Gifts and Curses Chapter 7: Over, a covenant fanfic

Gifts and Curses

Chapter Six: Over

You better crawl on your knees
The next time you say that you love me
Fall on your knees
Cause next time I won't be so kind
Can't you see that this is life
And life is killing me

Is it yours is it mine
Our sky fell down tonight
To wash away the pain

You better see
How evil you can be
When you see my evil smile
It's the one that you'll remember
When I am not so kind
Can't you see that this is death
And death is saving me

I say burn all your bridges
While you still have control of the flame
I know it's hard
But you-

Hard and to the point
So hard and to the point

Tell me over and over and over and over and over again
It never was the time for us
It never was the time to let me in
Show me over and over and over and over and over again
It never was the time for us
It never was the time to let me in
Tell me over and over and over and over and over again
It never was the time for us
It never was the time to let me in
-Evans Blue

Monday morning.

It was already Monday morning.

Marny clenched her eyes closed and groped blindly for the snooze button on her alarm. She didn't want five more minutes, she needed them. She turned her back to the alarm and the world and attempted to focus on something else.

Friday night would work; it had, after all, been one of the weirdest nights of her life- second only to receiving her powers.

After Madelyn had grabbed her hand and started towards the cars, Madelyn had stopped as if forgetting something, stomped back, and planted one decisively on Tyler. Tyler had looked stunned, Reid amused, and Caleb annoyed. Marny didn't have time to check Pouge's reaction because Madelyn had stormed back, reclaimed Marny's hand, and started to the car again.

Madelyn drove a silver PT Cruiser, which was relatively new. She had no more opened the driver's side door than Cian had jumped in and made his way to the back seat. Madelyn looked over the top of the car to where Marny was still standing quietly at the passenger's side door.

Marny knew who had caused the swarms of spiders. Chase was obviously watching her and she felt slow and stupid for not remembering his choice spell before. He had been there in her dreams, warping her memory of the night she met Reid. She was already mentally gathering materials she would need for a charm to block him from her mind, and conjuring the exercises for a mental wall that would also be needed.

"I have a very strict rule," Madelyn was mumbling as she climbed into the driver's seat, "an extremely strict rule about dogs in my car." Madelyn opened the door for Marny as she was still standing outside with a dazed look on her face. "If you get in the car, I'll ignore the massive dog in my backseat." Madelyn snapped at her best friend. Marny snapped out of her thoughts and climbed, not so gracefully, into the passenger seat.

Madelyn drove in silence, a pattern Marny was starting to recognize, to her home. Cian waited until Marny opened the back door to the PT before stepping out and following the two girls up to the house. Marny noticed that his hair was still on end, his ears still twisting to catch any small noise in the distances, he didn't growl which made her think that nothing was dangerous at this point.

Marny said hello to Madelyn's father on the way up to Madelyn's room, a room that was familiar to Marny. The walls were painted white, except for the walls at the window seat which were a dark but bright red. The white walls were completely covered in Madelyn's paintings. Where the art work wasn't hanging, there were small sketches in ink or pencil or marker. At first glance there wasn't a bed, but the couch at one side of the wall pulled out into one, there was one bookshelf with classics as well as books full of tips for oil pastels, ink work, and all sorts of painting.

She had two closets, one was for her clothes and the door to this was decorated in her favorite musicians and actors; the other closet was a walk-in and the doors had been removed. The second closet held Madelyn's computer desk, and where the desk wasn't shelves were. The shelves held all of Madelyn's records, cds, and dvds and the shelves, desk, and walls in this closet were painted the same red as the window seat walls. On the desk stood a wire cage with a cream and white pet rat named Araby.

They didn't speak of what had happened, of what was happening, until Cian was comforted enough to disappear as quietly as he had appeared. And Marny spilled everything.

How her step-father had lived and died, why she was the only female with powers; she spilled about her grandfather asking her to spy on the Covenant of Silence, and she explained what the Covenant of Silence was. She told Madelyn about Chase and his control of spiders, and his tendency to stick his nose into places it didn't belong.

And finally, Marny explained how she had ruined everything, because she had broken the biggest rule and had fallen in love with Reid.

"So…" Madelyn tilted her head as if allowing everything to sink in so she could find her own thoughts on it all. "Your father was a warlock, and he died when he gave you his powers, which pissed of his father and their gang of sexist idiots. Said gang decided to use you when your mother pulled you out of art school and send you here, to spy on the four hottest boys at the school, which are also apparently warlocks…And you're in love with Reid, and you didn't tell me?" In Madelyn's opinion, this was the oddest of the news.

"This is serious Madelyn. You're in huge danger right now. I shouldn't have said anything at all." Marny looked away from her friend, her conscience warring with her need to get everything off her chest.

"Don't be ridiculous, Marny. You know me. I mean, I laugh in the face of fear and tweak the nose of the dreadful spindly killer fish." Madelyn smiled, goofy and yet being calm and reserved at the same time. Marny turned her gaze back and was quiet still.

"Come on," Madelyn continued, "you're practically a super hero. Powers, hot boy, I'm sure you have a secret lair somewhere."

"What if I'm not the super hero? What if I'm the bad guy?" Marny asked quietly, looking off again.

"Please, this group- what are they? The Golden Dawn, right? Ye olde 'Gentlemen's Club,' they're the 'bad guys'- you're the confused hero that works for them until you realize what you're doing isn't right." Madelyn moved from her seat on the bed to kneel under it and pull out a box. She dumped it on the bed and a good three dozen comic books slid out.

"The Silver Surfer, in Fantastic Four, he goes through the same thing. Well, he does in the movie…I haven't taken the comic out of the plastic yet so I couldn't tell you how it really works, but anyway- he works for the big bad that's eating planets, but at the end he realizes it's wrong and he works on the Fantastic Four's side..."

"Doesn't he die in the end?" Marny looked at Madelyn with wide eyes and a horrified expression. Madelyn ignored her.

"Now, tell me about this Golden Dawn. I want to be your mortal sidekick." Marny rolled her eyes at Madelyn.

"'They are a hand grasping at the neck yet the neck does not know them and man knows them not.'" Marny quoted.

"Ew." Madelyn scrunched her nose. "Actually, let's talk about Garwin instead."

Marny sighed.

"I don't know when it happened. I just thought he was annoying and arrogant before Halloween- and now I'm at the 'I hurt when he hurts, I smile when he smiles' stage."

Madelyn smiled knowingly, "I hate that part." Then she reached out and hugged Marny. "He can't hate you if he isn't in love with you as well you know. Those two emotions are the strongest and the most vital. You can not hate what you have not once loved."

This advice, this bit of knowledge, was so very different from what her mother had said that Marny felt completely thrown off.

She was still repeating those words in her head when her alarm went off for the second time that Monday morning.

Marny turned, a very real feeling of impending doom was hovering around her consciousness like an actually body, like something she could just reach out and touch. She hated impending doom. Once again she reached out blindly to hit the snooze button on her alarm, and then she slowly opened her eyes.

And she screamed.

It was the most girlish squeal Reid Garwin had ever heard in his life and he couldn't possibly be blamed for laughing so hard he almost fell out of his seat.

"It is not funny. You scared the hell out of me." Marny pulled the covers up to her chest in another very girlish move and Reid started laughing all over again. "How did you even get in here?" Marny was almost growling in annoyance.

Reid's eyes flashed black in answer, Marny heard the lock on the door come undone and relock; he was leaning back in his seat now, he had replaced his laughter with a smirk and cool composure. "I've been waiting for you to get up for," He spared a glance at the very expensive looking watch he wore on his wrist, "twenty minutes. You're very amusing when you sleep."

Marny narrowed her eyes and resisted the urge to kick out at his seat and send him sprawling to the floor.

"Boys aren't aloud in the girls dorms." She answered icily instead and pushed her blankets away to move from her bed.

"Are you going to tell on me, Taylor?" Reid watched her move across the room to her closest where she shot him another withering glare. Her eyes softened, and the fear in them was almost visible when she saw the letter next to her alarm on her bedside table behind Reid.

"What are you doing here, Reid?" She finally questioned, her uniform on it's hanger over her forearm.

Reid looked up at her from his seat, his smirk still on his face, his eye brow arched. "School was canceled."

"What?" Marny thought her knees might give out so she reached out and gripped the foot board of her bed. Her knuckles went white with her grip, and Marny thought again of impending doom. There he was dancing behind Reid, and yet was like a blanket surrounding Marny in its darkness.

"I figured you one for watching the news." Reid said easily, but she noticed that the smirk had become less comical and more appraising now. "School was cancelled because of the amount of students that never returned from the rave Friday night. A few showed up in the hospital, a few were found in the woods around the dells. A few appeared to have disappeared- school is canceled so that anyone that is on that last list that might have gone to a friend's house, or home, can call in." Reid stopped and stood from his seat. "Caleb wants to talk to you." Reid didn't meet her eyes, and Marny's eyes turned to the letter still waiting for her on that bedside table.

"Your 'dog' was here when I came in by the way." Now Reid did look at her, this time she thought he might have seen the mind numbing fear that had entered her eyes. "He left, shortly after."

"Reid-" Marny almost told him everything. She felt like she had to now, so many people hurt, missing, dead. She knew they were dead, those that were unaccounted for. Chase didn't seem to care who died in his quest for power at this point. Marny did care, but she didn't say anything. "I've got to change." She said instead and put her uniform back in exchange for a pair of jeans and cream coloured hoodie.

"No ones stopping you." Reid's voice had returned to its mocking tone. He moved to her bed and reclined upon it; Marny threw a book at him and moved to the bathroom with her clothes in her hand.

The letter was still waiting for her when she returned to the room, the wax still sealed; Reid had his booted feet on top of her bedspread and his eyes closed. Annoyed, without thinking, she pushed his feet off and was shocked when his fingers were wrapped around her wrist in a movement that was almost inhuman. She resisted the tug, instead of falling onto the bed she ended up leaning against his now bent knees their faces closer than Marny felt comfortable with.

He let her go and she stepped back.

"I haven't been sleeping lately." He confessed before standing from the bed. Marny noticed now what the shadow of the beanie had been hiding. Blue smudges under his eyes that made him look almost vulnerable, and Marny pushed away the sick feeling in her gut.

"Spiders?" Marny questioned half-heartedly. Reid's glance shot up.

"No." His smirk returned. "Since we're so close the boys put me in charge of night duty." Marny narrowed her eyes and would have attacked him if he hadn't continued in his same confident tone. "Nothing perverted you know, just to make sure your not over using your power while were asleep."

"It's none of your business what I do with my power." Marny rolled her eyes annoyed, and walked to the dorm door.

"Are you dreaming of spiders?" Reid slipped through the door before her and she stopped, looking back into her room.

"Not anymore." Her voice went quiet, distracted. "I forgot something." She shut the door in his face and walked to her bedside table. The letter didn't look overly menacing, the five cornered star engraved in the wax didn't hold any power. She reached out slowly and picked it up, just holding and looking at it for a moment.

When she broke the seal it unfolded to a single piece of paper with just six lines and a signature.

The Putnam Barn Ashes
10:00 p.m. – Friday night.
Alone.
Your mom, your room-mate, your friend Madelyn, Garwin-
We've been watching you
And their lives are in your hands.
-Your Fiancé

She crumbled the paper in her hand. Your Finacé. He was mocking her, her grandfather and Chase were mocking her.

Marny almost dropped the paper in the basket. It wasn't worth it anymore, her powers weren't worth all the lives Chase had taken, her powers weren't worth hurting Reid, or Tyler, or Pouge or Caleb. They had done nothing to her, they hadn't done anything to anyone (with the exception of Aaron and he deserved it…)

Then she saw the words in her mind. Mom. Madelyn. Garwin.

This wasn't about her anymore. They had threatened her mother before, but her mother understood, she knew what the Golden Dawn was like. But Reid was no threat to them, Madelyn was nothing to them. Chase had control now, he was her grandfather's man, and no one cared if a couple people died in their quest to make the Golden Dawn the most powerful Covenant.

Reid or Caleb.

That's what they were asking her. Reid, or Caleb.

She dropped the paper into the wastebasket and picked up the book on her bedside table when she heard her door lock click over.

"We still have to pick up your girlfriend, Taylor." Reid leaned against the open door. "I doubt you'll have time for reading." He arched his eyebrow and nodded at the book in her hands.

Marny sat it back down and spared another momentary glance at the ball of paper in the bottom of her otherwise empty waste basket.

Tyler was driving again. Reid was in the passenger seat, his elbow propped in the open window, his hand resting on the roof. Madelyn was sitting next to her chatting happily with Tyler about the song playing on the radio. Marny knew the song, "Like a Man Possessed" by The Get Up Kids. She had the CD somewhere in her house; she knew the lyrics by heart.

I go on forever
Older burns are overturned
My life for worse or better
I'm just craving for a cure
Like a man possessed
A requiem
We're singing
Hide the misdemeanors
Never lead an open life
My hands were never cleaner
Not a trace for you to find

Reid caught her gaze in his visor mirror and she looked away.

"-Decrepit." Madelyn cut off her own sentence when they pulled up to the falling down wooden fence in front of Caleb's old family home.

Reid and Tyler went in first, and the girls had just moments to themselves. In Marny's experience it only took moments to fill your best friend in on an entire week's worth of events much less one morning's.

"He threatened Kira?" Madelyn replied to Marny's rant with a snort. "Obviously he isn't watching you all that well."

"Maddy, god, pay attention; he threatened you too. You, and Reid." Marny pinched the bridge of her nose in the fingers of her left hand.

"Yeah but at least that makes sense." Madelyn paused and thought it over. "You know, you could maybe take her with you. That would get rid of that problem."

"This isn't funny." Marny didn't look up from where she had her head cupped in her palms.

"No, I know that…Why don't you break the rules Marny? Why not tell them everything. They're asking, they would protect you, you know…Even if they're really upset with you- they're the good guys, they don't really have a choice."

"You're putting all of your bets on comic books again." Marny couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't think so." Madelyn said seriously. "Here they come. I won't say anything- it's the heroine's choice to change her mind and work with the good guys. But, really I think they were silly back the first time. He only had the power of two people right? They had the power of four."

Marny thought about this while Madelyn grinned when Tyler opened the car door for her.

The house was not empty, Gorman was there per-usual, but he only watched as the four of them entered the cellar where they could already hear voices. Sarah and Kate were sitting next to Caleb and Pouge respectively, and their circle now made eight.

Marny had already made her decision; she had been hoping though to find only the boys in the basement. She knew that Maddy was going to stand up for her though she would have been outnumbered by two but now the odds were horribly uneven.

"We feel like it's our responsibility to go out and attempt to find the students on the list that are still considered missing." Caleb started, his hands curled together between his knees and his eyes cast down looking at them. He looked up through his lashes, his head still tilted down, "We should have made sure that Chase was gone. That he wasn't hanging around waiting to get his revenge."

"He hasn't…really, been 'hanging around'" Marny started, her own eyes downcast. She hand her hands palm down on her knees, her fingers digging into the denim. Madelyn stiffened her back next to her and Marny knew her enough to know that her posture would be Marny's opposite. Maddy would be sitting with h"We feel like it's our responsibility to go out and attempt to find the students on the list that are still considered missing." Caleb started, his hands curled together between his knees and his eyes cast down looking at them. He looked up through his lashes, his head still tilted down, "We should have made sure that Chase was gone. That he wasn't hanging around waiting to get his revenge."

"He hasn't…really, been 'hanging around.'" Marny started, her own eyes downcast. She hand her hands palm down on her knees, her fingers digging into the denim. Madelyn stiffened her back next to her and Marny knew her enough to know that her posture would be Marny's opposite. Maddy would be sitting with her shoulders back, her chin high, and her eyes defiant.

Everything was silent for a moment, and then she heard only the person directly across from her get to his feet. Caleb.

"Are you going to come clean Miranda?" Caleb's voice was tight. "Explain why so much power came from your room that night? Your grandfather." Caleb didn't move from where he was standing next to Sarah. "You know where Chase has been?"

Marny's eyes flashed up to Caleb, and no one else, "That was my grandfather that night." And now she stood. "And I do know where Chase has been because he's been working with my grandfather."

Now Pouge stood, stood in front of Kate and looked at Marny with the kind of betrayed expression Tyler was giving her from his seat next to Madelyn. She dared not look at Reid. "Chase is with the Golden Dawn, and so are you." Caled put it together and spoke with quite anger.

"Let her finish!" Madelyn stood from her own seat now and looked around the circle. Marny felt a great appreciation for her best friend and pitied everyone that took their own best friend for granted. "She has something to tell you, she's trusting you, putting herself up on the chopping block to both sides, and you're going to just send her away?"

Caleb didn't say anything to Madelyn's rant, he just turned his eyes to Marny, still accusing but waiting to see how she would defend herself.

So Marny explained everything again, this time with more detail. She ended her story with an apology and admitted that she wasn't going to make excuses- those missing students were her fault, they might have been protected if she had come clean sooner.

She did leave out her feelings for Reid.

By the end of her explanation Pouge had returned to his seat.

"He wants Caleb to fight him again?" Pouge asked, his gaze moving from Marny to Caleb.

"Yes…but this time he's been tutored by the Golden Dawn. If he dies though, they won't risk avenging him. He's more of a pawn." Marny explained, her eyes and concentration on Caleb.

"If he dies though, they won't risk avenging him. He's more of a pawn." Marny explained, her eyes and concentration on Caleb.
"But what about you?" Sarah spoke; she was sitting on her seat next to Caleb.

"What if they wanted Marny to tell you?" Kate spoke now, her eyes on Marny with distrust and an amount of confusion.

"They still won't come after you if I die." Marny clarified.

"But they will go after you." Reid spoke for the first time since the ordeal had begun; he heard what Marny hadn't said.

"I'm just a pawn to them- an experiment…But I've betrayed them, so I'm of no more use. They'll see I can't be trusted. They'll know I'm not following orders anymore."

"I believe her." Tyler now spoke for the first time; his blue eyes spoke silent volumes to each of his brothers. Marny sent him an appreciative smile. "And it wouldn't be the first time someone within our Covenant made a mistake that put a lot of people in danger- that put us in danger." Marny thought this sentence was something only their covenant was meant to understand. Her suspicions wee confirmed when Pouge nodded and murmured 'Woods hole Warlock.'

Caleb nodded, accepting Tyler's reasoning and in the process accepting Marny.

"Then what's the plan?" Sarah was holding Caleb's hand now that he had resumed his seat. "We have to stop Chase."

"Does he—do they know that you've decided to betray them?" Caleb asked Marny.

Se shook her head 'no,' "I put up blocks on my mind, Madelyn's and this house…I didn't want to intrude." They understood she meant that she hadn't wanted to intrude on their minds. "The first thing we should do is make sure that Madelyn, Sarah, and Kate are safe."

"I think we should help in the attack." Madelyn said defiantly. "I think everyone should have the blocks put up, and that we should come up with a plan where we help- all of us- take him down and show the Golden Dawn we're to be feared."

"What are you saying?" Marny looked at Madelyn astonished.

"I'm saying, the mouse never wins. Not unless you believe those lying cartoons. We don't run, we strike! It's the last thing they'll be expecting." Madelyn looked proud of herself.

"No, the last thing they'll be expecting is for us to turn into ice skating mongooses and to dance the Bolero. And your plan makes about as much sense." Marny sighed. "You, and Kate, and Sarah could get seriously hurt- you could die- you didn't see what Chase did last time he went on a power kick and now he's been training with the Golden Dawn. Understand, Maddy, the only similarity between this and your comic books are that main characters could die…and, we have super powers."

Madelyn looked hurt, she turned to the faces around the fire, Sarah's and Kate's looked as though they were on her side. A huge argument followed.

"Not fair!" Kate sounded outraged.

"If life were going to suddenly get 'fair,' I doubt it would happen in high school." Reid smirked; Marny caught a glimpse of his face out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm sick of being Princess Toadstool!" Kate now took her turn to stand from her seat in annoyance, she faced Pouge to unleash her anger. "I'm sick of not being able to fight for myself because someone decided only boys get to have super powers- and not even just the nice ones but the bad ones too!" Kate looked to Sarah and Madelyn. "I'm sick of being the bad guy's bait."

"Me too." Sarah said more quietly, looking at Caleb. "There has to be someway we can help."

"We're not putting you in danger." Caleb started.

"No- Chase is. The Golden Dawn is. You're protecting us; you're letting us help protect ourselves."

Caleb was quiet for a moment considering, looking at Sarah's face, but everyone witnessed his shoulders slump in defeat.

"Come on, Caleb! How are they going to help against Chase? You wouldn't even let Reid and Tyler help last time." Pouge was still attempting to keep Kate from having to fight.

"Which I thought was stupid by the way." Reid said helpfully, leaning forward in his hair, his hands intertwined as one between his knees, his elbows resting on them.

"I did too, actually." Marny added, thinking of the possibilities.

Caleb sent a silent glance to both of them that clearly said he wasn't amused.

"I agree with Madelyn." Reid continued. "I think we should all fight. Chase isn't strong enough to take on us all. And the girls can do something to help from a safe distance if nothing else." He added at Pouge's look. "We have time to think it all through- to come up with a plan."

"Good." Kate said, appeased. "Good. I agree with Reid."

"I second." Sarah.

"I third." Madelyn, raised her hand with her addition.

"Then it's settled." Marny looked around at the boys that were not giving their agreement, but were also no longer fighting it. "We have until Friday to come up with a plan…four days."

Caleb glanced at this watch, "It's noon."

"Time flies when planning an epic battle." Reid scoffed; he stood now from his seat and rocked back on his heels.

"Reid and I will drop Madelyn and Marny off at the dorms." Marny tilted her head to the side listen to Tyler explain that he had to visit his mother- she closed her eyes trying to pay attention as his voice seemed to be fading and coming back in.

She opened her eyes quickly, through her head back as the powers took over, Madelyn next to her jumped back in shock but Marny didn't feel or see that. She didn't hear Sarah and Kate give small screams.

Her physical eyes were blind to the basement she was really standing in; all around her was darkness but Marny could feel the atmosphere in the room her mind was in. It was damp and she felt the need to lift her hands to protect her arms from it, to warm them, but she didn't dare. A flash of light hurt her eyes and she saw that she was in a cell, stone walls surrounded her and in front of her a man's figure was holding a bright torch of fire behind the metal bars that Marny was trapped behind. Another figure stood by the first, again a man.

She knew where she was, she had been here before for disrespecting her grandfather's orders. Bad things happened in these cells. Cells which were kept in an estate in Massachusetts country, kept by the Golden Dawn. The man holding the torch was another member, one that was generally with her grandfather, and the man standing beside him was Chase.

Chase was even older looking than he had been when he had been in her room. He was still attractive, he was cleanly groomed, his hair was think and parted to the side but the hair at his ears was silvering making him look very distinct, their were the faintest of lines around his eyes. He could have been a handsome thirty year old broker in New York.

"Taylor said the boy was to be another gift for joining the Golden Dawn. Your loyalty to our Covenant will be rewarded by such gifts- and we have our most intelligent members working to stop your aging process." The man smiled cruelly. "If it can be stopped it would be beneficial for all of our Covenant- we would be the most powerful. In the mean time Taylor thinks that you could use a power boost for your upcoming…foray." The man held out his hand to Marny as if he were introducing a game show winner to their new car.

Marny looked down at herself in confusion and realized that she was in the mind of a adolescent boy, her hands were warmed red brown and made her think of the Covenant her father had worked with while in India.

"He hasn't yet ascended- but with your power already, and your father's, his shall be an assist, yes?" The man put the torch in it's holding on the wall and took a step back to let Chase come in father to Marny's vision.

"Please, don't." The boy's voice was weak and still high, Marny's lips moved with his to form the words.

"It shouldn't take to much effort on your part." The man said kindly to Chase before turning and walking to the cellar exit.

Chase smiled not unkindly once the man had left; "It will be so much less painful for both of us if you'll will your powers to me without a fight." He explained.

Marny shook her head with the boy, her tear and his fell down their cheeks.

Chase shrugged his shoulder and in a move as fast as lightning a power ball slammed into their body. Marny and the boy screamed and fell to their knees.

Marny fell unconscious.

With the pain shooting up her legs from her fall Marny opened her eyes again to the Covenant of Silence's basement. Reid had his arms around her, it seemed as though he had caught her before the pain in her body had caused her to fall back from her knees and hit her head against the stones.

Worried faces surrounded her.

"Are you alright?" Madelyn's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Someone get her a wet cloth! Her nose and mouth are bleeding."

Marny nodded her head and lifted a hand to the blood from her nose, her face was wet with blood and tears.

"The powers don't affect you." Caleb sounded angry and Marny thought that seemed a little out of line. "You've got white all through your hair."

"I age well." Marny said weakly with a snort, and then cringed when it caused pain.

"Did you pass out because of your powers?" Marny looked up to Madelyn's eyes, eyes that seemed furious, Marny noticed that Reid's looked much the same. "You passed out, and you're bleeding from your nose and mouth, and you scared the fucking hell out of us because of using?"

"That's the first time I've ever passed out."

"But it's not the first nose bleed." Reid gritted out and Marny remembered the other time he had been there when she had used to keep him from over hearing her conversation with her mother in their kitchen.

Marny shook her head acknowledging this.

Kate came forward with a wet tee-shirt and shrugged at the looks this received from the others surrounding Marny. "It was cleaner than what was upstairs…it was in Tyler's car."

Tyler rolled his eyes.

"What happened?" Sarah asked carefully.

Marny looked at her, at her friends and the others before answering. "My powers acted of their on accord." She admitted. "It's not the first time- it's happened before but never this strongly. Never on someone so far away before." Marny leaned away from Reid carefully, regretting it when she was suddenly cold and missing the contact but at the same time realizing she couldn't be close to Reid at the moment.

"I was in the mind of a boy I think the Golden Dawn kidnapped from another Covenant in India- they were giving him to Chase so he would be stronger for the fight. He hadn't ascending yet…"

Everyone looked taken aback. "They kidnapped a child?" Caleb ground out.

"And they're looking for a way to stop the aging process when someone uses. I had the feeling their doing experiments on Chase- he's older and obviously been using. I think they're measuring how the using with twice as much power affects the aging process."

Marny leaned back on her hand when she got dizzy attempting to stand. "I think I'm ready to go back to the dorms now." She admitted.

Madelyn reached forward to help her but Reid was already lifting her to her feet by her arms, more gently that Marny would have ever given him credit for. Madelyn leaned back on her heels, watching, with her hands clasped behind her back.

"I think- I think they know that I'm not going to side with them this time." Marny added looking to Caleb. "They don't know that I've already switched sides, but they're not going to be surprised. They're trying to even the playing field." Marny smiled weakly and walked with Reid up the stairs.

"I'm taking your car Tyler." His voice was quieter than Marny had ever heard it and she recognized the anger bubbling below his usual so care-free masquerade. Tyler didn't answer and Marny knew they wanted her gone as well so that they could talk about what had happened without freaking her out.

Marny fell asleep in the passenger seat in Tyler's truck with the wet tee-shirt pressed to her nose for the bleeding.

TBC

Author's Notes:

The song for this chapter sparked the plot for this fanfic. It's really fast and hard so it made me think of The Covenant anyway; then there are the lyrics. I mean, they really make me think of Reid and Marny, and when I heard the lines 'Can't you see that this is life and life is killing me/Can't you see that this is death and death is saving me' I was like, "Oh my god! The powers!" Yeah…I listened to this song so many freaking times while writing this- and I wanted to put at the top of a bunch of other chapters but stopped myself.

Anyway, I apologize for taking so long to get this up-

but, there is a treat next chapter to make this story officially rated Mature.

Whoot.

Review please.

References::

1 "Don't be ridiculous, Baldrick. You know me. I mean, I laugh in the face of fear and tweak the nose of the dreadful spindly killer fish." -Blackadder

2 "They are the hand grasping at the neck yet the neck does not know them and man knows them not." The Necronomicon, Avon Books (1980)

3 "What if I'm not the superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?" – "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Go now, and read it if you haven't.)

4 "It's too late, anyway. I'm already at the 'I hurt when he hurts, I smile when he smiles' stage." "I hate that part." –Buffy the Vampire Slayer

5 "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, the mouse never wins. Not unless you believe those lying cartoons. We don't run, we strike! It's the last thing they'll be expecting."

"No, the last thing they'll be expecting is for us to turn into ice skating mongooses and to dance the Bolero. And your plan makes about as much sense." –Red Dwarf

6 "If life were going to suddenly get 'fair,' I doubt it would happen in high school." –Sky High