Disclaimer: Normally what I do in disclaimers is babble incoherently for a few hundred words and then finally get on with the story, so I'll keep this short: characters are not mine. Story is mine. Lyrics are not mine. Lyrics are Jem's. One of Robbie's lines is Joss Whedon's. Are we cool? Cool :D

Taintedpromises: Hunter doesn't have a TV? Huh. Well, now he does. Lol, I completely spaced on that … or maybe I never read it. Oh, well. Maybe he fell subject to whimsy and decided to buy one someday that Cate Tiernan never wrote about. Fear the whimsy! Lol, anyhoo, your idea for the end is really good and not crappy as you thought. I had something else in mind, but your idea makes a lot of sense, too. Remember that Morgan's distancing herself from her friends isn't just about her grief over Mike dying. She's hiding the fact that she used dark magick to kill all of the Diobhail. I can't see Hunter being too happy about that, can you? And, as we'll see at the end of this chapter, she's been hiding something else from them all, too …

VKC: This has to be some kind of record. The same anonymous person reviewing three times? (gasp) Be still my heart! Please keep reviewing! I get depressed when people don't review and I take out my rage on my little brothers. For their sake, review again! (But, then, I don't really expect you to care about them. I mean, I hardly do, so why should you?) :P

Raynornlimegreen: You're not stupid, idiotic, unintelligent, rash, dim, reckless, thick, lacking judgment, foolhardy, dense, wretched, slow, dismal, dull, pathetic, brainless, sad, dim-witted, pitiable, obtuse, weak, unwise, useless, foolish, feeble, silly, inflexible, daft, tenacious, imprudent, or mulish. Wow, the thesaurus is fun! Lol, I was wondering what had happened to you. Welcome back! Hehe, don't forget to review again or something verrry bad will happen to you! Mwahaha!

Part XXXII: Deceit

I wish this could be a happy song
But my happiness disappeared
The moment you were gone
Don't think I ever believed that
This day would come
Now all I'm feeling
Is lost and numb

Morgan

All that Mary K talked about on the way to school in between bites of her Nutri-Grain breakfast bar was about how she hoped she had a ton of hot guys in her new classes and how scared she was to take her first-ever AP class and how she couldn't wait to see her friends again—even though, I reminded her, she had gone to a pool party with all of them yesterday. I skidded Das Boot into my parking spot about two minutes before the tardy bell was due to ring; there were only a few stragglers still wandering around the quad. I raced into the building, mentally kicking myself for not having time to go to my locker, and had barely sat down in a seat in Room B205, AP Literature, when the bell rang. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking around the room as the teacher, Mrs. Sherwood, began the traditional spiel about how this was an AP class and thus required us to bend over backwards under the imminent homework load, I noticed that Bree was in the class, too. She was sitting next to Stephen Floyd and totally flirting with him. I looked over at her twice over the class period, which seemed to be dragging on forever, and she was looking at me both times. I smiled brightly at her each time and looked at Mrs. Sherwood with a comical expression on my face. She must have been older than God. From how close she held her papers to her face, it was obvious that she could barely see a foot in front of her.

My morning didn't improve much from there. Even though I had another class with Bree before lunch, I didn't have time to talk to her before AP Chemistry was over and we were once again rushing to our next class, laden down with parent information sheets about dual-credit courses and a bunch of announcements about upcoming senior events. I saw a poster announcing Homecoming for the end of September and sighed. Normally I'd ask Hunter if he'd go with me, but I wasn't quite sure how things were working out with us.

I was standing at my new locker and trying to shove another binder into my book bag when I caught sight of Amy Bennet, who had been in my Literature and Composition class the year before. I waved her over with a big smile.

"Hey, Amy!" I said happily. "How was your summer?"

"Oh, it was fantastic!" she gushed, tossing her red hair over her shoulder. "My dad took me and my family to our summer house on South Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico and we spent the whole summer on the beach."

I grinned. "No wonder, I thought you looked really tan."

"Thanks! So what did you do? I heard someone saying that you and Bree Warren and Robbie Gurevitch spent some time in Europe."

I shrugged. "Yeah, we did England and Ireland. It was a snooze-fest."

I heard a snort from behind me and saw Bree standing next to her new locker, one manicured eyebrow raised and a look of utter disgust on her unblemished face.

"Sure, if that's all you want to say about it."

She turned on her heel and stalked off angrily towards the cafeteria, her light green flared skirt swishing behind her. I watched her go calmly.

Amy looked at me with her nose wrinkled. "What's with her?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "She's been like that ever since we got back." My face brightened up. "Hey, seniors can go off-campus for lunch, right?"

Amy grinned broadly. "Yes, thank God. Do you have lunch now?"

"Yeah," I said. "You want to go to Double Dave's and grab a pizza? We can take my car."

"Sure!"

As Amy and I headed towards the parking lot, I looked back over my shoulder to see Bree still watching me from the entrance to the cafeteria. She was standing next to Robbie, and they were whispering something to each other while looking at me. Robbie looked a little guilty. I just smiled and waved to both of them before following Amy out of the school.

And I know I promised
That I would try
But I miss you
And it's killing me inside

Hunter

"Hunter, would you stop picking at your tie?" Sky asked irritably. "We're nervous enough without you sitting there fidgeting like a rabbit."

I sighed and straightened my tie once more before resting my hands on my lap. "Sorry. I'm only nervous, as well."

Alexis gave a little snort. She was the worst out of the three of us; she could barely keep still, bouncing up and down slightly in her wheelchair. "You're nervous? At least if we lose you don't get sent back to some hospital in the middle of nowhere."

"It's not about losing," Sky said soothingly. "It's about Judge McGilvray and hoping she'll grant us guardianship of you. If she doesn't, well …" Her eyes suddenly widened in alarm. "What if she doesn't?" She turned to look at Sean Franklin, who was sitting next to her. "What if she doesn't, Sean?"

Sean Franklin's father, Timothy, was Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck's attorney back in England. Mr. Franklin had sent his son to study law in the states at Columbia University. Now, he was acquiring his second doctorate in international law study (his first was in criminal justice). Uncle Beck had recommended that we contact him about Alexis's case, and I had to remember to call him and thank him after this was all over. I honestly could not have asked for a better attorney than Sean.

"She will," he said firmly to Sky. "You two have a great case. There's nothing to worry about."

A security guard poked his head out of the doors leading into Judge McGilvray's courtroom. We were seated on the hard wooden benches outside, nervously waiting our turn to face the judge.

"Judge McGilvray will see y'all now," the security guard said in a strong southern accent. I looked at Sky and Alexis, both of whom had gone pale.

"Ready?" I asked with a forced upbeat tone.

"All right," Judge McGilvray was saying a few minutes later, looking through a file at the bench. She was a thin older woman with blondish-gray hair and humongous spectacles that gave her the appearance of an owl. "We're here to decide if Hunter Niall and Sky Eventide …" She looked over at the table where Sky, Alexis, Sean, and I were seated. "Those would be the blondes, I assume?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Sky said.

"Wonderful, wonderful …" Judge McGilvray said absently, examining the papers in front of her closely. "All right, we're here to decide if Mr. Niall and Ms. Eventide should receive guardianship of a Miss Alexis Rody?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Sean said, standing up to address her. "Your Honor, Mr. Niall and Ms. Eventide are responsible adults and, I assure you, very capable of providing a safe home for Alexis."

"It says here that Ms. Rody suffers from an incurable disease?" Judge McGilvray asked, blinking at Sean. "Would you please explain this little complication to me, Mr. Franklin?"

"Ms. Rody suffers from hereditary ataxia," Sean said, and I looked at him in surprise. He had even gone to the trouble to research Alexis's disease to help us? "It's a degenerative disorder. Ms. Rody has, however, been on a treatment for some years now in which enzyme supplements allow her to lead an almost normal life." He bit his lip. "Extenuating circumstances involving sudden and unexpected rapid deterioration of muscle in her legs has led to her being wheelchair-bound for life now, but she was recently given a clean bill of health—or, as clean as is possible—by a qualified surgeon in Ireland."

"Mr. Niall and Ms. Eventide, are you involved in a romantic relationship?" the judge asked.

Sky looked revolted. "I should say not! He's my cousin."

Judge McGilvray looked comforted. "Well, that's a relief. You share a house in Widow's Vale, correct?"

"Yes, Your Honor," I said.

"Is the house appropriately designed for a wheelchair-bound patient?"

"Not as of now, Your Honor, but a contractor is scheduled to visit on Thursday," Sky said. "He's going to give us an estimate for what it would take to reconfigure the house for a wheelchair. As of now, we're in the process of redecorating a bedroom on the first floor for her."

Judge McGilvray closed her file and looked at Sky and I, examining us through her owlish spectacles. "And just how are you planning on supporting Ms. Rody? Financially, I mean?"

"Um, Your Honor?" Sean said, standing and interrupting me as I opened my mouth to speak. "If you'll check inside the file, there is a written note from Ms. Rody that will answer that question."

I looked at Sky in surprise. She looked just as surprised as I did and looked at Alexis, who had a conveniently innocent expression on her face.

Judge McGilvray flipped through the file and pulled out a sheet of notebook paper. I could see pen markings through the paper. She scanned it for a moment before reading it aloud. "After receiving guardianship of me, Hunter Niall and Sky Eventide will receive control of my trust fund, stocks portfolio, and savings account, all of which were set up by my late mother. The combined accounts have an estimated value of …" Her voice grew very high. "Four million dollars?"

Sky stared at Alexis, her eyes wide with shock. "Four million dollars!"

"Is there a problem, Ms. Eventide?" Judge McGilvray asked.

"No, Your Honor," Alexis said firmly.

"Alexis, we can't accept that," Sky whispered, her voice low and her eyes still wide.

"Ms. Rody?" the judge asked quickly, and Alexis turned to look at her. "Ms. Rody, I understand that these people are your friends, and you clearly trust them, but I must ask … do you trust them enough to allow them access to these accounts?"

Alexis's answer was simple and so obviously sincere that I felt tears welling in my eyes. "Yes." After a moment, she continued. "I trust them more than anyone in the world."

Judge McGilvray continued to look at her for a moment before looking at Sean. "Mr. Franklin?"

"Your Honor, my clients care for Ms. Rody a great deal," Sean said, his voice thick with emotion. "They have never wanted anything but what is best for her, and she trusts them because of this. Before Ms. Rody was wheelchair-bound, Mr. Niall and Ms. Eventide helped her experience the joy of being able to walk again, something no doctor said she could ever do again. Now, Ms. Rody has the chance to once again have a family that loves her." He shrugged. "Should they be her guardians? With all due respect, it seems to me that they already are."

After a moment, Judge McGilvray looked at Alexis. "You seem to be a sensible young girl. You will enroll at Widow's Vale High School, of course."

"Of course," Alexis said quickly.

"You will ensure that your new guardians do not abuse the privilege of access to your bank accounts?"

"Definitely," Alexis said.

My eyes went wide. "Wait, did you say 'new guardians'?"

Judge McGilvray smiled. "Yes, Mr. Niall, I did. I see no reason to deny this request. Congratulations, Mr. Niall and Ms. Eventide. I am granting you full custody of the juvenile, 16-year-old Alexis Rody. Bailiff, bring in the next case after a five-minute recess." And she was gone.

Sky let out a happy squeal and hugged Alexis, who grinned broadly as a few tears of happiness leaked out of her eyes. I shook Sean's hand enthusiastically and hugged Sky, who looked positively radiant with delight.

I stared at Alexis after a moment, another thought coming to me. "Four million dollars!"

"Water under the bridge," she said, shrugging it off. "Come here."

I just grinned and hugged her. Maybe things here would turn out all right after all.

I'll always be thankful
For the time we had
We were blessed
I should celebrate
But I feel too sad
All the wonderful memories
Just make me fall apart
And it feels like somebody's
Stabbed me in my heart

Bree

"Something is wrong with Morgan!"

"She's acting like nothing even happened over the summer!"

"She's acting like everything is perfectly normal!"

"Is this just denial? Because, if it is, it's the worst case I've ever seen."

"Would you all just shut up for a moment?"

I guess that Robbie, Raven, and I must have hurt Sky's ears from yelling so loudly, but I couldn't care less at the moment. The three of us had grouped at Hunter and Sky's house that evening to give them the lowdown on what had happened at school that day. They had enlisted our help to finally find Morgan and see just what had happened since we got back. I felt sort of guilty for breaking the bubble of happiness surrounding them because their motion to gain guardianship of Alexis had gone through, but at the moment, I figured there were more important issues at hand.

"She wasn't herself today," I said furiously. "She was some prepped-up, hyper, happy little cheerleader who didn't just lose a brother!"

Sky sighed and rested her elbows against the kitchen counter, burying her face in her hands. Hunter was already sitting down, and his expression was grim.

"I don't know," Sky sighed. "I don't know what to do about her. She doesn't want to face this on her own, and we can't make her face it."

"Well, she wasn't herself," Raven said. "She's not dealing with this like she should be. I learned at least that much from psychology last year."

"You weren't even there today," I said pointedly.

"No, but I think it's been established that Morgan needs help. Now."

Robbie sat down on the barstool at the counter and sighed before a hopeful expression crossed his face. "Maybe we need to spend more time with her. We've barely seen her since we've been back, and maybe having her bestest of best friends around would help. You know, like group therapy? Maybe we could have weekly dinners over here …" He thought for a moment. "Or a book club. Maybe videos?"

"This isn't something that's going to be fixed by a video club," Alexis said dourly.

"And I don't really feature the idea of a group intervention," Hunter continued. "From my experience, they tend to end in yelling, arguing, and the occasional violence." He paused. "She's in a fragile enough state as it is. I think that if we tip the scale in one direction too far … the consequences could be disastrous. For all we know …" His voice tightened. "We're losing her as we speak."

No one said anything for a long while. The silence was pressing, but I didn't see what any of us could say to make the situation better. Short of a group intervention, I hadn't really been able to think of anything to help Morgan.

Sky stood up after a moment, her face set with an unreadable expression.

"You know, it's getting late," she said. I took the hint and nodded after a moment with a resigned feeling of disappointment inside me. She had given us the invitation to leave if we wanted to, and I stood up.

"Yeah," I said, looking at Robbie. "I have a ton of homework. What teacher assigns work on the first day of school, I ask you?"

"Apparently only the psycho ones," he said with a small smile. I followed him out of the kitchen after saying good night to the others and heard Sky murmur something about how she was going to bed.

"Ready to go?" Robbie asked as he pulled on his jacket and held open the door. I cast a last look towards the kitchen. Sky and Hunter were looking at each other with worried expressions on their faces, but they looked something else, too—maybe empathetic. I sighed. If only Morgan would listen to them …

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Let's go."

And it's killing inside
Yes, I miss you
I want you by my side
Walking, holding hands
Talking, making plans
Touching my heart and soul

Raven

"What's wrong?" I asked Sky softly as she stepped into her room and closed the door behind her. She looked at me in surprise.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You haven't been yourself lately. None of us have, but … what's bothering you?"

She raised her eyebrows as she ran a brush through her hair at the mirror. "Nothing, really. I'm fine."

"I saw that chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake you got at Cheesecake Factory yesterday," I said flatly. "You only excess in comfort food when you're upset and trying not to show it." I couldn't help but smile slightly. "Otherwise you're always too worried about maintaining that gorgeous figure of yours."

She gave me an annoyed look as she set her brush down on the table and pulled off her sweatshirt, straightening her tank top.

"Why does something always have to be wrong?" she muttered, looking away from me. "Why can't everything just be okay?"

I sighed internally. If I pushed her too hard, I knew she'd instantly put up her defenses and speak to me with extreme coldness for x number of days, if at all.

"Sky, please don't push me away," I whispered. "I need you to talk to me."

"Right, because you always tell me everything," she said harshly, still not looking at me.

"Touché," I said softly. I walked up to the mirror and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her relax slightly as I stroked her back. "You're my muirn beatha dan. You believe that, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said quietly.

"Who else can you talk to?" I asked. "If not me, who else is there?"

She turned around and smiled slightly. "My muirn beatha dan … you're so beautiful …" As she caressed my hair, I stifled a sigh of pleasure and took a small step back.

"Sky … please talk to me, don't –"

I broke off suddenly as I felt her hand slip past the waistband of my sweatpants and … oh …

My voice was barely above a whisper. "Stop that."

She pulled away quickly as if I had burned her, her eyes wide. "Sorry, I-I didn't … you don't want to?"

"I do," I said quickly. "I do, believe me, but … not like this. Not …" I sighed and made the internal decision to say what I had suspected was her problem since we had returned from Ireland. "You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened."

She stared at me. "I'm not."

"Like hell," I said firmly. "I've been watching you, I've seen you beating yourself up over this." I looked her right in the eyes, silently begging her to understand. "There was nothing you could have done."

Her eyes looked slightly watery. "If we hadn't been … if Muireadhach … if he hadn't seen us, we could have gotten her out of there."

"Sky, what happened … happened. You can't change it, and worrying about how it could have turned out is unhealthy."

"Unhealthy?" she cried, ripping herself away from me as tears leaked out of her eyes. "I look at what it did to Morgan and I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her! And then I hate myself because I think that we could have stopped this all from ever happening, and if we had, Mike would still be alive and Morgan wouldn't be acting like this! Like today? I was so happy after our hearing and then I came back here and everyone was yelling about how Morgan is distancing herself, obviously because of some inner turmoil, and then I was depressed again because, if Mike hadn't died, none of us would be hurting so much and then I think, oh, my God! Could I be any more selfish? Morgan just lost her brother and I'm thinking about how much the rest of us are suffering? I mean, we lost a friend, but she lost family! She's feeling so much more pain than the rest of us and I hate myself for feeling so much when I don't have the right to be complai –"

I don't know why, but seeing Sky crying has a strange effect on me. Normally, it makes me want to kill whoever was the one to make her cry. Months ago, I had been the cause of it, and I had hated myself for that. Now, I leaned in and cut off her tearful cries in mid-word by kissing her softly.

"Shh, baby," I whispered soothingly, feeling tears threatening my eyes too. I pulled her into a tight embrace, just being there for her, holding her. "Shh … I love you … I love you …"

"Raven …" she sobbed, clinging to me so tightly that I could barely breathe. "Oh, God, Raven … please … don't leave me … never leave me …"

"I won't," I murmured. "I promise."

I wish this could be a happy song
But my happiness disappeared
The moment you were gone
Tell me it's not happening
Say it's not as it seems
Tell me I'm going to wake up
And it's all just a bad dream

Sky had finally calmed down enough to fall asleep. I had been planning on heading back to my dorm, but the look of vulnerability in her eyes as she asked me not to go pretty much guaranteed that I'd be spending the night. I was just holding her as she slept, resting my head on her shoulder. She looked so peaceful that all I could do was stroke her hair with a soft smile on my face. I finally realized in that moment what had been bothering her so much since we had gotten back from Europe. Mike had been taken away from Morgan without so much as a warning; one moment he was there, and the next he was gone. Sky couldn't bear the thought of that happening to anyone she loved … me, Hunter, one of our friends. To never get a chance to say goodbye … I wouldn't be able to live with that. I felt tears sting my eyes; Sky was the first person I had ever really loved in my entire life. I knew that if I lost her, I'd lose myself.

I guess I must have fallen asleep eventually because the next thing that I was aware of was movement on the bed that told me Sky had gotten up. I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to clear my vision.

"What are you doing?" I asked blearily. Sky was pulling her sweatshirt back on and pulling a pair of flip-flops out of her closet.

"I have to go."

"What? Where?"

"To the cemetery."

I did a double take. "What?"

"I had a dream." She sounded very distracted. "Morgan was there, and she … she was doing something she shouldn't be doing. I have to see if it was real or not."

"Well, let me come, too."

She looked at me in surprise. "No, you don't have to."

"If the alternative is letting you go alone, then yes, I'm going with you."

I could see the conflict in her eyes, but she sighed and nodded. "All right. Come on, though. We have to hurry."

Please tell me that it's fiction
Tell me it's just a lie
Whatever you choose to tell me
Please say he didn't die

I was the first one to spot something in the distance. "Is that her?"

Sky squinted into the distance as we walked quickly over the grass in the cemetery outside of town, the cold night air still and eerily quiet. The cemetery was cast in shadows from the dark clouds covering the skies. It was definitely the last place I wanted to be in the middle of the night.

"I think so …" she whispered, and we ducked behind a large gravestone carved into the shape of a medieval angel. She poked her head around the marble wings to look at the scene before us.

Morgan was clearly attempting some kind of ritual; she had candles lit around her in a circle, and she was seated in the middle, drawing power from the power sink. She was drawing symbols in the air around her with an athame and muttering something under her breath. I couldn't recognize any of the words, but I could tell it was Gaelic.

"What's she doing?" I whispered.

Her voice grew louder, echoing around the cemetery as frustration increased in her voice. I could tell that she was irritated about something; maybe the spell or whatever she was doing wasn't working. She lowered her voice with forced calm and repeated a few more verses of the ancient language, but she was losing her battle. I saw the candle that she was holding in front of her flickering, its flame growing weaker. Morgan let out a growl of frustration and set the candled own on the ground in front of her.

"Oh, no, you don't," I heard her whisper. She was holding the athame in her right hand, and she reached over with it and pricked her pointer finger on her left hand with its tip. I heard Sky give a barely audible gasp. Morgan let a drop of blood drip down onto the candle, and its flame flared up immediately. She began repeating the same verses in Gaelic that she had been saying moments before, but her voice grew angrier and more frustrated with every word. Finally, she let out a bellow of rage and flung her athame towards a gravestone in fury; it clattered into the tombstone and fell to the ground, embedding its blade in the soft earth. Morgan was still furious, and I could hear her cursing loudly under her breath.

"Come on," Sky whispered, pulling me out from behind the marble angel and heading back towards the road. "We have to get out of here."

I stared back and forth between Sky and looking over my shoulder at Morgan, still hunched over in a circle of candles; all of them had suddenly gone out. "What was she doing?"

"I recognized that chant," Sky said, sounding furious. "Hunter and I have heard it on dozens of cases. She was trying to open a bith dearc."

The term sounded unfamiliar. "A what?"

"It's a sort of portal," she said. She sighed with frustration. "I can't believe she would do this. It's a portal into other realms of existence. Specifically, the one where dead souls are. Goddess, how could she be so stupid?"

"Why, is it dangerous?"

"Very. Not to mention against the natural laws of death. There are just …" She looked very upset. "Witches can do a lot of things, obviously. Manipulate light and sound, create glamours, work incredible spells, but … there are certain things that no one, not even witches, should be allowed to interfere with. Morgan could hurt someone by doing this. She could hurt herself. It's not safe, and it's not what magick is for."

"And it doesn't take a genius to figure out who she was trying to talk to," I sighed.

Sky nodded. "Mike. I can't believe she would do this, but at the same time … it makes sense that she would want to. I know that Hunter wanted to after Linden died, but he had common sense enough to know that it would harm more than help. I suppose I assumed that she had enough common sense, as well."

"What do we do? It looked like it wasn't working. The ritual, I mean. She was really angry."

"I know. She's missing a few key steps in the process. Conjuring up a bith dearc isn't easy, and unless she gets the spell exactly right, she'll never be able to do it. We have to tell Hunter before she figures it out. … Hopefully, for Morgan's sake, she'll listen to him." Her voice lowered. "Otherwise I don't want to think about what could happen."

And I know I promised
That I would try
But I miss you
And it's killing me inside