Chapter 22

Endless green and old grey buildings passed by Pogue's window but he paid them no mind. His eyes were staring down at the small gold item cradled in his hand.

(What's so important about this damn thing?)

Pogue gently ran this thumb across the pendant's surface, its rich cover giving off a bright golden sheen against the sleeve of his jacket, and stared down at it with a wary eye. This small little thing is all that Chase wanted? This damn thing was the reason for his best friend's suffering? Even though his eyes where mesmerized by the small trinket, deep inside of his mind, all of his instincts were screaming warnings at him; there was definitely more to this thing then its looks. Plus, god only knows how many of them there are if he found another one inside of Caleb's house.

Tyler glanced over at him from the driver's seat. "What is that thing anyway?"

"Don't know." Pogue shrugged.

Tyler gave him a confused look before turning his attention back towards the road.

"If you don't know what it is then why did we just go through the trouble of getting it in the first place?"

Pogue didn't answer, his eyes were still boring down at the small round object in his hand.

"Pogue?"

"I can't explain it Tyler." The older boy sighed. "You wouldn't believe me even if I tried."

"Why do I even bother?" Tyler snorted annoyed. "It's always secrets with you. You're just as bad as Caleb was."

Pogue flinched but didn't turn his head. The tone Tyler used was more then enough to make him jerk but the mention of Caleb's name was more then he could take at the moment. His emotions were already running a mile a second from his discovery of the pendent in his hand and in his weakened mental state it wasn't long before images of his dark night with Caleb started forming in the back of his mind.

His fingers tightened around the pendent as he forced those memories back into the darkness where they belonged before they could do any damage. If he was going to figure out what the hell Chase was doing he didn't have time to drown in his misery.

He wasn't going to let Caleb suffer because of his weakness.

Tyler's anger touched Pogue's mind sharply and he waited for the younger boy to calm down a bit before he spoke.

"I know Tyler." Pogue sighed, still keeping his eyes on the item incased in his hand.

The waves thinned around the younger boy and Tyler turned his head. His blue eyes were calm but anger was still pouring off of him.

"Then what the hell is going on? What is that thing?"

"Like I said, I don't know what it is." Pogue replied grimly. "When I was at Caleb's I found something just like this and then Chase took it."

Tyler's shoulders stiffened. "So Chase is alive then?"

"Yeah, the bastard is still alive."

Pogue felt Tyler's fear brush against his mind and a lump formed inside his throat. This was the main reason why he kept quiet around the two other covenant members. He was oldest out of the three of them and that meant he was their protector. He owed it to Caleb at least. It was up to him to keep Reid and Tyler safe and he'd never forgive himself if anything happened to the two of them.

"What about Caleb?"

Once again, Pogue was caught off guard by the mention of Caleb's name. He was silent for a few minutes before a pained sigh eased from his throat.

"He's alive."

Tyler looked like he was going to press for more details but luckily, a bright yellow blip grabbed his attention.

"Looks like your bike's still there."

"Thank god. I can't afford anymore repairs on it."

Tyler parked the Hummer near the bright yellow Ducati and Pogue slid out of the passenger's side. He ran his hand over the handle bars and closely inspected his bike. Despite some dirt and mud wedged in-between the groves of its tires, his Ducati was in near perfect condition. He dug his keys out of his pockets and happily turned the ignition on, giving the throttle a few twists. It was working perfectly.

(Finally some good luck.)

Tyler appeared at his shoulder a short time later. "Is it alright?"

"Seams to be working just fine." Pogue replied and sat down in the rider's seat. "Thanks for the ride."

Tyler nodded and crossed his arms. "Look, we need to talk about all of this, the three of us."

Pogue nearly flinched from Tyler's hard stare and slowly nodded.

"I know. I'll swing by your dorm tomorrow."

Tyler still stared coldly at him but he agreed.

"Tomorrow then."

--

With a tired sigh, Tyler turned his key and pushed the door to his dorm room open. He was exhausted, driving Pogue around all day was starting to take it's tole on his already run down body.

The light coming from the lamp near his bed quickly grabbed his attention and Tyler's eyes moved towards the direction of Reid's bed. Sure enough, the blond was fully awake and sitting on the bed's edge. Reid raised his head and greeted Tyler with a slight smile, which the younger boy returned as he tossed his keys on the desk near the door and shrugged out of his coat.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright." Reid shrugged, his eyes slowly moving downwards towards the floor.

Tyler sat on the edge of the bed next to him. "You look much better."

"I feel better." Reid replied, finally turning his head and looking at the younger boy. "A lot better actually. Damn thing finally wore off."

"I'm glad. Even though blue and veiny was a good look for you." Tyler chuckled softly.

Reid frowned and shoved Tyler playfully. "Well, you can be the one that gets bit next time and see how you like it."

"I'm kidding. I was worried about you, you know."

Reid froze for a moment. He faintly remembered feeling Tyler's presence around him, when he was suffering from Chase's spell and also afterwards when Tyler brought him back here. The younger boy hardly left his side since then.

"I know Tyler." Reid said softly and turned his head towards the younger boy. "It seams like you're always taking care of me."

A slight redness came to Tyler's cheeks and the younger boy cleared his throat nervously.

"Well someone has too since you're so helpless all the time."

Once again, Reid chuckled at Tyler's comment.

"My hero."

Tyler also chuckled. "Yeah well, you've pulled me out of enough ruff patches when we were little so I don't mind."

Reid smiled sadly but didn't say anything. Tyler always seamed to have that effect on him. He always enjoyed being around the younger boy but lately whenever he was around Tyler all Reid felt was a strange clawing sensation inside of his stomach.

"What?"

Reid blinked, realizing he'd been staring at Tyler for the past few moments and turned his head.

"Nothing."

As usual, Tyler didn't buy it. "Reid what's wrong?"

"I said nothing." Reid snapped and lowered his head.

Tyler flinched and immediately Reid felt his stomach lurch painfully. He didn't mean to snap like that but he wasn't about to tell Tyler what was really bothering him either.

Tyler nervously cleared his throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

At that, Reid groaned and dropped his head. Tyler really wasn't making things easy.

"I'm sorry Ty."

The younger boy nervously shifted. "Any reason why you've been biting my head off lately?"

It was Reid's turn to shift nervously and clear his throat.

"Reid." Tyler crossed his arms and waited.

The blond stayed silent and twisted his fingers nervously.

"Reid, come on. We've always been able to talk about things." Tyler said as he scooted closer.

(Not about this.)

It took all of Reid's strength to keep perfectly still as the younger boy moved closer towards him. Tyler was now in his arm reach, hardly a foot away from him. He could feel Tyler's warmth against his arm and before he knew it, he found himself scooting closer towards the other boy and moving his arm around him.

"Reid–" Tyler begin, startled.

Reid didn't say anything; he just leaned forwards and lightly pressed his lips against Tyler's mouth.

--

Pogue.

Pogue's eyes fluttered slightly under their closed lids but didn't open as a small voice gently reached his ear.

Pogue, wake up.

The voice grew louder but Pogue continued ignoring it. The voice hesitated for a moment and then jabbed at his mind forcefully.

Pogue Gavin Parry, get your ass up this instant!

Pogue yelped from the painful assault against his mind and quickly opened his eyes. His bedroom was covered in darkness with a thin sheen of moonlight coming from the window. As his eyes moved across the confides of the room, Pogue quickly noticed he wasn't alone; standing a few short feet away from his bed was the lone male figure. The empath immediately shot up out of bed and turned his eyes black. Just as he was preparing to defend himself, he felt the stranger's powers touch his mind.

Relax boy, I'm not here to harm you.

Pogue let his eyes turn back to their normal color but he still kept himself alert as he watched the man step closer towards him. The moonlight shone on his face as he sat down the bed's edge and Pogue's breath hitched.

"Caleb?"

The man said nothing. Pogue's eyes continued roaming over the strangers form, it wasn't Caleb, it looked just like his friend but too many things were off. The shoulders where broader, the eyes were different and the hair was longer, but still, this man could've been Caleb's twin.

(Not a twin though... something else.)

Pogue kept staring at him; he remembered seeing that face many times before when he was younger.

"William." Pogue spoke calmly as he stared at the man sitting a few feet away from him. "William Danvers."