The Covenant of Silence: The Awakening

DANVERS

Today was the first day of our third year of summer at Camp Ivy. Me and my brothers—that's what we called each other even if we were just distant cousins—were waiting for the bus to leave while our parents fussed over us. It was like this every year, but this year was special.

"All right," said my mom, Evelyn Danvers, "Did you bring an extra toothbrush?"

"Yes, mom," I groaned. "I even brought an extra tube of toothpaste for Reid." Reid always forgot to pack his. "And Tyler's emergency inhaler, Pogue's extra underwear and another for Reid, just in case." I didn't like it, but ever since we were kids I've been the de facto big brother of the group. My brothers weren't exactly irresponsible—well, actually they kinda were—but I still did everything I could to keep them from getting in trouble.

"Oh my," Mom sobbed as she yanked me towards her for a hug. "My baby boy's all grown up!"

"Mom!" I groaned. "If they hear you, I'll never hear the end of it." My mother was about to reply when we heard Rosalind Simms, Tyler's mother's own cry, only much louder.

"My baby boy is all grown up!" It was followed by muffled sniggers coming from Pogue and Reid and a cry of outrage from Tyler as well.

Both of Tyler's parents came to say goodbye to him. My mother, Pogue's father and Reid's mother came alone. My dad was busy at his law firm, I didn't know where Pogue's mom was and Reid's dad was on a business trip(a.k.a. vacation in the Caymans).

Reid didn't care so much. He actually looked annoyed that his mother even showed up. I, myself was wondering why Meredith Garwin even deigned to see her son off when she could have been in Boston or New York having a lovely time at the spa. My father said he wanted to come, but he was too busy and we've tackled all of the basics during our talk anyway.

But it didn't matter to any of us if only Tyler's parents were present and accounted for. What mattered was that today was the day we prepared for our Awakening.

GARWIN

Baby boy, that's a riot, I thought to myself. Another dumb name to tease Tyler with. I was still trying to muffle my laughter when my mom's cutting voice stopped me.

"Stop that, Richard," my mom said stiffly as she reached out and smoothed my hair away from my head. I hated it when she used my real name. The parents were the only ones who could get away with calling me and Pogue by our real names. Any other person would get a brand new shiner for their troubles. I would have loved to groaned tell her to stop, but instead of getting a warm chastising look like Caleb's mom, I'd probably get bitch-slapped in front of my friends. I knew it was a bad idea, but I had to say something.

"Why'd you even come?" I asked her quietly, keeping my face away from the others.

"It's a very important day," she said curtly. "I'm just here to represent the family because your father's in God-knows-where screwing a Latin housekeeper or possibly a Chinese groundskeeper."

Although I've known about my father's transgressions since I was six, it still hurt to hear my mother repeat it to me. She thinks that if she reminds me enough of my father's sins, I'll probably forget hers. If I didn't care about my brothers so much, I'd probably bash Caleb's face in once I get my powers. Sometimes, I think he keeps on putting me down because my mother made a pass on him, which by the way would be the most disgusting and immoral thing I've ever known about my whole life.

"I appreciate it-" I started but she cut me off.

"Good, because I've done everything I can to raise you as an upstanding young man," my mom announced proudly—more to herself than me, I think. I'd rather congratulate my nanny, Mrs. Hall. "Now, I'll see you after a month. I'm going to Barbados and I won't be communicable through any lines except through the mainland hotel."

I nodded sullenly, because I knew she wanted me to agree with everything she said. I didn't care even if I knew that my mother had a satellite phone she used to call her European lovers that she could've used to call me. I didn't care that my friends' parents were going to call them at camp once a week for the whole summer. I didn't care that neither she nor my father would be home once I got back or that I'd have to spend the rest of the summer with the Simms. I didn't care about the trust fund that they set me up with so I'll keep my mouth shut about my father being a closet bisexual or that my mother was a sexually repressed pedophile. I just didn't give a fuck.

PARRY

"Poor Tyler," my dad, Wayne Parry said, shaking his head. "If I were him, I'd bury my head in the ground right now." I burst out laughing and high-fived him. My dad was the coolest. All of my brothers were jealous that he and I got along so well. He was the youngest in his Covenant so he was expected to be the immature one of the group.

"So you all set, sport?" dad asked, as he ruffled my shoulder-length hair. Mom said I looked like an 80's cokehead but my dad insisted I looked cool. And if it weren't for his—and don't tell anyone about this—mild alopecia, he'd probably grow out his hair as well.

"Yep," I told him proudly as I lifted my duffle bag. "Got my Playboy, Penthouse, Juggs and the classic FHM right here." I patted the bulky part of the bag. "By the time we get back, I'll be a man!" I said this while pounding a fist on my chest.

"Did you even bring any clothes?" my dad asked sarcastically.

"Caleb brought my underwear," I told him.

"You're such a loser," he said grinning. "Just remember the talk, okay?"

"Of course, dad," I told him seriously. "I brought condoms and a copy of the birth control pamphlets mom kept shoving down my throat." I knew he was talking about the Awakening process, but we loved yanking each other's chain. He understood I was joking because he just shook his head again.

"Smart ass," he retorted.

"Where'd you say mom went again?" I asked him.

"She said she needed to go to your grandmother's. Said it was an emergency." Dad was looking away but I didn't really understand why so I just let it slide. I didn't know it at the time, but that was probably the last time my dad and I would laugh together.

SIMMS

"Mom!" I groaned. "You just gave Reid another reason to make fun of me!"

"I don't care," My mom, kept crying. "I don't have a baby anymore!" My dad just rolled his eyes and grinned while he patted my mother's back.

"Forgive her," my dad said mock-solemnly. "She'll just have to make do with the baby she has left." He pointed significantly at himself and my mom just laughed and pushed him away. My dad was the oldest of their Covenant so it really was kind of funny of him to refer to himself as a baby.

"I'll call you everyday," my mother continued, but she stopped bawling, thankfully.

"Mom, I'll probably be busy," I protested.

"Yes, having fun like any other teenage boy," my dad added.

"Ty, baby," my mother said, her eyes watering again. "Promise me you won't have sex at camp."

"Moooommm!" I groaned. I looked at the others and was grateful that they weren't listening this time.

"Rosalind, that's enough," my dad said playfully. "You're son's gonna burst a blood vessel if you don't stop embarrassing him!" Sure enough, I was redder than a ripe tomato when I saw my reflection on one of the parked cars. My mom was an expert on mortification.

"I'm serious, Glenn!" my mom exclaimed. "I won't have my son screwing random teenage girls at camp just because his friends are doing it!" I was still getting over the fact that my mom said screw, when I thought about how she would know if my friends were having sex. We were thirteen years old for crying out loud! Did that mean that they started doing it at my age? Oh god. I unconsciously visualized my parents and because of Pogue's preference in pornography being the only version of sex I'd ever seen, it's safe to say that I am mentally scarred for life.

"Fine," my dad conceded. He turned to me and said, "Son, don't let your mother find out about you "screwing" he did the quotation marks with his fingers, "any teenage girls at camp, got it?" I just nodded hoping they'd stop talking, forever, if it's possible.

The counselors started calling the campers onto the bus. My dad cleared his throat and asked the rest of the covenant to gather around. Everyone stopped fussing and came over to us where we wouldn't be heard by the other campers and their families.

DANVERS

"All right, boys," Glenn announced. "This is the first day of the beginning of the rest of your lives."

"Dad, that's so lame," Tyler said while rolling his eyes. Pogue and Reid just kept nudging each other, but I was listening intently. We've all had the talk with our fathers—not the birds and the bees talk, my mother took care of that(Insert gagging motion here)—and we were well aware of what was going to happen over at camp.

"Anyway," Glenn continued, shooting his son a reprimanding look, "Gorman will present on the camp grounds and it's your responsibility-"

"Caleb's" Reid interjected unhelpfully.

"-to find him and begin the Awakening process." The Awakening was inevitable either way, but the Covenant devised a process wherein our powers would be suppressed until a spell was cast even when we turned thirteen. A long time ago, our powers were Awakened by themselves at the stroke of the second of the minute of the hour of our birth. Coincidentally, we were all born on different dates but at the same exact time. 11:12 PM. We had no idea what it meant but we assumed by adding the numbers you'd get the number 5. The number of persons each coven had.

But through the years, the lifetime of our ancestors dwindled to the point of their middle ages because our powers were so addictive and that having them Awakened at full force increased the chance of earlier mortality when one of us ascended. None of us knew our grandfathers because they were only alive long enough to produce an heir. Some of the records even said that Tyler's great, great grandfather was artificially inseminated(Yuck!) because he was already dying.

By then the Awakening process was already in effect but most of the covenant still became addicted to the power. On the day we were born, our fathers used a powerful spell to keep our powers at bay until such a time as it was able to be Awakened. In our great grandfather's time, they realized that if the powers weren't Awakened by the time our thirteenth year ended, there was a probability of spontaneous combustion. Poor Cyrus Parry. I guess that's how the theory was discovered. Now, when we turned thirteen, we only felt a tiny surge of power that indicated that our powers were Awakened but still dormant. We had to wait until Tyler's birthday—he was the youngest—last week before we were allowed to be fully Awakened.

I knew why our parents were fussing more than usual. It was possible that this might be the last time they'd see us as the normal little boys they had. We were going to be the most powerful human beings on the planet and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Out of all of us, I was the only one who understood the gravity of our situation. If any of us became addicted to the power, there was a huge chance that we'd die on the day of our ascension, give or take a few weeks. Having powers wasn't cool. It was a curse.

Glenn's speech wasn't long and he made a few jokes about Tyler which I was sure Reid made a note to remember later on. We all hugged our parent's goodbye and promised to be good. The Awakening wasn't the only cool thing about this summer. This was the summer that we'd graduated from being immature boys into being immature teenagers.