AN: Hey guys. I don't know about you but it's been a busy month for me. I tried to upload earlier but the site wouldn't let me. I'm still not home yet but I had this chapter ready and wanted to get something up for all of you. I hope you enjoy it.

The following days had been rough on Aria and Branwen. As more information came in about the fire and the investigators were leaning towards arson, Aria became certain it had been a reckless warning. Whoever had done it, and by whoever she meant whatever coven member, because who else would attempt such a blatant threat, they had intended to scare but hadn't cared whether the subjects were harmed or even killed in the process. And the idea that their lives were expendable to the people who had been considered family for so long was painful.

That was what Aria had been dwelling on. Branwen seemed to be under a gray cloud of her own. And Aria knew the basics of the problem. Of course Branwen was worried about the coven's decision to give up on tempting the girls back and move to blatantly threatening, but Branwen's mind wasn't occupied by that alone. Instead of the purpose of the fire, Branwen was stumped by how they'd gotten out.

Branwen had told Aria about her dream. The dream in which Branwen had been sent to hell and felt judged. That wasn't surprising. The coven was famous for giving people dreams to scare them into submission. The question was how had Pogue known about the fire and how had he known how to project himself into Branwen's dream? That was Branwen's current obsession.

They were lucky Thanksgiving was approaching and they would have time to sort things out before classed resumed. Not to mention find a way to recover their schoolwork. Their computers, external hard-drives and physical records had gone up in flames. Branwen was fairly confident that everything had been saved to their online filing system but they had been too distracted by the stress of almost dying to get to checking.

"I'm going out." Branwen said, pulling Aria out of her thoughts and back into the apartment above the club they were staying in for the time being. It was rent free, so there was that. Their boss had been happy to help out rather than lose his 'best two employees'. But it also meant they were further from campus, had to pay for parking and had to go through the club to get to their apartment. Because of the last one they tried to limit the times they left.

Which made it suspicious that Branwen was leaving now. They'd already been out twice today. "Did we forget to pick something up?" It was very possible. They were trying to get everything they would need to live before they could complete the insurance forms. They were lucky they kept a few of their personal items and changes of clothes in their cars. They were lucky they kept all their really important stuff like paperwork and passports in a safe. It had been recovered from the debris and returned to them. The first day after the fire had been spent using what was in there to apply for things like drivers licenses and the like. Rebuilding your life after a fire was almost as hard as rebuilding your life after leaving the coven.

"No, there's just something I need to do."

"Right now? Today?" The whole area would be swamped with people leaving school and heading home for Thanksgiving.

Branwen just stood there for a moment before nodding and leaving. Aria felt bad for her friend. Aria could be certain that her parents would be terrified if they knew what had happened and Aria felt bad for having to tell them over the phone tomorrow. Branwen had the burden of not knowing whether or not her own mother had been the one to have them burned in their own house. There had been days throughout their childhood that Branwen had been jealous of Aria's family being so affectionate. Aria had sometimes taken that for granted. Some days Aria had been jealous Branwen was a direct descendant of the leader of the original coven. Today was not one of those days.

The fifteen minute drive from the club to campus took forty-five minutes and Branwen worried that she had second guessed herself for too long. She looked around at the people hurrying to get home as she pulled her Mini Cooper SS into one of the vacant spaces in the parking lot. There were students with bags and suitcases everywhere and Branwen had to duck around people often to make sure she didn't get beamed with luggage.

She had to climb three flights of stairs and leap over one struggling freshman before she found the door she was looking for. Looking at it she wondered if anyone would answer it. And if they did, what would she say? Before she could lose her courage she knocked three times and tried not to fidget.

It took so long that she thought she was too late, but after what seemed like an eternity the door opened and Branwen had to tilt her head back to meet Caleb's eyes. "Can I help you?" he asked, smiling politely as he tried to discreetly check her out.

"Is Pogue Parry here?" She knew he would be because Caleb and Pogue wouldn't drive all the way home separately.

Caleb let his gaze linger on her face for a moment before calling for Pogue. When Pogue appeared Caleb was still staring at Branwen. When Pogue saw her, he definitely looked surprised. He came to the door and when Caleb didn't move, Pogue cleared his throat.

Looking at him, Caleb nodded, smiled, and disappeared into the room. When he was gone, Pogue turned to her and looked over her appearance. "It's Argall, right?"

Branwen nodded. "But you can call me Branwen."

He smiled a little before he looked out in the hall and back to her. "What can I do for you, Branwen?"

You can call me babe again. Branwen tried not to roll her eyes at herself. But her thoughts had a point. She needed something to tell her if Pogue had, in fact, entered her dream. Whether it was a familiarity, a bodily reaction or what, she needed confirmation before she just freely gave information she had been forbidden to share with anyone, let alone a Son of Ipswich.

"Oh, Professor Lewis suggested I read your essay on the societal patterns and historical implications in the justice system and how it relates to the overall practice of criminal law. He said it would lend an enlightened insight to my thesis." So the professor had said she would enjoy reading it, that was close enough.

Pogue looked surprised. "Uh, sure. Do you need it now? I'm not sure where it is."

"I was hoping to read it over the holidays." Branwen replied, hoping for an invitation to wait inside instead of the busy hallway.

Pogue ran his fingers through his hair as he looked around his dorm. Sighing, he opened the door wider and stood back. "Come inside. I'll have to look around for it."

When the door closed, Caleb came out of his room; clearly about to say something to Pogue, but when he saw Branwen, he closed his mouth before going with, "Oh. Hi. I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Caleb Danvers." He held out his hand as he stepped forward.

"Branwen Argall." She replied as she shook his hand. He looked down at her gloves and frowned. "It's cold outside." She explained. Though why she had worn gloves had less to do with the weather and more to do with who she had come to see.

Pogue left them and went to look for his paper. "So, how did you meet Pogue?" Caleb asked.

Branwen didn't miss his grin or the thoughts it betrayed. She remembered Pogue's reputation as a ladies man. And she had the added knowledge of knowing Pogue had been pursuing her dancing and bartending alter-ego persistently. "A professor introduced us."

Caleb seemed surprised by that. "You're studying law?"

She looked up at him seriously. "Do I look incapable of doing so?"

"No," he said, not even bothering to sound apologetic. "I just figured that I would have seen you around before now."

Not likely, considering he shared similar hours and classes with Pogue, who she had been trying to avoid until now. "I'm not studying law."

Caleb narrowed his eyes and went to speak but then Pogue came back. "I found it." He tried to flatten the slightly bent pages over his leg before handing it to her. "Sorry, it got stuck under my hamper."

"And by hamper he means a pile of laundry." Caleb said. Pogue shot him a glare but Caleb just smiled. "Branwen was telling me a professor introduced the two of you. But apparently she isn't studying law."

Branwen didn't see the big deal here.

"Yeah, Philosophy, Professor Lewis said, right?" Pogue asked.

When Branwen nodded, albeit suspiciously, Pogue smiled. She didn't understand why Pogue and Professor Lewis were talking about her and she was even more confused by his smile.

"I hope that can help with your thesis." Pogue said, walking around Caleb and opening the door.

Branwen couldn't help but feel like she was being kicked out and she hadn't made any progress on why she had originally come there. "Uh yeah, thanks." Grasping on a connecting topic, Branwen smiled, trying to look a little tried and worn out. "I hope I don't have to start all over again."

Pogue frowned. "Why would you start it over? Professor Lewis implied you were getting ready to hand it in."

Again she was unsettled by his knowledge of her. She didn't allow it to affect her ruse. "Yeah, I was just going through and finishing the details. With any luck it's saved on my online database."

Pogue opened his mouth to speak but Caleb spoke first. "What happened to your computer?"

Branwen looked up at him, all innocence. "It got destroyed in the fire."

"Fire?" Caleb and Pogue said together.

Branwen nodded, sighing. "My house was burned to the ground a few days ago. My cousin and I were lucky enough to make it out before it took the whole thing to the ground."

She watched Pogue's face but there was no indication that he knew what she was talking about and she felt frustrated. If only she was able to come out and say it instead of beating around the bush with these bobble heads. They stood there staring at her with their mouths hanging open.

Caleb was the first to snap out of it. "Your house burned to the ground a few days ago and you're worried about your thesis? If I were you I'd go home for the holidays and spend time with my family."

Branwen had to forcibly stop herself from snorting. Instead she bowed her head regretfully. "My father is dead and my mother and I don't speak." This charade was getting off point. She wasn't getting anywhere. She should just accept that whatever had happened in her dream, the real Pogue clearly didn't know anything about it. "Well, I should be getting back to our temporary living quarters. I have an essay to read and a thesis to finish."

"Wait." Branwen turned to leave but Caleb put a hand on her shoulder and she looked down at it. His fingers were within an inch of skin. She didn't know if the tingling would happen with Caleb but she knew she didn't want to test it. She turned to face him but took a step back out of his reach. "So are you really just going to sit in some hotel room and do schoolwork for Thanksgiving?"

Branwen had to admit that it sounded pathetic but she didn't have much else to do. Until she got away from the coven she couldn't have a real life. "I have my cousin. We'll probably have a little dinner but that's it really."

Branwen looked and Pogue but he was looking at Caleb suspiciously. Branwen's unease grew.

"Well then you should come home with us." Caleb said, looking at Pogue.

Branwen couldn't hide the shock on her face. Neither could Pogue. "I barely know you." Branwen said.

"Well, it would be a great way to make friends. Isn't coming together what Thanksgiving is for?"

Branwen was so shocked she was having trouble coming up with excuses. She could feel the pressure in her head slowly building a headache. "I couldn't possibly intrude on your family for Thanksgiving. Aria and I will be fine here."

"I insist." Caleb said, and Pogue was now outright glaring at Caleb.

"No Thank you." Branwen said, trying not to think about all the things worse than a fire the coven would do if she spent thanksgiving with the Sons of Ipswich.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Caleb said, his smile getting wider as he looked from Pogue to Branwen. "Pogue's driving his motorcycle home so you and your cousin can ride in the car with me. My mom will be so happy to have more people to host."

Two hours later Branwen sat in her car, completely overwhelmed, waiting for Caleb to pick them up. She'd had enough sense to suggest they meet up at a carpooling lot so Caleb didn't know they were staying above the club.

"I'm sorry about this mess." Branwen said to Aria, who was sitting beside her, looking out the window.

Aria looked over at her. "Branwen, in all honesty, I'm not upset. I mean I'm nervous about being around them because we've never been allowed to befriend other witches outside of cooperation events, and not letting them catch on to what we are is going to be hard, but I'm not worried about the coven right now. Any allegiance I had to them other than my parents, ended when they tried to burn us alive in our house."

Branwen wished it could be so black and white for her. Yes, she felt like the coven had given her no choice but to turn away from them, but she was still worried about the escalation. They had burned the condo to the ground, with the girls in it, for god only knew what. The coven would see time spent with the Sons as retaliation, or at least a childish rebellion. Branwen didn't know how to make it look like anything else.

"Is something else wrong?" Aria asked.

"Why would anything else be wrong?" Branwen asked, looking around the grounds again for any suspicious loiterers.

"You seem particularly on edge today."

Branwen sighed. "I don't think Pogue had anything to do with the warning in my dream."

There was a frown in Aria's tone but Branwen kept her eyes on the silver mustang making its way towards them. "So isn't that a good thing that he wasn't involved?"

"For his case, yes."

"What other case is there?"

"If he didn't become aware of the fire and project into my dream then someone else did and they chose the form of Pogue to do it." Branwen finally looked at Aria after assuring herself it was Caleb in the silver Mustang. "It means that someone, other than the coven, who is magical and has taken an interest in our lives is watching us. And they're watching us close enough to notice something I haven't completely come to terms with."

"What's that?" Aria asked as Caleb got out of his car and walked towards theirs.

Branwen sighed as she looked around and made sure everything was in order. Taking a deep breath she looked at her best friend. "That I seem to have reckless and inexplicable feelings of attachment to a boy I barely know and who was supposed to be my enemy." As Caleb knocked on the window, Branwen smiled at him and held up one finger before turning back to Aria. "I think I may have a less than innocent attraction to Pogue." She said, before opening the door and climbing out.

Before she closed her door she heard Aria mumble, "Yeah because no one saw that coming."