A/n: I am so so soooo sorry about how long this and the other chapter took. I'm keeping Liam in a box right now so I can get straight to work! By the way… this is a loooong chapter, even by my standards.

If I take awhile to get the rest up it's because I'm having coven problems of my own!
It could also be because I've had to salvage my computer. My asshole stepfather was a jerk - he not only decimated my bedroom but tore my computer apart and threw away the keyboard and mouse. I had to sneak outside later and get them out of the trash again, and try to hook my computer back up. And all of this because I was home late! What an ass, and I mean ASS. I can't wait until THAT hits him back three-fold.

Another note: Please try to keep in mind that I began to write this story BEFORE finishing the series. When I started writing this, I had only read up to Changeling. I knew nothing about Morgan having nightmares, ect. EVERYTHING like that is purely coincidence. Thank you.

Merry meet and Merry part until we Merry Meet again!

Chapter Nine: Of Adrenaline and Chase Scenes

"Merry Meet;

Talon, Meredith and I took a day trip today to the ocean. It's summer, luckily, so neither of them have school. Talon wanted to drive now that he has his license, but I said no and Meredith wouldn't let him anyway. When we got there it was like old times - Meredith kept trying to build a sand-castle but Talon kept knocking it over, with me playing the responsible one and telling them to knock it off, and then suddenly I was being attacked by über-huge sand clods. I ran into the cold Atlantic water for protection with my siblings following, and we splashed and played and tackled each other.

But then it happened.

The sky, once azure and clear, was instantly full of thunderheads coming in on all sides. Lightning touched in the distance, and the air around us grew cold. The waves grew higher, and the surf more powerful. All three of us stood, each facing a different direction and forming a small triangle. No one suggested getting out of the water - salt water is protective. All of my nerves tingled and my instincts told me that this was no ordinary storm -this was magick.

I was running through lists of spells and commands in my head as fast as I could, but suddenly, I felt a small hand grab mine and heard Meredith's voice clearly through the raising tumult.

"Go away,

Away from here.

We want none

of your pain or fear."

Instantly Talon and I joined in the chant, moving in a circle widdershins against the waves. While we chanted, Meredith -untested, uninitiated Meredith- called out to the Goddess for help. When we felt the energy raise to its highest point, we sent it away to the raising storm.

And the storm disappeared.

On the ride home we thought about telling Father and Mother, but we decided it would be best not to. Why? Don't know. Just one of those feelings…

But on a different note, I now know that Meredith is a source of great power. I know that it will be she that one day leads our coven.

I know now that she is not a normal child.
Dragon Starwing"

"Morgan!" She called, trying to get away from Will, not even realizing that she might be hurting him. She scrambled and caught up with her. Her pale face turned, danger in her eyes, but then she saw Aurelia and smiled, relief spreading across her face.

"Aurelia," she breathed. "Hi."

"Hi. What's up?"

"I'm working for Alyce today, at Practical Magick's stall. We're doing really well -that is, Alyce and I. There's another girl too, says she's one of yours. Whitney Fellows, you know her?"

Aurelia nodded. "Yeah, she's one of mine. She's pretty talented, I've been impressed."

Morgan looked about nervously. "Hey, listen… Could we walk and talk?"

"Sure." They headed away from a stumbling Will. Aurelia looked and saw how jumpy Morgan was. "What's wrong?"

Morgan looked at her for a long moment, then sighed. "I feel… danger. Like an evil presence kinda thing. It's getting stronger the longer I stay here, and I'm worried about what it might be."

Aurelia raised her eyebrows. "Have you talked to Alyce?"

Morgan bit her lip and shook her head. "No… It doesn't feel right and I haven't seen her since it began… I think I know…"

She was cut short by a blast of blue spark shot at her from behind a stall. Aurelia yelled and she moved her hand and deflected it. Morgan grabbed Aurelia by the arm and sprinted in the other direction, straight through the tents. Soon she let go and they were running side by side.

They crouched down behind some barrels as Morgan fought to catch her breath. Her face was white and her eyes were angry.

Aurelia didn't wait. "What was that? Who..."

"Witch fire," Morgan panted, gasping for breath between each word. "Only a blood witch… Amyranth. It has to be."

Aurelia looked more than a little surprised. "Amyranth? Like… Evil obsessed Woodbane witch kinda thing, right?"

Morgan nodded. "Ciaran, my father, is their leader. He must have ordered this."

Aurelia blinked. This was a shocker to the system. Momentarily she decided to ignore it. "What? To -to- kill you?"

Morgan shrugged. "Looks like." brbr Aurelia shushed her. "Hold on," she whispered. She lowered her ear to the ground to listen for footsteps. She couldn't cast her senses, so this was the least she could do. To her dismay, she heard feet drawing near.

"Morgan," she whispered urgently. "We have to go. They're coming."

"They're here!"

They shrieked as they saw the huge man towering above them, trying to put a binding spell on them. Aurelia kicked at his ankles and they watched him fall. brbr "Run!" Morgan screamed.

They ran. They could see the people chasing them, shouting and waving their arms. The were trying to herd them back into the throng of people that was the convention.

"Away! Morgan, run away from the fairgrounds! Get away from the people!"

They sprinted towards a stretch of woods near the end of the grounds. Maybe they could lose them in there.
brbr Witch fire sailed past Aurelia's head, singeing her hair. She cried out in dismay. Looking to her side, she saw Morgan shooting back. Blue electricity was sprouting from her fingertips. Aurelia's eyes were wide.
brbr From behind they heard a shout. "Don't let them escape! We must have the Sgiurs Dan and the Aingeal ar na Solas! We must have them both!"

"I can't catch them, sir! Do we have to take them alive?"

"Of course, you idiot! You cannot do anything with a dead body!"

Untrue, thought Aurelia wildly, still sprinting. You could mourn over it, or tear it into miniscule pieces, depending on how you felt. But this did not seem like the time to think philosophically. Not at all.

"Aurelia."

Rail looked at Morgan, whose eyes had taken on a determined look.

"We need to go deeper into the woods. We need to get further away! Go that way!" She pointed.

Aurelia nodded in reply, cursing her skirt. "Ready?" She looked over her shoulder. "Now!"

Away they ran, through the trees and the brambles. Morgan looked back every once in awhile to return witch fire, trying to think of an escape plan. The blue crackles whistled past their heads, their torsos. It kept hitting the trees around, making the wooden giants crackle and splinter. Morgan had an idea as she realized that the men were gaining, and had no intention of stopping.

She stopped and turned as they started into a clearing, holding her hands spread out in front of her. Quietly under her breath she was chanting: "An dai allaigh an dai ai…" Suddenly she swept her hands out, motioning to the trees, and yelled "Foraois! Stop an bealach, mé ordú thú!"

Instantly the trees bent, blocking the men from getting any closer. A huge oak leaned down and touched the ground, bending in a position it could not have made in the last hundred years. It was the biggest tree in the woods, easily, and yet it had become like rubber under Morgan's spell. Morgan turned, and saw Aurelia's eyes grow huge. They conveyed the message. Big magick. Illegal magick. Magick affecting another's life and will- the life and will of the trees. Morgan winced. "Aurelia! No time! Go!"

They turned and resumed running. When they could hear nothing, they sat down a moment for air. Aurelia stood, half crouched with her hands on her knees. "Morgan…" she started. "Was that the best thing to do? You just turned that tree into Gumby!"

"Under circumstances, it's fine to mess with the will of others… sorta. I'll come back and thank the tree later, and apologize and all that, but at the moment I'd rather live to be able to come back."

"I see your point." Aurelia gasped for air. "Those men - what do they want?"

"Isn't it obvious? They want me… And apparently you too." Seeing the look on Aurelia's face, she quickly continued. "Oh no, don't look at me. I have no idea. It's just, they could have killed you by now, but they said they wanted both of us. I really don't know."

"I don't get it," said Aurelia carefully. "Why don't they just leave us alone? When we separate we'll be easier to catch."

"They've got their orders, from who I don't know - what with everyone in Amyranth vying for power. But no one wants to come home empty handed in Amyranth."

Aurelia took another deep breath. "We have to go. We have to get back to the cars - now."

Morgan nodded. "We can't go to Widow's Vale - it's over two hours away. We'll go… We'll go to"
brbr "My teacher's house. He'll know what to do. His father is the leader of a coven - a Wyndenkell. He'll know what to do."

Morgan looked over at her. "He'll be in danger then. Going to see him will endanger his life."

Aurelia took a deep breath and slowly blinked. "I know. But where else would you rather go?"

"It's fine. Just wanted to be sure you knew the risk. How do we get back?"

"Could we circle around? I mean, go around the way we came?"

Morgan played with a strand of hair. "Maybe. But what if they cast their senses? They're all blood witches, hon."

Aurelia squinted in thought. "If you could…cloak us or something…"

Morgan's eyes lit up. "A you-feel-me-not spell. Should be easy. When do we go?"

"ASAP."

They jogged through the woods, angling off the way they had come. Aurelia had a sudden thought. "Morgan, what's the Aingeal ar na Solas?"

"No idea. It's Gaelic, but I couldn't tell you anything else. I'm not exactly the authority on translations. We can ask your teacher - if he's a blood witch and his father's got power, he should know at least some Gaelic"
brbr Aurelia nodded. She had lost almost all sense of direction - the only thing working for her was the darkening sky - presumably to the east. The temperature was dropping, but because of the adrenaline running through her veins she couldn't feel a thing. Fight or flight, she remembered. Some instincts said to face your fears and some said to run away. She didn't really care which one looked better on her eternal record at the moment, because she knew it would be plain stupid to try to stay and fight. Who cared if she was reincarnated as a squirrel? (!!!!See next chapter!!!!!) At least right now she was alive.

When next they stopped for breath, the woods around them were quiet. They were both breathing as quietly as possible, but still laboring in their breaths. Aurelia looked down and winced. Her arms and legs were covered in blood - blood drawn from scratches from burs and branches. With her left hand - one without blood- she grasped at her amber necklace. Amber is for balancing, she remembered. For grounding and calming. She thought insanely that if she escaped alive, she would wear amber every moment from then on.

"Hey," said a gentle voice next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine… I just wish I'd been covered in woods gear. I've got more cuts here than a suicidal maniac."

"We should keep going… We're almost back. See over there?" She pointed. "That's the parking lot I'm in. We'll use my car. Not far, see?"

They walked it. For the first time ever Aurelia was ecstatic to get out of the woods and back into civilization. The moon glowed overhead a bright gold. She could see only one car in the center of the lot - a giant white monster. They hastened for it.

"Meet Das Boot, the most expensive thing in my life but well worth the money. I love my baby." Morgan smiled as they were about twenty feet away.

They both felt rather than heard the crackle of energy coming behind them. But it was too late - Aurelia turned to see an enormous ball of witch fire - at least three feet in diameter- hurling towards them. It was too close to run from, to even try and escape.

It was headed for Morgan's feet.

"Morgan! Watch out!"

The world seemed so slow. Everything was happing in slow motion. As Morgan turned around as slow as time itself, her eyes widened in a moment of fear and surprise. The witch fire was right there. There could be no escape.

"No!" Aurelia screamed, throwing out her hands as if to stop Morgan from being killed.

The world stopped. Light ended. The moment was forever. Music could be heard somewhere; a delightful, sad song. There was no movement in the blackness, nothing to break the stillness.

The moment was forever.

Suddenly, golden light surrounded Morgan, creating a shield between her and the witch fire that sizzled an inch away. The moment was forever.

Time returned and the witch fire broke around the shield, trying to break through. Morgan screamed something and the witch fire sizzled out.

The world -time itself- was back. Morgan yelled to Aurelia and opened her car door, jumping in to Das Boot. Aurelia leapt over the hood and got in the other side. They sped away into darkness, leaving shouting men behind.

The two girls looked at each other as they drove away from the grounds. Morgan looked at Aurelia critically and smirked. "Sundays always seem to be the most boring day of the week, don't you think?"

Aurelia laughed as she laid her head back against the bucket seat.

(Foraois! Stop an bealach, mé ordú thú) Forest! Block the way, I command you!

Donuts!

Saz: Oh my dear Saz, I'm so sorry for you! I shall bring humor into your life and make you feel better! The next chapter is for you!

Rainwolf: See? I do what I'm told… eventually. You wanted a chapter and now you've got one, are you satisfied? Oh, I wish we weren't on break! I miss you so much! Call me as soon as you read this and we shall get together. I can't wait to see you again!

Rivers: Thank you… I think… Anyway, thank you so much for your wonderful review. I'm so sorry I've taken so long but I have the hundred and fifty excuses of the high school girl at the beginning of the school year. Please forgive me. Here you are! Delivery as promised!

Dancing with Lightning: Oh my dear dear pal across the world! You like it! I'm giddy for some reason and I want to share my joy with you. huggles There! Now you are happy too! We'll get right to work on our project ASAP. Whatever! Anyway thanks for emailing and I hope to hear from you soon!

If I missed you I'm sorry, blame my brother...Time toReview, kiddies!