Carrie sat in the front seat of her brother's Mustang as he sped down the road while talking to Pogue on the speakerphone. While listening in to her brother filling Pogue in on what they felt the night before and how he suspected that it was probably Reid who Used that much, Carrie read the article on the front page of the newspaper. A Spencer Academy student was found dead by the police at the Dells as a result of a drug overdose.

She just flipped the paper over to continue reading the second half of the article when Pogue's next part of the conversation consisted of him asking, "What makes you think it was Reid?"

"It's always Reid," Carrie answered before her brother had the chance. "Which means he dragged Rayna into it as well since it felt like mega-twin Power. There's no way he could have mustered up all that Power on his own." Theoretically that much Power could be called upon but it was very strenuous for those who haven't Ascended yet. Honestly, Carrie couldn't imagine Reid putting that much effort into it which was why she thought Rayna helped him.

When twins joined their Power together it almost equaled in strength of one who has Ascended. This was something they rarely did because it gave the Son a taste of what could be and would create an opening for the seduction so they were very careful with joining Power.

"While Carrie has a point, we've never felt it when the Power has been Used before. Have you?" Caleb kept his eyes on the road as he spoke.

"No, never, but maybe you two are more sensitive to Using because you're both so close to Ascending. I don't know."

Carrie and Caleb shared a look with each other then because it certainly seemed plausible. "Maybe," Carrie replied as she tossed the newspaper onto the dash.

"I don't know," Caleb continued as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "But I'm telling you, man, it was strong enough to wake us both from a dead sleep."

Pogue's voice was quieter as he said, "You know, he's only using his Power to piss you off 'cause he's jealous you're Ascending first."

"Being so reckless with the Power leads to the seduction taking hold," Carrie shot back. "If Reid is stupid enough to do that and risk Rayna's life then maybe he should be put down before he has the chance to do the same to her." Okay, Carrie would never even attempt to kill Reid or any of the others, but she was pissed and scared and lashing out.

Pogue picked up on this. "You don't mean that, Carrie. Say it all you want, but you don't mean it."

Carrie tried to stay firm with her threat but between Pogue's words and Caleb's look, she caved. "Fine. Maybe I don't, but…"

Her sentence was cut off when a pale face, pure white-eyed, decaying image of the Spencer student who died shot forward into the front seat between them. This being screamed before decaying rapidly and dissipating into the air before vanishing.

The twins jumped fifty feet because they were scared half to death and Caleb ended up going into the left lane because of it. Carrie saw the oncoming eighteen-wheeler truck coming straight for them and shouted, "Caleb!" right before impact.

Their combined Use of Power shattered their own beings as well as the vehicle while the truck passed through them and reconstituted themselves rightly at the end. Caleb hit the brakes and came to a screeching halt and then realized he and Carrie were tightly holding hands. They needed another moment of confirmation that they were indeed alive before letting go.

Pogue had heard all this on his end of the line and repeatedly called out to them, worried to hell that something terrible had just happened.

When Carrie took back her hand, she placed it on her chest because her heart wouldn't stop pounding. "Was that…"

"Yeah," Caleb answered, knowing what she was going to ask, "it was a Darkling." He picked up the phone from the floor and talked to Pogue. "We just saw a Darkling. It was in the form of that dead kid they found at the Dells."

"I saw his picture in the newspaper. But who would send you guys a Darkling?"

Carrie was still pretty freaked out about what had happened. "I don't know but something's wrong, guys. I can feel it."

Caleb concurred completely. "I can, too."

Pogue was determined to get to the bottom of this now. "Look, we'll talk to Reid tonight. He'll probably be at Nicky's with the others, so we'll see him then."

"Definitely." Caleb ended the call and dropped his phone into the cup holder beside him. He could tell Carrie was still pretty freaked about what happened, but didn't draw attention to it. Carrie never liked showing weakness to anyone so he just went on with their plan for the day. Caleb put the car into gear and sped off towards town to accomplish what they set out to do.

While Caleb was picking up a prescription, Carrie was in the pain relief aisle. She had a splitting headache so she picked up something for it that would hopefully help until she got home and whipped up something else.

"Head still bothering you?" Caleb surmised as his sister set the bottle of pain reliever on the counter with the other purchases. It wasn't surprising given what they had to Use their Power for in order to survive an otherwise deadly car crash.

"Yep." Carrie leaned back against the counter as Caleb paid for everything. "Unfortunately I'm not invincible."

"Could have fooled me," Caleb joked and tossed her the bottle while he kept the prescription bag in his possession.

Carrie caught it with ease and was about to open it up but spotted Parker with a shopping basket in hand, so she went over to her friend instead. "Hey, Park. I didn't know you were coming into town today."

"Hi, Carrie." Parker saw Caleb behind Carrie and smiled with a light blush tinging her cheeks, "Hi, Caleb."

Caleb stepped up and joined the ladies. "How're you doing, Parker?"

"Fine," she smiled meekly as she lifted up her shopping basket. "We're picking up some essentials and then going the bookstore."

"Did they finally track down that first edition for you?" Caleb remembered how Parker had been looking for a first edition of a book written by a 'nobody' that never amounted to anything, nor was it worth anything. He couldn't remember anything about the book or author itself, just that Parker wanted it.

Parker's smile grew wide and her face even brightened when he asked her that, and answered excitedly. "Yes, finally! I can't wait to read it."

Carrie was glad for her friend about her latest book find, but she felt the need to ask, "Who's 'we'?"

"Talking about me?" Sarah asked Parker jokingly as she lightly hip bumped her. "My ears were burning." She turned her attention to the twins then. "Hi."

Carrie smiled and waved briefly while Caleb smiled and politely greeted her, saying "Hi there."

Parker's brightness dimmed a bit because she thought maybe Tina was right and Caleb did have a thing for Sarah. She was about to excuse herself to make her purchases when Chase snuck up behind her and shouted, "Boo!"

Parker hated that she shrieked a bit, but did, and soon turned red because of it.

Sarah lightly backhanded Chase for that. "Don't be mean."

"I wasn't trying to be," Chase laughed as he looked at Parker. "I was trying to make Parker's face red again. It compliments her."

Caleb's face hardened ever so slightly as Parker's complexion seemed to turn an even deeper shade of red. He had no claim on Parker per his own doing but that didn't mean he liked it when other guys flirted with her.

Chase looked between the twins as he asked, "Are you going to join us to the bookstore? Parker's picking up…" he turned back to her, "The Dreamer by George Rockham, is it?"

Parker shook her head and laughed lightly. "No, that's not it."

Chase snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Right. That was the book from Penelope."

"You've seen Penelope?" Carrie found that hard to believe. "Doesn't seem like your kind of movie."

"Perhaps there is more to me than meets the eye." Chase winked at her with a little grin.

"They're showing it at the theater for their 'throwback weekend', anyone want to come?" That was Parker's lame way of asking a particular person if they wanted to go since she didn't have the guts to do it directly.

Chase shrugged with a smile. "Why not? I'll come."

"We've got errands to run for our mom," Carrie began but Caleb countered with,

"I can do the errands. Go ahead." Caleb encouraged this not only because he wanted to give his sister a relief and distraction from the Darkling earlier, but because he'd feel better if someone was keeping an eye on Parker.

"You sure?" Carrie could tell by the look on Caleb's face that he was encouraging her to go and honestly was relieved because of it. "Cool. Let's do it."

Parker looked at her roommate with a smile, "Want to come, Sarah?"

"No, thanks. I've seen it enough times. But thank you for the invite." Sarah smiled at Parker and looked briefly at Caleb before turning back to Parker with a slightly larger smile.

Parker took the hint because she already knew that Sarah wanted her to basically talk her up to Caleb, so she reluctantly asked Caleb, "Do you want some company? Otherwise Sarah is stuck doing nothing all day."

Caleb felt a bit of a sting when Parker seemed to be urging Sarah his way but decided to think of it as doing Parker a favor, so he obliged by asking Sarah, "You up for doing errands?"

"Sure," Sarah instantly answered, happy by this turn of events.

Carrie was about to ask Caleb if that was such a good idea but kept it to herself. She trusted her brother and the fact that he knew what he was doing. But if there ever came a time that changed then she'd definitely wouldn't hold her tongue.

Parker excused herself then, saying, "I'm going to cash up. Meet you outside." She smiled meekly and went to the register. Her expression dropped a bit when she saw a laughing Sarah walking with a smiling Caleb down the street. It's her own fault but it didn't stop what she felt. Pushing that feeling down, she smiled kindly at the cashier and proceeded with the purchases.

After the outing of the bookstore and movie, Parker, Carrie, and Chase met up with Caleb and Sarah at Nicky's. They managed to get a big enough table for all of them, but they usually managed to anyway. That particular table always seemed to be left open for the Children of Ipswich. Four sets of twins tended to freak people out sometimes – especially when they were all together at once.

Carrie intended to enjoy herself before the confrontation with Reid she knew was coming, so she pushed thoughts of that to the side and added into the present conversation about the Penelope movie and how Chase had actually seen it before as well as liked it.

"I gotta be honest with you, Chase. I thought you only learned enough about the movie to impress Parker here, but when you started quoting the lines, I admit I was proven wrong." Carrie laughed as she twirled the straw around in her soda.

"I told you I was a fan. First time I watched it was because I lost a bet. I don't think any of my buddies thought I'd actually like the film." Chase smiled at Carrie and winked at Parker after saying it.

Parker moved some of her long, frizzed-wavy hair behind her ear – something she did when she didn't know what to say – and felt relieved when she spotted Pogue coming towards the table. "How's the bike?" Parker asked her brother, hoping the change of conversation would stick.

"Fixed now." Pogue kissed the top of Parker's head before draping his leather jacket on the back of the seat beside her. "Good day?"

"I got the book." Parker reached into her bag and pulled it out to show it off with pride. "Then Chase and Carrie went to the movies with me."

"Did they now?" Pogue looked Chase over, not quite liking the fact the guy spent the day with his sister and Carrie. After a stoic glare, he asked Parker, "Want some fries or anything?"

Parker nodded with a smile. "That'd be awesome. Thank you." She would have already ordered them but felt self-conscious doing so and thus had just been drinking soda since their arrival.

"Be right back." Pogue pointed at his twin with a smile. "Put the book away now. Don't keep your nose in it all night." He gestured around them, "There's actual stuff going on here."

Parker smiled meekly and put it away because if Pogue hadn't said anything, she probably would have started to read it and tune out everything going on around her.

Carrie drank the last bit of her soda and declared, "I need a refill. Anything for you guys?" After receiving an array of 'noes', she scooped up her glass from the table with an, "I'll be Bach."

"Dibs on Mozart," Caleb instantly answered with a chuckle and smiled when Parker added in with laughter,

"Tchaikovsky for me. The Nutcracker is my favorite."

Since Chase and Sarah both looked confused, Caleb explained. "When we were kids, Carrie kept pronouncing 'back' like 'Bach' so it turned into us claiming our favorite composers. It's lame but it stuck."

Sarah giggled with a smile, "Well I think it's adorable."

While Carrie was getting a refill she spotted Pogue, Reid, and Tyler placing money on a pool table while looking at a girl at the bar. It didn't take her long to figure out what they were betting on since it wouldn't be the first time and when the young woman's skirt went flying up to reveal she wasn't wearing any underwear, she knew she was right and it annoyed her greatly among other things. After a moment's thought, Carrie decided to turn the tables on them.

"Let's see how you like it," Carrie said to herself and acted like she was rubbing her forehead as her eyes flashed black, making Reid's, Tyler's and Pogue's pants all drop. She didn't look at the result but smirked in satisfaction when she heard them exclaim in surprise while a lady or two whistled.

Tina and Rayna just entered Nicky's at this point and they joined their brothers and Pogue at the pool table. "What did we miss?" Tina asked as she leaned back against it.

"Karma," Pogue answered with an amused grin as he scooped up his winnings while watching Carrie walk away from the bar. "And her name is Carrie Danvers."

The girls didn't get a chance to ask Pogue to elaborate because he was already headed back towards the table. Since he wasn't giving them anything, Tina crossed her arms and looked at not only her twin but her boyfriend with an inquiring brow.

Tyler was the one who caved. He usually was the first one who did when it came to his sister. "Carrie Used and dropped our pants for payback of a bet."

Rayna let out a laugh at that, she couldn't help it even as Reid mildly glared at her for it. "I'm sorry, it's just…wow that's so out of character for Carrie. Especially since she just gave us a lecture about Using in public."

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm going to take her current actions as permission to Use tonight as we please." Tina spotted Aaron and his buddies nearby and grabbed a cue stick, saying, "I've got a better idea for a bet. Let's play."

It didn't take them long to figure out what Tina was thinking and jumped right on board with that plan.

Meanwhile, Carrie sat at the table with Parker and Sarah while Caleb, Chase, and Pogue played a game of foosball. Carrie thought this was a good time to casually ask Sarah, "Have fun with errands today or did they get tedious for you?"

"I enjoyed the time out and the company." Sarah smiled and suddenly got excited, saying, "I wish I brought my camera though. When we drove by the old Putman Barn I so wanted to take a picture. It was perfect."

Carrie took a sip from her drink before asking, "You went by the old Putnam Barn?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, on the way to your caretaker's place. Gorman invited me inside when he thought I was Rayna but when Caleb told him I wasn't her, he fired off a gun and shouted I wasn't welcome. That was the only off part of the day. Otherwise it was excellent."

Carrie had to contain what she felt about that because she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to herself and was about to ask a follow-up question but Sarah spoke before she could.

Sarah waved her hand towards the guys at the Foosball table and asked, "Now how did that happen?"

Parker didn't understand the question. "What do you mean?" Pogue and Caleb breaking off to do their own thing wasn't anything new.

"Well one second we're all together having fun and the next we're sitting here watching them have fun. So how did that happened?"

Carrie didn't get why Sarah was so bothered by this turn of events. "They're doing their own thing. We don't need to depend on them to have fun."

"I'm not saying that we do," Sarah countered, "but that doesn't mean we can't draw back their attention." She held her hand out to either Parker or Carrie. "Anyone got a quarter?"

Parker went into her bag and pulled out her coin purse to hand over the requested coin. She had to admit she was a bit curious where this was going.

"You're the best." Sarah giggled and went over to the jukebox. Moments after her selection was made, 'I love Rock and Roll' started playing over the speakers.

"I love this song," Parker called out with laughter but stopped laughing as soon as Sarah pulled Caleb away from his Foosball game to dance.

Carrie caught Parker's change in demeanor, it was pretty obvious what she was feeling. She reached out and squeezed Parker's hand that was on the table. "Just tell him already."

"There's nothing to tell," Parker lied as she took back her hand and moved some more hair behind her ear. With her eyes down she said to Carrie, "Maybe you should take your own advice."

Before Carrie could even respond to that, Chase came over to ask her, "Would you like to dance?"

Carrie accepted Chase's hand with a, "Don't mind if I do." Since Pogue didn't seem too interested in dancing with anyone, she wasn't going to hold out for wishful thinking that he might ask her. As Carrie stood she said to Parker, "Ask someone to dance," then went with Chase to the dancing area.

Carrie moved with Chase to the music and laughed because she was having a lot of fun. And honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun that didn't involve any Use of Power. She was just a normal girl dancing with a normal guy and enjoying the hell out of it.

Alas, everything must come to an end. What brought that moment to a halt was a fight breaking out between Reid and Aaron that took itself outside. Caleb and Pogue were already on their way out there and since she saw Rayna and Tina following, Carrie intended on going outside, too.

"I better go with them." Carrie was about to get Parker and go, but stopped when Chase asked,

"Is that such a good idea? Want me to come with you or anything?"

"Thanks, but it's alright we can handle it. Just stay with Sarah." Carrie made her getaway now with Parker who was all ready to go out with her.

By the time they got out there, whatever confrontation with Aaron and Reid was over because Nicky broke it up with a baseball bat. Not that he had to use the bat, just made it very clear he had one and wasn't afraid to use it.

"Do I even want to know what that was all about?" Carrie asked as she went down the stairs and over to the rest of the Children when the others went back inside.

Since the Children of Ipswich were the only ones left out there, they could speak relatively freely.

"The jackass bet me I couldn't make the combo shot and guess what, I did." Reid sounded pretty damn smug about that.

"Let me guess – it was shot that needed a little assistance? Dammit, Reid, when are you going to grow up?" Carrie rubbed her temple a bit because her patience was lacking now.

"They were suckers!" Reid laughed. "They bought right into it. What's the big deal?"

"There isn't one," Tina chimed in, coming to his defense. "It's not like he simultaneously dropped the pants of three people. No, wasn't that you, Carrie?"

Reid laughed because of the look on Carrie's face. It was the look of someone who had just been put in their place and didn't care for it very much. "Swish. Nothing but net." He draped his arm over Tina's shoulders. "Let's get back inside."

Before Reid took a step, Caleb shot out his hand to stop him. "I'm not done talking with you, man."

Reid didn't take kindly to being stopped like that so he grabbed hold of Caleb's wrist as his eyes turned pitch black while Using his Power on him.

Caleb's hand crunched and his veins darkened. "Reid, stop." Since Reid didn't listen, he turned his own eyes black and Used the Power to throw Reid away and into a wall across the way.

"What the hell!" Tina shouted and physically pushed Caleb for that before going over to Reid to check on him.

Rayna was about to do the same but Tyler grabbed hold of her arm to keep her back because he had a feeling that this was just going to escalate and he didn't want her getting caught in the crossfire.

"What will it take to get it through your head?" Caleb shouted at Reid, though the message was for them all. "It's seductive! The more you Use the Power the more likely it is for the seduction to take hold. You know what happens when it does. You've seen it. I'm not going to stand by and let your idiocy cause the death of your sister!"

With the assistance of Tina, Reid got to his feet and his blood boiled when Caleb said that about him and his twin. "I would never kill her!" He used his Power to raise a beer keg and throw it at Caleb who in return deflected it and threw Reid back into a pile of crates and glass bottles.

Reid got to his feet, leaped over the pile and Used the Power to raise a multitude of glass bottles while Caleb raised the kegs. Before either could make the next attack, Parker ran in between them and shot out her hands, screaming, "Enough!"

Parker's Power disarmed the Sons as well as knocked them on their asses. She stood there with pitch black eyes and panted before shouting at them again, "This is lunacy! We do not Use on each other! We're the Children, dammit! We don't do this!"

Tina stood on the sidelines with wide eyes because she had never seen Parker react or Use like that before. Didn't stop Tina from being damn proud of her though – Parker was finally doing more than standing by and just letting things happen.

Carrie slowly walked towards Parker because she had never seen an outburst like this before coming from her and honestly sure what to expect. "You didn't feel it, Parker. You don't know how Reid Used last night."

"Reid didn't Use!" Parker shouted back as her eyes returned to normal. "Someone Used their Power to mess with me last night and it wasn't Reid. He was the one who made sure I got back to my room alright. Believe whatever the hell you want but you know that he wouldn't ever mess with me like that! You know that!" Right after it happened Parker hated to admit she forgot that fact when she asked Reid if he did Use on her but was soon reminded of what she just said to Carrie; Reid would never Use on her like that.

Parker looked right at Caleb as she repeated in a more level yet still emotional voice, "You know that." With nothing else to say and having reached her limit of dealing with bullshit, she picked up her bag from the ground and started walking away. Instead of going back into Nicky's, she headed down the street.

Pogue was about to follow but stopped when Rayna said, "I got this," and sprinted off after her to make sure she'd get back to the Dorms alright. Of all the people who could understand where Parker was coming from in that moment, it was Rayna. After all they were alike in almost as many ways as they were different.

Reid, Tyler, and Tina went back into Nicky's without another word, leaving Pogue, Caleb, and Carrie outside.

Caleb dragged his hand down his face. "If it wasn't him then who the hell was it? Tina? I wouldn't put it past her messing with Parker like that." He knew there were times that Tina would do something to get a desired reaction out of somewhere.

Carrie didn't know one way or the other and turned to Pogue to ask, "Did you know someone was Using on Parker last night?" It seemed like something she'd have mentioned if to no one else but Pogue.

Pogue shook his head because he didn't know. "No. She never said a word, but she never really does." He felt like a failure as a brother in that moment because he's supposed to protect her from anything and everything. "I'm getting answers from Tina now."

Carrie side-stepped to keep him from bursting into Nicky's. "After what just happened I think we all need to take a breather. We're all stressed and worried. No matter how many times we make it clear that a Son will never give into the seduction and take it out on a Daughter, that doesn't mean it will never happen and it's scary as hell. I gave into that fear but we can't. We can't let that fear keep us from finding out what's going on, okay?"

Carrie placed her hands on Pogue's shoulders to center him and hold his attention. "Like I already vowed to my brother; No Sons are killing Daughters. Not on my watch."

End Part 3