Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own the Sons of Ipswich or any other character in The Covenant.

Chapter Two

While the boys had been at the airport, their mothers were busy bustling around the Garwin's kitchen preparing a welcoming feast. The house was soon filled with the warm smell of fresh baked cookies, apple pie, a roasting chicken, rolls, and dozens of other dishes the women had whipped up in their excitement.

"Isn't this exciting!" Mrs. Simms exclaimed as she pulled a fresh batch of cookies from the oven. "And just in time for Christmas!"

"But don't you find it odd? " Mrs. Perry joined in, stirring a large bowl of potato salad. "Out of the blue she calls and says she's home but offers no explanation of where she's been or what happened."

Mrs. Danvers nodded over her jello molds, "It is odd. But the poor dear, whatever happened, it couldn't have been easy on her. Maybe she just needs time."

From the counter where she was chopping vegetable sticks, Mrs. Garwin broke into the chatter, "I don't care how odd or sudden it is, maybe now my boy will be happy again. Ever since she left, he's been Using and Using and Using. She's the only one that can get through to him before it's too late."

The pain in the concerned mother's voice left a sobering weight on all the women.

"Isn't Reid close to Ascending?" Mrs. Perry's voice was soft and understanding. For their families, having an addiction to the Power was far worse than death, especially after Ascension. Every woman in the room felt Mrs. Garwin's pain at the prospect of Reid not cleaning up his act and getting a hold on his powers.

Mrs. Garwin's eyes gazed out the window at the two cars that just pulled up and watched as Reid stepped out, laughing, followed by Nicole. It had been so long since she'd seen the genuine smile now spread across her son's face. Her voice was low as she replied, "Three days after Christmas. Three weeks away."

The next several hours passed in a blur for everyone. There were lots of hugs, lots of tears shed by the mothers, tons of food shoveled onto plates and laughter filling the Garwin house. No one broached the subject of where Nicole had been and she didn't bring it up. For now, in the warmth of the living room with a fire going and food to go around, it felt like no time at all had passed. They were just five friends, close as ever, having fun on Christmas Holiday.

Before they knew it, it was eight o'clock, the night was quiet as snow fell blanketing the world with its white coat. The mothers had retired to the kitchen to clean up, leaving the Sons and Nicole lounging around the living room. A comfortable silence had fallen on them as they sipped hot cocoa and enjoyed the warm flames of the fire. Nicole was curled up on the easy chair, her legs tucked under her, mug of cocoa in her hands. Tyler was cross-legged on the floor, Pogue stretched out on one sofa, Reid and Caleb slouched on the other.

Finally, Caleb broke the silence with the question they were all thinking, "What happened, Nicole?"

Curious, they all turned to look at her. She kept her gaze on the fire but they could see her jaw working as if the words were there, but her mouth wouldn't open. When her mouth did open, no sound came out, she just closed it again. Reid began to feel again the strange new part of his Power build up inside him. This time with it, he felt the strong urge to protect Nicole. He wanted to reach out to her, hold her, keep her safe, yet he also felt like a part of him was pushing her away. As they waited for Nicole to answer, watched as she seemed to struggle with herself, he knew that whatever this new thing was, it had something to do with her and where she'd been.

"Well?" Pogue prompted, growing impatient.

Suddenly, Nicole was on her feet, hands clenched at her sides, glaring down at Pogue, "I'm trying."

The words came out between clenched teeth and sounded like she had to force the words to leave her tongue. Reid stood and rested a hand on Nicole's shoulder, only to jerk it back again when the same jolt as before surged through him and opened up his Power. Across the room, a nic nac shook on its perch above the fireplace. Reid quickly reigned in on his power and kept the nic nac from crashing to the floor.

"Nicole," He tried again to comfort her but without touching her, "It's ok. We understand it's hard, you don't have to tell us if you aren't ready."

She turned to him, her eyes begging for him to help, to see what she couldn't say. Suddenly, he understood, "You can't say, can you?"

Nicole only glanced down at her right arm. Without saying a word, she rolled up her sleeve and exposed her wrist where an ancient swirling symbol was tattooed onto her skin. The other three leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the tattoo. Tyler was the first to speak.

"It's a spell, isn't it?"

"A Secrecy Spell," Caleb added, recognizing the symbol from one of their many books.

Pogue grunted, "Who would put a secrecy spell on you?"

Reid rolled his eyes, "If she could tell us, it wouldn't be much of a Secrecy Spell, would it?"

"Shut up," Pogue retorted, glaring at Reid.

"Hey," Nicole held her hands up between the two, "Chill out, alright?"

The boys all sat back in their seats, silent again. Caleb broke the silence, "If you have a Secrecy Spell, then we know you've been with someone who knows about the Power and Covenant. I've always wondered if there were other covens out there and I guess this answers that." Nicole nodded, but couldn't answer more than that. "Now whether that coven is hostile or friendly, you can't say." Nicole shook her head. "All that you could tell us was that you flew in from England. Can you say where in England you were?"

Suddenly, Reid perked up, "You can't tell us where you've been, but could you point to it on a map?"

Nicole's eyes lit up, "I could try. I don't know how much their-" Her words suddenly caught in her throat and her sentence fell short.

As Reid moved to the bookcases along the far wall, he was filled with anger. Someone had taken her from him and they'd done something to her, put a spell on her then returned her. There was no telling who they were or what all they did, but he was determined to find them and put an end to them. No one messed with his friends, especially not her, an innocent girl who didn't even have the Power to fight back when faced against magic.

Grabbing the atlas from the shelf, Reid took a deep breath and pushed his anger aside before sitting down and handing the book to Nicole. She flipped straight to the index and ran her finger down the list. When she found what she was looking for, she whipped through the pages and stopped where she wanted. She raised her hand and began to point, but stopped with her finger poised in the air. Her brow crinkled and a frown tilted across her lips.

"I can't," She declared, dropping her hand to her side, "This is as good as I can get."

Caleb reached over and took the book from her. He instantly recognized the chunk of land depicted in the map, "England."

Nicole couldn't respond, so Pogue chimed in, "That makes sense, our ancestors came from England. If there are other covens, they'd be there."

"So some coven in England knows about us," Reid summed up, "Came here four years ago, took Nicole for some unknown reason, kept her all this time and has now decided to return her?"

"Unless they didn't return her," Tyler turned to Nicole, "She could have run away. If they took her in the first place, why would they return her?"

"Maybe they're done with her," Pogue stated.

"I'm sitting right here," Nicole rolled her eyes, "Don't talk about me like I'm not. Just because I can't talk about them-" Again her words fell silent.

Caleb held up his hands to quiet everyone, "Alright, alright, we need to figure this all out. Pogue and I will consult the Book tomorrow to see if we can find a way to break the Secrecy Spell. Reid, Tyler, I think we should assume that whoever took her did not intent for her to return and is therefore after her. You guys keep an eye on her." The guys all nodded, "Nicole, if you think of anything, any way you can communicate or something not bound to silence, let us know. If you see anyone that poses as a threat, point them out." Nicole nodded. Caleb clasped his hands together and glanced at the clock, "Alright, I think we'll call it a night, get an early start tomorrow and get to the bottom of this."

"We have to hurry," Nicole suddenly blurted out, surprising even herself that she was able to say the words. Recovering from the shock, she began again, "They...we have…" When her words failed, she glanced around the room desperately until she spied what she wanted. On the wall, Mrs. Garwin had hung a decorative countdown to Christmas Day. It now proclaimed nineteen days until Christmas. She hurried to it and gestured, the guys followed.

Reid watched carefully as she flipped through the numbers, drawing closer to December 25. A sickening weight formed in his stomach as understanding dawned on him, "They're planning something. We have to figure it out before time runs out."

"When will time run out?" Tyler asked.

Nicole had reached Christmas Day. She pointed to it, then held up three more fingers.

"My birthday," The words were only a whisper as they fell from Reid's mouth.