Disclaimer: Howdy, fellow Sweep fans. This is just one of the two
members of this account writing this, but the other has been very
helpful in coming up with the plot of the story. This chapter is
mostly just to set up what will happen in future parts, so bear with
the boredom, please ;). I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what you
think about the story, so please, please review!!!
Summary: Morgan, Raven, Bree, and Robbie tag along when Hunter and Sky
are summoned to England by Uncle Beck and Aunt Shelagh.
PART I: Searching
~*MORGAN'S POV*~
"We don't have to do this, you know," my boyfriend Hunter said to his cousin Sky while attempting to load bulky bags and backpacks into the back of my huge submarine of a car, Das Boot. Sky just gave him her patented icy glare with which she has crippled millions.
"Hunter, if I was going to back out, I would have done it sometime when we weren't already half an hour late for our plane."
"You guys have been sniping at each other for the last two hours," Bree commented casually, swaying her dark, mink-brown hair over her shoulder as she swung her backpack off and into the trunk. "If you're going to be doing that for the whole trip, let me know in advance so that I can shoot myself."
I grinned at her as I shoved one of my two suitcases into Das Boot's trunk on top of Robbie's bright yellow duffel bag. Seeing Hunter and Sky reduced to squabbling kids at the prospect of going back to England was certainly a sight to see. Raven and I had been trying to calm down our respective significant others for about three days with no success whatsoever.
You might be confused. I wouldn't be surprised if you were. The cliff-notes version of the tale is that we're all going to England. If you want a more detailed version than that, observe the following ...
~*THREE DAYS EARLIER*~
"Are you sure? ... No, I'm not, I know it's important ... I'm not sure that Sky would agree to that ... Um, yes? Of course she would come ... Well, maybe ... I'll see what she thinks ... No ... Yes, I want to see them again, but, once again, I can't be sure that Sky does ... Well, they don't exactly get along ... It's a long story ... Kennet, this is off-topic ... Fine. Fine. I'll call the airport and see when I can catch a flight."
That was when my head snapped up from where I was sitting at Hunter's kitchen table immersed in one of Sky's world-renowned blueberry pies. Airport? Hunter? Flight? Could those words be used in the same sentence and still make sense? Considering the fragmentation of the previous phone conversation, I hadn't really been paying attention until those words penetrated my brain.
"Are youf cathing a fwight?" I asked quickly, my still-full-of-blueberry- goodness mouth accidentally spraying the table with crust bits. "To whfere?"
"England," Hunter said curtly, hanging up the phone from his conversation with Kennet and picking it up again to dial what I assumed was the Red Kill Airport. "London, more specifically."
"Whath? Why?"
"Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck's coven is being harassed by dark magick. It's not that big of a deal. Do you want some more pie?"
"Hunter!"
He sighed. "That was Kennet Muir. Someone has been sending negative magick against my aunt and uncle's coven, and he wants me to find out who's doing it and stop them, all right?
I narrowed my eyes. "But ... they're in England."
"Yes. So, logically speaking, I'll have to go to England to help them."
"With Sky?"
"She'll be sour at me for about six months following, but yes."
"Can I come?"
"Although she really should take the initiative to speak with her parents again after so many –" He did a double take. "WHAT?"
"Well, it's summer vacation. School doesn't start again for a few months, for any of us. Other than rotting my central nervous system with hours upon hours of watching Cartoon Network, I don't have any plans." Following that very convincing speech, I pouted, knowing full well that he couldn't resist me when I pouted (wink). "Please?"
Hunter looked conflicted and didn't say anything.
"Please?"
Nothing.
"Please?" Double pouts.
Finally.
"All right," he said hesitantly. I was all set to jump up and down with joy when he held up a hand. "But – only if your parents agree."
I pouted again, only this time for real as I realized with a crashing shatter (that was actually the plate that used to hold my blueberry pie smashing on the ground) that my parents had been reluctant to let me go to New York with Hunter and my friends over a long weekend. England was clear across an ocean. I hadn't thought of this.
Huh. This definitely constituted a problem.
"I'll work on it," I said thoughtfully, already planning my parents' downfalls.
~*TWO DAYS EARLIER*~
"Please, Mom?"
"No."
"Please, Dad?"
"No."
"Mom –"
"Morgan, if I said no five seconds ago, what makes you think that I'll say yes now?"
I began to pout again. Unfortunately, this doesn't have the same effect on my parents that it has on Hunter.
"Mom, this means a lot to me. We're not going on any trips or anything this summer, so why can't I go? Besides, it's not as if Hunter and I will be alone for the entire trip. Sky is going, too. Which means that, by default, Raven is, also."
She was weakening; I could tell. The idea of a group trip was clearly more favorable than the idea of a Hunter-and-I-alone trip.
"And," I pressed, "I could call Bree and see if she and Robbie wanted to come, too. Hunter said that the council would pay for everyone's plane tickets if he did a little persuading, and it would be so much more fun with everyone else there, too."
As long as I got Hunter all to myself at night, that was.
Bad thoughts, Morgan. Don't go there.
Meanwhile, Mom was weakening further. I just needed one extra edge that would make her say yes.
"It'll be educational ..." I pressed.
Bam. I had her. My parents could never refuse an opportunity for education.
"Well ... only if Bree and Robbie go, as well," Mom said reluctantly. Dad nodded his agreement, already too immersed in the business section of the newspaper to be paying attention.
"Yes!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!" I threw my arms around my mother in the biggest bear hug that I've ever given anyone in my entire life before reeling away with a gasp. "I have to pack!"
With that, I rushed upstairs, only coming back down the stairs once that night, still squealing, "I love you guys!"
~*PRESENT-DAY*~
I was so excited that night. I still am. But ...
This would be fun. I would get to meet my boyfriend and soulmate's guardians and hope that they like me. Bree said that they'll love me, but Bree doesn't know how nervous I am because Robbie's parents are always too drunk to meet any of his girlfriends (even though it's not like he's had any before Bree, but moving on). It's my heritage about which I'm worried. I doubt that Shelagh and Beck Eventide, two pureblood Wydenkell witches, will want their nephew running around with a Woodbane witch. I know that the stereotypes associated with Woodbanes declaring them evil and power- hungry have long since been proven false, but I'm still allowed to worry, right?
... Bree is right. I think too much.
~*HUNTER'S POV*~
I really don't want to go to England. I know that it's my birthplace and I lived there for, oh, I don't know, my entire life, but ... Widow's Vale has become home to me. I think that Sky feels the same way. Moreover, seeing Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck wasn't something that I had wanted to do for a *very* long time.
Not that I'm ungrateful, because I really do appreciative of what they did for Linden, Alwyn, and I when Ma and Da left us in their care. It's just that ... well, they're not my two favorite people in the world. Sure, I get along fine with Uncle Beck, but Aunt Shelagh is, to put it nicely, excessively stubborn. I've talked with Uncle Beck almost once a week since coming to New York, but I haven't heard from Aunt Shelagh at all. I've been on bad terms with her for a while. See, there are a few witches and covens, mainly in England, ironically, that disapprove of how the council manages its affairs with abusers of magick and major violations of the Wiccan Rede. Unfortunately for my career and I, Shelagh is one of those people. She fainted when I told her and Uncle Beck that I was joining the council.
She fainted. She actually fainted.
She wasn't too pleased with Sky, either. I think we're both horrible embarrassments to her. My cousin the brainiac got accepted into one of the most prestigious colleges in Dublin and Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck were delighted; they wanted her to go so badly, but, against my violent protests, she chose to come to New York with me instead of going to Ireland. I don't think Shelagh has ever forgiven her for that. Sky said that Aunt Shelagh has probably been telling everyone in her coven, Briongloid Radharc, that we both died of terminal cancer.
Now that I think about it, she's probably right.
~*AIRPORT TERMINAL*~
Raven Meltzer looked at the clock on the opposite wall for a moment before sighing in frustration. "How long have we been sitting here?"
"About two hours, give or take twenty minutes," Morgan Rowlands answered, her voice laced with immense boredom. "Of all the days for the plane to be late ..."
Bree Warren let out a whistle. "Damn. I'm about to go stir-crazy."
As if on cue, the flight attendant's cool and calm voice sounded over the announcement system. "All passengers for British Airways to London, please form a single-file line with your tickets to board the plane."
After a slight confusion during which Hunter Niall was bombarded with requests for personal tickets and bags were gathered up from the hard seats and floor, Morgan plopped down in seat F5 between Bree and her boyfriend, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.
"So how long is this flight going to be?"
"Six hours. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten."
"Thank you, Hunter."
"You're welcome."
"You guys are weird," Bree said, slipping her headphones over her ears and plugging them into her MP3 player.
"We're well aware," Morgan grinned. "Believe me."
Approximately three hours later, the plane's cabin was dark with the night that had fallen outside over the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few passengers, plus one of the stewardesses who was chatting animatedly to a copilot, had lights on. Morgan looked up from her copy of the latest edition of Scientific American to see that all of her fellow covenmates were asleep; Hunter was snoring lightly with his seat leaning back, Bree's headphones were lying haphazardly around her neck, her head resting on Robbie's shoulder, and Raven and Sky were wrapped up together in a blanket.
The Woodbane princess smiled to herself. This would prove to be an interesting trip.
"What was that thing that Hunter told me once ..."
[ ...An áit a bhfuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú ... ]
[ ... Your feet will bring you to where your heart is ... ]
members of this account writing this, but the other has been very
helpful in coming up with the plot of the story. This chapter is
mostly just to set up what will happen in future parts, so bear with
the boredom, please ;). I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what you
think about the story, so please, please review!!!
Summary: Morgan, Raven, Bree, and Robbie tag along when Hunter and Sky
are summoned to England by Uncle Beck and Aunt Shelagh.
PART I: Searching
~*MORGAN'S POV*~
"We don't have to do this, you know," my boyfriend Hunter said to his cousin Sky while attempting to load bulky bags and backpacks into the back of my huge submarine of a car, Das Boot. Sky just gave him her patented icy glare with which she has crippled millions.
"Hunter, if I was going to back out, I would have done it sometime when we weren't already half an hour late for our plane."
"You guys have been sniping at each other for the last two hours," Bree commented casually, swaying her dark, mink-brown hair over her shoulder as she swung her backpack off and into the trunk. "If you're going to be doing that for the whole trip, let me know in advance so that I can shoot myself."
I grinned at her as I shoved one of my two suitcases into Das Boot's trunk on top of Robbie's bright yellow duffel bag. Seeing Hunter and Sky reduced to squabbling kids at the prospect of going back to England was certainly a sight to see. Raven and I had been trying to calm down our respective significant others for about three days with no success whatsoever.
You might be confused. I wouldn't be surprised if you were. The cliff-notes version of the tale is that we're all going to England. If you want a more detailed version than that, observe the following ...
~*THREE DAYS EARLIER*~
"Are you sure? ... No, I'm not, I know it's important ... I'm not sure that Sky would agree to that ... Um, yes? Of course she would come ... Well, maybe ... I'll see what she thinks ... No ... Yes, I want to see them again, but, once again, I can't be sure that Sky does ... Well, they don't exactly get along ... It's a long story ... Kennet, this is off-topic ... Fine. Fine. I'll call the airport and see when I can catch a flight."
That was when my head snapped up from where I was sitting at Hunter's kitchen table immersed in one of Sky's world-renowned blueberry pies. Airport? Hunter? Flight? Could those words be used in the same sentence and still make sense? Considering the fragmentation of the previous phone conversation, I hadn't really been paying attention until those words penetrated my brain.
"Are youf cathing a fwight?" I asked quickly, my still-full-of-blueberry- goodness mouth accidentally spraying the table with crust bits. "To whfere?"
"England," Hunter said curtly, hanging up the phone from his conversation with Kennet and picking it up again to dial what I assumed was the Red Kill Airport. "London, more specifically."
"Whath? Why?"
"Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck's coven is being harassed by dark magick. It's not that big of a deal. Do you want some more pie?"
"Hunter!"
He sighed. "That was Kennet Muir. Someone has been sending negative magick against my aunt and uncle's coven, and he wants me to find out who's doing it and stop them, all right?
I narrowed my eyes. "But ... they're in England."
"Yes. So, logically speaking, I'll have to go to England to help them."
"With Sky?"
"She'll be sour at me for about six months following, but yes."
"Can I come?"
"Although she really should take the initiative to speak with her parents again after so many –" He did a double take. "WHAT?"
"Well, it's summer vacation. School doesn't start again for a few months, for any of us. Other than rotting my central nervous system with hours upon hours of watching Cartoon Network, I don't have any plans." Following that very convincing speech, I pouted, knowing full well that he couldn't resist me when I pouted (wink). "Please?"
Hunter looked conflicted and didn't say anything.
"Please?"
Nothing.
"Please?" Double pouts.
Finally.
"All right," he said hesitantly. I was all set to jump up and down with joy when he held up a hand. "But – only if your parents agree."
I pouted again, only this time for real as I realized with a crashing shatter (that was actually the plate that used to hold my blueberry pie smashing on the ground) that my parents had been reluctant to let me go to New York with Hunter and my friends over a long weekend. England was clear across an ocean. I hadn't thought of this.
Huh. This definitely constituted a problem.
"I'll work on it," I said thoughtfully, already planning my parents' downfalls.
~*TWO DAYS EARLIER*~
"Please, Mom?"
"No."
"Please, Dad?"
"No."
"Mom –"
"Morgan, if I said no five seconds ago, what makes you think that I'll say yes now?"
I began to pout again. Unfortunately, this doesn't have the same effect on my parents that it has on Hunter.
"Mom, this means a lot to me. We're not going on any trips or anything this summer, so why can't I go? Besides, it's not as if Hunter and I will be alone for the entire trip. Sky is going, too. Which means that, by default, Raven is, also."
She was weakening; I could tell. The idea of a group trip was clearly more favorable than the idea of a Hunter-and-I-alone trip.
"And," I pressed, "I could call Bree and see if she and Robbie wanted to come, too. Hunter said that the council would pay for everyone's plane tickets if he did a little persuading, and it would be so much more fun with everyone else there, too."
As long as I got Hunter all to myself at night, that was.
Bad thoughts, Morgan. Don't go there.
Meanwhile, Mom was weakening further. I just needed one extra edge that would make her say yes.
"It'll be educational ..." I pressed.
Bam. I had her. My parents could never refuse an opportunity for education.
"Well ... only if Bree and Robbie go, as well," Mom said reluctantly. Dad nodded his agreement, already too immersed in the business section of the newspaper to be paying attention.
"Yes!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!" I threw my arms around my mother in the biggest bear hug that I've ever given anyone in my entire life before reeling away with a gasp. "I have to pack!"
With that, I rushed upstairs, only coming back down the stairs once that night, still squealing, "I love you guys!"
~*PRESENT-DAY*~
I was so excited that night. I still am. But ...
This would be fun. I would get to meet my boyfriend and soulmate's guardians and hope that they like me. Bree said that they'll love me, but Bree doesn't know how nervous I am because Robbie's parents are always too drunk to meet any of his girlfriends (even though it's not like he's had any before Bree, but moving on). It's my heritage about which I'm worried. I doubt that Shelagh and Beck Eventide, two pureblood Wydenkell witches, will want their nephew running around with a Woodbane witch. I know that the stereotypes associated with Woodbanes declaring them evil and power- hungry have long since been proven false, but I'm still allowed to worry, right?
... Bree is right. I think too much.
~*HUNTER'S POV*~
I really don't want to go to England. I know that it's my birthplace and I lived there for, oh, I don't know, my entire life, but ... Widow's Vale has become home to me. I think that Sky feels the same way. Moreover, seeing Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck wasn't something that I had wanted to do for a *very* long time.
Not that I'm ungrateful, because I really do appreciative of what they did for Linden, Alwyn, and I when Ma and Da left us in their care. It's just that ... well, they're not my two favorite people in the world. Sure, I get along fine with Uncle Beck, but Aunt Shelagh is, to put it nicely, excessively stubborn. I've talked with Uncle Beck almost once a week since coming to New York, but I haven't heard from Aunt Shelagh at all. I've been on bad terms with her for a while. See, there are a few witches and covens, mainly in England, ironically, that disapprove of how the council manages its affairs with abusers of magick and major violations of the Wiccan Rede. Unfortunately for my career and I, Shelagh is one of those people. She fainted when I told her and Uncle Beck that I was joining the council.
She fainted. She actually fainted.
She wasn't too pleased with Sky, either. I think we're both horrible embarrassments to her. My cousin the brainiac got accepted into one of the most prestigious colleges in Dublin and Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck were delighted; they wanted her to go so badly, but, against my violent protests, she chose to come to New York with me instead of going to Ireland. I don't think Shelagh has ever forgiven her for that. Sky said that Aunt Shelagh has probably been telling everyone in her coven, Briongloid Radharc, that we both died of terminal cancer.
Now that I think about it, she's probably right.
~*AIRPORT TERMINAL*~
Raven Meltzer looked at the clock on the opposite wall for a moment before sighing in frustration. "How long have we been sitting here?"
"About two hours, give or take twenty minutes," Morgan Rowlands answered, her voice laced with immense boredom. "Of all the days for the plane to be late ..."
Bree Warren let out a whistle. "Damn. I'm about to go stir-crazy."
As if on cue, the flight attendant's cool and calm voice sounded over the announcement system. "All passengers for British Airways to London, please form a single-file line with your tickets to board the plane."
After a slight confusion during which Hunter Niall was bombarded with requests for personal tickets and bags were gathered up from the hard seats and floor, Morgan plopped down in seat F5 between Bree and her boyfriend, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.
"So how long is this flight going to be?"
"Six hours. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten."
"Thank you, Hunter."
"You're welcome."
"You guys are weird," Bree said, slipping her headphones over her ears and plugging them into her MP3 player.
"We're well aware," Morgan grinned. "Believe me."
Approximately three hours later, the plane's cabin was dark with the night that had fallen outside over the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few passengers, plus one of the stewardesses who was chatting animatedly to a copilot, had lights on. Morgan looked up from her copy of the latest edition of Scientific American to see that all of her fellow covenmates were asleep; Hunter was snoring lightly with his seat leaning back, Bree's headphones were lying haphazardly around her neck, her head resting on Robbie's shoulder, and Raven and Sky were wrapped up together in a blanket.
The Woodbane princess smiled to herself. This would prove to be an interesting trip.
"What was that thing that Hunter told me once ..."
[ ...An áit a bhfuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú ... ]
[ ... Your feet will bring you to where your heart is ... ]