IT was hard for Jamie and Reid to have rooms next door to each other and share a bathroom everyday without speaking to one another. But over the weeks after Jamie and Aaron started dating, the friends did just that. Reid refused to speak to Jamie because of her relationship with Aaron. Jamie was angry that Reid was being so stubborn and immature and thus refused to speak to him.
Jamie and Aaron's relationship, however, seemed to have no end in sight. They spent almost every night playing pool at Nicky's, studying in Aaron's dorm room, partying with their friends, or making out wherever they happened to be when they were in the mood. Some of their favorite spots included, however were never limited to the back stairwell at school, the alley behind Nicky's, the swim team locker room, the parking lot, the back of the lunchroom at school, the school's quad, Jamie's car, Aaron's car, Aaron's dorm room, and on occasion, the roof of the Starbucks that overlooked the Dells.
The only problem was that Aaron wanted to take their relationship to the next level—a more intimate level. But Jamie couldn't bring herself to take that step with Aaron. She really did care about him. And he really did make her very happy. She loved to be with him and LOVED to make out with him, but she wasn't ready to take their relationship to such an intimate place yet.
Besides, Jamie couldn't stay with Aaron over night. She'd been having nightmares nearly every night. She would wake up unable to remember anything, but would be out of breath and lamps or chairs would be over-turned, her CD collection would be shattered on the floor, or her computer screen would be cracked. She knew that if Aaron—or anyone—knew her secrets, they would discover the Covenant of Silence as well. Jamie wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happened because of her.
Finally, Tyler had had enough. He called a meeting of the Covenant. All four boys convened at Caleb's family's old colony house. In the basement were five stone seats surrounding a stone table, hundreds of magic-related books, and a good five to six hundred candles, all lit.
"Tyler, what's going on?" Caleb asked.
"I'm worried about Jamie. She's out of control. She's been drinking all of the time. And I think she's been using lately," Tyler stated.
"What do you mean?" Pogue wondered.
"When she thinks she's alone she's been doing stupid, small things. She'll refill her drinks or change the channel on the TV or the other day I even caught her turning a green shirt black. But I can tell that there's more than that," Tyler explained to his friends.
"She's been having dreams a lot lately," Reid added. "She's completely asleep but things break or start to move around the room."
"Has she said anything to you?" Caleb wanted to know.
"She isn't even speaking to me," Reid reminded the other three. "I can hear her though."
"I think there's more to this," Tyler told them. "She told me about the nightmares. But I can feel her. It's almost like when Chase showed up last semester. But instead of only feeling it sometimes, it's every time she uses.
"I feel it when she has the nightmares or makes the water in the shower warmer. I've also felt her during class or while she's out at parties or when she's out running in the mornings. She's using all the time. And it's getting stronger lately. I don't know to do about it anymore. I tried to talk to her and she promised me she would stop using so much and that she would stop drinking every night. But it hasn't stopped. If anything, it's worse than ever."
"What can we do to stop her?" Pogue asked. "If she won't listen to you, why would she listen to any of us?"
"I don't know. But there has to be something we can do." Tyler refused to accept that he was helpless.
"Tyler's right. There has to be something. Jamie's powers aren't like ours. They're brought out by her emotions. She can't always control them yet either. If she's drinking like Tyler says she is, she's bound to be caught eventually," Reid reasoned.
What the boys were unaware of was that at that moment, Jamie was about to be hit with such a huge wave of emotion, she wouldn't be able to control anything, least of all her powers which were still relatively new to her and she was still figuring out.
"Aaron! You stupid fuck!" Jamie screamed at him in rage. "I hate you!"
"I don't fucking care anymore Jamie! I'm through with this! I'm through waiting for you!"
"So you never cared about me? All you wanted was a good fuck? You figured because I broke the rules and didn't conform to what everyone else thought I should be, that I was the girl for the job. Just tell me, how many others have there been?" Jamie was standing in the doorway to Aaron's dorm room watching him in bed with Cynthia Hawkins—Jamie's lab partner and a known Spenser Academy slut.
"Enough," Aaron answered her coldly.
Jamie stormed her way down the dorm hallways without saying a word. Her eyes were black and she wasn't blinking. Luckily, she was outside, in the woods behind the school before she did any real damage. Jamie looked at a tree and it split in half. She blew two boulders into tiny pieces of dirt. Then the tears hit. Jamie looked up at the blue sky, her eyes still as black as night, as a tear rolled down her face. In seconds the sky turned gray and it started to rain.
"Impressive." Jamie spun around on her heels to see a boy not but a few years older than herself standing behind her. "You've even inherited the black eyes I see. And I must say that I'm quite intrigued that a girl would inherit such an impressive display of talent. But mine is better."
The boy facing Jamie smiled a sinister smile in her direction and soon his eyes matched hers. "Nice to meet you Chase."