ã€ŠThe Brotherhoodã€‹


 The Brotherhood Chapter I

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter I

    By: X

    There I was standing shoulder to shoulder with fourteen other guys just a couple of days after arriving at Kingsland University in Connecticut, a private school for the sons and daughters of society¡¯s elite; not exactly what I was expecting to be doing a week before school started, let me clue you. But I must admit that¡¯s exactly where I wanted to be standing.

    I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m writing this because if they ever found out I chronicled my time with them, I would lose everything. Not to mention what would happen if these pages fell into the wrong hands. Any sane person would dismiss my words out of hand, the ramblings of a crazy person. One would hope, anyway. I guess I¡¯m doing it for my sanity, to make sure everything I went thru, everything that happened, was worth it in the end. Time will be the judge.

    Are you confused yet? Well then, let me start from the very beginning.

    My name is Jacob DeRosa, 19 years old, and I was leaving behind a legacy in my hometown that only a few my dare dream of. Never once did I get anything below an A. I was captain of my high school football and basketball team and led each team to four consecutive championships, class valedictorian, town hero, and the guy every girl wanted to hook up with. Standing at an even six feet, I had an excellent cut, slender frame with a killer six-pack, thanks to the hundred crunches I¡¯ve been doing every morning since I was fourteen. My brown hair was long enough to tuck behind my ears when it got in the way but not so long that I would ever try sporting a ponytail. My bright green eyes complimented a tan that many women called ¡°absolutely gorgeous.¡±

    And even though I¡¯ve been with my girl for nearly four years, I can¡¯t say I haven¡¯t slipped from time to time. Yeah, I felt terrible, but what¡¯s a guy to do when every girl you meet is willing to drop her pants at a drop of a dime for you? I did want what most stupid and horny guys would do and then bought my girl an expensive gift to get over the guilt. I do care about Alexandra, and I think she is the girl I plan to marry; nevertheless, I know it was a dick move.

    Now that I was starting my new life as a college kid, I had to leave everything behind, except for Alexandra. I convinced her to go with me to KU, and I¡¯m glad she did because I wasn¡¯t a big fan of long-distance relationships.

    I pulled up in front of the dormitory Saturday morning in my black Acura after driving down from Maine. I swear I was convinced I would never get there, but it wasn¡¯t that bad since later I found out my roommate moved from Cali. When I got there, the buzz around campus was about The Brotherhood and whom they would pick as their newest pledges. The buzz reached my home state weeks before I even got to KU.

    Many of the guys were practically on their knees, praying to God they would be one of the lucky few to be chosen. And I¡¯d be lying if I said that the remote possibility of me being one of the lucky ones wasn¡¯t a huge factor in picking KU over Yale, which thoroughly pissed off my parents, of course, but I had to do what I had to do. I didn¡¯t tell them my reason because I¡¯m sure they would¡¯ve had me committed. They simply wouldn¡¯t understand that the Brotherhood is much more than just another fraternity. At least I understood it and hoped I wasn¡¯t making a huge mistake.

    The Brotherhood¡¯s connection ran extremely deep. I¡¯ve heard some fantastic stories back home while looking at colleges. It¡¯s a known fact that any member, once they graduate, moves on to bigger and better things because of The Brotherhood. But the good never comes without the bad.

    I once heard of a guy who had a promising career as a cooperate attorney, received the highest honors from KU, and decided, for whatever reason, no longer wanted to be a part of the Brotherhood. He was let go without a problem, but once he graduated, he couldn¡¯t get a job even if he offered to work for free. From what I understand, while he was still in The Brotherhood, he was getting phone calls from across the country with offers that would blow anyone away, but after he left, he was forgotten like a fading dream. Now he¡¯s an assistant manager of some candy store in Iowa.

    Another guy, a freshman last year, was hand-picked by TBH to become one of its newest members, but during his time as a pledge, he decided he wanted out, so they let him go, and so did the school a few days after. And even though he was at the top of his class, no other colleges would even look at him, so now he¡¯s a sophomore in some community college in some small town I had never heard of. The moral of the story is you DO NOT cross The Brotherhood. Now, if these stories and all the other ones I¡¯ve heard are true or not, I don¡¯t know, but why would anyone want to take that chance?

    After standing outside my car for a moment to take it all in, I grabbed several bags and made the trip to the top floor. I was hoping my roommate wasn¡¯t there so I could pick out the best bed and desk. Thankfully I was the first one there, so I could take the bed by the window and the biggest desk, which I did need since I still had to bring up my computer. Once I had my computer all unpacked and hooked up, I started to put my clothes away, and that¡¯s when I heard someone clear their throat and knock gently on the open door. I turned around with a pair of black boxer briefs in my hands and saw my new roommate standing there with two huge, green duffle bags in either hand, smiling.

    ¡°You¡¯re Jacob, right?¡±

    I nodded as he dropped his bags and extended his hand, which I took with a firm grip. ¡°That¡¯s me. And you are?¡±

    ¡°CJ.¡±

    ¡°Which stands for what exactly?¡± I inquired, releasing his hand and looking him over.

    ¡°Just CJ, dude.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­CJ, nice to meet you.¡± To me, he looked like your typical Cali surfer. He was slim with blond hair down to his shoulders, deep blue eyes, and wore cargo shorts, flip flops, and a snug, black t-shirt. It was clear that he kept his body in good physical condition since I could make out the contours of his chest and abs through his shirt. And I was sure he had no problems in the lady¡¯s department since he was a pretty good-looking guy, and I¡¯m secure enough to say that about another guy, but you¡¯d have to be something else for me to comment on your looks, guy or girl.

    ¡°Damn, dude, I was hoping to get the bed by the window.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, man, but I waited around for you so we could decide who gets what, but you took so long I didn¡¯t think you were gonna show today.¡± Did I feel bad for lying? Hell no! How was he ever going to find out?

    ¡°I drove from California. That¡¯s why I¡¯m late, dude.¡± Bending down to unzip his bags, I noticed him shaking his head disappointedly. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, bro; I have no problems taking the other bed.¡± He better not have a problem with it because I wasn¡¯t about to give up my bed. CJ then took a hand full of clothes and just dropped them on his bed, which made me cringe. If there¡¯s one thing I can¡¯t stand is a messy person. ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I pulled up around nine, so a few hours maybe.¡± Turning my back to him, I continued to unpack and then felt him looking over my shoulder.

    ¡°Dude, what are you, a neat freak? Everything looks ironed and folded so neatly.¡±

    Again, I shrugged dismissively. ¡°What can I say? I look my best since you never know who you might run into.¡±

    He laughed and went back to shoveling his clothes out of his bags. While neatly folding my clothes into my dresser, he shoved whatever he could into his. ¡°So, where you from, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°Maine.¡±

    ¡°Cool, dude.¡± I swear if I was going to hear ¡°dude¡± come out of his mouth every other sentence for the rest of the year, I would have to kill him, which would screw up my future. ¡°You got a girl?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, her parents are driving her down tomorrow; she just called me thirty minutes ago.¡± I was missing Alex like you wouldn¡¯t believe. It had been at least a week since we had sex, and now this fool went and brought her up.

    ¡°My girl decided to go to school in Cali, so I had no choice but to leave her behind, but we¡¯re going to see if we can make this long-distance thing work. If not, there are plenty of babes out here, dude, so I know I won¡¯t have any problems getting any.¡±

    ¡°I hear you. How long have you been with her?¡±

    ¡°About two months.¡±

    I¡¯m surprised my eyes didn¡¯t fall out of my head; I rolled them so hard. This ¡°dude¡± was going to bang the first girl that gave him the time of day; of that, I had no doubt. But as we continued talking, I realized he wasn¡¯t nearly as dumb as I thought. It turns out he graduated second in his class with honors from the top high school in the district, and the only reason he got second was that he was in a car accident that kept him out of school for a while. I guess you really can¡¯t judge a book by its cover.

    ¡°So, CJ, why did you decide to come way out here for school?¡±

    ¡°Same reason every other guy came here, dude¡­The Brotherhood. If my chances of getting in are one in a million, it was still worth the trip.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious? You drove cross country just for that?¡±

    ¡°You trying to tell me you¡¯re here because you like the scenery?¡±

    ¡°KU is an awesome school and has everything I need.¡± Though he had his back to me, I could see him stroking the air in front of him as if jacking a cock.

    ¡°Bullshit, dude! Try telling me another one and make it believable this time.¡±

    After a moment of silence, I finally confessed. And now that my cock was soft again, I could turn around. ¡°Okay, okay, you got me. But you had a much longer drive than me, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but if I happen to get in by some miracle, I¡¯d be all worth it. Dude, did you know that just becoming a pledge opens a whole new world of hotties? Girls would do anything you want them to do just because they know you might become a full Brother one day. Dude¡­that¡¯s awesome!

    ¡°What about your long-distance relationship?¡±

    ¡°Eh,¡± he grinned.

    I just laughed and shook my head. ¡°Dude, it¡¯s almost one. We have to go to that orientation shit.¡± I was beginning to sound like him already. I wanted to kill him! I ran my fingers thru my hair before putting a tan cap backward on my head, grabbed a pen and pad for whatever notes I might need to take, and left with CJ to orientation; all he took was a bottle of water.

    The dorms were much more alive now than they were a few hours ago. Everyone was running around trying to get themselves together, and the noise level was way too high for my taste. Outside we saw people coming and going from every direction, most of them were headed to the same place we were, and since we were unsure of where to go, we just followed the crowd. Eventually, we ended up in this big room with rows and rows of steel chairs, but there were more people than chairs, so many of us ended up sitting on the floor or leaning against the wall. I was not about to sit on a dirty ass floor, so I leaned against the wall. CJ, on the other hand, ended up on the floor next to me, not that I was surprised or anything.

    The Dean walked in after about ten minutes and told us to settle down and take out a pad. He was a bit on the short side but average, I guess, and even though he had gray hair and a beard, he didn¡¯t look all that old; I think he went gray at a pretty young age. The next thing I felt was CJ pulling on my leg like some three-year-old asking for a piece of paper and my extra pen. And even though I hate ripping the paper out of my notebook with a passion, I gave him a sheet.

    The room was still noisy when the dean welcomed us to the school. But no sooner did he open his mouth did the double doors to my right open, and that¡¯s when I got my first glimpse of them. There were three, two of which stood behind the first who walked thru the door. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was someone of some importance within TBH. I couldn¡¯t see his face, but he had straight, raven black hair about the same length, if not a bit longer than CJ¡¯s. He was about my height, and we shared pretty much the same build. He wore black jeans, sneakers, and his black lettermen jacket with ¡°The Brotherhood¡± written in silver across the top.

    I couldn¡¯t make out the other two since they had their backs to me. All I could tell was that the shorter of the three had short, dirty blond hair, and the other had auburn hair. They all looked elegant and put together like that was the official TBH dress code. Once I could pull myself from the air of mystery that surrounded them, I realized I could¡¯ve heard a pin drop. It was that quiet. Not even the Dean spoke a word. He just stood there with his head slightly bowed and hands behind his back. Every head in the room was turned around and focused on the three standing just a few feet away from me.

    How bizarre!

    The black-haired one took two steps forward while the other two stood their ground. His head moved slowly from side to side, scanning the room like some hunter looking for his next meal.

    What was he doing? Was he trying to size the guys up to see who could cut it? I had so many questions, yet all I could do was stand there looking dumbfounded, trying to lean forward to get the slightest glimpse of his face. I think everyone jumped when he spun around suddenly and walked out, but my mind was able to take a snapshot of him while in mid-spin. It sounds crazy, but I have an incredible memory and sharp vision. He should¡¯ve been a blur, but he wasn¡¯t. He had fair skin, thin reddish lips, and a small, elfish nose. He looked like a model walking down the runway.

    During the rest of orientation, I was spaced out to the point of not remembering to take notes, yet the first three pages of my notebook were full of them. Once it was over, CJ and I walked back to our room in silence. We spent the rest of the day putting our things away with little to say to each other. Eventually, he left to do God knows what, and I was left alone. I enjoyed the quiet in the room because it gave me a chance to think and look back on things. But the tranquility I lost myself in didn¡¯t last long when CJ returned during the night.

    ¡°Dude¡­do you think they noticed me?¡±

    I laughed out loud because he sounded so serious as if his world would crumble around him if they hadn¡¯t. ¡°I doubt it since we were standing directly behind them, and they were only looking at the people in front. You were also sitting down, making it harder to notice.¡± Once I smelled the beer on his breath, it didn¡¯t take me long to figure out what he went to do when he left. He wasn¡¯t wasted or anything; he probably just had a few beers by the local bar that served college kids even if there weren¡¯t twenty-one.

    ¡°Oh, come on! Don¡¯t say that!¡±

    I shrugged and threw my hands up in the air. ¡°It¡¯s the truth, bro! What do you want me to say?¡±

    Dropping himself like a bag of rocks on the chair, he put his feet on my desk and clasped his hands behind his head. ¡°That sucks, dude! I¡¯ll be pissed if I don¡¯t get in!¡±

    ¡°Are you insane? Do you have any idea how many guys go to this school? The chance of one of us getting picked is slim at best. Besides, who knows what they look for in a potential pledge? For all we know, the overuse of the word ¡®dude¡¯ could be the key to getting in.¡±

    ¡°If that was the case, you think I have a chance?¡±

    ¡°CJ, in the overusing the word ¡®dude¡¯ department, you have everyone beat hands down, but I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s just a bit more complicated than that.¡± I peeled off my shirt and threw it in the hamper I placed in the closet, then slipped off my joggers, and for a moment, I forgot I wasn¡¯t wearing anything underneath. I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn¡¯t care. I saw plenty of wangs swinging in the locker room, and I was positive he did as well.

    I saw CJ look over his shoulder, checking me out, no doubt, before turning around to start up my computer. I wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised because what guy doesn¡¯t compare himself to others? Hell, I¡¯ve done it myself in the locker room. The only difference was most guys were discreet. On the other hand, CJ was blatant about it since he has that carefree attitude. It wasn¡¯t a hard look either, just a curious one. And I didn¡¯t care since I¡¯m proud of what I got.

    Even though I told him he could use my computer whenever because he had his shipped, I wasn¡¯t expecting him to take me up on my offer so quickly. As I was slipping on a pair of black boxer briefs, I saw the site CJ clicked on. I just rolled my eyes because I knew my hard drive would be filled with porn.

    I turned off the light, opened the windows, and slipped under my favorite silk sheet. ¡°I¡¯m wicked tired, so I¡¯m going to bed. I better not find anything white and dried up on my keyboard, buddy, or there will be hell to pay.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah,¡± he giggled.

    I was tired, and yet I couldn¡¯t fall asleep. My mind was racing. All I could think about was the three Brothers who walked in during orientation, specifically the dark-haired one. He was there for less than five minutes, yet he had me captivated.

    I don¡¯t know how long I lay there, but thankfully my eyes started rolling into the back of my head. Rolling over onto my left side, I could barely keep my eyes open when I heard CJ turn the computer off and walk over to the window.

    He stretched and yawned loudly.

    The moonlight was on him like a single ray of light, giving him a somewhat ghostly appearance; still, I couldn¡¯t help but think, When the hell is this idiot going to go to bed? CJ looked down at me as if he had read my mind, and I pretended to be dead asleep; then, he took off his shirt and threw it on the ground, making me want to scream.

    Did I mention I can¡¯t stand messy people?

    Dropping his shorts, he finally went to bed entirely in the buff. Go figure.

    The following day, I awoke with the sun on my face and thought, maybe getting the bed by the window wasn¡¯t such a great idea.

    I groaned, kicked off the sheet, and planted my feet on the floor. Running my hand thru my hair, I yawned for a long time, then stood and stretched. My clock read seven in the morning, and I was surprised I was up so early because I fell asleep wicked tired.

    CJ was spread out on his bed, looking like a little kid with his right hand curled against his eyes and the other on his stomach. He was smiling about something, but I couldn¡¯t tell you what, and it¡¯s not like I wanted to know. Sometime during the night, with all his tossing and turning, his sheets fell to the floor, and he was now completely naked. And since he checked me out the day before, I was going to take the chance to size him up.

    He was big, but I was a little bigger; at least that¡¯s what I told myself to give myself a little ego a boost. But since I wasn¡¯t looking forward to walking around the room with a naked guy on the bed, I took his sheet and covered him up just passed his waist.

    Rolling my eyes, I picked up his clothes, folded them, and placed them neatly on his dresser. My bladder wanted to release, but I had to do my morning crunches. I found having to pee was a great motivator.

    About an hour later, I was showered and dressed in faded blue jeans and a gray shirt. I was standing in front of the mirror, running my hands thru my silky hair, trying to decide what to do with it. Usually, I don¡¯t have to do much since it just falls right into place. I finally decided to let it do just that, fall into place, and took a seat at my computer and checked my email.

    ¡°Dude, why didn¡¯t you wake me?¡± I heard CJ groan.

    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not a freaking alarm clock, and you are a grown boy. Now I suggest you get your butt out of bed and shower so we can go to the store to pick up our books before there¡¯s a line out the freaking door.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the rush? School doesn¡¯t start for another week.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go by myself, but when you have to stand in line for hours, don¡¯t bitch at me about how much it sucked.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll get up. Can you pass me the towel next to you, please?¡±

    I took the towel and threw it over my head. CJ took me by surprise when he got out of bed and did a series of push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches. I don¡¯t know why I was shocked. He had an incredible physique that needed to be maintained, but he just came off like such a slacker that seeing him workout kind of throws you off.

    All in all, It took him about forty-five minutes to get ready, and it didn¡¯t surprise me that he threw on the same clothes he was wearing the day before.

    Getting our books and supplies took about another hour. We had breakfast and met some of the other guys living in our dorm. CJ and I sat at a table with four others, two of whom were from a different dorm, but they seemed cool, so it was all good. The first half of breakfast was spent talking about the many beautiful ladies strewn about the room and who we would love to get into bed with.

    ¡°You see that blonde over there?¡± Nick pointed to this gorgeous girl sitting three tables away from us. Nick was this giant football jock from Tampa, Florida; the kid was all muscle with a think-ass neck, a real animal. ¡°That girl is easy. She¡¯ll spread her legs for you after just one drink.¡± He grinned, and his dimples became quite apparent. The glint in his brown eyes was one of tremendous excitement as if that blonde was going to walk over any minute and drop to her knees in front of him.

    ¡°And you know this because?¡± I inquired with a raised brow, looking at the girl briefly before returning my gaze to Nick.

    ¡°Because I fucked her three times in one night, guy.¡± He put out three fingers and laughed. ¡°She¡¯s from my hometown. I¡¯m telling you, if you¡¯re ever horny and need to get laid bad, just buy her a drink; she¡¯ll ride you all night.¡±

    ¡°I can do without the shot of penicillin, thanks,¡± I insisted.

    Nick¡¯s confused expression made everyone laugh loudly.

    That kind of talk took up most of breakfast. What can one expect when you put six horny college guys together around one table? We weren¡¯t going to pull out the Bible and preach the word of God; I can tell you that much. Many crazy stories were told that had us laughing our asses off for the most part, but if I had to guess, most were probably bullshit.

    I could already tell I would get along with these guys famously; they were just my type of crowd. Then the conversation took a 180-degree turn when Anthony, a nineteen-year-old first-year student from Rhode Island, posed a fascinating question.

    ¡°So, what did you guys think when The Brotherhood showed up at orientation?¡± I liked him from the get-go since he helped me carry my computer to my room. This brown-haired, brown-eyed white boy from RI was the star quarterback of the Classical High foot team, so we had a few things in common right off the bat. He was 5¡¯9 and, from what I understood, probably the fastest thing on two feet.

    Nick¡¯s cheek puffed out as he let out a long gust of air. Falling back on his chair, he removed his baseball cap to reveal a mess of curly red hair. Talk about overdramatization! You¡¯d think someone just told him he was about to be a father, and his life was over. And after all that, all he managed to say was, ¡°Man¡­it was intense!¡±

    I looked at him for a moment, then busted out laughing; no one understood why.

    ¡°Dude, what¡¯s so funny?¡± Well, the word ¡°dude¡± was used. Do I have to tell you who asked that question?

    ¡°Look at his face! Nick looks like he¡¯s about to shit his pants or something.¡±

    He smirked and gave me the finger. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you one thing, bro. I almost did when I saw those guys walk thru the doors.¡±

    Paul nodded. ¡°Yeah, my stomach turned, but not because of The Brotherhood but because I was sitting next to Nick, and I swear he did crap his pants because something was smelling awful.¡± Paul was the funny guy from New York and lived just two rooms down from CJ and me. Not only was he funny, but he was a freaking genius, attending KU on a full scholarship.

    ¡°Fuck you, kid!¡±

    Paul scratched his eye with his middle finger while looking at Nick.

    ¡°Why do you think they were there?¡± Then there was Steve, a B student from Massachusetts and an all-around okay guy. He is not the best-looking guy at the table, but his personality makes up for it. He was a bit on the skinny side with a bad case of acne. His ink-black hair was too dark to be natural. And speaking which, the kid was covered from head to toe in it in black clothes.

    ¡°Why else?¡± Paul squinted his eyes and looked at Steve as if to say, are you serious, you dumbass? Maybe I was wrong, but I got the impression that Paul didn¡¯t like him much. ¡°It was obvious they were checking out what they had to work with.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡± CJ yelled out loud, drawing more than just a few stares.

    Ant looked at me and pouted his lips at CJ. ¡°What¡¯s eating him?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°He¡¯s just mad because we were behind them when they walked in, so I doubt they even noticed us. Now he¡¯s all bullshit about it.¡±

    ¡°Hey man, you never know.¡± Patting CJ¡¯s back to reassure him, Paul smiled.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing most of the guys on campus came to KU hoping to get picked by The Brotherhood.¡± Ant looked around the table at each of us as if waiting for an answer.

    We all nodded but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°I¡¯m not here because I want to get into The Brotherhood,¡± Steve insisted. ¡°I¡¯ve always hated that type of organized shit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, like you have a chance in hell of getting picked,¡± Paul raised the corner of his mouth and made the ¡°ok¡± sign with his hand, then laughed. ¡°Let me guess; you were the one who wasn¡¯t chosen when they were picking teams in gym class, huh?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you fucking blow me?¡±

    ¡°In your dreams, buddy! You couldn¡¯t pay me enough.¡±

    Steve gave him both fingers.

    There was a moment when everyone just sat quietly, thinking.

    ¡°I wonder what they look for in a potential pledge,¡± I asked no one in particular. No one responded since they didn¡¯t know the answer. ¡°Do you believe those stories about the guys who wanted out of the Brotherhood then had their lives go to hell?¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah!¡± They all said in unison. It was funny, so we all got a good laugh out of it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard worst!¡± Nick said adamantly.

    Folding his arms on the table, Paul leaned forward slightly. ¡°Like?¡±

    ¡°Well, there was this one guy who grew up in the area. He came to KU on a full football scholarship. Within a few days of getting here, he was picked to pledge The Brotherhood. After only a week, he wanted out. He wasn¡¯t brave enough to see it through to the end.

    ¡°The dude lost his scholarship and had to leave school.¡± He stuck out one finger. ¡°He lost his car because his loan was canceled.¡± He stuck out another finger. ¡°The guy was kicked out of his apartment by the landlord for no apparent reason.¡± Another one of his fingers popped up. ¡°No one would give the guy a job, so he had to move back in with his parents because he had nowhere else to go.¡± Nick ended his little story by wiggling four fingers in the air. ¡°No one knew for sure if The Brotherhood was behind it, but everyone knew for sure The Brotherhood was behind it.

    ¡°It¡¯s how they operate. They have connections like you wouldn¡¯t believe. If anyone here gets picked, I suggest you fools see it through to the end no matter what they throw at you, unless you want your life to turn to shit. On the other hand, if you become a full Brother, you¡¯ll be hooked up for life.¡±

    ¡°I wonder what they put you thru while you¡¯re pledging,¡± CJ mused.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably the same bullshit hazing that goes on with every other fraternity around the country. Some guys just don¡¯t have the guts to see it thru to the end. Me,¡± Nick placed his hand proudly on his chest, ¡°if I get picked, I¡¯m going all the way. I¡¯m not about to go out like some punk!¡±

    ¡°And the amount of hotties that become available is out of this world!¡± Paul added.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡± Nick hollered.

    Nick and Paul gave each other high fives, and the rest joined in; my hand was red when we finally stopped. We continued to talk about TBH, and what we thought they were all about. of course, we were all talking out of our asses because we didn¡¯t have a fucking clue.

    While we were talking and busting each other up, the room fell eerily silent, and thinking back to orientation; I knew that meant only one thing. Everyone around my table started to look for anyone wearing a TBH lettermen jacket, even Steve, who claimed no interest in TBH. I was the first to spot him standing by the double doors with his hands in his jacket. It was the same black-haired guy from orientation. I must confess. I was intrigued and could not take my eyes off him, as if he cursed me with a spell from across the room. The mystery surrounding him and what he was involved in kept me captivated, as were we all. We were slaves to his mere presence, and that¡¯s what I wanted! To walk into a room and have all eyes fall on me in silence. The control! The power! The influence of a Brother! I wanted it bad!

    I heard the girl sitting behind me say, ¡°Oh my God, he is so hot!¡±

    He stood there for about a minute before walking to the other side and exiting the room. I was bummed that he didn¡¯t even look in our direction, and I wasn¡¯t the only one.

    ¡°Shit!¡± CJ yelled as he threw his hands up in defeat. ¡°What does a guy have to do to get noticed around here?¡±

    We all laughed at him, and I even ruffled his hair playfully.

    After breakfast, we all pretty much went out separate ways. I jumped in my car with Ant and headed off to see the sights of Connecticut since I¡¯ve never been, at least not that I could remember, but that¡¯s a story for another time. We went to the mall because Ant wanted to buy a heavier jacket for the Fall. We got to eat some amazing pizza from this hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in the food court. It was nice to get away with Anthony and just relax and let loose.

    By the time we got back to campus, it was four in the afternoon. I said my goodbyes to Ant, grabbed my books from the back seat, and went upstairs to my room. CJ was already lying on my bed, for some odd reason playing with his Switch. Since he was on my bed, I crashed on his, dumping my books and notebooks all over my chest.

    ¡°Why are you on my bed, you bum?¡±

    ¡°Uh, because you have the better view, that¡¯s why.¡±

    I grinned impishly. ¡°Well, get off,¡± I demanded. ¡°I want to lay down for a bit. I¡¯m tired.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Dude, sleep on my bed¡­I¡¯m busy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re playing a video game, CJ, that hardly qualifies as being busy.¡±

    ¡°It does to me, dude!¡±

    ¡°Do you ever not use the word dude?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, dude?¡± His tongue was sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the tiny screen.

    I slapped my forehead.

    Hard!

    ¡°Never mind!¡± I went to get up and noticed a black envelope sticking out of my physics book. I was pissed because I bought a new book, and if it had crap inside of it, that meant it wasn¡¯t. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Pulling out the envelope, I realized nothing was written on the front, but when I turned it around, I saw the red wax TBH seal stamped. My heart stopped for a second, and my hand started to tremble. ¡°Oh, my God, CJ, look.¡±

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°CJ, look!¡±

    ¡°Ugh! What do you want, dude?¡± He looked at me harshly, slamming the Switch on the bed. ¡°Yeah, so? It¡¯s a black envelope, good for you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, a black envelope with TBH stamped on it.¡±

    ¡°Big whoop!¡± CJ started playing again but stopped and raised his head after a few seconds. ¡°Wait¡­did you say TBH?¡± He was looking at me now with wide eyes.

    I slowly nodded.

    ¡°TBH¡­as in The Brotherhood.¡±

    Again, I nodded.

    ¡°TBH¡­as in the fraternity every guy and their dead grandfather wants to get into?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°TBH¡­as in¡­.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you fuck! I don¡¯t know about you, but I only know of one TBH!¡±

    CJ jumped out of my bed like it was made of nails and rushed to my side. ¡°Dude, what are you waiting for? Open it!¡±

    Breaking the wax seal, I pulled out a card and a picture with the side and top view of a plain, white Nike sneaker.

    The hell, was my first thought.

    The card read:

    Jacob,

    Come to The Brotherhood house at eight sharp. Don''t bother showing up if you plan on being a second late. If you are interested, turn the card over for further instruction.

    Two pieces of fabric were glued to the back, a white one and another from blue jeans. The instructions were simple. I was to dress in a white t-shirt and blue jeans of the same color as the pieces provided. The picture of the white Nike¡¯s was telling me what sneaker to wear.

    My heart was racing in my chest! I just couldn¡¯t believe my luck.

    ¡°Dude, where did you get that envelope from?¡±

    ¡°It was just sticking out of my chemistry book. I have no clue how it got there since I¡¯ve had it with me all day. This is so fucking unbeliv¡­.¡±

    Before I could finish my sentence, CJ was dumping everything out of his book bag onto my bed. He was frantically looking thru his books and pads like a mad man, and I know I heard a few pages tear. When he didn¡¯t find anything, he sat on my bed with his elbows on his knees, wholly depressed. I felt terrible for the guy. I mean, he looked like he was about to start balling. Not wanting to look at him, I looked around the room as if it was my first time there. What could I possibly say to make him feel any better?

    I signed and looked over to his desk. ¡°CJ, how long have you been in here?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Who fucking cares, dude?¡±

    ¡°I do! Answer the question.¡±

    ¡°A few hours. Why? What difference does it make, dude?¡±

    ¡°And in all that time, you didn¡¯t notice that black envelope leaning against the lamp on your desk?¡±

    He looked at his desk, then back at me, and his whole face lit up like you wouldn¡¯t believe. It was like someone just told him he won the 100-million-dollar Powerball. The boy needed no encouragement from me to get up and open that envelope. He had the card and picture out before I had a chance to bat an eye. It said the same thing as mine, the only difference being that it was addressed to him. We grabbed each other by the arms and started jumping up and down, and for a moment, I felt like a five-year-old during Christmas.

    ¡°Wait! I don¡¯t have any jeans this color.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m positive!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it; you can borrow a pair of mine.¡± After checking the countless pairs of jeans I had brought, I realized I didn¡¯t have s single pair that matched the color of the fabric glued to the card; they were either too light or too dark. Not to mention that I didn¡¯t have the sneakers in the picture. I was going to lose it!

    CJ and I looked at each other and yelled, ¡°The mall!¡±

    We had to get our asses in gear because it was a Sunday, and everything was going to close earlier than usual. As we left, my cell went off, alerting me to missed messages. I had forgotten to take it with me when I was out with Ant.

    While standing by the door, I asked CJ if my phone had rung while I was away, to which he replied, ¡°Oh yeah, I picked it up the fourth time she called.¡±

    ¡°She?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was some girl, Alexandra.¡±

    ¡°Alexandra! That¡¯s my girl, you idiot! I forgot about her. Fuck! She¡¯s going to kill me. I have to call her.¡±

    ¡°Dude, there¡¯s no time!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll call her on the way.¡±

    Boy, what a mistake that was. Alex bitched my ear off the entire way to the mall. I apologized many times, but that wasn¡¯t good enough for her. She wanted to see me, but I told her I had to do something important that night and that I would explain it all later. I was supposed to help her move her things in, and now she thought I was trying to back out of my promise. She didn¡¯t want to hear it and hung the phone up. I knew then I would also be shopping for a gift for Alex to make it up to her.

    We managed to find jeans and shirts that were damn near close, if not identical, to the fabrics that came with the card. Surprise, CJ forgot his wallet in the panic and had to bum the money from me. I just put it all on my card, and we were out of there and back in our room getting dressed before you could say TBH! CJ and I were dressed and ready to go by 7:30.

    I was nervous as hell when we stepped out of our room. While waiting for the elevator, I heard a door shut behind us somewhere. I looked down the hall and saw Paul smoothing his shirt down with his hands.

    I smiled. He was dressed just like us!

    ¡°Paul!¡± I yelled. He looked up, and strands of black hair fell over his face, completely covering his bright, blue eyes.

    ¡°You too!¡±

    I nodded.

    The three of us yelled like we scored the winning touchdown for the state championship. We crushed into each other in a three-way bear huge and grunted like animals. We were so excited we missed the elevator the first time around.

    Finding the TBH house was a breeze since everyone knew it was in a secluded, heavily wooded area behind the campus. We found the dirt road leading to the house and quicken our pace.

    ¡°Do you think Nick and Ant got picked?¡± Paul looked at me, genuinely concerned. I was a bit surprised since we had just met that day, but I could understand why he wanted them with us. It would¡¯ve been cool to have our little crew together.

    ¡°I have no clue. I¡¯m still shocked that I got picked, you know?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I hear that.¡±

    ¡°What about Steve?¡± Knowing how much Paul liked Steve, CJ looked at him, grinning foolishly.

    ¡°Oh, God! Don¡¯t even mention that kid¡¯s name to me. If he made it in, I¡¯m going to hang myself!¡±

    CJ and I laughed.

    I looked ahead, then behind us, and pointed out that we were the only ones on the road. Even though the sun had settled a few minutes ago, the sky was still bright enough to provide some light.

    ¡°We can¡¯t be the only ones,¡± Paul assured us. ¡°There have to be other guys too. Maybe they¡¯re running late.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe we are,¡± I added.

    We looked at each other and then bolted down the dirt road like the devil himself was after us. Along the way, we passed an Asian guy dressed just like us; he took one look at us and followed our lead, running behind us as if his life depended on it. We picked up three other guys walking further down the road.

    I remember thinking that it felt like we were running forever, but eventually, we ran up this hill, and at the top, we could see the TBH house sitting at the very bottom, surrounded by a field of green grass. The whole area looked like a giant ass crater as if the house fell from the sky and struck the earth with tremendous force.

    Once at the bottom, we got a better look at the five-story house. It was huge, and the design looked decades old, but it was maintained very well. The house was a deep blue, and the windows were mirrored and dark, so it was impossible to look inside, but I was sure it was easy for them to see. The house was very intimidating, and the two large windows in the center appeared to be staring at us. It was very creepy!

    Ten guys were standing outside the house dressed like us; the seven of us made seventeen.

    I leaned over to CJ and whispered, ¡°Damn, I wonder how many guys were picked.¡±

    He simply shrugged, and when I made the same comment to Paul, he did the same. We were scanning the crowd for anyone we knew, but I didn¡¯t see anyone; these were all new faces to me. CJ was the one who yelled out, ¡°Nick!¡±

    The muscular football player ran up to us and gave CJ a giant bear huge; the poor guy was screaming for mercy. ¡°You guys made it!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, now put me down, dude, before my eyes pop out of my sockets!¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry, man, I¡¯m glad you guys made it.¡± He released him, and CJ would¡¯ve fallen to the ground if it wasn¡¯t for Paul. ¡°Is Anthony with you?¡±

    ¡°No, actually, I was hoping he was already here after seeing you.¡± I was bummed because I wanted our little group to be complete so we could have each other¡¯s backs.

    ¡°Nope, I haven¡¯t seen him all day.¡± Nick shook his head slowly.

    ¡°Oh, this is gonna suck if he wasn¡¯t picked!¡± I slammed my fist into my hand. ¡°He better show!¡±

    ¡°And what exactly are you going to do if I don¡¯t?¡±

    Immediately I grinned because I recognized that voice, and when I turned around, Ant was standing with his hands shoved in his back pockets, shrugging his shoulders as if challenging me to a fight. We all hollered like made men while the other guys stared at us like we were nuts. I barely knew these guys, but I was sure they were the ones I wanted to stand next to when this was all over.

    ¡°What about Steve?¡± Ant inquired sincerely.

    ¡°Why would you want that loser around?¡±

    ¡°Come on, Paul, wouldn¡¯t it be cool if we all got in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, us five right here,¡± he said, making a circular motion between us. ¡°Let¡¯s leave Goth Boy out of this circle.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°You¡¯re so fucked up! What time is it anyway?¡±

    ¡°7:57,¡± Ant replied. ¡°Come on; everyone already started gathering around the front doors.¡±

    A crowd of twenty-four guys stood around the main entrance. We looked like a bunch of clones standing there dressed alike, but I got the feeling that was the point. We were all to be the same; no one was better than anyone else.

    At 7:59 and 23 seconds, this guy came running up behind us at full speed. The instant Paul saw who it was, he complained.

    ¡°You have got to be fucking kidding me!¡± he mumbled.

    It took all my willpower to stop me from laughing my ass off. Okay, I admit it. I wanted Steve around just to see Paul and him go at it because it was funny, and he looked annoyed.

    ¡°Ugh, I thought you said you weren¡¯t interested in the Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°What are you fucking stupid? Why else do you think I came to KU? Idiot!¡±

    We all laughed and slapped the kid on the back.

    Leaning into Paul, I asked, ¡°Should I get the rope now or¡­.¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡±

    The minute Ant¡¯s watch hit 8:00, two front doors to the house opened, and the black-haired guy stepped out with a group of Brothers behind him. We were surrounded by about eleven Brothers and forced into a tight huddle. And twenty-five guys forced into a small circle is not a pretty sight, let me tell you. I felt like a freaking caged animal.

    Only five Brothers remained on the steps; the raven-haired guy was one of them, and I didn¡¯t know the other four. He stood to the right of a Brother with long, brown hair that stretched down his back, but it was tied back in a long ponytail. Standing at the center of the five brothers, he had his arms folded over his chest and looked at us rather ominously. I guess he had a thin frame but a nice build, a swimmer¡¯s build. And like the rest of the Brothers, he had his letterman jacket on with TBH inscribed on the top right of the jacket.

    There was complete silence for a long time, and I could feel several elbows jabbing me from all sides; it was fucking annoying. We were forced to stand there tightly compacted for at least thirty minutes; in that time, no one spoke a word. Finally, the long-haired Brother stepped forward, clasping his hand behind his back.

    ¡°You have thirty seconds to get in a single line from shortest to tallest.¡±

    At first, we all looked at each other like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

    ¡°25 seconds!¡±

    I have never seen twenty-five guys move so fast in my life. Guys were being grabbed and pushed into place by some of the other pledges who decided to take matters into their own hands.

    ¡°15 seconds!¡±

    One guy got out of line and stood by the side to see if we had it right. He pointed to the guy in front of me and told him to move behind me.

    ¡°7 seconds!¡±

    The front of the line needed more work than the back, which was where I was standing, but thanks to that guy, we got it together in time.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± the Brother said, curling a finger under his nose. ¡°I¡¯m Eric. But I, as well as my Brothers, will be referred to as Sir at all times. Failure to do so will result in a severe penalty. When you answer a question, it will be yes or no, Sir. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± Came out of the mouth of every guy in line. For a moment, I thought I was in the army.

    ¡°Now place your right hand on the shoulder in front of you and keep your eyes locked on the back of that person¡¯s head.¡± Eric moved to the front of the line and told the first guy to follow one of the Brothers into the house and lead the rest of us to our destination.

    We marched into the house in single file, and when I was about to enter the house, I caught sight of the raven-haired Brother I first saw in orientation out the corner of my eye. He was whispering something to another Brother and brushing his hair from his face. I wanted to make eye contact for some reason, but I wasn¡¯t about to take my eyes off the back of CJ¡¯s head. We moved thru the house in silence down a long corridor, and then the line slowed down to baby steps. I didn¡¯t know why at first, but when I got to an iron door with the words ¡°The Pit¡± over it, I knew why.

    We were descending to what had to be the basement. It was pitch black. And when I put my foot on that first step, I felt like I was stepping into a black hole. No wonder they wanted us to hold on to the guy in front of us because we could easily fall and break our necks.

    Once I hit solid ground, I let out a sigh of relief. It¡¯s not a good feeling to not know where you are or what¡¯s around you.

    We were instructed to turn to our right as three overhead lamps came on, illuminating all the pledges, a light that we could not see past. I heard one set of footsteps walking around us several times, and then those steps came toward us. It was the raven-haired Brother.

    He walked up and down the line just inches away from us, stopping at each pledge for a few seconds. When he got to me, I could make eye contact, and what a set of eyes he had. They were silvery-blue and gleamed under the bright lights. They were unusually stunning.

    The contact didn¡¯t last long, for he moved on to CJ and continued down the line. After his inspection, he stood in front of us, and two Brothers appeared on either side of him. They were the same four guys that stayed behind on the steps while the other Brothers surrounded us. Something told me those five guys were the big players in the house.

    ¡°Allow me to introduce myself.¡± He spoke in a soft voice, but it was so quiet and still in the room there was no need for him to speak any louder. ¡°I¡¯m Q. And you will refer to me as Q, not Mr. Q, not Sir, or Sir Q, but Q. Understood?¡±

    Everyone answered with a loud ¡°Yes,¡± but there was one guy who answered, ¡°Yes, Sir.¡±

    What a dumbass, I thought.

    Q snapped his fingers and pointed him out in a heartbeat. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed.¡± Before the guy could say anything, he was grabbed and escorted out of The Pit.

    ¡°We¡¯re down to twenty-four!¡± a voice yelled out from the darkness surrounding us. Not expecting this, I flinched a little.

    Raising his hands, Q pointed to the middle of the line and in my direction. ¡°You, you, and you come here.¡± He pointed two fingers to the spot on either side of him. At first, I thought he was talking to me, but I was relieved when the guy I was standing next to walked up to Q. ¡°Face the pledges,¡± he ordered. ¡°Now, did you not get a card with two pieces of fabric glued to the back?¡± They answered yes loudly. ¡°And do you notice how everyone in line is dressed the same?¡± Again, they yelled out yes. ¡°Then why are your jeans a different color?¡±

    Staying entirely still, I looked at them by only moving my eyes, and at first, I didn¡¯t see what Q was talking about. They were dressed exactly as I was, but when one looks closely enough, one can see that their pants were a bit lighter than the rest of us. But it wasn¡¯t something that could be easily noticed. They were damn near the same, and I would never have seen it if it wasn¡¯t for Q.

    ¡°But I thought these¡­.¡± One of the guys tried to speak, but Q quickly cut him off.

    ¡°You read the card in the black envelope, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Was it written anywhere on the card that you were to think?¡±

    ¡°But I¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re dismissed!¡±

    And like before, the three guys were escorted out of The Pit.

    ¡°Twenty-one!¡± Someone yelled out, but it wasn¡¯t the same voice as before.

    Q then picked out the second guy in line, who had to be 5¡¯5 or something because he was little. ¡°Did you get a picture of a plain, white Nike sneaker in your envelope?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And do you see how everyone else is wearing plain, white Nike sneakers?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The poor kid looked like he was about to piss himself.

    ¡°Then why do I see blue on your sneaker?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re dismissed!¡±

    ¡°Twenty!¡± Several voices yelled in unison, and then it fell silent again. It was like counting down to the new year or something.

    ¡°You come here.¡± Q picked another guy out of the line. ¡°Why is your shirt untucked?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think it¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re dismissed!¡±

    ¡°Nineteen!¡±

    CJ would owe me big because I forced him to tuck his shirt in. He didn¡¯t think it was going to make a difference. I don¡¯t believe the boy had ever tucked in a shirt in his life.

    ¡°You come here.¡± Yet another guy was standing in front of Q.

    Eric walked up until he was shoulder to shoulder with Q. ¡°Are you the sophomore who transferred from Washington State?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re dismissed!¡± Eric sneered.

    ¡°For being from Washington State?¡± The pledge looked shocked.

    ¡°No,¡± Q titled his head slightly to the side mockingly, ¡°for not referring to a Brother as Sir.¡±

    I felt so bad for the guy because they ultimately tricked him. Q was the only one who was not to be referred to as Sir. I was so glad they didn¡¯t call me because I would¡¯ve also fallen for the trick, but I learned my lesson. When the guy realized his mistake, I could tell he just wanted to kick himself in the ass.

    ¡°Eighteen!¡± More and more voices were added to this numerical chant.

    One of the other five Brothers standing closest to us stepped out and walked around us. He told us his name was Steel but reminded us to refer to him as Sir. The guy was muscular, not as big as Nick, but he was up there, and had short, black hair and a thorn tattoo around his neck! I couldn¡¯t begin to imagine the pain he had to endure.

    ¡°We¡¯re still carrying a lot of dead weight.¡± The other four Brothers agreed and started circling us as well, and I could¡¯ve sworn Q looked at me everything he passed me. ¡°I want you ladies to drop and do some push-ups.¡± Steel purposely fell silent and waited. While lying down flat on the floor, someone asked how many push-ups we had to do.

    My first thought? Idiot!

    ¡°You¡¯re dismissed!¡±

    ¡°Seventeen!¡±

    I felt a little bad because he was the guy who took charge outside when we had to form a line, but oh well.

    ¡°The first three whose arms give out can consider themselves dismissed,¡± Steel said. ¡°And the remaining fourteen can consider themselves new pledges of the Brotherhood. Begin!¡±

    I think the first one hundred push-ups were easy for everyone since we were all in pretty good shape, but after that, I heard some hard breathing going on. After the one-fifty mark, I listened to the Brothers watching from the shadows yell out sixteen, and a few push-ups after that, they yelled fifteen, which meant only one more needed to drop.

    After doing 200 pushups, I dripped with sweat, and my hair was matted to my face. I was positive they turned up the heat in there. You couldn¡¯t tell me otherwise. I saw the drops of sweat fall from my forehead and hit the floor. I looked to my left at CJ and saw his arms starting to buckle.

    You better not give out on me, CJ! Hang in there until someone else drops!

    I know Paul was praying that the next guy to fall would be Steve.

    Two hundred twenty-five pushups, and I was about to drop my damn self, so I knew CJ would go any second. And just as his arms gave out, I heard the Brothers yell out fourteen. If the other guy had held out for a few more seconds, CJ would¡¯ve been dismissed. Steve was the real MVP, surprising us all by not dropping. I was genuinely impressed.

    I collapsed onto a small pool of sweat, my shirt and pants clung to me like a second skin, and all I could hear was heavy panting. I ran my hand thru my hair, and it was soaked. We didn¡¯t even get to rest long before we were ordered to our feet. I could barely stand.

    The five Brothers were standing in front of us; this time, Steel was standing in the middle. If one of them was the leader, I couldn¡¯t tell who it was. Another Brother, who appeared to be Hispanic with his golden Caribbean tan and dark, curly hair, stepped forward. At 6¡¯4, he was the tallest of the five Brothers. He introduced himself as Geo and folded his arms over his chest.

    ¡°Before we begin, I want to give you guys a choice. If there¡¯s anyone here who doesn¡¯t feel they are cut out to be here, feel free to dismiss yourself.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Once that door closes, your asses belong to the Brotherhood. I¡¯ll be fair and give you ten minutes to think it over in silence.¡± He stepped back and disappeared into the darkness along with the other four Brothers.

    For me, there was nothing to think about. I knew I wanted to be there; it¡¯s where I belonged. I wondered what was going thru the minds of Ant, CJ, and the rest of the guys. I was hoping they weren¡¯t having second thoughts about being there. Thankfully, after the ten minutes was up, no one moved, and the iron door to The Pit slammed shut.

    ¡°You had your chance,¡± a voice said from the darkness, one which I did not recognize. Maybe it was the last Brother that had yet to speak, but I wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Now you belong to us¡­mind, body, and soul!¡±

    I swallowed hard for some reason; maybe it was the chill in his voice or the thought of what was to come, but whatever the cause, I became unnerved. I was able to hear my heart beating in my ear.

    A few more lights came on overhead, and the circle of light was extended an extra four feet. It was amazing the difference those lights made. I could now see that the rest of the Brothers, with their serious stare and threatening stance, appeared quite intimidating. They surrounded us. In the middle of each Brother, standing further back, were more Brothers in long, dark robes with their faces concealed by the hoods. I could make them out because they stood just outside the circle of light.

    Now, these Brothers intrigued me quite a bit. What was their deal? Why were they the only ones concealing their identities? There were just so many questions racing thru my mind at the time.

    Q and the other four brothers were standing in the center, just looking at us. The one who had yet to introduce himself walked towards my end of the line and clasped his hand behind his back. He had a nice deep tan like he had spent hours at the beach. The five o¡¯clock shadow on his face made him look older than the rest.

    He stopped and shoved his hands in his front pockets, and I was surprised that he could get them in because he was wearing some tight jeans, which didn¡¯t leave much to the imagination, I might add. Not that I was looking or anything, but there was no way not to notice. His bulge was just out there, and it looked huge! I could never wear anything that tight, but different strokes for different folks, I guess.

    He said his name was Seth and proceeded to walk up and down the line glaring at us as if we had just taken away his favorite toy or something. Eventually, he returned to the other four Brothers and stood in the center, his hands still in his tight pockets.

    ¡°Strip off all your clothes and place them neatly on the floor in front of you,¡± Seth ordered. We just kind of stood there wondering if we heard him right. ¡°You shitheads are wasting time; you only have 45 seconds to strip.¡±

    ¡°More like 37, but who¡¯s counting?¡± Geo added.

    My hands were unbuttoning my pants before I even knew it. I yanked my pants down, bent down to take off my sneakers, and pulled them off; my socks and shirt quickly followed. Grabbing the waistband of my boxer briefs, I looked to my left to see if the other guys were going all the way, and they were, so I followed their lead. I don¡¯t know I did it, but I was completely naked and had my clothes folded neatly on the floor with at least two seconds two spare. I was so embarrassed! Changing up in the locker room to head for class or the gym was different than standing there butt naked with countless eyes gawking at you, but I guess that was the point, to feel embarrassed. I wanted desperately to cover myself, but I didn¡¯t dare move.

    Not everyone was so lucky. Out of the fourteen guys, one didn¡¯t finish in time. It was Nick. He was standing one guy away from me on my right, and while everyone was standing there finished, he was just getting his pants off. The guy was so massive I wasn¡¯t surprised he had trouble getting his jeans off in time. I was waiting to hear the words you¡¯re dismissed, but they never came. The Brothers waited until Nick was done folding his clothes and standing upright. He must¡¯ve been nervous because I know I would¡¯ve been.

    After a brief moment of complete stillness, Q pointed to Nick and then to the spot in front of all the pledges; we made quick eye contact as he passed me, and I just hoped he felt me say, hang in there, buddy.

    ¡°Turn right and grab your ankles,¡± Q ordered, then snapped his finger and picked out another pledge. I didn¡¯t know the pledge personally, but he looked familiar; I assumed I saw him at orientation or while walking around campus. Nick did what he was told without hesitation. He always said he¡¯d see it thru to the end.

    ¡°Tiny,¡± Q said as Steel stuck his hand to the side.

    A muscular black dude, who had to be at least 6¡¯6, stepped into the light carrying a black, wooden paddle with three holes. We all know why those holes were there. The Brother handed the paddle to Steel, who then passed it on to the second pledge Q picked out.

    ¡°You are going to paddle his ass until you are told to stop,¡± Steel roared. ¡°And if we think for a second, you¡¯re taking it easy on him, my man Tiny here is going paddle your ass until we tell him to stop. And believe me, he won¡¯t feel sorry for you. Will you, Tiny?¡±

    He simply shook his head; his silence conveyed his menace more so than any word could ever do. Stepping back into the dark, he disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

    ¡°And as for you,¡± Eric said, addressing Nick.

    ¡°Every sound you make will add on five extra paddles,¡± Geo continued where Eric left off. ¡°Do you understand me pledge?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± There was nothing else Nick could say. I truly felt for him.

    Q nodded once, signaling the pledge to begin.

    The pledge raised that paddle high in the hair and held it there for a moment before bringing it down across Nick¡¯s ass; that paddle echoed the room like a shotgun blast. Poor Nick clinched his pearly white teeth and shut his eyes tightly. The paddle went up again and right back down. Ten paddles later, Nick had yet to make a single sound, and let me tell you, the pledge was not holding back, and can you blame the guy. I wouldn¡¯t want my ass paddled by Tiny.

    Nick¡¯s ass was struck 15 times, then 20, and still, he managed to stay completely quiet. But I could¡¯ve sworn he was boning up a little. Was he getting off on that shit? Or was that just a normal reaction to the paddling?

    I guess 25 was Nick¡¯s lucky number because that¡¯s when Q told the pledge to stop and get back in line. He told Nick to stand up straight and turn around so we could see his cherry-red ass. ¡°This is just one form of punishment and by far the most lenient.¡± He held up the paddle for all to see.

    The most lenient! Was he fucking serious? If that was the most lenient form of punishment, I made it a point not to find out how severe it could get!

    ¡°Get back in line, pledge,¡± Steel barked.

    ¡°Behind you, you¡¯ll find the clothes you will wear while on campus and in the house,¡± Seth said. The pledge standing between CJ and Ant turned around to look. What was he thinking? ¡°Did I say you could turn and look pledge?¡± he roared angrily. ¡°Get over here!¡±

    Within seconds the pledge was in the same position Nick was in, with another pledge paddling his ass¡­hard. This guy got 35 instead of 25 for being stupid, and unlike Nick, this pledge was boning bad. His dick was pointing straight up at the ceiling, and even the guy doing the paddling got a little bit hard. What is about being paddled that was making these guys throw wood? Not that I was in any rush to find out!

    ¡°Like I was saying,¡± Seth continued, ¡°you will wear these clothes when you¡¯re in the house or anywhere on campus. You¡¯ve been provided with three pairs of underwear as well. A jockstrap, a pair of briefs, and a pair of boxer briefs. It¡¯s all you will get and wear, and you better make sure you always keep them clean because filth will not be tolerated. The order in which you find them is the order in which you¡¯ll wear them.¡±

    ¡°And since you will eat, sleep, study, and shower when we tell you, there¡¯s no reason why any of you should be wearing different underwear than the others,¡± Eric said. ¡°If one guy is wearing a jockstrap, then all of you should be wearing one. Don¡¯t fall out of sync! Now get dressed! You have a minute.¡±

    Finally, some clothes! I

    Turning around and looking down, I saw the bundle at my feet with a pair of sandals lying on top. Leaving them for last, I grabbed the black jockstrap and slipped it on. I glanced down the line briefly and noticed everyone putting on a jock. I had no problems wearing one since I¡¯ve been playing school sports all my life, and you always wear a jockstrap, but I could tell some guys weren¡¯t used to it, like CJ. I don¡¯t think he was used to wearing underwear, period. Next in line was the pair of briefs and finally the boxer briefs, so I figured that was the order we had to wear them, and they were also black. Funny how the bands all read ¡°Property of The Brotherhood,¡± and it wasn¡¯t referring to the underwear. At least the Brothers had a sense of humor, I suppose.

    The following article of clothing was nothing more than a maroon robe with a hood. Fearing running out of time, I quickly put it on and then strapped on my sandals. We got no shirts or pants, just a robe that reads ¡°Property of The Brotherhood¡± on the back and three pairs of underwear. I was relieved that the robe was ankle length, so it covered us up. I was expecting a small-ass tunic like the Romans used to wear. Now that would¡¯ve been embarrassing. I took the remaining pair of underwear and placed them on top of the clothes I folded in front of me; I guess everyone followed my lead because they did the same.

    As I stood there waiting for the others and praying that my little crew would finish in time, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the Brothers were grown in some secret laboratory. None of them, from what I could tell, had a single blemish or a single hair out of place. And none of them were terrible looking at all, not to mention they were fit and toned, some more muscular than others like Tiny, but none were skinny looking. Nice tans all the way around, except for Q, who was a little paler than the rest; it was just weird.

    Thankfully everyone was dressed and in line before the minute was up; I was stunned they gave us that long, to begin with.

    ¡°Now listen up, shitheads!¡± Steel ordered. ¡°You will be paired up with another pledge, so listen for their names but don¡¯t¡¯ move a fucking muscle.¡±

    Q was the one who called out the pairs, and I was amazed that he had all our names memorized. ¡°Mike and Xavier, Nick and Troy, Sam and Kevin, Arsen and Jacob, Paul and Steve, Jason and Justin, Anthony and CJ.¡±

    It must have been strange for Nick to end up with the guy who paddled his ass until it was a flaming red. And I had to use all my strength to keep myself from falling to the ground laughing when I heard Steve called out right after Paul. I¡¯m pretty sure Paul wanted to shoot himself. I wasn¡¯t too keen about getting paired with someone I didn¡¯t know, but what was I to do? I was hoping to get someone from our group, but things usually don¡¯t work out how you want them to.

    ¡°In its 200-year history, The Brotherhood has always demanded the utmost loyalty from its Brothers and pledges.¡± In a soft, pleasant voice, Q took two steps toward the line. ¡°Anything and everything that happens within The Brotherhood is not to be spoken of outside these walls. You will do what you are told without question at any time like your life depends on it, but this is not a prison, and you are all free to leave whenever you wish.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard the stories and rumors of the pledges or Brothers who decided to leave the Brotherhood¡­I can assure you it¡¯s all true.¡± He fell silent for a while and looked up and down the line, his head slightly bowed, eyes narrow. ¡°Any pledge dismissed by the Brotherhood can leave knowing they can continue their normal lives without any interference from us. But anyone, pledge or Brother, who decides to leave on their own accord will suffer dire consequences. We have the power and influence to bring your world crumbling down around you, and if you doubt my word¡­I defy any of you to try us.¡±

    ¡°Is that a threat, Q?¡± Geo inquired, arching a brow curiously.

    ¡°Very much so. You¡¯ve all been given a choice. You didn¡¯t have to show up tonight, but you did. You could have left when you were given a chance not too long ago but instead decided to stay. So now we expect your full commitment and loyalty to The Brotherhood. I can promise you this. If you see it thru to the very end, your life after that will be golden because just like we have the power to make your life hell, we also have the power to make your wildest dreams come true.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s up to you,¡± Eric added. ¡°Knowing what you know now, The Brotherhood will give you one last chance to leave without repercussions.¡± He gestured to the iron door, which slowly opened, but not a single pledge moved; then, the door slammed shut again. ¡°Then it¡¯s done. Now you have 33 seconds to find your partner. Move!¡±

    Everyone turned to each other, frantically calling out names. And I could not remember my partner¡¯s name for the life of me! I panicked like you wouldn¡¯t believe, and all I could think about was the black paddle slamming against my ass, or worst! Four or five pledges came up to me asking if I was Jason, Sam, or CJ.

    ¡°Ten seconds!¡±

    Someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around harshly. ¡°Are you Jacob?¡± The look of relief on his face when I nodded was indescribable. ¡°I¡¯m Arsen.¡± I first noticed that he had eyes as green as mine set against ink, black hair. I shook his hand, and we stood side by side.

    Everyone found their partner in time, which was good because I didn¡¯t want to see any of my fellow pledges get paddled again. I was happy that at least some of our group managed to stay together, like Paul, Steve, Ant, and CJ.

    ¡°Good!¡± Seth clapped. ¡°You pledges are learning fast. Now turn and take a good look at your partner.¡±

    Arsen had a small scar over his right eyebrow, which was the only imperfection I could see on his face. He had full, pink lips, a pointy nose, and nice cheekbones. His dark hair reached down just passed his eyelashes, and I could tell his eyes were full of questions.

    ¡°Give me your hands,¡± a voice demanded, but before we could react, my right hand was cuffed to Arsen¡¯s left. When I looked over, I saw the back of a Brother walking back to take his place in the circle that surrounded us. The handcuffs weren¡¯t standard either because they didn¡¯t have keyholes, but a little glowing red light and TBH was stamped on them. That was certainly new since I¡¯ve never been handcuffed before, let alone to another guy, at least not while sober.

    ¡°Eyes foreword!¡± Steel demanded. ¡°You shitheads better get used to your partner¡¯s face because you¡¯ll see a lot of it.¡±

    ¡°You will depend on each other for all things as true Brothers should,¡± Q interjected. ¡°You will eat together, sleep together, shower together, piss together, and shit together, anything you can imagine you will do together. But know this. You know, hold your partner¡¯s future in your hands, for what happens to one happens to the other. If one gets disciplined, you both get disciplined. If one gets dismissed, the other will get dismissed as well. So, tread carefully, pledges¡­very carefully.¡±

    ¡°And consider your life outside the house nonexistent,¡± Geo smiled wickedly. ¡°You belong to us now and are not to have any contact with friends, family, girlfriend, or boyfriends unless we say so. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    No contact with our girls? I already knew Alexandra would kill me for getting involved with the Brotherhood.

    ¡°You will live here in the house, so prepare to move your things in tomorrow morning. Your new best friend can help you. Keep in mind that we know and see all, so there¡¯s nothing you will be able to get by us. There are many more Brothers you haven¡¯t met; hence the robed Brothers I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already noticed. They are what we call our Watchers. They are everywhere. Be careful what you do when outside the house.¡±

    Once he was finished talking, he broke the line into two groups. I, along with Arsen, Paul, CJ, Steve, Troy, Nick, and Ant, was in the larger group while the rest of the pledges made up the smaller group. Then we were instructed to follow a Brother to our new rooms we¡¯d share with your new cuff-mate. We were to keep our eyes straight ahead while we walked thru the house. There was a grand staircase we had to climb to the third floor. At the top, we took a right and were led down this long, wide hallway, then turned into a small, narrow hall with several doors on either side.

    ¡°You two in here,¡± the Brother, whose name I later found out was Mark, gestured for us to get into one of the rooms and closed the door behind us.

    It looked like a standard dorm room smaller than the room I shared with CJ. There were two side-by-side desks, a footlocker, a single dresser, and a small closet with no bathroom. The room was painted a light blue and had no windows. The hardwood floor was polished to a high shine, so much so I could see up our robes. There was only one problem. The bed was wicked small, and there was only one!

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± I whispered. ¡°Where are we supposed to sleep?¡±

    Arsen pointed at the bed. ¡°That, I guess.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± I paused for a moment to look at Arsen. ¡°Well, that¡¯s total bullshit!¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do? Complain? Listen, if we switch up, I have no problems sleeping on the floor. Deal?¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

    The door swung open before another word could be spoken; Q was standing there looking at us.

    ¡°It¡¯s lights-out pledges, so I suggest you get some rest because you will need it. Trust me. But first, put your things away.¡±

    We nodded and, forgetting that we were cuffed together, went in different directions in a hurry. We pulled each other back and butted heads. I saw a mischievous grin appear on Q¡¯s face. It was the first time I saw him smile since I first laid eyes on him. Being cuffed to another human being would take some getting used to. But after we got our act together, we walked over to the dresser. I took the top drawer, and Arsen took the bottom, but there were some clothes in there already.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you will wear whenever you have to leave campus.¡±

    That was all he said about the matter. Three pairs of blue jeans, three white t-shirts, and three sweaters were in each draw. I made room for the clothes I had on earlier and the underwear the Brotherhood provided us.

    ¡°You pledges have any questions before the lights go out?¡±

    ¡°Just one, Q,¡± I said as I raised my hand like some three-year-old. ¡°Is it okay if one of us sleeps on the floor?¡±

    ¡°Did you not hear me down in the Pit? You will do everything together, and that includes sleeping. I don¡¯t care how you do it, but you both better be in that bed while sleeping. Anything else?¡±

    We looked at each other, then at Q, and then shook our heads. I looked past Q and noticed Steel standing at the door of the opposite room, probably telling them the same thing Q was telling us.

    ¡°Fine then.¡± Pulling out a small remote control, Q pressed a button, and the cuffs beeped. The little red light went off, and they unlocked. ¡°Disrobe and place it neatly in your footlocker,¡± he ordered.

    Slipping my hand out of the cuffs, I pulled the rob open, took it off, and turned, exposing my bare ass to Q, then placed my robe in the footlocker. How fucking humiliating! Once we had the cuffs back on, Q told us to get to bed and that there would be no talking for the rest of the night. I thought he was going to leave, but he didn¡¯t. He just stood there and watched us get into that small ass bed. At first, we tried to lie side by side, but that didn¡¯t work because we fell off the bed with our cuffed hands dangling over it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have all-night pledges!¡±

    We tried it again, but I laid on my side this time as Arsen spooned me from behind, placing our cuffed hands over my head.

    Without uttering a word, Q left, and the minute he closed the door, the lights went off.

    I could feel Arsen¡¯s heart pounding on my back and his package pressing against my ass! Again, I felt so humiliated, knowing my face was a deep shade of red. Arsen did his best not to move, and so did I to avoid making the situation any more awkward. But still, I just wanted to crawl under a rock and die! I have never been that close to another man in my life, and there I was with another jock spooning me from behind with his junk pressed against me. I just wanted to die!

    Since we couldn¡¯t speak and Arsen wasn¡¯t the one in the most awkward position, he could fall asleep fairly quickly. It probably took me another hour, but eventually, I could close my eyes. We slept pretty peacefully for a while, but I felt a twitch against my ass at some point, and my eyes flew open. I quickly realized Arsen was growing in his jockstrap and pressing harder against me.

    I swallowed hard, nervously, and my heart quickened. This was not happening! But it was, and the swelling in his jockstrap was not going down. How the hell did we get into this position? I knew Arsen was unaware of what had happened because he was sound asleep; his breathing confirmed that much. I didn¡¯t want to wake him because the situation was too embarrassing, and I worried it would make the rest of our time together as pledges joined at the hip way too awkward.

    Moving my eyes rapidly from side to side, I tried to think of a way out of the situation without getting Arsen involved. But I was trapped with no way out.

    So, there I was, my first night in the TBH house, lying in bed with a stranger who was dead asleep and grinding into me. The horror of it all! How bad could things get? At that moment, I was convinced nothing the Brotherhood could throw at us would be nearly as bad as my situation.

    Boy, was I wrong!

 The Brotherhood Chapter II

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter II

    By: X

    Given the circumstances, I had no idea how I would fall asleep that night. Still, somehow, I managed to doze off into the world of dreams, where the awkwardness of my situation gave in to my fantasies of becoming a full Brother. It was all I wanted, all I dreamt about because, at the time, nothing else mattered. The fantasy was short-lived, of course, for I was pulled into the waking world with a sudden rush of pain to my right wrist.

    Arsen rolled off the bed, and he almost took me down because we were cuffed at the wrist. I steadied myself on the edge of my bed and grabbed the headboard before I fell over the side. This was all done instinctively because I still had my eyes closed and was half asleep. I didn¡¯t even know what was happening until I heard Arsen¡¯s voice.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± He was so out of it those were the only words that came out of his mouth.

    His head shot up just as I opened my eyes, scaring the shit out of me. ¡°Jesus!¡± Slapping my hand over my eyes, I fell back on the bed with my heart racing. ¡°Unless you¡¯re trying to rip my hand off, I¡¯d appreciate it if you would place your hand on the bed because mine is killing.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry,¡± he mumbled groggily. I think he was lying flat on the floor with his hand on the bed, but I¡¯m not sure because I couldn¡¯t see what he was doing. ¡°How the hell did I end up down here?¡±

    I rolled my eyes and looked off to the side as if trying to avoid someone¡¯s annoying stare. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? You rolled off the freaking bed and almost took me with you¡­thanks!¡±

    As his hand brushed my leg, Arsen yanked his hand away quickly. ¡°Guy, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Sorry!¡± yelled embarrassed. ¡°I forget about our predicament for a sec.¡±

    We didn¡¯t say much for a long time; we just sat in complete silence, contemplating the meaning of the universe. Okay, maybe nothing that deep. I was just wondering what time it was. I could hear him yawning beneath me, which made me yawn. I was about to say something when I felt him grab the bed so he could pull himself up.

    ¡°I guess I should get back into bed.¡±

    ¡°Why is that? You look comfortable on the floor.¡±

    ¡°Oh please, how would you know? Besides, if one of the Brothers walks in here and sees me on the floor, they will think we didn¡¯t share the bed. Do you want to be the one to convince them otherwise?¡± All I could do was shake my head no. I mean, he did have an excellent point. ¡°Now, as much as I hate this, you¡¯re going to have to lie on your side again so we can spoon because it¡¯s the only way we¡¯re going to fit.¡±

    ¡°Fine, but this time I¡¯m going to be the spooner, and you can be the spoonie.¡±

    ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I lied. ¡°It¡¯s just your turn this time.¡±

    ¡°Okay, whatever.¡±.

    Within minutes we were covered in a thin veil of sweet and salty beads formed on my brows. I swear the temperature in that room was a lot higher than usual. It had to be! I figured it was something the Brothers did to make an already awkward situation worse. And let me tell you, if that was their plan, it worked beautifully. Since my head was so close to Arsen¡¯s, I couldn¡¯t help but breathe even more warm air over his neck. I¡¯m sure he felt my heart pounding on his back.

    His musky scent had me memorized for a moment because it was something I¡¯d never smelled before on another guy. Sure, I¡¯ve been in the locker room hundreds of times, but that¡¯s different because those guys reeked and were plain dirty from playing so hard. But this was¡­this was very different, almost erotic¡­almost. It was just something very new to me, something I couldn¡¯t escape since the source was right there in front of me.

    ¡°Jacob, right? So, where are you from?

    ¡°What?¡± His words managed to snap me from my trance-like state, and I flinched. ¡°What was that?¡± I used my free hand to clear my forehead and neck sweat. Man, I¡¯ve never been so uncomfortable in all my life!

    ¡°I asked where you were from.¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh, Maine. Born and raised.¡±

    ¡°Maine. How did you pull off a tan like that? Being that far up north, shouldn¡¯t you be all pale and pasty?¡±

    Though I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t think I heard his muffled laugh, I did and contorted my face to make fun of him behind his back. ¡°Just because I was born in Maine doesn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t get to see the rest of the country or travel the world. I spent my last month of vacation in my parent¡¯s beach house in Hawaii, just lying around lazy and working on my tan.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± he mumbled and then fell silent for a moment. His back pushed against my chest with every breath; the sweat between our hot bodies dripped onto the bed like water from a broken faucet. You simply couldn¡¯t find a dry spot on our bodies. ¡°What do your parents do for a living? They must be well off if they can afford to send you here.¡±

    At first, I refused to answer his question because it felt intrusive and unwarranted. My family¡¯s affairs were none of his business, but on the other hand, he was the guy I was going to be chained to for God knows how long, so I realized it¡¯d be stupid to build up a wall between us.

    ¡°My father owns one of the biggest construction companies in the country, and my mom is a brain surgeon.¡± I only gave in to keep the conversation going, anything to take my mind off the insufferable heat. ¡°So, you can say my family is well off.¡±

    ¡°Well off!¡± he laughed outright. ¡°Sounds to me like you have more money than you know what to do with. Any brothers or sisters?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­Alex,¡± I whispered, absently pressing my forehead against his sweaty back. His scent rose thru my nostrils like flames from a volcano, suffocating me as if enveloped by the dark ash and soot. I was lightheaded and dizzy and wanted to close my eyes and let my dreams run wild.

    ¡°Boyfriend then?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I snapped, pulled away from him, and realized I was leaning against him for the first time. I felt his sweat on my forehead mix with my own, then roll down my face and into the corner of my mouth. Moistening my lips quickly, I tasted the salty liquid and was oddly mystified. ¡°Alex as in Alexandra. She comes here too, but I¡¯ve been so caught up with The Brotherhood I haven¡¯t had time to see her. She won¡¯t be shy about letting me know how pissed she¡¯s been when I see her.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think you will be seeing her anytime soon?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡±

    ¡°Did you forget already? The Brothers said we couldn¡¯t have any contact with anyone without their say-so.¡±

    ¡°Shit! That¡¯s right.¡± Again, without realizing it, I pressed my forehead into his back and shook my head. ¡°There must be a way around that, some kind of loophole or something.¡±

    I felt his body shudder in laughter and pulled away from him.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s just plain wishful thinking. I wouldn¡¯t bank on it, though. The Brotherhood take their rules and laws very seriously.¡±

    ¡°Rules and laws?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Rules can be changed or bent slightly depending on the situation, but the laws are set in stone, meaning that not even the Brothers can change or break them. At least, I don¡¯t think.¡±

    For a while, I didn¡¯t say anything; I just thought over what Arsen said carefully. But I must say, the heat was making it difficult to hold a coherent thought.

    ¡°How do you know all this about The Brotherhood?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°The Brotherhood is a lot bigger than this one house, Jacob. They are set up in colleges across the country, hell, the world, but this one is the one everyone knows.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°The Brotherhood may be spread out worldwide, but at the top of it all is one person who controls it all. All the houses answer to that one person, and that person is here. This is where it all began 200 years ago, Jacob, and then it branched out from here.¡±

    ¡°If the top dog is here, then who is he? Q? Geo? One of the others¡­.¡±

    He laughed loudly. ¡°You¡¯re so uninformed, bro! Q, Steel, Eric, Geo, and Seth make up the Inner Circle. It was obvious to me when I saw them all together. Each house has an Inner Circle responsible for that particular house and its Brothers.¡±

    ¡°If not Q and them, then who?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s just it, Jacob. No one knows. No one outside the Inner Circle, not even the other Brothers. He can be anyone. He can be your chemistry teacher, or the grounds keeper, or the guy you walked past the other day, or he can be one of the Brothers that we see every day. Hell, he can be a fifteen-year-old girl for all I know. What I do know is that he¡¯s here in this very house, and he controls it all.¡±

    I got tired of holding my head up, so I let it drop on my arm. I didn¡¯t know what to make of his story. If it was true or not, there was nothing I could do to confirm or refute what he said. The whole idea was puzzling and left me somewhat confused.

    ¡°How exactly do you know all this? Was there some TBH handbook handed out, and I didn¡¯t get one?¡±

    He laughed again. ¡°No. No handbook that I know of.¡± He made a gesture with his free hand to emphasize there was no handbook. ¡°I have a cousin in Texas who¡¯s a Brother down there. He gave me a lot of pointers and told me how the Brotherhood works. He told me everything he could, everything he was allowed to discuss. Everything he told he had to clear with the other Brothers, especially the Inner Circle of his house. He also put in a good word for me up here, which is why I probably got picked.¡± He stopped for a moment to think but soon continued. ¡°Think I care?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Damn straight!¡±

    The silence that followed was so unbearable. I pretended to cough just to fill the room with noise.

    ¡°You sick or something?¡± he inquired as he tried to look over his shoulder at me.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. I just got something in my throat.¡±

    It was the last thing I remember saying before dozing off. I don¡¯t know how long I was out, maybe five minutes or so before the door flew open with someone yelling at the top of their lungs.

    ¡°On your feet and on this threshold, pledges!¡±

    I was startled out of my skin, as was Arsen. We fell off the bed with our cuffed hands stretched out over it. Somehow, we managed to stand on the threshold, but I swear I don¡¯t remember walking to it; I was so sleepy. But there we were, standing at the door across from Nick and Troy, who looked about as confused and tired as we probably did.

    I was going to look to either side of me, but when I heard the Brother yell, ¡°Eyes forward pledge,¡± to one of the other guys, I thought it best just to keep looking straight ahead. A chill passed over me abruptly, like someone had slipped an ice cube down my spine. I shivered against Arsen¡¯s arm, and he glanced at me with serious eyes, but it was a glance that no one noticed save me.

    After standing military-style, shoulder-to-shoulder with Arsen, I heard the soft footsteps approaching slowly from the right. I was curious beyond measure but did not dare look. Immediately I thought it was Q. It had to be. It seemed like something he would do; to walk so slowly and ominously to instill some fear in us or extract some form of respect.

    With his long lustrous hair flowing freeing down his back, Eric walked past us in silence, never turning to make the slightest eye contact. Seeing a guy pull off such long hair was a rare sigh, but Eric pulled it off flawlessly.

    Pacing up and down the narrow corridor in his black jeans and simple black tank, he bowed his head as if in profound meditation. He was the only Brother with us. Whoever burst into our room to wake us up was gone.

    And on he paced.

    He never said a word or lifted his head to look at us. That same chill came over me when he passed me a second time, a third, and then a fourth. For over an hour, he did this as if he were alone and simply contemplating some great mystery that eluded him.

    Can you imagine such resolve?

    At that time, I did make a note of one thing. I was right. The temperature in our room was raised considerably because the hallway was air-conditioned and pleasantly cool. One other thing I realized as Eric continued his maddening walk was that my bladder would soon explode. I had to go so bad that it hurt.

    Just shy of two hours, I heard the unmistakable sound of water dripping on the floor, and in horror, I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth. I knew what I heard was not water but piss! It wasn¡¯t coming from me or Arsen, which was a significant relief. Nick and Tory were in the clear because I could see them standing before me. I couldn¡¯t tell who it was, and I wasn¡¯t about to look.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I was horrified.

    Eric never stopped pacing or even said a word, which puzzled me. It¡¯s like I wanted to grab him and yell, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, you man? Say something! You¡¯re driving us fucking insane!¡± But that was the point after all, wasn¡¯t it? To drive us nuts with his silent pace.

    But I was horrified, as I already said. I was horrified because I didn¡¯t know how long I could last before letting go. The mere thought made me weak in the knees, and when I heard another pledge let loose, it made it worse.

    Before long, every pledge just let go.

    There I was, the sports jock, the homecoming king, the senior class president, the class valedictorian, the town hero, wetting myself.

    It was beyond humiliating. But can anyone blame me, I ask you? Can any of us be blamed for what happened in that hallway?

    The only consolation I had was that I wasn¡¯t alone in this. I was standing there with my pledge brothers and friends, enduring it together. I don¡¯t think I could have gone thru it alone.

    Finally, Eric stopped pacing, probably because he didn¡¯t want to risk stepping in anything, and stood silently at the end of the hall. Then he spoke for the first time that morning in a soft, clear voice.

    ¡°If you had to use the bathroom, all you had to do was ask.¡± He stopped briefly before he continued. ¡°There¡¯s remaining silent to be respectful, and then there are times you need to speak up for yourselves. This would have been one of those times.¡± He kept his back to us the whole time he spoke. ¡°That door at the end of the hall is a closet with mops, buckets, and other cleaning supplies. I want this hallway cleaned to a mirror shine. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± we all answered collectively before he left.

    I don¡¯t think I believed him when he said all we had to do was ask. I think it was a no-win situation. He was probably waiting for one of us to open his mouth so he could have a reason to come down on us and go off on his power trip. But then again, maybe he was testing our willingness to ¡°stand up¡± to a Brother.

    We found that the closet had more than what we needed to clean the mess up. I was filling up the bucket and couldn¡¯t help but wonder how many pledges before us stood there silently as we did. Did anyone pledge have the guts to speak up?

    Within the hour, we had the corridor floor clean and smelling like pine, and as Eric ordered, we gave it a high shine. None of us spoke while we cleaned, even though I could tell some of the guys were dying to say something. But what would happen if we said even a single word? The risk of being punished somehow was too significant, so we stayed quiet.

    I wanted to talk to my boys, Anthony, CJ, Nick, and the rest. I wanted to hear how their sleeping experience went and if it was as bad as mine. I wanted to know if they were still as determined as before because I knew I was.

    Not knowing what to do with ourselves when we were done, we stood on the threshold of our doors again and waited in silence. Sadly, the stillness in the hall did not last long.

    ¡°Why are they keeping us waiting so long?¡± someone whispered. Jason, the kid from Seattle and the one cuffed to Justin, opened his freaking mouth. His room was next to Nick¡¯s, so I could see him. He was a little thinner than me, and his body wasn¡¯t as defined, but he had nothing to be ashamed of. His crew cut made it seem like he just got out of boot camp. He had a tattoo of a winged demon around his left nipple that looked cool.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like they don¡¯t know we¡¯re up here,¡± he said in the same soft voice. ¡°Why do they have to play these stupid mind games?¡±

    ¡°Dude, shut up! You¡¯re going to get us all in trouble.¡±

    Nick moved slightly to look at Jason. ¡°CJ¡¯s right, man, shut your mouth. This is the game we have to play if we want in. A game they control completely. You knew it was going to be this way. You know you did. So why did you even bother showing up if you were going to complain?¡±

    ¡°Did I miss something?¡± Kevin asked rudely. He was the guy staying in the room to the right of me. ¡°Who died and made you King of the Pledges?¡±

    ¡°Fuck you! I¡¯m just trying to keep us out of trouble.¡±

    ¡°Afraid to get your ass paddled again?¡±

    ¡°Fuck you, man!¡±

    Before I could stop myself, my mouth opened, and words started flying out. ¡°Why don¡¯t you all shut the fuck up, okay? God, you¡¯re all so stupid! This is exactly what they wanted, and you stupid fucks fell for it. Morons surround me. Now we¡¯re all probably going to have to pay for your stupidity. Fuck!¡±

    My little outburst incited a war of words among the pledges, and before long, the hallway was filled with our bickering. It was stupid, and I knew better than that, but I was also drawn into this battle.

    I have no idea how long Geo was standing there watching us, but when we saw him, we damn near jumped out of our skin.

    Fuck me, I thought and closed my eyes and simply waited for whatever was to come.

    ¡°No, please continue,¡± he insisted once the hush fell over us. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t feel much like talking now?¡± Slipping his hands into his pockets, he shook his head as if he was sincerely disappointed. ¡°You pledges have so much to learn. You¡¯ve been here not even a day, and already you¡¯re at each other throats. How do you expect to get thru the next several weeks if you don¡¯t work together? Don¡¯t you realize you¡¯re in this together?¡±

    Like Eric, Geo walked up and down the hallway but was far from quiet. ¡°If you can¡¯t turn to each other for support, who will you turn to? Us?¡± He laughed outright. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯ve paid my dues to get here, and now you must do the same. But if you can¡¯t show each other respect and loyalty, how will you ever convince us that you are Brotherhood material?¡± Stopping at the end of the hall, he stood there for a long time before turning to face us. ¡°You are brothers in all this, pledge Brothers. Think about that for a minute.¡±

    He stopped in front of me and looked at me with this blank expression that I can¡¯t describe. He narrowed his eyes as if trying to look through me, read my thoughts, or break me down. Whatever the case was, I admit I felt very uneasy.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± he sighed and walked away from me. ¡°What to do, what to do? It¡¯s clear to me that the meaning of working together and teamwork will have to be pounded into your heads.¡±

    After ordering us to step out, we formed two lines and followed him to the end of the hallway until we reached an oak door. Still only clad only in our soaked jocks, we descended a long staircase. I thought it led back down to The Pit for some reason, but it didn¡¯t. Instead, it led us to a massive bathroom with dark marble floors. No showers, no toilets, just seven black sinks with silver faucets. There were new toothbrushes in the holders with our names on them.

    ¡°Find the sink with your toothbrush and clean up,¡± Geo ordered. ¡°You have five minutes.¡±

    I washed the sleep out of my eyes and brushed my teeth within the time given. Since we were all so close to each other, I could still smell the urine from the others. It was nauseating, and I would¡¯ve given anything for a shower.

    We followed Geo around a corner into the area with all the toilets. There were black like the sinks and were lined up against the wall a few feet apart from one another. There are no walls or stalls to separate them, just one row of fourteen black toilets. Opposite the toilets were floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

    I hated mirrors. I hated looking at the stranger staring back at me. I¡¯ve hated it since I was ten years old.

    ¡°Well?¡± Geo grinned wickedly as he gestured to the row of toilets. ¡°I suggest you do whatever you have to do because who knows when you¡¯ll get another chance. And being that you¡¯re learning about teamwork and depending on each other when you¡¯re done, the person cuffed to you will ensure you¡¯re as clean as a newborn.¡±

    The look on our faces, the horror, could not be put into words. Did he mean what I thought he meant? He couldn¡¯t have. We misunderstood him, surely.

    ¡°Why are you guys looking at me like you didn¡¯t understand me?¡± Geo snapped; his brows knitted in frustration. ¡°The toilets are there. The toilet paper is there, so do what you have to do and have your cuff-mate clean your ass when you''re done. Is that so hard to understand? Or should I repeat myself a third time?¡±

    ¡°No, Sir!¡± we shouted.

    ¡°Now hurry up because the clock is ticking. Now, feel free to talk amongst yourself to figure out how you will do this. I don¡¯t care how you do it. Just get it done!¡±

    We were left alone in the bathroom, dumbfounded and a little shocked. We looked at each other, seeking an answer no one could give, and then one of the pledges spoke.

    ¡°I am not about to have my ass wiped by some dude,¡± Xavier declared, throwing his hands up as if trying to stop oncoming traffic. ¡°This is nuts! Out of all the things they could have us do to teach us the meaning of teamwork and brotherhood, they choose this? It¡¯s disgusting and degrading, and I¡¯m not doing it. Forget that!¡±

    ¡°Christ! Don¡¯t you get it, man?¡± I stepped out of line and glared at Xavier. ¡°That¡¯s exactly why they¡¯re making us do this, not to mention this is probably some sort of punishment for the yelling contest we had upstairs.¡± I looked at Arsen briefly and then looked at Xavier again. ¡°Do you think I want to do this? Do you think any of us wants to do this? I think not. But we all knew what we were getting into when we showed up yesterday. Did you think they were going to make it easy for us?¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Arsen shouted, almost yelling. ¡°You guys are doing it again. This bickering is what got us here in the first place. How long will it take for us to learn to work together and not against each other? Geo was right, you know. We¡¯re never going to make it thru this if we are going to be at each other¡¯s throats.¡±

    A hush fell over us that lasted a long while.

    I don¡¯t know if the others used this quiet time to think over what Arsen said. I know I did. It seemed he and I were on the same page, and I found that comforting.

    I saw him bow his head as if he had just been handed some terrible news. And in a soft voice, he said, ¡°We need to pull together¡­.¡±

    ¡°Dude, don¡¯t even finish what you¡¯re about to say.¡± CJ laughed as he cut Mike off. ¡°Do you honestly believe they don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going through right now? Dude, for all we know, they could be watching us from the other side of these mirrors, so your whole argument is mute.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just get this done already,¡± Paul said.

    It was a long time before anyone moved, but eventually, we did. Now, I¡¯m not going to get into the details of what happened next, but I can assure you that it was, as Xavier said, disgusting and degrading, not to mention disturbing.

    Now, I will jump ahead just a little because I don¡¯t feel the need to go over the dreadful details. I will say this. To my dismay, we weren¡¯t given a chance to shower, but at least we got the opportunity to wash our hands thoroughly.

    Once finished, a tall Brother with dirty blonde hair escorted us outside the house, where more Brothers were waiting. The first person to catch my eyes was Q. He was standing in the center of a circle of Brothers with his hands in his jacket and the wind in his hair. Though his head was slightly bowed, he looked up at us as we exited the house and walked down the steps. Q looked annoyed, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the pledges.

    Crossing his arms over his chest, Q looked like a general about to give his army orders. And when he finally spoke, his voice was soft and eloquent, just as I expected it to be.

    ¡°Every day, you will be brought out for a morning run around the campus.¡±

    Was he serious? A morning run in our dirty underwear. Just great!

    I heard a car approaching.

    ¡°The objective here is to keep you pledges physically fit. Every morning you are expected to run until told to stop. If you stop before you¡¯re told, you will be penalized. If you complain, you will be penalized. If you fall behind, you will be penalized. If you do anything to annoy me, you will be penalized. You will be penalized if you do anything I don¡¯t think you should do. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    I cringed when those words left our mouths. Everyone knew our mistake, but it was too late to correct it. I wanted to kick my ass. I wanted to kick everyone¡¯s ass. Why did we have to go and call him Sir?

    A black Jeep pulled up in front of us with two Brothers I¡¯ve never seen before sitting in the front seats.

    ¡°You pledges must enjoy pissing me off.¡± He walked up and down the line with his eyes on the ground. ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°That must be it, Q,¡± one of the Brothers standing off to the side yelled out. ¡°Why else would they call you Sir when you told them not to?¡±

    Q shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He snapped his head up at us, causing some pledges to flinch. ¡°Do any of you care to answer that? Anyone?¡±

    No one answered.

    I swallowed hard.

    ¡°You know, I was going to have you run in your jocks to punish you for the argument you pledges had upstairs and in the bathroom, but now I¡¯ve changed my mind. You¡¯re going to strip and run naked. Except for you two.¡± Q pointed to Steve and Paul and told them to step forward. ¡°You were the only two that didn¡¯t call me Sir. You thought I didn¡¯t pick up on that, did you?¡±

    They nodded.

    ¡°Well, I did. And being that you two were smart enough to remember what you were told, I will give you a choice.¡± Before he continued, he jumped in the back of the jeep and stood up while firmly grasping the black bar before him. The wind picked up some, and his hair was dancing about in the air as if controlled magically. ¡°You can join your pledge brothers in their disgrace and strip along with them or run as you are now. What will it be?¡±

    I could see Paul was about to speak through the corner of my left eye, but Steve beat him to it.

    ¡°Then we choose to remain as we are,¡± he said proudly.

    ¡°Very well. Everyone else strips and leave your jocks where you stand and follow us.¡±

    The jeep started moving before I had my hands on the waistband of my jockstrap. And being that I was cuffed to Arsen, a little struggle ensued because we wanted to pull our jocks down with both hands. I would grab the waistband, and then he¡¯d pull my right hand away as he held his, and then I¡¯d do it back to him. It was impossible! And we weren¡¯t the only ones who had this ridiculous problem. It didn¡¯t take us long to figure out that the only way we would do this was to work together, so I let Arsen go first, and then I slipped out of my jock with no problem.

    Arsen and I were the second pair to run after the jeep. And you know something? At first, it didn¡¯t register in my brain that I was running after the jeep butt naked. I was so worried that Q would be pissed if we fell behind that I didn¡¯t consider it. It wasn¡¯t until all the pledges were running behind the jeep that it dawned on me.

    Running was damn near impossible as well. Arsen and I took a while to get a good rhythm going with our cuffed hands, but we got it. And soon, everyone was jogging behind the jeep at a steady pace.

    We were jogging down the dirt road leading to the house when the driver slammed the brakes.

    ¡°Drop and give me twenty,¡± Q ordered. One might think he shouted like some drill sergeant, but he didn¡¯t. His voice never lost its soft eloquence.

    Everyone did as we were told, of course, and after the twenty pushups, the jeep sped away without warning. It took us about a minute to catch up to it.

    Running naked didn¡¯t bother me until we left the forest surrounding the house and were led straight into campus. People stopped, stared, and laughed their asses off. And when we hit the main road, Q made us stop and do twenty more pushups and then sped away again. They led us to places with the most people, and every time we hit a crowd, he made us stop and do pushups.

    It was bad. People laughed, pointed, and yelled or sorts of things at us.

    Q made us stop in front of all girl¡¯s dorms and told us to do fifty pushups right in the middle of the street. Traffic stopped, but I don¡¯t think anyone minded seeing fourteen bear asses going up and down as we did our pushups.

    Even the campus police got a kick out of it. One of them drove by us very slowly and yelled, ¡°Give them hell, Q!¡±

    The girls were hanging out their window, laughing and whistling.

    On my thirtieth pushup, I looked to my right and saw Alex. I just wanted to hide under a rock. She was standing there with a box of folders in her hands, leaning against a friend, laughing like you wouldn¡¯t believe. It was the first time I had seen her since I stepped foot at KU, and she was laughing at me! She waved and blew me a kiss.

    What a bitch, I thought.

    I mumbled bitter words under my breath, as did the others. When we were finally finished and stood up, Q told us to give him another fifty. By this time, some girls were throwing their panties and bras out the window, telling us to ¡°put them on¡± and other crazy shit.

    I¡¯ll tell you this much. When we saw that jeep take off, we ran after it like the devil was after us, anything to get away from the girl¡¯s dorm.

    I was too embarrassed to keep track of time or distance, so I had no idea how far we went or how long we ran and did pushups. But by the time the jeep led us back to the house, I was ready to drop dead; I was so tired. Running is nothing new to me; I enjoy it, to be honest. But running and pushups at the same time was something I wasn¡¯t used to, so when Q gave the word that we could take a break, I collapsed on the moist grass, panting heavily. I swayed from side to side, coughing and sweating from head to toe. Being naked didn¡¯t matter anymore. All I wanted was fresh air.

    Q walked thru the heaps of exhausting bodies and stood atop the house steps. About two minutes passed when he told us to grab our underwear and get on our feet. I grabbed the jock closest to me, not caring if it was the one I was wearing before. Standing on my own proved a little challenging, so I leaned on Arsen as he leaned on me. I ran my hand through my hair, which was so damp with sweat that it stayed slicked back as if I had applied gel.

    We followed Q in silence thru the house and back down to the large bathrooms. We passed the sinks and the toilets and finally came around a corner to where all the showers were. There were seven showerheads along the tiled wall with a dish for the soap and shampoo. There were seven heads and fourteen of us; you do the math.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get two showers a day.¡± Q gestured towards the entire length of the shower room. ¡°One in the morning and another before you go to bed, and maybe a third one in-between if we feel it¡¯s required. Ask for one, and you will go days without one.¡± He looked at the fourteen faces in front of him before he continued. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± As those words left his mouth, a powerful spray of water shot out of each showerhead. ¡°Put your jocks in this bin and clean up.¡±

    I took off my jockstrap and noticed the tag with the name Jason; it was the first time I realized our names were embroidered on the underwear. I threw Jason¡¯s jock in the bin and went into the warm, soothing water. The strong jets felt terrific against my flesh. It didn¡¯t just wash away the grime; the heat and steam helped relax my mind. Our morning run''s embarrassing events faded into the deepest depths of my psyche, never to be thought about again.

    I could have stayed there forever. At that moment, nothing else existed under the hot jets of hot water and steam. There was no Arsen, no pledges, no Brothers, just me.

    It was peace.

    Unfortunately, forever was not meant to be, as I was suddenly forcefully pulled from my tranquility and was again made to face the reality of my situation.

 The Brotherhood Chapter III

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter III

    By X

    All the showerheads exploded with powerful jets of freezing ice-cold water.  The shock was too much to handle because I stumbled and knocked us both to the floor.  As if our situation wasn¡¯t embarrassing enough, I landed on Arsen, but he was quick to push me off to the side.

    I tried rolling away from the icy water and bumped into Jason.  It appeared everyone was laid out on the cold tile, squirming like a fish out of water.

    Before long, though, the brothers were yelling for us to get back on our feet and under the showerheads to rinse off.

    Shriving and wet, all the pledges stood shoulder to shoulder before the Brothers; chattering teeth echoed in the shower room.  They made us stand there for at least five minutes before one of the Brothers ordered Mike and Xavier to the back room to get some towels for us.  We were given thirty seconds to dry off and throw the wet towels in the dirty bin.

    With most of the cold water gone from my naked body, I felt better, warmer, and waited for whatever was coming next.

    With his quiet stride, Eric strolled up and down the row of pledges, his eyes staring into each pledge as if searching for some hidden secret.  ¡°There is a matter that needs to be taken care of before we allow you back upstairs to change.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Q¡¯s voice came from the side.

    Turning my head slightly to the right, I caught his profile in the corner of my eye.  Before I knew it, a hand gripped my jaw, forcing me to look straight ahead.

    ¡°Did anyone give you permission to move, pledge?¡±

    It was Steel looking at me with fierce, bulldog eyes, yelling at the top of his lungs.  My heart got caught in my throat; that¡¯s how bad he scared me.  I didn¡¯t see or hear him coming.  He was just there, appearing seemingly from nowhere.

    I swallowed hard.  ¡°No, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Then why the fuck are you moving?¡± he demanded, releasing my face and stepping closer to me until he was just hairs away.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Sir!  I¡¯m sorry, Sir!¡±  I swear I felt like I was on Parris Island.  You know, the place where they train marines.  Never been there myself, but I¡¯ve seen it on the Discovery channel.  Call me crazy, but I think those guys have it easier.

    ¡°Move again¡­¡± he said as if daring me to defy him.  I was smart enough to know that wasn¡¯t an order but a warning.

    I could finally breathe when he backed away and took his place with the other Brothers.  Asshole, I thought, and Steel turned to look at me with narrow eyes as if he heard me.

    What the fuck was that all about?

    ¡°Like I was saying,¡± Eric continued, jerking his head to the side to clear this long hair from his face.  ¡°There is a certain matter that needs to be resolved.  Paul and Steve.¡±  Snapping his fingers, he pointed to the spot in front of him, which happened to be directly in front of me.

    Q¡¯s voice filled the room again, but I did not dare look for him this time.  ¡°Earlier in the day, you were given a choice to either run naked like the rest of your pledge brothers or keep your jock on.¡±  Q came into view and walked around the naked pair; his raven hair covered half his face like a veil of darkness.  ¡°You choose to keep your jocks, did you not?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± they both answered, and I could almost see the word ¡°Sir¡± slip from Paul¡¯s lips, but he caught himself just in time.

    Standing before my two pledge brothers, Q ran his hand thru his hair, revealing his pale face and shimmering orbs of pure silver. ¡°Well, that was your mistake.  If you truly want to be part of the Brotherhood, you must learn to stand by your brothers no matter what. This morning you had the chance to show your commitment to your pledge brothers by sharing in their disgrace. Instead, you decided to take the high road while your pledge brothers crashed and burned.  That kind of attitude has no place in the Brotherhood.¡±

    A long, uncomfortable silence filled the room.  One could hear the drops of water hitting the floor.

    ¡°Do you have anything to say for yourselves?¡± Q questioned, his lips scarcely moving, his eyes set on the two pledges.

    Paul was the first to speak.  ¡°With all due respect, Q, I wasn¡¯t given a chance to speak because Steve here decided to speak for the both of us.¡±

    Stepping up behind Paul and Steve, Eric folded his arms over his chest.  ¡°So, you¡¯re saying it was Steve¡¯s fuck up, and you shouldn¡¯t be held responsible for his stupidity?¡±

    Paul nodded.  ¡°Exactly, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Wrong!¡± all the brothers in the room shouted in one unified voice, and every single pledge was startled and jumped.  My heart banged in my chest after that, and I knew every other pledge was experiencing the same thing.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it, do you?¡± Steel asked.

    Frustrated, Q sighed.  ¡°Let¡¯s hope they all get it before initiation is over.  At any rate, you will shave each other¡¯s heads.  That¡¯s your punishment for your actions.  And Paul, you just went the extra mile, so you get a bonus. Once you shave Steve¡¯s head, he will free you of all body hair.

    The horror of Q¡¯s words took a few seconds to sink into Paul¡¯s head, but when it did, his eyes flew open like he had just received the shock of his life.  I saw the look on his face and knew he was about to open his mouth to protest, and all I could think was, man, keep your trap shut!

    Thank God Eric was quick to say something before he did.  ¡°One word out of you and losing all your hair will be the least of your worries, I promise you.¡±

    The gathering of naked pledges was led to another room next to the showers with a single chair made of cold steel and a long table that looked equally as hard and cold.  The chair was so cold that when Steve was instructed to sit, he jumped up slightly, his ass hovered over the cold steel before being forced down by one of the Brothers.  Paul was handed some clippers and went to town on Steve¡¯s head, leaving only peach fuzz after a few minutes.  Poor Steve looked down at his ink-black hair lying around the base of his chair and feet.

    A mischievous grin played on Paul¡¯s lips, one he tried desperately to conceal as he removed the last strands of his hair.  I, for one, could not understand what he was grinning about since he would share the same fate.  Worse, he was about to lose all his body hair at the hands of the person he liked the least.  He was given a can of shaving cream and told to apply it to Steve¡¯s head.  Then he was given a straight-edge razor and told to shave Steve¡¯s head until it resembled a bowling ball.

    I was thinking how stupid, not to mention dangerous, it was to give Paul a razor where Steve was concerned.  The poor kid was lucky Paul didn¡¯t slit his throat from ear to ear right then and there.

    I looked around with my eyes, noticing the room was packed from wall to wall with pledges and Brothers.  Q, Eric, Steel, and now Seth and Geo, the Inner Circle of the TBH house, stood around Paul and Steve in a semi-circle, their stern gaze set on them like hawks zeroing in on their prey.

    But like always, for some reason or another, I was most drawn to Q.  There was just something about him I could not explain.  He had a way about him. His composed personality. The influence he held over others. Q was the type of guy that could walk into a place, slightly narrow his eyes, and silence the whole room.  The aura of mystery surrounding him was enticing.  It pulls you in like a fishing line reels in an unsuspecting fish.  One can¡¯t help but get drawn in and not want to be rescued.  That¡¯s the effect he had on people¡­on me.  If ever there was a Brother I wanted to be like, it was Q.

    He looked up at me suddenly, his body perfectly still, but his eyes snapping up with such speed I could not look away in time.  Q held my gaze for a moment, as if by a spell, and I was powerless to counter it, then looked back at Paul and Steve as quickly as he had looked at me.

    I felt like such a fool.

    ¡°Careful, Pledge,¡± Seth warned Paul firmly before blade met flesh.  ¡°Remember that you are bound to your pledge, brother, and whatever happens to one will certainly happen to the other.  So whatever nicks and cuts he endures at your hand, you will endure by ours.  Remember that.¡±

    ¡°Remember, indeed,¡± Eric echoed, his brow rising slowly in thought.

    It was all the incentive Paul needed to be extra careful, and when he was finally done and the white foam was cleared away, Steve walked away without so much as a scratch.  Before he cut Paul¡¯s hair, he was given the same warning, and it wasn¡¯t long before Paul was as bald as him.  They stood there for a moment, side by side, feeling what they¡¯d lost and not looking too happy about it.

    Without a hint or word, Q removed himself from the other Brothers and walked out of the room.  I wondered where he went.

    The other Brothers, especially the remainder of the Inner Circle, acted as if they didn¡¯t notice his departure and continued as if Q was still there.  Eric ordered Paul onto the table and told Steve to continue with caution.  We all knew what that meant.  Paul¡¯s entire body would be as bald as a newborn¡¯s butt in a few minutes.

    Right then and there, I could¡¯ve fallen to my knees and thanked God for not being one of the guys who screwed up.  If I had been given a choice to run naked with my pledge brothers or keep my jock on, I would¡¯ve chosen the ladder for sure, not realizing they were testing my loyalty to my pledge brothers.  It was a valuable lesson learned; too bad it was learned at the expense of my buddies. Oh, well, that¡¯s life.

    Using shaving cream and the same razor, Steve went to work.  The light hair on Paul¡¯s chest was easy to remove; the same went for his legs and thighs.  Steve worked with the precision of a surgeon, keeping his hand very still as he passed the sharp blade over Paul¡¯s body.  He did his pits next, and within minutes they were as devoid of hair as his head.  The real challenge came when all that remained was his bush.

    Steve hesitated.  I think he was hoping one of the Brothers would speak up and tell him not to go any further, that they learned their lesson or some stupid shit like that.  Did it happen?  Nope!  Steve was insane if he believed that was going to occur.

    ¡°Classes start in a few days,¡± Steel snapped, ¡°I¡¯d like to get this done before then if it¡¯s not too much trouble, pledge!¡±  Steve still didn¡¯t move.  ¡°Today pledge!  Today!¡±

    Steve jumped with a start, brushing the blade against Paul¡¯s thigh, and almost cutting him.

    A sharp gasp left Paul¡¯s lips, and I swear I thought he would jump off the table and run for the hills, but something inside him told him to stay put.

    Squeezing out a generous amount of cream onto his left hand, Steven applied it to Paul¡¯s crotch and went to work. Before the blade touched flesh, he looked at Paul to reassure him.

    All Paul could do was look back at him with eyes that screamed, cut me, and I¡¯ll kill you!

    As if the guy needed the extra pressure.  I must admit the look on their faces was quite amusing.

    Everyone or I should say the pledges, watched with bated breath as the first spot of hair was removed without incident, and then the next and the next. You would think Steve was a professional barber or something because he executed the job flawlessly, and before long, Paul¡¯s nether region was as bald as his head.

    After it was done, Steve wiped him down with a towel. Being told to get back in line with the rest of us probably made Paul the happiest guy in the room.

    Geo turned to regard us all.  ¡°Keep in mind that if you pledges keep screwing up, you will endure the same fate.¡±

    ¡°Or something much worse,¡± Eric added with a sinister smile, his long, brown hair falling over his face like a mask woven out of fine silk.  ¡°Stop thinking as individuals and start thinking as a group¡­as one mind.  The journey ahead of you can be dark and treacherous if that¡¯s how you make it.  But it also can be as easy as walking thru a door, depending on how you act and respond to certain things.¡±

    ¡°Remember,¡± an unknown voice said seemingly from nowhere, ¡°give yourself completely, freely to the Brotherhood, and you will fly thru this.  Resist¡­, and you will know firsthand what hell is like.¡±

    This voice was strange to me, soft like a delicate rose and commanding as an army general.  Weird.  I tried to look around by moving only my eyes, but I couldn¡¯t see anyone who might have spoken those words.  By this time, we were surrounded by the Brothers, and the voice echoed off the tile like a ball bouncing off the walls.

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    Then I started thinking about what Arsen told me when we were lying in bed.  He said the top guy, the one in charge of The Brotherhood, was from our house.  This guy runs the whole show under the same roof we pledges slept under.  It was exciting in a way, but at the same time, I thought it peculiar.  What¡¯s with all the secrecy?

    ¡°You are your brother¡¯s keeper,¡± the voice said again, fading away like a gust of wind.

    We were taken back upstairs and told to change.  Changing simply meant putting on fresh pair of underwear and an ankle-length robe.  They gave us only two minutes to get ourselves together, unlocking the cuffs remotely so we could put on our robes and locking them again when we were done.

    Seth walked up and down the hall, looking at each of us as if it was the first time he¡¯d ever laid eyes on us.  Then he ordered us to open our robes. We obeyed.  I knew right off the bat what he was checking to see if we were wearing the correct pair of underwear. rrr

    Thankfully, we were with the hilarious logo, Property of The Brotherhood.

    I think I heard a collective sigh of relief from the pledges, myself included.  Buttoning up the front of my robe, I got in line and followed the troop out of the house.  Before we left, of course, we were told we were not allowed to have any contact with anyone, not even eye contact.  We were to look straight ahead and pretend the world around us, and everyone in it did not exist.

    Three Brothers, Gage, Brook, and Bone, led us to the cafeteria for breakfast, which was a good thing because I was so hungry my thigh was starting to look mighty tasty.  Forming two rows and cuffed at the wrist, we marched thru campus like a bunch of jailbirds being led thru the prison grounds to get some chow.  We passed by many people who snickered and pointed.  It was worse for Paul and Steve because they looked freshly bald, so everyone knew they fucked up in some way or another.  But I must say it wasn¡¯t as bad as when we were jogging butt naked thru the streets.

    While on our way to breakfast, I observed some pretty lame shit.  I couldn¡¯t believe some fraternities envied The Brotherhood so much that they copied their methods.  For instance, I saw this one frat leading their pledges down the street the way we marched.  They wore cheap-looking robes, and their ankles were bound with rope instead of being cuffed at the wrist. Pretty pathetic!

    I got in line behind the rest of my pledge brothers to get my food, and who should happen to walk by?

    ¡°Hey, babe!¡±  It was Alex, my girlfriend, smiling at me like I was her man returning from war.  She stopped beside me, holding her tray in her hand as she stared at me, waiting for me to say something.  I couldn¡¯t.  ¡°Well,¡± she snapped, ¡°aren¡¯t you going to say something?¡±

    I was forced to ignore her completely, looking straight ahead at the head in front of me.  God, I wanted to gaze into her pretty eyes, hold her in my arms and feel her soft, supple body pressed against mine. I wanted to press my lips against her and whisk her away into the darkest corner where we could have our way with each other.

    But none of that was going to happen, I¡¯m afraid.  All I could do was stand there like a statue.

    ¡°Jacob, don¡¯t you hear me talking to you?¡± she demanded, a little too loud for my taste.

    Gage was at the front of the line, smiling, watching me to see if I would break the rules and say something to my girl.  My mom didn¡¯t raise a fool, so I kept my mouth shut and eyes forward, and it killed me.  I allowed her to storm away angrily, cursing me under her breath as she walked away.

    I heard some of the other pledges chuckling under their breath.  I could have kicked each of their asses right then, but I swallowed my pride, got my food, and sat down with the rest of the pledges.  The tables around us were filled with Brothers, many of which I had never seen before.  They chatted among themselves and with others but paid us pledges no mind.  It was as if we weren¡¯t even there.

    Breakfast was over quickly; before we knew it, we were walking back to the house.  The group was broken up into two.  Paul, Steve, Ant, CJ, Arsen, and I were in the first group. Mike, Xavier, Nick, Troy, Sam, Kevin, Jason, and Justin were in the other.  My group was taken upstairs to where the Brothers slept, and outside some of the doors were duffle bags filled with dirty clothes.  It turns out it was the Brother¡¯s laundry.  Gage told us to take the bags and bring them downstairs to the laundry room.

    ¡°Sir, may I address my group?¡± Arsen asked as I reached for the first bag.  He scared the shit of me because it was so quiet in the hall.

    Passing his hand over his mouth, Gage folded his arms over his chest and stared at Arsen for a long time before finally saying, ¡°sure.¡±

    We got in a little huddle.  ¡°Guys, notice each bag has a name tag on it, but none of the doors do, so make sure you remember what name goes with what door.  The last thing we need to do so mix up their clothes. Got it?¡±

    Everyone nodded and reached for the duffle bags.  We made two trips and decided to wash the clothes we had before we got more as not to mix them up.  My group worked silently, with Gage sitting on one of the washing machines watching over us like a sentinel.

    Then, quite suddenly, he laughed and jumped off the machine.  ¡°You guys can talk, but just keep it down.  I¡¯m going upstairs to grab an apple; when you¡¯re done with this load, you can go upstairs and get more bags.  Go straight to the rooms and don¡¯t take any detours.¡±  He waved in a silly sort of way and left.  I liked him.  Gage seemed cool.

    Even after we were told we could talk, no one said a word for fear that this was another test.  It wasn¡¯t until the first load of wash was finished and we were putting the cloths in the dryer that the silence was broken.

    ¡°Dude, someone needs to say something.¡±

    As much as CJ¡¯s ¡°dude¡± annoyed me, it was music to my ears to hear a voice other than a Brother¡¯s.  ¡°You already did¡­dude,¡± I mocked, laughing softly with the other guys.

    Throwing the last wet clothes into the dryer, Paul slapped his head.  ¡°I can¡¯t believe this shit!¡± he declared bitterly.  He wasn¡¯t all that happy with his new haircut.

    Laughter filled the laundry room as we rubbed Paul and Steve¡¯s heads.

    ¡°You guys look ridiculous,¡± Ant teased, his brown eyes glinting with glee. ¡°Bald is defiantly not your look!¡±

    ¡°All because of this moron!¡± Paul stated, yanking Steve¡¯s cuffed hand with his own.

    ¡°Me?  What about you?  You¡¯re the one who tried to pin all this on me!¡±

    ¡°Because it was your fault!  If you had kept your mouth shut and let me answer, we wouldn¡¯t be in this mess, but noooo, you had to open your fat mouth.¡±

    ¡°Oh, quit your bitching, both of you,¡± I said finally, as I leaned against the machine and tried to fold my arms, forgetting for an instant that I was still cuffed to Arsen.  ¡°The fact of the matter is you both fucked up, but that¡¯s okay because I probably would¡¯ve said the same thing Steve did.  But now we know.  Brothers come before pride, before all things.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Paul began.

    ¡°Paul, let it go,¡± I interrupted.  ¡°It¡¯s done, and there¡¯s nothing you can do but move on with your bald self.¡±

    Again, we all laughed loudly.

    CJ stepped forward like he was about to make some grand speech.  ¡°Dude, I just can¡¯t believe they made us run thru campus butt-ass naked.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe how many times you can use the word dude in one day,¡± I joked, punching him playfully in the arm.

    ¡°I can,¡± Arsen finally spoke, his green eyes widening slightly as if he was about to reveal a dark secret. ¡°This is what fraternity life is all about.  I feel like I¡¯m repeating myself.¡±

    ¡°Blah!¡± Steve said oh so eloquently.  ¡°I still think it was too much.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Arsen conceded, grinning wickedly.  ¡°If you have a problem with how they do things, you should take it up with the Inner Circle.¡±

    ¡°The Inner Circle?¡± Ant regarded him quizzically and then looked at me as if I knew some hidden truth.  And in a way, I suppose I did, for Arsen already told me all about the command structure of The Brotherhood.

    Arsen took the time to explain it to the rest of the guys since we had nothing better to do but wash clothes.

    ¡°So, who¡¯s this guy?¡± Steve asked, referring to the head of The Brotherhood.

    Almost instantly, I saw Paul roll his eyes.  ¡°Did you not hear a word Arsen just said?  No one knows who this person is.  Hell, only the Inner Circle knows who it is.  Do you know what that means?  That none of the other full-fledged Brothers across the planet know who it is.  And you¡¯ll stand here and ask who it is as if the answer will pop out of thin air.¡±  He shook his head, infuriated.  ¡°You¡¯re an idiot, plain and simple.  And I want to gnaw off my hand to get away from you for two seconds.  Just two seconds!  You¡¯re that annoying!¡±

    It was mean and brutal, yet I couldn¡¯t help but laugh my ass off.  ¡°No, Paul, don¡¯t hold back!  Tell Steve how you feel about him.¡±

    Steve appeared unaffected by his comments.  I think he learned early on to grow a thick skin when he¡¯s around Paul, which, unfortunately for Steve, was twenty-four-seven.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s cool,¡± Anthony said, looking at me with excitement in his tiny eyes.  ¡°It adds this air of mystery to an already mysterious house.  Don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah.¡±  I gave a small, dismissive gesture with my free hand.  ¡°I¡¯d still like to know who it is, though.  What about the Inner Circle, though?  What do you guys think about them?¡±

    ¡°Steel scares me!¡± CJ was quick to say, snickering like a little kid.

    ¡°They¡¯re a little too arrogant if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just bitter, Paul, because you¡¯re bald,¡± I said matter-of-factly.  ¡°And guess what?  They get to be arrogant because they¡¯re in a place we want to be in.  Shit, if I were in their shoes, I¡¯d have my fun too.¡±

    ¡°You would, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Paul sneered jokingly.

    ¡°Yeah, like you wouldn¡¯t.¡±  I was silent for a moment before I spoke again.  ¡°I think Q is by far the most interesting.¡±

    ¡°Totally,¡± Arsen agreed.  ¡°There¡¯s just something about him I can¡¯t put my finger on.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying!¡±  To show my agreement, I nudge him a little.  ¡°He¡¯s just one of those people you want to sit down at a caf¨¦ with and just talk, get into the deepest recesses of his mind, and find out what he¡¯s all about.¡±

    Arsen nodded.  ¡°Who knows?  One day we might get that chance.¡±

    I saw a little smile play on Ant¡¯s lips, but there was something sinister about his grin.  ¡°Hey, Jacob, what will you do about your girl?¡±

    I rolled my eyes.  He just had to bring her up!  ¡°I don¡¯t know, kid.  She¡¯s probably not speaking to me now after the whole cafeteria bit.  The one thing she hates is being ignored.¡±

    ¡°And you did a good job of doing that now, didn¡¯t you?¡± Ant¡¯s stupid grin never left his face.

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying¡­¡± he laughed.

    The next several hours were spent chatting, washing clothes, making trips around the house to pick up more bags, and dropping off the clean ones.  It was funny.  We would be walking around the house collecting the duffle bags, talking up a storm, but when we passed a Brother, which happened often, we fell silent as if we had nothing to say.  It started to sink in how big the house was when we made all those trips.

    At any rate, that was our day¡ªwashing clothes. The second group was tasked with cleaning up the house.  We¡¯d run into them from time to time as we ran around the house, offering a simple nod or smile when we crossed paths.

    When we were done with the clothes, we had the pleasure of washing the many cars and bikes that belonged to the Brothers.  Arsen and I got to clean up Q¡¯s car.  I knew it was his because the rear plate had a single Q.  He had a pimped-out Benz, midnight black, with dark tint, twenty-inch chrome rims with low-profile tires.  He wasn¡¯t the only one with a crazy ride.  Every car in the garage was expensive and hooked up like no other.

    The next three days were spent doing the same thing repeatedly.  Nothing changed.  Nothing!  There were still bags of clothes and cars for us to wash.  And when I say the same thing, I mean the exact same thing.  We were forced to stick to the same routine the minute we got up in the morning.  Wake up, go to the bathroom, do our morning run, shower, do breakfast, clean, eat lunch, and do more cleaning!  My God!  I was out of my mind with boredom.

    We didn¡¯t even see anyone from the Inner Circle those three days.  The other Brothers took turns being with us from morning to night, so they wouldn¡¯t get stuck doing the same thing repeatedly.  It was cool in a way because we got to meet more of the Brothers, but it was still annoying as hell.  How much clothes and cars can one wash before losing it?

    The fourth day brought something different at last.  A lot of the pledges had to meet with their advisors. For the first time since stepping out of the Pit, the pledges were freed from their cuffs so they could handle their business.  But we were warned not to have any contact with anyone save for the staff.

    When I finally walked out of the house, free from Arsen, I damn near lost my mind.  I think I was skipping through campus like a giddy schoolboy.  I took my time getting there and was five minutes late, but my advisor didn¡¯t mind.  She was cool like that.  We talked for over an hour, and she had a lot of exciting things to say and a lot of helpful advice about my classes and professors.  I dreaded leaving her office because I didn¡¯t want to return to the same old, dreary routine.  And as much as I like Arsen, I was much happier being free.

    Walking down a quiet, lonely corridor, I hummed the tune playing over the loudspeaker, sticking to the right wall for some reason or another.  I was thinking of my potential future with The Brotherhood when a door flew open, and a pair of hands dragged me into the janitor¡¯s closet.

    I was so stunned I barely had a chance to react, and before I could even open my mouth, I felt lips pressed against mine.  I exhaled deeply, and the scent told me instantly that it was Alex. Her perfume was unmistakable.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I said softly, pushing her away gently.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been with you in a long time, and I need you like yesterday!¡±  She kissed me again, harder than before.  ¡°Don¡¯t push me away.¡±

    But I did.  I had to!  ¡°Babe, I can¡¯t be doing this!  Not now!¡±  I shook my head and rubbed my forehead.  ¡°Besides, I thought you would be pissed at me.¡±

    ¡°Me pissed?¡± she giggled.  ¡°No way!  Do you know how the other girls treat me because you¡¯re pledging the Brotherhood?  Oh my God!  You don¡¯t understand!  I¡¯m like their queen or something.  Your status with The Brotherhood has made me very popular with everyone.  And I just want to thank you for that.¡±  She grabbed me forcefully, pushed me against the wall, and kissed me again.

    ¡°Alex, Alex, Alex!¡±  Again, I pushed her away, but I did not want to.  God, I wanted it so bad!  ¡°I can¡¯t do this!  If the brother¡¯s found out, I¡¯m dead!¡±

    ¡°What?  You took a vow to give up sex or something?¡± she laughed.

    ¡°Basically!¡±  She smelled so good, too, like a field of blooming flowers.  ¡°As much as I want to, Alex, I can¡¯t!  Me being here just talking to you can land me in a world of shit!¡±

    ¡°Stop being a pussy!¡±  She threw herself at me.  ¡°I need you to satisfy me now!  No one will know.¡±  She rubbed her knee against my crotch and bit my ear.  ¡°No one¡¯s around!¡±

    Like an idiot, I kissed her back, and we started to make out. Halfway through our make-out session, an image I did not expect popped into my mind.

    Q.

    I started to imagine how disappointed he would be if he knew I was breaking the rules. Any of the Brothers would be seriously upset, but it wasn¡¯t them; I was concerned about it.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this,¡± I repeated and pushed Alex away.

    She was about to protest, but luckily, I was saved.

    ¡°What are you kids doing in my closet?¡± I heard a man yell.  ¡°Open this door right now!¡±

    Looking beyond annoyed, Alex rolled her eyes and pulled me thru a second door leading to a different hallway.  She quickly straightened out her clothes, and we were both thankful no one was around.

    ¡°Well, that was stupid,¡± Alex said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re deal, but next time you better have shit together.¡± She kissed me one last time, and before I could say anything, she ran down the hall, and I was forced to go the other way.

    My head was spinning.  I couldn¡¯t believe what happened, and I certainly couldn¡¯t believe I let it happen, considering the consequences I would face.

    Holy shit, I thought, walking down the hall with my hand to my head, thinking of The Brotherhood.

    ¡°What was I thinking?¡± I whispered to myself.  ¡°What if they find out?  What if¡­¡±

    Another set of hands snatched me into a dark room before I could finish my sentence.  I was thrown against a wall, face first, and whoever it was pressed their body against mine.

    ¡°You fool,¡± this person said harshly.

    ¡°Who the fuck are you?¡± I demanded thru clenched teeth.  Balling up my fist, I used all my strength to push the stranger off me, but it was like trying to move a mountain, even thou the person didn¡¯t feel any bigger than me.

    ¡°What would the Brotherhood say if they knew what you just did with your little girlfriend?¡±  I swallowed hard; it was all I could do.  ¡°I could just see the look on their faces if I told them.  Do you think they were kidding when they said they have Brothers all over the place keeping an eye on everything, Brothers you¡¯ll never see or meet?¡±  He laughed a little.  ¡°I hope it was worth it!¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t say anything,¡± I said before realizing the words had left my mouth.  ¡°I can¡¯t afford to fuck this up.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any idea the mess you¡¯re in right now?¡± I was trying hard to place the voice, but I couldn¡¯t.  Whoever this was, I had never met him before.  Either that or he was doing a great job disguising his voice.  ¡°I can only imagine what they¡¯d do to you. Maybe they¡¯d dismiss you? Which means you not only fucked your chance but your little buddy¡¯s too.¡±

    Arsen.

    Whatever happens to one happens to the other.  I felt sick to my stomach.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I demanded.

    ¡°You know me all too well, I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    ¡°What?  Who the fuck are you?¡±

    ¡°Jacob,¡± he whispered with his lips to my ear, ¡°I¡¯m the only thing standing between you and Brotherhood¡¯s wrath.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°What do I want?¡±  He moved to my other ear, whispering just as softly.

    In vain, I tried to push him off me again, using every ounce of strength I had, and I¡¯m no weakling. If he moved even a centimeter, I couldn¡¯t tell. He was, in fact, an immoveable object.

    ¡°What do I want?¡± he repeated.

    I¡¯ll never forget that sinister laugh.

 The Brotherhood Chapter IV

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter IV

    By X

    Grinding my teeth and closing my eyes tight, I took in a breath and filled my mind with thoughts of Alexandra, yearning to forget where I was and what was happening to me. It worked for a little while anyway.

    I was far away from that closet, lying contently under the thick, white blankets keeping Alex and me warm while we cuddled on the sofa as our favorite movie played on the large screen TV. The scent of her hair and the warmth of her body were so vividly clear in my mind that my heart fluttered as if she was in my embrace. I would¡¯ve given anything for that moment again. To have her close to me would be a dream; to feel her lips on mine again would be heaven.

    She turned to look at me, smiling, her loving eyes deep with affection. ¡°Jacob!¡± Alex screamed my name, and I was startled out of my daydream; my eyes snapped open. It took me a moment or two to regain my senses and realize I was alone in the closet.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± I mumbled.

    Where did he go, I thought?

    I never heard the door open or felt him move away. Granted, my mind was elsewhere, but still, I should¡¯ve seen or heard something. It was almost like I imagined everything, but that was not the case. That stranger, whoever it was, was in there with me. I still felt the strain on my arms from when I tried to push him. The area on my back where he pressed hard against me was sore.

    He was there. It was real.

    I left the closet confused with many questions I was already convincing myself I¡¯d never know the answers to.

    Who was that guy? Was he one of the Brothers? Would he rat me out and tell them what he saw if he was?

    ¡°Crap!¡± I slammed my open hand against my forehead. The other students walking past me thought me a bit strange. I couldn¡¯t believe the situation I was now in. Stupid me should¡¯ve just left the instant I saw Alexandria. Now because I was thinking with my dick instead of my head, my future with The Brotherhood seemed more like a fading dream than anything else.

    I was so out of it that I didn¡¯t even notice when Anthony and CJ walked up beside me and started talking. I have no idea how long they were there before CJ¡¯s ¡°Dude!¡± snapped me out of it. There was a look of surprise on my face as I looked at them.

    ¡°Where the hell did you guys come from?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, dude?¡± CJ looked just as surprised as I did. ¡°We¡¯ve been walking beside you, talking to you for the past five minutes. Where have you been?¡±

    Shaking my head, I waved my hand dismissively. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m kind of out of it right now.¡±

    Placing his hand on my shoulder, Ant gave it a gentle squeeze and a little shake. ¡°Is everything okay, Jacob?¡± The sincerity and concern were touching. I just met these guys, was starting to get to know them, and already I felt like I had found a bunch of my long-lost brothers. I was thankful for them.

    ¡°I¡­I¡­¡± I was going to tell them but stopped myself before I made a complete fool out of myself. The whole situation seemed crazy. I barely believed it happened myself, so how would they react?

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡¯ I lied. ¡°I was wondering what else the Brothers have planned for us because I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve only scratched the surface.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Ant agreed. ¡®I don¡¯t even like to think about it. I¡¯ll deal with whatever they throw at us when it comes. At any rate, I got to meet a few of my professors today.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said, trying to get my mind off things, ¡°and what did you think of them?¡±

    He glanced at me for a moment and shrugged. ¡°For the most part, they seemed cool, but this one professor, Kim something or other, is going to be a real pain in the ass. I can already tell.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± CJ and I said in unison, laughing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. She¡¯s just one of those professors who seems like they¡¯re going to be a major pain.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, dude.¡±

    We talked all the way to the house, not that any of it is worth mentioning. Of course, we didn¡¯t miss a chance to point out a sexy hottie that happened to walk by. Unlike CJ, Ant wasn¡¯t much of a talker regarding the ladies. Sure, he mentioned a couple of girls he noticed, but he spoke about them with class.

    Entering the house, we were quick to disrobe and hang them up. The house appeared empty until the door to our right slid open.

    ¡°Glad you ladies finally joined us,¡± were the first words out of Steel¡¯s mouth. ¡°Now get your asses in here!¡± He gestured to the room with his head and moved to the side to let us thru, his no-nonsense eyes on us like glue.

    There was a long, square table made of black marble in the room with all the pledges on one side. It was quite a funny sight until I had to join them. I took my place next to Arsen. Our eyes met briefly in greeting before one of the brothers walked up behind us and slapped the cuffs back on.

    I sighed heavily when the metal was secured around my wrist.

    Like always, we stood without making a sound or moving an inch as the brothers stared us down from the other side of the reflective table; their glossy images were as intimidating as the real thing. Directly in front of the lineup was the Inner Circle with a row of Brothers standing behind them, shoulder to shoulder, wearing their TBH jackets.

    ¡°Listen up,¡± Eric ordered; his hand slipped thru his long brown hair mindlessly, and his eyes scanned our faces like that of a demanding father. ¡°You all met with your advisers today, and you know what that means, right? Classes will be starting soon, so if you think things are hard now, they¡¯re only going to get harder. Don¡¯t think we¡¯ll lighten up for a second because you¡¯ll have schoolwork to worry about.¡± A halfhearted laugh left his lips. ¡°Your priorities are clear, pledges. The Brotherhood before all else, but slack in your studies, and you¡¯ll be dismissed faster than you can blink. Anything below a 3.3 GPA will be grounds for dismissal.¡±

    Eric talked about school and THB and how they expected us to balance the two. The others also added their two cents occasionally, but it was clear Eric had the floor. To be quite honest, I zoned out for most of what he said, only catching a few phrases here and there. The enigma that was Q held me entranced. He never said or did anything; his mere presence had that kind of effect on people. You wanted to get to know him, get inside his head, and see what he¡¯s all about. What makes him work the way he does?

    I admit I had a bit of idol worship going on, even though I honestly didn¡¯t realize it back then. Out of all the brothers in the house, Q was the one I imagined myself being like in the future. His ability to control a room without saying a single word amazed me to the point where I sometimes grinned despite myself.

    A slight jab to the ribs by Arsen snapped me out of it. Seth was talking about God only knows what when I came out of my daze. All the while, I¡¯m hoping I didn¡¯t need to know whatever the hell he was talking about.

    ¡°Is that understood?¡± he inquired sternly.

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    I was clueless.

    Breaking off from the others, Q walked around the table and paced behind us; his footfalls were a gentle thud against the hardwood floor. They stopped somewhere near me, and all went still in the room. A good ten minutes later, still nothing. The room became filled with living statues.

    The silence gave me a chance to think back on what happened earlier in the day, not that I wanted to mind you, but the image just reared its ugly head. I wanted to run into this guy one day and beat the living crap out of him. I was mad all over again to the point where I had to grind my teeth to keep myself calm, but then the gravity of the situation I was in finally hit me like a ton of bricks. One of these guys in this room could be the one from the closet. Maybe the guy already spilled what he saw, and all the Brothers knew what I did.

    I''m screwed!

    I felt so bad just then, not only for myself but for Arsen. If they knew, it meant my ass was out the door, and Arsen was out with me. I don¡¯t think I ever hated that rule as much as I did at that moment. I couldn¡¯t live with myself if I caused the dismissal of one of my fellow pledges.

    Oh God, help me, and I swear I will never mess up like this again, was the silent prayer running through my mind.

    That¡¯s why Q stopped so close to me. That¡¯s why they were all so quiet. They were giving the guilty party time to reflect. It was their way of saying, we¡¯re on to you, asshole!

    Just get it over with already! Fucking say you know and do your worst!

    My prayers turned into screams of contempt.

    ¡°The trials will begin soon,¡± Q finally spoke after what seemed like forever.

    My God, I was so relieved just then. I¡¯m surprised I didn¡¯t collapse right there.

    Wait a minute. Trials?

    ¡°Allow me to answer that for you,¡± he said as if reading my mind, ¡°the question you¡¯re all asking yourselves, that is. The trials are what we use to test everything about you. I won¡¯t get into lengthy explanations because one, it would defeat the purpose, and two, I don¡¯t owe you any.¡± His voice poured out like a piano melody, wrapping around you like a song you can¡¯t stop listening to. He knew how to take control. He knew how to command respect. ¡°Suffice to say that every pledge in this room better be on their toes and at their best 24/7. You¡¯ll be tested in many ways, but you¡¯ll never know, so be on your guard. Some of the trails are painfully¡­¡± He lingered on that word for a moment, and I could almost feel everyone cringe at the thought of the torture we were going to go thru. ¡°obvious,¡± he finished, and I thought, you bastard that was a good one. ¡°While others, you¡¯ll have no idea. Trials will be failed. That much is expected, but fail enough of these, and you will be dismissed.¡±

    Well, how much is too much, I thought.

    ¡°That you¡¯ll find out on your own,¡± he said matter-of-factly. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m referring to the other question I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all asking yourself now.¡±

    It was Geo¡¯s turn to pick up the microphone. Stepping forward and folding his arms over his chest, he looked down the entire line of pledges. ¡°We expect the best because we are the best. No other fraternity in this college, state, or country comes close to The Brotherhood. If you don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to meet the challenge, then I suggest you save yourself, and more importantly, us, the trouble and leave now. We set a standard and expect you all to rise above it. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    Placing his hand on Geo¡¯s shoulder, Seth stepped up next to him with a smile. ¡°Today is special, so we are suspending all other activities to prepare for tonight¡¯s party.¡± I think all the pledges perked up when they heard ¡°party¡± come out of his mouth. I know I did. ¡°You see, Geo here is leaving us, transferring to another school. One of our own is leaving us, and he¡¯ll be sorely missed, but that¡¯s okay because we plan to give him the biggest, baddest going away party this campus has ever seen.¡±

    The Brothers erupted into loud cheers, patting and hugging Geo like he just came home from war or something. It showed the camaraderie, the love they shared for each other.

    One could easily see Geo was flattered beyond words; his face was cherry red, and he couldn¡¯t stop laughing. After a long while, he threw up his hands and gestured for silence. It took a minute or two for the Brothers to calm down. It was an exciting moment. I wanted to jump up and join them in cheer, but I knew better than that. To do so would invite the brother¡¯s fury, and who wanted that?

    It was time for Geo to take center stage, and he did so with an unyielding smile and determination that made the brothers proud. Before he spoke his first word, he looked around at the many faces in the room, faces he learned to trust and depend on over the years. These were the faces he grew up with here at the university. TBH was more than just another fraternity for these guys; it was a family. I couldn¡¯t begin to imagine how he felt now that he had to say goodbye to them.

    It was time to get serious, so that determined smile faded, his mood more somber now. ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t even know where to begin, guys,¡± he finally said, his eyes taking another quick survey of the room. ¡°I consider this house and the people in it my life. How do I find the words to say goodbye to that? To my family?¡± Eric¡¯s slipped over Geo¡¯s shoulder for moral support. I thought it was a nice gesture. ¡°I love all you guys as if we were flesh and blood. Fuck that. We are tighter than that. I¡¯ll miss every one of you, no doubt about it. I¡¯m not just leaving behind my Brothers but a part of myself. It¡¯s tough¡­very tough.¡±

    He broke off for a moment to collect his thoughts. He even wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. Shit, he had me feeling like I was about to lose a part of myself. That¡¯s how emotional things got for everyone, even for us pledges, who barely knew the guy.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t want to get all weepy, but I will say this: I will represent and show them how it¡¯s done!¡±

    The place went nuts!

    One of the brothers, Lucas, looked in our direction, and I thought we had done something wrong. ¡°You pledges may be new, but I think the other Brothers won¡¯t mind if you cheer for our departing Brother.¡±

    His permission was all we needed. We cheered and hollered like madmen. It felt like we were truly a part of something special, even though we knew we had a long way to go. For a split second, I, and I¡¯m sure some of the others, felt like a true Brother.

    The cheering continued for some time before it died down, and Q retook center stage. He didn¡¯t have to gesture for silence. Everyone, pledges and brothers alike, knew to shut up.

    ¡°While you guys are in a cheering mood, I want everyone to welcome Geo¡¯s Canadian counterpart, Shaun.¡±

    The crowd parted a bit, and this guy walked up next to Q; a serious look dawned on a handsome face with a neatly trimmed goatee. His brown hair highlighted tastefully with a blond hue, fell over his gripping auburn eyes, his hands tucked away in the side pockets of his TBH lettermen. Yet another man of mystery was about to walk into our lives, or better yet, walk all over our lives, being that he¡¯s a Brother and all. I thought it a bit strange the brothers brought in an outsider, so to speak, to take Geo¡¯s place. Moving one of the brothers from our house into the Inner Circle seemed like the logical way to do it.

    ¡°Now, some of you may be wondering why Shaun is taking Geo¡¯s place instead of someone from the house.¡±

    This was just too weird for me. Q was there to explain whenever I was confused about something or a question crossed my mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. It¡¯s the whole reason why Geo is leaving us. I guess you can say it¡¯s somewhat of an exchange program. Our Canadian counterparts get one of ours, and we get one of theirs as a way of exchanging ideas and information. It¡¯s certainly not that we don¡¯t believe one of our own isn¡¯t up for the job; they know this as well as I. At any rate, that¡¯s all you need to know for now. If you guys make it to becoming a Brother, you¡¯ll be privileged to more information.¡± He put his hand on Shaun¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Is there anything you¡¯d like to say to the Brothers or our new pledges here?¡±

    Shaun nodded and clasped his hands loudly. ¡°To my fellow Brothers, I say this. I¡¯m prepared to do everything in my power to uphold the integrity and honor of this house and those who sleep under her roof. Trying to replace Geo would be impossible, and it¡¯s not something I¡¯d try to do anyway. But I will say this. Some of you may not know this, but Geo and I have known each other for a very long time, so I will do my best to make him proud that I was chosen to take his spot.¡±

    The Brothers clapped while the pledges watched on in silence.

    Shaun focused his attention on us with the same conviction he held in his eyes when he spoke to the Brothers. ¡°There is a fine line between Brother and pledge, which you must observe. I¡¯m strict but fair, cross that line, and you¡¯ll experience firsthand how strict I can be.¡±

    Great, another hard ass, I thought.

    His narrowed eyes fell on me instantly as if my private thoughts scrolled across my forehead for all to see. ¡°Cross me, and I¡¯ll have you wishing Geo was back here faster than you can blink. Believe me.¡±

    ¡°Well said,¡± Geo laughed, clapping. ¡°Are you done, Shaun, or do you have more inspirational words for our wannabes here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m done for now.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Geo patted Shaun on the back and pulled out a notepad from his back pocket. He walked down the pledge line and handed each pair a paper. ¡°For one of my last official acts, I¡¯m having you pledges go out and get all the stuff for my party tonight. It¡¯s my last day here, and I want everyone to have a good time, so you better not fuck it up. It¡¯s quite simple. I handed you a piece of paper with a list of things to get for tonight and where to get them. Easy enough for you?¡±

    At first, we weren¡¯t sure if he was looking for an answer, but when his brow shot up harshly, there was no doubt.

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Now go to the cafeteria, get something to eat, then come back here before you go to get the stuff. Keep to yourselves and keep contact with others to a minimum.¡±

    They let us go on our own to the cafeteria, which was a good thing because I was starved. Though I wasn¡¯t so sure, I liked the idea of us pledges going out to a public place without a Brother to watch us. I didn¡¯t believe we could control ourselves long enough to follow Geo¡¯s simple instructions. Four pledges could stay out of trouble, but fourteen?

    The whole situation smelled of trouble.

    We sat around a series of square tables we put together to make one long table. I was closer to the middle, with Ant and CJ sitting directly across from me. At first, we ate without so much as a peep, but we knew that wouldn¡¯t last long.

    ¡°You guys excited about tonight?¡± Xavier whispered across the table as if Brothers surrounded us. His green eyes traveled up and down the table, waiting for a response from anyone willing to indulge him.

    Troy took the words right out of my mouth. ¡°Should we even be talking, guys?¡±

    ¡°Dude, why not?¡± CJ questioned, a playful smile stretching across his small face, the sparkle in his eyes just as playful. ¡°Geo said to stay to ourselves. He didn¡¯t say anything about not talking.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Oddly enough, the surfer dude has a point,¡± said CJ¡¯s cuff mate Ant, laughing.

    ¡°So, are you guys excited or what?¡± Xavier repeated his question, clearly anxious to hear what we thought.¡±

    ¡°Look,¡± Justin began, taking a quick bite from his sandwich and then saying something incomprehensible.

    That¡¯s when my sarcastic nature chimed in. ¡°Let¡¯s try that one more time, this time without a mouthful of food, please.¡±

    Rolling his eyes, Justin swallowed hard. ¡°What I said was I don¡¯t think we should be expecting to do much partying tonight. I see us walking around in our underwear surrounded by some pretty fly hunnies, serving the booze and cleaning up after everyone. Don¡¯t kid yourselves. That¡¯s what we¡¯ll be doing, I bet.¡±

    ¡°You think so, huh?¡± Steve said.

    Paul, of course, was quick to give him this look that screamed annoyance. ¡°What did I tell you about the whole talking thing?¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up, cum wad,¡± Steve blasted back.

    We laughed our asses off. Even though they were both my boys, seeing him stand up to Paul was nice. I think Paul came down hard on him unfairly. Steve was a cool guy. I liked him.

    ¡°Guys think about it,¡± Justin continued, taking another bite from his sandwich, but this time he finished chewing before speaking. ¡°We are pledges. Why in fucks name will they let us join in on the fun when we¡¯re still so early in the game?¡± He looked at each of us, hoping his words hit home. ¡°Are the wheels turning yet?¡±

    ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t care what they have me doing at the party as long as I¡¯m there, you feel me?¡± Mike offered his two cents.

    ¡°I hear that!¡± Nick agreed; the football jock had a shit-eating grin he couldn¡¯t hide even if he tried.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Justin shrugged, ¡°Call me crazy, but I think we¡¯re all in a for a rude awakening tonight.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Justrodamus, I think we get you,¡± I joked. ¡°I say we just wait until tonight and see what happens before we jump to any con¡­.¡±

    ¡±Well, well, well,¡± came a snide voice behind me. I tilted my head back to see who it was before I turned around completely. It wasn¡¯t a Brother like I had thought but someone wearing a Zeta Chi Omega letterman. ¡°So, this is The Brotherhood¡¯s new pledge class, eh?¡± He laughed, playfully elbowing the guy next to him. ¡°I must say I¡¯m not all that impressed.¡±

    Ignoring the guy, I turned around and looked at the other guys telling them to do the same. I didn¡¯t know what the guy¡¯s problem was, and honestly, I didn¡¯t care. But one could easily see he was the type who just loved to start some shit.

    He looked around the cafeteria for a moment. ¡°So, where is the rest of your fearless fraternity? I¡¯m surprised they loosen the leashes around your necks long enough to let you get this far from their sights.

    ¡°Dude, who the fuck are you?¡± CJ finally snapped, glaring at the guy with full-blown contempt.

    ¡°The Vice President of Zeta Chi Omega, if you really must know.¡±

    The more he yapped, the more my wheels kept turning. I remembered reading about Zeta Chi Omega when researching the different fraternities KU had to offer. They were a decent fraternity, the second largest on campus, second only to The Brotherhood. Pledging Zeta Chi Omega was a solid possibility for me had The Brotherhood not chosen me. I¡¯m glad they did. By the looks of it, Zeta Chi Omega held a lot of resentment towards The Brotherhood.

    Think about it. No one likes to be second best to anyone, but these guys had no choice. The Brotherhood was that good. Like I said before, almost every guy goes to KU with the intention of pledging; hold off on even looking at another fraternity until The Brotherhood finishes making their selection.

    ¡°What¡¯s your issue Mr. Vice President, dude?¡±

    We couldn¡¯t help but chuckle under our breath at CJ¡¯s mocking ways.

    With a shit-eating grin on his face, the VP shook his head. ¡°The Brotherhood must be in real trouble if this is the best they have to offer¡­dudes.¡± He laughed. ¡°The Brotherhood is a tired joke that should be put out of its misery.¡± He produced a card from his back pocket and threw it on the table. ¡°If you guys ever decide to wake up and want to roll with a winning fraternity, give me a call.¡±

    Nick had about as much as he could take from this guy. Slamming his fist against the table, he shot up from his seat, dragging Troy with him, and stood toe to toe with the VP. I was quick to grab his arm with my free hand, but when a bunch of Zeta Chi Omega guys jumped up from their seats, we did the same. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve had it up to here with your yammering. I don¡¯t care who you are, but if you don¡¯t shut the fuck up, I¡¯m going to pound your ass into the ground.¡±

    The VP appeared to disappear behind Nick¡¯s massive muscular frame; I could hardly see him anymore.

    ¡°Is that a promise?¡± the VP sneered.

    ¡°You know, you talk a lot of trash, but I¡¯ll bet anything that even if one Brother were here, you wouldn¡¯t have much to say,¡± I spat angrily. I was pissed and ready to throw down. This asshole had balls of fucking steel, dissing the fraternity we were pledging the way he did. He was crazy if he thought we would sit around and not do anything about it.

    By now, the schmuck VP and his two cronies had about ten of their brothers backing them up, but that was okay because there were fourteen of us. The only real problem I saw was how hard it would be to throw down while cuffed to someone else. It didn¡¯t matter, though, because I¡¯d throw down with both hands tied behind my back if need be.

    ¡°Listen here, dudes,¡± the VP mocked, ¡°why don¡¯t you pussy pledges go back to your pussy frat before we¡¯re forced to show you what real men can do?¡±

    Nick¡¯s face went cherry red just before I saw his fist flying towards the VP¡¯s face. Seemingly from nowhere, a hand snatched his fist from the air. After that, we were ready to rush them until we heard that voice.

    ¡°Problem?¡±

    Like twenty-seven heads turned in the direction of that voice. Who was standing there with a pair of gleaming silvery orbs, staring at the lot of us with a serious look on his face? You guessed it!

    Q.

    None of the pledges said anything because we weren¡¯t sure if it was allowed.

    ¡°When I ask a question, I expect an answer.¡±

    Of course, after that comment, fourteen mouths shot off at about a hundred miles a second. Q just looked at us, his stern look never wavering even for an instant.

    ¡°Guys, guys, guys!¡± Arsen gestures for silence by waving his hands in the air. ¡°We all can¡¯t talk at once.¡± Arsen took the reins and was about to run with them, but Q stopped him before he could begin.

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in what any of you have to say.¡± Q waved dismissively, briefly looking over to Zeta Chi Omega¡¯s Vice-President before continuing. ¡°I will tell you what I saw here, though. I saw you guys ready to defend the honor and dignity of your house and Brothers. That¡¯s the sign of a true Brother. Congratulations, gentlemen¡­you passed your first trial.¡± He turned to the VP and offered his hand. ¡°Thank you, Scott.¡±

    ¡°Anytime, man,¡± he smiled, graciously accepting Q¡¯s hand. Playfully slapping Nick¡¯s shoulder, Scott offered a look that simply said ¡®no hard feelings, and then walked off with all his brothers in toe.

    It took a moment or two for us to figure out what was going on, but when we did, we wanted to jump and holler, but again we weren¡¯t sure if it was allowed.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay if you want to pat yourselves on the back. You did well today.¡±

    It was pretty much like saying let the hollering commence. We went nuts. Nick wrapped his massive arms around me and picked me up a foot off the ground. I couldn¡¯t stop laughing.

    Some of you may be thinking this really wasn¡¯t a big deal, and that¡¯s fine, but unless you ever pledged a fraternity, especially that fraternity, you couldn¡¯t possibly understand how we felt when we passed our first trial; to hear Q say we did good was the icing on the cake.

    Despite our jubilant celebration, Q¡¯s foreboding presence remained the same; not even a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Try not to get too overconfident,¡± he warned ominously, ¡°for the trials will only get more difficult from here but keep your wits about you, and you will do fine. Now, finish up here and be back at the house in twenty minutes. We have to start sitting up for Geo¡¯s party.¡±

    That was that. He was gone, just another figure disappearing in the mass of hungry students rushing here and there, hoping to grab a bite to eat before the lines got shut down.

    Finishing up the last bits on our plates, we bullshitted for a little while before heading back. Twenty minutes later, we entered the house and were welcomed by the Inner Circle¡¯s newest member. Shaun handed Ant, Jason, Steve, and me individual sets of car keys and the list from the pledges he decided should stay behind to get the house ready and took us to the garage. Arsen and I got the keys to a brand new pimped-out black Escalade. The monster had twenty-four-inch chrome rims, music, tint, and the whole nine.

    ¡°Try not to get too excited, Pledges,¡± Shaun said, his hand slipping thru his silken hair effortlessly. ¡°The only reason we¡¯re letting you near these cars is that you have to pick up a lot of stuff. If it weren¡¯t for that, we¡¯d be sending you out in unicycles.¡± He pointed to the floor. ¡°In ninety minutes, I¡¯ll be standing here expecting each of you to be already unloading the trucks. If you get here a second after that, it¡¯s your ass. If you put so much as a scratch the size of a whisker on any of these trucks, it¡¯s your ass. Fuck up in any way, shape, or form; it¡¯s your ass. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, I almost forgot.¡± He reached inside his lettermen for four credit cards and passed them out. ¡°Charge anything that¡¯s not on the list, and it¡¯s your ass.¡±

    He handed me a MasterCard, and I gave it to Arsen. I intended to drive, so I figured he could be the navigator/treasurer. Before he left, Shaun opened the doors and turned on all the lights in the garage with a remote. Man, that garage was huge and lined with rows and rows of fancy cars, bikes, and SUVs.

    We got in the Escalade and took off. Now that Arsen and I were away from the Brother¡¯s prying eyes, we got to look at the list for the first time. It was routine stuff we had to get: chips, soda, paper plates, beer, and shit like that. Arsen handed me the list while we were stopped at a red light, and he completely missed the part that said ¡®tons of condoms¡¯ towards the end of the list. It even listed a specific place we had to get them from.

    We got all the stuff easily, though we got strange looks from many people when we walked into the local mini-mart. I couldn¡¯t understand why. Maybe it was due to the robes we wore and the fact that we were still handcuffed.

    Can you feel the sarcasm yet?

    It didn¡¯t even hit me that we would have trouble getting the beer since we were both under the drinking age. When I put my hand on the first case of Budweiser at Earl¡¯s Liquor, we finally looked at each other with the same thing on our minds.

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m not twenty-one,¡± I said. A flash of CJ invaded my thoughts.

    ¡°Me either.¡±

    ¡°Okay, now what?¡±

    Arsen shrugged. ¡°I say we just start grabbing cases and hope they don¡¯t ask for ID.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your plan?¡± I was shocked he would suggest such an idiotic scheme.

    ¡°Do you have a better one?¡± he challenged.

    ¡°Not really, but you seriously don¡¯t think this is going to work, do you?¡±

    ¡°You never know.¡±

    ¡°I do know. It won¡¯t work! I¡¯m telling you it won¡¯t work!¡±

    ¡°Just give me a hand with these, Jacob.¡±

    Under protest, I helped Arsen lug case after case to the front counter. The kid at the register had his face buried in his book, but he¡¯d often look at us and pretend he wasn¡¯t.

    Weirdo.

    And if things couldn¡¯t get any worse, who decides to walk in while we¡¯re stacking all these cases of beer? A Connecticut State Trooper, of course. Nice! It¡¯s not like we wanted things to go smoothly or anything. He asked the cashier where Earl was before he noticed us. The trooper looked at us, then at all the beer, and then his eyes darted back to us again. Wouldn¡¯t you know it? He approached us slowly, cautiously. He would¡¯ve thought. Not me.

    ¡°We are royally fucked!¡± I whispered to Arsen.

    He nodded. ¡°Yeah, we are.¡± Arsen leaned closer to me. ¡°Maybe he won¡¯t notice us.¡±

    ¡°Good one.¡±

    Arsen chuckled under his breath just as the trooper stopped in front of us.

    ¡°What do you boys think you¡¯re doing?¡± This tower of intimidating muscle hovered over us while folding his arms over his broad chest.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± was my intelligent reply.

    Arsen¡¯s ¡°um¡± wasn¡¯t any better.

    ¡°Look,¡± he said with a dismissive wave, ¡°I don¡¯t even want to know. And I¡¯m not going to bother asking you for ID because you and I both know you¡¯re not old enough to be buying this stuff. So, this is what I propose.¡± He pointed at the beer we stacked and got a bit smug with us. ¡°I¡¯m going to let you put all this back where you got it, let you walk out of here, and forget I ever saw you tonight. But if I ever catch you, morons, trying to pull this again, I will take you down to the station and book you before you know what hit you. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Arsen answered for us.

    ¡°Now put all this stuff back quickly and neatly. Don¡¯t you go messing up my brother¡¯s store?¡±

    Great, they¡¯re brothers. Can anything else go wrong?

    I was surprised the trooper didn¡¯t say anything about our robes, but I shouldn¡¯t complain.

    While he watched, we carried the cases back to the shelves, but the trooper stopped us when we turned our backs to him.

    ¡°Hold on a second.¡± He put his hand on my shoulder to stop me and lifted the hood of my robe up. ¡°Property of The Brotherhood,¡± he read quietly. ¡°You two are pledging The Brotherhood?¡±

    We nodded, unsure if that was a good thing or not, but when he showed us his right ring finger, I let out a sigh of relief. The ring bared The Brotherhood emblem, two eagles locking their talons together in combat.

    ¡°And this is for the party tonight?¡±

    Again, we nodded.

    ¡°I wish you had said something sooner. I would never have stopped you.¡± The trooper pointed at the beer again. ¡°You better get this stuff to the house ASAP. I know how the Brothers get when things don¡¯t go how they want them to. Anyway, maybe I¡¯ll see you later tonight.¡± He winked and headed out, leaving a message with the register kid for his brother Earl. The Trooper assured the cashier we were okay, and there was no need to card us.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it, Joe,¡± the kid uttered his first few words. ¡°I read the back of their robes when they walked in. I¡¯ll be seeing you later tonight.¡±

    Leaning over to me, Arsen whispered, ¡°What the fuck is that all about?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure what he was referring to, so I ignored him.

    I tried to hand the kid the credit card, but he waved me off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t need it,¡± he assured me. ¡°We already have The Brotherhood¡¯s account in our system. So, you are the new pledges, eh?¡±

    ¡°That we are,¡± Arsen nodded. While the guy looked away, Arsen nudged me and discreetly pointed at the kid¡¯s right hand. The same ring was on his finger. ¡°You¡¯re a former Brother?¡± Arsen ventured carefully.

    ¡°Former? I don¡¯t think so. When you join The Brotherhood, you join for life.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re a KU grad?

    ¡°Yep. I got my master¡¯s in physics, and I¡¯m working towards my Ph.D.¡±

    ¡°You have a master¡¯s degree, and you work here?¡± I inquired, dumbfounded.

    ¡°No, this is not my only job.¡± He laughed. ¡°I help Earl out now and again. Our families go way back.¡±

    ¡°Cool,¡± I said.

    ¡°So, how do you like pledging so far?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool, though we have yet to get into the heavy stuff, I bet.¡±

    He looked at Arsen for a second before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. Taking his hat off, he scratched the back of his head, the grin never leaving his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s the smirk for?¡±

    Now he looked at me and laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ll find out soon enough, I¡¯m sure. Anyway, I don¡¯t want to keep you, so you better get going before the Brothers come looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± we said.

    It took us about fifteen minutes to properly load up all the beer in the back of the truck and get back on the road for the last item on the list.

    Condoms. A shit load of condoms.

    We pulled up to the store specified on the list. Right off the bat, I could tell this was a mom-and-pop store. Who do we see behind the counter when we walk in? This little old lady could¡¯ve easily been my or Arsen¡¯s great-grandmother. And here we are, two young bucks, about to load up her counter with boxes of condoms. Nice! And if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, the store was filled with older people, especially women.

    How embarrassing!

    We went looking for the condoms without sharing a glance with anyone. When we found them, I grabbed my robe a bit to make a basket and told Arsen to ¡°load me up.¡±

    He grabbed as many boxes as possible and threw them at me. Oddly enough, this place had a massive selection of condoms for a mom-and-pop store. Every possible color one can think of was hanging up there. They had small, larger, extra-large, super larger; Oh My God are you crazy. No word of a lie. There was a boxed labeled ¡°Oh My God, Are You Crazy Large.¡± They had flavored ones, from strawberry to chocolate. They even had glow-in-the-dark condoms. Arsen grabbed everything. He didn¡¯t care, and neither did I. All I wanted to do was pay and get out of there.

    When we got to the counter, we had enough rubber to make a Goodyear Blimp. And of course, there was a line up the ying-yang because every person there had about a billion coupons they wanted to use.

    It¡¯s like, lady, hurry up and pay for the shit. I have condoms I need to buy!

    This little old lady in line looked at us, smiling. ¡°Got enough, their sonny?¡± Then she winked at me and nodded as if to say, ¡°how about you break me off a piece of that.¡±

    Gross!

    I could tell Arsen wanted to bust out laughing; the stupid smirk on his face gave it away.

    We got up there, paid, and bolted faster than lightning, but not before I heard the old lady at the register say ¡°how disgusting¡± to the next woman in line.

    Arsen and I pretended we were about to vomit for about five minutes while driving. Arsen kept teasing me by mimicking the old lady¡¯s ¡°I want you look.¡±

    ¡°You big stud, you!¡± he said repeatedly.

    That was the most excitement we saw for the rest of the day. The coming hours were spent getting the house ready for the party. Even though the Brothers kept an immaculate house, they made us clean it from top to bottom. It was like cleaning the air; the place was so clean. But if you ever pledged in your life, you know how that goes.

    Now on to the party!

    I hope I didn¡¯t get anyone¡¯s hopes up about this party because the fact was, the pledges never got the chance to experience one second of the party. Not one second! Can you believe that? We got all the stuff for the party. We did all the work to get the place ready for the party. We moved all the furniture and breakables down to The Pit. We scrubbed that house from top to bottom even though it was already clean. We did everything! What do we get for our trouble? We get told to go to our rooms and stay there as if we were a bunch of little kids.

    I was so pissed! We all were. But that¡¯s pledge life, I guess. It sucks major ass, but you have to start somewhere.

    Does hearing the party count for anything? Because I heard the wildest, craziest party ever going on downstairs. The music was off the hook. They played Hip-Hop, some rock, pop, and a lot of reggae.

    Nope, I wasn¡¯t bitter at all!

    The highlight of our night was when a few Bothers got some pledges to bring up more kegs from The Pit. God forbid they did it themselves. That¡¯s the only time we got to see the party live.

    It was wall-to-wall people. I think the whole school showed up for the party. And oh my god, the girls! There were so many hot girls in attendance. My eyes kept wandering so much that I almost tripped like ten times.

    We got a lot of shit from everyone because we walked around in our underwear, but whatever.

    I didn¡¯t get to stay long. The Brothers hurried us downstairs to get the kegs, then back upstairs to set them down, and then back to our rooms. I don¡¯t know why but something told me to look over my shoulder while I was going up the stairs. I saw some guy hovering over my girl Alex by the fireplace. She was laughing and giggling it up like she always does when she¡¯s being flattered. I couldn¡¯t tell if the dude was a Brother because not all of them wore their lettermen. It might have been Joe Blow from campus. I didn¡¯t care either way. My blood boiled.

    I don¡¯t know what got into me, but I went for him. I was going to charge thru that crowd and demand to know what was going on or pound his face in with my foot. The only thing that stopped me was being cuffed to Arsen.

    ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡± he yelled at me over the music and dragged me upstairs. ¡°You better get your ass up here before you get us in trouble. I¡¯m not getting into it with the Brothers over some girl.¡±

    Thankfully that was enough to knock some sense into me, so I let it go and returned to my room. Of course, I went nuts when we were alone in our room, yelling and swearing like you wouldn¡¯t believe. Luckily no one could hear me because the music was so damn loud. Poor Arsen. He spent the rest of the night trying to calm me down.

    I don¡¯t know when, but we fell asleep on the floor sometime during the night despite the wild party downstairs.

    The following day, we were awakened by a soft knock on the door. Arsen and I looked at each other with sleepy eyes, knowing damn well that was not the knock of a Brother. Brothers don¡¯t knock. They just come in.

    Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Arsen asked, ¡°Who do you think that is?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I forgot my x-ray glasses at home. How should I know?¡±

    ¡°Are you always such a sarcastic shit?¡± he laughed, yawning.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡±

    The knock came again, followed by a whisper. ¡°Dude, are you in there?¡±

    ¡°CJ?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m opening the door.¡± He came in, and Ant stayed by the door to watch.

    ¡°Are you guys nuts?¡± I said in an equally soft voice. ¡°What are you guys doing here? If the brothers catch you, we¡¯re all in for it.¡±

    ¡°Dude, you have any idea what time it is?¡±

    ¡°Dude, I don¡¯t care. Get out of our room before you get us in trouble!¡±

    Rolling his eyes at me, he continued talking as if I hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°It¡¯s almost one in the afternoon, and the Brothers haven¡¯t gotten us yet.¡±

    ¡°Probably because there¡¯s no one here, dumbass,¡± Ant said from the doorway, laughing.

    ¡°What do you mean there¡¯s no one here?¡± Arsen asked as he stood, then helped me up to my feet.

    ¡°The house is empty except for us pledges,¡± Ant responded.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Because we looked,¡± CJ offered.

    ¡°Are you fucking nuts?¡± I yelled, backhanding him across the arm. ¡°What the fuck are you guys doing walking around the house?¡±

    ¡°Dude, chill! There¡¯s no one here. What part of that don¡¯t you get, dude? Come with us, and you¡¯ll see.¡±

    Before I could protest, CJ and Ant left, thinking we would follow. Even though we knew better, we did it anyway. Curiosity got the best of us, and we followed them down. What I saw downstairs was worse than CJ and Ant standing by my door. Almost all the pledges were wearing their robes or in the middle of putting them on.

    ¡°What the fuck are you guys doing?¡± I was in shock. ¡°You know damn well you¡¯re not supposed to be wearing anything but underwear while in the house. You fucking know that!¡±

    ¡°Jacob, relax!¡± Sam said as he closed his robe. ¡°Look around you. There¡¯s no one here. No one is going to know. Besides, we¡¯re keeping a lookout, so we''ll take the robes off the first sign of the Brothers and run upstairs quickly. Besides, we checked the garage, and all the cars are gone too.¡±

    His cuff mate Kevin grabbed our robes from the wall and threw them at us. ¡°Walking around with your ass hanging out in front of a bunch of dudes may be your thing, but for me, not so much.¡±

    Again, the pit of my stomach was telling me this was wrong. Very, very wrong! But did I listen? Nope. I didn¡¯t put the robe on all the way; I just let it hang on my shoulder as if that was any better. And if things couldn¡¯t get any worse, Mike and Xavier come running around the far corner, almost slipping on some spilled beer. It was funny, but then I noticed they were uncuffed and grinning from ear to ear.

    ¡°Guys, guess what I found.¡± Mike sounded like a ten-year-old who had just found his older brother¡¯s porn stash. He opened the palm of his hand to reveal the little remote that locked and unlocked our cuffs.¡±

    ¡°Dude!¡± CJ laughed, just as excited. ¡°That¡¯s awesome.¡±

    ¡°Guys, I don¡¯t think we should¡­.¡± Too late for my protest. Mike hit the button and unlocked us all. I looked at Arsen for answers to see what he thought of the situation. That fool just shrugged and took off the cuffs.

    All the guys quickly took the cuffs off without second thought. They were sure they could put them back on before the Brothers caught us. I had no choice but to play along. What was I going to do? Handcuff myself? I think not. A part of me screamed for me to run up to my room, dragging Arsen if I had to, lock myself in, and put the handcuffs back on. That was my smart side talking. The stupid side appeared to have more influence because I just stayed there and watched my fellow pledges dig us a deeper grave.

    ¡°Guys¡­¡± I broke off suddenly laughing. I couldn¡¯t help myself. ¡°We are so fucked if we get caught.¡±

    ¡°For the hundredth time, dude, will you relax? We¡¯ve been thru the house while you guys were still sleeping. There¡¯s no one here, dude. Speaking of which, this place is fucking huge!¡±

    ¡°All the rooms except for that one room in the back,¡± Jason said. ¡°It was the only one that was locked.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± his partner Justin recalled. ¡°But it has a simple lock. I can open it easily with,¡± he looked around the floor and a nearby table until he found a knife, ¡°this.¡±

    Did I mention how trashed the place was? There was spilled beer everywhere. Plastic cups, bottles, cans, food, paper plates, and a whole bunch of other crap covered the floor. It was hard to tell if the party caused the mess or a tornado. I thought tornado; it was that bad.

    By that point, no one was going to listen, so I stopped arguing. What was the point? Justin led the way through a maze of halls until we entered this room in the back of the house. It was a pretty big room, but it was empty. No furniture, rugs, pictures, nothing. It looked like one big room someone forgot to furnish. A pair of dark oak sliding doors were in the back of the room. Just like Justin said, a simple lock was all that kept it closed.

    Justin got down on one knee with the knife and worked the lock over.

    I must admit I was a bit curious. That room stuck out like a sore thumb. It just seemed so out of place. And why were those the only doors locked in the whole joint? It was bizarre.

    ¡°I almost got it,¡± Justin said thru clenched teeth. We moved in closer. ¡°Got it!¡± He laughed and slid the doors open.

    We all just about died when we saw what was behind those doors. We didn¡¯t just open a set of doors¡­we opened Pandora¡¯s Box.

    Oh, and how the Gods were pissed!

 The Brotherhood Chapter V

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter V

    By X

    I can¡¯t even begin to explain what I felt at that moment. As short as it was, I saw my whole fraternity career flash before my eyes and jump headfirst out the window into a pile of bricks. My stomach was in knots. I could have puked at the drop of a dime.

    What the fuck were we thinking? I yelled quietly to myself, the words continuously echoing in my mind.

    It was done. Over. Pack it up, guys. We¡¯re going home! Do you know what made me sick? Do you know what burned my ass like nothing else? The fact that I knew it was wrong. I knew we were knocking on trouble¡¯s door, begging, just pleading to be let in. Did I do anything about it? Did I take a stand against the others? Did I say this is just about the dumbest thing I¡¯ve ever heard of, and we are not going through with it like my gut was telling me to?

    No.

    Like a mindless idiot, I followed the sheep to the slaughter. And now we¡¯d all pay the ultimate price for our stupidity.

    ¡°You dumb shits!¡± were the first words out of Steel¡¯s mouth. Anyone surprised? The guy couldn¡¯t form a single sentence if it didn¡¯t contain some form of insult, at least when he was talking to us anyway.

    In case you didn¡¯t pick up on it, the door we unlocked led to a room full of Brothers standing in a semicircle around the Inner Circle. They all looked at us in a particular kind of way.

    Steel had flaming daggers in his eyes.

    A genuine look of disappointment in Shaun¡¯s eyes bothered me. It made me feel like I had just let down my older brother, who had looked after me all my life. I don¡¯t know why. This newcomer from Canada was different from the rest because he seemed to want us to succeed. You had to look into his warm brown eyes to know what I was saying was true.

    Then there was Q. The enigma, the unsolvable puzzle that fascinated me so, staring down at us with an aloofness in his eyes that could chill a volcano down to its core. God, I would have given anything to crawl into his mind and see what makes him tick. Put him in a room full of Brothers, and he would always stand out as the alpha. His mere presence demanded respect, an honor everyone around him gladly bestowed. What did he do to achieve such stature within The Brotherhood? More importantly, why was I so drawn to it¡­to him?

    ¡°In all my years in The Brotherhood, I have never seen such a blatant display of stupidity.¡± Can you take a wild stab as to who was talking down to us yet again? ¡°It just doesn¡¯t happen!¡± For a moment, Steel looked utterly lost, like what we did was so incomprehensible to him he couldn¡¯t form a coherent thought. All theatrics, mind you. He couldn¡¯t just put us down like an average person; oh no, he had to make a big Broadway production out of it.

    ¡°I mean, what the fuck were you morons thinking? You, Mr. locksmith,¡± he walked right up to Justin, stopped just inches from his face, and jammed his finger into his temple, ¡°what the fuck were you thinking? Do you have any gray matter up here, or is it just one pea rattling around? Answer me!¡±

    I could tell you what Justin said, but it wouldn¡¯t make much sense. He opened his mouth, and what came out would take a linguist a decade to decipher; he was that nervous.

    Right then and there, I decided I was not fond of Steel at all. Don¡¯t get me wrong; I got the whole fraternity mentality. Their job was to make our lives a living hell, to break us to the point where we¡¯d run out the door screaming as if death himself was on our heels. I get that. I couldn¡¯t wait until I was a Brother staring down a line of quivering pledges. And I honestly didn¡¯t have a problem with any other Brother. But Steel? He was another story. He had such a superiority complex it was beyond measure. He needed to be kicked in the balls and knocked off his mighty pedestal.

    Steel¡¯s belittling of the pledges went on for a solid ten minutes. If I wrote down everything he said, you¡¯d be reading for days, maybe weeks. But finally, through some small prayers and wishful thinking, he shut the fuck up. But with the silence that followed, the yelling didn¡¯t seem so bad. We stood there for twenty minutes with all those eyes on us, eyes that felt like needles to the skin. A chill invaded my senses, gripping my spine like a murder¡¯s hold in the night. I wanted to hurl. That¡¯s how sick I felt. That¡¯s how bad I knew we fucked up, and those eyes staring at us weren¡¯t making me feel any better. And just when I thought things couldn¡¯t get any worse, Steel said those dreadful words.

    ¡°I think we should get rid of them¡­all of them! What do you say, Q?¡± He looked over his shoulder at his Brother for an answer that never came. ¡°Am I wrong here?¡± Steel continued with his hands pressed to his chest merely to dramatize the meaning behind his words.

    What a character!

    ¡°Let¡¯s be honest here¡­these guys are fucking morons,¡± he continued. ¡°If they could pull this shit, then there¡¯s no limit to the dumb shit they will do. Why waste our time? I say we cut them loose right now. I know plenty of guys who would sell their mother¡¯s soul to be in their shoes. Replacing them won¡¯t be a problem, especially this early.¡± He looked around at the rest of the Brothers, but his eyes rested on Q again. ¡°Who¡¯s with me?¡±

    My eyes locked on Q¡¯s, and I mouthed the words ¡°please no¡± without realizing it, but I¡¯m sure no one noticed.

    ¡°What do you want to do, Q?¡± Shaun inquired.

    Nothing. He was a perfect statue.

    ¡°Shall we take a vote then?¡± Steel offered. He was about to say something more when the ominous statue before us spoke, cutting him off completely.

    ¡°There will be no vote, no discussion, no argument on the matter.¡± He paused for a moment, closing his eyes slowly, and as he opened them, just as slowly, Q uttered those two words every pledge in the room was dying to hear. ¡°They stay.¡±

    That was enough to shut Steel up. He offered nothing more on the subject, proving that when Q makes a decision, no one dares question it. He walked out with most of the brothers, leaving only Shaun and Seth behind.

    ¡°In case you were wondering, you bombed this trail miserably,¡± Shaun said.

    ¡°And just for the record, this pledge class is the only one in our long history to fail this particular trail,¡± Seth added matter-of-factly. ¡°Here¡¯s some free advice for you. Smarten up. Because if it were up to me or went to a vote, you guys would be packing your shit right now.¡±

    ¡°No doubt,¡± Shaun agreed and watched as Seth left the room.

    He told Jason to close the door and fall back in line. It was just the pledges and Shaun. Walking around the lineup, he laughed softly. ¡°For crying out loud.¡± His voice echoed with disbelief. ¡°First of all, take off your robes because you know you¡¯re not supposed to be wearing them in the house. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    We took off our robes and threw them over our shoulders as Shaun continued to circle us. He walked in front of us, making eye contact with each of us as he passed.

    ¡°First, who was the genius who thought putting your robes on would be a good idea?¡±

    ¡°That would be me, Sir.¡± To my surprise, Kevin was quick to confess. ¡°I handed them out, Sir. I¡¯m truly sorry, Sir.¡±

    ¡°Okay, enough with the Sir. I¡¯m not a drill sergeant. When we¡¯re alone, I¡¯d rather be called by name but remember that does not apply to the other brothers. Don¡¯t slip. Okay¡­Kevin, is it?¡±

    Kevin nodded.

    ¡°Since you took them off the rack, you can put them back. Sound fair?¡±

    Again, Kevin nodded. One could easily see he was confused; I don¡¯t blame him. Shaun just seemed out of place to us. He was much nicer than the rest of the Brothers, which is not to say the brothers were assholes (except for Steel, of course), but Shaun appeared to be more chill than the others.

    We handed our robes to Kevin at Shaun''s request and waited for him to return. We stood in silence, with Shaun pacing about the room. It was taking Kevin way longer than expected. I mean, how long does it take to hang up some robes? He finally reappeared at the door, closing it behind him as he resumed his place in the line.

    Shaun looked at him intently, throwing his right hand in the air, waiting for an answer to a question he didn¡¯t need to ask. Kevin didn¡¯t get it. Shaun laughed, ¡°Anyone?¡±

    ¡°What took you so long, Kevin?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Shaun said.

    ¡°On the way back, a brother stopped me and told me to do 100 pushups.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Shaun nodded knowingly. ¡°Okay, rule number one, it¡¯s okay to relax when you¡¯re around me. You don¡¯t have to be so stiff.¡± He observed us for a moment and noticed no change. ¡°I said relax!¡±

    And we did a little. I guess we were reluctant because, in our minds, it was a trick or test. The second we got too comfortable, they¡¯d be on us like white on rice, so we didn¡¯t want to take a chance.

    ¡°I know what you guys are thinking,¡± he chuckled. ¡°I¡¯d be thinking the same thing if I were in your shoes¡­or underwear for that matter. It¡¯s a trap¡­a trick. No Brother would be this easy-going towards the pledge class. Well, you¡¯re one hundred percent right. Most Brothers wouldn¡¯t, but I¡¯m not like most Brothers. This is not a fa?ade. I am this easygoing. I was once standing where you are, so I know what you¡¯re going thru, okay? I decided long ago that I didn¡¯t need to be a hard ass to get my point across. I could simply be me, and that works even better. Do we understand each other?¡±

    We nodded.

    ¡°But don¡¯t for a second take my laid-back attitude as a sign of weakness because I will flip the script on you faster than you can blink. Believe me; I can make Steel look like a choirboy. Do we understand each other?¡±

    Again, we nodded.

    Slapping his hands together loudly, he looked up and down the line smiling, his brown eyes flickering under the bright lights. ¡°As you all know, stupidity is never rewarded, which means you must be punished for what you guys did. Simple as that. The question is¡­ what¡¯s an appropriate punishment?¡± He paused for a moment, and I could feel the stress level rise in anticipation of what our fate would be. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m just messing with you guys.¡± There was a moment of relief among the pledges; for a second, we believed they would let us get away with it. ¡°Your punishment has already been decided. Sorry.¡±

    Shit!

    ¡°But I¡¯ll tell you what. I¡¯ll allow you to ask me one question about The Brotherhood and do my best to answer¡­well, any question within reason. And not for nothing, but you should consider yourselves lucky because no other Brother would do this. As I said, I¡¯m not like most Brothers,¡± he smiled warmly. ¡°Hmm¡­we¡¯ll start with you.¡± He pointed to one of the pledges, too fast for me to see who it was. ¡°Nick, right?¡±

    He nodded.

    I won¡¯t go into much detail about what some of the pledges asked because some of their questions were lame, to be quite honest. I think most were too afraid they would ask something that might cross the line, so they kept their questions simple and boring. Though, some of the guys asked excellent questions, like Ant. He wanted to know if there was ever a pledge class that failed enough trials to be booted from TBH.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s possible to fuck up that bad,¡± Shaun answered.

    Sam wanted to know how the party was. Troy asked if there were a lot of hot girls at the party. See? Stupid ass questions. On the other hand, Arsen wanted to know if, in Shaun¡¯s opinion, our group had a real chance of getting thru initiation without getting our asses booted. He had to think about that one.

    ¡°Well,¡± he stated with a slight pause, ¡°if you guys pull your head out of your asses, you guys have a real shot at this. The Inner Circle, for whatever reason, picked each of you because they felt you¡¯d be a worthy addition to our little family here. They saw something in each of you. I can¡¯t say for sure because I was not here when the selections were made. But it comes down to this: You guys were given an incredible opportunity here. It¡¯s up to you to decide what you want to do with it. If you want to get through this together, you must work together. It¡¯s that easy. My entire pledge class made it thru to the end. It wasn¡¯t easy, but we managed to do it because we looked out for each other. So, it¡¯s doable, my friends.

    ¡°Look¡­¡± Shaun sighed and paused to collect his thoughts. ¡°Where you guys are at now, I¡¯ve been there. I know what you¡¯re going thru and what lies ahead. And I¡¯m going to be straight up with you. Out of all the fraternities across the planet, The Brotherhood is probably the hardest on its pledges. I know it is. We will make you do things you never thought you¡¯d do. We will work your mind, body, and soul as they¡¯ve never been worked before. By the time it¡¯s all said and done, you¡¯ll be able to tell people you¡¯ve been to hell and went back for seconds. Why? To break you; to make you quit. There¡¯s a reason why the Brothers seem cold and distant right now. They don¡¯t want to get close to you or even like you until they weed out the meek from the hardcore pledges. Only those who deserve it should enjoy the benefits of becoming a Brother.¡±

    He stopped again and paced around the room. I looked around and noticed each of us hanging on his every word.

    ¡°I can stand here and go on and on about how it¡¯s so worth it,¡± Shaun continued, ¡°but I think you already know that, or you wouldn¡¯t have accepted the Brother¡¯s invitation to pledge. I¡¯m sure sometime during your senior year in high school, while sitting around with your friends deciding what colleges to apply to, what fraternities you guys wanted to pledge to, you heard the stories, the rumors, the whispers surrounding those three famous letters¡­TBH. And that, my friends, is why you¡¯re all here. Because you know what awaits you at the end of the tunnel, and if you doubt where membership in The Brotherhood might lead, let me give you an example before I take the next question.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°I graduated high school at age sixteen with a perfect GPA. I went to college to study criminal justice, hoping to become a criminal lawyer and dreaming of someday sitting on the bench. On my first day at college, I received the Brothers¡¯ invitation to pledge. And being that I was fresh out of high school and always had my nose in a book, I had no idea what TBH was all about, but I pledged anyway. Even though I was the youngest guy in the house, the Brothers didn¡¯t go easy on me.

    ¡°Nevertheless, I made it thru to the end, becoming the youngest pledge to make it to full Brotherhood. About a week after I was inducted, the head of my house called me into his office. We sat and bullshited for a bit, then he picked up the phone and made a call. He told the voice on the line that he had a young student who wanted to become a lawyer. He ended the call with, ¡°we need options.¡± Two days later, the calls started pouring in. I heard from all the top law schools in my home country and the US, including Harvard, Yale, and Brown. I was blown away. I finished my first year and then moved to the states to attend Harvard. I got my bachelor¡¯s degree and then returned to Canada for personal reasons. While there, I got an associate¡¯s degree in business, primarily out of boredom. Now I¡¯m back down here, in this house with you guys. The moral of the story is? TBH made it all possible. So, was pledge initiation worth it? Hell fucking ya!

    ¡°Now,¡± he said with a serious look as he pointed down the line, ¡°knowing what you know about me now, I give you the option to walk away. If you don¡¯t believe the gain will justify the hell we¡¯re about to put you all thru, simply walk away¡­no strings attached.¡±

    Honestly, I didn¡¯t think we would ever get another opportunity to walk away free of any consequences, but there was the option staring us in the face. I was glad to see no one took it. We all stuck around for the long haul.

    ¡°Smart choice,¡± he smiled and then nodded toward Paul next.

    Paul was so caught up in Shaun¡¯s story it took him a second to figure out it was his turn to ask the next question. ¡°Um, is it true that the whole TBH has one leader, and that person is in this house?¡±

    ¡°Yes, to the first question,¡± he laughed. ¡°Nice try with your two questions in one, by the way. But you get one question. That¡¯s it. I will give you this much; the person in question is known as Kyrios. Anyone here smart enough to know what that means?¡± He waited for a moment. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so. You guys should brush up on your Greek. It wasn¡¯t their word, to begin with. Anyway, you¡¯re next¡­Steve, I believe.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± he answered, but before he could ask his question, Paul glared at the kid, silently demanding him to ask his second question. ¡°Whatever,¡± Steve whispered with a roll of his eyes. ¡°Is this Kyrios person here?¡±

    Shaun nodded and left it at that. I was the last one he picked, and without even thinking, I just asked, ¡°What¡¯s Q¡¯s deal?¡± All the other pledges looked at me, shocked. I must admit I was taken aback a bit by my brashness.

    Throwing his head back, Shaun just laughed his ass off. ¡°You know,¡± he said as he composed himself, ¡°I¡¯ve known Q personally for a long time, and that¡¯s like the number one question people ask. He has a way of getting to you, getting inside your head, making you wonder about him. Let¡¯s see¡­what can I say about the guy without giving away too much?¡± he smiled impishly. ¡°Well, Q is one of the most well-known and respected members of The Brotherhood. I¡¯m sure any Brother here, or on this little rock, we call Earth, would agree with me.

    ¡°His silent stare is enough to make you sweat bullets simply because of the power and influence he holds within The Brotherhood. If there is one Brother you don¡¯t want to cross, it¡¯s Q. But beneath it all, he is a great guy. I should know. I¡¯ve known him for many years and consider him one of my best friends. And that¡¯s all I¡¯m going to say about that. You¡¯ll have to win him over if you want to know more. Believe me when I tell you, if you¡¯re ever lucky enough to call him a friend, the effort it took to get there would¡¯ve been worth it.

    ¡°Now, as much as I would love to continue our little bonding time, it¡¯s time to start your punishment.¡± Shaun laughed as we all groaned. ¡°As you all know, you guys missed a hell of a party last night, and a kick-ass party comes with a serious mess. Someone has to clean it up, and I¡¯m sure you guys are just dying to volunteer for the job, right?¡±

    We all started cheering and whistling as if we were genuinely pumped at the honor of cleaning up the mess.

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± Shaun yelled, knowing damn well we were all swearing up a storm on the inside. ¡°Well, you guys know where the mess is, so get to it.¡±

    We rushed out of the room as if we were football players heading out to win the Superbowl. I don¡¯t know if it was just me, but the mess seemed way worse than when we first saw it. There was so much crap all over the place that I wondered if the Brothers threw another party while we were with Shaun.

    Fourteen dustpans were lined along the wall, each with a tiny ass brush, a rag, and a single bucket of soapy water with a box of garbage bags next to it. Just as we were about to dive into the disaster, Shaun came into the room spinning the remote to our cuffs on his finger.

    ¡°By the way, put your cuffs back on,¡± he grinned.

    We did as we were told, and when the cuffs were locked, he left us to start cleaning up. You¡¯d think with fourteen guys cleaning the place would be a snap. Not in the TBH house. Oh no, never that. Even with all of us on our hands and knees, sweeping and wiping silently, it took us hours. And when we filled up a garbage bag, Justin threw it over his shoulder to take it outside with Jason. Just as he was leaving, a brother they call Bone came into the room.

    ¡°Hey, careful with that bag; there¡¯s a hole in the bottom,¡± he warned.

    ¡°Oh shit, where?¡± Jason inquired as he went behind Justin to look for the hole.

    ¡°Right here.¡± Pulling out a switchblade from his back pocket, he tore the bottom of the bag wide open, spilling all the shit we just spent hours picking up. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you guys didn¡¯t see that.¡± He walked away grinning, kicking the garbage all over the place. Another Brother with his head buried in a magazine walked thru and ¡°accidentally¡± knocked over the bucket of dirty water.

    I could¡¯ve killed!

    That shit went on all day, so I¡¯m dead serious when I say we were cleaning well into the night. The fact that the Brothers turned off the AC in that part of the house and cranked up the heat didn¡¯t help. Imagine being stuck in a room with many hot, sweaty, tired guys. Let¡¯s just say it wasn¡¯t pretty. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted, starving, and moody. A single syllable had yet to be uttered between us, but we were so tired we couldn¡¯t be bothered.

    Gage finally came down to inspect our work. Because of him, we spent another ninety minutes cleaning because it wasn¡¯t clean enough. Total bullshit! That place was so clean one could¡¯ve eaten off the floor. My hands and lower back were aching like hell.

    Gage came down again, and this time he appeared pleased. Barely pleased, I should say. ¡°I guess this will have to do. Line up and follow me upstairs; I don¡¯t want to hear a sound. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    He looked us over one last time as if inspecting a bunch of prison inmates. Gage was a cocky son-of-a-bitch. At the time, I barely knew him, but I could tell without a doubt. Later, I¡¯d come to realize just how right I was. He¡¯s hard to explain, much like Q. See, Q walks around with this air of mystery so strong you¡¯re unknowingly drowned in, whereas Gage just makes you want to get away. It¡¯s not so much what he says. It¡¯s the look in his eyes when he says it. They say I am where you want to be. So, lick my ass, and maybe, just maybe, I¡¯ll put in a good word so you can hang out with the cool kids.

    On the way up to our rooms, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost ten at night. I had no idea it was that late.

    I was thinking of how hungry I was when we hit our floor, and there, in the hallway, was a small table with stacks of sandwiches. Seeing as we worked hard all day, I was thinking roast beef, turkey, chicken sandwiches, or some shit like that. Nope. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, baby! Hell yeah! But I couldn¡¯t complain. I was so hungry I would¡¯ve eaten the tree bark, and I¡¯m sure the rest of the guys would¡¯ve been right there with me.

    ¡°Bon appetite, gentlemen,¡± Gage said as he walked away. ¡°Oh, make a mess, and you¡¯ll spend the rest of the night cleaning the entire floor. You have 10 minutes to eat, and when you¡¯re done, I want you standing at your doors.¡±

    The second he was out of sight, we jumped on those sandwiches like a pack of rabid wolves. I think I swallowed one whole sandwich in the time it took to blink; I was so hungry. All one could hear was the sound of a bunch of guys drooling. And then I saw it. It was one of those moments where everything seemed to move slowly. CJ took a big chuck out of his sandwich, and unbeknownst to him, a glob of jelly oozed out the back. I saw it starting to fall, and all I could picture was us on our hands and knees scrubbing the floors till the end of time.

    ¡°CJ!¡± I tried to yell out with a mouthful of peanut butter. He looked at me, and I could see the word ¡°Dude¡± forming on his lips. Like a scene out of Mission Impossible, I dove for that shit, yanking poor Arsen with me. I slammed into the floor like a rock and caught the jelly with my free hand.

    ¡°Dude!¡± he laughed. ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡±

    ¡°This is what I¡¯m doing, you shit!¡± I raised my hand for all to see as Paul and Steve helped us. ¡°I am not spending another minute cleaning because of your dumbass.¡±

    ¡°Whoa¡­dude,¡± CJ said softly, examining my hand as if the jelly was some mysterious ooze from outer space. ¡°Nice save, dude!¡±

    Everyone agreed, patting me on the back and giving me fist bumps. You¡¯d think I just won us the state championship or something. But considering the consequences, I guess this was just as important.

    ¡°Watch what you¡¯re doing next time,¡± I said as I wiped my hands clean with napkins.

    Poor Arsen was standing next to me (as if we had a choice), rubbing the shoulder I yanked.

    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked.

    He waved it off. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. I didn¡¯t need this shoulder anyway. It always got in the way.¡±

    We all laughed and finished eating.

    ¡°Fuck, I¡¯m so tired,¡± Mike exclaimed, rubbing his lower back. His cuff-mate, Xavier, couldn¡¯t agree fast enough.

    ¡°Why do you think they want us standing at our doors?¡± Steve asked no one in particular.

    Paul looked at him. I knew if Paul was going to answer, then a smart-ass remark was all Steve would get. ¡°Sorry, I left my crystal ball in my other shorts.¡±

    ¡°Along with all your body hair,¡± Nick snickered.

    ¡°Screw you,¡± Paul retorted with the finger and turned his attention back to Steve. ¡°And I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re laughing, dumbass; you¡¯re bald too.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but you didn¡¯t shave off all my body hair, did you?¡±

    Before Paul could respond, I decided to break it up. ¡°Hey, hey, hey! Enough of that. It¡¯s not helping anything. Let¡¯s just get to our doors before the Brothers come up. And remember, keep it quiet.¡±

    Fifteen minutes later, we¡¯re still waiting¡ªjust a bunch of guys standing around in their underwear. Now there¡¯s a sight. Gage finally came up the stairs, and at first, I thought he was alone, but a few steps behind him, I saw Seth wearing nothing but knee-length shorts and Tiny, the 6¡¯6 diesel fucker who could probably crush your skull with one hand.

    Gage went to the table, opened the drawer, and pulled something out. He was doing something, but I couldn¡¯t see because Tiny was blocking everything.

    ¡°You guys did well today,¡± Seth said as he paced before us.

    Not for nothing, but he had a fantastic body. I¡¯d say Seth and I shared the same build. He¡¯s slim, toned, and cut with the same defined chest and abs you see on the covers of CK underwear boxes. And like me, it has a perfect V cut leading down to what drives the girls wild.

    Don¡¯t get me wrong. As I said, all the pledges have bodies they could be proud of. Steve is the one exception. He sticks out like a sore thumb. He¡¯s slim, and that¡¯s about it. He could have a nice body if he just worked out, but I guess that was never his thing. To each his own. I do have to give it up to him, for he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us, and he didn¡¯t care that we were physically ¡°superior,¡± for lack of a better word. If it did bother him, he sure as hell doesn¡¯t show it. So, I give much respect to him on that note.

    ¡°But regardless of the job you guys did, you still need to be punished for the blatant stupidly you displayed this morning.¡± I think he was a bit amused at our stunned expressions. ¡°Come on now,¡± he laughed softly, ¡°you didn¡¯t think cleaning up the house was your punishment. That was nothing. It was like an appetizer before the main course. Speaking of which¡­Gage?¡±

    Gage presented a silver tray holding a bowl filled with black pills and fourteen small cups of water. Arsen and I were the lucky ones he approached first. Go us!

    ¡°Take one and some water,¡± he said to me.

    I hesitated¡ªbig time.

    ¡°Is there a problem, pledge?¡± Gage snapped, putting the bowl closer to my face.

    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t take drugs, Sir,¡± I answered.

    He looked at me like I had lost my mind. ¡°What are you? Stupid?¡± he demanded. ¡°Take the fucking pill, or my man Tiny here will go a few rounds on your ass with his paddle, not to mention your friend over here.¡± He gestured toward Arsen with his head. Tiny had a mean, eager grin on his face. ¡°And when it¡¯s all said and done, you¡¯ll be left with a sore ass and a pill shoved down your throat. So, if that¡¯s how you want it...¡± He shrugged and moved on to Arsen.

    ¡°No!¡± I yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll take the pill¡­I¡¯ll take it, Sir.¡±

    He offered me the bowl again. I stared at it for a few seconds, then slowly drew a pill from the center. It was smooth, black, and had TBH written in white. Nervous, I swallowed hard, popped it in my mouth, and gulped it down with water. I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that I wouldn¡¯t wake up in the morning.

    I mean, if ever there was a group of people that could make 14 bodies disappear without a trace, it would be those guys. I defy anyone to prove me wrong.

    He moved over to Arsen, but before he offered him the bowl of pills, he turned his attention back to me for a minute. ¡°If you ever resist a Brother again¡­well, let¡¯s just say it better not happen again. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± I spoke.

    ¡°That goes for the rest of you pledges!¡±

    ¡°The next person to resist goes with Tiny,¡± Seth added simply.

    The rest of the guys offered no resistance whatsoever, but I could tell how uneasy they were when taking the pill. Can you blame them? Who knew what was in that pill? Just as the last pledge swallowed the pill, Q came up with two other Brothers, John and Pete. Q was still wearing what he had on before, but the other two, like Seth, just had on a pair of shorts. They looked more like swimming trunks, and since their hair was wet, I¡¯d say they just got out of a pool or something.

    Gage gave Q and the others an acknowledging nod as he left with Tiny. Q didn¡¯t do or say anything to us. He walked up to Seth and whispered something in his ear, then left, but as he walked past me, his eyes slowly moved to meet with mine, and he wasn¡¯t shy about it either. He was locked onto me, and the only reason I could come up with was I¡¯d done something seriously wrong.

    Was that whisper about me? Now I was paranoid.

    ¡°Okay, everyone inside your rooms,¡± Seth ordered.

    The minute we entered our room, Arsen called out ¡°backseat¡± with the quickness, meaning he was going to spoon me from behind.

    ¡°Why do you get the backseat?¡±

    ¡°Because you had it two nights in a row.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I caved. ¡°But just so we understand each other, I¡¯m giving in under protest.¡±

    ¡°You can protest if it makes you feel any better,¡± he laughed.

    Again, we busted up laughing.

    At that point in our bounding experience, Arsen and I were comfortable with ourselves. Sleeping together, under those circumstances, was no longer an issue. Nothing we could do or say would change things, so we bit the bullet and dealt with it. It was either that or never fall asleep again.

    ¡°Get to bed,¡± John ordered as he entered our room. I noticed he was holding to remote to the cuff just as he pressed the button and freed us.

    ¡°Sweet dreams,¡± he chuckled and closed the door.

    We got into bed, and I think we were both shocked the Brother removed the buffs.

    ¡°That was unexpected,¡± Arsen said.

    ¡°Yeah¡­I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    It was almost easier to get comfortable now that we weren¡¯t joint at the wrist, so that was a nice change, but I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling it wasn¡¯t done to be nice.

    There was silence for a moment, but it didn¡¯t last long.

    ¡°What do you think those pills were?¡± I asked nervously, the worse possible thoughts running thru my mind. ¡°You don¡¯t think it¡¯s cyanide or something, do you?¡±

    Arsen burst out laughing. ¡°Jay, if it were cyanide, we¡¯d be dead by now.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably arsenic.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I freaked.

    He pressed his chest to my back. ¡°Relax! I was only joking. I don¡¯t think the Brothers are into murder one.¡±

    ¡°Then what could it be?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Vitamins, maybe?¡±

    ¡°Yet cyanide was a dumb idea?¡± I laughed.

    The silence crept in again, though neither of us could sleep. We were kind of just lying there, lost in our thoughts.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± I finally spoke up, breaking the peaceful silence between us.

    ¡°You actually,¡± he laughed softly.

    ¡°Me?¡± I was a bit shocked. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°That was an interesting question you asked Shaun.¡±

    ¡°The Q thing?¡±

    ¡±Yep.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I shrugged against his chest. ¡°He¡¯s just intriguing, don¡¯t you think? I mean, he doesn¡¯t say much, he is very soft-spoken for the most part, but he has this way about him that commands respect. Not everyone can pull that off like he does.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I could tell he was smirking.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like someone has a crush to me,¡± he laughed harder.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± I did my best to elbow him, even though I was laughing along with him.

    ¡°I¡¯m only messing with you. I know what you mean about Q. He¡¯s like a big question mark walking around here. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s how he wants it to be. I guess we¡¯ll unravel the mystery as time goes on. I¡¯ll tell you who I think is cool, Shaun.¡±

    ¡°Most definitely!¡± I had to agree on that one. ¡°I was surprised he was as cool as he was. I never would¡¯ve guessed it.¡±

    ¡°I hear ya.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s a spy and shit,¡± I laughed. ¡°His job is to get close to us, so the Brothers have someone on the inside.¡±

    He laughed along with me. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be some crazy shit? But I don¡¯t think so. I think Shaun is the real deal.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I yawned like you wouldn¡¯t believe. ¡°Excuse me¡­shit.¡±

    ¡°Tired much?¡±

    ¡°Like you won¡¯t believe. It¡¯s like it just came on suddenly.¡±

    It was now Arsen yawning. ¡°Yeah, I know what you mean. What the hell?¡±

    I could feel my eyes rolling back into my head. It became a chore to keep them open.

    ¡°What is happening to us?¡± Arsen slurred.

    ¡°Fuck¡­pills¡­¡±

    Before I lost consciousness, the door flew open like it was kicked. I heard footsteps rushing in. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn¡¯t respond. Several hands grabbed me, and a hood was thrown over my head. My hands were quickly cuffed behind my back, and we were hauled out of our room.

    I felt too dizzy to fight back.

    Someone pressed their lips to my ear and whispered, ¡°Remember me?¡± A chill ran thru me, for I instantly remembered that voice.

 The Brotherhood Chapter VI

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter VI

    By X

    What the fuck is going on?

    I thought I said that out loud at first, but later I realized it was nothing more than an echo in my mind.

    The moment we were dragged out into the hallway, something was sprayed on the hood covering my face. It was odorless, but whatever it was, it woke me right up. The fog clouding my mind was fading, and my eyelids no longer felt like iron curtains.

    At the time, I had no idea what had happened to Arsen. The only thing I was aware of was the strong grips on my arms forcing me out of the room. Unlike myself, some of the other pledges weren¡¯t as quiet.

    I heard Nick yelling, ¡°What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±

    Someone else, I think it was Mike, was threatening them with crap like, ¡°You have no idea who you¡¯re fucking with. When the Brothers find out about this, you¡¯re in for some serious shit.¡±

    Some of the other pledges were saying the same thing, and I couldn¡¯t help but think how dumb it all sounded. Who in the hell did they think was fucking with us? Sure, the Brothers have their fair share of rivals, I¡¯m sure, but I didn¡¯t think anyone had the audacity to break into their house to kidnap us. If you put all the guys in this college together, they still wouldn¡¯t have enough balls to do it.

    Our abductors remained utterly silent; not a word was said to us or each other. With all the twists and turns we were forced to make, I could tell we were being rushed thru a maze of hallways and stairs. The funny thing was, at the time, I had no idea if we were still a ¡®we.¡¯ After the initial outcries, the pledges had calmed until the entire group matched the silence of our abductors. Now with only the sound of muffled footsteps going in all directions, they could easily be splitting us up. Hell, I didn¡¯t even know what happened to Arsen. It¡¯s strange, you¡¯d think I would be happy to be free from Arsen, but without him there, I felt a peculiar vulnerability. Under the circumstances, I would have felt better knowing he was there by my side, ready to have my back if needed.

    The night air washed over me like a bucket of warm water. The smell of pine floated in a soft breeze, teasing and subtle, as thou it was the fragrance of a woman¡¯s perfume.

    It wasn¡¯t something I got to enjoy for long. Beside me, an engine suddenly revved alive. Before I knew it, I was shoved onto some sort of bus, led toward the back, and forced to sit down on another pledge¡¯s lap. Someone else was seated next to us, and I could tell another pledge was also seated on him.

    The bus rumbled forward, bouncing gently, then took a sharp left. Where we were headed was anyone¡¯s guess. If I had to guess, the bus was silent for five minutes.

    ¡°Who else is in here?¡± CJ¡¯s surfer accent was unmistakable. It sounded like he was sitting on the seat behind mine. I think everyone was too afraid to say anything because of what our captors might do. ¡°Man, I know I¡¯m not the only one here since someone is sitting on my fucking lap. So, who¡¯s all here?¡±

    Since none of the Brothers spoke up to shut him up, I think everyone felt more relaxed, assuming the Brothers weren¡¯t riding with us. They would¡¯ve shut CJ up for sure, right?

    ¡°Me,¡± someone finally answered softly, the fear of getting caught clear in his voice.

    ¡°Dude, who¡¯s ¡®me¡¯?¡±

    I knew it was Kevin. I could tell from the southern drawl even before he confirmed it by responding to CJ. One by one, most of the pledges sounded off in a generally disorganized roll call. From what I could tell, we were still a ¡®we.¡¯ I was sitting on Mike with Nick and Sam riding beside us. I had yet to hear Arsen, and they had yet to hear me.

    ¡°What about Jacob?¡± Anthony inquired. ¡°Is he with us? And Arsen?¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to say anything because I thought it was stupid to be talking with blindfolds on. Just because we didn¡¯t hear the Brothers on the bus didn¡¯t mean we were alone. I wished the guys would smarten up a little.

    ¡°Jacob, you in here, dude?¡± I tried to ignore CJ. ¡°Jacob!¡±

    ¡°Man, shut up already! I¡¯m here!¡± I barked thru clenched teeth. I shook my head as if they could see the disappointment on my face and how my eyes rolled up into my head as if I wanted to sneak a peek at my brain. ¡°You¡¯re going to get us busted. You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°How the fuck do you figure that?¡± he demanded. ¡°It¡¯s only us in here.¡±

    I laughed at the blatant display of ignorance. ¡°Just because you say so, CJ doesn¡¯t make it so.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think CJ is right,¡± Justin stated matter-of-factly. ¡°Don¡¯t you think they would¡¯ve said something by now?¡±

    ¡°This from our resident locksmith,¡± I laughed. ¡°Christ! You guys can¡¯t be this dumb. Seriously? What makes you think they¡¯re not in here listening to us right now? What bird whispered this little fact into your ear?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right, you know,¡± Arsen finally made his presence known.

    ¡°Finally,¡± I mumbled, ¡°a voice of reason.¡±

    ¡°You guys are taking a big chance on an assumption,¡± he continued. ¡°I, for one, agree with Jacob. We should sit back and wait for this ride to be over to see what the Brothers plan to do with us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an assumption right there,¡± Troy countered. ¡°We don¡¯t know it was the Brothers who put us in this bus. For all we know, some other fraternity could be behind this. Maybe we¡¯re being kidnapped by another fraternity, and instead of just sitting here and talking about it, we should be doing something.¡±

    ¡°Okay, now that¡¯s just dumb, Troy,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Even though I couldn¡¯t see him, I could tell he was slightly annoyed with me. ¡°And why is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not possible,¡± I shrugged as if he could see me.

    ¡°Really? And what little bird told you that?¡±

    Some of the others got a kick out of Troy mocking me and laughed. I didn¡¯t mind it because I knew I was right.

    ¡°I agree with Jacob,¡± Ant spoke up. I wasn¡¯t surprised; we think a lot alike. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine another fraternity out there would dare do this.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡± Troy demanded, sounding a bit too snotty for my taste.

    Ant fired back equally as snotty. ¡°Troy, if there were a frat out there with the balls to do this, you would¡¯ve signed up with them, not The Brotherhood.¡±

    That shut him up fast. I loved it.

    Everyone settled down for a bit, and I welcomed the calm. My mind was completely clear now. It was like whatever was in that spray gave me a boost of adrenaline. I wished I was by Arsen, for having him by my side made me feel like we could get thru anything.

    ¡°Where do you think they¡¯re taking us?¡±

    Yeah, the quiet didn¡¯t last long.

    ¡°CJ, if the Brothers don¡¯t kick your ass, I sure as hell will,¡± I said.

    ¡°Dude, seriously¡­relax!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll relax when you assholes shut the fuck up!¡± Arsen threw in his two cents. ¡°Damn!¡±

    I laughed despite myself. It was weird hearing him all pissed off.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember the Brothers leaving either of you in charge,¡± Mike argued from behind me. ¡°So don¡¯t be telling us to shut up. You¡¯re not a Brother.¡±

    ¡°Oh, here we go,¡± I mumbled. ¡°You guys don¡¯t get it do you?¡±

    ¡°I get what Mike¡¯s saying,¡± Jason stated firmly. ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to listen to you, so stop acting like you¡¯re the pledge leader or some shit. Us talking has nothing to do with any of you. If you don¡¯t want any part of it, don¡¯t listen and keep your mouth shut.¡±

    ¡°No, dumb shit!¡± Nick fired back. ¡°If you fucks get in trouble, then we all get in trouble.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be calling him a dumb shit, you ass,¡± Jason¡¯s cuff-mate Justin defended him.

    I could not believe this was happening. A full-blown argument ensued on the bus. It was Mike, Xavier, Troy, Sam, Kevin, Jason, and Justin against Arsen, Nick, Ant, Paul, Steve, and me. And the funniest shit was when the fighting started, CJ took his place with us, with his crew, considering he started this whole thing by speaking up.

    This went on for a good ten minutes, just a lot of arguing and yelling. The whole time I thought we as a group weren¡¯t going to make it thru. The proof was right there on that bus. I was determined to make it to the end no matter what I had to do to get there. That¡¯s for sure. But if I didn¡¯t make it because of the assholes around me, I think I¡¯d blow up to the point of being homicidal.

    I was grabbed and pulled to my feet. I struggled against the sudden assault for a second but stopped when I realized I wasn¡¯t the only one moving. Judging from the general chaos of bodies around me, it seemed everyone was being hoisted up and reshuffled.

    Fortunately, I got to sit on the actual seat, but someone was thrown on my lap before I could get comfortable.

    Well, if nothing else, that whole musical chairs bit settled the big question ¨C we were not alone. Obviously!

    No one said a fucking word after that.

    I wanted to yell out I TOLD YOU SO! But unlike the rest of these fools, I knew better. I was surprised the Brothers let us ramble on for as long as they did. And even now, after they moved us around, they remained silent.

    It started to get warm on the bus, and I could feel a sudden rush of hot air around my feet. Within a few minutes, I was sweating. So was the guy on my lap.

    I caught his odor and was compelled to lean forward and take in his scent again. No, I wasn¡¯t turned on by it. Something completely different was driving me to smell this dude. I felt him shifting on my lap, probably wondering what the fuck I was doing behind him. I took in his musky aroma one last time just to be sure. It was Arsen. You don¡¯t sleep inches from a guy every night in a boiling hot room without getting used to his scent. Don¡¯t get me wrong. Arsen doesn¡¯t stink; he smells good when he¡¯s all hot and bothered, which is why I could pick him out from the pack.

    I wanted to tell him it was me under him, but it seemed impossible without saying something. And talking was no longer an option. Besides, for all I knew, a Brother was nearby, watching every little movement.

    A few minutes later, Arsen did the weirdest thing. He was playing with my stomach, running his finger over it gently. It took me a minute or two to figure out what he was doing. He was slowly tracing each letter of his name on my stomach. He traced ¡°Arsen¡± a few times and then traced ¡°Jacob.¡± I could only rub my foot against his to let him know he was right. So, with our little code system, we found each other. It was bizarre, but it worked.

    I felt each muscle in Arsen¡¯s body relax as he leaned back against my chest and threw his head back on my shoulder. I didn¡¯t mind one bit, and I couldn¡¯t blame him either.

    At one point, I adjusted my neck, turning slightly to the right to work out a kink. Arsen must¡¯ve thought the same thing, although he chose to turn to his left. My lips brush his noise in what could only have looked like a misplaced kiss. We both flinched at the touch, but his body shook as he fought to hide the laughter. We didn¡¯t try that again, so he sat there resting against me, face forward.

    Sadly, that didn¡¯t last long because musical chairs started up again, and we were shuffled around the bus like a deck of cards. This went on several more times. We were moved from one seat to the next every ten minutes. Sometimes I¡¯d be sitting on someone, or they¡¯d be sitting on me. Regardless of the constant movement, no one, not even the Brothers, said a word.

    I was ushered to what felt like the very back of the bus. Sitting down, I braced for the pledge to be pushed down on my lap to protect my junk, but it never happened. The spot next to me was left empty for a while. I wondered if I was the only one allowed to sit alone or if everyone was seated separately now and why?

    Where the hell were we going anyway? It seemed we were driving forever. Not knowing our destination or what we would be doing made me nervous. I freely admit that. Who wouldn¡¯t?

    As if on its own, the cushion next to me sank. I never sensed a presence approach, never felt anyone besides me, but I knew it must be a Brother. A pledge would have been forcefully thrust into the seat. I stayed still. I saw nothing. But I could feel the scrutiny of his stare.

    A second later, his leg brushed up against my own. Whoever was sitting next to me was wearing something soft and flowing like silk, a robe maybe? Whatever it was, it sent shivers down my spine. I felt uncomfortable knowing a Brother was sitting this close to me¡­watching. My breath suddenly seemed abnormally loud, and my heart beat strangely out of rhythm. As I fought to bring them both under control, I had only one thought ¨C I was in trouble.

    My concerns were justified. Two minutes later, a hot hand was massaging my knee. I tensed up instantly.

    What are you doing? I wanted to say out loud, but I bit my tongue, careful not to say anything I¡¯d regret.

    ¡°Remember me?¡± That voice.

    That voice!

    ¡°You didn¡¯t think I was gone, did you?¡± The Brother whispered into my ear; I felt it wasn¡¯t his lips but a supple nylon fabric. That¡¯s when I realized he was wearing a mask. The voice was distorted, but I knew who it was. It was the guy from the janitor¡¯s closet. I was sure of it! You simply don¡¯t forget a voice like that. It wasn¡¯t the sound of his voice but the tone. The way he spoke¡ªhis inflections.

    It was him.

    If he was on this bus, it meant only one thing. He was indeed a Brother¡ªa Brother who certainly held my future in The Brotherhood in the palm of his hand. What pissed me off was that he was hundred percent right. I couldn¡¯t argue the fact. All this guy had to do was hint to the Brothers that he¡¯d caught me with Alex, and it was over. Why the fuck did I have to screw around with her? Now there¡¯s some asshole out there with dirt on me he could use anytime he¡¯s feeling bored. And the worse part was I had no one to blame but myself. I knew better and still went against my better judgment.

    ¡°Hey, pretty boy,¡± he said, his voice as calm as before. ¡°I have big plans in mind for you, pretty boy.¡±

    The way he said pretty boy had a sinister ring to it as if it was the devil himself tormenting me. Hearing those two words from his lips was like hearing nails on a chalkboard; it chilled me to the core. I felt this guy wasn¡¯t here to be my best friend. And I had to wonder where the other Brothers were when this was happening. Regardless of what this one Brother was doing, I honestly didn¡¯t believe the other Brothers were in on it, for he was reticent when he spoke to me as if trying not to draw attention to himself.

    The Brother, my assailant, pulled away from me, and I thought he was gone, but then I felt his lips against my ear.

    ¡°One day soon, you will do something for me.¡± I could feel his smile thru the nylon mask. ¡°Refuse me, and I¡¯ll make sure you and your boy Arsen get kicked from The Brotherhood.¡±

    I should¡¯ve screamed. I wanted to scream!

    ¡°See ya around, pretty boy.¡±

    The bus came to a stop.

    We were pulled from our seats and formed a line in the aisle. I was pushed against a pledge, and one was forced against me. A few minutes later, we walked toward the front of the bus. The line moved slowly; two steps forward, then a pause, two steps forward, and another pause. It wasn¡¯t until my foot hit the final step that I realized what was happening.

    Instead of touching the ground, my feet got tangled up in a pair of sneakers. I struggled with them for a minute, clumsily trying to force my feet inside without the aid of a Brother or my cuffed hands.

    I was pushed forward and to the side for several feet before a hand on my chest forced me to stop. With a click of a button, our cuffs fell to the ground. A Brother came up behind me to lift my arms over my head, and then I was sprayed with something cold.

    I was covered with this stuff from the tips of my fingers to my ankles. They even sprayed my face telling me to close my mouth and nose so I wouldn¡¯t inhale it. Because I love going camping, I instantly recognized the smell. We were being doused with bug spray as they led us off one by one into the woods.

    We marched on what felt like a clear path plagued with countless twists and turns. I couldn¡¯t escape the feeling they were taking us out to the middle of nowhere so no one would find our bodies. A century later, the line finally stopped, and I anxiously hoped the blindfolds would eventually come off.

    They didn¡¯t.

    In front of me, something was happening, but my senses couldn¡¯t put it together. The pledges ahead of me seemed to be moving off one at a time. I got a bit nervous when the pledge before me moved off. I felt alone, completely exposed.

    A firm hand pushed me forward from behind and guided me for several feet. My last step was met with thin air. I would have fallen forward if the Brother walking with me hadn¡¯t grabbed my arm. It was as if the world had just stopped, and with one more step, I would¡¯ve fallen off the planet''s edge. I barely had time to think before the Brother placed my hand on something metal and firmly pushed down on my shoulder.

    After feeling around for a bit, I realized it was a ladder. I didn¡¯t need a light bulb to go off in my head to know what to do. Carefully feeling around to get a good hold on the ladder, I descended into what I thought was probably the Pit of Hell. Every downward step found me questioning my judgment. Should I allow myself to be led blindfolded into a dirt pit? Was this wise?

    The second I stepped off the ladder, I bumped into another pledge, and a few minutes later, the pledge coming off the ladder bumped into me. This went on for a while, us bumping into each other like a twisted game of pinball, until the last pledge descended into our midst. Then I heard the ladder being pulled up.

    Great!

    ¡°Remove the blindfolds,¡± someone ordered, and we obeyed.

    My eyes adjusted slowly to my new surroundings, only to confirm my fears. We were in a fucking hole eleven or twelve feet deep and about 14 feet wide. My first thought was, ¡°mass grave; somebody fucked up huge, and we were all going to pay the price.¡± It¡¯s funny how the most fucked up thought is always the first.

    Our ¡°kidnappers¡± were looking down at us from above. There was a shit load of them too. The torches placed on each corner illuminated the Brothers eerily. Their long, black robes covered them completely, and their faces were hidden behind the strangest masks. The masks appeared to be made from onyx, hard like shiny black porcelain with long curved horns coming out from either side. It was like staring at the devil himself.

    I¡¯ll freely admit the whole situation was a bit scary, and the sudden sound of drums playing softly didn¡¯t make me feel any better¡­it made me feel sacrificial. Four Brothers stepped to the hole¡¯s edge; their masks were silver with two horns on either side instead of one. They stood in silence until another Brother appeared amid the four. This one had three horns on either side of the mask.

    As if perfectly rehearsed, everyone around him dropped to one knee at once and bowed their heads. The number of horns seemed to signify a specific ranking. My guess? The five in silver were the Inner Circle, and the one with the six horns had to be Q. Maybe I was wrong, but it seemed apparent. The way everyone bowed to show him the same respect I¡¯ve seen before when the Brothers dealt with Q.

    A fierce chant arose from the brothers, and the torches reacted as if gasoline was poured on them. The louder they chanted, the higher and brighter the flames became. But just as quickly as it all started, the silence crept in again; the fire became a mere flicker in the wind.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Greetings, pledges,¡± the leader spoke; his voice was distorted to hide his identity, but his words were clear. ¡°This trial has a straightforward objective. Get yourselves back to The Brotherhood house in the time allotted. You¡¯ll never know how much time you have, which should make for an interesting challenge. Go one second over the time limit, and you¡¯ll all fail; no exceptions, no excuses.¡±

    We looked at each other, the fear evident in each pledge¡¯s eyes, and I¡¯m sure we all were thinking the same thing. Could we do this? I had my doubts. Do you know what I was thinking? It didn¡¯t matter how much time we had to get back; they had already decided the outcome. Who¡¯s to say there was a time limit? It was their game, their rules, and their decision was final. We were just playing along.

    ¡°This will show us how well you pledges work together to achieve the same objective and you will work together. All the pledges must arrive at the house simultaneously to complete this trial. Hear this clearly; at no time may any of you separate from the group. It is up to all of you to figure a way out of this hole and navigate through the woods and back home.¡±

    I remember swallowing hard as if trying to gulp down a bowling ball. Not knowing where we were and looking up at the Brothers from that hole made the task before us seem impossible.

    ¡°But because you decided to break the rules,¡± he continued, ¡°and wander around the house unsupervised, breaking into locked rooms, this trial will be more difficult for you than any other class before you. Typically, clues and certain items were left in the woods to help you find your way back. Not this time. You will be left with two items, and your time limit has been reduced by one hour.

    ¡°This is your punishment.¡± He paused for a moment and looked like a living statue for those few seconds. ¡°I will leave you with these final words.

    ¡°The task ahead of you may seem daunting, but if you work together and pay close attention, you¡¯ll all come out ahead. It¡¯s time to look at each other for support if you want to get out of this on top. There may be times when you¡¯ll disagree, and some might even flat-out resist, but when you get to the point where you can¡¯t go any further because of your differences, put it all aside and simply follow the path of least resistance, it¡¯s the path that will lead you home. Sometimes it may feel like you¡¯re not making the right choice, but if you listen to your gut instincts and, most importantly, to each other, the right choice is all you¡¯ll have. But don¡¯t for a second get too cocky, for the clearest path isn¡¯t always the correct one.¡±

    The whole time I¡¯m thinking, who the hell talks like this? And really, what was the point of the disguises? As if we didn¡¯t know who was under those robes and masks. Looking around at the other guys, I could see they were just as confused as I was.

    The Brother¡¯s stepped aside in perfect unison to clear a path. I think I could speak for everyone when I say our hearts stopped. Imagine being in the presence of your favorite superstar; I think that best describes what we all felt. A Brother walked up the path clad in a crimson robe and six-horned, gold mask.

    Kyrios? It had to be.

    ¡°Let it begin,¡± he said, throwing open his robe and flooding us with a light that could rival the brightest star.

    We were blinded; a few fell back. I couldn¡¯t begin to tell you how they pulled off that little light trick.

    By the time we recovered our sight, they were gone.

    ¡°Dude,¡± CJ mumbled, rubbing his eyes and trying hard to keep his balance, ¡°what the fuck was that?¡±

    Aside from a few mumbles and groans, no one had an answer.

    ¡°So¡­,¡± Steve began, then paused to look around, ¡°how the fuck are we supposed to get out of here?¡±

    ¡°Watch this.¡± Xavier gestured for us to clear a path for him as he stepped back against the wall. ¡°Watch out!¡± Digging the balls of his feet into the ground to launch himself forward, Xavier took off like a bat out of hell and tried to scale the opposite wall. The boy didn¡¯t even come close to the top. Instead, he fell back and would have busted his ass if it wasn¡¯t for Nick catching him. ¡°Fuck! Give me a second, and I¡¯ll try again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± I told him, patting him on the back. ¡°It was a good try, but there¡¯s no way we will jump out of here.¡±

    ¡°Well, do you have any ideas?¡± he asked in a non-condescending tone.

    I shrugged. ¡°I got nothing¡­.¡± I looked up again, squinting to see the edge. ¡°But if they put us in here to get out, guess what? It must be possible.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for clearing that up, Jay.¡± Arsen joked.

    For several minutes we stood around bouncing ideas off each other with no luck. They were lame ideas to boot. Take Troy, for instance; he thought making a rope with all our jockstraps would be a good idea. We all just looked at him. My mind returned to what Q or at least the figure I assumed was Q, had said. Then it hit me, ¡°Hey, listen, he told us, it¡¯s time for you to look at each other for support if you want to get out of this on top.¡±

    ¡°Dude, I got it!¡± CJ yelled out.

    ¡°This ought to be good,¡± Sam snickered.

    ¡°Shut the fuck up,¡± CJ fired back. ¡°I got this. Nick, come here and stand against the wall quick.¡±

    Nick tossed Arsen and me an unsure glance; all we could do was shrug.

    ¡°Dude, just stand here, please.¡± Reluctantly, Nick stood against the wall, and just then, I realized CJ was thinking the same thing I was. ¡°Okay, now bend down just a little.¡±

    ¡°Ohh,¡¯ Nick nodded, ¡°I see where you¡¯re going with this now. God, are we fucking stupid or what?¡±

    To avoid hurting Nick, CJ climbed up slowly and carefully until he stood on his shoulders. ¡°Shit,¡± he yelled thru clenched teeth; the ledge remained a few inches out of his reach.

    ¡°That¡¯s okay, CJ, we got this,¡± I told him. ¡°Turn around so your back is against the wall, and bend your knees like Nick. We can do this. This will probably suck for you, Nick, but you¡¯re the biggest and probably strongest of the bunch, making you the man.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool. I¡¯m good,¡± he assured me.

    And with that, I began my ascent up the human ladder. Climbing on top of Nick was the easy part but getting from him to CJ¡¯s shoulders was a bitch and half. I fell back a few times. By the fifth time, I got a handle on the situation and was up and out of the pit. No sooner was I on my back panting for breath did Arsen pull himself out of the hole. He got it on his first try.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a showoff,¡± I laughed with a cough.

    He crawled over to me, laughing, and collapsed, his head resting on the side of my stomach. ¡°When you got it, you got it,¡± he snickered.

    One by one, the guys followed suit, freeing themselves from the pit, some having more trouble than others. Finally, we pulled CJ up, and Kevin volunteered to hang over the side so Nick could cling to him while the rest of us quickly pulled them up. It was nice to see the crew come together for a common goal.

    ¡°Guys, look¡­¡± Paul gestured behind us, noticing the box sitting on top of a rock.

    ¡°What now?¡± someone mumbled behind me.

    There was a flashlight, a piece of paper inside the box, and seven pairs of handcuffs. I grabbed one and cuffed my wrist with a heavy sigh.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Justin asked, dumbfounded by my actions.

    ¡°What does it look like I¡¯m doing?¡± Arsen came up beside me, grabbed the other end of the handcuffs, and cuffed himself. ¡°We¡¯re putting them on.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think we have to put them on?¡± he asked.

    My face must have screamed, ¡° You can¡¯t be this stupid, ¡° when I turned to him again because he backed up slightly. ¡°Do you think they just left them here for the wildlife?¡±

    Arsen laughed. ¡°I hear bondage is the new thing in the animal kingdom.¡± Shaking his head, he tossed Justin a pair. ¡°Just put them on!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a map,¡± Kevin said, examining the piece of paper, his southern accent coming thru as natural as the night breeze. He shook his head and passed it off to Mike. ¡°Take this. I couldn¡¯t read a map to save my life.¡±

    Snatching the flashlight from Sam, he turned it on and off several times. ¡°Now this I can work with.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple, really,¡± Mike said matter-of-factly and pointed to a spot on the map. ¡°According to this, we¡¯re here. All we have to do is follow this trail, and we should be golden.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think we can trust this map?¡±

    ¡°Good point, Jason,¡± Mike acknowledged with a nod, ¡°but since this is all we have to work with, I don¡¯t think we have any other choice but to see where the map takes us. Agreed?¡±

    Jason shrugged. ¡°Whatever, man¡­.¡±

    ¡°Come on, guys, we need to get going,¡± Mike insisted, rolling up the map. ¡°We need to stop wasting time and start moving. Who knows how much time we have¡­.¡±

    ¡°Or how much time we¡¯ve wasted so far,¡± Xavier interjected.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Mike agreed. ¡°They never told us how much time we have, and they already shaved off an hour, so let¡¯s get going.¡±

    Mike headed off into the woods with the map in one hand, dragging Xavier behind him. Everyone fell in line behind them in complete silence. Arsen and I brought up the rear.

    We walked for a while, following Mike blindly, all the time hoping he did know what he was doing. I had my doubts. No one said anything except for a few words of wisdom coming from CJ, which I couldn¡¯t make out and felt smarter for.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± I said, instinctively throwing my hand against Arsen¡¯s stomach to stop him. Did you just see that?¡± Realizing where my hand was, I quickly pulled it away and apologized.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok,¡± he assured me with a smile. ¡°Did I see what?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t just see that thing fly over us?¡± He merely shook his head.

    ¡°How could you miss it?¡±

    ¡°What did it look like?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. I just saw the shadow on the ground.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­what did the shadow look like?¡±

    The best I could offer was a shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It had wings, I think.¡±

    Arsen gestured towards the woods with a laugh as if pointing out the obvious. ¡°Well, Jay, we are in a fucking forest. There are bound to be owls and shit around.¡±

    ¡°I know what a fucking owl looks like, and let me tell you, that wasn¡¯t it.¡± This conversion wasn¡¯t getting us anywhere, so I just dropped it. ¡°Forget about it, man; let¡¯s catch up to the others.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Okay, but if it makes you feel any better, I¡¯ll keep an eye out for flying owls or something.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh but not before punching him in the arm. Ahead of us, the guys had stopped alongside a stream. As expected, they were arguing.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Mike, you took a wrong turn somewhere,¡± Paul said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°I did not!¡± Mike insisted, slapping the map with the back of his hand. ¡°I know how to read a fucking map.¡±

    Arsen stepped up between them, dragging me with him thanks to the metal cuffs. ¡°What¡¯s going on, guys?¡±

    ¡°Mike is lost,¡± Paul said flatly.

    ¡°Fuck off! I am not. The map just ends here.¡± He looked up from the map, confused. ¡°It stops right at this stream.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Paul snatched the map and looked it over. ¡°I say we retrace our steps and try it again with a new ¡®map leader.¡¯ It makes no fucking sense that this would lead us here. There¡¯s no reason for it. So, what do you guys say?¡±

    Most of the guys didn¡¯t know which side of the fence to stand on, but after a bit of debating by the group and a lot of protesting from Mike, we decided to retrace our steps to see if we went off-path somewhere. Paul and Mike argued the entire way, and when it was all said and done, and Paul followed the map ¡°precisely,¡± to use his own words, we ended up at the same stream¡­standing in the same spot.

    How could we not laugh? But even thru the laughter, the arguing intensified, accusations were thrown both ways, and ¡°clueless dumbass¡± came up several times. I couldn¡¯t be bothered with them, so I sat on a boulder next to the water''s edge.

    I didn¡¯t see how in the hell this group was going to make it to the end of the challenge when all we could accomplish to do was argue. The concepts of teamwork and unity were lost on some of the guys. And knowing that my hope of joining The Brotherhood lay not only in my performance but theirs was not a comforting realization.

    My eyes wandered, first from the clear sky above to the trees surrounding us. I only briefly glanced at the guys standing just a few feet away before the rushing stream caught my gaze. It offered little comfort watching the water break against earth and rock. Its only goal was to reach the end of its watery path, much like our pledge group had a single plan, but like the water, we faced much resistance.

    That¡¯s when I saw it. The light shimmered off the stream¡¯s surface as it forked in another direction, deeper into the woods. The new watery vein was calmer and flowed without restriction. Could it be that simple, I thought? Could it be that easy? The answer was hidden within the masked Brother¡¯s words.

    ¡°Guys, I think I figured it out,¡± I said, but everyone was too busy arguing to notice. Not even Arsen, who was chained to my hand, heard me. ¡°Guys!¡± Not even a glance. ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± I yelled, and everyone looked at me. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Sup, Jay,¡± Arsen asked, stunned at my sudden outburst. ¡°Another owl?¡±

    ¡°I think I figured what we¡¯re supposed to do next,¡± I smirked and gave Arsen the finger for the owl comment.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Sarcasm oozed from Mike; surely, if he couldn¡¯t figure it out, no one could.

    ¡°¡®Oh¡¯ this fucker!¡± I grabbed my jock and made sure he got a real good look at my bulge. Now I was just annoyed as hell. ¡°Don¡¯t come at me with all that fucking attitude, buddy. You¡¯re not doing anything to help the situation. All you¡¯re fucking arguing is getting us nowhere.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Arsen said with a soft laugh as he patted my chest, ¡°calm down, killer. What did you figure out?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember what the masked Brother said to us back in the pit?¡± All I got was a collective dumbfounded stare. I rolled my eyes. ¡°¡®When you get to the point where you can¡¯t go any further because of your differences, put it all aside and simply follow the path of least resistance.¡¯ Sound familiar? Now look over there. See how the stream breaks off into the woods with nothing in its way?¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    I swear I would¡¯ve knocked Mike the fuck out if it wasn¡¯t for fear of the repercussions. ¡°Try to follow me here¡­I think that¡¯s where we need to go next. He said to follow the path of least resistance; well, there it is.¡±

    ¡°Are you fucking for real?¡± Xavier exclaimed. ¡°That¡¯s all you got?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, because you fuckers are just oozing with ideas, right?¡± Paul was quick to come to my defense. ¡°It may be a long shot, but hell, it¡¯s better than standing around all night with our thumbs up our asses. So, unless anyone here has a better idea, I say we follow Jacob¡¯s lead on this one.¡±

    ¡°This coming from the guy who was so damn sure I read the map wrong.¡±

    ¡°Dude, seriously, shut the fuck up about that already,¡± CJ looked as annoyed as I felt. ¡°Paul is right. We¡¯ve got this plan, so let¡¯s just do it. From what I can tell, the easiest way to cross those rocks is over there.¡±

    And that was that. CJ didn¡¯t wait to see who agreed or not; he just took off, pulling Anthony behind him. The others hesitated briefly but finally gave in. The rocks were more slippery than they looked, and a couple of guys almost fell in. But in the end, we made it across without much difficulty.

    Again, we entered the woods allowing Kevin to lead the way with his trusty flashlight. No one said anything, but one could easily feel the uncertainty in the area. I¡¯ll admit I had my doubts, but it was too late. This was the path we had chosen. We needed to stay committed, or we would never find our way out. I could only hope I made the right decision.

    The smaller stream led to a pond and what appeared at first to be another dead end. There were no new clues in sight, and we hesitated, unsure of where to go next. But Kevin, with his trusty flashlight in hand, spotted a forked path across the field in front of us.

    ¡°Great,¡± Mike said. ¡°Left or right?¡±

    Half the guys said left, and the other said right. Could we get any more predictable? Instead of arguing, all eyes turned to me as if I had the answer hidden away in my jockstrap or something.

    ¡°Why are ya¡¯ll looking at me like that?¡±

    ¡°Well, you did get us this far, didn¡¯t you?¡± Jason replied.

    ¡°Yeah, but¡­¡±

    ¡°I say we split up,¡± Sam offered, pointing to either path. ¡°One group goes that way and the other this way, and if one group finds something, they come back for the other.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s just dumb,¡± Arsen laughed, reading my mind perfectly. ¡°Not only will that waste an incredible amount of time, but we can¡¯t split up, remember?¡±

    With a shrug of his shoulder, Sam challenged Arsen to come up with something better.

    ¡°Right¡­we go right,¡± I said finally, my outstretched arm pointing to the right path.

    ¡°And what makes you so sure?¡± Mike challenged.

    ¡°Because I remember what the Brother said, that¡¯s why. He said the right choice won¡¯t always be easy, and if we follow our instinct, we will make the right one or something like that. I don¡¯t remember the line exactly, but I know it said ¡®right.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Sounds good enough to me,¡± CJ proclaimed and was about to head off again before Mike stopped him.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Dude, get your hands off me.¡± CJ freed his arm from Mike¡¯s grasp and got right in his face. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever touch me like that again, or I¡¯ll¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll what, you fuc¡­.¡±

    I got right in-between them. ¡°Hell fucking no! We are not going to go there, my friends. Do you hear me? Not going there!¡± My god, we were falling apart at the seams. ¡°Fighting amongst ourselves isn¡¯t going to do a damn thing but get us kicked the fuck out of The Brotherhood. So, unless that¡¯s what ya¡¯ll want, I suggest you two back the fuck up and calm yourselves down. Seriously.¡± I looked at CJ and he gave me an acknowledging nod and backed off. My attention was now on Mike.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been nothing but negative energy since this whole thing started. I don¡¯t know what the fuck your problem is, but it stops here.¡± He was about to say something, but I quickly cut him off. ¡°It stops here!¡± I looked at the other guys to see if anyone else wanted to start with me. They didn¡¯t. ¡°Now, we¡¯re taking the right path, and I don¡¯t care if you like it; it¡¯s all we have right now. So, stop complaining, stop your bitching and let¡¯s roll.¡±

    This time I walked off with Arsen in tow. I swallowed hard, and I could easily hear my heart beating in my ears.

    I sounded so sure of myself, but I remember thinking, what was I doing? What if I was wrong? What if I was leading the guys to failure? Was that an owl?

    ¡°Hey,¡± Arsen whispered, ¡°it¡¯s going to be okay. You¡¯re doing great.¡±

    I guess he must have sensed the fear in me.

    I shrugged and looked around to ensure no one was close enough to hear us. ¡°Arsen¡­honestly, I don¡¯t know what the fuck I¡¯m doing,¡± I said, my voice as calm as his. ¡°What if I¡¯m dead wrong?¡± A bit paranoid, I looked around again. ¡°If we fail this trial, it will be all my fault. You realize this, don¡¯t you?¡±

    He gave a shrug of his own. ¡°If we fail, we fail. Yeah, it will suck, but the way I see it, you¡¯re the only one coming up with ideas, and they don¡¯t sound all that crazy to me. So don¡¯t worry about it. Remember what the Brother said. Follow your instinct. If you do that, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get us home. Win or lose; I¡¯m behind you all the way.¡±

    I have no idea how long we walked. It seemed like hours had gone by, and the guys got restless with every passing minute. When the complaining and bitching started again, we hit a clearing and a dirt road.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Mike sighed in relief, and I had to admit, he spoke for all of us.

    Further down the road, we could see some streetlights off to the right and what appeared to be some sort of mailbox or newspaper dispenser. The left side of the road was pitch black, and there was nothing but more than a thick nestle of trees.

    ¡°What are you guys waiting for? Let¡¯s go!¡± Mike exclaimed and started to lead the charge down the lit path.

    ¡°Wait a fucking second!¡± It was now CJ who stopped Mike. ¡°Last time I checked, we weren¡¯t following you; we were following Jacob.¡± He turned to me with a nod. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Honestly¡­¡± I paused. It was funny to see them all hanging on my every word, like hungry dogs waiting for their owner to drop food in their bowl. ¡°I think we need to go this way,¡± I pointed toward the not-so-cheerful path.

    ¡°What?¡± Justin asked, confused as all hell. ¡°Last time I looked, the University was in a nice, well-lit area, not a dark void at the end of a road. If we go towards the light, we¡¯re bound to find it.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s it, Justin, we¡¯re not looking for the school, are we?¡± I countered. ¡°And remember, the clearest path isn¡¯t always¡­.¡±

    ¡°The correct one,¡± Arsen finished my sentence. ¡°I remember him saying that too. Guys, I think Jay¡¯s right. Going that way is just too easy and not to mention obvious.¡± He pointed to the dark end of the road, ¡°That¡¯s where we want to go.¡±

    Everyone looked unsure.

    ¡°Look, we¡¯ve gotten this far, haven¡¯t we? Let¡¯s not fall apart now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we got his far,¡± Troy said, ¡°but who¡¯s to say this is where we want to be? We could be so far, off course, it¡¯s not even funny. And we¡¯re supposed to believe the Brother gave us all the clues in his little speech back there?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re wasting a lot of time doing nothing,¡± Paul interjected loudly. ¡°We need to get moving, and I don¡¯t know about the rest of you, but I¡¯m with Jacob and Arsen.¡±

    Paul and Steve stood beside us; CJ and Ant were quick to follow, and Nick forced Troy to do the same. The debate was over. It was time to go. Instead of walking down the dark road, we decided to jog to save time.

    I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I reeked of bug spray and sweat and was plain dirty. You don¡¯t understand how badly I wanted that night to be over.

    Spent as we were, we barely had enough energy to make it up a hill, but when we did, it was like new life was breathed into our bodies. We saw the house in the middle of a long field. Like a beacon of hope, we ran towards the house at full speed. It was our light at the end of the tunnel. The closer we got, the faster we ran. We finally came around the corner to the front of the house and simply collapsed in front of the main doors.

    Sweating like pigs and panting like dogs, we all started to laugh. The guys then began to jump on me, messing my hair and patting any part of my body they could reach.

    ¡°Dude, you did it!¡± CJ exclaimed joyfully.

    Arsen turned to look at me thru the pile of bodies. ¡°I knew you would,¡± he smiled.

    Someone started to clap behind us, and I think we were all shocked to see Shaun, Seth, and a few other brothers standing on the steps. We were so caught up in the moment that we didn¡¯t even notice them. As tired as we were, everyone quickly got on their feet and lined up straight for them.

    Shaun laughed. ¡°Relax,¡± he said with one final clap. ¡°Congratulations are in order.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Seth agreed with a raised brow, his long hair blowing gently in the wind. ¡°The allotted time for this trail is normally four hours, you guys had three, and you managed to complete it in two hours and forty-seven minutes¡­setting a record for the house. I must say¡­I¡¯m impressed. This is the one trial most pledges fail because they never figure out the clues left for them, and all you had to go by was a speech. Congratulations.¡±

    There was another round of applause from the brothers, even louder now because some more brothers appeared behind us.

    Seth pulled out the remote to the cuffs and unlocked us all. He gestured towards the door behind him. ¡°Go hit the showers. You guys earned it.¡±

    We were probably in the showers for forty-five minutes when the nozzle shut off. I swear I could¡¯ve stayed for hours more, but unfortunately, the Brothers had something else in mind. We dried off, slipped on our black boxer briefs, and were told to go to the living room.

    Shaun was waiting for us there, smiling, with what looked like cards in his hands. ¡°Please have a seat anywhere you like.¡± He gestured to the couches and chairs around the room and waited for everyone to find a seat. ¡°I know it¡¯s late, and you¡¯re all tired, but I¡¯m afraid the night isn¡¯t over just yet. First, I want you all to give it up to yourselves for setting a new record. Great job.¡¯

    ¡°What was the old record?¡± Anthony inquired, speaking entirely out of turn. I was worried for him for a second, but Shaun didn¡¯t seem to mind.

    ¡°Three hours and three minutes, so you guys just made it,¡± he laughed softly and paused to regain his thoughts. ¡°Oh, before I continue, just an FYI for you guys. I know classes were supposed to start this Monday, but an accident occurred in one of the chemistry labs. To make a long story short, big explosion, deadly gases so that school won¡¯t be starting until the following Monday. They want to ensure it¡¯s safe because the gases spread to some of the other buildings. So that¡¯s that.¡± He stepped closer to us, looking around to make sure he had everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°I¡¯m going to make this brief so you guys can move ahead to your next task. Tonight, each of you will have your one- on one with a Brother. The fourteen of you will sit down with a Brother to talk about many different things I¡¯m not going to get into here.¡±

    The first thing that ran thru my head, and I¡¯m sure I wasn¡¯t the only one, was that I did not want to get stuck with Steel. I¡¯d be cool with anyone else but not that fucker.

    ¡°One of you will be meeting with me,¡± he smiled. ¡°Now, it¡¯s imperative that you answer whatever question you¡¯re asked with complete honesty. I¡¯m talking a hundred percent honesty. The Brotherhood will not tolerate dishonesty toward a Brother. So, follow the rules, and you¡¯ll be fine. And just in case you think you might get away with a little white lie, remember this¡­you have no idea the resources we have at our disposal. You don¡¯t know what we do and do not already know about you. I think you¡¯d be amazed. So do we understand each other, Peanut?¡±

    Nick damn near fell out of his chair. Later he told us ¡°Peanut¡± was the name his grandmother called him when he was younger because he used to love to eat peanuts. She was the only one who called him that, and she¡¯s been dead for eleven years.

    Shaun laughed. ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to give you a card but do not open them until I leave the room. They will tell you who you will be meeting.¡±

    The cards were folded, and all I could do was stare at mine. I had the worst feeling that Steel¡¯s name would be on my card.

    ¡°Alright then¡­good lucks, guys.¡±

    Even when Shaun left the room, no one was eager to open their card. We all just looked at each other, hoping someone else would go first.

    ¡°On three?¡± Arsen suggested and counted us off.

    On three, I held my breath and opened my card. Fuck! There wasn¡¯t a name on the card, just some directions we had to follow to get to our interviewer. That was even worse! At least if we had a name, we could prepare ourselves.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get to it,¡± Ant said and walked off.

    My directions lead me to the indoor pool. That thing was huge, by the way, and connected to the outside pool. The most remarkable thing about the house had to be the poolroom. I looked up and saw nothing but clear skies and shimmering stars. The roof over the pool was made of glass and retractable; that night, it was wide open. It was a fantastic sight. The room I had to go to was on the third floor. I stood before those doors, scared shitless. I stepped back and leaned against the railing. The night air rushing from above was soothing; seeing the water below ripple because of it also helped calm me.

    ¡°Nice fucking view,¡± I whispered and took a deep breath. The card said to come in when I reached the room, so I did just that. There was a soft light in the room; it was someone¡¯s bedroom. If you could call it a bedroom. I felt like I walked into a whole fucking house; it was so big. I was expecting to see someone standing before me but again I was disappointed. I did hear the shower going, so I figured my assigned Brother was in there.

    The room was very stylish and decked out. The rug was like feathers on my feet. The bed was off to the left, up against a glass wall. It was fucking huge! The whole wall opposite me was glass with doors leading to the balcony. Plus, there was a fancy fireplace right in front of the bed. The desk before me was made of marble and glass with a large monitor on the right and a laptop on the left. I wanted the guy who designed the house to do the same for me.

    I tried to look around for some hint that would give me a clue as to who lived there, but I found nothing. There were pictures on the mantel over the fireplace, but I was too chicken shit to even think about moving. Ten minutes must have gone by when the shower was finally turned off. I was so fucking nervous that I kept wringing my hands behind my back and swallowing hard.

    The door to my right opened and out rolled a veil of steam, and that¡¯s when I saw him. Clad only a pair of black, 2xist trunk underwear and droplets of shimmering water stood the most puzzling letter of the alphabet. Never once did it cross my mind that I might get him, but there he was, piercing through me with his silvery, haunting eyes.

    I think that¡¯s when it happened. I think that¡¯s when my world was thrown into a tailspin and the line between reality and the impossible utterly vanished. Being in the room put me on a path that would force me to question everything I knew to be true.

 The Brotherhood Chapter VII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter VII

    By X

    An eternity passed, and all I felt was the sharp bite of his steel-gray eyes as they cut through me, a knife piercing a cloak in hopes of revealing what lay beneath.

    Was that his purpose, I wondered? To reach the very core of who I was. Would he unearth something I had yet to discover? Something I wanted to discover?

    If I didn¡¯t know better, I would have considered him a mere illusion bathed in moonlight. But he was not a figment of my imagination, for the heaving of his glistening chest proved him very much alive. It was then that I realized I was the one who had stopped breathing. His eyes closed slowly as he turned from me and walked towards the closet, his wet hair spinning about him, releasing water droplets into the air.

    I was finally able to exhale when I felt his eyes release me from their hold. However, I remained mesmerized by him. My eyes eagerly followed him as he moved about the room. On some level, he still managed to hold me captive. What was this power, this influence that he possessed over people? Or at least over me. It was more than the position he held in The Brotherhood, more than the Brother/Pledge dynamic, and more than pure, unbridled awe; there was something in his very essence.

    He moved to the bookcase that flanked the large windows. He passed his finger over the books on the middle shelf, deliberately settling on a thick, black book. With his back to me, Q flipped thru the pages silently.

    His body was amazing, a living, breathing piece of art.

    Holy fuck! Did that thought just come out of my head?

    I remember scolding myself mentally for checking him out, but honestly, it didn¡¯t stop me. I was transfixed. There he stood almost as naked as the day he was born. I had to applaud his efforts. It must have taken Q years of exercise and proper diet to tone his body in such a way. Don¡¯t misunderstand. He wasn¡¯t overly muscular; he was toned and defined in all the right places. And those 2xist trunks he was wearing looked as if they were specifically designed for him. The guy filled them out perfectly.

    I mean, I have a nice body. The ladies seemed to love it, and I worked hard to keep it, but even I was a bit jealous. He also had an intricate tattoo running down the right flank of his abs. A series of symbols or letters, perhaps? I couldn¡¯t begin to decipher its meaning if it was a written language.

    For five minutes, he stood there silently. The oversized book was balanced in one hand while he smoothed his wet hair with the other. He let out a soft sigh, then moved to his desk and had a seat, setting the book on the table and folding his arms across his chest.

    I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what was so fascinating about that book. All I could do was watch him flip the page and continue reading. To be honest, I was getting a bit annoyed. If he didn¡¯t want me there for whatever reason, he could¡¯ve at least said so and not let me stand there like an idiot.

    Another ten minutes or so passed without so much as an upward glance. It was like I didn¡¯t exist. So, I thought, screw it, and took a chance.

    ¡°Umm,¡± I muttered, a bit afraid of shooting myself in the foot, ¡°did I get the wrong room?¡±

    Instead of answering me, Q used his bookmark to trace the last couple of sentences on the page, then closed the book. Ugh. Those eyes. He looked up at me, and I was sure it was over.

    ¡°Twenty-two minutes,¡± Q said simply. I, of course, looked like a completely clueless dumbass. I didn¡¯t know what the hell he was talking about. ¡°From the moment I stepped out of the bathroom, it took you twenty-two minutes to say something. You¡¯re the only pledge ever to do that.¡±

    Did I mess up?

    It wasn¡¯t a question I posed to Q. I thought it best to keep it a mental note to myself.

    ¡°The only other pledge to come close stood there watching me work for almost three hours. When he finally spoke, it was only because he needed to use the bathroom.¡± I thought that was funny, but Q wasn¡¯t amused or at least didn¡¯t show it. ¡°I once had a pledge stand there so long, I finally got tired and went to bed. Sometime during the night, I heard a loud thump hit the floor; he collapsed. He was so tired.¡±

    I nearly busted out laughing on that one, but I could hold my tongue and simply smirked. Briefly.

    ¡°The point is,¡± Q continued, ¡°there¡¯s a difference between showing respect and understanding your place and knowing when to speak up for yourself even in the presence of a Brother. Unfortunately, it usually takes a pledge¡¯s legs to almost give out before they realize it.¡± He paused for a moment and set his eyes on mine. ¡°Glad to see you¡¯re a fast learner. Now have a seat so we can get started.¡±

    Like the good little pledge that I was, I did what I was told. For some reason, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I was taking a seat on the electric chair.

    ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, Shaun told you about the accident in the chemistry lab, which delayed classes for another week.¡±

    I nodded, and he gave me a look that cut thru me like a sword, clearly letting me know that a simple nod was not enough. ¡°Yes, he did.¡± I swallowed my heart back down.

    ¡°Due to this fact, we decided to rearrange our normal routine. We don¡¯t normally conduct these interviews this early in the pledge process. However, we thought it would allow us to see how far you have all come. Just keep one thing in mind,¡± he paused, primarily for dramatic effect, ¡°honesty will get you through this.¡±

    I cleared my throat softly and started to get hot.

    ¡°Pick a number between 1 and 100 and keep it to yourself,¡± he ordered.

    What the fuck? I picked 3.

    Reclining his chair back, he placed his right foot on the seat. He was getting ready to drill me. ¡°Name off all the pledges.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Who has the letter A in their name.¡±

    Shit! I mean, it sounds simple but no, not really. ¡°Um, uh,¡± I stammered, ¡°there¡¯s me, of course,¡± that was my attempt to buy a little time, ¡°and Arsen, Anthony, Sam, Jason, and Paul¡­oh, and Xavier.¡±

    ¡°Multiply the number by itself.¡±

    Okay, so we¡¯re at nine now.

    ¡°Who is cuffed to whom?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Arsen and I, Anthony and CJ,¡± I paused briefly to think, ¡°Jason and Justin, Paul and Steve, Sam and Kevin, Nick and¡­uh¡­Troy. Mike and Xavier.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Admittedly, I was a bit confused. ¡°Umm, this is where the card Shaun gave me said to come.¡±

    He closed his eyes, clearly annoyed. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± If he had finished the sentence with ¡®dumbass,¡¯ it would have been more complete. ¡°Why are you here? Why did you accept our bid to pledge The Brotherhood?¡±

    Q didn¡¯t have a lick of hair on him besides the obvious. He was as smooth as a board. I don¡¯t know why that thought suddenly popped into my head, but it did.

    I knew right away that answering him would be tricky. And stupid, random thoughts like this were not helping. The stock response would be to say I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and have the whole college experience by joining a fraternity where I would bond with the Brothers and be a part of my life forever blah, blah, blah. But that¡¯s the kind of cheesy shit you hear on Oprah.

    So, with Q¡¯s words, honesty will get you thru this; echoing my mind, I went for it.

    I spoke the truth.

    ¡°Because I want the room to fall silent when I step into it. Just like it does for you.¡± That was my answer, straight and to the point.

    He raised his brow but did not comment. ¡°What is The Inner Circle?¡±

    That one was easy. ¡°The ruling body of any TBH house.¡±

    ¡°Add your age to the number.¡±

    I almost forgot the fucking number! 28. Where the fuck was he going with this?

    ¡°How many Brothers are in The Inner Circle?¡±

    ¡°Five.¡±

    ¡°Name the members of The Inner Circle of this house.¡±

    ¡°You, of course, Shaun, Steel, Seth, and Eric.¡± His demeanor changed slightly as he leaned forward a bit. Shit, had I messed up? My mind reeled, then it clicked. ¡°Oh, and Geo!¡± I damn near yelled out with wide eyes. Granted, he was gone, but he was part of The Inner Circle before Shaun took over.

    Reaching for a pen, Q placed his hand on his bent knee and tapped it against his leg. ¡°Who is the leader of The Brotherhood?¡± His question came like bullets from a Hollywood machine gun, never-ending and without interruption.

    I almost screwed up because I was ready to say he was the leader.

    ¡°Kyrios.¡±

    ¡°Divide the number by half the pledge class and subtract the number of times you broke up with your current girlfriend.¡±

    Now that took me by surprise. Alex and I broke up once, briefly, over some stupid shit I didn¡¯t even remember anymore.

    ¡°Who is Kyrios?¡±

    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know.¡± Damn, that came out wrong. I sat straighter in my chair and tried to sound more official. ¡°What I mean is, other than the Brothers in each of the Inner Circles, no one knows who Kyrios is.¡± I eyed him tentatively. I wasn¡¯t too sure about that one.

    Q sat forward suddenly, clasping his hands before him on the desk. I was startled by his abrupt movement and hoped it didn¡¯t show.

    His features darkened as if a shadow was cast over his face; his eyes narrowed slightly. The mood grew even more severe. ¡°If you had to pick one of the paired-up pledges to be demised from The Brotherhood, who would you choose?¡±

    I never saw that one coming. Shifting in my chair, I could feel the knot in my stomach twisting. What kind of question was that to ask a pledge? I could understand if I was a Brother, but I wasn¡¯t. I was a pledge like the others. How could I possibly make such a decision, hypothetical or not? No matter who I picked, I¡¯d feel I was betraying my fellow pledge brothers. Sacrifice myself for the sake of others? And what about Arsen; would I be willing to condemn him to my fate? Most importantly, is that what my heart would tell me to do?

    ¡°Well?¡±

    I looked at Q a moment longer before I answered. ¡°I¡¯d pick¡­I¡¯d pick¡­ Sam and Kevin.¡± I watched his left brow slowly rise as if questioning my answer without speaking a word.

    ¡°And why is that?¡± he demanded.

    ¡°Because those two haven¡¯t done much to stick out among the pledge class,¡± I answered with a shrug. ¡°They sit back and watch what¡¯s going on and simply follow the crowd whenever a decision is made and barely put in their two cents.¡± I swallowed hard, thinking I was just digging a deeper grave. ¡°And by no means am I trying to put them down or anything; they may prove me wrong, but so far, I can say there¡¯s isn¡¯t anything memorable about them.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said simply. ¡°Take Mike, for example. He may be argumentative and hardheaded at times, but at least he has the guts to stand up, put his foot forward, and say, ¡° This is what I think, and here¡¯s why. Sam and Kevin will listen to the why and follow along blindly. They¡¯re lemmings. Whether they succeed or fail will be based on someone else¡¯s idea. They¡¯re my pledge brothers, and I respect them, but that¡¯s the truth.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Q said with a slight emotionless nod. I had no idea what he was thinking or how I was doing. My stomach twisted; I wanted to vomit. I used to credit myself with being able to read people. Now I¡¯m not so sure.

    He leaned back again and returned his foot to the chair. He pointed at me with his pen accusingly. ¡°Did the thought of picking yourself ever cross your mind?¡±

    ¡°It did,¡± I nodded. ¡°But I couldn¡¯t just think of myself. I have no right to make a decision that would affect Arsen in such a way when he¡¯s been one of the more vocal pledges. And you know what?¡± Okay, I think I was getting a little bit cocky then. ¡°More important than anything else, I want to be here, and I don¡¯t feel like I should have to give that up. I¡¯ve stepped up. Now, do I deserve to be here? I guess time will tell. You told me truth would get me thru this. Well, there you have it.¡±

    ¡°So ¡®think of yourself before all others is your motto?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± I said a bit defensively, gripping the armrest of my chair. ¡°If it were up to me, this pledge class would make it thru to the end together. I don¡¯t want to see anyone go home. But I¡¯ll be damned if I¡¯ll sacrifice myself when I think I¡¯ve done more for my fellow pledge brothers than certain others. And then condemn Arsen to the same fate?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. And like I said, I¡¯ve stepped up. I got us thru the woods and back home. I¡¯ve done my best to keep us going as a unit. Not everyone can say that.¡±

    He sat there for a long time without saying anything, those eyes set on me as if I was staring at a statue. I was worried I came off too strong like I somehow disrespected Q. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have used the word ¡®damned.¡¯ My face reddened, and I humbled a bit.

    Shifting his head to the right, he finally spoke. ¡°How do you feel you and the other pledges performed tonight?¡±

    I was relieved Q moved on to another subject. ¡°I think we did great. We banded together in the end, some of us had to take a leap of faith, but in the end, we pulled thru and made it back.¡± I¡¯m not sure, but I think Q was going to say something but I kind of cut him off before he could. ¡°Honestly, though, I think we have a lot of work to do before we can call ourselves Brothers. Sure, we found our way back, but there was a lot of arguing and finger-pointing before we got there. I think it¡¯s something we must work on to get that sense of brotherhood I¡¯m sure you¡¯re looking for.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see a reason to continue,¡± Q said. He got up from his chair abruptly and moved to the window. ¡°This interview is over.¡±

    I was taken aback. What did I do? I hate to admit this, but I felt my eyes well up a little bit; not enough to produce a tear, but still. I just felt sick to my stomach.

    ¡°Congratulations, Jacob,¡± Q said kindly, ¡°you passed your third trial.¡±

    ¡°Oh, thank God!¡± I almost shouted, dropping my head into the palm of my hand. I could¡¯ve sworn I heard him laugh a little.

    ¡°With flying colors, I might add,¡± he continued with his back to me. ¡°Normally, this interview would go on for another hour or so, but you impressed me tonight.¡± For the first time that night, his words were filled with a warmth I¡¯d expect from a childhood friend. ¡°With these interviews, we give allowances for the bullshit factor. No matter how good a pledge¡¯s intentions are, there is always some degree of canned responses in their answers that we can forgive¡­especially so early on.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°You? On the other hand, you were honest from the beginning, not to mention a bit bold. You weren¡¯t afraid to speak up when I walked into the room, and you weren¡¯t afraid to put the faults of your pledge class on the table and own them. I can¡¯t begin to tell you how many pledges before you gave the self-sacrificing speech when I asked them who they would dismiss.¡±

    He paused for a long moment, and I wish I knew what he was thinking to this day. His following words were spoken slowly. ¡°You¡¯ve proven you have the qualities important to The Brotherhood¡­to me.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I felt like a little kid being told by a parent or teacher that I did a great job. I had a child¡¯s joy inside me, and I had to do everything I could to control it. To not jump up and down and scream, ¡°I did it!¡±

    ¡°But don¡¯t get cocky¡­not even for a second. You still have a long way to go and many opportunities to slip and fall.¡±

    That killed the child within me. Or maybe it just brought him back to reality. I observed him as he walked around the desk and stood a few feet before me. ¡°Once the interviews are completed, each pledge spends time with their assigned Brother to get a feel of how things run outside the pledge class and what¡¯s expected of all Brothers. Consider yourself stuck with me for the next couple of days.¡±

    I smiled at him.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be smiling just yet,¡± he said, his tone never changing, ¡°for being assigned to me means more than just following me around for a couple of days. It also makes you my Little and I your Big.¡±

    Ah, so that¡¯s where this was all leading. I figured at one point or another; I¡¯d become a little brother to one of the Brothers. Never in my wildest dreams did I even think that Q would be my Big Brother. Things just got interesting.

    Gesturing for me to get up, Q pointed to a spot on the floor. ¡°Come, stand here for me.¡± As I moved to his designated area, I watched him return to the bookcase. He dimmed the lights until he was nothing more than a shadow within the room. I saw a long silver box in his hands as he turned to face me.

    ¡°Before the bond between big brother and little brother is official, we must first perform a little ceremony.¡± He placed the box on the desk and carefully opened the lid; the silver cover danced under the veil of moonlight entering thru the window. ¡°This tradition is as old as The Brotherhood itself,¡± he continued, removing a chalice from the box. A few other things were removed as well. However, the darkness and Q¡¯s movements prevented me from seeing them. He came toward me with the chalice in one hand and two small bottles in the other.

    ¡°Now pay close attention to what I¡¯m doing and mimic me exactly.¡± He sounded earnest. He handed me the little black bottle while he kept the white one. The single chalice was held between us. ¡°The bottle you¡¯re holding in your hand is the venom of a rare and extremely venomous South African spider; a single drop will kill a grown man in minutes. There is no known antidote.¡±

    My eyes flew open.

    My face paled.

    I think my hand went slightly numb.

    ¡°Good,¡± he said softly, a sinister grin playing on his lips, ¡°I have your full attention. The bottle I¡¯m holding contains the nectar of a Brazilian flower found growing on a single outcropping of rocks along the northern coast of the Amazon river. A half drop of this will kill you faster than the spider venom. But the magical thing about the pair is that they neutralize each other when combined in equal amounts. So, you must pour from your vial as I pour from mine and stop precisely when I do. If we¡¯re off by one drop¡­well, let¡¯s just say we won¡¯t have to worry about what tomorrow might bring.¡±

    Are you fucking kidding me? I yelled. I know you do not expect me to drink this shit!

    Of course, all the yelling was strictly in my head. This had to be a joke; another scare tactic to put the fear of God, the Devil, and The Brotherhood in me. That¡¯s what I had to tell myself to get thru this. I mean, sure, I wanted to get into The Brotherhood as badly as anyone but at what price? What good would it be if I were dead? No, this was all some bullshit Indiana Jones crap. In truth, we were probably only mixing rum and coke or something. That¡¯s it¡­rum and coke. Or maybe something nasty like Tabasco sauce and mango juice. Yep, that had to be it.

    Then, two things happened just when I had myself convinced and felt the blood running back to my limbs. One, I looked into those damn eyes and saw that he was as serious as a heart attack. And two, I remembered his kick about ¡°honesty.¡±

    Fuck!

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± he asked, looking directly into my eyes.

    I didn¡¯t say a damn thing to him. I just looked at him, working the ¡®deer-caught- in-the-headlight¡¯ look like no one¡¯s business. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, I¡¯m about ready to die?

    ¡°Jacob!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I whispered, hoping he wouldn¡¯t hear me and this crazy thing would be forgotten. Yeah, that didn¡¯t work out so well¡­

    ¡°Okay, follow my lead,¡± he said.

    He moved his bottle over the chalice, and I followed. I watched him slowly turn the bottle over to pour the nectar, and I did the same¡­with just a slight variation.

    ¡°Jacob,¡± Q said in a calm, gentle voice, pressing his fingers against my trembling hand. ¡°Shaky hands are not going to help the situation. Try to calm down. You¡¯re going to be alright. Just do as I do, okay?¡±

    I nodded, but I was still nervous as hell. I will admit that hearing the sincerity in his voice helped steady my hand, and I was able to pour the venom into the chalice as he poured the nectar. We poured until the cup was a little less than half full. I was paranoid, confident that I went over by a couple of drops.

    ¡°You did good,¡± he reassured me. ¡°Here, hold this for a second and give me the bottle.¡±

    He walked off to put the bottles away, leaving me to hold the chalice. I looked at the mixture, thinking I was holding enough poison in my hand to kill off everyone in his house.

    When Q returned, I was more than happy to surrender the chalice. He produced a small white disc about the size of a quarter from his hand and gave it to me. Q still had one left in his hand. ¡°I¡¯m going to put this in your mouth. Don¡¯t swallow or bite into it. Just let it sit on your tongue. Remember, do as I do.¡±

    What the fuck was he giving me now? Arsenic? Cyanide? Tums?

    Our hands moved as one as we prepared to feed each other these tablets. He pressed it against my closed lips, and when I saw him raise a brow, I reluctantly parted my lips and let the round tablet rest on my tongue. Q took his without hesitation. He handed me the chalice again for reasons I did not understand at first. Within seconds, he blinked, and a single tear fell from his right eye. I don¡¯t know how, but I knew I was meant to catch that tear in the chalice.

    A tiny smile played on Q¡¯s lips as I caught the tear and gave him back the cup. A few seconds later, my mouth burned as though hell was unleashed in the pit of my stomach, and the flames were trying to escape from my sealed lips. I was determined not to spit out the tablet. But unlike Q, who shed only one tear, I balled like a little bitch. Tears flowed down my cheeks in a way I didn¡¯t think possible. Q had only to put the chalice under my chin to catch the needed tear.

    Once the tears had been harvested, Q took the tablet out of his mouth and dropped it in the chalice, and you best believe I was quick to do as he did. My mouth was on fire. I panted like a dog and wagged my tongue, trying to cool it down. I must have looked like an idiot. It looked like Q agreed because he was laughing even though he tried his best to hide it.

    ¡°The sensation will pass,¡± he assured me with a smirk, holding the chalice between us again.

    I watched the tablets dissolve and the liquid swell to the very top. Pressing his lips to the rim of the chalice, Q gestured for me to do the same. I figured we would have a hell of a time trying to drink from it simultaneously, but that¡¯s not what Q had in mind. He started blowing gently as if trying to cool the liquid, and I did the same. We were at it for only thirty seconds when a white flame erupted from the chalice.

    Caught completely off guard, I stumbled backward, tripped over myself, and fell on my ass.

    Q exploded in a fit of laughter I had never seen before. He clutched his stomach and was bent over slightly while trying not to spill the burning liquid. As I sat there on my ass watching him, I couldn¡¯t help but smile and eventually join in on the laughter. It was nice to see Q like that. The rugged, cold exterior appeared to be melting away, if only momentarily. There was a warmth about him now I truly enjoyed. He seemed so vibrant, shining with life and personality. It was nice.

    Finally coming down from his high, Q walked over to me, extended his hand, and helped me up. ¡°Now that was funny!¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve warned me,¡± I said, wondering if my comment would be considered speaking out of turn.

    ¡°I could have,¡± he agreed with a smile, ¡°but I would¡¯ve missed all this.¡± Suddenly the glow about him faded, and the old Q was back, his serious stare on me as he offered me the chalice to drink. ¡°Drink.¡±

    Now that was easier said than done. For one, there was still a white flame burning on the surface of the chalice, and two, it was poison. Poison! So, can you blame me for flinching when he offered me the drink?

    ¡°Trust your Brother¡­¡±

    Gently, Q pressed the rim of the chalice to my lips. The white flame danced around my face like a warm summer breeze. It didn¡¯t burn like I thought it would; it tickled my face. I figured, ¡®what the hell?¡¯ and clasped the chalice, wrapping my hands around Q¡¯s and drank.

    It was unlike anything I¡¯d ever tasted before. Then again, I try to keep the drinking of poison to birthdays and other special occasions. It¡¯s one of those things you have to experience to understand. It was warm yet chilled at the same time. Light, almost citrus, yet had a texture I can only describe as fuzzy. I drank about half before Q pulled the chalice away. He wasted no time drinking the rest; his eyes were always on me. He never blinked. It was amazing to see the flame warm his face; it was like he was trying to peer thru a white veil.

    The flame was extinguished with the last drop. This heat was building in my stomach, and I could feel it climbing up my chest. Before I could question the sensation further, Q placed the Chalice on the floor, grabbed me by the waist, and pulled me towards him. He leaned in, and I was stunned, for it appeared he was going to kiss me; oddly enough, I didn¡¯t bother to flinch this time.

    But my concerns were premature because Q stopped, so our lips were hairs apart. I opened my mouth to say something, but all I did was release the heat within me in the form of a white flame. It flowed from my lips like smoke from an extinguished candle, and Q breathed it in thru his nose while parting his lips to release his own. I inhaled deeply, taking in his warmth as he did mine.

    I was gone. The sensation was indescribable. I felt lightheaded; my body tingled all over. It was like I was in another place altogether, and when I closed my eyes, all I could see was Q. It was like he was in me, and I was in him. Imagine your most intense orgasm, multiply it by a thousand, and you might get an inkling of how I was feeling.

    The longer this went on, the closer Q and I got until finally, our bodies were pressed together. His heart pounded against my chest; my jock stirred against him, but our lips remained whiskers apart with the light, flame, or whatever was flowing between us. I was floating, and all the world¡¯s worries simply vanished. I didn¡¯t want it to end.

    I became conscious that my cock was getting harder and harder and pressing against Q¡¯s crotch. If Q felt the same way, I couldn¡¯t tell because I didn¡¯t feel anything except his pushing up against me.

    Releasing his hold on me, Q backed away, and I could see the strands of light between us fade away. ¡°You are bounded to me as I am to you,¡± he said softly. ¡°I¡¯m your Big, and you¡¯re my Little. It¡¯s a bond we will share for life if you become a full Brother; fail, and the bond will be broken forever.¡±

    I heard everything he said even though he seemed to be speaking slowly and from inside a tunnel. I was in a serious daze. He moved to stand behind me, and I wanted to turn to face him, but he stopped me.

    With a soft laugh, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t bother turning around. Every pledge faints right¡­about¡­now.¡±

    I was out like a light, and I assume the reason he had moved behind me was to catch me as I fell. Whether he did or not, I couldn¡¯t tell you. When I came to, the room was spinning around me.

    I was lying on the carpet, curling my fingers around the soft fibers, rolling my head from side to side to clear the fog. I caught the sight of Q standing by the window. There appeared to be four Q¡¯s standing there. After blinking several times, I could finally bring him into focus; at the same time, the room stopped turning, and the fog in my head began clearing.

    ¡°Holy hell,¡± I muttered, ¡°that was intense.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it in time,¡± Q assured me.

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me we¡¯re going to do this again?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a one-time deal between Big and Little. But if you make it and become a Brother, this is a ceremony you¡¯ll be performing many times with new pledges.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Q turned from the window and walked towards me. ¡°On that note, I want you to keep something in mind.¡± His tone was low and grave as if he was about to give me the worst news of my life. ¡°Your actions not only reflect against you and your fellow pledges, but now they also reflect on me. Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    Great! As if I didn¡¯t have enough pressure with everything else that was going on.

    ¡°Any questions?¡± Q inquired, walking towards the bathroom as I was getting back on my feet.

    Maybe it was because I was still feeling the drink¡¯s effects; I felt bold when I asked my question. ¡°Do you regret having me assigned as your Little Brother?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he answered, stopping at the bathroom door. He didn¡¯t say anything more at first. Q simply stood there with his back to me. At first, I thought he would snap at me for asking such a question, but he didn¡¯t. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at me and said, ¡°I was the one who assigned all the pledges.¡±

    He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving me grinning like an idiot. The truth was I felt highly honored he picked me to be his Little. I thought of the other pledges and was curious to know who everyone else got. I wanted to know who the lucky guy was to get Shaun and who was the unlucky bastard stuck with Steel. I was hoping to God it wasn¡¯t Arsen.

    Q came out of the bathroom and informed me I¡¯d be sleeping in his room for the next couple of nights. It was part of the whole Big/Little bonding experience.

    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± he added, ¡°when we decided to switch the interviews around, I forgot about a previous commitment. So, you will need to accompany me tomorrow when I pick up a friend from Logan Airport and drop him off at his parent¡¯s house.¡±

    I simply nodded.

    He took a deep breath and ran his eyes across my body. He showed no emotion but somehow seemed suddenly very tired. ¡°Anyway, there¡¯s a sleeping bag in the closet, or you can sleep in the bed. The choice is yours.¡±

    I looked at the bed, then at the closet, and then looked back at the bed. It was a hard choice. Sleep on a hard-ass floor or a bed with enough room for a family of ten. So, I walked over to the left side of the bed and helped Q pull the comforter down to the foot of the bed. Maybe picking the bed was the wrong thing to do; perhaps this was another test. But Q didn¡¯t say anything one way or another. And nothing against Arsen, but after spending every night in a tiny bed with another guy an inch away from you, Q¡¯s huge bed was just calling to me.

    ¡°The bathroom is over there if you need to use it,¡± he said, slipping under the white sheets. He laughed softly. ¡°You managed to impress me yet again, Jacob.¡± I was confused. ¡°Most pledges pick the sleeping bag out of some sense of respect when we all know they¡¯d rather sleep in the bed. Your honesty with me tonight has been commendable.¡±

    I blushed a bit, said a lame ¡®thanks,¡¯ and crawled under the satin sheets with a big old grin. Holy shit! Those sheets were the softest I¡¯ve ever felt. It was like a cool liquid was poured over me, and his bed felt like it was just made for me.

    I sighed heavily, thinking back to my long day and how great it felt to let my tired body relax finally. Glancing over at Q and seeing nothing but the back of his head, I turned on my side to face away from him and closed my eyes. Now that I was off my feet, I could feel them aching. It was no big deal since I figured I¡¯d be getting the best sleep I¡¯ve had since I got here. I immediately felt the world of dreams coming to claim me, and I was all too happy to go. But just as I felt the sleep overtake me, I heard Q say one last thing to me.

    ¡°By the way¡­the number was three.¡±

    Fucking weird!

    Sometime during the night, my eyes flew open. Not so much because I couldn¡¯t sleep, but because my bladder demanded that I get up and take a leak. I was so tired I had to drag myself out of bed and stumble across the room with my eyes half opened in hopes of finding the bathroom. It took me a few minutes of fumbling in the dark, but I eventually found it. I didn¡¯t want to turn on the lights for fear of waking Q or going blind. Luckily there was a large window in the bathroom, so the moon offered me all the light I needed.

    Finishing my business and quietly washing my hands, I walked out more awake than before. I stood where Q once stood before the window, arching my back and stretching my limbs. My stomach was a bit noisy for lack of food, but that was one demand I could not fulfill. My eyes were fully open now, taking in Q¡¯s excellent view from his bedroom. There were plenty of trees in the distance, backed in the twinkling lights from the city on the horizon. A low moon hung to illuminate it all. But as picturesque as it was, the bed was more appealing than the scenery outside.

    I walked back to the bed, and I don¡¯t know why but I stopped on Q¡¯s side and stood over him, admiring every inch. He looked just as impressive as he did awake, if not more so now, for he was bathed in the perfect mix of shadows and moonlight.

    Damn, was he a sight to behold?

    Q managed to kick off his sheets and was lying on his back, his face half-covered by his long, black hair, his sculptured chest slowly rising and falling with every gentle breath. Even in his sleep, he didn¡¯t lose the charisma that made him so compelling. My eyes traced the length of his slim torso, stopping briefly at his pecs and ridiculously tight abs, stopping finally at his 2xist trunks. Those trunks were nice and snug on him, leaving little to the imagination,

    I was going to attempt to go back to sleep when I turned to look at Q one final time. That was a big mistake, for I could not look away. I felt the need to get a better look at him, so slowly and quietly, I moved closer. Even though we were face to face, his hair hid everything. So, what did I do? I carefully slipped two fingers thru the offending strands and gently hooked them behind his ear; several strands fell back into place.

    Stunning. Absolutely stunning! Those are the best words to describe the man lying beside me. He appeared as an angel or an innocent child sleeping away the night without a care in the world. Again, I don¡¯t know what came over me, but I had this uncontrollable need to run the back of my hand down the length of his face. Maybe I needed to feel him to believe he was real. I was cautious not to wake him as my fingers caressed his cheek.

    What the fuck was I doing? Why the fuck was I so compelled to do these things?

    Get a fucking grip Jacob; I told myself as I backed away from Q. I rolled on my side, closed my eyes, and begged for sleep to claim me again.

    I recall having a weird dream that night.

    There was a party in the house celebrating the pledges becoming full Brothers. Everyone was there drinking and having a good time; the place was packed from wall to wall. Alex was hanging on my arm, showing me off to all the ladies, ever so proud to be going out with a member of The Brotherhood, which bumped her status up a couple of notches.

    I remember Alex snatching me up close to her and sneaking us away upstairs. Somehow, we ended up in Q¡¯s room, tearing off our clothes like wild animals in heat. The next thing I knew, I looked up at the curtains dancing to the tune of the wind and saw him. Q was standing there amid the shadows, his face radiant in the moonless night, his eyes piercing thru me like burning daggers. He came at me like lightning, startling me out of my sleep.

    My heart was pounding, but I was relieved to be awake. I don¡¯t know why.

    My eyes remained closed, but within a few moments, I was fully aware of myself and my surroundings after clearing the sleep from my head. A smile crept over my lips; I distinctly remember how great it felt to have my arms around Alex again, feeling her chest rise and fall gently with every breath as she still slept. To feel her warmth against my body was a delight.

    Life was good!

    That¡¯s when it hit me.

    Hey, I didn¡¯t go to bed with Alex last night.

    Hell, I haven¡¯t seen her in god knows how long. Shit, maybe I¡¯m not as fully aware as I thought.

    It wasn¡¯t Alex I was hugged up against. It was my Big, a member of the Inner Circle and the head of the house.

    There have been several moments in my life when I just wanted to die¡­this was one of them. But I had to force myself to look at the bright side. Q was still asleep, which gave me time to carefully untangle myself from him before he noticed that I was trying to spoon him while he was still lying on his back.

    If he woke up, I could explain that it was just a normal reaction for me. Every time Alex and I slept together, whether we had sex or not, I always woke up in the morning spooning her from behind. And recently, with Arsen having to share that small ass bed, we were forced to spoon just to be comfortable.

    I made that argument in my head and sounded like a fool.

    Get off this guy before he wakes up, I told myself.

    Of course, when shit goes bad it goes really bad. Q stirred for a few moments and then stretched his arms out, unaware of me. That is until he put his right arm down around me.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± I heard him say softly.

    Fuck!

 The Brotherhood Chapter VIII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter VIII

    By X

    I did what anyone in my situation would do - I pretended to be asleep, completely unaware of what was happening. Still, I waited for it. I waited for him to start yelling for me to get the fuck off of him. I waited for the shove that would launch me off the bed. I waited for the barrage of explanations he would be demanding.

    Oddly enough, none of that happened.

    A few minutes passed before Q made a move; those minutes felt like a lifetime. Carefully, like a lover not wanting to disturb his beloved, Q untangled himself from me and slipped out of bed without incident. Even though my eyes were closed, I could feel him staring at me. I tried not to imagine the thoughts running thru his mind at that moment. Besides, I don¡¯t think they could stun me more than his actions. With a gentle hand, he pulled the sheets up to my chest. I realize that doesn¡¯t sound like a big deal, but it surprised me. I don¡¯t know; I guess it was the type of gesture I¡¯d expect from someone like Alex or a close friend.

    I felt Q step off the bed¡¯s platform and used the opportunity to crack one eye just enough to spy on him. He took three steps and then stopped. I shut my eye slightly, fearful that he had sensed I was watching him. I expected him to turn around, but instead, he buried his toes deep into the white shag rug, threw his arms out to the side, and stretched. Slowly, his arms moved upward until his outstretched fingers were above his head and his body balanced on the tips of his toes. He bent and twisted, popping joints and lengthening muscles in a way that looked practiced and routine.

    My eyes were wide open in full appreciation of the form before me. It was perfect ¨C from his defined muscles to the tattoo on his side ¨C simply perfect. And as much as I hate to admit it, my eyes lingered longer than usual on his butt in those tight trunks. I was jealous and oddly attracted at the same time. There I said it!

    Without dressing fully, Q stepped onto the balcony, leaving the doors open and the room alive with sunlight. Now it was my turn to stretch my limbs, wipe the sleep from my eyes, adjust my cock, and all the other shit guys do in the morning. I didn¡¯t dare go to the bathroom. Instead, I lay there watching the balcony doors, waiting for Q¡¯s return and my chance to pretend I¡¯d just woken up. Maybe it was pressure on my bladder or the anticipation of the day ahead, but time seemed to stand still. My eyes strayed about the room but repeatedly scanned the balcony entrance. A shadow, a wisp of the curtain, a simple cough¡­anything that would indicate Q was out there. I got nothing. Eventually, my mind wandered.

    I thought about my decision to join The Brotherhood, the trials of the last few days, the potion I¡¯d ingested, and Arsen. But mostly, I wondered why Q didn¡¯t scold me for ¡®snuggling¡¯ him when he woke up. Don¡¯t get me wrong; I was relieved he was so gracious about it. Since joining The Brotherhood, my life had been one awkward moment after the next - I did not need another.

    A loud bang ripped me from my thoughts and bolted me upright in the bed. Then, without warning, the wall of windows behind my head shook, scaring the living shit out of me! The rattling was fierce, pounding the glass back and forth as if hurricane winds or the heavens were trying to break threw. I was on my knees, cowering behind the bed¡¯s footboard, before the thought of moving even crossed my mind.

    My heart thundered inside my chest, the sound rivaling the glass wall now threatening to crash over my head. ¡°Holy fucking wind,¡± was all I could think to say. Then, as quickly as it started, the window fell silent again. I stood slowly and waited, expecting Q to come rushing back inside. He never did. The thought of Q being blown off the balcony crossed my mind, and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Not because I wished him harm, it was just a funny thought.

    Eventually, I got the courage to venture out onto the balcony to investigate. Common sense told me I might get in trouble; the need to check if Q was okay told me to go anyway. I squinted under the blazing morning light, giving my eyes a moment to adjust. The balcony was empty. Q was nowhere in sight. For a moment, I panicked. Shit, maybe he had fallen over the side. Then I realized the balcony wrapped around the side of the building. I followed the stone railing, looking over the side¡­just in case.

    I turned the corner and collided with Q. Literally. The force of the impact was so great it damn near knocked me off my feet. The balcony only wrapped a few feet around the side of the house. Not nearly enough length to break into a run, yet Q hit me with the energy of someone moving at full speed. And¡­I know this sounds weird¡­ but it was as if he were slightly above me when we hit.

    Luckily, his reflexes were just as quick, and he steadied me before I fell backward. It was a strange moment. My arms wrapped around him instinctively, my body was pressed into his, and our faces hovered just hairs away from each other. I could feel his warm breath against my cheeks, and I felt safe for a second as I stared into his bright eyes.

    ¡°What are you doing out here?¡± he questioned, his eyes searching my face for answers. He pulled away, but his hands lingered around my waist slightly longer than expected. I was probably reading too much into it, but it felt as if he didn¡¯t want to let go.

    ¡°I¡­I¡­you didn¡¯t come back inside,¡± I stammered. ¡°With the wind and everything, I worried¡­thought something happened.¡± Only now that I¡¯m writing those words do I realize how stupid I sounded.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks,¡± Q said, trying very hard to conceal a smile. ¡°We should get inside. It¡¯s time for you to get dressed, join up with the rest of the pledges, and get something to eat. We have a long day ahead of us.¡± He walked away, and like a devoted puppy, I followed just a few steps behind him.

    Just as I was about to enter Q¡¯s bedroom, I noticed the weather around me. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and most importantly, the air was completely still. Not even the slightest hint of a breeze brushed over my skin. As I passed thru the doorway, I ran my hand across the large pane of glass flanking the entry. It was solid. I pushed on it, positive it would move at the slightest touch. It didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Problem?¡± Q asked, glancing back at me.

    I removed my hand and quickly stepped inside. ¡°Uh¡­no.¡±

    He simply walked into the bathroom without saying a word and closed the door. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I was supposed to wait for further instructions or leave. I choose the latter.

    I met Anthony on the stairs.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up, bud?¡± he said smiling. ¡°How was your night?¡±

    ¡°Sup, Ant,¡± I shrugged. ¡°It was¡­um, interesting.¡±

    ¡°I bet,¡± he laughed and playfully bumped into me. ¡°Who did you get?¡±

    ¡°Q.¡±

    ¡°Whoa! Interesting? I¡¯d say more like scary!¡±

    ¡°No way,¡± I countered, laughing. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. For a hot second, I freaked out when I realized Q was my Big. But honestly, it wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought it would be. It could¡¯ve been a lot worse.¡± I leaned in close and whispered, ¡°At least I didn¡¯t end up with Steel.¡±

    Ant laughed.

    ¡°So, who¡¯s your Big?¡±

    ¡°Eric.¡±

    ¡°Wow. We both ended up with guys from the Inner Circle.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Ant paused for a moment like he wanted to add something more but decided against it. ¡°Um¡­hey, are you heading back to your room to get dressed?¡±

    ¡°That I am,¡± I smiled, wondering if that¡¯s what he had to ask me or something he just came up with as his cover. ¡°I guess we¡¯re all supposed to meet up to eat.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, in the dining room downstairs.¡± He slapped my back as we walked by my room. ¡°See ya in a few.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± I punched him, but he stepped out of the way, and I missed. He walked into his room laughing, and I walked into mine bragging about how I¡¯ll get him next time.

    ¡°Were you talking to me?¡± Arsen said as he slipped his shirt on over his head. I immediately noticed he¡¯d laid my clothes out on the bed for me.

    ¡°Oh¡­no. I was talking to Ant.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°What are you getting him back for?¡±

    ¡°Oh, nothing - just talking trash. Hey, thanks for taking out my clothes for me.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± he shrugged. ¡°So, who¡¯d you get?¡±

    I laughed and shook my head. This was going to be everyone¡¯s opening line today. ¡°Q.¡±

    ¡°Damn. Go you!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I was confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Oh, come off it. You know as well as I do that having the head of the house as your Big will have its advantages as a pledge and when we become full Brothers.¡±

    I liked how confident he was about our future as Brothers - I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°True, but¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts,¡± he interjected, laughing, and waving dismissively. ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can say to make me believe there¡¯s some kind of downfall to being Q¡¯s Little. So don¡¯t even go there.¡±

    I was laughing so hard that I had difficulty putting my pants on. I damn near fell off the bed. ¡°Hear me out. Being¡­¡±

    ¡°Blah, blah, blah!¡±

    I punched his leg playfully but hard enough to make him feel it. ¡°No, really¡­ hear me out.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± he agreed, although he looked skeptical. ¡°Let me hear your lame-ass reasoning.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! Like I was saying, being Q¡¯s Little also¡­.¡±

    ¡°Blah, blah, blah!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it fucker!¡± I jumped on his ass, pulled him down to the bed, and started to wrestle. Since the bed wasn¡¯t big enough to fit a small child, we fell to the floor with a loud thud. It didn¡¯t even slow us down. Our little match continued; the small area rug now served as our wrestling ring. I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I even had him at one point, but then he grabbed my ankle, flipped me over, and landed in a ¡®thud¡¯ on my chest; I was pinned.

    I was no weakling, but damn, Arsen was a lot stronger than he looked.

    My cocky ass was not about to give up, and eventually, I got out from under him. We must have been loud and banging shit around because Ant, CJ, and Nick came running in.

    ¡°What the fuck are you guys doing?¡± Those fools jumped in and separated us. Ant was holding me back like I wanted to hurt Arsen. They thought we were serious. ¡°Are you guys crazy? Fighting? Are you nuts?¡±

    ¡°Dude, calm down!¡± CJ got in between us with his hands out as if stopping traffic. ¡°You guys can¡¯t be doing this right now! Seriously! Stop!¡±

    Arsen and I looked at each other for a moment and then fell on our asses, laughing.

    Holy shit! I had never laughed so hard.

    And those three knuckleheads were standing around looking at each other like, what is going on?

    I have no clue how long we were rolling on the floor before Ant finally spoke up. ¡°Um, you guys mind letting us in on the freaking joke?¡±

    ¡°You guys!¡± I blurted out while clutching my sides in pain. It may not sound as funny now when you read it. But trust me when I say it was probably the funniest thing that had happened until then. The look on their faces was priceless. You had to be there. ¡°You think we were fighting? Come on now!¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± CJ spoke up, narrowing his eyes, ¡°you weren¡¯t fighting?¡±

    Arsen walked up behind CJ and slapped the back of his head. ¡°Course not, clown! We were just messing around.¡±

    I got dressed and walked out of our room with Arsen, leaving the guys behind, still a bit confused. Within minutes, the pledge class was lined up in the hallway, waiting for a Brother to come to get us. No one came, and we weren¡¯t sure if we were supposed to wait for someone or just head downstairs to the dining room. It was funny because we stood around looking at each other, wondering who would take the lead and make an ¡®unauthorized¡¯ move. Maybe it was bravery or boredom, but eventually, Arsen and I looked at each other like ¡®fuck it¡¯ and just headed downstairs with everyone trailing behind us.

    The dining room table was out of control. Laid out was a feast meant for kings. Each place setting had a plate of food already served up. And every dish was different than the next; it was simply a matter of finding the food that fulfilled your craving. Oddly enough, there was no fighting over plates of food. Everyone could find the perfect meal as if it were meant only for them. And in the end, each of us ended up seated next to our roommate. I¡¯m not sure if this was done on a subconscious level, but I thought it weird when I first noticed it. They knew what we wanted and laid it out for us.

    Without ceremony or even a ¡®let¡¯s dig in,¡¯ the silverware clanking against fine china filled the room and silenced our voices. I was so hungry that I wasn¡¯t concerned with making idle chatter. After a little while, I wondered who everyone else got for a Big, but the need to fill my stomach came before asking questions. Of course, food can only silence fourteen guys for so long. Eventually, the tales from the previous night found their way out between the bites of food.

    And the first guy to speak up didn¡¯t surprise me.

    ¡°Who else drank poison last night?¡±

    Everyone stopped and looked at CJ for a moment.

    ¡°What? Why are ya¡®ll looking at me like I¡¯m crazy?¡±

    ¡°For fucks sake, CJ, no one drank poison last night,¡± Mike insisted, waving dismissively at CJ like he was dealing with a child. ¡°You can be so¡­ugh.¡±

    ¡°Dude, you didn¡¯t drink from the cup thingy with your Big?¡±

    Mike rolled his eyes at CJ before answering. ¡°Of course, I did. I bet everyone did, but I can guarantee you weren¡¯t drinking poison, neutralized or otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Dude, you don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°Fuck I don¡¯t!¡± Mike tapped his finger against the table after every word to emphasize his point. ¡°Do you think the Brothers will put their lives in the hands of a bunch of fuck ups? One little slip when mixing that drink last night, and we¡¯d all be fucked right now. Shit, I wouldn¡¯t trust you with a cardboard box and a piece of string, let alone poison.¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± CJ shrugged, realizing there was no point in arguing with Mike. He was too stubborn and more like talking to a wall than anything else.

    ¡°Mike¡¯s right,¡± Xavier chimed in. No shocker there; if anyone were going to agree with Mike, it would be his roommate. ¡°I saw the same light show in Vegas once. Smoke and mirrors, my friends, smoke and mirrors.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Now that someone agreed, Mike could go back to eating his meal. All was right in the world. When I think he¡¯s not all that bad, he pisses me off again.

    I wasn¡¯t about to jump into this ¡®mentally challenged¡¯ conversion, so I kept digging into my plate, sharing a glance with Arsen every time Mike opened his mouth. I know we were both thinking, ¡®Shut the fuck up!¡¯ I just wanted to eat my food peacefully, but that didn¡¯t happen.

    ¡°Who did ya¡¯ll get for a Big?¡± Sam asked the group. Hearing Sam¡¯s voice was a surprise. The boy hardly ever says anything. But I have to admit; I was glad he asked. I was also curious to know who everyone got.

    ¡°Eric¡¯s my Big,¡± Ant took the lead, speaking with a mouth full of food.

    Arsen followed by proclaiming Shaun was his, so it continued around the table. I didn¡¯t say anything and went unnoticed for a bit. I didn¡¯t want to get the same shit Arsen gave me when I told him about Q, so I happily continued to stuff my face. It didn¡¯t take long until their attention was focused on me.

    ¡°So, Jacob¡­spill!¡± Troy insisted.

    Jason chimed in. ¡°Speaking of which, no one got Q? It would¡¯ve been awesome to get Q. Just imagine the advantage of having the head of the house as your Big?¡±

    I looked up at him, annoyed as hell. I could feel the fiery daggers shooting from my eyes. ¡°Why the fuck does everyone think that?¡± I slammed my fist down and spilled some of my drink on the table. ¡°Has it occurred to anyone that being Q¡¯s Little may not be great? Maybe you¡¯ll be expected to be that much better and on point because you¡¯ll have all eyes on you!¡±

    ¡°Holy shit!¡± CJ practically yelled, almost choking on the sausage he was eating. He managed to cough up a lung before continuing. ¡°Dude, you¡¯re Q¡¯s Little?¡± He laughed, but in a good way, and beamed with a smile like a father would when his son scores his first home run or something. ¡°That¡¯s my boy!¡± He stood up and pointed at me with his knife. ¡°That¡¯s my boy!¡±

    ¡°Sit your silly ass down!¡± I told him, throwing a carrot at him; he caught it and ate it. I looked around at the others, and I could tell some guys weren¡¯t too happy. Others didn¡¯t seem to care one way or the other. I didn¡¯t understand why those guys didn¡¯t get it. I¡¯m not complaining, but being Q¡¯s Little put a lot of pressure on me. If I fucked up, I¡¯m not only making myself and the rest of the pledges look bad, but now I¡¯ll also be making Q look foolish. Yeah, no pressure there! I refused to entertain the ¡®Jacob is Q¡¯s Little¡¯ conversion and ignored any attempts to bring it up.

    After a while, the guys kicked around some of the questions they were asked during their interviews. I wasn¡¯t sure if we were supposed to take it that far, but I had to admit I was curious to hear what some of their answers were. At first, many of the questions were the same, but the longer we carried on, the more I realized that a small group of us had not been asked all the questions.

    Then Paul asked the big question. ¡°Were you guys asked to pick someone you¡¯d dismiss from The Brotherhood?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I picked myself, of course,¡± Mike was quick to answer, his tone cocky. Leave it to Mike to think he held the only correct answer. I don¡¯t recall doing it, but I must¡¯ve made some sound of disgust that Mike was quick to pick up on. ¡°What was that for Jacob?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I picked myself too,¡± Xavier added as confidently as his roommate.

    ¡°You would,¡± I countered.

    ¡°Why? Did you pick one of us?¡± My silence was all the answer Mike needed to set him off. He threw his linen napkin at me. ¡°You fucker! You picked one of us, didn¡¯t you? What gives you the right to decide something like that?¡±

    ¡°You need to calm down,¡± Arsen jumped in seconds before I was about to go off on his ass. ¡°It¡¯s not about that, Mike.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you enlighten us, oh great one,¡± Mike sneered, ¡°If it¡¯s not about us looking out for each other and watching each other¡¯s backs, what is it about? What¡¯s this whole brotherhood thing about? Selling your bros up the river?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it, do you?¡± Arsen laughed at how simple Mike could sometimes be. ¡°You¡¯re going to sit there and tell me you¡¯d give up your spot in The Brotherhood for one of us?¡± He tapped his finger after the last few words to make his point. ¡°You¡¯d do that for us, Mike?¡± He gave Mike about half a second to respond. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so! The fact is none of us would. And if you think otherwise, you¡¯re just lying to yourself. I wouldn¡¯t do it, and that¡¯s real.¡±

    An uncomfortable silence fell on the room for a moment.

    ¡°And that, my friends, it¡¯s what it¡¯s all about.¡±

    ¡°Finally, someone who gets it.¡± I damn near jumped up and started clapping.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± CJ said.

    How could you not laugh?

    ¡°All I know is I didn¡¯t pick myself either,¡± he said.

    Arsen and I replied in unison, ¡°Then you get it.¡±

    Mike would not budge, not even an inch. ¡°You don¡¯t know any more than we do what¡¯s wrong or right. Who knows what kind of answers the Brothers were looking for?¡± Seriously, are people this dense? ¡°Assumptions and backstabbing aren¡¯t the answer, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°Holy balls!¡± I dropped my fork on the plate with a loud bang. ¡°Backstabbing? Are you kidding me right now?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, bro, that was out of line,¡± Arsen jumped in, followed by a few other pledges like Ant and Nick.

    ¡°Out of line?¡± Mike scoffed, looking at everyone else to see if they would back him up. ¡°Our boy Jacob is hanging the rest of us out to dry, and I¡¯, out of line? That¡¯s a good one!¡± Then he got all serious. With heated eyes, he pointed his knife in my direction, ¡°don¡¯t think for a second you have it in the bag just because you¡¯re Q¡¯s boy now.¡±

    ¡°Who said that?¡± I challenged, raising my shoulders in frustration and looking for some sort of rational answer. ¡°It¡¯s like two different conversions are going on at his table. Seriously, Mike, you¡¯re at a ten right now. I need you at about 2! So, calm the fuck down and stop speaking out of your ass and accusing people of shit.¡±

    If nothing else, the argument was amusing; everyone else appeared as if they were watching a tennis match - their heads went back and forth as Mike, and I volleyed jabs.

    ¡°Accuse you?¡± he laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t have to accuse you of shit. It¡¯s true. You pretty much said it yourself. Mr. Q wannabe thinks he knows who should be here and who shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    That was the end of our civil conversation, if you could call it that. Tempers flared like boiling water. He jumped out of his seat in a challenging and threatening way, and I did the same. Within seconds everyone was on their feet, arguing, pointing fingers, and taking sides.

    ¡°Sit your asses down!¡±

    That serious tone cut thru all the bullshit like a knife. Everyone stopped, knowing we were fucked. I stood there with my back to the voice, praying to God it wasn¡¯t Q standing behind me. We sat down, and I didn¡¯t even have the nerve to look over my shoulder. The guys before me saw the Brother, but I wasn¡¯t about to ask his identity. I was able to breathe easier the next time I heard him speak. It wasn¡¯t Q, but it was still one pissed of Brother.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯m not even going to get into this with you guys,¡± Shaun said. ¡°That¡¯s not what I came down here to do.¡± He stood between Arsen and me, swirling his finger over the table. ¡°But if you keep this shit up, you will not last the week.¡±

    All I had to do was look at the guys in front of me to get an idea of how pissed Shaun must have looked. The guys swallowed so hard I thought they were trying to pass a whole apple. Falling silent for a moment, he placed one hand on the back of my chair and the other on Arsen¡¯s; all you could hear was his fingers tapping against the wood.

    ¡°Ultimately, your interactions with each other and the situations we present you will decide your fate as a Brother. That¡¯s all there is to it. Believe what you want, but it doesn¡¯t get any simpler.

    ¡°For now, I want Arsen, CJ, Justin, Anthony, Sam, and Jacob to stand up.¡± We obeyed, of course, though a bit suspicious. I want everyone to give it up for these guys for passing their interviews¡­their trial.¡± He clapped, and everyone followed.

    Mike looked annoyed.

    You could feel the room¡¯s apprehension shoot through the roof when the word ¡®trial¡¯ was thrown out there. ¡°And for your information, their interview was about an hour shorter than the rest of yours. Guys, have a seat.¡± He waited until everyone was seated, then continued, ¡°why you might ask? Because we didn¡¯t have to weed thru a bunch of bullshit! The rest of you fed us line after line, thinking that¡¯s what we wanted to hear. We made it clear that¡¯s not what we want from you. What will always be the right answer, Mike?¡±

    Mike sat there like a fool, either because he didn¡¯t know the answer or was too afraid to open his mouth. And as much as he annoyed me, I couldn¡¯t blame the guy for freezing up. In the face of this kind of anger, I would¡¯ve done the same thing.

    ¡°Someone help him out!¡± Shaun shouted. A few of us, including myself, jumped out of our skin. Shaun was not a yeller, and to hear him like this chilled me.

    I was sure I knew what he was looking for, but I wasn¡¯t about to open my mouth. No way! I was surprised to see CJ step up to the plate and throw it out there.

    ¡°The truth?¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± he said in a way that felt like the world¡¯s weight was lifted from his shoulders. ¡°You guys are sitting here arguing with my Little and Jacob when I¡¯m telling you they¡¯re 100% right. Not one of you, except for CJ, would sacrifice your chance of getting into The Brotherhood for another pledge. Not one! So quit bullshitting us.¡±

    I heard what he said, but honestly, I couldn¡¯t get passed the comment about CJ. He said it with such confidence. I couldn¡¯t help but be curious about how he knew for sure.

    ¡°Being able to do that for your fellow Brother, making that sacrifice, is where we all need you to be. The truth is¡­ you¡¯re not there yet, and we truly don¡¯t expect you to be.¡± Everyone sitting across from me had their eyes glued to Shaun. ¡°If even one Brother would benefit from my departure, I would gladly leave The Brotherhood. But that¡¯s because I¡¯ve been thru hell and back with these guys¡­literally.¡± He chuckled despite himself. ¡°You¡¯re all just starting to get to know each other. The bond that makes The Brotherhood what it is, simply put, you haven¡¯t figured that out yet. This is evident by the little outburst a few minutes ago. So, you can argue all you want,t Mike, but you¡¯d be the first to give up one of the other pledges if it meant your ass. Am I right?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer, which made Shaun angrier. He simply sat there with the deer-in-the-headlights look.

    ¡°Is there another Mike in the room that I¡¯m unaware of? Answer me when I ask you a question. This is not for my benefit; it¡¯s for yours.¡±

    In a sad, pathetic voice, he nodded with shame and answered, ¡°Yes, I would.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve told you all before, and I¡¯ll tell you again¡­for the last time.¡± He put a significant emphasis on those last four words. ¡°The Brotherhood values honestly from its members above all else.¡± He paused for a second to correct himself. ¡°Well, honesty goes together with loyalty. Your truth may be different than mine, but that doesn¡¯t make it any less valid. Are we clear?¡±

    The guys just nodded¡­a bit dejectedly.

    He slammed his fist on the backs of our chairs, and I could hear him grinding his teeth behind me. ¡°Are¡­we¡­clear?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Now, finish eating because the Brothers have a lot of things planned for you.¡± He patted my shoulder gently to get my attention. ¡°I know you and Q are heading up to Logan, don¡¯t keep him waiting too long. You¡¯ll find him in the garage when you¡¯re done.¡± He started to walk away, then stopped. ¡°By the way, even though some of you passed the trial, you are all one. That means when one fails, you all fail.¡± Before the words could fully sink in, he was gone.

    ¡°Sweet¡­¡± someone mumbled, and that was the last word.

    We sat around staring down at our plates and picking at our food. No one could eat after failing yet another trail. I had a knot in my stomach the size of a bowling ball. I probably sat around for another ten minutes before I dismissed myself.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you,¡± I said, tapping Arsen on the shoulder and leaving without saying anything to the other guys; I was pretty annoyed.

    The underground garage was empty except for two rows of cars and trucks. I waited by the door for Q to show up. A Mercedes SUV started up and rolled beside me as if on cue. I couldn¡¯t see thru the passenger window because it was tinted pitch black. All I could do was jump in and hope Q was behind the wheel.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I smiled at Q¡¯s familiar face.

    We were off without the slightest acknowledgment from Q. Now, I wish I could say Q and I had this profound discussion about us, TBH, life and its meaning¡­but it didn¡¯t go down that way. It was the dullest road trip I¡¯ve ever been on. We sat there in perfect silence with just the soft music for entertainment. I glanced over at Q often to see if he was interested in starting a conversation; it was a no-go. He sat there like a statue, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

    I couldn¡¯t help but think maybe my mere presence annoyed him, or perhaps I wasn¡¯t worth talking to because of my pledge status. I doubt he¡¯d be so quiet if a Brother were sitting next to him. All I could do was sit there, watching the trees and cars pass as we flew down the highway.

    The clear skies rapidly disappeared the further north we drove, replaced by dark, gray clouds. A storm was coming, and it looked like a bad one. I¡¯m a big weather buff. I can sit in front of the weather channel for hours, learning about hurricanes, tornados, floods, tsunamis, or blizzards. I love storm clouds. I can walk under heavy rains, admiring the lightning burn across the sky. I love lightning! And the wind! The wind was so strong the jeep swayed at times.

    Anyway, back to the stupid car ride. I was so bored I nodded off a few times after we entered Rhode Island until I finally fell asleep. It¡¯s funny because in my dream, I pictured Q and I driving up to the airport and having the time of our lives; you couldn¡¯t shut him up. Those dreams stemmed from my desire to learn more about The Brotherhood and, more importantly, Q. Then my dream took a weird turn, and I found myself lying in his arms. It was strange because it kept jumping from us talking it up in the car to us lying in bed. There was nothing sexual about the dream, mind you; it was just us lying there wrapped in each other arm¡¯s like we were early that morning.

    A clap of thunder jolted me from my sleep. I hit my head against the glass and swear I heard Q chuckle, but when I looked, he was as serious as ever. I cleared my eyes, and the mini-mart we were parked next to came into focus. I wanted to ask how long I was out, but what good would that have done?

    ¡°There¡¯s a bathroom around back if you need to go,¡± he said and got out of the truck.

    Well, that¡¯s a start, at least, I thought.

    I went and did my business in the bathroom. The whole time I took a leak, I craved a Cherry Coke and a Hershey¡¯s Dark Chocolate Bar; God knows I love them both. I was thinking of asking Q if it¡¯d be okay to go in and buy some stuff quick, but then I remembered I had no money.

    I opened the bathroom door, which was almost torn off its hinges by the wind. ¡°Holy shit,¡± I laughed to myself. I was walking back, and it felt like the wind was pushing me, telling me to hurry my ass up.

    As I got into the jeep, Q stepped out again, mumbling about forgetting his cell phone on the counter. A Hershey¡¯s Dark Chocolate Bar was on my seat, and a Cherry Coke was in the cup holder. I thought it a bit odd, and I wasn¡¯t sure if it was for me or maybe Q had the same cravings. I put the bar in the center console for Q to do what he wanted.

    Q came out holding his phone to his ear and stood in front of the jeep. The wind was all over him, whipping his hair in the air and lifting his shirt, exposing his hard abs and underwear band. The kid looked like a model standing there. It was the first time I ever saw Q dressed down. He wore a simple gray t-shirt with a picture of two hands about a foot apart. The words ¡°I Swear It¡¯s This Big¡± was written between them. He wore faded, torn jeans that sagged low on his hips and a pair of black sandals. And I¡¯m not afraid to say it - his tight ass body worked those jeans like nobody¡¯s business.

    I was transfixed on him, on his figure and the perfection of it all. Don¡¯t ask me why. My draw to him was undeniable, like invisible strings pulling you closer and closer; it became more evident as I stared at him. He paced around in front of the truck, stopping once, so his back was to me. I noticed his black boxer briefs thru the slits his jeans had under each butt cheek. Those jeans reminded me of my favorite pair I wear when I¡¯m bumming around.

    Q finished his call and got into the car. His hair was blown all over the place, but all it took was for him to slip his fingers thru the black, silken threads to have each strand fall back into place. Starting up the truck, he noticed the chocolate bar in the center console and the new coke, then looked at me.

    ¡°I got those for you, Jacob. I know how much you like them.¡± He slipped into reverse and slowly pulled away. ¡°Don¡¯t look so surprised. If anyone knows your favorite snacks, it will be The Brotherhood.¡± And like before, he said nothing more to me. If he was trying to make me feel unwanted, he did a hell of a job.

    Being the big chocolate lover that I am, especially dark chocolate, I was breaking off the bar little by little to savor every piece. I didn¡¯t even bother to look in Q¡¯s direction anymore; I was enjoying the view from the passenger window just fine. The sight of planes taking off, landing, or parking was enough to keep me entertained.

    Out of the blue, Q reached over and broke off a piece for himself. ¡°I love dark chocolate too.¡±

    Somehow, that simple gesture made the day better. I was trying to hide my sense of relief and the biggest, cheesiest smile by staring out the window. I passed the bar again without even looking at him, and he broke off another piece. I was happy for the power of chocolate!

    We had a hell of a time trying to get into the airport. There was traffic up the ass. It took us about twenty minutes to get to the pick-off point. Q stopped the car in front of a tall, lean guy wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He had long, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a pair of silver-framed shades on his head. If I had to guess, I say he was California-raised. He just had that laid-back, west coast look and a nice tan. The kind of color you can only get in a place where the sun always shines.

    I knew he was the guy because Q¡¯s face lit up like a bulb when he saw him. Q politely turned to me and asked if I would get in the back seat. Obviously, I obliged. He stepped out and went around the front of the car very excitedly; I mean, he was almost jumping. He was so happy. The guy matched Q¡¯s enthusiastic smile. He wasted no time dropping the bags from his shoulder and running to Q to give him a big ass hug.

    I could hear a little of what they were saying. How happy they were to see each other, how it¡¯s been so long. Q helped him throw his stuff in the back, and they both entered the car in a whirlwind of laughter and inside jokes. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if this was the same Q. I¡¯ll admit I was a bit jealous of the attention this guy was getting from Q. I couldn¡¯t get him to say ¡®hi¡¯ to me; this guy couldn¡¯t get him to shut up.

    The second we took off, the guy turned around to offer his hand. ¡°Sup man, I¡¯m Dylan.¡±

    With a nod and smile, I shook his hand, ¡°Jacob.¡±

    He looked me over once with a smirk and then sat back in his seat. ¡°I see you¡¯re Q¡¯s new victim.¡± At first, I didn¡¯t get it. ¡°I remember being in the same situation three years ago. But don¡¯t worry, Jacob, Q makes an awesome Big.¡±

    ¡°You think so, huh?¡± Q was trying to mask the smirk on his face.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re alight,¡± Dylan laughed, forcing Q to punch his leg. ¡°Fucker!¡±

    Holy shit!

    Not even in my wildest dreams could I imagine talking to Q like that. And to see him merely laugh about it blew me away. It was amazing to see those two together. They could have easily been mistaken for real-life brothers. Admittedly, my jealousy was more intense now. Nothing against Dylan, but I so wanted that relationship he had with Q. My rational side understood that he earned it over the years, but that didn¡¯t stop me from wanting that relationship for myself.

    They talked about everything and anything. Q was different from the guy I sat next to on the ride up here. He was alive and vulnerable at the same time. The mystic, the mysterious haze around him vanished when he laid eyes on his former Little.

    All I did was sit there and listen in on their conversion. And I was right about Dylan being from California because Q asked him how he liked LA. One thing I noticed about Dylan right away was the white streak running down the left side of his head. I knew right away it was a birthmark. My cousin had the same thing from an area on his head with no pigmentation. We called him ¡®skunk¡¯ because his streak ran right down the middle of his mane of jet-black hair.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The more they talked, the more they started slipping in and out of a language I had never heard before. I¡¯m no linguist, but my parents know thirteen different languages, so I have some skill in picking out dialects. However, whatever they were speaking didn¡¯t sound the least bit familiar. The pronunciation of the words was soft on the ears, almost haunting¡­like a romantic poem whispered in your dreams. I¡¯m sure they weren¡¯t even aware they were doing it.

    ¡°How¡¯s the love life?¡± Q inquired.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Dylan shrugged. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to break it off with Nate.¡±

    Q looked at him, shocked. ¡°Really? What brought this on? You raved about how much you loved him the last time we talked. Now, this?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he repeated, sounding a bit more frustrated than before. I didn¡¯t believe it was directed towards Q necessarily, but rather that he was fed up with the situation he was in with his girlfriend. ¡°He¡¯s getting very clinging. I don¡¯t think I can take that kind of drama with the direction my life is about to take.¡± He paused a moment, perhaps waiting for Q to put his two cents in. But Q said nothing. ¡°Is that wrong?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? You have to do what¡¯s best for you. You are about to undergo a huge change; it¡¯s easy to understand why you feel the way you do. Ensure you¡¯re not using this as an excuse to run away from something. You might regret it later.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to do yet. Anyway, I don¡¯t feel like dwelling on that right now.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but there¡¯s such a tone in that ¡®fine.¡¯¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    ¡°Sure, you didn¡¯t. Anyway, how about you? How¡¯s your love life?¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°What love life? You know me, always too busy for¡­.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the problem!¡± Dylan was quick to cut him off. ¡°Life isn¡¯t all about The Brotherhood Q. Everyone knows you have a deep love and commitment to The Brotherhood, but you also have a responsibility to yourself. You need to live a little! No, a lot! You let The Brotherhood consume too much of your life.¡±

    Q laughed again. ¡°Look at you. My little bro is all grown up!¡±

    ¡°Fuck off!¡± Dylan punched Q in the arm; again, something I could never picture myself or anyone else taking. ¡°I¡¯m serious, Q. Is there no one special in your life?¡± The concern in his voice was genuine and touching.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the time.¡±

    I could almost feel Dylan roll his eyes at him. ¡°Make the fucking time, God damnit! You have a lot of good guys back at the house; you don¡¯t need to micromanage every little thing.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­I don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t. My guys are good.¡±

    ¡°Then what is the problem?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like talking about this anymore.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Dylan sounded annoyed. ¡°Don¡¯t try to shut me out just because...¡±

    ¡°Enough¡­¡± Q said simply, glancing at Dylan with a raised brow. Q¡¯s authority over him came out for the first time, and the subject was dropped.

    An awkward silence fell in the car, but it didn¡¯t last long; Q ensured that.

    ¡°Are you excited?¡± he asked with a smile.

    ¡°About what?¡¯ Q just looked at him with a ¡®duh¡¯ look. ¡°Oh! Of course, I am! Every time I think about it, I get so excited I can barely contain myself. Seriously!¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°And what makes it even better is that you¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to perform the ceremony. You have no idea how much that means to me.¡±

    ¡°Umm, about that,¡± Q said softly like he didn¡¯t want to say it. I watched him thru the rear-view mirror, and he looked nervous.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be performing the ceremony.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Dylan shouted, and Q grimaced at the sight of him. ¡°Are you fucking with me right now? Don¡¯t mess with me because it¡¯s not funny!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m serious, Dylan¡­I¡¯m sorry. Shaun will be performing the ceremony on you, but I will still be there by your side¡­proud as ever.¡±

    ¡°But I wanted to get the gift from you! As awesome as Shaun is, you were my Big, not him. It has more significance coming from you.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Q said softly, and I could tell he was pained to have caused Dylan grief. He reached over and gently rubbed the back of Dylan¡¯s neck. ¡°It¡¯s still a high honor; it doesn¡¯t matter which Brother performs the ceremony.¡±

    ¡°I know¡­It just would¡¯ve meant so much more coming from you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll still be there watching you become greater than you already are. I¡¯m so, so proud of you, Dylan.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± he said meekly, and I could¡¯ve sworn he whipped at his eyes. Was he tearing up? What was the deal? What could be so freaking important to upset him so? ¡°Can I at least ask why you changed your mind?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a frivolous decision, Dylan. Certain things just happen¡­unforeseen forces walked into my life, and suddenly I¡¯m in the middle of something I wasn¡¯t expecting. If I had known, I never would have promised you¡­.¡±

    ¡°You want to give it to someone else?¡±

    Q nodded. ¡°It depends how things work out.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Q answered in that other language, then Dylan looked over his shoulder at me, and I couldn¡¯t understand a word they were saying for the next ten minutes or so. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but for a second, I thought perhaps I was that person. But then I felt stupid for even considering that and put it out of my mind.

    ¡°Now, do you understand?¡± Q finally spoke English again.

    ¡°Yeah, I get it,¡± Dylan smirked. ¡°But now I¡¯m allowed to hate him.¡±

    They laughed, then Q slapped him in the back of the head, and all was good again.

    Before I knew it was dark out. The menacing storm clouds filled with lightning and thunder plagued the night sky, yet a single drop of water had yet to fall. We drove for a couple hours before Q pulled up to this little store and told us he had to pick something up for Eric and Charlie. The minute Q left, Dylan turned to face me, a smile playing on his face.

    ¡°So, what makes you so special?¡± he asked, but he wasn¡¯t being a prick about it. There was a warmth to his question that usually isn¡¯t present when one is being sarcastic or a straight-up dick. Regardless, I didn¡¯t understand

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    He laughed. ¡°Q very rarely takes a pledge under his wing, so when it happens, the guy has to be something pretty special.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I have no idea.¡± I felt a bit bold, so I asked him the same thing. ¡°Well, Q picked you as well¡­so what made you so special?¡±

    He liked that. ¡°Honestly¡­I don¡¯t know either. He never really said. Maybe it was the same thing I¡¯m seeing in you now.¡± He grinned and sat back in his seat. Sinking in his chair, he threw his feet on the dash. ¡°You¡¯re good people, Jacob, I can tell.¡±

    ¡°Was Q always intense?¡±

    ¡°Always,¡± he laughed loudly as if recalling a specific memory. ¡°But he¡¯s always fair. You have no idea how lucky you are to have Q as your Big. He can be hardcore sometimes, but that¡¯s because he expects the best from his people¡­especially his Little.¡±

    ¡°Sweet¡­¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t go there,¡± he said with a hand gesture. ¡°Q will never ask you to do more than you¡¯re able. He just expects you to give your best.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see him as a frat brother; he¡¯s like my real brother, and that¡¯s all there is to it. He¡¯s done so much for me it goes beyond words.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he seems like a pretty amazing guy.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it¡­but you will. Aside from Kyrios, no other Brother is as respected as Q. Let me tell you a little story. I had the chance to go with Q to meet with the council, and when¡­.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the council?¡± I interrupted without thinking.

    ¡°The head of every house sits on The Council of Brothers. It¡¯s the governing body of The Brotherhood with Kyrios at its head. They come up with the rules, laws, and regulations that make up The Brotherhood. And it¡¯s where Brothers like Q stand trial if they do something seriously wrong. They must be judged and sentenced by their peers.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s intense. Congress has nothing on these guys, let me tell you. When we walked into the council chamber, the whole room fell silent, and everyone knew that either Q or Kyrios had just shown up. I could hear whispers and guys leaning over to each other talking about Q.¡± He stopped for a moment, then turned his head to his side to see me from the corner of his eye. ¡°Everyone knows that if Kyrios were to step down or die tomorrow, God forbid, Q would be his natural successor. He¡¯s just that respected. So, I¡¯m not kidding when I say you¡¯re lucky to have him.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± was all I could say about that. ¡°Hey, you got to meet Kyrios?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no,¡± he laughed. ¡°Kyrios had the hood of his robe on, so all I saw were his lips. Anyway, the whole point of the council meeting was to discuss Q¡¯s recommendation that I receive the Gift of¡­umm, never mind.¡±

    ¡°What gift?¡±

    He shook his head no. ¡°Nothing. Here comes Q.¡±

    I so wanted to know about ¡°the Gift.¡± Something tells me it¡¯s not a pair of cufflinks.

    ¡°You were talking behind my back again?¡± was the first thing Q asked when he got in.

    ¡°Always!¡±

    For the rest of the drive, I was content to listen to their conversation and watch the lightning racing thru the sky. We drove another forty minutes before finally reaching Dylan¡¯s family home. As far as I could tell, they lived five miles passed the middle of nowhere. Dylan asked Q to come in for a few minutes to greet his parents. He agreed with little fuss.

    ¡°Hey, it was nice meeting you, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Ditto,¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let that clown push you around too much,¡± he laughed.

    Q chased him around the yard for a few minutes to get him back for the comment before heading inside. He never did catch him. I probably sat outside by myself for twenty minutes before the porch lights came on and Q appeared at the door with Dylan. They exchanged a few words and embraced in a brotherly hug before saying their final goodbyes. Q was lucky because rain hit like a bucket of water thrown on the jeep when he got in and closed the door.

    We drove off with the windshield wipers going at full speed. The thunder was deafening, and the sky was on fire as lightning blazed thru the clouds and dropped from the sky.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± I whispered, but I loved every minute. I was leaning forward, looking at the sky like a kid in a candy store.

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Q agreed. ¡°Hey, I wanted to apologize.¡±

    Suddenly, the storm didn¡¯t seem all that important. I leaned back and looked at him, a bit confused. ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°The trip up here was supposed to be our time to get to know each other better. Instead, I ignored you the whole time, and I¡¯m sorry. It was just that some stuff is happening in the house now, and I¡¯ve had a lot on my mind lately.¡±

    ¡°I understand it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°No, really, it isn¡¯t. I¡¯m sorry. I feel much better now after seeing Dylan. He has a way of bringing out the best in me and my attitude.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Apology accepted.¡±

    That was all I needed to hear to make me forget, or maybe forgive, the drive up here. His apology was sincere; I could listen to it in his voice, but most importantly, I could see it in his gray eyes. For the first time, they made me feel welcomed.

    ¡°I may not be a Dylan, but if there¡¯s anything I can do, even if it¡¯s just lending an ear, I¡¯m here.¡± I never truly expected him to take me up on my offer, but I put it out there, nonetheless.

    He smiled at me. I guess he wanted to make up for lost time because after driving for about five minutes, he got chatty.

    ¡°What¡¯s the deal with you and Mike?¡± He looked at me briefly before returning his gaze to the dark road ahead. I¡¯d say he was driving a little faster than I would have liked considering the torrential rain.

    Damn, I thought.

    That was a can of worms I didn¡¯t want to open. And quite frankly, I didn¡¯t know what the ¡®deal¡¯ was between us. I played it coy. ¡°What do you mean¡­I don¡¯t understand?¡±

    ¡°Well, it seems like you guys are always butting heads. Would you say that¡¯s a fair assessment?¡±

    I was silent for a moment, knowing there was no avoiding the question. ¡°I guess. I mean¡­I don¡¯t know¡­.¡± I think he was about to say something more but decided to give me a moment to collect my thoughts and continue. ¡°I think it¡¯s just we both have different ideas on how to go about accomplishing things. I don¡¯t think we hate each other or anything. At least, I like to believe that. It¡¯s just two different minds with two different points of view.¡±

    He nodded, scratching his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I asked with a slight laugh mingled in.

    ¡°I think two leaders are trying to emerge in this group which is a good thing; we encourage that.¡± He paused briefly, leaving me hanging and wondering where he was going with this. ¡°But the problem as I see it is¡­ two leaders are trying to emerge.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    He laughed and playfully slapped my leg. ¡°Don¡¯t you get it?¡± He switched hands on the steering wheel to extend his forefinger in front of my face. ¡°There can only be one leader, Jacob. Only one.¡±

    I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Can you imagine how chaotic things would be in the house if I had to run it with someone of equal authority? It wouldn¡¯t work, especially if we were of two different minds. Whose way is right, and who would the Brothers follow if I ordered one thing and my partner another?¡±

    ¡°I get what you¡¯re saying, but what about Kyrios?¡± I inquired in earnest. ¡°He¡¯s the boss of bosses, so what if he wanted one thing and you another?¡±

    ¡°Kyrios is Kyrios,¡± Q smiled, looking briefly at me. ¡°But it¡¯s my house.¡±

    That¡¯s all he said on the matter, but I was smart enough to pick up what he was putting down.

    ¡°So, what do I do? About Mike, I mean. Do I sit back and let him run the show or take the show and run it myself?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for me to decide,¡± he answered with a simple shrug. ¡°Guys will always want to lead; everyone has ideas and is sure they know the best ways of getting things done. But in the end, the true leader will emerge. It just depends on who wants it the most.¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡± I said meekly, suddenly sounding very ¡®un-leader.¡¯

    A few lightning strikes later, the questions continued.

    ¡°So, how are things with Alex? It¡¯s Alex, right?¡±

    I nodded, taken aback that he¡¯d even care to ask. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s her.¡± I thought about his question for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°Things are good, I guess.¡± I was getting a bit nervous, for I was sure he was leading into our little rendezvous in the janitor¡¯s closet.

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure about that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t had a chance to hang out with her since I started pledging. There might be a little strain there, but I think deep down she understands the situation.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good¡­that you have someone that understands. The role of a Brother can be a bit demanding at times. If you both have a clear understanding of the commitment you¡¯re making, then things will be a lot easier.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I agreed.

    Another moment of silence befell us, and Q was the one to break it again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be shy,¡± he said with a smile, ¡°feel free to ask me anything you want, and as long as it¡¯s within reason, I¡¯ll answer.¡±

    ¡°Cool.¡± I couldn¡¯t hide my excitement even if I wanted to. The sad thing was, I drew a total blank. Perfect timing, eh? ¡°Umm¡­uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Cat got your tongue?¡±

    ¡°No! Oh, I know what I wanted to ask.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°If you are¡­.¡± I suddenly flew out of my seat, and my head slammed into the roof. The right front tire hit a major pothole; for a moment, Q lost control. The tire exploded, leaving only the chrome rim sparking against the road. It took him a few seconds, but Q finally was able to stop the car by the side of the road.

    ¡°Fuck!¡±

    I was thinking the same thing. I was fully expecting him to order me to change the tire while he stayed inside the nice dry car, but he surprised me yet again by stepping out of the jeep and going for the spare without ever saying a word to me. I wasn¡¯t about to sit there while he did all the work, so I jumped out to help him. I stood outside for like two minutes while Q got the spare and was soaking wet. That¡¯s how hard it was raining. It was unusually hot and humid for that time of year.

    I watched Q come around the back to my side. He jerked his head to the side to whip the long hair from his face; a jet of water flew from the ends into the night, and I could¡¯ve sworn I was watching a shampoo commercial.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± he yelled and rolled the tire to me so he could get the jack.

    I went for the tire and caught it, but not before slipping on the muddy slope and landing on my ass. Two more feet or so, I would¡¯ve gone tumbling down a hill! Q peeked his head around the side and started laughing his ass off.

    ¡°You okay?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. Never better!¡± I got up and wiped at my dirty ass. I don¡¯t know why he was laughing because it was his nice leather interior that would get ruined, not mine.

    ¡°How¡¯s your head?¡± he yelled over the pouring rain and whipping winds. ¡°I noticed you got some serious airtime when we hit that hole.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure!¡± My head was throbbing a little, but it wasn¡¯t a big deal, so I wasn¡¯t going to make it an issue.

    He jacked up the front end, and I used the lug wrench to loosen all the bolts. It took longer than expected because the bar was so wet my hands kept slipping. It was making me angry.

    ¡°Shit!¡± I roared finally happened for the fifth time.

    Q, on the other hand, was enjoying my struggle. ¡°Want me to get that for you, stud?¡± he laughed.

    ¡°Oh, shut up!¡± For a moment, I cringed, thinking I¡¯d crossed the line, but Q just laughed harder. I got the rim off, and Q put the spare on and tightened the bolts. He dropped the car and told me to stand on the lug wrench to ensure all the lugs were nice and tight. The last thing we needed was for the tire to fly off one way while we went another.

    ¡°Done!¡± he proclaimed.

    I grabbed the rim and walked to the back of the jeep with Q behind me. A jolt of lightning came from nowhere and struck the light post behind the jeep. Bright orange sparks flew everywhere, and so did I, right back into Q. We tumbled down the slippery, muddy hill ¨C a blob of arms and legs rolling like two balls, leaving a gum ball machine.

    A pool of muddy water broke our fall. Believe it or not, that¡¯s where we laid for about five minutes or so. I was afraid to make the first move, so I waited. I was sure Q was pissed. How could he not be? He didn¡¯t strike me as the type who enjoyed rolling around in the mud.

    There was hope still, for the sound of pouring rain and clapping thunder was drowned out by a sudden fit of laughter from Q. So infectious was it that I couldn¡¯t help but join him. So, there we lay, the two of us with rain splashing across our faces, lost in a fit of laughter.

    It was a Kodak moment.

    ¡°Can anything else go wrong tonight?¡±

    ¡°Well, the night¡¯s still young, and we haven¡¯t officially been hit by lightning yet,¡± I answered, finally coming down from my high. I decided it was time to get up, and I had to work to sit up; it felt like the mud had claimed me and wasn¡¯t about to let go. I managed to free myself, got up on one knee, and then just when I thought myself free, I slipped again and landed on my face. Oh, the joy.

    I was laughing again, sure that Q would be laughing at me as well, but he wasn¡¯t. His face was covered in mud. I must¡¯ve kicked it up when I lost my footing. He dug two holes around his eyes and looked at me, his silvery orbs as clear and as menacing as the lightning shooting above us.

    I swallowed hard. I was shitting bricks! Then a wave of water came at me as he used his foot to throw a chunk of mud at my face.

    Oh, it was on!

    What happened next was straight out of a Three¡¯s Stooges episode. We were flinging mud at each other like it was the thing to do, and I don¡¯t know how it happened, but one thing led to another, and we ended up wrestling in the mud. The object wasn¡¯t so much to pin your opponent but to shove his face in the mud. I have to say it was the best time I had up to that point. It was just natural and spontaneous. I was so glad we had that blowout.

    I felt terrible for his truck, though, because when it was all over, we got back on the road; two dirty ass guys covered from head to toe in mud sitting on brand new leather. I would¡¯ve had a heart attack, but Q didn¡¯t seem to care. Or if he did, he hid it well.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± Q roared, reaching into his pocket to pull out his mud-covered cell phone. He took one look at it and threw it between the center console.

    At this point, I felt like I was hanging out with one of my buds, so I picked it up like it was my business. The thing was ruined, soaked, and covered in mud like every part of our bodies. Q did look pissed, but I wasn¡¯t about to let his anger take hold. I don¡¯t know what got into me, but what I did next took us both by surprise. His hair was a tangled, muddy mess, so I ran my hand through the side several times.

    We just looked at each other.

    ¡°Your hair is crusty,¡± I said matter-of-factly. ¡°You should consider some Herbal Essence or something.¡± He looked at me as if I hit my head harder than he¡¯d thought. Then he laughed, and the phone was forgotten.

    Q wanted to get some gas and use a phone to call the house. We spotted a motel when we were dropping off Dylan; he thought it best if we just stayed there for the night and let the storm pass. I agreed because it was only getting worse out there. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane. Okay, maybe not quite, but you get the idea.

    We stopped at this old gas station with the old-style pumps, which meant they didn¡¯t take credit cards, and better yet, it was closed for the night, so there was no gas for us. It was a big deal because we had plenty of gas to get to the motel, but we¡¯d have to drive back in the morning to gas up. Luckily it did have a phone booth off to the side. I didn¡¯t think those even existed anymore.

    Grabbing some change from the ashtray, Q ran for the booth.

    I sat back and watched him. He parked, so the lights were on the booth, making it easy to watch him. I saw something move by the side of the gas station, a shadow too big to be a dog or any other animals you might find in the woods. I sat up with the quickness, straining to peer thru the dark veil to make sure I wasn¡¯t just seeing things. Q had his back to the station, so there was no way for him to see it. I looked for a while, but nothing stirred, so I figured it was just me. I leaned back, relaxed, and let my eyes wander off to the side¡ªthe moment I did that, I spotted the same shade from the corner of my eye. Something wasn¡¯t right.

    I got out and ran up to Q. He put the phone to his chest and waited for me to explain myself.

    ¡°We should go!¡±

    ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± he yelled back, the lousy weather drowning us out completely.

    ¡°There¡¯s something back there.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something back there!¡±

    He placed the phone back to his ear and finished the call. ¡°Come on¡­ we should go!¡± he said.

    I just rolled my eyes. Why do I bother?

    I was running behind Q when the sound of breaking glass pierced my ears. I turned around to see this guy just smashing the shit of the phone booth with a steel bat and two other guys just standing there like that was the normal thing to do.

    Oh, fuck! I thought as I looked at Q, hoping he knew what was going on or what to do.

    I could only see his dark silhouette standing between the two bright headlights in front of the jeep. At that moment, everything appeared to be moving hundred times slower; I swear I could¡¯ve counted every drop of rain.

    The light at my feet was getting brighter and brighter. Did Q turn on the high beams for some reason? I didn¡¯t get it. I couldn¡¯t make those guys out, but one thing was for sure, they were getting closer. The light just got intense, and I turned to face Q. I remember calling out his name. I could barely see him now; the light seemed to consume him entirely. The light was too much, blinding, and overwhelming. I was falling¡­falling like a sack of stones thrown from the highest peak into a river of light.

    For the second time that night, I jumped out of my seat. ¡°What the fuck!¡± I yelled. There were hands-on me trying to restrain me. ¡°Back the fuck up! Back up!¡± I was finally pushed against the door and my arms held at my side.

    ¡°Calm down! It¡¯s me.¡±

    That voice. That face.

    ¡°That must¡¯ve been some fucking dream.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Dream?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you were sleeping.¡±

    I looked at Q like he was crazy. ¡°No,¡± I insisted. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sleeping. What happened to the guys at the gas station¡­the guys with the bats and the bad attitudes?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    He looked as confused as I felt. ¡°The guys! We stopped at the gas station to get some gas and call the house, and then these guys came out of the back woods smashing shit.¡±

    He laughed as he slipped his fingers thru my dirty, soaked hair to clear it from my sight. ¡°You were dreaming. There were no guys, Jacob.¡±

    I was shaking my head. ¡°Yeah, there was. I saw them! It was dark out, and then it was bright¡­really, really bright. A white light - like fire. You didn¡¯t see it?¡±

    ¡°No, because I can¡¯t jump into your mind.¡± He was still chuckling a little. ¡°We did stop at the station, but their pumps didn¡¯t take credit cards, and don¡¯t get me started on that whole mess. I mean, what kind of gas station doesn¡¯t take credit cards. Anyway, I made my call to the brothers to let them know we¡¯d be staying here, and then we were out. Five minutes into the drive, you were out like a light.¡±

    I was silent for a while, studying him very closely. ¡°So, there were no guys in the woods?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he assured me, shaking me gently, ¡°no guys¡­just you and me. Now come on, let¡¯s get inside and get a room for the night.

    I must¡¯ve fallen asleep because I couldn¡¯t recall getting to the motel, but we were parked in the empty parking lot.

    ¡°Weird¡­¡± I whispered as I got out of the jeep. That ¡°dream¡± seemed way too real to be all in my head. But what else could I do? I had to let it go. If Q said there weren¡¯t any guys, it had to be true, right?

    We walked into the motel with our bodies still covered in mud. It had this old country feel to it. To the left of the main room where you check-in was a little mini-mart type of place where they sold, well, shit you¡¯d find in a mini-mart. Opposite the store was a place where they sold clothes. Not the type you find at your local mall, but some old fucked up shit you see out in the country ¨C flannel, boots, and crap.

    Q rang the little bell on the counter. ¡°What the¡­¡± his words trailed off when he saw the jars of pig¡¯s feet sitting on the counter for sale for $4.99.

    The door behind the counter opened, and this little old lady who must¡¯ve been 80 peeked her head thru. ¡°Well, hello there!¡± she said with a friendly, bright smile, opening the door. She leaned back and whispered to the guy sitting in the rocking chair behind her, ¡°Get up, Joe, we got us a couple of boys at the door.¡±

    The guy got up and walked out with her. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was two hundred years old. ¡°What can I do you, boys, for?¡± He hunched forward a bit, old age not working out great for him. God bless them for still kicking, I guess.

    ¡°We¡¯d like a room,¡± Q said, and I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

    ¡°What¡¯s that you say now?¡± the old man asked, leaning forward with his hand cupped around his right ear.

    ¡°A room¡­we¡¯d like a room, please.¡±

    He leaned back and looked at Q like he was crazy. ¡°Now, why in the world would you want my broom?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no¡­not a broom¡­a room.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re looking for a groom? What¡¯s that you say now?¡±

    Q and I just look at each other like ¡®h-o-l-y s-h-i-t.¡¯

    ¡°Not groom, not a broom, a ROOM.¡± Q was just about a notch below yelling.

    ¡°They want a room, you deaf old fool!¡± the wife finally spoke.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a shame,¡± he said and patted Q¡¯s hand. ¡°Which one of you boys is deaf? I¡¯ll try and speak up for ya.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not the ones who¡­oh, just never mind. Can we get a ROOM?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, boys,¡± she said, putting her glasses on.

    ¡°Damn!¡± I said despite myself. She could easily see thru me with those thick-ass glasses.

    ¡°We are all booked up,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Booked up?¡± I spoke. ¡°But there¡¯s not a single car outside but ours.¡±

    ¡°Reservations. You understand.¡±

    ¡°No, not really.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that you say now?¡± the old man butted in again. ¡°We don¡¯t have any hot chilly. We got some cold chilly for 99 cents a can. But no hot chilly in a can. Can¡¯t put hot chilly in a can because it won¡¯t¡¯ stay hot for long.¡±

    I was just thinking ¡®O-H-M-Y-G-O-D,¡¯ and I¡¯m sure the same thing was running thru Q¡¯s mind.

    ¡°We¡¯re not looking for chilly, sir¡­just a room,¡± Q was very patient with them. ¡°Look, we¡¯ve been driving all night, the weather is getting bad out there, and we already had one tire blow up. We just want¡­.¡±

    ¡°Who threw up?¡± The man tried leaning over the corner to look at the floor. ¡°Where did they throw up? I don¡¯t smell anything. Damn cats!¡±

    I pulled Q aside and whispered, ¡°Maybe we should just go. We aren¡¯t getting anywhere right now.¡±

    ¡°Now, don¡¯t be hasty,¡± the old lady said, waving us over to her.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, you know,¡± he agreed, thou I wasn¡¯t sure he knew what he agreed to. ¡°That¡¯s some pretty fine tasty chilly. Only 99 cents a can. No hot chili in a can¡­can¡¯t put hot chili in a can, you know.

    ¡°Oh, look, we do have one room available. But¡­¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± we both said in unison.

    ¡°But the pipes don¡¯t work too good in that room, so the hot water doesn¡¯t last very long, and by the looks of it, you boys will need a good scrubbing. It looks like you were playing in the mud all night.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll take it!¡± we both said again.

    ¡°Okay, that will be 80 dollars for the night, please.¡±

    Q looked around for his wallet and remembered leaving it in the center console. Luckily, he didn¡¯t have it on him when we had our little trip through the mud. I ran out and got it for him while he settled things with the owners.

    He handed her his MasterCard, and she shook his head no. ¡°Sorry, dear, but we don¡¯t accept any credit cards after twelve.¡±

    Q got this look on his face that just screamed, ¡®that¡¯s the dumbest thing I ever heard.¡¯ ¡°Why is that?¡±

    She pointed to a sign on the counter that read, ¡°We don¡¯t¡¯ accept any credit cards after twelve.¡±

    ¡°Oh, for crying out loud,¡± he mumbled, pulling out two bills and sliding them across the counter. She slid it right back. ¡°What¡¯s wrong now?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t accept any bills larger than a twenty after ten,¡± she said simply.

    ¡°Well, why not?¡± Q had the same look going as before.

    She pointed to another sign that read¡­yep; you guessed it, ¡°We don¡¯t accept any bills larger than a twenty after ten o¡¯clock.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god, I¡¯m just going to slice my wrist right now,¡± Q said.

    ¡°What¡¯s that you say now?¡±

    ¡°Do you take checks then?¡±

    The lady pulled out a sign from under the counter and slams on the table. ¡°No checks after nine.¡±

    I walked away laughing hysterically and went to look at the clothes. I was looking thru their crap for about five minutes when Q came over dangling the keys to the room. He looked around, then looked at me.

    ¡°Maybe we should get some clothes for the drive home tomorrow. Don¡¯t feel like putting on the same dirty clothes again.¡± He looked around again. ¡°Not exactly quality stuff they are selling here.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± I laughed.

    We picked out some shorts and a couple of t-shirts. They even had some boxer briefs for sale. Granted, they were just you every day tighty whities, but it was better than the soaked ones we had on.

    We went to pay for it, and the man disappeared, but when his wife was bagging everything up for us, he returned with two cans of chili and threw them in the bag. Q didn¡¯t argue and just paid them for the chili, and we bounced up out of there. An experience I will never forget!

    Our room wasn¡¯t the penthouse suite at a five-star hotel, but it was a surprisingly decent room. I guess we were half expecting the Children of the Corn to greet us at the door. There was a nice-sized TV on the dresser and a queen-sized bed next to a nightstand with a lamp and phone. Q wasted no time heading for the bathroom, peeling his dirty shirt off and throwing it to the side.

    ¡°Wow,¡± I laughed.

    ¡°What?¡± he looked at me over his shoulder curiously.

    ¡°You have a black streak of mud running down your spine.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not looking very GQ at the moment yourself, buddy!¡±

    I stood at the foot of the bed, watching him adjust the water in the shower. He came back out, unzipping his pants. ¡°She wasn¡¯t kidding. The water is lukewarm, and I can already feel it getting colder.¡±

    Now as cool as he¡¯d been, I knew he wasn¡¯t going to give up going first and that I¡¯d be stuck showering in the freezing water. ¡°It¡¯s okay; I¡¯ll deal with the cold-water issue when I get there,¡± I offered.

    He laughed and stepped out of his pants. Damn, only someone like Q can make mud look sexy. ¡°You know, you don¡¯t have to freeze your ass off in the shower. You¡¯re more than welcome to jump in with me. Granted, not that much room, but I think we can manage.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Would I offer if I wasn¡¯t?¡±

    He made a great point, so I also stripped down to my boxer briefs. Q gave me a once over before turning back into the bathroom. I¡¯ll admit I was a bit uneasy about the situation. Don¡¯t get me wrong; I wasn¡¯t about to back out, for I¡¯d take lukewarm over freezing water any day, but it made me feel odd. I was about to shower, not so much with another man because I¡¯ve already done with Arsen, but this was Q. He was my Big; he held a lot of power in the Brotherhood, and quite frankly, I looked up to him.

    We stood side by side in front of the mirror, just laughing it up because we looked a damn mess. Then quite suddenly, Q dropped his boxer briefs and bent over to activate the shower. I gasped slightly but not loud enough for him to hear me. I was staring at his reflection in the mirror, and I guess you could say I was kind of admiring his naked ass. I now understood why he filled out his jeans and underwear so nicely.

    He got the shower going and jumped in. Instantly, I could see the streams of black water running down his lean, chiseled frame. ¡°You coming or what?¡± I didn¡¯t hear him the first time because I was too busy looking at the big piece of meat between his thighs; even soft, it looked huge to me. ¡°Jacob?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­yeah, I¡¯m coming.¡± The second I took my boxers off, I felt a twitch in my cock, and all I could think of was ¡®Fuck! Not now.¡¯

    He was already shampooing his hair when I got in behind him. And believe me, I got in quick because I didn¡¯t want him to look over and see anything rising. All I could do at first was watch him soap up because we only had a single bar to share. I was breathless watching him, admiring his lovely firm mounds as his soapy hands slipped between them. I realize he wasn¡¯t doing it for my benefit but watching him was highly erotic.

    At one point, he bent down a little and put his leg up on the tub so he could clean them up; his ass ended up only a couple of inches from my semi-hard cock. I just had to look up while he was bent over to let the cool water hit me in the face. It felt great to feel the dirt slide off my body.

    Q stood back up and was covered in suds from head to toe except for his back which was still stained here and there. But he had no problems passing me the bar of soap over his shoulder and asking if I¡¯d clean up his back for him. What was I going to say? No?

    I lathered up my hands and worked them around his back, keeping the soap bar in my right palm. After a while, I stopped thinking about it and allowed my hands to go where they wanted. I went down low on his back just above his ass even though it didn¡¯t need much attention, but as I said - my hands had a mind of their own.

    He adjusted the nozzle, so the water was on him again and seemed to enjoy the feeling of having the dirt and grime wash away. I watch the shampoo suds travel down from his hair, down his spine, between his ass crack, and finally down his legs. Thinking back on it now, I¡¯m surprised I wasn¡¯t fully boned by then. Instead, I was still semi-hard.

    Without warning, Q spun around to rinse his back; his cock brushed up against mine and continued to do so as he rinsed himself off. It was his cock hugged up against mine the whole time, and it didn¡¯t seem to bother him. Maybe because it wasn¡¯t a sexual thing for him. It was just two guys showering together in a small space, so shit like that was bound to happen. I could¡¯ve, or more to the point, should have backed up some to avoid contact¡­but I didn¡¯t.

    He leaned back a little to get his hair under the water again, forcing his pelvis to push forward into mine. Honestly, I just stood there with my eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the water on my face and his manhood against mine.

    I was off in another world when Q finally spoke. ¡°Alight, Jacob, you get in front now. I¡¯m good.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­oh right.¡±

    He placed his hands on my hips to get around me; there was very little room to do this, so our cocks were pressed against each other. As we passed, our eyes met, and lips almost brushed; I felt his heat against me. I was so glad to be in front with my back to him because, by this time, I had a fucking raging hard-on; my dick was throbbing between my legs, and I didn¡¯t want him to see it.

    I did the same thing he did, shampooing my hair and then lathering up. I wondered if he was standing behind me, admiring my body as I did his. I¡¯ll never know because I wasn¡¯t about to ask him. Could you imagine? ¡°Hey, are you checking out my ass?¡± That would¡¯ve been funny!

    ¡°Pass me the bar,¡± he said when I was soaped up. ¡°Fair is fair.¡±

    And with that, he worked my back as I did his. I loved the feel of his hands on my naked skin. He was gentle like an old, familiar lover. I didn¡¯t want him to stop, which made me even harder. I wanted so badly to reach for my dick and just give it a few quick strokes but couldn¡¯t exactly do that at the time.

    Q wasn¡¯t shy about anything. He worked my upper and lower back, the sides of my thighs, and even went as far as sliding his soapy hands over my ass cheeks. I didn¡¯t mind one bit, but I was taken aback by his action.

    When he was done, he asked if I was going to turn around to wash off my back, to which I replied, ¡°No, I¡¯m all set, thanks.¡± Putting my head down, I leaned forward and let the water run down my back. He laughed and helped me out by rinsing my back for me. I¡¯d be too embarrassed to turn around with a big bone stabbing him in the stomach!

    The water was getting cold by now, which helped bring my boner down a size or two. Q got out, and I waited for him to leave the bathroom before stepping out. I looked in the mirror, shaking my head in disappointment. ¡°You idiot,¡± I whispered as I started at the stranger looking back at me. ¡°Keep it together.¡±

    I came out with a towel around my waist to a funny site. Q was pulling on his boxer briefs, mumbling about how cheap they were and how they were riding up on him.

    He looked back at me, smirking. ¡°You won¡¯t be laughing when they¡¯re riding up on you into places you didn¡¯t even know you had.¡± He threw me the other pair, and they hit me in the face. ¡°There you go, stud.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to drop my towel because I was still semi-hard, so I put them on with the towel still around my waist. He looked at me funny, then laughed and walked over to the bed to pull back the sheets.

    ¡°I can sleep on the floor if you want,¡± I offered.

    ¡°And why would you do that when we already shared my bed once? Don¡¯t be stupid.¡± He snorted, ¡°Listen, I¡¯m too tired to argue, so do what you want.¡± He slipped into bed and turned the lights off.

    I was hoping we¡¯d talk some more, but it didn¡¯t look like that was going to happen, so I jumped into bed with him, hoping we¡¯d talk on the way home in the morning. I lay there staring out the window, watching the bright light flashes. The light brought me back to the gas station. I couldn¡¯t believe it was just a dream. It felt so real. But I only thought about it for a hot second because I wasn¡¯t about to drive myself crazy over it. Within minutes I was fast asleep.

    I can¡¯t say I slept for long. Have you ever had that feeling come over you that you¡¯re being watched? That¡¯s how I felt. I slowly opened my eyes to see Q leaning on his elbow, staring at me, his eyes soft and sparkling like diamonds under a jeweler''s bright light. We didn¡¯t say anything to each other for the longest time; our intense gaze said it all.

    A sly smile appeared on his face as he reached down, brushed my long bangs from my eyes, and hooked them behind my ear just like I did to him the night before; he ran the back of his hand gently down the side of my cheek.

    ¡°Holy shit, you were awake last night?¡±

    He simply nodded, and his perfect smile widened slightly, showing a hint of his white teeth.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say something? Why didn¡¯t you beat my ass?¡±

    Do you know what his answer to me was?

    In the softest, most likable voice anyone could muster, he said, ¡°You are beautiful.¡±

    Do you know what my response to him was?

    ¡°What¡¯s that you say now?¡±

    He laughed his ass off at that one. I wasn¡¯t so much laughing as worried my heart would tear itself from my chest; it was beating so hard. Not to mention my cock was slowly but surely getting harder. I felt his leg pressed against mine, and as if some alien force took me over, I parted my legs further so he could slip in-between them.

    ¡°Is this for real or just another crazy dream?¡±

    ¡°This is a dream come true,¡± he assured me, slipping his fingers thru my hair. I wanted to melt into him at that moment. Nothing else mattered in the world. It was just Q and I.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t say or react sooner, but it wasn¡¯t easy considering our positions with The Brotherhood. I know how you feel about me because I share those same feelings about you.¡±

    I was taken aback that he knew! I sank deeper into my pillow just looking at him.

    For a moment, I could tell he was worried. ¡°Oh man, if I¡¯m wrong, I¡¯m so sorry!¡± Q pulled away and was slipping his leg from between mine.

    I quickly placed my hand on his hip to pull him back and locked my legs around him so he couldn¡¯t escape. ¡°No, it¡¯s not that! It¡¯s not that at all!¡± I fell silent for a moment to try and find the right words. Having those loving eyes on me didn¡¯t help my concentration at all. ¡°I guess I¡¯ve always had a thing for you but wasn¡¯t quite sure how to handle it. I think I convinced myself that it was just me looking up to you when I knew it was deeper than that. It was hard to get a handle around my feelings.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± he said.

    ¡°This¡­ isn¡¯t supposed to be happening. I mean, you¡¯re a guy, and I¡¯m a guy, and we¡¯re both guys, and this just doesn¡¯t happen.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± he said simply. ¡°Guy? Girl? What difference does it make? The feeling is all that matters. Jacob, you blew me away the moment I saw you. You put a spell on me, I think.¡±

    I laughed a cheesy laugh. ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Because you were right when you said this shouldn¡¯t be happening. But not for the reason you said, not because we¡¯re both guys, but because I¡¯m your Big and you¡¯re my Little. This shouldn¡¯t be happening because I¡¯m the head of the house, and you¡¯re a pledge in that house.¡± He put his finger to my lips to silence me before I spoke. ¡°But I didn¡¯t want to be a fool and not act on my feelings. I wasn¡¯t going to miss something amazing because I was afraid of what might happen.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to think I expect you do anything just because of my position as head of the house. That¡¯s not what this is about. Nothing happens unless you want it to, Jacob. Nothing.¡±

    What else needed to be said? This was unexplored territory for me, but I was willing to explore it with Q. As natural as it is for me to breathe, I slipped my hand behind Q¡¯s neck and pulled him down onto my lips. He kissed me like I¡¯ve never been kissed before, not by Alex or anyone else. There was intensity behind his kiss, a passion that was overwhelmingly real to me.

    When he pulled away, I had to ask, ¡°Is this a dream?¡±

    ¡°Anything but.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand, though,¡± I said. ¡°Why me? I never picked up on you being into me. I¡¯ve had plenty of guys hit on me, so normally, I can tell. I got nothing from you.¡±

    ¡°Cocky much?¡± he laughed. ¡°Am not just any guy, Jacob, and you caught my eye the moment I saw you; I just couldn''t show it. You¡¯re smart, caring, funny, and unafraid to take control when the situation demands it. I¡­¡±

    I shut him by pulling him in for a long, passionate kiss.

    Before I knew it, Q was in-between my legs completely, chest to chest, crotch to crotch. I don¡¯t know who started it first, but as we kissed, we started grinding our covered cocks into each other. I loved the feel of his hard cock against mine. My dick was begging to get out, and I felt my boxers getting wet from the precum my cock was pumping out. I held back, for I wasn¡¯t sure how far we would go.

    He kissed my neck and then nibbled on my ear, which drove me nuts. I ran my hands up and down his back, feeling him squirm when I tickled his spine from time to time. I did go as far as squeezing his ass before I slipped my hands into his boxers to grab hold of his firm cheeks. I was moaning in delight, forcing him to grind harder against me, loving every kiss he bathed me with.

    ¡°I¡¯m so fucking hard,¡± I said. We were so hard that our cocks popped out the top of our boxer briefs. ¡°I want to stroke.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± he whispered back as he licked my ear. ¡°But do you want to stroke, or do you want me to stroke you?¡± His deep, seductive voice had me mesmerized; he could¡¯ve asked me to do anything I would¡¯ve done it without question.

    ¡°Stroke me¡­¡±

    He grinded hard against me, milking the precum out of our cocks, and bit my ear gently. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Stroke me¡­stroke my cock¡­please.¡±

    Taking a fist full of my hair, he pulled my head back so he could lick me from the base of my neck, over Adam¡¯s apple and chin, until he finally kissed my lips.

    ¡°Do you want me to stroke you,¡± he stopped to kiss me, ¡°fast,¡± he kissed me again, ¡°or slow.¡±

    ¡°Fast.¡±

    ¡°You sure about that?¡± he asked as he slipped his right hand between us to take hold of my precum-covered cock.

    ¡°Fuck yeah.¡±

    So, what does he do? He grips me hard and strokes me methodically slow. He knew how to work me because I was going nuts! I wasn¡¯t about to ask him if I could go for his meat; I worked my hand from around his ass, pulled his boxer briefs down under his balls, and stroked his dick. I knew he loved it because I felt his body shudder against me after the first few strokes. The sounds of beating cocks filled the room, and the smell of pre-cum was definitely in the air.

    I didn¡¯t even realize it at first, but he stopped stroking me at some point and was just holding my cock tightly while I fucked his fist. I did the same for him and loved the feel of him fucking my fist. Eventually, I just took both our big cocks, pressed them together by wrapping my hands around them, and we jointly fucked my fists.

    ¡°This is fucking hot,¡± I moaned loudly. ¡°Fuck my fist, Q¡­fuck it like you¡¯re fucking my ass.¡± The fact that I said that didn¡¯t hit me until the following day.

    That got Q fired up, for he went to town, slamming his cock into my fist.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to cum,¡± I told him.

    ¡°I¡¯m with you,¡± he said.

    I was moaning like a banshee while Q was as quiet as a mouse. We locked eyes and didn¡¯t look away, not even for an instant. It¡¯s funny because I noticed we both bite our lower lips when we¡¯re about to cum.

    Q fired the first shot; a wade of his cum exploded under my chin. My first load went flying over my head and the headboard. We both released load after load of thick milky cum, covering my chest and stomach utterly. I stroked us a few more seconds to squeeze the last few drops from our dicks before throwing my hands out to the side, totally spent. Q, on the other hand, has other ideas.

    He started to kiss me again, and I was happy to return the favor. ¡°It¡¯s not quite over yet,¡± he declared.

    ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s¡­.¡±

    He grabbed my stiff cock and started stroking me like it was the last hand job he¡¯d ever give.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I yelled, arching my back and gripping a fist full of sheets. My dick was so sensitive, and he went to town on it. ¡°Fuck! Q stop!¡± I had to force the words out after every breath. ¡°Please¡­no more! I can¡¯t take it!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t listening.

    The more I begged, the faster and harder he worked me over. I thrashed around like a fish out of water, whimpering like a puppy begging for some attention. He licked my neck, then scooped up his cum with his tongue and kissed me; I sucked on his tongue like a lollypop. His cum was thick and sweet, and I craved more. He must¡¯ve read my mind because he went down to my chest, scooped some of our mixed cum up with his tongue, and brought it to my lips. I was in heaven!

    He sat back on his heels, pulled me up, so my ass was on his lap, and continued working my cock over. From time to time, he would stop and just swirl his thumb around the extremely sensitive head.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I screamed because it hurt so good!

    He reached down and put his free arm around me to pull me, so I sat on his lap. As we kissed, I wrapped my arms and legs around him, and he jacked my cock. Never in my life have I moaned and whimpered as I did that night. Luckily the motel was empty because I¡¯m sure people would¡¯ve been knocking our doors down to get me to shut the fuck up.

    I ended up exploding before I could even warn him; the second time around was way more intense. And just for the record, Q made me cum a third time before we finally showered again and went to bed.

    The following day, I woke up late in the afternoon with Q spooning me from behind, holding me tightly against his warm body. I was content to lie there all day and not move for fear of losing the moment if I slipped from his arms. I was afraid I¡¯d wake up with regret, feeling dirty and ashamed, but none of those feeling crept into my mind. The night before felt right, and there was no denying it. I don¡¯t know when or how it happened, but my world switched upside down. Suddenly, that was all I wanted ¨C to lay there with him. My only fear was that it wasn¡¯t real¡­that it was all a dream.

    Of course, I already had my morning wood going like I always do when Q began to stir behind me. I could tell he was at least semi-hard because I felt his package against the crack of my ass even though we had our underwear back on.

    ¡°Morning,¡± he grumbled, kissing the nape of my neck.

    ¡°Mmmm¡­morning.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you sleep?¡± Gently, he caressed the length of my chest and stomach with the back of his hand.

    ¡°Like a rock,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Speaking of which.¡± I could feel his mischievous grin against me as he slipped his hand into my underwear. He wrapped his fist around my cock and slowly stroked me.

    ¡°Fuck that,¡± I said, laughing, and put my hand over his. ¡°Not now. My dick is too sore after last night.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± he laughed with me. He was slipping his hand out when I stopped him.

    ¡°Where are you going? Just because I don¡¯t want to be stroked right now doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want you to hold on to what¡¯s yours.¡±

    He laughed harder and kept his hands down my boxers, absently fondling me while we talked. It was great!

    ¡°Do you regret last night?¡± Q got all serious on me, which freaked me out for a moment.

    ¡°Why do you?¡±

    ¡°I enjoyed every moment and wouldn¡¯t change a thing. But I don¡¯t want you to feel like¡­.¡±

    I stopped him by rolling over so we were staring into each other¡¯s eyes, intertwined in each other¡¯s arms and legs. ¡°I can¡¯t explain what happened last night or why it did. I just don¡¯t know. I do know that I have no regrets. None. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m about to wake up from this dream any minute now, and you won¡¯t be here¡­holding me.¡±

    ¡°This is anything but.¡±

    We fell silent for a long time, stealing a kiss here and there but mainly just looking into each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°What happens now?¡± I finally asked. ¡°Where do we go from here? How do things change now?¡±

    Before he could, he answered, Q sat up like a rocket and then got out of bed. I was freaking out because I thought I had said something wrong. I did not want to mess this up.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What did I say?¡±

    He went for the door, and then someone started pounding the shit of it; whoever it was called out his name. Q opened the door to find Shaun and Seth standing there.

    ¡°There you are!¡± Shaun said as if Q just being there had made his whole day.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he inquired.

    Before answering, Shaun looked past Q at me, then back at Q, and kind of looked him over once as if to say, what have you been up to?

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong,¡± Q repeated, a bit annoyed this time.

    That snapped Shaun out of it. ¡°There¡¯s been an incident.¡± Shaun looked at me one last time before returning his gaze to Q. ¡°We need you back at the house now.¡±

    I was in a daze, confused about what was going on.

 The Brotherhood Chapter IX

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter IX

    By X

    Everything happened so quickly.

    Something was seriously wrong back home, but that was all I could pick up. As I rushed and fumbled to get my clothes on, Q seemed to melt into his effortlessly. Around me, the dialog was once again spoken in that unknown language, and while I couldn¡¯t make out a single word, seriousness and anger oozed from each mysterious syllable. Q was encircled by the Brothers, while I was dismissed. Seth instructed me to go downstairs to Q¡¯s jeep, where a Brother was waiting to drive me home. I had no say in the matter and never got the chance to say two words to Q before I was rushed off.

    I looked at our motel room door before entering the jeep. I was half hoping Q would step out of the room just to say goodbye. The truth is, I would¡¯ve settled for a wave from the window. I can¡¯t believe something as stupid as that bugged me. I could¡¯ve slapped myself.

    Even with all the mayhem and excitement, the bizarre lack of cars in the parking lot caught my attention. A beat-up Chevy that hadn¡¯t moved in months, maybe years, sat in the far corner of the lot. Other than that, we were alone. If this Brother was going to take me back to the house, how would the rest of them get back? Better yet, how did they get to the motel in the first place? The whole situation had an aura of weirdness that made me uneasy.

    The Brother in the jeep wasn¡¯t someone I recognized, which didn¡¯t surprise me. I knew I had yet to meet everyone.

    He didn¡¯t say jack to me. The second I closed the door, he started the engine and took off like a bat out of hell. I thought I was going to have to be peeled off the window. I managed to stop him before he took a right onto the highway.

    ¡°Hey, you might want to take a left instead. You need to get gas,¡± I told him. ¡°Q tried last night, but the gas station was closed. It¡¯s about fifteen minutes down the road, but I think it¡¯s the only place around.¡±

    He didn¡¯t say a word. We just sat at the motel exit as he stared out the window as if what I told him required much thought. Let¡¯s see¡­The jeep was low on gas, the nearest gas station was fifteen minutes down the road, and he was debating what he should do like I¡¯d made this up. Was taking advice from a pledge so beneath him? God, I hate arrogant pricks. I was tempted to yell, ¡°what the fuck is there to think about?¡± But I knew better, so I bit my tongue and waited.

    ¡°Finally,¡± I whispered as he took a left out of the motel. Let me make it clear - not a single word was ever spoken between us, not then or at any time during our return trip. I would¡¯ve loved the opportunity to get to know another Brother, but he did not feel the same. And I, being the ¡®lowly pledge,¡¯ wasn¡¯t about to spark up the conversation. Fuck him. I was more than happy to find something else to concentrate on.

    It didn¡¯t take long.

    Our brief trip to the gas station was uneventful. And by ¡°fairly,¡± I mean ¡°completely.¡±

    However, just as we pulled away from the station, a mangled metal frame with shards of broken glass caught my eye. At first, it seemed like a piece of lost art ¨C almost purposely poised. But then, as my silent chauffeur turned, I caught it from a more familiar angle. It was a phone booth. The phone booth from my dreams ¨C and it was smashed to shit! I was stunned and confused. It made no sense. Did something happen that night? Something Q didn¡¯t want me to know about? And if so, how do I begin to explain passing out and waking up in the truck without any real memories? Not to mention Q - he confirmed it was all just a dream. Why would he do that? Why lie to me about the lost time?

    I leaned against the glass and mouthed, ¡°Not again.¡± So many years had passed since my last episode I almost forgot¡­almost forgot what made me so different from ordinary people. I find it difficult to express it on paper, so I won¡¯t¡­at least not yet. All I can say is it¡¯s incredibly unsettling to know you¡¯re missing part of yourself, especially when the first ten years of your life are nothing but a dark veil.

    The ride home was difficult. My mind was consumed with the events of the previous night; the lost moments, the time I spent with Q, the intimacy we shared, and what it all meant. The silent Brother ushering me home was no help, but perhaps the quiet served a purpose. I was left alone with my thoughts for most of the trip, scrutinizing every detail down to the way Q gazed at me. I couldn¡¯t make sense of any of it. It was like trying to analyze a dream that felt real even when common sense told you otherwise.

    And now that the moment was over, I couldn¡¯t place my feelings.

    Seriously, where did last night come from? I didn¡¯t know whether I should be excited, afraid, or maybe both. Excited because I was heading down a path I¡¯d never been on and fearful because I couldn¡¯t see where the trail was taking me.

    Not to mention the fact that I was getting hot and heavy with another guy. Whether or not I wanted to admit it, I enjoy it. What did that say about me? I¡¯ve never been with a guy, and I know many guys say this, but honestly, the thought never crossed my mind. The whole gay thing is not¡­was not¡­ my scene. Don¡¯t get me wrong; I have nothing against gays; hell, I¡¯ve hung out at more than one gay bar in my time, but always with Alex. And always for the high-energy vibe, the clubs exude. And the guys, gay or straight, were always cool as shit. But me one of them? Never. Yet I was sitting in that truck driving home with a very intense and vivid image of another guy burning in my mind.

    I realized my life had just become a hundred times more complicated.

    Alex! Suddenly that name came screeching down to the forefront of my thoughts like the Hollywood sign set ablaze. What did this mean for the two of us? How could I look at her again and profess love knowing what I did? How could I expect her to trust me after what happened? Granted, I wasn¡¯t planning on leaving her a post-it or emailing her the details of my encounter anytime soon, but I still felt terrible about it.

    I held back a small laugh. Stop being such a drama queen; I scolded myself. ¡°It was one fucking night!¡± So, Q got down and dirty with his Little. Big deal! He¡¯ll probably get back home and get back to his everyday life and forget our little encounter ever happened. I needed to believe that to save myself a lot of trouble and grief. Simply put, all this shit out of my mind and chuck it up to some bad judgment on both our parts.

    The Brother¡¯s loud ass cell phone snapped me back to reality. I wanted to turn to him and say, ¡°Damn, deaf much? Turn that shit down!¡± But of course, I talked all the smack I wanted in my head but didn¡¯t dare speak any of it out loud. I wasn¡¯t a crazy fool after all!

    He answered the phone calmly and then proceeded to fly off the handle.

    ¡°Tell me about it!¡± he shouted into the phone, gripping it so tightly I heard the phone cracking in his hand. He let out what could only be described as a ¡°roar,¡± then slammed his fist on the steering wheel. ¡°I¡¯m so fucking pissed right now - you don¡¯t understand!¡±

    Great. I was stuck in a truck with an angry fool whose lead foot got heavier with every foul word he spewed. I watched each passing streetlight fly by my window with increasing speed.

    ¡°Shit¡­I¡¯m so pissed right now I don¡¯t know what to do with myself,¡± he ranted. ¡°I just want to ram this fucking truck into something to feel like I¡¯m doing damage somewhere!¡±

    Fuck that!

    That fool better have enough sense to pull over and let me off Satan¡¯s ride before he becomes a stunt driver. You best believe I checked my seatbelt to ensure that fucker was on securely.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe they went this far!¡± Now that piqued my interest immediately. Who were ¡°they,¡± and what did ¡°they¡± do? I heard the Brother take a deep breath and push back against his seat. He suddenly appeared calm and collected. The jeep even slowed a bit. ¡°Haven¡¯t I been saying we¡¯ve become too relaxed over the years?¡± He fell silent as he listened and nodded to what the person on the phone was saying. ¡°Yeah, I get that, but still¡­I¡¯ve told Q repeatedly that we need to step up our game. He refused to listen, and now look what happened. They come at us like this?¡± He paused once again, but only briefly. I was sure he was now interrupting the other guy. ¡°I know it¡¯s Q¡¯s call. What do you think - I¡¯m fucking stupid? But if he had acted sooner, the¡­.¡±

    I think that¡¯s when he remembered he wasn¡¯t alone in the truck, for he turned his head a little and looked at me through the corner of his eye. And what do you know? He starts speaking the same language Q, and Dylan spoke the day before. That was the end of me being noisy. He switched between the two languages from time to time, and I¡¯d pick up a word here or a phrase there, but it wasn¡¯t enough to commit to memory. The moment he ended the call, it rang again. I¡¯d say while we were doing Mach ten down the highway, he got at least eight more calls by the time we got home. And although I couldn¡¯t understand what they were talking about, I knew it was about why they needed Q to return.

    We got home in half the time it took us to get there, which wasn¡¯t surprising considering I was riding with Mr. Lead Foot. The road leading up to the Brotherhood house was alive with people. That just served to intensify my curiosity. As we turned the corner to bring the house into full view, a large fire truck came around and almost forced us off the road. If the Brother flinched in the slightest, I never saw it. On the other hand, I was trying to force my heart to come up from the pit of my stomach, but it only sank deeper the second I saw it.

    The house had gone up in flames.

    Okay, maybe I¡¯m being a little overdramatic about the situation. I mean, it was still standing. And from what I could see, most of the house seemed okay, but the very far right portion of the front of the house was nothing more than cinders. Most of the house was covered in soot, which I think attributed to it looking much more damaged than it was. There was a crazy amount of people standing in the open fields around the house who didn¡¯t belong there. I wasn¡¯t a full Brother yet, but I felt protective over that broken building. Just seeing our beautiful home in that condition pissed me the fuck off! And seeing all the onlookers standing around made everything worse. The sinking feeling in my stomach turned into anger, and I didn¡¯t know who to direct that rage towards. Had this been some unfortunate accident, I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve been as upset, but I knew ¡°they¡± had something to do with it. Somebody was responsible for this shit, and I was ready to knock some heads.

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself. Those words flew out of my mouth without realizing I had said anything. It wasn¡¯t until the Brother was like, ¡°tell me about it,¡± that it hit me that outburst came from me. I was just sick to my stomach with rage. This was the house I¡¯d been living in. This was the house I was planning to spend the rest of my college career in. This was the house I respected as if it were Q himself, and ¡°they¡± pissed all over that.

    A cop dropped the yellow police tape as Q¡¯s truck approached. Beyond that line stood a large group of guys in TBH jackets. I discovered later that many of those Brothers were former alumni who lived in Connecticut and the surrounding states. Damn, when news of this got out - it got out!

    A Brother came up to the truck and tapped his ring on the driver¡¯s side window. ¡°It¡¯s about time you got here, Jacob.¡± No, he wasn¡¯t talking to me. As it turned out, I shared the same name as Lead Foot.

    ¡°I got here as fast as I could,¡± He answered, looking tentatively around the grounds. ¡°How are things going?¡±

    ¡°Well, they started letting people into the house about an hour and a half ago once they declared the house structurally safe.¡±

    Jacob nodded slowly. ¡°How is it inside? Is it bad?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know,¡± he shrugged as he looked over at the house. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to get inside yet because¡­.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    The Brother looked at Jacob as if to say, ¡°I was about to tell you, fool!¡± It was pretty funny. ¡°Q doesn¡¯t want a million people running around inside right now, so he asked us to stay outside for now unless you live in the house.¡±

    Q¡¯s already here? I remember thinking. And I hate to admit it, but I felt a flutter in my stomach the second I heard his name.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m going in then,¡± Jacob announced and got out of the truck.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what I was supposed to do, so I followed him inside. I didn¡¯t see any other pledges standing outside, so I assumed they were inside. I was pleased to see I was right. I first noticed Ant, Arsen, CJ, and Sam huddled together in the living room, trying to stay out of the way. I went right up to them, forgetting about the other Jacob completely. I gave them some love, as friends do when they see each other and asked them what was going on.

    ¡°No idea, dude,¡± CJ shrugged. ¡°Someone tried to set the house on fire.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, because I didn¡¯t pick up on that when we pulled up to the house,¡± I snapped. Arsen shot me a dirty look instantly, and I got why. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, CJ, I didn¡¯t mean to¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, bro,¡± he smiled. ¡°I get it. We¡¯re all a little worked up right now.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± I agreed, clenching my fist. The house smelled like smoke; water dripped from the ceiling and ran down the walls. I couldn¡¯t tell how bad it was because the fire started somewhere on the second or third floor way over on the east side of the house. ¡°I¡¯m so pissed I want to punch something or someone. Seriously!¡±

    ¡°I hear you,¡± Arsen added.

    ¡°Any idea as to who did this?¡± I asked them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Arsen shrugged. ¡°The only thing I¡¯ve been able to pick up is that ¡®They¡¯ had something to do with it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I hear the same thing, but ¡®they¡¯ who?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Sam jumped in. ¡°That¡¯s all the Brothers keep saying. ¡®They¡¯ this and ¡®They¡¯ that, but no one has said who ¡®They¡¯ are. There are so many people in the house right now talking and yelling it¡¯s impossible to make out what anyone is saying. It¡¯s like a lot of background noise.¡±

    ¡°There you are!¡± Jacob, aka lead foot, came rushing into the room practically yelling. At first, I thought he was talking to me, which freaked me out because I felt I was in deep shit for leaving him, but it didn¡¯t take long to realize he was talking to someone behind me.

    I couldn¡¯t believe he was standing there the whole time and I had never noticed him. Q was standing about ten feet behind me in front of the fireplace with his back to my group, staring at the picture hanging over the mantel. The picture was beautiful until it was destroyed by the water running down the walls.

    I couldn¡¯t help myself! I drank him like a cup of fine wine, savoring every taste. He looked amazing to me in his cut-up jeans and playboy t-shirt, standing there leaning a little to the right with his left arm around his waist and the other on his head, his hand clutching a fist full of hair. We were in the motel room again in each other¡¯s arms, and nothing else mattered. I know, this coming from the same guy who not too long ago said it wasn¡¯t a big deal, that it was a one-time thing and that I was putting it out of my mind. But just seeing Q standing there stirred up a whole bunch of feelings that I couldn¡¯t help, as frustrating and confusing as they may be.

    ¡°Slow down, bucko,¡± Shaun said as he threw his hand out in front of Jacob. ¡°All the shouting and arguing has been done a hundred times over. There¡¯s no point in going down that road again.¡±

    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t had a chance to put my two cents in yet!¡± Shaun was going to say something more, but Jacob wouldn¡¯t let him get a word. ¡°I knew this would happen eventually. I¡¯ve been saying we¡¯ve been too laid back for a long time, and I was right because look what happened. Years ago, they never would¡¯ve pulled this shit on us. Never!¡± His argument drew a crowd. ¡°But because we¡¯ve been so relaxed lately, we practically invited this attack on us. We need to hit them back¡­hard!¡±

    A lot of the Brothers gathered now seemed to like that idea.

    ¡°That¡¯s all fine and dandy,¡± Shaun smirked, ¡°but you don¡¯t get to make that call. This isn¡¯t Jacob¡¯s world.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Eric added. ¡°This is the council¡¯s call, not yours.¡±

    ¡°Oh, please!¡± Jacob rolled his eyes. ¡°Spare me, will you? What does Kyrios have to say about it?¡±

    ¡°Kyrios has nothing to say about anything,¡± Eric fired back, steaming mad. ¡°This council rules this house, and Q sits at the head of the table.¡± He twirled his finger around, gesturing at all the members of the Inner Circle. ¡°So, I suggest you calm down unless you¡¯re challenging this council.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not challenging you guys, but how can you expect me to calm down after all this?¡± Throwing his hands up in the air, he looked around the room. ¡°This is bullshit, and something needs to be done!¡±

    The shouting attracted all the Brother¡¯s within hear shot; they crowded around Jacob and the council, and before long, everyone just exploded. The yelling and arguing got out of control to the point where people were just shouting for the sake of shouting.

    I never took my eyes off Q, who had yet to move or utter a single sound. It was one of those situations where I found myself thinking, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it.

    Q snapped his head towards the crowd behind him and shouted a single word. It was fierce, commanding, and utterly incomprehensible by anyone other than the Brothers. The silence was instant. It didn¡¯t trail off, and no one tried to sneak in a final word. It was like a flipped switch, causing everyone to shut up. Slowly, he returned his gaze to the painting, and no one said anything for a while. It was clear Q had the floor, and if anything was going to be said, it would be by him and him alone.

    He spoke again, his voice melodic and haunting. Everyone, including the pledges, hung on his every word even though we didn¡¯t know what he was saying. It was simply the beauty of the language that kept me transfixed. With his last utterance, he walked towards the connecting room with the rest of the Inner Circle in tow.

    I still had my eyes fixed on him, and it was because I wanted him to turn around so our eyes could meet, if only for a split second. I don¡¯t know why. The simple gesture would solidify in my mind that last night was real to him.

    Placing his hand on the door frame, Q slowed his pace, and I could¡¯ve sworn I saw his head turn ever so slightly in my direction as if he was ready to look, but he never did. He rushed off and disappeared into the adjacent room. I¡¯d be lying if I said I didn¡¯t feel like someone just kicked me in the balls. Before anyone jumps on my case, I realize there was a lot of shit going on at that moment. I was there. But regardless of that, a simple acknowledgment wouldn¡¯t have killed him. He was my ¡®Big¡¯ for one, and we had spent the night together. I went from being hurt to pissed as quickly as it took Q to silence the room.

    Q may have ignored me, but I did manage to get someone¡¯s attention. I noticed Shaun standing there staring at me, staring at Q. He didn¡¯t say anything, of course. He just raised a brow and followed the rest of the Circle. I wonder what was going thru his mind.

    Before I could contemplate the matter, a Brother shoved a box in my chest. ¡°Start moving some of these boxes into the next room,¡± he said. I was so caught up that I didn¡¯t realize the crowd broke up, and everyone started cleaning.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said and walked into the same room the Inner Circle was in, only to find they weren¡¯t there. I was about to put the box down when I heard voices from the corridor. I took a quick look around the room to make sure no one was paying attention, and they weren¡¯t, for everyone was too busy moving shit around to notice me and followed the voices down the hall.

    Now that was some risky business. I knew I could find myself in a world of shit if one of the Brothers saw me snooping around. And if the Inner Circle found me¡­I didn¡¯t even want to think about it at that point.

    Despite not hearing them talking anymore, I kept going even though I knew better. I stopped just before the corner, and hearing their voices again scared the shit of me to where I almost dropped the box I was carrying. They were right there around the corner. Holy shit! I could reach around and grab one of them; I was so close.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on Jacob,¡± Shaun said. Me? What the fuck did I do? ¡°He means well, and with everything that happened, you can¡¯t blame him for getting a little heated and yelling.¡± Right then, I thought the other Jacob should change his name to Bob or something.

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± I heard Q say. ¡°I know how he feels, for I feel the same way. I want to blow up just as much as the next guy, but I don¡¯t have that luxury¡­none of us do.¡±

    ¡°Why now?¡± Steel fired off abruptly. His voice was very close, so I assumed he was right there. ¡°Things have been relatively calm between us for years, save for a few minor incidences here and there, so why would they come after us now?¡± And I was right. He took a few steps back, and there he was. I could see his back, his legs, and the back of his head. I was pissing my pants! If he leaned even an inch back, he¡¯d see me from the corner of his eye. I was pressed against the wall like wallpaper, praying to God he¡¯d move forward again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Seth weighed in. ¡°I have a bad feeling about this, and I can¡¯t shake the thought that this was a prelude to what¡¯s coming.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not overreact just yet,¡± Shaun suggested.

    ¡°I agree,¡± Q added.

    They must¡¯ve turned on some lights because it suddenly got bright for a few seconds, then it faded. I didn¡¯t hear them anymore, even after waiting a few minutes to ensure I didn¡¯t get caught. But instead of heading back right away, my curiosity got the best of me, and I had to look to make sure. For all I knew, they would be standing there staring right at me when I turned the corner. They weren¡¯t. Instead, there was a giant mirror that had to be about ten feet high with strange writing engraved on the gold frame.

    ¡°The old secret door trick,¡± I whispered, pressing my hand to the glass. ¡°Fuck!¡± I stepped back and dropped the box. ¡°No way! No fucking way!¡± The glass was warm. Not a big deal, I¡¯ll grant you that, but I could¡¯ve sworn I saw it ripple. Yes, ripple! As in dropping a rock on the surface of a calm pond, ripple. ¡°No, no.¡± I took a moment to collect and convince myself that I was seeing shit. The only way to find out was to do it again, right? So, I took a deep breath and touched the mirror. It was a¡­mirror, a cold, hard glass mirror.

    A hand gripped my shoulder and spun me around. ¡°What the fuck are you doing, pledge?¡± Tiny, the biggest and scariest of the Brothers, was standing before me. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be putting the boxes in the room back there, not here.¡±

    ¡°Uh, uh¡­umm,¡± was all I managed to spit out. I swear to god I¡¯m shocked I didn¡¯t faint. Before you think me a bitch, keep in mind Tiny is about 6¡¯6¡±, two hundred plus pounds of pure muscle. Not the guy you want to piss off. I don¡¯t think Steel, as-built as he is, would mess with Tiny.

    ¡°Get your shit together! We don¡¯t have time to be babysitting you fools today. You get me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Now grab the box, and let¡¯s go.¡±

    I grabbed the box, bolted out of there, dropped it off, and went into the other room with the rest of the pledges. I expected to move more stuff around, but I found all the pledges lined up in front of the two twins. I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, and it was quite possible they explained what the deal was before I got there.

    At any rate, the line started moving as the pledge at the head of the line followed one of the twins. It took me two seconds to figure out we were being led downstairs to the pit. It had been a while since we were down there, so it was no surprise to see the apprehension on everyone¡¯s faces. It turned out not to be such a big deal. They just wanted us to wait downstairs for a few until one of them came for us. I figured they just wanted us out of the way so they could speak freely.

    The chatter started among us as soon as the Twins left and closed the doors.

    ¡°Dudes!¡± You get one guess at that one. ¡°This is unreal! What do you guys think happened?¡±

    ¡°The house started on fire,¡± Steve answered.

    ¡°Yeah, that much we get, genius!¡± Mike was quick to fire back.

    That pissed me off. ¡°Hey, back off!¡±

    ¡°Or what?¡±

    Oh, God. I just wanted to strangle the shit out of him. Instead, I just stared at him with flaming daggers in my eyes, and he did the same. I realized then that this thing between us wasn¡¯t simply going to go away. At some point or another, I strongly felt we would butt some serious heads.

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Ant stepped between us to break our line of sight. ¡°I think we all get the fact the house almost went up in flames. The question is, why? What exactly happened? Does anyone know because I wasn¡¯t here? I was out with my Big.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I wasn¡¯t here either,¡± Arsen added, and everyone else said the same thing. ¡°I was out with Shaun just hanging out, and then he gets this call, and the next thing I know, we¡¯re in his car flying here.¡±

    I laughed a little. ¡°Don¡¯t get me started on the whole flying here bit.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Arsen looked at me with a raised brow.

    Again, a sarcastic laugh left my lips. ¡°Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m surprised I made it here in one piece considering Jacob¡¯s driving. Mach four doesn¡¯t begin to describe it!¡±

    He laughed. ¡°That¡¯s intense.¡±

    ¡°This whole situation is intense!¡± Troy chimed in as he folded his arms over his chest.

    ¡°For crying out loud,¡± Mike interjected with his need to put his two fucking cents in. ¡°You guys are making more out of his than it is.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± It was all I could say without blowing up.

    ¡°How do you figure that?¡± Paul asked.

    Mike sighed heavily as if his way of thinking was so beyond us it irked him to bring it down to our level. Seriously, have you ever just wanted to strangle someone? ¡°This was another fucking fraternity getting back at us for some stupid shit, I bet.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡± I couldn¡¯t believe the shit coming out of his mouth.

    ¡°Yes! The tension between fraternities is common. This is no different.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just¡­.¡± Arsen started saying, knowing he wouldn¡¯t mind; I cut him off.

    ¡°The dumbest shit I¡¯ve ever heard in my life. Are there issues between the different fraternities on campus? I¡¯m sure of it. Have there been times when one house got back at another for some reason or another? I don¡¯t doubt it. But you know how they do it? They toilet paper the house, spray whip cream all over the cars, or throw a bunch of wet bags filled with dog shit at the house; hell. They might throw a fucking brick thru a window. But burning up the entire house is a bit much don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Arsen, CJ, and the rest laughed a bit because they knew I was right, and Mike was just a dumbass.

    ¡°He¡¯s right, you know,¡± Sam agreed, who rarely speaks.

    Mike didn¡¯t even try to hide his anger. ¡°What the fuck does he know?¡± He pointed at me as if I was guilty of some crime. ¡°Just because he¡¯s Q¡¯s Little, suddenly he has all the answers? Give me a fucking break.¡±

    ¡°Give you a fucking break? Give me a fucking break! What the fuck does being Q¡¯s Little have to do with anything? I realize I don¡¯t know any more than you do about the situation. I just happen to have way more common sense than you!¡±

    That was that. He came at me, I went after him, and all the guys rushed in to get between us before we came to blows.

    Grabbing me by the neck, Arsen pulled me aside, pressing his face against my side, and sat my ass down. ¡°So not worth it!¡±

    Nick stood between the two crowds, his hands like he was directing traffic. ¡°You fuckers need to calm down! You¡¯re worse than a couple of bitches fighting over the same man. I know because I was that man once¡­okay, maybe a couple of times¡­more like four or five, but that¡¯s beside the point! Ya¡¯ll need to chill unless you want to be sent home today.¡±

    ¡°Listen,¡± Arsen whispered in my ear. ¡°Listen!¡± He said again, pressing his forehead into my temple and squeezing my neck to get my attention. ¡°Jay, you need to calm down right now!¡± Nick was still talking about something, but I tuned him out entirely and focused on Arsen¡¯s voice. He placed his hand over my balled-up fist, resting on my lap. ¡°Let it go, man. Mike is not worth getting thrown out of The Brotherhood before you even get there. Are you going to give him that much control over you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Okay then,¡± he shook me gently and laughed, ¡°just let it go. Quite frankly, I don¡¯t want to get thrown out, and I don¡¯t mean that you are getting kicked out automatically kicks me out too. But if you started to throw down with that fool, I¡¯d have to jump in and kick his ass too on principle alone.¡±

    I smiled, my way of thanking him.

    CJ came over, placing his hands on my knees; he knelt before me. He jerked his head to the side, gesturing towards Mike. ¡°Dude¡­you want me to kick his ass?¡±

    My little group just busted out laughing. I can¡¯t explain why; it was just how CJ said it. It¡¯s one of those things where you had to be there.

    A few minutes passed, and everyone got up from their corners and returned to the middle of the room.

    ¡°You ladies want to kiss and make up now?¡± Paul asked.

    ¡°Fuck him,¡± Mike said.

    ¡°Fuck you,¡± I countered.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a start at least,¡± Paul continued. ¡°Rome wasn¡¯t built on a cliff¡­or in a week or however the fuck that saying goes. But we¡¯re already making progress, I think. At least you guys are talking to each other.¡±

    It got quiet for a moment until CJ decided it was too quiet.

    ¡°So¡­what do you guys think happened?¡±

    Everyone just groaned and moaned.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not open up that can of worms again!¡± Ant pleaded.

    ¡°For real!¡± Some of the guys concurred.

    The funniest thing was it got quiet again, but everyone was staring at CJ, waiting for him to say something out of place again this time. After a while, I think it got to him.

    ¡°What?¡± he shrugged and threw his hands out.

    I laughed and ruffled his hair. ¡°You¡¯re the best, bro.¡±

    ¡°No, really¡­what?¡±

    ¡°So anyway,¡± Jason said, walking up next to me to place his hand on my shoulder, ¡°how was it?¡±

    I was a bit confused, and the expression on my face did a great job showing it. ¡°How was what? What the hell are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You know, the time you spent with Q yesterday.¡±

    Instantly I saw Mike roll his eyes, and we all heard his bitching groan. If it wasn¡¯t clear, he made more out of it than I ever did.

    ¡°Why do you insist on making it such a big deal?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s Q, you dink!¡± Steve just threw his words out there laced with attitude. And he did call me a ¡®dink.¡¯ I mean, seriously, who uses the word ¡®dink¡¯? ¡°I think we can all agree Q¡¯s the big puzzle box everyone¡¯s trying to figure out.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why because he¡¯s a pretty normal guy once you get to know him a little. But before you guys badger me to death, there¡¯s not much to tell.¡± Boy, was that a fucking lie! ¡°We drove to the airport and picked up Dylan, his former Little. We took him home and then headed back. It was fucking pouring out, and we had a blowout, so we had to change that shit. Q decided the roads were too bad to drive in, so we stayed at a motel for the night. The next morning Shaun shows up at our door talking about something that happened, and here we are. End of story.¡± I left out a few minor details, but I didn¡¯t feel the need to go there. Thank you very much.

    ¡°So that¡¯s where he went¡­to get Q.¡± Arsen sounded mystified as if what I said was a piece of a puzzle he was trying to figure out.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I had to know.

    It took him a moment to answer me. ¡°Shaun and I were in his car when he got the call to come to the house. I knew right away something was wrong. We got here when the first fire hose was turned on. We got out of his car, horrified at the sight of the fire. Shaun told me to stay by the car, and before I could ask him what he was doing, he ran off into the woods.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I remember seeing him run off like that,¡± Anthony added. ¡°I was wondering where the fuck he was going. And then¡­about thirty minutes later, he walked up behind us with Q by his side.¡±

    Arsen nodded, confirming Ant¡¯s story.

    ¡°Wait a second,¡± I interjected, stepping close to Ant and Arsen. ¡°Did you say thirty minutes?¡± Ant nodded. ¡°But that¡¯s impossible because we were still up in Mass when Shaun showed up, and that¡¯s a long fucking drive up there, not to mention coming back.¡±

    Ant shrugged, unable to provide me with an answer. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe we¡¯re mistaken, and he was gone longer.¡±

    Arsen agreed with a shrug. ¡°Perhaps. But I know he wasn¡¯t gone for more than forty-five minutes tops. Not to mention he left me with his car. Unless¡­¡±

    ¡°Helicopter!¡± CJ called out. ¡°I remember seeing one circling the house.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Arsen said. ¡°But that was a police helicopter flying around.¡±

    ¡°Dude, I know that. But think about it. How else could Shaun have gotten back with Q so quickly? Besides, dude, who knows how deep the Brother¡¯s connections go. Maybe they know people on the force.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Paul agreed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put it passed them.¡±

    It made sense, but I still had my doubts. But the chance to debate the situation was over, for one of the Twins came down to the pit and ordered us to stand shoulder to shoulder. He let us just stand there while he walked up and down the line, leaving us wondering what would happen next. Clearing his throat, he stood before us with his hand behind his back like a drill sergeant ready to bark at his platoon.

    ¡°Today is the day you¡¯re all to be rewarded for setting a new record for the time it took your class to find their way home from the woods,¡± he stated. ¡°Congratulations.¡± He didn¡¯t give us a chance to get excited about it or show it, so we kept it bottled up inside like a shaken can of beer ready to burst. I wasn¡¯t the only one eager to find out what this reward entailed. ¡°You¡¯ll get more details when we get where we¡¯re going. For now, head outside; the van is waiting to take you to your reward. Any questions?¡±

    I was surprised he even asked for questions and was more shocked at Arsen¡¯s bold query.

    ¡°What happened here tonight?¡± he asked. I couldn¡¯t help but swallow the iron ball in my throat as if I was the bold one.

    The Brother got right in his face. ¡°And what makes you think you, a pledge of all people, is privy to that information?¡± He waited for an answer that never came. Arsen probably wasn¡¯t sure if he was genuinely seeking a response. The Brother got closer. ¡°Are you hard of hearing or just stupid? Answer me!¡±

    ¡°I may just be a lowly pledge, Sir, but I still live in this house and care very much what happens to it and the other people who live here.¡±

    The Brother backed off him, and by the look on his face, I could tell he believed Arsen was sincere, as did I. It was easy to see the Brother was contemplating whether to throw us a bone or not.

    ¡°If you must know,¡± he started saying, and almost instantly, everyone leaned in just a hair closer, ¡°it was a prank gone bad. One of the other Fraternities on campus thought it¡¯d be funny a play a joke with some fireworks, but they fucked up. But it¡¯s been handled, and we already have a crew on the way to fix up the house.¡± With a piercing intensity, he locked his eyes on Arsen. ¡°Happy?¡±

    With a nod, Arsen thanked him.

    ¡°Now get your asses upstairs before the van leaves without you¡­and no talking!¡±

    And I knew there was no way on this green earth Mike would not be able to resist looking at me with that stupid ass look on his face that screamed I TOLD YOU SO! I wanted to bang him upside his head so bad.

    We were walking thru the house, and I was so caught up in watching all the Brothers around the house fixing or moving stuff around that I didn¡¯t notice when one of them cut thru the pledge line. Luckily, I was quick to stop, or we would¡¯ve collided.

    ¡°Oh, sorry,¡± I said to the Brother as Arsen bumped into me and grabbed my arms to steady himself. ¡°Shit,¡± I whispered, realizing it was Q who cut in front of me and again didn¡¯t say a fucking thing. Like an idiot, I stood there watching him walk away, holding up the line. It wasn¡¯t until Arsen nudged me from behind that I snapped out of it.

    ¡°Move, Jay!¡± He sounded a bit annoyed, but I figured better him than one of the Brothers.

    The whole time I was in the van, I was beyond annoyed. I knew Arsen felt something was wrong, but because we weren¡¯t allowed to talk, he couldn¡¯t ask; instead, he kept poking me in the ribs with his elbows to elicit a response from me. The funny thing was I think he was worried I was pissed at him for snapping at me when he told me to move.

    He confirmed what I suspected was going through his mind because he took a chance, leaned close to me, and whispered, ¡°Are you pissed at me?¡± I smiled and shook my head no. In a perfect world, I would¡¯ve turned to him and said, ¡°Q¡¯s pissing me off,¡± and here¡¯s why. Of course, things were far from perfect.

    We were taken about ten minutes north of school to an area known to everyone as The Village. It¡¯s a community of college kids who live off-campus and rent houses, most of which are owned by the university.

    The Village has pretty much everything college kids need, from a mini-mart and a few clothing stores to a small movie theater right in the middle of town, a trendy spot as you can imagine. Hell, there¡¯s even an old fortune-teller who lives across the street from the mini-mart, probably the oldest member of the community, for no one can remember when she wasn¡¯t there. The only thing that sucked was the lack of a liquor store. The school owned the land, so they weren¡¯t about to allow one to be built on their property. When a party is thrown, often, people drive to the city to pick up the liquor. It isn¡¯t all that bad since it¡¯s only twenty minutes away.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    The van pulled into a gated driveway; the tall trees and brick walls prevented us from seeing what was on the other side. The electronic gates opened, and we drove up the driveway to a lovely Romanesque-style house; it wasn¡¯t as big as the Brotherhood house but probably the largest in the neighborhood, and guess who owned it? We were all exchanging weird looks, wondering what the fuck was going on. I walked into that place feeling like I was stepping back in time. The house¡¯s rippling curves, rounded turrets, and arched entryways definitely gave it an old-world feel. Leave it to The Brotherhood to have a place so lavish and grandiose.

    The house itself was primarily made of stone and large wooden beams. And while impressive in stature, it seemed natural to its surroundings as if it had grown from the soil of its own accord. The stairway was long, wide, and low. Each step a shallow rise to the next until they culminated at the large, square door frame. Stepping inside, you left the cold stone behind and entered a world of color and rich texture. It was like a scene right out of one of those ¡®artsy¡¯ movies! The entry room, I would later hear one of the brothers refer to it as the atrium, was surprisingly large. Had it not been for the shallow pool in the middle of the room, the space could easily play host to a small reception. Great tapestries hung on each of the four walls, and the floor danced with mosaic tile murals. On each of the side walls sat two ornately engraved high-backed wooden chairs, and in each corner of the room stood a marble statue. They were larger than life and reminded me of the Roman Gods, although, truth be told ¨C everything I learned about the Gods comes from watching the History Channel¡­so I¡¯m not exactly an expert on these things. The lighting was kept low, yet natural windows and skylights were everywhere. Thru the atrium, a large arched doorway led to a parlor area and was home to the most impressive fireplace I have ever seen.

    The Brother lined us up in front of it, which was probably the crown jewel of the whole place. It was made of black marble and white stone with two very real-looking lion statues carved from either side of the fireplace.

    ¡°This is your prize,¡¯ the brother said, and I¡¯m sure we couldn¡¯t look any more confused than we already did. ¡°For the next two days, you¡¯ll all be living here on your own, and all the rules you vowed to live by while pledging The Brotherhood are now¡­rescinded, at least for the next two days anyway.¡±

    Holy balls, I thought. Yes, I¡¯m a man of great thought and intellect.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious,¡± he continued. ¡°You¡¯re free to do whatever you want without fear of being called out on your actions by us, so enjoy it.¡±

    I don¡¯t think we were sure how to react to that. We became a bunch of stunned, muted fools just standing there with our thumbs up our collective asses waiting for the catch.

    Steve raised his hand, and the Brother acknowledged him by nodding in his direction. ¡°When does this start?¡± he inquired.

    The Brother smiled. ¡°It started the second you walked thru those doors.¡±

    The room exploded into laughter and cheer, with pledges jumping on each other like we were the winning team in the Superbowl. Arsen and CJ damn near tackled me. The Brother was cool and let us have our moment; he cracked a smile.

    All he had to do with clear his throat to pull us back from the insanity and get our undivided attention. ¡°Remember that you guys may be free from The Brotherhood for the next couple of days; you¡¯re still our pledges. So, whatever you do, good or bad, reflects on us. Remember that when you¡¯re enjoying your two days of freedom and debauchery. Now, there¡¯s a set of keys and envelopes on the dining room table with your names. Hmmm, what else?¡± He rolled his eyes back, thinking. ¡°If you need to reach us for whatever reason, our number is programmed into the phone; just dial 333 pound. Any questions?¡±

    Mike was quick to step up and open his mouth. ¡°Yeah, just one, Sir,¡± He had his hand halfway up and looked around at us with a grin. ¡°How do we know this isn¡¯t just another trial?¡±

    The Brother raised his brow and smirked. ¡°Good question. I guarantee this is not a trial if it makes you feel any better.¡±

    In case you didn¡¯t notice, Mike has difficulty letting things go. ¡°Yeah¡­but how do we know you saying that isn¡¯t part of the trial, Sir?¡±

    ¡°Are you questioning the word of a Brother?¡± the Twin looked pissed suddenly.

    Mike stepped back as if he was about to get punched. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sir,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°I meant no disrespect.¡±

    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t,¡± the Brother said and asked for any more questions. After that little scene, no one was about to say anything, so he left.

    For like two minutes, we stood there staring at each other, and I was pretty sure we were all thinking the same shit. Finally, in one voice, we all yelled out¡­

    ¡°PARTY!¡±

    Before we could even begin planning for the part, we had things we wanted to do¡ªthe first being looking for the bedrooms. There were four large bedrooms in the house, and they were kind of already picked out for us because we found our clothes hanging in the closets and put away in the different dressers, and I¡¯m talking about the clothes from our dorm rooms we weren¡¯t allowed to wear while pledging. Yes, we could have moved shit around to pick different rooms, but in the end, a room is a room, and no one wanted to waste time over stupid shit.

    Arsen, Anthony, CJ, and I all shared a room, and even though Nick, Paul, and Steve had their own, they ended up sleeping in our room in the sleeping bags we found.

    I was going thru my stuff when something clicked in my head. ¡°Hey, did anyone check out the envelopes in the dining room?¡± I asked no one in particular. Arsen, Ant, and I headed downstairs to find CJ, Jason, and a few other pledges already there, looking thru the stuff on the table. ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± I asked, walking up behind CJ.

    ¡°Check it out, dude,¡± he answered and threw the envelope with my name on it.

    It contained two hundred dollars in cash and a cell phone inside. ¡°Did everyone get 200 bucks and a cell?¡±

    The guys nodded.

    ¡°Sweet,¡± I smiled. ¡°Hey, what happened to the keys that were supposed to be here?¡±

    Mike walked in, jingling the keys in his hand, and I gagged. ¡°They¡¯re the keys to the house and for a brand-new Lincoln Navigator parked out back.¡±

    ¡°Sweet dude!¡± CJ sounded like an excited little boy; it was kind of funny. He reached to take Mike¡¯s keys but quickly stuffed them in his pocket.

    I just about lost it! If it weren¡¯t for Arsen holding my arm and giving me the ¡®not worth it look,¡¯ I would¡¯ve blown the fuck up. There was a little bit of chatter going on about how cool it was they left us money and the phones.

    Then out of the freaking blue, Mike turns to me and says, ¡°Oh, by the way, I was right.¡±

    I just gave him a dirty look. ¡°What the hell are you talking about now?¡±

    ¡°Back at the house, I told you that what happened was a bunch of fuck ups who took things too far.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, whatever,¡± I simply rolled my eyes and was willing to leave it at that, but I couldn¡¯t say the same for Mike.

    ¡°What, you still don¡¯t think so?¡± he pressed on. ¡°The Brother said it himself. What more proof do you need?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what he said. That doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s what happened.¡±

    ¡°You calling him a liar?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­it means I was right.¡±

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t. Just because I¡¯m not calling him a lair doesn¡¯t mean he was telling us the whole truth about what happened. We¡¯re not full, Brothers. They don¡¯t owe us any explanation if something bigger is happening.¡± By this time, I could hear some other guys groaning because Mike and I were heading down that road again. ¡°They probably told him to tell us that so that we don¡¯t freak out about what happened.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck do you honestly think happened? You¡¯re way too paranoid.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re way too gullible!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Steve shouted over the two of us. ¡°Are we going to throw a party?¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Paul was quick to thank him for changing the subject.

    ¡°Fuck yeah!¡± Troy shouted. ¡°Why not? A party at a TBH house¡­now that¡¯s hot! Do you know how many people will show up just because it¡¯s in this house?¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s a done deal?¡± Anthony asked, checking to make sure we were doing this.

    ¡°Done!¡± we shouted.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Mike interrupted the celebration, ¡°do we invite the Brothers?¡±

    I rolled my eyes at that one. ¡°It¡¯s their fucking house. How can we not?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t want to hang out with a bunch of pledges. Ever think about that?¡±

    ¡°No, not really,¡± I sneered. ¡°It¡¯s a fucking party. Besides, I¡¯m sure they can all use the distraction after the fire.¡±

    We would have gone at it again if it was for Arsen stepping in. ¡°Oh, will you two shut up already! I¡¯ll call Shaun and ask him to pass the word to the others.¡±

    Nothing much happened after that. We spent the next 24 hours getting shit ready for the party. Everyone used the opportunity to call back home to friends and family. I spent about an hour talking to my folks and over two hours talking to Aaron, the best friend I grew up with. He was going to Brown University, which sucked because we wanted to end up in the same school, but shit doesn¡¯t always turn out the way you plan it.

    Aaron was off the wall when I told him I was pledging, The Brotherhood. He was more excited than I was to tell you the truth. Okay, I¡¯m lying there, but you get the idea. He wanted to know everything about everything, but there was only so much I could tell him, and he understood that. He¡¯s cool like that.

    I missed him.

    I couldn¡¯t bring myself to mention the one thing I wanted to talk to him about, even though I was standing by the pool outside where no one could hear me. More importantly, I wasn¡¯t sure how he¡¯d react, and I wasn¡¯t about to fuck things up with my bud of almost ten years. Once I explained who Q was and his position in the house, Aaron couldn¡¯t believe I ended up his Little. He called me a ¡°lucky fuck.¡±

    For a bunch of guys that just got a get out of jail free card from the Brothers, we did very little except focus on the party. Xavier, Mike, Sam, and Kevin were on liquor duty; they had to make several trips out to the city to get everything we needed. From kegs to hardcore liquor, we got it all. Jason, Justin, Arsen, Nick, and Troy went around the Village to spread the word about the party, and from what they told us, people seemed pretty pumped about it. That left Ant, CJ, Paul, Steve, and I in charge of getting food, plates, cups, and all that bullshit. Our little trip to the mini-mart was hardly worth mentioning if it wasn¡¯t for our run-in with Lady White.

    We were walking to the store, bull shitting the whole way. Paul was annoyed because he wanted to take the Navigator, but since Nick and the rest of the gang had to get the beer, it made sense for them to take the truck. Paul didn¡¯t see it that way, though. He wanted to drive around looking like a big-time baller.

    Oh, one cool thing that also happened was the number of people who stopped us on the way to the store to ask about the party and if it was happening. Not just people we passed on the streets, fuckers in cars pulled over and waved us down to ask. It got us pumped even more than before.

    Anyway, we walked by that fortune tellers¡¯ shop, and CJ decided that he was going to go in and catch up with us later. I don¡¯t know if it was because he wanted his fortune read or if it had anything to do with the three hot girls we saw walking in just as we went by. It¡¯s a mystery.

    It didn¡¯t take us long to get what we needed. We ran into more buzz about the party in the store; even the cashier couldn¡¯t stop talking about it. I realized then the party was already a hit before the first drunk ever hit the ground.

    The five of us headed back to pick up CJ, who we thought would be waiting outside the shop for us but wasn¡¯t. We walked in as the three girls walked out, laughing at CJ; I was already wondering what kind of trouble CJ was getting himself into. We were standing in the waiting area outside the room where Lady White reads your fortune. The inside of this place wasn¡¯t what I expected. It didn¡¯t have all the fortune teller crap you see in the movies or read about in books. Some chairs, a couch, and a table with some magazines occupied space in the small waiting room.

    We didn¡¯t have to wait long before we heard CJ ranting to Lady White about something. Not giving a shit whether the session was private or not, we walked into the room to find out what was happening.

    ¡°What do you mean you can¡¯t tell me?¡± CJ was saying. He looked over his shoulder briefly to see who was coming in behind him. Giving us a simple nod, he returned his attention to Lady White.

    ¡°I cannot,¡± Lady White replied, sliding CJ¡¯s forty bucks back across the table. ¡°The path you are on is veiled from me. Reaching the end of your journey is the only way you¡¯ll discover the outcome.¡± At least she sounded like a fortune teller.

    ¡°What the fuck? Dude, who¡¯s talking about paths here? I just want to know whether I will become a Brother or not.¡± He slid the cash back at her. ¡°So just take my money and answer my question.¡±

    ¡°I cannot.¡± And she slid it right back across the table.

    ¡°Dude!¡± CJ looked annoyed, but it¡¯s hard to take that look seriously when he says ¡®dude¡¯ all the time. It just doesn¡¯t fit. ¡°Stop trying to give me back my money. Just take it and answer my question!¡±

    She tried slipping it back, but he stopped and pushed it back toward her, then she did the same. It was the funniest thing I¡¯ve seen. It was like something straight out of a movie, watching these fools pushing the money back and forth. Lady White remained collected; CJ was the one getting all hot under the collar.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you double!¡±

    Here we go, I thought. This is where Lady Con-artist will have a significant breakthrough, and for eighty bucks, she¡¯ll have a vision of what¡¯s in store for CJ. Boy, did she prove me wrong. CJ upped it up to 120 dollars, and she turned him down every time. He would¡¯ve offered all the money he got from the Brothers had Ant not stopped his stupid ass.

    ¡°The money isn¡¯t the issue,¡± she said to him in her calm voice. ¡°No amount will open up the window you wish me to look thru.¡±

    ¡°Dude, why not?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s as I said. The path you are on is veiled from me. I cannot see thru it any more than you can see thru the walls in this room. The Brotherhood is an order shrouded in secrets and mysteries.¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± CJ finally gave up and got up to leave.

    Politely nodding her head at him, Lady White looked at the rest of us. She appeared fine until she saw me. For a moment, she looked like she¡¯d seen a ghost. I mean, she got white as hell.

    ¡°We should get going,¡± I said to the guys, and then she came at me like a bullet.

    Grabbing my face, she pulled me close to her, and I swear I thought his crazy woman was going to kiss me.

    ¡°Umm¡­¡± I started to say.

    ¡°Shhh!¡± She pulled me closer and jerked my head around as she stared into my eyes, looking for something. What the hell she was looking for, I couldn¡¯t tell you. The whole situation was bizarre. ¡°You¡¯ve been marked!¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh¡­Guys, a little help here would be great.¡±

    Paul stepped up next to her and tapped her on the arm. ¡°Okay, crazy, let my man here go.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡± She looked at Paul with wide eyes, freaking him out to the point where he had to take a few steps back from her. ¡°The light has marked your friend.¡± Lady White finally released me and backed away from me, her fingers pressing gently to her lips. ¡°My God!¡± This woman was freaking me the fuck out. ¡°They have no idea¡­and neither do you.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I finally demanded.

    ¡°Jacob, let¡¯s just bounce,¡± Steve insisted. ¡°Lady Crazy here is having some issues right now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, leave. Leave now!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Leave!¡± she yelled. ¡°Get out!¡± Out of nowhere, the woman dropped to her knees and started wailing like a banshee. Her eyes disappear in her head, and her body starts convulsing like crazy. I think we all almost pissed our pants after what she did next. She jumped onto the tips of her toes, but her body was bent back backward, where her head was almost touching the floor. We grabbed our shit and booked it out of there.

    I was beyond freaked out - we all were.

    Holy shit!

    We seriously ran all the way home. I thought her head would start spinning around, and gree,n shit would fly out of her mouth. But the funny thing was we stopped outside the gates, heaving and dropping to the ground because we were all out of breath, and started laughing our asses off.

    ¡°Holy fuck!¡± Steve managed to spit while he gasped for air. ¡°What a fucking freak show!¡±

    ¡°Dude!¡± CJ couldn¡¯t finish whatever he was trying to say. ¡°Dude!¡±

    ¡°Oh my god!¡± I said. ¡°That was out of control. Seriously!¡±

    We spent the next ten minutes catching our breaths and laughing it up. The rest of the afternoon was about getting shit ready for the party the following night. It¡¯s kind of crazy when you think about it. We had two days of freedom to do whatever we wanted and did little besides work on stuff for the party. We should¡¯ve been painting the town red, as the saying goes. Nick and the other guys got some cool lights they spent the night setting up. I couldn¡¯t be bothered.

    On a side note, that night, I was annoyed. I was taking a shower, all lathered up and happy to finally be alone to get some self-love in. You have no idea how hard it is to get some privacy with thirteen other guys running around. So, you can understand why I was excited about having quiet time.

    Well, that didn¡¯t happen. Arsen comes in laughing his ass off and sits on the toilet to tell me about some funny shit that happened downstairs. I guess I can blame myself for not locking the freaking door. Granted, what happened was funny, and I¡¯d tell you what it was if I didn¡¯t already know you won¡¯t get it, but it could¡¯ve waited until I was done showering.

    What made it worse was when he was done, he didn¡¯t leave. Don¡¯t get me wrong. Arsen¡¯s my boy; I love him to pieces, but damn! I saw him through the frosted glass door, and he was basically naked with a towel around his waist. He sat around bullshitting with me while waiting for his turn to jump in the shower.

    If that wasn¡¯t bad enough, Ant strolls into the bathroom wearing nothing but black boxer briefs, brushes his teeth, and joins in our conversation. I¡¯m counting down to zero for the time it would take CJ to join the group. And I was right; just as I hit zero, he walked in and sat on the tile floor. A few minutes later, the whole gang was in the bathroom; I mean, Nick, Paul, and Steve showed up. And even though CJ told the story about lady crazy ten million times, he felt the need to tell it again.

    ¡°Damn, did she see you fools coming,¡± Nick laughed.

    ¡°Dude, what are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°She was putting on a show to convince you she was the real thing, is all I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°Dude, you think I¡¯m stupid?¡± CJ sounded insulted. ¡°I never said I believed the shit. The point of the story is that bitch is crazy!¡±

    I had to slide open the door a little to see what everyone was laughing at. It was CJ rolling around on the floor and screeching, attempting to mimic Lady White. Admittedly, it was humorous.

    ¡°I wonder what her deal was,¡± Ant inquired.

    ¡°Man, forget all that!¡± Steve jumped in the conversion. ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s party is going to be crazy! Do you have any idea how many people are going to be here tomorrow night? How many fucking half-naked girls will be here?¡±

    Nick laughed and gave Steve a high five. ¡°Hell yeah! There will be a ton of crazy bitches here, and now that we¡¯re free to do whatever, I¡¯m getting me some ass!¡±

    Everyone in the room was digging that idea. Quite honestly, I never even thought of it that way, but now that I was, the party seemed much better. The only person who didn¡¯t say a word the whole time was Ant, for whatever reason. He just sat back against the wall listening, amused at the spectacle.

    I was just about done with my shower and realized the towel was still hanging on the rack, so I asked one of the fools to pass it to me.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your hands?¡± CJ asked, laughing.

    I was about to go off, but then I thought, why be modest around these guys. They¡¯ve already seen the jewels and then some, so I got out and got my towel, balls to the wind.

    ¡°At a boy!¡± CJ cheered and slapped my bare ass as I walked by. I snapped around and almost knocked his teeth in, but he rolled up into a ball for protection, laughing the whole time, and he wasn¡¯t alone, of course.

    ¡°About time!¡± Arsen complained, throwing me his towel as he stepped into the shower.

    That sort of became the theme that night. As we all sat around bull shitting, me taking up Arsen¡¯s seat on the toilet, everyone there took their shower in our bathroom. It was like they were afraid to leave because they might miss out on the meaning of the universe or something. There was no such thing as modesty in that crowd anymore; everyone just dropped their underwear and jumped in.

    Who knew having fourteen guys cramped into one bathroom, cracking jokes and busting balls, would be so much fun?

    The following day was spent getting ready for the party. Pretty much every comment we made that morning was filled with cum filled jokes; Nick was forced to bear the brunt of it, of course, and he did his best to blast us back. It was a good time.

    I won¡¯t bore anyone with the dull details of the morning, for nothing happened. The party was where it was at!

    You know your party will be kick-ass when a ton of people are waiting outside on your lawn a couple of hours before it¡¯s officially supposed to start. I kid you not! There was a shit load of people outside the house; half of them were already drinking, and a hand full were drunk off their asses.

    I remember standing by a window on the top floor with Ant and Arsen looking down at the mob of people. ¡°This party is going to be off the hook! Look at all those fucking people!¡± I didn¡¯t even try to contain the excitement in my voice. ¡°Look at the girls!¡±

    Nick came running up the stairs behind us. ¡°Guys, there are so many people here already. Mike decided to let people in now instead of waiting.¡±

    ¡°He would,¡± I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s do this thing,¡± Arsen said. Rubbing his chin, he turned to look at Nick. ¡°Nick, you have something white hanging from your chin there.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you!¡± He playfully grabbed Arsen in a headlock and led him down the stairs.

    We stopped halfway down the stairs to watch the mass of people rush thru the doors. The music was blasting so high you lost the ability to hear anyone unless they were shouting in your ear. We stood back for about ten minutes until the initial rush came thru and settled down before joining the party. With my drink in my right hand and waving the left in the air like I just didn¡¯t care, I headed out into the crowd and did my thing.

    Everyone was having a good time. We played a lot of Hip Hop and R&B, Rap, and some Alternative Rock, so you know the music was tight. Hell, we even played some Spanish music. I don¡¯t think there was a single person who wasn¡¯t dancing, especially in the beginning.

    Look, I can sit here and go on for hours on end about the party. But really, what would be the point? We¡¯ve all been to drunken ass parties where the music is kicking, and the booze flows nonstop. I''d highly recommend it if you haven¡¯t been to one yet.

    About two hours into it, we kicked out about six people for acting up, four for being too fucking drunk, and broke up about three fights that started over some dumb shit. From what I understand, many people became one with the porcelain upstairs.

    At one point, Ant and Paul came up while I was dancing with some random to tell me they heard someone vomited somewhere in the house, but no one could figure out where. I had to stop what I was doing to help them find it before it stank up the place or ruined something in the house. I was pissed! It took us about thirty minutes to eventually find it. Some girl was lying on Mike¡¯s bed because she felt sick and threw up all over it. You can imagine my concern when I discovered it was Mike¡¯s bed. Yeah, I text messaged his ass to get up to his room because some girl left him a surprise. I must admit that made my night!

    Some of my fellow pledges were buzzing hard. Nick threw them back like he was drinking water, and Xavier was wasted. He went up to every girl trying to get them up to his room with his drunk ass. It was hilarious watching him try to work his mojo.

    Now I may drink, but I try to control myself. I like to get a soft buzz going, but I still want to be completely aware of what¡¯s happening because if you get too fucked up, you miss all the good shit or don¡¯t remember it the next day. Ant was the only one who didn¡¯t drink. I saw him sitting on the stairs drinking a coke alone, occasionally moving to allow people to pass. It didn¡¯t look like he was having a good time, and I felt terrible that my boy was sitting alone while everyone else was partying it up.

    I had to see what was up with him. Grabbing an extra beer, I sat next to him on the stairs and offered it to him. He politely waved it off.

    ¡°I¡¯m all set, thanks,¡± he shouted over the music and showed me the can of coke he was drinking.

    I leaned into Ant¡¯s ear so I wouldn¡¯t have to yell as loud. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, bud? You don¡¯t seem to be having a good time?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± he laughed. ¡°I¡¯m having a blast!¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re just sitting here, though.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± he nodded and took a sip of his coke. ¡°It¡¯s what I like to do,¡± he assured me, a pleasant smile spreading across his face. ¡°I¡¯m a people watcher. I like to sit back and watch people do all the crazy shit they do.¡± He shrugged and laughed after I gave him a weird look. ¡°It¡¯s fun for me.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me; I¡¯m cool,¡± he patted my back for extra assurance. ¡°Hey, you know what Mike¡¯s doing?¡±

    I can¡¯t help but roll my eyes everything I hear that name. ¡°He¡¯s telling everyone the Brothers are going to be here.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s what?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Yep. I overheard him about twenty minutes ago taking to some guys out by the pool.¡±

    There was a lot of chatter about the Brothers. I was asked at least thirty times if they were coming, and I just told them I wasn¡¯t sure. That was the truth. Arsen put in the call to Shaun and invited them all, but they never got back to us with an answer.

    ¡°Why would that shithead tell people that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Ant shrugged, looking as confused as I was. ¡°I think because so many people were asking about them, he was afraid everyone would leave if they thought they weren¡¯t coming. It¡¯s the only thing I can think of.¡±

    ¡°What a mental case.¡± And speak of the devil. As I said, he came walking down the stairs next to me. I was quick to snatch his wrist and pull him back toward us. I yanked him so hard he would almost lose his footing if it weren¡¯t for him grabbing my right knee and Ant¡¯s left.

    ¡°What?¡± he shouted and leaned in so I could talk into his ear.

    ¡°Why are you telling people the Brothers are going to be here? We don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll be here,¡± he assured me. ¡°And if they don¡¯t, who cares?¡± He tapped my leg and walked off before I could say anything else. Again, I had this uncontrollable urge to kick him. ¡°Ugh!¡±

    CJ and Nick came up to us just as Mike walked off. ¡°What are you fuckers doing?¡± Nick asked. For someone who was drinking like a fish, he appeared perfectly fine.

    ¡°Just bullshitting,¡± Ant replied.

    ¡°I love you, dudes!¡± CJ, on the other hand, was loopy. ¡°You guys are the best! For reals. I love you guys! I want to see us become pledges!¡± He meant Brothers, of course, but I wasn¡¯t about to argue with him. ¡°And if they don¡¯t want us¡­fuck them! We¡¯ll make our ffrraaa, frrraaat¡­.club!¡±

    We just laughed.

    ¡°Dudes! Dudes, I¡¯m for reals. But I want us to be pledges! Just us 2, 3, or 5 or however many we are. Not Mike because he¡¯s a dumbass.¡± He turned around and pointed at the crowd with the hand holding his drink. ¡°If we become full pledges, then all that ass is ours. All of it! And we won¡¯t have to share it with anyone.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said and grabbed his drink from his hand, ¡°you¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± he reached for his cup. ¡°Give me back my drink.¡±

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t, what will you do?¡±

    ¡°Give it!¡± he yelled.

    I held the cup high over my head so he couldn¡¯t reach it. ¡°What are you going to do? Fight me for it?¡±

    Suddenly his face became soft, and he appeared hurt almost. He squeezed in between Ant and me and hugged us. ¡°I will never fight you, dudes!¡± Paul saw what was going on and walked up the stairs to take the drink from my hand so he could get it far away from CJ, who never saw him, to begin with. ¡°I¡¯d fight Mike because he¡¯s a dumbass, but not you, Arsen. We¡¯re boys.¡± He kissed me on the temple and pulled me close to take a long hard look as he swayed back and forth. ¡°You look different, Arsen. You look a lot like Jacob, did you know that?¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m told,¡± I laughed.

    ¡°I love Jacob too! He¡¯s a cool dude, and he¡¯s my boy. I love you guys.¡± Arsen came up to us to see what we were doing there. ¡°Jacob!¡± CJ jumped up and gave Arsen a big ass hug. ¡°I was just telling Arsen how much I love you¡­how much I love all, you guys!¡± Hugging him back, Arsen looked over CJ¡¯s shoulder at me with this look that just said, ¡®what the fuck is going on?¡¯

    Throwing my hands up, I just shrugged and laughed. ¡°Just go with it.¡±

    ¡°You dudes are cool shits! For reals¡±

    CJ went on for like ten minutes about how he loves us and getting Arsen and I confused, and we indulged him. On the other hand, Nick was busy scooping out every girl that walked in the door. He¡¯d whistle and yell at every single one and told us what he¡¯d do with them if he got them upstairs, rubbing his package with every story. We didn¡¯t pay much attention to him, but we could always tell when a hot girl walked in because he¡¯d lose it.

    Arsen, Ant, and I were talking about something when he exploded. He stood up, grabbed his dick, and shouted at the top of his lungs. ¡°GOD DAMN! Look at the honey right there.¡± The three of us rolled our eyes and ignored him. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about! I want some of that right there!¡± He pointed at his crotch. ¡°Right here, baby! This is all for you! Guys, look!¡±

    To shut him up, Arsen finally looked. ¡°Hey Jay, isn¡¯t that Alex Nick is drooling over?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Look, right there by the door.¡±

    I took one look and damn near fell over. It was Alex, alright.

    ¡°That¡¯s your girl?¡± Nick asked. ¡°Damn! You lucky prick!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s my girl, so stop grabbing your dick when you¡¯re looking at her, fool!¡±

    ¡°Damn, look at that ass! It¡¯s ass for days!¡±

    ¡°Seriously!¡± I got up and was getting a little pissed now. ¡°Cut all that noise about my girl.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± he finally backed down. ¡°Go over there and handle that before some other dude does.¡±

    Arsen grabbed me as I walked toward her and pressed his lips to my ear. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you invited your girl.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± I shook my head no and walked off.

    ¡°Hey, where you going, Arsen,¡± CJ shouted at me.

    Alex was looking hot as usual. She had these tight, low hip-hugger jeans on so you could easily see the thin purple straps of her thong. Her bra pushed her tits up to the point where I could easily sit my cup on them. Her hair and makeup were on point like always. The bottom line is Alex knows how to become the center of attention at a party. She knows how to get all the guys to react as Nick did. Quite frankly, I didn¡¯t care because she was always on my arm, so the guys knew to back the fuck up, but now she was rolling up in there with only her girlfriends. Before I even got close to her, two guys were already hitting her up, and she loved every second of it. It¡¯s what she lives for.

    I walked up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulder to spin her around. ¡°Alex!¡± I¡¯m sure I sounded surprised but still put a smile on for her.

    She looked me up and down. ¡°Psss,¡± she put her hand to my face and turned to walk away from me.

    ¡°What?¡± My brows came together, and I threw my hands out to the side in anger. ¡°Don¡¯t walk away from me.¡± I grabbed her again, and she turned and slapped me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t put your hands on me!¡±

    ¡°What the fucks wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°What the fucks wrong with me? What the fucks wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°Alex, what are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± She had the whole head shake and snapping her fingers thing going. ¡°You¡¯re all up in here throwing a party with all this bitches and hoes, and you don¡¯t even bother to call me. I had to hear on campus that the pledges from The Brotherhood were throwing a party in the Village.¡± I was about to say something, but try to get a word in when dealing with a pissed-off female. ¡°Don¡¯t even try to talk shit to me now. I heard all you fuckers were running around the Village and on-campus inviting everyone under the sun, yet you couldn¡¯t find the time to pick up the phone and call me?¡± She turned to walk away and grabbed her again to stop her.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    One of the guys hitting on her got between us and pulled my hand away. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear the lady, or are you slow? She doesn¡¯t want to talk to you, so leave her the fuck alone.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I couldn¡¯t believe he just did that.

    Then he has the balls to look pissed and annoyed at me. ¡°What are you stupid? I said leave¡­.¡±

    I punched him so hard with my right fist. I lost my balance, and we both fell to the floor. He was dazed. On the other hand, I quickly got up and started stumping and kicking the shit out of him. ¡°You mother fucker!¡± I yelled. I got plenty of good kicks in before some guys pulled me off him and held me back. It didn¡¯t take him long to stagger back up to his feet. The fucker punched me in the stomach while the other guys held me back.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Alex shouted and got between us and right up into the guy¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking touch him!¡± Then she slugs the guy dead in the face. One thing I¡¯ll say about Alex is she¡¯s not afraid to throw down with a girl or a guy. She¡¯ll fight the President of the United States if he even looked at her the wrong way, and he¡¯d need an army of secret service guys to stop her.

    The guy grabbed her and raised his hand to hit her, but she quickly kicked him in the sack and elbowed him in the back of the neck. As I said, you don¡¯t fuck with Alex. I broke free and tackled the guy to the ground, and we wrestled around for a few minutes before other guys jumped in and separated us. I would¡¯ve taken a swing at the guys holding me if I hadn¡¯t realized it was Arsen, Nick, and Steve. The only people aware of the fight were those in the immediate area, for there were still tons of people all over the place partying it up who didn¡¯t know what had happened.

    After much talk and bull shitting with the guys about what happened, Alex and I ended up alone upstairs in my room with Alex holding a bag of ice to the back of my head.

    ¡°You okay, sweetie?¡± She sounded all concerned suddenly.

    I was pissed and confused. ¡°Sweetie? What the fuck? You walk in here and start all this shit because you won¡¯t talk to me, and now it¡¯s ¡®sweetie¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± She slammed the ice on the back of my head. ¡°Hold your own damn ice.¡±

    ¡°Fuck! You bitch, that hurts!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you get! How dare you not pick up that phone and call me. What were you planning? Did you think you¡¯d get yourself a little ass while I wasn¡¯t here?¡±

    ¡°Oh, for fucks sake! Let¡¯s not even go there, please.¡±

    ¡°What else am I supposed to think, huh?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what I was planning, so just shut it.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck were you planning, huh? What the fuck were you going to do to make up for this shit?¡±

    Now, the truth was I didn¡¯t have a damn thing planned. I completely forgot about Alex, but I wasn¡¯t about to tell her. I knew if I were going to get out of this alive, I would have to appeal to her ego. Like I said before, Alex is all about Alex. I¡¯d bet anything she staged the whole thing downstairs so that I¡¯d stick up for her and get into it with someone. Because what was happening downstairs while we were upstairs chatting it up? Everyone at the party talked about the fight, and the fine-ass girl caught up in it. When she walks back down to the party, she¡¯ll be like a queen entering her royal ball. Everyone and their grandmother would want to talk to her; every girl in the place would like to pull her aside to get all the juicy details making her the center of attention. It¡¯s the game she loves to play. No one can manipulate a crowd like Alex can, that¡¯s for sure.

    I told Alex I didn¡¯t tell her because I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to wait until the party was well underway and many people were there before I went to pick her up; that way, we could walk in together arm in arm as the two hottest couples in the place so that all eyes would be on us.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if she bought it or not. She just looked at me for the longest time as I sat there pressing the ice to my head. Suddenly she started to glow, and she jumped into my arms. Alex thought I was the sweetest guy in the world, and she even apologized to me for ruining my plans. She loved the idea and was pissed we lost the moment. Bullshit. I guarantee she liked seeing me fight for her more than anything, but she was happy, and I was in the clear.

    I¡¯m sure our relationship may seem odd, but it¡¯s always worked for us. The fact of the matter is Alex is fucking hot. I may look good on her arm, but she also looks good on mine - we look good together.

    Let me tell you that telling Alex my plans was enough to get her hot and horny. She pushed me down on that bed and devoured my lips and neck. ¡°Oh, baby, I missed you!¡±

    Minutes into our make-out session, I felt a gust of wind blow the windows wide open, but we were too busy to care. Let the world see, I say.

    ¡°Jacob,¡± I heard a whisper as if carried by the very wind that opened the windows. I looked over, and there was a dark silhouette sitting on the windowsill, a very familiar form. A light came over his face from a car turning onto our street. ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    I accidentally jumped out of bed and knocked Alex against the wall. ¡°Q!¡± I gasped, but there was nothing there when I looked again, just the drapes dancing about in the air as the cool breeze blew thru the open window.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Alex protested.

    I shook my head no and was quick to zip up my pants. ¡°I can¡¯t do this.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I turned away from Alex, embarrassed as she crawled over on her knees. She hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, baby?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I insisted.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t deny yourself this moment.¡± Her hands were all over my chest and slowly working their way down. ¡°I¡¯ve gone without for a long time, and I know you are feeling it too. I need you.¡±

    I let my head fall back on her shoulders as she kissed me and reached for my belt buckle. ¡°Jacob¡­¡± his voice was in my ear again, chilling and haunting. I forced her hand away from my pants and threw her back. ¡°I told you no! I can¡¯t do this.¡± Buckling up my belt, I sat on the bed and buried my face in my hands. I didn¡¯t know what to do.

    ¡°Fine!¡± She whacked me a few times with the pillow, but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°If you¡¯re not going to take care of me, I¡¯m sure I can find someone else here who can. Asshole!¡± Taking one last swing with the pillow, Alex stormed out pissed. I knew Alex. She wouldn¡¯t do anything except try to rattle my cage, so I¡¯d get pissed off and go after her. Not this time.

    What the fuck was wrong with me? I was free to have hot nasty sex with probably the finest girl at the party, and all I could do was think about Q. Was my conscious getting to me as if I were cheating on him? That¡¯s fucking ridiculous! Yet there I sat, unable to do anything but think of him. This thing between us, whatever that one night was or meant, was getting out of control. At least it was for me. Who the fuck knows what was going thru Q¡¯s mind? Maybe it''d be easier on me if I had the slightest hint, but I didn¡¯t.

    I grabbed the clock radio from the nightstand and threw it against the wall, smashing it to pieces. I was so pissed I punched the wall, which I always thought was the dumbest thing when I heard how Joe Blow drunk guy put his fist thru a wall. All I wanted was a pill I could take to wash away all the questions, all the confusion.

    I could hear two girls talking outside my room, but I couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying. They sounded excited, though, and one of them freaking screamed. ¡°What now,¡± I mumbled and went to investigate, annoyed. The two girls were standing right by the door, and one appeared to be hyperventilating. ¡°Is she alright?¡±

    The one girl grabbed the crazy one and led her down the hall. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine. She¡¯s just a little excited because the Brothers just pulled up.¡± She leaned in a little closer to me. ¡°She has a little crush on one of them.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t interested in their issues, but I followed them down. I stopped halfway down the stairs, folded my arms over my chest, and leaned against the wall. My eyes were glued to the doors, and I could only hope the girls were talking about my Brothers and not some other guys.

    ¡°Arsen!¡± CJ yelled from the bottom of the stairs, proudly holding up his red cup full of liquor. He staggered his way up the stairs bumping into everyone in his path. ¡°Buddy! Where have I been? I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve looked for you and Jacob everywhere.¡±

    ¡°CJ, Jacob is upstairs looking for you right now.¡±

    ¡°For reals?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s in one of the bedrooms. Said something about having to tell you something important.¡±

    ¡°Oh, then I better not keep my boy waiting.¡±

    ¡°Can I have a sip?¡± I asked, pointing at his cup.

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    The minute he gave me his drink, I reminded him that I was waiting for him upstairs and that he better hurry. Not wanting to keep me waiting, he bolted up the stairs, slammed into the wall, turned and laughed, then disappeared down the hall. CJ had enough. I hoped he¡¯d pass out in one of the rooms waiting for me to show up.

    I can¡¯t believe I was standing there with my heart thundering in my chest, hoping to see the Brother walk thru that door. Okay, it was more about seeing Q than anything else but still. Either way, it was dumb, and I felt like a girl.

    I guess the girls were right. The Twins were the first to walk into the house, followed by big ass Tiny, and from there, it was just a continuous flow of Brothers stepping in. It was funny to see the crowd react to them. Some pretended not to care, but one could see that they did no matter how much they tried to hide it. Others were straight up blatant about it, going up to the Brothers, giving them fist bumps, high fives, passing them drinks, and shit like that.

    The funniest ones were the guys yelling their names and calling them over for a drink like they were buddies for years. It simply needed to be in with the ¡®in-crowd.¡¯ It was easy to tell who the Brothers were friends with and who the wannabes were; believe me, there were a lot of wannabes.

    Then the Inner Circle walked in together with Q dead center. The crowd around them went nuts trying to talk to them, offer them drinks, or some other bullshit. It was like watching a boy band walk into a crowd of teenage girls. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d kill me for making such a comparison, but it was the truth.

    I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off Q, not that I was trying to, I don¡¯t think. His black jeans were cut up at the knees, and he had a nice black dress shirt he didn¡¯t bother to button up. He didn¡¯t bother to wear an undershirt, so his bare chest was exposed to the world with only a loose red tie hanging around his neck. He looked fucking amazing. I think only Q could pull off a look like that, and you may think me biased, but I say whatever.

    Shaun immediately found Arsen and greeted him with a hug, then led him to where Q ended up hanging out, which was by the fireplace. Every bother was quick to locate their little and spend time with them except Q. I was left there standing on the stairs feeling like an idiot. Hell, even Ant and Mike were pulled over to the little crowd around Q,

    I wish there were more to say, but that¡¯s all that happened. For twenty minutes, I stood there looking at them, laughing and drinking it up without a glance from my Big; I couldn¡¯t begin to comprehend his deal. If he was pissed at me for some reason, I wished he¡¯d say something about it and get it over with instead of giving me the silent treatment crap. Well, at some point, you just have to say fuck it or punch a wall, so I decided on fuck it and grabbed a drink and headed for the crowd of dancing fools. I wasn¡¯t going to let this whole Q thing mess up my night.

    I danced with any girl that got in front of me. I didn¡¯t give a shit. They could do their own thing, and I would do mine. I have no idea how long I was out there; thirty minutes, maybe an hour? I felt a tap on my shoulder when I thought I couldn¡¯t feel any worse. I turned to see an unexpected face with a genuine smile on his face.

    ¡°Jacob!¡± he said, giving me a fist bump and pulling me into an embrace which I instinctively returned. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again.¡±

    My words were caught in my throat for a second. ¡°Uh¡­Dylan¡­nice to see you too.¡±

    ¡°Nice fucking party, you guys, threw here,¡± he grinned, taking a sip from his drink.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see you come in with the rest of the brothers.¡±

    He shrugged and leaned into my ear so I could hear him better. ¡°I just got here. I went to the house and was told everyone was at a party the pledges were throwing. They have no idea I¡¯m here. I¡¯m not supposed to be here for another two days, but after what happened at the house with the fire, I came down to check things out.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I hear ya.¡±

    ¡°So, how you been, bud? Q treating you right, I hope.¡±

    Boy, if he only knew. ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks. Things are going good.¡±

    ¡°Good, good! Hey, where¡¯s that knucklehead Big of ours? I haven¡¯t seen him. Is he here?¡±

    It took me a second to register the question. ¡°Uh, yeah. He¡¯s right over by the fireplace with the rest of his crew. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be happy to see you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to go say what¡¯s up. Come with me.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± I shook my head, ¡°that¡¯s alright. I¡¯m in the mood to dance.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Maybe I¡¯ll come back and join you later. It looks like we can teach these fools a thing or two.¡± Dylan playfully elbowed me in the side before walking away toward Q.

    I watched him the whole time, wondering what would happen next and admiring his form. He had your typical swimmer¡¯s build and wore a snug t-shirt that showed it off perfectly; his shirt looked painted on, not worn. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the white streak running down the length stood out under the lighting.

    My curiosity got the best of me, and I had to get back on the stairs to see what was happening there. I had a perfect view of Q and the other guys. Dylan walked up behind Q, wrapped his arms around his chest, and lifted him off the ground. Q looked pissed. That is until he looked over his shoulder and saw who it was, then his face lit up as if the light of his world walked into the room. They hugged for a while, laughing their asses off, then every Bother in the area showed Dylan some love like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

    I know what you¡¯re thinking. I was just jealous, and maybe I was a little bit. But held no contempt for Dylan. I mean, he was Q¡¯s Little before I was, so I expect that bond to be there, and hell Q was ignoring my ass long before Dylan ever showed up, so I can¡¯t hate him for that. If I was jealous of anything, it was his relationship with Q, not Dylan himself. He seemed like a cool guy, so just because Q was being an ass towards me for whatever reason, I wasn¡¯t going to take my anger out on Dylan. It wouldn¡¯t be fair.

    But I have to be honest. Standing there watching those two together felt like I was dying inside. And just when you think the night couldn¡¯t possibly get any worse, you find out you¡¯re sadly mistaken. Someone came up behind me and pushed me down the stairs. Luckily for me, everyone at the bottom of the steps broke my fall, or I easily would¡¯ve broken something. I turned around on the ground and saw the fucker I got into earlier come at me with a knife the size of my fucking arm.

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡± I said. That was all I could say, and there was very little else I could do, for I was still tangled up in a mess of bodies. The girls around me yelled their heads off, and the guys just backed away ¨C a lot of help they were.

    Pressing his right foot to my stomach to hold me down, the fucker tried to drive the knife into my chest. I still couldn¡¯t believe this was happening. It was like a poorly written story was unfolding before my eyes. I was going to die at the hands of some drunk dip shit over some stupid shit my girl started.

    A hand reached out and grabbed the guy¡¯s wrist, stopping the blade just inches from my chest. The guy was forced up from his kneeling position, his wrist twisted so he¡¯d drop the knife, and the next thing I saw was a foot spinning in the air, hitting the guy square on his jaw. The guy went headfirst into the wall and fell back on his ass. He was out cold.

    I threw my head back to see who it was, and I saw Dylan standing over me and Q walking away until he disappeared into the gathering crowd. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Dylan knelt and helped me up. ¡°Are you hurt?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± I looked past him through the crowd and saw Q rejoin his crew by the fireplace. ¡°Thanks for the rescue.¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t thank me. That was all him,¡± he assured me, pointing in Q¡¯s general direction. ¡°Get this trash out of here,¡± he ordered, which I found surprising. The guys just looked at him and didn¡¯t move. ¡°Now!¡± After that, everyone within earshot grabbed hold of my would-be attacker and helped throw his ass out. The funny part was they weren¡¯t pledges or Brothers, just random people at the party who knew better than to defy a Brother, even a brand new one like Dylan.

    I walked away from Dylan to head upstairs. He asked me if I needed anything, and I assured him I was okay. Then, my crew came rushing to my side to find out if I was okay. Nick wanted to shove his foot deep into my attacker¡¯s ass. I¡¯m the one who got attacked but had to spend the next five minutes calming Arsen, Nick, Ant, and the rest of the guys down. I can¡¯t recall how many times I said I was okay. It took a while, but I finally got it thru their heads that I was okay and just wanted some time alone.

    I was walking to my bedroom and saw CJ passed out in one of the rooms. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh, for I was happy to see he was done for the night.

    I entered my bedroom and closed the door behind me and the window, for it felt chilly. I threw myself on my bed and wanted to lose myself in dreamland. Despite the loud music, I eventually dozed off.

    An excellent way to finish off a kick-ass party, huh?

    I don¡¯t know how long I was out. I woke up at 3:52 am, and by then, I couldn¡¯t hear any music playing or anyone for that matter. I wasn¡¯t sure if the party was over or what the deal was; quite frankly, I didn¡¯t care. Luckily, I didn¡¯t drink too much, or I would¡¯ve felt ten times worse than I did.

    I lay there on my back, staring at the ceiling with one hand behind my head, absently twisting my finger around my hair. The whole night was coming back to me like a rewound movie. From the moment we opened the doors to let people, Alex and her craziness, the fight, the Brothers showing up, and the guy trying to stab me. Out of all that, the only thing I couldn¡¯t make sense of was Q. He ignores me for days, then comes to my rescue at the last minute. What the fuck was that all about?

    Then it finally hit me why I woke up when I did. My room was fucking freezing! I looked over and saw the window was open again. ¡°The fuck,¡± I mumbled and dragged my ass out of bed to shut it. It freaked me out seeing a woman standing outside in our yard staring at me. Looking closer, I realized it was Lady White. I didn¡¯t know what to do. I mean, do I wave? Say hi? Run for my life? Or give her a little dance number? Seriously, what do you do when you run across a nut bag like that?

    ¡°Can this night get any weirder?¡± I whispered.

    ¡°You have no idea,¡± a voice came from behind me, scaring me so bad I almost flew out the window, but I managed to steady myself before it came to that.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    A soft laugh filled the room. ¡°Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer.¡±

    He was right. I recognized the voice right off the bat. It¡¯s the same guy who¡¯s been taunting me, stalking me, pissing me off, annoying me, and so on. I wasn¡¯t even afraid anymore, just angry. I wish he¡¯d tell me what he wanted or did whatever he planned. The fucking mind game was getting old fast!

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I couldn¡¯t see anything because it was too dark in the room; the shadows were moving here and there. I looked out the window, hoping to get Lady White¡¯s attention. I don¡¯t know why. Maybe I could get her to find someone to send up or something. But it didn¡¯t matter, for she was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her,¡± the voice sounded almost fatherly. That pissed me off. ¡°She can¡¯t do anything. You¡¯re too well protected.¡± Apparently not, I thought. ¡°You¡¯re Q¡¯s Little, for crying out loud. No one is going to fuck with you.¡±

    ¡°Except you, is that it?¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°Are you working with the nut bag?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Lady White? Ha! I¡¯m only interested in you, Jacob Alexandro DeRosa.¡±

    ¡°Then what the fuck do you want from me?¡± I didn¡¯t even wait for an answer. I bolted for the door, but it wouldn¡¯t open. It was unlocked, and I could turn the knob, but it didn¡¯t move an inch, as if an invisible hand was holding it closed. I tried for the light switch, but nothing happened.

    ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t be like that. That¡¯s not going to get you anywhere, and it will only serve to annoy me¡­and believe me, you don¡¯t want that.¡±

    ¡°Fuck off!¡±

    ¡°I just love your spirit!¡± he laughed, his voice low and imposing. ¡°It¡¯s why I liked you the moment I saw you, but he tried to keep you from me.¡±

    ¡°What? Who?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know who.¡±

    ¡°No, really, I don¡¯t. I don¡¯t speak in riddles fuck head, so either say what¡¯s on your mind or get the fuck out of my life!¡±

    He came up behind me and snatched me up in his arms, so my feet dangled in the air. ¡°Oh, you are delicious, aren¡¯t you?¡± He licked the side of my neck until he stopped at my ear and gave it a tongue bath, grossing me out. I struggled against him, but it was useless. It was like I was being held in irons; he was so strong.

    Something else besides his arms enclosed around me, and I couldn¡¯t tell you what it was. I know that it felt soft like a down blanket and smelled like morning spring. His breath was hot against my neck.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I yelled, and he was quick to cover my mouth.

    ¡°Shhh, none of that now.¡± His other hand worked slowly down my chest and stomach but stopped at my belt. It was like I was with Alex all over again. If only! ¡°Delicious¡­¡± I felt the grin on his face. Suddenly I felt his head snap to the side and stopped everything he was doing. ¡°Pity,¡± he sighed heavily, ¡°you¡¯re about to have company, so we¡¯ll have to continue this another time. Until we meet again...¡±

    He released me, and I dropped five feet to the ground as if I were up by the ceiling. How tall was this fucker? Suddenly, a strong gust of wind filled the room; shit was knocked over all over the place, then there was a strong vacuum pulling me a little towards the window; the drapes were sucked out completely.

    I ran to the window but saw nothing. ¡°Fuck you!¡± I yelled, never realizing the tears rolling down my face. I backed away from the window, running my hand thru my hair in a daze. I didn¡¯t even get a chance to formulate a thought before the door flew open behind me; it sounded like it was torn from its hinges. I turned to see a dark yet familiar silhouette standing by the door.

    I took a single step. ¡°Who are you¡­.¡± A flash of brilliant white light came from who knows where. For a mere second or two, I saw other figures rush passed the one by the door; I heard them as well. But that was it for me.

    I was done.

 The Brotherhood Chapter X

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter X

    By X

    I felt at peace, lost in a dream long forgotten. I didn¡¯t want to leave - like a frightened child in the embrace of a comforting mother; I wanted the moment to last forever. The scary part was I knew I was sleeping, yet I would¡¯ve surrendered my life to the world of dreams rather than face reality. I felt safe here. I felt at home. What was so special about this dream that made it feel so blissful? Was it a flicker of a childhood memory I¡¯d desperately been hoping for? If only I could remember it¡­

    My eyes cracked open no matter how hard I tried to fight it. As my vision slowly cleared, I was in my room at the TBH house. For a moment, I wondered how the hell I got there. Then, I scolded myself ¨C why did I even care? The Brothers had something to do with it, and it wasn¡¯t like they would post it on the bulletin board. I closed my eyes, hoping in vain I¡¯d fall back asleep. I figured if there wasn¡¯t a Brother barking at the door for us to get up, why not get a few more ¡°Z¡¯s¡± in? Especially if it meant I might find myself back in that safe place.

    No such luck.

    ¡°Hey, I saw you open your eyes.¡± Arsen¡¯s voice was unmistakable. His tone is gentle, like a caring brother looking out for you. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about going back to sleep. We have to get up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m up.¡± I was dizzy as hell, and from the way, Arsen snickered at my slurred speech; I could tell it was obvious. Begrudgingly, I opened my eyes for a second time, knowing it would be a permanent condition. Slowly, I blinked the final vestiges of sleep from my eyes, hoping to bring the room into focus. Beside me, a blurry Arsen slipped out of bed and into his pants.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a little early in the day to be this eager?¡±

    He turned towards the bed, made a few minor, necessary ¡®male adjustments,¡¯ and then hovered over me. I could tell he was shocked.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost noon. And seriously, you don¡¯t remember?¡±

    Okay, I was supposed to know what was going on, but I was fucking lost. Arsen didn¡¯t seem to care. He grabbed my jeans from our dresser, threw them at my face, and laughed when I was caught off guard.

    ¡°Arsen, what in the hell are you talking about?¡± Like a lost puppy, I simply followed Arsen¡¯s lead and put on my jeans. ¡°Why am I getting dressed?¡±

    He laughed, but in that surprised kind of way. ¡°You mean Q didn¡¯t tell you?¡±

    I just looked at him as if to say, Fucker, just tell me already!

    ¡°Today is The Day of Bonding.¡± Arsen paused momentarily, waiting to see the light bulb go off over my head. He got nothing. My bulb was either burnt out or broken. ¡°You know, the day where the Brothers make it all about the pledges?¡±

    I jumped and pointed at him, ¡°Ohhh, right!¡±

    ¡°Now you remember?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Not a clue¡­ Please feel free to fill me in anytime.¡±

    Arsen slapped the side of my head, ¡°You ass! It¡¯s the day they treat us to almost everything and anything.¡±

    ¡°Can you pass me my shirt?¡± While he turned toward the dresser again, I quickly grabbed his shirt off the bed and slipped it on; it was the same shirt, same difference. ¡°What do you mean by treating us?¡±

    He tossed me my shirt without realizing what I had done, so I threw it back. ¡°No thanks, I¡¯m all set.¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­you¡¯re so going to get hurt, you know this, right?¡±

    I shrugged and winked at him. ¡°So, we¡¯re getting treated to what exactly?¡±

    ¡°Well, according to Shaun, tonight we spend the evening bonding with our Bigs. They cook dinner, each one individually, and without ordering it in or getting someone else to do it ¨C they have to prepare it with their own hands.¡±

    I smirked at the thought. ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°It gets better! Then it¡¯s off on a shopping spree - whatever we want - finally, everyone will meet up at a club or something.¡±

    ¡°Anything we want?¡± I couldn¡¯t hide my devilish grin even if I tried. ¡°I¡¯m thinking BMW.¡±

    ¡°Ok, slow your roll,¡± Arsen laughed. ¡°Talk about wishful thinking. I¡¯m guessing more like a couple of Blu-rays and a soda.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised Q didn¡¯t fill you in. The other pledges seemed to know about it; it was all the talk last night. Unless you got so drunk last night, you don¡¯t remember¡­.¡±

    ¡°Hardly.¡± I rolled my eyes, remembering Q¡¯s brush-off, ¡°Q and I didn¡¯t talk much last night. Come to think of it, we didn¡¯t say one word to each other.¡±

    Arsen¡¯s brow drew together in confusion, and I wanted to tell him to join the club. ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have to ask him.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Arsen kind of swirled his hands between us, ¡°Am I sensing Big and Little issues here, or is it just me?¡±

    All I could do was shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Well, he was there to stop the guy with the knife. I still can¡¯t believe that shit. I mean, who pulls a knife out nowadays? That¡¯s so 90s. If you¡¯re going to start something, at least have the decency to pull a gun. I mean, is that too much to ask?¡±

    Was he out of his mind? ¡°You¡¯re fucking kidding me, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I am,¡± he laughed, whipping me with my shirt. ¡°I¡¯m just glad Q was there,¡± his voice softened a bit, ¡°and you¡¯re okay.¡±

    ¡°Ditto.¡±

    Our eyes fixed on each other, and I could see his genuine concern for me. I got that warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. The one you get when you realize someone cares about you that much - especially Arsen. And don¡¯t take that the wrong way. I just mean, weeks ago, we were strangers who couldn¡¯t care less about each other. Now we were like brothers. Honestly¡­it felt special.

    The moment grew awkward, as these moments often do. So, we did the only thing we could - we looked away with cheesy grins and scolded ourselves mentally for acting like a bunch of girls.

    ¡°By the way, what happened with Alex?¡±

    Ugh, Alex. That¡¯s one memory I could do without. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Arsen shrugged as he slipped his shirt over his head. ¡°One minute, you guys are going upstairs to get your freak on, and the next time I see her, she looks pissed.¡±

    I laughed; I probably shouldn¡¯t have. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be Alex if she didn¡¯t make a scene.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°We went upstairs, and she wanted to get her ¡®freak on¡¯ as you so eloquently put it, but I wasn¡¯t trying to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Say what?¡± Arsen looked dumbstruck. ¡°You mean your girl was up in your room the night you were free to do anything, and you didn¡¯t hit that?¡±

    I simply shook my head.

    Arsen¡¯s eyes were like daggers, piercing me as if I¡¯d just confessed to murder one or some shit. ¡°Are you out of your mind?¡± he punched me playfully. ¡°Have you seen how hot Alex is? And we¡¯re not just talking face¡­she¡¯s got the body to back it up. Seriously, you didn¡¯t tap that?¡±

    Again, I could only shake my head.

    ¡°Fuck! No disrespect or anything, but I would¡¯ve banged the shit out of her¡­twice!¡± He dropped down next to me with his mouth gaping open. ¡°I just don¡¯t know what to say. If anyone was going to get laid last night, my money was on you.¡± He draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close. ¡°You, my friend, need to be studied.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shut up already! You make it sound like I passed up a 100 million dollars or something.¡±

    ¡°Might as well!¡± he slapped the back of my head. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I wanted to¡­at first anyway, but then I couldn¡¯t go thru with it.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Beats me,¡± I lied. I knew exactly why I couldn¡¯t go thru with it, but I wasn¡¯t about to come clean about it. I felt terrible lying to Arsen, but believe me; I got over it pretty damn quick. ¡°Anyway, enough about me. What about you?¡±

    ¡°What about me?¡±

    ¡°Did you hook up with anyone last night?¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± he shook his head and got up.

    ¡°And you have the nerve to rag on me.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a big difference here, Jacob. I wasn¡¯t alone in my room with a girl begging¡¯ to get her freak on. You were.¡±

    ¡°Still. I saw you getting plenty of looks at the party. You had your pick of girls, and you know it. Instead, you¡¯re here ragging on me.¡±

    ¡°Not the same, buddy. Picking up some chick at a party willing to drop her pants for the first guy who takes her upstairs is not my style.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ¡°¡®Hmm¡¯ what?¡±

    I snickered. ¡°Nothing. You don¡¯t run into many guys who think like that; most will bang anything that moves. Hey, speaking of banging¡­or not banging, or whatever¡­ Do you know what happened to Alex? I didn¡¯t see her for the rest of the night.¡±

    When the question left my lips, Arsen got weird and quickly tried to change the subject. ¡°We should line up outside before the Brothers show up.¡± He stood up and tried to edge his way out of the room.

    Yeah, like I was going to let it go after that.

    I quickly got up, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him back into the room. ¡°Oh no, you don¡¯t! What¡¯s your deal? Why are you acting strange suddenly?¡± Arsen turned away from me as if afraid to make eye contact. I pushed further.

    ¡°Does this have something to do with Alex?¡±

    ¡°Look, I didn¡¯t want to say anything, but¡­okay, just don¡¯t get upset and go crazy on me.¡± His voice was calm and soothing; he even put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. The problem was I had no clue as to why.

    ¡°Arsen, buddy, just tell me what it is you¡¯re trying so hard not to tell me. I¡¯m not going to get mad, and I¡¯m not going to go crazy on you. I promise.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡­¡± The boy broke off before he even got started.

    Now I was just annoyed. What could be so horrible that it would demand this kind of drama? I finally had to grab him by the chin and force him to look at me. ¡°Damn it, just tell me!¡±

    ¡°See, you¡¯re already getting mad¡­and you wonder why I don¡¯t want to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Dumbass, that¡¯s because you¡¯re not talking! What do you expect me to do? Dance? Now cut the bullshit and spill it before I¡­.¡±

    ¡°I saw Alex with Mike,¡± he blurred it out.

    ¡°What?¡± I felt my knees buckle.

    ¡°I saw Alex with Mike.¡±

    ¡°Mike, who?¡±

    He looked at me like I was nuts. ¡°What do you mean Mike who? Mike Mike!¡±

    ¡°Mike? As in our pledge brother, Mike?¡±

    Arsen nodded.

    ¡°With Alex?¡±

    He nodded again. I thought I was going to be sick.

    ¡°Alex, who?¡±

    ¡°Oh my god! Are we going to do this again? Your Alex, you fool!¡±

    I was livid! Images of those two intertwined, making out in some dark corner, consumed me. Before Arsen could offer more details, I bolted for the door - but not as fast as Arsen. He jumped in front of me and blocked the way.

    ¡°Whoa there, killer! You said you weren¡¯t going to get pissed.¡±

    ¡°I lied. Now move!¡± I tried to get around him, but he stood his ground.

    ¡°Back up!¡± Arsen pushed me back gently with a closed fist, ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you do something stupid. Do you hear me? If you want to act like an idiot, you¡¯ll have to go thru me to do it. Now, do you want to go there? I don¡¯t.¡±

    His ultimatum snapped me back to my senses. There was no way in hell I would raise a hand to Arsen. I stopped. Not out of fear but out of respect for him.

    ¡°Just chill for a minute and let me finish before you go all Rambo. I saw them talking¡­that¡¯s it.¡±

    I backed away from him and sat back down on the bed, my eyes fixed on his face. My mind was going in a million directions, none of which were focused. ¡°That¡¯s it¡­just talking?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± he said with a nod.

    ¡°What were they talking about?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know,¡± he laughed. ¡°I was halfway across the room, and unfortunately, I left my super hearing in my other pants.¡±

    I smiled at my stupidity. ¡°Okay, okay. Any idea how long they talked?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Honestly, I couldn¡¯t tell you. I noticed them when I came from the basement to get a drink. I was up there for maybe 5 minutes, but then Shaun dragged me out of the room. By the time I got back, they were both gone.¡±

    That little tidbit was disturbing. ¡°You don¡¯t think they¡­.¡±

    ¡°No way, dude! Mike can be an ass, but I doubt he¡¯d sink that low. Besides, I don¡¯t think he even knew Alex was your girl.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± I damn near yelled.

    ¡°Hey, it doesn¡¯t matter if he knew or not because Alex wouldn¡¯t cheat on you¡­would she?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t answer that; all I could offer was a meek shrug. Alex was crazy enough to do anything to get back at me if I made her angry enough. I¡¯d learned this the hard way.

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Arsen prodded. ¡°You don¡¯t trust her?¡±

    I snickered a bit. ¡°You don¡¯t know, Alex. She can be the best thing to ever happen to a guy or be the devil in stilettos.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± he said, tossing an eyebrow up as he looked at me. ¡°This is none of my business, so please tell me to shut up, but why are you with this girl?¡±

    ¡°I guess it was just the natural order of things back in high school. I mean, she was the hottest girl in school. The most popular, head cheerleader¡­.¡¯

    ¡°And let me guess,¡± Arsen interrupted, ¡°you were the hottest, most popular jock in school, captain of whatever sport you played, the guy¡­.¡±

    ¡°Basically,¡± I returned the favor and cut him off. ¡°It just seemed natural that we¡¯d end up together.

    ¡°Do you love her?¡±

    I said nothing.

    ¡°Okay, the fact that you have to think about it tells me there are issues.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡­love¡­her, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Wow, Mr. Denial,¡± he laughed. ¡°Are you trying to convince yourself or me?¡±

    ¡°Look, right now is not the best time to be asking me if I love anyone. It¡¯s not that simple.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah, it is,¡± he pushed. ¡°It¡¯s a yes or no answer - without hesitation, mind you. It IS that simple. There is no in-between¡­no gray area when loving someone.¡±

    ¡°Things are different now,¡± I insisted. ¡°There are other factors involved you don¡¯t know about.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°This conversation is over.¡± I got up and headed for the door.

    Arsen was quick to grab my arm. ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°Look, you said I could tell you to mind your business, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Well, consider yourself told.¡±

    He released me instantly and threw his hands up as if I was on fire. ¡°Fine¡­it¡¯s your life, not mine. I¡¯m just trying to help.¡±

    And just as quickly, I felt like a complete asshole for talking to him like that. I turned to face him. I felt horrible. ¡°Arsen, I¡¯m¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool. You don¡¯t have to say anything, and you don¡¯t have to apologize. I get it. You have things on your mind that you need to work thru. Just know that I''m here if¡­when¡­ you need to talk to someone.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, bro,¡± I smiled and pulled him into a big ass brotherly hug.

    He grabbed me and gently pushed me towards the door. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s roll.¡±

    I realized how lucky I was to have Arsen as a pledge brother. I could¡¯ve ended up with someone like Mike. Speaking of the dumbass, the second I stepped out of my room, his voice pierced thru me like a knife. I only caught a piece of the conversation, but it was more than enough.

    ¡°¡­if a guy can¡¯t take care of his girl, I¡¯m more than happy to step up to the plate.¡±

    In an instant, all the hard work Arsen put into calming me down was lost. My mind was ablaze with images of Mike throwing Alex down on my bed at home and humping the shit out of her. Why back home? I have no idea, but that¡¯s where I took it. It didn¡¯t help that Mike had amassed a crowd - Xavier, Kevin, and Sam surrounded him like hungry wolves, eagerly devouring each juicy detail.

    The pack must have sensed my entry into the hall, for they all turned to face me at once ¨C and laughed.

    Arsen felt my blood pressure shoot thru the roof. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to our door. ¡°Forget about it,¡± he whispered forcefully.

    I was more than willing to leave it alone, but the longer I stood there, the bolder Mike¡¯s comment got ¨C obviously, his smirking, snickering hounds served only to feed his desire to humiliate me.

    ¡°Do you have something to say?¡± I growled thru clenched teeth. What else could I do?

    ¡°Shit,¡± Arsen swore under his breath.

    Mike took a step toward me and threw his hands in my direction. ¡°What¡¯s your problem, DeRosa? I¡¯m not even talking to you!¡±

    I rolled my eyes at that one. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m stupid? I¡¯m standing right here, you moron! It doesn¡¯t take a genius to know you¡¯re talking about me.¡±

    Now he rolled his eyes at me. ¡°Oh, get off your high horse, man! Not everything around here revolves around you.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, man!¡± We were just a few feet away from each other by this time. The tension was so thick it was like a third person between us. As the pressure grew, so did the crowd around us. They were on edge and getting closer - If I had to guess, I¡¯d say they were getting ready to stop whatever might go down between us.

    ¡°Let it go, man,¡± Arsen stepped between us and pushed me back towards our room. ¡°It¡¯s so not worth it.¡±

    I barely heard Arsen; I was so pissed. My heart was pumping so loud it overtook everything. Yet, when my eyes locked on Mike, I could read his lips as plain as day.

    Don¡¯t worry, Jacob; I was more than happy to make her kitty purr.

    My insides exploded! All I could think about was leaping thru Arson to tear Mike¡¯s head off. I never got the chance.

    In front of me, Arsen roared, ¡°Fuck this!¡± he spun around and clocked Mike in the face with his fist in one easy motion. He sent him flying into the three lackeys he¡¯s so eagerly entertained earlier.

    It was so sudden and unexpected that my rage was replaced with laughter. I couldn¡¯t believe what I saw. I couldn¡¯t believe Arsen would do that for me. No one else saw the humor because I quickly realized I was alone in my laughter. I think the rest of them were in shock. Aside from me, there was dead silence.

    Mike was quick to bounce back to his feet and charge Arsen. Everyone lunged towards them to break them up. And in a strange twist of events, I was the one holding Arsen back now. They were hurling words at each other while everyone else yelled at them to calm down. Ultimately, I think the group was making more noise than they were preventing. At the very best, it was a losing battle.

    Suddenly a single voice stood out from the rest. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming! Someone¡¯s coming!¡± Justin shouted, flailing his arms around like a chicken with his head cut off. He started grabbing bodies randomly, tossing them back towards their rooms. ¡°You idiots! Someone¡¯s coming!¡±

    It finally clicked with everyone what he was saying because we all scattered like roaches when the lights came on. We stood at our doors, trying to catch our breath as if nothing had happened. And while the group looked calmer, Arsen and Mike continued to give each other the evil eyes of flaming daggers. Yikes.

    I leaned into Arsen a little bit, and thru the corner of my mouth, I thanked him.

    ¡°My pleasure,¡± he replied in the same manner.

    I don¡¯t know why we bothered to pretend nothing happened. The Brothers always seem to know what¡¯s going on despite our efforts to hide the truth. We were screwed. A pledge hitting another pledge¡­well, I¡¯ll just repeat it¡­we were screwed!

    I have to say, seeing Dylan come up the flight of stairs surprised me. I don¡¯t know why; he was a Brother, just not any of the ones I was expecting.

    ¡°Sup guys?¡± he asked casually like we were all his best friends. ¡°How¡¯s everyone doing this morning?¡±

    ¡°Good Sir!¡± we responded, yet not so much in unison this time.

    He moaned lightheartedly. ¡°Oh god, leave the Sir at the door. Dylan is fine.¡± He walked up and down the hall as he spoke, looking at each set of pledges from time to time. ¡°Well, now you guys know how to throw a kick-ass party. One of the best I¡¯ve ever been to. I had a lot of fun, so thank you for having us.¡±

    ¡°It was our pleasure!¡± Mike was quick to plant his lips on Dylan¡¯s ass. Mike¡¯s eye was still twitching from Arsen¡¯s right hook. And though I could tell Dylan could see something was wrong, he couldn¡¯t identify it precisely. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your eyes, Mike? Did a little too much partying last night?¡±

    Mike nodded as he glared at Arsen and me. ¡°Yeah, something like that.¡±

    ¡°Well, as long as you had fun, right?¡± Dylan said.

    I was floored that Mike didn¡¯t rat us out. Floored, I tell you! And confused as hell. Arsen threw me the same, ¡®I can¡¯t believe it¡¯ look. Even CJ and Ant looked shocked, although they tried to hide it. I guess it goes to show you that just when you think you know someone, they surprise the shit out of you.

    The only thing that topped Mike¡¯s reaction was Dylan¡¯s. He didn¡¯t have a clue. Now that I think about it, Dylan was different. He was nothing like the other Brothers. When Q, Seth, the Twins, or some other Brother is around, you get that feeling of awe from them, like they are larger than life. They know things. I don¡¯t know what those ¡°things¡± are, but they know them! They just carry themselves so that it¡¯s just¡­whoa! Mystery and power. Dylan - not so much. That¡¯s not a knock against him at all. I mean no disrespect. If anything, he appears just like an average guy doing his thing. Maybe it¡¯s simply that he¡¯s new in his role as a Brother and hasn¡¯t found his mojo yet. Whatever the case, he wasn¡¯t like the Brothers we were used to dealing with.

    ¡°You guys excited about tonight?¡±

    Some of the guys nodded, and others answered verbally. Either way, the anticipation was there. Everyone was looking forward to having their Big cook for them. Well, except for me, that is. I was convinced Q would serve me a big black piece of coal.

    ¡°You guys are going to have a lot of fun tonight,¡± Dylan assured us with a smile. ¡°I remember standing right where you are last year, and I was out of mind with excitement. And you,¡± he pointed at me, taking me a little by surprise, ¡°if Q makes you what I think he¡¯s planning, you will love him for it. Believe it or not, Q is an excellent cook, making this one dish that¡¯s just¡­wow.¡± He laughed. ¡°You¡¯ll love it!¡±

    I smiled. It was all I could do because I wasn¡¯t expecting much from Q after last night. Maybe some Ramen - if I was lucky.

    ¡°Okay, I have some news I think you¡¯ll enjoy. You guys have earned a little freedom for yourselves.¡± The simple use of the word ¡®freedom¡¯ had us hanging on his every word. What was he talking about? ¡°Interested?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± This time we were all one loud, coherent voice.

    He laughed at us, and we laughed with him. ¡°Okay, okay, I get the message. Starting immediately, you guys will get two hours a day to leave the house to do whatever you want. Usually, it will be from noon to two, but that may change when school starts again next week.¡±

    We were pumped. We owned a little piece of our lives again! We started clapping and giving each other high fives and whatnot. CJ even threw out a ¡°dude¡± before smothering Ant in a hug.

    ¡°Hold on, hold on,¡± he shouted, not out of anger but simply to get our attention. It worked. ¡°This is a privilege and an awesome one at that. Like all privileges, it can be taken away just like that.¡± He snapped his finger loudly. ¡°Two hours means two hours. Not two hours and one second. Everyone has to be standing right here at exactly 2 pm or before. If anyone, and I mean anyone, is late, the privilege will be gone like that.¡± Again, he snapped his fingers, and the sound echoed the hall. ¡°So, if you¡¯re smart, you¡¯ll plan to be here at least ten minutes early every day. You do not want to mess this up. Now for today, even though it¡¯s not noon, once I¡¯m done, you¡¯ll be free until two o¡¯clock, so today you get a little extra time, but remember, you must be here by when?¡±

    ¡°Two!¡± we all sang out.

    He stopped talking and took a moment to take a good long look at each of us. I think most of us were thinking the same thing. He was cutting into our free time! This silent ¡®review of the troops¡¯ must have lasted a solid five minutes, then he spoke, ¡°Do you guys have any idea how lucky you are to be standing where you are right now? Seriously, take a moment and just think about it. Honestly, when I was in your shoes, I didn¡¯t truly comprehend. Now that I¡¯m a Brother, it¡¯s clear, but there¡¯s just so much you don¡¯t see when you¡¯re standing there. You guys aren¡¯t just pledges; you¡¯re pledges of The Brotherhood.¡± He left us with that thought and walked away.

    And we just stood there, lost.

    ¡°Are we good to go?¡± Jason asked hesitantly.

    We looked at each other as if scanning the crowd for someone to give the go-ahead. I wasn¡¯t about to stand around and waste anymore of my free time, so I just threw it out there. ¡°Well, he said we could take off when he¡¯s done, so I¡¯m taking off.¡±

    I was right. Everyone was waiting for someone to say it out loud. The words were barely out of my mouth, and half the guys bolted. I didn¡¯t move at all. I wanted to wait until Mike and Arsen were clear of each other before leaving. I didn¡¯t want to find out later that they started beating the crap out of each other. It was cool, though. They exchanged a few dirty looks, but that was all. For now, they were in a holding pattern, just waiting to see what would happen next.

    My little crew came together to check-in, anxious to formulate a plan of action for the rest of the day.

    ¡°Does anyone know if I got any last night?¡± CJ asked.

    We laughed our asses off.

    ¡°Seriously, dude, I don¡¯t remember. Most of last night is a blur.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t drink so much next time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and maybe Steve can do without his three-footer.¡± He goosed Steve¡¯s package, which was funny. Steve just causally brushed CJ¡¯s hand away. ¡°So, what are you dudes going to do?¡±

    ¡°I want to check out the campus,¡± Ant answered.

    ¡°Sweet! I¡¯ll come with you.¡± Nick was just a little too eager. ¡°I¡¯ve been dying to get near the football field since I got here. Let¡¯s roll!¡± He grabbed Ant¡¯s arm, literally dragging him towards the Athletic Center. All Ant could do was look at us and mouth the words ¡°Help me!¡± It was damn funny.

    CJ was like, ¡°Dude,¡± and walked away dismissively, unsure what that was all about.

    Then the focus turned to me and how I planned to spend my two hours. I told them I¡¯d probably walk around the campus for a while and just see what happens. But honestly, I didn¡¯t have a clue. I never expected the Brothers to grant us this kind of freedom. In the end, the group went in separate directions; not surprising considering we spent too much time together as pledges.

    I didn¡¯t get far. I didn¡¯t even get out of the house. As I reached the door, Dylan stopped me from leaving to deliver a message. Q had requested my presence in his bedroom.

    Like an idiot, I asked, ¡°What for?¡±

    And like a Brother looking at an idiot with a lot of nerve, he replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize Q needed a reason.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± was all I could say.

    He walked off, leaving me to haul my ass back up to Q¡¯s room. Usually, it wouldn¡¯t be a big deal if it wasn¡¯t located in East Guam! Plus, I wasn¡¯t all that gun-ho to see Q. Not yet. But it wasn¡¯t as if I had much choice. Q¡¯s ¡®request¡¯ wasn¡¯t a request at all ¨C it was an order.

    I bumped into Steve during my little trek to Q¡¯s bedroom, and I mean that literally. I was coming around a corner from the left, and he was coming from the right¡­you can figure out the rest.

    ¡°Hey, what are you still doing here?¡± I asked. ¡°I thought I was the only one not enjoying our newfound freedom.¡±

    ¡°Oh, believe me, I plan to make a break for it, but I wanted to talk to my Big first.¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Where is Seth?¡±

    ¡°In his room, I think¡­at least that¡¯s what I was told.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m doing the same.¡±

    ¡°You have to see Seth too?¡±

    ¡°No, you dumbass,¡± I smirked, ¡°I¡¯m going to see Q, though I¡¯d rather be poked with flaming¡­hold up a second. Your face!¡±

    Instantly Steve¡¯s face came alive with the brightest smile you can imagine. He was glowing, and I was right there with him. I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing. As you may recall, Steve had severe acne issues. I¡¯m talking about the worst of the worst. But I was staring at him, less than two feet away, and he was almost unrecognizable to me. Instinctively, I put my hand to his face. I didn¡¯t even think about it; I just did it. I had to feel it to believe it. His skin was clear! He still had a few blemishes on his chin and forehead, but they were minor and healing fast. I guess with all the Arsen and Mike drama; I hadn¡¯t noticed it earlier.

    ¡°How?¡± I asked, still stunned.

    With a smile beaming across his face and a slight blush on his cheek, he pressed his face against my hand. I think he enjoyed the feel of my hand on his cheek. I figured it had been a while since he felt comfortable letting someone touch his face in such a way.

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of Seth,¡± he finally answered just as I removed my hand.

    ¡°What did he do?¡±

    ¡°One of the first things he did was give me a face cream. He said it would clear up my skin if I used it daily. Honestly, I was skeptical. I¡¯ve already been thru every cream, ointment, and pill on the planet. Nothing has ever helped. And as I expected, Seth¡¯s cream did the same - nothing. I¡¯m talking zero change! I thought maybe the whole thing was some pledge joke. Then this morning, I wake up looking like this!¡± He laughed as he pointed to his face. ¡°I couldn¡¯t believe it.¡±

    ¡°What in the hell did he give you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± He seriously couldn¡¯t contain himself; the boy was giddy. ¡°But I don¡¯t fucking care! I mean, look at me! I can finally be one of you guys without feeling like the ugly duckling.¡±

    ¡°Dude,¡± that made my stomach turn hearing him say that, ¡°you were always one of us.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°No way,¡± he insisted. ¡°You don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like to go through high school with a face like a pepperoni pizza to be harassed because of it constantly. Seriously look at yourself. Are you trying to tell me you can relate? Nothing against you, bro, but you can¡¯t.¡±

    He was right. As conceded as it may sound, I certainly didn¡¯t have any problems in the looks department. And for a moment, as I talked to Steve, I felt guilty about it.

    ¡°And then I get his bid to join The Brotherhood,¡± he continued, ¡°and I¡¯m like, are kidding me? Me? This place looks like a freaking modeling convention, and they wanted me to try out? I was convinced I would be the butt of a bad joke.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why did you even bother showing up?

    He shrugged and looked passed me as if the answer was hidden behind me. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess a tiny part of me hoped their pledge invitation was genuine. I didn¡¯t want to pass it up if that was the case. I risked humiliation to become part of something bigger and better. Somewhere I could belong.¡± I was about to say something, but he unintentionally cut me off. ¡°Then I get into a lineup with you guys for the first time, and all I could think was ¡®one of these things does not belong here,¡¯ you know?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy for me to be surrounded by a bunch of mother-fucking models. But now I feel like I belong¡­as stupid as that may sound.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°I get it. And I¡¯m sorry if I ever made you feel like you were an outsider. I¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no, no¡­it¡¯s not about that. No one made me feel like that. I made myself feel that way. But now¡­¡±

    ¡°Now, you look amazing.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but caress the side of his face again. I wasn¡¯t exaggerating in the least for the sake of his feelings. I never would¡¯ve guessed such a good-looking guy was hiding under all that acne. Seriously, the kid was a stud! I should¡¯ve known that if the Brothers invited him to pledge, he had something more that we were all missing. Now that ¡®something¡¯ was staring me in the face. ¡°You¡¯ll be beating the girls off with the stick now¡­hell, maybe even some guys too.¡±

    He blushed again and pushed me away playfully.

    ¡°I just want you to know that I¡¯ve always liked and respected you as a person; it had nothing to do with your looks.¡± I cupped his face in my hands. ¡°You were awesome before any of this. This is just icing on the cake.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡± He looked away from me and pressed his fingers against his eyes to stop the waterworks.

    I kind of snickered at him. ¡°Come here,¡± I said and hugged him. It became one of those moments you don¡¯t soon forget.

    ¡°I should go before Seth leaves or something.¡± He hid his watery eyes by not looking at me, ¡°Besides, I doubt you want to keep Q waiting any longer. See you at two, bro.¡± He slapped my hand and took off down the hall.

    I was so happy for him. The smile on my face stayed with me to Q¡¯s door.

    It was partially open when I arrived. I stopped for a moment, you know, to admire its lovely craftsmanship and all that good stuff. Maybe I was stalling, but it was a damn good-looking door!

    Before I could knock, a voice - that did not belong to Q - invited me inside. One of the Twins was lying on Q¡¯s bed. He was dressed in simple shorts and a t-shirt reading a magazine. Q sat at his desk, his fingers blazing across the keys of his laptop. He wore a black, gray, and white camouflage tee that looked airbrushed. It hugged him perfectly. Even as I stood just a few feet from his desk, he didn¡¯t bother to make eye contact. I guess I wasn¡¯t expecting much out of him. He sat with one leg on his chair, concentrating on his computer. I couldn¡¯t help but notice thru the glass on his desk that he was also wearing matching trunks. I was a bit surprised to find him lounging around in nothing more than a tee and underwear. He¡¯s the guy I picture being up, fully groomed, and dressed by the crack of dawn.

    I was so fixated on Q I didn¡¯t notice the twin get off the bed until he was standing right in front of me. ¡°Wicked party you guys¡¯ threw last night!¡± he grinned and slapped my stomach with the magazine. ¡°One of the best I¡¯ve been to.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­thanks, Sir.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Just make sure to shoot us, or at least me, an invite to your next party. I¡¯d hate to miss it.¡± He grinned and sat on the edge of Q¡¯s desk.

    ¡°For sure, Sir,¡± I was creeped out by his casual attitude, especially with Q sitting just a few feet behind him. To make matters worse, or maybe just awkward, he sat there staring at me as if expecting me to speak. The problem was I had nothing to say. Hell, I didn¡¯t even know why I was there.

    ¡°So¡­¡± he smiled.

    I kind of raised my brows and shrugged. Like what was I supposed to do? Maybe he was expecting me to do some magic trick and pull a rabbit out of my ass. Seriously! Q was no help; he simply continued typing as if neither of us was in the room. The banging on the keyboard only emphasized the silence between us. It was unnerving.

    ¡°So¡­¡± The twin repeated with the same stupid grin.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry¡­.¡± I finally said.

    Now he looked confused. ¡°For what exactly?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Sir, but I feel like I¡¯m supposed to be doing something, or you¡¯re expecting something from me. I¡¯m just not sure what you want. I¡¯m about ready to break out in song, and believe me; no one wants that.¡±

    He laughed outright, and thankfully, it broke the tension a bit.

    ¡°How was your night?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Uh¡­fine,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Did you have a good time?¡±

    ¡°I suppose, Sir.¡± I looked at Q, hoping he¡¯d provide a hint as to what was going on, but as expected, he was too consumed with his computer to care.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± The Twin paused for a moment; his eyes never moved from mine, ¡°did anything weird happen last night?¡±

    ¡°Weird? Weird how, Sir?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. You tell me,¡± he shrugged innocently, but I could it was a loaded question. ¡°We found you passed out on your bed. We just want to make sure you¡¯re okay. Are you sure nothing strange happened? Because if it did, you could tell us. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here. Not only to put you guys thru the ringer while pledging but to watch out for you as well. You know that, right?¡±

    Call me slow, but it finally dinged! They knew! Or, at the very least, suspected something happened last night. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief! This was my chance to tell them there¡¯s a sick fuck out there who has nothing better to do than to harass me. I had to contain my excitement! I knew the Brothers would nail this fucker to the wall. And maybe, just maybe, telling them everything would get some kind of response out of Q. That alone would be worth it.

    ¡°So, is there anything you want to tell us?¡± He prodded.

    I looked straight at him and said, ¡°Nope¡­not really, Sir.¡±

    Yes, you read that correctly. I didn¡¯t tell him anything. Believe me when I say the words were on the tip of my tongue, and I was about to spill my guts, but at that very moment, it hit me. What good would that do? If I told them what was happening to me and they took it upon themselves to get involved, it would only force this mystery fucker into hiding. I was convinced it had to be a Brother, so once word got out among the group, he¡¯d be stupid to try anything. I¡¯d never discover his identity or what he wanted if he hid. He¡¯d have the upper hand forever, and I couldn¡¯t let that happen. Right then, I decided to keep quiet until I had enough info on this guy to bring to the Brothers. No one is perfect, and he¡¯s bound to fuck up at some point. I was going to play along and fight him on my terms.

    ¡°Jacob, are you sure there¡¯s nothing?¡± he sounded genuinely concerned for me.

    ¡°Positive, Sir,¡± I smiled. ¡°I guess I passed out from drinking too much.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± he said under his breath and hopped off the desk, his bright blue eyes fixed on mine. He was about to walk past me but stopped at my side. He looked at me with a questioning gaze, and I returned his inquisitive stare until he finally left.

    I felt terrible for lying, but I was confident it was the right decision. I could only hope they would understand my silence once I came forward with enough evidence. If I was wrong, my ass was out of The Brotherhood and probably Arsen¡¯s ass too. I felt guilty putting his future with TBH in jeopardy. Maybe that wasn¡¯t my call, but it was too late now; I¡¯d made my bed, and now I had to lay in it.

    Now it was just Q and I alone in his room. He was still typing, and I still stood there like an idiot. Every minute he let me stand there, I got angrier at him. I had no idea if I was dismissed and could leave or if he had something more for me. When I found out Q was going to be my Big, I was so excited, but now, after all the bullshit, I started to regret it¡ªspeaking of regrets. That night in the motel room? Damn, I wanted to turn back the hands of time on that one. Had I known Q would pull a 180 on me, I would never have allowed that night to happen. Never! I would¡¯ve slept outside in the rain if necessary.

    I was so pissed at him and consumed by my thoughts that I didn¡¯t realize he had stopped typing. I think the deafening silence in the room snapped me back to reality.

    Q¡¯s eyes moved across the screen, reading whatever the fuck he was working on, when he finally said, ¡°Close the door.¡±

    I¡¯d been waiting for him to say boo to me since the night before and all he could muster was ¡®close the door.¡¯

    Reason 133 why I don¡¯t own a gun is all I¡¯m saying.

    I moved to close the door but hesitated, unsure if I was supposed to stay or get out. Of course, Mister Talkative was no help. I would have taken smoke singles at that point if that¡¯s how Q wanted to communicate. I closed the door but stood there staring at it with my back to Q and my hand shaking on the doorknob.

    What the fuck I¡¯m I doing here? I was feeling panicky, like I couldn¡¯t breathe. I needed to get out.

    Out of nowhere, an arm wrapped around my waist. A warm hand traced my arm down to my trembling hand and gently pulled it away from the doorknob. My heart stopped. Seriously, any longer, they would¡¯ve had to put the paddles on me to jump-start that bad boy. I remember biting the side of my cheek to ensure I wasn¡¯t dreaming. It was real. The arms embracing my body were very, very real.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Q¡¯s voice was a faint hush; he was so close his body heat washed over me. He pressed his forehead gently against the nape of my neck. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± he said again, his voice slightly higher than before. ¡°I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to make you feel so alone.¡±

    Is this happening? I found those words repeating themselves like a broken record in my head. I couldn¡¯t believe this was happening. I was so confused. There was so much I wanted to say to Q. I wanted to lash out at him, but the words got caught in my throat every time I opened my mouth. I think I was afraid if I said anything, the illusion would fade. I¡¯d be standing alone with my hand on the doorknob and Q sitting at his desk, ignoring me. I didn¡¯t want that. If this was truly an illusion, so be it. It was better than the alternative.

    ¡°Say something,¡± he pleaded. ¡°Say anything. Yell at me if you want, get angry, but please say something.¡± The sincerity in his voice was overwhelming. It¡¯s ironic. He finally allowed me to say what I wanted, to get it all out, and I couldn¡¯t find the words. Then I realized there was only one question I needed to be answered to give me peace of mind.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Instead of answering me immediately, Q looked away as if the answers I needed were scrolling across his eyes, and he didn¡¯t want me to see them. ¡°I¡¯m afraid the answer you¡¯re looking for is lame at best, but fear kept me away from you last night.¡±

    ¡°Fear?¡± Q didn¡¯t strike me as the kind of person afraid of anything. ¡°Fear of what exactly?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you see?¡± He pointed at the two of us, ¡°this should not be happening. The night in the motel room should never have happened, though believe me when I tell you there isn¡¯t a fiber in my being that regrets it. I¡¯m just speaking the facts of the matter. You are my Little; I¡¯m your Big! I should¡¯ve never allowed us to cross that line.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­but we did,¡± I added. ¡°What does that have to do with blowing me off all night?¡± Q was about to answer, but I cut him off. ¡°Wait¡­I think I¡¯m beginning to understand. You didn¡¯t hang out with me because you were afraid you might say or do something that would give us away.¡± He looked away for a minute as if hearing the situation out loud made him uncomfortable.

    ¡°That¡¯s it, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± He answered like he was admitting defeat. ¡°When it comes down to house business, whether dealing with the pledges or the Brothers or Inner Circle business, I¡¯m focused on my task hundred percent, but last night was such a relaxed atmosphere¡­.¡±

    ¡°You were afraid you¡¯d slip up.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Q parted his lips to say something but released a long-drawn-out breath instead. ¡°That night in the motel, I realized something.¡± He paused for a long while, forcing me to ask him to continue. He looked up at me with a warm smile playing on his lips. ¡°How easy it is for me to lose myself in you.¡±

    His voice was soft and soothing, yet I heard those words as if his lips were pressed to my ear. Instantly, I had butterflies in my stomach. I probably lost some cool points admitting that, but it was true. What do you say to something as sweet as that? I couldn¡¯t stay mad at him after that. Truthfully, I understood this was a challenging situation for him. Granted, I wasn¡¯t exactly in his shoes, but I could imagine how someone in his position must feel.

    Of course, I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°How bad can it get? How bad can it get for you if others discover it? Or us, for that matter?¡±

    Throwing his head back a little, he snickered to himself; I could tell the different scenarios were running through his head. He returned his gaze to me and got serious suddenly. Leaning back against his desk and grasping the edge with his hands, he said, ¡°If you could only understand the line I¡¯ve crossed, you¡¯d know how bad it can get.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Make me understand.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know that I can¡­.¡± Q was about to say something more but stopped, raising his left brow as the light bulb went off over his head. ¡°Let me tell you about Lex.¡±

    I just need to stop here and say how hot he looked leaning against his desk. We were having a serious conversation, but I still couldn¡¯t stop the tingle in my pants. I defy any guy to stand where I was and look at Q in his camo underwear with ¡®things¡¯ bulging and not get excited.

    Anyway¡­

    ¡°If I had a counterpart, Lex was it,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s no secret that I¡¯m seen as Kyrios¡¯ right-hand-man though I never actively sought that title. Well, every right-hand needs a left. Lex was it. My west coast counterpart. This house acts like a hub for all the TBH houses on the east coast. All major issues, problems, questions, and concerns come here for resolution.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± I nodded knowingly, ¡°so you¡¯re not just the head of this house but the whole coast.¡±

    ¡°In a way,¡± he hesitantly agreed. ¡°Ultimately, the head of each house runs their house how they see fit if it¡¯s in line with The Brotherhood covenants. They only turn to me for guidance when it¡¯s needed. My words carry a lot of weight with the other leaders.¡±

    ¡°With The Brotherhood itself, from what I understand,¡± I added. His modesty made him that much more appealing and hot.

    ¡°So goes the rumor,¡± he laughed, ¡°but I try not to believe them. Lex¡¯s house in California served the same function as this house. His voice also resonated throughout The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°As yours does,¡± I added again. I wanted him to give himself the credit he rightfully deserved.

    ¡°Will you stop that? I know what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    I simply grinned. ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°As I said, it¡¯s widely believed that I would be next in line if Kyrios were to pick a successor. However, it would¡¯ve been a toss-up between us not long ago. A few years back, Lex took a Little by the name of Mark. This kid was as hopeless as they come. When Lex and some of the members of his Inner Circle went to Mark¡¯s high school to scout out potential pledges, Lex handpicked the guy even though he wasn¡¯t one of the candidates. No one questioned his decision because¡­well, it was Lex. But it was clear from the beginning that Mark was not Brotherhood material.

    ¡°The very first night of pledging, he was dismissed by another Brother, but Lex was quick to overrule him. Mark got to stay. This didn¡¯t happen just once but many times throughout pledging. If I dismissed one of our pledges for every time Mark was dismissed, I seriously wouldn¡¯t have any pledges left. But each time, Lex overruled the decision to boot him. The others could only assume Lex saw something in him that they were missing, some hidden potential. They trusted Lex would reveal what made this pledge so special before it was too late.

    ¡°Well, he never did. Mark made it to initiation night and was just minutes away from becoming a full-blown Brother, not just a Brother, but one of us!¡± Q pressed his fist to his chest.

    I was a little confused by his reference to ¡®one of us,¡¯ but I let it go, eager to have him finish the story.

    ¡°Lex was just about to perform the final ritual that would¡¯ve made Mark¡¯s brotherhood official when a voice echoed thru the room ordering him to stop. I can only imagine the look on his face when he turned to see Kyrios standing before him.

    ¡°Unbeknownst to Lex, the members of his Inner Circle grew so suspicious of his motives that they launched a secret investigation to uncover the truth. What they found sent a shockwave throughout The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°Let me guess they slept together,¡± I interjected with a roll of my eyes at how their situation mirrored our own.

    ¡°It was more than that, Jacob.¡± A seriousness washed over his face, making the situation very clear. ¡°Lex was in love¡­and that love clouded his judgment in the worst way. For a pledge to make it to Brotherhood, he must earn it on merit. It¡¯s one of our most sacred laws, and all members of The Brotherhood are entrusted with upholding it. Lex betrayed that trust.¡±

    Q stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts, but I was impatient and urged him to continue.

    ¡°Word of his indiscretion spread like fire throughout The Brotherhood. People were pissed like you wouldn¡¯t believe. One Brother took great offense to his betrayal of everything we stood for and made it his mission to bring him down and make him regret the error of his ways.

    ¡°Lex had to face the Council of Brothers¡­.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s what exactly,¡± I interrupted before he even had a chance to finish his sentence; lousy habit, I know.

    ¡°I was getting to that, Mr. Impatient! The council comprises the leaders of all the TBH houses and Kyrios. It meets every month to discuss important issues about The Brotherhood. Still, it also acts like a court where Brothers in high-level positions, such as myself, stand trial when they¡¯ve committed a crime against The Brotherhood. Well, that one Brother led a serious crusade against Lex, eventually winning and bringing him down. And to be honest, there wasn¡¯t much Lex could do. The evidence spoke for itself.¡±

    ¡°What ended up happening to this Lex guy?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still a Brother, for it is very little we can do about that. Once you become one of us, there is no going back. But he was stripped of his position, and where his voice once carried enormous weight with The Brotherhood, now it¡¯s just a mere whisper. A first-year Brother has more influence than he does. As part of his punishment, he¡¯s forced to stay in the house he once led.¡±

    My eyes just blew open. ¡°Wow! That must suck! Can you imagine if you lost everything and, on top of that, were forced to stay in this house? Everyone must look at you, not to mention what they think.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Q sighed.

    ¡°What happened between Lex and Mark? Did you guys force them to stop seeing each other?¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°No¡­why would we do that? The damage was already done. What purpose would it serve to force them apart? No, they were free to continue seeing each other if they wanted. In fact, from what I understand, they continued to see each other after the scandal became public. It didn¡¯t last long, though. Their relationship only reminded Lex of everything he had lost. Eventually, they went their separate ways.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I mused. ¡°Whatever happened to Mark?¡±

    He grinned. ¡°Well, obviously, he never became a Brother.¡±

    ¡°Obviously!¡±

    ¡°At the same time, the Council of Brothers felt Mark was innocent in all this. Lex should¡¯ve known better. Instead, he filled Mark¡¯s head with promises and dreams he had no chance of fulfilling. The Brotherhood felt obligated to him, so we ensured he was set for life.¡±

    ¡°And that means what exactly?¡±

    ¡°His school is paid for. He¡¯ll have an excellent job waiting for him when he graduates in a couple of years; I believe, a house with a car in the garage and a Golden Retriever.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he laughed at me. ¡°As long as Mark doesn¡¯t do anything stupid like fall in with the wrong crowd or get into drugs or the crime scene, The Brotherhood will look out for him for the rest of his days. One of our own failed him; he shouldn¡¯t have to suffer because of it.¡±

    ¡°Well, damn! At least I know I¡¯ll be set if people find out about us.¡±

    Q gave me the look of death and took a step toward me! For a minute, I thought a pair of red beams would shoot out of his eyes.

    ¡°I was kidding!¡± I threw out my hands so he wouldn¡¯t rush and beat the crap out of me. I managed to grab his arms and hold him back. ¡°I¡¯m kidding. I¡¯m sorry it was a bad joke, a terrible joke!¡± I was laughing my ass off the whole time, and, as much as he wanted to pretend he was going to hurt me, Q couldn¡¯t help but join in.

    He backed away from me, smiling. ¡°Hopefully, you better understand why I acted the way I did last night and why this can¡¯t go beyond these doors.¡±

    ¡°And what exactly is this?¡± I asked him, moving my hand between us.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°This.¡± Now I waved both hands between us. ¡°Whatever it is that can¡¯t leave this room? What happened in the motel room, not to mention the lip-locking a few minutes ago? What is it? What do we call it? I guess I¡¯m confused as to what we¡¯re becoming¡­if anything.¡±

    He shrugged and threw up his hands. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob, but I don¡¯t have an answer for you. I don¡¯t know what this is, what to call it, or what it will become. The truth is this is very new to me. It kind of took me by surprise. I do know this¡­.¡± He paused for a moment and turned those brilliant eyes on me. It¡¯s funny. He said it was easy for him to lose himself in me, and now when I look at him, all I can see is myself. ¡°Regardless of the risk to myself or my status, I¡¯m willing to explore the possibilities and find the answers to your¡­our¡­questions.¡±

    I smiled, possibly a very cheesy smile, but I couldn¡¯t help myself.

    ¡°I do realize, however¡­.¡± His words trailed off, and he looked pained suddenly. ¡°I have no right to put you in such a position. So far, you have a decent shot at becoming a Brother if you continue your current path. Not to mention your life outside The Brotherhood¡­your girlfriend, friends, and family. This,¡± he did the same thing with my hands, ¡°will only complicate matters for you.¡± I wanted to say something, but he cut me off. ¡°So, I want you to know you can walk out of this room right now, and it ends here and now. And if you¡¯re worried I¡¯ll retaliate and boot you from The Brotherhood, please don¡¯t. I¡¯d never abuse my position in such a way.¡±

    Q was giving me a get-out-of-jail-free card. Regardless of whatever might have happened or what was said, he had a point. I did have a pretty good life going for myself, and I also believed I had a good shot at becoming a Brother. And then there¡¯s Alex; yes, we have our issues, but what couple doesn¡¯t? Was I ready to give all that up, not to mention complicate my life a hundred times over? Why would anyone do that to themselves?

    I looked at him looking at me, waiting. I wanted to apologize, but I simply couldn¡¯t find the words. Walking to the door, I grabbed the knob and slowly turned it. ¡°Before I walk out this door, there is something you can answer for me.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡± I turned to face him and shrugged. ¡°Out of all the people someone like you can end up with, why pick me?¡±

    Q sort of laughed, this soft whispery laugh, and walked to the window behind his desk. ¡°You don¡¯t pick these things, Jacob¡­these things pick you.¡± He looked at me for a second before returning his gaze out the window. ¡°I remember when Geo, Seth, the Twins, and I went to your school to scout potential pledges. We had files on you guys with pictures and everything. On the way up there, Geo handed me a stack of files he wanted me to review, including yours, and I told him no. If any of you guys were Brotherhood material, I¡¯d be able to spot you from a mile away.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying you had no idea who I was or what I looked like when you came to my school?¡±

    Q nodded. ¡°There were five guys we were going to scout. We arrived at your school a little after lunch, just in time to catch your gym class. A group of you were playing football, and this guy struck me immediately. I pointed to him and told the other guys he¡¯s it; he¡¯s the one we want to pledge. Geo checked his files to see if he was even one of the candidates, and he was.¡±

    ¡°Who was he? I knew everyone in the gym class, and he¡¯s not here.¡±

    Covering his eyes and shaking his head, Q responded, ¡°It was you, you dummy!¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­I knew that.¡± So over my head.

    ¡°Sure, you did,¡± he laughed. ¡°How you carried yourself and interacted with your teammates told me you were golden. Then you came here, and I started seeing you regularly and¡­I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t give you a solid answer, Jacob. I can¡¯t explain it myself. All I know is you make me feel.¡±

    I was expecting a little more, but he wasn¡¯t forthcoming. ¡°Feel what, Q?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just it,¡± he turned to me again, ¡°you make me feel.¡± I got that fluttery feeling in my stomach again, and his eyes¡­his eyes looked so genuine. ¡°You can¡¯t truly comprehend what that means for me.¡± Again, he looked out the window, and his voice got so soft I had to strain to hear him. ¡°I haven¡¯t felt like this in millions of years.¡± I thought that was an odd way of putting it. ¡°At least it seems that way,¡± he corrected himself quickly. ¡°I¡¯ve devoted my entire existence to The Brotherhood to ensure it remains strong and everlasting. Then one day, I met someone who made me realize there could be something more, and my world turned upside down. I¡¯m so grateful for that¡­grateful for you. Even if it¡¯s not going to last.¡±

    There was nothing more to be said, so we stood there in silence. I got the answer I was looking for, and it didn¡¯t change my mind. I opened the door and took one last look at Q before closing it behind me. It was done. I made my decision, and there was no going back.

    I doubt Q was expecting to feel my arms wrap around his waist or my lips pressing against the nape of his neck. I¡¯m sure he thought I was on the other side when I closed the door.

    He fell into my arms, and I held him close. I felt him finally let go, and nothing else mattered in the world but the two of us.

    You¡¯d think I would have doubts or regrets, but I felt nothing like that. Standing there with Q in my arms felt so natural and honest that I didn¡¯t give two shits or a fuck what obstacles the world was about to throw at us. I was euphoric! Bring it, world - was all I had to say about that!

    After standing there for a long time, Q turned to face me and wrapped his arms around me. ¡°Jacob¡­are you sure this is what¡­.¡± I kissed him. I knew where that sentence was going and didn¡¯t want to hear it. I wanted my actions to speak louder than any words we could share. I slipped my hand up to his neck and thru his silky hair, then pushed him down into his chair; my lips never parted from his. I was ready to release all the bottled-up sexual energy in my pants, and Q didn¡¯t seem to be complaining.

    We heard the doorknob jiggle, and we flew apart like we were on fire. I was flushed and steaming all over. I had to stand behind Q¡¯s chair to hide the prominent bulge in my jeans.

    Jacob came storming in, his face flushed and yelling, ¡°He¡¯s dead! He is fucking dead!¡±

    Whatever switch Q throws whenever he¡¯s alone with me and when he¡¯s with the rest of the Brother was in full effect. He was in ¡°Q¡± mode all the way.

    ¡°Calm yourself,¡± Q said, his voice mellow and laid back as ever.

    ¡°Calm myself?¡± Jacob pressed his fist to this temple and just looked pissed. ¡°Calm myself! Vesous is dead! Dead! So don¡¯t tell me to calm down.¡± He slammed his fist on the desk. ¡°What do you plan to do about it?¡±

    Q flew from his chair and got right in his face. ¡°Don¡¯t think for a second that bringing disturbing news gives you the right to come into my room in such a manner.¡± Q moved in even closer to Jacob, so close I thought he was about to kiss him. Instead, he hissed thru clenched teeth. ¡°I will not tolerate such insolence, especially in the presence of a pledge!¡±

    Ouch! That kind of stung a little, but I knew what he meant.

    Jacob looked past Q and saw me. I don¡¯t think he noticed me up until that point. He backed away and bowed his head. ¡°Forgive me¡­but one of our own has fallen, and¡­.¡±

    ¡°I already knew about Vesous before you came barging in here. I got word this morning.¡±

    ¡°I see. The Brothers wish to speak with you¡­they¡¯re waiting outside.¡± He bowed his head again and walked out. I could tell he was still mad as hell.

    ¡°I have to deal with this,¡± Q said, patting my chest as he walked by me to get a pair of sweats and a light green t-shirt.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°A Brother from New York died this morning after a hit and run.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god¡­.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know much yet. Police are still investigating, from what I understand. At any rate, you don¡¯t need to worry about it. It¡¯s our problem.¡± He walked by me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. Before he could get away, I grabbed him by the waistband of his sweats and pulled him in for a much deeper, passionate kiss.

    He had to force us apart because I didn¡¯t want to let him go, and he walked away from me laughing. ¡°I¡¯ll pick up my tonsils later¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hey, before you leave, do you mind if I use your bathroom. I¡¯ve had to take a leak since I woke up this morning.¡±

    ¡°Knock yourself out!¡± he shouted as he closed the door behind him.

    I did what everyone else does when they go into someone else¡¯s bathroom ¨C did my business, then went thru shit. For a bathroom that was the size of a small country, Q didn¡¯t have much in it as far as guy stuff goes. I didn¡¯t see any shaving cream, razors, hair gel, toothbrush, or any of that crap. The place looked immaculate, considering it was a guy¡¯s bathroom. It wasn¡¯t a big deal. Q could have all that stuff stored away somewhere. I just thought it was odd because most guys are too lazy to make more work for themselves, like putting shaving cream somewhere they¡¯d have to take two steps to get.

    I could see dark storm clouds thru the bathroom window. I had no idea there was a storm coming. I love them. Hearing the thunder and seeing the lightning gives me a rush; not quite as good as sex, but storms are up there. I walked over to the window to get a closer look. Suddenly, a thunderclap shook the room, and I ducked instinctively as if I were about to get hit. I also saw the bright flashes of lightning in the skies and a few strikes in the distance. This was going to be a bad storm, and I loved it.

    The twenty or so Brothers gathered outside were more interesting than the impending storm. I just happened to catch Q walking thru the crowd until he was standing at the very end with his back to everyone. Since I¡¯m not nosy, I slowly, carefully, and quietly opened the window; you know to let fresh air in¡­

    ¡°This is bullshit!¡± were the first words I heard.

    ¡°Tread carefully, Jacob,¡± Shaun warned.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m the only one upset about this?¡±

    Eric was quick to step in. ¡°We all lost a Brother today. We all feel that loss, and to say otherwise is an insult to everyone here.¡±

    ¡°If everyone feels as passionately about this as I, we need to act! We must strike back and let them know such deeds will not go unpunished!¡±

    ¡°Oh, will you pipe down!¡± Steel barked. ¡°No one knows exactly what happened. We need more¡­.¡±

    ¡°They killed him!¡± Jacob interjected, pointing his finger down at the group. ¡°You know it, and I know it. Pretending we don¡¯t have all the facts and stalling for more information isn¡¯t going to change that.

    Who else would be so bold to go after one of us in such a way?¡±

    ¡°And what exactly would you have us do, Jacob?¡± Shaun asked him.

    ¡°Strike back! Strike at the very heart of the¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re impossible!¡± one of the Twins shouted. ¡°You would seriously have us start a war we could lose?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see it that way,¡± Jacob insisted. ¡°I see them losing.¡±

    ¡°You would,¡± the other twin added. ¡°You¡¯re young, short-tempered, and have none of the wisdom that time has afforded some of us. Neither side is ready for a war which is why this truce has existed for several millennia.¡±

    Millennia? That had to be a mistake on his part.

    ¡°We need more time,¡± the twin¡¯s twin insisted in a unified voice.

    ¡°If you¡¯re waiting for more of our Brothers to awaken, then you¡¯re all fools. It could very well be too late by then. We wouldn''t be having this discussion if we had leadership with the conviction to act.¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Shaun looked pissed, for Jacob was now attacking Q, who continued to stand with his back to the group staring up at the sky. He seemed entranced by the brilliant flashes of light appearing throughout the sky. ¡°Remember your place!¡± Shaun continued. ¡°You will respect the ruling council of this house and its leader to which you have pledged your...¡±

    ¡°My pledge was to no one man or group,¡± Jacob hissed. ¡°My pledge and loyalties were made to The Brotherhood! It is my place to question those who lead us if they refuse to act when our livelihood is threatened! Anything less would be criminal on my part.¡±

    ¡°He has a point,¡± one of the Brothers I wasn¡¯t familiar with finally agreed.

    Fuck you, I thought.

    ¡°Not you too,¡± Seth threw his head back in disappointment.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Seth,¡± the Brother said. ¡°I have the utmost respect for everyone here, and you know that, but Jacob''s words have some wisdom to be found.¡±

    ¡°Of course, there is!¡± Boy, was Jacob quick to jump on that. ¡°And I know I¡¯m not the only one who feels this way. I¡¯m simply saying what must be said. I mean, look at him.¡± He pointed at Q and walked closer to him. ¡°He stands there and says nothing. Probably because, on some level, he knows I speak the truth. If he doesn¡¯t say anything, then I say we take our concerns to Kyrios and see what he believes is the correct course of action. This pains me to say, but I can¡¯t believe this is the Q who¡¯s led us for so long. This isn¡¯t the Q of legend I¡¯ve come to know and respect. Since he lost Dylan last year, he hasn¡¯t been the same; it¡¯s like he lost his nerve or something. Seriously this can¡¯t be Q¡­Q the son of a¡­.¡±

    Q spun around and stuck Jacob across the face in perfect harmony with a clap of thunder and a lightning bolt striking somewhere off in the distance. Hollywood couldn¡¯t have timed it any better. More impressive than that was how far back the blow threw Jacob; a good fifteen to twenty feet at least, and everyone took a step or two away from Q.

    My jaw dropped. My heart pounded. I was both scared and impressed at the same time. None of this drama made sense to me.

    ¡°If you believe speaking with Kyrios will help your cause, then feel free, Jacob,¡± Q said, walking toward the fallen Jacob. His tone was calm, but you could tell he was seething. ¡°He¡¯s downstairs as we speak. Plead your case if you wish, and see if Kyrios is willing to commit our people to a war that will decimate both sides simply to appease your ego. Do you think you could make that call, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you think you can order your fellow Brothers to march to their deaths needlessly to fight an enemy you have never had the pleasure of crossing blades with? Could you? Can any of you?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re asking for when you call for war. You think it¡¯s some glorious charge to victory when you can¡¯t even begin to fathom what you¡¯d be facing. But I¡¯m done.¡± Standing over a terrified Jacob, Q grabbed him by the throat and lifted him until his feet dangled in the air. ¡°One thing you will learn is your place! I lead this house! And if you think because Kyrios happens to live in this house that changes anything, you¡¯re sadly mistaken.¡± He threw him into the other Brothers. ¡°Get him out of my sight. I can¡¯t bear to look at him right now.¡±

    The other Brother¡¯s gathered around Q; I¡¯m guessing it was to show their support. There was another loud clap of thunder with so much force I could feel the house shake and the room light up. The strike was so close I could feel the heat it left behind. And for a moment, I saw white spots in front of my eyes. I kept blinking my eyes like I had some nervous tick or some shit. Eventually, I stumbled to the sink to splash cold water in my eyes.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I whispered to myself. Once my vision returned to normal, I went right back to the window. You know, for the fresh air and all. ¡°What the fuck?¡± A man was standing next to Q now. Notice I didn¡¯t say, Brother ¨C nothing about him said ¡®Brother.¡¯ He must have been in his early to mid-fifties with a mane of black hair and distinguished traces of grey along the sides. He dressed well in dark slacks, a dress shirt, and a long, dark coat. And for an older guy, he was pretty attractive. All that aside, who was he?

    He glanced at all the Brothers standing behind Q. ¡°Leave us,¡± he ordered, and they all leaned forward a little, bowed their heads in reverence, and left just like that.

    My first thought was that I was staring at Kyrios, but I ruled it out quickly. If this man lived in the house with all of us, he¡¯d stick out like a sore thumb. Unless they all lied and he didn¡¯t live in the house, why would Q say he was down in the gym.

    I was so confused!

    After looking Q over for a bit, he finally spoke. ¡°How have you been?¡±

    ¡°Why do you care?¡± Q snapped loudly. I was shocked to hear such a cold tone coming from him.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I be concerned?¡±

    ¡°No, you can¡¯t,¡± Q seemed very adamant about that. ¡°I don¡¯t need your concern, but if it makes you feel better and will get you out of my hair, I¡¯m doing fine, thanks.¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t seem like you were fine a few minutes ago. You raised your hand to your own kind; that¡¯s never happened to my knowledge. Tells me how fine you¡¯re not doing.¡±

    Q shrugged and turned to him. ¡°How dare you? How dare you come into my house and presume to think you know anything about me anymore. What gives you the right?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I have the right to worry about my¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Q pointed at the man and nearly took out an eye. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare! You lost the right to call me that a long time ago. I am nothing to you, and I wish you¡¯d get that thru your head. Now, if you don¡¯t mind, I have things to attend to.¡± Q turned away from him and returned to staring at the storm clouds.

    The man nodded. He looked slightly hurt, then suddenly he looked right up at me. I jumped so far back that I nearly tripped and fell into the tub while praying he didn¡¯t get a good look at me. I had to get out of there. There was just so much going through my mind that I was getting a headache; so many things didn¡¯t make sense. I needed answers, and I knew I wouldn¡¯t find them there. I could only think of one person who might be able to shed some light on this whole mess; that is, of course, if she wasn¡¯t a complete loon.

    I don¡¯t even remember getting downstairs, but there was some commotion at the front door. Dylan was there with two other Brothers yelling at some guy at the door.

    ¡°What the fuck is going on now?¡± I asked. The Twilight Zone wasn¡¯t this complicated.

    ¡°You need to leave now!¡± Dylan was saying, trying to keep the kid from coming inside.

    ¡°It was bullshit, and you know it!¡± the guy said. ¡°I belong in here with you. I worked my ass off only to get booted because of a fuck up I wasn¡¯t even responsible for. My partner fucked up! You were there, Dylan. You know what I¡¯m talking about!¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Dylan fired back. ¡°We all knew the rules, Jake. If one pledge got dismissed, then both had to leave. Why are you still dwelling on this? It was a year ago. Let it go already and get on with your life.¡±

    ¡°Fuck that! Where¡¯s Q? He kicked me out. He can reinstate me! I know the new pledge class isn¡¯t that far along yet. I can rejoin and prove that I deserve to be here. Where¡¯s Q?¡±

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me with this?¡± Dylan laughed right in his face. ¡°Get out!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving, and there¡¯s nothing you can do to make me go, so I suggest¡­.¡±

    A pair of furious hands grabbed the guy from behind and threw him out on his ass. It was Steel, and he didn¡¯t look all too happy. ¡°If you come here one more time, I¡¯m going to kick your fucking ass until you¡¯re nothing but a grease stain on the bottom of my boot! Do you understand me?¡± With that, he slammed the door shut and went upstairs.

    ¡°You¡¯ll all regret this!¡± Jake shouted from the front step. It was muffled, but the tone was ominous and threatening.

    ¡°Today is just not a good day,¡± Dylan said to no one.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± I asked.

    Dylan rolled his eyes. ¡°This kid was in my pledge class last year. He got booted and hasn¡¯t been able to let go. He always comes by here, calls, writes, emails¡­you name it, he does it. He can¡¯t get it thru his head that it is over. Anyway¡­¡± Dylan looked thru the glass and sighed. ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡±

    Then he looked at me. ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t look so hot.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± I lied, then quickly left the house. I didn¡¯t want to be bothered with too many probing questions.

    I was ready to bolt, collect my thoughts during what remained of my 2 hours, and think of Q. Q¡­Suddenly I pictured him standing in the backyard all alone. I told myself I didn¡¯t belong there; it was TBH business, and Q was quite capable of handling the situation. Hell, he ¡®handled¡¯ Jacob by about fifteen feet. But I couldn¡¯t help myself. In my heart, I needed to know he was okay. Besides, I was sure he¡¯d still be alone.

    As I turned the corner to the backyard, I saw him. He had yet to move, his gaze lingering on the ominous clouds above. The impending storm was farther off than that last rouge thunderclap had led me to believe. Yet the flicker of lightning above the tree line was the perfect backlight for Q. He was beautiful.

    That was the first time it even seemed strange to me that I found another man beautiful. I¡¯d held Q, kissed him, caressed, and longed for him, which seemed so natural. So right. Sure, I¡¯d questioned my recent ¡®interactions¡¯ with my fellow pledges, but not with Q. Not since he¡¯d taken me in his arms and gently muttered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The rain started to fall. Gently at first, it didn¡¯t take long to turn into a downpour. I wiped the first few droplets from my face half-heartedly. Q remained statuesque. And at that moment, that voyeuristic moment, I knew I¡¯d made the right decision; I never wanted Q to be this alone again. I took a single step out from the corner of the house, then stopped.

    Q was not alone.

    Initially blocked from view by the side of the house, Jake stood less than 50 feet from Q and was closing the distance fast. I could only assume this fucker wanted to harass him about letting him back into the fold. Immediately, I was heated ¨C my protective nature turning on full force. How dare this asshole!

    ¡°Q!¡± he shouted.

    I couldn¡¯t help but think this guy is just asking for it, and you can¡¯t help but laugh at how pathetic he is. But then I heard the gunshot, which wasn¡¯t so funny anymore. I froze; my blood went cold as I saw Q fall to the ground. My heart burst right thru me.

    Two more shots right into Q¡¯s back.

    I flinched twice. My knees buckled. The world went into slow motion.

    My vision was completely blurred. Hot tears weld in my eyes, scorching them, yet I couldn¡¯t even blink to force them down. Cold rain pelted my cheeks. I wanted to cry out but had no voice; I kept moving my mouth, but nothing came out. The tears fell on their own, clearing my vision enough to see I saw the bastard run into the woods and Q¡¯s body lying on the ground motionless.

    I don¡¯t know how but I managed to take one step, then another. I seemed heavier somehow, and Q¡¯s body seemed miles away. Then suddenly, I was blazing across the yard at full speed, the weights on my ankles lifted, the adrenaline pushing me forward. I dropped down by Q¡¯s side, my body moving so fast I landed almost on top of him. I was cold. He was shaking. There was hot blood all over my hands. A voice in my head screamed, ¡®check for a pulse!¡¯ I could feel it briefly until it finally faded into nothing.

    I shook my head violently, pulling him into my arms, mouthing the word ¡®no¡¯ repeatedly without any sound. I was rocking him, hugging him close to me, hoping in some way that the beat of my heart would give him life again.

    Behind me, I felt electricity fill the sky ¨C I had never heard thunder.

    I threw my head back and shouted, ¡°Somebody help me!!!¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XI

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XI

    By X

    I felt strange - out of place. The world moved dizzily around my head. There was a voice calling my name, a hand gently shaking me. My eyes opened to a blurry figure sitting beside me.

    Why am I on my back?

    Suddenly shots echoed thru the fogginess of my brain. Gunshots! Though disoriented and numb, I sprung up¡­I had to save him!

    ¡°Q!¡± I tried the yell, but my voice sounded more like a cough than anything else. I had to find him!

    ¡°Q!¡¯ This time his name rang out loud and clear with a hint of panic.

    Before I could say another word, a pair of hands grabbed my arms. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­everything is okay. Please stay calm.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡± I was trying to shove the hands off me. ¡°Q¡­Q was shot!¡±

    ¡°Jacob, calm down!¡± That voice. It was both familiar and impossible at the same time. ¡°I¡¯m right here. I¡¯m okay.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡± It was him. There was no mistaking it. He sat beside me like he was serving me breakfast in bed. ¡°Q?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he smiled.

    I freaked out.

    I jumped off the bed, realizing I was back in Q¡¯s room for the first time. I have no idea how I got there. ¡°You¡¯re dead!¡± He looked as confused as I felt. I backed away from him, my heart racing. ¡°I saw you get shot three fucking times!¡±

    He laughed at me. ¡°I wasn¡¯t shot, Jacob. I¡¯m standing right here.¡± He got up and came around the corner of the bed, stopping just a few feet in front of me. His hands were on his chest. I¡¯m not sure if the gesture was meant to emphasize his sincerity or the fact that he was solid. Real. ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m okay.¡±

    ¡°I saw you get shot!¡± I shouted and started breathing heavily like I couldn¡¯t get enough air. ¡°I held you. I felt you slip away. I felt you die in my arms. I felt it!¡± All that heavy breathing wasn¡¯t such a good idea. The room started spinning.

    I stumbled forward¡­right into Q¡¯s arms.

    ¡°You¡¯re okay,¡± he whispered, holding me close. ¡°Just breathe slowly¡­breathe normally.¡± He sat me on the edge of the bed and knelt before me, caressing my face with his gentle hands. ¡°I¡¯ll get you some water. Just try to stay still. I don¡¯t want you to fall.¡± He got up to leave, but I quickly grabbed him and pulled him close. I needed to hug and feel him - to know this was real.

    I felt shaky. He was laughing at me, but I didn¡¯t care. He was hugging me back, and that¡¯s all that mattered. After a few minutes, I had to pull him away and ask, ¡°What is going on?¡±

    ¡°You collapsed outside.¡±

    ¡°I did what?¡± I slipped my hand thru my hair. ¡°Why am I wet?¡±

    ¡°You fainted, and it¡¯s pouring outside.¡± Just then, a clap of thunder exploded around us, shaking the windows and my nervous system. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± he laughed.

    I took a deep breath and looked him dead in his eyes. ¡°I saw you get shot.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­but I wasn¡¯t,¡± he smiled reassuringly. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember? Jake came up behind me and pulled a gun.¡±

    ¡°So, there was a gun!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but he never got the chance to shoot me. I grabbed his hand, and we struggled for a few seconds. He managed to fire three shots into the air, but eventually, I knocked him out. I looked over, and there you were, lying on the ground. I thought you got hit by a stray bullet. I ran to you and checked for a pulse or any sign of blood loss. I found the pulse but no sign of blood. You just fainted, so I picked you up and brought you here.¡±

    I shook my head no. ¡°That¡¯s not how it happened.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I get shot and killed in your version. So, you¡¯ll forgive me if I like my version a little bit better. Call me crazy.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand,¡± I raised my voice a little. ¡°I know what I saw.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, you saw wrong. I don¡¯t know what else to tell you.¡±

    ¡°How do you explain it then? I didn¡¯t just make this up!¡± I looked down at my shaky hands. ¡°There was so much blood¡­¡± my voice trailed off.

    ¡°Maybe you made it up.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I was a bit insulted.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about in your mind. Maybe, when you heard that first gunshot, your mind went into ¡®worst-case scenarios mode.¡¯ Instead of seeing reality, you envisioned me getting shot. That would be emotionally overwhelming for anyone. No one can blame you for fainting.¡±

    It made sense, I guess. Q was kneeling right there in front of me minus three bullet holes, but I still couldn¡¯t shake the feeling there was something more I was missing. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said softly, ¡°it seemed so real.¡±

    He grabbed my hand and pressed it to his bare chest. ¡°If you need to feel something real, then feel this.¡± His heartbeat was intense, his body warm. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe anything else, believe this.¡± He leaned in and kissed me passionately, with a fire that could ignite a dead star. ¡°If that doesn¡¯t convince you, then follow me.¡± Q led me by the hand onto the balcony. The rain continued to batter everything in sight. ¡°You were unconscious for about ten minutes. Luckily, you came around just in time to see this.¡±

    He pointed to the yard below where a cop was leading Jake off the premises with handcuffs. The left side of his face was smeared with mud.

    ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    ¡°Steel thought it best to use his boot to keep Jake in line. He used it to press Jake¡¯s face into the ground until the cops showed up. Crude but effective, I suppose.¡±

    I stood in the pouring rain watching Jake get shoved into the squad car by the cops. Somehow it didn¡¯t make me feel any better. Q tapped my stomach, and I followed him back inside.

    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m going to change into some dry clothes and head downstairs. The police still need a statement from me, but you¡¯re free to hang out here if you want or enjoy your free time; there¡¯s still plenty of time before two o¡¯clock comes around. He kissed me, got some clothes, and went to the bathroom.

    I stood there waiting for this all to start to make sense. I thought back to the moment I saw Q get shot. I could still hear the shots, smell the gun powder, and see all that blood. I don¡¯t know how long I stood there, but I didn¡¯t even notice Q shaking me until he gently tapped my cheek.

    ¡°Jacob, are you okay?¡±

    I brushed his hand away from my face. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Alright then¡­I¡¯m going to go. If you need anything, let me know.¡± Slipping his fingers into the front of my jeans, he leaned in and kissed me again, but only for a moment. I grabbed that same hand as he walked away, reluctant to let him go. He simply smiled at me and slipped his hand away. ¡°Hey, feel free to get out of those wet clothes. We have about the same build; pick anything from my closet you like.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    He opened the door and told someone it was okay for them to come in and see me. The next thing I know, Arsen and CJ rush me.

    ¡°Dude!¡± CJ almost knocked me over when he rushed to hug me. ¡°I thought you got shot!¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­well...there seems to be a lot of that going around.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡­ never mind.¡±

    Arsen came up and ruffled my hair. ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that!¡±

    ¡°Like what? What happened?¡± Now I was confused.

    Arsen shrugged. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d tell us. One minute I¡¯m meeting up with CJ at the gym, and the next thing I know, three loud bangs ring out across the campus. It sounded like fireworks.¡±

    ¡°Fireworks, dude!¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Arsen just looked at CJ, ¡°thank you for clarifying that. Anyway, we didn¡¯t think anything of it. That was until every Brother in sight rushed outside. We followed, of course. The word gun was thrown out a few times, so we knew it was serious. Just as we were about to go out thru the backdoor, Q rushed in with you in his arms, yelling for everyone to get the hell out of his way. I think my heart stopped. I mean, literally stopped when I saw you in his arms. I rushed after you.¡±

    ¡°He rushed after you, Dude, and so did I!¡±

    ¡°But the Brothers got in our way and stopped us from following,¡± Arsen continued.

    ¡°They got in our way, dude!¡¯

    Arsen finally backhanded CJ across the chest. ¡°Will you stop that shit already?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± CJ looked bewildered. ¡°What did I do?¡±

    ¡°The fact that you don¡¯t know makes it even worse!¡± Arsen moved in like he was going to choke CJ, but CJ ran behind me. It was hilarious, considering. ¡°Anyway, eventually, Shaun told us you passed out or something. I was relieved. Don¡¯t ever scare me like that again!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at how differently everyone seemed to remember what happened. I was floored that I could dream up such an entirely different version.

    ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± CJ pushed gently from behind.

    ¡°I just¡­well, that¡¯s not how I remember things at all,¡± I answered. ¡°None of this makes any fucking sense to me.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I remember seeing Q get shot three times.¡± I held up three fingers to clarify my point, and they were both about to say something, but I cut them off. ¡°I know it sounds crazy, and I know that¡¯s not how it happened, but it¡¯s what I remember.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± CJ muttered. ¡°Q doesn¡¯t look dead to me, dude.¡±

    ¡°Well, obviously,¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°Thank you for pointing out the obvious.¡±

    ¡°My pleasure!¡±

    ¡°What else do you remember?¡± Arsen sounded sincerely interested

    ¡°I remember holding Q in my arms, yelling for help. I remember the blood. If I look down at my hands, I can still see the blood dripping off them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fucking weird,¡± Arsen admitted, folding his arms over his chest. ¡°Anything else?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°No¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± I could see Q in my arms, lifeless and bleeding. Yet apparently, that didn¡¯t happen at all. It was all a figment of my imagination. I have to be honest. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like something was missing. Suddenly it hit me.

    ¡°Light!¡±

    ¡°Light?¡± They both repeated at once.

    ¡°There was this brilliant white light around us that simultaneously came from nowhere and everywhere. It burned like a white flame, and it was all-consuming.¡±

    ¡°That sounds fucking¡­.¡±

    ¡°Crazy, I know,¡± I finished Arsen¡¯s sentence for him.

    ¡°I was going to say intense¡­.¡±

    ¡°But crazy works too,¡± CJ added.

    ¡°Look,¡¯ I backed away and activated my defensive shield, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with me, and I could very well be losing my mind, but I don¡¯t need you guys thinking¡­.¡±

    ¡°Calm down, Sparky,¡± Arsen was quick to interject, ¡°no one is thinking anything. Especially CJ. I mean, look at him.¡± Okay, that made me laugh, and if you could¡¯ve seen the clueless look on CJ¡¯s face, you¡¯d understand why. ¡°All we¡¯re saying is if you need someone to talk to, we¡¯re all here for you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I appreciate that.¡±

    ¡°Well, except for Mike,¡± CJ laughed. ¡°He could give a fuck, I think.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± I agreed. ¡°Look, right now, all I want is some time alone.

    Arsen nodded. ¡°Aright.¡± He grabbed CJ and dragged him away. ¡°Let¡¯s go, dude,¡± he mocked. ¡°If you need anything¡­.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    CJ reappears at the door, pointing at me only moments after disappearing. He was about to say something when Arsen¡¯s hand grabbed him by the neck and hauled his ass away. Pure comedy! And just what I needed at that moment.

    I wasn¡¯t about to waste any more time, so I ran into Q¡¯s closet. Yes, it¡¯s possible to run into it. I snatched the first pair of jeans and shirt I found and went into the bathroom to change, leaving my damp clothes on the same pile as Q¡¯s.

    I left the house thinking it was pointless to change. I was going to be running in the rain after all. But to my surprise, the rain had stopped even though dark storm clouds loomed above.

    I ran, pouring every ounce of energy I had into each step. A few close calls later - one with a minivan and the other with a baby stroller - I arrived where I needed to be. Why was I being pulled to this place? It beats the hell out of me, but I was, standing in the middle of the street staring at her shop. I started to question my sanity. I mean, seriously, what was I doing there? What could I possibly hope to learn from this crazy woman? How could anyone help me when I didn¡¯t know what I was looking for? And yet there I stood, unable to move away.

    ¡°This is nuts¡­.¡± I whispered.

    ¡°That may be so,¡± a voice said from behind, ¡°but you¡¯re not going to find any of the answers you seek standing out here.¡±

    My thoughts scattered in different directions. I was gripped with dread, don¡¯t ask me why. Even though I knew who was standing behind me, a small part didn¡¯t want it to be her. I think it was more comforting to believe I was crazy. If there were actual answers to my questions, there might be a reality out there I wasn¡¯t ready to face. Sometimes not knowing is a good thing.

    ¡°Oh, quit your whining!¡±

    That made me angry instantly. ¡°Excuse me?¡± I turned to her only to have a bag of groceries shoved in my arms.

    ¡°Make yourself useful, dear, and carry those in for an old lady.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have time to protest. She walked away, looking inside her purse for the keys to her shop. If forced to guess, I¡¯d say she was in her mid to late sixties. She was short in stature, the top of her head barely reaching my chin. A simple black dress hung from her delicate shoulders with a red shawl draped over her back. Her shoes clicked on the pavement with every step, as did the keys she had difficulty finding in such a small purse. My first thought was senile, but I won¡¯t go there.

    ¡°Ah, here we go.¡± The sigh of relief that escaped could have convinced anyone those keys were the most important thing she owned.

    I followed her into the room where she ¡®read¡¯ people¡¯s fortune. Her bright white hair made it clear why she was known as Lady White. It flowed down her back, shimmering and flickering like a candle caught in the wind. She took the groceries, offered me a seat at her table, and then disappeared into an adjacent room. I could hear her putting her food away, shuffling things back and forth to make room for other things.

    I sat there looking around the room while I waited, still questioning my sanity with each passing minute. I had to be insane for talking to a fortune teller. A fortune teller, of all things! The room didn¡¯t even look like it belonged to a fortune-teller; there wasn¡¯t a crystal ball in sight, just a few pieces of furniture strategically placed to make the place seem inviting. A pair of lamps on opposite corners of the room were the only light source in the area; freakishly enough, they dimmed all on their own when Lady White walked back into the room. She was holding a pane of glass about the size of a chess board and a small basket of eggs.

    She took her seat across from me, placing the glass on the table between us and the basket off to the side. ¡°So, you have questions?¡± She started placing a single egg at the very edge of the table.

    I looked at the egg, then at her, then at the egg again. Eventually, I returned my gaze to Lady White. ¡°What¡¯s with the egg?¡± I asked. ¡°Are we going to bake something?¡±

    ¡°Why are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Then why would you think we would bake something?¡±

    ¡°Because there¡¯s an egg on the table.¡± I pointed at the egg, but it was gone. At first, I thought it rolled off the edge, but nothing was on the floor. ¡°Where did the egg go?¡±

    ¡°Is that why you came here? To discuss eggs?¡± She asked in a tone that made it seem like I was the crazy one.

    ¡°Well¡­no.¡± I watched her place another egg in the same spot as the first.

    ¡°Well then,¡± she smiled, her pink lips whitening a little, ¡°why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s on your mind.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m doing this,¡± I whispered, rubbing my temples as the reality hit me - yes, I was doing this. ¡°First of all, are you the real thing? I mean, seriously.¡±

    She leaned back against her chair, a crazy smile dancing on her lips. ¡°I¡¯m as real as you want me to be.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I nodded, completely lost. ¡°And that means what exactly?¡±

    ¡°It means you can take whatever information I give you as truth or dismiss it as the ramblings of senile, old¡­how did you put it? Loon?¡±

    ¡°See! That right there. How did you do that? How did you know I thought that before I even got here?¡±

    She threw her head back and laughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be much of a fortune teller if I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Why am I feeling you¡¯re much more than that?¡±

    She shrugged and placed the third egg on the table. The second was nowhere in sight. ¡°Your feelings are for you to interpret.¡± I¡¯m not going to lie; the whole egg thing was freaking me out. ¡°I can only act as a guide to what was, what is, and what will be. So, what exactly brought you here? What do you want to know?¡±

    I was ready to lay it out there, ask my question, and inevitably feel like a complete fool, but she stopped me. Sitting forward in her chair, she pointed her finger at me. ¡°Know this, Jacob DeRosa. To ask anything of me is to open a door you will never be able to close, and once you step thru it, there is no going back. Do you understand?¡±

    I nodded, thinking her little speech was a tad over the top, but whatever. ¡°That house isn¡¯t normal, is it?¡±

    She shrugged as if dismissing my question completely. ¡°What is normal, hmm? You go about your life, daily routines, friends, and family, and it¡¯s all normal to you, isn¡¯t it? But to one who is outside of your circle, your routine might think it¡¯s anything but normal.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­I¡¯ll take that as a no then.¡± I didn¡¯t want to spend too much time deciphering her coded speech. ¡°Am I safe in¡­¡±

    Lady White stood unexpectedly, and I¡¯ll admit it, I jumped. I felt a bit silly; it¡¯s not like she screamed, ¡®BOO!¡± or anything. She simply went to the back room. I could hear her looking for something.

    While she was gone, I noticed the third egg was gone, so I took the opportunity to look around to see what the deal was. I figured she had some kind of pet or something else I was missing. I looked under the table, my chair, and her chair but saw nothing. I got up and looked around the room. Still, I found no sign of the missing eggs. When I heard her coming, I flew back to my chair and acted like everything was just peachy.

    She returned with a small bowl and took her seat. ¡°Place your hand on the glass before you and press down hard.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Lady White sighed heavily and looked at me disapprovingly; her deep blue eyes made me feel small. ¡°If you plan on questioning everything I ask of you, we¡¯ll never get anywhere. Not to mention you don¡¯t have all the time in the world, or have you forgotten you have to be back by two?¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re the only pledge that sought my council? Many have come over the years. Please place your hands on the glass, and continue with what you were saying.¡±

    I did what she wanted but wasn¡¯t too happy about it. ¡°I wanted to know if I was safe in that house, or should I get out of there?¡±

    She smiled as she grabbed a fist full of what appeared to be white sand from the bowl. ¡°You don¡¯t need me to answer that for you, Jacob.¡± She shook her head knowingly as if to reassure me.

    ¡°I don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t. Remove your hands from the glass.¡± She poured the white sand over the area where my hands were. ¡°You are no one¡¯s fool, Jacob. If deep down you truly believed, for even one second, that you were in danger, you wouldn¡¯t be sitting here now. You would have left long ago.¡± She reached into her dress, much like women do when they hide money in their bra, and pulled out a small black pouch. ¡°Fact is, the one truth you do know is regardless of the doubts or fears that may pierce your heart, you would never leave The Brotherhood. There¡¯s only one thing more important to you than joining The Brotherhood¡­.¡±

    I leaned in to hear this revelation as she threw a pinch of red powder she got from her pouch on the glass. The thing went up like a match! I freaked and jumped so hard I fell backward, chair and all. I got right back up, shouting. ¡°Are you out of your mind?¡± I licked my fingers and felt my eyebrows to see if they were still there. ¡°I was starting to wonder if I was nuts for coming here, and now I know. I¡¯m out!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard trying to figure out where you¡¯re going without the slightest idea of where you¡¯ve been¡­or, more importantly, who you are.¡±

    I didn¡¯t even get to take a step, for her words gripped me like shackles. ¡°And what do you know?¡± I sneered, and she smiled.

    ¡°More than you, I promise you that.¡±

    I pretended to stand there looking between the door and my chair as if I had any intention of leaving. I had to make it look good. I picked up my chair, slammed it down, and retook my seat. I¡¯m sure that showed her! I was going to say something more to her but didn¡¯t. She was too preoccupied reading the glass, which had a perfect imprint of my hands burned on the surface. Every line, every fingerprint, was the same as my own. It even had an imprint of the tiny scar on my index finger, a reminder to always look at a fence before jumping over it.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± she said, her brows raised. ¡°Now that¡¯s interesting¡­.¡±

    I leaned forward and looked at the glass. ¡°Yeah, I see what you mean¡­.¡± My sarcasm didn¡¯t phase her one bit.

    ¡°Really?¡± she said with a mischievous smile. ¡°What do you see?¡±

    ¡°You first.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Now she was laughing at me.

    I was just about done playing games. ¡°Look, let¡¯s cut the crap. What do you know about my past?¡±

    ¡°Everything,¡± she said matter-of-factly, ¡°for the glass sees thru you just as easily as you see thru it.¡±

    ¡°Fine¡­whatever you say, Yoda. But what do you see specifically?¡±

    ¡°That I can¡¯t tell you, I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    ¡°Well, why the hell not? What¡¯s the point of being here?¡± I stopped for a moment to think. ¡°Or maybe you just didn¡¯t see shit, and I¡¯m an idiot for sitting here and letting you pull my strings.¡±

    ¡°Do you believe that?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± I pushed the chair back from under the table, ready to leave. Before I could get my ass off the seat, she pointed to a line burned into the glass and made me a believer.

    ¡°When you were fourteen, you bragged to your friends Ash, Jordan, and Michael that you lost your virginity to Keri, an eighteen-year-old high school senior. It made you practically a god in their eyes.¡± She leaned forward and lowered her voice. ¡°When in fact, she was only over to help you with your English paper as a favor to your mother. She slapped you silly and walked out when you tried to make your move. You got a D on that paper, I believe.¡± She looked down at the glass for a second look. ¡°D minus.¡±

    My mouth dropped wide open. I never told a soul about that.

    ¡°And when you were fifteen, your mother caught you with your pants around your ankles and an inflatable¡­.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, you proved your point!¡± I waved my hands around wildly. I didn¡¯t feel like reliving the most embarrassing moments in my life. Then I grabbed the pane of glass and pulled it towards me to look at it closely. ¡°You can see that in here?¡± I was so embarrassed; I¡¯m sure my cheeks were on fire.

    ¡°That and more,¡± she assured me.

    ¡°You will destroy this when we¡¯re done, right?¡±

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    ¡°So let me get this straight. You can tell me I lied about my virginity when I was fourteen, but you can¡¯t tell me about the missing years of my life?¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± she smiled as if that made perfect sense. ¡°You¡¯re on a path, Jacob, and all I can do is guide you on that path. I cannot walk it for you. All I can do is promise you the path will lead you to the answers you so desperately seek.¡±

    ¡°Can you at least give me a preview like they do in the movies?¡± I begged.

    ¡°Would the movie be worth watching if you knew the ending?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer her, but I was finally beginning to understand where she was coming from. ¡°Okay, you said you¡¯re a guide, so guide me. What am I supposed to do?¡±

    ¡°You are already doing it,¡± Lady White replied simply. ¡°Trust in what you know. Trust in Q and The Brotherhood, for they will not lead you astray.

    ¡°Funny, you sound so convinced I¡¯m going to make it in.¡± I looked up at her suddenly. Was she hinting, or was that a lot of wishful thinking on my part?¡±

    She smiled brightly and leaned back against her seat, placing another egg on the table. ¡°Ultimately, the decision will be yours, Jacob. It always was¡­from the very beginning.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± I hung on every word like a dog salivating at the treat dangled in front of his face. ¡°That I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to decide whether I join or not?¡± I laughed outright. ¡°That¡¯s funny because if it¡¯s true, then there is no decision. Who in their right mind would decide not to join The Brotherhood?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Possibly.¡±

    ¡°Why would I not want to join The Brotherhood? That makes no sense to me.¡±

    ¡°Because you will be faced with an impossible choice Jacob.¡± She extended one hand out in front of her. ¡°On the one hand, you¡¯ll have Q and The Brotherhood,¡± she raised the other hand, ¡°and on the other¡­.¡±

    She clasped her hands together and pressed them against her chin. ¡°Well, as I said¡­it¡¯s an impossible choice; you will have to make it regardless of your feelings or loyalties.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ll bet anything you already know what I¡¯m going to choose, right?¡±

    She shook her head, completely surprising me. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Tapping her fingers on each imprint, she briefly glanced down at the pane of glass, then looked up at me. ¡°I can see the path you will walk if you pick one or the other¡­but I cannot see which one you will choose.¡±

    I was speechless for a time. I mean, what do you say to that? At this point, I didn¡¯t see any reason to continue to beat this dead horse. I could ask her a thousand times, but I was sure she wouldn¡¯t tell me more than she already had. I figured I¡¯d cross that bridge when I got to it. She left me no other choice.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone out there stalking me¡­messing with me.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    I was instantly annoyed at her tone because I knew what it meant. ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me who it is or what they want, are you?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about this ¡®stalker¡¯ of yours, for he is a small piece of a much larger, much more complex puzzle than you can imagine.¡±

    ¡°War,¡± I whispered and saw her left eyebrow instantly spike. ¡°I overheard Q and some other Brothers talking about it, though I don¡¯t pretend to know exactly what it all means. But sitting here talking to you, I¡¯m starting to get the feeling this fight they have is not merely with some rival fraternity, is it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not, Jacob. You are caught in a war born of a long-forgotten age¡ªa war between Light and Shadow. There is no escaping it. Not for me, not for you, or the lady taking her dog out for a morning walk, or the kids getting on the bus to school. It will happen eventually. It¡¯s simply a matter of time.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I was floored. I started thinking about my parents and friends back home. ¡°You¡¯re serious, aren¡¯t you? These aren¡¯t just the ramblings of the senile, old loon, are they?¡±

    ¡°You can believe they are if it makes you feel better.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯d just be fooling myself, wouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    She merely shrugged.

    ¡°Light and Shadow,¡± I repeated softly. ¡°You mean good and evil type stuff?¡±

    She laughed. ¡°No, I mean precisely what I said. Light and Shadow.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I heard you, but that usually refers to good and evil in some way. Light is good and Shadow being evil.¡±

    She was still laughing at me as she reached over to pat my hand. ¡°My dear boy, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ve watched one too many movies. What I speak of transcends any notion of good and evil.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what that means.¡±

    ¡°I know, Jacob, but you will in time. For now, trust in what you know.¡±

    I heard the chimes on her outside door go off, and she stood in acknowledgment.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid my next reading is here,¡± Lady White smiled as she arranged her shawl. ¡°My door will always be open if you need to talk.¡±

    I heard what she said, but it wasn¡¯t registering with me. I just sat there completely dumbfounded. What did I get myself into? The insane part about it was no matter how crazy it all sounded, my desire and commitment to join The Brotherhood was unwavering. It became one of those things you just must know, like being told half a secret.

    Lady White sucked her teeth which got my attention oddly enough. ¡°My dear boy. Here¡­¡± she got a notepad from the small table by the door before retaking her seat. ¡°Let me give you this, for it may help answer some questions.¡± She slipped the paper across the table and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a book by Rick Teigland. If nothing else, the title is quite interesting.¡±

    I unfolded the payer and read it out loud. ¡°Light and Shadow.¡± I snickered despite myself. ¡°Are you seriously telling me there¡¯s a guy out there with a tell-all book?¡±

    It sounded so ridiculous. Lady White snickered along with me. ¡°No, I¡¯m telling you there¡¯s a man out there who¡¯s spent a large part of his life researching certain things and has developed some theories around his research and personal beliefs.¡±

    ¡°Well, is he right?¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°Like all things Jacob, it¡¯s really up to you to decide what¡¯s fiction and what¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. You¡¯ve been a great help today.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to lie to me,¡± she laughed. ¡°That¡¯s not what you¡¯re thinking.¡± She¡¯s right. Our little visit had raised more questions than it answered. ¡°I wish I could tell you more, but I, too, must play by certain rules. I¡¯ll tell you what, before you go, I¡¯ll answer one question for you with no cryptic talk, no double meanings, or riddles. A straight-out honest answer.¡±

    It took me all of two seconds to think of a question. ¡°Does...¡±

    Before I could say another word, she reached over and grabbed my hand. ¡°Like all matters of the heart Jacob, these things take time. But what you sense and feel is very real, and it will go as far as you want it to. If nothing else, believe that.¡±

    Unreal! She answered my question before I even asked it. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Now, you should go. You have a long day ahead of you, and I have others to guide.¡±

    Lady White walked me out into the waiting area where two guys around my age sat thumbing thru magazines. The blond-haired one looked at me for a moment before returning his attention to the pages in front of him. Then, out of nowhere, he threw the magazine down and stood up. He looked Pissed!

    ¡°Sit down!¡± Lady White ordered, her long outstretched finger pointing dead at him. ¡°You know the rules. This is neutral ground, and I council both sides.¡±

    I looked at her with a big-ass question mark on my face.

    ¡°I won¡¯t have any lip out of you,¡± she continued chastising him.

    ¡°But I haven¡¯t said anything!¡± he argued.

    ¡°We both know what you were going to say, and I will have none of that. Not while you¡¯re in my house!¡±

    The guy sat back down and snatched his magazine up. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am¡­¡±

    ¡°You go on now, Jacob. You¡¯re fine. Remember, my door is always open for you.¡±

    I stood outside, trying to figure out what had just happened. I didn¡¯t have much time to debate the issue. I knew where I had to go and was running out of time. I jogged to the school library, asking myself if I was buying into all this nonsense. It all sounded crazy¡ªno doubt about it. And I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it all wasn¡¯t part of some test, like a personal trial. Were they testing me? Trying to see the lengths I would go thru to commit to The Brotherhood? That made more sense to me than anything else, but it didn¡¯t explain some stranger things I¡¯ve seen or what my gut was telling me.

    In any case, I passed the note Lady White gave me to the girl behind the counter at the campus library.

    ¡°Interesting title,¡± she said with a smile as she punched it into the computer. ¡°What? Are you some sci-fi buff?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I am,¡± I answered, ¡°but that¡¯s not why I want the book.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see,¡± she smiled bashfully. ¡°Some kind of paper you have to write?¡±

    ¡°No, not really. It¡¯s more like personal research. Why? Have you read the book?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± she laughed louder this time and tossed her hair. I couldn¡¯t help but notice she was stealing glances at me while she searched. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t. I just thought it was a cool title. My course load already includes a long reading list; I can¡¯t possibly tack on extra books for fun.¡±

    I laughed with her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see it, but let me check one more database.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± I wondered if she was going the extra mile to look for this book or just stalling to keep me there.

    ¡°Any luck?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Sorry, we don¡¯t have it in.¡±

    ¡°Any idea when it will be back?¡±

    ¡°When what will be back?¡± she asked a bit dreamily.

    Are you serious? I thought. ¡°The book. When will the book be back on your shelves? Can you hold it for me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the book!¡± she giggled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Where¡¯s my head at?¡±

    I had a few ideas but decided not to go there.

    ¡°I¡¯m showing the book was removed from our inventory¡­that¡¯s odd.¡±

    ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°It was removed at the request of the author.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. Why is that strange?¡±

    ¡°Well, why would anyone publish a book if they didn¡¯t want the public to read it? That is the whole point of writing a book, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You can use the computers over there to search for the book online. It may not be as good as the real thing, but you might find some information to help you with your research.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll give that a try.¡± I was about to walk away when she grabbed my arm. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± she shrugged, acting all innocent. ¡°Just wanted to let you know that I¡¯m off in a couple of hours if you¡¯d like to get together for coffee or something.¡±

    I smiled politely. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. That sounds nice and all, but I¡¯m already seeing someone.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± she replied as she bit her bottom lip.

    ¡°Ah, okay¡­I¡¯ll be over there.¡±

    People are out of control.

    I wasn¡¯t too far into my search when a pair of arms wrapped around me, and I felt lips pressed against the back of my neck. ¡°Hey, baby¡­¡±

    Holy shit! This library chick was nuts! I ripped her arms off me and yelled, ¡°What are you doing, crazy?¡± To which everyone around responded with ¡°Shhh!¡±

    Boy, was I wrong. ¡°Oh, Alex! What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I saw you come in and wanted to say hi.¡± I knew her attitude flared when she cocked her hip and put her hands on her waist. ¡°What? I suddenly can¡¯t see my boyfriend?¡±

    I rolled my eyes and sat back down. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go see Mike? You seem to enjoy giving him attention.¡±

    ¡°Mike?¡± She sat at the computer next to mine. ¡°Who the hell is Mike?¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t play me for a fool. I¡¯m so not in the mood for your games, Alex.¡±

    ¡°What games? Who the hell is¡­ohhhh! The Mike from the party!¡±

    ¡°Oh, so now you suddenly remember?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get all snippy with me! I don¡¯t deserve it. I don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯re talking about. I didn¡¯t do anything with him.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not what I hear,¡± I assured her with flaming eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you heard, but you heard wrong,¡± she insisted. ¡°Yes, I talked to him after you blew me off. But only to get under your skin because I heard you two had issues. I didn¡¯t touch him, though.¡±

    ¡°Then how did he know about making your kitty purr?¡±

    ¡°Keep your voice down!¡± She whispered and slapped my leg.

    ¡°How did he know about your kitty?¡± I repeated, quieter this time. ¡°That¡¯s our thing.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m guessing he overheard me talking to the girls about my kitty not getting any play.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious? You tell your girlfriends about that?¡±

    ¡°Oh right,¡± she laughed. ¡°Like you guys don¡¯t go around bragging about all the exaggerated sex you claim to have after carving another notch on your headboard and smashing a few beer cans on your foreheads.¡±

    She got me there.

    ¡°Baby, why would I mess with him when I have you? You¡¯re sexier, better built, and packing heavy.¡± She reached between my legs and grabbed my junk. It wasn¡¯t a big deal because we¡¯ve done it in a library. Only once, but it wasn¡¯t in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. But that¡¯s a story for another day. ¡°Baby, I love you and only you.¡± She leaned in to kiss me, and I turned away so she¡¯d kiss my cheek instead. ¡°What¡¯s wrong now?¡±

    ¡°Not here in the library. There are too many¡­uh¡­books.¡± Yeah, I know¡­Lame.

    ¡°Are you kidding? The last time we were in a library, it was hot! I¡¯m thinking of a repeat performance.¡± She put her hands around my neck and pulled us closer together.

    ¡°Alex, I¡¯m serious. Not here, not now!¡± I needed a crowbar to get her off me, but eventually, I pried her off.

    She had this wicked grin on her face as she sat back with her legs spread so I could see right up her mini skirt. She wasn¡¯t wearing anything underneath.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this with you right now,¡± I said.

    Slipping her shoe off and looking around, Alex rubbed my crotch with her foot. ¡°Mmmm¡­I can so tell you want it.¡± She snickered softly to avoid getting attention. ¡°I can feel it.¡±

    Closing my eyes briefly, I whispered, ¡°Q¡­.¡±

    ¡°What was that, baby?¡± she pressed even harder.

    I was about to repeat it when I realized precisely what I said. ¡°Shit!¡± I pushed her foot away and rolled my chair back under the desk so she couldn¡¯t touch me. ¡°I told you, I can¡¯t do this right now, Alex. I have shit I need to get done and not a lot of time to do it. It¡¯s for The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Rolling her eyes, Alex threw her head back. ¡°God, I can¡¯t wait until you get in so we can return to our old ways. You know when we had fun doing stuff like this?¡±

    ¡°I know, but until then, I have to get my work done, or I¡¯m not going to get in. Is that what you want?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± She stood up and adjusted her clothing to look decent, unlike someone about to swing on a pole at a strip club. She kissed me on the head. ¡°I have to go anyway. We¡¯ll talk soon.¡± Alex took a few steps and turned to face me one last time. ¡°You¡¯re sweet, by the way.¡±

    ¡°About what?¡± I was lost.

    ¡°I saw that slut hitting on you at the counter. I heard you tell her you couldn¡¯t because you were seeing someone. Like I said, you¡¯re sweet.¡± She blew me a kiss and walked away. Can you imagine how pissed she¡¯d be if she knew I wasn¡¯t talking about her? I still didn¡¯t know what I would do about the Alex situation. Just another one of those bridges.

    I spent ten minutes searching the web for any information I could find about this book and finally came across Rick Teigland¡¯s blog. He had a section where he talked about his book Light and Shadow, which I printed out because by now, other people were hovering, wanting to use the computers.

    I sat in the back where no one could bother me and poured over his blog entry. I should¡¯ve read some of it before I decided what to print. Most of it, like most blogs, was just Rick yammering on about nothing. I honestly don¡¯t care that he has an uncle who thinks he¡¯s a lighthouse and goes out to the dock when it rains to warn incoming ships.

    What the actual fuck?

    I finally got to the good part, where he talks a little about the book. I¡¯m not sure it made me feel any better. It was a lot of doomsday-type stuff. He spoke of an apocalyptic war, which he acknowledges many people of different faiths believe is coming as a holy war between heaven and hell.

    He claims they are all wrong. It has nothing to do with heaven or hell. Instead, the forces of Light and Shadow will scorch the skies and rain brimstone on the masses. He continues to say when the horns sound, the weapons clash, and first blood is spilled, God and the Devil will be powerless to stop it, for they have no dominion over the forces of Light and Shadow.

    Well, there¡¯s a pick-me-up if ever I read one. If there ever was a guy to give a eulogy, this Rick Teigland is the one - hands down.

    I buried my face in my hands. I couldn¡¯t begin to make sense of any of it. According to Lady White, it was up to me to decide what was or was not fiction? That¡¯s a good one. It all sounded like bullshit to me. So how exactly can I tell the difference between bullshit and bullshit?

    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I sighed and opened my eyes. I saw a man sitting opposite me through the space between my fingers. He wasn¡¯t reading or working on anything. He was just sitting back staring at me. I parted my fingers even more to get a better look at him.

    ¡°Hi,¡± I said with a suspicious tone.

    ¡°Hello,¡± he said with a nod, but that¡¯s all he said.

    Gathering up my papers, I rested my folded arms on the table. ¡°Color me confused, but can I help you with something?¡±

    ¡°Doubtful,¡± he answered, his tone dripping with smug arrogance, ¡°but not entirely out of the question.¡± He was proper with one leg over the other and his hand clasped over his knee. He was decked in a nicely pressed, expensive suit and long business coat. His hair was combed neatly without a single strand out of place yet peppered with strands of gray.

    I may be wrong, but there was an insult wrapped up in there somewhere. ¡°Hey, I know you.¡±

    ¡°Well, of course, you do. You saw me from the bathroom window when you were listening in on the conversation below you.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t argue that point, so I tried to move things along. ¡°At the risk of sounding like a broken record, can I help you?¡±

    ¡°You have fire in you; I¡¯ll give you that.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± He grabbed my papers and pulled them out from under my arms. ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Light and Shadow,¡± he read. ¡°Ugh, I¡¯ve read it. This man is extremely opinionated and unnecessarily wordy.¡± He tossed my papers on the table, so they slid to the very end.

    ¡°I was reading that!¡±

    ¡°Believe me when I tell you the phone book would make for a better read than that garbage.¡±

    Do they even make phone books anymore, I wondered?

    ¡°Who are you, and what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Who I am is not important. But what I want is to understand.¡±

    He kind of just left it hanging like that. ¡°And what exactly do you want to understand?¡±

    ¡°For as long as I can remember, Q has devoted everything he is to his people, his Brothers. His commitment to his duties is unwavering.¡± He paused and, for a moment, looked annoyed as he rolled his eyes away from me. ¡°Well, not entirely unwavering, for it should be Q ruling The Brotherhood as Kyrios, but instead, it¡¯s lead by one who will never measure up to Q.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? I think someone forgot to take their Prozac this morning?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me,¡± he waved his hand dismissively. ¡°I¡¯m just a silly old man with dreams of how things should¡¯ve been. And I truly didn¡¯t mean it the way it came out. Kyrios is doing a fine job leading The Brotherhood, and I love him as I love them all, but every father has aspirations for his son.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me you¡¯re Q¡¯s father?¡±

    ¡°Well, of course,¡± he said, looking at me like I was the idiot. ¡°You already knew that from watching our interaction earlier today. Why feign ignorance?¡±

    I ignored him. ¡°What exactly do you want from me?¡±

    ¡°As a father who loves his son and wants nothing but the best for him, I want to know what it is Q sees in you. What is it about Jacob DeRosa that has my son so beguiled? Why would he forgo passing the gift to one who¡¯s proven himself on the off chance that you might make it to the end?¡±

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t even know that ¡®beguiled¡¯ is a real word, but here¡¯s an idea. Why don¡¯t you ask Q and leave me out of your family squabbling? I seriously don¡¯t think you should be involved in The Brotherhood''s affairs unless you¡¯re looking to make things more complicated for Q. I get you¡¯re his father and all, but that doesn¡¯t mean you know the internal politics of The Brotherhood. Being his father doesn¡¯t make you an authority on all things Brotherhood.¡±

    He just starts laughing, and I¡¯m sitting there wondering what the joke was. ¡°Not too bright, are you?¡± His laughter slowly died down to a chuckle. ¡°My dear boy, I¡¯m the reason The Brotherhood exists in the first place, for they are all my sons.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­about that.¡± I slowly stood up. ¡°I think you have some serious issue you need to work out, but I¡¯m certainly not the one qualified to help you. I¡¯m thinking of a place with a lot of padding. As much as I would to stay and talk crazy with you, I have to go.¡±

    ¡°Your sense of humor is quite endearing. I can see why he likes that about you.¡±

    ¡°He said that?¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re right, Mr. DeRosa.¡± He looked at his watch before he continued. ¡°You have exactly twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds to return to your room.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I shouted. I lost all sense of decorum and grabbed his wrist to look at the time. ¡°Fuck!¡± I took off like a bullet.

    ¡°No running in the library,¡± some woman shouted.

    ¡°There¡¯s no yelling either,¡± I shouted back. Let me tell you; I ran like a crack head running from the cops. I refused to be responsible for us losing our newfound freedom. I knocked over a professor, two students, and some guy walking with a pile of flyers. Boy, did he sound angry!

    I got to the house just as a Brother was walking out, and I almost knocked him over. I raced up the stairs, tripping twice, mind you, and got to my spot next to Arsen just a few seconds before the alarm went off.

    The Brother waiting for us to get back looked annoyed. ¡°Lucky,¡± he said. ¡°I was looking forward to stripping your privileges.¡±

    Dick. Yeah, I thought I said that in my head, but come to find out, I said it out loud. Luckily it wasn¡¯t so loud that he couldn¡¯t hear me. Arsen jabbed in the ribs. Hard!

    ¡°You have something to say, DeRosa?¡±

    ¡°Sir, no, Sir! Sorry for making you wait, Sir!¡±

    The Brother looked me over from top to bottom. ¡°You think you¡¯re cute, DeRosa?¡±

    ¡°Sir, no, Sir!¡±

    ¡°What? Do you think you¡¯re too good to dress like the other pledges? You think you¡¯re special, DeRosa?¡±

    Seriously, what was it with this guy and my last name? ¡°No, Sir! But considering my clothes were wet from getting caught in the rain this morning, Q said I could wear his clothes for the time being.¡± The second I said, ¡°Q said,¡± the Brother backed off like a switch went off in his head. I know I shouldn¡¯t have, but I was grinning on the inside.

    I won¡¯t bore you by reliving the ten minutes the Brother spent yelling at us. I wasn¡¯t the only one who was almost late. All the pledges seemed to arrive within the last six or seven minutes of our deadline. We were ¡°playing with fire,¡± as the Brother put it.

    After the yelling subsided, he told us to get cleaned up and ready for the Trial of Honesty. Once we were done with that, we¡¯d have our special dinner and get together with our Bigs.

    The minute the Brother left, my little crew crowded my door, and we gave each other high fives for making it by the skin of our asses.

    ¡°Dude, I so thought I was going blow it for everyone!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too!¡± Arsen added and then looked at me. ¡°What were you doing?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Trust me; you wouldn¡¯t believe it if I told you.¡±

    ¡°And why is that?¡± He looked puzzled and annoyed at the same time.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m not sure I believe any of it myself, that¡¯s why.¡±

    Ant added his two cents on the subject. ¡°Well, that sounds like an interesting story if I ever heard one. Spill!¡±

    ¡°Give me some time, and I will. There¡¯s just so much stuff, so much information I haven¡¯t had the chance to sit down and process it all. I have to get my head around it first, and then maybe I¡¯ll be able to share.¡±

    ¡°It sounds serious, Jacob,¡± Arsen chimed, again with that concerned older brother tone I¡¯ve come to expect. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He pretty much called me a lair with the look he gave me. ¡°I promise. Just give me time.¡±

    Ant agreed. ¡°You best not leave us hanging.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone know what the ¡®Trial of Honesty¡¯ is?¡± Steve questioned.

    We all just looked at each like dumbasses.

    ¡°Not a clue,¡± Paul was the first to speak. ¡°I¡¯m surprised he even told us we had a trial coming up. The Brothers usually like to spring shit like that on us. Whatever it is, I¡¯m sure being late wouldn¡¯t be a good thing, so we should go get ready.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed. I ruffed CJ¡¯s hair as I turned to walk into my room but was stopped by Arsen. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I almost forgot! I was supposed to tell you Q had your clothes cleaned, so you have to go to his room to get your stuff and change. I think it¡¯s Q¡¯s way of checking up on you to ensure you¡¯re doing okay. You are doing okay, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± I thanked my boy and went to Q¡¯s room. There on his bed were my clothes nicely folded and ironed.

    Q didn¡¯t seem to be in the room, and I say that because you could easily get lost in that space, it¡¯s so big. I put everything on except my shirt. Instead, I threw it over my shoulder, grabbed the clothes I borrowed from Q, and went to the bathroom. His old pile of clothes was still there, so I just added to the collection and then put on my shirt. Looking down to tuck in my shirt, I noticed the sleeve of the green shirt Q had worn this morning sticking out of the side.

    You would think I would have checked out the shirt he was wearing when I swore I saw him get shot, but it never occurred to me until then. Now it seemed stupid, but what the hell?

    ¡°Jacob, you in here?¡±

    I barely heard Q call for me from the bedroom, but I smiled just the same. How lame am I? ¡°I¡¯m in here,¡± I yelled, shoving my hand inside his shirt.

    ¡°Here in the closet? Here on the balcony? Here in the secret room, you¡¯re not supposed to know about?¡±

    ¡°Here in the bathroom!¡± I laughed and turned his shirt around only to see three fingers sticking out three bullet-sized holes. ¡°My god¡­¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XII

    By X

    ¡°You better not be doing anything weird in there,¡± Q laughed.

    I¡¯m not going to lie - I went into full panic mode! I was not ready to open this can of worms, at least not yet. I dropped the shirt like it was on fire, kicked it under the pile of clothes, and turned just as Q opened the door.

    ¡°Hey¡­¡± His perfect, pearly white smile still made my stomach flutter. Or maybe it was seeing him standing there wet, his hair slicked back, wearing nothing but a pair of black speedos and flip-flops.

    ¡°Hello to you too.¡± My heart pounded and danced against my chest, yet my eyes remained steady, solidly fixed on Q. I stared so hard; you¡¯d think I was Medusa trying to turn him to stone.

    I¡¯ve said it before, and I¡¯ll repeat it ¨C the boy is a vision of perfection. Nothing was out of place or out of whack when it came to the way he looked. He was the ideal man. A god plucked from the dreams and desires of desperately lonely men and women alike. ¡°Do you always run around the house in your underwear? I thought that only applied to pledges.¡±

    Q smirked and walked up to me. ¡°Very funny, smartass. I just came from the pool.¡± He cocked his head to the side as he looked at me. ¡°Are you okay? You look flushed.¡±

    ¡°Can you blame me?¡± Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure if it was because I was almost caught with the shirt in my hand or Q standing in front of me nearly naked that made me blush.

    With the same devilish grin on his lips, he slipped his hand behind my neck and pulled me close for a kiss. I resisted him as much as I¡¯d resist someone giving me ten million dollars. Green shirt? What green shirt? I don¡¯t know how he does it, but everything else fades away whenever I¡¯m around Q. All that matters is that we were together.

    My hands landed squarely on his waist just as he turned to walk away. He may have had other plans, but I wasn¡¯t ready to let go. I quickly spun behind him, slipped my arms around his waist, and pressed my chest into his back. It was my turn to take control and hold him close. I kissed the nape of his neck. It felt natural like I¡¯d been doing it for years. He looked over his shoulder, and I was convinced his smile would end me again. ¡°I missed you,¡± I whispered into his ear.

    And despite all the craziness of the day, it was the truth.

    ¡°You¡¯re funny.¡± I¡¯m not sure what he meant by that. He kissed me again, just a quick peck this time, and I finally let him go.

    I soaked in every inch of him as he walked to the cabinet. Ok, I¡¯ll be honest. Mostly, I drank in his ass. Two flawlessly formed orbs, tight and firm, wholly outlined beneath the spandex material of his speedo. If I could paint you a picture, I would. Well, maybe not. This is one image, one man¡­ one ass¡­ I¡¯d like to covet for myself.

    ¡°You enjoy swimming?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Very much,¡± he answered. ¡°I enjoy it almost as much as I enjoy¡­um, other stuff.¡±

    ¡°Well, that explains it.¡±

    He threw me a quick look over his shoulder. ¡°Explains what?¡±

    ¡°You have a typical swimmer¡¯s body ¨C lean, tight, and toned.¡±

    ¡°I have yet to hear any complaints.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t see him, but I was sure he was grinning like a stud. ¡°Hey, who¡¯s complaining?¡±

    He laughed, stripped off his Speedo, and threw it at me. ¡°Something to remember me by.¡±

    I caught them with one finger and twirled them in the air. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    As much as I wanted to keep them sick, I know, I added them to the ever-growing pile of clothes on the floor. He stood with his profile to me as he rummaged thru the cabinet. I assumed he was on the hunt for a pair of underwear. It didn¡¯t matter to me what he did so long as I enjoyed the lovely view.

    ¡°Are you still feeling okay? You haven¡¯t fainted again or anything, have you?¡±

    Seriously? Was he going to stand there all naked and sexy and try to carry on a conversation with me? ¡°No¡­I¡¯m uh,¡± I swallowed hard, ¡°fine.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± He pulled out a pair of red and black cameo trunks and slipped them on. I stood there watching him adjust himself until they fit just right. I was tempted to ask him if he needed a hand. He turned to face me and threw his hands out. ¡°You like?¡±

    ¡°Do you have to ask?¡± They fit him like a glove, showing off all his assets perfectly. Q has about the sexiest underwear I¡¯ve seen on any guy. He must have a collection. ¡°You enjoy the cameo look, don¡¯t you?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I find cameo underwear or sleepwear very attractive on the right guy.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I smirked. ¡°Damn, do I agree!¡±

    ¡°I know. Why do you think I wear it?¡±

    ¡°Tease.¡± I snarled. I prefer Q''s softer, more loveable side as opposed to his hardcore-all-business-no-play-brother side. But I must admit, it takes some getting used to.

    He tried to pass me again, this time to go into the bedroom, but I stepped in front of him. He smiled softly, romantically, and put his hand on my face. I was so lost in his piercing gaze; I knew only he¡¯d be able to find me. I knew he felt the same way by the look on his face.

    ¡°I need to get dressed,¡± he said, almost apologetically.

    ¡°Yeah¡­about that. I kind of like the way you look now.¡±

    ¡°I bet, but it still doesn¡¯t change the fact I need to put clothes on. As some say, I can¡¯t be running around the house in my underwear all day.¡±

    ¡°Again, I¡¯m not seeing the problem,¡± I teased.

    He leaned forward, put his lips to my ear, and whispered, ¡°Stop making this so hard.¡±

    We kissed for a while. It was intense, deep, and passionate. You know, like the kind of shit you see in the movies. I took a second to pull away from Q, assured him I could make things much harder for him, and then pressed my thigh against his crotch.

    ¡°You¡¯re impossible,¡± he accused and pushed me out of the bathroom. I was happy to follow him to the closet like a love-struck puppy. ¡°Hey, did you enjoy your two hours of freedom?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­yeah.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± He smiled at me while trying to decide what pants to wear. ¡°What did you do?¡±

    I had an instant knot in my stomach.

    ¡°What did I do?¡± I put my hand on my chest like there were ten other Jacobs in the room, and I wasn¡¯t sure if he was talking to me.

    ¡°Yes, you. What did you do?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know¡­ just stuff. Nothing special.¡±

    ¡°Well, did you stay on campus or go somewhere?¡±

    ¡°Did I go somewhere?¡±

    He stopped shifting thru his clothes to look at me. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡±

    ¡°Will you stop repeating everything I say?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not repeating everything you say.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡­look,¡± he paused for a moment, ¡°why are you acting weird and fidgety suddenly?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not acting weird and fidgety.¡± In case you missed it, I kind of was. I didn¡¯t know what to say. I couldn¡¯t tell Q I went to see Lady White, and I sure didn¡¯t want to lie to him.

    ¡°Jacob, enough!¡± For a moment, the switch went off, and my loveable Q was replaced with my hardcore Big. ¡°Now, did something happen today?¡±

    ¡°Nothing happened, honest.¡± That wasn¡¯t exactly a lie because nothing did happen. ¡°I went down to the village for a little while, then to the library.¡±

    ¡°The library?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve heard of it. It¡¯s that big brick building. You know, the one with all the windows and books.¡±

    Q gave me a look, and suddenly I felt an inch tall. I forgot who I was talking to and that there were certain lines I wasn¡¯t allowed to cross. ¡°Q, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean any disrespect.¡±

    He walked past me with a pair of jeans slung over his shoulder. I felt so stupid. I was going to continue apologizing, but then he started laughing and said he was just kidding and wanted to see the look on my face.

    I was heated! ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡± Q stopped suddenly, stunned. He hadn¡¯t expected those words to come flying out of my mouth. ¡°As if this thing between us isn¡¯t confusing enough for me. Are you going to play that game? Like I don¡¯t freak out already! I¡¯m never sure how far is too far because you¡¯re not only my boyfriend but my Big as well¡­not to mention the head of this house.¡±

    Ok, my tirade was over. I took a couple of deep breaths and waited for the worst. I was going to get it. But instead of lashing out at me, Q simply stood there with a cheesy grin on his face. ¡°You called me your boyfriend.¡±

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t!¡± I did remember saying it. I wasn¡¯t planning on it, but it just came out. And it felt good hearing it. But I wasn¡¯t ready to give Q the satisfaction.

    ¡°Yes, you did! You threw it out there while you were ranting and raving.¡±

    I realized I wasn¡¯t going to win this one. ¡°Okay, maybe I did, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that what you did was fucked up! This will not work if you play those kinds of mind games. I don¡¯t need the added stress.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right.¡± He threw his hands up and surrendered. He had the face of a little boy who knew he had done something wrong. ¡°That was in poor taste, and I¡¯m sorry.¡± He looked so sweet with those big, apologetic eyes staring at me.

    What happens next? I started feeling bad. ¡°It¡¯s okay; you don¡¯t have to apologize.¡±

    Isn¡¯t that something? He made me angry, and I ended up feeling for him.

    ¡°How about I make you a deal,¡± he offered. ¡°When we¡¯re alone and not doing any official house business as Big and Little, you¡¯re free to say whatever is on your mind and be as funny or sarcastic as you want. As far as our relationship goes, you¡¯re my equal, not my subordinate.¡±

    After hearing that, how could I not want to jump his bones? I went up to him to steal a kiss. I turned my head and closed my eyes and everything.

    ¡°What was so special about the library?¡± he asked and turned away from me to put his pants on. I ended up kissing the air. ¡°You know that place with a ton of books?¡±

    Q was fishing and wouldn¡¯t let go unless I gave him something. ¡°I ran into Alex.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± he certainly sounded interested; if nothing else, the look on his face gave him away. Q sat on the bed and loosened up the laces on his shoes before slipping them on. Then, while tying the laces, he casually asked, ¡°How is Alex?¡±

    ¡°Oh please, don¡¯t give me that.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I know where you¡¯re going with this.¡±

    ¡°Going with what, Jacob?¡± Q shrugged. ¡°I merely asked how she was doing.¡±

    ¡°Please!¡± I scoffed. ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say.¡±

    ¡°Of course, how stupid of me,¡± his every word was laced with sarcasm. ¡°You¡¯ve decoded my cryptic talk with your superhuman spider-sense. I should have known!¡±

    ¡°Joke all you want, but I know what you¡¯re thinking, Q.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad one of us does. Would you mind cluing me in?¡±

    ¡°I know I have to talk to her and break it off. I¡¯m just waiting for the right time.¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything about that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but you were thinking it.¡±

    ¡°Oh right,¡± he was still laughing as he wiggled his hands in front of me, ¡°spider-sense. Look, Jacob, I don¡¯t¡­.¡±

    ¡°And before you even go there, I didn¡¯t sleep with her the night of the party. Even though I could have, I didn¡¯t, and you want to know why?¡± I pointed at Q like I was accusing him of something.

    ¡°Please, do tell. Don¡¯t keep your audience waiting.¡±

    ¡°Because all I could think about was you. That¡¯s right! I could¡¯ve had a night filled with¡­.¡±

    Reaching over to hook his fingers in the front of my pants, Q pulled me towards him, forcing me to stand between his legs. ¡°Jacob, will you shut up! I wasn¡¯t thinking any of that. As hard as it may be to believe when someone asks how another person is doing, sometimes they just want to know how that person is doing.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I could feel my cheeks heat up. ¡°Well, don¡¯t I just feel special?¡±

    ¡°Special doesn¡¯t begin to¡­.¡± I interrupted Q by shaking him a little, pushing him back on the bed, and straddling his lap. I think he enjoyed that. ¡°Listen, Jacob, I realize the situation with Alex isn¡¯t a simple one, and I know you¡¯ll talk to her whenever you¡¯re ready, so you¡¯re not going to get any pressure from me. I just want you to do what¡¯s right for you. And if that means you¡¯d rather be with her, if you still love her, I don¡¯t¡­.¡±

    I covered his mouth to shut him up. ¡°Believe me, Q, I don¡¯t love her. I lov¡­uh, um¡­I¡¯d rather be with you.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe I almost threw the L word out there! The worst part was I could feel him smirking under my hand.

    I sat back on his lap, and he placed his hands on my thighs. He didn¡¯t have a shirt on yet, so I used the opportunity to trace my finger around his abs and navel. I decided to do some fishing of my own. ¡°You know, I ran into someone else at the library. Someone way more interesting than Alex.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± His eyes widened with interest. Who?¡±

    ¡°Your father.¡±

    ¡°My what?¡± he shouted and sprang up like a board, launching me backward.

    Luckily, my beloved Q caught me, or I would¡¯ve cracked my skull on the floor. Instead, I sat dangling with my head only a few inches from the floor, and my body twisted beyond human recognition. ¡°Ow...¡±

    Q pulled me back up, and I pushed him back down. ¡°Your father!¡±

    ¡°Oh, for fucks sake,¡± he said and covered his face with his hand. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I wish I were there to spare you from him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s rather, um¡­interesting, to say the least.¡±

    ¡°Hardly,¡± Q insisted. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. He should never have approached you like that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°What did he have to say?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what father-son issues you two have, but he seemed to care about you genuinely. He wishes nothing but the best for you, I guess. Honestly, I¡¯m not entirely convinced he¡¯s not Kyrios.¡± I slipped that in there while Q¡¯s guard was down.

    ¡°Oh, please! My father Kyrios?¡± he laughed mockingly. ¡°If that were the case, I would¡¯ve dismissed myself long ago.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That bad, huh?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it.¡±

    I thought I¡¯d sneak another one in there. ¡°Why don¡¯t you start with the first half, and you can fill me in on the second half later.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but my father isn¡¯t exactly my favorite topic of conversation.¡±

    ¡°Well, you seem to be his.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± Q shook his head and began ranting in that other language. I didn¡¯t understand a word of it until the end. ¡°Fuck!¡±

    I pointed at him right away. ¡°I got that one!¡±

    He put my hand down and shook his head again, ¡°Please don¡¯t try to make me laugh.¡±

    I shrugged and left it alone for a while. But as much as I enjoyed looking at Q, I could only stare at him for so long. ¡°Your father said something I thought was rather odd.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°He said he was the reason The Brotherhood exists, that you were all his sons.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s senile.¡±

    I laughed. I wasn¡¯t expecting him to say that. ¡°He didn¡¯t seem senile to me.¡± Sorry, but I wasn¡¯t buying that for one second. It sounded more like an angry son lashing out at his father.

    ¡°Trust me. You really shouldn¡¯t take anything he says seriously. He¡¯ll end up¡­.¡±

    There was a knock at the door. ¡°Q you in there?¡±

    ¡°Now what?¡± Q¡¯s irritation came thru loud and clear. He tapped me on the hip, and I rolled off him. Then it occurred to me that it probably wouldn¡¯t look too good if I were just casually lying on Q¡¯s bed like I belonged there. I quickly sat up and adjusted my clothes. Q stood up and told whoever was at the door to come in.

    It was one of the Twins. ¡°Hey, Q.¡±

    Q nodded.

    ¡°They¡¯re starting to get the pledges together for their trial. I figured you didn¡¯t want your Little to be the one holding things up.¡±

    ¡°No. No, I wouldn¡¯t. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± he smiled. ¡°Oh, we are starting to gather downstairs to discuss Dylan¡¯s ceremony. And don¡¯t worry, my brother took Dylan down to the village to give us a chance to talk privately.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Q returned the smile. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll be down in a minute.¡±

    Say his name! I thought. For fucks sake, I wish someone would just call them out by their names already. But it was too late; he was already gone. I figured, what the hell?

    ¡°What are their names?¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Who, he says,¡± I mocked. ¡°The guy who was just here and his brother. What are their names?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the Twins.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m sure their parents thought it wise to give them names at some point.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­you¡¯d think so,¡± he grinned, kissed me, and completely ignored my question. ¡°You should get going before you¡¯re late. As he said, I can¡¯t have my Little holding things up.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah.¡± I stopped at the door, suddenly remembering something. ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you supposed to be cooking me an amazing dinner tonight?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯re going to be pleasantly surprised.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re having take-out, is what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    He pointed at the door and laughed. ¡°Get out!¡±

    I hurried to my room, fearing being late, still thinking this wasn¡¯t possible. Q and I an item? No way! Hooking up with a guy shouldn¡¯t be anywhere near the realm of possibility, yet it seemed to be happening. Scarier still was that I wasn¡¯t fighting it, not even a little. And why wasn¡¯t I? I mean fuck! I knew college life changed you, but this was ridiculous.

    Still, no matter how freaked I felt or the dozen questions bombarding my thoughts, I sure didn¡¯t want to let Q go.

    Arsen was already standing outside our door when I rushed to my spot next to him. Instantly, he jabbed me in the ribs with this elbow, his way of saying hello. I was more than happy to return the favor.

    He looked at me with a Cheshire cat grin and slapped the back of the head. ¡°What have you been up to?¡±

    ¡°I was just hanging with Q,¡± I shrugged as I watched the other pledges trickle in. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°Well, that can¡¯t be true,¡± I laughed, jabbing his ribs again. ¡°I didn¡¯t see you there.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean I was with my Big. I was with Shawn for a little while.¡± He jabbed me again even harder. ¡°Don¡¯t be a smartass.¡±

    ¡°But I pull it off so well.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­that¡¯s true. Unlike your face!¡±

    ¡°You bitch!¡± I slapped him upside the head, and it was on. We started rumbling in our doorway, trying to see who could knock who down. Arsen is tough. By no means is he an easy cookie to drop. The other guys got a real kick from seeing us going at it. It was lighthearted and all in good fun. Kind of a ¡®boys will be boys¡¯ moment. And yet, even though I couldn¡¯t see Mike, I could feel his disapproving eyes on us. Well, screw him.

    CJ came up behind me while Arsen had me in a headlock and slapped my ass¡­ hard. ¡°Dudes, someone¡¯s coming! Cut the shit!¡±

    And just like that, it was over. We stood at the door all proper and shit like we were about to be called in for a job interview. I was calm and collected on the outside but laughing like hell on the inside. I glanced down the roll of guys next to me and made a mental note to get CJ back for smacking me. My ass cheek still stung! I was thinking of whipping his bare ass with a wet towel next time we showered ¨C with just the right amount of moisture; he¡¯d be feeling it for days.

    Gage came up the steps with an armful of booklets. Bone entered behind him, carrying the same. This should be interesting, I thought. They didn¡¯t say anything at first. They simply passed out the booklets to all the pledges. My book had Anthony Reeves written in fancy letters across the top with a pen under it. Of course, I thought the dumbass gave me the wrong book, and I wondered if it was okay to say something, to point out the mistake. I¡¯m so glad I didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Sir, I got the wrong one,¡± Mike said. ¡°You gave me Arsen¡¯s book.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± Gage got right in Mike¡¯s face, yelling like a drill sergeant. ¡°Are you suggesting I don¡¯t know how to do my job?¡±

    Mike shook his head and looked terrified.

    ¡°Answer me!¡±

    ¡°No¡­no sir.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I need a dumb shit like you to tell me where each book belongs?¡±

    ¡°No, sir!¡±

    Without turning my head, I glanced at Arsen¡¯s book and noticed it had Mike¡¯s name. I was beginning to understand what we had to do with them.

    ¡°Then why the fuck did you open your mouth when no one asked you a damn thing?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t know, Sir. I¡¯m sorry, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Sorry? You¡¯re fucking sorry?¡± If Gage had gotten any closer, he would¡¯ve been kissing Mike. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll be sorry, that¡¯s for sure. Get on the floor and get ready to give me some pushups.¡± Mike put his booklet down and got flat on his stomach. Gage glared at his partner Xavier. ¡°What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get down there with him!¡±

    As Xavier got down on his stomach, someone in the pledge line laughed softly, it was only for a second, but Gage caught it. He was livid! He¡¯s eyes and nostrils flared.

    All I could think was FUCK!

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m funny all of a sudden?¡± he barked down the line. ¡°You fuckers think I¡¯m here for your amusement? Sweet! Then, just for your viewing enjoyment, I¡¯m going to amuse you all! Everyone get down and get ready for some pushups.¡± Gage walked over to Bone and whispered something in his ear.

    Bone threw his head back, laughing his ass off. ¡°I love it!¡± Then I saw his shoes run past me.

    Gage paced silently for a minute, leaving us all kissing the floor in fearful anticipation. ¡°You fuckers are going to learn a little respect,¡± he lectured as he walked up and down the hall. ¡°When I snap my fingers, you¡¯re all going to start doing pushups.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°You can stop when the first guy drops.¡±

    At face value, that didn¡¯t seem so bad. But this was The Brotherhood, and I knew there was a significant catch. Three minutes later, Bone was holding a long black box - very sleek and shiny. I knew that was the catch.

    Bone held the box up to Gage as if he were presenting the key to the city. As Gage began to talk, Bone opened the lid. ¡°The first guy that drops ¨C let¡¯s call him the ¡®winner¡¯ - gets it in the ass with this.¡± He pulled an enormous dildo from the box.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    At this point, everyone¡¯s jaw hit the floor. The thing had to be ten inches long, and it looked real. It was flesh-toned, curved, and had veins with a sack to boot.

    Gage laughed mockingly. ¡°There¡¯s a funny story behind this monster. It belongs to one of the Brother¡¯s here in the house. And by ¡®belongs,¡¯ I don¡¯t mean it¡¯s his play toy. It¡¯s an actual mold of his cock and balls.¡± Those two were just falling over each other, laughing. ¡°As you can see, the Brother is huge, so we all thought it¡¯d be funny to persevere it for all future generations to enjoy.¡± His tone turned a bit sinister, ¡°And believe me, girls, this thing has seen its fair share of pledge ass. Oh, and by the way, the pledge mate of the guy that goes down first gets the honor of fucking you in the ass with this bad boy. So, who¡¯s it going to be, ladies?¡±

    You have got to be shitting me! I didn¡¯t even get to finish my thought when Gage snapped his fingers. If you¡¯ve ever done a pushup in your life, you know the first few are always the easiest. It¡¯s the ones that follow that become a real bitch.

    10, 20, and 30 pushups later, everyone was still going strong. Our group was well built. As long as we kept a steady pace, this was anyone¡¯s game. I know we¡¯re all pledge brothers and should be looking out for each other, but I was praying for failure in this case. I needed someone other than Arsen to drop already. I hate to say it, but I thought Steve would give out first. Yet we were at 64, and he was going at it like a mad man. The pace slowed significantly as we headed into the 80s. By 90, my arms felt like jelly, and I was soaked in sweat. At 98, they started shaking uncontrollably, and I wasn¡¯t the only one. Grunts and moans filled the hall as each pledge fought to complete that next pushup.

    It was only a matter of seconds before someone was going to drop like a rock.

    Finally, I heard the loud thump. Someone was down - out for the count. And I guess it didn¡¯t hit me until Gage was kneeling in front of me that I had dropped first. He was looking down at me with a shit-ass grin on his face. I looked down the line in disbelief. Oh god, it couldn¡¯t be! Surely someone had dropped before me!

    ¡°That¡¯s for volunteering,¡± Gage smirked.

    I looked at Arsen, and he looked back at me, completely horrified. My heart thrashed in my chest, and I thought I¡¯d throw up.

    ¡°On your feet, pledge, and step up here!¡± Gage ordered and pointed to the middle of the hall.

    I was so screwed. Literally! I got on my feet with a bit of help from Arsen. Seriously, I felt faint standing center stage for everyone¡¯s viewing pleasure. Arsen stood behind me and a little off to the side. Bone came up to us with the box still wide open. The fucking thing looked three times larger up close.

    ¡°Oh fuck¡­¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°Well?¡± Gage said. ¡°We don¡¯t have all day. This wasn¡¯t part of our itinerary. But being the nice guy I am, I went out of my way to amuse a group of fuck ups. And as a thank you, this is what I get? Stalling? Drop your pants and bend over.¡±

    I wanted to punch the grin off his face.

    I put my hand on my belt buckle and hesitated. I looked at the rest of the guys, and I could see how bad my boys felt for me.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Arsen whispered as I undid my belt.

    I held my breath as I slowly pulled down my zipper. I was so embarrassed. This could not be happening to me.

    Gage whacked the back of my head. ¡°Hey shithead, I already told you we don¡¯t have all day. Drop your pants and grab your ankles!¡±

    I pulled my pants down to where you could just start to see my pubes when I was interrupted.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s head turned towards the stairs. Q was standing there with Shaun and Dylan on either side of him.

    Gage shrugged as Q approached. ¡°Just handing out some much-needed discipline. You know, business as usual.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± was all Q said. He looked inside the box Bone was still holding in front of me, then at me with my hands on my fly, and finally, he returned his gaze to Gage. ¡°Put it away and get the trial started. We don¡¯t have time for this.¡±

    Shaun looked at Q with a mixture of shock and confusion. He was probably wondering the same thing as Gage - Why was Q stepping on Gage¡¯s toes? I was sure that Gage was well within his rights to dish out discipline. By the look on his face, this was not sitting well with him.

    ¡°Q, I was just doing my¡­.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to repeat myself?¡± Q interjected; his left brow raised slightly.

    ¡°No, of course not,¡± Gage conceded. ¡°We¡¯ll get the trail started right away.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Q nodded. He looked at Shaun and Dylan; without further discussion, all three walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner. I¡¯m sure Shaun and Dylan were just as confused about what happened.

    ¡°Get back in line,¡± Gage barked. He grabbed me by the arm as I walked away and pulled me back, damn near pressing his lips to my ear. ¡°Considering yourself lucky pledge. I¡¯m not going to go up against Q, but remember this; your Big won¡¯t always be around to bail you out, so you better watch your step.¡±

    I picked up my booklet and took my place back in line next to Arsen. Gage stood there for a moment collecting his thoughts. He was angry. I think I¡¯d feel the same if I were in his shoes. Q pretty much made him look irrelevant in front of the pledges. I¡¯m sure he felt humiliated. But even though I understood where he was coming from, I sure was glad I didn¡¯t have to take anything up my virgin ass.

    ¡°Okay, this is how it¡¯s going to work, ladies, so pay attention,¡± Gage spun on his heels to ensure he had everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°You each have a booklet embossed with the name of the pledge you¡¯ll be partnered with for this trail. The books contain questions ¨C lots of questions. You¡¯ll be hit with more questions when you think you''re finished. You¡¯ll ask your partner a question, answer, and then ask the same question back.

    ¡°Each question must be read and asked out loud. Every question must be answered completely and truthfully. That is the whole point of this exercise. We¡¯re testing your honesty. Don¡¯t try and tell a half-truth or a little white lie. We will know. Let me repeat that. We will know. Remember, this is The Brotherhood¡­there is little we don¡¯t know. Do not skip ahead. Do not read, glance at, or think about the next question unless the previous one has been answered. You will continue filling out the books until you¡¯re done or until a Brother knocks on your door and tells you the trial is over.¡± He paused and looked at his watch.

    ¡°Any questions?¡± He waited for about half a second before saying, ¡°Good, let¡¯s get to it.¡±

    I was told to go into Ant¡¯s room with him, but before I left the hall, I wished Arsen good luck with Mike. I was so glad I didn¡¯t get stuck with that prick.

    ¡°Dude,¡± CJ said as he passed me and playfully slapped my stomach. I was expecting more, but that was it. He¡¯s nothing if not a scholar.

    I walked into Ant¡¯s room. When he closed the doors, he pushed me from behind onto his bed and started lightly pinching my sides. ¡°You lucky shit!¡± he laughed. ¡°You almost had to take an elephant cock up your ass.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it!¡± I flipped him around and was now on top punching his arm. We just fell back, laughing our asses off. ¡°Holy shit! You have no idea how scared I was.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine! When I saw the size of that thing, I thought they were planning on tearing you a new one. But I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve enjoyed it anyway. Come on, admit it. You wanted it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I love the idea of being split in two in front of an audience!¡±

    ¡°I can hear you now,¡± he laughed, then started moaning. ¡°Oh, fuck me¡­harder, harder¡­shove that big dildo up my ass!¡±

    ¡°Fuck off!¡± I laughed and shoved him off the bed.

    The banter kept up, and so did the horseplay. He kept teasing me, and I kept threatening violence, but in a brotherly way. It was just what I needed to calm my nerves. God, I loved that kid! He was so easy to get along with and fun to be around. Ant was the heart of our little crew.

    Eventually, we had to stop and get down to business. ¡°Let¡¯s get the ball rolling,¡± he said, grabbing his booklet and breaking the seal with the pen. I followed his lead and sat beside him on the floor with my legs crossed. ¡°Okay, first question¡­.¡±

    My God!

    The questions were out of control and stupid. They asked about everything under the sun and then some. It started with the basic demographic. Name, age, where you¡¯re from, and all that crap. It went downhill, just page after page of the dumbest questions imaginable. From my favorite number and color to the street I grew up on and the name of my first pet ¨C they wanted it all. Favorite car, movie, actor, blah, blah, blah. We did as we were told and continued, but each inquiry begged the same reaction from us.

    What was the fucking the point?

    The questions were tedious sure, but more importantly, the answers were boring. What would be the point of lying about them? If this was a trial, it seemed to be challenging our patience, not our honesty.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Ant asked, flipping thru the pages we just finished but not daring to look ahead at the other billion pages.

    I shrugged. ¡°Who fucking knows?¡± I rubbed my throat and swallowed hard. ¡°My throat is dry as hell.¡±

    ¡°Who cares if I ever cheated on a test in high school? Or if I can play freaking poker?¡± And ranted.

    I started laughing. ¡°As much fun as it is to hear you bitch, let¡¯s keep going. I want this to be over.¡±

    ¡°I guess,¡± he nodded and asked me the next question.

    I won¡¯t bore anyone with a list of all the mundane questions they asked; I certainly don¡¯t have the time or energy to go thru it all again.

    We had just turned to page 36 when one of the Brothers entered the room. He didn¡¯t say a word; he just threw us each a bottled water and handed me a digital voice recorder. I looked hesitantly at Ant, mentally asking him if I should ask the Brother what the recorder was for. He didn¡¯t have to say a word; the look on Ant¡¯s face clearly said, ¡®Don¡¯t do it.¡¯

    I followed his silent advice and kept quiet until the Brother left.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked as I gulped my water. ¡°Are we supposed to start using the recorder instead of writing shit down now?¡±

    ¡°No clue,¡± he answered with a shrug. ¡°I say we just keep doing what we¡¯re doing until we have reason to do otherwise.¡±

    On and on, the questions continued. We started to notice every so often that they¡¯d throw in a serious question here and there. The kind that forced you to stop and think if you wanted to answer truthfully. For example, we had to ask if we had ever witnessed domestic violence in our home. It was like they threw us a curve ball, as it followed a question that simply asked if we¡¯d ever been to France. Ant and I both answered no to the domestic violence and France questions. Regardless of the question, I was telling the truth and hoped Ant was doing the same. I think he did.

    Around page 47, the bullshit questions became more engaging, personal, and sexual.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Ant blushed and suddenly looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°What?¡± I inquired.

    Then he started laughing. ¡°How old were you when you jerked off for the first time?¡±

    ¡°What? Are you fucking serious? It says that?¡± I tried to look inside the book with my name on it, but he pulled it away.

    ¡°Hey man, I¡¯m just reading what¡¯s in the book. Don¡¯t shoot the messenger!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a big deal. The question didn¡¯t bother me, but it was so out of the blue that it surprised me. ¡°Hmmm, let me think. I wouldn¡¯t want to get this wrong,¡± I laughed. ¡°I think I was twelve. At least as far as I can remember.¡± Ant was eleven. The next question asked if we had ever tasted our load, and we both answered yes to that one. Seriously, what guy has tried it at least once?

    We threw a few more questions at each other, and Ant asked me if I¡¯d ever eaten a girl out. Of course, I answered yes. Ant, on the other hand, responded no when I asked him. I must admit that kind of surprised me. A stud like Ant hasn¡¯t gone down on a chick?

    The next question was if I ever sucked a cock. I answered no. Even though I had this ¡®thing¡¯ going on with Q, we hadn¡¯t done anything heavy. I have to admit, the tone of these new questions started to freak me out a little. What if a question in there would give Q and I away? Of course, if a question came up, I¡¯d have to lie through my teeth, but I was still afraid the Brothers might somehow know the truth. I could only hope Q would cover it up on his end.

    ¡°So same question back at you,¡± I said, ¡°have you ever sucked a cock?¡± I automatically started to write in ¡®no,¡¯ figuring that would be the answer. But when Ant didn¡¯t answer me immediately, I stopped and looked at him. Ant was a hundred miles away, absently tapping the book with his pen. ¡°Yo Ant!¡± He still didn¡¯t say anything - even after I snapped my fingers at him. ¡°Okay¡­I¡¯ll just put you down for a ¡®no¡¯ then.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he said just as I started to write. ¡°The answer is yes.¡±

    I wrote down his answer and left it at that. Yes, I was shocked and curious, but I didn¡¯t ask. And it was clear he wasn¡¯t going to volunteer any information, so I sure wasn¡¯t going to ask him for any. Something was clearly on his mind, for it took him a minute to collect himself, but he eventually flipped the page and asked me some lame-ass question I don¡¯t even remember anymore.

    I do remember this, though, when I flipped my page, expecting to find the same lass-ass question, it wasn¡¯t there. Instead, there was a white sticker over the question with instructions. ¡°Well, this is new,¡± I said, looking up at Ant. ¡°It says to start the recorder and remove the sticker when I¡¯m ready to ask the question. I¡¯m not supposed to stop or interrupt you until you¡¯re done.¡±

    I reread the instructions, then looked up at Ant. ¡°What do you think that¡¯s all about?¡±

    ¡°No idea,¡± he answered, pointing at the following question in his book, ¡°but it looks like I have a similar question for you. There¡¯s a sticker in this book too.¡±

    ¡°Well, only one way to find out.¡± I started the recorder and pulled off the sticker. I don¡¯t know why, but I did it quickly, like pulling off a band-aid. ¡°Describe how your first relationship came about and why it¡¯s now your most painful memory.¡± I pulled my brows together and jerked my head back a little. ¡°That¡¯s a fucking odd question.¡±

    I smirked and looked up at Ant. It was like I was looking at a ghost. His face was pale, and his expression was blank. He spaced as if I had just told him his dog died or some shit. Ant wasn¡¯t expecting that question to be thrown at him. I wanted to say something to him. To ensure he was okay, I remembered the sticker warning not to interrupt him while the recorder was on.

    I just sat there in awkward silence. I didn¡¯t know where to look; it felt wrong to just stare at him. I gave him his space by looking aimlessly around the room. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what question was waiting for me under Ant¡¯s sticker. It couldn¡¯t possibly be the same question I asked Ant. It wouldn¡¯t apply; I don¡¯t have that kind of experience to share with him. But I figured it had to be something that would make me just as uncomfortable as I made Ant feel. I felt like such a dick for doing that to him. But I was under orders; at this point, all I could do was wait until he told his story.

    ¡°I uh¡­I uh¡­¡±

    I looked at him the moment he started to speak. He wasn¡¯t looking at me. Instead, his eyes were fixed on some random spot on the floor.

    ¡°I grew up in your typical white suburban neighborhood, complete with the soccer moms, minivans, and SUVs in the driveways. It was the kind of place where the worst crime you might hear about was someone jaywalking or a kid stealing penny candy from the corner store. You know, some bullshit like that. It was a small town, but it was our town, and everyone loved it. It was the kind of place where you knew everyone, and you always felt safe.¡±

    I¡¯m guessing a random memory came to him because he laughed to himself before he continued. ¡°When I was five, the family across the street moved away. I remember because the entire neighborhood made a big deal about it by throwing them a block party as a going-away gift. I don¡¯t remember much about it, you know, being five and all. But to this day, people still talk about it. It was a big hit.

    ¡°Anyway, the Rodriguez family bought the house a few months later. They were the first Hispanic family to move into our neighborhood. They were the first non-white family period. My mom was worried about them. She was afraid they wouldn¡¯t be accepted at face value. You know how small towns can be¡­ close-knit, self-preserving, and hard to break into. So, mom made it her mission to ensure they got a fair chance.¡± Ant smiled and looked at me for the first time since he started talking. ¡°My mom is cool like that.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, two days after the family settled in, my mom organized the other neighborhood ladies into an ad hoc welcoming committee and knocked on the Rodriguez¡¯s front door. They were warm, friendly, down-to-earth, and an instant hit. The whole neighborhood loved them. They brought a special kind of flavor our community was seriously lacking. My mom and Teresa hit it off, and our two families became close. The cool thing for me was they had a five-year-old son, Alessandro. Oddly enough, our birthdays fell on the same day, so we always celebrated them together.

    ¡°Alessandro and I were inseparable. It started with play dates in the afternoon that turned into sleepovers as we got older. We had daycare together, pre-school, and all that jazz. We became like brothers.¡± He laughed suddenly and threw his head back. ¡°The joke in the neighborhood was that we were brothers from another mother. I loved it. He was my best friend in the whole world.¡±

    Ant stopped suddenly. I don¡¯t know if he was just collecting his thoughts or remembering something unpleasant, but it looked like something was bothering him.

    ¡°For our 13<sup>th</sup> birthday, we had a massive party at my house. All the kids came over, and many of us were around the same age except for Ricky. At sixteen, he was the oldest boy on our block, and all the boys looked up to him as if he was God¡¯s gift to everybody¡­, especially the girls. He was the oldest, and by default, that made him the coolest. He was already six feet tall with a nice jock build. To us kids, he was damn near an adult. Plus, he went out with Missy. She was the prettiest girl on the block and a year older than him. That alone scored him major points with the boys in the neighborhood.

    ¡°All the boys wanted to be like him, and he knew it. At our party that afternoon, he kept showing off by making out with Missy in plain sight of us. Soon, everyone was talking all this crap about what they would do if they had a hot-ass girlfriend like Missy. Remember, we were barely 13 years old; it¡¯s not like we had any idea what the fuck we were talking about.¡±

    He laughed softly.

    ¡°At one point during Ricky and Missy¡¯s deep tongue kissing session, I remember looking at Alessandro and thinking how nice he looked, how grown. It was summer and hot, so none of us guys had our shirts on, especially since we had just finished playing an intense game of freeze tag. We were always outdoors playing games and sports, so even at thirteen, our bodies were already starting to take shape. In my head, I remember us looking more like 14-year-olds, but honestly, that might just be a distorted memory. But it wasn¡¯t Alessandro¡¯s build that made him stand out; it was his complexion. There he was, an amazing, bronzed body amidst all these white boys. It was the kind of natural tan any white person would slap their grandma to achieve.¡±

    I busted out laughing.

    ¡°Plus, he had these dazzling green eyes that stood out like two bright beacons set against the evening sky; long, wavy hair as black as the darkest night; a smile that could take hold of you when you least expect it¡­.¡±

    Ant trailed off, lost in his memories. After hearing him describe Alessandro, I began to get the picture. It was kind of sweet, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    ¡°That night, Alessandro slept over at my house. My parents always let us stay in the basement family room during sleepovers. It was nice because my friends and I would have our privacy, and my parents rarely came down after we ate dinner. We were lying on the floor on our stomachs, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, dressed for bed in only our boxer briefs. We read some gaming magazines and talked about the party, particularly Ricky.

    ¡°¡®I don¡¯t get what the big deal is,¡¯ Alessandro said. ¡®Ricky slips Missy his tongue, and all the guys go ape shit over it. Like they¡¯ve never seen a guy and girl kiss before. They¡¯ve got cable, don¡¯t they?¡¯

    ¡°¡®I know!¡¯ I agreed. ¡®But I bet half the guys here tonight probably jack off to the thought of kissing Missy.¡¯

    ¡°We laughed our asses off.

    ¡°¡®Not me!¡¯ Alessandro insisted as if he was taking some big stand. ¡®She doesn¡¯t do it for me.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Bull!¡¯ I countered.

    ¡°¡®No really,¡¯ he kept insisting. ¡®She¡¯s not even my type.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Oh really? What¡¯s your type then?¡¯

    ¡°He was looking at me, and I was staring at him, waiting for him to answer me. The answer he gave wasn¡¯t the one I was expecting. He simply leaned over and kissed me on the lips. I was fucking stunned. I couldn¡¯t move or say a word. My best friend of eight years just kissed me. What was I supposed to say to that?

    ¡°The second Alessandro realized what he had done, he freaked out, bolted out of the basement, and ran outside. It took me a few seconds to snap out of it and run after him. Now picture this! Two boys ran from backyard to backyard in their underwear at like two in the morning. And for some reason, all the neighbors thought it¡¯d be a good idea to have their sprinklers going simultaneously.

    ¡°I wanted to yell out his name, but I didn¡¯t feel like waking up half the neighborhood, so all I could do was run after him. Alessandro was fast, but as every game of tag had ever proved ¨C I was faster. It didn¡¯t take me long to catch up to him. I grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to stop.

    ¡°¡®Hold on!¡¯ I said to him as I spun him around. The bastard punched me! I was dazzled and had to take a few steps back. I remember we were in the Corbin¡¯s backyard, and it was sprinkler central. Our bodies were assaulted with cold water with every spin of the sprinkler head. Before long, we were drenched. And my cheek was bright red.

    I could tell he felt bad the second he saw me rubbing my cheek.

    ¡°¡®Ant, I¡¯m so sorry!¡¯ he said, walking towards me with his hand outstretched.

    ¡°The second he got close enough, I fucking decked him in the jaw and tackled his ass to the ground. It was the first time we ever got physical with each other. We horsed around all the time and loved wrestling, but this was different.

    ¡°I landed on top of him and pinned his hands over his head so he couldn¡¯t hit me. He starts yelling for me to get off him. All I could think was this idiot would wake up the whole neighborhood, especially my parents. So, what did I do to shut him up? I kissed him, just like that. I wanted to punch him, but instead, I kissed him. He struggled for all of two seconds, then kissed me back. It wasn¡¯t a quick peck like before. This time there was some serious making out going on.

    ¡°I released his hands and expected him to push me off, but he never did. Instead, he wrapped his around me and held me close as we continued to make out.

    ¡°Alessandro was my first kiss,¡± he said, the sadness in his voice unmistakable. ¡°I was his. It felt incredible.

    ¡°I finally rolled off him and laid by his side. ¡®That was hot,¡¯ I said between breaths.

    ¡°We both started laughing hysterically.

    ¡°That¡¯s when the Corbin¡¯s kitchen light came on. We jumped up and ran back to my place, giggling the whole way there. There was a lot of talking to be done that night. We were open and honest about our feelings for each other which led to some amazing self-discovery. Not to mention a lot of exploration and firsts that night. We were a little freaked out because we knew what it all meant. The only thing we knew about gays was stuff we saw on T.V or the jokes people cracked about them in school. Still, we decided to take a chance and see where we¡¯d end up.¡±

    He paused for a moment, slipped his hand thru his hair, and rested his face on his open palm. ¡°I was so in love,¡± he added. The pain in those words made my stomach twist. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re thinking, what do two thirteen-year-olds know about love?¡± Ant smirked softly. ¡°But it¡¯s true! It wasn¡¯t a one-time thing or a phase we were going thru. Even though we had to keep it all secret, it felt natural. It was authentic. We were together all thru junior high and high school. Six incredible years together; I mean, we had our ups and downs like any other couple. We sure weren¡¯t perfect, but we grew more in love with each day when it was all said and done. Alessandro was everything to me.

    ¡°We dated girls to keep up appearances, but we hated every minute. Every couple of months or so, we¡¯d date some random girls from school for a month or two so people wouldn¡¯t talk. And I don¡¯t know what it was, but we always managed to get the innocent yet slutty girls who were more than willing to jump down our pants. I don¡¯t know if there was just something in the water or what, but it was fucking annoying as hell.

    Kissing was as far as we were willing to go with our ¡®girlfriends¡¯ because sleeping with them was a thought we simply wouldn¡¯t consider. We were already using them for our sakes, so sleeping with them would be an all-time low. Besides, we were too much in love to sit back, knowing we were screwing other people.

    ¡°We did all the normal shit couples did like go to the mall or the movies, but we usually did double dates so Alessandro and I could be together. It was funny walking around with our arms around them while we looked at each other. They probably wouldn¡¯t have felt the same way, but that¡¯s all water under the bridge now.¡±

    ¡°A little mischievous grin appeared on his lips. ¡®I remember when we were seventeen, the four of us went to the movies. The theater wasn¡¯t busy, at least not for that movie, but we still sat in the back. Our girls sat between us, and we started making out with them at some point. The girls were totally into it, with their eyes closed and everything. Yet the whole time we kissed them, we rolled our eyes at each other. We were holding hands behind the seats. We did shit like that all the time. Mainly to see what we could get away with, especially in public.

    ¡°Alessandro winked at me, nodded towards the screen, and then pulled away from Mandy. ¡®Babe, I have to go to the bathroom; I¡¯ll be back.¡¯ He got up and slapped me as he walked by me.

    ¡°Yeah, I have to go too,¡¯ I whispered and followed him. ¡°We snuck away so that we could go make out in the bathroom or run out to the car quick to take care of certain things.¡±

    Ant snickered.

    ¡°We got an ear full when we returned to the theater. The girls simply didn¡¯t understand why we were MIA for almost twenty minutes. We broke up with them that night and went to the mall parking lot, where I gave his ass a good pounding. We discovered having sex in public places got us horned up. I confess, after that night, we started doing it everywhere!¡±

    Ant laughed.

    ¡°We were perfect together, so happy and so much in love. In five years, our passion never faded, not even a little. Eventually, after all that time, we got tired of constantly having to be careful and afraid someone was going to out us. About a month before we turned eighteen, we decided to come out to our parents. We were scared as hell. We flipped a coin to see whose parents we¡¯d tell first, and I lost.

    ¡°I was so fucking nervous that night. We came downstairs from my room and sat on the couch across from my parents. I was so fidgety and couldn¡¯t sit still. My mom instantly got the concerned ¡®mom-look¡¯ on her face.

    ¡°¡®Mom, Dad¡­we have something we want to tell you,¡¯ That was all I was able to say. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn¡¯t get the words out. I kept choking up and even started tearing up a little. I couldn¡¯t do it. The last thing I wanted to do was break my parent¡¯s hearts. Alessandro took the lead and slipped his hand into mine. He then put his other arm around me. That¡¯s all it took. My mom covered her mouth and started to cry. My father stood up. I braced myself for the yelling match that was about to ensue.

    ¡°But my dad surprised me by sitting next to Alessandro and putting his arms around us. Then my mom sat next to me and did the same. Alessandro and I looked at each other, wondering what weird dimension we walked into. My parents had always suspected there was more between us than we let on. They just never said anything; they thought it best to wait until we were ready to tell them ourselves.

    ¡°All in all, it wasn¡¯t as bad as we thought it would be. There was a lot more to it, about two days¡¯ worth of discussions, but everything turned out okay in the end.

    ¡°The following week, we decided to tell Alessandro¡¯s parents. We weren¡¯t as nervous this time around. Everything went so well with my parents; like them, Alessandro¡¯s folks loved me like a second son. We were in the same situation, sitting on a couch across from his parents. Alessandro didn¡¯t waste any time, even though I could tell he was just as nervous as I was when we told my parents. He just came out and said the words ¡®I¡¯m gay,¡¯ and his parents just looked at us. His father laughed and asked if he was joking. Alessandro choked out a small ¡®no.¡¯ His father rubbed his face and fell silent.

    ¡°Out of nowhere, his father exploded with anger. We jerked back when he stood up because it looked like he was about to hit us. He was yelling so loud we could barely understand him. His mom just sat there, shaking her head and balling her eyes out. A few minutes ago, I was like a son to him. Now he was calling me every name in the book.¡±

    Ant stopped his story. He took a deep breath, then looked at me with tears. ¡°I¡¯m not going to repeat them, Jacob.¡±

    I simply shook my head in understanding. I didn¡¯t know what else to say.

    Ant looked down at the floor for a minute, then wiped his eyes. Again, he looked at me. ¡°Did I mention how much I loved Alessandro?¡±

    I smiled gently, ¡°Yes, a couple of times.¡±

    He nodded and smiled too, but his smile had an inherent sadness.

    Another deep breath and Ant continued with his story. ¡°That¡¯s when he smacked the hell out of Alessandro.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± I know I wasn¡¯t supposed to interrupt, but I was lost.

    ¡°His father. He had always been strict, even harsh, but neither of us expected this violent reaction. I know it took Alessandro by surprise. From his position on the couch, it was all he could do to protect his head and upper body. I got pissed and shoved his dad backward. He raised his hand to hit me but managed to control himself. He was shaking, but he just yelled for me to get out. When I didn¡¯t move, his mom started screaming that it was my fault and they wanted me out. I wasn¡¯t welcome in their home¡­my second home, for more than a decade.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. The last thing I heard as I ran out was his father telling me to ¡®stay the fuck away from their son.¡¯ I could hear Alessandro trying to follow, but his father must¡¯ve stopped him because he never came. I walked home, fuming mad. By this time, his family had moved two blocks down and around the corner to a bigger house, so, unfortunately, I had a little walk ahead of me. People I knew passed by me on the street. They tried to start a conversation with me, but I blew them off. I got home and went straight to my room.

    ¡°A little while later, I got a text from Alessandro telling me just to give everything some time to blow over and not to worry if we didn¡¯t talk for a while. His father was taking everything away from him¡­his cell phone, computer, car¡­basically he was grounded for eternity. He told me to give it two weeks, and he¡¯d find a way to swing by my place; any sooner, we might just make matters worse. I told him I was cool with that and that I¡¯d miss him. He replied, ¡®ditto.¡¯

    ¡°Two weeks came and went. I so desperately wanted to see him. I hadn¡¯t heard a single word from him in all that time. I figured his father had him on some serious lockdown. I didn¡¯t even dare walk or drive on their street for those two weeks. I was so depressed; that I barely left my room anyway. All I wanted to do was be with him.

    ¡°Two and half weeks later, I was done waiting around. I couldn¡¯t take another day without him. I decided to visit Alessandro. I left my house around one in the morning and went thru all the backyards so I could come up behind his house. You know, just in case anyone was up. There was this big ass tree by his window I used to sneak in and out of his room during school nights.

    ¡°The blinds were shut, so I softly knocked on the window, but he never answered. I tried a few more times, and still nothing. I tried the window and was surprised to find it unlocked. I felt like an idiot.¡±

    Again, Ant stopped telling his story. At least out loud. The look on his face and the pain in his eyes told me that every agonizing moment was playing out in vivid detail somewhere inside his mind.

    ¡°I uh¡­¡± He rubbed his eyes. ¡°I stepped thru the window into an empty room. There was nothing inside but some boxes and loose paper. The whole house was empty.¡± He paused for a moment as the first few tears slowly rolled down his cheeks. ¡°I kept telling myself this can¡¯t be happening; it wasn¡¯t happening. But no matter how many times I said those words, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he was gone. It hit hard when I was standing in their empty living room, replaying the night we came out to his parents repeatedly in my head.

    ¡°I ran up to his room again and stomped on the floor. There was a loose floorboard he used to hide all his porn; if I were him, I know what I¡¯d do. Sure enough, there was nothing left but an envelope. I tore thru that sucker like it had a check for ten million dollars inside. Honestly, I would¡¯ve paid that much to have him back again. I still would.

    ¡°There was a letter inside, addressed to me. I¡¯ve read it so many times that it¡¯s become a permanent part of me.

    ¡°He wrote:

    ¡°Anthony, my truest love, I¡¯m so sorry for the way things went down with my parents. I had no idea they were going to act like that. Please believe I would never have put you thru that had I known. You¡¯re sitting in my empty room if you''re reading this. My father got a little crazy that night. Do you remember that job he was offered overseas but had turned down because he didn¡¯t want to move us away from our friends and family? Well, he called them back and took the job. As I write this, I¡¯m only hours away from boarding a plane to London. Crazy, isn¡¯t it? He keeps talking about sending me to a military school to ¡®straighten me out.¡¯ He sounds serious about it. I¡¯m scared.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry you have to find out this way, but I couldn¡¯t get a message to you. He pretty much had me under lock and key. I was never allowed out of his sight. My father can be scary when he wants to be. I won¡¯t even talk about the beating he gave me that night.

    ¡°I just want you to know that I love you. I¡¯ve always loved you, and I will never stop loving you. We may have an entire ocean between us now, but that won¡¯t be enough to keep us apart. I promise you! Stay strong for me, and know that I will find you again. I¡¯ll do whatever it takes, but I swear, I¡¯ll find you.

    ¡°I love you so much, baby ¨C Alessandro.¡±

    The tears were just flowing down his face like water. I was going to say something, but he continued talking.

    ¡°I read that letter, and it hurt to breathe. I couldn¡¯t move! I couldn¡¯t think! Touch me, and I was in pain. I was on the floor, crying my eyes out. I couldn¡¯t stop even if I wanted to. At that moment, a part of me has torn away. They took him from me. They just took him from me¡­.¡±

    He kept repeating that over and over again until he finally broke down and started balling. Oh my god, my heart hurt for him. I¡¯ve never heard anything so sad. Watching him cry like that made my eyes tear right up. This was Ant, for crying out loud. One of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. I crawled over to Ant and hugged him close to me. He clung to me like a little kid does to a parent.

    ¡°I miss him so much, Jacob!¡± he cried into my shoulder. ¡°It hurts to think about him!¡±

    ¡°I know, bud, I know¡­.¡± I did my best to comfort him. I admit I couldn¡¯t stop a few tears from rolling down my cheeks. I don¡¯t care how hardcore you are; if you knew Ant and saw him like that, you¡¯d break down too.

    We were like that for ten minutes, easy, until he finally started to calm down some. The tears stopped, and he was breathing normally again. He patted me on the side as he pulled away.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to get all crazy on you. It¡¯s just¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ant. Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯re fine.¡± I thought the best thing to do then was to lift his spirits. ¡°So let me get this straight. Are you saying you¡¯re gay?¡±

    ¡°You ass!¡± He laughed and punched my leg. It was the perfect way to lighten the mood.

    We laughed, and I ruffled his hair. ¡°You okay?¡±

    Ant nodded.

    ¡°Have you heard from¡­¡±

    ¡°No¡­I haven¡¯t heard from him since.¡± He smiled. ¡°But I believe it when he says he¡¯ll find me.¡±

    I ruffled his hair again and smiled along with it. ¡°Good! Because I believe it too!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡± he roared and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m done being a little bitch! Let¡¯s just get this over with.¡±

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re, okay?¡±

    ¡°No, but I will be.¡± He waited for me to move my ass back to where I was sitting. ¡°Not to be an ass, but your question better be as fucked up as mine.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure it will be. Come hit me with it!¡±

    Ant cleared his throat and tore the sticker off. ¡°Um¡­okay.¡± He read the question to himself first and looked confused. ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t make any sense. How do they expect you to do that?¡±

    ¡°Do what?¡±

    ¡°Okay, it says here to describe your first memory and the subsequent events.¡± He snickered. ¡°How the hell do they expect you to do that? I can barely remember what happened a month ago, never mind my childhood memories. This can¡¯t be right.¡±

    All I heard was ¡°first memory.¡±

    Then my world fell apart. My mouth went dry; my vision tunneled, and my head felt heavy. Too heavy to hold up. I knew Ant was still talking, but everything seemed muffled like my brain had swollen into my ears. The room was bright, yet everything seemed black at the same time.

    I was frozen in place as painful memories flooded my mind. The first ten years of my life are blank, making the first time I opened my eyes in those woods a memory I¡¯d never forget. I was ten years old and being born for the first time ¨C again. It wasn¡¯t the most pleasant experience. There was screaming¡ªlots of screaming. Yet I was alone and terrified. This was not something I was ready to relive again. I¡¯d never spoken about that night to anyone outside my immediate family and the police detectives.

    I always thought it would stay that way.

    ¡°Hey, are you okay?¡± Ant asked and shook my leg.

    ¡°Huh¡­what?¡±

    ¡°Dude, are you okay? You look as bad as I feel right now.¡± He reread the question. ¡°Maybe we should talk to one of the Brothers because this can¡¯t be right.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s right,¡± I said reluctantly.

    ¡°Bullshit.¡±

    ¡°No, really, Ant,¡± I sighed. ¡°No bullshit. My first memory¡­fuck, I can¡¯t believe after so many years, I¡¯m going to retell this story again. Just when the nightmares had stopped. I fucking hate my life¡­.¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XIII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XIII

    By X

    I took a deep breath. I knew I had to say something because the tape recorder was still going. No matter how hard or long I looked at it, it wouldn¡¯t suddenly shut off. It wanted my story.

    It wasn¡¯t a big deal. It was to me, of course, but I don¡¯t think anyone else could truly appreciate where I was coming from. It¡¯s much easier to relate to what Ant went through than my fucked-up past.

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°How would you feel if you woke up one day and didn¡¯t know who you were or where you came from?¡± Ant gave me a blank stare. He moved his lips as if to say something, but nothing came out. Maybe he thought it was a riddle or trick question with a correct answer. Perhaps he didn¡¯t know what to say. Either way, the question took him by surprise.

    I laughed softly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Ant; it was rhetorical. It¡¯s funny¡­.¡± I trailed off.

    ¡°Uh¡­what¡¯s funny?¡± Ant questioned, confused as all hell.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told this story dozens of times while growing up. Each time I¡¯ve stumbled over the beginning. It¡¯s no different now. I feel like I¡¯m twelve again, and the barrage of psychologists I suffered as a child are all sitting inside that tape recorder, asking about feelings I still can¡¯t explain.¡±

    The word ¡°psychologists¡± threw Ant off. The look on his face made it as clear as day. I don¡¯t think he expected to hear that come out of my mouth; most people don¡¯t. I rubbed my eyes - not because they held tears or sleep ¨C I was stalling.

    I looked at the recorder and sighed. ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t remember my childhood.¡± It was as good of a beginning as any.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Ant offered. ¡°That¡¯s not a big deal. Hell, I barely remember mine either. On a good day, I only recall bits and pieces. I¡¯d say that¡¯s normal.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Ant. I don¡¯t remember anything, not my parents, siblings, cousins, or friends. Not a single thing.¡± I paused for a moment, the horror of my reality creeping up on me like a stalker in the night.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even remember my name.¡± My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard. The emotions were flooding back. I pressed my fingers against my eyes again. This time it was to stop the tears.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Ant was lost, not that I blame him. As I said, I¡¯ve never been good at telling this story. It¡¯s hard to start at the beginning when you don¡¯t remember it.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Your name is Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± My laugh was sharp and sarcastic. ¡°My name could be Billy Bob, and I wouldn¡¯t know. The first ten years or so of my life are a complete blank. It¡¯s all a fucking mystery. My life didn¡¯t start until nine years ago. I was born into the body of a ten-year-old. Embarrassing as it is, I honestly thought that¡¯s the way it worked. I was just a kid who didn¡¯t know any better, with no memories¡­no memories at all.¡±

    I paused for a moment, expecting some response from Ant. He gave nothing ¨C except his undivided attention.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what forced my eyes open that night nine years ago. Was it the rain pounding my body, the roar of the thunder, the lightning ripping thru the sky?¡± I thought about it for a moment, leaving Ant hanging on my every word. ¡°It was probably the screams.

    ¡°Yeah, it was the screams. Oh my god, the screams¡­I can still hear them as clearly as you can hear me now. They moved around me like the wind.¡±

    ¡°They?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve grown to call them ¨C ¡®They.¡¯ The faceless, shapeless figures I felt around me. I don¡¯t know who was there, but I know I wasn¡¯t alone. Someone was barking orders and yelling, but I couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. I remember hearing doors opening and slamming shut¡­and sliding, like the side door of a van. The rear tires spun like crazy, kicking up a shit load of dirt and rocks. It¡¯s the last thing I remember before I blacked out.

    ¡°I have no idea how long I was out, but when I woke up, the smell of exhaust was still in the air. I was weak and exhausted but forced myself onto my hands and knees. My arms trembled under the weight of my body. Rain was coming down in sheets, traveling the length of my frame like a small stream. I was sure I would collapse under the raindrops'' weight. It took a few minutes, but I managed to get my wobbly legs under enough control to stand up. I was an infant taking his first steps for all intents and purposes.¡±

    ¡°The weight of my form was alien to me. I honestly didn¡¯t know how to balance myself. I stepped backward¡­no, I stumbled¡­into a large oak tree. That¡¯s when I realized I was in the woods. It was dark, and I was alone. ¡®They¡¯ were gone.¡±

    The old images of that night came back to me like a picture book in my mind, every page-flipping faster than the last, every image more terrifying than the one before. ¡°I remember struggling to breathe.¡±

    Suddenly, I was ten again. Without warning, it happened again - a switch flipped inside me, and I was that boy. That terrified little boy. I launched myself into the corner by the door, rocking mindlessly with my arms around my legs and my head buried between my knees. My heart pounded. I was so scared.

    ¡°No, no, please, no,¡± I begged no one. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m so sorry. Please¡­¡±

    Ant was at my side instantly, draping his arm over me like a blanket. ¡°Jacob, you¡¯re fine.¡± He cradled me in his arms like a concerned lover and pressed his lips to my ear. ¡°You¡¯re fine. Listen to me. Jacob, you¡¯re here with me now. Those woods are long gone.¡±

    I shook my head and refused to look up. I swear I could feel the rain pelting my skin. ¡°No,¡± I mumbled. ¡°If they knew I was sorry, they¡¯d come for me¡­they¡¯d love me again.¡±

    Ant wasn¡¯t having it. He positioned himself before me, shook my shoulders, and then forced my head up. ¡°Jacob, snap out of it! You¡¯re not that boy anymore, so let him go!¡±

    I felt my body tremble, and suddenly the woods were gone. I was sitting back in the room with Ant, disorientated. My nightmares quickly faded back into the recess of my mind. ¡°What the fuck¡­.¡±

    Ant smiled, wiping a tear that clung to my cheek. ¡°Welcome back, buddy.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, man. You went all Sybil on my ass for a minute. Granted, you¡¯re more attractive than Sybil, but still...¡±

    ¡°Oh man, I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t believe that happened again. It¡¯s been so long since¡­.¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry about it; it¡¯s cool,¡± he assured me as he leaned back and propped himself up with his hands.

    We stared at each other for a while, not a single word uttered between us. I wonder what could be running thru his mind. Was his stare one of pity? Did he see me as a little boy trapped in a man¡¯s body? I¡¯d never had a flashback like that with a ¡®friend¡¯ in the room. I was so embarrassed.

    ¡°Maybe you should stop Jacob,¡± Ant finally said. ¡°We can talk to one of the brothers. We¡¯ll just let them know that this is not something you can talk about now. If nothing else, I bet Q will understand. He is your Big and all.¡±

    His concern was genuinely touching, and I¡¯ll be honest, I wanted to take him up on his offer. I also wanted to be part of The Brotherhood and would suck it up and continue for that honor. ¡°Thanks, but I think that¡¯s the point of this whole thing. They want us to bond over the trauma in our lives. It¡¯d be pointless otherwise, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°I guess,¡± he conceded. ¡°I just don¡¯t¡­.¡±

    I gestured for him to drop it and assured him I¡¯d be okay with a simple look. I did, however, take a moment to collect my thoughts.

    No, that¡¯s not true. I used the moment to gather my courage.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how long I wandered around in those woods, stumbling from one tree to the next with only the random lightning flashes guiding me through the dark. Of course, I had no fucking clue where I was going. It didn¡¯t help that my senses were on the fritz. My vision was blurry, and I recall having moments of pure blindness. It lasted only seconds at a time, but to a kid, every second spent in a black void is an eternity. My hearing was fucked as well. Every sound was muffled, like trying to hear something with your hands cupped over your ears.

    ¡°Eventually, I came across a clearing with a faint light in the shadow. The rain was as relentless as ever; the wind cut thru me like a knife. I was standing in the backyard of a cabin, hidden still by the trees and brush. It didn¡¯t occur to me that this was my chance to get help. I just stood there fighting against the force of the wind.

    ¡°The back door opened suddenly, and a large man ran out into the yard holding his jacket over his head. A pile of wood was stacked high against the cabin, and I saw the man trying to figure out how to carry the wood while still holding the jacket over his head. He gave up rather quickly and just gathered the wood in his arms. There must have been a patch of mud or something because he slipped to one knee. A single piece of timber fell from his arm and rolled down towards me. He said something I couldn¡¯t make out, probably cursing, then gathered himself up and went after the stray log.

    ¡°The man was less than 2 feet away and eye level when he bent to pick up the log, yet he never noticed me. He was returning to the cabin when a series of lightning bolts lit up the forest ¨C turning night into day ¨C and his life upside down.

    ¡°There I stood. This little, very naked boy was standing arm¡¯s length away from him.¡±

    ¡°¡®Jesus Christ!¡¯ he yelled, falling back on his butt. Once important enough to brave the heavy storm, the logs now lay forgotten, scattered around him. He freaked out. ¡®What in the world?¡¯ Our eyes locked on each other, and for a moment, he was just as speechless as I was.

    ¡°¡®Angela!¡¯ he called out. ¡®Angela, get out here quick!¡¯

    ¡°My mom came rushing out of the cabin like it was on fire.¡±

    Ant drew his brows together in confusion. ¡°Wait¡­your mom?¡±

    I smiled. ¡°Well, she wasn¡¯t my mom at the time. That part came later.¡±

    Ant returned the smile and nodded with understanding.

    ¡°So, she ran out of the cabin like a bat of hell and over to my dad in the pouring rain in nothing but a long t-shirt. ¡®Pat, what happened? What are you doing on the ground? Are you hurt? Are you okay? Patrick, say something!¡¯

    ¡°All my dad could do was point into the darkness. It was like a scene out of the movie. Just as she looked in my direction, lightning flashed, and my pale form lit up like a glow stick.

    ¡°¡®Holy Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!¡¯ She yelled, falling back next to my father with her hand over her mouth. ¡®It¡¯s a boy.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Yes, I kind of noticed that.¡¯

    ¡°¡®And he¡¯s naked,¡¯ my mom added.

    ¡°¡®Yeah, I noticed that too.¡¯

    ¡°My mom just slapped him on the arm. ¡®Well, don¡¯t just sit there like a dummy; give me your jacket!¡¯ She didn¡¯t give him a choice or a chance to respond. She was on her feet in seconds, ripping the jacket off without thinking about his well-being or need to stay dry. She wrapped the jacket around me and pulled it shut over my chest. ¡®Hey, there, little guy. What are you doing out here in the rain all by yourself?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Ant interrupted, ¡°you don¡¯t remember anything from the first ten years of your life, yet you remember every detail of this?¡±

    ¡°Strange, but I remember every detail of my first night. I remember the sights, the distorted sounds, the cold, and the fear. I remember each mud puddle, the rock that cut my foot, and the salamander that crossed the path in front of me. Believe it or not, I even remember the individual lightning strikes and every expression of the adults around me. I also remember that their words made no sense to me. I heard the voices ¨C sort of ¨C but their meaning was completely foreign. I guess I was still out of it. You know, shock and all. So those details ¨C the words - come from my parents and the countless stories I¡¯ve heard about the night I came into their lives.¡±

    I don¡¯t know if Ant believed me, but if he was skeptical, he didn¡¯t show it.

    ¡°Anyway, my mom asked if I wanted to go inside with her and get out of the rain. I didn¡¯t give her an answer one way or another, which opened the door for her to take charge. She extended her hand slowly and waited until I returned the gesture. The warmth of her hand traveled thru me like a live wire. Then, with my father still lying beside us on the ground, she led me inside the cabin.

    ¡° ¡®I¡¯m Angela, and the guy with the Flobee-looking haircut is my husband Pat,¡± she pointed to my father, who now stood dripping wet in the doorway. ¡°Can you tell me your name, sweetie?¡¯

    She was a blur to me, coming into focus for moments at a time as she dried me off with a towel. I could see her lips moving, but her words remained unfocused. ¡®Okay. Can you tell me where you¡¯re from or where your parents are?¡¯ She spoke gently but with a worried smile. ¡®Pat, bring me my kit and call Sheriff McGuyer.¡¯

    My mom was¡­well, is¡­a brain surgeon. Even as a young kid unable to understand her words, I could tell she was used to taking control. The role of the caretaker was a comfortable fit for her. She spent forever giving me an examination. It was as thorough as a simple ¡®kit¡¯ would allow. And while she gently poked and prodded, I watched my father dial 911.

    ¡°Because of the storm, it took the cops and ambulance almost an hour to reach the cabin. In the meantime, they did everything they could to make me feel comfortable. My dad gave me one of his shirts, and my mom wrapped a clean towel around my waist. They spent the entire time talking to me and trying to get me to say something. My mom even tried bribing me with cookies.

    ¡°I swear, the woman was evil!¡± I laughed, remembering the look on her face as I devoured the Oreos. ¡°In the end, I won. I didn¡¯t say anything and still got the cookies. Score!¡±

    Ant was now laughing with me. ¡°You dork!¡±

    ¡°According to them, it took thirty or forty minutes to get me to come out of my shell and become even the tiniest bit playful. I have to be honest; while I vividly remember the people and surroundings of that night, my own emotions and reactions are a bit vague. I remember getting better as far as my sight and hearing. My mom was kneeling in front of me, playing some game, when I was suddenly able to understand her.¡±

    I paused for a moment, relishing the memory. ¡°I¡¯ll never forget her smile when I suddenly put my hand on her face and said ¡®pretty.¡¯ Years later, when other mothers would brag about their child¡¯s first words being ¡®mama¡¯ or ¡®dada,¡¯ my mom would smile and brag about this moment.

    ¡°Now that I think about it, I can remember feeling relaxed. I wasn¡¯t afraid anymore. I didn¡¯t feel alone. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t last very long. The room went from just the three of us to more than ten in a blink of an eye. They were everywhere. Paramedics and cops swarmed around the cabin like a bunch of bees whose hive was whacked with a stick. Sure, I understand why it was like that now, but at the time, it just seemed like a bunch of commotion for one little naked kid in the woods.

    ¡°I instantly locked up. Too much was going on, and many people were coming at me at once. I was terrified again, and my mom picked up on it. The cops and rescue team were making a bad situation worse for all their good intentions. Again, my mom took control. She pointed to the man with a star on his chest and a guy holding a bag similar to her ¡®kit.¡¯

    ¡°¡®You two stay,¡¯ she ordered, ¡®everyone else needs to leave.¡¯

    ¡°No one dared to argue with her. And as they filed out, one by one, into the rain, I took her hand, knowing she¡¯d keep me safe.

    ¡°The sheriff was pretty cool. He tried to get me to open up by being funny and cracking dumb jokes. Looking back now, I know he was working. He got me to smile once to his credit, but that was it. I never said a word about ending up in the woods with no clothes. His tricky questions got him nowhere.

    ¡°Eventually, they realized I didn¡¯t know the answers or wasn¡¯t ready to talk. So they gave up and moved to step 2, the hospital. I refused to go with the paramedic, so my mom and dad drove me, with Sheriff MacGuyer acting as our police escort ¨C sirens and everything. That was pretty cool.¡± I felt the smile of a ten-year-old boy take over my face.

    ¡°The hospital staff treated me great. They walked around quickly, talked in hushed voices, and often used the word ¡®trauma.¡¯ But they looked me in the eye and smiled whenever they approached me. And my mom¡­who was still just ¡®Angela¡¯ at the time¡­never left my side. As long as her warm hand was still holding mine, I was ok with them running their tests and bandaging my cuts.¡±

    I stopped and looked at the tape recorder. That last statement wasn¡¯t exactly true. There was one test ¨C one memory ¨C I rarely mentioned to anyone. For a moment, I contemplated keeping it that way. Who would know possibly know?

    The Brotherhood, that¡¯s who¡¯d know.

    ¡°Okay, so the rape kit was a bit¡­invasive.¡± I spat it out quickly and moved on.

    ¡°As the hours passed, I became more and more relaxed. Irene, the social worker from child protective services, showed up. She was a short, plump, black woman with lots of jewelry and a ¡®don¡¯t mess with me¡¯ attitude. I liked her the minute she hugged my mom. Plus, it helped that she was very protective of me from the get-go. This was going to happen her way and on my terms. That was final. It was fun to watch. I think that¡¯s why it was so easy for me to open up to her.

    ¡°¡®What¡¯s your name, sugar?¡¯ she asked me.

    ¡°¡®I¡­I don¡¯t remember¡­.¡¯ I stumbled, afraid they would be mad at me or think I was lying.

    ¡°My mom¡¯s eyes filled with tears. She says the look in my eyes and the smallness of my voice broke everyone¡¯s heart. They could tell immediately that I wasn¡¯t kidding or holding back. I had no idea who I was, and that was very real. Irene asked me about my parents, siblings, age, home¡­everything except the events that led up to that night. It was all blank to me. All I could describe were the sights, sounds, and smells of waking up in the woods.

    ¡°This is the short version of what happened. There were tons of questions.¡±

    ¡°I bet,¡± Ant interjected.

    ¡°But it was pointless. I couldn¡¯t remember shit. They kept me in the hospital for a few days under the guise of ¡®observation.¡¯ My parents stayed with me the entire time. Irene and Sheriff McGuyer came by every day as well. They became permanent fixtures in my life. To this day, I call them my aunt and uncle.¡±

    I took a deep breath. Was I rambling?

    ¡°Anyway¡­ultimately, all my test results and scans came back normal. There was no overt evidence of rape or physical abuse. As far as my memory goes, everyone believed that something so traumatic happened to me that my brain just shut everything out. As far as the woods go, they had a team of detectives and other local authorities search every inch of that place. They didn¡¯t find much. The only clue they had was a set of muddy tire tracks and a bunch of footprints, but none of that led to anything solid. Years later, I discovered they found a grave.¡±

    Ant gasped, ¡°A grave?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The working theory is whoever put me in that van planned to kill me and bury the body. Something spooked them - preventing them from finishing the job - so they pretty much left me for dead.¡± I stopped, zoning out completely, and whispered, ¡°I should¡¯ve died out there.¡±

    ¡°Luckily for us, you didn¡¯t,¡± Ant smiled and placed his hand on my knee for reassurance. ¡°So what happened after all that?¡±

    ¡°My face was plastered on every newspaper, milk carton, plastic bag, and telephone pole across the state. You couldn¡¯t turn on a news channel without seeing my face every ten minutes; first, locally, then the story went national. You were too young to remember, but ask your parents about a boy with no memory, and I bet it rings a bell.

    ¡°In the meantime, my parents pulled some strings so I could stay with them until my relatives claimed me. Everyone was sure there was a family out there worried sick about me. Days turned into weeks, and not a single soul came forward. Sure, there was the occasional nut case who tried to claim me as their son. Some even provided fake birth certificates and I.D. There was this one lady who got real close. She had pictures of me as a young child. I remember everyone being relieved. Finally, I would be going home to my family. But something about the lady didn¡¯t sit right with my mom, and I obviously couldn¡¯t confirm or deny that lady was my mom.

    ¡°A whole bunch of shit happened, but it came down to the point where I was about to be released into this lady¡¯s custody. Just as my mom was about to hand me over, she remembered where she¡¯d seen this lady before. Her son had died two years earlier in a hit-and-run accident. My mom was the specialist called in to operate on the kid, but there was nothing she could do. That kid and I looked very much alike, so when this lady saw me on the news, she truly believed I was her son. She wasn¡¯t a bad person. She simply couldn¡¯t let go of her son.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­that¡¯s crazy!¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded. ¡°All the crazy bullshit aside, no one ever came forward. No parents, aunts, cousins, siblings¡­no one.¡± The empathy was as clear as day in Ant¡¯s eyes. ¡°You have no idea what that does to a ten-year-old kid. You feel so unloved, so unwanted. You wonder how bad you could be to make your family not want you anymore. You have no one to blame but yourself.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, what happened to you wasn¡¯t your fault,¡± Ant offered.

    ¡°I know that now, Ant. I do, but try telling that to a scared ten-year-old.¡±

    I fell silent again, and I think Ant sensed I was going to that ¡®bad place¡¯ again¡­trapping myself in my memories. So he continued to ask questions to keep me focused and my mind moving forward.

    ¡°You were adopted by the people who found you, huh?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Uh¡­yeah,¡± I responded in a daze, rubbing my eyes to clear my head. ¡°After being with them for a few months, they came to my room one night while I was playing video games. My mom motioned for me to sit by her on the bed. I was terrified. I always figured it was only a matter of time before they sent me on my way. They¡¯d say it was so I¡¯d have a better chance of finding a new family, but I knew they probably just wanted their life back.

    ¡°My mom started talking, and I couldn¡¯t even look up at her. I was ready to begin balling but didn¡¯t want them to feel bad or guilty for letting me go. I was the one abandoned. It was my issue, not there¡¯s.

    ¡°¡®Jacob,¡¯ my mom said softly, lifting my head by my chin. ¡®We¡¯ve been talking for the last few nights¡­actually, for the last few weeks, really¡­.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t hold back the tears.

    ¡°¡®Hey sweetie, don¡¯t cry. It¡¯s okay.¡¯ She pulled me into an embrace. ¡®We just want your permission to make you a permanent part of our family.¡¯

    ¡°It seriously took a minute for it to click. ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡°My mom smiled and brushed my tears away. ¡®We¡¯d love to adopt you as our son. In our hearts, you are already part of our family. We just want to make it official.¡¯

    ¡°I jumped into their arms so suddenly I sent us all tumbling to the floor. We laughed our asses off. I was on cloud nine. It was the happiest day of my life. To have a family again meant more to me than anything else. They made me so happy.

    ¡°They tucked me in that night, and as they left and wished me a goodnight, I said to them for the first time, ¡®Night, mom¡­dad¡­.¡¯

    ¡°With the help of my aunt Irene, the adoption process was quick and painless. And the day it became official, the adoption was never mentioned again. I was their son, plain and simple. Suddenly I had grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles who treated me as one of their own and treated me like their flesh and blood. I was blessed.

    ¡°That¡¯s not to say growing up didn¡¯t have its bumps here and there. I went thru a string of shrinks, all in a quest to restore my lost memories. Nothing worked, not even hypnosis. Eventually, my parents decided if I was ever to have a normal life, all the tests, questions, and probing had to stop. I, for one, was very relieved.

    ¡°Eventually, people forgot who I was, the milk carton pictures were gone, and I was able to settle into my life. I went to school, made friends, played sports, got in trouble, and got grounded like all my other friends.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°Life was good. Life was normal.¡±

    ¡°Did your friends growing up know that¡­¡±

    ¡°Nobody knows,¡± I interjected before Ant could finish. ¡°Not even my best friends growing up. As far as everyone knew, I was just another normal kid from the block, you know?¡±

    ¡°What about Alex?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I shook my head. ¡°She doesn¡¯t know either.¡± I knew his next question before he even asked it. ¡°I know what you¡¯re going to ask. Why don¡¯t I tell people?¡±

    Ant nodded and snickered.

    ¡°Quite frankly, because people are stupid,¡± I laughed. ¡°The minute they hear news like this, they change. You become vulnerable in their eyes, and they start handling you with kid gloves. They think you¡¯ll break like some fucking ceramic doll or some bullshit. I don¡¯t want people¡¯s pity. I¡¯ve made a good life for myself and accomplished much ¨C even without a past. I sure don¡¯t want anyone taking that away from me.¡±

    There was a moment of silence between us, and I think Ant was expecting more. ¡°That¡¯s all I got,¡± I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s my lame ass story.¡±

    ¡°Far from lame, my friend! Can I ask you something?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Do you still wonder if your real parents are out there somewhere? Would you meet them if you could?¡±

    ¡°You know, for a while, I did. Growing up, I used to have this fantasy that I was the lost son of a King and Queen from some distant land. I know it¡¯s clich¨¦ and stupid.¡±

    Ant laughed, but not in a mean way. ¡°Hell, I know my parents, and even I¡¯ve had that fantasy!¡±

    ¡°When I was younger, I¡¯d wake up every day hoping my real parents would show up to claim me. When you¡¯re ten or eleven, you can¡¯t help yourself. But as I got older, I knew that was just a fantasy I had to let go of. Honestly, if they exist, I¡¯d like to meet them. If only to gain insight into my life before I woke up that night in the woods. ¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Ant nodded; his stare was unyielding as if digging for some hidden secret. The longer he looked, the more uncomfortable I felt. I had already told him there wasn¡¯t any more to my story, so I didn¡¯t understand what more he wanted from me.

    ¡°What?¡± I finally asked. ¡°Why do you keep staring at me like that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob. I just think¡­.¡±

    ¡°Oh god, here we go,¡± I cut him off before he could finish. ¡°The kid gloves go on, and you start acting all stupid. Suddenly I¡¯m ¡®poor Jacob,¡¯ right?¡±

    ¡°Not at all!¡± He insisted as he slapped my leg. ¡°I¡¯m staring at you because I think you¡¯re one of the most amazing people I¡¯ve ever met.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Now I was confused as all hell.

    ¡°Jacob, I can¡¯t even begin to imagine what you went through or how hard it had to be growing up.¡± He shrugged. ¡°But here you are, look at how well you¡¯re doing for yourself. You come from a great family, became a high school sports hero, graduated at the top of your class, got into one of the best colleges in the country, and got your shoulder tapped to pledge The Brotherhood. Not to mention the smoking hot girlfriend who came with you.¡± Ant shrugged again. ¡°I think most people would not have excelled the way you did.¡±

    I smiled. It was the best compliment anyone could have given me. ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡±

    That was me being humble.

    ¡°Oh, shut up!¡± Ant laughed and punched my leg. He wasn¡¯t buying my modest routine. ¡°You know damn well¡­.¡±

    Without warning, the door opened, and a Brother peeked his head inside.

    ¡°Times up,¡± he said. ¡°Grab your stuff and line up in the hall.¡± Just like that, he was gone again, leaving the door ajar.

    Ant and I looked at each other nervously. He didn¡¯t have to say anything; I was pretty sure he was thinking the same thing. We just bared our souls to each other. What could come next? The options were frightening.

    We got our things and headed out.

    Stepping into the hall was like walking into a church after confessional. We all looked guilty and a little more haggard for the experience. Eye contact was avoided like the plague, except for good old CJ, who walked around with the same carefree expression he always had. Even so, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what dark secret had spilled from his lips.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± the Brother ordered and headed downstairs.

    We followed behind him like good little ducklings. The Brother led us down to the pit, where a bunch of chairs sat in a circle highlighted by a spotlight overhead. I couldn¡¯t see anything else in the room. Beyond the ring of light, there was unsettling darkness. It didn¡¯t make a lick of difference, though. We knew who was watching us from the dark; we¡¯d played this game before.

    We took our seats inside the light ring and waited for further instructions. The Brother who led us to the pit stepped into the center of our little circle. He stood stoic for a few minutes, and I felt the air in the circle thicken with anticipation. Then, he began to turn slowly so he could make eye contact with each of us.

    ¡°Welcome to one of the most important trials of your pledging career,¡± he stated firmly. ¡°This trial measures your ability to be truthful with yourselves and The Brotherhood. You hold in your hands a book of questions and answers. The content of which sums up your life up to this point. All your hopes, dreams, fears, deepest desires, and wildest fantasies will be available to all. Only when you bare your soul before each other will you be welcomed into The Brotherhood.

    ¡°With that in mind, I will ask the following question only once.¡± He paused. For dramatic effect, I guess. ¡°If anyone feels they were less than truthful with your answers, speak up now? Now we realize you guys don¡¯t have perfect memories or the ability for total recall, so we don¡¯t expect all your answers to be entirely accurate. I¡¯m talking about knowingly lying to hide something you¡¯d rather keep buried. If you¡¯ve done this, speak up now.¡±

    He spun around again slowly, looking at each of us, waiting for someone¡¯s hand to go up. Hell, I was waiting for some dumbass to raise his hand too. I figured someone was going to fuck this up. I was honestly surprised to see no hands in the air.

    ¡°Okay then,¡± he said, ¡°but know that if anyone knowingly lied, even on the simplest of questions, you will all be dismissed tonight. ¡°

    I believe everyone was stunned to hear that little tidbit. I mumbled the word ¡°fuck¡± under my breath, and I think a few others mumbled something just as colorful. Seriously, that was fucked up! All our work could be undone by one lying sack of shit. If that happened, someone would have to stop me from killing the bastard, and I¡¯m sure others felt the same way.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look so surprised,¡± the Brother continued. ¡°You guys are down to the wire. No more fucking around. It¡¯s do or die! What¡¯s it going to be, ladies?¡± With a shitty grin, the brother backed away into the darkness but continued to talk. ¡°Hand your book over to your pledge mate, for he will read off your answers.¡±

    Okay, that was vague.

    My pledge mate? Really? They were all my fucking pledge mates! Was he talking about Arsen or Anthony? I wasn¡¯t the only one confused. Around the circle, eyes jumped from the books to roommates to confessional buddies, but no one made a move.

    ¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± the Brother shouted, and it was clear he either slapped his hands or his forehead. I could hear him walking around the perimeter of the light, staying shrouded in the dark. ¡°Your cuff-mate¡­your roommate¡­your girlfriend¡­whatever the fuck you want to call him!¡±

    Yeah, because we¡¯re supposed to be able to read his mind. Idiot!

    The Brother continued as we exchanged books.

    ¡°A page will be called out randomly. You will use your ears to hear the number and your fingers to turn the pages until you get to the one we called out. Then you will each take a turn using that thing below your nose and above your chin to read off the question and answer. Is that clear, or do I need to draw you guys a diagram or perhaps act it out with hand puppets?¡±

    Maybe we were just off our game that night because no one thought to answer him.

    ¡°Am I just standing here for my amusement?¡±

    ¡°No, Sir!¡± we shouted.

    ¡°Then fucking answer a Brother when he asks you a question! Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir!

    ¡°Now, were my directions clear enough, or do you need hand puppets?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, to fucking what?¡± he yelled. ¡°Yes, the directions were clear? Or yes, I need to break out the hand puppets?¡±

    Either he was fucking with us, or he was a complete idiot. I sure as hell couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°Your directions were clear, Sir!¡±

    ¡°Doubt it,¡± he barked, and silence took over the room.

    We sat there, books in hand, waiting to hear the first-page number called out. We waited and waited and waited. There was no way to tell how long we sat in silence, but it was a fucking long time. It felt like hours passed, but it could¡¯ve been only fifteen minutes. It¡¯s incredible how dead silence fucks with your sense of time.

    Suddenly, the tapping of Jason¡¯s foot pierced the silence. He didn¡¯t even realize he was doing it, but the sound filled the room like drums. The group turned in unison to face him. He¡¯d lost his fucking mind! He didn¡¯t quite get what was going on until he followed our eyes to his foot. His foot froze, and he turned red.

    I couldn¡¯t understand how the brothers could sit in silence for so long. It¡¯s not like they were talking amongst themselves and simply ignoring us. Nothing was coming from the dark. We couldn¡¯t even hear them breathe.

    ¡°Page 42,¡± a voice called out.

    Instant relief washed over our faces. No one said it, but I¡¯m pretty sure we all thought it was about damn time! The sound of flipping pages filled the room for the next few seconds. Then that sweet look of relief turned to confusion and doubt. They called out the page but failed to mention who would go first. Again, we were all lost as to what to do. We just looked at each hoping someone had the answer.

    Arsen had the answer. He fucking jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow - his loving way of hinting I should volunteer.

    ¡°I guess I can go first,¡± I said, throwing him the dirtiest look possible for putting me on the spot like that. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see. The question is, ¡°as a little boy, what did you want to be when you grew up?¡¯¡± I smiled at his answer before I read it out loud. ¡°His answer was a fighter pilot because he wanted to use big missiles to blow stuff up.¡±

    Everyone got a good chuckle out of that one.

    CJ jumped in next, followed by Xavier. That¡¯s pretty much how it went. Everyone just kind of jumped in whenever a page was called out. I have to say we started having fun with it. We laughed, joked, and poked fun at some of the answers. It was all good fun, and no one took the teasing seriously. I think there came the point when we forgot the brothers were even there. Their sole presence was only noticed via the series of page numbers they called out. There were times when we were laughing hysterically at some of the more embarrassing questions. Nobody cared because, evidentially, we all had a time in the spotlight. If it weren¡¯t one question, it would be the next. We were all victims!

    The brothers never scolded or told us to take it seriously or calm down. To be honest, I was a bit surprised. Thinking back on it now, maybe that was the whole point? They allowed us just to be stupid and get comfortable around one another.

    It was cool.

    Now I¡¯m not going to bother covering every single question or answer. That would take way too much time, and I don¡¯t have that kind of patience or recall. But I will say that the Trial of Honestly was my favorite out of all the trials we¡¯d been through thus far. Surprised? Yeah, I was too, but it makes perfect sense. This trial gave me a unique insight into the lives and minds of my fellow pledges that I don¡¯t believe I would¡¯ve experienced otherwise.

    We were fallible. We were human.

    It wasn¡¯t all hugs and puppies, though. The book stuff was the easy part. It never crossed our minds that the most challenging part of the whole trial was yet to come.

    We heard a Brother¡¯s voice pierce the darkness again, and before he could even finish, we were flipping thru the pages, eager to see what question would be next. The problem was that he didn¡¯t call out a page number.

    ¡°Who will volunteer to be the first to play their recording?¡± the voice inquired.

    The room fell silent. As I said, we¡¯d completely forgotten about our recordings. We looked at each other curiously and in fear. I¡¯ll be honest; I wanted to hear their recordings but didn¡¯t want to share my own. I couldn¡¯t help but look at them and wonder what their deep dark secret was. Yet, at the same time, I would¡¯ve been more than happy to throw my recorder in a blazing fire.

    ¡°Someone can volunteer, or I will pick who goes first,¡± a different voice came from the dark.

    My ears instantly perked up, for it was Q; his voice and tone were unmistakable. It wasn¡¯t that he sounded angry or annoyed. It was just¡­Q. I felt like the spotlight was beaming on me. My Big called for a volunteer, so did that mean I needed to step up to the plate? I¡¯m not saying he was calling me out specifically. The last thing I wanted to do was be the first guy to air his dirty laundry. I just felt I needed to do something because it was Q.

    Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I kept fidgeting with the play button, pressing it down but not really. I felt hot as if the temperature in the room shot up about a thousand degrees.

    Somebody had to make a move. Heaven help us if we made Q repeat himself!

    ¡°Fuck it,¡± I thought and held my recorder in front of me so everyone could hear it.

    ¡°Bunch of lame asses!¡± CJ snickered. ¡°I¡¯ll do it. I ain¡¯t got nothing to hide!¡± His player started going just as I pushed my play button halfway in.

    ¡°Thank the lord,¡± I whispered to myself. I was off the hook¡­for now.

    CJ¡¯s story.

    My god, CJ¡¯s story! You can¡¯t even write that kind of adventure.

    Knowing him the way I do, I expected it to be something crazy, and off the wall, CJ didn¡¯t fail to deliver. I won¡¯t recount every detail because it would take too damn long. I¡¯ll just touch on some of the finer points of his story. I¡¯ll probably do that with everyone¡¯s story; just touch on the more interesting ones I heard that night. Let¡¯s face it; everyone has drama. Some stories are just more worthy of repeating than others.

    Anyway, back to CJ. You couldn¡¯t tell by looking at him, but the boy comes from money. That¡¯s not unique. Many of the guys ¨C Brothers and Pledges alike ¨C share that story. His parents, however, used it as a control mechanism. They wanted their son to play the part of ¡°preppy, privileged rich boy¡± like all the other boys at his parent¡¯s country club. If you haven¡¯t noticed, CJ isn¡¯t sweater-wearing, comb-over hair, preppy rich boy material, and he let his parents know it. Their different life views became a constant source of contention. So, during the middle of his junior year in high school, he left home. His parents let him go. Not because they didn¡¯t love him, but because they figured it would be a good, hard lesson, and he¡¯d come running back home when he got a taste of the real world.

    He never went back. CJ lived in his closest friends'' basements and garages, studying hard and playing harder. You usually can¡¯t be good at both. You can¡¯t party hard and maintain good grades simultaneously, but like many things, CJ was the exception to the rule. He managed to have fun and graduate second in his class. Again, you might not pick it up by looking at him, but the boy is a freaking genius. He earned several scholarships, but only enough to pay for about half of what it cost to attend KU.

    This is where things got interesting. He wasn¡¯t about to go back to his parents for the money. Instead, he rounded up four of his closest buddies and convinced them he had a sure-fire way to make a ton of cash. His idea? Making amateur gay porn.

    Yes, you read correctly. Gay porn!

    Imagine the incredible charm CJ had going for him to convince four straight guys to do gay porn! They got together in one of their basements and shot a porno with only the natural lighting in the room and a small camcorder. They kept their identities secret by wearing masks. CJ wore a Spiderman mask; another wore Batman, and so on. When it was all said and done, they uploaded the movie to a pay site CJ created. Word of the video spread thru the internet like a fucking virus, and within a few days, it gained notoriety as the number one visited gay porn site on the net. It was raw, it was real, and it was an instant hit.

    The story of five straight guys doing this movie to pay for college, along with the amateur nature of the film, was a big turn-on for gays and closet cases out in cyberland. There was no mistaking that CJ and his friends were authentic; it wasn¡¯t an act like so many other amateur sites you find on the net, gay or straight. It was a monster hit, and the dough rolled in at twenty bucks a subscription.

    But that¡¯s not all. Because it was so huge, they decided to make it into a trilogy. Yes, a fucking trilogy. They filmed two other movies within a month and started advertising teaser clips on their website. Before they had the chance to debut the videos, a big-name porn company asked to buy the rights to their movies. Of course, they sold it for a shit load of money. The films were released in the states and Europe. Part 2 became the number one selling gay porn in history or some crazy shit like that. According to CJ, he¡¯s still getting royalties off it. The best part? To this day, the five stars of the series remain anonymous.

    The porn company made parts four, five, and six. They just used different guys with the same masks. CJ and his friends still get a cut of all those movies as well, for the company continued to use their premise and, more importantly, the original movie''s title.

    CJ had enough money to attend KU five times over.

    His recording stopped, but our mouths remained open. It was just too unbelievable to be true.

    ¡°Are you fucking serious?¡± Troy challenged.

    CJ laughed. ¡°Yeah, dude, because today of all days is the day I would pick to make this kind of shit up.¡±

    Troy¡¯s cheek turned bright red, for he had a good point. ¡°No, I believe you. I¡¯m just saying¡­Hell, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡± Sam offered.

    ¡°Yeah, what he said,¡± Troy agreed.

    ¡°You had sex with four of your friends? Four of your guy friends? And you did it on camera for the whole world to see?¡± Mike was in disbelief.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± CJ shrugged as if he asked whether he preferred Coke over Pepsi. ¡°Not a big deal, dudes. It got me some crazy cash I¡¯ve used to buy more than just my college tuition.¡± He laughed again at all of us. ¡°Ya¡¯ll need to stop looking at me like that and look at yourselves. Try living outside the box and the social morays! I guarantee you¡¯ll have more fun.¡±

    Suddenly the world started spinning in the other direction. I was fucking stunned. Not over the porn thing. It wasn¡¯t that big of a stretch coming from CJ. However, that last little sound bite was the smartest thing I¡¯d ever heard from CJ.

    Everyone started throwing questions at him, all of which he gladly answered. There was no shame in his game. Like I¡¯ve always said, he¡¯s way too much of a free spirit to give a fuck what people think.

    ¡°Next!¡± A brother shouted from the dark.

    CJ¡¯s fifteen minutes of fame were over. It was time for someone else to dance in the spotlight. CJ got the ball rolling, and it just kept spinning! Justin played his recording without hesitation, followed closely by Sam. Suddenly everyone wanted to share their story, anxious to hear what their pledge mates would say. It helped that no one judged CJ. Sure, the guys were shocked, but no one looked at him differently. Again, looking back on it, I think that was the point ¨C the lesson a pledge must learn.

    Some were not-so-interesting stories, and others force you to pause. Take Steve, for example. His first year in high school was a nightmare. He was taunted so badly for being different that he tried to kill himself. Luckily, his younger brother found him and the empty bottle of pills before it was too late. He¡¯s in a better place now, emotionally, I mean. He no longer has those thoughts and is content with who he is and how his life turned out. I was relieved to hear him say that.

    I¡¯d file Mike¡¯s story under the header of ¡®bizarre.¡¯ He woke up naked after a night of partying with a girl he¡¯d just met. Surprise, surprise! Guess what he got one month later? If you guessed a phone call from the girl saying she was pregnant, I¡¯d have to give you a cookie for a job well done. As expected, Mike went into full freak-out mode. It was not the kind of news he could share with his parents. They were old money with the mentality that only a well-bred girl would be allowed into their circle. A Latino girl from the more colorful side of town did not hold the proper pedigree.

    He told her she had to get rid of the baby. He even offered her ten grand to do it. Bastard! She refused, going on about God, the life growing inside her, and all that jazz. A couple of weeks later, she contacted Mike with a change of heart. She agreed to do it, but he¡¯d have to give her fifty large for the ¡°emotional distress¡± of aborting her unborn child. Money is what Mike knows; that is his language. Throw money at a problem, and it disappears. Unfortunately, he only had the ten he offered initially. The girl would not compromise. It was fifty now or a lifetime of child support. She¡¯d let him decide.

    For Mike, it was a no-brainer. The genius hocked the contents of his mother¡¯s jewelry box. It worked to pay off the girl but left a house full of missing jewelry. His mom went nuts and accused her staff of stealing the items. After a brief investigation by two ¡®family friendly¡¯ cops, a maid and their long-time Butler spent eight months in jail. I¡¯m sure the family¡¯s influence had nothing to do with convicting two innocent people.

    Wait, it gets better! No, it does. Later Mike found out there never was a baby. It was a scam the girl cooked up with her boyfriend. They played Mike, knowing he¡¯d do anything to get off the hook. And it only cost him fifty grand and the ruined lives of three innocent people.

    What¡­a ¡­piece¡­.of¡­work!

    To his credit, four months later, he admitted his crime to his parents. His confession brought no punishment or absolution. Mike went on with his life, his mother recovered most of her jewelry, and the ¡®help¡¯ remained in jail. The trial was over. There was no sense in dragging the family name thru the mud.

    Those poor people had to finish their sentences and have a criminal record for the rest of their lives because some rich boy couldn¡¯t take responsibility for his actions.

    No one said a word when his recorder clicked off. What do you say to that? Good job for not having the guts to do the right thing? I couldn¡¯t even look at him.

    Arsen played his recording next. He had a rough childhood, poor guy. The classic loving father turned into a mean drunk after dark. Arsen and his mom endured many beatings, followed by a morning of sober apologies. It got so bad that Arsen ran out of excuses to tell the school when he¡¯d show up with a fresh bruise on his face or marks on his back. Then again, his father sat on the city council, so no one wanted to investigate.

    One night it was awful, the worst yet. His father¡¯s anger was out of control, and he¡¯d had enough of Arsen¡¯s crying and pleas for him to stop hurting his mommy. Arsen¡¯s mom tried to stop him, but it was no use; the belt tore through Arsen¡¯s flesh like a hot knife through butter. No amount of begging could stop the attack, but the gun from the dresser did. She shot him. One bullet to the back of the head and the years of torment were over.

    There were cops, lawyers, and hearings. His life got crazy, but the pain had stopped. In the end, they dropped the charges against his mom. There was no denying the evidence of abuse they endured over the years.

    The most interesting part of Arsen¡¯s recording was the ending. ¡°In a blink of an eye, I lost my dad. Not once did I cry for him or miss him. But that night taught me that a birth parent would do anything to protect their child, and it¡¯s a sad world when those roles are reversed. To this day, no one knows that it was me who pulled the trigger.¡±

    We were speechless.

    ¡°You¡¯re up,¡± Arsen smiled, looking at Ant and me, wanting to move on from his story as quickly as possible. We were the last to play our recordings.

    ¡°Uh¡­yeah,¡± Ant mumbled, shaking his head to clear the haze of Arsen¡¯s story. Then he clicked play.

    The group was as moved by his story as I was. The fact that he pretty much came out to the whole room didn¡¯t faze anyone. They were all just sad for him. His story was so innocent and authentic that you couldn¡¯t help but get caught up emotionally. It was heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. I knew the story, so I could sit back and watch everyone¡¯s reaction. It was nice to see everyone be so supportive of him¡­true brotherhood at its finest.

    My tale invoked a horde of questions. Questions I¡¯d answered more times than I can remember. I was expecting it, so I donned a fake smile and answered as honestly as possible.

    ¡°Dude, that¡¯s fucking weird¡­.¡±

    ¡°Says the guy who made a porno!¡± Ant laughed.

    ¡°Yeah, dude, but I remember being there. He wouldn¡¯t remember any of it.¡±

    I rolled my eyes and laughed along with Ant. ¡°I doubt I was making gay porn before I was ten.¡±

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m just saying that if you had, you wouldn¡¯t remember it, and that¡¯s intense.¡±

    I gave up. Second in his class? For fucks sake...

    The lights came on suddenly, and someone was clapping behind me.

    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the brother smiled. It was one of the twins. ¡°You¡¯ve all passed this trial with flying colors. It¡¯s not easy to bare your souls as you guys did tonight. For that, we commend you. It shows tremendous courage and trust in each other. That said, dinner will be served in the dining room in ten minutes. Don¡¯t be late.¡±

    He just left us there in an empty room. The brothers had vanished. We never even heard them go.

    It was over just like that. Were we better off because of it? I think most of the guys would say that we were. I got to know my pledge mates on a level I didn¡¯t think possible, and I was grateful for that. We got to know each other better than anyone outside our circle ever would. It fused a bond ¨C and gave us the trust we needed. That speaks volumes about how far our journey with The Brotherhood had taken us.

    ¡°How the hell did they¡­.¡± Xavier started to say.

    ¡°There must be some secret door they use to get in and out of here,¡± Paul interjected, pointing at the back wall. He shook his head and smirked. ¡°I stopped questioning their methods long ago. I suggest you do the same unless you enjoy going nuts trying to figure them out. If we¡¯re lucky enough to become Brothers, their secrets will be our secrets. That¡¯s how I see it.¡± Paul got up on the tips of his toes and stretched every muscle in his body. As contagious as a yawn, we all followed suit.

    It felt so good to stretch. If it hadn¡¯t been for hunger pangs, I would have curled up on the floor and taken a nap.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you guys, but I¡¯m starved and don¡¯t plan to be late.¡± I took off for the stairs, not caring if anyone followed or not. I knew where I needed to be. I did stop before CJ to look at him as I placed my hand on his shoulder. ¡°My God, man,¡± I snickered, thinking back to his story.

    ¡°What, dude?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I answered with a coy smile, ¡°I just love that you¡¯re you.¡± I winked and took off for the stairs.

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m worried you won¡¯t remember who I am one day,¡± he shouted, sounding earnest.

    ¡°Oh, shut up!¡± I yelled back.

    The dining room looked terrific, the table setting formal. A stack of plates sat before each chair. The top was a small gold plate edged in crystals, beneath which sat a larger platter of cut ruby glass. Finally, both plates were perfectly nestled into a square dish adorned with gold leaf scrolls. A series of flatware flanked the plates on either side. They appeared to be made of solid gold and held a single ruby-colored gem on each handle. There were more forks, knives, and spoons than I knew what to do with! Top it off with a string of crystal stemware and a single platinum mug; you could call it a table setting fit for kings.

    While impressive, the true masterpiece was the table itself. Over thirty feet long and five feet wide, it commanded the space entirely. I would have believed it if someone had told me the room had been built around the table. It was dark, almost black, made entirely from a single piece of wood. Overall, it was rough in appearance but smooth to the touch. As I moved closer, I could see that the top of the table was a large carving ¨C almost like an ancient relief or archaic freeze. Easily over a foot thick, the carving seemed to tell a story. It was highly stylized, but it appeared to be figures entwined in battle and glorified in celebration. A single sheet of think glass protected it all and provided the flat surface of a tabletop. High back chairs, carved similarly, stood like sentries along the table¡¯s edge.

    A massive 8-foot-wide crystal chandelier highlighted the entire showpiece. In the form of a giant teardrop, the center crystal dropped low and aligned perfectly with a matching but much smaller crystal centerpiece pointing upward.

    We each took the chair designed with the little cards with our names. I had a glass of Cherry Coke waiting for me. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say each glass held the respective pledge¡¯s favorite drink. We were like giddy little school boys, not knowing what to expect. No one said a word. As usual, we were never quite sure if speaking was allowed.

    Several baskets of freshly baked bread were scattered down the center of the table. My stomach flipped and growled. I felt my face flush quickly, hoping no one had heard it. Arsen sat across for me, watching as I stared at the bread. I looked up at him and shrugged, my way of silently asking if it was okay to dig in. He shrugged, which was of no fucking help, and I let him know by fiercely rolling my eyes. He, in turn, let me know - thru his expressions - that I was nuts.

    We started laughing, and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. I was like fuck it, and reached for a piece of bread. Of course, as luck would have it, the doors flew open, and our Bigs marched in with plates in hand.

    It was too late to pull my hand back, so I pretended to be admiring the centerpiece instead. I¡¯m not sure if anyone bought it, but Arsen smirked and mouthed the word ¡°smooth¡± at me. He knew I was giving him the finger under the table.

    ¡°Dinner is served,¡± the Brothers said in unison. Then as if on cue, they moved as one and placed a single bowl in front of each of us.

    The spaghetti Q set before me looked terrific. The aroma of the fresh oregano, crushed peppers, stewed tomatoes, and garlic was overwhelming. The real kicker was the pile of fire-grilled sausages sliced neatly on top. It was enough to make me cream my pants! It was just the way I love it.

    ¡°Enjoy,¡± he smiled.

    He didn¡¯t have to tell me twice. I went to town on the dish, savoring each bite. All you could hear for the first few minutes was the clanking of silverware and glasses.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Eric finally asked.

    We didn¡¯t know how to answer that. What the fuck did he mean?

    ¡°Why is everyone so quiet? Why aren¡¯t you talking?¡±

    ¡°Um, I guess we didn¡¯t know we were allowed to, Sir,¡± Arsen offered.

    Shaun just laughed. ¡°Well, it¡¯s nice to see that you¡¯re all programmed so well, but this dinner is for you. The rest of this night is for you. We left our titles at the door. So please feel free to enjoy yourself in any way you like. You guys have earned it.¡±

    ¡°Sweet!¡± CJ beamed.

    I immediately turned to Q. ¡°Did you make this yourself?¡± I whispered as if asking some big ass secret.

    ¡°I did,¡± he smiled. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°Do I like it? Are you kidding me? Do you not see me devouring it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a little hard to miss, I must admit.¡±

    ¡°Did you make the sauce? I bet you did because it¡¯s too good to be from the store.¡±

    He nodded, and the same smile slowly appeared on his lips. ¡°With my two bare hands,¡± he said. ¡°I added some of my special seasonings to give it a little kick, and there you have it.¡±

    ¡°Oh man¡­¡± was all I could say before stuffing another spoonful of spaghetti into my mouth. It¡¯s always nice to see Q relaxed. He had his hands clasped and pressed against his lips as he watched me eat. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just curious to see how long you can go without air,¡± he laughed. ¡°My god Jacob we do feed you three times a day. I know that for a fact.¡±

    ¡°You know the saying; it¡¯s not the quantity; it¡¯s the quality. And this is perfect! How¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Good, thanks.¡±

    I looked at his plate for the first time. It held slices of green apples and a few strawberries, nothing else. I figured he wasn¡¯t all that hungry. I didn¡¯t see it as a big deal until I noticed the rest of the brothers were all eating the same thing ¨C green apples and strawberries. It was odd, but I chalked it up to some fast for Dylan¡¯s upcoming ceremony.

    Unlike before, the room was now a buzz with small, segmented conversations. However, there were times when a fascinating topic would pull everyone at the table into the discussion. Those are always fun, I guess.

    ¡°So Jacob, let me ask you the same thing I just asked Arsen,¡± Shaun said as he took a drink of his water. He held the glass to his lip for a moment as if reconsidering the question.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.

    ¡°What do you think of The Brotherhood and your experiences up to this point?¡±

    It was one of the first questions that made the room stop. Suddenly, all eyes were on me as if I was one of the last two contestants on American Idol. Don¡¯t even get me started on that show. But I digress¡­

    ¡°Well, the food is always amazing, especially when it¡¯s free. That¡¯s a total bonus!¡± The whole table got a chuckle out of that. ¡°No, really, it¡¯s been quite the ride so far. Win or lose, the experience alone was well worth the ride. I think every pledge would agree. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I want to win, but regardless of the outcome, I wouldn¡¯t give up the experience.¡±

    He raised his glass to toast me. ¡°Now that¡¯s what we like to hear,¡± his smile was genuine and warm. ¡°And The Brotherhood itself? Is it what you expected?¡±

    ¡°Oh, for sure. I mean, you guys are the real deal.¡±

    ¡°And by that, you mean?¡± Q jumped in with a question of his own; his eyes exquisitely captured the soft light from the chandelier. I was careful not to stare into them for fear of falling so deep I¡¯d lose myself.

    ¡°You hear things¡­.¡±

    ¡°What things?¡± he pressed, his left brow arched slightly.

    I was starting to wonder if he was just fucking with me. ¡°Well, you go thru the motions of applying to all these schools during your senior year in high school, and of course, the talk eventually turns to fraternities and pledging. And that inevitably leads to talk of The Brotherhood. You guys have built such a mystique around The Brotherhood. Everyone wants a piece of it. Rumors run wild, and everyone claims to know the inside scoop, but no one does. Not until they are sitting where I¡¯m sitting now. It¡¯s an honor and privilege to be part of it. Win, lose or draw; nobody will ever take that away from me. Nobody¡­¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Shaun said with a nod. ¡°What happens if you don¡¯t make it? Do you try for another fraternity?¡±

    ¡°There is no other fraternity!¡± I was a bit firm yet respectful nonetheless. ¡°You don¡¯t experience something like The Brotherhood and then downgrade to something else. You don¡¯t turn in your brand new Mercedes for a 95 Escort. It just doesn¡¯t happen.¡± I made Shaun laugh with that. ¡°This is where I want to be.¡±

    The conversation went in another direction entirely after that. One of the guys asked CJ about his porn days, and it was all downhill from there ¨C in a good way, mind you. I looked at Q and couldn¡¯t help but blush, for I knew he was proud of how I handled the questions. He never said anything, but I could tell how he looked at me. He has eyes like no other, and the world stopped whenever I gazed into them. To be honest, I found it frightening that this one man could have that kind of an effect on me with a look ¨C a simple glance.

    I wanted his lips on mine. I wanted to feel his touch, his warmth, and his embrace''s love. I craved him. It was infuriating. I couldn¡¯t have him the way I wanted. I had to sit there and pretend I was just his ¡®Little.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t fair. Then again, life isn¡¯t always fair, now is it? You roll with the hand fate deals you, and as luck would have it, we were in a position where discretion took priority. I got that.

    Q leaned into my ear. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± His melodic tone made me quiver with desire.

    I leaned in to ensure it was humanly impossible to hear my words or read my lips. ¡°I miss you,¡± was all I said.

    Q pulled away with a knowing look in his eyes. He said nothing, for how could he respond in such a setting? Just knowing he understood was all the acknowledgment I needed.

    The topics of conversation around the table were all over the spectrum. People talked about war, heath, sex, politics, and every other subject imaginable. It was nice because everyone truly appeared to be having a good time. As the meal wound down, a few brothers came in and cleared the dishes, but the lively conversations kept us at the table.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s your take on religion?¡±

    One of the pledges threw the question out to no one Brother in particular.

    I thought it was Nick, but I was caught up in my conversation with Q and Eric to be sure. It was one of those questions that drew everyone into the discussion.

    ¡°Why are you very religious?¡± Eric directed his question at Jason. So it wasn¡¯t Nick after all.

    ¡°Very much so,¡± he replied proudly, beaming as if the lights of heaven were shining down on him. ¡°I believe in the good Lord above and his teachings. He is the reason we are all here.¡±

    ¡°You mean here as in around this table?¡± Eric mocked.

    ¡°Of course not! Here on earth. We¡¯re here for no other reason than the grace of God.¡±

    Eric took a drink of water and kind of curled his lips. ¡°Interesting,¡± he nodded. ¡°And how do you know this exactly?¡±

    Jason shrugged. ¡°Go to church or pick up the bible. It¡¯s all right there in black and white. I mean, millions of people can¡¯t be wrong.¡±

    Shaun laughed and raised his glass at Q for whatever reason. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t argue with that logic, now, can you?¡±

    Q looked disinterested. He sank back in his chair; suddenly, a dark shadow appeared over his face.

    Shaun turned his attention to the rest of the pledges. ¡°How do you guys feel about it?¡±

    Everyone said they had a fundamental belief in God, except for Steve and Paul. Of all things, who would have thought they had that in common? Some were religious, others not so much. I believe in God ¨C or at least I want to ¨C I just don¡¯t follow any religion.

    ¡°Religion,¡± Seth smirked and shook his head as if the whole idea was laughable to him, ¡°is simply a method of control. You sit here with your ideals and unwavering faith in your God and religion, but where does it come from?¡±

    ¡°No one is controlling me,¡± Jason answered matter-of-factly. ¡°It¡¯s what I believe. It¡¯s how I was raised.¡±

    ¡°My point exactly,¡± Seth countered. Hell, even I saw him walk into that one. ¡°Your beliefs are not your own. It¡¯s what you were spoon-fed as a child. Just as I¡¯m sure, your parents were spoon-fed before you. That is control, the most dangerous kind, for, at its core, it strips you of your right to question.¡±

    ¡°Believe what you will,¡± Shaun continued, ¡°for there is nothing wrong with that. Just be careful not to sit in judgment of the next guy because you know your God and your religion are the current ones. The reality of it is you don¡¯t know that. None of you do. Millions of people can¡¯t be wrong, you say? Go back hundreds of years when everyone knew the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around it. Or the days when they knew the earth was flat.¡±

    Nick cleared his throat and jumped into the discussion. ¡°So would I be correct in assuming your position on the matter is the same as The Brotherhood¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°And what position is that?¡± Eric inquired with the same playful smirk.

    ¡°Atheism.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°I never said that.¡±

    ¡°So you do believe in God?¡± Jason asked.

    Q mumbled something under his breath as he rested his face on his left hand. He looked annoyed beyond description. He was the only one too. The other Brothers were engaged in the conversation, dropping their two cents here and there. I half expected him to stand up and change the subject. I couldn¡¯t guess why it struck a deep chord with him.

    ¡°You speak as if there is only one god, your Christian God. Why? Can there not be room for other gods besides your own? Is your god the only one worthy of worship?¡±

    Jason didn¡¯t know what to say to that. He became flustered and stumbled over his words.

    Eric reached over and rubbed the back of his neck, laughing. ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, Jason. I¡¯m just giving you a hard time.¡±

    Jason looked so relieved. ¡°Oh, good. I thought this would be my last meal in this house.¡±

    Everyone laughed at him.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re fine,¡± Seth assured him. ¡°You¡¯re free to believe what you will, and it will have no effect one way or the other if you get into The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°Well then, if I may ask without digging myself a deeper grave. What is the general belief among the Brothers?¡±

    Oh, for fuck sake, let it go already. I didn¡¯t say those words, but I so wanted to!

    ¡°Our beliefs are a bit¡­unique,¡± Seth¡¯s cryptic answer only forced Jason to ask more questions.

    ¡°So there¡¯s one common belief among all of you?¡±

    Seth nodded, and both Eric and Shaun agreed.

    ¡°So would you go as far as saying it was like a religion?¡± Jason smirked as if he had them this time!

    ¡°I would never go that far,¡± Seth raised his glass in honor of that fact. ¡°No offense, but unlike your beliefs, ours is based on history and facts. I¡¯ve seen¡­.¡±

    Q tapping his fork on his glass, and Seth cut off his word mid-sentence.

    ¡°Oh right¡­forgive me.¡± You could see the realization in Seth¡¯s eyes. He was about to give out privileged information. ¡°In time, Jason¡­all in due time.¡±

    ¡°So, do you have a different opinion on God, Q?¡±

    What made Jason think this was the time to ask Q such a question? You could be standing across the lawn and still tell that Q was royally annoyed with the subject. Why, oh why, did he want to go there?

    The room fell silent. The pledges were quiet in reverence to Q. The Brothers sat back in their chairs with an ¡°oh shit¡± look.

    It didn¡¯t take a genius to sense that the shit was about to hit the fan, and everyone was going to get splattered.

    ¡°God? What is a God?¡± Q demanded. ¡°What purpose does he¡­it¡­serve?¡± His eyes shifted from Jason to everyone along that side of the table. The rant was aimed at the group, not Jason alone.

    ¡°You sit here, engaged in your discussions of creation, hope, and purpose. Of a grand scheme and millions of people who can¡¯t be wrong. You talk of writings and salvation and credit a higher power. You feed into it, and the sad part is, you don¡¯t even know what ¡®it¡¯ is! It¡¯s not mindless control in the form of religion. It¡¯s not the supposed infallibility of one belief over another. It¡¯s not church versus state, the Koran versus the Bible, or the right to prayer in school!

    ¡°It¡¯s the insane power you¡¯re giving beings you know nothing about. It¡¯s the egos you¡¯re feeding and don¡¯t even know it. It¡¯s the laughter as they mock your simplicity and greedily accept your praise. Praise for events for which they played no part. Don¡¯t you understand? Just because it¡¯s a higher being doesn¡¯t automatically make it deserving of this much attention. Has it never crossed your mind that perhaps it is not them who has the real power? Maybe they gain all their energy from you. From control you¡¯ve given them over your daily lives ¨C even when you¡¯re fighting that they don¡¯t exist! Bad press is more powerful than no press at all.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never experienced a¡­.¡± Q stopped and looked at the pledges in the room.

    ¡°Trust me. They are not worth it.¡± It fell from his lips like a mandate.

    The room itself seemed frozen. No one dared to move or speak for fear of getting their head ripped off by Q. That was the first time I¡¯d seen fear in a Brother¡¯s eyes. I think we all just got spanked hardcore.

    ¡°So¡­where¡¯s the dessert?¡± I just threw it out there to break the tension in the room. I figured I was his Little and his boyfriend, so if he lashed out, he might show a little more restraint with me as opposed to someone else.

    ¡°Good call,¡± one of the twins said as he stood. ¡°We didn¡¯t make any dessert, but I¡¯m pretty sure I can find something sweet and unhealthy for you guys to eat.¡±

    Q sat back in his chair without saying a word.

    ¡°Just give me a few minutes, and I¡¯ll be right back. I hope everyone here likes chocolate because that¡¯s¡­.¡±

    The Twin broke off for no apparent reason. He froze for a few seconds, then slowly turned to face the other Brothers. Shaun sat up slowly, as did Seth and Steel.

    ¡°Could it be¡­¡± Eric whispered as he placed his hands on the table.

    Even Q slowly sat forward.

    I looked from Brother to Brother, then to Q. What the fuck was going on? It was like they suddenly had the sixth sense and saw dead people everywhere. The pledges were freaking out because it was clear to anyone that the Brothers were panicked¡­or disoriented¡­about something.

    The doors crashed open, and Jacob ran into the room. ¡°He¡¯s awakened!¡± he yelled. ¡°The Prince is awake!¡±

    The room was still for a good ten seconds¡­then boom! The Brothers shot up from their seats. Chairs flew in every direction as they rushed from the room, oblivious to the pledges around them. They cleared out in three seconds...maybe less. We didn¡¯t know what to do, so we followed cautiously. The house was going nuts! Brothers ran out of their rooms; doors crashed open, and furniture sat overturned. It was fucking crazy!

    We stood at the top of the stairs and watched as the Brothers poured out of the front door. It was like a mass exodus. For a minute, I thought the house was on fire, but it wasn¡¯t that. Something bigger was going on. Something much, much bigger¡­

    Q was by the door and looked up at me. I think it clicked that we were still in the house. He grabbed Dylan, and I heard him tell him to watch us until they returned. Q looked at me one last time before running out of the house. Within minutes, the house was emptied of Brothers, save Dylan.

    After about a minute of just standing there, CJ finally spoke. ¡°Dude¡­Prince is alive?¡±

    ¡°Oh lord,¡± I rolled my eyes and placed my hand on his shoulder. ¡°What it must be like to live in that head of yours¡­.¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XIV

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XIV

    By X

    The house never felt so still. We pledges never felt so free.

    With the house emptied, there was no one to tell us what to do. Sure we still had Dylan, but he was left with no explicit instructions on what to do with us. Granted, he was a Brother. That meant he could¡¯ve told us to do anything he wanted. But his focus was not on us that night. He was all over the place. One minute he was sitting down staring into nowhere, bouncing his right leg, and the next, he was pacing the room, glancing out the window every minute or so, only to sit back down again.

    I¡¯d never seen a Brother so anxious before, so much so that he made the rest of us nervous, but we did our best to pass the time. Steve, Paul, and some other guys sat around watching music videos on TV. Jason and Justin kept themselves busy with a very fancy chess table on the opposite end of the room. Mike and some of the others simply disappeared. I have no idea where they went. Ant, Arsen, and CJ had other ideas.

    ¡°Hey Jay,¡± Arsen motioned for me to come to him, ¡°we¡¯re going to give ourselves a tour of the place. Come with us.¡±

    I shook my head, remembering the nightmare from the last time we decided to look around. ¡°No thanks, you guys go on without me.¡±

    ¡°Dude, come on! What else is there to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not stopping you, CJ. Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ant asked, the look of disappointment shadowing his face suddenly.

    ¡°Positive,¡± I assured him with a smile. ¡°Just do me a favor and keep an eye on him.¡±

    Ant and Arsen laughed while CJ looked around, confused.

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡±

    I gestured for CJ to come over to me with a jerk of my head and put my arm around his shoulder. ¡°Arsen,¡± I whispered, ¡°you know how he¡¯s always getting into trouble and doing things he¡¯s not supposed to.¡± I looked past CJ at Arsen and winked. ¡°Just keep an eye on him for me, and don¡¯t let him touch anything or try to break into locked rooms.¡±

    ¡°Dude, no worries, I got this,¡± he whispered back and patted my stomach.

    ¡°Nice! I¡¯m filled with confidence knowing you¡¯re on top of things.¡±

    He walked away to rejoin the others. I smirked and shrugged at Arsen. CJ almost caught me laughing when he looked over his shoulder, but I recovered nicely by giving him two thumbs up. He returned the gesture in kind.

    I turned around, and Dylan was standing by the window again. He never even noticed me approaching him. Two or three minutes passed before he realized I was standing beside him, staring out into the night. He didn¡¯t say anything, but his reflection in the glass betrayed him.

    We stood there for a while without saying a word. I didn¡¯t mind it at all, for the view was stunning. The moon was big and full, hanging low over the tips of the distant trees, casting its glow on everything it touched. Even Dylan¡¯s eyes appeared to be on fire as they absorbed the pale moonlight.

    ¡°I suppose asking you what¡¯s happening around here would do me little good, huh?¡±

    The smile appearing on his face was evident in his reflection as he turned slightly to meet my eyes on the glass. ¡°And yet you managed to ask me anyway.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t mean to stick my nose where it doesn¡¯t belong, but it¡¯s just not a good feeling when the guys that don¡¯t flinch¡­flinch.¡±

    ¡°I like you, Jacob,¡± Dylan stated matter-of-factly. ¡°You remind me a lot of myself when I was in your shoes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± he smiled again, his eyes flickering in the pale light. He was quiet for a moment before whispering, ¡°Things are about to get a lot more complicated¡­.¡± His words trailed off, and I knew I had lost him. His body was standing next to me, but his mind was entirely elsewhere. After standing there for a few minutes, I slowly backed away from him and walked into the next room, stopping only for a moment to consider his last words. Words that left a chill in me I couldn¡¯t shake.

    With very little to do, I decided Arsen, Ant, and CJ had the right idea and took a stroll around the house. Despite my overwhelming need to be alone, I figured I¡¯d run into the guys sooner or later. It was one house. It was inevitable. So I took the first door on the right, expecting my alone time to end quickly.

    I never saw them in the halls that night.

    It amazed me how many halls I walked and the stairs I climbed. Yet around every corner, I saw something new. It was bizarre to the point where I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. For instance, I climbed a flight of stairs to the third floor, where there was a fantastic picture of two white Bengal Tigers. I remember it so well because I stopped at the top of the stairs to admire the view. It was a cute picture of the two cats leaning lazily against each other in front of a waterfall. I love all the big cats ¨C lions, tigers, cheetahs; it doesn¡¯t matter - I love them all. No one can argue the beauty and majesty of the big cats and the mysteries they hold in their eyes.

    There was also a marble table right beneath the picture with a black vase bursting with White Dendrobium Orchids centered in the middle. I happen to know about flowers because it¡¯s my mother¡¯s passion. I spent hours helping her in the flower garden growing up. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re asking yourself what this has to do with anything. Well, I¡¯m getting to that.

    After leaning in to take in the aroma of the orchids, I went down this long-ass hallway to my right. There was nothing special about it. It was just another hallway decorated with a splattering of paintings, chairs, tables, potted plants, and such. I tried a few doors as I walked by, except for some of the closets and bathrooms; they were all locked. I took a few more turns here and there, went down a couple of stairs, and then back up until I finally found myself climbing the same set of stairs. The same picture, table, and orchids were in front of me.

    Not a big deal, except this time, I decided to explore the left corridor.

    I don¡¯t know what compelled me to look over my shoulder, but I did. The long hallway to the right of the stairs was no longer there. It was a much smaller corridor ending with a window overlooking the pool.

    I walked over to the opened window and stood there completely dumbfounded. ¡°What the fuck?¡± I mumbled and looked around for an explanation. Could I have been in a different part of the house with the same picture and flowers? The place is designed like a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, so I wouldn¡¯t put it passed the Brothers to pull something like this just to fuck with people¡¯s heads.

    I¡¯m one of the people that simply can¡¯t let shit like this go, so my brilliant plan was to retrace my steps to see where that got me. I ran down the same stairs, took all the same turns, and went up and down the same stairs again, and sure enough, I ended up running down a long ass hallway that put me in front of the same picture of two white tigers and a vase full of orchids.

    I thought it was brilliant! Leave it to the Brothers to devise another way to mess with your head. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. I was going to continue my exploration of the house when a thought crossed my mind.

    ¡°No way,¡± I laughed, slipping my fingers thru my damp hair. The idea that these halls rearranged themselves at will crossed my mind for a split second.

    Again, not being able to let it go, I decided to pluck a single pedal from one of the orchids and place it next to the vase. ¡°This is fucking crazy,¡± I told myself. I¡¯m sure you can see where I was going with this. That¡¯s right, I ran down the same long hallway and repeated all the motions. Nearly five minutes later, I was climbing the same set of stairs to the third floor. It felt like ten minutes to take each step; I was moving slowly. The whole time I kept looking to my right to see if I would get to the long or short corridor. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t shocked to see the latter.

    I stood in front of the table, staring at the picture and tapping my nails on the hardwood. I had yet to look down to see if the pedal was there. I honestly couldn¡¯t tell you what I was expecting or why I was so afraid to look down. I started to argue and yell at myself in my head.

    You¡¯re being foolish! Just look down already! What are you so afraid of?

    ¡°This is retarded,¡± I finally said aloud and looked down quickly. ¡°My god! I¡¯m such an idiot.¡± There was no pedal on the table, just the reflection of a guy who felt like a complete jackass. My only hope was that there weren¡¯t any hidden cameras in the area because I would never live this down.

    A strong hand slapped my shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my fucking shoes! I yelled something and turned around, swinging out of instinct. My right arm was blocked, and the throat grabbed me firmly. In that instant, we looked into each other¡¯s eyes and backed away.

    ¡°Jacob, I¡¯m sorry! Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, no worries,¡± I insisted. ¡°Sorry for taking a swing at you. It was just a reaction.¡±

    Dylan laughed. ¡°Yeah, same here. I see a punch coming at me, and I enter combat mode. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you. I should¡¯ve cleared my throat as I approached or something.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s cool,¡± I kept insisting as I rubbed my neck. ¡°Nice death grip you got there.¡±

    He smiled and rubbed his forearm. ¡°That right of yours is nothing to laugh at either.¡± He took a quick look around. ¡°What are you doing up here?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I just had a look around.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool, but you shouldn¡¯t be roaming around. Come on, let¡¯s head downstairs.¡± With a warm smile, he nodded towards the stairs and moved out of the way to let me go first. ¡°I get that you guys are bored, so I don¡¯t mind if you want to look around, but all I ask is you stay clear of this area.¡±

    I nodded and looked over my shoulder at Dylan. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to cause any problems.¡±

    ¡°No problems at all.¡±

    I returned his smile, but my eyes shifted past him. There clear as day on the floor, was a single white pedal ¨C the light breeze from the open window blew it underneath the table.

    Dylan didn¡¯t say much. At the bottom of the stairs, he reiterated that I was to stay clear of that part of the house, then walked off. Admittedly I was a bit surprised. I was sure he would take me back to the rest of the pledges, but instead, he allowed me to continue my roaming. Common sense took priority over temptation, and I avoided that section of the house like I was told ¨C I¡¯d be lying if I said it was easy.

    I was also surprised I had yet to run into Arsen and the other guys. It¡¯s a big house, but damn, I was sure I¡¯d be bumping into them by now. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what kind of trouble they were getting themselves into. At the very least, CJ must¡¯ve broken something by now or set something on fire.

    I walked down a familiar hallway but couldn¡¯t place why it seemed so familiar until I took a turn and saw my reflection staring back at me from the larger-than-life mirror. ¡°Interesting,¡± I mumbled as I walked up to the mirror, touching it as soon as I was within reach. I¡¯m not quite sure what I was expecting to happen, but needless to say, it was just cold hard glass.

    As I''ve mentioned before, I hated mirrors. I hated them with a passion! While growing up, I remember my parents replacing eight or ten bathroom mirrors. I¡¯d look into the mirror, into the eyes of a stranger staring back at me, knowing he held the secrets of my past, yet he refused to give them up. I hated him for it. I hated him so much that in a blind rage, I¡¯d punch out the mirror. We went thru a lot of bandages as well.

    There I was again, staring at that same stranger. The eyes, the face, and the hair all looked like me but didn¡¯t quite feel like me.

    Leaning forward, I tapped my forehead against the glass several times and let it rest for a moment.

    Why won¡¯t you tell me who you are?

    I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to remember. But as always, my brain defaulted to that first memory of waking up in the forest. The yelling, the rain, the spinning tires¡­

    Everything from that night is so vivid in my mind.

    Everything from before that night is locked behind a door.

    I could only hope one day I¡¯d finally find the key.

    My eyes shot open as I felt ten powerful fingers wrap around my throat. A dark shadow fell over the stranger in the mirror. His face twisted in anger. His eyes fell deadly hollow.

    ¡°Remember!¡± The reflection hissed thru clenched teeth.

    I gasped and stumbled backward, clutching my throat. It took a few minutes for the disorientation and shock to pass. Had I been daydreaming? In the end, it made no difference. My body was shaking; my spine felt tingly, my legs weak, and my heart pounded in my ear. It hurt to breathe. No matter how much air I took in, I couldn¡¯t get enough. I fell to my knees and gasped as if all the air in the room had vanished. I couldn¡¯t breathe! Falling forward, I slammed the side of my face against the hardwood floor. I remember my nails scrapping the cherry wood as I struggled for one¡­last¡­breath¡­

    Then everything went dark.

    I woke up in Q¡¯s bed. My eyes popped open as if someone snapped their fingers and commanded me to wake up. I couldn¡¯t begin to guess how long I was out or how the hell I got there. I wasn¡¯t covered up or anything. And thankfully, I still had all my clothes on. I sat up and took a moment to pull myself together before getting up on my feet.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said and sat right back down. I was spinning out of control, or the room was¡­ Regardless of who was at fault, I had to take a minute to recover. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had one of those ¡°episodes,¡± mind you. The doctors call them anxiety attacks, but I think of them as someone¡¯s cruel way of keeping me from myself. Thankfully it¡¯s only happened a handful of times, but when they do, I always wake up with the nagging feeling I was just about to remember a little bit of myself. Like the name that hangs on the tip of your tongue that you¡¯ve been trying to remember all day. It¡¯s incredibly annoying.

    After a few minutes, I felt better and walked around the empty room. I expected to see someone sitting at Q¡¯s desk waiting for me to wake up, but I was alone. Who the hell carried me into the room? Or did anyone take me? For all I know, I walked here and didn¡¯t even remember it. I hoped that wasn¡¯t the case. I had enough issues going on. I didn¡¯t need to add sleepwalking to the list.

    I went into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face and to get a drink. Instead of splashing my face, I stuck my head under the faucet. That felt so good. I stayed there for five minutes, letting the water wash over me. I grabbed a towel and wrapped my head in it so the water wouldn¡¯t drop on my clothes or the floor. As I dried my hair, I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of my reflection thru the towel. It creeped me the fuck out. I had to look away.

    There was a door I hadn¡¯t noticed before. I looked over my shoulder at the main entrance and then back again. Granted, I don¡¯t spend tons of time in Q¡¯s bathroom, but I could¡¯ve sworn that door wasn¡¯t there before. Whatever¡­

    I didn¡¯t see the harm in opening it, and to be honest, I was half expecting it to be locked anyway, but to my surprise, it wasn¡¯t. I stepped into a relatively large office. I assumed it was Q¡¯s office since it was attached to his bathroom. The glass desk was identical to the one in his room, and the computer setup was pretty much the same. Except the monitor was at least a twenty-eight-inch widescreen. There were books galore - some were newer, but for the most part, they were old leather-bound books. Some were so old that I thought they would disintegrate into dust if I touched them. I stayed away from those.

    Q¡¯s desk had several open books and old withered scrolls. I knew right off the bat some of them were from Ancient Egypt; the drawings and hieroglyphs gave it away. I¡¯m no history buff, but I have been known to stop on the history channel occasionally. I enjoyed learning about that stuff. I was fascinated by the pharaohs, pyramids, ancient old gods, their belief systems, and mythologies.

    One of the books was opened up to a page with a picture of what I assumed was a Pharaoh sitting on a throne, holding a sphere in his hand for all to see; the more miniature figures below him bowed in reverence. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t read ancient hieroglyphics, so they were nothing more than pretty pictures to me. I did notice a smaller book wedged underneath the big one. It was new, like it had just been purchased and opened to the same picture. Lucky for me, this one was in English!

    The picture depicted Ramses II, a Pharaoh who ruled during the 19<sup>th</sup> dynasty, holding in his hand what his people believed was the divine eye of Ra. Amon Ra was the sun god and king of all the Egyptian gods for the history impaired. The caption below the picture said Ramses would bring out the sphere during religious ceremonies where his people gathered by the thousands to witness the power of the eye. It would glow brightly as if a sun drop had fallen from the heavens. The people believed it was Ra bestowing his blessing on his children and his lands.

    The more I shifted thru the books and documents on the table, the more I realized this orb went beyond Egyptian culture and mythologies. I found several books on ancient Roman and Greek mythology and even some references to the God Odin and his son Thor from Norse mythology. There were only a few books written in English; the rest I couldn¡¯t understand. But as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and the common theme in all the photos was the glowing orb. Almost all the major Gods of old were depicted with this strange sphere in one way or another.

    Unfortunately, as fascinated as I was, I couldn¡¯t begin to pretend to make sense of any of it, let alone formalize a theory as to why Q was so interested. Maybe he was just a hardcore history buff. But something in my gut told me there was more to it than a passing fascination with ancient cultures.

    I was moving things around, trying to put things back as they were, when I accidentally bumped the mouse, bringing the monitor alive. Initially, I thought the computer was off, but it turned out to be on and very busy running some search algorithm. According to the page count on the upper right-hand corner of the screen, over two hundred million pages of text and pictures have been searched so far. It looked like the program was designed to search for specific words or references, and when it found what it was looking for, it pulled it into an index column in the form of a link; at least that¡¯s what I could tell by staring at the screen for a few minutes. My theory made perfect sense considering the amount of information it was going through. That¡¯s what I would do if I were looking for a needle in a haystack, and from what I could tell, that needle came in the form of a strange orb.

    Since I couldn¡¯t make sense of it, I figured it was time to go. I did my best to leave everything the way I found it and headed out. I almost made the mistake of leaving the office from the main entrance, not the bathroom from where I came. With my luck, Dylan would be walking by Q¡¯s office just as I walked out, and that¡¯s the last thing I needed.

    I was walking thru the bathroom and about to head into Q¡¯s bedroom when I was struck with this crazy ¨C not to mention risky ¨C idea. I realized if I were ever going to get any answers, I would need some ammo ¨C something that could not be denied or explained away. I had the perfect thing in mind.

    Ten minutes later, I was back in my room rummaging thru my dresser when I heard what sounded like a stampede outside my bedroom door. Naturally, I was curious to know where the fire was, so I ran out only to catch a glimpse of a body rushing down the stairs.

    ¡°CJ!¡± I yelled out even though I wasn¡¯t sure it was him. I ran to the stairs, and sure enough, I was right. I¡¯m pretty sure I scared the crap out of him when I called out his name because he almost busted his ass going downstairs. ¡°What¡¯s the fucking rush? Where¡¯s everyone running off to?¡±

    ¡°Dude!¡± he looked up at me as if I was supposed to know what was happening. ¡°The Brothers are back!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! All the fucking brothers are back!¡±

    Before he even finished the sentence, I was bolting down past him to the main entrance. I heard CJ yell something about waiting up for him, but I wasn¡¯t paying attention at that point. Several of us stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down at the closed door waiting for it to burst with an influx of brothers. CJ caught up to me and whacked me in the back. He didn¡¯t say anything, but I was sure it was for leaving him behind.

    Arsen and Ant were with us. We shared a glance, then returned our attention to the door. Honestly, I don¡¯t know what we expected to happen, but we were feeling high anxiety. You¡¯d think our favorite celebrities were about to come strolling into the house any minute. I was fucking gripping the railing like I was hanging on for dear life, and I had no idea why. Some of the other pledges were down by the foot of stairs, looking at us as if we knew what was about to happen.

    Dylan came into the room and stood just off the side of the door. He looked at the pledges by the stairs and then up at us. For a minute, I thought he would tell us to go back to our rooms but instead looked directly at me. He held my gaze for a moment, then kind of cracked a smile before returning his gaze to the door just as it flew open.

    The brothers poured in like a band of marching soldiers ¨C my heart pounded at seeing them all. Most of the brothers walked in shirtless with a look of unyielding determination. The pledges moved aside as they climbed the stairs without glancing in our direction.

    And then we saw him. A young kid, no older than fifteen, I¡¯d guess, was escorted in by a group of brothers that surrounded him as if he were the President of the United States and they were his secret service agents. He was covered in a white blanket and unceremoniously rushed up the stairs. He looked disorientated, his eyes wondering as if he hadn¡¯t a clue about what was happening around him. I glanced at his face for a second, and it was an amazing face - flawlessly pale with a set of burning sapphires shrouded behind flowing strands of dusky black hair.

    Only one other person gave you that feeling of awe when he walked into a room ¨C more so because his presence takes control of any situation without having to utter a single word. As those thoughts went through my mind, a shirtless Q walked into the house and immediately caught sight of Dylan. Q said something to him I couldn¡¯t make out and then followed the rest of the brothers up the stairs. A second later, Dylan ordered the pledges to return to their rooms.

    Of course, we obeyed, but we had a hell of a time trying to weave and squeeze through all the brothers standing everywhere. The crowded situation presented me with an opportunity I wasn¡¯t about to miss. I hung back for a minute, watching Q walk up the stairs. I timed it, so Q was almost at the top when I had to walk by the stairs to my room. Another Brother was standing by the stairs, so I politely excused myself as I squeezed behind him to get thru just in time to have Q reach the top and press right up against me.

    He placed his hands casually on my waist, and I put mine on his arms. To anyone noticing, it just looked like two guys helping each other get through, so the other one didn¡¯t trip or fall, but to us, there was a lot more feeling behind it. I felt his warmth on me, the beat of his heart against my chest, the gaze of his eyes deep in my soul. Our lips were just whiskers away from touching as I tried to maneuver thru the maze of bodies. And as I finally moved passed him, our fingers locked for mere seconds before I had to let him go and continue walking away. I have no idea how often I replayed that moment in my head that night.

    By the time I got to my room, Arsen was already stripping down to his boxers. I caught myself pausing for a second to admire the view. Had someone told me a month ago I¡¯d be checking out another guy because I thought he was hot, I would¡¯ve called bullshit. It seems life is not without its sense of humor.

    I laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡¯ Arsen asked, smiling back at me.

    I dismissed his question with a hand gesture. ¡°Nothing at all.¡± I doubt I was very convincing since I was still giggling under my shirt as I pulled it off.

    Arsen took advantage of the situation and grabbed me while my shirt was over my head, then threw me on the bed. ¡°You, my friend, are breaking the number one rule between roomies!¡±

    ¡°Oh, what would¡­ugh¡­.¡± I broke off as he straddled my lap, winding me. ¡°Shit, there goes any chance of ever having kids again,¡± I groaned.

    Now he was the one laughing. Probably at my comment or the fact that I was still struggling to get my shirt off my head. You¡¯d think this was the first time I had ever worn a shirt before.

    ¡°And what rule would that be?¡± I gave one last tug and was freed from my cloth prison. ¡°Finally!¡±

    ¡°No secrets amongst roomies!¡±

    ¡°There are no secrets!¡± I threw my shirt in his face. ¡°I just thought of something CJ said in the hallway.¡± I lied for obvious reasons. I wasn¡¯t about to confess to my roommate that I was checking him out in his sweet boxers.

    ¡°CJ,¡± he chuckled, ¡°Say no more!¡± He rolled off and sat beside me. ¡°You have to wonder about that kid some time.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°God love him, though.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    Arsen stood up, offered me his hand, and pulled me off the bed. ¡°Crazy night, huh?¡± He watched as I undressed, but not with the same interest I had looking at him - at least, I don''t think so.

    ¡°That¡¯s one way to put it, I guess. I wonder what¡¯s the deal with that kid he brought back with him.¡±

    ¡°He? He who?¡±

    ¡°I meant them, the Brothers, you know what I mean.¡±

    Arsen shrugged. ¡°No clue.¡±

    ¡°I was talking about the Brothers bringing back¡­.¡±

    ¡°I know what you meant,¡± he interrupted and slapped my chest. ¡°I was saying I have no clue what that kid¡¯s story was about.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it was weird how the Brothers hovered around him like he was made of solid gold or something?¡±

    Arsen nodded and then snapped his fingers. ¡°And what was with all those Brothers coming back shirtless? Did you notice that?¡±

    ¡°I did! Fucking weird, I know!¡±

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll fill us in?¡±

    I looked at him like he was crazy. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, stupid question,¡± he snickered.

    ¡°Do you think he is the ¡®Prince?¡¯ You know, when he said the prince woke up or something, right before they all ran out?¡±

    ¡°I remember,¡± Arsen nodded. ¡°Prince of what, though? And what did he wake up from?¡± His questions lingered in the air like the curled smoke from a burning cigar and ultimately went unanswered. We could only hope to one day have answers to such questions and be the ones to mystify and intrigue.

    ¡°You know what else is weird?¡± I asked. ¡°Have you guys noticed that all the fire damage on the house is gone? The house looks like it was built yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Um, they got it fixed?¡± Arsen answered quizzically as if I was an idiot for not figuring out this obvious answer.

    ¡°Well, obviously,¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°But how long has it been? Just a few days? You¡¯d think work like that would take longer. By the time we got back from the other house, it was fixed. I never saw anyone working on the house. Did you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Jay,¡± Arsen shrugged. ¡°Maybe they hired excellent contractors. I don¡¯t know what to tell you.¡±

    None of it made any sense to me, but it was clear Arsen wasn¡¯t interested in the stop, so I dropped it.

    We exchanged a few more words as we settled into bed, and before long, we drifted to sleep. My dreams revolved around Q, the look on his face as he walked into the house, the moment at the top of the stairs - my god, I can¡¯t count how many times I relived that moment. Those few seconds were enough to ignite my senses, raise every hair in my body, and send a chill down my spine. I returned to the same mind-blowing thought ¨C that all these emotions resulted from one man.

    On her best day, Alex couldn¡¯t hope to make me feel the way Q did, and I couldn¡¯t remember a time when I lay in bed thinking of her as I did about Q. One thing was for sure. I knew I had to handle the Alex situation sooner than later. Admittedly, that wasn¡¯t something I was looking forward to, and honestly, I had no idea how to take it. Breaking up with Alex would be like telling Satan he had to do community service ¨C it just wouldn¡¯t fly.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    I don¡¯t know if I was asleep for hours or just fifteen minutes, but at some point, I woke up because I had to take a major leak. As usual, I had to do my little dance and twirl to untangle myself from Arsen, who was fast asleep.

    I did my business and headed back to my room. I don¡¯t know if I was overly tired, but the halls appeared darker than they were moments before. It was probably me since I was walking around in a haze the whole time. I turned a corner and banged my foot on the leg of a table ¨C it fucking hurt! I hissed and clutched my foot in my hands while I hopped around on one foot, looking like a damn fool.

    There I was, looking all hot and sexy as one might expect when one¡¯s doing the bunny dance on one foot, in his underwear,r while cursing. I hopped around the corner to my room, where he was leaning against the fence. I don¡¯t know where the light was coming from, but it shone over his eyes, lips, and across his bare chest. The way his sweats sagged low on his hips, revealing the band of his underwear, made my cock begin to swell.

    Q looked heavenly.

    He didn¡¯t say a word. He just looked at me with those crystal clear, penetrating eyes I fell head over heels for, and every time I looked into them, it was like falling in love all over again. I loved feeling the way Q made me feel. My only regret was not crossing paths with him years ago. Unlike the years I wasted with Alexandra, I could only imagine how fulfilling and genuine our relationship might have been.

    Keep in mind the whole time these things are going thru my mind; I¡¯m still standing there with my foot in my hands. I wasn¡¯t in pain but frozen in Q¡¯s gaze. It wasn¡¯t until he slowly pushed himself off the railing and came towards me that I was finally able to break free from his gaze and stand up straight. I think he found seeing me amusing because of the smirk dancing on his lips. Admittedly, it was hard to see as he walked in and out of the shadows, but I¡¯m almost positive it was there.

    I pressed my fingers against his stomach as he approached me; his hands found their way to my hips as if taking their rightful place. We pushed our foreheads together and gazed into each other¡¯s eyes, and I swear to god, nothing in my life felt more right. We had yet to say a single word to each other, yet I thought he had already spoken volumes. I could only hope that he was picking up the same vibe from me as I was picking up from him. Suddenly I was compelled to say something to Q, maybe because it was so important to me that he knew how I felt, and I didn¡¯t want to chance him not picking it up with my body language.

    Before I could utter a single syllable, Q smiled and placed his finger over my lips. I think in his way, he was telling me he knew exactly what I was trying to say. Q slipped his hand over the left side of my face and traced his thumb around my lips ¨C his touch felt amazing. Pushing his hand further behind my neck, Q gently pulled me towards him until our lips finally met. All I can say is the moment was electric!

    I pulled Q close to me - I needed to feel the warmth of his body wash over me, to cover me like a blanket on a cold winter¡¯s night, and like always, I was lost in his embrace. The whole thing was overly exciting. I mean, there I was, standing in the middle of the commons area, making out with Q, the head of our house and Kyrios¡¯ right-hand man, and at any moment, one of my fellow pledges could¡¯ve walked out of their room and caught us red-handed. The danger of it all was intoxicating.

    I have no idea how long we kissed. I know I didn¡¯t want it to end, that¡¯s for sure. But as the saying goes, all good things¡­, right? Q pulled away from me, and I¡¯m sure I felt his reluctance. He smiled, hooked a finger on the waistband of my underwear, and pulled on it until it finally snapped back against my stomach. I had a fucking raging hard-on, and I¡¯m sure this was his way of toying with me. Q walked away from me, but I held on to his hand so that I could stop him. I shook my head no. I didn¡¯t want him to leave. I didn¡¯t want the moment to end.

    Q¡¯s hand was slipping from mine until only our fingers were hooked. He gave me that last loving stare telling me he had to go, but I was stubborn and grabbed him with my other hand and yanked him towards me. Our bodies crashed, and I kissed Q passionately, and my hands were all over him. It was nice to know I wasn¡¯t the only one excited, for I felt Q¡¯s hard bulge pressing against mine.

    Q was enjoying himself. I felt him smirk against my lips as we kissed, so I started laughing. Suddenly I noticed Q¡¯s body felt warmer than before, and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell the room was getting lighter. I cracked open my eyes and was blinded by a bright light as if someone had a flashlight on us.

    I backed away and shielded my eyes with my hand. ¡°Q¡­¡± I called out. The light was so vibrant my eyes simply could not adjust. ¡°Q!¡± I yelled out, and the next thing I knew, I was shooting up like a rocket, arms flailing with my heart pounding in my chest, and within seconds I heard a loud crash. I was in such a haze I couldn¡¯t tell where the noise came from. I didn¡¯t even know where I was, never mind what was happening around me.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± A low voice came from the side of the bed. ¡°How in the hell did I end down here?¡±

    Suddenly I was very aware that I was in my room. And the low, sluggish voice and loud crash I heard came from Arsen as I accidentally pushed him off the bed.

    Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Arsen sat up and looked around the room until finally, his eyes met mine. ¡°What happened?¡±

    I gave him the most innocent look I could muster. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I shrugged, ¡°it looks like you rolled off the bed. The noise woke me up.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my bad, bro,¡± he apologized and slapped my shoulder as he stood up. I felt terrible, but I wasn¡¯t about to confess that I had pushed him off the bed. ¡°Shit, I was having a sweet dream too!¡± He complained, then adjusted his underwear and mumbled something about taking a piss.

    Speaking of dreams ¨C was that all I was remembering? Did last night happen? Was I even with Q, or was my desire to be with him so strong I dreamt the whole thing? I hated this fucking feeling of uncertainty. Since I stepped foot in the house, I started having trouble telling my right foot from my left. The most frustrating part was that I couldn¡¯t just waltz over to Q¡¯s room and ask him about it. Honestly, I was falling hard for Q; that wasn¡¯t the issue. I just had so many questions floating around in my head and very few answers to speak of ¨C I was beginning to feel the weight of it, I think.

    On the flip side of things, I understood the need for secrecy. I honestly didn¡¯t expect Q to sit down over tea and spill his guts out to me. So, in the end, I was stuck with a bunch of questions I knew I wouldn¡¯t be getting the answers to anytime soon. I guess the hard pill to swallow was being Q¡¯s boyfriend, but at the same time, knowing that in the end, I was merely a pledge whose place was to be kept in the dark.

    That¡¯s where we were all kept in the days after the appearance of the ¡°boy prince.¡± The pledges were pretty much left to their own devices with little direction from the Brothers. We spent most of our time hanging around the house watching TV, playing games, and swimming in the pool.

    I spent my time watching a Judge Judy marathon. Not for nothing, but she¡¯s my fucking hero. No one can lay the smack down on idiots better than Judge Judy.

    There were moments when the house was buzzing with Brothers and chatter, and other times it seemed like we were the only ones around. Of course, when you leave a bunch of unsupervised pledges together, we start doing some buzzing of our own. Everyone had their ideas and theories as to what was going on. Some of the things the guys were coming up with were so ridiculous I couldn¡¯t help but laugh ¨C not surprisingly, most of the dumb shit was coming from CJ, but that¡¯s why we love him.

    Next thing you know, it¡¯s Monday morning, and I¡¯m sitting in class in my TBH robe, bored out of my fucking mind. It was your typical first day of class bullshit ¨C syllabus, reading list, papers we needed to write, and projects we were expected to complete. Physically I was present, but my mind was so far away I might as well have been sitting in Paris. I hadn¡¯t seen Q since the night outside my bedroom if that night even happened, but he was all I could think about. I missed him and to be quite honest I was a little worried. Things in the house just seemed off ever since that kid showed up. I wasn¡¯t the only one who felt it either. Ant and Steve made a few comments that made it clear they shared my concerns.

    After our second class, Ant, Steve, and I decided to use the hour we had before our next class to hang out at the Arcade. Officially it¡¯s called the Marie Murphy Recreation Center, but everyone simply calls it the Arcade. We were hanging around, about to get a game of darts going with a few other guys when someone suddenly came up behind me and slapped my ass hard. It fucking stung like a bitch! Considering I was only wearing my boxer briefs underneath the robe, I might as well have been slapped on my bare ass.

    I didn¡¯t have to turn around to know who it was; the laugh was a dead giveaway. ¡°Alex,¡± I said and watched from the corner of my eye as she walked around in front of me.

    ¡°Hey, baby,¡± she smiled and draped her arms around my neck. This is classic Alex at its finest. This wasn¡¯t about showing me affection; it was about me being a pledge of The Brotherhood and Alex wanting everyone within eyesight to know she was my girl. And, of course, to make the whole thing official, she leaned in to kiss me, but I was quick to turn away.

    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± I insisted and casually removed her arms from my neck. Technically, I wasn¡¯t lying since we weren¡¯t allowed to have any physical contact with outsiders without the Brother¡¯s permission, but when it came right down to it, I didn¡¯t want to kiss her for obvious reasons.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, the Brothers still have a tight leash around you guys,¡± she laughed and snaked her hands over my chest - you¡¯d think she was looking for a hidden wire or something. ¡°No loving for you guys until you become Brothers, huh?¡± She looked at Ant and Steve, then back to me. ¡°Damn, all you guys must be going nuts.¡±

    ¡°We manage,¡± Steve shrugged.

    She looked at him, rolled her eyes, and laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t even want to know what you mean by that. Just make sure you boys keep your hands off my baby.¡±

    I grabbed her hands and looked at my friends, ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯ll catch up with you later. I need to talk to Alex alone for a minute.¡±

    Ant nodded and playfully pushed Steve along. ¡°Take your time, Jacob; we¡¯ll wait for you outside. Come on, Steve, move your ass.¡±

    ¡°Oh, some alone time,¡± Alex smirked and winked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that.¡± I wanted to ensure I said that while Ant and Steve were still within heard shot. I didn¡¯t want them to think I was trying to get my freak on behind their back.

    There weren¡¯t that many people around. The Arcade was pretty empty, but I wanted to go somewhere private to talk to Alex. It wasn¡¯t a conversation I was looking forward to, but it was time. I was done dancing around the issue. Unfortunately, realizing that fact didn¡¯t make things any easier and more to the point; I had no idea what I would say.

    The private billiard room on the second floor overlooked the main room of the Arcade and was empty ¨C the perfect place to take Alex and have our talk. Of course, the second we got upstairs and I closed the door, she was on me like bees to honey.

    ¡°Alex, Alex, Alex,¡± I said as I did my best to fend her off, ¡°that¡¯s not why I brought you here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, right,¡± she laughed and kept trying to get under my robes.

    ¡°Alex, I¡¯m serious! I can¡¯t do this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, baby; nobody has to know.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.¡± I finally grabbed her hands and gently pushed her towards the pool table. ¡°We need to talk.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your deal? Talk about what?¡± She looked at me closely, like she was sizing me up. ¡°Oh for fucks, don¡¯t tell me you got kicked out of The Brotherhood. Please don¡¯t tell me that!¡±

    I laughed because Alex is always looking out for number one. ¡°Alex, if I was kicked from The Brotherhood, do you think I¡¯d be standing here in their robe?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. ¡°What is it then?¡±

    For the longest time, I just looked at Alex. I had a knot in my throat and dragons in the pit of my stomach. I was not ready for this at all. Just looking at her brought back memories, and I¡¯d be lying if I said they were all bad because the truth was we had a lot of fun times together.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± She demanded. ¡°Whatever it is, just say it already.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s over,¡± I finally said, amazed that all that build-up led to two simple words.

    ¡°What¡¯s over?¡± Uncrossing her arms, she leaned back against the pool table and looked at me with eyes beginning to boil over. She was annoyed, no doubt about it, more so probably because she wasn¡¯t picking up what I was putting down. ¡°What are you talking about? You¡¯re making no sense, Jacob, and I don¡¯t have time for this.¡±

    ¡°We are over, Alex¡­we¡¯re done.¡±

    She jerked her head like she was just splashed with freezing water. ¡°What are you talking about? What are you saying? Over? Us over?¡±

    I could only nod to confirm what I thought I had made clear.

    She made a few rounds around the pool table without saying anything, her hands firmly on her hips, her face looking angry. ¡°I don¡¯t know what those Brothers have you smoking, but you¡¯re out of your mind if you think you can walk away from this.¡± She stopped on the opposite side of the pool table and gestured between us. ¡°You don¡¯t end us! You don¡¯t decide when we¡¯re over. We¡¯re not just your run-of-the-mill boyfriend and girlfriend ¨C we¡¯re a power couple, a fucking institution! And you think you can just walk away?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Are you listening to yourself? I mean, do you hear what¡¯s coming out of your mouth? And you wonder why I want out.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I wonder why.¡± She threw her hands up and looked at me like I was the idiot who didn¡¯t get it. ¡°All the things we¡¯ve done¡­all the things we will do. So excuse me if I¡¯m confused about why you want to break it off now. Is there someone else? Did the Brothers hook you up with some whore?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making my point for me, Alex. You don¡¯t love me. I mean, maybe, in the beginning, you did, but not anymore. You love what I can do for you and how we look together. And now, with the possibility of dating a Brother, you¡¯re flying high, aren¡¯t you? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you had your crown picked out already.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you, Jacob! Fuck you!¡¯

    ¡°And you know what? I can¡¯t even hate on you, not really, because I was just like you,¡± I conceded. ¡°I enjoyed all the attention we got back in high school. Everyone bowed at our feet and kissed our asses, but this isn¡¯t high school anymore, Alex. Our glory days of being a ¡®power couple¡¯ are over. It¡¯s time to grow up¡­it¡¯s time for you to grow up.¡±

    ¡°Oh please!¡± Alex sneered. ¡°If you think you can just¡­.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to think anything, Alex,¡± I interrupted, ¡°it¡¯s a done deal.¡± I looked her straight in the eyes, so there wasn¡¯t any room for misinterpretation. ¡°We¡¯re done and have nothing more to talk about.¡±

    Alex walked around the pool table and stood just a few feet away from me. I knew what was coming and did not attempt to stop it. I guess it was the least I could do considering the situation.

    She slapped the shit of me. ¡°If you think this is over, you¡¯re sadly mistaken,¡± She assured me thru clenched teeth. She walked away and stopped at the door to get her last two cents in. ¡°You know me, Jacob, probably better than anyone, so you know I¡¯m not kidding when I say that you¡¯re going to regret the day you met me.¡±

    ¡°News flash Alex¡­that day has come and gone.¡±

    The finger and a slamming door are how we left it, but I knew it was far from over. Alex was right. I did know her, and I knew how vindictive she could get. One thing¡¯s for sure; things were about to get a hell of a lot more interesting.

    I stayed in the billiard room for another ten minutes, gathering my thoughts and watching people leave the Arcade. The reality of what just happened was hitting me like a swift kick in the nuts. I ended one bad, poisonous relationship to enter into one with an unforeseeable future. Even if I did become a full-fledged Brother, there was no telling how my relationship with Q would unfold in the eyes of the rest of the Brothers. All I could do was hope for the best.

    I headed downstairs to catch up with Ant and Steve, but I stopped in the middle of the Arcade because I was just amazed at how such a popular place was so empty. I knew something felt off, and suddenly my fears were confirmed. All the lights started turning off in sections until only a single lamp on the table I was near remained on.

    ¡°She¡¯s a hand full, that one,¡± a voice came from the darkness.

    Much like I recognized Alex¡¯s laugh, I knew who the voice belonged to ¨C my secret tormentor was back. I saw a shadowy silhouette walking toward me. My heart raced in my chest, and I could feel the sweat forming over my brow. Tightening my fist, I stood ready to start swinging. I was done with this fool and, more importantly, being anyone¡¯s toy.

    ¡°Relax and have a seat,¡± the silhouette spoke again and took a seat at the small table. ¡°Whatever delusions of grandeur are going through your mind right now, I suggest you put them aside and listen to what I have to say.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to listen to a damn thing you have to say. I¡¯m thru playing your games. So, if you¡¯re going to do something to me, then do it. Otherwise, I¡¯m going to the Brothers and telling them everything and letting them deal with you.¡± Don¡¯t even ask me where all that bravado came from, but it felt good getting that off my chest. I wasn¡¯t kidding either. For some reason or another, I was tangled up in this mess with that freak, and I knew there was only one person who could help me figure it all out.

    He didn¡¯t say anything. He merely sat there. I couldn¡¯t make him out, for he was clad in a black hooded robe, and the shadows enveloped him like a cloak. I could see his chin peeking out from under the hood, thanks to the dim light. There was something off about him because this wasn¡¯t his usual M.O. I mean, he asked me to have a seat, for crying out loud! I would¡¯ve expected him to sneak up behind me and physically force me to do what he wanted.

    Regardless, I decided that since he wasn¡¯t saying anything, I wouldn¡¯t stand around waiting for him to make the next move and give him that power over me, so I headed for the door.

    ¡°Walk out now, and you¡¯ll be ruining Q¡­.¡±

    I stopped cold in my tracks. ¡°And what exactly is that supposed to mean?¡±

    ¡°Have a seat and find out,¡± he replied, his gloved hand gesturing to the chair next to him.

    Reluctantly I complied, for I figured it couldn¡¯t hurt to hear what he had to say.

    ¡°I know I¡¯ve been a thorn in your side for a while now,¡± he snickered. ¡°It was quite enjoyable, to be honest with you, but ultimately it was just my way of keeping myself entertained until I found a more practical use for you.¡± I''m sure he paused for a moment to add a little dramatic effect to his little speech. ¡°That time is now.¡±

    ¡°What is it you want from me?¡±

    ¡°I need you to do two things for me. If you come thru, I give you my word you¡¯ll never see or hear from me again. You can continue living your little life and pledging The Brotherhood without hindrance from me.¡±

    ¡°And what happens if I don¡¯t?¡± I recalled our little conversation on the bus, and I had a gut feeling this was the moment he¡¯d make good on his promise.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m afraid your relationship with Q goes public, and his position within The Brotherhood will be destroyed.¡± I was about to say something, but he cut me off. ¡°And please don¡¯t spin words or claim ignorance because I have proof of your involvement with Q, proof that will find its way into the hands of the rest of the Brothers. You¡¯ve heard the stories, so you know exactly what will happen. Luckily for you, you¡¯ll most likely walk away unscathed, but that won¡¯t be the case for your beloved Q. Now how¡¯s that for let¡¯s make a deal?¡±

    Oh my god, I was so angry. I wanted to fly out of my chair and pound that fucker¡¯s face in, but he had me by the balls. Sure he could¡¯ve been lying thru his teeth, and there was no proof, but I couldn¡¯t take that chance. I had to protect Q.

    ¡°If I help you, Q stays in the clear?¡±

    ¡°I give you my word.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯m supposed to trust that you¡¯ll keep your word.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you have any other choice, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°Fine. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple, really,¡± he said as he placed a flash drive on the table. ¡°I need you to gain access to Q¡¯s office and upload the program on this drive onto his computer.¡±

    ¡°What is it? A virus? Are you trying to plant a stupid virus on his computer? Is that what this is all about?¡±

    He laughed. ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that. The Brotherhood¡¯s computer network is the most sophisticated and secure planet. It makes the Pentagon look about as secure as a box of Cracker-Jacks. The program on the flash drive will open up a window for me to get in, but it needs to be done from the inside. That¡¯s where you come in. Once you hook up the drive to the computer, the upload will take about 30 seconds, and you¡¯re done. It doesn¡¯t get any easier than that, my friend.¡±

    ¡°Except you seem to be forgetting the part where I have to get into his office. Can¡¯t I just stroll right in and upload this thing? What are you, crazy?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a jackass,¡± he hissed, ¡°You¡¯ve already been in his office once, and you¡¯ve seen the files I need on his computer, so don¡¯t play stupid with me.¡±

    I was completely dumbfounded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me how I know; I just do.¡± He placed a second device about the size of a dime on the table. ¡°As I understand, a special guest arrived at your house a few days ago. That kind of shakes things up, and I need to stay up on current events. This is a micro transmitter that will stick to any surface. All I need you to do is place it anywhere in Q¡¯s bedroom and press the button in the center to activate it.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe what I was hearing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you must have me confused with 007.

    Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? I mean, seriously? Are you for real?¡±

    ¡°As real as it gets,¡± he answered. I couldn¡¯t see his face under the hood, but I could feel him smirking. ¡°I laid out my terms. The rest is up to you.¡±

    ¡°How the hell¡­.¡± He stood abruptly, catching me completely off guard, and just walked away into the shadows leaving the devices on the table. The bastard never let me finish my sentence.

    The lights suddenly turned on throughout the Arcade until the whole place was lit like a Christmas tree. Ant and Steve came running thru the doors like two maniacs. I managed to conceal the devices before they got too close. The shadow man was gone. There were several doors in the direction he was walking, but I never heard them open or close.

    ¡°So you are in here,¡± Ant said as he approached me. ¡°What the hell is going on? The doors were locked from the inside, and then suddenly they were unlocked?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know what you were doing here,¡± Steve grinned. ¡°You were getting your freak on with your girl.¡±

    Ant slapped him on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, Steve; you saw her walk out of here just like I did.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Ant, thanks.¡± His concern was touching, the look in his eyes sincere. ¡°Alex and I broke up it off. I was just in here collecting my thoughts.¡±

    ¡°Shit, I¡¯m sorry, man. Is there anything we can do for you?¡±

    ¡°It happens. What can you do? And I don¡¯t feel like talking about it right now. Come on, let¡¯s get the hell out of here.¡±

    I went to the rest of my classes, but I don¡¯t remember being in any of them. I was in a fog the whole time. How the hell did I end up in this mess? All I wanted to do was go to college, pledge to a fraternity and live a college kid¡¯s life. Now, I¡¯m suddenly supposed to play the role of a fucking spy. I knew college was supposed to be filled with unique and unforgettable experiences, but his shit was not on the brochure.

    After my last class, I headed back to the house alone. Arsen and Paul offered to walk with me, but I declined. I told them about my breakup with Alex and needed some time alone. It was all bullshit, of course. After my run-in with the shadow man, Alex was the furthest thing from my mind. Q was the only person I was concerned about, the only thing on my mind. Him and the haunting question that plagued me repeatedly. Could I bring myself to betray Q even if it meant saving him?

    I walked into a calm, quiet house and headed upstairs to my room. I never noticed Shawn walking down the stairs until I accidentally bumped into him. ¡°Hey Shawn, sorry I didn¡¯t see you there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± he said as he looked me over closely. ¡°Are you okay? You seem out of it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just¡­.¡± I trailed off, unsure what to say to throw him off my scent.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Alex thing. I understand; you don¡¯t have to worry talk about it.¡±

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    He laughed. ¡°We¡¯re The Brotherhood, Jacob; there¡¯s very little we don¡¯t know.¡± He patted me on the back and continued on his way.

    ¡°Oh, hey Shawn,¡± I called out to him, ¡°um, do you know where Q is?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I just left him in his bedroom. Why?¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯d be okay if I ran in to see him quick?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, but keep it brief because I know he¡¯s working on some important stuff. Anyway, he''ll let you know if he doesn¡¯t want you there.¡± He winked and walked away.

    I went to my room to put my crap away, avoiding any unnecessary contact with the guys. Arsen was in there reading a book and wanted to make small talk. I felt terrible because I didn¡¯t have the time or desire to chat. In the end, I left him there pretty much talking to himself.

    I didn¡¯t go directly to Q¡¯s bedroom but to his office, peeking my head inside to make sure it was clear to enter. The door to the bathroom was wide open, and I could see straight across into Q¡¯s room ¨C well, not entirely since the other door was only about halfway open. I don¡¯t know why I stood there staring at the door for so damn long. Maybe I was hoping Q would go to the bathroom, see me standing in his office, and demand an explanation.

    I don¡¯t know, maybe.

    Anyway, I went to the desk, moved the mouse to get the monitor out of sleep mode, and saw the computer running the same search algorithm. Hundreds of thousands of documents were scanned with several thousand pictures captured and cataloged, all centering around the theme ¨C the orb. What was so damn important about that stupid thing?

    I grasped the flash drive tightly in my hand and removed the cap. The desktop was underneath the table and had easy-access USB ports on the front. All I had to do was plug the drive-in and let it do its work. I couldn¡¯t believe I was doing this, but what choice did I have? I didn¡¯t know the importance of these files, but it was either give them up or give Q up, and I sure wasn¡¯t prepared to do that.

    I plugged the drive-in.

    Within a few seconds, a progress bar appeared in the center of the screen, and the upload started. A mere 33 seconds was all it would take to open a back door for that fucker. The upload was already at 55% in a blink of an eye. I thought of Q and could only hope that if one day he learned of what I did, he could forgive me and understand why I did it. It didn¡¯t matter because, in that very instant, when the thought crossed my mind, I realized Q would never forgive me, and I¡¯d be fooling myself if I thought otherwise.

    At 94% percent, I yanked the drive out of the computer and terminated the upload. I couldn¡¯t do it. I simply couldn¡¯t. If there was one thing Q and the other Brothers taught us, nothing was more important than The Brotherhood. Deep down, I knew that if our roles were reversed, Q would never betray his fellow Brothers to save me, not because he didn¡¯t love me, but because there¡¯s something to be said about brotherhood.

    The situation was spinning out of control, and it was time to end it, something I should¡¯ve done a long time ago. I took a deep breath before getting up to Q¡¯s room. I stopped in the middle of the bathroom as his reflection appeared on the large bathroom mirror.

    He was at his desk working on his computer. I caught myself in the mirror smiling at him. It was funny because I didn¡¯t even know I was doing it, but he always affected me for whatever reason. Maybe it was because I thought he looked cute sitting there all serious, immersed in whatever he was working on. Whatever the case, I knew that wouldn¡¯t last long once I told him what I almost did for the mystery man.

    Taking another deep breath before plunging into the unknown, I took a step towards his room, and at the same time, there was a knock at his bedroom door. Q looked up from his computer long enough to tell the person to come in and then returned his attention to his screen. I heard the door open, and Q must¡¯ve caught sight of the person from the corner of his eye because he did a sort of double-take and then stood up.

    Bowing his head, he said something in that strange language he speaks.

    ¡°Please,¡± the person said, ¡°although I appreciate you speaking to me in our native tongue, Qua¡¯quelle, if I¡¯m ever going to get used to speaking this primitive language, I need to practice it out loud.¡±

    Qua¡¯quelle? That was Q¡¯s name? I heard his name spoken out loud! Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn¡¯t believe my ears. Talk about a unique and beautiful name. I was stunned when I heard it. Q not telling me himself was my only regret. In a way, by standing there eavesdropping, I robbed him of that opportunity.

    I was planning to slowly back into the office and get out of there until I saw who he was talking to ¨C the young kid they brought to the house a few nights ago. Suddenly my curiosity got the best of me, and I wasn¡¯t going anywhere.

    ¡°As you wish, Your Highness,¡± Q responded, bowing his head in a way that allowed his hair to fall over his eyes.

    Your Highness? What the fuck was that all about? Who was this kid, and why was Q showing him reverence? Something about Q bowing his head to him bugged the fuck out of me. He wore a pair of black boardshorts, a t-shirt, and a backward hat. He looked like a fucking skater kid, not like someone who deserved Q¡¯s respect. He didn¡¯t look like royalty, so I wasn¡¯t getting the whole ¡®Your Highness¡¯ bit.

    ¡°It seems to me you¡¯ve picked it up quite well,¡± Q continued and gestured to the chair. ¡°Please have a seat.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I certainly can¡¯t take all the credit,¡± he said as he took a seat at Q¡¯s desk. ¡°Kyrios was kind enough to link with me, so now I know much of this new world.¡± He grabbed his shirt and pulled on it a little. ¡°I¡¯ve even adopted some of their more attractive, um¡­uh, what¡¯s the word?

    ¡°Fashions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it exactly!¡± The kid snapped his fingers and laughed. ¡°It¡¯s funny how I can remember words like ¡®incomprehensible¡¯ and ¡®acromonogrammatic,¡¯ yet a simple word like fashion eludes me.¡±

    Q nodded his agreement. ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s normal after linking. It¡¯s a lot of foreign information to absorb at one time. Believe me, Your Highness, I went thru the same thing.¡±

    ¡°I suppose,¡± the kid agreed in a whisper and then went to the window. ¡°Still¡­I can¡¯t believe how much time has passed.¡± He fell silent for a moment and stared out the window. Q sat in his chair watching him, allowing him the moment. ¡°My God, Qua¡¯quelle, millions of years gone in a blink of an eye. How is it possible we slept for so long? Why did this happen?¡±

    Millions of years? What the fuck was he talking about? What the hell did I walk into?

    Clasping his hands, Q pressed them to his lips as he looked at him. ¡°No one knows for sure, Your Highness. Just like we¡¯re not sure why some of us wake up at different times than others. Whatever triggers it remains a mystery.¡±

    ¡°And look what our long slumber has cost us,¡± the kid said, shaking his head in disappointment or possibly disgust. ¡°The planet is infected with primitive apes running it to the ground.¡±

    Q gave a half-smirk, and the kid must have noticed his reflection in the window. ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°I remember saying the same thing when I first awoke.¡±

    ¡°As the saying goes¡­.¡±

    ¡°Great minds?¡± Q threw out there.

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°Not that I don¡¯t appreciate your company, Your Highness, but why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s on your mind? I don¡¯t believe you came here to reminisce about days gone by.¡±

    ¡°Quite right,¡± he acknowledged and took his seat opposite Q. He sat back in his chair, looking a bit unsure of himself. I¡¯d go as far as saying he looked a little nervous. ¡°As you¡¯re well aware, I¡¯ve had several meetings with Kyrios and the Council of Brothers concerning my place and future.¡±

    Q simply nodded.

    ¡°With my father and brother gone, I¡¯m the last remaining heir to the throne. I wish to take up my rightful place and lead our people. Kyrios supports me and is willing to step down, but he will not do so unless all our brothers are on board. Imagine my surprise when I learned my position was a point of discussion long before I awoke.¡±

    ¡°We always knew you were out there somewhere; at least we hoped you survived the long slumber. So yes, your position within The Brotherhood was discussed many times.¡±

    ¡°From what I understand, you opposed any argument that would put me in power. Your influence has swayed over half our brothers to stand beside you in your beliefs.

    ¡°Yes, I did,¡± Q said matter-of-factly. ¡°But I never asked anyone to follow my lead. We all have free will. I simply made my argument clear. I cannot be held responsible if others decide to agree with me.¡±

    ¡°Why? Why would you deny me my birthright?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about denying you your birthright, Your Highness,¡± Q answered defensively. I could tell Q took that comment like a slap to the face. ¡°The fact is you were never meant to lead our people. Your father groomed your older brother to take his place if he could no longer lead. He wanted you to be free from the burdens of the throne. He wanted you to be a kid.¡±

    ¡°You cannot speak for my father,¡± the kid countered. ¡°You cannot tell me what was in his heart.¡±

    ¡°I can, Your Highness,¡± Q refuted. ¡°I was with your father long before you came into this world. I knew what he wanted for you, for we discussed it many times after you were born. When your older brother was born, his destiny was to take over for your father. Your brother missed out on a lot. Your father did not want that to happen to you.¡±

    ¡°Be that as it may, I also know how my father regarded you. He loved you like a son. Hell, I looked up to you like a brother, and I know my real brother did as well, and this is how you repay the memory of my family?¡±

    Q leaned over his desk and looked the kid dead in his eyes. ¡°I honor the memory of your family by ensuring our people continue to thrive. Don¡¯t you dare suggest otherwise¡­Your Highness.¡± He settled back in his chair and didn¡¯t look quite as pissed. ¡°Look around you, Your Highness. The old days are long behind us. The old empire is long dead and turned to dust, but look at what we have accomplished since we started to wake up several millennia ago. We developed a new fair and just system of governing ourselves, and you would have us go back to the old ways? We must look forward to ensuring our future, not backward.¡±

    They both fell silent. I didn¡¯t know if they were done or just collecting their thoughts to prepare for round two. Of course, I had no idea what they were talking about.

    Rubbing his eyes gently, the kid shook his head and mumbled something under his breath. ¡°I¡¯m curious, Qua¡¯quelle¡­.¡±

    ¡°Of what?¡± Q sighed.

    ¡°If it had been my father sitting here, would you have denied him as you deny me?¡±

    Q smiled, admiring the cleverness of his question. ¡°Your father, my King, was a great and wise ruler. I believe with every fiber of my being; if that were the case, your father would not be trying to take over considering all we have accomplished.¡± Q stopped for a moment to let his words simmer a bit. ¡°He would be proud.¡±

    ¡°Damn it, Qua¡¯quelle! I am my father¡¯s son!¡±

    I could tell he wanted to say something more, but Q was quick to interject. ¡°And you seem to have forgotten that I am my father¡¯s son. Let me remind you of a little history in case those memories haven¡¯t resurfaced yet. When my true lineage was discovered, our people lined up to follow me. Your father, our King, bowed at my feet and was prepared to proclaim me the new ruler in the eyes of our people, but I refused.¡±

    I could tell something was clicking in the boy¡¯s head because he had that look that said, ¡°oh yeah, I forgot about that.¡±

    ¡°The mantle of leadership is more than just lineage, Your Highness; it¡¯s knowing when to do what¡¯s right for your people. I refused because I knew your father was the right choice to lead our Brothers. So until you learn and understand that simple fact, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll never be ready to lead.¡±

    ¡°Damn you!¡± The kid shouted and slammed his open palm on the glass table. The whole thing shattered, and everything went crashing to the floor.

    Q was quick to stand up and back away from the flying glass. He remained calmer than I expected, considering his shit was all over the place, not to mention his monitor was cracked and flickering like crazy. I would¡¯ve been pissed as hell. Q simply stood motionless over the kid like a parent waiting for his child to explain himself.

    ¡°Forgive me,¡± the kid finally said, sounding ashamed. ¡°I did not mean to lose my temper in such a way, but you have to understand where I¡¯m coming from. I¡¯ve lost everything Qua¡¯quelle. Everything!¡± He stood and turned his back on Q. ¡°First I lost my brother, then my father, and finally I awake to find out our kingdom is gone. I suddenly feel so alone.¡±

    Q, being the fantastic guy he is, walked up behind the kid and placed his hand on his shoulder. ¡°But you¡¯re not alone, Your Highness, you have us¡­you have your Brothers.¡±

    There was another knock on Q¡¯s door, and the person didn¡¯t even wait for Q¡¯s permission to come in.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt, Your Highness, but I must speak to Q.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Dylan. I needed a moment anyway,¡± the kid said, gesturing towards the bathroom. ¡°Do you mind?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Q nodded and then gave Dylan his full attention. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Q inquired.

    That¡¯s all I heard because the kid was about to walk in on me. I had to hightail it out of there. I ran out of Q¡¯s office and headed back to my room. I still needed to talk to Q, but that would have to wait.

    So why wasn¡¯t I freaking out more considering everything I just heard? I think because I was finally beginning to put two and two together. There was only one explanation I could come up with. I always suspected this was some elaborate show for my benefit. Why me? I don¡¯t know. And for all I knew, the other pledges were experiencing something just as crazy.

    I think it had to do with trust. I think the point was to get me to believe this crazy story to see if I¡¯d run off and tell everyone we¡¯re being invaded by aliens or some shit. The things they were talking about were simply impossible, so it was like they were putting on this production like a play, and I was the audience.

    It was all becoming clear. I thought I was being sneaky by hearing or seeing something I wasn¡¯t supposed to - I wasn¡¯t being sneaky at all; I was being set up. They knew I was there all along.

    It was that simple. I finally figured it out. I was proud of myself, proud that I didn¡¯t fall for it, and ran to the first person willing to listen to my wild claims. It was probably the final trial. And if it wasn¡¯t, I was convinced it was tied into it somehow.

    I got back to my room to find everyone standing outside.

    ¡°Where the hell have you been?¡± Arsen demanded. He looked annoyed. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking all over this house for you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I got tied up with something. Geez, bite my head off, why don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, bud, but we were ordered to gather the pledge class together. When I couldn¡¯t find you, I was afraid you wouldn¡¯t make it on time. And that¡¯s serious trouble for us.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. I hear you. But I¡¯m here now, so no worries.¡±

    The other guys gathered around and asked us if we had any idea what was happening.

    ¡°Can I get everyone¡¯s attention?¡± Someone shouted from behind us. It was Jacob barking orders with one of the twins by his side. ¡°I need all of you to focus. Now! There¡¯s no easy way to say this, so I¡¯m just going put it out there.¡±

    I started to get that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. That sinking, burning sensation one gets when you know something is wrong. I could also tell the others felt it; they looked at me as if I had the answers.

    Jacob stepped closer and had this shit-eating grin on his face. ¡°By order of Kyrios, Leader of The Brotherhood, all members of this pledge class are hereby dismissed, effective immediately.¡±

    Considering I just figured it out, I did not see that coming¡­

 The Brotherhood Chapter XV

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XV

    By X

    We just stood there. Confusion, shock, disbelief, and fear pierced us like the pointy end of a sword. It was a simple word¡­dismissed. Yet it cut more profound than any knife and burned hotter than any flame. I can¡¯t tell you what I was thinking. I remember an empty void, a stillness I couldn¡¯t escape in my mind. It was a bad dream from which I desperately wanted to wake.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be happening¡­.¡± I never actually heard the words escape my lips. Later, I denied it when I was told I was the first to speak.

    Arsen took a step forward. ¡°This has to be some kind of mistake.¡± He shook his head to clear the fog from his mind.

    ¡°No mistake,¡± Jacob assured him.

    ¡°But why?¡± CJ asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s not open to discussion. If it¡¯s any consolation, you¡¯re all being dismissed without prejudice. If we decide to reopen -¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Dylan yelled as he rushed up from the bottom of the stairs. ¡°Stop! No one is going anywhere.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Jacob now sounded as surprised as I did a second ago. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± He looked annoyed. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would¡¯ve thought he walked over to Dylan to push him down the stairs. ¡°This order comes directly from Kyrios. You don¡¯t have the power to overrule him.¡±

    ¡°And this is not coming from me, Jacob.¡± Dylan got right up in his face. ¡°It comes from Q!¡±

    The name shot from Dylan¡¯s lips like a bullet, and Jacob staggered back as if he¡¯d been hit. He was as much at a loss for words as we were. I knew Jacob wasn¡¯t one to make things easy. His silence was short-lived, and he didn¡¯t disappoint as expected.

    ¡°What difference does that make?¡±

    ¡°Jacob?¡± Dylan laughed at Jacob¡¯s arrogance. ¡°Are you saying Q is insignificant? Are you trying to go there?¡±

    ¡°No! Of course not! Don¡¯t twist my words around. I¡¯m saying this does not change the fact that Kyrios ordered this pledge class to be dismissed.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know that, but Q countermanded that order not two minutes ago. Come on, Jacob, you know as well as I do that dismissing an entire pledge class can only be ordered by the head of the house. Unless you¡¯re telling me Q himself has been relieved of his obligations, he is still the head of his house. His order supersedes all others. His order stands.¡±

    Jacob remained silent. I think they forgot we were even there. It was the Dylan and Jacob Show playing out before a live audience. And it wasn¡¯t a comedy. It was a nail-biting drama. Who was right? Who had the rule of law behind them?

    Most importantly, which Brother would back down first?

    ¡°Do you want to do this, Dylan? Do you want to go against Kyrios?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Dylan placed his hand on his chest and then pointed at Jacob. ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything but relaying the message I received from the man himself. The better question is, are you prepared to go against Q? Think about it.¡± Turning away, Dylan took a step down the stairs before stopping. Without turning to face his fellow Brother, he said, ¡°I¡¯m done here.

    Do what you want.¡±

    Jacob placed his hands on the railing and watched Dylan descend the stairs. He stood silently for a few moments. Out of nowhere, he slammed his fist on the railing and walked off without saying a word, leaving us confused about what we should do. Unsure of our place, we broke into two groups and gravitated towards our corners; Mike¡¯s group at his end of the hall, and my group ended up in my room.

    ¡°Dude!¡± was all CJ could muster before crashing on my bed.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s trying to say this is fucked up!¡± Paul added. ¡°What the fuck are they thinking?¡± His eyes were dead set on me.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me? I¡¯m just as clueless as you are.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Q¡¯s Little. He didn¡¯t hint at any of this?¡±

    Laughter exploded from my lips. ¡°Dumbass, Q may be my Big, but that doesn¡¯t mean he runs shit thru me to get my opinion. Are you insane? Besides, from what Dylan was saying, it doesn¡¯t seem like Q¡¯s too keen on the idea, so I don¡¯t know what the fuck is going on.¡±

    ¡°I guess the bigger question we should be asking is who will win this one, Q or Kyrios?¡±

    Ant¡¯s question was profound and right on point. It didn¡¯t matter what we thought or what we wanted to happen. It all came down to those two. He put that question out there, and it instantly shut us up. No one said a word for the longest time. We all sat around contemplating our future. As I sat there wondering what life without The Brotherhood would be like, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what was going thru their minds.

    Life without The Brotherhood.

    Should that thought be weighing so heavily on my mind? What do I lose? How would my life be any different than if I had never pledged?

    Yes, Q would be missing from my life, and I¡¯d still be with Alex. But I had pledged and, in a way, getting dismissed could be a blessing in disguise. It could open the door for Q and me to live without the fear of being ¡®caught.¡¯ So why did the thought of not becoming a Brother seem so ominous? The more I thought about it, the more I realized the answer was simple. When it came to The Brotherhood, it wasn¡¯t about me or Q or the guys.

    I simply felt like I belonged.

    The Brotherhood was more than just a college fraternity. It was something more significant than all of us and made us proud. It was our family. I had no doubt the guys sitting around me would say the same thing.

    ¡°This fucking blows!¡± Steven kicked the wall and was about to do it again when Ant stopped him.

    ¡°Hey, calm down! Kicking shit isn¡¯t going to solve anything. You¡¯ll just get us in trouble. As much as this suck, we should consider ourselves lucky.¡±

    ¡°How do you figure that?¡±

    ¡°Think about it, Steve. Getting dismissed isn¡¯t the worst thing that could happen. At least they¡¯re not holding it against us.¡±

    ¡°He has a point,¡± I agreed. ¡°They could ruin us if they wanted. But according to Jacob, they¡¯re letting us go without strings.¡± I was going to say something more, but the soft knock pulled everyone¡¯s attention away.

    One of the Twins stood at the door. ¡°Your Bigs want to see you.¡±

    For a moment, no one moved. We weren¡¯t sure if seeing your Big was good or bad.

    ¡°Today would be nice,¡± the Twin added. My fellow pledges got up and left one by one, but he stopped me as I neared the door. ¡°Not you, Jacob. Q is tied up right now. I¡¯m sure once he¡¯s available, he¡¯ll send for you¡­if he wants.¡± He smiled and patted my arm before leaving me alone in my room.

    It made sense that Q would be indisposed at the moment. I figured his conversation with Kyrios would be more than a five-minute thing. But I must admit, I felt left out. I lay on my bed, wondering what everyone was hearing, and hoped they¡¯d return with big ass smiles on their faces.

    I didn¡¯t want to dwell on it too much; I¡¯d just go nuts. Trying to concentrate on something else, I dozed off for a few minutes. That was a big mistake. My dreams consisted of killer cupcakes, dancing ducks, and shadows fluttered just out of reach.

    I remember smelling candy. Even while I slept ~ or at least I think I was still asleep ~ I got the feeling I was being watched. I opened my eyes suddenly to see the prince boy standing at the door, staring at me. An average person would have jumped two feet, but for whatever reason, I wasn¡¯t fazed by him standing there in all his creepiness.

    I sat up and waited for him to say something. He never said a word.

    ¡°Um¡­hello.¡± I figured someone had to break the ice.

    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

    As insightful as his introduction was, I was expecting more, especially since he went to the trouble of coming to my room so he could stand at my door and stare at me like I owed him money. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Is there something I can help you with?¡±

    ¡°I believe so,¡± he said and walked into the room. ¡°I need you to take me to the Oracle.¡±

    ¡°The who?¡±

    ¡°The Oracle.¡± He genuinely appeared to be perplexed as to why I looked confused. ¡°The Wise One. The Mother of Reason and Harmony. You have been in her presence.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what the hell he was talking about. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I think you¡¯ve got the wrong person. I don¡¯t know anybody¡¯s mother or any Oracles for that matter¡­.¡± The word ¡®Oracle¡¯ got me thinking, and it finally clicked. ¡°Unless you¡¯re talking about the crazy fortuneteller down in the village.¡±

    ¡°Fortuneteller?¡± he mused as if it were the first time he ever heard the word. ¡°Ah,¡± he laughed, ¡°crude and not very accurate, but I suppose it fits considering your limited understanding. Yes, I need to speak with this fortuneteller. I¡¯d be grateful if you¡¯d take me to her.¡±

    ¡°Um, she¡¯s right down in the village. All you must do is look for the creepy-looking shop. Seriously, you can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    He came at me abruptly and stopped a few feet away, his hands out in front of him like he was ready to choke someone. ¡°Yes, I realize she¡¯s close. Somewhere very close, but that information hasn¡¯t come to me yet, and I don¡¯t have time to wait until it does. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you to take me to her. Please.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡± I admit I wasn¡¯t making this easy, but I think my question was valid. I sure as hell didn¡¯t want to get in trouble.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you one of these pledges?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So, aren¡¯t you required to do as we ask?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m required to do what the Brothers ask of me, and I¡­.¡±

    ¡°And what? You don¡¯t believe me to be a Brother?¡± A little smile appeared on his face. I think he was both amused and annoyed at the same time. ¡°If you¡¯re afraid you¡¯ll get in trouble for helping me, you need not worry. Trust me; not helping me would be the larger mistake¡­my friend.¡±

    I still had some reservations but decided to help him, nonetheless. The way the Brothers acted when they brought him into the house made it clear he was someone of importance. How much trouble could I possibly get into?

    We left the house without running into anyone and headed toward campus. We had yet to say a single word after leaving my room. He had this fierce look of determination on his face like he was on a mission, and nothing could stop him. That is, of course, until we hit the campus, where his face went from hardcore tenacity to utter wonder and disbelief. He stopped dead in his tracks, frozen.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like them before,¡± he replied in a hushed voice.

    I was missing something. I tried to follow his line of sight, but all I saw was a bench with a garbage can next to it, a couple of statues, and a few girls reading on a blanket. ¡°What are you looking at exactly?¡±

    Slowly raising his hand, he pointed at the group of girls.

    Now I¡¯ve come across some pretty hot girls that made me stop whatever I was doing at the moment, but they had to be gorgeous model-type girls to get that kind of a reaction from me. These girls were cute but nowhere near the Halle Berry¡¯s of the world.

    ¡°You¡¯ve never seen a girl before, buddy?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but make a joke of it, but I guess the joke was on me when he nodded no. That was a little weird because it¡¯s not like he was playing along with me ¨C he was dead serious.

    ¡°Only the Oracle,¡± he confessed softly. ¡°And only in memory.¡±

    ¡°Okay then¡­¡± Placing my hands on his shoulder, I gently pushed him onward. ¡°We should keep moving if you want to catch this Oracle of yours.¡± The boy gawked at every girl that walked by. Unlike most boys his age, he wasn¡¯t staring at them with lust in his eyes. He stared at them with the look of lingering questions.

    ¡°So, do you have a name?¡± I figured I¡¯d try to bring him back into my reality. ¡°Hey!¡± I slapped him on his arm. Risky, I know, but I had to do something.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°A name, do you have one?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­Soullen.¡±

    ¡°Soullen, huh? I like it. It¡¯s unique.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. It¡¯s not unique. It was my father¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°So why do the Brothers refer to you as prince?¡± I snuck that one under the radar, hoping he wouldn¡¯t notice. He was still marveling at the ladies around us, so I figured I had a decent shot at getting him to spill.

    ¡°I¡¯m the last remaining royal member of¡­.¡± His eyes found mine, and he laughed suddenly and then slapped me on my stomach. ¡°Nice try, but you¡¯re not supposed to know these things. At least not yet anyway.¡±

    I shrugged and laughed along with him. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t blame a guy for trying.¡±

    ¡°No, I suppose not. Let¡¯s just say it''s¡­well, as you would say¡­it¡¯s complicated.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I smiled and dropped the subject. ¡°So why do you need to speak with Lady White?¡±

    ¡°Lady White?¡± he mused. ¡°Is that what she goes by now? Huh, interesting. I simply need someone to talk to.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me for saying so, but it seems like you have a house full of Brothers back there that care enough about you to listen.¡±

    ¡°I know that. I¡¯m looking for an objective point of view.¡±

    ¡°And she¡¯ll give you that?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. She¡¯s neutral in all things. It¡¯s the way it¡¯s always been.¡±

    ¡°How long have you known her?¡±

    ¡°My whole life.¡±

    ¡°How old are you anyway?¡±

    He looked up at me with a sly smirk on his face. ¡°Old enough, trust me. Why, how old do you think I am?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d guess around sixteen or so.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯d be right. Now come on, let¡¯s hurry!¡± Slapping me in the back, he took off running.

    I¡¯m pretty fit and a great runner, if I say so myself, but I could not keep up with the boy to save my life. He constantly stayed about half a block ahead of me. It was pissing me off. We hit the Village, and he suddenly stopped. I¡¯d guess he put the brakes on when he realized he had no idea where he was going. It was not to give me a chance to catch up.

    With my hands on my waist, I walked up next to him and tried to catch my breath. I was hot, sweaty, and bothered, but not in a good way. I looked at that little fucker and became annoyed. ¡°You¡¯re not even out of breath?¡±

    Soullen looked at me, looking like a hot mess, and I could almost see the light bulb go off in his head. ¡°Oh, right¡­¡± He took a few deep breaths like he gasped for air and gave me thumbs up. ¡°Oh yeah, that feels better.¡± Then he went right back to breathing normally. That fucker! ¡°She¡¯s close. Where is she?¡±

    I pointed across the street to her shop, and he took off again like a bullet. ¡°Hey! Be careful crossing that street!¡± The little snot almost got hit by two cars. I shuddered at the thought of explaining that one to the Brothers.

    I entered the shop and saw Soullen looking around in the waiting room. Before I could say anything, he took off into the next room, where Lady White does her readings. I called after him, but it was pointless, so I went after him again.

    I caught hold of him and spun him around by the arm. ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t just go busting into people¡¯s places unless you¡¯re trying to get your criminal r¨¦sum¨¦ in order.¡±

    A soft laugh came from the other end of the room. ¡°That¡¯s quite alright, Jacob. You¡¯re both welcome here. Always.¡±

    Soullen lit up like a Christmas tree when he laid eyes on her. He ran to her and hugged her like nothing else. I was afraid he would knock the poor lady over for a second. ¡°So, you do know him.¡±

    ¡°That I do,¡± she smiled, took his face into her hands, and looked into his eyes. ¡°My precious one.¡± She pulled him into another, tighter hug. ¡°I always knew you weren¡¯t lost to us. Now come into the kitchen and help me. I¡¯m baking cookies.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a cookie?¡±

    Lady White laughed and gently pushed him into the kitchen. ¡°You¡¯ll love them. Jacob, make yourself at home. I¡¯ll be with you shortly.¡±

    What was that supposed to mean? I didn¡¯t need anything. I didn¡¯t even want to be there necessarily. I made the best of it and went to one of the cabinets filled with crystal figurines. Lady White returned with a small bowl filled with five hardboiled eggs. It was an odd snack to offer someone, but she was strange.

    ¡°No, thank you.¡±

    ¡°These aren¡¯t for you,¡± she placed the bowl on the table and returned to the kitchen.

    I shrugged it off and went back to the figurines. Then I remembered my previous visit. She had eggs out for some pet I never saw. I looked at the table, and only four eggs were left. ¡°Look, whatever or whoever you are, knock yourself out.¡± I was more curious about what Lady White and Soullen were discussing. I gradually made my way towards the kitchen door. You know, to check out the paintings on the wall.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair!¡± Soullen exclaimed.

    That perked my ears right up.

    ¡°Oh? And you believe fairness is going to Qua¡¯quelle¡¯s room and demanding something for which you have no right? I¡¯m disappointed in you, Soullen. Making a scene like that and smashing his desk. That¡¯s not how you treat your Brothers. Your father would not have approved of your behavior.¡±

    ¡°I know, and I¡¯m sorry. I was upset.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the one you should be apologizing to, Soullen.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re denying me my birthright, and Qua¡¯quelle isn¡¯t helping.¡±

    Not for nothing, but the cookies she was baking smelled amazing!

    ¡°You speak of Qua¡¯quelle with such disdain. It¡¯s shameful and breaks my heart. After all, I remember how you worshipped him¡ªalways following him around, trying to impress and make him proud of you. He was always so very proud of you. He loves you more than you¡¯ll ever know. He does not deserve this treatment from you.¡±

    ¡°Then why does he deny me my birthright?¡±

    ¡°Birthright,¡± She scoffed. ¡°The time of birthrights is long gone, Soullen.¡±

    ¡°You sound like Q.¡±

    She laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment. You¡¯re so concerned with your ¡®birthright¡¯ you¡¯ve forgotten what it truly means. Do you know what your birthright is, Soullen? It¡¯s that house filled with your Brothers that love you without question. It¡¯s that house filled with your Brothers that have unyielding devotion to each other. It¡¯s that house filled with your Brothers who¡¯d gladly give their lives for their family. That¡¯s your birthright¡­that¡¯s what you¡¯ve inherited. Now I ask you, Soullen, is that so terrible?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer for a long while, but when he finally said, ¡°no, it¡¯s not,¡± his words were filled with guilt and shame.

    ¡°You¡¯ve just awoken, so their deaths are still clear in your mind. The bitterness still stings your tongue. The loss of your brother was a loss to us all. And I know you miss your father dearly. I can see that. We all do, for he was a great king and a greater father figure to all your Brothers, but trying to resurrect the past will not bring them back.¡±

    He must have stood up to go to her because I could hear his muffled cries. ¡°I want them back so much,¡± he pleaded. ¡°Just bring them back!¡±

    ¡°Shhh, it¡¯s okay, my precious one. You are not alone. You will never be alone.¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand what was happening, but I felt for him. I had a lump in my throat. I choked up, hearing him beg for his loved ones back.

    ¡°Now, it¡¯s time for you to return home and make things right with Qua¡¯quelle. I don¡¯t want to hear about any more nonsense between my boys. Talk to him and come to me when it¡¯s settled. Tell me how it went. Okay?¡±

    ¡°I promise,¡± he said.

    ¡°Go on now. Go on.¡±

    I flew back across the room to the figurine cabinet and pretended to be more interested in a pair of crystal doves than the conversation in the next room. When the kitchen door swung open, I expected to see Soullen, but it was Lady White instead. ¡°Where¡¯s Soullen?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him. He¡¯s fine. Come help an old lady move these boxes into the pantry.¡± She moved to a stack of unmarked crates near the front porch.

    ¡°No, seriously, where did he go? I brought him out here, so I¡¯m responsible for him. I can¡¯t just lose him.¡±

    She smiled. ¡°Jacob, you¡¯ve got that backward. He¡¯s responsible for you, but no matter, you¡¯re in good hands. I assure you there is no need to worry about Soullen. Now, will you let an old lady move boxes by herself? Hmmm?¡±

    She didn¡¯t wait for me to answer. She reached for the top box. Afraid she would drop it on her head, I rushed to her side to take the box from her hand.

    ¡°Good,¡± she said and opened the kitchen door. ¡°Right in here will do fine.¡±

    Yeah, she played me, but I moved the five crates regardless. I was expecting her to send me on my way when I finished, but instead, she offered me a seat at the table and insisted I sit. The kitchen reminded me of my grandmother¡¯s. It just had that look and feel that said nothing can touch you here. I wondered if she was someone¡¯s grandmother.

    ¡°What can I do for you, Jacob?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Me? I don¡¯t need anything. I just brought Soullen to your shop.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see,¡± she laughed, patted my shoulder, and went to the stove. ¡°You believe you came here for Soullen¡¯s sake. That¡¯s good. That¡¯s good.¡± She pulled out a sheet of cookies from the oven and placed three of them on a small plate. She stood over me for a moment with the plate in hand. Then, she grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re falling in love with him,¡± she mused.

    ¡°Falling in love with whom?¡±

    She just smirked. ¡°Eat your cookies and be careful they¡¯re hot.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want your cookies¡­.¡±

    Lady White looked over her shoulder with that look. The one only a grandmother can give, and the next thing I know, I¡¯m eating the cookies. She poured me a tall glass of chocolate milk and joined me at the table. We sat silently while she watched me eat, perhaps waiting for me to make the first move. Despite the million questions on the tip of my tongue, I didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°Go on¡­¡±

    Those two words were all I needed. ¡°Is this a test? Are you part of an elaborate production being put on for my benefit?

    ¡°If you only know how many boys, sitting in that same spot, asked that same question.¡±

    ¡°And what did you tell them?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Surprising.¡±

    ¡°I asked them what they thought was the truth.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a test, of course,¡± I said matter-of-factly. ¡°The things I¡¯ve heard and seen are not possible. What else could it be?¡±

    ¡°Interesting, don¡¯t you think? You hold firmly to your belief, yet here you are asking the question. Why do you think that is?¡±

    I shrugged as I bit into my second cookie.

    ¡°Would you feel better if I reinforced your belief that it was a test? What else could it be, Jacob? Nothing else could fit inside the box that is your reality. For that to happen, you¡¯d have to let go of what you know. You¡¯d have to step outside that box. Most people are not capable of that. Are you one of those people?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair. Unfortunately, you¡¯ll have to answer that question sooner than you realize. But not today.¡±

    Talk about not knowing which way was up or down or left or right. That¡¯s how I felt after every Lady White encounter. She had a severe talent for not saying anything while making you doubt everything you believe. The Brotherhood had nothing on her. The possibility of what she was implying - of her reality - was too overwhelming for me. I wasn¡¯t prepared to go there just yet.

    How could I? It was just too crazy.

    ¡°Finish your milk,¡± she said and cleared my plate from the table.

    I watched her rinse the plate in the sink, and the question just left my lips as casually as I would slip on a pair of shoes. ¡°You know who I am, don¡¯t you? I mean, you really know.¡±

    Slowly she shut off the water and dried her hands with a cloth towel. ¡°How does that fit into your box?¡±

    ¡°Damn the box! Just tell me what you know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob.¡± I hate to admit it, but her apology was genuine. ¡°I can¡¯t give you what you want. Possessing something doesn¡¯t mean it is yours to give. As I said, this is a path you must take. I can promise that the door to your identity will be unlocked if it gives you solace. You already found the key.¡±

    I don¡¯t know what made my head spin more, the fact that she might honestly know the secret to my past or the key crap. She pushed me out the door before I had the chance to ask about either. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to return to the house before they miss you.¡±

    I had so many more questions I wanted to ask her, but I let it go. I wouldn¡¯t get a straight answer anyway. I¡¯d just leave with more questions. I thanked Lady White for her time and walked out of her shop. Three steps later, she called out to me.

    ¡°Remember, Jacob, when you open one door, you usually close another behind you.¡±

    I nodded.

    It was all I could do. That made as much sense to me as everything else she said. My head was filled with questions and even more doubts. Would I be walking into my future or former home? At that moment, the road before me looked as murky as the past I wanted to regain. If the finish line was nearby, I couldn¡¯t see it.

    Where was this key?

    I felt toyed with a little bit. If you¡¯re going to give me an inch, why not give me the whole mile? There was a moment when I stopped walking and started laughing at myself. Why was I buying into any of this? What the hell was I thinking? Why was I doing this to myself? For a moment, she gave me hope, which can be dangerous. I wasn¡¯t going to feed into it. There was no magic key, and she sure knew nothing about me. If I have to play this game to get into The Brotherhood, so be it. Whatever questions I had would be answered if I made it in. Suppose I didn¡¯t, to hell with it.

    There was no point in driving myself crazy. The Brothers have been playing this game for a long time. I wasn¡¯t going to be the one to suddenly ¡°crack the code.¡±

    My heart raced as I entered the house. Did things fall in our favor, or was I entering just to get the boot? I was hoping to run into one of my fellow pledges, but no such luck. The house was quiet, almost lonely. It seemed like a bad sign. One of the brothers passed me in the hall. He simply nodded and kept going without saying a word. My room was empty, but Arsen¡¯s stuff was still there. Maybe the quiet was just that¡­quiet. Nobody else was in their rooms, and there wasn¡¯t a brother around to give me directions. I sat on my bed and waited.

    My restlessness got the best of me, and I left my room with no clear destination in mind but ultimately ended up in front of Q¡¯s bedroom door. I wanted to knock. I put my hand up but walked away instead. I got two steps away before I turned around again. This time I stood there longer but didn¡¯t put my hand up. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s progress or not.

    I moved away for a second time but only made it one step before turning back. I was getting dizzy and feeling dumb. I didn¡¯t want to bother him, and even though we were this secret couple, I wasn¡¯t sure if it was appropriate to show up unannounced. I wish I had a rule book to follow at times like these or even a pamphlet with solid suggestions. My life would be much easier.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Well, this is just stupid,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯d have to agree,¡± a voice whispered back.

    I jumped, startled so bad my whole body thrust full force into the door. I turned to see Q standing there, smirking.

    ¡°I almost didn¡¯t interrupt you. I wanted to see how this would play out.¡±

    ¡°Jerk!¡± My first reaction was to punch him in the shoulder, and I went with it. Now don¡¯t get it twisted. It was more of a love tap than a punch and meant to be taken in the spirit of things. Q went along with it. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh at me!¡± I threw a second punch which he caught and then pinned me to the door with one hand over my head. I could¡¯ve stuck out my tongue and licked his lip; he was close to me.

    ¡°You never have to stand outside this door; it¡¯s forever open to you.¡± A sweetness to his breath made me yearn for his kiss. He must have been eating sour apple candy like Jolly Ranchers, and I love those things. He kissed me right there, and I was lost to him. He seemed oblivious that we were still standing in the hall where anyone could see.

    I knew one thing for sure. It was green apple Jolly Ranchers.

    Q managed to open the door while we kissed; before I knew it, we were inside his bedroom. He locked it behind him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said softly and broke away from our embrace; his hand was purposely sliding across my stomach as he walked off.

    ¡°For what?¡± I was still in a daze. His actions, though very welcomed, were unexpected.

    ¡°The last few days, I haven¡¯t given you much attention, both as your Big or your¡­boyfriend.¡±

    Watching him get used to saying the word out loud was cute. I was the same way. ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize. As much as I would love to spend as much time with you as possible, I get you¡¯re busy, so please don¡¯t sweat it.¡±

    ¡°Handsome and understanding,¡± he smiled. ¡°But I¡¯d still like to make it up to you.¡±

    My interest was piqued. I watched him walk past his desk towards the bathroom.

    The desk¡­my eyes stayed focused on the desk. It wasn¡¯t all smashed up like I thought it would be. Everything was fine. It looked like nothing had happened. Hell, even the stapler was where I remembered. I don¡¯t know why it was such a shocker. It¡¯s Q¡¯s stuff, for crying out loud. I¡¯m sure he had it replaced within hours of Soullen smashing it to pieces.

    Without thinking, I turned to ask him about it. A dumb move considering I wasn¡¯t supposed to be there to witness the destruction in the first place. Luckily, just as I opened my mouth to ask, Q pulled his shirt off leisurely. His actions were slow and deliberate and distracted the hell out of me. I watched in awe as his back muscles flexed and twisted. He undid the button on his shorts and shifted his right leg back a little allowing them to fall to the ground. He had these sexy white, low-rise trunks that hugged him in all the right places. I swear he must have been an underwear model in a former life because¡­damn!

    Q disappeared into the bathroom. I expected him to come back out. He never did. Instead, a warm, flickering light emanated from the darkness, pulling me into the bathroom as if it were Q¡¯s voice calling for me. I walked in just in time to see Q¡¯s naked body sink into the Jacuzzi, and my mind went in ten different directions. Three burning candles around the Jacuzzi and a heavy mist pouring out of the water. This was not what I expected when I came to his room, but it was a welcomed surprise.

    The room smelled sweet, and at first, I thought the candles were scented, but I was wrong. The aroma came from the water, which appeared to have crimson-rose petals floating on the surface. I consider myself a romantic guy, but I never did anything like this for Alex.

    Q reached out his hand to tug on my pant leg. ¡°These tend to get in the way,¡± he said.

    I couldn¡¯t have agreed more. I stripped and joined him, settling between his legs with my back to his chest and my head below his chin. The water was hot, and the jets felt great against my body.

    I relaxed almost instantly. Thanks, in no small part, to the atmosphere and Q slowly combing his fingers thru my hair.

    I picked up one of the pedals in the palm of my hand and realized it wasn¡¯t from a rose at all. The sweet aroma was coming from the pedal, and so was the mist. I could see it curling up from its edges like the smoke from a cigar. Not to mention it was warm to the touch. I was going to question it, but in the end, I just let the pedal fall back into the water. The mood was just too perfect to ruin by asking the how or the why. All that mattered to me was being in the arms of my man.

    We sat coiled and content in each other¡¯s arms. Q continued to run his fingers thru my hair without missing a beat. I ran my hands lazily up and down his legs while keeping my eyes closed. I simply wanted to enjoy the moment.

    ¡°So¡­¡± Q said and kissed the top of my head.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to say, so I just shrugged. Well, that¡¯s not entirely true. I wanted to ask him what was going on with the pledges and if we still had a chance to become Brothers. But I didn¡¯t want to go there right off the bat, so I held off, hoping he¡¯d broach the subject up himself.

    ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s on your mind? Or did your visit with Lady White freak you out to the point of silence?¡±

    ¡°How did you know I was with Lady White?¡±

    ¡°Really, Jacob? You¡¯re asking me that of all people?¡±

    I laughed because he was so right. ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot who I was talking to for a minute. You know you should consider a job with the CIA. I¡¯m sure they could use someone with your ¡®I Spy¡¯ skills.¡±

    He brushed his lips against my ear and whispered, ¡°Trust me, the CIA has nothing on us.¡±

    ¡°You know what¡¯s sad? I believe that.¡± He liked that. ¡°But no, Lady White didn¡¯t freak me out at all. I wasn¡¯t there for myself. I was just showing Soullen where her shop was.¡±

    ¡°Well, that explains his sudden change in attitude.¡±

    ¡°Were you guys having problems?¡±

    ¡°In a roundabout sort of way. Soullen¡¯s not accustomed to the way things are now. He misses his father and brother, so he feels overwhelmingly alone. Right now, his anger is directed toward everyone and anyone. I don¡¯t mind being his lightning rod for the time being. Underneath it all, Soullen is a great kid.¡±

    ¡°You two are close?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I like to think so.¡± I could feel him smiling behind me. It was kind of sweet. ¡°My father wasn¡¯t in the picture back in the day, so his father looked after me like I was one of his own. When Soullen was born, he looked at me no differently than his brother did. To Soullen, we were all one family.¡±

    ¡°You talk about your dads a lot. Where were your moms doing all this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± That¡¯s all Q said on the matter. I knew better than to keep digging. The sudden change in his tone made it clear that was all he was prepared to share at the moment. I had to accept that certain things come with time.

    Now that the ball was rolling, I figured it was ok to ease in on other topics of conversation. ¡°So, what¡¯s going to happen to us pledges?¡± Okay, maybe that wasn¡¯t so much easing into it than it was gunning straight for it. ¡°Jacob got us all more than a little worried; I¡¯m not going to lie.¡±

    Q hugged me close for reassurance. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that for now. I spoke with Kyrios, and we came to an understanding.¡± He knew I would ask something more, but he didn¡¯t give me a chance. ¡°You probably have a million questions, but I can¡¯t discuss it right now. Just trust me when I say you guys are good. All your fellow pledges are out with their Bigs celebrating. We can go join them if you want.¡±

    I thought about it for like a nano-second. ¡°No, I¡¯m good here, thanks.¡±

    He laughed and kissed me again. Q was being so kind and loving towards me. I felt horrible. Not exactly the reaction you¡¯d expect, right? There was still stuff I hadn¡¯t told him, and just thinking about it twisted my stomach in knots. I sat up in the Jacuzzi and stared into the misty water.

    Q playfully wrapped his legs around my waist and ran the tips of his fingers down my back. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something I have to tell you¡­something I want to tell you but don¡¯t know how to do it.¡±

    ¡°Just say what¡¯s on your mind. Whatever it is, it can¡¯t be that bad. You can tell me anything.¡±

    I took a moment to gather my thoughts, and he allowed me the time without putting additional pressure on me to talk. Q was just awesome like that.

    Finally, I just broke down and told him everything about the ¡°shadow man.¡± I spilled everything from the encounter in the janitor¡¯s closet to the time in the Arcade. I told him about the program he wanted me to plant on his computer, the listening devices, and all this craziness. I told him he threatened to expose our relationship if I didn¡¯t follow his orders. I think I seriously said it in one long breath.

    But finally, it felt amazing to put it all out there. It was like the weight of the world crumbled off my shoulders with every word. I could breathe again.

    Q¡¯s reaction was immediate. He stopped stroking my back and unwrapped his legs from my waist. All I could do was fiddle my fingers in the water and hope for the best. I could only assume he was quiet for so long because he was in shock and didn¡¯t know what to say. Then I felt him pull away from me a little bit. It wasn¡¯t like he got up and left, but it was enough for me to notice. My heart dropped to my stomach and shattered. I couldn¡¯t stop my eyes from watering up.

    Pressing his lips to my ear, he whispered, ¡°Congratulations,¡± and kissed me on the neck.

    What just happened here?

    I turned to face Q. ¡°What do you mean ¡®congratulations?¡¯¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s usually what you tell someone when they pass their final trial. I could have gone with something else, I suppose. Like ¡®good job¡¯ or ¡®nice one ¡®if you prefer.¡±

    I splashed his face with water. ¡°Shut up! Do you mean I passed? I fucking passed?¡±

    He nodded, and his smile grew.

    I jumped on Q, hugged him, and splashed water everywhere. I couldn¡¯t stop kissing him, not that I wanted to stop. Then it hit me. ¡°Who was the shadow guy because he knew about us? He threatened to out our relationship if I didn¡¯t do what he wanted? It was you all along, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Not the whole time, no. Different Brothers played the roles at different times. I was the one in the Arcade, though.¡±

    ¡°You used my feelings for you to set a trap?¡± I was annoyed the instant I spoke those words out loud.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He said it so bluntly and without apology that it stung a little. ¡°The final trail is tailored specifically to each pledge. The whole point is to find something that will put them at odds with The Brotherhood to see how they handle it and where their loyalties lie. Our relationship was the obvious choice for me.¡± Caressing the side of my face, Q looked into my eyes with a sincerity that could not be denied. ¡°I can sit here and lie to you and feed you some line about how I regret doing it and wish there was another option, but the truth is I don¡¯t regret it all.

    ¡°The Brotherhood is more important than any one person, and we must be 120% sure that a pledge understands that before bringing them on board. I knew from the beginning, without reservation, that you would come thru and do the right thing by The Brotherhood. I¡¯m very proud of you, Jacob. I¡¯m proud to have you in my life as my boyfriend, and I¡¯ll be honored to have you stand at my side as my Brother.¡±

    I so hated him. Only because how can anyone honestly stay mad at someone after a speech like that? It gave me goosebumps to hear Q sing my praise. I mean, what do you say to that? ¡°You¡¯re still an ass!¡± I kissed him thru his laugh as a way of thanking him for his lovely words. ¡°What about the other guys? Have any of them passed their trails?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re still waiting on most, but we had a few early birds who figured out the right thing to do was to come to us.¡±

    ¡°Hey, was that a jab at me?¡± I twisted his nipple playfully, and his body jerked in response. I kissed it to make it better.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, I¡¯m not the one who waited until it downloaded like 90% before deciding maybe it wasn¡¯t the right thing to do.¡±

    ¡°It was actual 94%.¡±

    ¡°Oh, because that¡¯s better.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that anyway?¡±

    ¡°I was in the other room mirroring the computer in my office while you were doing your 007 things. I was looking at the same progress bar you were.¡±

    ¡°And you never thought I¡¯d let it go all the way for even a second?¡±

    ¡°Not even for a split second,¡± he kissed me again.

    God, I loved making out with Q! How he looked at me; how his kisses felt like a rose gently pressed against my lips; how he made me shiver when the tips of his fingers traveled the length of my spine¡­all of it made me melt.

    I pulled away for a moment and then jerked forward for a quick kiss before turning around so I could lean comfortably against his chest. He hugged me tightly.

    ¡°Not for nothing, but I had a feeling this was all a test right from the get-go.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you did,¡± he mocked. ¡°Every pledge confesses to having this knowledge after the fact.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m serious!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± he scoffed, a bright smile appearing on his face.

    ¡°Just shut up!¡± I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. ¡°Hey, who else passed? You said there were a few.¡±

    ¡°God, you¡¯re nosey! The last time I checked, you weren¡¯t a full-fledge Brother, so you¡¯re not privy to that information. You¡¯ll have to wait and see. And don¡¯t even think about asking the other pledges or telling them you passed.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Okay.¡±

    ¡°Even after it¡¯s announced, don¡¯t try to find out the details of their last trial. That¡¯s something that stays between Big and Little. Only the ruling council members are entitled to the specifics.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I get it. Geez!¡± I had a question I wanted to ask him but completely spaced. It took a few minutes of silence to get the thought back finally. ¡°Is this an automatic in for me now that I passed the final trial?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a big win, Jacob, but it¡¯s not the final victory. You forget fate comes in pairs. If Arsen blows it, you¡¯re pretty much screwed. But your application goes before the Council of Brothers if he comes through. The heads of every house on the planet get together and decide your fate.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ll put in a good word, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. I might be busy that day.¡±

    He got another, harder jab to the ribs.

    ¡°If these other Brothers don¡¯t know us, how can they possibly make that call?¡±

    ¡°Look at you with all the smart questions,¡± he teased.

    ¡°I have my moments.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°The decision is made largely by the argument the Big makes on behalf of his Little.¡±

    ¡°Oh great! You can go in there and screw the whole thing up.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much. You better hope I¡¯m not drinking like I was last time. Dylan barely made it in.¡±

    ¡°Ha ha, you¡¯re funning, but not really. All joking aside, do you¡­. ¡°

    ¡°Who was joking?¡±

    ¡°No, you should take your act on the road, dumbass.¡± I thought I took it too far for a moment, but Q just laughed. It was great, and we felt like a real couple, not having to work around the restraints between Big and Little. ¡°Do you think I have a good shot? Did I do anything that will count against me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re cute,¡± he said. ¡°But yes, you did something that will count against you, and you already know what that is.¡±

    ¡°I put the flash drive in the computer when I should¡¯ve come to you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you did, and yes, you should have.¡±

    I instantly felt like a douchebag. I knew better and didn¡¯t follow my gut instinct. But like always, Q was right there to pick me back up.

    He leaned in close and hugged me warmly. ¡°I have a secret for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°You have this guy named Q who has your back. And believe me, when he wants it to rain¡­it storms.¡± He kissed my neck and pulled me closer. ¡°Ultimately, you did the right thing in the end, so you¡¯ll be fine. Trust in me.¡±

    I did trust him.

    We sat in the Jacuzzi a while longer, playfully talking about stuff all new couples talk about. Eventually, we got quiet and just enjoyed each other¡¯s company. Finally, the heat and relaxed mood took over, and I fell asleep in Q¡¯s arms. It was like falling asleep in heaven¡¯s arms. There was a moment when I was in that hazy state where your eyes are closed, but you¡¯re not quite asleep when I remember feeling warmth all around me. It was almost tangible, like a blanket wrapped around my body. I was floating, and nothing in the world could touch me.

    The next thing I knew, I was batting my eyes open and stretching out like a cat on Q¡¯s bed.

    ¡°Hey, sleepy head, you¡¯re up.¡±

    ¡°What time is it?¡± Throwing my legs over the side, I sat up and rubbed my eyes with my palms. ¡°Is it the next day or something?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s only seven,¡± Q laughed. ¡°You¡¯ve been out for like an hour or so. Come on, get up, and get dressed. I¡¯m taking you out.¡±

    I got up, and the silk sheets slipped off, exposing my junk to the evening air. ¡°Where are you taking me?¡± Standing on the tips of my toes and throwing my warms up as high as they would, I stretched out one last time and let out the most prolonged yawn of my life. I crossed paths with Q and headed to the bathroom to get my clothes. Hooking my arm around his waist, I pulled him back and kissed him on the cheek. ¡°Where are you taking me, sexy?¡±

    ¡°To the mall; now get dressed.¡± Breaking free from my hold, he kissed me quickly on the lips and slapped my bare ass.

    ¡°Yikes! I think I¡¯d rather stay in.¡±

    ¡°I bet you would. Here catch!¡± I turned, and he fired a pair of underwear at me like a slingshot. It hit me in the face. ¡°Put these on and grab whatever you want out of my closet.¡±

    ¡°Are these yours?¡± I already knew the answer to the question; I don¡¯t know why I bothered asking. It was so stupid.

    ¡°No, I got them off the bum down the street. What kind of stupid question is that?¡±

    See?

    I put on a pair of his jeans, a red t-shirt, and some flip-flops, and I was good to go. We were halfway down the stairs when I thought of something I wanted to do¡­if I could find the balls to do it.

    ¡°Hey, do you mind if I grab something out of my room? It¡¯ll just take me a second.¡±

    He nodded and told me he¡¯d wait for me downstairs. It took me two minutes to get what I needed and run downstairs to meet up with Q. He was by the door hugging some older man who was probably in his eighties. They seemed truly happy to see each other, as if they hadn¡¯t seen each other in decades. Q assured him he¡¯d be back in no time do to something. I missed that part.

    I came up behind Q, and he was quick to introduce me. ¡°This is my Little, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s it going, young man?¡± I took his hand and cringed under his grip. He was surprisingly strong for a man of his age. He pointed at me and then at Q. ¡°This one here will take you far, you understand, son?¡±

    I nodded and smiled. ¡°Yes, Sir.¡±

    ¡°You trust him, and he¡¯ll get you far. Believe me! This was one hell of a Big I had when I was your age. One hell of a Big!¡±

    And with those words, the pleasantries were over. Q quickly rushed him into the next room and pushed me out the door. ¡°What did he mean by that? He¡¯s like a hundred years old. How could you have been his Big?¡±

    ¡°You said it. He¡¯s like a hundred years old and easily gets confused. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± He said all that in the best possible ¡°Big¡± voice he could muster. In other words, stop asking questions.

    I let it go for the time being. We got to the garage, and he tossed me the keys to the Mercedes SUV. ¡°Want to drive?¡± It was a sweet ride with blacked-out windows and chrome rims.

    ¡°Hells to the yeah!¡±

    For the most part, we listened to the radio and chatted about random stuff. My arm rested on the center console, and he would trace his fingers down my wrist and swirl on my hand¡¯s palm.

    It felt nice.

    At one point, that fool got us lost. First, in my defense, I had no idea where this mall was, so I relied on him for directions. Granted, we could have punched it into the NAV system, but he was like, ¡®I¡¯ll just tell you where to go.¡¯ Fine. But then, he takes a phone call, gets distracted, and proceeds to point every which way. Next thing you know, we¡¯re lost. Then he tried to put it back on me like it was my fault. Whatever! I¡¯m not going to get into our little argument over that one. I was right.

    He was taking me to Pleasant View Mall. It was the newest and largest mall in Connecticut, and to top it all off, it was considered beachfront property. Sections of the mall were pure glass, providing the most amazing view of the water you can imagine. I¡¯d never been to the mall, but I¡¯ve seen pictures. Tons of people from all over come to see the sunset over the dark waters of the Atlantic.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying,¡± Q said as he stepped out of SUV. ¡°If you had just listened to my direction, you would not have gotten lost.¡±

    ¡°I was listening to you.¡± I came around his side and made a choking motion like I was going for his neck. ¡°That was the problem. You gave me bad directions because you were too busy chatting it up on the phone. So, we got lost.¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± he shrugged. ¡°If it makes you feel better.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to make me feel better; it¡¯s the truth!¡±

    ¡°God, you¡¯re so easy,¡± he laughed and tried to come up on me.

    ¡°Get away from me,¡± I jerked away, ¡°don¡¯t touch me. You need to be killed; I¡¯ve decided.¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± That echoed throughout the parking garage. ¡°I¡¯d love to see that happen.¡± Running up behind me, he locked me in a big bear hug and lifted me off my feet. He would¡¯ve had me on the ground if it wasn¡¯t for the pillar next to us. I was able to put my foot on it and push myself back. Somehow, I got free, but we horsed around like that all the up to the entrance.

    The first thing I noticed as we entered the mall was the two guys walking out. Q didn¡¯t see them. He was looking down at his phone, texting someone. They stuck out to me because of the way they were dressed. They wore cloaked all in black with military-style boots. One guy had a long trench coat, a spiked collar around his neck, and dark sunglasses. I looked over my shoulder and saw them come back into the mall. I thought it odd but didn¡¯t give it much thought at the time.

    Our trip to the mall wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary, so I won¡¯t bore you with the small details. We did what everyone else does - we walked around and looked at shit. I enjoyed my time with Q. I liked it when he got a call or got distracted by something because it allowed me to fall behind him to watch his nice ass wiggle in front of me. He didn¡¯t have a belt on, so his pants hung low on his hips. Whenever he reached for something, his shirt would go up, and I got a perfect view of his sexy underwear. I¡¯ve said it before, but it bears repeating. That¡¯s sexy to me.

    We walked into the clothing store, and as Q disappeared around the corner, I noticed the same two guys in black walk by the store. Again, not a big deal. But I bring up the store because it was the most fun I had with my newly found ¡°gayness,¡± if you will.

    Like I said, Q entered first and went to look at some shorts. I went in the opposite direction. So, in all reality, it didn¡¯t look like we were together as friends or otherwise. After like ten minutes, Q went to the other side of the store to look at t-shirts, and that¡¯s when I noticed the employee folding clothes next to him.

    The kid couldn¡¯t see me watching him, but I saw how he couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off Q. Keep in mind that Q had his back towards the guy, so he had no idea what was happening. He was going about his business, oblivious to the activities behind him. The kid felt the same way I did when Q reached up to take a shirt off the rack and exposed his underwear. He bit down on his lip and gave that aggressive look that screamed, ¡°I want to bang him right here and now.¡± It was even better when Q squatted down to look at something on the lower shelves. Without the belt, you could see straight down the back of his pants, just more of his sexy underwear for his viewing pleasure.

    As if that wasn¡¯t funny enough, the kid turned to his buddy at the register and waved to get his attention. He kind of nodded in Q¡¯s direction and the other kid''s mouth just floors it. He mouthed the words ¡°oh my god¡± and bit his knuckle. He looked around to ensure no one - except his buddy folding clothes - was watching and came around the register.

    He starts making humping and slapping motions like he was fucking Q doggy style and slapping his ass silly. He mouthed the words ¡°oh yeah¡± repeatedly. The kid folding clothes lost it. Eventually, he too joined in the fun by making the head bobbing motion like he was sucking on Q¡¯s dick or something. He even illustrated his deep-throating skills, which were interesting to watch but impossible to explain. Use your imagination.

    The whole thing was hilarious. I don¡¯t know what was funnier to me; the way they were lusting after Q or that Q had no idea what they were doing. Finally, I decided to step into view. They immediately stopped what they were doing and went back to work. The kid folding clothes was turning a light shade of red and wouldn¡¯t make eye contact with me. They knew I must¡¯ve seen a little bit of what they were doing. They just had no idea I saw the whole thing.

    I played it cool and went up to the table he was working at and looked at some of the shirts. ¡°That guy over there is pretty hot, huh?¡± I wasn¡¯t done having my fun yet. The kid looked nervous and didn¡¯t know quite what to say. ¡°Dude, it¡¯s cool. I was checking him out too.¡±

    That broke the ice and made him feel at ease. And don¡¯t get me wrong, these guys were hot themselves. ¡°He comes in here all the time,¡± he finally whispered. ¡°And hot doesn¡¯t begin to describe him.¡±

    ¡°Amen to that. You ever put the moves on him or tried to get his number?¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± He looked at me like I was nuts. ¡°A guy like that will not go for a guy like me. Besides, he¡¯s probably straight and would beat my ass if I tried anything.¡±

    ¡°Good point,¡± I agreed. ¡°But then again, he is shopping here, and this is like gay Meca for us.¡±

    ¡°Touch¨¦, my friend,¡± he laughed.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go try for his number?¡±

    ¡°No way, dude. You go if you think it¡¯s that easy.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Okay.¡± I started to walk away, and he grabbed me by the arm. ¡°I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m going for it. I gave you your shot.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re nuts!¡±

    I winked at him and quietly walked up behind Q as he bent over to look for a shirt. Now I was the one who was making the humping and slapping motion behind Q. The guy loved every second of it. Mouthing the words ¡°watch this¡± to the kid, I walked up to Q and pressed my crotch against his ass. ¡°Hey babe, did you find something you like?¡± I think the kid almost had a heart attack.

    Leaning against my chest, Q held up two shirts and asked my opinion. I shoved my hands into his front pockets and rested my chin on his shoulder. ¡°I like them both.¡± I looked over at the kid and winked. He bolted back to his friend at the register. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh in Q¡¯s ear.

    ¡°You know Jacob,¡± he began to say as he looked between the two shirts, ¡°if you want to put on a show, I¡¯ll take you right here over the table next time. I¡¯m sure those guys would love that.¡± He gave me a peck on the lips and headed to the registers with both shirts.

    ¡°How the hell do you do that?!¡±

    ¡°I told you, the CIA has nothing on us.¡±

    I hate it when he does that.

    The two guys at the register were very apologetic and downright sweet. I think they were afraid we would ask for a manager or something, but we laughed it off. They were a couple of pretty cool high school seniors. We talked to them for like fifteen minutes, and they asked us a bunch of questions about college life.

    A lot of their questions were about KU specifically. It was where they wanted to go next year. And this was the kicker. Word has reached their ears about this mysterious and elite fraternity called The Brotherhood. They were all excited about it and were determined to stick out above the rest for the chance of getting tapped by the mysterious hand of The Brotherhood.

    ¡°Do you guys know much about them?¡± one kid asked.

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Are you going to tell them?¡±

    ¡°Tell us what?¡±

    ¡°No, I think I¡¯ll leave it as a surprise.¡±

    We said our goodbyes and left them confused. It was awesome. Our antics in the store made me think of something that crossed my mind.

    ¡°Hey, riddle me this. Let¡¯s say I become a Brother and all that good stuff. How long do we keep this on the DL before we start letting others know? I think it would be problematic if I became a Brother and suddenly, two weeks later, we¡¯re dating. People are going to ask questions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that would be a problem if the guys didn¡¯t already know.¡±

    ¡°See what I¡¯m saying? How do you think we should go about¡­.¡± I stopped dead in my tracks. ¡°Wait a minute? Did you just say what I think you said?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he answered and pulled me along.

    ¡°You mean to tell me they¡¯ve all known all this time?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Since when exactly?¡±

    ¡°I spoke with the guys when I started having feelings for you. You have to understand this isn¡¯t ordinary. Within The Brotherhood, a special bond forms between Big and Little that last forever. In some instances, that bond grows into something much stronger, and here we are. We don¡¯t frown about it at all.¡±

    ¡°But your position within The Brotherhood. All the stuff you told me about the guy out on the west coast who did what we¡¯re doing right now, and he got booted. Was that all part of the test too?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no. We changed the story a little to plant the seed in your mind for the final trial. The fact that he fell in love with his Little was never the problem. He did use his position and power to make it easier on his Little because he couldn¡¯t stand the thought of watching him go thru the trials required to prove himself. That was the problem.¡±

    ¡°And you never did that for me?¡±

    ¡°Never. I told you, Jacob, you had my full confidence from the beginning. I didn¡¯t need to look out for you in that way.¡±

    ¡°I.., uh¡­shit.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d be relieved, not upset.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not upset¡­I don¡¯t think,¡± I laughed. We walked by a bench, and I had to take a seat. ¡°I¡¯m relieved, trust me. I¡¯m like a mixed bag of emotions right now. I know this is a good thing, but I was afraid our relationship would get you in trouble all this time.¡±

    ¡°I know, Jacob.¡± He sat next to me and rubbed my back. ¡°That was part of the test. You had to believe it with all your heart to make those hard decisions. In the end, you came out on top.¡±

    ¡°I guess I should¡¯ve known.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because of your unyielding love and loyalty to The Brotherhood. I should¡¯ve known you wouldn¡¯t go behind their back like this.¡± I turned to face him finally. ¡°Damn, you guys are good at this.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°We have to be. Only the best of the best can be allowed into The Brotherhood.¡± Q took my hand in his. ¡°I promise you this crazy ride will be worth it. Once you¡¯re truly on the inside, everything will be clear to you, and you¡¯ll know why it¡¯s so important we take such precautions. A world you can¡¯t even imagine awaits you. I¡¯d love to be by your side as you enter it. I hope you¡¯ll grant me that honor.¡±

    He was so sweet and genuine. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have any other way.¡±

    Q kissed my hand and pulled me to my feet. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get you something to eat.¡±

    ¡°Everyone just accepts our relationship just like that? No questions asked?¡±

    ¡°Well, no,¡± he snickered. ¡°Nothing is ever that simple. I¡¯ll have to go before the Council of Brothers for an evaluation. They must ensure every decision I made concerning you and the pledge class was completely unbiased; that my feelings towards you didn¡¯t influence me.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re okay with that?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± he shrugged. ¡°The thought of giving you special treatment never crossed my mind.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s just it. How can they judge your every feeling and thought behind your decisions? And that¡¯s what you¡¯re talking about, right?¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°Not for us.¡±

    ¡°Is this one of those things I¡¯m not going to be privy to until after I¡¯m a Brother?¡±

    ¡°You guessed it.¡±

    ¡°Sweet,¡± I said sarcastically.

    ¡°Wait, a second. What about the time you saved me from getting ass fucked with a dildo?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    Q couldn¡¯t contain his laughter either. ¡°I didn¡¯t do that for you, Jacob, believe it not. I did it because we needed to get the trials done, and I didn¡¯t want to waste any time with nonsense.¡±

    Narrowing my eyes, I leaned into Q. ¡°Are you telling me if that trial weren¡¯t scheduled, you would¡¯ve let them¡­¡± My words trailed off just thinking of what could have been.

    Q¡¯s mischievous grin was all the answer I needed.

    The food court gave the best view of the ocean because the entire section was built inside a glass cube. Q wanted to take me to some fancy restaurant, but all I wanted was a burger and fries. We went to the burger hut on the third floor and sat by the window. Q excused himself for a few minutes and returned with a green apple.

    ¡°Is that all you ever eat?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer me. He just shrugged and took a bite out of his apple. I ate my meal in relative silence, enjoying the view and pondering some of the things I had learned that day. Q watched me closely, reading my every expression and movement.

    ¡°Are you comfortable with all this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± I insisted. ¡°It¡¯s just a lot to process at one time. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°You¡¯re wondering if my feelings for you are real or another part of the test, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°The thought did cross my mind.¡± I paused for a moment. ¡°Only for a second.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, I really do¡­. ¡°

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I interrupted and reached for his hand. ¡°You don¡¯t have to justify anything, and you don¡¯t have to explain anymore. I get it. Honestly, I do. And it was only for a second.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t say I liked some things he did, but I understood that was the job. Every pledge before and after me will endure the same thing. It was a little different for us because I fell for him, which elevated us to a different level. But in the end, he cared for me like a boyfriend when it mattered and guided me as my Big through this process. I couldn¡¯t ask for anything more. It was the best of two worlds.

    We were going back and forth when I interrupted him again midsentence. ¡°I swear we¡¯re being stalked,¡± I joked.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying¡­it seems everywhere we go, the ¡®men-in-black¡¯ are with us.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? What men?¡±

    I nodded in their direction, and Q turned to look.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just reading too much into things. Who knows, maybe they¡¯re¡­.¡±

    Q looked back at me with a look that drained the warmth from my face. ¡°We have to go.¡± Q was on his feet and by my side before I could formulate a response. ¡°Now, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I got up and tried to get our bags, but he grabbed me by the arm and rushed me along. He told me to leave the bags and keep moving. ¡°Can you tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± I looked over my shoulder, and those two guys in black were getting out of their seats to follow us.

    ¡°Not now. I need to get you somewhere safe.¡±

    What started as a power walk turned into a full-blown marathon with us running across the mall like our lives depended on it. I don¡¯t know what bugged me the most; the fact that Q kept me in the dark or that Q was running from something. But something told me he wouldn¡¯t be running if it wasn¡¯t because I was with him. I didn¡¯t even want to know what the people around us were thinking. They probably thought we were strung out on meth or something.

    Q must have felt we were too exposed because he kicked open a door labeled ¡°Employees Only,¡± and we headed into a maze of corridors.

    I finally had enough and yanked free from his hold. ¡°Q, what the fuck is going on?¡± I demanded. I rested my arm against the vending machine to catch my breath.

    ¡°Do you trust me?¡± he asked, placing his hands on my waist.

    ¡°Of course I do, but that doesn¡¯t¡­. ¡°

    ¡°Then trust me now.¡± He looked around for what I couldn¡¯t tell you. He pulled me into an employee break room and told me not to come out until he came for me. There was a desperation in his eyes that scared the hell out of me.

    ¡°You¡¯re freaking me out right now.¡± I went up to Q and held him close. ¡°Can you tell me what¡¯s going on, please?¡±

    ¡°Those guys were following me. I can deal with them, but they might try to go thru you to hurt me.¡± He kissed me suddenly. ¡°I will not let that happen. Stay here.¡±

    ¡°Q, wait!¡±

    It was too late. He was already out the door. The breakroom had a nice-sized window that let me see everything that was going on in the hallway. Q stood by the vending machine just as the doors at the other end of the hall burst open. The two guys in black walked in very slowly, weaving in and out of each other like two hunters approaching their prey. I wasn¡¯t going to let this go down like that. If this was going to be a fight, it would be two on two.

    I tried to leave the room with no luck. I don¡¯t know what Q did to the door, but I was locked in and pissed. Kicking the door, I went back to the window and slammed my palm against the glass. All three of them ignored me.

    The two guys stopped about twenty feet from Q. They all just stood there staring each other down. My heart was racing so fast that I thought it would explode out of my chest. I felt so helpless I punched the glass again.

    Then I thought we caught a break because a cop walked in behind Q. I was so relieved. He got on his radio, said something about finding them, and started barking orders. This was not some rent-a-cop mall jackoff. This was the real deal.

    ¡°What are you guys doing up here? This is a restricted area.¡±

    They ignored his ass. I wanted Q to step aside and let him handle things. Since they weren¡¯t responding to his orders, the cop drew his gun and told them to get on their knees and put their hands on their heads. He was yelling it. He moved closer to Q with this gun pointed right at his head.

    ¡°Get down on your knees now!¡±

    In one quick motion, Q spun around, took the gun out of the cop¡¯s hand, and sent him flying down the hall with a single blow to the chest. The guy in the trench coat saw his chance and went for Q.

    ¡°Q, watch out!¡± I yelled.

    Without missing a beat, Q turned back to grab the vending machine and threw it at the trench coat like he was throwing a softball.

    I was stunned, speechless, and freaked the fuck out!

    I don¡¯t know what the right word was to use to describe that moment for me. I¡¯m telling you, the vending machine traveled the entire length of the hall and then some with trench coat pinned behind it. It slammed thru the doors and into the wall so hard it shook the area.

    Unsure of what to do, I backed away from the window, mumbling ¡°oh my god¡± repeatedly. I¡¯m shocked I didn¡¯t piss my pants!

    The second kid got a hold of Q and threw him against the wall. The wall cracked and crumbled under extreme force. The guy went to grab him again, but Q was able to get a hold of him by the neck and threw his ass thru the breakroom window and took out half the wall. The guy landed just a few feet away from me. He shook it off and got right back up like it was nothing.

    ¡°Holy shit! Holy fucking shit!¡± That was me yelling like a bitch mind you.

    The guy got up only to catch Q¡¯s knee to the stomach and an uppercut to the face. He took a swing at Q, but he deflected it, turned the dude around, and kicked his ass right out the window. And I¡¯m talking about the kind of window where there is nothing but air on the other side.

    Q looked out the window for a moment before turning his attention to me. ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    I backed away from him and held my hands out.

    ¡°Jacob, please.¡± He took a few steps toward me, and I backed away again. Before he could say anything else, trench coat came out of nowhere and tackled Q thru yet another wall into the open air.

    I stood by the gaping hole and watched as they physically crashed thru all three levels of the parking garage below. Then I went into flight mode and took off like a bat out of hell. I don¡¯t remember how I got back to the car, but I jumped in that bad boy and drove like my new name was ¡®Lead Foot.¡¯

    I weaved in and out of traffic and honked like a mad man. After about a mile, I saw traffic was coming to a stop because of some bullshit accident and drove off the road into the woods on some dirt road. I had no idea where I was going; I wasn¡¯t planning on stopping.

    I drove over so many holes and thru so much shit, I¡¯m surprised the truck didn¡¯t fall apart on me. The road ended, and I crashed through thick brush and came into a clearing.

    The view was beautiful. I could see the mall and the dark waters of the ocean from there. The only snag was I was coming up on a cliff at about 80mph. I slammed on the breaks and pulled on the e-break, which was dumb because it caused the truck to spin out of control. The SUV finally stopped with both rear tires hanging off the side of the cliff.

    The beat of my heart drowned out everything else. I looked into the rearview mirror, and all I saw was dark water. Slowly and carefully, I opened the door, stepped out of the SUV, and backed away slowly. When I saw how the truck was sitting on the cliff, my legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees. Thirty seconds later, I threw up my burger. It took me a few minutes to compose myself and catch my breath.

    ¡°Thank you, God,¡± I whispered and counted my blessings. Just as I managed to get back on my feet, the SUV slid back and off the cliff.

    Great!

    And then came the loud crash at the bottom.

    Just great!

    I walked over to the edge and stared out at the ocean. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this is happening to me. Why me?¡± Suddenly Lady White didn¡¯t seem so crazy anymore, and her words started making more sense as I tried to comprehend everything that had just happened. ¡°This can¡¯t be fucking happening.¡±

    After about five or ten minutes, I managed to calm myself down. Not to say that I still wasn¡¯t freaked, but I was doing better. I don¡¯t know how or why, but I knew I wasn¡¯t alone right then. I knew he was there without laying eyes on him. Considering everything I had just gone thru, I couldn¡¯t believe I smiled. He still had that effect on me.

    ¡°Jacob,¡± Q called.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what to say.¡±

    That¡¯s all we said for a long time. For a while, I was content with hearing the waves crashing against the shore and the cool breeze on my face. But in the end, I wanted answers. I needed answers. Fuck it! I deserved some answers.

    I turned to face him, and he was still my Q, looking back at me with his deep, loving eyes and a face that yearned to be understood.

    ¡°What are you?¡±

    He stepped toward me, and I immediately put my hand out to stop him. I think I felt his heart break at that moment; I saw it on his face.

    ¡°What are you?¡± Remembering the SUV took a nosedive off the cliff, I looked over my shoulder as if it would magically be there, then returned my attention to Q. "How the hell did you even get here?"

    I asked him again. ¡°All the things I¡¯ve seen and heard are true, aren¡¯t they?¡± Remembering what I was wearing underneath the shirt I borrowed from Q, I took off the red t-shirt and revealed Q¡¯s green shirt with the three bullet holes. That¡¯s what I brought with me from my room. I wanted to find the balls to ask him about it and believe me, I finally found them. ¡°This actually happened, didn¡¯t it?¡± I stuck my fingers thru the hole.

    ¡°I can tell you what I am and hope you¡¯ll understand,¡± he said softly. ¡°Or I can you show you the truth and remove all doubt.¡±

    ¡°Show me.¡± I was so nervous my knees were shaking, and my stomach was spinning. Not that you could tell by looking at me because I did a hell of a job holding it together. At least, I like to believe so.

    He moved closer, but I didn¡¯t try to stop him this time. He was about ten feet away from me when he took off his shirt and allowed it to be carried away by the wind. Extending his arms to the sides, I watched in awe as he slowly ascended into the air.

    ¡°Fuck me¡­¡±

    His left leg was perfectly straight, while his right was bent slightly at the knee. He looked heavenly, but that was nothing compared to what was coming. After hovering some twenty feet above the ground for a few moments, it happened.

    He was incredible, a beauty beyond any imagining. The light, so deep and magnificent, radiated from him like a beacon.

    My God! If you could have seen the light...

 The Brotherhood Chapter XVI

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XVI

    By X

    It was beautiful.  He was beautiful.

    Tiny, marble-sized spheres of light undulated around his body.  They pulsated, not quite flashing, yet not entirely steady in their luminescence.  At times they moved in unison, a collective stream of glowing orbs swirling clockwise around Q¡¯s new form.  This organization would last mere seconds before the shimmering lights scatter, each following its playful path.  They moved in all directions, swarming around Q like fireflies, dancing in the energy he exuded.  This formation lasted longer, but eventually, the cycle started over again.

    Steady stream to dancing fireflies. Over and over again, the pattern repeated.  It was hypnotic.

    His liquid silver eyes - the ones that made my heart pound and knees go weak - were gone.  In their place, swirling pools of light blazed brightly.  Yet there was no need to squint or shield my eyes.  I found it hard to blink.

    I wasn¡¯t afraid.

    Dumb, maybe, but not afraid.

    It was probably the most appropriate response to allow terror to overwhelm me, but it wasn¡¯t possible.  His magnificence drew me in like a moth to a flame.  I didn¡¯t think it could get more intense.  I was wrong.

    The explosion of light came first; for a moment, night was turned to day.  Again, I felt no need to flinch or turn away.  I wasn¡¯t even startled.  Not physically, anyway.  To an outside observer, I was the essence of calm.  As if every step of Q¡¯s metamorphosis was a well-rehearsed dance I¡¯d choreographed myself.

    In truth, I was frozen, not in fear but awe.

    The glow around Q condensed, giving birth to two different beams of light that protruded from Q¡¯s back.  As if solid, they began to move and fold.  Slowly, the particles of light composing each beam turned claylike, molding and bending onto themselves until a clear form appeared.  My jaw dropped.  I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes.

    Behind Q, the shards of light gave way to a pair of long and powerful ivory wings.  They flapped slow and steady yet did not ripple in the air around them.  The intense burst of light was gone, yet Q remained luminous.  Words cannot adequately describe the¡­uh, phenomenon¡­before me. I know I¡¯m not doing him justice.  If I sat here for days, filling these pages with every detail, every thought, and feeling coursing through me, I would still fail miserably.  This miracle could not be explained, only experienced.

    I moved toward him without thinking, ¡°My god. You¡¯re an angel.¡±

    Q smiled.  ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid not, Jacob.¡±  While his current form was larger than life, his words rang out as a soft, timeless melody capable of soothing the most restless souls.  I didn¡¯t care what Q said.  He was angelic.

    ¡°I am Qua¡¯quelle, and my people are the El¡¯odian Nave.¡± His declaration resonated with a sense of power and pride.  ¡°I stand before you in my true form.¡± Pulling his wings back towards the night air, Q descended slowly and offered me his hand.  ¡°Question this new reality if you must, be angry if it helps, look away if necessary, but please, Jacob, never fear me.¡±

    I was still in shock.  Who wouldn¡¯t be?  This wasn¡¯t something I could fix with the snap of my finger, especially when I had yet to identify what or who was broken.  All I could do was stare.

    Q hovered.

    Q glowed.

    Q had wings.

    I was dumbfounded.

    So, was this the broken list?  How do I begin to make sense of this new revelation?

    I¡¯m not going to lie; there did come a moment part of me wanted to run.  It was the exact part now telling me to hide under the most enormous rock I could find and pretend everything was normal.  But another part of me said that from here on out, life would never be normal again.  And it didn¡¯t matter how big the rock was¡­

    Q took a few steps toward me.  Instead of backing away, I stretched my hand to touch his illuminating chest.  And I don¡¯t mean that figuratively.  He wasn¡¯t bathed in a soft light; he was emitting it from the very skin I meant to touch.  I panicked, balled up my fist, and pulled away at the last minute.  Q grabbed my wrist and held it in place just inches from his chest.  Our eyes met.  Or, more accurately, my eyes met his pools of light.  I tugged my arm back defiantly against his grip.  I don¡¯t know why.  It wasn¡¯t out of cruelty or anger.  I think I was trying to be brave.  Or stubborn.

    Either way, it didn¡¯t matter.  Q refused to let go and gently guided my hand to his chest.

    My first thought was that he was solid and real.  My second was that I felt no heartbeat.  There was just warmth radiating from him like heat from a cozy fire.  I took his gesture as permission to explore.  Without taking my hand from his body, I walked around him, caressing his form as I moved.  Eventually, my hand rested on his ivory wings.  Individually, each feather felt as supple and fragile as a rose petal.  Yet together, laid one over the next, they formed a weave as strong as an iron curtain.

    I stood before him once more, tongue-tied.  What could I possibly say to match the magnitude of his revelation?  ¡°Um¡­I¡¯m sorry about your car.¡±  Yes, very Shakespearean of me, I know.

    He kind of smirked; I might have blushed.

    Then he pulled his wings close to his back and walked to the cliff¡¯s edge.  He stretched his hand over the side, and it glowed as if set on fire.  For the first time, I was forced to squint.  Before I knew it, the SUV was floating over our heads, engulfed in a tracker beam of white light.  With a slight wave of his hand, the car landed twenty feet away.

    I remember whispering ¡®holy shit¡¯ as I watched Q approach the vehicle.  I don¡¯t know whether it was about Q¡¯s impressive feat or that the SUV was fucked and smashed.   It was probably a combination of both.  Q¡¯s eyes flashed, and the light surrounding the vehicle did the same.  I watched in awe as the SUV repaired itself.  The frame twisted back into place.  The tires filled with air, and the light washed over the windows leaving behind tinted glass.  The SUV looked like it had just come off the lot in less than thirty seconds.  And then suddenly, there was a brilliant flash, and it was gone.

    ¡°What happened to it?¡± I asked, stunned.

    ¡°I sent it back to the house,¡± he said simply, as if that just happens in everyday life.

    I don¡¯t know what I felt, but the look on my face must have read ¡®horror.¡¯

    ¡°Jacob, don¡¯t be frightened.¡±

    ¡°Frightened?¡±  I scoffed.  ¡°Are you kidding me?  In the last ten minutes, I¡¯ve gone from scared to amazed to confused to I don¡¯t know what anymore.¡±  I paused, took a deep breath, and stared at him.  ¡°What are you?¡±

    ¡°Talk about your loaded questions,¡± he answered in an uncertain tone I¡¯d never heard from Q before.  ¡°You have questions¡­.¡±¡°You think?¡± I interrupted.

    He immediately flashed that ¡®I¡¯m still your Big look¡¯ but then backed down.   That pissed me off.   Why should I be all ¡®yes sir, no sir¡± when he¡¯s the one with explaining to do.

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to give the answers you need, but you must afford me a little more time.¡±

    ¡°Time?  Time for what?  Perhaps you didn¡¯t notice, but the cat is out of the bag on this one.¡±

    ¡°I get that, Jacob.  But you must understand; this is not how you were meant to find out about us.  You¡¯re still pledging The Brotherhood, and there¡¯s a process.  I jumped over a few steps.¡±

    ¡°Pledging?  Are you kidding me?  I¡¯m so past that right now; it¡¯s not even funny.¡±

    ¡°Be that as it may, you¡¯re still part of the pledge class, and this is not a simple college fraternity.  You¡¯re expected to make one final decision before the night is over.  You¡¯ve come this far, Jacob¡­all I¡¯m asking is for you to go a little further and then make up your mind.  If this proves to be too much, you can walk away with no strings.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say.  I stared at him; his eyes were still nothing more than two pools of light but mesmerizing, nonetheless.

    ¡°Something tells me you¡¯re more than just a little curious otherwise, you would¡¯ve taken off like a bat out of hell when I revealed myself to you.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±  Q took a step towards me, and I recoiled.  The pain in his face was instant.    The light from Q faded, his eyes morphed to silver, and his wings appeared to dissolve into a mist of light until only the darkness of the night remained.   ¡°I guess I wasn¡¯t prepared for my true self might be too frightening for you to handle.¡±  The sadness in his voice made me physically hurt.

    To see that kind of expression on the face of an ¡°angel¡± truly shattered my heart.  That my thoughtless action could cause him such grief tore at the very fiber of my being. ¡°Oh God no, Q, that¡¯s not it,¡± I assured him.  Without a second thought, I walked up and kissed him.  I don¡¯t know why I did it, but it felt right.  I guess I needed to connect to him, to remind myself that he was still my Q.  The way he returned my kiss and held me in his arms removed all doubt.

    As if snapping back to reality, Q jerked his head and gave me a confused sideways glance.  ¡°This means what exactly?¡±

    ¡°That I¡¯m scared out of my mind.  That part of me screams ¡®RUN!¡¯ Everything I¡¯ve known as truth has changed forever.¡±

    Q tensed in my arms.

    ¡°But more importantly, I trust you and am willing to wait for the answers I need you to give.  Beyond that, I can¡¯t make any promises.  My head is swimming.  I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t the least curious about who¡­uh, what¡­you are.¡±

    Q smiled and caressed my face with the back of his hand.  ¡°I promise you won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±

    There was a long moment where we just gazed into each other¡¯s eyes, and even though they appeared normal again, I could¡¯ve sworn I saw a faint shimmer cross his eyes every so often.  I was so taken in by him I hardly noticed the words ¡°what are you¡± escape my lips in a whisper.

    ¡°Let me show you,¡± Q said softly, his smile even more radiant than before.  As we held each other, Q melted away from me and was transformed into pure light.  He had no form at all; he became a mist of swirling light.  ¡°In our truest form, we exist as beings of pure energy and thought.¡±  Q¡¯s voice permeated the whirling light as clearly as if he were in his ¡°human¡± form.

    I reached out and slowly waved my hand into the light.  Q¡¯s energy passed through my fingers like water from a stream; before I could react, the energy cloud engulfed me.  I felt Q all around me, his essences bathing my skin like sunlight.  I started giggling and threw my hands in the air as I turned like a little kid playing in the sprinklers.

    ¡°This is amazing,¡± I yelled, laughing, the warmth of Q caressing my lips.  ¡°This is fucking amazing!¡±  I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to him completely.  What I felt in that moment can¡¯t be explained with mere words, for how does one describe being wrapped in pure bliss?

    How does one describe heaven?

    It took me a moment to realize it, but at some point, I was being held from behind by a pair of strong arms, his lips pressed against my ear.  ¡°We¡¯re home,¡± he said.  Q had retaken human form.  I batted my eyes open and spun around to meet his gaze, and sure enough, there was the TBH house right behind him.  ¡°How the¡­¡±

    We had returned to the house without the slightest sense of movement or time.

    ¡°All in good time, Jacob.  I promise,¡± he said simply.  ¡°But for now, come inside.   Arrangements must be made before I can spill my guts and submit to your inquisition.¡±  He placed his finger under my chin to tilt my head up slightly.  ¡°You trust me, right?¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Just tell me one thing.  Are all the brothers like you?¡±

    ¡°No.  If it helps, we are the minority.  There are more Brothers like you than there are like me.  And I¡¯m talking throughout The Brotherhood, not just our house.¡±

    For some reason, that did help.  I guess I didn¡¯t feel alone in this.  I mean, if other¡­uh, humans? Non-angels¡­stuck around after finding out the truth, then it was worth finding out why.

    I followed Q inside the house and stood in the living room.  He told me to wait for him there.  He needed to talk to the rest of the Circle about what happened.  That made me nervous, but he assured me everything would be okay.  I felt a little better, but I didn¡¯t want him to leave.

    Sitting on the couch, I noticed the old guy from earlier in the night.  He was sleeping in the chair by the window and snoring too loud for my taste.  What the hell was a hundred-year-old guy doing in the house anyway?

    One of the Brothers walked in, greeted me by name, and perused through the books on the coffee table.  He narrowed his choice down to two, and all the while, I was looking at this poor guy like he was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing.  I scrutinized everything about him for clues as to which side of the fence he falls on.

    ¡°One of them,¡± I whispered as he walked away with an old leatherbound book in his hand.

    I had no clue.  But that didn¡¯t stop me from profiling the following three brothers who walked by.  Ultimately, I realized I was only going to drive myself crazing playing the ¡°is he one of them or one of me¡± game.  I needed something to occupy my mind, so I picked up the Connecticut Post someone left on the coffee table.  Just when I thought my night couldn¡¯t get weirder, there was an article about U.S Senator James K. Polk on the newspaper¡¯s third page.  He passed away two nights ago from natural causes after serving as a senator for thirty-three years.  He was cremated this morning.

    That was all well and good and not the least interesting, except that this deceased U.S Senator was snoring up a storm not ten feet from me!

    I threw the paper down and said, ¡°fuck it.¡±  This was the least of the mysteries I was interested in solving today.  And what would be the point?  When it was all said and done, I¡¯d end up right where I started but with more questions and no answers.

    No thanks.

    My mind drifted away from my surroundings and centered on the moment I saw Q in his proper form.  It all seemed like a dream, yet its reality was terrifying.  What was I getting myself into?  As fantastic as his revelation was, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I was standing in a minefield; one wrong step, and it would all blow up in my face.

    ¡°Dude!¡±

    The shriek of CJ¡¯s voice in my ear nearly yanked me out of my skin.  I was on my feet before I knew what was going on.  ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡± I demanded.  ¡°Are you deficient?¡±

    ¡°Dude, I was standing over there calling you but didn¡¯t budge.  I figured I had to get up close and personal to pull you out of la-la land.  You ok?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine,¡± I snapped.  ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± CJ held his chest as if I were accusing him of something.  ¡°I don¡¯t want anything, but the Brothers are having us gather in the Pit¡­so come on.¡±  He slapped my arm and took off.

    I hesitated for a second before following behind CJ.  Some of the guys were already down in the Pit waiting for us.  Anthony, Arsen, Paul, and Troy greeted us as we descended the stairs.  Steven and Jason showed up a few minutes after I did, and no one noticed Mike was already in the room until he emerged from the surrounding shadows.  He ignored me, of course, and I was more than happy to return the favor.

    ¡°Hey bud,¡± Arsen said, throwing his arm over my shoulders.  ¡°How was your night out with the Q man?¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I answered with a smirk.

    ¡°Really?¡±  He looked genuinely interested, his raised brow a question in itself.  ¡°What did you guys end up doing?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­something tells me you¡¯ll find out very soon.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± he waited for a moment, not because he was giving me time to respond.  The light bulb going off in his head caused him to pause.  ¡°Wait a minute.  You know something big, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± I laughed despite myself.  ¡°That¡¯s like the biggest understatement of the century. If you knew half of what I do, you¡¯d go nuts. Forget figuring out the other half because your brain would collapse.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, what are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±

    ¡°Have you been drinking?¡±

    ¡°God no,¡± I laughed again, ¡°but I can guarantee you¡¯re all going to wish you had been before the nights over.¡±

    Ant came over and draped his arms over both our shoulders.  ¡°What are you guys whispering about?¡± Ant asked.

    Before anyone could answer, CJ jumped on us and did the same.  ¡°Why are we in a huddle?¡±

    Arsen said, nodding in my direction, ¡°Jacob knows what we¡¯re doing down here.¡±

    ¡°Dude!  Spill!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about anything,¡± I lied and slithered out from under the weight of their arms.  ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find out why they brought us down here soon enough, so just back off me.¡±

    ¡°Damn, dude, I didn¡¯t mean to get your panties all in a bunch.  I just thought we were bros and shared things.¡±

    ¡°Of course, we¡¯re bros.  It has nothing to do with that.  I just don¡¯t know what it is you guys want me to tell you.  I¡¯m just as much in the dark as the rest of you.¡±

    ¡°Well then, why didn¡¯t you just say so?¡±  CJ slapped my ass and winked before wandering over to Troy and Jason.

    Arsen looked at me with narrow eyes and a dismissive smirk.  ¡°You¡¯re lying.  You said my head would explode if I knew what you did.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I am, and maybe I¡¯m not.  The point is, if I did know something, you know damn well I can¡¯t say anything.  And everyone knows it, so why bother asking?¡±

    Arsen knew I was right.  ¡°Shut up, smartass.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡±  I took a slight bow and looked around the room.  ¡°Hey, where are the rest of the guys?¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t be joining us this evening,¡± a voice spoke out from the dark corners of the Pit.  It was smooth and melodic, so it was no surprise when Q stepped into the light.  Shawn and Seth followed him.   Eric and Steel appeared from the opposite side of the room.  I now understood how they could move in and out of places unnoticed.  Or at least I had a better idea.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    They gathered, side-by-side, in front of us. Without a word, we formed a line from tallest to shortest in some sort of Pavlovian response.  Even in our silence, I knew we all had the same question burning on the tips of our tongues.

    True to form, Q addressed our unspoken concerns.  ¡°I know you¡¯re wondering what happens to the rest of your pledge brothers.¡±  Taking a step towards us, Q placed his hands behind his back.  ¡°The fact is, the seven of you are all that remain.¡±

    ¡°As you know, each of you faced an individual trial,¡± Seth continued.   ¡°It was the final test to determine if you were Brotherhood material.  Unfortunately, Kevin, Nick, Sam, Xavier, and Justin did not pass their trial.¡±

    My stomach churned at the sound of Nick¡¯s name.  Our little circle was now a man short.  The ¡®no man left behind¡¯ mantra popped in my head.  Somehow it felt like we¡¯d failed him. That being said, it was a fleeting feeling at best. Humans have a penchant for being short in memory.  Even under the best circumstances, our group would only mourn his loss for a few days.  Eventually, in the wake of passing the time and shared bonding experiences, Nick would become nothing more than a guy we used to know way back in the day¡¯.

    But this wasn¡¯t the best of circumstances, and I needed to get to the punch line faster than usual.  As much as I liked the guy, I couldn¡¯t concern myself with anyone other than the men standing with me in the Pit.  There was too much at stake.

    ¡°They were all dismissed without penalty and with the house¡¯s blessing.  The fact that they made it as far as they did is a feat in and of itself.¡±  Seth paused for a moment, and then a warm smile appeared.  ¡°They have earned our respect. We¡¯ll look in on them from time to time and, when necessary, help them along.   It is a long-standing tradition of The Brotherhood ¨C watching over pledges who made it as far as they did.¡±

    With his arm outstretched, Shawn took his turn at the imaginary podium.

    ¡°That brings us to the seven of you.¡±  I didn¡¯t catch it when Q initially said it, but it clicked when Shawn repeated the count.  There were nine of us, not seven.  ¡°You¡¯re standing at the precipice, the fork in the road, and it¡¯s up to you to decide to join this family or walk away from it.¡±

    ¡°The choice may not be as simple as you think,¡± Eric said.  ¡°We¡¯ll give you a glimpse of the fantastic journey ahead in a minute.¡±

    ¡°Will you have the courage to see it thru?¡± Steel asked.  ¡°It¡¯s going to be scary.  It might seem unbelievable, but you¡¯ve trusted us this far, so we¡¯re hoping you¡¯ll take one more leap of faith.  You remain because you¡¯re the best of the best.  You¡¯ve earned the right to know us for what we truly are¡­¡± he paused for effect, ¡°and for what you may one day become.¡±

    I looked sideways at my fellow pledges, and the look on their faces was priceless.  They didn¡¯t have a clue as to what was coming.  After making it this far, they wondered what possible twist the Brothers had up their sleeves.  What could make us change our minds?

    ¡°Every one of you has been put in a situation where you witnessed or heard something you couldn¡¯t explain,¡± Q said, his eyes shifting in my direction for a moment.  ¡°When you thought you were being sneaky, we were planting the seed of the impossible.  We worked to open your mind to a new reality.

    ¡°Like when you saw me get shot, Jacob or you overheard my conversation with Soullen.  I knew you were there.¡±

    ¡°Or when you thought I was hit by that truck, Anthony,¡± Eric added.   ¡°On each occasion, you awoke as if from a dream.  Even though we convinced you it wasn¡¯t real on some occasions, your minds were open to the possibility, if only for a moment.  It was all to prepare you for tonight.¡±

    I already knew what would happen and was still on the edge of my seat.  I could only imagine how the other guys felt.

    As Q stepped up to the center, the other brothers backed away in a semicircle to give each additional room.  ¡°We would be honored to welcome you into The Brotherhood.¡±  In a blink of an eye, the room went pitch black.  ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    In seconds that seemed like an eternity, Q was bathed in a burning white light, his arms out to the side as he ascended into the air for the second time that night.  It was exactly as it was on the cliff and just as astounding.  I could witness this fantastic transformation a million times, and I don¡¯t think it would cease to amaze me.

    It took a lot for me to tear my gaze from Q, but I wanted to see my fellow pledges¡¯ reactions.  Arsen stood by my side like a statue.  The sight before him was too much to process, and his body went into a shut-down mood.  Anthony had both hands over his mouth, shaking his head in disbelief.  Paul dropped to his knees and stared at Q as if praying to a god.  CJ was giddy.  He was the only one who seemed to appreciate the excitement of the situation.  The rest of the pledges were out of my line of sight.  I wasn¡¯t about to step out of line just to see them.   Curiosity and the cat and all¡­

    When the ethereal light show ended, Q remained in the air for a moment before slowly descending to the ground.  He stood proudly alongside the Inner Circle; each of the brothers transformed and bathed in a soft luminescent aura.  Like Q, their eyes were replaced with pools of light.  At first glance, their wings appeared identical, shimmering ivory, magnificent and powerful.  But like a fingerprint, if you looked closely, subtle differences made each set of wings unique.

    You had but to lay eyes on them to know there was heaven, for, despite Q¡¯s claims to the contrary, they indeed appeared like a choir of angels.

    Out of the blue, Jason started yelling about an invasion and aliens and ran like a crazy man.   He made it halfway up the stairs before Seth waved his hand.  Instantly, Jason was encased in an orb of light.

    ¡°Unfortunately, not everyone is prepared for the truth of what we are,¡± Seth said.

    The field around Jason got brighter and brighter until finally, there was a flash, and he was gone.  A few of us took a step back at the abrupt display of their power.  Did they just kill him?

    ¡°Duuuude¡­.¡±

    ¡°We did not harm Jason,¡± Eric assured us.  ¡°He¡¯s asleep in his dorm room.  Tomorrow he¡¯ll wake up believing he was dismissed for not passing his trial. He¡¯ll have no memory of what happened here tonight.  We wish him well on his life¡¯s journey without us.  He was not prepared for what we had to offer.  The question is, are you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re angels,¡± Anthony proclaimed confidently despite the slight tremble in his voice.

    Q looked at me and smiled.

    ¡°We¡¯re not angels,¡± Shawn said, placing one hand on his chest and gesturing to the rest of the circle.  ¡°And we¡¯re not aliens either.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡± Paul couldn¡¯t finish his thought.

    Wrapping his wings against his back like a cloak, Seth went up to Paul and helped him to his feet.  He placed his hand on the side of Paul¡¯s face and smiled before rejoining the circle.

    ¡°We are a race of immortal beings known as the El¡¯odian Nave,¡± Q said.  ¡°We were created on this planet over seventy million years ago.¡±

    I honestly think my jaw hit the floor.  I know my heart stopped.  What do you say to that?  How do you even formulate a thought around that new reality?¡±

    ¡°Wicked cool,¡± CJ whispered.

    Not exactly what I had in mind but leave it to CJ to have a cavalier attitude about everything.

    None of the Brothers said anything for a while.  They were giving us time to process that number¡­seventy million years. They could¡¯ve given me the next ten years, and I doubt I¡¯d be able to wrap my head around it fully.

    ¡°How¡¯s that even possible?¡± Troy asked.  ¡°I mean seventy million years ago.  Come on!  Weren¡¯t there dinosaurs back then and shit?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there were,¡± Shawn said matter-of-factly.  ¡°The Nave has existed along the same timeline as many incredible life forms. Dinosaurs are just one of them.¡±

    ¡°But how¡¯s that possible?¡± Troy demanded.

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story, Troy; seventy million years of history.  One your Big will be glad to share with you once you¡¯ve made your choice.¡±

    ¡°And what choice is that?¡± Arsen inquired.

    ¡°Whether or not you¡¯re prepared to join us. Your futures are still very much in your hands.  You can choose to walk away, and, like Jason, you¡¯ll wake up tomorrow believing you were dismissed.  All memories of what you witnessed tonight will be suppressed. Or you can join The Brotherhood and learn of us, our ways, our history¡­our very existence.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in!¡± CJ declared without the slightest hint of hesitation.  ¡°What do I have to do?  Where do I sign up?  I mean, are there forms I need to fill out?  A comprehensive health plan with dental and vision?  What?¡±

    All the Brothers laughed at his enthusiasm.  Shawn walked up to CJ and clasped his face with his luminous aura and wings fading away. ¡°I love your energy, CJ,¡± he said and looked over his shoulder at the others.  ¡°We all do.  But this is not a decision that should be made lightly.  This will change your life in ways you cannot begin to imagine.  As much as we want you to join us, you need to take the time to weigh your decision.   Because once you commit, there is no turning back.  You will be part of The Brotherhood for life.  You will live within our traditions, laws, and ways.  You will be subject to our demands, priorities, and restrictions, not as a pledge, but as an equal member of The Brotherhood.  And you will be privileged with the most amazing freedoms, honors, and experiences ¨C an existence filled with more than you could ever dream.¡±

    ¡°If we did decide to join, does that mean we would become what you are?¡± Arsen asked.

    ¡°All Brothers are equal in the eyes of The Brotherhood.  However, not all Brothers are Nave.  We all have our roles to play.   Some of those roles require a Brother to remain human.  But even our ¡®human¡¯ Brothers, upon fulfilling their human task, will ultimately be offered the Gift and the opportunity to become El¡¯odian Nave.¡±

    ¡°And if we choose to remain as we are?  To remain forever in human form?¡±

    ¡°Then you remain human with the full support of The Brotherhood,¡± Q assured.  He returned to his human form and the rest of the Inner Circle. ¡°But I¡¯ll be honest with you.  If you were to talk to any of our human brothers, no one among them would refuse the Gift.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right, you know.¡±  At first, I didn¡¯t realize it was Mike talking until he stepped out of the line.  Mike looked at the rest of us with a smile.  ¡°A little over a hundred years ago, I was in your shoes.¡±

    ¡°And I, almost a thousand years before Michael.¡±  Steve moved out of our line to stand next to Mike.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    I had no idea who blurted that out, but I concurred with him entirely.

    Before our very eyes, light swirled around our fellow pledge brothers, transforming them into one of the Nave.  Unlike Q¡¯s flashy introduction, Mike and Steve changed in seconds but were just as awe-inspiring.  Even though he was annoying, Mike was always a good-looking guy, even more so now that he was bathed in that radiant aura.  On the other hand, Steve went from a skinny emo kid to a toned and cut stud.  Like the rest of the Brothers, Steven looked like he walked out of an underwear ad.

    Holy shit¡­

    ¡°Are you serious?  You both were Brothers this whole time?¡± Paul asked.

    ¡°Every pledge class secretly gets a couple of Brothers in their midst,¡± Steven answered.  ¡°A role Mike and I have been doing for many years now.¡±

    ¡°But¡­but¡­¡± Paul was too overwhelmed to form another coherent thought.  I¡¯m sure his mind was spinning with all the times he mistreated Steve.

    ¡°It¡¯s the way it¡¯s always been,¡± Steel said as he stepped between the two.  ¡°Each plays a vital role in your development as brothers.  On the one hand, you have the arrogant and thick-headed pledge who thinks he knows it all and feels everyone should bow down to him simply because he is who he is. We ask ourselves, will anyone have the courage to stand up to him?¡±

    ¡°Jacob did,¡± Shaun said with a smile.  ¡°You showed all the qualities we look for in a leader and a fellow Brother.  For that, we commend you.¡±

    ¡°And on the other hand, you have a pledge that¡¯s not quite cut from the same mold as everyone else.  He¡¯s seen as the outcast, the one who¡¯ll likely not make it to the end and drag everyone down with him.  Do you shun him?¡±  Steel¡¯s gaze fell on each pledge as he spoke.

    ¡°No, they don¡¯t,¡± Shaun said proudly.  ¡°They embrace him in the spirit of brotherhood.  Even Paul came around eventually.¡±  He looked at Paul and smirked.  ¡°These are just some of the things we look for in a potential brother, and you guys did not disappoint.¡±

    Steven stood in front of us with a little smile playing on his lips.  ¡°You guys are awesome.  And I know you¡¯re unsure of yourself and the things to come, but believe me when I say, joining The Brotherhood was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I promise you, a year from now, should you decide to stay, you¡¯ll be just as grateful.¡±  He walked up and placed his hands on Paul¡¯s shoulders.  ¡°No matter what you decide, remember to stay true to yourself.¡±

    I could tell Paul wanted to say something, but the words were caught in his throat.  If I had to guess, he probably wanted to apologize for all the times he treated him like shit.  I think Steve understood exactly what Paul wanted to say, for he smiled and kissed him on the lips before backing up and fading away in a halo of light.

    Mike came up to me and offered me his hand.  ¡°Sorry for being such an ass,¡± he said as we shook hands.  ¡°But I always knew you had it in you.¡±  He offered a sincere smile and then disappeared much as Steve did.

    I took a moment to step back and look at everything with a fresh pair of eyes.  This was happening.  It wasn¡¯t a dream.  There are people out there who aren¡¯t people at all.  They have wings, their eyes turn into pure light, and they vanish into thin air as quickly as I would step thru a door.  It¡¯s like everything I grew up believing wasn¡¯t real anymore.

    ¡°May I ask something?¡± I finally said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Seth replied.

    ¡°You guys paint an amazing picture of what life in The Brotherhood would be like.  The bond, the camaraderie, the prestige of being part of this house, but is there something else we should know?  For instance, the Brothers Q and I ran into at the mall tonight didn¡¯t seem to be all about the hugs and kisses.  I¡¯m assuming they were Brothers, right?  Because the things I saw them do¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re waiting for the other shoe to drop,¡± Steel said.  ¡°You suspect there is a darker side of what we offer.¡±  He laughed.  ¡°That¡¯s why we like you, Jacob.  You think ahead and assess all the angles.¡±

    ¡°The being who accosted you tonight were not Brothers, Jacob,¡± Shaun said.  ¡°A Nave would ever harm one of his own.¡±  He paused for a moment.  He was trying to figure out the best way to explain without revealing too much.  I¡¯m sure he was bound to some oath of silence until we made our decision.  He looked at the rest of the Circle, and they nodded as if permitting him.

    ¡°When the El¡¯odian Nave were created so were the El¡¯odian Skai.  They are our opposite in every way ¨C the yin to our yang.  While the Nave were created from the very essence of life and light, the Skai were forged from flame and shadow.  You cannot tell us apart in our human forms, but in our actual forms, we appear as night and day.¡±

    Shawn produced two golf ball-sized orbs from the palm of his hand that he tossed to the side.  They exploded on impact, and after the initial flash faded, we saw two very naked guys standing there.  Upon closer examination, I realized they were twins with black hair, blue eyes, and identical bodies.

    ¡°They¡¯re not real,¡± Shaun assured us.  ¡°Just something conjured from my mind to help illustrate my point.  On the left, you have an El¡¯odian Nave.¡±  The guy on the left changed very much as Q did, and within moments, he was standing before us; his ivory wings stretched out with the very tips reaching for the heavens.  ¡°Every form of life has its natural enemy.  As out of this world as we may seem to you, we¡¯re no different.¡±

    The guy on the right began going thru a very different transformation.  His eyes turned black as tar while his hair became white as snow.  His skin took on a dark grayish tone with a subtle luster as if his body was oiled.  All the pledges jumped when two pillars of fire exploded from his back.  Within seconds they started to flap and take shape.  When the flames were extinguished, all that remained were a pair of feathered wings as black as a raven.

    ¡°This is our enemy, an El¡¯odian Skai,¡± Shaun declared.

    The Skai was just as unique as the Nave standing beside him.  Don¡¯t think for a moment I was describing some demon spawn from hell.  Even in his dark form, he was a sight to behold.  Granted, if I saw something like that walking toward me a week ago, I would¡¯ve run like hell, but since I wasn¡¯t in danger, I could honestly admire his unique beauty.  They were cut from the same cloth when it came to their looks.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± Q said.

    Shawn nodded, and they were gone with a flash of his eyes.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying Nave are the good guys, and the other guys are bad?¡±  Arsen inquired.

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± Seth said.   ¡°The division between the Nave and Skai is much more complicated than such a simple concept as good and evil.  Take two lions, for instance.  Pit them against each other, and they would defend their pride with their lives, but that does not make one more or less evil than the other.  We have big philosophical differences.  I can argue that we are right, and they are wrong, but that¡¯s just self-serving, for they would make the same argument against us.¡±

    ¡°Would we be putting ourselves in danger if we joined The Brotherhood?¡± Arsen pushed a little further.

    ¡°There¡¯s always a risk,¡± Steel said.  ¡°That¡¯s just the nature of life.  You''re taking a risk every time you wake up and go outside. You know very well there¡¯s a chance you can be hit by a car or get mugged on your way to the store.  Yet that doesn¡¯t stop you from stepping thru the door every morning.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± Q said again.  ¡°We¡¯ve said all we can at this point.  It is now up to you.  I realize the decisions before you are not easy ones, but it is one you¡¯ll have to make.  Unfortunately, time is limited.  If you continue on the journey to becoming one with The Brotherhood, meet your Big in his bedroom no later than midnight tonight.  If this is not a path you can follow, simply do nothing.  At 12:01 am, you will wake up in your dorm with no memory of tonight¡¯s events.  Until then, you are free to do as you wish.  However, your Big will not answer any more questions.  This decision is meant to be difficult.  More importantly, it¡¯s meant to be a leap of faith in The Brotherhood and how you see yourself.  You know little and surely question much.  These are the building blocks on which you must base your decision.  I suggest you consider your options carefully for the next few hours.¡±

    The Inner Circle gathered around Q, and they shimmered away into thin air one by one.  Q¡¯s gaze shifted to me, and I saw a hopeful longing in his eyes just before he disappeared.

    We stood in silence for nearly ten minutes.  Most of the group, myself included, moved not a muscle, but a couple of guys paced back and forth.  The shock was too real for us to find the right words unless you¡¯re CJ.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s about all the time I need,¡± he said as he slapped his hands together.  ¡°I¡¯m in.  What about you dudes?¡±

    ¡°CJ, this isn¡¯t a joke,¡± Anthony said.  ¡°You need to take this seriously.  This isn¡¯t like deciding whether to wear boxers or briefs in the morning.¡±

    ¡°For those of us who wear underwear, anyway,¡± Arsen added.

    ¡°Dude, I am taking this seriously.  I¡¯ve never taken anything more seriously in my life.  I¡¯m dead serious when I say I¡¯m in.¡±

    ¡°Oh please,¡± Paul scoffed, ¡°you¡¯ve barely had enough time to form a thought, and when one comes to you, it¡¯s a major undertaking.  It¡¯s like an Olympic event.¡±

    ¡°Be that as it may, I¡¯ve made up my mind.  I mean, come on!  What¡¯s there to think about?¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding me, CJ?¡±  I was utterly dumbfounded that he could ask that.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.  Are you kidding just yourselves or me?  Do you mean to tell me you dudes can go back to living a normal life given what we know now?  Do you want to forget all this?  To finish school and find that cozy nine to five job so you can live the rest of your life in ignorance.  Well, fuck that dude!¡±

    ¡°We get it, CJ,¡± Anthony said.  ¡°It¡¯s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but still we¡­.¡±

    ¡°Fuck that!¡± CJ fired back.  ¡°Sleeping with Halle Berry is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Winning the lottery is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Jacking off in the Roosevelt Room in the White House while on a school trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.¡±  We all sort of just looked at him for a second.  ¡°But what these guys are offering is so beyond a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  These guys have been around for millions and millions of years.  We¡¯re talking about the secrets of the universe type stuff here ¨C the meaning of life.  Can you walk away from all that?¡±

    I have never seen CJ so passionate about something before.  And the scary part is he was making sense.

    ¡°Bury your heads in the sand if you want, but I¡¯d rather spread my wings and fly.¡±  He slowly walked up the stairs and was probably hoping we¡¯d all follow.  He stopped without turning to face us and said, ¡°I hope you have the courage to fly alongside me.¡±

    The minute he disappeared, Troy jumped up and headed for the stairs.  ¡°I¡¯m with CJ,¡± he said simply and walked out of the Pit.

    ¡°And then there were four,¡± Anthony joked.  ¡°So, what do you guys think?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking CJ is right,¡± Arsen said.

    I felt a tightening in my chest.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can walk away from this now,¡± he continued.  ¡°They¡¯ve opened up a whole new world to us, and I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t the least bit curious.¡±

    ¡°I hear ya,¡± Paul agreed.

    My heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a second.

    ¡°What do you think, Jacob?¡± Arsen asked.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to be sick.¡±  I bolted out of the Pit in desperate need of some fresh air.

    ¡°Jacob, wait!¡±

    I rushed outside and welcomed the cool breeze on my face.  I breathed more easily and didn¡¯t feel so constricted and trapped.  My heart wasn¡¯t racing a mile a minute anymore.

    I sighed, and two seconds later, I was on my hands and knees, puking my guts out.  What the hell was wrong with me?  How could everyone else see the light so clearly, and I was filled was so many doubts?  I will say this; the puking did help.

    Instead of going back into the house, I decided to go for a walk.  I was hoping to get my thoughts in order to make the right decision.  Many different things passed thru my mind; I weighed the pros and cons.  Q¡¯s ending speech was like a call to duty; one of those ¡®the few, the proud, the¡­well, The Brotherhood¡¯s type of rallies and the fact that I was second-guessing the challenge made me feel weak.

    Was I failing already?  Had I disappointed Q by not following CJ whole-heartedly up those stairs, dashing into Q¡¯s bedroom and screaming, ¡®Yes! Yes!  Where do I sign?¡¯¡±

    I don¡¯t know how or why, but I walked past Lady White¡¯s shop just as she came out and locked the door.  ¡°Hello, Jacob,¡± she said before she ever turned to see me standing there.  That was just creepy.

    She walked up to me, adjusting her shawl.  I looked her dead in the eyes and exclaimed, ¡°You¡¯re one of them, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    She laughed at me as if I was the silliest thing in the world to her.  ¡°Come¡­ join an old lady for a walk.¡±  Without waiting for an answer, she slipped her arm around mine and started walking.

    I felt kind of weird, which is probably why we walked for a block without saying a word.  I think she picked up on the fact that if she didn¡¯t get the ball rolling, I sure as hell wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°I can¡¯t decide for you, Jacob,¡± she said, patting my arm like a loving grandmother. ¡°The road before you is yours and yours alone.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I protested.  ¡°I wasn¡¯t seeking you out for answers.  I was just out for a walk.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you were,¡± she laughed.  ¡°And you just happened to come across my shop tonight of all nights, stammering phrases like ¡®you¡¯re one of them,¡¯ right?¡±  She looked up at my face and smiled.  ¡°You young boys amuse me.¡±

    Lady White did have a point.  On some level, conscious or otherwise, I sought her out because I needed answers I knew the brothers weren¡¯t willing to provide.  And with all her craziness, I knew she had to be one of them.

    ¡°I¡¯m not one of them,¡± she said.

    Boy, was I on a roll that night.  ¡°What are you then? One of the Skai?¡±

    ¡°No.  I¡¯m something completely different, but that¡¯s a story for another time.  Besides, you didn¡¯t come here to discuss my family tree, did you?¡±

    Officially it was a question.  But, like most of her words, it was delivered as fact.  ¡°I just don¡¯t know what to do,¡± I conceded.

    ¡°First, ask yourself what it is you truly fear?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the Nave you fear.¡±

    ¡°The hell it isn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Jacob, you came down here to find me when you believed I was Nave in your heart.  A person terrified of the Nave world would not do that.  You would never have returned to the house after the incident on the cliff with Q.¡±

    I was taken aback.  ¡°How do you know about that?¡±

    ¡°I see many things,¡± was her vague and cryptic answer.  ¡°Just like I see, your fear does not lie with the El¡¯odian Nave.¡±

    ¡°Fine, since you¡¯re the fortune teller, why don¡¯t you clue me in on what I¡¯m afraid of?¡±

    ¡°I could tell you, but it wouldn¡¯t help.  You must hear it in your voice, from your lips, to come to terms with it.¡±

    Lady White led me to a bench, and we sat down; she clasped her hand over mine on my lap.  ¡°What if I tell you that if you walk away, you will eventually graduate from college with your doctoral Ph.D., marry Alexandra and have three children, and live in a house with the white picket fence?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say that¡¯s not such a shabby future.¡±

    ¡°But all the while, you¡¯ll live the rest of your life with this nagging feeling you¡¯re missing out on something, or more importantly, someone.  Unlike your fellow pledges, something else draws you to The Brotherhood.  It has nothing to do with who they are or represent.¡±

    ¡°Q,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°They may be able to make you forget about everything you saw tonight, but your love for Q is real, and that¡¯s not so easy to forget.  There will always be a part of you that will feel incomplete, and you¡¯ll never quite understand why.  I suppose if you can live with that¡­.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m so scared,¡± I interrupted.

    Placing her hands on either side of my face, Lady White forced me to look into her eyes.  ¡°What are you so afraid of, Jacob?

    I couldn¡¯t believe tears were rolling down my face.  ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to lose myself again.¡±  I looked away from her and cleared the tears with the back of my hand.  ¡°I spent the last nine years trying to build¡­uh, find¡­some form of an identity for myself, and I don¡¯t want to lose it again.¡±

    She placed her finger under my chin and lifted my head.  I closed my eyes as she kissed my forehead and whispered into my ear, ¡°how do you know this isn¡¯t the ¡®self¡¯ you were meant to find?¡±

    I gasped, and my eyes shot open.  Lady White was gone.  I still had a million questions and more than my share of doubt, but she left me with something I hadn¡¯t recognized before.  She left me with a renewed sense of hope.

    And with it, the realization that I wasn¡¯t ready to walk away from Q.

    It was no surprise that at 11:58 pm, my heart was fluttering as Q opened his bedroom door.  We stood there staring at each other; a clear sense of relief washed over his face.

    ¡°Just promise me one thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Anything.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t share any secrets of the universe with CJ.  That¡¯s just a recipe for disaster.¡±

    Q laughed his ass off and invited me in.  ¡°Have a seat,¡± he said, ¡°we have a lot to talk about¡­.¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XVII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XVII

    By X

    I sat down at Q¡¯s desk, not knowing what to expect. How exactly was this going to work? Were there home movies involved? Maybe slides? God, anything but slides. The mere thought brought back horrible memories of sitting in the cellar with my grandfather, watching his life flash before my eyes on the projector. As those thoughts crossed my mind, Q chuckled behind me. I turned to look at him with narrow, dagger-like eyes, wondering about the impossible.

    ¡°Care for water?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    I studied every mundane move Q made as he pulled bottled water and green apple from the mini-frig. He tossed me the water.

    My eyes narrowed. ¡°Are you reading my mind right now?¡± It wasn¡¯t so much a question as it was an accusation.

    Q walked over and placed both of his hands on the arms of my chair. ¡°You¡¯re cute when you¡¯re snarly.¡± My lips parted, but his kiss silenced any protest I hoped to make. It was slow and deep with a fiery passion that scorched my lips. I was more than happy to return the favor. ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to do that all night.¡± His lips brushed mine as he spoke. ¡°Given all that¡¯s happened tonight, I hope I didn¡¯t overstep.¡±

    He pulled away and stood before me in nothing more than a pair of white shorts. They had ¡°TBH¡± written down the left leg and showed just enough of his boxer briefs to drive me nuts. To add fuel to the fire, the curtains were open just enough for his body to soak up the light from the full moon. How he managed such a heavenly glow while still in human form was beyond me.

    ¡°Overstep?¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Where else would your lips belong if not on mine?¡± My hands were on his bare chest in a blink of an eye; my lips were pressed against his in half that time. I kept pushing him back as we kissed until we finally collapsed on this bed; the apple rolled from his hand and stopped between the pillows. His body pressed against mine felt terrific. I particularly enjoyed how he pretended to struggle while I pinned his hands over his head. Q could¡¯ve flipped me off like a ragdoll if he wanted, but he let me have my triumphant moment.

    My assault on his lips turned into small pecks until my lips were just whiskers away from his, and we stared deeply into each other¡¯s eyes. There was a glimmer in those gray pools, but like before, I wasn¡¯t sure if it was just the moonlight or something he did purposely. I leaned back and straddled his lap while slowly tracing my finger down his chest. It wasn¡¯t long before his hands snaked their way up to my thighs.

    Q looked so good lying under me. I wanted to devour him; the excitement in my pants made that clear, but that would have to wait for another time.

    With a heavy sigh, I rolled off Q. I punched him lightly in the stomach and plopped beside him. With my head propped on my left hand, I shoved the right one down my pants to adjust.

    ¡°Do you see what you do to me?¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t get mad at me. You¡¯re the one who stopped.¡± He reached for his apple and took a bite.

    My vicious glare didn¡¯t faze Q. ¡°You know exactly why I stopped. You promised answers. Don¡¯t think you can seduce your way out of it now.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s seducing?¡± Q laughed.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, rolling my eyes. ¡°Because greeting me half-naked in flimsy shorts is your way of telling me you were on your way to church.¡±

    Q laughed and took another bite of his apple. A comfortable silence fell between us. I stared at him, and he looked up at the ceiling. Was he collecting his thoughts? What does a god among men think about? Was I wrong to think of him in such a way?

    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve explained our origins to the pledges many times, yet I never quite know where to begin.¡±

    ¡°You¡­speechless? Shocking.¡±

    He backhanded me across my stomach with a smile creeping across his face. ¡°Being a smartass doesn¡¯t help.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s fun.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we start by having you ask three questions? They can be about anything over the last few weeks.¡±

    ¡°Why only three?¡±

    ¡°Control,¡± Q said with a grin and a wink. ¡°I am who I am, after all. But because I like you, I¡¯ll give you one for free. To answer your previous question, yes, I can read thoughts. More accurately, all El¡¯odian can read human thoughts to some degree.¡±

    He was going to say something more, but his words trailed off. Instead, he grasped my forearm and gently caressed it. ¡°I know what you would ask of me, Jacob, but I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t give it to you.¡± A shadow of regret enveloped the shimmer in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry.¡±

    I shot up like a bullet and sat on the very edge of the bed. My heart raced, my face flushed, and my stomach soured. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡± My awkward tone betrayed my words.

    ¡°Jacob,¡± Q whispered as his hand moved to my shoulder. ¡°I would love nothing more than to reach into the deepest recesses of your mind and give you back those lost years. Unfortunately, it¡¯s not that simple. We learned the hard way that humans cannot survive such an intrusion into their thoughts. Therefore, we only read what¡¯s on the surface.¡±

    Shrugging his hand from my shoulder, I rose and moved to the bookcase. I pressed my palms against my damp eyes and swallowed hard. My back remained to Q. ¡°So three questions, huh?¡± I grabbed the chalice and held it over my head. I didn¡¯t want him to see my face. ¡°What was this all about? Was I drinking poison, or was it all bullshit?¡±

    The dream of uncovering my past had faded long ago. Yet, in that brief moment, I allowed hope to creep back into my heart. It was quick and stupid and surprisingly painful.

    ¡°No, it was quite real,¡± he answered.

    The bed betrayed nothing of his departure. So I jumped slightly when his arms coiled around my waist, the apple still in hand. His tender lips on the nape of my neck brought a smile to my face. ¡°It¡¯s something we developed a long time ago. His lips brushed against my neck as he spoke each word¡­dancing, tingling, and teasing my flesh.

    Somehow my body managed to shiver and warm at the same time.

    Q let out the slightest of smiles. I know this not because I could see him. I know it because I could feel his lips curl upwards against the sensitive skin of my neck.

    ¡°It marks you with a faint aura that only we can see. It allows the other Nave to identify you as a pledge.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Seems kind of medieval considering the things I¡¯ve seen you do¡­your power.¡±

    ¡°True. But there¡¯s a reason for our medieval ways. There was a time we used our power to mark humans with the Light. Unfortunately, the strongest of the Skai could peer thru the veil and pick out our human Brothers just as we were able to pick out theirs. Both sides had to dumb it down. This formula has worked for hundreds of years.¡±

    He kissed me again and led me onto the balcony. The subject of my lost memory was dropped. I was glad. Not only to move away from the pain it caused but also to get through it without having to confirm or deny I still wanted answers.

    The cool breeze felt terrific on my warm face.

    With his back against the open sky, Q leaned against the stone railing and took another bite of his apple. I snatched it from him, sat on one of the chairs, and bit down.

    It was tart and surprisingly satisfying. I took another bite, more significant this time, and then examined it as if it were something foreign.

    ¡°Do you eat?¡± I asked, still chewing. ¡°I mean, I¡¯ve seen you guys eat these green apples before, but that¡¯s all I¡¯ve ever seen you eat.¡±

    I was about to take another bite when Q opened his hand, and the apple flew back into his palm as if attached to a spring.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°We can but generally don¡¯t. Food holds no benefit for us. And yet, we love the taste of green apples.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me why. It¡¯s a mystery even I have yet to solve.¡±

    He finished the fruit and tossed the remains directly at me. I flinched in anticipation of it connecting with my head, but it disintegrated in a flash of light.

    ¡°Not funny.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°You have a question left. Is there anything else you want to know before I begin?¡±

    At first, I couldn¡¯t think of anything; truthfully, I was anxious to hear his story. But then something popped into my head. ¡°What¡¯s the deal with this crazy house?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean exactly?¡±

    ¡°The other night, I could¡¯ve sworn rooms and hallways were appearing and disappearing randomly while walking around. Was that just my imagination or what?¡±

    ¡°Are you referring to the night you were left in the house alone with Dylan?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°The house tends to get a mind of its own if there isn¡¯t a Nave around to control it. From the outside, the house looks normal enough and never changes, but the inside is a different story. The space within these walls is infinitely vast. With a single thought, the house can create hundreds of corridors and thousands of rooms. Such is the case with every house within The Brotherhood.¡± It was funny¡­no, surreal¡­listening to him talk about the house. The house was alive, yet he described it as casually as a realtor pointing out walk-in closets and ceramic tile.

    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± he continued, ¡°you can move from house to house by using the golden mirror you saw that night. Do you know which one I¡¯m talking about?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah...¡± How humbling. I guess my spy skills aren¡¯t as refined as I thought. The Brothers knew of my explorations all along. ¡°Tell me something. Was there ever a time you guys didn¡¯t know what we were doing?¡±

    Q shook his head.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s a bit disturbing; I¡¯m not going to lie.¡±

    ¡°You say that now, but once you¡¯re on the other side, you¡¯ll see why it¡¯s necessary and very amusing.¡±

    ¡°I see your point.¡± I loved that idea. ¡°Just another reason why I¡¯m glad pledging is over.¡±

    ¡°Not as much as we are, trust me.¡±

    ¡°Why? It¡¯s not like you guys had to do anything but boss us around all day. I can see how taxing that can be. Oh, wait, actually¡­no¡­no, I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Q rolled his eyes as if the Brother¡¯s plight was so prominent a blind man could see it. ¡°The Nave go on lockdown during pledging as far as our powers are concerned. Suddenly we have to walk across a room to pick something up or drive for hours to get somewhere when normally a thought would be enough. But we can¡¯t do what comes naturally to us for fear of exposure. You have no idea how many close calls there were.¡±

    ¡°Oh, how you guys suffered.¡± Now I was the one rolling my eyes. ¡°You should start a telethon or something so you can bring your suffering into the light. Maybe get FEMA involved.¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°The Red Cross, perhaps?¡±

    ¡°Are you done?¡± He feigned annoyance. ¡°I think I¡¯ve answered enough of your questions. Can I start now, or do you want to mock me more?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡± I looked at the sky for a moment as if considering my options. ¡°Yes and yes.¡± Q took one step toward me, and I threw my hands up in surrender. ¡°I¡¯m kidding; I¡¯m kidding! Go ahead.¡±

    Now it was Q gazing up at the stars. If I had to guess, he was gathering his thoughts before opening his world to me. Of course, he may have simply been looking for the Big Dipper. He took a deep breath and then looked at me with loving eyes. ¡°Our history¡­¡±

    ¡°Maybe the Salvation Army will take up your cause.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Q declared.

    I roared with laughter and bolted into his bedroom, shutting the balcony door before he could catch me. I stopped at the foot of his bed and turned to goad him. He was nowhere in sight. I turned around, and he wasn¡¯t there. I was certain Q would be standing in front of me. That¡¯s how it always happened in the movies. This is the scene where he¡¯s supposed to appear out of thin air and scare the shit out of me. Nope, not this time.

    I stood there for a moment scratching the back of my head and feeling more than a bit silly. I returned to the balcony door and found him exactly where I left him, leaning on the stone railing, looking at me thru the glass.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said as I stepped onto the balcony and took my seat.

    ¡°Are you done?¡± he asked with a chill in his voice that made me feel like a small, scolded child. ¡°Or do you have more stuff you need to get out of your system before I start?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m good,¡± I nodded and smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°At the heart of most stories concerning origin and creation, you¡¯ll undoubtedly find some vengeful, jealous and petty gods. Ra and his band of misfits for the ancient Egyptians, the Persians had Ahura Mazda, the Jade-Emperor was the Supreme God of the Chinese, and of course, the Christians have had plain ol¡¯ God on their side since the beginning of time. Not a very imaginative bunch, I might add, the Christians, they could have at least given their God a cool name like the others.

    ¡°Oh well¡­

    ¡°Our beginning is no different than the others except for one minor exception. Our Gods were real.¡±

    Even for someone who isn¡¯t a religious nut, I admit I found his opening just a little bit insulting. However, now did not seem like the appropriate moment to bring it up.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°These weren¡¯t beings that existed only in unconfirmed visions. There are no mysterious texts passed down thru the ages for the masses to follow blindly. We do not have to subscribe to the ridiculous notion of faith to fuel unsubstantiated beliefs. No, our Gods spoke to us. They sometimes walked among us to revel in the fruits of their divine genius. They were verifiable.¡±

    Q laughed a soft bitter laugh.

    ¡°The motive behind the creation of the races, though godlike in its execution, was anything but noble or divine.

    ¡°The Gods Naveyk and Skailer, along with the Goddess Aal¡¯ee, make up the El¡¯odian trifecta. Born from the same fires that ignited the universe into being, these Gods traveled the cosmos for eons. At first, they were nothing more than a mass of pure energy surviving on instinct. Fast forward some ten billion years, and the mass evolved into a consciousness that eventually broke apart and formed three unique and self-aware beings. Their thoughts were their own, and they felt the spark of emotion and sensation for the first time. This was new, and to energy billions of years old, ¡®new¡¯ was beyond rare and something to be coveted. ¡®Feeling,¡¯ whether it be a sensation or emotion, was the ultimate drug. It was ¡®new¡¯ to the nth degree. It was all-encompassing, empowering, and all-consuming.

    ¡°The Gods were alive and euphoric. They reveled in this new awareness.

    ¡°That¡¯s when everything changed.

    ¡°The Gods said when Aal¡¯ee took her corporal form; the universe wept at her sight. She was the pinnacle of perfection. Naveyk and Skailer fell utterly and madly in love with Aal¡¯ee. Yet as much as she cared for them, she could not bring herself to choose between the two. Ultimately, their unyielding love for her turned them against each other and locked them in a world of jealousy and hatred.

    ¡°Determined to prove themselves the better God, they engaged in fierce and lengthy battles that set the cosmos ablaze and saw the birth and death of countless stars. And through it, Aal¡¯ee marveled at the attention they lavished on her. She was the center of their universe for eons, the coveted prize they fought so vigorously to attain. In the end, one could not best the other. As much as they hated the idea, they had to come to terms with the fact that they were equals in every way. For a time, and to the dismay of Aal¡¯ee, they put an end to their fighting. However, their love for her never waned.

    ¡°Eventually, their travels brought them to earth, or as we call it, Eiyr. There was nothing special about this place. It was just another planet in a long list of places they visited, but the final battle would be fought on this planet. Here, Naveyk and Skailer let fate decide who would ultimately win Aal¡¯ee¡¯s love.

    ¡°No one knows who came up with the idea, but knowing they would stalemate each other for eternity, they decided to create an army to fight the battle for them. The objective was simple: the destruction of the enemy. The army left standing would be declared the victor, and their creator would claim Aal¡¯ee as his trophy. The loser would be banished to the universe¡¯s far reaches, never to be seen again.

    ¡°Sealing their pact before the eyes of their beloved, the Gods went their separate ways to create the perfect killing machine. Skailer dove deep into the dark, fiery pits of this world, and from flame and shadow, he created the Skai and the city of Asevaya. The heavens would be the birthplace of the Nave. Naveyk took to the sky, and from his flesh, our floating city of Aquaiia was created, and the Nave was born from his divine light and grace.¡±

    I sat like a child in front of a skilled storyteller, wide-eyed and anxious for the next adventure. It was like listening to a good fantasy novel or learning about the mythology of some forgotten, ancient culture. But this wasn¡¯t make-believe. This was very real to him and now to me. It was all beyond amazing.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how you came to be?¡± I asked. ¡°This Naveyk guy snaps his fingers, and there you are? That¡¯s fucking unreal!¡±

    ¡°In a manner of speaking, yes. That¡¯s how my people came to be. But if you¡¯re referring to me personally, then no. I did not come along for quite some time.¡±

    I nodded and waited for him to continue.

    ¡°Although both Naveyk and Skailer agreed only to create 33,000 warriors each, only 33 Nave were created that day. They were all around your age in appearance, except one¡­K¡¯tas. He was older, much like a father figure, but equally capable as the others. It was he the others turned to for guidance.¡±

    Q stopped for a moment and turned to look out into the yard. I got up and stood next to him. Folding my arms on the stone railing, I leaned a little forward to catch the wind in my hair and caught sight of the little smile playing on Q¡¯s lips. He looked rather cute.

    ¡°We were much like you back in those days, flesh and blood, I mean¡­mortal. It was one of the rules Naveyk and Skailer agreed upon. After all, it would¡¯ve been pointless to create a race of immortal beings to wage war against each other. The whole point was for one side to slaughter the other. But that¡¯s not to say the Gods didn¡¯t find ways to bend the rules without completely breaking them.¡±

    ¡°How exactly?¡± I interrupted, knowing he¡¯d explain this all in due time. The look he gave me confirmed as much.

    ¡°For starters, we lived about three to four times longer than humans do today. We were highly resistant to illness and diseases, not to mention we possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities. Broken bone and flesh are mended in hours rather than days or weeks. Aside from that, the Nave looked like humans do today. Oh, there was one other minor difference.¡±

    Q stopped and backed away from the railing without saying anything. I just stared at him, wondering what was supposed to happen next, and when he didn¡¯t do anything, I finally felt compelled to say something.

    ¡°Are you going to tell me, or am I supposed to guess?¡±

    In a blink of an eye and a flash of brilliant light, Q¡¯s wings appeared to flap behind him until he arched them upward in a sort of horseshoe shape. They were like beacons of light illuminating the balcony and everything around it. I felt like I was swimming in his radiance.

    ¡°We had wings,¡± he said. ¡°And they were permanent back then, at least initially. We didn¡¯t have the powers we do now to make them appear and disappear at will.¡± And with that, Q flapped his wings one last time and made them vanish in a swirl of light.

    ¡°So cool¡­¡± I whispered.

    Q smiled and took up his original position on the balcony. ¡°We also didn¡¯t have to drag our knuckles on the ground waiting for evolution to take its course. The Gods¡¯ knowledge was as vast as an ocean, and we were created with a mere drop of that knowledge. That may not seem like a lot, but that day¡¯s Nave could make the Harvard graduate of today look as smart as a fifth-grader.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°And they were beautiful.¡±

    ¡°And modest,¡± I laughed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. This is not conceit or arrogance, at least not on our part. The gods¡¯ vanity would not allow anything but perfection when they created us. We were made in their image, and Naveyk and Skailer had to create beings worthy of Aal¡¯ee¡¯s grace.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why all you guys look like you stepped out of an underwear ad,¡± I said.

    ¡°To be an El¡¯odian or receive our gift is to be born of their beauty.¡±

    ¡°So if I were the ugliest, most disgusting person on the planet, you could make me¡­.¡±

    ¡°Look like you walked out of an underwear ad,¡± Q interjected. ¡°But that¡¯s not important in the grand scheme of things. What is important is how those first 33 Nave began to build our society. At first, they lived in the woods of the floating island, safe from the dangers of the wildlife on the surface, eating and foraging from the various fruits Naveyk provided for them.

    ¡°Within a few weeks of their creation, the 33 learned how to make tools from wood and stone and erected huts made of straw and timber. Before long, our first village was born. And during this time, the 33 knew they would not be alone for long, so when more and more Nave began to appear, they were welcomed.¡±

    ¡°Where did they come from?¡±

    ¡°From the woods. Sometimes they would appear during the night while the others slept; sometimes, they came during the day while they worked. They had no idea how they got there, just that they were there with the same purpose as the rest of the Nave ¨C the complete obliteration of the Skai.¡±

    ¡°Hold up, time out!¡± I said, making a T with my hands. ¡°If the point of creating the Nave and Skai was so you guys would kill each other, why go thru all that trouble? Why not just pick a place, line the guys up on opposite sides like chess pieces, and let them go at it?¡±

    ¡°Excellent question Jacob! There¡¯s hope for you yet.¡±

    ¡°Thanks¡­I think.¡±

    ¡°I suppose they could¡¯ve made it that simple, but it wouldn¡¯t have been worthy of their magnificence. These were petty Gods, after all, and they had to put on a show for Aal¡¯ee¡¯s benefit. They wanted to showcase their genius and ingenuity thru their creations. They wanted to prove that one progeny was better than the other. Ultimately, they wanted us to rise from nothing to defeat one another. Their egos would allow for nothing less.

    ¡°How would we do it? What tactics would we develop? What weapons could we dream up? What were the possibilities without their direct intervention? The mere thought of these questions made the Gods salivate. They had to know. After all, time had no meaning for them. Not like it does for you. Ten thousand years could have easily been a day in their eyes.¡±

    ¡°I guess that makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°But what caused their hatred for the Skai? So far, you haven¡¯t said anything that would lead me to believe they deserved it. Unless I¡¯m missing something.¡±

    ¡°There was no reason. The hatred was woven into the very fiber of our being upon our creation. It coursed thru us like the blood in our veins. When you get down to it, that¡¯s the real tragedy, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Ok¡­but can¡¯t you guys just stop?¡±

    ¡°Could you so easily stop breathing just because I ask?¡± Q let out a soft, disheartened laugh. ¡°If only it were that simple. Sadly, it would be centuries before the Nave even saw their first Skai, but they knew they were out there. That¡¯s all the motivation the Nave needed.

    ¡°As the days turned to years, our numbers grew until all 33,000 thousand Nave were created, and our civilization went from straw and timber to soaring towers of Lusinite and Eiyrlin. We discovered Lusinite while exploring the many caverns beneath the island. It was a rare ore we learned to harvest and use in conjunction with a type of concrete we developed that allowed us to build structures with impressive arches, domes, towers, porticos, and colonnades. The city was awash in massive white columns and multicolored Eiyrlin crystal. Sunlight glittered across every surface and somehow reflected off and absorbed into every structure it touched.

    ¡°Aquaiia danced in the day and shimmered at night.

    ¡°It was pristine.

    ¡°We used Eiyrlin, a multicolored crystal that grew in abundance within the same caves as the Lusinite, to beautify Aquaiia. It was also beneficial in creating very deadly weapons. We used swords, spears, maces, and bows, but they were not forged from metal but Eiyrlin and Lusinite. Trust me; you don¡¯t want to get caught at the end of the Eiyrlin blade.

    ¡°Before we knew it, our kingdom was born, and K¡¯tas was crowned High King of the Nave. With the Court of Elders by his side, he ruled for many prosperous years. They continued to pound out the armor and weapons through it all until they could arm all 33,000 Nave.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask a dumb question?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Better than most people I know. Why?¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± I lightly punched his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re funny, but not really. Anyway, by now, all the Nave were assembled, right?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°So, where were you during all this?¡±

    ¡°Like most Nave you¡¯ve met in this house, I didn¡¯t come into the picture for a while.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh¡­and how exactly did you come into the picture because I thought you said your Gods agreed not to create more than the original 33,000.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, and they didn¡¯t create anymore, but you¡¯re getting ahead of the story, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Okay, just tell me this,¡± I insisted. ¡°Were there any Nave women among the 33,000?¡±

    Q shook his head.

    ¡°So, how did you grow your numbers?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t. That was the whole point remember? A certain number of Nave and Skai until one side was defeated.¡±

    ¡°Riiight¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°So, it was just one big ol¡¯ gay orgy going on up there on Paradise Island.¡±

    ¡°Again, no. There wasn¡¯t any Nave-on-Nave action going on.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious? What¡¯s the point of being around a bunch of hot guys if there isn¡¯t any loving going on?¡±

    ¡°Love?¡± Q snickered. ¡°Jacob, we had no concept of love at that time. It wasn¡¯t built into us. We were warriors first. Sure, my people had a sense of loyalty and camaraderie. They looked out for each other. They understood the importance of every Nave being at their best if they were to survive the coming battle. But that real love that bonds two people together, the kind of love we share that will grow with every passing day, did not exist in the hearts and minds of my people.¡±

    Hearing him say that about us made a huge smile appear on my face. The more I tried to hide it, the goofier I looked. ¡°So, no sex?¡±

    ¡°No sex.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s fucking depressing!¡±

    ¡°Okay, getting back to the point¡­Over two centuries passed without incident while both sides armed for Armageddon. It all came to a head one night when three Nave were gathering supplies from the surface and ran into a patrol of Skai. For the first time in history, the two sides met. The Nave had never seen the Skai, and yet, pure instinct made their enemy''s black wings, deep gray skin, and onyx eyes immediately recognizable.

    ¡°Only one of the three Nave made it back to Aquaiia with enough strength to tell his story. There wasn¡¯t much the others could do to save his life. For all their accomplishments, they never developed a valid method of healing and care. They relied on their natural regenerative abilities over the years. That night we learned that wounds caused by Skai weapons could not be healed so quickly.

    ¡°He died the following day, and the Nave vowed to teach the Skai the same lesson.

    ¡°The alarm went out. A wave of anger spread thru Aquaiia like a sonic boom, and by midday, thousands of Naves took to the sky seeking blood and retribution. The Skai were on a similar warpath.

    ¡°The two armies clashed with a furious rage that caught even the Gods off guard. And while surprised by the vengeance, they welcomed the sight. Finally, the El¡¯odians were fulfilling the promise of their creation. They watched, awed by their genius, as thousands upon thousands of Nave and Skai fell over the next few days.

    ¡°On day four, both sides finally pulled back to their respective cities to regroup for the final assault. Only seven to eight thousand of my people left, and the Skai suffered similar losses. Despite the tremendous loss of life, both sides were unwavering in their determination to destroy each other.

    ¡°This filled Aal¡¯ee¡¯s heart with sorrow. Not because she cared what happened to us, but because she knew the end was near. She would lose the love and affection of either Naveyk or Skailer.¡±

    ¡°But I thought that¡¯s what they all wanted?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s what Naveyk and Skailer wanted, but Aal¡¯ee never wanted this. She didn¡¯t want to pick between them. She fed off all the attention they gave her over the eons. The thought of losing that was unbearable, but she was forced to watch as the armies mustered their strength for the final battle.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t she stop them? She was a Goddess after all.¡±

    ¡°Even as a Goddess, she did not have power over that which she did not create. As the reality of her impending loss set in, Aal¡¯ee wept for the first time. A single tear fell from the heavens and set the sky ablaze. From this tear, the essence of Aal¡¯ee, the first El¡¯odian Ai¡¯lea, was born¡­the Great Mother, the first true immortal.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t something the Goddess planned, at least not on a conscious level, but she was so desperate to find a way to end this war it happened.

    ¡°It worked.

    ¡°The Great Mother was the first El¡¯odian to be blessed with the power of the Gods, and so from her, our female counterparts were created and began appearing around the city. This changed everything. The Nave had never seen such a being, and their curiosity overtook them. Suddenly in the wake of something so new and exciting, the prospect of continuing the war disappeared.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Q was confused and maybe a little annoyed as well.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying you, manly men, were ready to go off to war, but something new and shiny came along and distracted you?¡±

    He thought about it for a moment, caught on to the humor, and started laughing. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right, but you must understand they had never seen a female before. They were wingless, delicate, and beautiful in honor of the Goddess Aal¡¯ee, and unlike the Great Mother, they were mortal. The Nave were completely taken by them, and I¡¯m sure something similar was happening with the Skai.¡±

    ¡°Talk about your Trojan Horse,¡± I added.

    ¡°Tell me about it! It was an ingenious plan, even if it was by accident. The Ai¡¯lea¡¯s love and compassion tempered the Nave¡¯s hatred and lust for blood. It was the first time these concepts were introduced into our societies, spreading like a virus. Nave began falling in love with the Ai¡¯lea and other Nave.¡±

    ¡°Ah-ha!¡± I shouted and clapped my hands. ¡°Finally, some Nave-on-Nave action!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re simple,¡± Q laughed. ¡°But yes, thanks to the influence of the Ai¡¯lea, the Nave and Skai were finally able to form bonds that went beyond that of soldiers on the battlefield. We finally knew the real essence of love.

    ¡°As you can imagine, Nave society changed immeasurably because of the Ai¡¯lea. Before long, the first cries of children echoed the great halls of Aquaiia. King K¡¯tas crowned his first queen, and with their first child, the Line of Kings was born.

    ¡°Despite everything the Ai¡¯lea offered my people, they were not slaves to our every whim. Nave and Ai¡¯lea were partners in all things, and to ensure her daughters had the chance to find and explore their own identities, the Great Mother created the city of Cyprinia on the Island of Aldmere. It was a haven for all Ai¡¯lea who wanted to spend their time in service to the Goddess Aal¡¯ee. Their hope was to one day be named a Priestess of Aal¡¯ee by The Great Mother, who ruled as the High Priestess.

    ¡°It was their highest honor.

    ¡°These Priestesses, under the guidance and tutelage of the Great Mother, became the healers and caregivers for all El¡¯odian. They were the ones who delivered our children and performed the union ceremony for couples wanting to be bonded. They introduced us to different art forms where there were none before. Suddenly instead of reaching for a blade, some of my people reached for a brush and canvas; others filled our halls with songs and lyrics. Poets, writers, and sculptors emerged. Hands that could be hard in the throes of battle could now also be soft in the throes of creativity. Before we knew it, the Age of the Artisan was born.¡±

    Q stopped for a moment. I¡¯m sure this pause was to let me absorb all the history I was given.

    ¡°So, how exactly did this work?¡± I wondered aloud. ¡°Were the Ai¡¯lea divided between the Skai and Nave?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, Jacob. The Ai¡¯lea were seen as neutral parties in all things. Regardless of who an Ai¡¯lea was bonded to, whether to Nave or Skai, she could enter either city to perform her duties without hindrance. That¡¯s how much both sides loved them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. The arrival of the Ai¡¯lea did not dissolve the fundamental predatory nature between the Nave and Skai. It was not all hugs, roses, rainbows, and puppies. We still hated each other with a passion, but our priorities changed thanks to the appearance of the Ai¡¯lea. We became more concerned with raising our families and protecting them from the harsh reality of war.

    ¡°And so it was for thousands of years. That¡¯s not to say our history after the arrival of the Ai¡¯lea was free of conflict. There were the occasional border skirmishes and other random battles here and there. Three significant conflicts led to years of open war between the Nave and Skai. But the Great Mother and her Priestesses always managed to extinguish the flames of war and bring peace to all El¡¯odian.

    ¡°Throughout nearly ten millennia, my people flourished into a civilization of hundreds of thousands.¡± He stopped and looked up at the moon. The pale light ignited his eyes. Q appeared to be somewhere else wholly, the weight of what was to come clear on his shoulders.

    Something wasn¡¯t right.

    My lips parted to utter two short words.

    I hesitated, but it only lasted a moment. I needed to know.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    Slowly, Q lowered his gaze to the ground below. ¡°Like all things, Jacob, nothing last forever,¡± he said softly, ¡°for something happened the Goddess Aal¡¯ee did not intend¡­.¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XVIII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XVIII

    By X

    ¡°The gods Naveyk and Skailer started taking a more personal interest in their creations.  With the Ai¡¯lea thrown into the mix, the bonds of love were formed.  Suddenly we had families and children filling our great cities.  For the first time since our inception, the gods saw us as more than just a means to an end.  They finally realized their creations were capable of so much more than just war.  Now the gods were looking at us thru the eyes of a parent.¡±

    ¡°And as parents, they began loving you as one does a child, didn¡¯t they?¡±  I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Q answered with a slight nod.  ¡°Their curiosity reached a whole new level.  Instead of wondering who would triumph in battle, they questioned who would bond with whom.  What would they be like as parents?  How would their kids grow up?  What path would they take when they reached adulthood?  With free will, nothing was written in stone.¡±

    ¡°So basically, it was like playing The Sims but with real people,¡± I said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°You are simple!¡± Q laughed.

    ¡°What?  I¡¯m just saying.  Contrary to what my parents might say, gaming isn¡¯t a total waste. I get what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    Q just smiled, but it was that ¡®you¡¯re cute¡¯ smile that made my cheeks heat up.  I changed the subject.

    ¡°I bet the Goddess wasn¡¯t happy.¡±

    ¡°Not even a little bit.  Aal¡¯ee did not want to share their love and affection, but that¡¯s precisely what happened.  Each day, she watched as their love grew for their respective children.  Ultimately, she was forced to take a backseat as they devoted all their attention to us.

    ¡°They even began appearing among us from time to time.  Until then, they spoke to us through the erected temples built in their honor.  And I mean that literally.  Naveyk¡¯s voice echoed from his statue seated upon its eiyrlin throne.  It was the only way he communicated with us.  One day he decided to appear when the Nave were gathered in worship.

    ¡°Of course, my people were ecstatic.  To be able to touch the hand of one¡¯s creator¡­there was no greater honor.  More often than not, Naveyk roamed Aquaiia as a regular Nave.  He hid his true identity to get a real feeling of what it was like to live like one of his children.  At one point, he became a sculptor of eiyrlin statues.  He learned to fuse the different colored crystals to create some of the most famous sculptures in our history.   If all accounts are accurate, Naveyk never used his godly powers.  All his accomplishments were made as a simple Nave.

    ¡°Everything was going great until he came across a young Ai¡¯lea named Lisuri.  He was utterly taken by her.  He lived among many Ai¡¯lea during his Nave years without developing unique bonds.  No one knows what made Lisuri different.  His friendship with her began innocently enough, but his desires for her grew.  Every moment they shared, every touch, every smile¡­even the briefest glance between them¡­stoked Naveyk¡¯s passion.

    ¡°And this was a problem?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, a big one, and it was twofold.  First, Naveyk was truly a God, even in his Nave form.  Second, Lisuri was already bonded to Ajus, a soldier in the King¡¯s army.  Bonding is serious.  When El¡¯odians bond, they bond for life. Only the death of a mate can break that bond.¡±

    ¡°So literally till death do you part,¡± I said.

    ¡°Exactly. We took our commitments way more seriously than you humans do today.¡±

    ¡°Zing and ouch!¡± I protested.  ¡°That¡¯s a bit harsh, wouldn¡¯t you say?¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Q smirked, placing his hand on the back of my neck and massaging it a bit.  ¡°Were you always faithful to Alexandra?¡±

    I felt my face go hot with embarrassment.  ¡°Um¡­so what were you saying about this Lisuri person?¡±

    ¡°I thought so,¡± he laughed again.  ¡°And for the record, if you ever pulled anything like that¡­.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t!¡±  I was quick to respond.  I felt my heart miss a beat.  My biggest regret would be to have Q think for even a second that I would go behind his back and betray his trust.  ¡°Not to you¡­never to you.¡±

    With a smile that made it clear he believed me, kissed me, and made me feel much better.  I think my heart started beating normally again.

    ¡°As I said, the El¡¯odian bond is powerful, but Naveyk could care less.  The vanity and decadence of the gods knew no bounds.  His desire turned into an obsession; more than anything, Naveyk was determined to have Lisuri.

    ¡°So one night, he came to her in the guise of her beloved Ajus and shared her bed. It was the first and only coupling between a god and a mortal¡­that we know of.  He kept up his nightly visits.  Every night Ajus was away, Naveyk took advantage of Lisuri¡­essentially raping her without a second thought.

    ¡°The wonders of being a god, I suppose.¡±   There was a hint of disgust in his tone, not to mention anger as well.  ¡°They do what they want and take what they want without regard for the consequences of their actions.  Frankly, they¡¯re more trouble than they¡¯re worth.¡±

    ¡°Am I detecting a little bit of rage coming from you?¡±

    Q continued without acknowledging my comment.

    ¡°Life went on for Lisuri and Ajus.  They never knew of Naveyk¡¯s cruel actions.  Eventually, he ended his secret visits when the couple showed up at his temple seeking his blessing.  It was rare, but every once in a while, Naveyk would appear before a Nave to bestow his blessing upon them, especially if they are with child.¡±

    ¡°You mean she was pregnant?  Was it Naveyk¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°He had but to lay his hand on her stomach to know the unborn child was his.  This posed a severe problem, for there was no telling what this meant.  A child born of an El¡¯odian and a God?  The ramifications of such an offspring were immeasurable.  Not to mention how Skailer and Aal¡¯ee might react.

    ¡°Naveyk had a decision to make.  It was within his power to ensure the child never saw the light of day.  Yet despite everything, including the voice that was probably screaming in his head telling him it was a bad idea, I think the prospect of being a father was too enticing for him.  He wasn¡¯t about to let it slip thru his fingers.

    ¡°Of course, he had to remain hands-off.  So as I said, the visits to Lisuri stopped.  Secrecy was now his number one priority.  He had to make sure the other Gods did not find out about his unborn son, for if they had¡­well¡­I¡¯m sure you get the idea.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Naveyk knew the care of Lisuri and the birth of his child would be a delicate matter.  So regardless of his need for secrecy, he confessed everything to the Great Mother.  He had no choice. The Ai¡¯lea were responsible for overseeing the birth of El¡¯odian children after all.  The Great Mother shared his concerns and agreed to help conceal the child¡¯s true lineage.  She enlisted the aid of three of her most trusted priestesses and revealed Naveyk¡¯s secret to them.

    ¡°Now, it was customary for expecting mothers to be taken to Cyprinia to give birth, for all children were born in the Great Mother¡¯s city.  What was unusual was that the Great Mother had Lisuri moved to Cyprinia months before she was due, and Ajus wasn¡¯t allowed to see her but for a handful of times.  They couldn¡¯t take any chances, for there was no way to predict what might happen during this highly unusual pregnancy.

    ¡°As it turned out, there was no need for all the extra precautions.  Lisuri carried the child for the entire four months without incident.  Even so, when it came time to deliver, only the Great Mother and the three priestesses were allowed in the room with Lisuri.  From what I understand, Ajus was upset that he couldn¡¯t be present during the birth of his son, but he respected the wishes of the Great Mother.

    ¡°It was a good thing too because the delivery was anything but ordinary.  The child was born in the middle of the night, yet it was said that when he came into this world, there was a halo of light so bright it turned night into day.  Needless to say, after that little stunt, they had no choice but to reveal the truth to Lisuri, for they would need her help to keep the child¡¯s true lineage a secret.

    ¡°As one can imagine, poor Lisuri went thru a whirlwind of emotions when she learned the truth.  I couldn¡¯t even begin to pretend to understand the fear she felt, the uncertainty of her child¡¯s future, and not to mention the betrayal of being used in such a way.  Her anger towards Naveyk scared her the most.  To harbor such ill will toward a God was considered the ultimate sin.

    ¡°Despite it all, from the way the Great Mother tells it, she took one look at the child and saw him for what he truly was ¨C a miracle from heaven.  She loved that child with every fiber of her being.  It killed her to keep the truth from her beloved Ajus, but she had no choice.  The fewer who knew the truth, the safer it was for everyone involved, so she allowed Ajus to believe it was his son.

    ¡°The Great Mother insisted mother and child remain in Cyprinia for a few months before rejoining Ajus in Aquaiia.  They had to keep an eye on the child to see if he manifested any abilities that could give away his bloodline. The priestesses were appointed guardians of the boy while he remained in the city and were charged with helping Lisuri raise the child. Their time spent in Cyprinia was reasonably uneventful.  The boy¡¯s infancy progressed normally, and eventually, the Great Mother saw no harm in allowing Lisuri and her son to return to Aquaiia.

    ¡°The priestesses kept their vigil, the Great Mother stopped by from time to time, Naveyk became an absentee father, and so was life for Lisuri and her family. The boy grew up in a great home and was loved very much.  Ajus was never the wiser and was a great father to the boy.  I suspect even if Ajus knew the truth, he would¡¯ve been every bit the father Naveyk never was.¡±

    I watched Q closely.  The way his gaze was fixed on some point in the distant night made me think something weighed heavily on his mind.  Yet a little smile did appear on his lips as if a fond memory suddenly came to the surface.  At that moment, he had a sweetness, an innocence customarily reserved for children.  Not that I needed another reason, but it made me love him more.

    ¡°What was the boy¡¯s name?¡± I asked.  Q didn¡¯t answer right away.  He was still out there in nowhere land.  I had to lean into him a little bit to bring him back to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said as he shook his head.  ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°His name.  What was the baby boy¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Qua¡¯quelle.¡±

    ¡°It was you?¡± I whispered.  ¡°You were that little boy?  Lisuri¡¯s son?¡±  I had to pause for a moment because the magnitude of what I would say next was mind-blowing.  ¡°You¡¯re the son of a God?¡±

    ¡°Trust me; it¡¯s not all it¡¯s cracked up to be.  I¡¯d gladly trade Naveyk for Ajus any day, but that¡¯s neither here nor there.  Ajus loved me with everything he had; in the end, that¡¯s all that matters.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god!¡± I shouted suddenly, interrupting his flow.  ¡°In the library with your dad, I was talking to an actual God.¡± The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. ¡°A God!¡±

    I was blown away.

    ¡°Are you okay now?¡± Q laughed. ¡°Should I continue, or do you need a moment?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to get the implications, Q! I was talking to a living, breathing God!¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to need a minute, is what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    He was looking at me like I was crazy. I get this was his reality. But to me? My god! How does one wrap their head around that?

    Q was still staring at me like I was having a mental breakdown. And maybe I was!

    ¡°Forget it,¡± I finally said. ¡°Sorry, go on. What happened to them?  What happened to your parents?¡±

    ¡°As I said, they were great parents and gave me a normal Nave childhood. The only thing abnormal was the level of interest the priestesses took in my development, especially the Great Mother.  After the birth of a child, it was customary for the priestesses to follow up a few times to ensure everything was going okay.  But with me, it was like they became part of the family.  It seemed they were always around.  They probably drew more attention to my family and me than they intended.  Others couldn¡¯t help but wonder what made us so special.  But no one ever questioned the Great Mother, so I guess that worked in their favor.

    ¡°When I was around six, my parents added a new addition to the family with the birth of my younger brother Azajin.  I was beyond excited.  A little brother I could help raise, guide, and take under my wing was a dream come true.  It was around this time I started to develop particular abilities.  I was becoming the only other El¡¯odian to wield the power of the gods.

    ¡°I spent some time in Cyprinia with the Great Mother, learning to control my developing powers.  She taught me the greatest lesson of all; to guard my abilities and never use them in a way that might give me away. You have no idea how hard that is for a young boy to do.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°I bet.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t until I was older that my true lineage was revealed.  It wasn¡¯t easy to hear that the man I knew as my father wasn¡¯t my father at all.  And to top it all off, my actual father was our creator.   Someone whose voice echoed the halls of his temple, someone who appeared to bless those who called upon him, someone who couldn¡¯t find the time to say so much as a hello to his only son¡­someone who could do that to my mother.¡±

    I placed my hand over his balled-up fists and draped my left arm over his back.  I pressed my lips to his temple and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Q turned, so his forehead was pressed against mine.  ¡°You¡¯re sweet, Jacob, but you have nothing to be sorry about.¡±  He kissed me and caressed the side of my face.  ¡°But thank you all the same.¡±  Q kissed me again on the forehead and continued with his story.

    ¡°I grew up with no desire to know Naveyk.  I stopped showing up at his temple altogether.  Ajus was the only father I knew¡­the only father I needed.  It was just the four of us, and we were happy, but even in paradise, one is forced to weather a storm or two.

    ¡°Once the Great Mother felt confident I had my powers under control, and there was little risk of exposure, she freed the three priestesses of their responsibilities to me.  T¡¯mynn, one of the priestesses, left the priesthood altogether to start her own family.

    ¡°Her every attempt was met with tragedy.  You have to understand that a miscarriage among the Ai¡¯lea was unheard of, but the chances of four in a row were incalculable. Add the death of her beloved from a mysterious illness, and one might start to believe she was cursed.¡±

    ¡°Or being punished,¡± I added.

    ¡°Exactly right.  For years T¡¯mynn protected my identity and Naveyk¡¯s indiscretions, and now it appeared, at least to her, that she was paying the price for betraying Aal¡¯ee.  So she did what was expected when one has slighted their god, she¡­.¡±

    ¡°Begged for forgiveness,¡± I jumped in.

    ¡°Right again.  T¡¯mynn went to Aal¡¯ee¡¯s temple in Cyprinia and threw herself at the mercy of her Goddess.  Kneeling before Aal¡¯ee¡¯s statue, she confessed everything.  Naveyk¡¯s nightly visits to my mother, my birth, the Great Mother¡¯s evolvement¡­everything.  Now gods are prayed to practically every day, and there¡¯s no telling when and if they decide to listen, but on that particular day, Aal¡¯ee was all ears.

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard the phrase hell have no fury like a woman scorn?¡±

    ¡°Heard it?  It was Alexandra¡¯s mantra.¡±

    ¡°Well, imagine a Goddess scorned.  The very foundation of Eiyr trembled under her rage.  The idea that one of her suitors could give his love, a love rightly reserved for her and her alone, to one of her Ai¡¯lea was the utmost betrayal.

    ¡°And it could only be forgiven with blood.

    ¡°Coincidently, it was the first time Naveyk showed himself to me.  I was as you see me now, except I was a high-ranking member of the King¡¯s elite Royal Guard.  I was on my way home to see my family after spending some time in Cyprinia, where the Great Mother was trying to quell a dispute between the Nave and Skai.

    ¡°I was standing on the doorstep of the house I grew up in.  I looked over my shoulder for a second and then turned back to knock on the door¡­.¡±  Q paused for a moment, looked at me, and let out a sort of cynical laugh.  ¡°And there he stood.  My god Jacob, he was standing as close to me as you are now, and I stood there staring at him with the words caught in my throat.

    ¡°¡®Son,¡¯ was all he said to me before taking my arm and whisking us away in a brilliant flash of light.  I have no idea where he took me or if we were even on Eiyr anymore.  We were in an open field with bright green grass as far as the eye could see.  We stood under the only tree in sight.

    ¡°¡®Why did you bring me here?¡¯ I asked.

    ¡°¡®It¡¯s good to see you finally, Qua¡¯quelle, face to face, that is, for I have always kept a close eye on you.¡¯

    ¡°¡®And yet I find little comfort in that.¡¯ I think my insolence took him by surprise. It surprised me.  ¡®Why did you bring me here?¡¯

    ¡°¡®Does a father need a reason to visit with his son?¡¯

    ¡°¡®My father, Ajus, is free to visit me anytime he wishes.  You, on the other hand, I don¡¯t know.  I would ask that you tell me what you want from me or take me back to Aquaiia.¡¯¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I interrupted, ¡°but I have to ask.  Weren¡¯t you the least bit scared about mouthing off not only to your father but God of all people?¡±

    A devilish grin appeared across his face.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I was scared, but I was anxious standing there next to him.  I was playing up the tough guy act.  If truth be told, I was curious about Naveyk, but I didn¡¯t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he ever even crossed my mind.  In the end, I was still angry.

    ¡°¡®You have a lot of fire in you,¡¯ Naveyk said.  ¡®You remind me a lot of your mother in that way.  It¡¯s that same spark that¡¯s allowed you to do so well for yourself.  To be the youngest Nave ever to reach the ranks of the King¡¯s Royal Guard is no small feat.  And to do it all without ever once using your divine gifts makes it even more impressive.  If I recall that particular achievement, the King¡¯s Royal Guard, has always eluded Ajus, did it not?¡±

    ¡°¡®You insult my father?¡¯

    ¡°¡®Not at all,¡¯ he insisted.  ¡®I was merely putting your accomplishments in perspective.  I am quite proud of you, Qua¡¯quelle.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Your approval has never been required or sought, so do not bother yourself now.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Oh come now,¡¯ he laughed, ¡®we both know that is not true.  I recall a young Qua¡¯quelle entering my temple daily to boast about his latest deeds, hoping I would smile down on him with my blessing.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Yes, I remember that boy too,¡¯ I conceded.  ¡®I also remember how many of the other boys had their prayers answered from time to time.  His never were, and so he grew up.¡¯

    ¡°¡®I had to protect and keep you safe,¡¯ was his excuse.

    ¡°The way he looked at me when he said that raised a red flag.  It put me on the defensive more so than I already was.  I didn¡¯t trust his intentions.

    ¡°¡®Clearly, I wasn¡¯t in danger, so why did you decide to bring me here now?  Do you know something that¡­?¡¯  I got a sick feeling in my stomach.  Something wasn¡¯t right.  My family instantly popped into my mind.

    ¡°¡®Take me back to Aquaiia,¡¯ I demanded.  ¡®Take me back to my family!¡¯

    ¡°¡®You are with your family, my son.¡¯

    ¡°My demands and protest fell on deaf ears.  He kept insisting his actions were for my good, making me more suspicious of his motives and timing.  Eventually, the fear for my family became overwhelming. Unwittingly, I tapped into my power, which I only evoked in my youth while training with the Great Mother, and teleported myself to my family.

    ¡°I appeared amid a mob of my people surrounding my home.  My sudden appearance drew an even larger crowd.  The house I grew up in lay in ruin as if a mighty hammer fell from the sky and smashed it like glass.  I rushed to the debris, calling out for my loved ones only to find the broken bodies of my parents and younger brother.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how long I stood there staring down at their dead bodies before my strength left me, and I fell to my knees.  It seemed so surreal.  Yes, I was there witnessing the horror, but I wasn¡¯t.  Everything I knew was gone, and I felt like nothing but a shadow vanishing under a setting sun.¡±

    My heart broke for Q.  I would have given anything to take away his pain.  In a way, I suppose I was fortunate.  I had no memory of my family, so I have no real feelings of loss as it pertained to them.  My memory problem was more about losing myself.  Yet all I had to do was look at his face to understand his anguish.  It was unsettling to see Q like this, for at that moment, that hardcore persona he naturally gives off melted away, and he was just a ¡°guy¡± missing his family.

    ¡°I was on my knees beside Azajin¡¯s broken body; my mother¡¯s just a few feet away,¡± Q continued, pulling me back into his story even though his words were barely above a whisper.  ¡°I hardly recognized what was left of my father.  My life was torn to shreds in a blink of an eye.¡±

    He stopped for a moment, and I wasn¡¯t sure if I should say something to try to console him.  But what could I possibly say that he hasn¡¯t heard a thousand times before? A million times, considering who I¡¯m talking about.  What could be said that doesn¡¯t sound like every other line one tells the bereaved?  How would it sound any different coming from me?

    ¡°I slipped my hand between my brother¡¯s curled fingers.  He was cold¡­so very cold.  My grief took on a life of its own.  I lost it.  Fueled by my Nave power, I was engulfed by a white flame and let out a cry that was said to be heard throughout Eiyr. The very foundation of Aquaiia shook as if struck by a powerful earthquake, which is saying a lot considering it was a floating city.  The Nave energy within me was building to extreme levels putting all of Aquaiia at risk.¡±

    ¡°You were a ticking bomb¡­.¡± I added.

    ¡°I was,¡± Q nodded.  ¡°I can¡¯t even imagine what my people were thinking.  I know they were terrified and confused.  There I was, the only other El¡¯odian besides the Great Mother who possessed the power of the gods. I¡¯m sure they had no idea what to make of me then.  I was no longer the Qua¡¯quelle they knew.  I was someone else¡­something else.   And that something was threatening to destroy our beloved city.

    ¡°That¡¯s when I heard him.  He uttered my name.

    ¡°¡®Qua¡¯quelle.¡¯

    ¡°His voice pierced thru my grief, and suddenly I had a focal point, a target, to direct all my rage.  With tears streaming from my eyes, I stood to face Naveyk.  There was a burning inside me, a heat I had never felt before.  It was out of my control¡­the energy within me exploded towards Naveyk with enough force to destroy Aquaiia ten times over.

    ¡°When it was over, I fell to my knees wholly spent, smoke curling up from my body, and the ground around me webbed with deep cracks and scorched black.  I looked up to see Naveyk standing just a few feet away from me unscathed, but at least Aquaiia was saved, for he absorbed all my energy into himself.

    ¡°Silver lining, I suppose.

    ¡°¡®You did this,¡¯ I accused as I staggered back to my feet.

    ¡°¡®I did nothing of the sort,¡¯ he said matter-of-factly.  ¡®Aal¡¯ee discovered I had a son with an Ai¡¯lea and was furious.  This is the result of her fury which would not be satiated with anything less than blood; the blood of my first born.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Why didn¡¯t she come for me?  Why harm my family?¡¯

    ¡°¡®As far as Aal¡¯ee knows, she did.¡¯  I followed his eyes as he glanced at my dead brother.  ¡®She knows not who you are or what you look like.  She only knows that you were the son of Lisuri.  She also did not know Lisuri had two sons.  She was never one to bother with the details or lives of her creations.¡¯

    ¡°¡®She killed my parents.  My brother!  Their blood is on your hands.  The Nave cannot be harmed by the other gods, which means you removed whatever sorcery protected my father and brother.  You allowed her to slaughter them.¡¯  His silent stare was all the confirmation I needed of my suspicions.

    "¡®Their blood is on your hands,¡¯ I spat.

    ¡°¡®And I will wash my hands of it and suffer no regrets for what I did to protect you.  My son!¡¯

    ¡°Before I could say anything else, he was gone.  I was left with three bodies to burn in the ceremonial pyres of Aquaiia, and a city looking at me in wonder.

    ¡°After the funeral, I retreated into myself for days.  I was absent from court and neglected my duties as one of the King¡¯s Royal Guard.  I even went as far as to ignore several summonses from my King.  I admit I wasn¡¯t too concerned about any repercussions considering that everyone knew my birth father was Naveyk.  My solitude didn¡¯t last long.  Unfortunately, all El¡¯odians, Nave, and Skai would soon share my grief.

    ¡°Naveyk was wrong.  So wrong.  Aal¡¯ee¡¯s fury was not satiated ¨C not even close.  She confronted the Great Mother for her role in my birth and concealing it from her Goddess.  She was determined to make an example by punishing all Ai¡¯lea.  The twist was she would not carry out the punishment herself.  Nooooo¡­. that would be too easy.  She made the Great Mother do it, promising that if she did not carry out the sentence as instructed, the retribution she would carry out on all her daughters would be infinitely worse.

    ¡°One night, the Great Mother sent out a wave of light that traveled all of Eiyr.  Many of my people stood at the city''s edge, sta, ring out at the horizon and watching this energy wave coming towards Aquaiia.  We had no idea the wave originated from the Great Mother.  It struck and took only a few minutes to travel through the city, but when it was gone, what was left in its wake was horrifying.¡±

    Q stopped, covering his face with his hands and taking a deep breath.  ¡°All Ai¡¯lea were turned to statues.  Mothers, daughters, and sisters all appeared as if they were chiseled out of eiyrlin crystal.¡±

    ¡°All of them?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Every last one.  The city as a whole was in shock.  We didn¡¯t know what to make of it.  We had very little time to process it.   What happened was bad enough, but nothing could prepare us for what came next.

    ¡°The Great Mother turned all her daughters to eiyrlin statues in the hopes the Goddess Aal¡¯ee would allow her to turn them back one day.  But again, the Goddess had no such intentions.  The Goddess slammed her hands together in a thunderous clap that produced a second wave that followed closes behind the first.  It ripped through Eiyr, shattering every last Ai¡¯lea statue and turning them to dust. Much of it rained down to the earth below from Aquaiia.  There was nothing left of them.

    ¡°Nothing¡­¡±

    ¡°My god!¡± I exclaimed in shock.  ¡°She killed her own¡­.¡±  I couldn¡¯t even finish my sentence.

    ¡°The whole city fell into a state of mourning, one I¡¯ve never seen before or since.  Some were so devastated they took their own lives, throwing themselves off the city¡¯s edge to the ground below.  It was painful and surreal.

    ¡°Aal¡¯ee got her revenge, more so than many realized at first.  Yes, she killed her daughters, but her actions sealed the fates of all El¡¯odians.  That was her intention from the beginning.  It was never about just punishing the Great Mother and her daughters.  It was about returning to the natural order as she saw it.   It was about reclaiming Naveyk and Skailer for herself so that they might reclaim the cosmos as their playground.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t follow.  How does killing her kind accomplish any of that?¡±

    ¡°By destroying the Nave and Skai.¡±

    ¡°But I thought you were protected?¡±  I was having a hard time picking up what Q was putting down.  ¡°I thought Aal¡¯ee couldn¡¯t harm the Nave or Skai because she had no hand creating either race.¡±

    ¡°Very true,¡± Q smiled and patted me on the back.  I think he was impressed at how closely I was paying attention.  ¡°But you have to remember, Jacob, we may have been long-lived, but we were still mortal like you back then.  With the Ai¡¯lea gone, so was any chance of procreation and continuing the races.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±  It finally clicked.  ¡°No women equal no sex, which equals no kids, so eventually the Nave and Skai would die out into extinction.¡±

    ¡°With us gone, I¡¯m assuming Aal¡¯ee figured everything would return to how it was before our creation.  The three would gallivant across the universe with Naveyk and Skailer fawning over Aal¡¯ee.¡±

    ¡°Why couldn¡¯t they create more of you?  In the beginning, each side started with some 33,000, right?  Why wouldn¡¯t the gods just snap their fingers or whatever they did to create another 33,000?¡±

    ¡°They could and even tried after the loss of the Ai¡¯lea, but they couldn¡¯t capture the essence of what we became.  All they could reproduce was a Nave or Skai from the original ¡®blueprint,¡¯ so to speak.   It was the blueprint for an El¡¯odian driven by hate and a lust for conquest to please their God with no fundamental understanding of family, compassion, or love.  That¡¯s who we were in the beginning.  But that El¡¯odian no longer had a place within either society.  We evolved beyond that because of the Ai¡¯lea.

    ¡°And now they were gone.  It might have taken a few centuries, but we would have joined them eventually.  Of course, the Goddess wasn¡¯t willing to wait that long.  To hurry things along, she provoked the Skai by pointing out who was to blame ¨C Naveyk and his bastard son. Aal¡¯ee gave them a target for all their grief and anger.  The Goddess was more than willing to let the Nave know they were coming.

    ¡°Before long, both sides were preparing for war.

    ¡°For days and nights, the fires churned as the smiths busied themselves, creating new eiyrlin weapons and armor.  Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from Aquaiia for miles.

    ¡°I finally returned to court to take my place as a King¡¯s Royal Guard member.  I wanted to fight.  Like a modern-day Special Forces team, the Royal Guard was the best of the best and would be on the frontlines right in the thick of things.

    ¡°But there was something unusual in the air when I walked into the throne room. I¡¯d been there thousands of times with the rest of the royal court.  This time around, I could sense the apprehension in the air. Our King, Villari Zet, summoned me forward.  I immediately went on guard.  Had I not known the people in the room, I would¡¯ve prepared myself to draw my sword at any moment.

    ¡°I stood at the foot of the steps leading up to the throne where the King sat and was ready to bow as I¡¯d done countless times.  The king did something I did not expect.  He stopped me and bowed himself.  No King of Aquaiia as ever bowed to another El¡¯odian.  Before I could say anything, the whole room followed his lead.  At first, I was at a loss for words but quickly recovered and insisted the King, not bow.  That¡¯s when he informed me of his plans to surrender his crown to me, for in his eyes and the eyes of our people, I was the rightful ruler of Aquaiia.  The son of Naveyk should be King.

    ¡°I would not hear of it, which ignited a debate that lasted for days.  Here we were preparing for war and now stuck in this political gridlock.  Since the dawn of our civilization, the line of Kings has never been broken.  I would not allow it to happen now.  We finally reached a compromise where I agreed to stand by the King¡¯s side as he proclaimed me Kyrios, the Sovereign Son of Aquaiia.  It basically¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Kyrios!¡± I jumped up in excitement.  I would¡¯ve startled any average person, but Q just laughed at me.  ¡°I knew it!¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not Jacob,¡± he snickered and grabbed my arm to prevent me from jumping anymore.  ¡°I was the first to hold the title millions of years ago, but I don¡¯t anymore.   So you need to calm down.  Since I had no family, the King adopted me as part of his family.  Should Aquaiia ever find herself without a King, should the House of Zet ever fall, I would become its ruler.  In the meantime, I became the most powerful and influential Nave in all of Aquaiia, second only to the King himself.

    ¡°With the debate behind us, we focused on what was coming.

    ¡°War.

    ¡°On the night of the battle, the King stepped out onto the balcony to address his army, and I stood faithfully by his side.  As the King gave his speech, I looked at what looked like a sea of Nave.  It was shoulder to shoulder Nave as far as the eye could see.  Our eiyrlin weapons sparkled like moonlight dancing on the surface of a pond.  It was a breathtaking sight, to be sure.  But as I stood there, I could not help but wonder how many of my brethren would not be making it back to Aquaiia.

    ¡°Yelling out his final words, ¡®FOR THE LOVE OF AQUAIIA,¡¯ the King stepped off the ledge and dove down towards his army like an arrow.  I followed right behind him, and we waited for the last moment to extend our wings and pull up.  We flew over our men, and with a roar, the sea of Nave came alive and flew up behind us.

    ¡°The city emptied.  Only the very young and old were left behind.  That¡¯s not to say they weren¡¯t willing to pick up a sword and join us.

    ¡°We flew out to the site of the first epic battle between the two races.  As if perfectly choreographed, the Skai arrived just as we did.  There was about a mile or so between us when we stopped to make final preparations.  I wondered if they knew of my capabilities. Honestly, I didn¡¯t even know what I was truly capable of, but I knew it gave my side a huge advantage.  I¡¯m sure Aal¡¯ee didn¡¯t tell them I possessed the power of the Gods.  Not that I think it would have made much difference.  The hatred had reached the boiling point.

    ¡°We heard the Skai¡¯s battle cry and let out one of our own before flying towards them in full force ¨C swords were drawn and shields at the ready.  As the two great armies were about to clash, there was an explosion of light between us that knocked everyone back.

    ¡°The light took form, and the image of the Great Mother appeared.  She was larger than life but with a deep and undeniable sadness.  The image spoke, and the message was simple.  The Great Mother was calling for peace.  She lost her daughters and could not bear the thought of losing her sons.

    ¡°¡®Honor the memory of our mothers, daughters, and sisters,¡¯ her voice boomed across the battlefield.  ¡®Honor their death by living¡­.¡¯

    ¡°And just like that, the image was gone.  There wasn¡¯t even a question of whether to respect her wishes or not.  There was no other El¡¯odian the Nave or Skai loved and respected more than the Great Mother.  And considering all that was lost¡­all she lost, even the Kings would bow to her will.

    ¡°The armies retreated without striking a single blow.

    ¡°We arrived back in Aquaiia to be greeted by Naveyk, who called for an audience with his sons.  I could not stomach the sight of him and went back to the palace.  I guess it was his turn to give his speech.  Despite not being there, there was nowhere in Aquaiia I could hide where I couldn¡¯t hear his voice or the crowd cheering for their God.

    ¡°Naveyk and Skailer united against Aal¡¯ee and were able to imprison and banish her from Eiyr so she could not harm another El¡¯odian again.  Even I have to admit that I was surprised.  For them to turn on one of their own for a race of mortals showed how much they had indeed grown to love what they created.

    ¡°In an uncharacteristic display of compassion, he acknowledged our loss and regretted his part in it but would never regret the birth of his son.  Naveyk made it clear that he would not sit idly by and watch his creation die out.  He told the crowd it was time for him to sacrifice for his children.

    ¡°I stepped out onto the same balcony I was on earlier that night and stared at the masses once again.  This time, I was alone.  As much as I didn¡¯t want to, I couldn¡¯t help but be drawn into what Naveyk was saying.  I had not expected to hear such words coming from him.  He was done by the time I got there, but I could see him transform into a sphere of light and ascend into the heavens.

    ¡°Night turned to day as it began to rain across Aquaiia and beyond.  But it wasn¡¯t raindrops falling from the sky. It was droplets of light.  We were bathing in Naveyk¡¯s radiance, so the Nave were imbued with his power and the wisdom to weld it.¡±

    ¡°He made you all immortal,¡± I added.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Q nodded.  ¡°Because of his selfless gift, my people were able to survive.  Even I was gifted with a clear understanding of my powers and how to use them.¡±

    ¡°What ended up happening to Naveyk?¡±

    ¡°He gave up much of his power, a lot of what he was to make us immortal, leaving him a shadow of his former self.  He disappeared from Eiyr, and we didn¡¯t see him again until after the Great Awakening.

    ¡°We suspected Skailer would not be outdone by Naveyk and did something similar for his sons in Asevaya, for he disappeared around the same time.

    ¡°From that moment, life for all El¡¯odians changed forever, but most importantly, life went on.¡±

    ¡°What about the Great Mother?¡±

    ¡°She remained in the empty city Cyprinia, her solitude, and grief her sole companion.  She would stay in Aquaiia for days or weeks at a time, as I¡¯m sure she visited Asevaya to be with the Skai.  That¡¯s not to say we didn¡¯t try to get her to stay with us full-time, but it was a no-go.  Cyprinia was her home.  She continued to offer her guidance and wisdom to both sides, never taking a side and forever remaining neutral.  She alone helped maintain a tenuous peace for many thousands of years.

    ¡°Hers was not an easy task.  I don¡¯t envy her.  Despite our progress, we were still designed for war against one another.  Although we had each other for love and companionship, without the Ai¡¯lea to steady our hands and focus our hearts, the itch for conquest grew ever stronger.  I have to give her credit, though, for the Great Mother certainly got creative.  She instituted a yearly tournament in Cyprinia where the best of the best battled it out to earn the title of Champion of the El¡¯odian.¡±

    ¡°I have to say I¡¯m kind of surprised she would go that far,¡± I admitted.  ¡°The Great Mother doesn¡¯t strike me as someone who¡¯s okay with you guys killing yourself for sport and glory.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯d be right, Jacob.  There were special rules in place to prevent that from happening.  It was forbidden to imbue our weapons with our power.  Only the Great Mother¡¯s essence was allowed to flow through them, making them painful but not deadly.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean.¡±

    ¡°Here, take a look,¡± he said, gesturing for me to stand in the middle of the balcony, leaving a reasonable distance between us.  Q put out his hands, and a swirl of energy came up from his palms producing two beautifully crafted swords.  ¡°These are my blades.¡±  The swords slowly spun and hovered over his hands.  ¡°They were a gift from the King when I joined his guard.  I was the only one to receive such a gift, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I laughed and rolled my eyes.

    From what Q described, the hilts were made from pure lusinite, a platinum-looking alloy from his day.  It was trimmed with gold, and a purple jewel was on the bottom of each hilt.  The blade itself was crafted entirely of the crystal they call eiyrlin.  The color matched the gems on the handle.  Maybe they were the same thing, but I wasn¡¯t sure, and I didn¡¯t think to ask.  They were broad and appeared heavy; I could easily see how they could inflict massive damage.

    ¡°These are our weapons, and we have all different kinds.  We crafted it first: axes, spears, daggers, maces, you name it.  I never liked carrying around a shield, so I mastered the art of dual-wielding two swords, and they¡¯ve served me well over the years.  But once the El¡¯odians became immortal, we couldn¡¯t be harmed by them any longer. They couldn¡¯t even pierce the skin.  That is, of course, until we learned this trick.¡±  Gripping the hilts of his swords, Q pulled them from the air and swung them around until the blades formed an X over his head.  His energy flowed from his arms into his hands and up into the blades.  They glowed and pulsated with power.  I could see the energy jumping around within the eiyrlin as if I was looking at lightning trapped within a glass bottle.  It was amazing.

    ¡°Imbued with our powers, our weapons became deadlier than ever.  Nave and Skai energy don¡¯t play well together. If I struck a Skai with these, my energy would flow into them and easily kill them.  Our powers are the only thing in Eiyr that can harm or kill an El¡¯odian.  Empowered by us, our weapons have become our instruments of destruction.¡±

    ¡°Can I hold them?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­no,¡± he laughed, making them vanish just as they appeared.  ¡°Besides, in the hands of a mortal, they would revert to their normal state.  Only the touch of an El¡¯odian can fuel them.

    ¡°But during the tournaments, the Great Mother blessed our weapons with her power.  So if we landed a lethal blow, it would hurt like hell but not kill us.  It was easy to see who the victor was when the loser was on the ground thrashing in pain.  It was always a fantastic sight to behold these tournaments.  Imagine a coliseum-style arena filled with El¡¯odian cheering for their brethren; one side filled with Nave, the other with Skai and the Great Mother right in the middle keeping the peace.

    ¡°Despite her efforts, the hatred between the Nave and Skai was forever present.  And like always, there were random encounters away from the arena where one side provoked the other, and a fight broke out.  Both sides were careful not to seriously harm or kill someone from the opposing side, for it would surely lead to war.  No one wanted to be the one to pull that trigger.

    ¡°For thousands of years, we lived as immortals; watched and felt our powers grow and evolve as immortals.  Then it happened¡­.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°My god Jacob!¡±  He was beaming suddenly.  Placing his hand over mine, he gently squeezed.  ¡°The most amazing thing happened to us.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±  I was shaking his hand now, trying to force it out of him.  He had me on the edge of my seat.  ¡°What happened to you?¡±

    Q began to speak but suddenly stopped as if what he had to share was so great that he couldn¡¯t put it into words.  He walked away from me to the other end of the balcony and stared out at the night sky.  Combing his fingers thru his hair, he turned around to face me.  ¡°I want to show you, Jacob.¡±  He came towards me, offering his hand.

    I took his hand, but I also took a step back simultaneously.  I was a little apprehensive about what was about to happen.  But I trusted Q, and the look in his eyes alone was enough to make me want to jump down any rabbit hole with him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid,¡± Q laughed and pulled me in for a long kiss.  My eyes were closed, but I could still see the light coming up and engulfing us.  I opened my eyes as I pulled away, and tiny spheres of light floated around us.  His radiance poured out from within; before I knew it, he was pure energy swirling around me.  ¡°Are you ready to jump down the rabbit hole?¡±

    ¡°I hate when you do that!¡±

    There was a flash, and we were gone.

 The Brotherhood Chapter XIX

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XIX

    By X

    It was a strange feeling being whisked away by Q in such a manner. I couldn¡¯t even pretend to explain the experience. All I know is it felt like I was wrapped in warmth, and I was as light as a feather. The sensation didn¡¯t last long. Before I knew it, the light surrounding us faded, and Q was standing in front of me, smiling. His arm was around my waist.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± he announced.

    I looked around, confused. I wasn¡¯t exactly sure of where ¡°here¡± was.

    Q laughed. ¡°We¡¯re in Aquaiia, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± From where I stood, we were in a freaking cave, ¡°Not exactly how I pictured your city, but I guess this could work.¡±

    ¡°I guess I should be more accurate,¡± he laughed again and shook me slightly. ¡°This is the entrance to the caverns beneath Aquaiia. The city is above us, obviously.¡±

    ¡°So, you decided to give me a tour of a cave, huh?¡± There wasn¡¯t much to say about the cave. If you¡¯ve seen one cave, I guess you¡¯ve seen them all. The only thing that stuck out was the crystals coming out of the walls. They were in clusters of various shapes, sizes, and colors. More impressively, they gave off a faint glow that illuminated the cave. ¡°I will say this, though; you sure know how to treat a boy.¡±

    ¡°Very funny.¡± Q playfully slapped me in the back of the head before pulling away. ¡°It¡¯s not about the cave, and you know it. It¡¯s about what I want to show you.¡±

    ¡°So, what is it?¡± I said, turning around and taking a step forward. ¡°Holy shit!¡± I yelled, realizing I was standing on a ledge with nothing but open air beneath me. My stomach felt like it was about to fall out of my ass!

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯d watch my step if I was you.¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve warned me!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess I could have,¡± he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist again, ¡°but where¡¯s the fun in that?¡±

    I loved when he did that. My heart fluttered anytime he was near me, never mind touching me. I enjoyed just leaning back into him and letting him hold me. We could stand there for hours just like that, and I¡¯d be content. It was wishful thinking, I know, but a nice thought, nonetheless.

    I must admit it. The sight before me was impressive. No matter how often Q mentioned his floating city, I never fully appreciated it until I saw the clouds floating so close, I swear I could reach out and touch them.

    ¡°Q, how is this possible?¡± I finally asked, astonished. ¡°Is this real? I swear if you tell me we just traveled back millions of years, I will lose it.¡±

    I felt his smile against my neck when he kissed me. ¡°No, not quite,¡± he said. ¡°This is merely a recreation of memories pulled from my thoughts. It¡¯s as real as I need it to be. Does that make sense?¡±

    I simply nodded as if I knew what in the hell he was talking about. I knew asking him for more of an explanation would probably just give me a headache.

    ¡°Here they come,¡± he said and pointed out two figures in the distance.

    Two Nave flew towards us, their long, white wings outstretched and powerful. I leaned forward a bit and squinted. I could¡¯ve sworn they were naked.

    I even started to ask Q. ¡°Are they¡­.¡±

    Before I could finish my question, the two Nave flew over our heads and landed behind us. They weren¡¯t naked like I believed. Instead, they wore a simple white cloth around their waist. The material was somewhat sheer and didn¡¯t leave much to the imagination. I suppose modesty goes out the window when you live in a society with nothing but men.

    The Nave themselves were perfect, just like I expected them to be. Nicely toned with tight bodies and asses so firm you could bounce a quarter off them. They both had shoulder-length blonde hair, although one was slightly lighter than the other.

    ¡°Come on,¡± he said, taking me by the hand as we followed behind the Nave. I don¡¯t think they were aware of us. At least, I didn¡¯t believe that this reality from Q¡¯s mind worked that way.

    We went through some tunnels and winding corridors before entering a room that was probably the size of a football field. At its center was a vast floating sphere of light with two rings spinning around it.

    The couple walked closer to the sphere.

    ¡°What in the hell is that?¡± I asked, pointing at the swirling energy.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Core,¡± Q answered as he continued to follow his brethren. ¡°It¡¯s pure Naverian Anavi. It allows Aquaiia to float over Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Anavi?¡± I asked, shaking my head, bewildered. ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry,¡± he smiled. ¡°I was trying to keep things simple for you by not using too many Naverian terms.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a big boy,¡± I laughed. ¡°I think I can handle a couple of big words.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± he said, extending his hands as he walked up to me. The light poured out from his hands, coalescing into a brilliant spere before me. ¡°The light you see, the energy, our very essence, it¡¯s our Anavi. It¡¯s what gives us our power, our immorality. Formally, it¡¯s Hek¡¯anavi, meaning Blessed Gift From Naveyk to my people. But we¡¯ve dropped the ¡®Hek¡¯ over the long millennia and simplified it to Anavi.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very pretty,¡± I said and paused, wondering if I should ask my follow-up question. ¡°Is it the same for the Skai?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he smiled. ¡°The Skai, or Skylarians, refer to their Gift as Hek¡¯askyli, or simply, Askyli. To them, it means¡­.¡±

    ¡°Let me guess!¡± I interrupted and folded my arms as if thinking really hard. ¡°Blessed Gift From Skailer?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± he replied, snickering. ¡°Look at that. You¡¯re not as hopeless as you look.¡±

    ¡°I try,¡± I said, taking a bow. ¡°See? That wasn¡¯t so hard. I get it.¡±

    Q rolled his eyes at me.

    I looked past Q at the spinning Core and pointed, ¡°So, how does it work?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t pretend to know how it works exactly, for it was Naveyk¡¯s creation. And to be honest, we never felt the need to question its function. For us, it was simply the Core. But that¡¯s not what I brought you here.¡± He pointed at the two Naverians. ¡°Watch closely and be amazed.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°What are they going to do?¡±

    He grabbed my chin and turned my head towards the couple. ¡°Just watch,¡± he said with a smile.

    They were kissing, and it was very tender and loving. Their bodies were pressed together while their hands explored each other. I suddenly felt very awkward, like a peeping tom spying on them from behind bushes. But I wasn¡¯t hidden. I was right there, front and center. Almost close enough to touch them. If nothing else, I was sure they couldn¡¯t see us.

    ¡°Q, this feels wrong on so many levels.¡±

    At that moment, they stretched out their wings. One Nave pointed his wings up above his lover¡¯s head. The other pointed his wings down towards the ground, so his partner was between them. I noticed right away that their wings were growing and getting longer. I watched as they wrapped their wings around themselves, forming a cocoon until I couldn¡¯t see them anymore.

    My curiosity was more than peaked. I left the safety of Q¡¯s side and circled the feathery shell. Before I realized it, my hand reached out and touched the cocoon. It was soft like I expected but surprisingly cool to the touch, and my fingers tingled as if a slight electrical current was present.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± I asked, pointing at the cocoon as I walked up next to Q.

    He didn¡¯t say anything. Q just looked at me and then looked back at the cocoon, and with a flash of his eyes came a shimmer that made the cocoon transparent. We could see inside! The two Nave were snuggled up inside; they kissed one last time before resting their heads on each other¡¯s shoulders. I watched in amazement as they slowly transformed into pure Anavi and melted into each other. It was as if they dissolved into crystalline ribbons that meshed, danced, and swirled in perfect rhythm to a song I couldn¡¯t hear. Each ribbon twinkled as though bathed in liquid diamonds. Yet they weren¡¯t solid or liquid or gaseous in form¡­they were ribbons of light energy but¡­something else¡­as well. Something multifaceted that glinted, pulsed, and sang and loved. Each ribbon seemed composed of a thousand threads, each thread composed of a thousand silken strands, each strand¡­

    I watched hypnotized.

    It was magic. These flowing ribbons, threads, and strands moved in unison and somehow separately simultaneously. I watch them entwine one into the other, snaking, tangling, knotting themselves together. They circled each other repeatedly until the two ribbons were no longer distinguishable from one another. They had become a single sphere of pulsating light¡­a single sphere of passion. The two Naverians were now truly one.

    Watching that kind of union or fusion between living beings was beyond anything I¡¯ve ever experienced. It was a wonder beyond words.

    ¡°That¡¯s incredible,¡± I said, unable to pull my eyes away.

    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± Q agreed. I don¡¯t think he could have hidden the smile from his face even if he wanted to. ¡°In our purest form, we can merge our Anavi in a fusion of thought, sensation, experiences, and if we so choose¡­intimacy.¡±

    ¡°Intimacy? You mean sex?¡±

    ¡°No, something far more important is happening here, beyond the simple concept of human intimacy and sex.¡± Q circled the now transparent cocoon; the energy within continued to pulsate and swirl. ¡°They will be joined like this for the next seven weeks until¡­.¡± Allowing his words to trail off, Q backed away from the cocoon and stood beside me.

    I watched in amazement as the orb of light settled and split in two. Slowly the two halves started to expand and take shape. Before long, the Nave took their physical form and appeared snuggled up together, but there was something more. A third, smaller sphere of Anavi was floating between them, and it too started to take form.

    ¡°Oh my god¡­.¡± I whispered and approached the cocoon.

    ¡°We evolved, Jacob.¡±

    They created a child, a baby boy that appeared to be around three or four years of age - if he were human. I was awestruck. I had just witnessed the birth of an El¡¯odian child. He was curled up between his fathers, with his tiny wings obscuring him from my sight. I could only see his little butt peeking out from the bottom. I was on my toes, trying to find an angle that would allow me a glimpse of his face. All I could see was a tuft of blond hair. It was so frustrating! And then, suddenly, the cocoon was solid again, and I could no longer see inside.

    ¡°Hey!¡± I protested. ¡°Why did you do that?¡±

    Q simply smiled.

    ¡°You guys can have kids?¡±

    ¡°Believe me, Jacob, no one was more surprised than we were. We had no idea how or why it happened, but we were grateful. Our biggest fear was that our culture would become stagnate without the infusion of fresh blood, so to speak. We knew that without the Ai¡¯lea to breathe new life into our society, the decay of our civilization was inevitable. Our immortality was irrelevant. The miraculous birth of this new generation of children changed that; there was a sense of hope lacking since the days of the Ai¡¯lea.¡±

    ¡°Were they all boys?¡± I wondered out loud.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Q replied and pointed at the cocoon. ¡°This child was a product of his parents as any child would be. The difference here is this boy now carries all the memories, experiences, and Knowledge of his fathers. This information will slowly unravel in the boy¡¯s mind for years until he eventually knows everything his parents did at the moment of his birth. But now, he¡¯s born with the basic ability to speak, walk and even fly, but that is it. Oddly enough, he won¡¯t come into his true Naverian powers until his tenth year.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Nave children are born completely mortal, as mortal as we were before, Naveyk gifted his sons with immortality. It remains that way to this day; we don¡¯t know why. We know that the powers, the Anavi, dormant in a Nave child will emerge exactly ten years after his birth, and he will become immortal. We can time it down to the very second.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I stopped when I noticed a single feather peel away from the cocoon and slowly fell to the ground. I was going to continue, but I saw a second and then a third feather fall. Suddenly it was like someone pulled the single string holding the cocoon together because hundreds of feathers began to drop.

    The three emerged naked. The newest, smallest Nave rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He was adorable, flapping his little wings behind him like a newborn might stretch his limps. As Q said, the little tyke could stand on his own two feet when his father set him down.

    I smiled at the sight of the new family. There was a glow about them. Not a magical, other worldly light. It was more like a glow of happiness¡­of completeness. It was the glow of three separate beings who knew that together they were now one.

    I envied them.

    We followed them to the same area where Q and I first appeared. The little boy was speaking to his parents in their native tongue. It was just a few words, but I was completely amazed. Even though I couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying, I could easily tell that his fathers were doing what most parents do. They were humoring him.

    I turned to ask Q a question, but I was instantly shrouded in his brilliant aura and taken from that place. As the light faded, my surroundings became all too familiar once again. I stood in the middle of Q¡¯s bedroom. He looked at me, the light not completely gone from his eyes.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I was honored he¡¯d allowed me to witness, no¡­to experience¡­the birth of that new family. ¡°Did you ever¡­¡± I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and looked away from him.

    Q laughed at my inability to finish my question. ¡°No, I never had a child of my own.¡± He walked behind his desk and looked out the window. ¡°I choose never to bond.¡±

    ¡°And you regret that?¡±

    ¡°Why do you ask that?¡± he inquired, looking back at me puzzled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ something in your voice, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Q returned his gaze to the window and never really answered me. ¡°Aquaiia was filled with the innocent laughter of children again, and so it was for many centuries to come. While in Cyprinia, we learned the Skylarians evolved much as we did. No one could say which race was the first to bring an El¡¯odian son into being. Like many things between our people, it was a heated topic of debate. I suspect the Great Mother knew. But, like much of her knowledge, it was never shared.¡±

    ¡°Why would it matter?¡± Feeling bold, I sat in Q¡¯s chair and spun around to face him. I had the best view in the house. His hot ass was right there - eye level - and I wasn¡¯t about to complain.

    ¡°You are talking about two races who...at their very core¡­were created to prove they are better, stronger, and more powerful than the other.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡±

    ¡°Eventually, even our King had his first son. I was beyond relieved when Sol was born. Finally, the kingdom had a legitimate heir. At first, there were rumblings of discontent. Some continued to believe I should take over, but I quickly reminded our people that I agreed to rule only if the House of Zet was no more. With the birth of the prince, the line of kings would continue.

    ¡°To my surprise, I was as much a son in the King¡¯s eyes as I was before Sol¡¯s birth. He loved us both equally. On more than one occasion, I had to remind him that I wasn¡¯t his son. That he should show favor to Sol now and again, he wouldn¡¯t hear of it.

    ¡°Sol and I grew very close, and as he got older, I was charged with his training. Every king before him was skilled with a blade, and he would be no different. He did see me as his big brother, and as such, he sought my approval for all he did. He needed to know I was proud of him.

    ¡°Over a century would pass before Soullen was born, and by then, Sol grew to be quite the Nave. He grew fiercely independent - a little too independent for the King¡¯s liking. He had a habit of venturing alone without his guards to look after him. I tried to call him out on it countless times, but he would give grand speeches about how he would be king one day. And when that day came, he¡¯d need to know how to fend for himself without someone looking over his shoulder all the time. Sol had a point, and I forced myself to turn off the ¡°big brother switch¡± and let him be his own person. I even helped convince his father to do the same.

    ¡°I started spending more time with young Soullen, and, aside from our training sessions, I let Sol have his space. But as time went by, his behavior grew more suspect. He was spending more and more time away from the city. There were days he would leave at first light and not return until late at night.

    ¡°I remember one night I found his father and brother standing at the edge of the city looking into the darkness, searching for any sign of Sol. Soullen was still a mere boy, not even an immortal, and he loved his brother. I tried to reassure him that Sol would return soon, but I could do nothing to quell his fears. He refused to go to bed until he knew Sol was safe.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t wait for the order. I summoned a handful of the Royal Guard to go out and help find him. The minute I took that first step off the city¡¯s edge, Sol came flying in like a kid late for curfew. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d ever seen the King so angry. He, along with several high-ranking court members, blasted Sol. Hell, even I was on his case. But, true to form, Sol gave the same pushback he always did. He wasn¡¯t a child anymore. We had to trust his judgment if we expected him to be king one day.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said matter-of-factly, ¡°I know that song and dance all too well. Of course, the whole ¡®being king¡¯ thing never came up with my parents.¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t?¡± Q sounded genuinely shocked, and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°You come across so kingly I found it hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡±

    ¡°Suspicions about Sol¡¯s actions grew to an all-time high when he stopped linking with the Eye of Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°The Eye of Eiyr? What?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Q snapped his fingers and pointed at me, ¡®Did I forget to tell you about that?¡±

    I just nodded.

    He leaned back against the window and spread his hand about two feet apart in front of him. ¡°The Eye of Eiyr was about this big, probably twice the size of a basketball. It was an orb Naveyk left behind when he made us immortal and disappeared. As was customary, a statue was erected in his honor in the center of Aquaiia, which held the orb for all to see. There was nowhere in the city you could go where you couldn¡¯t see its radiance.

    ¡°It allowed all Nave to connect thru it.¡± Q paused for a moment. ¡°Think of it as a wireless network where a Nave could link his mind to it and share his thoughts and experience with the rest of the population. For example, let¡¯s say I discovered a new hot spring I thought others would enjoy. All I had to do was link to the Eye, and anyone connected would know exactly where it was. They¡¯d see it thru my eyes; feel the water against their skin as if they were there. We could reach out and touch the mind of any Nave even if they were on the other side of Eiyr, for it amplified our natural telepathic abilities. That¡¯s why it¡¯s known as the Eye of Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°That seems a bit intrusive, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Q assured me. ¡°No one was required to link with the Eye. And you could control what you wanted to share. You could easily share an adventure and keep the more intimate parts of your life private. We lived in a pretty open society with very few secrets. We were a race that craved knowledge and therefore shared it willingly.

    ¡°That¡¯s why it was so unusual when Sol stopped linking to the Eye completely. He didn¡¯t want anyone to know what he was doing while he was alone and away from the city. He could have kept those thoughts private, but he didn¡¯t want to risk making a mistake. He didn¡¯t want to reveal too much.

    ¡°It was no surprise to me when the King wanted him followed. And, of course, the unpleasant task of spying on Sol fell on me. I was close to him, and the King knew I¡¯d be discreet. The King tried to be fair. If Sol¡¯s activities were harmless, he told me to keep my findings to myself. If that were not the case, if Sol was in danger or endangering others, I was ordered to report back to him.

    ¡°And so, I did my duty. Early one morning, I followed Sol as he flew out of the city, and it wasn¡¯t a trip around the block, let me tell you. He took me to one of the most remote islands in all of Eiyr. I didn¡¯t even know this place existed. No one ever went out that far. There was simply nothing to see. My curiosity was already peaked just following him over the vast ocean, but it was more so when I landed on the island. I remember asking myself what would bring him out here.

    ¡°I took cover on the mountainside while Sol roamed up and down the beach. It seemed like I was watching him forever.¡±

    ¡°How did Sol not know you were watching him, trailing him? How did he not notice you on the island? It¡¯s like not noticing the other person in the room.¡±

    ¡°I was far more powerful than Sol and could easily mask myself from him. Trust me; he had no idea I was there. I was about to leave, believing the whole venture out there was a waste of time. But a shadow caught my eye as I was about to take flight. I stopped, but everything was still for a moment or two. I was ready to dismiss it as my imagination when I suddenly saw Sol get knocked off his feet by this fast-moving shadow.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°It took me but a second to realize it was a Skai. In an instant, my swords were summoned, and I flew down that mountain as I infused my blades with my Anavi, ready to tear thru the Skai. As I got closer, I realized they were laughing together¡­giggling actually.¡±

    ¡°Nave giggle?¡± I smirked and bit my bottom lip. I could never picture Q just giggling. Well, I could, and that was the problem. It took everything I had to keep myself composed.

    ¡°It¡¯s a state secret,¡± Q remarked with a roll of his eyes. ¡°Anyway, I was quick to duck behind tall trees and bushes so they wouldn¡¯t see me. I was completely shocked by what I was witnessing. They rolled around in the sand a bit longer and then kissed. A Naverian and Skylarian kissed!

    ¡°I just couldn¡¯t believe it! I distinctly remember closing my eyes and shaking my head, thinking maybe I was seeing things. That perhaps that Skai was another Nave. But there was no mistaking the Skai¡¯s white hair, obsidian eyes. and gray skin. To make matters worse, it wasn¡¯t just any Skai. Sol was making out with Juyx, the Prince of Asevaya.¡±

    ¡°You mean the Skai Prince? Damn.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Q exclaimed and pushed himself off the glass. Placing both hands on his head, he walked a few feet away from me and snapped back around, slapping the back of his right hand into his palm. I jumped a little. ¡°You have no idea of the ramifications of what I was witnessing. No idea!¡± Then Q leaned back against the window and calmly folded his arms over his chest. ¡°My god Jacob¡­they were in love. I mean actual, no holding back, to hell with what anyone thinks, love. Any idiot could see it within minutes of seeing those two together. I had an entire day.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t leave or look away even if I wanted to. They held me spellbound. They laughed, joked, and even talked about their lives back home. They spoke of how they were tired of sneaking around. And as with any lovers, there were times when they just lay in each other¡¯s arms in silence, completely content. I could have easily been watching two of my Naverian brothers. This wasn¡¯t possible.

    ¡°Speaking of the impossible, what they did next was¡­.¡± Q broke off as if he suddenly lost the ability to form words, or what he was about to say was so profound there weren¡¯t any words to describe it. Slowly Q interlocked his fingers. ¡°Like two raindrops coming together¡­they merged.¡±

    My eyes instantly grew wide. ¡°You mean like the two we just saw?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°The essence of a Nave and Skai, Anavi and Askyli,...together as one¡­in a cohesive sphere of pure thought and energy...it¡¯s unthinkable, Jacob.¡± Q laughed despite himself. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it. Not in a million years, and I can honestly say that because I¡¯m much older than that.¡±

    Now he had me laughing.

    ¡°Merging Anavi and Askyli shouldn¡¯t be possible. It makes for a deadly combination. They should¡¯ve died right before my eyes.

    ¡°That¡¯s how they spent the rest of the day. They only separated when Juyx had to return to Asevaya. I waited until he was long gone before approaching Sol. He was laid out on the sand as happy as can be¡­that is, until he saw me standing over him.

    ¡°He was so angry at my presence that he summoned his swords and attacked me! I understood his frustration, and so I indulged him ¨C temporarily. I was, after all, his brother and confidant and the one Nave he admired. At that moment, he felt I betrayed all of that. Eventually, I disarmed Sol and dropped him on his ass, and reminded him that I still had a duty to our King, his father, and he was the one sneaking around behind everyone¡¯s back. I gave him a choice. We could either continue to fight, or we could talk. And, since my shimmering blade was at his throat, Sol chose the latter.

    ¡°I won¡¯t bore you with all the details of our long conversation, but it turned out he¡¯d been seeing Juyx in secret for decades. They met on that same island. They would often go there individually to escape the pressures of home and being a prince. Years passed before either of them realized the other was also visiting the secret hideaway. One day, they simply ran into each other. And somehow, instead of seeing ¡®the enemy,¡¯ they looked at one another and saw ¡®commonality.¡¯ Miraculously, they understood each other more than they hated each other. Weapons were never drawn that day; they stood side by side and discussed the pressure of being a prince back home while enjoying the fantastic scenery. The rest, as they say, was history.

    ¡°In the end, Sol pleaded with me not to tell his father. All I had to do was look at him; he knew exactly what I was thinking. Someone had to tell his father the truth. And that someone had to be him. Sol knew eventually that the truth would have to come out. There was no way to keep it a secret forever. I give them credit for keeping it a secret as long as they did.

    ¡°Sol asked me to give him three days. He felt Juyx had a right to know and needed time to contact him. I agreed and laid low for a bit. I avoided Aquaiia for fear of being summoned by the King. I wasn¡¯t prepared to lie to him. I spent the days in Cyprinia visiting with the Great Mother. I was shocked to learn she had been aware of the relationship between the two princes. She¡¯d been counseling them from the very beginning.

    ¡°I turned to the Great Mother for answers. I needed to understand how such a union was possible. Her response was simple. ¡®It was inevitable.¡¯ The way she saw it, their union was a natural evolutionary process, in much the same way as was the ability for the Nave and Skai to procreate. It by no means meant that the two races would be merging left and right; the Great Mother believed Sol and Juyx were one in a million, but they offered hope in her eyes.

    ¡°We spent the better part of two days debating the implications. She came to me on the eve of the second day and told me it was time to go. Before I could even ask why the Great Mother teleported us to Aquaiia. We appeared at the very edge of the city, looking out at Eiyr. On the horizon, I saw Sol flying towards the city. Juyx accompanied him.

    ¡°He was bringing a Skai to Aquaiia!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that never happened before?¡± I said.

    ¡°Never! If a meeting happened between our people, it always happened on neutral ground. The only place on Eiyr that we considered neutral was Cyprinia. But they were flying over us, heading towards the city¡¯s center. And as he did, Sol linked with the Eye of Eiyr. In that instant, he shared with all of Aquaiia his relationship with Juyx. We got to feel their intense connection; the emotions and love binding them together.

    ¡°Stunned by Sol¡¯s revelation, the city fell silent. The people of Aquaiia simply stood by and watched in utter amazement as Sol and his beloved made their way thru the city to the royal palace.

    ¡°The King walked out of the palace as his son approached, and to everyone¡¯s surprise, he welcomed Sol with open arms and a fatherly embrace. What Sol shared through the Eye profoundly impacted the people of Aquaiia and his father in particular. The King acknowledged the young Skylarian as he would a friend and invited him into his home for ¡®they had a lot to discuss.¡¯

    ¡°It took some time, but eventually, the King was able to accept the union between the two and, with the help of the Great Mother, Juyx¡¯s father did as well. The Great Mother had high hopes that this union between the princes would lead to lasting peace between all El¡¯odians.¡±

    ¡°And the people?¡± I interrupted. ¡°Are you telling me everyone accepted them just like that?¡± I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°God, no. That would be too easy, but still, there with plenty who embraced them, especially among the younger generations. Some were cautious of such a union but hopeful. And then, of course, you had El¡¯odians on both sides that didn¡¯t like it and didn¡¯t trust it. But there wasn¡¯t much anyone could do, so life went on.

    ¡°A couple of years passed, and things started to look good for both of our people. Many of the old disputes were put to rest, and it was beginning to feel like we were entering an era of peace.¡± Q sort of laughed to himself. ¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°That it took only these two to quell the violence and hatred that plagued us for so long, much as the Ai¡¯lea did in their time? I suppose what Sol shared with us when he linked to the Eye of Eiyr opened our minds and hearts to new possibilities. Understand me. The Nave and Skai weren¡¯t exactly buddies. We kept each other at arm¡¯s length. There was, after all, eons of mistrust there. But Sol and Juyx coupling offered hope to those who believed in and desired a better tomorrow between our people.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said pensively. ¡°So, where exactly did you fall?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, you said there were three sides to all this: those who were okay with it, those who were cautious but had high hopes, and those who didn¡¯t trust it. Where did you fall?¡±

    ¡°I remained distrustful of the Skai. I was in the Royal Guard, after all. My job was to protect and defend my brothers and our Kingdom. I could not afford to let my guard down. Not even for an instant. But honestly, I had no problem with Juyx. Their relationship intrigued me, and I respected their courage and conventions.¡±

    I could see the ¡°but¡± coming a mile away. Q¡¯s demeanor changed, and he looked like a dark cloud was hanging over his head. He got up, walked away for a moment, and then came back. And with a heavy sigh, he continued.

    ¡°There was a big celebration for Soullen¡¯s Day of Ascension; the day he came into his powers and became an immortal. It¡¯s the only birthday we celebrate, and since he was a prince, there was a big to-do about it. The whole city was alive.

    ¡°That evening, one of Sol¡¯s guards said the Prince got word that Juyx needed to see him. I immediately sensed all kinds of red flags. It wasn¡¯t that it was late in the evening that caused me concern. They met at all hours of the day. But my question to the guard was how exactly Sol got ¡®word¡¯ from Juyx? It¡¯s not like a Skai could just fly into the city with a message for the Prince without all of Aquaiia being alerted to his presence, you know?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Of course, when I pose this question to the guard, he had no idea how the Prince got the message because Sol never said he never thought to ask. I immediately tried to reach out to Sol with my thoughts, to no avail. Not even with the power of the Eye of Eiyr could I touch his mind. Something was very wrong. I alerted the King, and a patrol was sent out immediately to look for Sol.¡± Q slowly shook his head. ¡°We never saw or heard from Sol again.¡±

    I was anxious to hear what happened next, but when Q fell silent, I didn¡¯t dare press for more. I gave him a moment to collect his thoughts, for it was clear that this memory wasn¡¯t easy for him to relive.

    ¡°Our search parties turned Eiyr inside out with nothing to show for it. It was then that we learned Juyx was missing as well. For the briefest moment, the Nave and Skai joined to search for the missing princess, but it all fell apart when both sides met in Cyprinia after weeks of searching. The whole point of the meeting was to share any new information and develop a joint plan to find them, but it wasn¡¯t long before the finger-pointing started. The Skylarians accused us of killing Juyx and hiding Sol to make it appear like they were both lost. We accused them of being such savages they likely killed our prince and their own to hide their involvement.

    ¡°The meeting quickly broke down after that. Try as she might, the Great Mother couldn¡¯t keep the peace, and for the first time, we turned Cyprinia into a battleground. It was war. There was no getting around it. The Great Mothers expelled us from Cyprinia, using her power to send us back to our respective cities.

    ¡°This time, there would be no grand speech to rally the troops. Aquaiia lost a prince; the King lost a son, and I lost a brother. The lust for retribution was overwhelming, and we flew out to meet the Skai in battle. It was brutal. After thousands of years, we finally gave into our original design. We fought for annihilation. Each side was confident they would stand victorious in the end. Thousands of El¡¯odians were killed that first night. And yet it was just a prelude of things to come.

    ¡°It set the pace for a war that raged on for months. There was one rule: Kill or be killed. Both sides followed it to the letter, and we were very good at it. We were efficient, of course, that posed a problem. The war could have gone on for years with no clear victor.

    ¡°One night, I was returning to the city with my men after a long and drown out battle on the frontlines. I was surprised the city was not where it was supposed to be.¡±

    ¡°The hell?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Q exclaimed. ¡°Since its creation, Aquaiia had never moved from its spot in the sky. Never. Just as panic was sitting in, we were met by a group of Nave who were left behind to inform those of us who showed up after the fact. The King decided it was the time it put an end to the war. And so, with the combined power of the Nave in the city, the King moved Aquaiia towards Asevaya. He planned to use the city¡¯s Core to direct a massive beam of Naverian Anavi into Asevaya, thereby reducing it to rubble and killing all the Skai once and for all. I¡¯d been away for weeks, so I was not involved in planning this attack. I had no idea who came up with it or that it was possible to use the core in such a way.

    ¡°The very first WMD,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°So, it seems,¡± Q agreed, ¡°We flew towards Asevaya to join the battle, but what we saw was horrific once we got there. Aquaiia was under siege, burning, and overrun with Skai. My men and I hit the streets with blades swinging as we tried to make our way to the palace to stand with our King. Even in the confusion of battle, it didn¡¯t take long to discover the King was nowhere in the court but the caverns beneath the city, trying to keep the Skylarians from getting to the core.

    ¡°We were cut off from the King, but that didn¡¯t stop him from reaching out with his mind. He wanted me to locate Soullen and get him out of the city. I resisted at first, for my place was by his side. But he was my King, and he gave me an order. I searched the palace for Soullen.

    ¡°I found him hiding in the armory when the unthinkable happened. I didn¡¯t witness it myself, but from what I was told by those who escaped, a Skai got passed the King and his men and merged his Askyli with Aquaiia¡¯s core. It resulted in a catastrophic chain reaction that threatened to destroy the city. The order to retreat and evacuate the Aquaiia was given.

    ¡°I lead my people, including Soullen, a safe distance away from the city. The King was not with us. He stayed behind with a group of his elite guard to give the rest of us time to escape. I gathered my men to go back for him, but there was an explosion in the city. It could be seen for hundreds of miles. Aquaiia was turned into a massive fireball and fell from its perch thousands of miles in the sky. I could only guess the King and those with him held out until the last minute.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°Aquaiia slammed into the Skylarian city; the chances of that are like a billion to one. We could only surmise that those left in the city used their power to aim Aquaiia into Asevaya. The King gave his life to take out as many Skai as possible, retribution for the loss of his son.

    ¡°The impact and the subsequent explosion created a blast wave that encompassed most of Eiyr and destroyed everything in its path. Millions of tons of debris hurled into the atmosphere which blocked out the sun and¡­.¡±

    I threw up my hand in utter shock. ¡°Are you telling me you were the cause of the extinction of all life on earth sixty-some million years ago?¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°Well, not me personally, Jacob.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°You know what I mean!¡±

    ¡°Human scientists believe a meteor struck the planet sixty-five million years ago and caused an extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs and almost all other life on earth. Now you know what really happened. It wasn¡¯t a meteor, Jacob. It was Aquaiia slamming into Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit! That¡¯s fucking unbelievable!¡±

    ¡°Believe me; it¡¯s not our proudest moment. The one thing we have in common with the Skai is our love for Eiyr. To cause such massive destruction, well¡­.¡±

    ¡°I think I understand. Couldn¡¯t your people use their power to undo the damage?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Q shook his head. ¡°When we were made immortal by the Gods, they ensured we could not affect Eiyr on a global scale. I suppose it was a safeguard so no one El¡¯odian could blow us all to hell and back.

    ¡°But things were far worse than causing the extinction of life on Eiyr. We could have lived thru it, for it did not affect us. The destruction of Aquaiia caused the Core to release its Anavi into the atmosphere as if it was a geyser of light. Had it not been for the Skai fusing his dark Askyli with that of the Core¡¯s, all Nave would have been unaffected. It would have been pure Anavi energy being released into the sky.¡±

    ¡°But that wasn¡¯t the case,¡± I added.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t,¡± Q agreed. ¡°The energy was corrupted; a volatile mix of Anavi and Askyli energy made it a poison to the Nave and Skai. Any El¡¯odian caught in its path would have been killed. It was the equivalent of a human walking into the radioactive fallout of a nuclear explosion. And it was slowly spreading and consuming Eiyr.

    ¡°Only the Great Mother was immune to the corrupted energy. She came up with the idea for us to sleep while Eiyr healed herself. Thousands of us dove down towards Eiyr from high in the sky. As we reach the surface, we enclosed our wings around us to form a cocoon-as you saw earlier. We slammed into the ground and buried ourselves hundreds of miles deep within Eiyr.

    ¡°And so it was that all El¡¯odians slept for tens of millions of years.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one long-ass nap,¡± I joked.

    Q laughed. ¡°Yes, it was. We existed as pure Anavi within our cocoons and fell into such a deep sleep we lost all track of time. A million years could have easily been a day, and we would not have known the difference.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy! When did you finally wake up?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been waking up randomly throughout the years. I awoke a little over thirty-five hundred years ago. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any pattern, rhyme, or reason when an El¡¯odian wakes up. We simply do.

    ¡°I broke thru my protective shell, and like a snake, I slithered upwards toward the surface as a ribbon of Anavi. I didn¡¯t take my Nave form until I could break through the ground. As my Anavi seeped thru the surface, I slowly turned solid and used my hands to pull myself out of the ground. I was weak and disorientated, with no idea where I was or how much time had passed.

    ¡°I do remember thinking how different the air smelled. I don¡¯t know why but that¡¯s always my first thought when I think back to that day. I laid there for hours gathering my strength and thoughts before I was approached by a man dressed in strange clothes. I¡¯m sure I looked just as odd to him because I was lying there naked and winged.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised he didn¡¯t run off screaming.

    ¡°I had no idea he was human, for he looked like a Nave, so I spoke to him in our native tongue, and he responded in his. His thoughts were erratic and made no sense to me. I needed to go deeper into his thoughts to understand better, so I asked him to link his mind with me, but obviously, we weren¡¯t getting anywhere. He didn¡¯t understand me.

    ¡°Finally, I just grabbed him by the head to merge our Anavi like I would with any Nave. In a matter of seconds, I knew everything he knew; his language, memories, the world history as he knew it¡­everything.¡±

    ¡°Then I don¡¯t understand,¡± I protested. ¡°Why can¡¯t¡­.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I do the same to you and learn about your hidden past? Because when I finally released him, he was dead. I ended up draining his life force. I sucked the life out of him, leaving nothing but a dried-up corpse that looked like it¡¯d been dead for decades. That¡¯s what would happen to you, Jacob. Unfortunately, humans cannot survive the process we use to probe deep into your minds.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    ¡°As I told you before, we can only read what¡¯s on the surface without causing any harm. At any rate, from the man, I learned he was a soldier heading home; more importantly, I learned about humanity. A new race had evolved during our slumber, and he did not know of El¡¯odians. I found that very disturbing.

    ¡°Even though I was awake, my powers were still very much asleep. It took me days to gather enough strength to reach deep inside myself and summon the full force of my Anavi, sending out a shockwave other Naverians can detect. It¡¯s like a fly hitting a spider¡¯s web. The web vibrates. The Nave web shook, and that¡¯s how my brothers found me.

    ¡°Seth was one of the Naverians who came to find me. He awoke just months before I did. I linked with him immediately, merging our Anavi, and I was up to speed on everything within minutes. The first Nave awoke about six centuries earlier, so I had six hundred years of history passed down to me. It was refreshing to have my thoughts ordered and focused. There were 133 Nave at the time. Our priority was to locate newly awoken Nave.

    ¡°With my appearance, the question of who should lead was brought to the table. And like always, I had no intentions of rocking the boat since we already had a leader in place. We did reorganize a council of five with Kyrios as the head. It seemed fitting to adopt the title given to me by our King for the new leader of the Nave.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t until a couple of centuries later that we discovered we could pass on our Anavi to human males to make them one of us, a full-fledged Nave with all our power and the long history of our people. It was then that The Brotherhood was born. So, it¡¯s a little older than what we lead you to believe when we gave the brief history on The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°You call three thousand years ¡®a little?¡¯¡± I laughed and playfully punched him on his leg.

    Q merely shrugged. ¡°And here we are. I think you¡¯ve had enough of a history lesson for now.¡±

    ¡°What? No! What happened during that time?¡±

    Now Q laughed at me. ¡°Relax, Jacob. You¡¯ll find out in due time. I just wanted to give you the basics of who we are, where we came from, and how we came to be. I¡¯m not saying the last three millennia weren¡¯t interesting because they were, but that¡¯s a story for another time. The short of it is we had to learn to deal with humans. We hid from them while growing our power and influence over the years to make us what we are today. ¡°

    I sat back in the chair and took a moment to take it all in. Q just gave me a history lesson to top all history lessons. If my 10<sup>th</sup> grade U.S. History class had been even half as exciting, I might have stayed awake thru more of it. The origin of the El¡¯odian was a fantastic story. My head spun at the mere thought of how long they¡¯ve been around. It kind of changes your perspective on things you thought you knew.

    ¡°I have a question for you.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    ¡°How is that we look so much like you? Without your wings and crazy powers, the Nave and human beings look alike. How¡¯s that possible? It can¡¯t just be a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes,¡± he smiled. ¡°You know every single pledge asks that same question. Well, we believe when Naveyk¡¯s radiance rained down across the land to make us immortal, his power somehow became the catalyst for human evolution. His Anavi wasn¡¯t contained to Aquaiia alone, for it rained down over miles around the city. We¡¯ve been investigating this for centuries because, as you said, it¡¯s not mere coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I nodded. ¡°So basically, you¡¯re saying humankind was the byproduct of your immortality?¡±

    ¡°Basically.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s lovely.¡±

    I got up from the chair and walked around the room until I stopped in the center and looked at Q. Everything he told me was still racing thru my mind. My heart pounded in my chest but not because I was afraid of what I had just learned¡ªquite the opposite. I was excited beyond belief. The excitement made me want to jump online and create a video titled ¡°You¡¯ll never fucking believe this.¡±

    ¡°Will all your human brothers eventually be turned into a Nave?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the plan,¡± he answered with a slight nod.

    ¡°Why wait? Why not just make them all Nave right off the bat?¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°My, you¡¯re certainly fired up all of a sudden.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just trying to understand.¡±

    ¡°No need to be sorry, Jacob,¡± he assured me. ¡°Questions are good. I¡¯m glad you feel comfortable enough to ask what¡¯s on your mind.¡±

    I smiled.

    ¡°There are two reasons why some of our brothers are still human. First, we want to make sure they keep their human perspective on things when we send them out into the world. The Nave really can¡¯t see or feel things thru human eyes. Our human brothers are our connection to you, our connection to humanity. Secondly, when a Nave passes on his Anavi to a human, he won¡¯t be able to do it again for another hundred years or so, depending on the Nave. We give a big part of ourselves when we transform a man into a Nave, and it takes a while for us to rebuild what was given. It¡¯s like recharging a battery.¡±

    ¡°What happens to a human Brother if he gets sick, old, or dies from any number of things that can kill us?¡±

    Pushing himself off the window, Q stood behind his chair and gestured for me to come over and have a seat. ¡°Let me show you something,¡± he said as I sat beside him. Q reached over and tapped the computer monitor in front of me. The screen rippled as if he had placed his finger on the surface of a still pond. After a few moments, it settled, and an image of the downstairs living room appeared on the screen.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go ahead and guess there isn¡¯t a camera downstairs.¡±

    ¡°No, there isn¡¯t.¡± Q pointed at the older man on the screen. ¡°Remember him?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the old guy that was in the papers. He¡¯s a senator, right? The paper said he passed away from natural causes, but he obviously didn¡¯t since he¡¯s still snoring downstairs.¡±

    ¡°Do you remember his name?¡±

    ¡°Um, John, something.¡± I paused for a moment. ¡°No, wait! It was James.¡±

    ¡°James K. Polk.¡±

    I snapped my fingers. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s it. Why? What¡¯s the big deal?¡±

    ¡°The name doesn¡¯t sound familiar to you? Think back to your American history class back in high school.¡±

    I thought about it for a moment and came up blank. ¡°I got nothing.¡±

    ¡°My god!¡± Q slapped me in the back of the head. ¡°And you got an A in that class. I¡¯m so writing someone a letter after we¡¯re done. James Knox Polk was the 11<sup>th</sup> president of the United States.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I shrugged. ¡°So what? Is he like a descendant of his?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s actually former president James K. Polk.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I nearly shouted and spun my chair around. ¡°How¡¯s that even possible?¡±

    Turning me back around, Q leaned into my ear. ¡°Watch,¡± he said and kissed me. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Q was already walking onto the screen before I could ask him where he was going.

    He shook James to wake him up, and when he did, he was overly excited to see Q. They spoke for a good five minutes, but I could only see them not hear what they were saying. Eventually, Q stood directly in front of James and placed his hands on the older man¡¯s face. I watched in awe as Q¡¯s Anavi poured out from his hands and washed over James. I couldn¡¯t see the senior senator, for he was completely bathed in light. After about thirty seconds, the light dissipated; all that remained was a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± I whispered.

    The young James stretched his limbs and cracked his neck. It looked like he thanked Q before taking off. Q looked up at me and waved thru the monitor.

    ¡°Now, do you understand?¡± Q asked from behind me.

    I fucking jumped out of my skin. ¡°Don¡¯t do that!¡± I spun around to face him. ¡°You damn near gave me a heart attack.¡±

    He just smirked.

    ¡°Are you telling me you guys are a walking, talking fountain of youth?¡±

    ¡°As you can see, our human Brothers are well cared for and enjoy a measure of immortality thru their Naverian Brothers. There¡¯s no human illness we can¡¯t cure, no wound we can¡¯t heal. We go to them immediately if we get word that one of our Brothers is sick.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s say you¡¯re too late, and they die. What happens then?¡±

    ¡°So long as we get to them within thirty-three minutes, we can bring them back.¡±

    ¡°That seems pretty specific.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it, though? We don¡¯t know why the window is thirty-three minutes long. It¡¯s one of the things about ourselves we¡¯re still trying to discover. Even after all this time, we don¡¯t have it all figured out¡­not quite yet.¡±

    Leaning back against the chair, I ran my hands through my hair, completely blown away. Q dropped another bombshell on me when I thought it couldn¡¯t get crazier.

    ¡°So why hasn¡¯t he been made a Nave by now? If you¡¯re telling me he was the 11<sup>th</sup> president, that means he¡¯s been around for a long ass time.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. James enjoys what he does. He¡¯s earned the right to be gifted with immortality, but he turns it down every time. He enjoys the human experience too much, I think. We¡¯re okay with that. The Brotherhood has big plans for James.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s what I don¡¯t get,¡± I said, throwing my hands up in frustration. ¡°What is the point of all this?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand the question.¡±

    ¡°Well, you guys are incredibly powerful beings, yet you decided to infiltrate colleges worldwide to do what? I get recruiting guys to turn to Nave so you can grow your numbers and keep the species going. But then you send your human brothers into the workforce to become lawyers, doctors, senators, and even presidents. That I don¡¯t get. What¡¯s the motivation behind it? What¡¯s the Brotherhood trying to get out of it?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sharp, Jacob,¡± Q said just before a big smile appeared on his face. ¡°I knew I picked the right guy. You¡¯re the only pledge ever to ask me that.¡± Turning my chair around to face the computer, Q reached over, so my head was between his arms and started typing on the keyboard. He pulled up an encrypted file.

    ¡°Take a look,¡± he offered before walking around the desk to sit opposite me.

    I looked thru the file and was amazed. It was a list of our human Brothers and their respective careers over the years. A lot of these guys were powerful men. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, senators, and members of Congress previously had four brothers who held the office of the vice president and three that were actually in the oval office, including James Polk. There were several governors and plenty of mayors who were currently in office. They had Brothers in all military branches, and many were in high-ranking positions; two were currently serving as members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens, and other Heads of State were on the list. The Brotherhood was everywhere.

    I probably looked thru this massive list for about ten minutes without saying a word to Q. I was finally able to pull myself away from the screen and sat back for a moment. I started laughing out of nowhere at the craziness going thru my head.

    ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± Q asked and sat back himself while he interlocked his hands before him.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking at this, and I can¡¯t help but think chess.¡±

    ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°Well, it looks like The Brotherhood is strategically placing its members in the right places like you would on a chessboard.¡± Again, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at myself and point at the screen. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would say The Brotherhood was trying to take over the world or something.¡±

    I laughed and laughed and laughed. The only problem was that Q wasn¡¯t laughing along with me. He was dead ass serious and staring at me with that knowing look. I felt the heat coming up from my body and warming my face.

    ¡°Oh my god,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°Checkmate¡­¡±

 The Brotherhood Chapter XX

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XX

    By: X

    We stared at each other for a few minutes.  I kept waiting for Q¡¯s stone face to break and for him to tell me he was only kidding, but that never happened.  He just sat there with his hands interlocked and index fingers pressed to his bottom lip.

    I finally decided to break the silence.

    ¡°Explain ¡®checkmate¡¯ to me,¡± I said as I leaned forward and placed my arms on the desk.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m pretty sure you know exactly what it means, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°The Brotherhood is planning to take over the world?  That¡¯s what you¡¯re trying to tell me?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said simply as if I just asked if he liked golf.

    ¡°Like literally take over the world?¡± I asked again.  Maybe I was hoping the answer would change the more I asked the same question.  ¡°Not like a few states here or there or a continent or two. You¡¯re talking about the whole thing?¡±  With my finger, I made a circle in the air to illustrate what I meant by ¡°the whole thing.¡±

    Of course, Q mimicked me by making his own circle in the air, except his finger left a light trail forming an actual circle.  ¡°The whole thing, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy!¡± I shouted and jumped back into my chair.  ¡°You guys can¡¯t just take over the world!¡±

    ¡°Why is that exactly?¡±  He had his cute little smirk on his face that, for an instant, made me forget about everything and all I wanted to do was¡­never mind.

    ¡°Because¡­¡±  Okay, I¡¯ll admit I drew a complete blank.  ¡°Because you just can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Well, why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± he laughed.  ¡°I¡¯ll take that argument to the Council of Brothers and stop the whole thing.¡±  He rose and moved toward the door as if on an urgent mission.

    ¡°Q!¡± I protested and even slapped the palm of my hand on the glass table.  That surprised me. I was trying to be serious. He was making fun of me.

    He spun on his heels to face me. ¡°This bothers you.¡±

    ¡°No, really?  You don¡¯t say?¡± I rolled my eyes.  I was feeling more confident in expressing my feelings to him.  I wasn¡¯t talking to him as a pledge anymore but as his boyfriend.  Q seemed okay with it, which made me smile on the inside regardless of the topic.  ¡°How could it not bother me?  Taking over the world?  I don¡¯t even know what that means or what it entails, so forgive me; I¡¯m freaking out a little bit.¡±

    Q walked over and knelt in front of me.  He took my hands into his and kissed each one.  It was so tender and genuine that my heart started to calm down and the loud beating in my ears slowly disappeared.  ¡°Relax, okay?  It¡¯s not the end of the world.¡±

    We both sort of looked at each other and then broke out laughing.  I needed that laugh.  I don¡¯t know how he does it, and I know I¡¯ve said it before, but Q always manages to make me feel safe like everything will be all right.  He slowly stood up, leaned into me, and kissed me deeply.  My hand slipped behind his neck, and I held him close to make the kiss last as long as possible.

    ¡°Better?¡± he asked.

    I nodded, and he kissed me on the forehead before walking back to the desk.

    ¡°I can tell you have questions,¡± he said.

    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I laughed.  ¡°But none more important than¡­well¡­why?¡±

    ¡°Eiyr belongs to the El¡¯odians,¡± he said simply, ¡°and quite frankly, humans have done a piss poor job of taking care of her. They continue to pump their pollutants into her lands, seas, and air.  And, as if that weren¡¯t bad enough, Eiyr is being stripped of her natural resources.  Humans steal all that is good from her and give her nothing but their waste in return.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair.  We are more aware of the problem than ever.  Global warming, landfills full of plastic bottles, ducks covered in oil - it¡¯s always on the news.  People are aware Q; they¡¯re trying to fix it.¡±

    ¡°Who is trying to fix it?  Your leaders?  They have been shown the evidence and the damage your existence is causing, and yet they choose to turn a blind eye.  Eiyr gives your people life, Jacob, and they accept it with open arms.  Yet what do they give her in return?  How do they thank her?  They ignore her as she dies before them¡­as she dies at the mercy of those same hands that so greedily reach out and take all she had to give.  Frankly, humanity cannot be trusted with safeguarding her any longer.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the pot calling the kettle black, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Q shook his head, confused.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying we can¡¯t be trusted,¡± I placed my hand on my chest, ¡°but you guys caused the freaking extinction of life sixty million years ago.¡±

    ¡°That was unfortunate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s putting it mildly!  Did I mention pretty much all life on earth was wiped out?¡±

    ¡°I was there, Jacob.  I know what happened.  I also know that when that Skai fused his Askyli with the Core, he wasn¡¯t thinking of causing a cataclysmic disaster that would affect all of Eiyr.  If there¡¯s one thing our people share, it¡¯s our love for Eiyr.  It was an accident, a disastrous one, but an accident, nonetheless.  Humans aren¡¯t accidentally dumping their crap into the oceans or air.  They do it knowingly, even willingly, and that¡¯s unforgivable in our eyes.¡±

    ¡°You condemn all humans, but what about those of us who are fighting for change?¡±

    ¡°Their efforts are commendable, but as we see it, they¡¯re a small minority with no real power to affect change in the long run.  But none of that matters, Jacob.  Not really.  Even if none of those problems existed in the world, the fact of the matter is, Eiyr belongs to us, Jacob.  We want her back.  As it stands now, we will not sit and watch human arrogance destroy what we hold dear.¡±

    ¡°Arrogance?  Isn¡¯t it more arrogant to think the Nave way is the only way to fix the problem?¡±

    ¡°Time will tell.¡±

    ¡°Humans aren¡¯t just going to kneel and surrender at your feet.  If you¡¯ve seen even one alien invasion movie, you¡¯d know that.  They¡¯ll fight you forever.¡±

    ¡°Some will, but less and less over time.  The Nave have forever, Jacob.  Do humans?¡±

    I threw my hands up in defeat and stared at Q.  ¡°This argument is pointless, isn¡¯t it?  The Nave are going to do this regardless of what I say.¡±

    ¡°This plan has been in place for a very long time Jacob, but we are willing to listen to new ideas.  Once you¡¯ve officially become a Brother, you can voice your concern, and we will listen.¡±  He walked over to the desk and placed his hands behind his back.

    He raised his brow.   ¡°Unless this revelation has changed your mind about joining The Brotherhood?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± I assured him, and I think I was reassuring myself as well.  ¡°Surprisingly, that thought never crossed my mind.  I¡¯m just trying to get a hold of all this stuff.  It¡¯s overwhelming.¡±  I closed my eyes for a moment and rubbed my temples. ¡°Can I ask you something?  What do your human brothers think of all this?¡±

    ¡°The Brotherhood is united in this cause, Jacob.  Sure, many of our human Bothers had a lot of questions as you do now, but in the end, they stand with their Naverian Brothers.¡±

    I turned away from Q for a moment to look at the names on the screen.  ¡°So, The Brotherhood springs its plan, and then what?¡±  I pointed at the screen again.  ¡°In fact, why go thru all this trouble, to begin with?  I¡¯ve seen your power.  Why don¡¯t you guys fly into the White House and take it over?¡±

    ¡°Humans are an unpredictable and irrational species.  We want the transition to go as smoothly as possible.  When the call goes out, we need to control as many of the world¡¯s governments as possible, especially their weapons.  It only takes one lunatic to press a button and cause a catastrophe similar to the one that happened all those millions of years ago.  We will not allow that to happen again.¡±

    ¡°Q, people won¡¯t care who can hold out longer.  They will fight you.¡±

    ¡°Us¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°People will fight us, Jacob. You and I will be on the same side.¡±

    ¡°Okay, us, but you know what I mean.  People are not going to give up their freedom¡­ They will fight until ¡®forever¡¯ runs out.¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t have any choice in the matter.  There will be a new world order where our word is law.  Any opposition will be put down quickly and decisively.  Once we secure certain key locations worldwide, humans can put up all the resistance they want.  In the end, it will mean very little.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow¡­¡±  I was taken aback by Q¡¯s statement.  It wasn¡¯t what he said but how he said it that bothered me.  It was all so simplistic to him¡­so easy.  He was standing there talking about conquering the world as easily as if reading off his grocery list.  Q seemed so cold and detached about the whole thing.  ¡°Will you be herding people into detention camps too?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re confusing humans with the Nave, Jacob.  We have no intentions of recreating the horrors of your history.  There won¡¯t be any concentration camps, extermination camps, or any other camps you can imagine.  I do not deny there will be casualties.  We will do whatever it takes to preserve Eiyr, but we have no desire to cause human suffering.  Quite the opposite; we are giving humanity a chance to save itself.¡±

    ¡°How do you plan to do that exactly?¡±

    ¡°By uniting humanity under the Naverian Rule of Law.  There are nearly 200 hundred countries in the world right now. They¡¯re divided by different ideologies¡­religious, political, social¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter.  People will find any excuse not to get along.  They strive to hate each other.  This country claims to be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all, but you and I know that¡¯s not true. There are deep social and political divisions, and that¡¯s just naming a couple; it¡¯s no wonder nothing gets done.¡±

    He had me there.  I couldn¡¯t argue against his points because I felt the same about many of his issues.

    ¡°For centuries, we¡¯ve watched humanity, and quite honestly, we¡¯re not impressed.  Sure, you¡¯ve improved technologically, but humans keep taking ten steps backward instead of moving forward as a united race.   Normally we wouldn¡¯t care what you do to each other, but we won¡¯t allow humans to drag Eiyr down with it.¡±

    A silence fell between us that I welcomed.  It allowed us to return to our respective corners and gather ourselves before the bell rang for the next round.  Unfortunately, I was running out of ¡®punches¡¯ to throw at him.  I¡¯ve turned on the news and watched what was happening in the world only to feel like it was going to hell in a handbasket.  Now I¡¯m not complaining.  Regardless of my issues, I had a great life growing up.  Not everyone could say the same thing.

    Could the Nave bring about change?

    Q reached out his hand and placed it palm up on the table, his eyes locked on mine.  Without uttering a single word, I knew what his look was saying to me.  I trusted him this far, and he asked me to trust him again.

    I reached over and placed my hand in his to let him know I was with him always.  One might ask how I could give in so quickly or suddenly be okay with it.  I wasn¡¯t completely on board but willing to follow Q¡¯s lead.  The Nave takeover of Earth was going to happen, one way or the other.  Listening to Q made that overwhelmingly clear.  So, it boiled down to two things.

    One, I trusted Q.

    And two, when the shit hit the fan, I wanted to be on his side.

    ¡°When this goes down, what happens to my family and friends?¡± My voice caught a bit in my throat as images of my mom and dad raced thru my mind.  ¡°Will they simply be forgotten?¡±

    ¡°Of course, not Jacob,¡± he replied, his voice so loving and calm.  And if that wasn¡¯t enough, he squeezed my hand to reassure me again. Leaning over, he kissed it before finally letting go.  ¡°We take care of our own, and that means taking care of the families of our human Bothers.  Every member of your family will be protected and looked after.  They will be given paradise.  You will be asked to turn in a list of all your family and friends you want to live within utopia.¡±

    ¡°What exactly do you mean by utopia?¡±

    Q smiled.  ¡°They will be relocated to a location agreed upon by the majority, and they will be given a new city to live in. A city built by the Nave.  They will want for nothing and won¡¯t have to worry about things like disease, famine, poverty, or crime.  What we won¡¯t do is stop the natural progression of human life.¡±

    ¡°You mean you won¡¯t stop them from dying?¡±

    ¡°Precisely,¡± Q said.  ¡°We will ensure that from the moment a human is born in the city, he or she lives out a long and healthy life until it comes to a natural end some eighty or ninety years later.¡±

    I found relief in that.  I felt this weight just left off my shoulders, and I could breathe easier.  I know this sounds incredibility selfish, but what else matters if my ¡®personal people¡¯ were safe and protected?

    ¡°What if people don¡¯t want to go to this perfect haven?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°The burden of convincing your people to follow you to paradise falls entirely on you, I¡¯m afraid.   Don¡¯t get me wrong, we¡¯ll be there with you so you can show them you haven¡¯t cracked and lost your mind, but in the end, you will have to make them see the light.  Um, no pun intended.¡±

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    We laughed.

    ¡°Believe me; the alternative is much worse.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Do you think the Nave are the only ones with designs for Eiyr?¡±

    ¡°Well, when you put it that way, you¡¯re giving away the punch line. Let me guess. The Skai have plans of their own?¡±

    ¡°Good guess,¡± he said with a slight nod.  ¡°The Skai view humanity as a plague on Eiyr that must be eradicated.  I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s been their goal for a long time now; they just haven¡¯t succeeded.¡±

    ¡°Oh god,¡± I winced and covered my eyes for a moment.  ¡°Do I even want to ask?¡±

    ¡°Some of the worst catastrophes in human history can be connected to the Skai,¡± Q continued.  ¡°You¡¯ve heard of the Black Death of the mid-14<sup>th</sup> century, right?¡±

    Narrowing my eyes, it took a moment for what Q was talking about to click in my head.  ¡°Oh, you¡¯re talking about the Black Plague.¡±

    ¡°Yes.  We believe they created the pandemic, helped it flourish, and spread it throughout Europe, hoping it would wipe out humanity.  It almost succeeded.  Fast forward to the mid-20th century and the atom bomb¡¯s creation, the Skai had a hand in its development.  We learned that some of the key scientists working on the Manhattan Project worked with the Skai.  Not only that, but they also had people working on the Uranverein, Germany¡¯s nuclear project.¡±

    ¡°But the west won the race if you want to call it that.  They dropped their bombs and scared the hell out of everyone.  After the war, the world breathed a sigh of relief and took a step back.  I¡¯m pretty sure the Skai are kicking themselves for that one.¡±

    ¡°Why?  Because we didn¡¯t blow each other off the face of the planet?¡±  My voice was ripe with sarcasm.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s more of an annoyance, Jacob.  Their biggest mistake was giving humans the knowledge to create weapons of mass destruction.  I can only guess, but back then, they must have thought a few bombs dropped here or there would be enough to ensure the downfall of humankind.  But today?¡±  Shaking his head, Q let out a sarcastic laugh.  ¡°If nothing else, humans are extremely creative in finding ways of destroying yourselves.  They¡¯ve increased the destructive force of their bombs.  They have enough nuclear weapons to destroy Eiyr ten times over.  The Skai¡¯s shortsightedness has put Eiyr in danger yet again.¡±

    Now Q was the one who looked positively annoyed as hell.

    ¡°Where were the Nave during all this?¡± I asked abruptly.

    Q looked at me as if I had just accused him of some hideous crime.  ¡°Jacob, at the time, we had no idea the Skylarians were meddling in human affairs to such a degree.  Our network didn¡¯t run as deep into the world¡¯s governments as it does now, especially in the militaries since they were never really a threat to us.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean anything by that,¡± I assured him.  I wasn¡¯t sure if I pissed Q off, so I kept the conversation going.  ¡°I¡¯m having a hard time wrapping my head around all the hate toward us lowly humans.¡±

    For a moment, Q just looked at me.  Then a ¡®might as well¡¯ look crossed his face as if he had been holding back on something and suddenly figured, what was the point?  ¡°Well¡­¡± he began to say and raised his brow, ¡°it¡¯s a little more complicated than simply hating humans, at least for the Skai anyway.¡±

    Gesturing at my face, I told Q, ¡°In case you haven¡¯t picked up on it, this is my confused face.¡±

    ¡°You know how we talked about humans looking like Nave and our theory behind it?¡±  Q waited for me to nod before he continued.  ¡°There¡¯s a little more to it than that.¡±

    ¡°Of course, there is¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen people on television or online claiming to be psychic, right?  They want you to call in so they can tell you your future if your boyfriend is cheating on you or any other random crap they can conjure up.  Or the people who claim to have prophetic visions of the future or the power to move things with their minds?  You get where I¡¯m going with this, right?¡±

    ¡°Well, I know of the kind of people you¡¯re talking about, sure, but I have no clue where you¡¯re going with this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I meant, Jacob,¡± he laughed.  ¡°99.9% of these people are complete scam artists.  Nevertheless, we have discovered that a few¡­very few¡­humans possess these abilities; some are more limited than others, but they¡¯re out there.  What we learned after further investigation was beyond baffling to us.  The electrical impulses in the brains of these rare individuals have a slight Naverian signature.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±  I was shocked to hear him say that.   I fell back into my chair and just shook my head.  ¡°What does that even mean?¡±

    ¡°It means it reinforces the theory that in some bizarre way, Naveyk might have paved the way for humans to evolve on Eiyr.  But more importantly than that, it¡¯s believed by many on both sides - and trust me, the debate is far from over - that humans could be on an evolutionary path to become Nave.  So, you can understand why the Skai are trying to eliminate humanity.¡±

    It was as clear as glass to me now.  ¡°If I were a Skai, the last thing I¡¯d want is to wake up one day to a planet filled with billions of Naverians.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Q said and pointed at me like I¡¯d just won final Jeopardy!.  ¡°Even if all these assumptions are dead-on, it could take humans tens of thousands of years to reach such a pinnacle in their evolution; maybe even hundreds of thousands of years, for there¡¯s no way of knowing.  Hell, for all we know, it can happen within the next century or two. The Skai are not willing to wait and see.

    ¡°But that¡¯s crazy!¡± I proclaimed, throwing my hands out at Q.  ¡°You¡¯re telling me they¡¯re willing to kill us all on the off chance that five hundred to five thousand years from now, we may or may not become Nave?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as crazy as you might want to believe, Jacob,¡± he countered.  ¡°It¡¯s a matter of survival for the Skai.¡±  He paused for the briefest moment; unsure he should say the words that came out of his mouth next.  ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this much if the Nave had woken up to a world filled with humans with obsidian skin and white hair ¨C humans who looked Skylarian -  we¡¯d be the ones plotting your complete annihilation.¡±

    What do I even say to that?

    ¡°Why all the behind-the-scenes crap?¡± I asked regarding the Skai.  ¡°Why not just come at us at full force?¡±

    ¡°Because the Nave wouldn¡¯t allow that to happen.  It would have forced our hand and led both sides into a war neither was prepared to win. It¡¯s exactly the reason our plans are on hold because the Skai would intervene. Not for humanity¡¯s sake, but for their own interest.¡±

    ¡°See, that¡¯s what I don¡¯t get,¡± I said and stood up to look out the window for a moment.  I was trying to work out the logic in my head.  I heard Q move and turned back to face him. ¡°The Skai want to get rid of us because they fear what we might become, right?¡±

    Q nodded.

    ¡°And the Nave think we¡¯re going to be the Earth¡¯s downfall, right?¡±

    Q nodded again.

    ¡°Yet you¡¯ll stop the Skai from destroying us.  Why not just let them take us out?  It seems like it would solve a lot of your problems.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we believe eradicating billions of people isn¡¯t the answer,¡± he shrugged.  ¡°Or perhaps it¡¯s morbid curiosity, and we need to see if our hypotheses on human evolution are correct.  You can pick whichever makes you feel better about what we¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°Killing us off isn¡¯t the answer, but controlling us is?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said matter-of-factly.  ¡°You want to hear the sad reality, Jacob?  If left to their own devices, humans will be lucky to survive another two centuries.  Shaun has his money on three, but he¡¯s in the minority on this. Two centuries or three, it doesn¡¯t matter.  Humans have no chance of reaching their full potential, and Eiyr certainly won¡¯t endure unless we take control.¡±

    I turned around and stared out the window at a world I knew would never be the same to me.  I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what the future held for humanity and what my role would be in this new world the Naverians planned to create.  Do I go along with the plan for world domination and hope to do some real good in the process, or wait to be wiped from existence by the Skai?  It was a no-brainer, I suppose.

    ¡°Do the Nave have a timetable?¡±  My eyes changed their focus from the world outside to Q¡¯s reflection on the glass as he came up behind me.  ¡°And what¡¯s to prevent the Skai from trying to stop you just like you would stop them?¡±

    ¡°Come with me,¡± Q said, placing his hand on the small of my back as he spoke.  He led me to his office adjacent to his bedroom and had me stand in front of the computer.  ¡°Remember this?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I remember it.  I don¡¯t know what it means, but this is the computer gathering a bunch of material on this ball.¡±  The search program was still running and cataloging all kinds of information.  ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°The means to end the deadlock between the Nave and Skai.  You might wonder why both sides are holding back and not just going full force, trying to eliminate the other.¡±

    ¡°The thought had crossed my mind,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°You see, right now, neither side is sure who has greater numbers, but it¡¯s generally believed we¡¯re probably evenly matched.  That becomes a problem. If we were to go to war, both sides would lose so many soldiers that, ultimately, even a victory would feel like defeat.  Whoever was left standing would be so crippled they¡¯d need another two or three millennia to rebuild what was lost.  Or we can be completely wrong, and one side outnumbers the other to the point where they would annihilate the other utterly.  We simply don¡¯t know. Which is why our numbers are one of our most closely guarded secrets on both sides.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that makes sense,¡± I said and pointed at the screen.  ¡°How does that help, though?¡±

    ¡°We believed the Eye of Eiyr was destroyed along with Aquaiia.  We were wrong.  Over the years, we discovered text that referred to a mystical sphere used in some ancient civilizations.  For instance, the Egyptians used this sphere to bless a newly crowned pharaoh, for they believed it contained the absolute essence of the Sun God Ra.  The ancient Norse people believed it was the Eye of Odin.  As civilizations fell and others flourished, we found the sphere touched many cultures until it disappeared from history entirely.

    ¡°We believe it¡¯s out there somewhere. If it can survive the destruction of Aquaiia, it can pretty much survive anything humans can do to it.¡±  After that proclamation, he walked back into his bedroom, and I followed.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t get it.¡±  I was still very confessed.  I¡¯m not going to lie.  Trying to keep up with a lot of what he was telling made my head spin.  ¡°How¡¯s the Eye going to give the Nave the upper hand?¡±

    ¡°Right now, there are still thousands¡­tens of thousands of my brothers sleeping deep within Eiyr, and we have no way of reaching out to them.  We are forced to wait for them to wake up on their own.  With the power of the Eye, the Nave can reach out and wake all our brothers simultaneously.¡±

    ¡°Which would give you a decisive advantage over the Skai,¡± I added.  ¡°They¡¯d be overwhelmed, and you¡¯d be able to eliminate them with little risk to yourselves.¡±

    Q just nodded.  ¡°Only then can we enact our plans.  Until then, all we can do is slowly grow our numbers and wait.¡±

    ¡°Can the Skai use it to do the same thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, unfortunately,¡± he replied and looked positively bothered by the thought.  ¡°Thru Juyx, we learned they had their own Eye of Eiyr.  The gods designed it for El¡¯odians, not specifically for Naverians or Skylarians, so whoever finds it first will be able to activate its power to wake those that slumber.  For all we know, both Eyes are out there somewhere.  We know the Skai are looking for it just as vigorously as we are.¡±

    ¡°Well, that complicates things.¡±  I¡¯ll admit the thought of the Skai finding the Eye first made me sick to my stomach.  All I could picture was them finding it one day and my family and friends being dead the next day.  The Nave plan was looking better and better by the minute.  But if I¡¯m being honest, I wouldn¡¯t mind if neither side ever found it.  ¡°Are you guys close to finding it?¡±

    There was urgency in my voice that surprised even me.  Q picked up on it and walked over to me, and placed his hands on my waist.  His eyes softened as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Jacob, we¡¯re doing everything in our power to locate the Eye.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you do just that?  Use your powers to beam the thing to you or something?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he laughed and shook me slightly.  ¡°Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t work that way.  The power of the Eye is dormant because we can¡¯t sense it anywhere.  For all we know, it could be in some old lady¡¯s attic collecting dust.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re trying to make me feel better, it¡¯s not working.¡±

    He kissed me suddenly, deeply, and pulled me into him.  And like always, I was lost in the moment, and everything else faded away.  If I could¡¯ve made that moment last forever, I probably would have; it was easier than having to face the shit storm that was heading our way.

    Q pulled away but then gave me one last peck before stopping completely.  ¡°Better now?¡± he asked, gripping my shoulders slightly.

    ¡°No, but it helped,¡± I said honestly with a meek smile.  ¡°This may be a very na?ve question, but is there any chance of peace between the Nave and Skai?¡±

    Q rubbed his hands up and down my arms; then walked away.  ¡°I¡¯m afraid any chance of real peace between us is highly unlikely at the moment.  The old rivalries are burning as hot as ever, and both sides are still sore over the loss of our princes.  I don¡¯t think that open wound will ever heal.  So just like in old times, they attack us, and we attack them.¡±  He stopped for a moment and then turned around to face me.  ¡°Like the night we stayed at the hotel, remember?¡±

    My brows came together in confusion.

    ¡°The guys at the gas station?  Try and remember.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, they had bats and shit.¡± It was coming back to me even though it was all a bit fuzzy.  ¡°You told me it was a bad dream.  You¡¯re telling me that really happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so,¡± Q said.  ¡°I couldn¡¯t let you see us fighting, so I put you to sleep.  But that¡¯s a classic example of life between our two people.  Somehow, they tracked me down and tried to get payback for something that happened a couple of months ago.  I ended mopping the floor with them, so they tried to get even by¡­.¡±

    ¡°Setting fire to the house,¡± I interjected and snapped my fingers.  ¡°That was the Skai, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Q nodded.

    ¡°And what do you mean you put me to sleep?  You can just snap your fingers, and out I go?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not sleep, per se; it¡¯s more like freezing you in a moment in time.  Messing with the space-time continuum is tricky, so we try not to do it often.¡±

    ¡°It always messes shit up in Star Trek.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re funny¡­.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like that one bit; that loss of control.  I understood why he had to do it, but I still wasn¡¯t too happy about it.  ¡°So, what were the ones at the mall after you for, and why didn¡¯t you knock me out then too?¡±

    ¡°Because it was time for you to find out the truth,¡± he said matter-of-factly.  ¡°And honestly, I have no idea why they were after me.  I didn¡¯t recognize them, so they were probably newborn Skai trying to score some points with their people.  A foolish endeavor since they were no match for me.  What a waste.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?  Did you kill them?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± he answered, waving his hands.   ¡°I probably killed their pride, but they lived to tell about it. Had I killed them, we might be at war right now. I was referring to their anonymity.  They knew who I was because I¡¯m well-known, so when they got turned into a Skai, any information they had on me got passed on.

    ¡°Being newly born, there¡¯s no information on them for the Nave to pass on¡­until now. You see, all newborns have a tremendous advantage because nobody knows them.  It¡¯s best to save that advantage for something important.  If I had to guess, I¡¯d say the Skai probably weren¡¯t too happy with them for blowing their cover.  At least the one blew his over. I¡¯ve had dealings with the second Skay in the past.¡±

    ¡°The Skai turn humans as well?  Even though we might end up being Nave sometime down the line?¡±

    ¡°Yes, save for those unique individuals with a hint of Naverian Anavi.  Until the time humans do evolve, if that¡¯s where humanity is heading, they¡¯re free game.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I just find it funny that those bent on killing or controlling us all still need humans to grow their ranks.¡±

    ¡°Life is not without its ironies.¡±

    I was going to say something more, but there was a knock at the door.  One of the Twins stuck his head in for a moment.

    ¡°Oh, hey, Jacob,¡± he said with a slight nod.  ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­fine.¡±  That was weird for me.  I was used to the Brothers ignoring us as pledges, and now they¡¯re suddenly all nice and welcoming.  It would be weird getting used to that, but I guess it¡¯s better than them yelling at me for something.

    ¡°Cool.  Hey Q, the Council will see you in twenty minutes if that works for you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.  Tell them I¡¯ll be there shortly.¡±

    ¡°Done,¡± he said.  ¡°See ya, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Um...bye.¡±

    Q laughed.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t see you as a pledge anymore, that¡¯s¡­.¡±

    ¡°No, not that,¡± I interrupted.  ¡°The meeting with the Council.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± he smirked.  ¡°Nothing to worry about.  Remember I told you I¡¯d have to go before the Council of Brothers so they can ensure I didn¡¯t use my position to protect you?¡±

    I simply nodded.

    ¡°And now you know how they¡¯ll be able to tell.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to merge with them, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  We¡¯ll open ourselves up to each other, and by sharing our thoughts, experiences, and feelings, they¡¯ll be able to see exactly the motivation behind everything I did.  I¡¯m not too worried about it.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad one of us isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Relax, this is also the meeting where every house will discuss the merits of all their pledges and make a case for them to become Brothers.  I¡¯d be more worried about that if I were you.¡±

    As if I didn¡¯t have enough to worry about!

    He laughed when he saw the look on my face.  ¡°Jacob, calm down; I don¡¯t see why you or any of the other pledges wouldn¡¯t make it in.  Now¡­¡±  Taking a step back, he held out his arms to either side and then a swirl of light came up from his feet to his head.  He was now clad in a white, hooded robe with gold trim.  ¡°How do I look?¡±

    He looked damn sexy, but I wasn¡¯t about to give him the satisfaction.  ¡°Like you¡¯re about to give a sermon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a sermon.¡±

    ¡°Promise?¡±

    ¡°Get out!¡± he feigned anger and pointed at the door.

    We both left his room laughing, and I felt a little better about everything.  It was always easiest when things were light and fun between us.  It¡¯s like everything gets put on the back burner, and I can just enjoy the moment.

    I had no idea where I was going.  I was just following Q.

    ¡°While I¡¯m with the council, you should take the opportunity to talk to your friends about us.¡±

    ¡°What about?¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    ¡°Oh right!¡± I slapped my forehead like an idiot.  ¡°You mean about us as in us.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said and rolled his eyes.  ¡°It would be best if they heard it from you first.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I suppose.  I don¡¯t even know how to bring it up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find a way.¡±

    Before I realized it, we were standing in front of the large gold mirror.  I saw my reflection, and for a moment, I thought back to when I pictured it yelling at me to ¡°remember.¡±  I was a bit unsettled.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Q asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.  Can I come with you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not,¡± he answered and turned to face the mirror.  With a simple wave of his hand, the surface began to ripple like the surface of a pond.  ¡°You¡¯re not a Brother just yet.  Now go be with your friends and don¡¯t worry about me.  I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    He kissed me, and I held on to him for all it was worth.  Q started laughing while we were still kissing.

    ¡°Okay, I have to go.¡±

    He tried walking away, but I pulled him back to me.

    ¡°Just be careful, ok?¡±

    Again, he laughed.  ¡°Jacob, I¡¯m walking in to meet my Brothers, not an execution squad.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said shyly, looking away because I felt foolish.  ¡°Just tell me you¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    ¡°I promise.  I¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    Kissing me one last time, he stepped thru the rippling glass with my hand still wrapped in his.  I held on to it as long as I could¡­until the very tips of our fingers were all that touched, and then they didn¡¯t.  I watched as Q disappeared entirely behind the ripples.

    I looked at my empty hand, took a deep breath, and ran after him.

 The Brotherhood Chapter XXI

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XXI

    By: X

    I appeared on the other side, utterly amazed at what I saw. It was like staring out into space, or more accurately, standing in space. I was standing on a platform with two ivory pillars on either side of me and about ten stairs in front leading down to a bigger venue. There were no walls I could see, only space with thousands of stars forming hundreds of constellations. Hovering above the whole place was a massive formation of energy, shifting and turning, like liquid spilled on the surface of a table. I was staring at a sea of Naverian Anavi where hundreds of Nave were merged as one.

    It was beyond imagining.

    I was still holding my breath as well. I¡¯m sure I was afraid that my lungs would implode if I took a breath. Q was halfway down the steps when another hooded figure came running up to him, pointing back at me. I recognized the voice right away.

    ¡°What¡¯s he doing here?¡± Soullen asked.

    Q turned to look at me, laughed, and walked back up the stairs. Not the reaction I was expecting. ¡°Jacob, what are you doing here?¡± He placed one hand on my face and leaned in to look closer. ¡°And why are you turning purple? My god, Jacob, breath!¡±

    With an enormous breath, I bent over, placed my hands on my knees, and breathed heavily.

    ¡°Easy. I don¡¯t want you to pass out on me.¡± He rubbed my back despite laughing at me.

    ¡°Why is he here?¡± Soullen asked again and looked back at the others gathered at the bottom platform before returning his attention to me. ¡°He¡¯s not supposed to be here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Soullen,¡± Q assured him. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± He kissed me on the head suddenly. ¡°Feeling better?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Why did you follow me here?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­because¡­¡± I managed to say between breaths and slowly stood up straight. ¡°Because I couldn¡¯t just let you face this alone.¡±

    ¡°You are too funny; you know that?¡± Placing both hands on either side of my face, he looked me dead in the eyes. ¡°I¡¯m perfectly fine, Jacob. Nothing is going to happen to me.¡± He kissed me again but this time on the forehead. ¡°But thank you for caring as much as you do.¡±

    Soullen looked positively annoyed. ¡°Qua¡¯quelle¡­¡±

    ¡°Soullen,¡± Q interrupted, ¡°why don¡¯t you go down with the others, and I¡¯ll join you in a minute, okay?¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    Q just looked at him.

    ¡°Fine, but don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡±

    Did he just walk away pouting?

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind, Soullen. He¡¯s just trying to look out for me. At least you two have that in common.¡±

    ¡°Q¡­¡± I said as I looked over his shoulder and saw a ribbon of Anavi break away from the collective whole and snake its way down.

    Q looked but didn¡¯t seem anywhere near as concerned as I did. ¡°Relax. It¡¯s okay.¡±

    The string of energy expanded and slowly took form as it got closer. ¡°Ah, this must be the Jacob we¡¯ve heard so much about,¡± it said, offering me a handshake before completely taking human form.

    ¡°Um¡­hello.¡± He was still glowing when I shook his hand, but within moments, he looked no different than Q in his white hooded robe.

    ¡°This is Remus. He¡¯s a longtime friend who served with me in the King¡¯s Royal Guard.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so like really longtime¡­.¡±

    They laughed.

    ¡°But it looks like you¡¯re getting a little bit ahead of yourself, Jacob.¡± At first, I didn¡¯t understand what Remus was saying, but then it clicked that he was referring to my presence there.

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m sorry. I just needed to¡­.¡±

    ¡°Make sure Q was okay,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°I can see how much you care for him. I¡¯m glad. It¡¯s about time too. You have no idea how many times I¡¯ve tried to¡­.¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Q jumped in right away. ¡°Don¡¯t you have someplace to be?¡±

    ¡°As do you, my friend,¡± Remus countered and slapped him in the back. ¡°Well, I suppose I¡¯ll let you finish up here.¡± He turned to me and offered me his hand again. ¡°Jacob, it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope we get to talk again soon. I have some stories I can tell you about this one.¡± He melted away into pure Anavi again and floated up towards the others.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it,¡± Q said, swatting his friend like he was trying to clear smoke from the air. ¡°Now, as for you, young man¡­.¡±

    I felt myself shrink in his presence like a little boy about to be scolded by a parent. ¡°I know, I know, and I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know what got into me. I just picture you out here alone with no one to have your back, and I just felt my place was by your side. It was a dumb thing to do, but I ¡­.¡±

    He shut me up by kissing me, and I was happy to go with the flow. This was not the reaction I expected from Q, but it sure beats getting yelled at.

    ¡°You¡¯re sweet, Jacob. But you need to trust me when I say everything will be okay. And you definitely need to leave here and head back to the house. Once you¡¯re a Brother, you can come here all you want, but you need to go for now.¡±

    ¡°Where is here exactly? This looks like outer space.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°It¡¯s not outer space. We¡¯re in the Nexus ¨C the hub for all things Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°Who created this place?¡±

    ¡°We did. A long time ago.¡±

    I shook my head in disbelief. ¡°You did?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It was either this or take up crocheting, and I was never really any good at needlepoint.¡±

    ¡°But I see stars.¡±

    ¡°Each ¡®star¡¯ you see represents a house or other location within the Brotherhood network. See that one there?¡± Turning me around, Q pointed at one of the flickering stars. ¡°That¡¯s our house, and it¡¯s time for you to return. I believe your friends are hanging around the pool, so you can go meet up with them.¡±

    The tiny orb of light moved and came around behind the two pillars and headed straight for us, but when it got between them, it expanded into a portal. Once it settled, I could see through the rippling surface and see Arsen and the gang sitting around the pool, just like Q said. It was like looking at them thru the surface of a pond.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go,¡± I said, turning back to face him. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t get you into any trouble.¡±

    ¡°Nothing I can¡¯t handle. Stop worrying about me, okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try, but I won¡¯t make any promises.¡±

    Taking my hands, Q kissed them and slowly backed away. ¡°Now go be with your friends. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Like his friend before him, Q melted into a ribbon of swirling light, but before his face was gone, he said those three words I¡¯d always carry with me. ¡°I love you.¡±

    My heart swelled. What more could be said?

    I watched as he floated up and joined the rest of his brothers in that pool of Anavi. I stayed for a moment longer, trying to see if I could pick him out, but it was useless. It was like picking out a single drop of water from an ocean. I turned and walked thru the portal, hearing those three lovely words playing over and over in my head.

    ¡°And that¡¯s all I have to say about that,¡± was all I heard Arsen say when I appeared behind them. I was expecting to go thru the mirror again, but that was not the case. I¡¯m guessing Q had something to do with that, but there was no way to be positive.

    Everyone except for CJ was gathered around the indoor pool. Troy and Paul sat around in the chairs while Ant and Arsen sat at the pool¡¯s edge with their feet in the water. I had no idea where CJ was hiding. By then, I knew they had the same information I did about the Nave and Skai. I could feel the apprehension and uncertainty in the air; it curled off them like smoke. Believe it or not, it made me feel better knowing I wasn¡¯t the only one with doubts.

    ¡°Hey guys,¡± I said.

    I scared the shit of them. That alone was worth the trip to the Nexus.

    ¡°Where the fuck did you come from?¡± Troy demanded.

    ¡°Long story.¡± I waved dismissively and left it at that. I could tell Troy wanted more, but he knew that¡¯s all he was getting. I walked over and sat cross-legged between Arsen and Anthony, but not before Arsen had a chance to slap my ass.

    ¡°About time you showed up,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ve been waiting.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he shrugged. ¡°I thought it¡¯d be nice to get everyone¡¯s thoughts on what we all just learned. What were you doing anyway?¡±

    ¡°I was with Q still.¡± I took another look around the room even though I knew CJ wasn¡¯t going to appear magically. Well, considering I just did, I suppose anything was possible. ¡°Where¡¯s CJ?¡±

    ¡°With his Big, I¡¯m sure,¡± Ant replied.

    ¡°Or getting into trouble somewhere,¡± Paul added.

    We all kind of just snickered. I think our minds were anywhere but there.

    Ant slapped my knee and arched his brows. ¡°Kind of crazy, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Crazy doesn¡¯t begin to describe it,¡± I said. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m all over the place with this.¡±

    ¡°I know what you mean. Conquers of humanity wasn¡¯t on the brochure when I applied for KU. Although I didn¡¯t read the fine print, I guess that was my bad.¡± Ant laughed at his joke, and we couldn¡¯t help but join him. ¡°I guess in the end, as long as my family is looked after, what else matters really?¡±

    ¡°I hear that,¡± Arsen agreed. ¡°Better to be in here with our Brothers than getting caught out there with our pants down when this goes down.¡±

    ¡°Amen to that!¡± Paul leaned over and gave Arsen a high five. ¡°I sure as hell don¡¯t¡­.¡±

    ¡°Fuck ya, Dudes!¡± The doors on the other side of the pool room flew open. CJ walked in with his fists in the air and headbanging as if he was jamming out to some serious rock music. ¡°The world can suck my big, white cock!¡± He was caught up in the same moral dilemma as the rest of us.

    We couldn¡¯t help but laugh our asses off.

    As he got closer to the pool, CJ stripped off all his clothes until he was butt-ass naked, ran towards us, and did a cannonball into the pool. There was no escaping the wave of water flying towards us, for Arsen and Ant both held me down so I couldn¡¯t get away. We got drenched. Paul and Troy jumped out of their chairs in time to stay dry. Fuckers!

    CJ popped out of the water right in front of me. I have to admit he looked cute because he had this little kid smile on his face like he didn¡¯t have a care in the world.

    ¡°You little shit!¡± I feigned anger but could hardly contain my laughter.

    Suddenly, CJ got all serious and placed his hand on his chest. ¡°I have to be me.¡±

    I love that kid.

    ¡°I knew I¡¯d find you dudes in here looking like someone fucking died. Snap the fuck out of it! We get to be rulers of the world. What he fuck more can you possibly want out of life?¡±

    ¡°Watch your fucking mouth, you whore!¡± Arsen demanded.

    ¡°Suck it!¡± CJ said and splashed water towards Arsen. ¡°Seriously though, I knew The Brotherhood was the shit, but I had no idea it would be this fucking awesome!¡±

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t bother you even a little bit?¡± Anthony asked.

    ¡°Why should it?¡± he said. ¡°The Nave want to conquer the human race? Go for it! That¡¯s about seven billion people I don¡¯t know from a hole in the wall, so why would it bother me? So long as I get to be one of the guys calling the shots, I¡¯m in.¡±

    ¡°Fucking CJ,¡± I laughed.

    ¡°What? Am I wrong? Better than the alternative, dude, which is human extinction at the hands of the Skylarians. Fuck that dude!¡±

    And so the debate went on. It¡¯d be pointless to rehash their arguments since it was the same thing Q and I covered in our conversation. CJ was like a mini Q, driving home the indisputable fact that this was going to happen, so get on board or go home. There were still lingering concerns in the end, but we all agreed we would follow The Brotherhood wherever it took us.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been quiet, Jacob,¡± Arsen said. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    I was done beating a dead horse. It was time to let the matter rest and move on.

    ¡°I¡¯m seeing Q,¡± I said before realizing what I was saying.

    ¡°Seeing him do what?¡± CJ asked.

    I shook my head. ¡°No, you idiot. I¡¯m seeing Q.¡± I made a circular motion with my hand to see if he caught on to what I was saying.

    No such luck. He started making the same circular motion with his head as if in a trance. ¡°Do what exactly?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re dating you, simpleton!¡± Anthony finally exclaimed.

    CJ looked at me, then Ant, and then returned his gaze to me. ¡°You slut!¡±

    ¡°Is this true?¡± Arsen asked.

    I nodded.

    ¡°You fucking slut!¡± CJ repeated. Now he wasn¡¯t saying it in a bad way or to be mean. He was pretty giddy about the whole thing. ¡°Who knew you had it in you to bone the big man?¡±

    Ant and Arsen leaned forward and slapped CJ in the back of the head. ¡°Shut up,¡± they said.

    ¡°Since when?¡± Ant inquired; his eyes locked on me like a hawk.

    ¡°Remember when we went to pick up Dylan and stayed at that motel? After that, kind of.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but remember how Q ignored me after that, but it was only a flash of a memory. ¡°We have been a couple ever since.¡±

    ¡°That explains a lot,¡± Troy laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± I fired back, glaring at him over my shoulder.

    ¡°How you made it in, sleeping with the big man and all.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you!¡± I was on my feet, ready to knock Troy on his ass. Ant grabbed me by the wrist. Arsen stood up to hold me back.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± Troy bolted from his chair and stood behind it, throwing his hands up in surrender. ¡°I was just kidding, Jacob! Relax! I thought we were bros.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even joke¡­.¡±

    ¡°Calm down, buddy.¡± Arsen patted my chest and gently pushed me away from Troy. ¡°Just relax. Nobody here thinks anything like that. Right?¡±

    ¡°I said I was kidding,¡± Troy insisted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about something like that. Right now, Q is being grilled by the Council of Brothers to ensure that me being here has nothing to do with the fact that I¡¯m ¡®sleeping with the big man¡¯ you ass.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob. I had no idea. Honestly, I was just kidding.¡± Troy stepped forward and offered me his hand. ¡°We cool?¡±

    I hesitated for a moment until Arsen slapped me in the back and pushed me forward. ¡°Yeah, we''re cool,¡± I said, shaking Troy¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Is Q in any trouble?¡± Troy asked. His concern was genuine. ¡°Is he okay?¡±

    Backing away, I took my seat at the edge of the pool in front of CJ. ¡°Q thinks so, but I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much, Jacob,¡± Arsen said. ¡°If Q thinks he¡¯s fine, I¡¯d take him at his word. I mean, who knows the Council of Brothers better than Q?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°But let¡¯s get back to you being with a guy thing.¡±

    I let out a halfhearted laugh. ¡°Does it bother you guys?¡±

    ¡°Personally, I think it¡¯s wrong, and you¡¯re going to hell, you deviant,¡± Anthony said with a serious stone face stare.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    That was enough to break the tension, and we all started laughing.

    ¡°Have you been with a guy before Q?¡± Anthony asked. ¡°I know you¡¯ve been seeing Alex for a while, so¡­.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of Alex, that was a fine piece of ass, dude,¡± CJ added. ¡°What happened with her?¡±

    ¡°Alex and I are over, obviously, not that it was something that went over well. As for being with another guy, that¡¯s kind of hazy. Alex was out of town once, and I was at this party buzzing hard, horny as hell, and this guy offered up his services. One thing led to another, and¡­well, you know.¡±

    ¡°Story of my life, dude,¡± CJ said.

    ¡°Why am I not surprised?¡± I laughed. ¡°It was a one-time thing. I barely remember any of it, and he did most of the work. God, I¡¯ve never told anyone that. Pretty much blocked it out of my memory until now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool,¡± Arsen reassured me. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal.¡±

    ¡°Have you¡­¡±

    ¡°This isn''t about me,¡± Arsen answered, knowing exactly what I intended to ask. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t bother me either. You should know that.¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Troy felt the need to add that in. ¡°Well, aside from the stuff we had to do during pledging.¡±

    ¡°Same here,¡± Paul added.

    ¡°I¡¯ll screw anything.¡± CJ had an amazingly proud grin on his face.

    Anthony started laughing. ¡°Guys, this isn¡¯t a ¡®who is or isn¡¯t gay¡¯ contest.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Arsen agreed. ¡°In the end, I don¡¯t think it will matter one way or another. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be on the same team when it''s all said and done.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Paul asked, looking around at the rest of us as if we knew what Arsen was thinking.

    ¡°Think about it, guys. The Naverians are a race of - as CJ would say - dudes. If we are given their power and made Nave, all their knowledge, history, ideals, and desires will be downloaded into our brains, making us fully Nave.¡±

    ¡°I see where you¡¯re going with this dude,¡± Paul mused. ¡°The Nave are into each other. They can have kids with each other too. We¡¯d be just like them.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Gay or straight, it¡¯s not going to matter.¡±

    ¡°Great¡­¡± For some reason, I didn¡¯t think Paul was being sincere.

    ¡°Dude, don¡¯t knock it till you try it.¡± Again, CJ had that same proud grin on his face. ¡°Shit, I¡¯d fuck a goat if it meant becoming a Nave and having their power.¡±

    ¡°Again, why doesn¡¯t that surprise me?¡± I laughed.

    ¡°Well, anyway, Jacob, if Q makes you happy, then I¡¯m happy for you both.¡±

    Everyone agreed, and it felt nice to have their support. Knowing we no longer had to hide behind closed doors was awesome. Before I knew it, Q and I being together became old news, and the conversation went back to what life would be like as a Nave. I just sat back and listened to what everyone was saying. It was a lot of the same stuff we just covered, but everyone was too excited they couldn¡¯t talk about anything else.

    I didn¡¯t offer much. My mind kept wandering back to Q and what was happening with him. I would look over my shoulder every once in a while, hoping he¡¯d appear behind me like I did¡ªno such luck.

    Eventually, I excused myself and left my friends to get fresh air. I simply walked around the house, enjoying the cool night air and the quiet of my own company. My family crept into my thoughts. I wondered how I was going to break the news to them about all that I had learned and how I was going to convince them to move to this utopia the Nave had planned for our families. I started formulating a list in my head of all my relatives I had to remember to bring along with us. Believe it or not, that¡¯s a lot harder than it sounds. What if I forgot my great great great uncle or something? This, of course, was my adopted family. My real family could still be out there somewhere, and there¡¯s no way for me to warn them¡­no way to protect them.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find them again, Jacob,¡± a voice said behind me.

    Looking over my shoulder, I saw Steve walking up behind me. ¡°Hey, buddy,¡± I smiled, taking his hand and pulling him into a hug. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again. I was beginning to wonder if you¡¯d ever come around again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that easy to get rid of,¡± he said and stood beside me by the fountain. He was positively glowing. Now considering who I was talking about, I should clarify that I mean that figuratively. But he had this confidence that wasn¡¯t there while we were pledging. I understood it was all part of the act, but seeing him like this was nice.

    ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯ll find them again?¡±

    ¡°Your parents, of course,¡± Steve said simply. ¡°Your biological parents, I mean. Isn¡¯t that what¡¯s weighing heavily on your mind?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Among other things. Anyway, how can you be so sure?¡±

    ¡°At some point, you¡¯ll be presented with the choice of taking in our Anavi and becoming one of us¡­becoming a Nave.¡± He paused for a moment as if waiting for me to connect the dots, but I just stared at him, waiting for him to finish. ¡°The power of the Nave will break down any walls blocking your memories. You¡¯ll have full access again.¡±

    I heard his words, but they took a minute to register. What Steve said made complete sense. I¡¯d seen the power of the Nave, but I guess I never thought that far ahead. I never thought about what it meant to be a full-fledged Nave.

    ¡°Jacob?¡± Steve waved his hand in front of my face and snapped his fingers. ¡°Hello? Eiyr to Jacob.¡±

    The loud snap pulled me out of my daze. ¡°Why didn¡¯t Q tell me that?¡±

    He smiled at me as if the answer was so clear I was foolish for not seeing it. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious, Jacob?¡±

    See what I mean?

    ¡°One day, Q might very well be the one to present you with the option of being made one of us. When that day comes, he will want to ensure you accept our Gift for all the right reasons. Retrieving your lost memories can¡¯t be your sole motivation for becoming one of us.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense, I guess. But from what I understand, eventually all humans within the Brotherhood will be made, Nave, right?¡±

    ¡°They will be given the option Jacob. You make it sound like we¡¯re going to force this life on our human Brothers. But to answer your question, we¡¯d like all our Brothers to be Nave eventually.¡±

    ¡°So why does it matter what my motivations are if I end up a Nave one way or another?¡±

    He smiled. ¡°If you have to ask the question, you¡¯ll never understand the answer.¡±

    ¡°Ok, Dr. Phil¡±

    Now he laughed. ¡°Is it enough if I say that it matters to us?¡±

    I nodded and left it at that. Admittedly, the thought of getting my memories back once I became Naverian was at the forefront of my mind. ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±

    ¡°Go for it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been a Nave for over a thousand years or something crazy like that, right?¡±

    ¡°Nearly sixteen hundred years, yes.¡±

    I nodded. The reality of that number still took time to sink in. ¡°Any regrets?¡±

    ¡°None that come to mind. Honestly, Jacob, this is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I¡¯m not just saying this to feed you some Naverian propaganda. It¡¯s the truth. Think about it. If it weren¡¯t for their Gift, I¡¯d be long dead and turned to dust by now. The hardest part was outliving those you love. But becoming a Nave meant I could ensure they lived a long and full life. Remember, in my day, life expectancy was not what it is today. Giving my loved ones more time was a true gift for all of us.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I can see that. How did you explain the whole eternal youth thing while everyone else around you got older?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have to; I grew older with them until I ¡®passed away¡¯ from old age.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Got it. Was it an easy decision for you to make? To become a Nave, I mean.¡±

    ¡°A lot easier than you¡¯d think.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°When Q revealed his true self, you thought he was an angel, right?¡±

    I smiled sheepishly, feeling a bit foolish.

    ¡°Everyone does. How long did it take Q to convince you otherwise?¡±

    ¡°He just told me he wasn¡¯t.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Back in my day, they had to convince us they weren¡¯t messengers from God,¡± Steve laughed. ¡°No matter how many times they told me otherwise, I wholeheartedly believed they were angels from heaven and that I was being tested. In the end, I think the Nave had the tougher job. I think I was convinced they were ¡®of God¡¯ until I became one of them.¡±

    ¡°So, you joined because you believed you were doing God¡¯s will?¡±

    ¡°No, other factors were involved, but the thought was always there, no matter how small. It was easy for me when it was time to make the decision.¡± Steven paused for a moment and then looked me in the eyes. ¡°You¡¯re worried you won¡¯t be able to decide when it¡¯s your time.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°The Nave will know when you¡¯re ready, trust me. And just because you are ready doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll be given our Anavi immediately. Everything has its time, Jacob. Yours will come.¡± He looked over his shoulder at the house before looking back at me. ¡°Looks like Q¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°What? Is he back? How do you know?¡±

    Steve looked at me as if to say, seriously?

    ¡°Right,¡± I conceded. ¡°Anyway, thanks for the chat, but I have to go see Q. Don¡¯t be a stranger.¡± I didn¡¯t get two feet before Steve grabbed my arm and pulled me back to where I was standing. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing is wrong, but you must return to your room and change.¡±

    ¡°Change? Change into what? No. I have to go see Q.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Time to go back to your room.¡±

    Steve slapped my shoulder; the next thing I knew, I was standing in my bedroom.

    ¡°The fuck?¡±

    ¡°Oh, there you are.¡± Arsen walked into our room wearing nothing but a pair of white, very tight trunks. He walked past me and slapped my stomach playfully. ¡°Hurry up and get dressed. Hey, where did you come from anyway?¡±

    ¡°Never mind. What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Arsen answered. ¡°We were told to return to our rooms and change into these, so get to it.¡± He gestured to the pile of clothes folded neatly on our bed. ¡°The Twins will be here to get us in a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked again as I stripped down to my underwear.

    Arsen laughed and put on a pair of silky white pants. ¡°Didn¡¯t I just say I have no idea?¡±

    I had the same clothes Arsen did. And believe me, my white trunks were just as snug. The white pants felt amazing against my skin, relaxed, and very supple. We didn¡¯t get any shirts, just a white hooded robe.

    ¡°This material is going to give me a hardon,¡± Arsen joked. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±

    I stepped into a pair of white slippers and walked outside with Arsen to join the rest of the group. The first thing I saw was CJ adjusting his obvious budge.

    ¡°Dude, these clothes feel amazing. They¡¯re giving me a major bone.¡± Unlike Arsen, he wasn¡¯t joking.

    Paul slapped the back of CJ¡¯s head. ¡°Put that thing away.¡±

    ¡°It is away.¡±

    ¡°Barely,¡± I laughed.

    Someone coughed behind us to get our attention, and we turned to find the Twins standing by the stairs. They were dressed as we were. We formed a line as ordered and listened to the Twins as they gave us final instructions for the upcoming events. The anxiety level among us shot thru the roof, and I could¡¯ve sworn I heard our collective heartbeats echoing in the hallway. They finally led the way to an area of the house we¡¯d never seen before.

    That wasn¡¯t exactly true. I¡¯d passed by this door many times. But that was when it was small and ordinary and never once sparked any interest or desire in me to find out what was on the other side. Tonight, that door¡­or at least the space that door used to occupy¡­had changed. It was no longer small and ordinary. It wasn¡¯t even a single door anymore. It was a set of large, double doors that opened inward. They were at least twice my height, rounded at the top, and gilded. I didn¡¯t have to ask; I knew the gold was real. No question. And it had to make the doors heavy as hell, but they slid open seemingly of their own accord.

    Single file and silent, we followed the Twins inside.

    My mouth dropped. The room was huge, maybe larger than the house that held it and decorated not in color but in opulence itself.

    Picture a ballroom, grand and expansive with ornate columns, three in each corner, stretching four¡­maybe five¡­stories to the ceiling above. A ceiling the color of diamonds with a scalloped edge where it met golden walls. Walls constructed of thick beveled arches and carved lattice, all wrapped in an ornate balcony of gold and red. Picture six crystal chandeliers, each the size of a small car, dangling from that ceiling in the form of a perfect circle. Light from them shimmered and danced across the space. There was no furniture in the room, windows, or even a staircase leading to the balcony.

    Now picture our pledge line¡­dumbstruck and eyes wide as we took our place in the center of the room. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. This was it. This was the moment we worked so hard to achieve. I honestly couldn¡¯t believe we were moments away from realizing our dream. I¡¯m sure I had to remind myself to breathe a few times.

    ¡°Let it begin,¡± the Twins said in unison.

    We knew to turn to our left, place our hoods over our heads and drop to one knee. Anthony was to my left while Arsen was to my right. They both bowed their heads like I did, all of us waiting for what was to come. The lights shut off suddenly, and the room went pitch black. I couldn¡¯t see Arsen or Anthony even though they were only a few feet away from me.

    We knelt there in the dark for ten minutes without saying a word. One thing did change, though. We weren¡¯t alone anymore. That huge room we were in was now filled with Brothers. I didn¡¯t see them come in, nor did I hear them, hell, I couldn¡¯t even hear anyone breathing, but I knew without a doubt they were there for the ceremony.

    Six columns of light appeared with a hooded Brother standing before us. They were dressed in white like us, and their hoods fell across their noses, exposing only their mouths. I assumed the Brother standing before me was Q, but I couldn¡¯t be sure.

    ¡°And so, the six of you begin a new chapter in your lives as you become one with The Brotherhood.¡± This voice did not come from any of the brothers standing before us but from the darkness. It was one all-encompassing voice. ¡°If you are ready to commit your fealty, devotion, and lives to The Brotherhood, then let all bear witness¡­.¡±

    With that, I offered my right hand to the Brother in front of me as the Twins instructed us. The Brother took my hand and slipped The Brotherhood ring on my finger. The ring was glowing and felt warm and tingly against my skin.

    ¡°Now rise¡­my brothers,¡± the voice commanded.

    As we stood, the pillars of light vanished, leaving us in the dark again. The only light came from our rings. The glow from six rings was not enough to offer much in the way of light, but then the rings on the Brothers in front of us began to glow. Within seconds more rings began to glow behind and to their side. We couldn¡¯t help but look around, and as we did, more and more rings lit up until hundreds of glowing rings surrounded us. It was fucking awesome how the room was illuminated only by our rings. It gave everything around us an eerie and haunting feeling that seemed very fitting for our actions.

    ¡°Congratulations,¡± the Brother in front of me offered.

    I turned to catch him removing his hood, and I smiled. ¡°Q¡­¡±

    ¡°I told you everything was going to be okay,¡± he smiled back. ¡°You worried¡­¡±

    I shut Q up by kissing him. It wasn¡¯t planned, and I¡¯m still shocked I did it in front of all my Brothers. But you know what? It felt right.

    ¡°Are you going to kiss all your new Brothers like this?¡± Q joked, placing his hand on the small of my back.

    ¡°Only the ones named Q.¡±

    ¡°I guess I can live with that.¡±

    I was going to kiss Q again when Anthony grabbed my arm suddenly. I looked at him, and he was just frozen in place.

    ¡°Ant, are you okay?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer me. He just stared at the Brother who gave him his ring. He had removed his hood and was staring back at Anthony.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, buddy?¡± I placed my hand over the one he used to hold on to my arm and rubbed it gently. ¡°Anthony¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Q assured me.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    ¡°Just give him a minute, Jacob,¡± Q smiled warmly.

    Tears started rolling down Anthony¡¯s cheeks, and I began to freak out. Q had this little, devilish grin on his face which wasn¡¯t helping me at all. I was about to say something, but Anthony beat me to it.

    ¡°Alessandro¡­¡± he whispered. His voice was so soft. If it weren¡¯t for the stillness in the room, I never would have heard him utter that name.

    ¡°I will always find you,¡± Alessandro said.

    Releasing his vice-like grip, Anthony flew into Alessandro¡¯s arms and hugged him. The room exploded in cheer. There wasn¡¯t a single person who wasn¡¯t clapping, whistling, or hollering. Typically, when the pledges receive their ring, that¡¯s the queue for everyone to celebrate, but this time Q ordered everyone to wait until Anthony realized who was standing before him.

    I must admit Anthony and Alessandro¡¯s reunion had me more than a little misty-eyed. I wasn¡¯t the only one either. Arsen was clearing his eyes while CJ had this shit-eating grin. I think we all had big ass grins - the kind that hurt - on our faces. Anthony was family to us; we couldn¡¯t have been happier for him.

    Anthony was thrilled. Aside from calling out his name, he had yet to say anything to Alessandro, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to let him go. He held on to him for all it was worth. It was like he was afraid Alessandro would be taken away again if he let go. It wasn¡¯t until after a very long and passionate kiss that Anthony finally released his beloved.

    ¡°But how?¡± Anthony asked as he squeezed Alessandro¡¯s shoulders to confirm that he was real.

    ¡°I¡¯m attending Cambridge in the UK, and that¡¯s where The Brotherhood found and recruited me,¡± Alessandro said, caressing the side of Anthony¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯ve been going thru my form of pledging these last several weeks just like you.¡±

    ¡°He completed his ceremony, and we brought him here today to present you with your ring,¡± Q said. ¡°We¡¯re just very pleased we could pull it off in time.¡±

    With tears in his eyes, Anthony turned to Q and thanked him. He cleared away his tears and then announced to the room he felt like an idiot for crying.

    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it,¡± I said and then turned to Alessandro to introduce myself.

    ¡°Right,¡± Anthony said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. These are my friends¡­.¡±

    He tried to introduce the rest of us, but the poor guy was so overwhelmed that he drew a complete blank and stood there snapping his fingers. Everyone laughed and simply introduced themselves. We exchanged words with Alessandro but didn¡¯t take up much of his time. They had a lot of catching up to do, and I could tell by the look in Anthony¡¯s eyes that he was eager to get Alessandro alone.

    CJ, god love him, didn¡¯t get it, and kept asking question after question. As it turned out, Alessandro lived in Spain with his family until he got accepted into Cambridge. He wanted to apply to American colleges, but his father would not allow it. His father was still very bitter about the whole ¡°gay¡± thing. He feared Alessandro would try to find Anthony once he was back in the states. Talk about taking homophobia to the next level of paranoia.

    I finally grabbed CJ by the neck, dragged him away, and told the two newly reunited lovebirds to enjoy each other. I didn¡¯t get too far before Q made an announcement.

    ¡°Brothers,¡± he said, and a hush fell over the crowd within a few seconds. ¡°We have another reason to celebrate. Tonight, one of our Brothers is reborn.¡±

    With that, everyone backed away towards the wall leaving the Inner Circle in the middle of the room. We ¡®newbies¡¯ had to be pulled back by the Twins because we had no idea what was happening. Q, Seth, Steel, and Eric formed a circle, slipped their robes off, and let them fall to the ground. Within moments there was an explosion of light so intense I had to shield my eyes. When it finally passed, they stood bare-chested with their glowing wings crisscrossed over each other like X¡¯s; the entire room was filled with their light.

    In the center of the circle stood Shaun and Dylan wearing only their white pants as they bathed in their brother¡¯s radiance. Shaun did not have his wings out, but he was wreathed in what appeared to be white fire. Opening his arms, he said something in Nave I later found out meant ¡°welcome, Brother,¡± and Dylan walked into his open arms. The white fire encompassed Dylan within seconds, and after a moment, it extinguished.

    They smiled at each other and kissed. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. It wasn¡¯t a crazy passionate ¡°I want to bend you over the couch kiss¡± but one you might share with a friend. That¡¯s when I saw a stream of Anavi pass from Shaun¡¯s lips to Dylan¡¯s. As he pulled away, the light finished going into Dylan¡¯s mouth and up thru his nostrils.

    Shaun backed away, and everything went dark. The circle¡¯s wings stopped glowing, as did our rings. Seconds passed, then I saw Dylan again but only because he was covered in a faint glow. Throwing his head back slightly and extending his arms to the side, Dylan rose slow and steady into the air. His brilliance got stronger and stronger until there was yet another explosion of light. When it cleared, Dylan remained hovering over all of us with his new ivory wings proudly¡­deliberately¡­flapping behind him.

    He was Nave.

    The room burst into cheers again that night as everyone welcomed the newly born Nave. I got to congratulate and hug Dylan, but I didn¡¯t get much time with him. He was all over the place talking to everyone. It reminded me of a wedding where you spend a few seconds with the bride and groom and never speak to them for the rest of the night. One thing was for sure. Dylan, like Anthony and Alessandro, was delighted.

    He did manage to ask me how I liked our ceremony for becoming Brothers. I admitted that it was a lot shorter than what I expected. Someone from behind me told me to ¡°bite my tongue¡± before someone heard me. I turned to find Mike, of all people, congratulating me on becoming a brother.

    Back in the day when he became a brother, the ceremony took nearly two hours to complete. Eventually, it was decided that short and sweet was better. Two hours? Yeah, I wasn¡¯t going to complain. He patted me on the back, told me he knew I had it in me to make it, and then disappeared into the crowd. I realized he was only playing a role while pretending to pledge with us, but this ¡°nice¡± Mike would take some getting used to.

    By this time, the celebration was in full swing. The liquor was flowing, the music bumping, and we were finally Brothers free from the constraint of pledging. I should point out the alcohol was for us human Brothers. I never saw any of our Naverian Brothers take a sip. It¡¯s not that they¡¯re incapable of drinking, mind you. It¡¯s just that they can drink for days and never feel the effect. And really, what would be the point? As it was, the Nave could act as poster boys for not needing to drink to have a good time.

    The lights were kept off, leaving our rings the only light source as was tradition. It was like having a bright-ass glow stick on our fingers. I have to say it made for an incredible atmosphere, but what turned the party up a notch was traffic. The party was not restricted to our house. Every house celebrated, and because of the mirrors and the Nexus, we had access to all the other houses within the Brotherhood. We had Brothers stopping in from all across the world, and we, in turn, got to go anywhere we wanted.

    The Nexus acted as the hub for the parties, and it was where a lot of Brothers spent their time. I spent over an hour there with Q and the rest of the gang, meeting all kinds of people. Q and I didn¡¯t get much alone time as everyone wanted to visit with Q. I didn¡¯t understand his importance to The Brotherhood until I saw him in his element. I mean, I knew he was the big shot in our house but seeing him in the Nexus with all his Brothers ¨C all our Brothers - brought the experience to a whole new level.

    I asked him about his evaluation, and he said nothing but good things. He made fun of me for being so worried that I jumped thru the mirror after him. It was his favorite story to tell everyone. I wanted to slap him upside the head on more than one occasion.

    We ended up kissing a lot instead.

    That took me by surprise. Q was not at all shy about being affectionate with me. Whether it was rubbing my shoulder from behind, slipping his hand into mine, or kissing me in front of everyone because I said something he thought was ¡°cute,¡± Q was very open about us. It was a little weird for me only because I wasn¡¯t used to doing this with a guy. Alex and I were always all over each other at parties, but this was different.

    Now don¡¯t get me wrong. Q wasn¡¯t all over me like some horn dog or doing anything inappropriate. He was charming and loving. If I wandered too far from him, I felt his eyes following me, looking out for me; never allowing me out of his sight for too long. He was careful not to allow someone to steal away too much of his time before he found his way back to my side. Because of that, the feeling of ¡°weirdness¡± didn¡¯t last long.

    Eventually, we did get separated, though. Way too many people wanted time with Q, so Arsen, CJ, and I decided to do some exploring of our own. We wanted Anthony to come with us, but he remained behind in our house to spend time with his boy. We could only guess where Paul and Troy disappeared to.

    Admittedly, I got more attention than Arsen or CJ. Not in a bad way, but everyone wanted to meet the one who finally captured Q¡¯s heart. If there ever was a hardcore Nave wholly devoted to his people and their cause, Q was that Nave. Even in the days of Aquaiia, Q was all about doing whatever it took to look after his people. Many of the Nave closest to Q wanted to see him happy and urged and even pushed him on occasion to find a good Naverian to ¡°settle down with,¡± as the term goes. He never did.

    Fast forward about a billion years, and here comes this white boy from the suburbs who completely swept Q off his feet. Yeah, I was a person of interest to the rest of our Brothers. Everyone treated me with respect. I learned a little more about Q, as they were eager to share stories from his past. Though I could tell they were guarded and careful not to give up too much for fear of annoying Q.

    Overall, we had an amazing experience as we partied the night away or the day away, depending on where we were. The three of us ended up visiting over thirty houses, made some new friends, ate some delicious foods, and drank our asses off.

    In the end, I was drunker than I¡¯ve ever been in my life, threw up twice, and finally passed out in Sydney, Australia.

    Now that¡¯s a fucking party!

 The Brotherhood Chapter XXII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XXII

    By: X

    Tequila is a bitch! Nuff said¡­

    The bright sunlight blazing thru the windows didn¡¯t help any either.  I tried to pull the covers over my head, but some smartass pulled them completely off me when he sat beside me on the bed.

    ¡°For the love of God, please let me have another hour of sleep,¡± I begged, placing my pillow over my head.  ¡°Maybe even ten.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but that¡¯s the price you pay for drinking like a fish,¡± Q said and pulled the pillow away.

    ¡°I agree.¡±  I reached for Q¡¯s pillow and placed it over my head.  ¡°Now, let me just lay here and reflect on my mistake.¡±

    ¡°Nice try.¡±  He tried to pull the pillow away, but I latched onto it this time as if my life depended on it, which only made Q laugh.  He eventually won the tug of war.  ¡°You have to get up and get ready for class.¡±

    ¡°Class?¡±  I damn near yelled.  ¡°Class?  Are you nuts?  I¡¯m not going to class today.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but you are Jacob.  A hangover is no excuse for missing class, not for you or anyone else.  If you want to drink like a fish, you have to man up and suffer the consequences.¡±

    ¡°Come on!¡±  I looked at him with the saddest, most pathetic look I could muster.  ¡°Please?¡±  I even batted my eyes to try and pull on his heartstrings.

    A warm smile spread across his face as he leaned in to kiss me on the forehead.  Brushing the hair away from my eyes, he said, ¡°Not a chance,¡± and slapped my ass.  ¡°Now get up and get ready.¡±

    ¡°Fine¡­¡± I conceded and watched Q walk over to the dresser to grab a t-shirt.  ¡°Can you at least use your glowy fingers to make the hangover disappear?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he replied.

    ¡°But you¡¯re not going to, are you?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± he laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re evil!¡±

    ¡°A little bit.¡±

    Evil or not, my eyes could not help but watch Q as he slipped on a black t-shirt that stopped right at the waistband of his purple trunks.  The way they hugged his amazing bubble butt and formed a perfect line between them made my cock twitch.  At that moment, I could only think about kneeling behind him and kissing that perfect ass.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± he asked but never bothered to turn around and look.

    ¡°Um¡­nothing,¡± I replied innocently enough.

    ¡°Yeah¡­uh-huh.  Anyway, you won¡¯t see much of me over the next couple of weeks.¡±

    ¡°What?  Why?¡±

    ¡°Aw, are you pouting?¡±  Q finally turned to face me.  ¡°Look at that face.  You¡¯d think I just told you I kicked your puppy or something.¡±

    ¡°Stop trying to make this about me and explain.¡±

    I can¡¯t begin to describe how liberating it felt to be able to talk to Q as an equal.  Twenty-four hours ago, I never would have dared to ask him to explain anything he wasn¡¯t willing to give up on his own.  I might have thought about it, but to say it out loud?  I would¡¯ve been too afraid that the world would implode or something.  Now I just felt free.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°I will be traveling the other Brotherhood houses to ensure seamless transitions from pledge to Brother.  I¡¯ll be spending a lot of one-on-one time with our new Brothers, getting to know them and how their experience has been up to this point.  It generally takes a week or so, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°One-on-one time, huh?  Should I be worried?¡±

    He laughed.  ¡°Are you serious right now?¡±

    ¡°What?  It¡¯s a valid question!  Have you seen our Brothers?  Just because you¡¯re all glowy and evolved doesn¡¯t mean the forbidden fruit can¡¯t tempt you.¡±

    ¡°Apples?¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ridiculous,¡± he continued to laugh as he walked into the closet to grab a pair of jeans.

    ¡°Can I come with you at least?¡± I shouted.

    ¡°No! What part of you have class do you not understand?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me I¡¯m not going to see you for two fricking weeks?¡±

    ¡°No, I said you won¡¯t see much of me.  But I¡¯ll make you a deal.  I¡¯ll meet you for lunch and promise to come home to you every night.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably be sleeping by the time you get in.¡±

    ¡°One can only hope,¡± he joked.

    I gave the closet the finger.

    ¡°That better mean I¡¯m your number one boyfriend.¡±

    I was quick to pull my finger out of the air.  Let¡¯s be honest here; I didn¡¯t feel that free.  ¡°Can I at least get a kiss before you go?¡±

    He popped his head out of the closet and looked at me with narrowed eyes as if I was up to no good.  I¡¯m guessing he decided it was safe because he walked toward me with a grin.

    I sat up to meet his lips.

    ¡°Oh god¡­¡± I said, covering my mouth and making a mad dash to the bathroom.  Hugging porcelain never felt so good in my life.

    ¡°So¡­I¡¯m just going to take a rain check on that kiss if you don¡¯t mind,¡± Q snickered as he stood by the bathroom door.  ¡°Oh, by the way, all our new Brothers are waking up in their new rooms this morning.  I took the liberty of moving all your stuff into my bedroom.¡±  He just kept talking and talking as if all I was doing was brushing my teeth.

    I wanted to kick him.

    ¡°I figured that would be okay, but if I misjudged the situation, please let me know, and I¡¯ll get you set up in your room by the time you get back.¡±  All I could do was give him a thumbs up while dry heaving into the toilet.  ¡°Good, I made the right call.¡±  I could hear the grin in his voice.

    He walked up behind me.  ¡°I have to get going, so I¡¯ll meet you for lunch.  Enjoy your classes.¡±  He kissed the back of my head before heading out.

    I managed to flick him off again when he was out of sight.

    ¡°Love you too, Jacob!¡±

    The twenty-minute shower that followed was terrific.  It calmed my stomach and relieved the burn behind my left eye.  I¡¯m pretty sure I would¡¯ve agreed to anything, even give up my firstborn, if it meant another five minutes under the pulsating blast of the showerheads. But I knew I had to walk away from the shower and get ready for class, or I¡¯d never hear the end of it from Q.

    Begrudgingly, I turned off the water, wrapped a towel around my waist, and glanced at the clock.  I was already running late. Q never said anything about being to class on time, but I wasn¡¯t crazy enough to try and push my luck.

    I was walking into the closet, and seeing all my clothes laid out next to his brought a cheesy smile to my face.  It felt like we were a couple; this was all real.

    ¡°God, I¡¯m such a girl,¡± I said but kept smiling.

    I got dressed in a mix of his clothes and mine and headed for class.

    As expected, the professor started lecturing me about being on time the second I opened the door.  Timeliness is a virtue; I shouldn''t bother showing up if I can¡¯t be on time.  He planned to make an example of me, but then one of the girls sitting in the front row asked if I was with The Brotherhood.

    I simply nodded.

    The professor stumbled for a second, stopped dressing me down, and stepped aside. He gave me a dirty look and managed to mumble a semi-stern, but mostly ¡®for show¡¯ warning as I took my seat.

    Fucking classic!

    I winked at the girl and took out my notebook.  That¡¯s all I remember.  I looked at my laptop and was out like a light.  I¡¯m sure I heard the professor say about three words, and then I was out.  It happened again in my next class as well.  I only woke up from either because of people bumping into me as they were leaving.   Hey, Q said I had to go to class; he never said anything about having to stay awake.

    When my physics class rolled around, I decided not to push my luck and forced myself to stay awake.  Honestly, it was less about forcing myself to stay awake and more about the fact that CJ was sitting right next to me.  Even if I wanted to sleep, his yapping in my ear never would have allowed it.  When he wasn¡¯t leaning into me whispering about all the banging he could do to the girls around us, CJ was blowing me away with his genius.  There wasn¡¯t a single question he couldn¡¯t answer or a problem he couldn¡¯t solve.

    The professor had a formula on the board he was explaining to the class when CJ suddenly got up and rewrote it much easier for everyone to understand.  The professor was dumbfounded.

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m pretty sure they want me,¡± he said as he sat back down.  He was talking about the couple sitting in front of the class.  He was sure they wanted a ¡°m¨¦nage ¨¤ trois,¡± as he put it.  I simply chuckled under my breath.  Watching CJ go from being an Einstein to a playboy in the same breath was hilarious.  You chalk it up to the quirks of being a genius.

    I¡¯m no dumbass.  I can keep up with the best of them.  But frankly, I wasn¡¯t that interested.  I sat back and watched my classmates, eager to answer the professor¡¯s questions or engage in a debate, or rapidly enter the information into their tablets and computers.

    All the while, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what¡¯s the point?  I knew what was in store for humanity.  Regardless of who prevailed, Nave or Skai, I was confident that the facts and figures my classmates were committing to long-term memory would do little to help them.

    I felt so disconnected from everyone. Everyone that is except my Brothers, who I knew would share my fate.  I found solace in that fact.  But for the here-and-now, I didn¡¯t want to be around the sheep blindly heading into the slaughter.  I was relieved when class was over, and I could get out of there.

    Leaving class proved to be more annoying than sitting thru it.  For some reason, the crowd was moving at a snail¡¯s pace, and it was pissing me off. It was like being in stop-and-go traffic.  It wasn¡¯t until I finally stepped out of the classroom that I realized what was happening.  True to his word, Q was standing in the hall, waiting to go to lunch with me.  Seeing Q standing outside our classroom shocked everyone, including me and CJ.  I don¡¯t know why, but I just assumed we would meet somewhere else, somewhere less ¡®collegiate.¡¯  Maybe, for this reason, Q¡¯s presence always seemed to cause a stir.

    ¡°Q!¡± CJ exclaimed, greeting him like a friend who was on leave from the military.  CJ was comfortable in his new role as a Brother and wasn¡¯t afraid to embrace it.  He went up to Q and hugged him as guys do.  Q was a great sport and treated CJ like he¡¯d been his Brother for ages.

    It was pretty awesome.

    But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

    Q came right up to me and kissed me on the lips as casually as if he was shaking my hand.  I stood there frozen.  I wasn¡¯t even able to kiss him back; I was so stunned.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Q asked.  There was a sweetness to his voice that snapped me out of my haze.  I looked into his eyes.  There was genuine concern and a bit of confusion as well. To Q, the kiss was as normal as shaking hands.  I was his boyfriend, so why wouldn¡¯t he kiss me?  He wasn¡¯t trying to make some grand statement.  He was being¡­well¡­Us.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡­.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t embarrass you, did I?¡±

    ¡°Embarrass me?  No, not really.  Surprised me?  Just a little bit.¡±

    Q laughed.  ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Not wanting to be a third wheel, CJ said his goodbyes and stayed behind with the stunned crowd.  As we turned the corner, I heard him say, ¡°What?  You people have never seen a guy kiss another guy before?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think two guys kissing is the problem,¡± I said as I leaned into Q.  ¡°More like they¡¯re not used to seeing you kiss another guy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s their problem,¡± Q said simply.

    Be that as it may, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how long before the news spread thru campus like wildfire.  If the text I got from Arsen a few minutes later was any indication, it wouldn¡¯t be long.

    Q took me to a popular little caf¨¦ just outside of campus.  The place was packed up the wazoo, but considering who I was with, I got to order my food quick, and Q got his shiny green apple.  From the moment we took our seats, I felt awkward.  The diners around us tried to act casual, but I repeatedly caught them staring and whispering.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Q asked.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±  I looked at him as if he had lost his mind.  ¡°Am I the only one who feels everyone¡¯s eyes on us?¡±

    Q looked around, looked back at me, and then stood up. ¡°Can we help you?¡±

    Every set of eyes darted away from our table at once.  Forks clanked against plates, and conversation - not whispers - returned to normal.

    ¡°There, problem solved.  Now, do you mind telling me what¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°I seriously doubt that.  Since you left class, you¡¯ve had this cloud hanging over you.  Plus, you barely said two words to me on our way here.  So, I¡¯ll ask again.  What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer him right away.  Instead, I just focused on my tasty sandwich and beverage, but one can avoid Q¡¯s penetrating eyes for only so long before they start to cut into you and wear you down.  ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it¡¯s nothing because something is bothering you,¡± he interrupted.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing we haven¡¯t discussed before,¡± I assured Q.

    ¡°Indulge me.¡±

    ¡°I was just sitting in class watching everyone being all student-like and answering questions trying to impress the professor, competing against each other¡­.¡±

    ¡°And you started wondering what¡¯s the point of it all, right?  You look at your classmates and get a terrible sense of doom.  You know of a future they couldn¡¯t possibly comprehend in which they have no real place, at least not one where physics will do them any good.¡±

    I was shocked that he was right on point.  Then again, it¡¯s Q.  If he turned water into wine, I really shouldn¡¯t be surprised.  ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the first person to have this moment of crisis; to feel like you¡¯re stuck between two worlds, or more accurately, that you¡¯re betraying one world while embracing the new one.¡±

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the cure?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, there isn¡¯t one.  All I can promise you is that it will get better.  How fast it gets better depends on the Brother.  It all starts with letting go.  I know it¡¯s easier said than done, but it is the first step.  You¡¯re a brother now, Jacob.¡±  He paused for a moment, took my ha, and squeezed gently.   ¡°A Brother destined to be Nave one day.¡±

    I smiled. It was all I could do.  Smile and accept that I¡¯d have to get thru this struggle alone.  It might have been easier to move on if I knew exactly what I was leaving behind, but the ten-year gap in my brain made it impossible.

    ¡°Besides, Jacob, once our takeover is complete, things will not change too much. People will still be going to school, working at their jobs, making doctor¡¯s appointments, etc. Our laws will govern them. And unlike many countries in the world, our laws will be just for everyone.

    ¡°Naverians don¡¯t care what race you are, your gender, what religion you believe in, or anything that makes this world so dysfunctional. Our laws will reflect that and hopefully tear down some of the walls that divide humanity. People will either get on board for a better tomorrow or resist and suffer the consequences.¡±

    That gave me a lot to think about. Maybe Naverian rule would be better.

    ¡°You know what sucks?¡± I asked him. ¡°Now that I know what¡¯s going to happen, it fucking sucks waiting for the shit to hit the fan. Armageddon could very well be at our doorstep, and I¡¯m sitting here eating this tasty chicken wrap.¡±

    Q laughed and shook his head.  ¡°Going from eating your tasty chicken wrap to Armageddon is a bit premature.  Neither side has found the Eye yet.  Without it, no one is going to make any major moves.¡±

    ¡°What if the Eye is never found?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of if; it¡¯s a matter of when.  We know the Eye is out there somewhere.  We just need to find it.¡±

    ¡°Ok, now it¡¯s your turn to indulge me.  What if it¡¯s never found?  What if the Eye was destroyed all those years ago?  What¡¯s plan B?¡±

    ¡°There is no plan B Jacob.  Everything depends on the Eye.  Without it, there¡¯s no other way to wake our sleeping brothers.  The Nave would never go to war without them¡­unless the Skai attacks us first.¡±

    ¡°Would they?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± Q replied, shaking his head, and taking one last bite from his apple.  ¡°I¡¯m sure the minor skirmishes we engage in now would ramp up considerably as each side vies for the upper hand.  But all-out war like the days of old would be impractical.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± I laughed.  ¡°¡¯ Days of old¡¯? What are you, Gandalf?¡±

    ¡°Shut it.¡±

    ¡°Do you need help finding The One Ring?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but I¡¯m pretty sure I won¡¯t need help kicking your ass.¡±

    ¡°You love my ass.¡±

    ¡°Oh God,¡± he snickered, rolled his eyes, got up to throw away his apple core, and put my tray away.

    ¡°You can run but can¡¯t hide from the truth!¡±

    Q came back still smirking from my ¡°ass¡± comment.  He looked beyond cute, and I just wanted to kiss him, but I lacked the confidence Q showed in the hallway.  It would be one thing to kiss him around our Brothers but in the caf¨¦, surrounded by strangers?  Yeah, that¡¯s something I¡¯d have to work up to.

    ¡°So how are the evaluations, or whatever it is you¡¯re doing, going?¡±

    ¡°It goes,¡± was all he said.

    ¡°Let me guess.  Need to know?¡±

    Q nodded.  ¡°Speaking of which, I have to get back.¡±  He got up and kissed me on the head.  ¡°I¡¯ll see you tonight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably be sleeping by the time you get back.¡±

    ¡°Good.  I can have my way with you without dealing with you.¡±

    ¡°You wish!¡±

    Actually, I wished for it too.  Is that bad?

    So that pretty much summed up the next two weeks.  You become a Brother, and somehow, you trick yourself into believing it¡¯s all smooth sailing.  I¡¯m here telling you it¡¯s not.  Yes, things do change.  People around campus who recognized me as a Brother gave me the respect I never really earned.  And I know I got away with things another student would have gotten reamed for doing.  But all-in-all, my life was that of a typical college student.  I was not exempt from ¡°the grind,¡± meaning my nose was still buried in books, and I had homework up the ying-yang.

    Now don¡¯t misunderstand what I¡¯m saying.  It wasn¡¯t all bad.  I got to hang out with my bros and enjoy life a little.  I was amazed at how often the golden mirror was used once pledging was over.  That hall turned into Grand Central Station!  Whenever I turned a corner, I bumped into a Brother from another college or a different country altogether.  Talk about networking!

    Q was true to his word.  I found him outside my physics class every day, waiting in the hall to take me to lunch.  By day three, people got used to seeing him, so the line to get out of class was less congested.  That¡¯s probably around the same time I was like ¡°fuck it¡± and started going up to Q to kiss him hello.

    And just like he promised, Q came home to me every night.  But just like I predicted, I was always asleep by the time he got in.  I¡¯d feel him crawl into bed and snuggle up behind me; his bulge pressed firmly against my ass while his hand rested over my junk as he fell asleep.

    I smiled every night. Well, maybe not every night.

    As usual, I went to class on Thursday and met with Q for lunch.  He had to leave earlier that day. It was a hectic day for the Council of Brothers, so Q took off fifteen minutes early.  It didn¡¯t bother me at all.  Considering his responsibilities and tight schedule, I thought it was sweet of him to take the time to meet me.

    I stayed behind to finish my lunch and catch up on the news on my computer.  I was just killing time before heading back to class.  It turns out; It killed a little too much time. When I finally looked up from my computer, I was alone in the caf¨¦ and running late.

    As much as I didn¡¯t want to go back, I had little choice.  Q would have killed me if I skipped.  Looking back at it now, maybe I should have changed it and kept my ass planted in the caf¨¦.

    There was a quiz that day, so I read some of my notes as I walked back to campus.  I was so busy reading I never saw the guy in front of me until it was too late.

    I plowed into him.

    ¡°Oh man, I¡¯m so sorry I didn¡¯t see¡­.¡±

    My words trailed off, and I froze when I realized who it was.  It was the same guy Q locked horns with at the mall.  ¡°Trench Coat,¡± as I called him. The part that chilled me to the bone was that I knew this wasn¡¯t just another ordinary ¡°guy.¡±

    His eyes pierced thru me like a lance.  His cold stare compelled me to back away.  No, that¡¯s not true; I hauled ass out there.  It was pointless, though, because I only got a few yards, and he was again standing not three feet in front of me.  Regardless of the futility of it all, I did it again. I turned and booked it.  He was right there again to block my path, but this time he grabbed me by the arms, and we vanished.

    I have no idea what he did to me.  I slowly came to without knowing how long I was out.   I opened my eyes, but my vision was blurred.  I blinked a few times, and as they began to focus, I could tell I was in some kind of warehouse.  It looked run-down, possibly abandoned.  I was sitting on the freezing concrete floor, my back against a metal beam.  I turned my head slowly. A lot of the windows were blown out, and there were a ton of bricks, pipes, and other building materials scattered all over the place.  And there was snow.  It wasn¡¯t snowing on campus, so there was no telling where I was.

    I was cold.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake.¡±

    I looked up, and the guy was in the middle of the warehouse.  I don¡¯t know how I missed him in the first place. Honestly, I had no idea if he was standing there the whole time or if he suddenly just appeared.  These fuckers tend to do that a lot.

    ¡°It almost seems cruel to allow you to wake only to kill you,¡± he said as he slowly walked towards me.  His long leather coat danced behind him as he approached; the sound of crushed glass echoed the ample space as his footsteps walked over the scattered shards.   ¡°Almost.¡±

    ¡°Kill you?¡± I repeated.  Then it clicked in.  ¡°Kill me?¡± It came out louder than I intended.  The words chilled me to the bone.  ¡°Who are you?  What do you want from me?¡±

    ¡°From you?¡±  His voice was colder than the room itself.  ¡°Very little.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you bring me here?¡± I demanded.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯re merely a means to an end.¡±

    ¡°What end?¡± I yelled.

    In a blink of an eye, I saw him rush towards me; he was moving so fast he was merely a blur.  He squatted in front of me; his deadpan eyes locked on mine.  His sudden appearance caused me to jerk back.  With my back against the beam, there was nowhere for me to go.  I did feel something big and hard press against my lower back.

    ¡°A means to hurt him,¡± he finally said, his words more poisonous than the deadliest snake bites.

    ¡°Him?¡±  I was confused for a moment, but the obvious finally hit me.  ¡°Q?  You want to hurt Q?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sound so surprised, Jacob.  Not everyone adores your beloved Qua¡¯quelle.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re still bitter that he kicked your ass in the mall?¡±  Don¡¯t let my bravado fool you.  I was scared out of my mind.  I was just doing everything in my power not to show it.  ¡°You must not be much of a Skai.¡±

    The douchebag cracked a smile.  ¡°I freely admit Q is much more powerful than I will ever be.  When we saw him in that mall, we couldn¡¯t help ourselves.  I knew my chances were slim.  Yet, it was worth the risk.  Common sense doesn''t factor into the equation when you¡¯re fueled with justifiable anger and hatred.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, slowly reaching behind my back as he went on and on.  ¡°Why do you hate him so much?¡±

    ¡°He took something precious from me that can never be replaced.  Since I can never hope to beat him in battle, taking something equally as precious from him will have to do.  Tit for tat.¡±  His smile widened into one that would rival the Joker¡¯s.

    ¡°And then what?  Do you know what Q will do to you when he realizes what you¡¯ve done?¡±

    He belly laughed.

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it, do you?  I don¡¯t care what he¡­.¡±

    I grabbed whatever was behind my back and slammed it against his head mid-sentence.  As he tumbled over on his side, I got up and ran for the only door within view.  I didn¡¯t bother to look back.  The door was all that mattered.  I don¡¯t know why I was surprised when I opened the door to see him standing on the other side.

    Thinking back on it now, I can¡¯t believe I thought I could get away.  He was Skai, for fucks sake.  It was never going to be a fair or even slightly even fight. The reality of the situation doesn¡¯t sink in when you¡¯re in-flight mode.  All that matters is getting away, no matter the odds.   The problem was my odds were zero.

    With a simple head gesture, he hurled me clear across the room.  I hit the floor so hard the wind was knocked out of me as I rolled for several feet until I finally stopped.  I caught my first breath as he placed his foot on my chest.

    ¡°Oh, Jacob,¡± he said.  His gaze never left my eyes as he reached his hand out and somehow summoned a long, thin pipe to fly into it.   ¡°I¡¯m afraid I will need you to stick around.¡±  The psychopath drove the pipe thru my shoulder blade and into the concrete, effectively pinning me in place.

    ¡®NO AGHHHH¡­.¡±

    I screamed bloody murder and lost sight of my attacker.  White, then hot red, was all I saw behind my clenched eyes.  I tried to breathe and then screamed again.  The red faded to black, and tears started to flow as freely as the blood.  If someone told me they could hear my pain a mile away, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised.  I reached for the pipe to pull it out.  That was a big mistake.  Moving it barely a hair intensified the pain tenfold.  My eyes landed markedly on the Joker still standing on my chest.  I cursed at him and the Skai through the pain.  There was nothing more I could do.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    I did notice one thing.  My ring was glowing.

    ¡°I tire of this,¡± he said as I writhed around in pain.  He removed his foot from my chest and walked several steps away before turning back to face me.  ¡°I planned to leave Qua¡¯quelle a portrait to remember me by.  These walls were to be my canvas, your blood, and entrails, my paint and brush.  But I only work with the best materials and your kind is too weak and pathetic to be considered the best of anything.¡±

    I threw my head back and ground my teeth together as another wave of intense pain flashed across every nerve in my body.

    ¡°See what I mean?  You¡¯re nothing but a second-rate bargain bottom material,¡± his eyes disappeared behind a black mist.  ¡°So, I¡¯m going to do us a favor and end you without artistic flair.¡±  Each word hung in the room like the smile on the Cheshire Cat.

    He raised his hand slowly, and dark energy, his Askyli, began to swirl around it as if building up a massive charge.  ¡°Finally,¡± he whispered, ¡°sweet revenge.¡­.¡±

    The energy exploded from his hand like an arc of black lightning.  Instinctively and pathetically, I threw my hand over my face as if it was going to protect me from the Skai¡¯s power.

    I knew it was over.

    ¡°Enough, Kaylec!¡±

    That voice.  It wasn¡¯t the one I was hoping for, but I knew that voice.  I lowered my hand to see this dazzling barrier of light surrounding me.  The dark Askyli from the Skai spilled over it like water over a glass dome.  Beyond the brilliant light, I saw her.  Dressed all in white, she stood like an angel from heaven.

    ¡°Lady White,¡± I whispered to myself.

    The Skai stopped his assault and turned his attention to her. The barrier protecting me vanished, and my ring¡¯s light faded to a warm hue.

    He didn¡¯t say anything to Lady White; he just stared at her for a moment.  I blinked, trying to focus on them. I noticed the cold for the second time, but now it felt like it was coming from inside me.  I could barely move without sending an unbearable, searing pain through my body, but the adrenaline pumping through me said, ¡®you need to fight.¡¯  I was having trouble focusing, but my need to survive and fight forced me to look around for something I could reach to use as a weapon.  I turned my eyes from Lady White when I saw the huge puddle of my blood on the floor¡­and it was growing.

    Suddenly the Skai roared in anger, turned back to me, and with both hands, unleashed a torrent of Askyli even greater than the last.  I flinched, narrowed my eyes, and yelped in pain at my movement.  The shield reappeared.

    Unable to penetrate it, he moved closer and intensified the blast.

    ¡°Enough!¡±

    Her voice boomed across the room.  The Skai broke off his attack and, clasping both ears, dropped to his knees.  I don¡¯t know what she did to him, but for a moment, he appeared to be in a lot of pain.  I would guess it paled in comparison to what I was feeling.

    ¡°You have no right!¡± he yelled, staggering to his feet.  ¡°You are not to interfere in our affairs or take sides.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not taking sides, Kaylec, and you know that.  I¡¯m here on behalf of all El¡¯odians to prevent you from making a grave mistake that will have dire consequences for both sides.  Now I¡¯m asking you to please leave and allow me to attend to the boy.¡±

    Lady White started walking towards me, but he stepped between us.

    ¡°I will have my revenge,¡± Kaylec insisted.

    ¡°And then what?¡± she asked.

    ¡°What happens to me doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°Do you honestly believe it ends with you?  That you can exact your revenge on Qua¡¯quelle, he exacts his revenge on you, and that¡¯s the end of it?¡±  She shook her head.  ¡°You¡¯re not na?ve.  Your actions here will have broader ramifications.  You might be content to die at the hands of Qua¡¯quelle, but I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d be okay plunging your people into a war you know neither side can win.¡±

    ¡°No one will go to war over this human,¡± he sneered.

    ¡°Qua¡¯quelle will move heaven and earth for that human,¡± she assured him, and I choked up a bit when I heard her say that with such confidence.

    ¡°Then he¡¯s a fool!¡±

    ¡°Is he?¡± Lady White asked and kind of cocked her head to the side.  ¡°What does that make you?  You¡¯re here hundreds of years later trying to avenge a death.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a death.  It¡¯s HIS death.  This is different,¡± he claimed.

    Lady White snickered at his inability to see the obvious.  It¡¯s always different when it¡¯s your cause you¡¯re championing.

    ¡°Besides, the Nave will not declare war against us on Qua¡¯quelle¡¯s behalf.  They will not follow him over that cliff.  I can assure you my brothers will be quite safe.¡±

    ¡°You have no idea how wrong you are, Kaylec.  The Nave love Qua¡¯quelle, and they will follow him to the ends of Eiyr.  Of that, I can assure you.¡±

    He fell silent for a while and merely looked at the ground.  She seemed to be getting to him.

    ¡°Now, step aside, Kaylec,¡± she said and moved closer.

    Kaylec quickly stepped towards her and balled up his hands; Askyli swirled around his fist.  Was he really considering attacking her, or was it mere posturing?

    ¡°I will not be denied!¡±

    She sighed.  ¡°I was hoping to reach you, Kaylec, but I knew there was a chance your heart was too broken to hear.  I cannot bring myself to harm you, but I also cannot allow you to harm the boy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to destroy me to stop me.  Since you¡¯re not willing to do that, the human will die.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be the one stopping you.¡±

    Either I was becoming delirious from my wound, or I saw the shadows around the room begin to move.

    ¡°No!¡±  Throwing his hands out, Kaylec actually ¡°fired¡± on Lady White, but a shadow took form instantly.  At first, a hand grabbed Kaylec by the wrist and forced him to aim upwards, away from Lady White.  The energy blast blew a massive hole in the ceiling.  With a simple wave of her hand, Lady White created a canopy of light that stopped the debris from hitting us.

    While this was happening, the rest of the shadow took human form, and a young man emerged.  It turns out I wasn¡¯t seeing things.  The shadows weren¡¯t shadows at all.  They were whirls of Askyli taking form.

    It was the Skylarians.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡± the young man shouted.  ¡°You dare attack the one who¡¯s most precious to us all?¡±

    ¡°Zenial,¡± Kaylec called him, ¡°I¡­.¡±

    ¡°Silence!¡± he ordered and then looked at Lady White.  ¡°Are you unharmed?¡±

    She simply nodded.

    ¡°Zenial, you don¡¯t¡­.¡±

    This Zenial guy grabbed Kaylec by the face, lifted him several feet into the air, and slammed him to the ground.  The concrete cracked and webbed out under Kaylec.  At the same time, about seven or eight other Skai appeared around the room.

    Some looked human; others had white hair, dark grayish skin, black wings draped behind them like cloaks, and eyes like rivers of pure darkness, pulsating and menacing. Their nails were like black glass, long and probably as sharp as the weapons they carried. They stood like sentries, imposing and threatening, waiting for commands from their leader.

    They were magnificent.

    ¡°Do you know what you have done?¡± he asked.  ¡°You have brought us to the brink of war!  For what?  Petty revenge?¡±

    Kaylec forced Zenial¡¯s hand away from his face.  ¡°You would have done the same in my place.¡±

    ¡°No, Kaylec!¡± he shouted, ¡°I would put the welfare of our brothers before me.¡±  He got close to Kaylec¡¯s face.  ¡°That is what it means to be Skai.¡±

    Zenial got up and walked a few paces, his hands balled in anger.  He was tall and lean and still in human form.  The first thing you notice about him is his blue hair, cut so that the right side was longer than the left and covered part of his face.  He was dressed very neatly in pressed dress pants, a nice button-down red shirt, and shoes with a mirror shine.  I would have guessed that he was coming from or going to some important function when he got the call from Lady White.

    I, on the other hand, was not doing so hot.  My eyes were extremely heavy; I wanted to sleep.  Looking back at it now, I was probably going into shock.  If Lady White hadn¡¯t stepped in when she did, I would have passed out.  She was finally standing over me to offer me some help, but Zenial stopped Lady White.

    ¡°Aside from being a member of The Brotherhood, who is this human?¡± he asked her and then looked at Kaylec.  ¡°Why did you target him, a human, when you know both sides agreed long ago not to harm the humans that join us until they are made one of us?¡±

    ¡°His name is Jacob, and he is Qua¡¯quelle¡¯s beloved,¡± Lady White answered.

    ¡°What?!¡± he shouted at Kaylec and shook his head in disbelief.  Kaylec was about to say something, but Zenial gestured for him to be silent.  ¡°Unbelievable.¡±  Turning away from Kaylec, he looked at me for a moment and came towards me.  Then I noticed he had one bright blue eye and an equally vivid green one.

    Lady White was quick to get between us.  ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I mean to heal him,¡± he pointed down at me, and I flinched again.

    Lady White softened her eyes and looked down at me. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Jacob; you are safe now.¡±  Then she turned her focus to Zenial once again. ¡°No, I will tend to him.¡±

    ¡°It will be a greater gesture to the Nave if I¡¯m the one to heal his wounds.¡±

    She stood her ground, clearly stating that she would care for me.  I didn¡¯t care who helped me.  If someone had the power to heal me, then fucking heal me!

    ¡°Very well,¡± Zenial submitted, with a slight bow of his head.

    Lady White was quick to kneel beside me and take my hand.  Clearing the hair from my face, she offered a warm and motherly smile.

    ¡°It hurts,¡± I whimpered.

    ¡°I know, Jacob, but it won¡¯t for long,¡± she assured me and reached for the pipe.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± I jerked and caused the same pain I was trying to avoid.  I cried out.  It was like my shoulder was on fire.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t move. I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    Lady White¡¯s hand began to glow, and the pain dropped dramatically until I didn¡¯t feel anything at all.  She hovered her hand over the pipe but never touched it, and I watched in awe as it vanished.  Moving closer to my wound, her hand became brighter, and I felt a warmth wash over me. I could sit up a little and watch as the wound healed and the blood staining my clothes vanished.  Even the fabric of my shirt began to weave itself until the hole was repaired, and my shirt looked new again.

    Her warm smile never wavered as she brushed the last tears from my cheeks.  ¡°How do you feel?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°You must tell them this attack was not sanctioned by us,¡± Zenial interrupted.  At first, I thought he was talking to me, but he wasn¡¯t.  ¡°You must tell them before this escalates.¡±

    ¡°I will do what I can,¡± she said and began to help me up.

    ¡°Since when did we become such cowards,¡± Kaylec said.

    Zenial turned around and backhanded the shit out of him.  I admit that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

    ¡°You think preventing an unwinnable war and saving the lives of countless Skylarians is cowardice?¡±

    ¡°This peace is a fa?ade, and you know it,¡± Kaylec exclaimed.  ¡°Both sides are trying to swell their numbers; both are hunting for the Eye of Eiyr to destroy the other ultimately.¡±

    Zenial went right up to him and grabbed him by the chin.  ¡°Be that as it may, so long as the hunt for the Eye continues, I will not see your foolish desires doom our people.¡±

    I have no idea who this Zenial guy was, but he seemed important.  I couldn¡¯t imagine one of my brothers going at it with Q in such a way.  But for all I knew, this was normal behavior for the Skai.

    I couldn¡¯t believe how good I felt.  Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was still scared shitless, but I felt like I could run a marathon; not exactly typical for someone who had a piece of steel sticking out of their chest not three minutes ago.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lady White asked me, and a warm smile appeared on his face.

    I was looking at my ring.

    It¡¯s nothing,¡± I told her.

    ¡°What is it, Jacob?¡± she insisted, placing her hand on my back to let me know it was okay to talk to her.

    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know.¡±  I wasn¡¯t sure if I should say anything.  Maybe I was just seeing things before.  I looked up at her.  ¡°It¡¯s my ring. I could have sworn I saw it glowing before, but now it¡¯s not doing anything.  I¡¯m sure I imagined it.¡±

    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t,¡± she said and took my hand into hers to inspect the ring.  ¡°It glows when a human Brother is hurt.  It alerts the Nave so they can find you and heal you before it¡¯s too late.  The ring only stopped glowing because I have healed you.  It also protected you from Kaylec.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I was astonished that this little ring could do all that.  ¡°I thought it was you.¡±

    ¡°No.  The ring is imbued with his power.  Qua¡¯quelle¡¯s power.¡±

    The room went silent, and Zenial turned to look at me.

    ¡°If you weren¡¯t here, Q would¡¯ve shown up instead?¡± I asked, confused at how it all worked.

    ¡°No, Jacob,¡± she said simply, her smile never fading.

    The room shook.  The debris on the ground vibrated and then slowly slid across the floor.  The lights flickered, windows cracked, and metal shrieked.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying he¡¯s already here.¡±

    The warehouse roof completely peeled off like the lid from a soup can.  There was an explosion of light above us that rivaled the sun itself.  I had to raise my hand over my face to shield my eyes from the light.  Rays of this brilliant orb hovering over the building fired in all directions. As they got close to the Skai, the rays took form, and Nave emerged in their gilded, white armor with swords drawn.

    Within seconds I heard metal clashing against metal.

    One ray came down like a blazing white fireball, cracking and webbing the concrete underneath as it went after Kaylec like a gigantic and angry missile.  I saw his hand come out of the light and grab Kaylec by the throat as they launched towards the wall behind them.  Lady White vanished from my side as Q slammed Kaylec so hard into the wall that it ripped from the foundation.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    The room froze.  It was one of those mafia movie scenes where everyone in the room has a gun aimed at each other, but in this case, it was swords instead of Berettas.

    I swear Lady White was the bravest, toughest little old lady on the planet.  She stood sandwiched between Q and Kaylec.   She held her arms out to the side, trying to stop Q, and I swear his blade was no more than an inch away from Kaylec¡¯s eye.

    I held my breath.

    ¡°I have every right!¡± Q yelled. The anger in his voice even scared me a little.  I¡¯d never seen his eyes on fire as they were now.  It was a hot, white fire, ever-growing in intensity.

    ¡°Qua¡¯quelle, please don¡¯t do this,¡± she pleaded.

    It was crazy to me how not ten minutes ago, she was trying to talk a Skai from harming a ¡°Nave,¡± so to speak, and now she had to talk a Nave from killing a Skai.  I began to appreciate how tough it must have been for her to care so deeply for both sides and still manage to stay neutral.

    ¡°Listen to her Qua¡¯quelle,¡± Zenial echoed her plea.  He surprised me by walking up to Q and carefully placing his hand on Q¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°This is not how you want this day to be remembered.¡±  He paused for a moment to look at me briefly before continuing.  ¡°Your human¡­Jacob is okay.  He can walk out of here with you tonight, but if you strike down my brother, no one gets to go home.  My brothers will attack¡­.¡±

    ¡°As will mine!¡± Q interrupted.

    ¡°And then what?  Today will mark the day when El¡¯odians went to war again.  Tell me, Qua¡¯quelle, why did I bother saving his life only to have you start the very conflict I tried to avoid?¡±

    Lady White¡¯s warm smile appeared on her face as she took Q¡¯s face into her hand.  ¡°Look at your beloved Qua¡¯quelle.  He¡¯s there waiting for you.  He may be a little frightened and unsure, but he¡¯s there nonetheless.¡±

    Slowly, Q turned his head to face me.  At first, his eyes were wild and ablaze but quickly cooled to their beautiful grayish-blue.  I like to think seeing me brought him back from the brink.  His sword melted away in a vapor of light, and he backed away from Kaylec.

    ¡°Well, it looks like I¡¯m no longer needed here,¡± Lady White announced suddenly as she stepped out between the two god-like beings.  ¡°I believe I can trust you both to act like the leaders you are.¡±  Lady White walked towards me, her loving smile still on her face.

    She was about halfway to me when Q turned and punched Kaylec through the wall.   The Skai moved to act, but Zenial raised his hand, and they stopped.  Lady White approached me like nothing had happened and took my hands into hers.

    ¡°Be well, Jacob,¡± she said as she squeezed my hands and faded away.

    Now Q was the one walking towards me.  He said something in his native tongue, and one by one, the Nave in the room disappeared in a swirl of radiant light until it was only Q and me.  He gently grabbed me by the arms and pulled me close, kissing my forehead.  Light exploded from his back to form his magnificent white wings.

    ¡°Zenial,¡± he said, his eyes never leaving mine.  ¡°If your brother or any Skai for that matter comes near Jacob again, I will not rest until I¡¯ve wiped every Skylarian off the face of Eiyr.  The Eye be damned.¡±

    ¡°Noted.¡±

    Q wrapped his wings around us like a comforting blanket, and we vanished.

    This was my life now.

    We appeared back in our bedroom, and it felt a little weird.  I couldn¡¯t tell if the trip was instantaneous or if it took time to get there.  You''re unaware of the time when you¡¯re wrapped in Q¡¯s grace.  It seems like it stops altogether.

    Like his sword, Q¡¯s wings melted away in swirls of light.  We didn¡¯t say anything to each other at first.  I backed away from Q until the back of my knees hit the bed, and I sat down.

    I felt dizzy.

    Q turned away from me and just stood there.  I could see his fists were balled up tight with anger. His entire body was wound like a bomb, ready to explode. Days earlier, I left a bottle of water on his desk; occasionally, I could see the water tremble.  I let him be for a while and just watched him.  Gradually I could see him begin to ¡°let go¡± of the fury inside him.  His fingers finally relaxed. His whole posture was more at ease and in control like the Q I knew.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he whispered.  At least that¡¯s what I think he said.  Turning to face me, Q came over and fell to his knees in front of me.  He grabbed the sides of my legs and rested his forehead against my knees.  ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Jacob.  I¡¯m so, so sorry.¡±

    I started reaching for the back of his head to comb my fingers through his hair.

    ¡°This is all my fault.  It should never have happened.  I should have been there to protect you.¡±

    I stopped just inches from his head, balled up my fist, and pulled it away.  Something about what he said ignited a slow-burning flame inside.

    ¡°What the hell was all that about?¡±  Even I was surprised at the harsh tone of my voice.  ¡°Some crazy guy kidnaps me, tortures me, and makes it clear he¡¯s going to kill me, and I¡¯m sitting here without a fucking clue as to what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob¡­.¡±

    ¡°I know, you said that.¡±  The flame inside me was getting hotter.  ¡°I¡¯m still waiting for an explanation.  Who were those people?  Or Skai or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Centuries ago, during a battle, I killed Kaylec¡¯s mate, the one he was bonded to and meant to be with for eternity.  He¡¯s never been able to let go.¡±

    ¡°Would you be able to?¡±

    ¡°It was a battle, Jacob,¡± Q said and finally looked up at me.  ¡°Both sides lost people.  I lost friends.  Kaylec isn¡¯t innocent in all this.  His hands are just as stained with Nave blood.¡±

    ¡°Do you even have blood?  I do.  It was all over the warehouse floor.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± Q said, confused by my attack.

    ¡°And the blue-haired guy who saved my ass while you were doing god knows what?¡±

    ¡°Zenial?  He¡¯s one of the leaders of the Skylarians.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I guess I should feel privileged that one of the leaders of the entire Skai people came to my rescue.¡±  My flame was on full blast.

    ¡°What is this?¡± he asked again.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Jacob? You know exactly what I was doing and where I was.  You make it sound like I was out partying or something.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡±  I got up and pushed past the kneeling Q.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?  You didn¡¯t think telling me you have psycho maniacs out there for enemies was important. Very powerful ¨C I have no chance of defending myself against enemies¡­that might try to hurt me to get to you?¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡± Q said as he got up.

    ¡°Well, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Quite honestly, no,¡± he answered matter-of-factly.  ¡°I didn¡¯t think they knew about us to make you a target.  Not to mention there is an arrangement in which both sides agreed not to target the humans amongst us.  Jacob, I honestly didn¡¯t think anyone would be stupid enough to hurt you.¡±

    ¡°Why?  Because you¡¯re the amazing Q, and no one dares to fuck with you?¡± I was kind of yelling at his point.  ¡°Well, guess what?  They fucked with you!¡±

    ¡°Look, Jacob, you¡¯ve been thru a lot tonight, so I understand¡­.¡±

    ¡°Oh, please don¡¯t start with the psychobabble bullshit!  The fact is you left me out there high and dry.  I was scared out of my mind, wishing you would show up and take the pain away.  You never did!  I was alone, Q.  You left me alone!¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    He tried to hold me, but I brushed him off.  ¡°Just don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I was always coming for you, Jacob.  It just took time for the beacon from your ring to reach me in the Nexus.  The minute I sensed something was wrong I¡­.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s another thing,¡± I interrupted.  ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me I had my own little bat signal on my finger?  With a shield and everything!  Knowing that might have made things easier; I would have known you would show up instead of wondering if.  Instead, I get the hundred-year-old lady and the leader of your mortal enemies trying to save my life.  It should have been you.¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°I thought I was going to die.¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I yelled.  ¡°You keep saying my name, but you aren¡¯t saying anything I want to hear right now.¡±

    Q sighed heavily and turned away.   I have never seen Q look the way he did at that moment.

    Defeated.

    ¡°I must get back to the Nexus.  Now that the crisis is over, they¡¯ll be expecting me.  If you need anything¡­.¡±

    ¡°I needed you then.¡±

    He vanished.

    I don¡¯t think I was alone for more than a minute when my door burst open, and Arsen and the gang came marching on in. I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, but I knew that would not happen with my crew. And I admit, considering what happened, I couldn¡¯t blame them for wanting to check up on me and get the details. If this had happened to Arsen, I¡¯d be the first one busting down his door.

    ¡°We heard what happened,¡± Ant said.

    ¡°We heard you and Q down the hall, dude,¡± CJ added.

    I didn¡¯t realize I was that loud.

    I spent the next two hours telling them all the details of the night, including my argument with Q.  The number of questions they asked was dizzying.  Arsen surprised me because he basically hung back and just listened to what I had to say and didn¡¯t ask many questions.  He seemed more interested in my argument with Q than anything else.  I found it odd.

    They hung around the room watching television even after I told them every detail I could remember.  I drifted off to sleep in the middle of some movie CJ wanted us to watch.  A few hours later, I woke up alone.  The television was off, and I had a blanket draped over me.  Q¡¯s side of the bed was empty.

    I fell asleep again, into a world of dark dreams, violence, and a void I can¡¯t explain.  Somehow, I managed to get through it.

    I woke up the following day, still alone in my bed.  If Q had ever returned, he was already gone.  Classes wouldn¡¯t start for another few hours, so I lingered in bed for a while staring at the ceiling.  I was seriously contemplating not going to class.  Considering what I went through the previous night, I didn¡¯t think anyone would give me a shit about it. But the fact of the matter was that I wasn¡¯t physically hurt anymore, and even if I was emotionally drained, I wasn¡¯t going to let this beat me. Besides, going to class was preferable to lying there with constant flashes of Kaylec in my head. I needed the distraction.

    The day was typical for me, but I have to say I was kind of surprised to see Q show up for lunch.  He was waiting for me when I walked out of my class.  I¡¯m not going to lie, it was an awkward moment, and I avoided it by telling Q I¡¯d take a rain check because I needed to study for a test I had after lunch.  It wasn¡¯t a lie, technically.  I did have a test. I already knew all the material.

    Even CJ gave me a weird look when I turned Q down.  But leave it to CJ never to miss an opportunity.  He offered to go in my place, and Q seemed okay with that.  He said he¡¯d talk to me later and took off with CJ.

    The rest of my day was uneventful.  When I returned from classes, I grabbed something to eat, locked myself in the bedroom, and fucked around on my laptop.  I was probably in there for about an hour before I heard a knock on the door.  Arsen walked in and sat on the bed, facing me.

    ¡°So? How are you doing?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Fine, I guess,¡± I shrugged and kept my eyes on the computer screen.

    ¡°Cool.  I¡¯m glad to hear it.¡±

    I shook my head as if I agreed with him about something.

    ¡°So¡­I heard you blew off Q this afternoon when he tried to meet you for lunch.¡±

    I instantly rolled my eyes.  ¡°I didn¡¯t blow off anyone.  I wanted to study for a test. It was as simple as that.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±  He just sat there staring at me without saying anything.

    ¡°Did you need something?¡± I finally asked.

    ¡°Actually, yeah, I do,¡± he answered but didn¡¯t follow up with anything.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°I was hoping you could tell me why you¡¯re being a bitch?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±  I was taken aback by that and snapped my head up to look him dead in the eyes.

    ¡°You heard me.  I want to know why you¡¯re being such a little bitch.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck are you talking about, Arsen?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about how you¡¯re treating Q like he¡¯s the biggest piece of shit on the planet right now.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯re talking about.  I already told you what happened yesterday, but you weren¡¯t listening very well.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I was listening. I just couldn¡¯t believe my fucking ears.¡±

    I was going to say something, but he raised his finger to let me know he wasn¡¯t done talking.  ¡°Let me get this straight. You¡¯re pissed off at Q for not telling you about some beef he had with some Skai a trillion years ago.  Is that it?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think I had the right to know that danger was out there?¡±

    ¡°What if you did?  What exactly would have changed Jacob? Explain that to me because I don¡¯t get it.¡±

    Again, I was going to say something, but Arsen kept going.

    ¡°Let¡¯s pretend Q told you about this Kaylec guy on day one.  How would this have played out any differently? Just knowing that he¡¯s out there doesn¡¯t make him magically disappear.  So how would you have been more prepared?¡±

    He paused to allow me to answer this time, but I had nothing.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Arsen said with raised brows.  ¡°Unless you tell me you wouldn¡¯t have joined The Brotherhood had you known this from the start? Or you never would have fallen in love with Q if you knew he had a past? We both know the answer to these questions.  So basically, you¡¯re acting like a little bitch for no logical reason.  Knowing or not knowing about Kaylec wouldn¡¯t have changed a damn thing, Jacob.  You know this.

    ¡°And you¡¯re mad because he didn¡¯t tell you about the ring?  Do you know when we all found out about the ring?  Last night when you told us what it did. So, no one knew. Now, I admit I¡¯m a bit surprised no one mentioned it. As I see it, someone seriously dropped the ball, and they need to update their training manuals to include this information.

    ¡°This morning, I asked Shaun about it.  Do you know what he said?  They don¡¯t tell our human Brothers that the rings alert the Nave when we¡¯re hurt because we¡¯re morons.  They found that humans tend to act way more recklessly when told.  Why?  Because they knew a Nave would show up to save their asses.  For fucks sake, they can bring us back from the dead if they get to us within thirty-three minutes.  So yeah, fuckers were doing all kinds of crazy shit, so The Brotherhood decided to stop pointing it out.  I sure as hell don¡¯t blame them.  You know damn well if CJ knew he¡¯d be jumping out of a plane without a parachute.  Tell me I¡¯m lying?¡±

    Okay, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the imagery created in my head.  Aside from that, I didn¡¯t have anything to contribute to this one-way discussion.  I admit I was beginning to feel like shit.

    ¡°But let¡¯s get down to brass tacks,¡± Arsen continued.  ¡°Q fucking loves you.  Do you know that?  He loves you more than I love peanut butter, and that¡¯s saying a lot because I fucking love peanut butter.  So, let¡¯s be real here. This has nothing to do with Q. You know that too.  Look, I get it, Jacob.  You¡¯re pissed and have every right to be, but you¡¯re not mad at Q.  He just happened to be in the room when you needed to blow your top. You¡¯re angry at Kaylec.  You¡¯re angry at the Skai.  And if I had to guess, I¡¯d say you¡¯re angry at yourself too.¡±

    I didn¡¯t confirm or deny anything he said.  I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around my legs.

    ¡°I bet back home if some punk got in your face, you¡¯d smash his face in, but this time you¡¯re the one who got smashed, and there was nothing you could do about it. But taking it out on Q?  Come on, Jacob. That¡¯s not fair, especially when Q - according to you - was ready to start World War 3, 4, and 5 over you.  Fuck me! What more do you want from him?¡±

    I still didn¡¯t have an answer for him.  All I could do was sit there and let his words sink in.

    Arsen got up from the bed and stood over me.  ¡°So basically, what I¡¯m trying to say, in case you missed it, is to pull your head out of your ass, put on your big boy pants and fix this.  Q deserves better.¡±  Arsen didn¡¯t wait for me to say anything.  He just walked to the door.

    ¡°What did Lady White say?¡±  He paused for a moment to recall her words.  ¡°Oh yeah, that Q would move heaven and earth for you.  Heaven and earth, Jacob.  I had a girlfriend once who wouldn¡¯t give me five bucks for gas, and you¡¯re going to get mad at Q?  Seriously?¡±

    Arsen closed the door behind him.

    He was right.  I had no excuse and no words to launch in my defense. God, I felt like shit. All I wanted was for Q to show up and hope that he¡¯d forgive me for being such an asshole.  I turned on some music and waited.  He never showed, and I ended up falling asleep.

    Around 3 am, I woke to an empty bed, and my heart sank.  Q was always on time and would be in bed snuggling me close.  If he wasn¡¯t here tonight, it was on purpose and my own doing.

    I went to the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed properly.  I came out toweling my hair dry and sat on the bed, looking at Q¡¯s empty desk.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said to his empty chair; my eyes watered a bit.  ¡°I don¡¯t know what got into me.  I guess Arsen was right.  I was angry at the world; you just happened to be in the room.  You gave me an easy target when you said it was your fault.¡± I paused for a bit before continuing.  ¡°That wasn¡¯t fair to you, and I¡¯m so sorry for treating you like that.  I don¡¯t want to be alone anymore.  I just want you to come home to me.¡±

    The soft white light came first; his voice followed.

    ¡°I never left you, Jacob¡­and I¡¯ll always come home to you.¡±

    That was all he said.  He wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulled me into his embrace, and laid in each other¡¯s arms for a while.  He never said a word about how I treated him, not that night or any other night.  To him, it was like it had never happened. That shows how amazing he is, which made me feel worse.  But that was on me, and I had to deal with that alone.  It also made me realize how stupid I was for fighting him because I had never felt so safe in his arms.

    I¡¯d always wake up to Q getting dressed, save for the weekend when I¡¯d sleep in late.  I told myself I¡¯d try hard to wake up early so I could see him off, but that never happened.  I loved Q and all, but sleep was a rare commodity and in high demand at the time.

    I never expected him to show up on the weekends for lunch, but he came that Saturday afternoon.  I was outside throwing the lion around with some of the Brothers because it was a nice cool day out.  I think the Brothers felt I needed to feel normal again, to do something normal again, and so they insisted I go outside.

    Oh, the lion was just a Frisbee we tossed around with a picture of, you guessed it, a lion¡¯s face on it. Well, anyway, Shaun threw it at me, and I set myself up for the perfect catch when the damn lion jumped out of the fucking frisbee at me.  I heard the growl seconds before it jumped out at me like a jack in a box.  Of course, I did what any sane person would do and dove for cover, screaming like a bitch.

    Everyone exploded in laughter.

    I looked up from my manly fetal position and saw Q holding the Frisbee.

    ¡°Lunch?¡±

    He created the illusion!

    I wanted to kill him!  I screamed bloody murder and started chasing him around the grounds.  Here¡¯s a pro tip for everyone.  Don¡¯t try tackling someone who can become ethereal.  It doesn¡¯t end well.  As I walked away with Q, I looked over my shoulder at Arsen and mouthed, ¡°thank you.¡±

    He simply smiled.

    We had a very interesting lunch.  Many ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± were thrown around.  Now, I wasn¡¯t all that upset about it.  It was funny, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell Q that.  I knew having Q feeling all apologetic and whatnot was a once-in-a-blue-moon type thing, so I was going to milk it for all it was worth.  But only for a limited time.  He was Q, after all, and I¡¯m not that crazy.

    That same night the guys decided to take me out to the local bar and grill for food and to play darts and pool.  Again, this was an attempt from the guys to get me back into the swing of things and help put the ¡°Kaylec incident¡± behind me.  I began to appreciate their efforts instead of always wanting to be alone.  Arsen commented that he was sick of seeing me moping around the house because I missed my ¡°boy toy,¡± as he put it.

    ¡°First of all, I never moped,¡± I corrected as we walked into the bar.  ¡°Secondly, I wouldn¡¯t let Q hear you call him that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­good point,¡± Arsen conceded.  ¡°You were definitely moping, though.  This is funny, considering you were all like, ¡®Q get away from me¡¯ not too long ago.  I don¡¯t want to see you again because I¡¯m a little bitch¡­.¡±

    ¡°Screw you!¡±

    It was nice being out with the gang again.  We saw each other on campus and back at the house throughout the day, but it wasn¡¯t the same.  Once we became Brothers, everyone seemed so wrapped up in their lives with school and TBH stuff that we rarely saw each other.

    We walked in, and the large crowd gathered around the corkboard immediately got our attention.  What was so interesting everyone was laughing and snapping pictures with their phones?  Putting on our detective hats, we went to investigate what the commotion was all about.

    Like Moses parting the Red Sea, people got out of our way once they recognized the letterman jackets we were wearing.  Horrified does not begin to describe what I felt when I saw what was posted on the board. There, for the whole world to see, were several 8x10 pictures of me in various stages of undress.  I had my shirt off in one shot and nothing but trunks in another.  Those were no big deal.  The ones showing me completely naked, sporting eight inches of major wood, and cumming on my chest were a big deal to me.  And these weren¡¯t the standard headless shots you can brush off because no one can prove it¡¯s you in the picture.  It was me from head to naked toe.

    I was fuming and embarrassed.  I could feel the heat coming up from under my shirt.

    ¡°Dude,¡± CJ said and got up close and personal with one of the pictures.  ¡°I¡¯ve seen your shit, and these pictures don¡¯t do you justice.¡±

    ¡°My god,¡± one girl gasped.

    ¡°Who put this up here?¡± Arsen asked one of the guys standing next to him.

    He had no idea, but I dd.  The only person on the planet with pictures of me in all my glory.  It took only a few seconds of scanning the bar to find her sitting in a booth with her girlfriends on the other side of the bar.  We locked eyes for seconds, but she had this pleased look and a sinister grin.   She dismissed me completely and went back to talking to her girlfriends without a care.

    Bitch!

    But once again, being a member of The Brotherhood has its perks.  The laughter subsided rather quickly when everyone realized I was the one in the pictures. Some guys even went to take the images down from the corkboard without being asked. The one who handed them to me even apologized for something he had no part in. I thanked him and shook his hand as I took the pictures from him.

    ¡°Come on, bro, let¡¯s get some food,¡± Arsen said, rubbing my shoulders and guiding me to the tables.  ¡°Forget that bitch.  We¡¯re here to have a good time.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the big deal?¡± CJ asked, throwing his hands up in the air.  ¡°I always send Christmas cards out with my cock on them.¡±

    Okay, even I laughed at that.

    Ant grabbed CJ by the neck and pushed him forward.  ¡°You would, freak!¡±

    I loved my crew.

    The rest of the night was uneventful.  We ate some good food, played darts and pool, and got a chance to catch up.  We talked about class, our professors, and who was trying to get with whom.  It should be no surprise that CJ got more ass that first week than the pledge group combined.  He slept with three girls, got head from two guys, fucked four guys, and was in a foursome with two other ¡°straight¡± dudes and a chick.  He made the air quotation gesture because the girl was just his way of getting into bed with the two hot guys he had his eyes on.  According to CJ, the girl was only around for thirty minutes before she had an ¡°emergency¡± and had to go.

    Hearing Ant and Alessandro talk about being able to be together again only made me miss Q even more.  Don¡¯t get me wrong.  I was so happy they were able to be together. And seeing how much in love they were, gave me that warm feeling inside, but it also saddened me. They picked up on it because they changed the subject to something completely random.

    Suddenly I felt someone standing on my right staring down at me.  I didn¡¯t need to look up to know who it was.  I knew having a good time would drive her insane, and it would only be a matter of time before she felt the need to try and ruin my night¡­again.

    ¡°So what?¡± Alex said.  ¡°You¡¯re a fag now?¡±

    ¡°Whoa!¡± I couldn¡¯t even tell you where that came from because pretty much everyone at our table was taken aback by her comment.

    ¡°Excuse you?¡± Paul exclaimed.

    ¡°Is that what you¡¯re trying to tell me?¡± She went on completely ignoring everyone else.  I did her the same courtesy and ignored her back.  ¡°You like dick now?  Is that it?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t exactly whispering.  Every comment got louder and louder, and eventually, the bar went silent.  All eyes locked steadily on us.

    Cue CJ.

    ¡°Well, in all fairness, he doesn¡¯t like just any cock,¡± he said under his breath to Alessandro.  ¡°He likes the cock.¡±

    ¡°CJ shut up,¡± Ant said.

    ¡°What?¡± He kept talking under his breath as if the whole table couldn¡¯t hear him.  ¡°I¡¯m just saying it makes a big difference.  Not all cocks are the same in the grand¡­.¡±

    Ant finally muzzled him by placing his hand over CJ¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Since when do you like taking it up the ass?  Were you fucking other guys while you were fucking me?  I think I deserve to know that much.¡±

    She didn¡¯t let up on the onslaught.  Even if I wanted to answer her, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to get a word in edgewise.  Alex tried to humiliate me so I would never show my face again.  Unfortunately for her, she failed to realize one thing¡­

    No way in hell was I going to give her the satisfaction.

    ¡°Yes!¡± I finally yelled and looked up at Alex.  I was so loud my voice carried over the music.

    She looked confused about what I was saying ¡°yes¡± to, so I clarified things for her.  She deserved that much, right?

    ¡°I like cock!¡±  I got up from my seat and stood on my chair.  ¡°You hear that, everyone?  I like cock!  No, not true.  I love cock!  All cocks!  Big ones, medium ones, and even little ones, but not too little because you need something to work with.¡±  I looked out to the bar and threw my hands up.  ¡°Am I right?¡±

    ¡°Amen to that, brother,¡± one of the girls at the bar yelled out.  ¡°Preach it!¡±

    ¡°Lucky for me, I found myself an extra-large cock.¡±

    The bar just exploded in cheers and laughter.

    ¡°And as CJ said, it¡¯s not just any cock. It¡¯s the cock!  The cock every girl up in here, and hell even some of the guys, wish was coming home to them at night.¡±

    ¡°You ain¡¯t lying!¡±  A voice yelled out, and it didn¡¯t belong to a girl.

    ¡°Is that what you wanted to hear?¡± I looked down from my chair at Alex.  ¡°Were you hoping to embarrass me or some shit?  Is that it?¡±  I gestured to the crowd cheering on my behalf.  ¡°Well, take a good look around, you spiteful bitch, and tell me how you¡¯re feeling now.¡±

    She was speechless.

    ¡°Now get the fuck out of my face and go suck a cock!¡±  I grabbed my crotch, which was pretty much in her face since I was still on the chair.  ¡°But not this cock because it belongs to someone else now.¡±

    Again, the crowd just lost their fucking minds.  The only thing Alex could do was leave the bar in a hurry.  Even her girlfriends had the good sense not to follow her out.  I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t see much of Alex after that; she avoided me like the plague.

    I have to admit, I had a did I just do that? moment when I sat back down.

    The cheers I got from my bros at the table confirmed it.  I got wasted that night again, but only because everyone in the bar and their grandmother bought me drinks.

    It was a good night out.

 The Brotherhood Chapter XXIII

    The Brotherhood

    Chapter XXIII

    By: X

    Two weeks later, I lay in bed pretending to be asleep. I¡¯ve counted the days until I¡¯d finally have Q to myself. Having lunch with him for thirty minutes a day just wasn¡¯t enough, so when I felt him trying to get himself out of bed slowly, sneakily I wasn¡¯t haven¡¯t it. Q barely got off the bed when I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± I demanded. ¡°You told me two weeks, and it¡¯s been two weeks, so don¡¯t even think about leaving.¡±

    He laughed, brushed my hair away from my eyes, and kissed me. ¡°Exactly. Today is the last day where we wrap everything up. It shouldn¡¯t take too long.¡±

    ¡°But I was hoping we¡¯d just veg out and stay in bed all morning.¡±

    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t have worked because you have a class to attend.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I would¡¯ve been okay skipping class to spend the morning with you.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Q smirked. ¡°Who knew I had such a self-sacrificing boy?¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡± I smiled all noble-like. ¡°I give until it hurts. It¡¯s just the way I am.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡± Q didn¡¯t seem to think I was being sincere. ¡°You¡¯re a regular Mother Teresa. I feel you were more excited about not going to class than hanging out with me.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­yeah, but being with you would¡¯ve been a nice side bonus.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± he laughed and tried to pull away, but I wouldn¡¯t let him go. I managed to wrap my legs around his waist, and a little wrestling match ensued.

    Two frat guys wrestling around in their underwear sounds like the beginning of a hot porn. Sadly, for me, it didn¡¯t lead to anything that exciting. After a few minutes of rolling around in the bed, Q kissed me, did his little ethereal trick, and passed through me like smoke, retaking solid form as he walked to the dresser.

    ¡°That¡¯s cheating!¡± I protested.

    ¡°Well¡­yeah,¡± Q said with the same inflection I had just used.

    ¡°Are you mocking me?¡± I asked as I snuggled up with his pillow.

    ¡°Always and forever.¡±

    I laid there as I had for many mornings watching Q get dressed. I don¡¯t know why, but it was a serious turn-on for me. It was more than the obvious of watching him walk around in his underwear, though that certainly didn¡¯t hurt any. Maybe it was because he looked normal doing it, and I knew there was so much more under that illusion of normality.

    ¡°Why do you do that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°What put my pants on one leg at a time?¡± he snickered as he pulled up his pants and left them unbuttoned for the time being. ¡°You¡¯ll have to be a bit more specific.¡±

    ¡°Get dressed. I mean, why do you get dressed every morning?¡±

    ¡°Um, what kind of question is that?¡± He looked at me positively, puzzled. ¡°Would you rather I ran around the world in my underwear?¡±

    Sucking my teeth, I rolled my eyes. ¡°You know what I¡¯m trying to say. But to answer your question¡­yes!¡±

    Q shook his head.

    ¡°Why do you bother going thru the motions of getting dressed? I¡¯ve seen you change clothes with a snap of your fingers, so I know you don¡¯t need to sit there and put on every piece of clothing.¡±

    ¡°First of all, I¡¯ve never snapped my fingers.¡±

    Again, I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°Second, just because you can do a thing in a blink of an eye doesn¡¯t mean you always have to do it that way. Sometimes it¡¯s nice to slow things down and enjoy the simple and the mundane. This is probably why I¡¯m so attracted to you.¡±

    I threw his pillow at him, and he laughed and easily caught it. He sat beside me on the bed and hit me with the same pillow.

    ¡°And third of all and probably most importantly¡­I know you enjoy it.¡±

    Instantly, I felt the heat and blood rush to my face. ¡°You¡¯re delusional,¡± was the best comeback I could muster.

    ¡°Uh-huh, sure I am,¡± he laughed. ¡°Here, let me clean up some of that drool you have on your chin there.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shut up!¡± I slapped his hand away from my face.

    ¡°Listen, I can either come home to you for lunch like usual or work thru it and come home to you sooner. Which would you prefer?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just do both?¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I have my cake and eat it too?¡±

    Q was now the one rolling his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t start with that. That human saying has never made any sense to me. At any rate, you need to decide which one you want me to do.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Just come home to me sooner.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± he said and kissed me. ¡°I¡¯ll even sweeten the pot. I¡¯ll take you to dinner at Bucky¡¯s when I get back.¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to love it, trust me.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I am,¡± I said sarcastically. ¡°I¡¯ll wear my best flannel shirt and overalls.¡±

    ¡°You do that.¡± Kissing me one last time, Q left me in bed but not before telling me to get my ass out of bed and ready for class.

    Some things never change.

    After I went thru my daily routine of getting ready for class, I headed downstairs to the kitchen. Arsen was down there eating a sandwich and finishing up some assignments he had for his first class. The second half of his sandwich was still on the plate, so I took that instead of going thru the trouble of making my own. It was funny because he didn¡¯t notice it until he reached for it and got a handful of crumbs instead.

    ¡°The fuck?¡± he said.

    ¡°Sup, Arsen?¡± I already scoffed down the second half of his sandwich, destroying all evidence that I had taken it.

    He finally looked up from this computer at me, confused as all hell. ¡°Oh, hey, Jacob. What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Oh, nothing. Just living the dream as they say.¡±

    The poor kid looked under the table, thinking he must have dropped the second half of his sandwich.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­nothing.¡± He scratched his head. ¡°Are you heading to class?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, in a few. Hey, have you ever heard of a place called Bucky¡¯s? Q¡¯s taking me there after he gets back later, and I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m in for. I told him I¡¯d be ready in my best overalls.¡±

    Arsen laughed. ¡°You better not. Don¡¯t let the name fool you. Bucky¡¯s is a very luxurious restaurant. It¡¯s where the elite go to eat and rub elbows with other well-to-dos. From what I understand, getting a reservation can take weeks or months.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± he laughed again. ¡°But something tells me Q doesn¡¯t need to make a reservation.¡±

    ¡°No shit, huh?¡± I paused to look around the room for a moment. ¡°Well, thanks for the info, bud, but I¡¯m going to head out.¡±

    ¡°Hold up. I¡¯ll walk out with you. I¡¯m done here.¡±

    We headed out and caught Paul just as he was walking out of the door, so the three of us walked towards campus together. We talked about the typical bullshit you¡¯d expect from a bunch of college guys ¨C girls, classes we hated, and upcoming parties we¡¯ve been invited to. For some unknown reason, I wasn¡¯t interested in the girl¡¯s part of the conversation anymore.

    Weird.

    Eventually, we all went our separate ways. They wanted to meet up later to shoot some darts, but I reminded Arsen I already had plans and would have to take a rain check. I dreaded going to class. It was tough for me to get over the pointlessness of it all. What would a degree do for me when the shit finally hit the fan? Don¡¯t get me wrong. I was still doing fine in all my classes, acing all my assignments and tests, but I seriously didn¡¯t give two shits. The Brotherhood demanded nothing but the best, so that¡¯s what I gave them.

    That day for whatever reason, I found it exceedingly difficult to concentrate. So, while I was standing outside the class watching everyone else march in like little drones, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it and took off. I decided to go to The Village instead, knowing I¡¯d have some explaining to do when Q found out. I wasn¡¯t planning on keeping it from him. I hoped he¡¯d understand that I just needed a ¡°me¡± day.

    I stopped at a few stores around The Village, but it seemed all roads eventually led back to Lady White¡¯s shop. I didn¡¯t even do it on purpose; I don¡¯t think. After looking thru my phone for a song I wanted to hear, I finally looked up. There it was, staring me in the face. Two girls happened to be walking out at the same time. One looked confused and on the verge of tears, while the other was doing her best to console her. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what great news or pearls of wisdom Lady White laid out for this girl.

    All I could do was offer them a sympathetic, ¡°been there, done that¡± smile as I walked in. The waiting room was empty, so I took a seat, pulled out my earbuds, and reached for one of the magazines on the coffee table. I still had no idea what the hell I was doing there.

    ¡°Come on in, Jacob,¡± a familiar voice called out.

    ¡°Too creepy,¡± I whispered.

    I walked into her reading room to find her sitting at her table; a warm, welcoming smile on her face; her ivory white hair flowing freely down her back. She pointed to the chair opposite her and offered me a seat.

    I thanked her and sat down.

    Yep. There I was, just sitting and staring at her staring at me. I seriously didn¡¯t know what to say to her. We sat there in silence for five long, awkward minutes. Finally, my eyes started wandering the room during that time, trying to avoid making eye contact. And when I did catch a glimpse of her, she was still looking at me with the same smile she had when I first walked in. It became obvious to me that she would not be the first to say something, so it was up to me to come up with something to talk about.

    ¡°It¡¯s getting colder out these days.¡± Yeah, that was the best I could come up with.

    Lady White just nodded.

    ¡°Are you a fan of the cold?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m not. You¡¯d think I¡¯d be used to it growing up in Maine, but I wouldn¡¯t say I like it. I do like the foliage in the fall. Very pretty. Are you a big fan of the foliage? You look like the type who¡­.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s on your mind?¡± she finally interrupted.

    A simple shrug was the best I could offer.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to do better than that, my dear,¡± she insisted.

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m here.¡± I threw my hands up and shrugged again. ¡°All I wanted was a little me time today. I had no plans to come to see you, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    ¡°And yet here you sit.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just as confused as you are, lady.¡±

    ¡°I see this is going to be one of my harder sessions,¡± she laughed and got up. ¡°Would you like some tea, dear?¡±

    ¡°What kind of tea?¡±

    ¡°The good kind.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I guess.¡±

    She gestured for me to follow her. ¡°Come along. The tea isn¡¯t going to make itself.¡±

    Begrudgingly, I got up and followed her into the kitchen, mumbling shit under my breath the whole time.

    ¡°What¡¯s that, dear?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m coming.¡± She asked me to fill up the teapot and put it on the stove while she grabbed the tea. ¡°I¡¯m your guest here. Shouldn¡¯t you be the one making this for me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said matter-of-factly and patted me on the back. ¡°Now make sure you don¡¯t turn it up too high, or you¡¯ll risk burning the tea leaves.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense. How do you burn tea?¡±

    She smiled and just gave me a look that said, ¡®shut up and do as your told.¡¯

    ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you tell me how things are going with you? It doesn¡¯t have to be anything in particular. Whatever comes to mind is fine.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± I started and then drew a blank, but only for a moment. ¡°I never got the chance to thank you for saving my as¡­, um, saving me the other night. I wouldn¡¯t be here drinking tea if it weren¡¯t for you.¡± I paused again, realizing no words would ever be able to repay her kindness. ¡°Thanking you doesn¡¯t seem like enough. I don¡¯t know what I could do to¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what I¡¯m here for, Jacob,¡± she interrupted gently and smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me.¡±

    I was unsure of how to proceed after that. ¡°Oh, um, I made it into The Brotherhood.¡± As soon as I said that, I felt dumb. ¡°But you already knew that since you saw my ring that night.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t need to see the ring to know you were a Brother. I always knew you¡¯d become one.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you did¡­.¡± An awkward silence fell between us as she poured our tea. I brought the cup to my lips and blew it several times to cool off the steaming, dark liquid. I was blown away by my first sip. ¡°Wow! This is some fucking good tea.¡±

    She gave me ¡°the look.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± When I first met Lady White, I had no problems dropping the F-bomb and cursing up a storm. Now I just felt dirty.

    For a while, we sat there sipping on tea without saying much. I¡¯d look at her, and when she looked back, I¡¯d look down at my tea. This went on for several minutes. I¡¯m sure I looked ridiculous.

    ¡°What is it, Jacob?¡± She finally asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re Her, aren¡¯t you?¡± I blurted out without much thought.

    ¡°Her?¡±

    ¡°The Great Mother Q told me about.¡±

    ¡°What makes you think that?¡±

    I laughed because now she was playing coy. ¡°The way he spoke about her. The reverence they all hold for her. The way Zenial described you as precious, and most importantly, how you fight so hard to keep the peace between the Nave and Skai. That¡¯s you. Oh, and your powers were a dead giveaway too.¡±

    She laughed.

    ¡°Did you sleep as long as they did?¡±

    Lady White took a moment to gather her thoughts. I honestly think she was debating whether to confirm or deny my suspicions. And then she spoke. ¡°I slept at times. Other times were spent roaming the vast loneliness of Eiyr.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°What do you mean? I thought the energy released into the atmosphere was toxic when Aquaiia crashed into Asevaya.¡±

    ¡°You remember our history well Jacob,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. You¡¯re quite right. It was extremely toxic to the Naverians and Skylarians, but I¡¯m neither.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re an El¡¯odian.¡±

    ¡°We are all El¡¯odians, Jacob,¡± she corrected me.

    I had to stop and think for a second.

    ¡°You¡¯re an Ai¡¯lea, daughter of Ai¡¯lee, so I¡¯m guessing whatever empowers you isn¡¯t Anavi or Askyli.¡±

    She looked so proud that I remembered her origins. It made me feel pretty good about myself.

    ¡°Because of that, I was unaffected by the toxic atmosphere,¡± she continued. ¡°I¡¯d wake to check on my boys from time to time.¡±

    ¡°Check on them how?¡±

    ¡°Eiyr looks very different than it did some sixty million years ago. Countless earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural disasters plagued Eiyr. I ensured my boys were safe by moving them around while they slept.¡±

    ¡°Wait a second. You need to know where they are to move them. Which means you should know where all the remaining Nave and Skai are now.¡±

    A simple nod from Lady White confirmed my theory.

    ¡°Oh my god! Then why don¡¯t you wake up the rest of the Nave?¡±

    ¡°I cannot.¡±

    ¡°Right, you must stay neutral. Then why don¡¯t you wake both sides? That way, you¡¯re not picking Nave or Skai.¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer me. The look she gave me made it clear she wanted to see if I could figure it out on my own.

    Then it hit me.

    ¡°You¡¯re like a mother to them both. You don¡¯t want to see them go to war.¡±

    ¡°No mother wants to see their children kill each other,¡± she sighed with a heavy heart. ¡°Ultimately, I won¡¯t be able to stop the war, but that doesn¡¯t mean I have to help them get there faster.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    The room suddenly felt very heavy. I could tell that thinking about this was upsetting to her. I figured it was time to change the subject.

    ¡°Anyway, I guess you were right.¡±

    ¡°Oh, was I?¡± she asked, again her warm smile appearing as she drank her tea. ¡°Remind me again how I was right? It happens so often it¡¯s hard to keep track at my age.¡±

    I laughed. Did she just toot her own horn? I think she did.

    ¡°I think it was the second time I came here. You said I¡¯d have to make a choice, and I did. I choose The Brotherhood.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, you did,¡± she said. ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not the choice I was referring to. That still lies ahead of you.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I think my voice cracked as it went up an octave. ¡°What can be bigger than this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about bigger or smaller, Jacob. It¡¯s about making a choice. You will have to make a choice.¡±

    ¡°About what though?¡± I demanded.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s all I can give you. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°But you know exactly what I¡¯m going to choose between, right?¡±

    Lady White nodded.

    ¡°Ugh! This is so frustrating!¡±

    ¡°I know, dear.¡± She approached me, brushed my hair from my eyes, and then placed her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Your time will come, Jacob.¡± She paused for a moment and put her hand on my face. ¡°But I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t find solace when it does.¡±

    I was going to say something to that, but Lady White would not let me get a word in edgewise.

    ¡°Now grab your tea and come out here with me.¡±

    We went back to the table and sat down. I was going to take this chance to follow up with what she just said, but Lady White wasn¡¯t having it.

    ¡°Enough about that,¡± she insisted in a stern yet friendly manner. ¡°It¡¯s pointless to stay on this merry-go-round. Ultimately, you¡¯ll continue to be frustrated with my unwillingness to answer you. Your time will come.¡±

    After about a minute or so of her looking at me, I finally nodded in agreement and figured it best if I just moved on.

    ¡°How are you adjusting to your new life as a Brother?¡±

    I was quiet for a moment before I answered Lady White. ¡°It¡¯s going well, I think.¡±

    She simply nodded. ¡°I feel a ¡®but¡¯ coming on.¡±

    ¡°No buts. It is going well.¡± Her eyes would not let up. ¡°Okay, I got into it with Q after the Kaylec thing. It wasn¡¯t Q¡¯s fault at all. It was all me. I was an assho¡­I was being unreasonable.¡±

    ¡°But you worked it out with him, Jacob, and that¡¯s all that matters.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that?¡±

    ¡°You think you¡¯re the only one that comes to see me?¡±

    ¡°Q talked to you about us? What did he say?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for me to share, but you already knew that.¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­¡± I was pouting.

    She laughed and rested her chin against her clasped hand. ¡°There will always be tea here for you, Jacob. Never forget that.¡± Her eyes shifted from me to the open door. ¡°You can come in now, Anthony.¡±

    I got the hint that it was time for me to go. I walked out of her reading room and into the waiting room. I was surprised that the Anthony she was calling for was my Ant. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I came to see Lady White,¡± he replied with a shrug.

    ¡°Well, no shit,¡± I laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were here looking for decorating tips.¡±

    Ant got up, and we greeted each other with a hug.

    ¡°Considering who she really is, I figured I¡¯d come to see what the stars hold.¡± He offered a meek laugh.

    ¡°Just be ready for a lot of unanswered questions and riddles,¡± I laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± he questioned, tilting his head to the side; he drew his brows together.

    ¡°Um, I think I should let you find that out yourself. It will be worth it! You being here¡­does it have anything to do with Alessandro?¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­¡±

    ¡°Dude.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing like that. I¡¯ve more than happy that I got him back. I just need to hear that he¡¯s here for good and that I won¡¯t lose him again.¡± Ant took a moment to look down at the floor and then back up at me. ¡°I can¡¯t lose him again, Jacob. I won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t,¡± I promised him. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I gently shook him. ¡°We won¡¯t let it happen. Now, why don¡¯t you go in there and hear what she says? Do you want me to stick around and wait for you out here?¡±

    ¡°Nah¡­ thanks, though. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°He said he was fine,¡± Lady White yelled from the other room. ¡°Now, Jacob, you go on now. You had your time. Stop holding up my line.¡±

    Ant and I looked around the empty waiting room and then at each other.

    ¡°What line?¡± I mouthed.

    I finally got him to laugh.

    I ended up going back to the house and crashed for several hours. I was transported to a world of fire and brimstone, a future where cities burned, and dead bodies littered the streets. I was finally a Nave, soaring thru the heavens with powerful, snowy wings and wielding a weapon of death and destruction. The small battles eventually escalated into an all-out war between the Naverians and Skylarians that spilled out into the open, which inevitability drew the many nations into the conflict. I fought side by side with my Brothers, cutting down anything and everyone who stood in my way.

    My gilded armor was wet with blood; my heavy sword dripped the color crimson.

    The Skai don¡¯t bleed.

    The cries of the dead woke me with a start. My heart pounded in my ear. I felt the sweat over my brow and down my back. I was afraid to move for fear of seeing the faces of the dead. It took me a moment to realize where I was and that my hands weren¡¯t stained with the blood of the innocent. At least not yet.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally awake,¡± I heard Q say.

    This soothing voice was all I needed to bring my heart back down to a nice steady rhythm. I looked around the room and saw him bent over, fishing something out of his bottom dresser drawer. A view that now had the exact opposite effect mind you.

    He looked very studly. He wore a nice pair of black dress pants and a light purple button-down shirt with a black t-shirt underneath. His hair was over his face when he turned to look at me, so when he pulled it back away to reveal those silver orbs, I just wanted to jump him.

    Q came over and sat next to me on the bed. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He placed his hand on my cheek and forehead, which surprised me because it was a very human thing to do. ¡°You look flushed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I assured and took his hand into mine. ¡°I just had a weird nightmare, I think.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but smile at his humanity. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He kissed me and got up. ¡°You should get ready. I thought we¡¯d go to a movie before dinner.¡±

    ¡°Dinner and movie? My, my Mr. Q, I do declare,¡± I said in my best southern belle accent. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d think you were trying to get into my pants.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, because I¡¯d really have to try hard with you.¡±

    ¡°Hey now! You haven¡¯t gotten any of this yet.¡±

    He smirked and walked towards the closet. ¡°You sure about that? I have knocked you out on more than one occasion.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Get dressed!¡±

    Realizing the warden wouldn¡¯t get off my ass, I finally got out of bed, jumped in the shower quickly, and got dressed. I was pretty much dressed up like Q, but instead of a light purple dress shirt, I had on a baby blue one. I must admit we made one damn sexy-looking couple.

    I was putting my Brotherhood ring back on when Q came up behind me, holding open a leather jacket for me to slip into. Total sweetheart, I must say. I was concerned that he wasn¡¯t wearing one, to which he reminded me that the cold doesn¡¯t affect him in the slightest.

    Of course, when we walked through the house to the garage, many of the Brothers stopped what they were doing to make teasing comments while others whistled. A couple of the guys said I was finally making an honest Nave out of Q or something along those lines. I could tell I was red in the cheeks, but at the same time, I was laughing at all those clowns. Q didn¡¯t seem to mind any of it and just went with the flow.

    While driving to Bridgeport, it dawned that I still didn¡¯t know what movie Q was taking me to. I asked him about it and warned him that it better not be some sappy chick flick he was dying to see but was too embarrassed to ask one of the other Brothers to go with him.

    ¡°You got me! How did you figure it out?¡±

    I laughed, but Q was stone-face serious. I told him I wasn¡¯t buying it, but he wouldn¡¯t let up. He kept insisting we were going to see this romantic chick flick. He was talking about this movie, its actors, and how fantastic the trailers were. He even outlined the basic plot of the film. He researched it because he was so excited to see it; he couldn¡¯t wait until the release date and just had to get as much information about it as possible.

    ¡°Are you fucking with me right now?¡± I finally asked. ¡°Are you seriously taking me to see some movie called The Red Dress?¡±

    ¡°Look at my face and tell me what you think?¡± He looked as serious as the Q from my pledging days. ¡°You¡¯re going to like it, trust me. Besides, you can¡¯t tell me Alex didn¡¯t drag you along to see these kinds of movies all the time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she did. And look at us now. We¡¯re broken up! Doesn¡¯t that tell you anything?¡±

    ¡°It tells me she had bad taste in movies. I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡± I sunk in my seat and grunted. ¡°I¡¯m with a dude now. You¡¯d think we¡¯d see movies with a lot of violence and explosions.¡±

    ¡°Well, you thought wrong.¡±

    We finally get there, and I¡¯m just scouring the side of the building where all the movies are listed to find this fucking thing. There was no such movie. I looked over at Q, trying to hide his smirk with his hand, and I just reached over and whacked him in the shoulder.

    ¡°Asshole!¡±

    He laughed, and I just raged at my gullibility. Q was taking me to a movie with all the violence and explosions I craved.

    The problem you run into when you see a major movie release is the lack of parking spots. We had to park way back in the boonies. Q was about to turn into a spot when this douchebag saw us about to take it and decided to speed up and slip in. To make matters worse, he was one of those idiots with a fancy car, so he parked at an angle to take up two spots so it didn¡¯t get scratched up.

    I hate those fucking assholes. Every time I see a car parked like that, I want to key the shit out of it and beat the crap out of the owner. Maybe taking over the world won¡¯t be so bad because I¡¯ll push for a law that imprisons morons like that.

    Okay, I¡¯ll get off my soapbox now.

    Anyway, we had to park even further back. Q didn¡¯t seem to mind much, but I could not stop ranting and raving. It didn¡¯t help when I saw who got out of the car ¨C four loudmouth football jocks. And I knew they played football because I knew the type.

    We get inside, pay, and stand in a long ass line to get into the movie. The earlier showing was just getting out, and three guys came up to Q to say hello. I only mentioned this because Q introduced me as his boyfriend right off the bat. Whenever he shows he¡¯s not afraid or ashamed to put us out there, my insides get all gooey. I¡¯m man enough to admit it.

    They chatted him up for a few minutes about work, school, and life. They even threw a few questions my way, which I was happy to answer. I was curious if they were Brothers and was trying to see if they had a ring on their fingers ¨C two didn¡¯t, and one kept his hands in his pocket the whole time. Q was forced to say his goodbyes when his phone started ringing.

    Now Q and I weren¡¯t doing anything that made us stick out as a couple, but every once in a while, we¡¯d kind of lean into each other, and a couple of our fingers would interlock for a moment. We would then pull away only to have it happen again a few minutes later. It wasn¡¯t even something we were doing on purpose. It was more of a subconscious thing.

    What do I hear out of the blue while Q¡¯s chatting away on his phone? Something about a ¡°couple of fags¡± came from behind us. I had that ¡°did I just hear that¡± moment. Instantly my ears perked up, and lo and behold; I heard ¡°fucking faggity queers.¡± I looked over my shoulders and saw a couple who just looked mortified, but behind them were the four fucking jocks. One of them gave me the ¡°stare down¡± when I made eye contact as if he¡¯d beat my ass if I didn¡¯t look away.

    Rolling my eyes, I looked away. It was the only thing I could do. It sure as hell wasn¡¯t out of fear. But now, I purposely took Q¡¯s hand into mine to show those assholes that they wouldn¡¯t get to me. I couldn¡¯t hear everything they were saying, and quite honestly, I didn¡¯t care to, but every time they used the word ¡°fag¡± or ¡°homos,¡± they made sure I could hear them.

    Q was so into his phone call that he had no idea what was happening. When the theater was cleaned, he finally got off his cell, and the line started moving inside. He looked at me, a bit puzzled.

    ¡°Why do you look like you¡¯re about to kill someone?¡± he asked.

    ¡°If I did, do you promise to visit?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­that seems like a lot of work, and I have things to do and people to see.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shut it.¡± Leave it to Q to bring me back to my happy place.

    That only last so long. We ended up sitting smack-dap in the middle of the theater ¨C the best seats in the house. Who comes along and sits right behind us? You guessed it. The douchebags. They were loud and obnoxious. They talked the whole time before trailers, during the trailers, and after the trailers when the lights dimmed and the movie started. Plenty of ¡°shhh¡± were thrown their way, but that only made them act out even more.

    I swear to god I was going to lose it.

    About ten minutes into the movie, Q leaned over, kissed me, and told me he¡¯d be right back. Several minutes later, I saw him walk back in with what turned out to be the manager and a cop and had those ass hates thrown out of the building. The manager apologized to the audience and restarted the movie so everyone could enjoy it peacefully. Everyone clapped when Q went back to his seat.

    It was fucking awesome.

    ¡°No one is ruing my boy¡¯s night out,¡± Q said to me. I fucking loved him for that and kissed him deeply to show him just that.

    The second time around, the two and half-hour movie played without a hitch¡ªwas one of the best movies I¡¯d seen up to that point. The action was great, the CGI looked realistic, and the funny parts were actually funny. What more can you ask for from an action flick?

    The best part of the whole thing was the flim was an invasion movie. The plot was about aliens living on earth for decades and finally getting the go-ahead to take over the planet. At one point during the movie, I leaned over to Q and asked, ¡°Any of this looking familiar to you?¡± He elbowed me in the ribs. I¡¯d hate to ruin the ending for you, but the humans kicked their asses.

    ¡°All I¡¯m saying is, the alien invasion never goes well for the invaders,¡± I said as we walked back to the car.

    ¡°Will you get off it already?¡± Grabbing me by the neck, he shook me slightly. ¡°And for the record, Jacob, we are not aliens. We were here first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just putting it out there,¡± I laughed. ¡°Call it food for thought if you want.¡±

    ¡°When we get the go-ahead, we won¡¯t be doing it on the silver screen, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± I threw my hands up, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to look out for my bros.¡±

    Q stopped suddenly, his facial features going from soft and playful to dark and serious.

    ¡°Holy fuck!¡± I exclaimed, my hand slipping thru my hair as I stood there in disbelief.

    Our car was sitting on four flats, had the windows and headlights smashed out, and ¡°FAGGOTS¡± was spray-painted on the hood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of headlights come on and a car speeding up towards us. It stopped a few parking spots away, and my four favorite douchebags got out, and it looked like they brought an extra friend with them. One of them was holding a tire iron which was probably what they used to smash our car with. The five guys surrounded us like wolves closing in on their prey.

    ¡°Looks like you guys are having car troubles,¡± one said. ¡°Hey, Ray, why don¡¯t you help them out?¡±

    ¡°Ray,¡± the douche with the tire iron, walked over and smashed out the last remaining window.

    ¡°Much better,¡± the first guy spoke again. ¡°Don¡¯t you guys think so?¡± He was talking to us, not his crew. ¡°Oh, you got nothing to say all of a sudden. Well then, let me ask you this if you don¡¯t mind.¡± His voice started getting louder. ¡°Who the fuck do you think you are having us kicked out of the movie like you fucking own the joint?¡±

    Q didn¡¯t say a word, nor did I. I was so afraid. So afraid I tell you! But not for us¡­.

    ¡°Oh, I see. These pretty boy faggots got nothing to say.¡±

    ¡°Cock got their tongue, I guess,¡± one of the other guys figured he¡¯d make a funny.

    I looked at Q. I was waiting for him to go full-blown Nave and go nuclear on their asses. But honestly, I think I got the next best thing.

    Q finally pointed at the car and looked back at me. ¡°Is this for real?¡± he asked in the most sarcastic tone I¡¯d ever heard from him. ¡°Is this happening right now? Is this a thing?¡±

    I had no idea where he was going with this, so just play along. ¡°Yeah, it is.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± he threw his head back and shook his head.

    ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Ray looked dumbfounded as hell as he looked at the rest of his friends. This probably wasn¡¯t the reaction they were expecting.

    ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± Q continued. ¡°We have four idiots¡­.¡±

    ¡°Five idiots, actually,¡± I corrected.

    ¡°Oh, sorry, the five idiots who have to stroke their egos and make themselves feel better by harassing ¡®the gays¡¯ and proving they¡¯re manly men. Is that what¡¯s going on here?¡±

    ¡°Looks like.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing this is part where they kick our asses because we¡¯re ¡®the gays¡¯ and can¡¯t possibly defend ourselves. Only for them to discover to their dismay that we could wipe the floor with them.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯d you say faggot? You threatening me?¡± Out of nowhere, the guy took a swing at Q.

    ¡°Quiet,¡± Q said, putting his finger out to meet the balled-up fist. The guy¡¯s fist stopped about an inch from Q¡¯s index finger. ¡°Your betters are talking.¡± The guy tried to pull his hand away but couldn¡¯t. It was like his hand was frozen in place. ¡°This has ¡®after school special¡¯ written all over it.¡± He turned to look at the other ass hats. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you guys agree? And who has time for that?¡±

    ¡°Help me! I can¡¯t move my arm!¡±

    The other four guys took a collective step backward.

    ¡°Now I could stand here and let you guys attack us, and then we¡¯d fight back and yada yada yada, but we don¡¯t have time for that. We have dinner reservations. You still want to go to dinner, right babe?¡±

    ¡°Most def.¡±

    ¡°Guys! Fucking help me!¡±

    ¡°Okay, this is what I think we should do. Let¡¯s skip to the end of our little after-school drama, where the dumb jocks learn their valuable lesson. Which would be what, Jacob?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with the gays!¡±

    Q slapped his hands together, producing a thunderous clap and flash of light. In a blink of an eye, they were all gone. As if nothing had happened, Q casually walked to the car and placed his hand on the roof; the Anavi poured out of his hand like a liquid, instantly repairing anything it touched and transferring the damage to their car. And just like that, our car looked brand new.

    ¡°Um¡­what did you do with them?¡± I inquired as I opened the passenger side door.

    ¡°Oh, you know, just sent them away.¡±

    ¡°Away where exactly?¡±

    ¡°Santa Cruz,¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°You sent them to California?¡±

    ¡°No. Argentina.¡±

    I started laughing hysterically.

    Arsen wasn¡¯t kidding when he said Bucky¡¯s was a high-end restaurant. Everywhere I looked, I saw all kinds of expensive cars, and the people getting out of them looked like they were about to walk the red carpet. I admit I felt a little out of place when we walked in.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    A pianist was playing in a lavish waiting room where guests were served drinks and horderves while they waited, and an amazing fountain appeared to be the centerpiece of the establishment.

    The ma?tre d¡¯ greeted us with a smile and head nod. ¡°Hello and welcome to Bucky¡¯s. May I have your name please for your reservations tonight?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t have any reservations,¡± Q replied matter-of-factly.

    ¡°My apologizes, sirs, but you cannot get in without a reservation.¡±

    I leaned in, asking Q, ¡°I thought you said we had¡­.¡±

    ¡°This should be all the reservation I need.¡± Q flashed him his ring. ¡°My name is Q, and I¡¯d like a table for my date and me, please.¡±

    ¡°Of course, sir. Right away.¡±

    I¡¯ve never been seated so fast in my life. Of course, we got the best seat in the house with a perfect view of the fountain and close enough to the pianist so that we could enjoy his melodies without it being too distracting.

    ¡°Seriously, it must suck to be you sometimes.¡±

    Q agreed.

    ¡°Does that trick always work? Flashing your ring around like you¡¯re the boss?¡±

    ¡°It generally works best in places that members of The Brotherhood own.¡±

    ¡°A Brother owns this place?¡±

    Q nodded. ¡°Pierre Ren¨¦ Lovellette to be exact.¡±

    ¡°The hell?¡±

    Q just started laughing.

    ¡°How does a guy with an awesome name like that name his restaurant ¡®Bucky¡¯s¡¯ of all things?¡±

    ¡°I named it after my dog, actually.¡± This guy came up to the table and greeted Q with a kiss on both cheeks, then turned to me and greeted me the same way after introducing himself as Pierre Ren¨¦ Lovellette. Not that there¡¯s anything wrong with that kind of greeting, but I sure wasn¡¯t used to it. That¡¯s not how I say hello to my friends back home. I have to say, though, he was a handsome guy. He had dark hair with frosted tips, bright blue eyes, and a complexion as smooth as a baby¡¯s bottom; not that I would expect anything less from a Brother.

    ¡°Where have you been hiding?¡± he asked Q as he grabbed a chair from a nearby table and joined us. ¡°You haven¡¯t been by for months. I was beginning to think I had done something to offend.¡± Placing his hand on his chest, he looked at me as if I knew something he didn¡¯t and then looked back at Q.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Q insisted with a laugh. ¡°I¡¯ve just been so busy. You know how it is.¡±

    ¡°Do I ever.¡± Pierre¡¯s attention fell back on me again. ¡°And who¡¯s this handsome young man you have over here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Come on now, let me see it.¡± He gestured with his hand as if he wanted me to hand over something. I had no idea what he was talking about, and Q was no help because he was sitting there smirking the whole time. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy.¡±

    Still nothing.

    Pierre finally took matters into his own hands, reached under the table, and grabbed my hand so he could see my ring, and as our two rings got close, they glowed for a moment.

    ¡°Ah yes, there it is. A newbie, huh?¡±

    ¡°I guess you can say that.¡±

    ¡°And what are you to our beloved Q?¡± He looked between the two of us, waiting for an answer.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± was all that came out of my mouth. I don¡¯t know why the words got stuck in my throat.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s Jacobs¡¯s elegant way of saying he¡¯s my boyfriend,¡± Q joked.

    ¡°What? Shut your face!¡± Pierre clasped his hand over mine. ¡°How did you melt thru the iceberg that sunk the Titanic over here?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°I have no idea, to be honest with you.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± he narrowed his eyes and turned back to Q. ¡°I love the silent types. It looks like you might have found yourself a good one here, Q. Don¡¯t muck it up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best until a nicer model comes along.¡±

    ¡°Hey now!¡± I protested.

    Pierre giggled. He was more on the feminine side than I was used to with the Brothers, but it fit him perfectly. He was so charming and animated that I could spend hours talking to him.

    ¡°We missed you at the ceremony a couple of weeks ago, and it¡¯s not like you to miss the after-party.¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± His hands were just all over the place. ¡°My poor grandfather was hospitalized with pneumonia, and I was a complete mess.¡±

    ¡°Is he okay? Did you get a Nave to come and¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, of course, I did. Nysrper was a total babe. He came right over and had my grandfather do cartwheels down the hall at no time.¡±

    ¡°Perfect,¡± Q smiled.

    ¡°Well, I should let you two get back to your dinner date. I¡¯m sure you weren¡¯t planning on making this a threesome¡­but I am open to the idea if guys ever¡­.¡±

    ¡°Pierre!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going; I¡¯m going.¡±

    He kissed us goodbye and insisted we call him if something wasn¡¯t to our satisfaction. Q and Pierre did get into it for a minute about the bill; Q was planning on paying, and Pierre wasn¡¯t trying to hear it. He said he¡¯d take it as a personal insult, and Q finally let him have his way. He was one of the more colorful brothers I¡¯ve met, but he left me hoping I¡¯d run into him again.

    The moment Pierre left, the waiter took our order and poured us wine at our table. I had the steak while Q shocked the hell out of me and ordered the pasta dish.

    ¡°I thought you couldn¡¯t eat unless it were apples?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t eat. It¡¯s just that we choose not to since it does nothing for us. But tonight is about me and you, so I wanted us to have the full experience.¡±

    He made me smile from ear to ear. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you just a sweetheart?¡±

    ¡°I do what I can.¡±

    ¡°Okay, can I ask a dumb question?¡±

    ¡°Better than most,¡± he answered.

    ¡°You are asking for it,¡± I declared, pointing my knife at him. ¡°When you eat, do you have to go¡­¡±

    He laughed. ¡°No, we don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°So, where does it go?¡±

    ¡°Whatever we eat or drink gets atomized the moment it enters our bodies. We don¡¯t have a digestive system. Hell, we don¡¯t have hearts, a nervous system, or any of that stuff.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that even possible?¡± I was beyond confused. ¡°I¡¯ve heard your heartbeat. I can see you breathing right now. And the day you got shot, I saw blood. Not to mention, that night in the motel, that was definitely cum!¡±

    Q laughed hysterically and had to cover his mouth not to draw too much attention. ¡°I guess I should clarify. This breathing you¡¯re seeing me do is just me mimicking what humans do to appear more like you. Most of the time, when you see me stretching in the morning, that¡¯s just something I¡¯ve conditioned myself to do because we don¡¯t have muscles to stretch. The blood you saw that day was real.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± I said quizzically. ¡°What do you mean by most of the time? And was it real blood if you don¡¯t have any?¡±

    ¡°When we take human form, we have two options. If we choose to, we can make ourselves completely human, with all the biological ins and outs that make you what you are. That¡¯s when we have a heart, lungs, stomach, etc. Or we can simply wear the shell of a human that contains our essence, our Anavi. Does that make sense?¡±

    ¡°I guess. So that night you got shot, you were fully human.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I knew you were watching and what Jake was planning to do.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I slowly nodded, remembering how I felt when I thought Q was shot for real. ¡°Aside from tricking me, what¡¯s the point of being fully human?¡±

    ¡°Ironically, in complete humanoid form, we can¡¯t be detected by other El¡¯odians, Nave or Skai. Right now, there could be a Skylarian sitting somewhere in this restaurant, and I wouldn¡¯t know if he¡¯s fully human. I¡¯d have to see and recognize him from memory to realize he was one of them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t pick up on Kaylec at the mall,¡± I mused with a nod.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Q affirmed. ¡°He wasn¡¯t just wearing the skin of a human, he was human, and I never saw him, so I didn¡¯t know he was there. That¡¯s why our human Brothers have such an advantage when they are first turned. They are mostly unknown to the Skai, and so they stay in human form to protect their identities. Their humans do the same.

    ¡°Twice a month, the heads of every house gather in the Nexus to merge and share information. That includes the identities of any Skylarians we might have discovered. Then I bring that information back and link with the Inner Circle of our house to pass on that knowledge, and then they pass it on, and so on. It¡¯s a long process but we must make do without the Eye of Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°That makes a lot of sense,¡± I said. ¡°Hypothetically, let¡¯s say I wanted to stab you with this knife right now. What would happen?¡±

    ¡°Well, as long as you¡¯re speaking hypothetically,¡± he laughed. ¡°Nothing would happen. It¡¯s a knife,¡± again he laughed. ¡°No human weapon can hurt us. But let¡¯s pretend they could, and you knifed me.¡± Looking around the room to ensure no one was watching, Q pressed his finger to his knife, and it began to glow softly. He used it to cut his left palm and out poured wisps of light from the tiny wound. ¡°This is what you¡¯d get.¡±

    I watched in awe as the Anavi continued to flow out of the mini geyser on his hand before the wound closed completely.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡±

    We returned to the light conversation while we enjoyed the rest of our food. Well, I was enjoying my food. I couldn¡¯t tell if Q was putting on a show for my benefit or if he got some sensory pleasure from his meal, even if he didn¡¯t need it for nutrition.

    ¡°I take it Pierre isn¡¯t a Nave yet?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, but his time is coming up.¡±

    ¡°Who decides when the time is right?¡± I asked as I took a sip of wine. ¡°Holy shit, that¡¯s really good.¡±

    ¡°For two thousand a bottle, it better be,¡± Q laughed. ¡°Who decides? The Council of Brothers, after all the houses, submits names for consideration. There are a whole bunch of factors that go into it. In some cases, we might have the perfect candidate to become Nave, but it might serve The Brotherhood better to keep them human for the time being.

    ¡°Take Pierre, for instance,¡± Q continued, gesturing to his side as if Pierre was standing right next to him. ¡°I think he¡¯s going to make a great Nave, but even I see the benefits of keeping him here at Bucky¡¯s if he¡¯s willing. Do you know how many powerful and influential people come thru his doors? And no one is better at working a room and making connections than Pierre. Half the people here owe him favors, and the other half will eventually; they just don¡¯t know it yet.

    ¡°Now, I know what you¡¯re going to ask me. Why can¡¯t he be a Nave and run this place at the same time? And he certainly can do both, but Pierre¡¯s humanity¡­his human perspective makes him great at what he does. I don¡¯t think he¡¯d be nearly as effective as a Nave. Therefore our human bothers are just as important as our Naverian brethren. We¡¯d be dead in the water without them.¡±

    ¡°Wait, hold up a second,¡± I finally chimed in, ¡°let me get this straight; you¡¯re telling me this is a two-thousand-dollar bottle of wine? Like two zero zero zero?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re incredible; you know that?¡± Q laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s incredible is what people are willing to pay for a bottle of crushed grapes! I can grow grapes.¡±

    I went off on a tangent for the next ten minutes about the stupidity and excess of wealthy people. I somehow managed to bring the conversation to no-talent celebrities famous because of their name or a leaked sex tap they probably put out for publicity. Yes, I come from money, but my parents had to work hard for every penny. And they made sure not to spoil me¡­much.

    Q seemed happy when the dessert finally arrived, and my tirade was interrupted. The waiter took a few minutes to chat us up and joke around before leaving to check on his other tables.

    ¡°What was I saying again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember it was so long ago¡­¡± Q quickly jumped to a new subject. ¡°How were your classes today?¡±

    Suddenly I couldn¡¯t get enough of my dessert and wine.

    Q repeated the question a bit more forcefully this time.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t go,¡± I cringed and then threw my hands out when I saw his mouth about to open, ¡°But before you freak out on me, hear me out. I just needed a day for myself. I couldn¡¯t handle going to class and sitting thru another lecture about whatever the fuck when the world as we know it¡¯s about to change thanks to the battle royale coming once someone finds the Eye. And it¡¯s not like my grades are suffering or I always do this. It was a one-time thing, so I think you need to get off my back about it already.¡±

    Q reached over and grabbed my hand. ¡°First of all, breathe before you pass out on me. And secondly, It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not upset.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not. You needed a day for yourself. I get that.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡± I looked at him suspiciously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    He nodded.

    ¡°Well, in that case, can I have another¡­.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t push it!¡±

    Throwing my hands up, I laughed. ¡°Okay, I figured I¡¯d give it a shot.¡±

    A comfortable silence fell between us as we ate. Every once in a while, our eyes would meet, and we¡¯d start smirking for no apparent reason. My night out with Q turned out to be one I¡¯d remember for a long time. What more can a guy ask for than a great movie, food, company, and many great laughs? Hell, I got to see five assholes banished to another country. I couldn¡¯t ask for a better night out.

    ¡°So, getting back to the Nave thing,¡± I said, ¡°How long do you think before I¡­you know¡­.¡±

    ¡°Are you asking me when you¡¯ll be offered The Gift?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Do you think I have what it takes?¡±

    ¡°Like nobody¡¯s business,¡± he declared proudly.

    ¡°So¡­how long do you think before my turn is up?¡±

    Pausing to wipe his mouth with his napkin, Q clasped his hand and leaned forward. He was staring me dead in the eyes. ¡°What if I said I¡¯m ready to pass on my Anavi to you right now? Would you accept?¡±

    I must admit his question took me by surprise. I was honestly expecting him to give me this big speech about not being ready for such a big responsibility and that I had to be patient because my time would come. Instead, I got a question I wasn¡¯t prepared to answer.

    He smiled warmly at me. ¡°You see, Jacob, it¡¯s not just about the Nave offering you the Gift; it¡¯s about you believing you¡¯re ready to take that next step. Some Brothers contemplate this question for years and sometimes decades before they feel they¡¯re ready.¡±

    ¡°What if I¡¯m never ready?¡± I think he heard the slight panic in my voice. ¡°What if I¡¯m ninety years old cursing around in a wheelchair and still don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready? Will you still love me when I¡¯m shriveled up and senile?¡±

    ¡°Well, obviously not¡­.¡±

    I busted out laughing at Q¡¯s bluntness. Not the comforting words I was expecting from him.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ll be around to keep you ageless for as long as it takes until you feel ready. And you will feel ready, trust me; probably a lot sooner than you¡¯d expect.¡± He paused again, looked off to the side, thinking, and returned his attention to me. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what. The Gift is yours, Jacob. All you have to do is ask for it.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious, or are you just fucking with me right now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very serious. From the moment I saw you, I knew you would be the one I¡¯d give my light to. So honestly, it doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a week or ten years from now. You¡¯re the one.¡±

    ¡°And you can just do that?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°I told you before, as the head of my house, it¡¯s within my right. But you¡¯re under no obligation Jacob. Please understand that. Whenever you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll be here.¡±

    I was blown out of the water. Again, not what I was expecting Q to say. To put that kind of offer on the table like that was beyond mind-blowing to me. What do you say to that? Nothing apparently because I was at a loss for words.

    Now I don¡¯t know if it was the food, or what he just said, or the two and a half glasses of wine I just had, but I was suddenly very hot for Q. He was going on about something, and I slipped my foot out of my shoe and stretched my leg out until I found his crotch.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± he said mid-sentence. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Listening intently to whatever it is you¡¯re talking about,¡± I answered with a big shit-eating grin. I was already feeling my cock pressing against my pants, and with the stimulation of my foot, Q wasn¡¯t far behind. Within a couple of minutes, I had him as hard as steel. I traced the length of his cock up and to the left with my foot and pressed hard when I was down around his balls.

    Slamming his hand against the table and taking a fist full of the tablecloth, he looked around casually as if nothing was going on under the table. ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m curious,¡± I mused, a devilish grin dancing on my lips, ¡°how does this work?¡± I pressed harder against his crotch. ¡°You showed me you¡¯re not fully human right now, but you¡¯re clearly fully ha...¡±

    ¡°Jacob!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± I said and pressed harder against his junk.

    ¡°We should go.¡± He didn¡¯t give me a chance to answer. He got up, grabbed my hand, and dragged me away to the back of the restaurant. We headed towards the restroom area, where we saw a maintenance door cracked open. Looking to either side to make sure the coast was clear, Q pushed me thru the door and started kissing me deeply.

    With my eyes closed, I kissed him back, my hand fumbling to get his shirt open until I just figured screw it and tore it open. I could hear the buttons hitting the floor and scattering like marbles. I felt a sudden warmth cover me like a blanket for a moment. I didn¡¯t know if it was just the heat of the moment or the heat of the room or just us grinding up against each other, but the feeling was intense.

    Q slammed against the back wall, forcing a door to open behind me. I opened my eyes to see the radiance around him fading, and I could tell we weren¡¯t in that maintenance room any longer. We were back at the house, and that door he opened was the one to our room. In a blink of an eye, he transported us back home.

    I wasn¡¯t all that concerned about how we got back. My main objective was to get my man naked. We kept kissing and clawing at each other while we moved toward the bed. When he pushed me down, I had him naked from the waist up and his pants unbuttoned.

    He looked at me with this sexy; I¡¯m going to pound your ass until it hurts, grin, and tore my shirt open like I did his just a few minutes ago. I grabbed him by the neck and forced him down against my lips with one hand while I reached into his pants for a handful of cock with the other. And trust me, there was plenty of hard cock to hold. It was hot and throbbing against my grip, so I gave it a few strokes for good measure. Q was kissing and licking my neck while I moaned in his ear.

    The only thought going thru my mind was finally.

    ¡°Q!¡± Someone busted thru Q¡¯s office door into our bedroom. ¡°You¡¯re finally back! I¡¯ve been waiting for you for hours.¡±

    We groaned in unison.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be happening right now,¡± I whispered and threw my head back in disbelief.

    Q collapsed against my body, and half rolled off me to look behind us. ¡°What do you need, Soullen?¡±

    ¡°More importantly, can it wait a few hours?¡± I mumbled under my breath. Keep in mind I still had a handful of cock.

    With a mischievous grin, Q looked back at me, ¡°a few hours?¡±

    We laughed.

    ¡°I got a hit,¡± was all Soullen said.

    Q instantly got off me and sat on the edge of the bed. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Positive. Come take a look for yourself.¡±

    Q looked back at me with apologetic eyes and kissed me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Jacob, but this could be very important.¡±

    Slamming my fists against the bed, I begrudgingly rolled out of bed and followed Q to his office to see what was so important.

    ¡°Oh, hey Jacob,¡± Soullen finally acknowledged me.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I offered up a weak smile. I wanted to throw Q¡¯s computer monitor at him.

    ¡°What were you guys doing anyway?¡±

    ¡°Learning sign language.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Soullen sounded genuinely puzzled.

    Q was already sitting at the desk when I walked in, his eyes blazing across the screen, devouring whatever information was on it.

    ¡°What is this hit you got?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Eye of Eiyr,¡± Q whispered. His voice sounded like he was in a trance or something. ¡°Or at least a very good lead.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Soullen said, sounding mighty high on himself. ¡°That¡¯s why I had to show you right away.¡±

    ¡°Ok, back the bus up for us, slow folk,¡± I said as I spun my fingers in the air. I must admit that I was more than a little curious now. ¡°What exactly do you think you found, Soullen?¡±

    ¡°This Russian billionaire is living in Sweden¡­.¡±

    ¡°An art collector,¡± Q added.

    ¡°Right. He has one of the largest private collections in the world that few have been allowed to see. He plans to open his private gallery to the world in a few days. The crown jewel of his collection is what he refers to as The Tear From Heaven.¡± He paused for a moment. I guess he wanted to add some dramatic flair to what came next. ¡°It¡¯s an orb. An orb he claims glows during full moons. The Eye of Eiyr was always its brightest under a full moon. Do you remember that Q?¡±

    Q nodded. ¡°According to the press release, he could trace the orb¡¯s origin to several ancient civilizations as it passed from one culture to the next over the centuries.¡± Q sat back against his chair and looked at Soullen. ¡°It¡¯s what we always believed happened to the Eye of Eiyr.¡±

    ¡°Is it the eye?¡± I asked. I just wanted them to stop drooling over this for a minute and say if it was the real deal or not.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no way to be sure right now. It could be nothing, but it¡¯s an incredible lead that must be followed up on.¡± Q stood up and walked over to Soullen. ¡°Have you told the others?¡±

    ¡°No, I was planning on checking this one out myself.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get some guys to go with you.¡±

    ¡°No way,¡± Soullen objected. ¡°I can do this on my own. Like you said, it could be nothing, and I don¡¯t want to get everyone¡¯s hopes up. But if it is the Eye, I would love to present it to our Brothers. Since getting here, I haven¡¯t contributed much, so please allow me the one thing.¡±

    Q seemed to mull it over for a moment and finally agreed. ¡°I won¡¯t say anything, but I¡¯m coming with you.¡± Q could sense Soullen about to protest and cut him off before he could even say a word. ¡°Those are my terms. Either you and I go, or we send a group.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± he agreed.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming too.¡± I just threw it out there to see what they¡¯d say. And, of course, they both looked at me and said ¡°no¡± in unison. ¡°The hell I¡¯m not. I¡¯m a Brother too and have every right to go along. ¡°Or are you saying your human Brothers have no place alongside their Nave Brothers during¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, stop,¡± Q interrupted. ¡°Don¡¯t pull out the human card. It has nothing to do with that, and you know it.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I conceded, grabbed Q, and dragged him into our room for a moment. I placed his hand on my crotch and shoved my hand down his pants again. ¡°But if you want any chance of finishing what we started here, you best believe I¡¯m going.¡±

    Q looked at me for a moment and then broke away to walk into his office again. ¡°Jacob is coming too.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand when you get older.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m tens of millions of years old,¡± he declared arrogantly.

    ¡°Not old enough,¡± Q insisted.

    After a quick change of clothes, Q and I headed to the golden mirror to meet up with Soullen. We ran into Shaun along the way, and he had a couple of questions, not to mention a puzzled look on his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on with Soullen?¡± he asked. ¡°He was in a rush and barely said two words to me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s just excited about going out with us,¡± Q replied.

    ¡°Where are you guys taking him?¡±

    ¡°Just taking him to see the sights.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Shaun looked shocked. ¡°The way he¡¯s acting, you¡¯d think he found the Eye or something.¡±

    Did he just say that? We both just gave a nervous laugh and walked away. Q turned around and said something in their Nave language, to which Shaun replied with a nod.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Hopefully, nothing.¡±

    The three of us went thru the mirror to the Nexus, and from there, we took a portal to one of our houses in Stockholm. After about ten minutes of talking to the Brothers there and dodging some of their questions, the wings came out, and we were soaring thru the sky towards Scania. Well, I wasn¡¯t flying so much as being carried by Q. The countryside looked breathtaking from that high up, and I couldn¡¯t believe I was there.

    Thirty minutes ago, I was dry humping the shit of my boyfriend, and now I was flying thru the sky in his arms, ready to break into some billionaire¡¯s private museum. As crazy as it sounded, that was my life now.

    We landed behind a tree line several yards from the Russian¡¯s mansion.

    ¡°How do you know this is the right place?¡± I asked as Q set me down.

    ¡°Because that¡¯s the same building from the online picture,¡± Soullen pointed to the three-story building adjacent to the mansion. ¡°It¡¯s his museum.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but we came straight here. Do you guys have GPS units I don¡¯t know about in your wings?¡±

    ¡°Something like that,¡± Q teased. ¡°Those guards have some serious hardware.¡±

    I saw the men walking the perimeter of the building, and Q was correct. They were clad in black fatigues and carrying machine guns. ¡°Considering all the art that place is housing, I¡¯m not surprised. There¡¯s probably enough in there to buy a small country. Are they going to be a problem?¡±

    ¡°Those are human weapons, and they can¡¯t hurt us,¡± Soullen said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°Well, can¡¯t hurt some of us,¡± Q added. ¡°You stay put for a minute.¡±

    ¡°Where are¡­¡±

    Before I could finish, they flew up into the sky so fast that they vanished into thin air. All I could do was sit back and watch. A couple of minutes went by, and still nothing. Then, suddenly and simultaneously, they took out the four guards within my field of view. One minute they were standing, and the next, they were knocked out cold. Q and Soullen landed by the side entrance and gestured for me to join them.

    I ran across the open field as if landmines were about to go off or I was going to take sniper fire. I¡¯m glad I made it to the door in one piece. Q was laughing at me when I got to him, so I punched him in the stomach.

    Q was about to force open the door without regard to security. ¡°Hold on there, sparky,¡± I said, placing my hand over his to stop him. ¡°I know you guys have your powers to fight crime and all, but in the mortal world, we have little things called alarms.¡±

    ¡°Ah, good call,¡± Q said and playfully slapped my ass. He placed his hand flat against the door, and a wave of white light emanated from it. ¡°There, we should be good.¡± Twisting the handle to break the lock, he opened the door.

    We were in and, to my surprise, ran into no resistance inside. They might as well have left the door open with a big ¡°Welcome. Please rob me¡± sign over it. ¡°Anyone else thinks this is too easy?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Soullen asked.

    But before I could answer, Soullen swung open the doors to the main gallery. The first thing that caught my eyes was the two giant Egyptian statues on either side of the room. So, of course, my first thought was how the hell they got those things in here. The answer came to me when I walked into the room. The roof over the gallery was entirely made of glass, so I¡¯d wager it retracted in some way. I didn¡¯t get to admire all the unique art hanging on the walls and artifacts encased in glass littered throughout the gallery.

    ¡°There it is!¡± Soullen exclaimed.

    Right in the middle of the room, flanked by the two Egyptian statues, was a sphere in a glass case. As excited as Soullen appeared, Q didn¡¯t seem to share his enthusiasm.

    ¡°Something isn¡¯t right,¡± he said.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I was saying,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. This close to the Eye, I should be sensing something even if its power is dormant.¡±

    With Soullen by his side, Q walked up to the exhibit case and stared at the sphere for a moment before he smashed thru the glass and picked it up. A faint glow was coming from it, but Q still appeared unconvinced. It became crystal clear he wasn¡¯t buying it when he crushed the orb in his fist. It shattered like cheap glass. I¡¯m no expert, but I was positive the Eye of Eiyr wasn¡¯t supposed to do that.

    ¡°Well, you did say there was a chance it would be a false alarm,¡± I said. I was just trying to make him feel better.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s more than that,¡± Q insisted.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Soullen asked. For all his ¡°Naveness,¡± if that¡¯s even a word, Soullen looked as confused as I was.

    ¡°This wasn¡¯t even a rare artifact that we mistook for the Eye,¡± Q explained. ¡°It was a cheap glass ball you can buy in any gift shop with a light inside. This was planted here for our benefit.¡±

    ¡°To what end?¡± Soullen asked.

    ¡°To lure us here for some reason.¡±

    That¡¯s when the round of applause came from behind us. We turned around and saw two Skylarians standing on the gallery¡¯s second floor and two more flanking us on either side, also on the second floor. I immediately knew what they were because they were in full ¡°Skai mode,¡± if you will, black wings, dark skin, white hair, and all.

    ¡°Qua¡¯quelle....¡± Another Skai walked in on the second floor and leaned against the railing; his voice sounded eerily familiar. ¡°I knew we wouldn¡¯t be able to fool you for long. I told them you¡¯d figure it out before getting close enough to tell the orb was fake. Didn¡¯t I say that?¡± he asked his companions. They didn¡¯t respond. Instead, they just stared at us forcefully. Their black eyes looked as deep as a dark well and gave you the feeling you¡¯d fall in if you stared at them long enough. ¡°Don¡¯t mind them. They¡¯re more like the silent types.

    ¡°Kaylec,¡± Q sneered. ¡°You just refuse to learn, don¡¯t you?¡±

    As soon as Q spoke his name, men, human men, armed with machine guns, started pouring in on the second and third levels; a smaller group came in the same way we entered. Their guns were trained on us.

    ¡°This clearly shows how much you respect your leaders,¡± Q added.

    ¡°You got it all wrong,¡± Kaylec laughed. ¡°I gave Zenial my word I¡¯d leave your human alone, and I plan to honor that. Now, I would never dream of speaking for my fellow bothers here. For my part, I¡¯m only interested in you, Qua¡¯quelle.¡±

    ¡°If you think you and your men with their toy guns are enough to take me down, you¡¯ve sorely miscalculated. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Toy guns?¡± Kaylec laughed as he reached behind his back and pulled out a gun of his own. He looked at it for a moment and then pointed it right at Q. ¡°I¡¯d agree they¡¯re very primitive devices. I¡¯m told this here is a 9mm, and quite deadly in the wrong hands. It certainly doesn¡¯t compare to the majesty of El¡¯odian ingenuity. Now we know how to invent weapons of war, don¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask again,¡± Q said. ¡°What do you¡­.¡±

    Kaylec fired his gun.

    I gasped and froze.

    The bullet hit Q¡¯s bare chest and then fell to the floor as a twisted piece of metal. Q was unaffected. ¡°You two stay behind me,¡± he said softly as he stood before me.

    Soullen was defiant and stood his ground by Q¡¯s side, and with a flicker of light in his eyes, his swords materialized in his hands.

    ¡°This simply won¡¯t do,¡± Kaylec said. Opening his mouth, he unleashed a torrent of Askyli; the dark mist swirled around and engulfed every weapon in the room. When it was all said and done, every machine gun was charged with Askyli, including Kaylec¡¯s 9mm. I could see it curl off the medal like smoke.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can Superman your way thru these bullets now.¡±

    I was terrified for Q, for I knew those bullets could now tear thru Q as easily as they would cut me down. The worse part of it all was that I was powerless to do anything about it.

    Again.

    ¡°Soullen, get behind me!¡± Q ordered. ¡°This isn¡¯t a game.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s not,¡± Soullen agreed.

    There was a bright light, and Q was blasted across the room. He struck the Egyptian statue and dropped to the ground. The figure itself almost tipped over but found its balance.

    ¡°Q!¡± I yelled and ran to this side.

    He appeared dazed but otherwise okay. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he insisted, forcing himself to one knee.

    We looked up to where he was just standing a few seconds ago, and I couldn¡¯t begin to describe the horror of what I saw. There was Soullen; his hand outstretched in our direction, the luminous Anavi of the Nave still curling off his fingers ¨C his face twisted with hatred.

    ¡°You would betray your own kind?¡± Q said in disbelief.

    ¡°You can¡¯t speak to me about betrayal, Qua¡¯quelle,¡± he spat, his eyes glowed intensely. ¡°You who would deny me what¡¯s rightfully mine by birthright!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what this is all about?¡±

    ¡°Are you that surprised?¡± Every word he spewed was laced with venom. ¡°Did you honestly believe I¡¯d sit idly by while you denied me my crown? I am my father¡¯s son! Prince Soullen, the one true hire to my father¡¯s kingdom. The Naverians are my people, and I will be their King.¡±

    ¡°Your father would be so proud to see you now.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare! You have no right to invoke my father. He loved you like a son, and instead of elevating me, his only living son, to my proper place as King, you betray his memory. His legacy!¡±

    ¡°You are delusional if you think your father would approve of any of this. He would¡¯ve given up his crown if keeping it meant he¡¯d have to turn his back on his people.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re mistaken, Qua¡¯quelle. I have no intentions of turning my back on my people. Only on you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes,¡± Kaylec finally spoke. ¡°Can we kill him already? I find all this family talk boring, and I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment for eons.¡± He tossed Soullen his gun. ¡°You wanted your crown; well, there it is. Just pull the trigger.¡±

    Q laughed. ¡°You think my Brothers will follow you after you kill me? You didn¡¯t plan this out too well, did you?¡±

    ¡°Oh, quite the contrary. We came here to investigate the eye and were ambushed by the Skai. You and your ape over there were killed while I barely escaped. And with you out of the way, everyone else will fall in line and recognize me as the one true King.¡±

    ¡°And what do the Skai get out of all this?¡±

    ¡°The total annihilation of the human race,¡± Kaylec said.

    ¡°This would mean war between our people, and that¡¯s the last thing the Skai want right now.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be a war, Qua¡¯quelle. Once I¡¯m king, we will unite with the Skai, destroy these apes and divide Eiyr between us like all those years ago. We¡¯ll go back to the natural order of things. We will restore Eiyr to her former glory under my rule. I¡¯m confident the Skai won¡¯t have a problem with that.¡±

    Q finally stood up on his own two feet and looked pissed. ¡°I¡¯m going to enjoy this,¡± he said.

    ¡°Shoot him!¡±

    The glass roof exploded above us. I looked up and just saw this luminescent object falling from the sky. It slowed down between the third and second floor, and then I realized it was a Brother wrapped in his wings like a cocoon. They were flung open and what looked like a bunch of arrows made of light flew out in every direction. Several of the guards were killed instantly.

    ¡°Mind if I drop in?¡± It was Shaun wielding a double-bladed staff.

    ¡°Your highness,¡± Q said to Soullen, who was distracted by Shaun. When he finally did look back at Q, he was met with a blast of Anavi from Q¡¯s hands. He won that contest for he not only sent Soullen thru several exhibits but also put him thru a wall.

    ¡°Kill them all!¡± Kaylec ordered.

    Instantly, Q turned around and wrapped me in his arms. His wings were outstretched, and a white light formed around us, creating a barrier the bullets could not penetrate. He placed his hand on the Egyptian statue and pushed it over on its side as easily as I would move a chair. The statue crashed thru the third floor, killing a few men, and stopped before it could go thru the second floor. It laid on an angle, creating the perfect spot to hide in. Q shoved me into it and told me to stay put. He made another barrier of light around me so one, the statue wouldn¡¯t collapse on me, and two, the bullets couldn¡¯t hit me.

    ¡°I love you,¡± he said and flew up and backward into the fighting.

    At that very moment, I saw one of the Skai and several guards being thrown from the second floor as Steve burst thru the door behind them, knocking heads with a hammer the size of a minivan. He stayed on the level clearing out the trash like nobody¡¯s business.

    Q¡¯s swords were out, and he made quick work of the small group of guards on the bottom floor. The Skai standing next to Kaylec jumped over the side, sword in hand, and went for Q¡¯s head. I screamed for him to watch out, and while the Skai was still in midair, Q turned and crossed his words like an X causing them to glow brightly. The Skai got way closer to Q than I would¡¯ve liked, but his swords unleashed a flare of Anavi that hurled the Skai upwards and thru the building. I could see the outside thru the hole.

    The guards continued their assault, trying desperately to hit something. All they needed was one hit with these Skai-infused bullets to take them out or do serious damage, but my bros were too fast for them. On the other hand, I would¡¯ve been dead several times over by now, for some of these bullets hit the shield protecting me, and even as they lay on the ground, I could still see them pulsating with Askyli.

    Kaylec was still perched on the second floor; his right hand was outstretched as he tried to aim. He fired a bolt of Askyli at Shaun, but Q quickly jumped in the way and deflected the blast with his swords, killing more of Kaylec¡¯s men. Seeing Kaylec standing up there smug and defiant burned my insides like lava. More than anything, I wished I had Q¡¯s power because I would gladly blast him off the face of the earth. Instead, I was as useless there as I was in the warehouse.

    Two beams of energy exploded from Q¡¯s eyes, taking out the floor Kaylec was standing on. But with a quick flap of his wings, he did a sort of loop and landed on the third floor. He fired back with a blast of his own, and Q dove out of the way. For all this bravado, he would not come down and fight one on one.

    One of the other Skai landed right in front of me and used his sword to try and smash thru the barrier. He got two strikes in before I saw a hand grab his neck from behind and toss him to the floor like a rag doll. Q tried to drive his sword into the Skai¡¯s chest, but he vanished like a puff of smoke, reappeared next to Q, and kicked him across the face. Q went tumbling across the floor.

    My heart sank.

    This fucker stood over me smiling. From high Above, Steve came swooping down like an eagle and stomped the ever-living shit out of him with his bus-size hammer. The Skai went thru the floor into what I could assume was the basement or hell.

    Just when I thought it was only Kaylec, one other Skai, and a handful of guards left, the Skai Q blasted thru the building, came flying in from the same hole he was launched out of, and tackled Shaun into the last standing Statue.

    ¡°Q, watch out!¡± Steve yelled.

    It was the gunshot heard above all other gunshots. Right away, I looked for Q, who was trying to catch Steve¡¯s falling body. He was hit with the bullet meant for Q. When I looked to see where the shot came from and saw Soullen holding the gun, I thought I was going to vomit.

    Q cried out in a rage as he held his friend¡¯s body. I had to cover my ears, for his voice was so thunderous every piece of glass in the building exploded. I saw two things in that same instant when glass was still flying all over the place. First, Kaylec jumped down to Soullen¡¯s side, wrapped his wings around him, and they both disappeared. Second, I saw a streak of light move across the room as Q beheaded the few remaining guards, appeared behind one of the Skai and drove his sword thru his back. The sound the Skai made was something out of a horror movie.

    The last Skai tried to pull a vanishing act like Kaylec, but Q grabbed him by the neck while he was mid-shimmer. At this point, Q¡¯s body was wreathed in white flame, and I saw that fire also consume the Skai. His screams were short-lived as he disintegrated into a pile of ashen sand.

    The white flames faded as Q rushed back to Steve¡¯s side. With the Skai dealt with, the barrier protecting me also disappeared, and I was able to climb out of my hiding spot. At first, I didn¡¯t know what happened to Shaun, but then I saw the statue on the opposite side of the room lifted and tossed aside into the air. I¡¯m guessing Shaun was pinned underneath. He came over and knelt next to his two Nave brothers.

    Q was holding Steve, who hung on to life by a thread. He had dozens of black lines webbing out of the entry wound and just spreading like black veins across his body.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you heal him?¡±

    Q shook his head.

    With the last bit of strength he could muster, Steve reached up and placed his hand on the side of Q¡¯s face. ¡°My¡­my¡­life for Eiyr.¡±

    He was gone. Steve crumbled away into a pile of white sand.

    No one said a word. Shaun found a small vase that miraculously survived the melee and placed Steve¡¯s remains inside. All that was left to do was head back home.

    When we returned to the house in Stockholm, we were greeted with dead silence. I don¡¯t know how they knew that one of our Brothers had fallen, but you could almost see the sorrow in the air hanging around everyone like an iron curtain. That grief was multiplied tenfold when we stepped thru the mirror and walked back into our house. Brothers lined up on either side of the wall and bowed their heads in reverence as Shaun passed them with Steve¡¯s remains. All our Bothers came out to show their respect, human and Nave alike.

    I made eye contact with Arsen and CJ, and they just wanted to say something or come up and hug me, but they did not break the line. Shaun ended up going one way while Q went another. I wasn¡¯t sure who I was supposed to go with, but obviously, I ended up following Q.

    He just went back to our room. I think he just wanted to be away from everyone, but I¡¯d be damned if I was going to leave him alone. Q sat at his desk and turned the chair around so he could look out into the night. I pulled up a chair next to him and did the same.

    We sat there silently for at least an hour, if not more. I don¡¯t know what compelled me, but I finally spoke, unsure if Q would even say anything back.

    ¡°How did you know Soullen would betray us?¡±

    Q shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°But what about Shaun and¡­¡± My words trailed off. I figured I shouldn¡¯t be talking about this at that moment.

    ¡°Steve,¡± Q added. ¡°It¡¯s okay to say his name. When we ran into Shaun in the hall, I told him to follow us from a distance. If we picked up this lead about the Eye, there was a good chance that the Skai did too. I brought back up just in case things went south, but I never expected this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry¡­.¡±

    ¡°As am I.¡±

    We sat there for another long while without saying anything. I glanced at the clock on Q¡¯s computer, which was 4:30 am. I was exhausted.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m going to jump in the shower quick,¡± I said. ¡°You should join me. A nice hot shower might make you feel better.¡±

    He didn¡¯t say anything or even blink an eye. I leaned over and kissed him on the side of his head before heading to the bathroom.

    That first blast of hot water that hit my body felt amazing. I felt like I was melting away in the water. I was only in there a few minutes when I heard the sliding door open as Q stepped inside. I leaned back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. He kissed me on one side of the neck and then the other as his hand snaked down to grab my cock. I needed to kiss him. I turned my head to the side to let him know my lips were waiting for his, and he got the clue.

    We kissed deeply while he stroked me. My cock was raging hard in no time flat, and it was apparent by the way Q¡¯s steel pressed against my ass that he was doing the same. I moaned into his mouth as he squeezed my junk, forcing me to push my ass harder against his rod. All the while, the showerhead kept up its assault on our bodies; the hot steam rising from the water only fueled our passion.

    Q squeezed me again, and I moaned even louder.

    ¡°I want you inside me,¡± I managed to say in-between kisses.

    He continued to kiss me for a moment longer and then broke away. He was grinding into my ass, his cock sliding up and down between my cheeks. Placing his hand on my shoulder, Q bent me forward a bit and I braced myself against the shower wall. My back was arched with my ass was popping out. Q then traced my spine with kisses as he slowly knelt behind me. My cock was free from his grip, pointing straight up and throbbing like it was having a seizure.

    Kissing each of my cheeks, Q reached for my cock again and pulled it back so it pointed straight down. It was so uncomfortable and amazing at the same time. My dick was pushed against his open hand, trying to bounce back up, but Q wouldn¡¯t allow it. And then, out of the blue, I felt his tongue on the very tip of my head, swirling around the slit, and causing me to leak like a sieve. His tongue went up the length of my shaft, swirled around my balls, and went up and thru my crack up to my lower back. Q did that several times, and every time his tongue touched my cock head, I thought I would explode all over his face, but I managed to hold out.

    On his last trip up, he came back up to the back of neck. Right away, I could feel the head of his cock pressing against my rosebud.

    ¡°Fuck me,¡± I finally demanded.

    Q was nibbling on my ear when he said, ¡°If you want it take it.¡±

    He didn¡¯t have to tell me twice. I reached back to grab his cock and slowly pushed back against it. It hurt like hell as his head tried to break thru my tight ring. It was nice to go at my own pace until I eventually felt his head ¡°pop¡± into where it belonged. I placed both hands against the tile and took a minute to catch my breath.

    Q was now in control and slowly, gently inched his way inside me until he was balls deep. It hurt like hell, but Q leaned against my chest and kissed me all over, allowing me time to get used to the feeling.

    ¡°Ok,¡± I said softly, letting him know I was good to go.

    Q was still very gentle with me, pulling out a little and slowly easing back in. He did this repeatedly, pulling out a little further to allow me to get used to the sensation. Before I knew it, things went from painful to ok to finally feeling amazing. Q was getting a little more aggressive, which I only encouraged with my loud moaning and colorful words.

    Before long, Q was pounding my ass properly, and my hard cock was flopping around all over the place. The feeling running thru my body was so intense I couldn¡¯t hold out any longer. My cock just exploded, spewing ropes of cum in every direction. A few minutes after that, Q slipped his hand thru my hair, grabbed a fist full, and pulled my head back so he could kiss me. His eyes glowed like white fire as I felt him fill me with warmth.

    We remained in each other¡¯s arms, with Q still deep inside me, while the water poured over our bodies. That was, without a doubt, the most intense sexual experience of my life.

    After our shower, I stood by the balcony door staring out into the night again with nothing but a pair of black trunks. Q came up behind me and kissed me on the shoulder. He was only clad in white trunks, and his bulge brushing against my ass made me smile.

    ¡°Thanks for that,¡± he said and rubbed my arms. Wrapping his arms around my waist, Q held me close. ¡°How are you doing? I should¡¯ve asked you sooner how you¡¯re handling all this. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I assured him.

    ¡°So¡­how are you?¡±

    ¡°I feel like shit.¡±

    I could tell by the reflection on that glass that¡¯s not what Q expected to hear.

    ¡°You have no reason to feel that way.¡±

    ¡°I was so scared throughout that whole fight. I felt so useless. All I was good for was hiding behind that shield you created for me like a coward.¡±

    Q spun me around. ¡°Listen to me. There was nothing you could¡¯ve done. You¡¯d probably be dead if it weren¡¯t for that shield. No one was expecting anything more out of you.¡±

    ¡°Steve might be alive now if another pair of hands were in the fight.¡±

    ¡°His death was not your fault.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying it was. The outcome could¡¯ve been different had I been fighting with you guys instead of hiding.¡±

    ¡°Jacob, you can¡¯t start beating¡­.¡±

    ¡°I want your Gift,¡± I interrupted.

    Q shook his head in disbelief. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I want to become Nave. You told me all I had to do was ask.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but jumping into this because of what happened is bad.¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with that.¡±

    The ¡°oh really¡± look I got told me he wasn¡¯t buying it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t ever want to be afraid like that again,¡± I continued. ¡°I want to have your back just like you have mine. I don¡¯t want to run into a hole whenever things get hot.¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡±

    ¡°You gave me your word. All I had to do was ask.¡± I pulled away and turned away. After a moment of collecting my thoughts, I faced Q. ¡°This life isn¡¯t for me anymore. How can I go back to living a normal life with everything I¡¯ve seen and the things I know will come? I can¡¯t go back to sitting in a class pretending everything is normal. I want to take my place by your side as a Nave and lover.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no going back if you go thru with this, Jacob. Once you take in my Anavi, that¡¯s it. There is no undo button.¡±

    ¡°I get that, and I¡¯m telling you I¡¯m ready. This is what I want. This is what I need.¡± I¡¯m tired of being afraid. I¡¯m tired of being useless. I want to be able to defend those I love as they protected me.¡±

    I could see him thinking it over in his eyes. He was probably contemplating why he shouldn¡¯t do it but coming back to a single truth. He gave me his word. Q took me by the hand and led me to the middle of the room.

    Placing his hands on either side of my face, Q asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    I took one deep breath and nodded. ¡°Will it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Not even a little bit,¡± he smiled and kissed me.

    It was an intense and passionate kiss, but there was more to it. I opened my eyes and saw the stream of Anavi, like a luminous vapor, slipping through Q¡¯s lips, into my mouth, and up my nose. He pulled away with a smile on his face.

    At first, I didn¡¯t feel anything, but then I felt this amazing warmth in my chest, and a few seconds later, sharp pain in my stomach.

    ¡°You said it wouldn¡¯t hurt,¡± I said as I clutched my stomach.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    I cried out in pain and dropped to my knees.

    ¡°Jacob!¡± Q was kneeling next to me, trying to make me look into his eyes. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­. ahhh.¡± Falling forward, I braced myself with my hands and started dry heaving. Eventually, the resplendent Anavi that entered my body was expelled. It swirled around the floor as if it was alive and had no idea what it was supposed to do. It finally snaked its way to Q and was absorbed back into his body.

    I jerked back with my hands on my head, screaming as if my skull was being cracked open. I lurched forward again, slamming my hand against the floor.

    ¡°How can this be¡­?¡± I heard Q say.

    I saw it too. It wasn¡¯t that I hit the floor so hard it cracked under the impact, but that my nails were like onyx, and my skin was shimmering and a deep gray like volcanic glass.

    ¡°You¡¯re a Skai,¡± he finally whispered, but even with his profound revelation, Q did not leave my side and kept his arm draped around my shoulders.

    ¡°Get away from me!¡± I yelled.

    Without warning, I blasted Q across the room and sent him crashing thru the closet doors. I didn¡¯t mean to do it. But I didn¡¯t have time to be sorry. I felt the heat on my back explode into two streams of fire. These flaming jets began to flap and take form, and when the fire was finally extinguished, all that remained were two raven back wings.

    Slowly I stood and saw my reflection in the mirror. My hair was as white as ivory, my skin was gray and gleaming, my eyes were like two tar pits, and behind me, I''d always imagined a set of mighty wings as white as a dove, but instead, they were as black as the darkest void.

    ¡°Jacob¡­¡± Q was standing by the broken doors of his closet.

    I took one look at him and launched myself out of the room, crashing thru the glass walls and flying into the dawn. I had no idea where I was going. I didn¡¯t even know how I was flying. It was like my body knew what I wanted and made it happen. One thing was sure; I needed to land. The dam holding back a torrent of memories was leaking, for I was getting random flashes and images, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the dam broke completely.

    As if on cue, the moment I landed, it gave way, and I was flooded with a tsunami of memories. It was overwhelming. I put my hands up to my head as if that would make it stop, but it was useless. I just had to suffer thru it until it subsided. Eventually, it got better, and I got a glimpse of a past that wasn¡¯t mine. I forced it all back and locked away those memories for the time being.

    It took me a moment to realize I was standing on the same bluff where Q first revealed himself as a Nave to me. I wasn¡¯t planning on landing there, but I guess I subconsciously forced myself to go there.

    Opening the palm of my hand, I slowly created a sphere of raw Askyli, black with ribbons of fire swirling within, and hurled it into the ocean. It exploded, and a massive column of water rose into the air. I looked at my hand, amazed at what I had just done without a clue about how I did it.

    I spun around with another Sphere in hand, ready to attack. It was Q touching down behind me, still in his white trunks. I closed my hand around the orb, and it dissipated. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Really? Where else should I be if not by your side?¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m Skai¡­¡±

    He smirked, his charming smirk. ¡°And I¡¯m in love with you.¡± He approached me and placed his pale hand against my dark, gray face. ¡°Unless you¡¯re telling me you no longer feel the same, then I¡¯ll leave¡­.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I placed my hand over his and kissed his palm. ¡°Don¡¯t leave¡­.¡±

    This shouldn¡¯t be happening. Q and I are as different as black and white. Literally. We should be at each other¡¯s throats; instead, here we are in each other¡¯s arms. My love for him never waned.

    ¡°But how?¡± Q finally asked.

    With a glimpse of the past, I could finally answer some of those questions. ¡°My name is Akuzio. It was the only thing I ever got from my fathers besides the gift of life. I was born moments after your city fell from the sky. The toxic cloud was heading our way, so I was forced deep underground to sleep no sooner than coming into the world. My fathers cocooned us within their wings, but that had to do more than that if I was to survive.¡±

    ¡°You were just born and had no powers,¡± Q interjected.

    I nodded. ¡°All these millions of years, they kept me alive by feeding me their Askyli.¡± I laughed despite myself. ¡°All these years, I¡¯ve wondered about those first ten years of my life only to realize now my life started in that forest. I was chasing a ghost, or at least chasing the wrong ghost.

    ¡°That night, one of my fathers came up into this world only to discover it looked nothing like the one they left behind. At first, he thought the humans were Naverian but then soon realized they were something different. With his strength nearly gone from keeping me alive, he took a few humans'' memories and experiences and returned to where my father and I still slept. He shared what he learned with my other father, and with their last bit of power, they made me human and gave me some of the human experiences and memories he gathered to provide me with a fighting chance in this new world.

    ¡°They finally sacrificed themselves to give me enough strength to claw my way out of the earth. I remember it now.¡± I laughed again, but it was a joyless laugh as I thought of my parents giving up their life for my sake. ¡°I emerged in the middle of a group of kids out in the woods who were smoking pot, drinking, and just listening to music. The sight of me crawling out of the ground must have scared the hell out of them. They got in their van and peeled out of there. That was the night I was born for a second time.¡±

    ¡°And you never came into your powers¡­.¡± Q said. ¡°It¡¯s extremely rare, but it¡¯s happened before.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t until you tried to turn me that your Anavi awakened my latent powers.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky it didn¡¯t kill you.¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­¡±

    ¡°You guess?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether I should be thanking you or cursing myself for pushing you to turn me.¡±

    ¡°At least now you know who you are, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°And what has that knowledge gained me besides losing the one thing I love?¡±

    He placed his hand on my chin and forced me to look up at him. ¡°You haven¡¯t lost me, Jacob. You¡¯ll never lose me. You don¡¯t have to go with them. You can stay with us. We¡¯ll protect you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sweet, but you know that will never work.¡±

    ¡°Of course, it will,¡± he insisted. But he was refusing to see the truth. ¡°You¡¯re one of us!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered. ¡°I¡¯m Skai. Sure, a few might accept me, but The Brotherhood will never, and you know that, especially after Steve¡¯s death. And you know the Skai will never let me go. Besides¡­I belong with my people. I can feel it now in every inch of my body. The feeling is only getting stronger. It¡¯s who I am.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this,¡± he pleaded and placed both hands on my face. ¡°You have a choice, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°A choice,¡± I snickered and instantly thought of Lady White. ¡°This is what she meant.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Lady¡­The Great Mother told me I¡¯d have to make a difficult choice, and here we are.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, you have a choice,¡± Q said and shook me gently. ¡°You can choose to stay.¡±

    ¡°Or you can choose to leave with me,¡± I said.

    ¡°Leave with you?¡± Q asked and shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°We can both just leave and do our own thing. Come with me somewhere, anywhere far from both the Nave and Skai. We can just be us.¡±

    Q looked at me without saying a word. I could see the wheels turning in his head, and if I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was thinking, ¡°Can we do this?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just go,¡± I urged him.

    A swirl of light appeared and slowly moved toward us as it took form.

    ¡°My darling boys,¡± the voice came before Lady White was entirely ¡°human¡± again.

    I saw her standing there and finally realized how much she truly means to us. I couldn¡¯t help but rush to her and give her the biggest hug I could muster.

    ¡°Oh dear!¡± she laughed.

    Q came up behind me, bowed his head in reverence, and said, ¡°Great Mother.¡±

    ¡°You knew!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°You knew from the beginning who I was.¡±

    ¡°I did, Jacob. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were Skai. What I didn¡¯t know was why a Skai was marked by the Light.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You drank from the chalice Jacob,¡± Q answered. ¡°I marked you with my Anavi so all Nave would recognize you as a pledging member of The Brotherhood. As a Skai, taking in my Anavi should¡¯ve been like drinking poison, but you were fine. It¡¯s the other reason we perform the ceremony. To expose any Skai who to try to infiltrate The Brotherhood in human form.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I awaken then?¡± I asked, looking between Q and Lady White.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to turn you, Jacob. What I passed on to you that night was merely a drop compared to the Anavi it would take to turn you into a Nave.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you freaked out. And that¡¯s why you insisted on being the one to heal me in the warehouse, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I was perplexed,¡± she corrected me gently. ¡°And yes, had Zenial healed you, he might have awakened you. It wasn¡¯t time.¡± She paused. ¡°In all my years guiding both sides through this new world, I had never seen such a thing. I realized you were with Q, and a budding romance was emerging. It gave an old lady hope.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here to stop us from leaving?¡± I said. I spoke as if I was sure Q was ready to leave with me, but the truth was I had no idea. He never got a chance to give me an answer.

    Lady White shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m here to ensure you both do what you know is best, even if your hearts demand you do otherwise.¡± She took our hands into hers. ¡°I see so much of Sol and Juyx in both of you. Your love burns as brightly as theirs does.¡±

    We both caught that. I think my jaw was hanging open.

    ¡°Great Mother, what are you saying?¡± Q asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m saying the Nave and Skai are not ready for such a union.¡± Total deflection on her part! ¡°It would incite a war. But you both hold power to change the hearts and minds of your brethren. You can accomplish what Sol and Juyx were meant to do. You can bring everlasting peace between the Skai and Nave. Leave, and that dream dies here and now.¡±

    ¡°How can we possibly do this if we¡¯re apart?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re love will find a way.¡± She placed her hands on our faces. ¡°Ultimately, the decision is yours; it always has been. All I ask is that you consider the future of all El¡¯odians.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Q started, but she faded away before he could finish his sentence.

    With Lady White gone, Q turned his attention to me. ¡°How am I supposed to let you go?¡± It was the first time I heard Q¡¯s voice shake.

    My heart broke.

    ¡°I don¡¯t ever want you to let me go.¡± I kissed him and our wings wrapped around each other. ¡°Don¡¯t ever let me go.¡±

    The moment did not last long. I pulled away and looked over my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ve awakened. The Skai are coming. I can feel them calling to me.¡±

    ¡°Let them come! I¡¯ll destroy every one of them!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that will help us avoid an all-out war Lady White was just warning us about,¡± I joked but saw the sadness in his eyes. ¡°Besides, those are my people Q.¡±

    It killed me to pull away from him and slip out of his arms. ¡°There¡¯s one thing I have to know.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You were right when you said your Anavi should have killed me or at the very least do serious damage.¡±

    I stuck my hand out in front of Q and looked into his eyes. He knew what I meant to do and didn¡¯t hesitate for a second.

    He placed his hand against mine and smiled.

    Our hands melted away into pure Anavi and Askyli. That simple act should have killed us both, but I felt his love for me as he felt mine as his brilliance merged with my darkness. That brief connection expressed it in a way words could never convey. Our hands became solid again, and our fingers were interlocked.

    I pressed my forehead against his and whispered, ¡°I have to go to them¡­.¡±

    ¡°I love you, Jacob.¡±

    ¡°And I love you¡­.¡± We kissed for the last time before walking to the cliff¡¯s edge.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Q said. He grabbed a single white feather and plucked it out. It radiated with his Anavi as he handed it to me.

    I smiled and did the same for him. At that moment, I was reminded of Alessandro¡¯s words to Anthony, which seemed so fitting for our situation.

    ¡°I will always find you, Qua¡¯quelle ¡­.¡±

    I flew off into the sky and headed towards the rising sun; my Skylarian brethren were so close I could feel them. I flew towards an unknown future, wondering what would come next or if I¡¯d ever see Q again. The fact that Q and I were able to merge our two energies meant something, so I left not only with a heavy heart but something far more important.

    Hope.

    End of Book One