A disoriented Carrie awoke with a strong gasp, feeling as if she'd just emerged from being held under water. Her hands gripped the dirt and old hay upon the ground as she coughed before finally catching her breath. Carrie had no idea what had happened – one second she was standing with Sarah near the others and the next she was…wherever the hell she was. When her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness around her she realized her location; Putnam Barn.
Why was she there? How did she even get there? Carrie made sure her guard was up in case Chase made a move. How could he possibly have gotten to her without anyone noticing – without herself even noticing? Her presence there didn't many any sense. Chase wanted her alive, he told Caleb as much. But if she was there then there was clearly more to Chase's motives – something they hadn't accounted for.
Carrie looked around the seemingly empty Barn and saw no one, but that didn't mean there was no one there. Hearing anything wasn't worth trying either because every sound that could be heard would be drowned out by the storm outside. That's what she thought anyway, which was why she jumped out of her skin when the Barn's doors burst open. She pushed herself to her feet and prepared for a fight but let out a breath of relief to see Caleb entering.
"Carrie?" Caleb rushed to his sister and hugged her tight. After hearing Reid tell him that both she and Sarah were no longer with them, he feared the worst as well as suspected that perhaps Carrie snuck off with Sarah by choice. "What are you doing here? I told you not to come here." He wasn't scolding her exactly, but his voice was riddled with concern.
"It wasn't my decision," Carrie admitted while trying to get her bearings as she held onto her brother's arms for support. Whatever spell that was cast to knock her out made her still a bit wobbly. "Chase must have brought me here. I – I don't know."
Caleb didn't like this one bit. If Chase brought Carrie here then there was clearly more to Chase's plan than he'd been privy to. At the start of the night Caleb had a sense of what was going to happen but now that his sister was there it changed everything and he couldn't risk her getting caught in the crossfire. "You need to get out of here. Now." He held onto Carrie's arm to keep her steady but they weren't even able to make a full step before they heard Chase's voice coming from the loft above.
"Now why would you do that?" Chase called down to them with a wicked grin upon his face. "After all the planning it took to get her here, she's not going anywhere."
"Why do you even want her here?" Caleb shouted back at him as he moved to stand protectively in front of his sister. "This is between us!"
Chase hopped over the railing to stand on the very edge of the loft with a hand gesture that told Caleb he was onto something. "You have a point there, Caleb. You willing me your Power is between us. That's still happening by the way, but I haven't been completely honest." He turned to his side asking, "Would you like to do the honors or shall I?"
The Danvers twins shared confused looks with each other that were soon replaced with shock when Sarah stepped out of the shadows to stand beside Chase.
"Sarah? What is going on?!" Caleb demanded to know. He couldn't believe Sarah would be there by her own volition. "What have you done to her?!"
"My brother hasn't done anything to me," Sarah replied as she placed her hand on Chase's shoulder. "At least, not recently. He has tried to kill me before but once we get the Danvers Power I won't have to worry about that again."
Chase rolled his head with a groaned, "I said I was sorry. How many times must I apologize for that?"
Sarah gripped his shoulder tightly as she leaned closer to his ear. "Until I actually believe you."
Carrie, feeling more steady on her feet now, stepped forward and laughed incredulously. "Someone needs to explain this to us right now before I lose my freaking mind!" Caleb clearly didn't want to hear what they had to say because she saw his eyes turn black. Carrie held her hand out to keep him from doing anything yet. "We need an explanation, Caleb."
"I suppose we do have time to tell them our story before we get down to business." Chase jumped back over the railing onto the loft and paced back and forth a bit. "Once upon a time, my sister Charity and I were put up for adoption. The Collins family already had a daughter and didn't want another, so they split us up. I tried finding my twin when I turned thirteen after being given a taste for the Power but couldn't. I didn't know the family who adopted her had changed her name to Sarah."
Sarah held out her hands like she was presenting herself and picked up from there. "We didn't find each other until after our eighteenth birthday. Which was the day he tried to kill me."
"I'm sorry," Chase groaned again. "It wasn't my fault. The seduction took hold that day."
"I still don't believe you," Sarah instantly answered then got back to the story. "Soon after that blip in our relationship we found our birth father and he told us everything – including how I needed to be alive in order for the side effects to not apply to my brother." She looked at him then, "Bet you're glad you didn't kill me now."
Chase rolled his eyes and stood at the railing, gripping it. "Perhaps, but I need more. What I have isn't enough. That is where the two of you come in." He pointed down to the Danvers twins below. "You both are going to will us your Power. More Power means less wiggle room for the seduction. And, well, more Power."
"Don't worry, it won't hurt…much." Sarah bit her lip and giggled. "And you'll both be legends. The Danvers Children who died to save the rest. It will be epic." She saw the look of rage and betrayal on Caleb's face and pouted a bit. "Oh, poor Caleb. You really didn't think I was in love with you, did you? Oh…you did."
Carrie felt like her head was exploding with this influx of information. "Tina was right. I can't believe she was right." Her own anger started to bubble like her brother's as her own eyes turned pitch black. "You – you went after Parker. You bitch!"
"My brother had as much a hand in that as I." Sarah laughed a bit as she spoke.
Chase looked at her and smirked before looking down to the Danvers twins below. "We made her our Weyotch."
"Weyotch?" Sarah laughed. "Oh brother, you need better material than that."
"How's this for better material?" Chase's eyes turned black and thrust out his hands, shooting large energy balls right at the Danvers twins – a direct hit. "Have fun."
"You, too." Sarah leaped off the loft right in front of Carrie below. She shot out her hand and gripped Carrie's throat. A moment later they were teleported outside on top of Putnam Barn with the storm raging all around them, leaving the boys inside to deal with each other.
Sarah laughed as Carrie looked disoriented again and jump backwards, levitating safely on her feet. "You really didn't think we'd talk forever, did you? If you didn't want to hear our life's story you might have had a chance." She tapped her lips in thought. "Actually, no you wouldn't have." Sarah shot out her hand, shooting a blast of energy at Carrie, throwing her backwards.
Carrie was almost thrown right off the roof but Used enough to regain her balance and keep her firmly placed before that could happen. "I will never give you my Power!"
"Yes, you will," Sarah seethed. "Chase will not become more powerful than me!" She threw another energy blast and practically hissed when Carrie leaped up and avoided it.
Carrie shot out a surge of Power of her own, sending Sarah back a ways. These exchanges went back and forth; each Use of Power either impacting or being dodged until finally Sarah blasted Carrie so hard that she was thrown off the Barn's roof.
Carrie wasn't quick enough to keep herself from being thrown off but she managed to Use enough to soften her impact with the ground. Even so, the pain was almost unbearable, but that didn't stop her from rising to her feet to fight again.
Sarah ran off the roof and leaped off, landing several feet away from Carrie. "You've got more fight in you than I thought you would. I'm almost impressed." She Used her Power on Carrie again, sending her straight into a nearby tree and keeping her there. "But Parker, now she was impressive. She fought back as long as she could but Chase defeated her in the end. Poor little Miss Muffet. All those spiders sat down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away."
Carrie wanted to react so badly but she couldn't, not yet. The time of the Ascension was upon them. The pain of the unlocking Power was excruciating and exhilarating at the same time. She cried out as the new Power surged throughout her body. Every nerve felt like they were on fire, her blood seemed to freeze and melt her veins at the same time, and everything else was indescribable. But the Power – the Power was so intense. She'd never felt anything like it before and for just a moment she could understand why the seduction was able to take hold of a Son.
"Are you finally Ascending?" Sarah threw her head back, looking up into the falling rain, shouting out, "Finally!" She turned her attention back to Carrie. "Now just say the words so we can call it a night."
Before Sarah could say or do anything else, she was blasted from behind and thrown against an old cart nearby. It couldn't have been Carrie because she was still in the Ascending process, which only meant one thing, "The rest of the Daughters have come out to play."
Tina and Rayna stood side by side in front of the Ascending Carrie to keep Sarah away from her. Tyler and Reid were there, too, but they went into the Barn to help Caleb.
Rayna heard what Sarah said and had to tweak her words a bit. "We're not here to play. We're here to stop you." She and Tina shot out her hands in unison, blasting Sarah straight through the cart.
Sarah groaned a bit and brought herself to her feet. "Not bad, ladies. Not bad at all. But not good enough either." She threw out her hand, causing tendrils of energy to shoot out at Tina and Rayna. The tendrils gripped onto their legs and yanked them away from each other and away from Carrie.
By now Carrie had finished Ascending and was done messing around. One after another she shot blasts of Power Sarah's way and hit her each time. She then leaped over Sarah and punched her - with the assistance of her Power - so hard that the force sent Sarah through the Barn's walls.
Carrie shot herself over the Barn and landed on the other side, but didn't see Sarah anywhere. The hole Sarah left in the wall, yes, but not Sarah herself. Carrie doubted Sarah would give up like that so she conjured up a pair of energy balls and slowly looked around to see where she had gone.
"Looking for me?" Sarah shouted as she dragged an semi-unconscious Rayna behind her. She pulled Rayna in front of her and crouched down with her hands around her neck, ready to snap Rayna's neck. "It's time, Carrie! Say the words or she dies! Say the words or Parker dies! And Tina dies! And everyone else who you have ever loved!" Sarah gripped her hands tighter around Rayna and started to twist, "Say them!"
Carrie couldn't let anything happen to Rayna because of her. Something already happened to Parker and Carrie couldn't survive if something happened to Rayna, too. "Okay!" She shouted back to keep Sarah from doing anything. "I'll say them. I'll say the words, just let her go."
Sarah let Rayna go and dropped her to the ground. "I'm waiting." She waved her hands out in front of her before placing them on her hips in an expecting manner.
Carrie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, whispering, "I'm sorry, Caleb." With her eyes right on Sarah she slowly began to say, "I…will…you…"
"You will her nothing!" Tina shouted from behind with a conjured ball of energy and fire in her hands. She screamed and threw the ball right at Sarah, punishing her for everything that she had done and tried to do.
"No!" Carrie cried out because they couldn't afford to let Sarah die, but it was too late.
As soon as the energy and fire impacted with Sarah, she screamed in agony before her body turned to ashes that flowed away in the fallen rain.
Carrie looked towards the Barn, her body shaking. "What have you done? Do you realize what you've just done?!"
Tina helped Rayna to her feet as she shouted back, "I just saved your life! A thank you would be nice!"
"You want me to thank you! You shouldn't have killed her!" Carrie got right up in Tina's face as she cried, "You just made Chase that much stronger."
Tina gasped because she didn't think about that. She didn't think about how Chase would be stronger when Sarah died. All that was on her mind was protecting her Covenant sister, not realizing she'd just put her brother in even more danger. "No…"
"Get her out of here!" Carrie shouted as she ran towards the Barn. "And if you find the guys get them out of here too!" She jumped through the hole in the Barn's wall, finding the inside was caught on fire. Reid was helping an injured Tyler to his feet but neither Chase nor Caleb could be seen. "You okay? Where are they?"
"We'll survive. Chase sent Caleb flying through the window. We tried, Carrie." Reid wished they could have done more, but it was a miracle they were even alive.
Carrie didn't stay behind to hear or do anything else and ran straight through the doors, finding Chase pinning Caleb to the ground. She ran straight towards them and threw a spear of energy at Chase, throwing him right off Caleb.
Chase laughed as he recovered the from impact and moved to stand in front of the Barn. "I'm impressed, Carrie. Once I get Caleb's Power, you will be a formidable sister." He waved his hand for her to move away. "Now step aside. I can't afford anything happening to you now that Sarah is dead." He didn't sound as if he even cared that his twin had died, just moved onto the next best thing.
Caleb stood up beside Carrie, ready to fight along side her. "She'll never belong to you."
Chase sighed heavily. "I warned you what would happen if she didn't comply. Granted I wasn't serious at the time since I had Sarah but now no more Sarah, so I need her." He shrugged in a 'no matter' fashion before looking to Carrie. "Thanks for the Power boost."
Without wasting another moment, Chase started throwing energy balls one after another, each one being blocked by the Danvers twins in unison. Each movement of their bodies were in perfect sync with each other, almost as if they were the same person, being controlled by the same force. This was a concept Chase and his twin had never learned – Using the Power as one.
After a final deflect, both Chase and Carrie suddenly felt even more Powerful as lightning struck above them. That only meant one thing; It meant their father willed them his Power. Now with even more strength than before, the Danvers twins Used their Power on Chase to blast him time and time again in unison until finally they both conjured up a ball of fiery energy. Both Carrie and Caleb screamed out as they thrust this Use of Power to Chase.
Chase leaped up to try and avoid the blast but it followed and shot right through him. He screamed in agony as his body was consumed in a wave of fire before disappearing before their eyes.
Carrie continued to stand ready in case Chase made some sort of comeback, but he didn't. And it didn't seem like he was going to, so she looked at her brother asking, "Is it over?" After everything that had happened Carrie almost couldn't believe that was it.
Caleb returned her look and nodded. "Yeah, I think it is." Granted he wasn't sure what happened to Chase exactly since he just disappeared, but he wasn't there and that's what was important.
Tina, Reid, Tyler, and Rayna joined them as they watched the Putnam Barn burn to the ground. Tina was the first to say something and she said it because what Carrie and Caleb just did was both badass but would be completely terrifying if it was turned against them. "I think we're all going to make more an effort not to get on your bad sides from now on."
The official story that was given to the authorities when they came to deal with the Barn was the Children were having a party of their own with Chase when they accidentally knocked over a lantern that started the fire. While the Children got out they said they couldn't find Chase and neither did the firemen – they didn't find a body either. So whether Chase did meet the fate his sister had or if he was teleported somewhere else by his own volition or not they didn't know, but they would be more than ready if he ever tried to come back for them.
This and everything else that had happened, Caleb told Parker as he sat in the chair beside her hospital bed. Whatever happened to Chase it cancelled out his spell and she was already getting so much better.
Parker listened to every word Caleb said to her and at the end of it all she sighed, "Tina was right about Sarah. I can't believe it." On a lighter note, she added in, "She's never going to let us live that down." And in Parker's opinion Tina had every right not to let them.
Caleb chuckled at that because any other time he would have agreed but he wasn't too sure anymore. "I don't know. I think Carrie and I have kinda put fear of the Power into her so she'll probably be on her best behavior…for a little while anyway."
Parker laughed and moved some hair behind her ears. "I guess what we should learn from this is maybe sometimes Tina's spidey-senses should be taken seriously." She shuddered lightly because even saying that brought back the memory of what happened with Chase and the spiders. It was going to take some time for her to get over that.
Caleb could gather what the shudder was about and took Parker's hand gently in his. "Nothing like that will ever happen to you again, Parker. If anyone ever tries to hurt you they will have to go through me."
Parker smiled at Caleb then looked down, mustering up the courage to say something but decided to lead into it instead. "I fought back." She looked up to meet Caleb's eyes. "When Chase came after me, I didn't cower. I fought back until I couldn't fight any more and I keep thinking if I had the strength to do that then why shouldn't I have the strength to do something else?" She could tell Caleb was about to speak so she spoke before he could. "I like you, Caleb. Like…a lot. I have for a long time and I get it if you don't feel the same and never want to acknowledge this conversation ever happened…" Her voice trailed off when Caleb kissed her hand.
"I want to continue this conversation when you're better. Over dinner, perhaps?" Caleb smiled when Parker looked completely dumbfounded. He kissed her hand again and stood up. "I'm not going to rush this, Parker. You mean too much to me to rush."
Parker nodded like an idiot – at least she felt like she was nodding like an idiot – and the only thing that could come out of her mouth was, "Okay." It took everything she had not to start giggling but managed to keep that at bay.
Caleb smiled again, wishing he'd said something sooner but better late than never. "I'll be back later. Rest up." He leaned down and kissed Parker's cheek before leaving her room. Caleb then walked down the hall to check on Pogue but didn't go into his room because through the window he could see Carrie laying on Pogue's bed with him and Pogue's arms wrapped around her, the both of them asleep.
Caleb wasn't going to disturb them so he continued down the hall and turned the corner, coming to a halt when he almost walked right into a set of teenagers who strongly resembled each other. "Excuse me." He was about to walk past them but stopped when the young man side-stepped him.
"Are you Caleb Danvers?" the boy asked, despite the tone of his voice sounding as if there was no question about it.
"Yes," Caleb looked at them both oddly. "Why do you ask?" He couldn't shake the feeling that he recognized them somehow but couldn't place where.
"I'm Naomi Richards and this is my twin brother Nathan," the girl answered, gesturing to herself and her brother in turn. "We need to talk to you. It's important."
Caleb had a bad feeling when he was told they were twins but was willing to hear them out. "What do you need to talk to me about?"
Nathan and Naomi looked at each other before Nathan partially ripped off the Band-Aid. "For starters we should tell you our birthname is Goodwin Pope."
Naomi picked up from there saying, "And now that we have their Power, we'd like to know what we can do to not to end up like our older siblings…"
The End