I took it without speaking and thought about family as I ate. I thought about what the word meant to me. Its meaning had changed forever when I changed. Since then there had been three families, mine, Vasili's, and Bobby's. Before I left, when I spoke to my parents about this, the memories of the older families drove my current one apart, changing it into a memory as well. It wasn't until that moment in the vault with her, that I realized what I had been unknowingly yearning for, a family, but not an ordinary family. I yearned for one that wasn't transitory, fragile or misunderstanding like the ones I'd known, but one in which I could be accepted as I am. "What would this Ascension be like for a newcomer like me?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you're asking."

"What would I be required to do? Are there initiation ceremonies? You said you would be my advocate, is there a trial?" I stopped to take a breath and soften my tone. "Poppy, what you are telling me, this society, these people, is beyond my wildest fantasies. For years I've wondered why I was different and what made me this way. I've battled with myself daily about whether or not to tell the people around me. I've held all night conversations in my room with imaginary people who understand what this is like and now I find these people and they're real. I want to know what I have to do in order to meet them."

I fought back tears as she took my hand. "I know what you're feeling Evan. I am the one who found you. It is my responsibility to introduce you to the Cognomina and I will tell you everything that I am allowed to tell." She stroked the back of my head fondly.