Part 36: The Calm V
"Think we should wake him up?" Maria asked in a stage whisper.
"Are you crazy?" Reid hissed back but he poked the man anyway.
"Will you two stop that." Faith whispered.
"It's fun." Reid giggled poking the prone figure again.
"All of you stop it." Caleb said making the three jump. Maria gave a nervous squeak and inched closer to Reid.
"Hey Caleb, been there long?" Reid asked.
"Long enough Garwin." Caleb snapped moving to check on Max.
"Is eh supposed to look like that Caleb?" Faith asked fear evident in her eyes. Caleb nodded and motioned for Reid to get closer.
"We need to remove the garanknar." Caleb said looking annoyed and Reid groaned.
"Already?" Reid asked and Caleb nodded poking at Max like the others had previously.
"If we leave it in any longer it could kill him." Caleb said, "As it is there is no telling what the garanknar did to his alien system. This was not exactly one of Pogue's and my better ideas." Caleb said giving the others a weak smile.
"Great so you killed him." Maria said pinching Caleb who looked like a well chastised child.
"I don't think we did." He muttered.
"So how are you going to remove it?" Reid asked grinning like mad his blue eyes gleaming as if he knew a juicy secret.
Caleb's dark eyes darted around madly not meeting anyone's eyes. "Ah…well…" Caleb stammered making Reid laugh.
"You have no idea do you?" Reid laughed leaning against the stone wall as he laughed.
"None." Caleb muttered letting out a shaky breath.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Maria hissed her green furious eyes boring down on Caleb who had the sense to shrink away from her.
"Caleb." Faith groaned banging her head against the wall. "Liz is so going to murder us." She moaned and Maria nodded in agreement.
"You and Pogue are so in deep if he is dead." Maria nodded.
"Why?" Reid asked looking miffed. "From where I am standing Liz should be thanking them for getting him out of her hair. This guy has only caused you and Liz problems, Caleb and Pogue getting rid of him can only be a good thing." Reid said.
"It's not good Reid because it would get the other three on her case see the pod squad has this thing where they like to blame Liz for all of their problems even when she has no control over the situation." Maria said rubbing her eyes.
"Besides you know how Liz is about killing people." Caleb said letting out a shaky breath.
"Don't kill unless you have to." Faith filled in poking at Max as well. "I think he is still alive just unconscious." Faith muttered.
"So how are we going to get it out of him?" Maria asked.
"The good old fashioned way." Caleb said glumly.
"Oh and what's that?" Maria spat.
"An extraction ritual." Caleb muttered sending the dungeon cell into an unnatural silence.
"Those are banned." Faith said in a shaky voice tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear the way Liz did when she was nervous.
Caleb nodded letting out a deep breath not meeting their eyes as he stared down at Max. "I know it is but we don't have any other options at the moment and we can't leave this thing in Max any longer." Caleb said.
"We are going to have to move quickly if we are going to do an extraction ritual." Reid said brushing off Maria's angry glare.
"You are not seriously thinking of going along with this are you?" Maria asked her green eyes flashing in her anger.
"As much as it pains me to say this." Reid groaned shooting a look at Caleb, "Caleb is right it needs to be done and it needs to be soon." Reid agreed making Caleb snort.
"I knew this was going to happen." Caleb laughed standing up.
"What?" Maria asked giving Caleb the same frosty glare she was giving Reid.
"I knew eventually Reid was going to see I am always right." Caleb said ducking out of the cell when he felt Reid get ready to zap him.
"Who is going to do the ritual?" Faith asked as the three followed him after locking Max back up, not that he was actually able to go anywhere.
"It takes two." Reid said and the others nodded.
"I think the two of us should do it, or if you don't want to I can go and get Tyler." Caleb said.
"I will do it." Reid agreed and the two quickly headed away from Maria and Faith to Caleb's father's study where he used to keep all of his spell books and the instructions for different rituals he used before he was unable to stop.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Maria said once Caleb and Reid were out of earshot.
"I know but you know Caleb." Faith sighed "There is no talking him out of something once he sets his mind to it."
"Should we tell Liz about this?" Maria asked.
"Right now she needs to worry about her parents and Pogue, once all of that is taken care of then we can worry her with this." Faith said. "She is too weak right now to handle this." Faith said.
"Which brings us to our next problem." Maria said rubbing her forehead. "Is Caleb strong enough to handle this?" Maria asked.
"No." Faith whispered.
"Come on you go and stall Caleb, I am going to find Tyler he is going to fill in for Caleb and he is not going to put up a fuss. Caleb is risking not only his life by doing this but Max and Reid's as well." Maria said and the two raced away.
Liz and Pogue were left in the library to think as her parents left. She slowly removed her hand from his and turned to face him feeling even more tired now than before. His eyes flicked all over the room never meeting hers but she could clearly feel his emotions washing over her through their ever strengthening connection.
"I am sorry you had to hear that." Liz whispered when his eyes finally rested on her.
"S'okay." He said his eyes flicking away again.
"No it's not, no one wants to hear about that and I am sorry that my past relationships were dragged up before you that was not fair to you, especially since I had just gotten mad at you for bringing up Kate." Liz said and she felt the turbulence in his emotions shift again.
"Well I do have to admit hearing about you with other guys is not exactly easy for me to listen to." Pogue said still not meeting her eyes not wanting to show her what he was really feeling.
"No that had to really suck Pogue." Liz said itching to grab his hand again but she knew that he did not want that. "I am sorry Pogue for getting angry with you earlier, I had no reason to be angry." Liz whispered hoping he would at least look at her. Pogue finally turned and looked at her and then closed his eyes at the pain he saw in her doe eyes.
"Why did you get so angry?" He asked.
"I don't know I really don't there is just something about her that gets to me and I can't put my finger on it. Pogue I have never hated someone for no reason but her I just…"
"Do you hate her because she used to date me because right now I hate Max, Sean, and Kyle because they dated you?" Pogue asked.
"That might be part of it but Pogue you have dated other girls and I don't hate them and you were more serious with them than Kate. I don't know I just know that there was no excuse for me to get so angry with you and I am sorry it's not like she is never going to come up." Liz said.
"You just walked away." He said his temper flaring slightly, Liz could tell that he was just holding onto it.
"I did and I was wrong." Liz said "I am used to running away whenever I have a problem it is going to take some time and getting used to on my part but I know that I don't have to run away from you."
"I think you running away hurt a lot less than you emotionally moving away from me. Liz when I came in here with you to talk to your parents you moved as far away from me as you could and even when we were touching I could feel you closing yourself off from me and that hurt…a lot." Pogue said.
"I know." She whispered fighting tears. "I could feel how upset you were but I did it anyway. When my parents were talking to us and you started getting more upset all I wanted to do was hold you but I let my stupid pride get in the way." Liz said she felt him move next to her and she felt his hands move to her waist as she was pulled into his lap his arms securely around her holding her to his chest.
"The two of us need to work on talking out our problems and not running away when things get tough." Pogue said warmth shooting through him when she rested her head on his shoulder cuddling closer.
Suddenly Liz sat up looking worried. "Do you feel that?" She asked and Pogue nodded the two of them running out of the library into the main part of the house.
"Caleb!" Pogue yelled and moments later the others including Caleb rushed into the foyer.
"What?" Caleb asked.
"Do you feel that?" Liz asked watching as the other's used their magic to strengthen their senses.
"What is that?" Reid asked his eyes changing back to their shocking blue.
"I don't know we need to get our dads on the phone." Pogue said and Caleb nodded. Something in the air was different, it sang with magic and whispered danger and death. It looked like their calm had just ended.