Asleep

68 Punished

Charlie~~

We all practice our roles through the night and into the early morning until I'm called away by Dad to attend a meeting within Somnia's headquarters. A meeting with all of my older siblings. Marcella, Stacy, and Tyler will be the only ones in attendance that are younger than me.

The meeting room has been arranged so that all the chairs face one direction. I'm seated between Kyle and Tyler as usual. The quadruplets sit in the front. With three of them at separate facilities than the one Dad occupies, they're the reason he calls meetings in the dream so often.

Dad has yet to arrive, and the general consensus in the room is that none of us know what the meeting is for. I can't help the worry gnawing at me that he's found out I'm going to attempt to wake the master dreamer.

That hasn't sunken in yet.

Freedom. Can I really have it?

Kyle cracks his neck. "When I'm at college, I'm not taking a class if it's before 10 AM."

Tyler side-eyes him, eyebrows furrowed above a concerned and judgmental gaze. "We're asleep. What does it matter when meetings are?"

"You have to admit he has a point, Kyle."

He scowls at us just as Dad enters the room, followed by Cobbs.

I can't recall a time when Cobbs and I didn't have an issue with each other. He's always been a sycophant, acting as if he's just as high up as the quadruplets, despite not running a facility like them. We haven't had a conversation where I don't feel his arrogance rolling off him. He's never voiced his issue with me, but I'd say there's a strong possibility that it simply stems from me publicly taking issue with him in many meetings.

Dad stands front and center, his face stern, his eyes scanning over all of us. "If I can't trust my own children"—his nostrils flare—"who can I trust?"

My heart races, making me question for a moment whether I've already been put into one of Dad's fearscapes and if my heart will continue to beat toward a crescendo before it gives out.

"Cobbs has informed me that one of you has been going behind my back."

He knows.

"Sabine."

The focus in the room shifts from Dad to my sister in the front row.

"Did you really think you could hide your creation from me forever?" The res—Cobbs somehow found out. If Dad gets word that Hewn and I knew or if Sabine needs bargaining chips, we're screwed.

He could already know.

Sabine stands. "Dad . . . I— I wanted to take initiative. I thought you'd be impressed." Her voice trembles.

"If you wanted me to be impressed, you would have told me."

"I was still testing it—"

Dad holds up his hand. "One year."

"What?"

"You'll spend one year in the dream without your memories. In your absence, Thomas will take over the northern facility."

My sister clasps her hands in front of her. "Dad, please. I wasn't going against you. Cobbs only wants it to look that way."

"Enough. You're fortunate I don't sentence you for life." He's right. That's the punishment I expected. It even sounds like she'll resume control of her facility when a year is up.

While my heart goes out to her, we were never close, and as selfish as it is, I'm worried about myself because at this point, I'm waiting to hear Hewn's and my name called out. He helped Sabine get the res out into Somnia. I only knew about it, but that's usually enough to earn Dad's vengeance.