Chapter 10

"So, have you talked to Reid or Tyler since the end of the semester?"

"No. Why?"

Caleb stood up and began pacing his room, noticing how quick Pogue had answered his question. "I was just wondering. We haven't had need for a meeting recently, and I was expecting at least something from Tyler by now on how his family situation was doing. Have you gotten your grades back yet?"

"Yeah, two days ago. Passed with flying colors."

"Same as usual then. So, you don't know how Reid or Tyler did on theirs?"

"Nothing at all."

Although Pogue had answered Caleb, he sounded aggravated that Caleb had even asked. "Sorry, I was simply wondering." Caleb heard a beeping noise in his ear and rolled his eyes, sitting back on his bed. "Someone's calling me. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

Caleb quickly looked at his screen and saw Reid's name, instead of Sarah's like he had been expecting. "Hello?"

"Caleb, um, hi. Are, are you busy right now?"

"No. Reid, what's up? Why are you calling?"

Caleb listened carefully, afraid to miss anything. Reid's breath was shaky and at the end of the question Caleb thought he caught a pitch of panic. "Um, there's, there's been an accident, I think. I don't know what to make of it. God dammit..."

Caleb stood up, gathering his things. "Reid, where are you? I'm coming over. If I'm to help you I need to know what's happening. Are you with Tyler?"

"Yes, I'm with him." It sounded like Reid was trying to hold back tears. "I'm, I'm not sure where I am. Just outside of, of town. Fuck dude, I don't know what to do with him. Fuck. Fuck."

Caleb felt fairly sure Reid was truly holding back tears with the severe unsteady and thickness in his voice. "Which side of town are you at least on? And, how did you even find him?" Caleb asked, moving quickly around his room grabbing a jacket and keys.

"The, the west side, kind of over by his house. Kelsh and Timber. I don't know what happened. I just knew he was in trouble and where he was. Dude, I don't know how much longer. Oh god, I'm afraid to do anything. God dammt!"

Caleb made it into his Mustang, firing it up and driving towards Reid. "I'm on my way, Reid. Just keep him warm. He's unconscious, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is. And Caleb?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't, don't call Pogue. Tyler didn't say anything besides 'don't call Pogue.' Okay?"

"Ah, yeah, I'll respect that. Can you tell me what you think happened to him?"

"Um, I, I don't know. I may, but, I don't know. I don't. His condition isn't, um, normal. It's not right. But, I don't know. I don't know what to make of it."

"Reid, you're going to have to speak more coherently. Either you know or you don't. What's his condition?"

Reid was silent for a moment before speaking again, Caleb realizing Tyler and Reid were closer to Pouge's house, heading from Tyler's. "Ah, well, he's unconscious. And, and he's beat up. Bad. Like, with marks that look like, like, from the power, and from fists as well. He doesn't look like he should be moved by one person, and I'm not smooth enough with my power to even try getting him into my Jeep."

What? "And you don't have any idea who could have done this?"

"Well, I don't know. That's what I'm confused about. I haven't talked to him in the last few days to know the type of trouble he could have gotten himself into."

"But, who do you think did this? Originally?" Caleb pressed, knowing Reid had some particular idea. He was going to get answers and someone was going to be punished. You don't hurt your family.

"I, I—"

"Reid! I know you have some idea. Now, please, so we can figure it out and deal with Tyler!"

Reid was silent once more, Caleb gripping his steering wheel and shifting in his seat, not meaning to yell at Reid. He was worried, and scared for his friends. Something was going on, had been going on that he didn't know about. Very quietly, Reid said, "At first glance it looked like Tyler's father got to him. I don't know why. Maybe grades, but Tyler didn't even know what he came out with. But, when he mentioned Pogue... There's no way Pogue could've had anything to do with this."

"Jesus Christ. I'm a few minutes away."

"We're pretty obvious. See you soon."

Caleb soon found the streets and turned, his headlights almost instantly landing on Reid's Wrangler, Reid, and Tyler. He quickly pulled over and got out, running over and quickly analyzing the situation. What he saw though made him pause and actually take in what had happened. First, Caleb saw Reid like he never had before; the blonde's hair was messy, like he had been continuously running his hands through it. His eyes were wide, skin pale with red cheeks, shaking bad. Caleb realized that he was wearing a simple long-sleeve shirt, his jacket over Tyler. The blonde had glanced up when Caleb arrived, but had simply returned his gaze onto his best friend. The look was lost and hopeless, confused and angry. I've never seen him in this state of mind before. He...he really cares for Tyler a lot to be this panicked.

"How's he doing?"

"No better than five minutes ago. I'm afraid for the worst." Reid's voice was still strong, but there was a slight chattering of his teeth, as well as a hollow tone to it, more steady now than when he had been talking earlier.

"He'll be fine. But we need to get him warmed up first. How bad is he under the jacket?"

"I'm scared of taking it off of him..."

"Why?"

Reid's mind flashed to how he had first found his brother. "He's...he's not wearing anything warm."

"What? How can that be?"

"It's true." The blonde kept his eyes cast down, but watched Caleb as he bent down next to Tyler.

Caleb lifted the jacket up slightly, but his eyes widened when he saw the beginning of the injuries. "I see why you didn't want to move him."

"Yeah. So. Can you help me out here?" Reid tried his best to not sound snippy with his friend, but he had never been this scared for Tyler before. It took a lot of effort and trust to call Caleb, Reid hoping the leader would, or would not, answer the phone. But, when he could barely make out Tyler's whispers of "Don't call Pogue," he knew he had no choice.

"Yeah," Caleb agreed, pulling Reid back to the present situation. "I see what you mean about us having to be careful. Do you want to put him in your car or mine, and where are we going afterwards?"

Reid simply continued looking at Caleb, watching him form a plan. Reid had a few ideas of how to do this, but he was too upset to create a steady hold. "I'm okay with putting him in your car since your ride is smoother. I would like to take him to my house because that's where he's most comfortable, but I don't know if he needs medical attention or not. I'm not sure how to accurately do a scan with my power, but, if you know how to, then, please do."

Caleb simply looked at him, his eyebrows drawing forward. "How do you know about the physical scan?"

"You really want to have this conversation right now?"

Caleb peered at Reid, then nodded his head once. "We are coming back to this conversation."

Reid stood up stepped back, watching Caleb place his power over Tyler and hold it. Why was it such a surprise that Reid knew about the scan? His father used it on him frequently while he was growing up. It seemed easy enough. Caleb finally breathed out and dropped his hands from Tyler's head, silently sitting there. Before Reid could open his mouth, Caleb said, "He's bad. He's comatose and he has a lot of injuries. Nothing's horribly broken, but there are a few cracked ribs, and various bones that are bruised, as well as whatever you can see physically. He has a mild concussion, but that's not as severe as the rest of his body."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go." Reid went towards Tyler's head, crouching down. He glanced back at Caleb, seeing that the teen was just staring at him.

Caleb stood up and moved to Tyler's feet, shaking his head. "Careful now. Guide your power underneath him and lift. You need to stay focused. Now...lift." they took a steady step, slowly moving Tyler towards the warm car. Reid was having a harder time keeping his bars steady and carrying Tyler's weight than Caleb was, causing Caleb to shift his power. "Reid, you have to stay steady. Snap out of it."

Reid tried to turn his focus back to his power, but his emotions were stirring into a rampage. He allowed his power to come forth a little more and they were able to quickly carry Tyler over and gently place him into the car, using the bars until Tyler was settled in the front with the seat laid back as far as possible, the seat warmer on low.

"How many times have you driven us when we were injured?" Reid asked, trapping the sweet oil of the power back in its jar.

"I don't want to even begin counting. Too many times. It's odd how comfortable I'm becoming with this. It's almost like I expect it to happen once every few months."

Reid's stomach dropped, remembering one of the last times he had ridden in Caleb's car a year and a half previous. Reid's uncle had broken Reid's thigh bone and Reid ran, calling Tyler, who in turn called Pogue and Caleb. They had all met up, coming to get Reid. He was delirious with pain and his uncle was laughing over him and Reid had futilely shot bits of power at him. He didn't remember most of the ride but they had stories for him when he woke up.

As Caleb shut the back door to his Mustang, Reid snapped out of his thoughts and rushed towards his Wrangler. He didn't say anything as he got in the Jeep, using the manual to distract him. Tearing out of the area, he went towards the road, and took in a deep breath. This was going to be an interesting New Year.

Caleb was able to keep up with him on the drive, Reid glad that the roads weren't all too bumpy. In decent time they were pulling up his driveway, Reid having to stabilize his feelings again before getting out of the Jeep. When he was ready, they were able to quickly get Tyler out of the car and into the house. Unless Reid's parents had heard about what happened at Tyler's house, Reid figured it'd be late enough in the evening for his parents to be asleep. Finally, they were setting the fragile boy on the futon, Reid kicking excess clothes out of the way afterwards.

"How is your floor capable of being covered with so many clothes?"

"Because I'm a natural guy, unlike some of us Caleb."

Reid smirked briefly before looking back at Tyler, lying on the futon, his form simply limp and asleep. "We should change Tyler into something warmer, if you'd care to look through your mess and find something," Caleb responded.

Reid nodded and searched in his closet, finding some sweats from swimming and a fresh long sleeve shirt. Reid went back and saw Caleb using the power to cut the clothes off, Reid staring at the dark marks beginning to appear on Tyler's body. Carefully they pulled the dry clothes onto Tyler and covered him with two comforters, knowing that was a good start.

They quietly went towards the wooden stairs and towards the front door, Caleb pausing and turning around, his gaze slowly making its way around the room. "Is it hard for you to come back here?"

Reid shrugged, wondering why Caleb was bringing that all up now. Back then, their friendship had almost fallen apart, but once everyone found out about his uncle, Caleb and Pogue had kind of changed how they acted towards Reid's aggression. Of course, their friendship hadn't gotten any better since then either. "It depends on the time of year I guess. I just know how to not let it bother me I suppose. Is it ever hard to go to the colony house?"

Caleb stared at Reid for a second, before a small grin formed. He dropped his head and shook it, grabbing the front door one more time. "I guess I don't let it bother me either. How bad do you think he's going to be when he wakes up?"

Reid let out his sigh. "I honestly don't know. He's going to be unstable as hell, and there's not going to be a lot I can do. I'm just gonna have to fight everything with him. It'll get better."

Caleb nodded, turning the door handle to pull it open. "Okay. Now, you need to inform me how you know of the scanner spell."

Oh yeah. "My dad would do them to me when I'd come home from the summer break and stuff. Make sure my wrapped-up wrist or leg wasn't bad enough. He always said one day he'd teach me but he hasn't. Why? What so special about it?"

Caleb sighed, regarding Reid heavily. "It's something only our fathers can teach us. Once a generation is skipped its hard to relearn. But I guess you can say it's painful. You take the others pain and grief and apply it to yourself to truly understand what the condition is. From there you can finalize an answer to what needs to be done.

"So to truly understand where Tyler was, you felt his body?"

Caleb thought for a second. "Yeah."

That was intense then. For Caleb to know that... "All right, well I'll keep a close eye on him tonight, and I'll have my dad check him tomorrow. Good to know though. About the spell. Caleb?" Caleb turned around and paused, Reid taking in a sharp breath and making this quick. "Thanks for coming and helping me out. Tyler probably would've died tonight if you hadn't come. I'm sorry about all the things that you had to go through with your father, but, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

Caleb chuckled. "Why can we only get along with each other when one us is about to die?"

Reid shrugged. "Maybe it's because that we'll be there for each other through and through, no matter what the condition or occasion. We may become separated from each other, but we're always there for help."

Caleb just looked at Reid, astounded at what Reid just said. Reid seemed to realize what he had just said and shook his head. "All right dude, have a good night. You never heard me speak any of that."

"Whatever you say. Good night."

Reid shut the front door behind Caleb and locked it, then rushed back up the stairs to check on Tyler. From the doorway he saw the brunette simply sleeping, lying stone still. Sighing, he got ready for bed, attempting to clean up his room in the process. He didn't know how long Tyler was going to be like this, but he hoped his father would be able to figure something out in the morning. Maybe Tyler would just sleep for two days straight, wake up, and simply just be depressed. Of course I know that's not going to happen. If I'm lucky, he'll wake up in at least two days. Any longer than that and he may have to go to the hospital.

When he was ready for bed, he grabbed his thermometer and took Tyler's temperature, hoping it wasn't too low. Relieved when it rose above ninety-eight, he tossed it on his nightstand and turned off the light, hoping to fall into a deep sleep. Tossing and turning though, he couldn't help but drag himself back into the conversation that he and Caleb just had. For Caleb to know the scan already so well, he had to have been taught it at a young age. With the sacrificial passing of his father not too long ago, Caleb had to have been taught well before then. Maybe when his father first was being worn down by the power? He was always getting medicine for the man, always making trips out to the Colony House to relieve Gorman for a little while... So how long has this been going on? Months? Maybe the last few years? Shit...

But that also means that dad knew about the extra injuries. Reid opened his eyes wide, glancing towards the left of his bedroom towards the direction of his parents. Did dad know I was lying? Did he know what uncle was doing to me? Why wouldn't he say anything? What is so wrecked about this family? "Fucking Christ what's wrong with all of us?" Reid glanced back at Tyler and sighed. He felt like he needed to apologize to Caleb for being such an asshole to him. For Caleb to be preforming that spell on his own father, he knew exactly how much time the man had left, in comparison to Reid's stupid little outbursts because his uncle liked to toss him around a bit. And then some.

Two very different worlds. Two very different outcomes. Hells about to freeze over. Here's to hoping Tyler can sleep tonight. "You got this, man. Come on Tyler, you can pull out of this. You're warmed back up, you're in a comfortable environment, and you're safe here. I'm here for you. Promise."

Yay it's finally done! Sorry i've been sitting on it for awhile... I reorganized a lot of the chapter to make it more realistic. Hopefully it's smooth enough. Did a lot of deleting but now i think it's longer than before. sweet. moving on. computer's about to die. i hope people enjoy. the next one will hopefully be up soon :D enjoy!