CHAPTER 9

I was at Marblehead with Reid. He fetched me from the change rooms after him and Tyler both saw what had gone down with Kira during the race. When he asked if I was okay, I forgot that I wasn't talking to him and just threw my hands around him. The hug felt warm after the swim and the terrifying event that had just played out. Reid said he needed to tell me something important.

"What's going on," I asked. I could see that he was battling with something. It was a side I had never seen, since Reid never had trouble speaking his mind.

"This is extremely hard. And it's not my place. But I can't lie to you," he said while shaking his head.

Okay, I was now officially worried as to what could be so bad.

"Well, this is the perfect place to break the news and if I don't like it, I'll just push you off the cliff," I said, trying to lighten the mood but he remained serious.

He was standing several feet away and I took a few steps forward which resulted in him moving further away. I remained silent and he spoke….

"Last September, a new student enrolled at Spencer. His name was Chase Collins."

I recalled hearing the name before but opted to hear Reid out instead of interrupting. When he saw that I wasn't going to say anything, he carried on…..

"At first he seemed like a cool kid, you know? But then we found out that his birth name was Chase Goodwin Pope. He was adopted."

Chase! Pogue had used the name that night at Nicky's when he and Kate had gotten into an argument.

"Caley, Chase was a Son of Ipswich," Reid dropped the bomb to snap me out of my reverie.

"What?" I asked dubiously.

"The fifth bloodline didn't end during The Witch Trials. Chase was one of us. The Book of Damnation explains it. John Putnam went to Agnes Pope as an incubus thus continuing the bloodline when she gave birth to a baby boy a few months after. Chase was a descendent of that line."

"So where is Chase now?" I asked.

"When he came to Ipswich, he knew about us so he tried to get Caleb to will him his Power after ascending. There was a battle in the Old Putnam Barn and Chase died. But after what Tyler and I saw today, we're starting to think that maybe Chase is still alive. Only the Sons of Ipswich could pull off a spell like that and none of us did it. Did you?"

"What? No! Of course not! I can't even use The Power properly."

"So it's gotta be Chase."

"Okay. This is too much," I drew in air to clear the buzzing feeling in my head. As far as I knew so far, the willing away of Power meant dying.

"There's more. Chase already had his father's share of Power so he was much stronger."

"Yeah but there was 4 of you," I argued.

"Caleb didn't use our help. Pogue was in hospital after a bike accident caused by Chase and Tyler and I were assigned to watch Sarah."

"So then how did Caleb defeat him?" I could sense that Reid was trying to break things down for me so I wouldn't freak out.

"Here's the difficult part. Caleb ascended but even that wasn't enough so your mom went to your dad and asked him to will away his Power to…." Reid fell silent.

The tears had already started to roll out of my eyes at the mention of Reid's words. So this was what they were keeping from me. My father was dead. He had willed away his life to help my brother. Reid took me in his arms and I didn't push him away because I needed someone to hold me. I needed someone to take away the empty feeling I had within. It had been months, three months to be exact and Caleb hadn't thought that Grandma would want to know that her only son had died? That I'd want to know that my father had died? My sobs got louder and the tears streamed down my cheeks. Reid tightened his arms around me and I wrapped mine around him.

I stayed quiet the whole ride home. I could feel Reid watching me. I wasn't angry with him because I knew how terrible he must have felt, it wasn't easy telling someone that their father was dead. Caleb and my mom should be the ones I directed my anger and pain towards. My mother always said how much she hoped that Caleb wouldn't turn out to be just like my father and she had gotten her wish; instead he was just like her.

Reid pulled into the driveway and got out. I knew there would be drama if Caleb or my mom saw him.

"I'm good from here," I said

He lifted his phone up, "Got a text from Tyler, said I should meet him here."

I just nodded and walked on. I could hear loud talking coming from inside and from the sound I guessed that both Caleb and Pogue had made it into The State Finals. I entered the lounge to find them all seated and looking at me with wide smiles plastered on their faces. Although only the Sons of Ipswich and my mom were present, I felt like I needed to wait until the boys left to have my outburst.

"What?" I asked in my annoyed tone.

"State Finals, third time, baby," a tipsy Pogue shouted and I heard Reid laugh behind me.

The smiles on their faces made me sick. I couldn't take it anymore and I blurted out, "I hope the funeral went well. Did you mention me on the tombstone? 'Will be sadly missed by loving wife, son and daughter,'"

The smiles disappeared from their faces and Pogue looked almost sober. Caleb stood up and I knew what was coming. I positioned myself in front of Reid so that Caleb couldn't attack him.

"You did this!" he scowled, "I told you to stay away from her!"

"Caleb! Stop acting like you're trying to protect everyone when you lie to them!" I screamed.

"I was going to tell you. I just needed time to explain it. I am now the man of this family! Do you think it's easy? I wouldn't expect Reid to understand, he's never been responsible in his entire life."

"That's bull shit! This isn't about you or me or responsibility! It's about Caley and I care too much to keep her in the dark!" Reid spat.

I could feel his anger radiating like heat from his body. Everyone else remained silent.

"I want you to leave before I kill you with my bare hands," Caleb said to Reid.

"Then I'm going with him," I added.

I turned around to find Reid walking away so I followed him.

"Caley!" it was the first word my mother had spoken through the whole show down. I didn't turn around, I just walked on. I pulled on the door handle but it didn't budge. I could already hear Reid revving up the engine of the Hummer. I tried the door again. Why was he doing this to me? I started to cry while tugging on the door handle.

"Caley, dear. Come away from the door," my mother said.

I looked in her direction and saw it. Caleb's eyes. They were pitch black.

"Stop it! Open the door!" I shouted. I couldn't believe the audacity he had to use his Power against me. I heard Reid take off screeching and the door finally gave in to my demands and swung open. I ran outside and fell to my knees, I was abandoned.

I spent a lot of time sitting in the dark nowadays, maybe because it helped me think and clear my head. I had been getting into arguments all the time, either with my mother or with Caleb. It was a ridiculous way to live but I couldn't pretend like I was okay with their decision to keep my father's death from me. Initially, when my dad had fallen ill from abusing his Power- which lead to excessive aging- we told the town and everyone who knew him that he had died from a heart attack. We then sent him to live with our trusted care- taker Gorman Twoberry in our ancestral property.

It would take time to get over his death, I knew that. It just hurt a lot since I hadn't seen him in 2 years. Part of me told myself that he was already dead to me but the other part said different. I told myself, I could move on from this, in time it will get better.

I checked my phone again but no new texts or calls. I didn't blame Reid, if someone had threatened me, I'd probably stay away too. I thought about sending him a message saying that I was thankful for everything, and then thought better. Taking a break from Reid right now seemed like the best option.

This whole debacle was messed up. Suddenly it dawned on me, Chase, he was the one in my bedroom disguised as Caleb and the one at the pool during P.E and today at the swim- off. He was after me, my Power. He probably thought I was the weakest since I was a girl. Well he was in for a shock, I was everything but weak.

I looked at my phone, 00h43, I started to make a mental note of all the problems I had to deal with:

1. My father's death

2. Caleb's betrayal

3. Chase's return

4. Reid

5. My speech that was due tomorrow and not complete!

I headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. I just passed the threshold when I saw my mom sitting at the counter. I tried to quietly but quickly turn around and go.

"Caley?" she questioned.

Too late. She had already seen me. I re- entered the room and leaned against the wall.

"You didn't eat anything. Can I fix you a sandwich?" she offered.

"Nope, I'm good. Just came to get a glass of water." I went to the tap and quenched my thirst.

"I can't sleep," she said as if I cared. "I was thinking that we could visit your father's grave later today."

Even in a time of great distress I admired her formality and poise. She remained cold and heartless.

"I'm busy today."

"I know that you're angry but you will never understand why I made the choice and I can never tell you."

"You killed my father! That's all I need to know and all I'll ever understand!"

"Caley, I didn't kill your father. He was dead long ago. He chose this life. I simply helped him let go."

"You asked him to will away his life!"

"What would you have done?" her temper had risen. "What would you have rather I had done? It was either your father or all of us! He had his shot to live and he chose to abuse it. I didn't take anything away from him that he hadn't already lost."

I just stood there and starred at her.

"Your father ruined this family. I wasn't going to let young lives be destroyed for greed. It was time he did something for us. You look at me as if I'm evil when all I ever wanted was for you to treat me as your mother. Caleb was 18 and your father was 44, would you have rather me let Caleb die? If Chase got to Caleb's Power, your father would have ended up dead anyway and so would have Pogue and Tyler and even Reid! So tell me now, did I do the wrong thing?"

Her words seemed to have awoken me from a deep sleep and I realised that she wasn't wrong in her decision at all. "I'll tell you this, I don't forgive you for lying to me!" with that said, I stormed off.