Because each clique and cliché had their own parties to attend to. Even the nerds, geeks, stoners or skaters. Every student was out until the early hours of the morning, so the day off was greeted with sleep until 2pm.
That's exactly what happened this Saturday, despite Caleb's instructions of meeting at noon. So instead they all met at three at Nicky's, all four members of the covenant being present in front of Maddie for the first time ever.
Crowded around a plate of nachos, they all began to speak one at a time.
"Anyone particularly inspired by their night's sleep?" Caleb began.
"No."
"Nope."
"I wish."
"Sorry."
"Me neither." He sighed, and ate a nacho dripping with cheese.
"Well we can first try to figure out how he survived." Pogue suggested. "We can do this by examining Putnam barn, or what's left of it. I volunteer."
"We'll get more results if we all go. Ten eyes are better than just two." Tyler added.
"That's true. So we will all go dig through Putnam barn to find any clues to Chase's disappearance." Caleb said.
"Speaking of disappearance, has any one else wondered how the hell he has managed to go undetected for almost six months? I mean he was such an addicted user, how can he stand not using for so long? We would have felt even the slightest use of his power."
"Good question Reid. How can he stay hidden?"
"We wont know until we find him" Pogue said to Caleb. "The only thing we can do now is find out how he survived."
"Right." Tyler said. "So lets get moving. The sooner we examine Putnam barn the sooner we figure something out."
The four boys all stood and started walking out when Maddie spoke up.
"But why is he hiding?" she said. "He must have a reason behind this."
"Killing us." Reid said.
"Then why wait six months? If he returned a week after you would have been just as defenseless. Why wait and give you time to find out he's alive?"
"Because…" Caleb's voice trailed off, clearly because he couldn't think of any answer.
"Don't you think he might be baiting you into some trap?"
"How can he do that?" Pogue asked.
"The same way he survived Caleb's attack. And we don't know what it is." Tyler said quietly.
"Then what do we do? We need to check Putnam barn, but we can't because it might be a trap."
After a long moment of heavy silence, four pairs of eyes lingered towards a certain someone in the room. That person blinked, sighed, and in a reluctant voice agreed to whatever plan the sons of Ipswich had.
"This is dumb" Maddie hissed.
"Of course it is." Pogue's voice said through the small earpiece she was wearing underneath all her blonde hair. "But its also useful."
Maddie sighed, and resumed walking amongst the debris of Putnam barn. The pillars were blackened and sprawled broken all over the icy ground. Grass had greyed and frozen into place, rocks and broken tree branches littered the ground and a thin layer of hay coated the ground that used to be inside the barn. It was now a patch of yellowed ground in the middle of blackened ruins.
"What do you see?" It was Pogue's voice again.
"Tree branches, rocks, hay, snow, ice, ash… all what you'd expect where a fire once was."
"There has to be something. Look harder."
Maddie growled and climbed over a large pillar, into the debris of the barn. She tread carefully over the ice and ash-covered wood, coughing now and then and exhaling a cloud of steam. She nearly stepped on a dead frozen rat, narrowly avoiding it and instead slipping on a patch of ice and landing on her butt on a piece of cold, hard wood. She cursed.
"What?" Pogue was worried slightly.
"I avoided a dead rodent and fell on my ass. Nothing important."
She resumed her search, lifting up with difficulty a large piece of wood that used to be the second floor of the barn. She coughed when a cloud of ashes greeted her. She blowed the black dust away and peered curiously at the things under the large wood.
"How long do you think a family of mice could survive in this weather?"
"Not very long." Caleb answered this time, his voice slightly metallic. "Maybe a month, no, three weeks."
"Hm." Maddie mused.
Under the plank of charred wood was a nest made of non-frosted hay, dirt, green grass and twigs. A foursome of baby mice were looking up at her curiously from a patch of ground, and a larger mouse, presumably the mother, was scampering over to the nest to defend her babies. She bared her teeth and glared at Maddie when she approached. Then her and her four children escaped to the bottom of the nest. Maddie placed a finger of the patch of ground they were standing on moments before. It was warm. With her finger she dug a little hole, and found that the warmth was constant though the ground.
She stood up and found the piece of wood that she had lifted before. The side that faced the outside was black and cold, whereas the side that was facing the ground wasn't burned and was considerable warm.
"I think I found something…" She said triumphantly, replacing the piece of wood in its original position. She turned around to walk towards the road when she bumped into someone and nearly screamed.
"Who are you?" the old man's hoarse voice asked when Maddie had recovered.
"No one special." She blurted out. "I'm about to leave now, so um-"
"Why are you here?" He sounded angry now.
"Uh, no reason, just, um exploring!"
He grabbed onto her arm a bit roughly for a man his age.
"You're coming with me." He hissed angrily.
"Caleb!" Maddie said, panicking. "Pogue! Reid! Tyler… help!"
Hearing those names called out the man stopped and stared at Maddie, still not relinquishing her arm.
"Sons of Ipswich?" he asked slowly, as if giving he a cryptic code.
"Covenant." She replied shakily, trying to pry the fingers off her arm. The man nodded apprehensively, and let go of her.
"Forgive me." The man said. "My name is Gorman. I am a friend of Caleb Danvers. Did he send you here?"
"Him and the other three." She said nervously. "I'm Madeline Sparrow. A friend of theirs too."
They shook hands briefly.
"How is it that you know their secret."
"Long story."
She explained the story quickly, summarizing the last few days for Gorman. He nodded slowly when she finished.
"And you have no idea where the powers came from?"
"No."
"Does anyone else in your family have them?"
"Not that I know of. My mother died when I was eight and right before they started manifesting themselves, and I don't talk to my father much."
"You should try to find out. It might help discovering what they are." He looked around. "Why did they send you here?"
"Chase Collins is alive. We think he's planning some kind of trap. So they sent me because when he was in Spencer I didn't have any relation to either of them. And Chase isn't stupid enough to set a trap that will affect everyone."
"I see. Found anything suspicious?"
"Actually, I did." She marched over to the mouse nest. "The ground underneath this plank of wood hasn't changed for the winter. It still grows grass, is still warm and hasn't burnt like the rest of this place."
Gorman took a look at it for himself. While he was examining it Tyler's panicked voice came through the earpiece.
"Maddie! What happened? Reid dropped the transmitter and we couldn't say anything! Are you alright?"
"Fine." She said. "I just met Gorman. He gave me quite a scare though."
Tyler sighed audibly through the transmitter.
"Find anything?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'll brief you guys when I get back."
Gorman had finished examining the odd spot of earth and was walking back towards Maddie, frowning.
"That is most certainly a spell." He said. "A very powerful one too. Its definitely Chase's work. He must have cast a spell over this ground to protect him until it was safe to escape the barn. Then when the fire died and the police left he had plenty of time to escape."
Maddie observed the scenery in silence for a moment.
"Have you wondered why you can't see the boys' deaths?" Gorman asked.
"Yeah. No answer so far."
" I could do some research if you want." Gorman said. "I have a lot of free time on my hands, and many resources."
"You would do that?" Maddie smiled. "That would be amazing. Thank you."
"I need your mother and your father's name. It would help."
"Alright. My dad is William Sparrow and my mum is Elizabeth Stoughton. They were both born in London, England."
"That will do." Gorman shuffled towards his truck, parked near the barn. "I will let you or one of the boys know if I find something. Until then, good day miss Madeline."
He got into his truck and drove away. Madeline looked around for another few minutes, then started walking back to where the boys had parked Tyler's truck.
Chapter 14, like i promised!
Enjoy, and keep those reviews coming!