Author's note: "So far"??? You insult your poor dilapidated author with statements like that! Competition smompetition… toying with my pride! ~ In reference of a review. Ah well, back surgery went as well as can be expected and I am back. Yes, my fellow Sweep-junkies, I am here with your newest fix of Sweep. I think I deserve a cookie for all of my hard efforts. Feel free to worship my incredible back-brace of power.

The Council is hesitant to do anything brash, though they can't deny the force that they feel is rising up. They're too afraid to turn to me to solve this, as if what happened with Linden still haunts my reputation as a Seeker. Or perhaps it's Morgan... they know that I stayed behind for reasons other than just Selene and Cal. And without either of them here, there should be nothing keeping me behind, but I can't leave. This thing must be stopped before it has a chance to act; I don't know what I'd do if Morgan was hurt by it. She has seen too much pain already; I'd give my life to erase her painful memories.

-Gìomanach

"You were out pretty late last night," my mom stated conversationally.

"Yeah, well Jaycee's cousin flew into town so we had to go pick him up at the airport and then went to dinner and saw a movie," Mary K. replied, inhumanly cheerful despite the fact that she would have been lucky to even get six hours of sleep last night.

"That's nice, though you should have called," came the typical parent response.

I groaned internally: even her parental lecture about checking in seemed cheerful this morning. Blindly I grabbed a diet coke; it was my one staple food group, I don't know what I'd do if we ever ran out. I began to gulp down the coke, and vowed that it must be from the 'well of life' itself. Hunter… I felt his presence outside of the door, and as we actually had some time before school I grabbed my backpack and went outside to meet him, Mary K. trailing behind.

She raised an eyebrow suggestively at me. "Can you wait in Das Boot?" I asked her, feeling the urgency coming from Hunter. Mary K. gave me another suggestive look and got into my beloved car, being the darling sister that she is. I turned to Hunter. "What's up?"

"The Council has been noticing some massive energy coming from near the power sink. They're not sure what it is, but whoever is responsible is really powerful, and when charging up its magick with the power sink they believe it is capable of… mass destruction, as the Council believes that whoever this is isn't good. They have become worried, and believe this could be a member of Amyranth," Hunter paused and I saw worry in his green eyes. "Morgan, you need protection. Please come with me, I want to be able to protect you."

"Hunter… I can't. Mary K. has school; I have school! I can't get caught up in Council business," I replied, thinking logically about the situation.

"Don't you understand what danger you're in? What's more important, school or your life?" Alarm appeared on his face, making his eyes wide and his brow furrowed.

"They don't have anything to go off of that says I'm in danger. I'm tired of the Council always telling me what to do! So far they haven't helped me at all!" I exclaimed, angry tears staining my cheeks.

"We only want what's best for you," he whispered, his hands on my shoulders to pull me into a comforting embrace.

I pulled away. "What's best for me would be to be a normal teenage girl! I'm going to school. Don't follow me," waves of anger came from my aura as I got into Das Boot and slammed the door.

Mary K. studied me questioningly, but knew that it was best not to speak The ride to school went by in silence, despite the fact that anger had caused me to drive well above the speed limit.

"What happened?" Bree asked me as we walked to class, noting my red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Hunter came by this morning. Apparently the Council feels the need to control my life," I replied spitefully.

"It's that bad?" Bree asked. She looked into my eyes thoughtfully, seeming to be looking for all of the details in my expressions.

"Yes. Any time they have any suspicions they feel the need either to make me investigate them or to try to hide me away from everything. I'm tired of living like this… I'm tired of being their agent. I never signed up for this," I replied fervently, taking a stand for my rights. We walked into our home room and took our seats.

"And they aren't only doing this to protect you?" Bree asked, trying to both comfort me and to get me to look at the situation from all sides.

"That's what Hunter said. But so far the Council has never been there when I'm in danger. You and Robbie ended up saving me from burning to death, and in New York—" I stopped myself from spilling confidential information.

"What happened in New York?" Bree asked, both alarm and curiosity coming out in her voice. Her eyebrow arched, prompting me to answer.

"Never mind … it's beside the point," I answered, cross at myself for saying things that I shouldn't. Bree's eyes narrowed, but she didn't reply. There was a time when we didn't have any secrets from each other. Our friendship had gotten messy since Cal Blaire had come into our life and chose me over her, after they went to bed. We were working on it, but I knew there were some things that I couldn't tell her, despite all that we had been through together. She looked at me questioningly but turned away as Mr. Powell took the center of the room.

As usual the day dragged, but this was what I wanted. I wanted to be a normal teenage girl. I had fought with Hunter to be a normal teenage girl. I felt awful as I recalled the pain in his face as I yelled at him and retreated to Das Boot and I wished to make up with him. However, that would probably mean agreeing to let him protect me; I imagined him following me through school dressed up like a body guard: through American History, calculus, physics, and even through the girl's locker room as I changed for P.E. Now I was getting silly!

But by the end of the day, I was tired of normalcy and wanted to do something… something exciting, something witchy. Okay, so shopping isn't the most exciting thing in the world… but Bree and I soon found ourselves at Practical Magick, which at least was witchy. Of course I couldn't get Mary K. within a mile radius of anything Wiccan without promising that the Fianna would be there, and they weren't… so I ended up dropping her off at home. I feared that the moment I pulled out of the driveway Bakker, her rapist of an ex-boyfriend, would be invited in to do god knows what, but in the end I trusted Mary K. enough not to be that stupid.

"Are you looking for something in particular?" she asked me, while looking through the books about tarot magick.

"Not really. I just felt like coming here… I needed to do something witchy," I struggled to explain, not having a logical explanation other than that. I passed by the penis candles again, recalling the squeals of surprise from the school girls who had been in here a while before. If I worked here, I would have quite the fun time listening to how people responded to seeing those candles. 'If I worked here'… speaking of working here, I wanted to say hello to Alyce.

Finn Foster, Alyce's new assistant eyed me suspiciously as I looked up to the counter to find Alyce. I didn't know him very well yet, but it seemed as if he didn't trust me… probably because I had committed a Wiccan faux pas when I first met him. As if she had felt me thinking of her, which I didn't doubt she actually did, Alyce came out from the back. "Hello, Morgan," she greeted. "How are you this afternoon?"

"I'm fine," I answered, despite the fact that hiding my feelings from her would be useless. "And yourself?"

"I'm doing pretty well… keeping busy. Hunter stopped by earlier and had some tea. Are thing well with him?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Why? Didn't you talk to him?" my surprise come out in my voice.

"We chatted, but it was mostly about meaningless things. I could tell that he was distressed, but he didn't tell me what was the cause of his strong emotions. Then he bought some pretty powerful herbs… ones that could be used in a traditional binding spell, quite a powerful one. I do hope he knows what he's doing, though I don't doubt that he does. Hunter is strong-willed and quite the competent young seeker; I just hope he'll be able to solve whatever it is that troubles him so," Alyce replied, her voice warm and comforting, and showing how much she cared about us.

"Yeah…" I sighed, at a loss for words. I knew what I had to do. "I'd probably better get going, it's getting late. Nice to see you Alyce," I said making my way toward the door. Bree followed suit.

"Bye Alyce," she added, following me toward the door.

"Good luck, dears," Alyce called out to us as we made out way out the door. The snow hadn't completely melted and it was cold outside as we both got into Das Boot.

We drove toward the school in silence, as I thought intently about what I was going to do. Bree noticed my deep thoughts and didn't speak until we were back at school, where Breezy had been left. "I'll see you tomorrow, Morgan," she said quietly.

"Yeah… tomorrow," I agreed with her. "See you, Bree."

I waited until she unlocked Breezy's door and then I drove off in the direction of Hunter's house.

Author's note: So… where's my damn cookie? You know… I'm just not sure how long until the next part will come out, I have been awfully busy lounging around the house….. but for a certain amount of cookies, I may find time in my busy schedule. Or maybe a cupcake… *stomach growls before attacking an innocent poptart*

Please don't feed the author. Thank you. -- the Management

~~~

*Author's note* Yes, you lucky people you… here is a special bonus thingie offering you a once in a lifetime chance to get an in depth look at a day in my life. Take it away announcer person!

Boring scientist discovery channel voice: Notice how the authorus lazimus lays on her back while writing on a laptop which she props on her stomach, it's an unusual characteristic unique to this species of writer. Also note how headphones are placed on her ears, not only there to drown out external distractions but to create stimuli to keep her from boring herself. Another unique characteristic of this species is—

UnDeAd ChIcK (yes, your charming author): *throws stone at scientist* Unfortunately he neglected the fact that the authorus lazimus is well known for its temper known to be ignited by remarks harmful to its pride…….. NEXT!!!

Cheesy announcer voice: Welcome to the only show that gives you a close up look at the *not very* Rich and Famous *only in their dreams.* Today we are giving you a personal look at the charming Ms. Martinez. However, to stir things up, she doesn't know that she's being recorded.

UnDeAdChIcK: Oh, I don't. *rolls eyes*

Cheesy announcer voice: You didn't when we recorded it. Roll the tape.

*An assortment of shower scenes are played, followed by scenes of UnDeAdChIcK changing clothing*

UnDeAdChIcK: *shrieks* YOU PERVERT! *mauls cheesy announcer*

*Announcer screams in agony*

UnDeAdChIcK: Well, that's the end of our segment… 'til next time!

*Credits roll by in front of UnDeAdChIcK digging a hole then dragging the announcer into the hole. Upon noticing that the hole isn't deep enough, she decides to take action: screen darkens as UnDeAdChIcK begins hitting the announcer with the shovel.*