They say when Ipswich was founded there was five families with great power and bound together by a dark secret. But that was lie; in truth there was six families until one family was banished from Ipswich for abusing the gift. Now there are five families and they have stuck together and kept their gifts a secret, which has kept them safe for the last three hundred years. Well… In a manner of speaking.

Local legend had it that the old Ipswich colony houses were haunted by malevolent spirits but Lola knew that wasn't true. For the most part. The old colony houses weren't haunted by spirits of any kind but rather secrets within the walls. The secrets that had kept the founding families of Ipswich safe.

She had been here more times than she could count, perhaps even a million times yet, no matter how many times Lola had come to the old Danvers colony house, she had never got used to the eerie feeling that the old Danvers' colony house gave off. The run down house gave off a menacing aura that always caused the hairs on Lola's neck to stand up on edge. The wind was howling like it was the end of days. The morning sun seemed cold and distant for something was supposed to represent warmth and light. Lola couldn't help but shudder ever so slightly as she pulled her coat tighter around herself, summer was finally coming to an end and already the chill of the upcoming fall season was hanging over Ipswich. She didn't want to be here today of all days but Lola had no choice in the matter, the Danvers colony house had the relevant information that Lola needed and it also offered some much needed privacy. The colony house was off the beaten track, hidden away from prying eyes deep located within the woods. It was isolated and completely run down, a far cry from the current ancestral home of the Danvers family. Everyone in Ipswich thought that the old Danvers house was abandoned, an old relic of the witch trials that somehow remained standing and according to local legend, the house was haunted with the souls of those killed in the witch trials. That wasn't the case as Lola well knew.

Back in the 17th century when the witch trials were spreading through Ipswich, the six founding families of Ipswich came together and formed a covenant to protect them all from the witch finders. To protect themselves, their families and their gifts so they could escape the persecution that was happening all around them. The covenant of silence that was formed over three hundred years ago had kept the families safe. No real witch from Ipswich was killed during the Witch Trials. They were all safe. Only five of the remaining founding families of Ipswich were alive and well, Lola was a direct descendent of one of the remaining five families; the Pope's. The other families were the Danvers, Simms, Garwin and Parry. The covenant of silence had protected them and they would continue to protect each other.

Taking a deep breath, Lola gently pushed open the door and made her way into the colony house which looked just as she left it last night. It was dark as ever despite the windows offering light into such a gloomy place, the smell damp still hung in the air but Lola was so used to the smell that it no longer bothered her. Wordlessly making her way through the house, Lola eventually made her way up the back set of stairs and took the familiar journey up to the top floor of the old colony house.

The room was cluttered with an enormous amount of books, most of them still where Lola left them due to her being too lazy to put them back. Besides the books, there was a marginal amount of furniture, a few chairs, a table and a small bed in the corner of the room where an elderly gentleman slept. Well… Lola said elderly but in reality William Danvers was technically only 44 years of age but years of abusing the magic they had, the great power their families held had taken a huge toll on his body. He looked double his age. William Danvers was a cautionary tale to all of them about the dangers that came with using magic. He was kept here in this house to make sure no one ever learnt the truth about what had really happened to him. His only real companion? Gorman, the caretaker of the estate who was employed by the Danvers family.

"How's he doing today Gorman?" Lola questioned, sliding off her coat as she looked over to William who continued to sleep. As far as Lola could tell, it was only when William slept did he manage to escape the hells of the reality that he was living in. To see him this way was tragic as Lola was aware that her father and William had been very close friends until his addiction to magic had driven a wedge between his friends and his family.

"He's doing well as can be expected Miss Elodie." Gorman grunted in response as he idly shuffled around the room and Lola couldn't help but smile. To most, it would seem like Gorman was a cankerous old man who had lost his marbles, but to Lola? He was a dear friends and perhaps her most trusted confidant. It was why Lola never protested about him calling her by her actual first name. Lola had been born Elodie Goodwin Pope but she had been going by Lola for as long as she could remember.

Gorman was the one person who only ever referred to her as Elodie. If Gorman was anyone else, Lola would have had a problem with that but this was Gorman. He knew all their secrets, he knew the truth about the covenant and even though he wasn't from the founding families, Gorman had been keeping their secret for decades. He spent his days protecting William Danvers, protecting this house which hid all the secrets of the covenant.

"That's good to hear, what about you Gorman? How are you? I feel like we spend most our time discussing William or myself. I never get you hear about you." Lola prompted as she eased herself into the rather aged armchair in the corner of the room that she was rather fond of. The pile of books that she had yet to finish reading where sitting on a small table beside the armchair where she had left them.

"As always I am fine but we're not here because of me dear child, you are here to figure out the truth about yourself and what you are capable of."

Lola couldn't help but grimace. Gorman was right, Lola had come over to the Danvers old colony house today to find out any information she could about herself and more precisely her so-called gift. It's why she had been coming over to the colony house on and off for the last few months, especially in the last two weeks ever since she had returned to Ipswich following her family holiday. Ever since she had a weird dream involving her recently deceased Uncle Nick, Lola had been trying to find out about a supposed secret that bound the two of them together. For the last five months she had been having a strange and reoccurring dream. It had all started the night that her Uncle Nick had died. That's what brought Lola to the Danvers colony house today, it's why she had been coming everyday for the last two weeks ever since she weeks ever since she had returned to Ipswich.

For the last five months she had been having a strange and reoccurring dream. It had all started the night that her Uncle Nick had died.

At first Lola thought that she was dreaming but then it became clear that something wasn't quite right. It had been years since Lola had see Nick, her uncle had left Ipswich almost twenty years ago and only made sporadic visits every so often. Uncle Nick looked older than Lola had remembered, at least ten years older than he really was. The dark hair that she knew her uncle to have was almost complete white and his grey eyes looked so weary and tired. He looked like he could have been her father's older brother. It didn't take Lola long to realise what was wrong with her uncle, he had been abusing the gift that they had all been born with, the great power that bound the covenant together.

Their magic came with a deep price, it was addictive as hell almost as if it were a drug and on the day that they turned 18 and ascended, their power became 10 times more potent and for the male warlocks their powers became linked with their lives. Every time they used their gifts, it would begin to age them and the more they used, the greater the toll their bodies took.

As far as Lola knew, she would be spared from that given that she was a female witch.

But Lola had seen what abusing their gift took on the males and something was off. Uncle Nick was acting weird, he had always been a little weird and unpredictable but this was something else entirely. He was skittish, restless and seemed rather paranoid. He told Lola something was coming from them. Someone was coming for the both of them, because they were different. They held the fifth element. Spirit. Lola didn't know what on earth that meant and when she had woken up, she had been given the news that Uncle Nick was dead. He had committed suicide.

"I'm still trying to figure out this whole spirit thing Gorman, the books don't say much. From what William has told me, a witch or a warlock displaying spirit magic is very rare. Uncle Nick was supposed to be the first person in over a century to do so. In all the centuries of the covenant only three warlocks have ever been recorded as being spirit users in the Book of Damnation. There is no information about the ability of as it so rare." Lola allowed herself to admit, all she really knew was that most witches or warlocks in the covenant upon receiving their powers at the age of thirteen ended up specialising in one of the four main elements. There was the Garwin family who had displayed an affinity for using air, the Parry family were commonly associated with fire, The Simms' tended to have a gift for magic involving earth and the Danvers usually held the fourth element; water. Then there was Lola's family. They had never displayed a singular speciality, it always varied. Some specialised in magic involving water, other earth and some never declared an element; like Lola or so she thought. According to her Uncle Nick. She held the fifth element. The fifth point of the pentagram for the fifth family in the covenant.

"Perhaps you should go to your father about this Miss Elodie, he could be of help."

"I can't go to him about this. The only person who could have been of any real help was Uncle Nick but he's dead now. I don't understand why Uncle Nick never mentioned any of this to me before. He said that just like him I was spirit kissed. I represented the fifth element, I complete the covenant." Lola wearily replied as she leaned over the side of the armchair and picked up the book she had been previously reading on her last visit to the Danvers colony house, it was right where she had left it, sitting on a small pile of other books.

The book offered some information about spirit magic, however it wasn't much given how rare it was for someone to possess spirit magic. There was rather small entry that read 'Spirit users need to pull their magic from their own essence.' Lola wasn't sure what that meant as upon ascension, their powers always took energy from their own life force. Did that mean spirit magic did the same thing? If Lola was a spirit user, did that mean if she attempted to do any magic that it would take a toll on her physical body? There were so many questions that Lola had but there was no one that she could really turn to in her time of need. Her father was still dealing with the death of Nick and if Lola went to him asking about spirit magic, she would have to answer questions that she would be unable to answer. William wouldn't be much help given his current as even though he was still technically alive, he was getting weaker with every passing day.

"What about your Uncle Nick's journals? Have you found any thing in them yet? "

Lola shook her head, in the months that had passed since her uncle's death she had gone through all of his belongings in an attempt to find anything that would help her decipher his warning to her. There was several journals that Lola had come across, black leather bound journals that looked like they had seen better days. "There's nothing in them, at least nothing that I can make sense of Gorman. It's mostly symbols and what reads to be the ramblings of a mad man. I can't decipher any of this and the more I try, the less it makes any sense. Something was definitely wrong with Uncle Nick but whether or not it was due to magic is something else, I really don't know. Maybe Uncle Nick was wrong Gorman, perhaps I'm not supposed to declare an element or perhaps I'm meant to declare one of the other elements. My dad declared water even though Grandpa Hagen never declared an element. Sometimes it skips generations. Countless Pope's have not shown an affinity for an element and not declared. I still have time, there's just under a year before I turn 18."

"But you don't think he was wrong otherwise you wouldn't be here dear child." Gorman countered argued, a stern expression on his face and all Lola could do was sign.

"What do I do Gorman? All I do is read countless books and I'm no further to finding out what Uncle Nick meant than I was two months ago."

"Then you must go to the others Miss Elodie, the five of you have always been at your strongest when you are together. Each of you are the eldest child born into the five families and if what your Uncle Nicholas says it's true, if you are a spirit user then you will bring the covenant full circle once again. The five families representing each element like it was, back when the covenant was first formed." Gorman advised and all Lola could do was shake her head in disagreement, going to the others was perhaps the one option that she refused to even consider. Despite the dire situation she found herself in.

"They can't deal with the truth Gorman. I know those boys better than I know myself and they wouldn't be able to handle this. For them, it's hard enough trying to balance being a high school student and being a warlock. The boys aren't like me, all the lectures about the toll that our magic takes on us didn't sink in the first hundred times they heard it, hence why it's my job to keep them in line. I'm the responsible one out of the five of us. It's my job to protect them and make sure they don't get themselves into trouble that I can't get them out of. None of them are mature enough to deal with any of this, you just have to look at them and see that. They are all aware that what happened to William could happen to them but they choose to ignore it, as they are all convinced that they are untouchable until the day the ascended. With Caleb ascension this week, I need the boys focused on that. There's no point in telling them unless I know more, as of right now I'm going of a a reoccurring dream I have."

"They would want to help especially Master Pogue, this does concern him as well."

Pogue.

Of course. Gorman was right in a way as this did concern Pogue as Nick had not only been her uncle but his as well. The two of them were paternal cousins. Pogue may be a Parry but by blood he was also a Pope. Lola knew that Garwin had a point, but Pogue had already declared a speciality and like most of the Parry's before him, it had been fire. She saw no need to involve him yet. There was no need to involve any one yet as Lola didn't know what she was dealing with. This could be nothing, at least she hoped it was nothing.

None of this has been an issue five months ago, Lola had been as normal as a soon to 17 year old witch could be. But then Nick's suicide had changed everything and now Lola wasn't sure what anything meant any more. This reoccurring dream was where it all began. Typically Lola wouldn't gave gotten worked up about some weird dream but straight from the start she knew something off. But then to wake up and find out that her Uncle Nick had died, confirmed to Lola that it had been no ordinary dream and the fact that months later she was still having that said dream over and over. Something wasn't right here and Lola need to figure it all out.

"He will be the first person I tell when it's the right time, once I find out more about what being spirit kissed means and get Caleb through his ascension. I promise Gorman." Lola assured the elder gentleman as he went about checking on William.

"There is no need to promise me anything Miss Elodie, you have always done what is right by the covenant and I know you will figure this out."

Even though there was no one around Lola who could understand what she was going though, she felt relieved that she could always come and talk to Gorman even if he could never really comprehend what she was struggling with. Yet his words always managed to soothe her worries and if Gorman was convinced that Lola would figure this all out and continue to protect the covenant, then there was no way she could fail. Gorman had seen the covenant go through some pretty dark days, so his belief in her gave Lola some hope.

But until she figured everything out, it was time to get back to the books.