Here's the next chapter! This is where the plot thickens and get's a little darker. Thank you for the reviews:)

The song for this chapter is:

Map of the Problematique, by Muse- the link is in my profile.

Chapter 6

Open

It''d been about a month since our first date and we had gone on a few more. I get even more excited every time I saw him even after a whole month. He was the kind of person that didn't make it awkward to go out to dinner with. We never ran out of things to talk about which was refreshing. Just being around him was enough to guarantee that I was going to have a good day. If I didn't know any better, I would say I was falling in love with him, but I did know better and I would say that when this ends I'd be upset. I'm just setting myself up for heart break, but I couldn't stay away. These are the most serious feelings I've ever had. Part of me was screaming to get out now, but was far too late for that. I was in, and a bigger part of me wanted it to stay that way.

Unfortunately Kate and Caleb had befriended Chase. This meant that he and Mel were hanging around with us more often than not. Mel was my best friend up until recently and now I found her terribly annoying. Since we were all such good friends now, Kate, Sarah, Mel and I had planned a girl's day while the boys all went to play paint ball. We were all sitting around in Kate and Sarah's dorm room trying to agree on something to do for the day.

"How about some lunch and then Victoria's Secret?" Kate suggested. The rest of us hadn't been with our boyfriends as long as Kate had been with Pogue, so we all blushed at the idea of buying sexy underwear for them. Kate saw the looks on our faces, and then laughed at us.

"Not like that you losers! It's just my favorite store besides, who could turn down new bras and underwear?" That was true.

"I'm in," I told her, "as long as I get to pick where we eat."

"Fine," she huffed. I could tell she wanted to go somewhere upscale, but she knew that I would most likely pick somewhere more low key. She was absolutely correct.

"We're going to Friendly's," I announced. Friendly's had the best grilled cheese- not to mention the best peanut butter cup Sundays ever. Kate rolled her eyes at me.

"Fine, then we're going shopping first."

We all got into Kate's BMW and drove twenty minutes to the nearest mall.

This was a no nonsense trip. We walked through the giant doors at the main entrance and straight to Victoria's Secret. We spent about two hours there. I got ten new pairs of underwear and spent the better part of my time shopping for the prefect bra.

When we were done we headed for Friendly's. I ordered a grilled cheese and fries. I couldn't wait to start eating. Shopping trips always made me hungry.

"There is nothing more satisfying that buying new underwear," Mel stated. We all laughed. It was true. Underwear shopping is one of my favorite hobbies.

We finished our food, and then ordered dessert. I got a peanut butter cup Sunday with extra jimmies. It was probably the best thing I've ever tasted.

Tyler called me just as we were finishing up.

"Hey!" I answered.

"Hi," he replied. "Do you and the rest of the girls want to meet us at Nicky's in about an hour? We just finished our game." I covered the mouth piece and looked to my companions.

"Do you want to meet the guys at Nicky's?" Kate rolled her eyes.

"I guess so," she huffed. "We really need to find a new place to hang out; I'm getting sick of Nicky's." The other two nodded and I uncovered the mouth piece.

"Yeah, we can hang out for a while."

"Okay, I'll see you in an hour."

"Yup, bye."

"Bye," he said, then hung up the phone. We weren't at the 'I love you' stage yet, but I knew that he wanted to day it; he just didn't want to freak me out because I wasn't ready.

The check came and the four of us each paid for our portion. We stood up slowly, all stuffed with food.

"Remind me never to eat again," Sarah groaned. We all laughed and headed out to the car.

We arrived at Nicky's with ten minutes to spare. Nicky's was filled with the usuals; Aaron and his stupid friends, some of the kids from Ipswich High School, and older men trying to hit on teenage girls who were much too young to be in a bar. Yeah this was the life. We got our usual table in the back near the juke box and waited for the guys.

They all came stumbling in fifteen minutes later. They had thankfully stopped at the dorm to shower before gracing us with their presence. As they walked over I could hear Reid and Pogue bickering.

"I can't believe you missed that shot, we would have won if you weren't such a dumb shit with bad aim," Pogue scrutinized.

"I didn't see you step up and try to hit him after I missed," Reid retorted.

"I was out of paint!" Pogue exclaimed.

"Yeah, because you hit too many trees," Reid pointed out.

"At least I wasn't out immediately like someone else," Pogue was trying to turn the subject away from himself by looking at Chase.

"I didn't see him there," Chase defended. Caleb came up behind them with a big smile on his face.

"Don't be mad just because me and Tyler beat your asses. I mean it was only fair; the three of you verses me and Baby Boy. We usually beat you two anyway." He pointed to Reid and Pogue. "It was only fair that we gave you Chase, but I guess you still sucked." Caleb was gloating and that made Reid mad as was intended.

"Next time I'm on Ty's team. Pogue just sucks," Reid complained. Sarah suddenly cleared her throat trying to get their attention.

"Well hi! I didn't hear you guys come in!" she said sarcastically. I started to giggle.

"Sorry," Caleb said and went to place a kiss on her cheek. Tyler came around to my side of the table, dropped himself in the chair next to me and gave me a sweet kiss. I smiled at him.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"It was pretty good we just went shopping and then went out to eat. Nothing special."

"What did you buy?" I gave him a sly smile.

"Underwear." He laughed. We joined in with the conversation at the table.

Everyone was talking about Fall Fest that was coming up. Tyler had asked me to go with him yesterday. It was sort of like prom, but in the fall. It was in a few days and I still didn't have a dress. That was a bit of a problem. I was just about to ask him what color he wanted to wear, when Reid got up and looked at Tyler.

"You wanna hit the tables? It looks like Aaron and the boys are starved for some competition."

"Sure man." Was his response. Tyler stood up, and I stood with him.

"Don't you want to sit here with me?" I asked, playfully grabbing the collar of his dark green polo shirt.

"I'll tell you what; I go and take all the money in Aaron's pockets, and you get half," He charmed me.

"You've got yourself a deal Mr. Simms." I held my hand for him to shake. He took it and then wrapped his arms around me.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked jokingly. I kissed him sweetly.

"I don't know, that's for you to decide." I winked at him and he let go of me to follow Reid over to the pool tables. I sat back down at the table and realized that I was alone with Sarah, Kate and Mel. Caleb, Chase and Pogue were all over at the foosball table, playing intensely. Sarah said something about what girls do and a quarter, but I wasn't really listening to her. I was busy looking at Tyler across the room. I got up from my seat and walked over to the pool table. I'd never actually watched Reid and Tyler play pool before, but I heard that their skills were legendary. I parked myself on a bar stool and watched the table. Reid just made a combo shot that looked next to impossible. I looked up at him quickly, just in time to see that his eyes were coal black. I blinked, thinking that my mind was playing tricks on me. When I opened my eyes a split second later, they were normal. It must have been a trick of the light.

The next thing I knew Aaron was shoving Reid. Did he see the same thing I did? Tyler, Reid, Aaron, and Aaron's friends headed towards the back door. They were going to get into a fight and it was two against four. I didn't like those odds. I looked over to Caleb on the dance floor and Pogue at the foosball table. If there was going to be a fight it was going to be even. I tapped Caleb on the shoulder. He turned around surprised. I felt a little bad for ruining their moment, but I didn't want to see Tyler get hurt.

"Tyler and Reid are going to get into a fight out back," I told him.

"Shit," he said under his breath. "Grab my coat," he said to Pogue as he kissed Sarah on the cheek.

"Is everything okay?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," Caleb responded quickly. "Stay here."

"Do you need help?" Chase asked.

"No man. Stay here with the girls," Pogue told him, sounding more than a little condescending. I followed them as they headed toward the back door.

"Stay here Murph," Caleb said.

"But what if they hurt him?" I asked concerned.

"He'll be fine," Caleb assured me. "This happens a lot. Aaron and all them, they're all just a bunch of pussies anyway." This was meant to be comforting, but it wasn't. Once he was out of sight, I followed him. Nicky was right in front of me holding a baseball bat. Apparently this did happen a lot; Nicky could tell the signs of a fight and was right on top of it.

"Take it somewhere else ladies," He ordered. "Now!"

"What ever you say Nicky," Aaron responded as he headed inside. He maliciously bumped Caleb's shoulder as his goons followed him back into the bar. Aaron gave me a dirty look as he passed me on the stairs I was standing on just inside of the door. I was out of sight of Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler, but I could hear every word they were saying. Once they started arguing, I couldn't move. I had to know what they were fighting about.

"What were you thinking?" Caleb demanded. Who was he talking to? Wasn't it Aaron who started the fight?

"We were just playing them," Reid said calmly.

"Come on Caleb they were suckers for it," Tyler defended.

"Why don't you quit being such a pussy?" Reid said aggressively.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Caleb retorted. It sounded like he grabbed someone. My curiosity got the better of me and I peeked around the corner. Caleb was holding Reid by the collarbone, and Reid looked pretty pissed about it. He grabbed Caleb's hand and held it in front of him. Those frightening ebony eyes were piercing into Caleb. I couldn't believe it was real. I wanted to run away and never talk to Reid again, but something was rooting me to that spot; it was like I was meant to hear more.

"Reid stop!" Caleb choked out. It sounded like he was in real pain.

In an instant Caleb moved like he was going to push Reid off of him, but instead, Reid went flying into a stack of empty kegs. I had to put my hand over my own mouth to keep from screaming. That was physically impossible! Reid's back had to be broken. I looked over to Tyler and Pogue, expecting them to start freaking out. Pogue looked bored, like this happened often, and Tyler just looked tired. Caleb looked behind him for an instant and I could see that his eyes were black too.

"What will it take for you to get it?" Caleb said, walking towards Reid who was still sitting on the ground. He looked broken. "It's addictive, you moron!" Caleb continued in a stern, pissed off voice I had never heard him use. Reid pulled himself sloppily off the ground. That was impossible! With the amount of force he hit the wall with, there was no way he should be standing, let alone breathing right now. Who were these people?

"You've seen what happens if you abuse it," Caleb continued to criticize. "You want that, that's you're business, but if you Use in the open like you did tonight, you risk exposing us all, and that I won't let happen." What was he talking about? When he said use I automatically though drugs, but there was no drug that could make you do what Caleb just did.

Reid took a step forward and put his hand out over one of the empty kegs. It began to levitate and Reid, with his eyes still black, looked murderous.

"My power's greater than yours," Caleb stated.

"Not until you Ascend," Reid snapped.

"Alright, go for it tough guy," Caleb taunted. Reid whipped the keg at Caleb so hard and so fast, that I couldn't believe that Caleb had time to react. He deflected the keg to the side and sent what I can only describe as a force field towards Reid. He flew back with a grunt and landed in a huge pile of empty glass bottles. I let out a small gasp, but they were all distracted and didn't hear me. This time I was sure that Reid wouldn't get up. That would have sent any normal person to the hospital on life support. But I guess I should have realized by then that these boys weren't normal.

Caleb started walking towards Reid again, but this time Pogue interceded. He jumped in front of Caleb, holding him back.

"Stop! This is Crazy!"

"It's for his own good!" Caleb insisted. How could nearly killing your friend be for his own good? "Keep Using like you did tonight, like you did last night!" Caleb continued to yell. "When you Ascend you'll be as good as dead!"

"So I cheated at cards, big deal!" Reid defended himself. I was shocked to see that he was standing. Tyler was pulling him out of the heap of broken glass.

"Don't play me Reid!" He was still trying to get at him, but Pogue was doing a successful job at holding him back. "I'm talking later and you know it!"

"The hell I do!" Reid shot back getting up in Caleb's face. Pogue stopped holding him back as they looked each other dead in their coal black eyes. "I didn't Use later," Reid said sternly. With that he brushed by Caleb and Pogue, giving Caleb a little shove before storming off towards the door, and towards my hiding place. He turned the corner and laid his now normal eyes on me. His eyes were wide, and he didn't say a word. He just stood there staring at my tear streaked face and all I could do was stare back.

"It's not right Using on each other Caleb." I could hear Tyler say as he walked towards the door, and me.

"Tell that to Reid," he snapped at Tyler's back as he walked up the steps. I closed my eyes, not ready to face him. What ever this was, it was a secret that I wasn't supposed to know. That was the real reason why Caleb didn't want me to follow him. I should have listened.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Tyler rounded the corner and saw me, leaning against the wall. His face turned from annoyed to petrified as he took in the expression on my face. He could tell that I had heard everything.

"Murph, I can explain everything." He reached out his hand to touch mine, but I flinched away. involuntarily; it was almost like survival instincts wanted me to stay away from him. I saw something that scared me, and now I wanted to run away from it. He looked hurt, and that hurt me, but I wasn't even sure if I knew him at all.

This secret was big, and it defines who they are. If I was getting to know Tyler and possibly falling in love with him, and I don't really even know who he is, then who was I falling for?

My heart was racing. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to go along with what ever he said and trust him, or run away screaming and never look back. I opted for the latter and turned on my heels and ran through the bar and out the front door. I ran to the road, and my plan was to not stop running until this was all a distant memory.

There were so many things that I didn't understand. What was ascending? Did they have real powers? What other things did Tyler keep from me? How many of them are there? Could they hurt me? Could they capture me and manipulate me into not telling anyone? Were they dangerous? I wouldn't tell anyone anyway, unless I wanted a one way ticket to a mental institution. As I ran I didn't notice the car following me, the tears streaming down my face, or how much my feet hurt on the flats I was wearing. The car pulled up next to me, surprising me.

"Murphy," Tyler said as he slowed the car to keep up with my pace. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. That wasn't how I was planning on you finding out."

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I shot back I was still running. I couldn't stop moving.

"Eventually yes. I was just going to wait until I knew that you weren't going to run away, like you're doing now." He sounded sad and it was breaking my heart, the heart I didn't even know existed until recently.

"To be honest Tyler, I don't know what to think. That was the weirdest, scariest most unexplainable thing I've ever seen. How do I know that you're not crazy?" I was choking on my sobs as I let this out. My feet were still pounding on the pavement. "How do I know I'm not crazy?"

"You know me well enough," He said. "If you get in the car I will explain everything to you. You don't ever have to talk to me again after that, but please, I need to explain." I slowed my pace. I at least owed him that, whether he was a psycho or not. He stopped that car and I climbed into the familiar passenger seat, which somehow seemed foreign now.

We drove in silence for a while. I wasn't surprised when he pulled off the road, and we went bouncing through the familiar path that we took on our first date. He pulled up in front of the ocean, parking the car under a tree. It was cold and I realized that I had forgotten my jacket back at Nicky's. He noticed and shrugged off his own jacket handing it over to me, too afraid to risk touching me again. He turned off the engine and got out of the car. I followed. There was a five minute silence of us just staring at the ocean, and then he finally spoke.

"You know all those legends about our families and how we settled the Ipswich colony?" he started. I nodded my head, still looking at the waves crashing on the shore. I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

"The legends about the witchcraft and the trials, they're all true. When our families came here to escape the witch hunt in Europe, they formed a Covenant of Silence to keep them safe, and it's still in tact today. It's kept us safe for hundreds of years." He looked over at me to see if I was taking it in. I risked one look at his clear blue eyes, then quickly looked away.

"The first male in every family gets the power. At thirteen we get a taste of it. It's sort of like a test. When we're eighteen we Ascend and the power becomes our life. This would be great, but every time we Use the power after we Ascend, it takes bits of our life away. The power becomes our life and every time we Use it ages us. The reason why Caleb was so mad was because Reid is already addicted, and Ascending when you're already so reliant on the power is not good."

"I've never been that scared in my life." I looked up at him again. "Caleb seemed really dangerous."

"Don't worry about that. It's not the first time that's happened. We really can't hurt each other that bad. Caleb was just giving him a firm hand," he assured me.

"Could you ever lose control of your power and hurt someone?" I asked. I was afraid he could hurt me, or someone else.

"If you're asking if I could hurt you, the answer is no. First of all I would never put you in any danger, and secondly I've never lost control of my power before. It's not that easy to do." He looked at me hopefully. He was probably hoping that this would be easy. But I wasn't letting him off that easily. "Do you want me to show you the power?" He asked. That's exactly the opposite of what I wanted.

"No," My voice was shaky. "I don't want to see you're eyes turn black." There was another long silence where we were staring at the ocean again. I was imagining simpler times that, up until an hour ago, consumed my new life. Now it all seemed stupid. No one could ever be that happy.

"Murphy, look at me." I looked and caught his blue gaze. "I will never hurt you." I could tell he wasn't lying. What I said next hurt him probably more than I knew.

"You already have."

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