After Parker got back to the Dorms, she drank some herbal tea Rayna had given her and went straight to bed. She didn't even hear when Sarah got back she was sleeping so soundly. Unfortunately for Parker, this did not last for long.
At some point in the night, Parker felt something on her skin. It started out so subtle like the feeling of a stray hair brushing across your skin. The sensation gradually grew until the feeling became so intense that it woke her up. Parker touched her arms in a half asleep fashion and when she felt the source, she jolted wide awake.
Parker screamed in horror as she swiped off the spiders crawling upon her arm, only to scream all the more when she discovered there were spiders everywhere. On every surface of her dorm room there were those dreaded arachnids. Parker rushed through the swarm on the floor to get to Sarah's bed, frantically telling her to wake up. When Sarah finally rolled over, her mouth was wide open with a multitude of spiders pouring right out of it, spreading out over her entire body.
It was that moment Parker awoke for real. Her body drenched with sweat, her heart beating a mile a minute. The dream - the nightmare felt so real she needed a moment to realize it was just that; a nightmare. Despite knowing this, she needed to make sure so she turned to check on her roommate. Upon seeing that Sarah was sound asleep, Parker slowly climbed out of bed and snuck out of her room. This wasn't something she normally did – snuck around well after curfew – but Parker needed to see her brother after that dream - that nightmare.
As Parker walked down the dark hall - save for the dim glow of every other ceiling light - she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her. It was the same feeling the felt that night in the showers. Parker didn't know if it was just her paranoia or if the shadows were truly watching her every move. Either way, she ran down the hall and up the stairs to Pogue's floor.
It felt like an eternity to reach her brother's room, there was a moment where it looked as if it would take an eternity to get there. As soon as she stepped foot on his floor, the hallway seemed to extend to infinity but that illusion didn't last long, just long enough to make her question if she'd actually seen it. This encounter made Parker rush to Pogue's door and knock frantically upon it. Her breathing quickened as in the corner of her eye she'd swear she could see a shadow figure coming towards her, only for it to disappear when the door opened and Pogue stepped out to join her.
Pogue had never seen Parker looking so scared and disheveled in his life. Scared and disheveled, yes, but nothing like this. "Parker, what happened?" He stepped aside for his sister to enter his room – clearly this wasn't a hallway conversation.
Parker went into his dorm room and started pacing. Thankfully he had a single dorm so she didn't have to worry about unwanted ears listening in. "I – I had a nightmare, but it was so real, Pogue. It felt so real. There were spiders. I – I could feel their legs crawling all over me, their teeth biting me, and then they started coming out of Sarah's mouth like they had filled her up inside to the point where there wasn't any more room! Then on the way here I felt like I was being watched…Like – like the shadows had eyes or something. And out there, in – in the hall there was something out there. I know there was." Parker didn't realize she was crying until her voice broke a bit, saying, "Either I'm going insane or someone's Using on me, Pogue. Someone's Using on me and I don't know why. I wish they'd just stop. It's not funny."
Pogue hated seeing his sister like this and hugged her tight. If it wasn't Reid then it was Tina – it had to be. The others either cared about Parker too much to play these 'pranks' or didn't have the guts to do it knowing she had himself and Caleb on her side. Not wanting to make Parker worry about who he chose to blame, he instead made a vow. "You're not going insane, Parker. We're going to figure this out, I promise." Those were the words he said to her but what he meant was he was going to make damn sure they never messed with his twin again.
The next day, Tina walked down the hall on her way to class with the other students when Pogue appeared out of nowhere, took hold of her arm, and pulled her into a different hallway. She had no idea what his intentions were, so she lightheartedly pointed out, "Hate to break it to you, Pogue, but you've got the wrong Daughter if you're hoping for a quickie."
Pogue was in no mood for her antics or her attitude. After letting her go once they were far enough away, he flexed his hand in an attempt to control himself. "You need to stop messing with Parker." That wasn't how he intended on starting this conversation in his head but those were the words that came out of his mouth. It was appropriate though, Pogue's very protective of his sister after all and he thought Tina was the cause of Parker's distress. So while this may not have started out as initially planned, it wasn't out of character for his thought process in the least.
Tina scoffed incredulously at this because she honestly couldn't believe it. Okay, perhaps a teensy-tiny part of her could since she was known for her pranks in the past, but not this. Definitely not this. "Now you think I'm the one who's Using on Parker? Newsflash, dipshit, I'm not. I'm not and Reid's not. None of us are!"
"Someone is!" Pogue shouted back at her before returning his voice to a lower level as to not draw attention to them. "I've sensed the excess Use. Both Carrie and Caleb can sense it, they've both seen a Darkling, and Parker came to my dorm in tears last night because someone was screwing with her again. You're the only other person who fits that M.O., Tina."
Tina took strong offense to those accusations and pressed a firm finger into his chest. "Darklings aren't my style, Pogue. Those things freak me the hell out and you know it. And as far as Parker's concerned, I may be a bitch, but I love Parker. I would never knowingly do something to cause her pain. Did I Use this weekend? Yeah, I did. I'm not going to deny that, but not excessively and never on Parker. Not like that." She pointed down the hall and spoke with emphasis to make sure Pogue this conversation was over. "Now I'm going to get to class and I highly suggest you should to before you shove your foot any further down your throat."
Before Pogue could get a word out one way or another, Tina stormed off down the hallway to get to the lecture hall for class. After confronting Tina he was pretty torn. Pogue had no clue if they were telling the truth or if Tina was a far better liar than anyone gave her credit for. Either way it was unnerving because they still had no definite answer, and that didn't sit well with Pogue at all.
In the lecture hall, Parker sat in her usual seat and looked around for Pogue. Usually he was seated and ready before most of the other students who had already arrived, but he wasn't there yet. Parker hoped that everything was alright and tried not to think the worst as she prepared herself for class.
"Where did you disappear to last night?" Sarah asked as she plopped into the seat beside her. With a bit of playful smile and giggle, she asked, "Did you sneak off into Chase's room?" Sarah walked her fingers up Parker's arm with a grin.
Parker moved her arm away with a, "No. I needed to see my brother." That was the truth, even without getting into details about the terrifying nightmare.
Sarah looked disappointed to hear this. "Well that's no fun. I was looking forward to some juicy details." With a little sigh, she added in, "Perhaps it's for the best. He seems to be interested in Carrie anyway. I'd hate to have a guy get in between your friendship."
"If Carrie likes Chase then she can date him. I'm not interested." Parker set her usual array of writing utensils on the writing platform in front of her, only to have a pair of pencils to be snatched up by Sarah. "I need those."
"Chill, Parker. You can borrow one of mine." Sarah bit onto the pencils and started moving her hands through Parker's hair. When Parker tried to move from her grasp, Sarah said with a muffled voice due to the pencils, "I'm just putting up your hair." Once she stopped fidgeting, Sarah went back to what she was doing.
After gathering up the mass that was Parker's hair and twirled it around at the back of her head, Sarah took a pencil from her mouth, wiped it on her arm for good measure, stuck it through Parker's bun and repeated the same actions with the remaining pencil.
"Excellent." Sarah beamed as she adjusted some stray hairs in front of Parker's face before pulling a compact mirror from her bag. "Take a look if you don't believe me."
"I don't normally wear my hair up," Parker stated as she looked into the mirror. As soon as her reflection came into view, she froze for a moment because it actually complimented her appearance. "Wow…"
"You should wear it up more often. No guy will be able to take his eyes off you if you do." Sarah nudged her playfully then got herself ready for class.
From Caleb's seat, he was casually watching Sarah's and Parker's interactions with each other and couldn't help but smile. His attention was drawn away when Pogue finally came up the steps and took the seat beside him – Just in time too, the last few stragglers were getting to their seats.
"Cutting it close," Caleb pointed out since it was out of character for him. "You okay?"
"I talked to Tina before class. I don't think she's the one, man." Pogue's voice was quiet when he spoke when his eyes looked over to Tina, she glared at him before returning to her conversation with Rayna.
"I thought we agreed I'd be the one to talk with her." Caleb wanted to find out who was behind the excessive Use as much as Pogue did. Perhaps even more.
"You didn't see Parker last night. She was in tears freaking out. I had to do something. I had to at least question Tina." Pogue looked over at Parker who was sitting next to Sarah across the way and sighed heavily. "She never says more than five words when something is bothering her but last night she didn't stop talking until she broke down crying. I never want to see my sister like that again."
Caleb hated the idea of Parker going through all this crap – she didn't deserve it. "What makes you so sure it wasn't Tina?" He was still a bit skeptical that it wasn't her, especially since if it was true and Tina wasn't behind it then he had no idea who else to suspect.
"Tina brought up a good point." Pogue managed to squeeze in before the professor called for attention, "She may be a bitch but she loves Parker as much as the rest of us."
Caleb faced forward with the appearance of focusing on the lesson for that day but really his mind was going over everything. Either someone was lying and lying big time or there was something more sinister at play. He couldn't believe he was hoping that someone was lying because the alternative wasn't something he could even fathom.
Later that day, Tina and Rayna were in the Library. Tina was determined to find a book she knew was there since, as far as she knew, she was one of the few who actually checked it out. Many a time Tina intended to steal the thing, but that'd just draw some questions her way as to why that she didn't want to deal with.
"You know that book cover to cover, Tina," Rayna pointed out as she followed her through the Library. "Why do you need to read it again?"
"I remember the details I want to remember," Tina corrected as she stopped at a particular shelf for the desired book. "The stuff I didn't care about just faded away but there is something nagging me that I want to check out."
Rayna watched as Tina frantically started moving the books aside. "You think there's an answer in there about what's going on with Parker?"
"I'm saying that something is going on and that book might give me a hint as to where to look next." Tina was officially pissed because the book wasn't there, so she stormed off down the aisle with the intention of asking the Librarian where the hell it was.
Rayna was quick to follow and spoke with hushed tones, "We know something is going on – Someone is Using on Parker but no one is copping to it."
Tina stopped in her tracks and whipped around so quickly that Rayna almost walked right into her. Since there were people nearby, she grabbed Rayna's hand and pulled her down to the end of an aisle before speaking again. "That's just it, Rayna, who is Using on her? I'm not, you're not. Neither are Tyler and Reid. Despite her Use at Nicky's, I cannot see Carrie doing it. And Caleb and Pogue would never. I've just ruled out everyone, Rayna. None of us would ever Use on Parker. Using on Parker would be like taking candy from a baby; Cruel and unusual."
Rayna hoped Tina wasn't saying what she thought she was saying. "Are you thinking that someone else is Using on her? Someone else with the Power?"
Tina crossed her arms and shrugged. "Can you think of another explanation?"
Rayna thought that was utterly and completely impossible and said as much. "The fifth family doesn't exist anymore. The Putnam bloodline died out, Tina."
Tina pointed at her in a 'what if' manner. "Or did it? That's why I want to reread the book – all the details that didn't apply to our families. I need to make sure I didn't miss anything because I feel like I'm missing something."
With that said, she walked down the aisle and turned to get to the Librarian's desk, only to stop because she found the book she was looking for. The book about the history of Witches in Ipswich was splayed out on a table in front of Sarah. Tina beelined straight for her instead and slapped her hands on the table to make her presence known.
"Jeeze, you scared me," Sarah said a bit breathlessly with her hand on her chest.
"Some light reading?" Tina asked, eyeing the book in front of her, wondering why Sarah would be interested in the book to begin with.
Sarah looked at Rayna who just joined them before looking back to Tina. "I was curious about your families. Did you know the whole Witchcraft thing actually started here in Ipswich?"
Before Rayna could answer, Tina said, "It's all poppycock. What you're reading there is basically a fairy tale that happens to involve our families. So if you don't mind…" She reached out to take it from the table, only to have Sarah snap it shut and pull it away.
"I do mind, actually. I'm not done reading it. Don't worry, I shouldn't be more than a day or two with it. You can check it out then." Sarah smiled a sweet smile at them as she held the book close, stood up, and left the Library.
Tina flexed her fists because she really wanted to punch something. "When I first met her, I was unimpressed. Now I don't like the bitch."
"Why? Because she wants to finish reading the book?" Rayna didn't understand that logic whatsoever.
"Yes," was all Tina had to say about that because something just felt off and she didn't like it one bit.
Parker was working on an assignment in her dorm room when suddenly there was a rapid pounding at the door. "Who is it?" She wasn't expecting anyone so she wasn't just going to open the door with a welcoming smile.
"Tina and Rayna. Let us in or we'll let ourselves in." Tina sounded very impatient.
Parker sighed and got up from her desk before moving to unlock the door. What they could possibly want, she had no idea but didn't doubt that they'd Use to get in so letting them in was pretty much the only option. When Parker opened the door to greet them, she barely managed to get out "Hi" before Tina burst right into her room with Rayna in tow.
"Where's your roommate?" Tina demanded to know as she started looking under Sarah's bed and whatnot.
"She's on a date with Caleb," Parker answered with melancholic tone before asking more levelly, "What's going on?"
"Tina is jealous of the new girl and thinks she's an evil spawn," Rayna answered as she sat on the edge of Parker's bed.
Tina returned the mattress to its rightful place before firmly stating, "I am not jealous of anyone. That bitch is setting off my spidey-senses and I want answers." She went into the bathroom and didn't find what she was looking for there either. "How the hell does she not have any loose hairs around?!"
Parker shook her head in confusion. "You think Sarah has the Power?" That was the only thing she could think of to explain why Tina was acting like this. "That's impossible, Tina."
"Well if I had a strand of her hair then I'd know for sure one way or another." Tina even looked over Sarah's pillows again to no avail.
Parker had enough of this and went over to take the pillow out of Tina's grasp and put it back. "That's enough. Stop it! I don't know what's going on but Sarah has nothing to do with it. She's my friend."
"No. She's some new girl who shows up and all this shit starts happening. Caleb and Carrie have been sent a Darkling, did you know that? Someone's Using so much that it wakes Pogue and the soon Ascending twins out of a dead sleep, and you're being messed with. She's the only freaking common denominator. And if Carrie was here she'd back me up on that!"
"Where is Carrie anyway?" Rayna asked curiously since they hadn't seen her since swim practice after school.
"She's on a date with Chase," Parker answered then got back to the matter at hand. "And it's not Sarah! Sarah told me about her family and she doesn't have a twin. And if she did have a twin and he died then she wouldn't have the Power anyway. That's how it works and you know it. So stop whatever the hell you're trying to pull here, Tina! For all I know you could be the one Using on me!"
Tina was really starting to hate being accused of that. At first it was annoying and now it was enraging. "I would never Use on you, Parker!" She was starting to wonder how the hell she became the villain of the group.
"Like you never have?!" Parker shouted back at her. "You used to Use on me all the time when we got our Power and don't even try to deny it!"
Tina scoffed incredulously before throwing her arm out to side, "Those were harmless little pranks and that was then. As soon as I realized how much they bothered you I stopped and you know that!"
"No harm has come to me, not really, so one could call this Use harmless little pranks, too. And what's to say you didn't choose to start them up again? I wouldn't be surprised if you decided to." Parker wasn't sure where all this was coming from. Maybe it was from all the times she kept things bottled up and finally she just couldn't press it down any further.
Tina got right up in Parker's face, locking right onto her eyes to ask, "Do you really think I would Use on you like that? Torment you like that? That I would send freaking Darklings to our Covenant knowing how much they terrify me?! Do you really think that, Parker?!"
Parker answered in all seriousness when she said, "Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if you did."
Rayna was rendered speechless because she's never seen Parker act like this before. It was a whole other side that she honestly didn't even know existed. Rayna had no idea what to expect so she got between them thinking things had already gone too far. "Tina, we should go."
"Yeah, you're right," Tina said to Rayna before looking right at Parker, practically seething, "We're done here."
Parker suddenly felt horrible for everything that she said and went to the doorway to call out, "I didn't mean that! Tina, I'm sorry!", but it was too late. Parker could tell Tina didn't give a damn – Tina flipping her off was a big indicator of that.
Parker closed her door with a heavy sigh. She had no idea what came over her and that made her worry. Was someone Using on her then and she didn't even realize it? Not knowing who was behind it was almost as bad as it happening.
Just when Parker was about to return to her assignment, there was a soft rapping at the door. It was the kind of knock she knew to belong to only one person. "Come in, Pogue."
Pogue entered his sister's room and was about to ask her something but stopped when he saw the expression on her face. "What happened?" He was worried someone was messing with her again.
Parker set her pencil down with a sigh. "I – I yelled at Tina. I never yell at Tina. I never yell at anyone. I don't know what's going on with me." She crossed her arms on the desk and plopped her head right onto them with a whining groan.
Pogue gave his sister's shoulder a comforting squeeze, feeling like she was being too hard on herself. "You've been so quiet for so long I think you're due a blow up or two." The behavior described didn't surprise him. He always thought whenever Parker held stuff in it was like she was a soda bottle being shaken up, ready to explode at the first sign of being opened.
Parker felt better after hearing him say that even though she still felt horrible for doing it. "Thanks." She had to admit Pogue had a point, she wasn't one to talk about her emotions much, but still, she didn't like blowing up on people.
Pogue quickly kissed the top of her head. "Any time." He sat on the edge of her desk and crossed his arm, easing his way into his question. "So…you been spending time with Chase lately?"
Parker eyed her brother a bit because this was a kind of odd line of questioning for him. "Not really. Not since we went to the movies. He likes Carrie – they've started dating or something." Then it made sense why he was asking. Parker figured it was a roundabout way of asking if Chase and Carrie had been spending a lot of time together.
Pogue's face hardened a bit when she told him that bit of unknown and disliked information. "Is that so." He cleared his throat before getting to his feet. "Do me a favor and stay away from him. I don't trust the guy."
Parker was too exhausted to have another argument and honestly didn't want to have one, especially with Pogue. Besides, his request wasn't a big deal and she trusted her brother's judgement. "I'm hardly around him as it is so I don't think it'll be a problem." She smiled when Pogue kissed the top of her head again and headed for her door. Before he left, she added in, "If you plan on telling Carrie to stay away from Chase, you should probably make it clear it's coming from a place of love and not because you just don't like the guy."
Pogue smiled and chuckled at that because she was quite perceptive about things regarding other people, but herself…not so much. "Goodnight, sis. Sleep well."
"I'll try." Parker returned to her assignment with yet another sigh. She couldn't help but think how things could be different if people just opened up their mouths about how they felt towards one another. Parker knew she was pretty pulling a 'do as I say and not as I do', but still, she wished someone would have the courage to just say it. Parker understood why they didn't though. It was complicated for one thing and another…the fear of them not returning the feeling was enough to make them not risk it. That was something Parker could definitely understand.
End Part 4