, something happened. That last time that I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

Klaus leaned back on the couch, gurgling his drink in his mouth. "Oh, quelle surprise!"

"Strange how?" Allison asked.

"He sounded on edge," Luther explained. "Told me I should be careful who to trust."

"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles," said Diego, rising out of his chair to face his large brother.

Nadine blinked again. Paranoid, bitter old man? Was that how the Academy thought of Reginald Hargreeves? Sure, he'd been a little questionable in asking to buy people's babies, but Nadine had always pictured the Umbrella Academy as a real-life X-Mansion. Somewhere she'd dreamed of going her entire life.

"No," said Luther. "He must have known something was going to happen." He turned to Klaus. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."

Klaus, who was taking up more than his fair share of space on the couch, sat up. "I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, 'Dad, could you just... stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?'"

"Since when? That's your thing."

Nadine had almost forgotten that Klaus could talk to ghosts. She'd always been envious of that ability—if she'd had it, she could speak to her Grandmère, who'd died of cancer when Nadine was ten, or her oncle, who'd gotten in a motorcycling accident seventeen years ago. It was quite an impressive power, and definitely first on Nadine's list.

"I'm not in the right... frame of mind," said Klaus.

"You're high?" accused Allison.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Klaus let out a laugh. "I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Well, sober up," snapped Luther. "This is important."

Nadine was beginning to see who the buzzkill of the Umbrella Academy was. She looked down at her shoes as her palms began to sweat again, wiping them on her jeans. Her shoulder—just beside her neck but above her collarbone—began to burn again, a phantom wound, and her hand went to the circular scar instinctively, tracing the mark. The entry wound was a circle the size of the marble, while the exit wound gaped out more.

When she was stressed, it was like she'd been shot again.

Luther wasn't even finished. "Then there's the issue of the missing monocle."

"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego muttered, exasperated. Unfortunately, Luther took his rhetorical remark as a genuine one.

"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge."

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus blurted. Nadine rubbed at the bullet wound again.

"Oh, isn't it obvious, Klaus?" Diego asked. "He thinks one of us killed Dad."

Nadine leaned forward in shock, nearly losing her hold on her glass. This was certainly getting interesting.

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HAVEN: nadine is literally the epidemy of a feral child 😃👍 you'll see more about her childhood later but it's safe to say that she was weird af LMFAOO

anyway, nadine finally met the hargreeves 🙈 and immediately went into messing with diego as she should 😌😌 

honestly, though, i know they might've seemed fairly receptive to her right now, but i promise you, they definitely don't appreciate her intrusion. nadine is definitely going to have her work cut out for her to get into their good books LMFAO

thanks for reading <3