The Fear You Know

24. The Prophet

 Andrian smiled at his students and turned back to the board, "Each new location you visit is going to require a different strategy. People living under different dreads see the world differently, so hope will have to be applied differently. Think of our work as planting a seed. Each location has different properties of soil, some soil is dark and fertile, others rocky and so forth. In order to allow the seed of hope to grow we must first prepare the soil."

Eli sat staring up at his father with his mouth hanging open. Inside he was a sea of conflicting emotions, Nausea, nervousness, joy, confusion, hurt, happiness. They warred inside him like two opposing tides in a sea, each one pressing back and forth for dominance, though slowly one by one they faded, Joy and happiness went first followed by the nervousness. Slowly the hurt began to build up bringing with it a slow boiling rage that began in his stomach until it overflowed into his chest before bubbling towards his head with every passing moment.

His hands had gone cold, and so clammy they left little condensation stains on the chair arms of his seat. The collar of his shirt had gone tight, like a noose slowly constricting into place, He was so hot he felt he could melt.

"Desolation." Wink muttered uncharacteristically Grimm

Wink had crawled out of his satchel and was staring towards the front of the room with his one large eye.

He blinked slowly, "This is going to get interesting."

Peter was standing next to them now, looking back and forth between Eli, wink and the man standing at the front of the room.

"Is that?"

"Yup."

Peter went silent, "Oh.... no." He glanced at Eli.

Wink oozed back into his seat glumly, "This isn't going to be good."

"Maybe we should leave.'

They continued to talk, but Eli didn't hear anything past the roaring in his ears.. The edges of his vision had gone black, and all around him the silhouettes of people before him had turned crimson. His hands dug into the seat of the chair, which creaked under the strain of his anger as his knuckles went white.

"Hope is the foundation on which we base our practices. Hope is our foundation upon which we build a scaffold with knowledge and experience.

Eli stood.

There was a sharp pop as if a bubble had been burst and his vision was clear again.

His voice rang out loud and clear.

"And where, out of curiosity, does HOPE fit into abandoning your family!"

The room went dead silent. At least fifty eyes turned to the back of the room where he stood disheveled and seething on the back row.

Adrian turned back from the board holding the piece of chalk high in his hand. As he caught sight of Eli, his eyes widened, and the small piece of chalk fell from his hands falling for what seemed to be an impossibly long time, spinning once before clattering against the floor only to shattinger into three smaller pieces which bounced and jittered across the stone.

The room was frozen, eyes wide staring back and forth between him and Adrian. None of them knew, but some of them suspected who the strange newcomer was. A soft buzzing began as whispered voices penetrated the air.

"Eli..." Andrian's voice was soft, shocked, almost tender.

But it hit Eli like a kick in the stomach.

He felt as if he would be sick.

Adrian stood and waved a hand at his classroom, "Class dismissed."