Chapter 19:

-

Elle waited on her sofa, peering out the window and watching the cars go by on the busy street. She counted forty-eight white cars, twenty-three red, fifteen black, eight blue, two green, and still no sign of Reid.

Elle sighed loudly, beginning to get a little worried at the dark of the night and the loneliness of her house, but mostly, for what in the world was keeping Reid…

-

Caleb sighed in fatigue and worry as he dropped their prize, the Book of Damnation, onto the desk in Reid and Tyler's dorm the next morning. The book was almost a cursed thing to hold, knowing that it had cost them one of their own to retrieve it.

"Reid's gone," Caleb repeated for the fiftieth time that day. "I just can't believe it."

Pogue sat down at the desk and stared at Caleb. Tyler leaned against the wall nearby.

"Why would he take Reid?" Pogue wondered.

"He's the one Ascending," Caleb replied. "Not to mention we made it really convenient for Chase by leaving Reid outside alone in a dark alley. What's he up to?"

"What were you going to say yesterday?" Tyler asked Caleb. "About Reid—you were about to tell us something you read in the book before Chase called you—what were you going to say?"

Caleb promptly opened the book and shoved it Tyler's way to let him read it for himself. Tyler took a few moments to scan over the words, and quickly gathered their meaning.

"So Reid's pretty much screwed," Tyler guessed.

"Yeah, pretty much," Caleb agreed, as Pogue leaned over to read too, but found himself unable to upside-down.

"Why, what's it say?" Pogue asked.

"If he doesn't have the Power in him when he Ascends," Caleb explained. "It'll compensate and he'll get it back from the entity, but including all of ours as well… and with ours on top of what he gets from the Ascension, he'll overdose for sure."

"He'll die," Pogue caught on. "Then we're still on square one… how do we get our powers back?"

"We only get them back if the entity wills them back to us."

"So let's do it!" Tyler pressed.

"There's a catch to that too," Caleb explained. "If the entity wills the Power away, it'll be just like if any of us did it."

"The entity will die," Pogue guessed correctly once more. "Not to mention we're not sure who the entity is."

"So basically, come Reid's birthday, someone... is gonna push up daisies," Tyler observed. "Well, that sucks. I thought we agreed Elle was the entity?"

Caleb leaned in to his friends with a furrowed brow.

"We can't be sure," Caleb informed.

"Then why would Chase be so interested in her?"

Caleb had his suspicions, but he didn't want to get Tyler riled up by revealing them. Pogue suspected this, and cast Caleb a look of warning that he was thinking on the same level.

"Tyler, call Elle and warn her," Caleb commanded instead. "I have a feeling Chase is going to be 'inviting' her to his party next."

Tyler nodded, and opened the door to reveal none other than the provost himself, standing in the doorway looking as if he was about to knock.

"Provost Higgins!"

"Ah good, you're here," he said blatantly. "I have something to give you."

He handed Tyler a white envelope.

"What is it?" Caleb asked, getting up and looking over Tyler's shoulder to see.

"It's an order of your suspension," Provost Higgins replied. "I have one for each of you. Where's the Garwin boy?"

"Not here," Caleb replied immediately, grabbing his envelope from the Provost as well. "Can I ask why we're being suspended, Sir?"

"You can thank him for that," the provost retorted, pointing a finger at Pogue. "He's the one who blew up our school bathrooms and half of our biology lab. The school has issued a committee meeting tonight to decide whether you four are suited to attend a college."

"You're going to ban us from college recommendations because of our abilities?" Tyler spat out in disbelief.

"Well, not yet," Provost Higgins replied with a flicker of a smug grin. "We'll see after tonight, won't we? I suggest you come if you want to have your side heard. Have a good day, gentleman."

"Yeah, a real good day," Tyler said sarcastically, then closed the door again. He turned to the others. "Can you believe this?!"

"I just wondered what took them so long," Pogue countered.

Caleb nodded his agreement.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Well," Tyler pouted disappointedly. "I, for one, didn't see it coming."

They paused for several moments.

"So who's going to speak our case for us?" Caleb asked. Tyler snickered, and Pogue even smiled at the fact that Caleb had to even ask.

"Com'on, Caleb," Pogue said impatiently, hitting his friend with the envelope in his hand. "You know it has to be you."

"I was afraid of that," Caleb said with another heavy sigh. "I'd better go then. I'll need to work on what I'm going to say."

"We'll be right there to back you up, man," Pogue assured him.

-

"What do you mean you can't find Reid?" Elle protested over the phone with Tyler.

"He disappeared yesterday," Tyler explained on the other end. "We think the same guy that got to you, got to him too."

Elle put her hand on her forehead, sighing in worry.

"What can we do?"

"We have a feeling he'll show up after our hearing tonight."

Elle bit her lip.

"Has he told you yet?" she asked cautiously.

"Told me what?" Tyler retorted quickly.

Elle stayed silent for a moment, disappointment coming over her in a sudden wave.

"Nothing. I have to go, Tyler."

"All right, take care of yourself," he said, then hung up.

"I'll try," Elle said to no one, then flipped her phone closed. She suddenly felt very alone. Looking around the house, she decided it was unsafe to just stick around here in an empty house. She grabbed her jacket and left out the front door, planning on eventually making her way to that hearing.

Suddenly a man came walking up the sidewalk, staggering in fatigue. Elle's heart lurched in fear, recognizing him quickly. She dropped her purse and ran to him.

"Reid!" she called, running top speed. "What happened?"

Reid suddenly seemed in perfect health, and looked to Elle with a sinister smile that she had never seen in him before.

"Hey diddle diddle," he said evilly. "The cat played the fiddle…"

"What?" she said in confusion. "Reid, what are you saying?"

"The little dog laughed, to see such sport!" he went on.

Suddenly he crashed his lips onto Elle's soaking up her splendor for all she was worth. It was a kiss that felt familiar, and she knew immediately that it wasn't Reid's…

"No!" she shouted, struggling to get away. "Get away from me!"

His eyes fell to black, and Chase's façade of Reid floated away like smoke, to reveal the true identity of her attacker.

"Not until the dish… that's you… runs away with the spoon… and that's me. And might I add, what a beautiful dish you are…"

He laughed at his own joke, then yanked her body against his, as if in a tango.

"Come, my dear! We have a quite an event to attend."

"Where are you taking me?" Elle whispered in fear.

"Oh, don't spoil it…" Chase commanded in a hiss.

-

Caleb came down the stairs of the Danvers Manor, wiping off the dust on his blazer and heading over to where his mother sat upon an armchair in front of the fireplace. There were no drinks in her hand, no liquor bottles on the table. The sight made Caleb smile.

"I'm glad you're really sticking to your promise, mother," Caleb said to the back of her chair, coming up and kissing the top of her raven-haired head. "Even in a stressful time like tonight. Even I wish I had something to give me a buzz and escape all this."

"It's hard, I'll admit that much," she said bitterly. "But as long as you can deny an urge to Use your Power, then I guess I can deny an urge for alcohol."

Caleb came around to stand before her, spreading his arms out and twirling so she could get a good look at him.

"How do I look?" he asked proudly.

"Like a man ready to win a witch trial," she replied with a weak smile. Ever since his mother had stopped drinking, she had been a much weaker person emotionally, but Caleb felt that deep inside of her… she was a happier one too. It was rewarding to see her cheery face, the return of her rosy cheeks, a sight he had not seen since his father was alive and living in this very house.

Evelyn Danvers reached out and patted her son on the leg encouragingly.

"You give it to them, son," she commanded him. "I'll be along in time for the opening statements."

Caleb leaned down and embraced his mother with a contented sigh.

"Thanks, mom."

-

Caleb sat with his hands folded in his lap, looking over at the people sitting in chairs surrounding him in the school auditorium, and a long stretch of desk on the stage ahead of him was seating the committee members of the school board. A podium was set up on the stage, one that he was going to be speaking on in a few moments. Caleb had to admit he was nervous. Tyler and Pogue came to support him just as they promised, but his mother was nowhere to be found.. Whatever was keeping her had better be a hell of a reason, and hopefully one that didn't include Chase or a disaster of the sort.

They were going to call his name any second now, and the thought alone set a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He could only hope he was ready enough—and that they would have pity on a human being just like them.

"And now, Mr. Danvers," a white haired man beckoned him up to the stage. "He has requested to say a couple words on behalf of him and his fellow students in question."

Caleb took the long walk down the aisle slowly, as if heading towards his own execution.

He took a deep breath, his notes in hand, and stepped up to the podium. He stared down at the words he had written, the intense research he had received in his fight to convince the very people that sat before him. His eyes fell to the back of the crowd, imagining for a moment that Sarah was standing in the back of the theatre, laughing with Kate about something. He blinked and the image was gone, but the confidence remained.

"Good evening," he said to the microphone, perhaps a little too loudly. "Members of the board, concerned parents… everyone here."

Some waited intently to hear what he had to say. Others seemed to be wondering why they were at this doomed hearing. Caleb looked down at his notes again. Suddenly all the research seemed useless.

"You know," he said, putting his notes down and facing the people, his nervousness forgotten. "I had it planned to come up here and recite the fifth and fourteenth amendments, and to quote some pertinent speeches of famous civil rights leaders, but truthfully, once I stand before you all, I realize that's not why we're here. You already know the rights of human beings, but you all think that my fellow students and I are not one of you… and thus don't deserve those rights. Fine. I'll go along with that. Yes, we have gifts. We were born that way. We have lived among you in silence, and you have never known. Why? Because we are human, just like you. This matter, people, is personal, so I'm going to keep it that way."

He noticed their faces begin to change at his bold honesty, and some of those who were impatient before now inclined an ear to listen.

"Now, most of you here have children. You love them for everything they are-- for whatever they can or can't do. Even if they were splattered all over the news, or if everyone else in the world hated them, wanted to hurt them… or take away their right to receive an education. You would hope for the day when your child could be allowed to sit in a classroom and learn just like everyone else, and to live their lives to their full potential. That day must come for us now, by allowing us to be recommended into college… and to live to our own potential. Thank you."

Slowly, the audience members began to clap, starting with an enthusiastic Tyler and Pogue and growing from there.

As it began to die down, one slow clap stood out above the rest, coming from a person in a long coat walking up the aisle toward the stage.

Chase Collins himself.

Murmurs arose at the boy they had assumed deceased, walking up the aisle still clapping even after the small applause had faded away. Pogue rose to his feet, followed by Tyler.

"Inspiring," he said with cynicism, then at last, stopped clapping to leave the room in dead silence. "Simply INSPIRING!"

Though Caleb had thought his speech had gotten his point across rather well, he suddenly sensed that their chances of approval from the committee had just flown out the window.

-


Dun dun dun. The beginning of the end has come… Please review.
Signed,
--RedRogue
PS. More songs I recommend that are fitting to and inspiring the story: It's Been a While by Staind, and Delicate by Damien Rice. Go take a listen or look up the lyrics, I encourage you. At the end of the story I'll make a soundtrack list and why I chose them, in case you missed any recommended story songs. Thanks!