Chapter Seven

Problems Before It's Begun

The gang had gathered at Bridgette's house, all squeezing into what had been Courtney's bedroom for the past few weeks. Now she was packing the last of her belongings away in her suitcase, the rest had already been taken away by Duncan to her father's house. The brunette was trying to do a quick job of packing, eager to live with her father again, but she was getting distracted by Taylor's constant staring. In the end she gave up and turned to face the vampire, "Taylor, you're freaking me out. Stop staring!"

"Sorry, I can't help it," Taylor answered, blinking a few times before turning her head to the floor where she was sitting. Courtney didn't return to packing, she was worried about her friend. Though the two weren't close, Courtney didn't want to see Taylor so upset.

"You've been giving me that look ever since this morning, ever since you had that vision." Everyone's heads turned to look at Taylor in perfect unison. Taylor hadn't mentioned it to any of them.

"You had a vision?" Duncan asked. Taylor nodded her head, not looking up. Taylor always told someone about her visions, but this one was tight-lipped. It was suspicious behaviour for the loud-mouth, so everyone knew something was up.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" She whispered, almost in tears as she thought back to what she had seen. She didn't want to be pressured into admitting it, hoping that if she forgot about it it wouldn't come true.

"Not okay!" Gwen replied. She had known Taylor for a long time, but she had never seen her like this before. "What did you see?" The goth girl questioned, jumping from her space on the bed onto the floor by Taylor.

Everyone waited in silence for Taylor to say something, but she didn't. Not for a long time, at least. She was deep in thought about the consequences of telling everyone about her vision. They would try to change the future, they would hide Courtney away, but Taylor knew it wouldn't work. Her vision almost always come true, even in ways you don't expect them to. Just because they kept Courtney out of harms way now doesn't mean it wouldn't happen later.

"I can't say," Taylor mumbled, her hand pressed firmly to her mouth. "And I mean it this time..." She trailed off a bit, but continued speaking after a moment. "When it comes, it'll happen." The young vampire wiped her eyes free of the tears. "No matter how much we don't want it to."

Geoff, who was now sat on the opposite side of Taylor to Gwen wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. "It would help if we knew what it was," he told her.

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Taylor yelled, shrugging Geoff's arm away and moving to the other side of the room, away from everyone.

What Taylor had seen wasn't something she was going to forget in a hurry. It was going to haunt her until the day came, but then the day was going to haunt her from then on. There was no escaping the fate, and for once in her life, Taylor wished she couldn't see the future.

"You don't have to tell us," Bridgette comforted. She, unlike everyone else, understood that Taylor was hurting over this particular vision. She had never had a particularly scary vision like this before. All of her visions had been trivial up until now, but suddenly Taylor felt as if things were going to change from now on and her visions were only going to get harder to look at.

"We just want to help," Trent told her. Taylor ignored their comments, nothing anyone could say would make it better.

"My visions come true 99% of the time," she explained, closing her eyes and letting the tears fall. "I really want this to be the 1%, but it's very unlikely. It's...it's too real to be the 1%."

"What if it's like the last vision you had about me?" Courtney inquired, thinking back to when Taylor had predicted that she would become a Tracker over a year ago now. "It can be undone."

Taylor shook her head. "Not unless you know someone who can perform miracles," she said, wiping her eyes. They were turning puffy from all the crying, her body wasn't used to it. Taylor was tough as nails as far as everyone was concerned, whatever this was definitely had her spooked.

"Was it taken out of context? Could you have the wrong idea about it?" Geoff tried to push Taylor for a few more answers. She was talking a little, and he would take everything he could.

"Very unlikely."

"How bad can it be?" Duncan shrugged, not as interested as the others. He thought she was just being overdramatic.

Taylor's eyes shot open and narrowed at her cousin. "How bad can it be?" She repeated, her words turning venomous. Before anyone could even blink, Taylor was sitting on the bed between Duncan and the suitcase, her hands on his shoulders, staring deeply into his eyes. "If that vision had carried on for one more second, I would have seen you crying, Duncan. That's how bad it can be."

"Then it's pretty serious," Gwen said, pulling her fellow vampire's apart. Everyone else was in stunned silence. Duncan crying? It seemed like an impossible thought. Duncan was older than time itself, he had seen everything there was to see, nothing was new to him anymore.

Taylor kept an eye on her cousin who looked more confused than ever. She moved back to where she had been previously, away from the others She wanted to be away from everyone, but they would never let her leave now.

"What would make Duncan cry?" Bridgette wondered out loud, her fingers toying with the end of her ponytail.

"I don't cry," the punk told her. Duncan hadn't cried in the longest of time, he couldn't even remember the last time he had.

"We know it has something to do with Courtney," Trent stated. "Do they break up again?"

Taylor gave the slightest of smiles. "If only that was it easy." Her face grew gloomy once again as she retreated back inside her brin, thinking over what the future was going to bring for them. The war was only days away and they all knew they were under prepared, but they were all going to fight with everything they had. They wanted to prove to the Tracker's that they didn't control them, once and for all.

"Are you still on team Tracker and planning to break Duncan's heart on the battle field when you team up with them to kill all the people in Scarlatina you befriended but haven't really?" Courtney hadn't even processed the words before she found herself pinned to the wall by a crazy redhead.

"N-No?"

"You don't sound so sure of that?" The crazed girl insisted, poking Courtney in the gut with a sharp finger.

"Izzy, how did you get in here? I thought I locked the window?" Bridgette asked, trying to pry Izzy away from her best friend.

"You did," was all Izzy replied. "So, tell us the truth, Courtney?"

"Izzy, I am not a spy for the Trackers. I do not plan on breaking Duncan's heart or joining up with the Trackers on the battle field or killing anyone in Scarlatina." Courtney was starting to panic. Who knew what the crazy girl was capable of?

The nutcase took a step back from Courtney, nodding her head once and leaving the bedroom through the door. The brunette wondered if she would ever understand that girl.

"It's not like you meant to do it anyway, it's just one of those things." Taylor spoke as if she hadn't just see the scene that had happened.

"Did Courtney actually do it, or is she just the victim like Duncan?" Geoff asked, yet again trying to get more information out of Taylor.

"I'm not sure of what actually happened because I didn't see a lot of it. But...but, I think it was a Tracker." Everyone, once again, turned to face Taylor in unison. They knew they were in big trouble now.

Courtney was curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on the caps. Tears were running down her cheeks and in her hand was a white sheet of paper. The sorcerer was sobbing quietly to herself when Nigel entered the room.

"Courtney?" Nigel spotted his daughter on the sofa, and then he noticed the letter in her hand. "Would you stop reading that if it's only going to upset you," he told her, a serious look on his face. Nigel wasn't serious about a lot of things, but he never wanted to see his daughter hurting like this.

"I'm not upset," the girl lied, wiping away her tears and folding the letter up. "I'm going out." Before Nigel could protest, Courtney was out the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry I-"

"Where you off to in such a rush, Princess?" Duncan asked. In her attempt to escape her father, Courtney had run straight into her boyfriend, who had been on his way to see her.

"Uh...Nowhere!" She quickly replied. "See you later." Courtney gave Duncan a quick peck on the lips before speeding off again towards the main gates.

The very confused vampire turned to face Nigel, who was standing in the doorway. He simply shrugged. "She's gets weirder everyday."

Bridgette and Izzy were lingering around outside the Scarlatina gates, catching up on fight plans. Courtney came speed walking towards them and didn't look like she was going to stop.

"Hey, Court, where you off to?" Bridgette asked, spotting her friend.

"Uh...just for a walk," Courtney told her.

"I could go for a walk," Izzy said, jumping to her feet in her usual energetic way.

"Yeah, not that kind of walk." Courtney swung open the gate and started running away from her home town.

"Courtney...UGH!" Bridgette called after her friend, but she was already gone. Something was up.

The train station in the city center was at least half the size of Scarlatina. It was shabby and old, and the trains still ran on coal, but it got you where you needed to go. It wasn't crowded like Courtney had expected, but she was glad to have almost complete privacy. She was sat on a bench beside one of the few tracks. The train she wanted to catch was only a few minutes away and she couldn't wait to get on it.

"Not long now, "she told herself, needing some reassuring words. "As long as you don't get caught you can stay for as long as you like." When a few passers by started giving her strange looks for talking to herself, she switched to her thoughts instead.

'Why is this so difficult? Why couldn't I be an ordinary girl and do all this without the hassle?' The brunette whined internally. She was starting tp panic. 'What if I do get caught? I MIGHT DIE! Maybe this is a bad idea...'

"It's not a bad idea- a stupid one, but not bad." Courtney, wide eyed, turned to the person who had now occupied the seat on the bench beside her.

"Gwen!" She squeaked "I was just..." But, Courtney couldn't think of anymore lies. She didn't like lying to everyone, but somehow she didn't think they would support her crazy decision.

"Going to visit your mothers grave?" Gwen finished for her, "I know." If it was a year earlier, Courtney would have been shocked, but now she had become more aware of everyone's powers, as well as her own. Gwen could still read minds.

"Been spying on me?" Courtney inquired.

"Everyone's worried about you, that's all. You went AWOL this morning and you have been acting funny for a while," Gwen told her. The thing about their relationship was that they were bluntly honest with each other. It was true, though. Courtney had been acting funny all week. Her birthday was coming up, a few days after the war was scheduled to start. Courtney didn't know how long wars went on for, but she hoped it wasn't as long as the hundred year war.

But that wasn't what was bothering Courtney. What bothered her was that three weeks and two days after her birthday was the anniversary of her mothers death. Usually it passed by with Nigel taking a day to himself and Courtney staying well out of his way. She had never cared for her mothers death before, as far as she was concerned it had happened before she was old enough to know what was going on. She had always felt bad about not feeling the pain of losing a mother.

This year was different, however. After being at the Academy Courtney had learnt a great deal about her mother. She felt more connected now, not by much, but enough to feel differently.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," the sorcerer apologized. "I thought you'd try to stop me, but I want to go. I've only been once and that was when I was at the Academy, so it wasn't difficult."

"I wouldn't try to stop you," the goth said. "I used to visit my parents graves all the time. I know how you feel."

"Your parents are dead?" Courtney asked, a little shocked at the fact they were. She didn't know a lot of her friends parents, and those who she didn't never really spoke about their family. Courtney never brought it up, no one did.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "They weren't vampires, just ordinary humans. But they died a few centuries ago now, so I stopped going after a few years." The price of living forever wasn't lost on Courtney. She didn't know if she could handle watching her father die, her best friend die, everything she knew now would change when she would not.

They were silent for a while, both stuck in thought. The train was running late, Courtney noted.

"Do you miss your mom?" Gwen finally asked.

"I never knew her," she replied honestly. "She died when I was three weeks old, she didn't even get to name me. How can you miss someone you don't know?"

Gwen thought for a moment. She unsure whether to raise the topic with Courtney, she had never told anyone before. But now felt good, like the right time to get it off her chest.

"I never knew my father," she told her. "He died before I was born, but I still miss him." Courtney was silent for a moment too long. She hadn't expected Gwen-of all people-to understand how she felt. "He was a sailor back in the 1800's. Lost at sea. My mother never fully recovered after his death."

Courtney nodded. Though she didn't think that their situations were quite the same, Gwen sounded more forlorn over her mothers inability to heal. Courtney knew that her father hadn't gotten over her mothers death, and probably never would, but he was able to go about with his life.

"I guess-" Courtney paused, biting on her lip. "I guess I miss my mom a little bit. But she was Tracker, anyway..."Courtney quietened her voice down at the mention of her mothers past, just in case anyone around was listening.

"So?" Gwen said. "She was still your mother, Tracker or not. You were a Tracker not that long ago, and we'd all still miss you if you died."

The steam engine pulled up in front of the two girls, but they just looked up a it. Courtney's eyes felt heavy the longer she looked at it and her brain was doing all sorts as it tried to sort through the jumble mess she called her thoughts.

"Are you going?"

Slightly hesitant, Courtney nodded. She turned to Gwen, knowing she was the only person she'd want to do this with. "Come with me," she asked. Gwen nodded her reply and the two ran to find an empty carriage.

Night was starting to draw in and the sun was going down over Scarlatina. Courtney and Gwen found their way through the gates and started heading towards the Black house in comfortable silence. Unfortunately, to get there, they had to pass the fountain where they found their friends waiting.

"And where exactly have you two been?" Duncan asked in a fatherly tone. Gwen rolled her eyes and Courtney chewed her lip. Seeing how nervous Courtney was, Gwen shot Duncan a glare. He knew not to push, and so did everyone else.

Before they had to explain themselves, the man from the gate showed up behind them, "I have a letter here for Courtney Black." He squinted a little bit, trying to read the writing some more. "Yeah, Courtney Black."

"Thank you," Courtney smiled, receiving the letter from the man. He gave her a nod of his head and walked away, going back to his post. Courtney stared down at the letter in her hand, her face blank as she read the return address. "Heather..."

"What did she say now?" Gwen asked, leaning forward to get a better view of Courtney. The brunette only shook her head, thrusting her hand out.

"I'm not reading it."

Geoff pushed her hand back to her. "Your letter, read it."

"Someone?" Courtney looked around hopefully. "Anyone?" But no one spoke up.

"Give it here." Duncan stole the letter from his girlfriend, tearing it open with his finger nail. "Dear Duncan."

"She knew I wouldn't open it after the last one," Courtney whispered shock, and slightly impressed.

"I am pleased to inform you that you and your friends are going to army has come together and they know their orders to kill every last one of you pathetic freaks. Except for Courtney, that bitch is mine. I can't wait to meet you on the battle field, yours sincerely, Heather George." Duncan crushed the white paper in his bare hands and dropped it to the floor in anger, stomping it out as if it had caught fire.

"Well, that wasn't very nice., Lindsay said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Since when has Heather been nice?" Gwen pointed out.

"She's gonna kill us! We're all gonna die!" Ellie shouted out, being the drama queen she was. Geoff wrapped one arm around his baby sister, trying to get her to calm down a bit.

"Ellie, we are not going to die. You can't think like that, she wont kill us!"

"She's all mouth, no action," Leah spat, disgusted that Heather would even bother to send a letter like that.

"But what if she does?" Bridgette asked, worried for her friends and herself. This was a war, a real live action war. People were going to get hurt.

Taylor jumped to her feet on the fountains edge. "THEN WE DIE A HERO, FIGHTING FOR THE FREEDOM WE ALL WANT!" She shouted out to her friends, trying her best to not look at Courtney.

"Easy for you to say, YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD!" Trent yelled back.

"So what if I am?" Taylor asked, throwing her hands in the air. "I will still fight, I will still defend!" She thrusted her fist as if fighting with a sword.

"Just because we're dead it doesn't mean we can't get seriously hurt," Gwen told Trent, backing up Taylor. Trent knew that his girlfriend and other undead friends could easily get hurt, but they couldn't actually die. There was very few ways to kill a vampire, and so far the Tracker's hadn't come up with one- or so he hoped.

"Yeah, but you guys can't die like us!" Ellie shouted, and a huge argument erupted between everyone. They all debated if Vampire's should be the only ones to fight or not, because everyone else was at serious risk of death. The truth of the situation was only sinking in now.

"Courtney, what's wrong?" Bridgette asked, noticing her best friends quietness. No one else stopped arguing.

"What if one of us does die? It'll be all my fault! I caused this! The only reason this is happening is because I left the Academy!" Courtney was getting very upset and Geoff could see it in her eyes- she was the most scared out of everyone. The leader jumped up beside Taylor on the fountain and whistled as loud as he could. The noise rang out, covering every inch of Scarlatina. But, it did get everyone to shut up.

"Everyone stop saying we're gonna die! We won't die, we'll win the fight! This war is ours to own!"

A/N: Almost ending now...

There may be a bit more of a gap between RL and TFIO because I haven't had time to write TFIO yet because of NaNo...Hope that is okay with you...Then again, we still have four weeks until I would upload the first chapter, so we'll see how things go, huh?

Thank you to Sadie Loves DxC, zebraprintlver101 and AHRedDeath for the amazing reviews!

Thanks for all the congratulations on NaNo, and I should probably state, after the last AN, that I am of legal age to drink, and this is my first time consuming any alcohol since June so...I was in good reason! XD

Thanks for reading, please review :)

Love, ChleRhiannonX