When the next day rolled around, not much had changed from the previous day. The students were still glum, Chase still hadn't pitched at school, and Reid was ignoring Anna flat out. Pogue and Kate were still in hospital, with no change in either of them. Caleb was still trying to figure out what to do when it came down to him trying to fight Chase off. Caleb, Tyler and Anna were sitting on the school's front steps after swimming practice, observing the empty school grounds. Saturday would be the day to fight or die, and Caleb wasn't sure which one to do.
"Explain this to me again…I know your Power is connected to your life force, but didn't someone in your lineage figure out how to fix that problem yet?" Anna asked, to a mere shrug from Caleb.
"Wow, well that's a tad backwards. There are ways to do it, albeit difficult. Who the hell taught you your craft?" Anna asked again.
"That's not important Anna, point is if I don't figure out what to do by Saturday, we might as well write off the entire Ipswich covenant." Caleb hung his head in his hands out of pure frustration. Reid came out of the large school doors, heading to Tyler's car without him. Tyler stood up and gave Caleb and Anna a shrug and a wave before heading to his car. As Reid and Tyler got into the Hummer, Anna and Caleb could see that they immediately started arguing.
"I just can't understand Reid. Why does he take this whole omission thing so damn personally?" Caleb asked, pointing to Tyler's Hummer, trying to see if Anna would let something slip.
"We shouldn't be worrying about Reid's moods right now, Caleb. Now if there was a way to get some power to pacify Chase for a while, then that would solve everything." Anna tapped her chin deep in thought. Caleb immediately perked up, and looked at her.
"You said the other night that out covenants weren't alike. And you said that there were ways to fix the Power being connected to our life force. Isn't there something you can do?"
"I probably could do something. But, like I said the other night, we don't have the same brands of magic. I can't will my Power away, even though it's not connected to my life force. And I'm pretty sure Chase will kill everyone else if I pitch up there to try and kill him, which I could do if it really came down to it."
Caleb nodded to himself and gazed over at her. She had been wearing a scarf all day, even though it was fairly warm.
"What is up with this? It's way too warm to wear…" Caleb joked, and ripped off her scarf in one fell swoop. He was hoping to see some evidence of her and Reid doing something. Anna reached out for her scarf, but not it time for Caleb to see the black marks wrapped around her throat.
"What the hell is that Anna? Did Chase do that?"
"Yeah. He got me yesterday at my house. Somehow he got his arm through the gate and got me. Even though he used his hands, the amount of magic pumping through his blood made it about ten times worse than average. I tried but I can't really heal it much; I should try again a little later."
Caleb shook his head again, and stood up. Anna followed his lead and they made their way down to the bottom of the steps. Caleb gave Anna her scarf again, wrapping it around her neck for her.
"If it really comes down to it, I'll just have to…" Caleb shrugged, losing faith in their planning.
"Don't even think of it Caleb. We'll figure something out before Saturday. If it comes down to it, I'll pitch last minute and kill him." Anna told him sternly. She walked to her car and opened the door before turning to Caleb again.
"If you see Sarah before you go home, tell her I'll be at the hostel later to pick her up."
Caleb nodded and Anna got into her car, starting up and speeding off in seconds. Caleb walked over to Tyler's Hummer, to see what he and Reid were arguing about. As he approached Tyler's window, they stopped arguing and turned away from each other. Tyler wound down his window and looked at Caleb.
"What's the problem, you two?" Caleb asked quickly, to the answering silence from the two of them.
"You should probably both go to the dorms. I'll see you later at the hospital." Tyler and Reid nodded, but Tyler piped up before he left.
"Well, we just have to go into town for some things. You want anything, Caleb?" Tyler asked, starting up his Hummer. As Caleb shook his head and was about to walk away, they heard some far off sirens and turned to each other in worry.
"Where are they heading?" Tyler asked. Caleb perked up his head and listened.
"They just left the hospital; they're heading out of town…towards…" Caleb stopped and looked extremely worried.
"Please don't say they going towards where I think you were going to say…" Tyler said, sounding as worried as Caleb looked. Reid tried to hide the worried look on his face as Tyler and Caleb spoke.
"I'll go check on her; you can go the hospital so long." Tyler said, and reversed out of the parking lot at a speed.