CHAPTER FOUR
an impromptu dance party

⋆*✧･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:

HOMEMADE MASKS and uniforms. Posters papering her walls. A bookshelf stacked with comics and magazines. Action figures on her nightstand. It was safe to say that the Umbrella Academy had taken over most of Nadine Vidal's teenage life. Featuring in daydreams and night ones, in stories she wrote for class, popping up in conversation. Sometimes she'd even unconsciously make illusions of umbrellas or superheroes. Her obsession kept her going, kept her knowing that she wasn't alone, and that there was a place where she belonged, even if it wasn't the one she was currently in. Among others like her, with powers just as difficult to explain. Nadine Vidal was supposed to be part of the Umbrella Academy, and she'd known that the moment she'd first seen them on television.

Or... she'd thought she was supposed to be a part of it. Sitting here, subjected to Diego's irritated glares and Luther's occasional glances, listening in on this intimate conversation she was definitely intruding on, learning that her imagination might've gone a bit too wild this time had Nadine Vidal shaken. She'd never been a particularly grounded woman—the Sanctuaries alone proved that—but this was a whole new level. She'd discovered the skeletons in the closet, and now she didn't know what to do with herself.

It seemed that the Umbrella Academy had never been the paradise she'd thought it was. And that definitely made her uncomfortable.

When Luther didn't deny Diego's claim, everyone's eyebrows shot up. Klaus, from his position beside Nadine, piped up, "You do!"

"How could you think that?" Vanya asked, hurt.

Luther shook his head, his mouth agape like a fish, but he didn't have time to defend himself before Diego was snarking, "Great job, Luther. Way to lead."

Luther shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying."

"That's exactly what you're saying," Nadine murmured. The burly man shot her a withering look, and Nadine shrugged. She knew her input wasn't welcome in this family discussion, but she had to speak up. She tapped her fingers against her wine glass and ran a hand through her hair, which was still locked in its bun.

Klaus began to rise. "That's crazy, man. You're crazy. Crazy."

The entire family began to leave Luther behind, while he just stood there, bleating that he wasn't finished and that he wasn't insinuating that he had literally accused his own family members of murder. When Vanya stood up, Nadine figured she should, too, leaving her wine glass on the coffee table and beginning to follow the woman.

"Okay, well, sorry, I'm just gonna go murder Mom," Klaus was saying. "Be right back."

Luther continued to bleat like an annoying goat as Nadine followed Vanya out into the front hall. Diego seemed to notice Nadine's presence, and rolled his eyes. "Well, you've gotten your exclusive peek into the Hargreeves life, French Girl. Now you can just go home."

Diego was slowly beginning to become Nadine's least-favourite member of this unorthodox family. Which was a real shame, because, as a teenager, she'd really appreciated his abilities. His incredibly accurate knife throwing had inspired her to take it up as a hobby, and although she couldn't hit bullseyes around the board, she was decent at it. Nowhere near as precise as Diego, but still. It made her feel closer to the Academy.

Vanya rested a hand on Nadine's shoulder, who jumped, winding up a fist and readying to attack. When she saw it was just Vanya, pale and tiny, she managed to stop herself, letting her hand drop limply to her side. "Merde, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm really jumpy."

"It's okay," said Vanya. "Sorry about all of that in there. Believe it or not, that was a pretty classic family meeting."

"I'm assuming that the Umbrella Academy wasn't all sunshine and rainbows," said Nadine, following Vanya to the staircase leading to the second level. She took a moment to stare at the railings, which were painted gold and carved with intricate patterns. Even the railings here were elegant. "I mean, I read your book—multiple times, in fact—but, I don't know... I guess maybe I didn't want to believe this place was anything less than perfect."

Nadine remembered Vanya's book. The woman had written all about her experience in the Academy as the powerless Number Seven, looked down upon by the others simply because she couldn't bench-press twice her own weight or control people's minds. It was a melancholy read, filled to the brim with petty insults, documents of events that would never be broadcasted on television, and had taken Nadine nearly three weeks to get through the first time.

"You're not alone in that," said Vanya, sinking onto one of the steps. Then: "I know I said I'd help you in there, but you're really better off going home. Our family... we haven't seen each other for years. And even before then, we weren't really all that close."

Nadine sat on the step below her. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "For intruding in on all of this. I mean, I literally booked a flight to America when I heard your father died because I knew you'd all get together! Who does that?"

"Don't worry about it," sighed Vanya. "Honestly, I've been feeling the same as you all day, and I'm a part of the family." She stretched out her forearm, which was pale as toilet paper and bare of any tattoos, and traced a finger across the smooth skin. Nadine knew enough about the Academy to know that all of the other members had been marked with the umbrella insignia, linking them as a team. Pity rushed through her. Vanya wasn't a part of that team.

Vanya buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe Luther thinks one of us killed Dad."

"Yes, that was bizarre," said Nadine. "Is he always like that?"

"He thinks he has to be a leader," Vanya explained. "Because he's Number One, you know?"

"He's a real buzzkill." Nadine splayed out her fingers, unconsciously drawing an image of a bumblebee to mind. The image peeled itself out of her mind, manifesting in the real world, and she could tell by the connection that had suddenly snapped her to Vanya that the woman beside her was seeing it, too. That, and the fact that her eyes were tracing the arc of its erratic flight.

"Sorry." Nadine waved her hand, and the bee faded into nothingness. "I've never been really good at controlling myself."

Vanya twisted her body so that she was face-to-face with her. "Where's your source?" she asked.

"What's that?"

It was an unfamiliar English word to her, and Nadine wracked her brains for the French translation, even though some words couldn't be translated. In French, words changed depending on if they were masculine or feminine, which didn't happen in English—everything was gender-neutral. There were different future and past tenses depending on what you were talking about. Nadine was sure that if she hadn't grown up speaking the language, she would've never been able to figure out all of its rules.

"Source," Vanya repeated. "Like, where do your abilities come from? For Ben, it was his stomach. For Five, it was his hands. For Allison, it's her voice. Where do you feel like your abilities come from?"

Nadine raised a hand and touched her forehead, right between her eyes. "Here."

"Okay, so your head. And what does it feel like when you're letting your illusions loose?"

"There's a sort of..." what was the word for it? Speaking English fluently was tiring. "Bourdonnement... euh... oh. Buzzing. There's a sort of buzzing. Like that bumblebee."

"And that's when your abilities come out?"

"Yes, that is."

"Okay, so is there any way to make that buzzing go away? Like, can you reel it in after it's started?"

"I don't know," said Nadine thoughtfully, tapping her hands against the ornate railing. "It usually happens too fast for me to try anything."

"Next time, try taking a few deep breaths," instructed Vanya. "Try to bring the buzzing back in, and then let it go. It's difficult, because it happens so fast, but you just have to attempt to clear your mind and reel it in. Deep breathing, I've found, helps with that sort of thing."

"Thank you," said Nadine, touching her head lightly. She was unsure if Vanya's method would really work, but it was worth a shot. Besides, Vanya knew more than she had, what with the living with six super-powered siblings for most of her life, so maybe it really was as simple as that. It would be nice to not make bumblebees and caterpillars appear all the time, though a twinge of childhood remorse struck through her like a string played on a guitar. She was thinking about Louise and her fright, and how, if the key to controlling her illusions was as easy as breathing, she'd spent years disappointing her mother for nothing.

She knew it wasn't her fault. She knew Louise should've just dealt with Nadine, flaws and all, but... still. She still was bitter. All she'd ever wanted was a good relationship with her mother, and she'd never gotten it for long.

Nadine was coaxed out of her somber state by Vanya again. "What happened to you?"

She was looking at the circular scar marring Nadine's creamy skin. It was the soft pink of a sunset, though nothing nearly as beautiful, especially considering the state of her back. The bullet had merely clipped her, apparently—skidding right through—but it had still created a disfigured scar that splattered out on her shoulder blade.

Nadine's fingers found the mark. Her face became hot. "I got shot."

"Shot?"

Nadine jerked away from Vanya, from her velvety gaze and her gentle words, soft as a butterfly's wing. "I don't talk about it."

"Sorry," said Vanya softly. She'd flinched like she'd been slapped.

"We need to stop apologizing," said Nadine, tracing her scar again. "Sorry, sorry, désolée... we're going to spend half of our conversations doing it."

"Does that mean we're going to talk again?" Vanya asked, a half-grin on her face.

"If you want," said Nadine, smiling back. "I mean, I know I am intruding and everything, so if you want me to head back to France I will, but for now my schedule's clear."

"Stay here," said Vanya. "At least for a couple of days. I can help you more, if you want. You're welcome here."

"Thank you." Nadine's smile got wider. "You're very thoughtful, Vanya Hargreeves."

The two women stared at each other, nearly identical grins written on both of their faces, when faint music began piping through the house. Children behave, that's what they say when we're together. And watch how you play...

I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany. A song that, apparently, resonated with Vanya, as the woman eventually got to her feet, flashing Nadine another smile as she did so. Nadine stood up, too, stretching out her legs, and watching Vanya close her eyes.

I think we're alone now, there doesn't seem to be anyone around...

"I've never been good at dancing, just so you know," Nadine warned her new friend.

Vanya shrugged. "Neither am I. Just close your eyes, Nadine."

I think we're alone now, the beating of our hearts is the only sound...

The world folded into darkness as Nadine closed her eyes, feeling the beat of the music rumble through her. After a moment, she started dancing—or, flailing about in a crude imitation of it. Louise had signed her up for ballet when she was four, but it had never stuck, thus the weird dancing that looked more like a potential seizure. Her laughs filled the air as she and Vanya danced with their eyes closed, swaying about without touching the other woman.

Look at the way, we've gotta hide what we're doin'... 'Cause what would they say, if they ever knew and so we're running just as fast as we can...

Finally, Nadine found herself relaxing. She didn't think about the slight throb of her headache still pulsing in her temples, or the fact that she was a stranger in the Hargreeves' home, she just let herself get lost in the music, breathing the beat and tapping the rhythm against her leg.

I think we're alone now, there doesn't seem to be anyone around...

Nadine strummed a fake guitar.

I think we're alone now, the beating of our hearts is the only sound.

Before Nadine could go into her elaborate dance finale—featuring pirouettes, leaps, and a fall into the splits—there was a big flash of light and a rumble of thunder, jumpstarting her heart and forcing her eyes open. Like she'd done with Vanya, the abrupt sound made her jump, immediately lashing out at her attacker, which turned out to be the stair railing. Her hand slammed into the ornate design, jolting pain through her, and as she pulled it away to check if it was broken, she saw blood leaking between her fingers.

That wasn't even the worst part, though. The power had flickered off, but the sudden thunder continued violently, shattering glass and nearly knocking Nadine and Vanya to their knees. The two women exchanged a panicked look and immediately began to investigate the source of this madness, as they could tell it wasn't any ordinary thunderstorm.

Vanya led Nadine, who was still nursing her wounded hand, into a courtyard, and as soon as the door opened, a brutal wind immediately assaulted them, whipping Nadine's hair out of its confines and battering at her cheekbones. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked around, noticing that there was an electric blue light sparking through the air and illuminating their faces. The other Hargreeves siblings were here, too—the vicious storm must've been felt all over the house—and all of them were staring at the anomaly that hovered in the air and seemed to be the cause of this absurdity.

Hovering in the center of the courtyard was what appeared to be some sort of portal. Around it, the air warped the same electric blue, curving around itself, but in the middle Nadine could see what appeared to be trees and a fence. As she cradled her bleeding hand closer to her, the wind still walloping at her face, she thought it might be some kind of wormhole.

"What is it?" Vanya shouted from beside Nadine.

"Don't get too close!" Allison warned Luther, who'd been walking up to this wormhole. She grabbed his arm, tilting him away as the other simply stared.

"Yeah, no shit," said Diego. It was so loud that, even though Nadine was beside him, she had to strain her ears to hear his voice.

"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly," observed Luther. "Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two."

"Black holes definitely don't look like that!" Nadine pointed out. Diego just stared at Luther.

"There's a pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan."

"Out of the way!"

Klaus came sprinting through the courtyard, pushing past both Diego and Luther in haste to get nearer to this anomaly. He was clutching a fire extinguisher.

"What are you—" Luther started, as Klaus began spraying the contents of the extinguisher onto the warping wormhole. Nothing happened, obviously, so Klaus settled for throwing the extinguisher into the hole, where it promptly disappeared, causing a ripple to spread across the stagnant image of trees.

"What is that gonna do?" Allison shouted.

Klaus threw his hands up. "I don't know. Do you have a better idea?"

There was another burst of electricity, and Klaus rejoined the group. Luther threw out an arm, shielding his brother from harm. "Everyone, get behind me," he ordered, attempting to keep his siblings (and Nadine) from being sucked in. Diego wasn't having it, though, as he pushed the help away,

"Yeah, get behind us!"

"I vote for running, c'mon!" Klaus yelled. But even he didn't move. All of them were too curious about this strange occurrence to even think about moving. Instead, they just stared at the warp in space, which was how they all ended up seeing the old man, who was pressing his face against the energy as it surrounded him.

His mouth was wide open, and his hands were spread out as he tried to force himself through the wormhole. But as he did so, his face began to change, morphing in seconds to the face of a boy with dark brown hair. The boy yelled, and then he was falling, tumbling to the ground in a heap. As the wind whistled through his hair, the wormhole, the portal, whatever was hovering in the air faded away. Then there was just the boy, lying in the leaves.

Everyone stepped forward, staring at the stranger. For a moment, Nadine feared he might be dead. Then he got to his feet. He was dressed in a suit that was way too big for him, the sleeves of his coat nearly slipping past his hands and with a long tie nearly reaching his midriff. For a moment, he just stared at them, and Nadine stared back, her mouth agape. She thought her jaw might just detach from her skull and fall to the ground.

Because she recognized this boy.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked.

Nadine was so shocked she couldn't even come up with a response in English. Because it wasn't just Klaus. Number Five, who'd gone missing at the age of thirteen, was, in fact, standing in front of them all, looking just as he'd done when he'd vanished. He hadn't aged a day.

At Klaus's comment, Five looked down at his scrawny body, evidently realizing he was now in the body of a child and not the old man Nadine had seen in the wormhole. As his eyes traced across each of them (including Nadine's—she could tell by his confusion that he didn't recognize her) he let out one choice word.

"Shit."

Well, that was one word for it.

⋆*✧･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:

#HAVEN: i feel so bad for updating this book so infrequently 😭😭 honestly, i think part of the reason was because i literally HATE this chapter and wanted to avoid getting to it, but i couldn't put it off forever 🙃 

five's finally here!! nadine's relationship with him in this book is genuinely so funny, like she's always so tempted to just drop kick him back through the time portal FHDHSHF i love them so much 

next chapter we've got five being cryptic (as usual) and a bonding session with klaus!! i promise, i'm going to start updating this book more often, because i really want to get into the good stuff. chapter eight is where we get some juicy info 👀👀

thanks for reading :)