CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
the calm before the storm

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ALTHOUGH NADINE'S ORIGINAL plan had been to turn right around and find Viktor as soon as she gained her bodily autonomy back, by the time that actually happened, she was so exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes open. She stumbled through the hotel's revolving doors like a drunkard, her feet screaming at her with every step, and immediately collapsed on the couch. Her entire body groaned, grateful for the reprieve. Finally free from Allison's spell, it seemed to have turned into a large lump, unwilling to do anything but loll about like a particularly lazy sloth. Nadine couldn't even enjoy the feeling of having her limbs do what she wanted them to do before her eyes drifted shut. The last thing she remembered before she passed out completely was Chet tucking a blanket over her shoulders.

Her dreams were horrible, violent recreations of the events that had occurred last night. Viktor became consumed by Harlan's spell and fell silent and motionless. Allison pulled Harlan's eyes out of his skull and let him writhe until his breath slowed to a stop. Nadine, under Allison's influence, was forced to kill everyone she'd ever loved. She woke up screaming, sure her hands were covered in blood. It was actually sweat, but she still had to run to the bathroom to wash it off.

As the too-hot water ran over her hands, she raised her head to look at herself in the mirror. Somehow, it felt as if something had changed, as if there would be someone else staring back at her. Perhaps her eyes would be Allison's, dark and malicious. Maybe she wouldn't be there at all.

Of course, this wasn't the case. The woman that stared back at Nadine was unchanged, with the same stringy blonde hair, shadowed eyes, and slightly crooked, protruding nose. Her flesh was still riddled with marks from Fei's ravens, though the scabbed-over cuts had been replaced by red patches of skin. Soon, they would fade to scars. As would the cut Kadence had made on her cheek.

She dunked her head under the sink, letting the sting of the water shock her back into reality. Even so, the world was still dream-like. The fact that she could now do what she wanted with her own body hadn't quite sunken in yet, even when she experimentally stomped her sore feet on the floor.

Fuck. She really needed to go back to the drive-in. Allison was gone, but with any luck, Viktor would still be there, likely wondering where everyone had gone. If Nadine found him, she could explain what had happened. Then, maybe the two of them could decide what to do about Allison.

Allison, who took control of Nadine and then looked away. Allison, who had snapped Harlan's neck.

Before she could get too deep into planning, however, a sharp pain and an embarrassing gurgle from her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten since yesterday. She'd have to grab a few pastries or a piece of toast from the lobby's breakfast bar. She could take the food with her on her way to the drive-in.

She took a heavy gulp of water from the sink, wiped her mouth, and limped her way back downstairs. Her entire body was stiff, a Tin Man that had gone too long without getting his joints oiled. Her feet protested every step, raw and flayed open. Her breath came out in aborted bursts that really couldn't have been healthy.

Oh, if only Molly could have seen her now. Nadine held onto her charm bracelet again. Somehow, she'd regressed, turning back to the homeless, scraggly-haired woman that had stumbled into The Sunrise Cove all those years ago. All of her girlfriend's patience, all of the hard work Nadine herself had put in to get better again... it had all been wiped away. In its place was the skeleton Nadine was beginning to fear was her default form.

In the lobby, she stacked a plate high with muffins, croissants, and Danishes. Chet, who was one of the only employees that hadn't fled when the world had started catching on fire, eyed her, but waved her on. He was seriously the best.

She was just about to pull on her shoes and head out when someone behind her cleared their throat. When she turned around, she found both Luther and Sloane greeting her.

"Holy shit," she said. Her voice was thick, struggling to get past the layer of mucus that had accumulated in her throat. "What's going on?"

Luther took her in from head to toe, then swallowed thickly. "How do you always end up looking worse every time I see you?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

Nadine's breath hitched. Considering how close she knew Luther and Allison to be, she wasn't sure if she should tell him what had happened. They'd been best friends as children, and a special connection remained between them even now. Would telling him the truth tarnish his image of her?

That doesn't matter, she reminded herself. I can't just pretend everything's okay to spare his feelings. Jesus. When did I get so empathetic?

"No," she said, and she was surprised by the sheer honesty of that one word. "I—ehm..." she glanced at Sloane, whose eyes were narrowed in concentration. Maybe she could tell him later. "What's Sloane doing back here?"

"Family meeting," Sloane said. "Both families. Now that Harlan's been turned over to us—" at this, Nadine's eyes fluttered shut, her body tensing even further, "—the Sparrow Academy is willing to work with you Umbrellas."

"And why the hell would we do that?" Nadine asked. "You'll probably just kill us where we stand."

"No, Nadine, they won't." Luther stepped forward with a surprisingly serious expression. "Look, I know you don't like them, but they're as affected by the kugelblitz as we are. They want to stop it, too. Plus, I know that Ben, at least, is a man of his word. He's not going to stab you in the back."

"I promise," Sloane added. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you or the others. It may be hard to convince some of the others—" here, she paused to let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like Kadence, "—but it'll be done. No harm will come to you while we play host."

Nadine pursed her lips, thinking about this. She really needed to head back to the drive-in and find Viktor. Hopefully, he'd have woken up by now, but that did mean that he was inevitably suffering a surge of confusion, maybe even worry. Perhaps he thought that she, Allison, and Harlan had all been taken by the kugelblitz. Maybe he was pulling his hair out with grief.

Plus, they needed to do something about Allison. Nadine didn't want to hurt her friend, but after she'd committed what felt like the ultimate back-stabbing—even worse than what Ben would do, because Nadine didn't trust him in the first place—she knew that, at the very least, some changes would have to be made. She couldn't be allowed to do this to people. It wasn't right.

But with every day that passed—every hour, really—the universe got closer and closer to falling to pieces. This kugelblitz needed to be dealt with now. And the only way that they would even have a sliver of a chance was if they had access to the Sparrow Academy's basement.

Would it really matter, though? Nadine was still doubtful that their efforts would do anything. But she supposed that, for Harlan at least, she might as well try.

So, yeah, she was still probably going to disappear like a blown-out candle flame. But maybe, somehow, she could at least prolong the process.

Though she wasn't holding her breath.

"I should get Viktor," she ended up saying eventually. Luther's eyes darkened.

"Yeah. Viktor. Um, speaking of, were you in any way involved with his whole 'I'm going to take Harlan and run and possibly ruin everything' plan he had going on?"

Well, there was no point in lying. "Yes. But we weren't going to ruin anything, Luther. We were just—we were just going to get his powers transferred back to Viktor. Then we could take him back to the Sparrow Academy with proof that he wasn't a threat. But then—" she cut herself off, a strangled noise coming from her throat. The sound of Harlan's neck breaking under Allison's grasp echoed in her mind once more.

"That wasn't your call to make," Luther said. The sternness in his tone only lasted a moment, though, before his expression softened. Likely because Nadine looked like such utter garbage. "Whatever. It's over with, now. But you know where he is?"

Nadine nodded. "He's back where we were hiding—an abandoned drive-in. I had to leave him behind because—" Again, she cut herself off. Because maybe it wasn't about hurting Luther's feelings. Maybe it was because saying what Allison had done to her out loud made it real.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"How quickly can you be back?" Sloane asked. "For obvious reasons, we want this meeting to be sooner rather than later."

"In total, around four hours by car," Nadine answered, grateful that this was the question that Sloane had chosen to ask. Luther was shooting her a questioning look, but she pretended not to see it. "Less if I can get Five to Jump me over, or whatever. Though I'm sure that's not an option."

"Just take the car," Luther said, confirming this. "We'll get the others. Allison's already there, so—"

"Yeah," Nadine said, a little too quickly. "Of course. I'll be back soon."

"Be careful," Sloane said. Judging by the look on her face, she genuinely meant it. Which was a heap of laughs.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. Okay... bye."

Continuing to ignore Luther, Nadine scurried through the front doors and back out into the apocalyptic morning. There, she found an abandoned car with its keys still left in the ignition (likely another victim of the kugelblitz) and climbed inside. The engine rumbled to life with a purr, and before long, Nadine was pulling onto the empty, broken roads.

She knew the route to the drive-in by heart. Of course, she did.

She'd walked the whole length, after all.

EXACTLY TWO HOURS AND two minutes after Nadine first hit the road, she drove into the drive-in's parking lot for a second time. As she did, she marvelled at the fact that nothing about the area had been altered. There were no longer the dark clouds that had hung over the area when Viktor and Harlan had activated their abilities, no indent of their bodies from when they'd fallen to the ground. No blood. No scratches from Harlan trying to claw his way away. No desperate, jagged footprints, remnants of Nadine's unwanted departure. Nothing. Just ordinary gravel, a slightly gray sky, and a wide, white screen.

Well, maybe those weren't the only things.

Viktor was standing in front of the diner, his hands clenched into fists. His head followed the route of the car as it moved into a parking spot, his chest heaving. His rigid posture, cutthroat eyes, and the faint hum in the air all pointed to the idea that he was preparing to fight. When Nadine slid out of the car, though, his entire body shrunk in relief.

"Nadine," he breathed, taking a shaky step forward. "Oh, my God."

"Viktor," Nadine replied. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

She moved forward, then collapsed into his arms. As soon as her chin hit his shoulder, she burst into a fresh bout of sobs, her vision blurring. Viktor shook, too, holding her close. His hands came up to rub her back, and Nadine melted into it, closing her eyes.

After another round of tears—fuck, if she kept going on like this, she was going to run dry—Viktor finally let go of her. Holding her out at arm's length, he continued to tremble. "Jesus, Nadine. I thought you were—I thought you'd died."

"I'm sorry," Nadine said again. "I'm so sorry, Viktor."

"I—I don't understand. What happened? Why did you leave? Where are Allison and Harlan? Are they okay?"

Nadine flinched. Viktor noticed it. His eyes went wide.

"Oh, no," he breathed. "You're not telling me they were—"

"No," Nadine interrupted. "It wasn't—it wasn't the kugelblitz. It was—oh, my God, Viktor. I can't—I just—my body—"

"Okay, okay." Viktor took her hands within his. The familiar pressure helped ground Nadine a little bit. "It's okay. Can you take a few breaths for me?"

"Yeah." Nadine sucked in air through her nose, then exhaled slowly through her mouth. Viktor mimed the action exaggeratedly, encouraging her to copy until she wasn't visibly hyperventilating. When it seemed that she'd calmed down enough, he squeezed her palms.

"Okay. Okay. Nadine, I need you to tell me what happened."

Well, there was no avoiding it this time. Nadine opened her mouth. Imagined the words coming onto her tongue. Pictured Viktor's reaction.

Then closed it again.

"It's so fucked up," she said instead. "It's so fucked up."

"It was bad, then." Viktor's face was pale. "Oh, God, Nadine, I'm so sorry. If I had been there—"

If you had been there, Allison would've killed you, too, Nadine thought. She couldn't say it out loud.

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry. Just—just tell me, okay? Start from the beginning."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Nadine sucked in another shuddering breath. "You were—you were sleeping. I fell asleep with you. Then I guess Harlan and Allison brought us both inside, because that's where I... where I woke up. You were still unconscious. Harlan said you were exhausted from the transfer."

"That's true," Viktor said, chewing on his lip. "I was."

"He also said that Allison would be glad to know I was awake. So, we went outside. She was there. And we were talking for a little bit, and Allison was clearly being cold, so Harlan... Harlan said, 'I know why you don't like me.'"

Viktor squeezed her hands again in encouragement. "You're doing great, Nadine."

"We had no idea what he meant," Nadine said, then suddenly quieted. Now that she was recounting the day, a thought that hadn't come to her before sprung to the forefront of her mind—that Viktor had lied to her. Well, not outright, but he'd never told her that Harlan had killed their mothers. Even though he'd known—that was what Harlan said. He'd known, and he'd decided to keep that vital piece of information from her.

Looking at Viktor now, Nadine wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel about that. Maybe he had a reason for lying. Maybe he didn't. Either way, he'd kept a secret that shouldn't have been kept. And when the truth came to light, it had ended in bloodshed.

Viktor seemed to have noticed the change in her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Nadine swallowed heavily. "Harlan said—Harlan said—" the words struggled to come up, lodging in her throat like a piece of food going down the wrong tube. "He said that he... he said that he killed our mothers."

"Oh." Viktor's face dropped.

"It's true, then." Nadine had known before—why would Harlan lie about such a thing?—but Viktor's expression just solidified it. "Harlan's the reason for everything that happened. And you... you knew."

"I'm sorry." Viktor cast his gaze to the ground, apparently no longer able to look her in the eye. "I was going to tell you."

"Then why didn't you?" Nadine asked. "Don't you trust me?"

"Of course, I do, Nadine. God." Viktor still didn't look at her. "It was just—when he told me—or, I guess, showed me—what had happened, I went into shock. I didn't know what to do, Nadine. The Sparrows already wanted him dead, and I knew that if this came out, you guys would kill him yourselves. And when you defended him... I don't know. I guess I was worried that you'd no longer be on my side if you knew."

"That's no excuse for keeping such a big secret."

"I know. I know, it's not. I'm so, so, sorry, Nadine. I should've told you the moment I knew. I should've known that I could trust you. After all, you've done so much for me."

Nadine let her eyes drift shut for a moment. "When Allison found out, she was livid," she said, continuing her recap of yesterday's events. "I mean, I was mad, too, but nowhere near to the degree she was. She started blaming him for—for what happened to Claire. And I could just tell, just by her face, that she was going to kill him."

Viktor finally looked back at her, his face sickly pale. "Oh, God. Harlan..."

"I think a part of me wanted to hurt him, too, but I would be a hypocrite if I didn't give him a second chance. I didn't want him dead. After all, we'd done what we'd come here to accomplish. It should've been over, now. He should've been able to live.

"I... I stepped in front of him. I tried, Viktor, I really did, to get Allison to back off. She wasn't having any of it. And I guess that a part of me understands her grief... at least, I did. But that was when she went too far."

Viktor didn't move a muscle. "What did she—what did she do?"

Nadine sucked in a breath. Just say it, Nadine. Just say it.

"She—when I wouldn't get out of her way, she... she... Rumoured me."

"What?"

"At first it was just to get me to step aside. But then I kept telling her to stop, and she did it again. She... she Rumoured me to go back to the hotel. I had no choice, Viktor. I couldn't fight it. So, I left, but not before... not before..." Her stomach lurched with nausea. "Not before I heard her kill him."

"Wha—what?" Viktor's voice broke.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Nadine shook her head desperately. "Harlan's dead."

WHEN KADENCE TOLD BEN that she wouldn't be getting friendly with the Umbrella Academy, she meant it. There was no way she was going to link arms with them and skip into the sunset. She wasn't going to smile gamely and offer them snacks, drinks, and her favourite spot on the couch. And the chances of her giving them any expression other than a hostile look were less than zero.

She maintained that promise as they filtered into her living room. As they came in, one by one, she managed to both glare at them and discern who each was. There was Diego, the imbecile who had somehow managed to kick her ass at the pharmacy. A woman accompanied him, one that Kadence hadn't seen before. She took three cookies off the plate Grace offered her with a quick, "Lovely to meet you."

Five, the little boy who was, apparently, much older than he appeared, bustled in, trailed by Luther and Allison. Surprisingly, they were the only ones. Viktor, Klaus, and Nadine—who made Kadence's stomach twist at the mere thought of—were nowhere in sight. Their own family members didn't seem to know where they were.

"Welcome," Fei greeted. A few ravens flew over her shoulders, cawing as she spoke. "Please make yourselves at home."

"Bitch, this is our home," Allison muttered. Kadence, from her position in the exact middle of the couch—ensuring that if anyone wanted to sit down, they would have to do so on either side of her—took a leaf out of Jayme's book and hissed at her. For a moment, she could imagine real venom curling from her tongue.

"Excuse me?" Fei asked.

"You can always just leave," Kadence said, ensuring that her voice was filled with maximum hostility.

As expected, Luther fumbled to decompress the situation. "Uh, jellybean?" he offered, grabbing the bowl of candy that lay on the coffee table. The fact that he was offering his own siblings food that wasn't from his house ground Kadence's gears. She leaned forward and took a heaping pile of jellybeans, leaving only a few left in the bowl. Then, to be extra obnoxious, she crammed them all in her mouth at once.

Sloane let out a sigh. Luther cleared his throat.

"Where the hell are Viktor, Nadine, and Klaus?" Diego asked.

"With our luck, probably kugelblitzed by now," Five said.

"You're a dark little dude sometimes."

"Ooh, what happened to your hand?" Fei asked. Kadence glanced down at where her ravens' gaze had locked. Indeed, Diego's left hand was wrapped in tight white bandages, with only the faintest hint of blood creeping through. They were mainly focused around the joints of two of his fingers. It appeared as if they'd somehow been cut off.

Before Diego could confirm this, though, Ben clapped. "We don't have time for idle chitchat. Everyone, sit down."

"'Please' would be nice," Diego said.

"No."

Diego sat on one side of Kadence. The strange woman fell onto the other. Giving her a big smile that revealed the chewed-up cookie in her mouth, she greeted, "I'm Lila."

Kadence swallowed her own jellybean mush. "Kadence."

Five managed to squeeze onto the couch, too, which meant that Kadence was now between her enemies. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. She really was two seconds away from killing them.

"So, uh..." Luther cleared his throat again. "This is kinda nice, right? All of us here together. One big happy family."

Kadence snorted. "Yeah, right."

He let out a nervous laugh. "Okay. I feel like I'm sweaty. Am I sweating?" he asked Sloane.

She cupped his face in what appeared to be a comforting gesture. "No, you're fine."

"Look, I know there's been bad blood between us," Ben said. "Whatever. Bygones, right?"

Diego raised his hand. When Ben called on him like a proper schoolteacher, he asked, "Yeah, if I kill you, do we get our Ben back?"

Fei snickered at this. Kadence just rolled her eyes.

"Hypothetically," Diego added. Ben's face darkened.

"Keep talking and your hand won't be the only thing that's bleeding."

"Okay, if the testosterone twins are done talking, I'd like to get back to a plan," Five interrupted. Kadence whirled to him.

"Sorry, who put the literal infant in charge?"

Five scowled. He was just about to open his mouth—likely to tell her off—when, once again, Luther butted in. "He's actually fifty-eight," he said. "He only looks like a kid because of a time-travelling mishap. Which he's very sensitive about, by the way. As in, you better sleep with one eye open or risk getting shanked in your bed."

"Oh, he can try." Kadence waved Luther off. "I doubt he'd get very far."

"All right, let's focus, please," Ben snapped.

Of course, that was the exact moment when two more people decided to join their party.

The first person that entered was Viktor Hargreeves. He stormed in, a man on a mission, his eyes brimming with anger. With a cut streaking across his cheek, his short hair plastered to his face with sweat, and his slightly torn coat, he was certainly a sight to behold—well, at least, until Nadine followed in after him.

The only word that Kadence could use to describe her appearance was wrecked. Her face was pale as milk, which only put the bags under her eyes further into focus. The healing cuts on her skin were red and ugly, her hair was a bird's nest atop her head, and her eyes were swollen with previously shed tears. She scanned the living room desperately, and when her gaze landed on Kadence, she flinched. But this wasn't nearly as extreme as her reaction when she noticed Allison.

"You—" she choked out. Allison stared back at her with a blank expression.

"Allison," Viktor breathed. "How could you?"

Allison lifted her chin. "How could I what, Viktor?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Ben took a jar of cheese balls and perched on the arm of the couch.

"You killed him," Nadine whispered. "You killed Harlan."

"And so what?" Allison said. "He didn't deserve to live."

"Twenty bucks on the little one," Ben muttered to Five.

"I'll take that action," he responded.

Kadence swiped a handful of cheese balls, purposefully reaching over the kid to do so. He shot her a glare almost hostile enough to rival hers.

"That's bullshit," Viktor said. "Bullshit. You should've—when you found out, you should've just talked to me—"

"So, what, you could lie to us again and take his side?" Allison asked.

"That's not what happened."

"Oh, no, that's exactly what happened. I know Harlan killed all of our mothers."

Kadence nearly choked on her cheese ball. Huh?

"What?" Diego asked.

"Whoa," Luther breathed. "Shit."

"Bloody plot twist," added Lila, biting off the end of a Twizzler.

"And Harlan was the one who had to tell me," Allison added. "After you lied about it to my face."

"Is that true, Viktor?" Diego asked. "Harlan started all this?"

Viktor looked down for a moment, his body trembling. "Yeah, but he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He—"

"How do you know?" Five asked.

"Because these are Viktor's fucking powers," Nadine said, speaking for the first time in a while. "He knows what it's like to be out of control."

Viktor nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. "I knew him. And he was sweet and kind until I made him like us. Okay? So, I screwed him up. And if you need someone to blame, I'm right here—"

"What makes you think I don't?" Allison said.

"Oh, you're one to talk." Nadine jutted an accusing finger at her. "After what you did to me."

Kadence swallowed. After everything that happened, it was difficult to keep her eyes off the woman. Because now she knew that, despite her feral nature, Nadine didn't really want to hurt anyone. Even people who deserved it. Even those whose deaths would drastically improve the world.

"This wasn't about saving the world," Viktor said. "This was about hurting me. And you had to drag Nadine into it. You had to—you had to hurt her, too."

"What?" Luther asked. "Allison, what did you do to Nadine?"

"Nothing she didn't deserve," Allison growled. Nadine actually stepped back at that.

Luther launched to his feet. "You know what? Maybe we should all just take a minute—Okay." Allison held out a hand, and he sat back down. Kadence leaned forward, her elbows on her knees.

"Look," Viktor said. "I know you're upset about—" he cut himself off, shrinking a little. Now it was Allison's turn to get up.

"Go on," she threatened. "Say her name."

Viktor took a breath. "Did killing Harlan and hurting Nadine bring Claire back?"

"Did protecting him bring Sissy back? Because it was just as personal for you—"

"I didn't kill anyone!" Viktor screamed.

"But you risked everyone! Do you know what that felt like? Watching you fight harder to protect the man who helped destroy my daughter than you ever did to bring her back?"

"That's not what happened," Nadine said. "We wanted to time travel back, but—"

Allison turned to face her. "Don't think you're off the hook about this," she said. "You may not have known, but you sure as hell weren't on my side when you found out. You would rather protect a—a murderer than me."

"I just didn't want you to kill someone!"

"I don't know how to bring Claire back," Viktor said. "Okay? No one does. But I was there for you. I tried. I was—"

"To what?" Allison asked. "Help me grieve? God, this family is so quick to tell me to suck up my pain and so worried about fixing yours! Somebody had to pay because you never seem to. Destroy the world, kill Pogo, almost kill me, and for what? So we can all run around and clean up your mess? I'm sick of it."

"Take it easy, Allison," Five said. Ben shushed him.

"Fucking bullshit." Nadine clenched her fists. "You're fucking bullshit, Allison. Viktor and I—we would've done anything to get Claire back. But you were the one who started crossing lines. You were the one who lied about Marcus, who tortured Sloane, who killed Harlan and—and Rumoured me. I wanted to help you, but not the way you were going. Allison, I didn't want you to turn into a monster."

A few people murmured at this, and Luther's lips pinched together. Kadence sucked in a breath, suddenly understanding Nadine's reaction. She'd never been on the receiving end of Allison's Rumours, but she'd heard enough from Fei to know how awful it was. And Nadine was supposed to have been Allison's friend.

Allison didn't seem to care. "A monster?" she asked. "That's what you think of me? Oh, I'm glad to know you were so here for me, Nadine."

"You're twisting everything I say. I was on your side, Allison. I was. But what you did yesterday is not something I'm going to let go of so easily. I'm not going to let you continue on like this."

"Oh, sure. That's what it is." Sarcasm oozed off Allison's tone like molasses from a bottle. "It's not the fact that I did something Viktor wouldn't have liked. I mean, come on. You have trailed him like a pathetic puppy since day one. You're always following his lead, always on his side. You can't stand the idea that he can be wrong, can you? Because you're just too fucking obsessed with him."

Nadine drew back like she had been slapped. The air rushed out of Kadence's lungs.

Oh. Oh. Well, that made a lot of sense.

Even she knew this had gone too far, however. Nadine's face darkened like a storm cloud, becoming ugly, dangerous. There was a shift in the air, like the crackle of ozone before lightning strikes.

Something was about to go down in the Sparrow Academy living room. And, somehow, Kadence had found herself bearing witness to it.

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