Authors Note: Hey there, FINALLY finished this chapter. Let me tell you it was a bit of work! Had to bribe myself with a snickers bar at one point, but hey – I persevered, and I am relatively happy with how it turned out.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks heaps and heaps to those people who have already reviewed, I really appreciate your comments, especially those that make me think ;)

Chapter 7 : Chases, human and otherwise – Part B

We piled into the car, with Reid jumping into the driver's seat after a brief tussle with Tyler (apparently the fact that it was Tyler's car was overridden by Reid's superior driving skills). Kate was on Pogue's lap and I was in the middle between Caleb and Pogue. Reid took off just as the first police car came into view, and it quickly became obvious that we were being followed.
"Oh shit, they're right behind us!" Tyler yelled, Reid just clenched his fists tighter around the steering wheel and pushed for more speed.
"We probably should pull over" Caleb announced reluctantly.
"No!" I almost yelled, panicked. "We can't" Pogue backed me up
"I don't think Harvard likes a police record." Significant looks were passed between all the boys.
"Do you trust me Jade?" Caleb asked, focusing intently on my face. I nodded stiffly, suddenly really worried. I wasn't exactly comfortable with the whole speeding-car-police-chase thing, being as how I was mostly terrified of being in a crash again, but I did trust him. I just didn't know what to make of this latest turn of events.
"Reid, cut across the cliffs." He instructed. "Jade, Kate, please can you close your eyes?" he asked, those gorgeous eyes boring into mine.

"Pogue I don't understand, why do we have to close our eyes?" Kate asked, quite reasonably. Pogue leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.
"Please Kate, for me. I'll explain everything later." He implored. She nodded and buried her head in his chest, his arms encircling her and holding her firmly. I blinked, now sure something big was up. Caleb took my hand in his and squeezed it, and there was something there in his gaze that made me trust him with this. I nodded again and closed my eyes, hating the vulnerability created by losing my sight.
"Come here" Caleb whispered into my ear and pulled me forward until I was curled into his body, his arms holding me strongly yet carefully. I felt much better for it, gaining security in the warmth and musky smell that was Caleb.
"It will be ok" He whispered as I felt a light touch on the top of my head. Did he just kiss me?

I had to fight to keep my head down and eyes closed when a car horn started beeping frantically behind us.
"Are you guys ready?" Reid asked and I felt a strange tenseness overcome Caleb. I could hear his heart beat speed up from where my head was pressed to his chest. There was a jolt and it felt for a second as if the whole car was falling, before it seemed to level out. About 10 seconds later there was a jarring bump as the car seemed to drop onto all four wheels abruptly. Reid and Tyler hollered triumphantly and the car reversed jerkily before taking off forward again. What had just happened?

"Girls, it's ok, you can look up now" Caleb instructed gently. I blearily looked up, not really knowing what to expect, and only seeing a normal deserted road with trees whipping past. There was no sign of the police anywhere.
"What happened?" Kate asked.
"We got away" Reid exclaimed. His voice was filled with heady excitement, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
Me and Kate shared a worried look.
"How did we get away?" I asked shakily, clinging to Caleb's hand.
"Magic" Reid exclaimed flippantly. I gave a half hearted chuckle, catching a scalding look that Caleb shot at Reid.
"Pull over at the truck stop up ahead" Caleb instructed, receiving a surly nod from Reid in response.

When Reid parked the hummer we all piled out and walked over to a nearby picnic table.
"OK guys, what's the big deal?" Kate asked, looking scared "You're making me worried with all this secrecy" I nodded in support.
"We're witches" Pogue blurted, while Caleb shot him a "nice going dumb ass" look.
But no one corrected him, they all just seemed to sit back and wait for our response.
"Witches?" I asked, trying to think beyond the hugely clichéd image of Caleb in a black pointy hat with a slender black cat my mind kept throwing up.
Caleb decided to explain further.
"We are the descendants of the five families of witches who escaped the witch trials to come and settle in Ipswitch" Caleb explained
"The Sons of Ipswitch" Kate whispered.
"Yeah. Our families have always been different. The eldest male in every line can do things… make things happen" Caleb struggled to explain.
"Watch" Pogue sated dryly. A ring of fire flickered in his eyes before they went completely black and the rubbish bin a couple of metres away raised off the ground.
"Whoa" Kate whispered, staring at her boyfriend of several years like she had never seen him before. I had to admit this would be so much harder for her, having been in the middle of it for years, and apparently never suspecting anything.
"This makes sense" she exclaimed.

Or maybe she did suspect something.

"So you can all do the thing with the eyes and the lifting?" I asked, oh so eloquently.
Tyler took his turn
"Yeah, there's all sorts of things we can do. The eyes is what happens when we "use" " he explained.
"But we can't just do whatever we want. It's addictive, and when we use it uses up our energy, our life" Caleb said almost scoldingly.
"When we ascend yeah, but that's not until we turn 18!" Reid enthused "Until then we can have a little fun" his eyes flamed to black and I felt my hair tie be tugged out of my hair by unseen hands, with my freed hair being blown every which way.
"Reid!" Caleb scolded. I put my hand up and caught my hair.
"Very funny Reid" I stated sarcastically, and put my hand out.
"Where's my hair tie?" I asked. He shrugged and I sighed, lunging forward and snagging his hat for the second time that night.
"Fine then. This'll do" I stated smugly, pulling the hat over my tragically messy hair.
Tyler laughed at Reid's hat hair and the tension was broken. The two tussled over the keys for the hummer while Kate and Pogue had slipped off to the side and chatted to each other softly.

Caleb stepped closer.
"Are you ok?" He asked me quietly. I took a second to think. Was I ok with the fact that I had just found out witches were real, male and gorgeous?
"Yeah, I think so" I replied as honestly as I could. "It's quite a bit to take in" I saw Pogue pull Kate into his arms out of the corner of my eye and kiss her passionately.
"How have you kept it all from Kate for so long?" I asked, genuinely curious.
Caleb shrugged.
"Not to be hugely dramatic or anything, but we kinda thought our lives might depend keeping quiet" he explained. I nodded thoughtfully.
"Then why now?" I asked "You guys could have just pulled over – no offence but it wouldn't have been the first time a rich kid bought his way out of a ticket"
Caleb looked a bit sheepish
"I know. But you wouldn't have been able to would you?" he asked.
I shook my head
"Nope. I would have been screwed" I confirmed. He caught me again in and honest stare
"I couldn't do that to you" he explained. "But now, you know. So…." He trailed off, obviously looking for the right words.
"So you're relying on me to not screw you" I filled in, only realizing how it sounded AFTER it had left my mouth.

"I don't know about Caleb here, but I don't want to rule out anything that involves screwing" Reid drawled, quickly coming over from where her had been goofing off with Tyler and slinging an arm around my neck. And here I had thought they were out of earshot.
"Don't be an ass Reid!" Tyler reprimanded. Such a gentleman was he! I just glared at Reid and picked his arm up off my shoulders
"So not going to happen Reid" I stated simply.

And with that the tension which had been hovering over us was dispelled and we all piled back into the Hummer and headed back to campus.