A/N: The information on Anali's journal was mostly based on Scott Cunningham's book Wicca, A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner. Thanks to everyone who's coming back and giving this story another shot. To new readers …. HI!

Since Tori wasn't on the balcony by the time the boys got back, they set out into the house to see where she had stashed herself. They only had a few more rooms to finish searching. Approaching the double doors leading into the library, the boys noticed a shuffling and thumping sound emerging from the cracked doors. As they got closer nerves ran rampant and the noise level seemed to dim out. What could she be doing in there? Was she alright? Suddenly the doors were thrown open and the boys were confronted with a flustered Tori.

"Oh. It's you".

Heading back inside, Tori left them to enter at their own pace. Looking around the room nothing seemed out of place except for a lonely oak bench pressed against the far left book stand.

Tori climbed on the bench and extended herself as far she could in hopes of reaching her desired book. Missing her choice by mere inches, Tori came back down and again attempted to move the bench a few more inches. It was heavy and she struggled until she just couldn't move it any further.

Giving up Tori moved on to the view from the bay windows, leaving the boys to wonder what she was doing and why she was climbing on benches. As the silence grew lengthier, the boys got the feeling something was amiss with their wild-child. That was until she spoke.

"It's fucking beautiful here, you know? All the trees swaying whenever there's wind. The amazing sunsets of the East coast are certainly my favorites but Ipswich is special. I'll miss it. I'll miss a lot of things".

Her little talk about trees and sunsets was all great but the boys couldn't understand why she was talking about leaving. Why was she leaving? Somehow she had changed her mind and now they were all going to be heartbroken. Reid wouldn't let her leave without an explanation, so he was the first to react. "Miss it? Where the fuck are you going?"

"It's okay Reid. I understand about overstaying my welcome. You all tried but I knew it couldn't last forever. It was too good. Too unconvincingly perfect. I'm trying to make this as painless as possible but you have to let me face this. I'm on my own, as usual, but now it just hurts a bit more than the last time I was pushed aside".

Caleb was the next one to have a little outburst. They were all shocked and stunned by Tori's words but Caleb as their leader needed to be clear in what they were really there for. "We're not making you leave Tori. That's not it at all".

"No. Okay. You've all been weird and quiet. I got the vibe so I faced the truth. Now you're all here looking like it's the end of the line, so I know my days are over so I'll just make it easier and go. Besides, its not like…"

Pogue couldn't take the self deprecation anymore. "Tori Shut Up". Looking over, Tyler decided to soften Pogue's words with a light "Please".

Here Caleb picked up his part. "We don't want you gone. You're our little sister now. We've just been trying to deal with stuff that's going on. Trying to tell you about something but its just gotten hard. Apparently, we've gone about it all wrong".

"Well then what has been going on? You have all been extremely skittish and I hav eseen you running around like a bunch of secretive hens".

"It's just hard telling you about this since it may well be the one thing that makes you run off" said Tyler.

Tori took everything they were saying at face value, so she resigned herself to listening to whatever they had to say. "Well I guess this would be the time to explain, huh?"

Everyone froze. The guys in their spots throughout the room stood too still for there to be any hope for answers. Aggravated, Tori gave a most unlady-like grunt and proceeded to stalk back to the bench. Following her with their eyes, the boys were startled by Tori not sitting but wrestling with the heavy piece of furniture.

"Tori, what are you doing with that thing?"

With an exasperated grunt, Tori turned around and said, " It's obvious you all are gonna stand there for a while longer not saying anything. It's ok, suck up some more courage and I'll just go on with what I was doing".

"Which was?" said Reid.

"Mission: Get The Blue Book."

Looking over at her, the boys couldn't figure out why reading a blue book would matter so much to Tori. "Does it have to be the blue book? I mean, there's a whole selection of stuff to read." said Tyler.

"Well, I just don't understand how it got up there since I left it on the balcony! I left that same book on the balcony when I got up for a drink and came back to find it gone. Nothing could prepare me for this. It's on the last freaking shelf."

Caleb was yet again forced to take the initiative, getting everyone back on track. "Let's focus here. We need to talk and it isn't something easy to broach, although some of us don't have so many restrictions to sharing willy nilly."

"Well maybe if you grew some balls…" Reid said.

"Maybe if you carried the pressure of sustaining a relationship" said Pogue.

Again Caleb stepped in to diffuse the situation. "Guys, can we just calm down?" "No" said Tyler. "Let them go at it, I want to see what he says next." Caleb couldn't believe Tyler would actually let them argue at a time like this. Baby Boy had always been level headed but apparently emotions were high and that changed things. "Come on Tyler. This isn't what we came here to do. I believe I was about to…"

"I mean, Caleb told Sarah in no time at all" said Reid.

Now a comment like that brought Caleb's hackles right up. It was completely not his fault that Sarah found out the way she did. "Those were special circumstances and she already suspected something."

Nodding, Pogue got right into the conversation. "But she could have freaked out and if Kate were less close minded I wouldn't have to hide that we have…"

"Holy Shit."

The attention of the feuding boys was drawn by her whisper. Tori's eyes were focused on the floating blue book. The heat in the room had kicked up and the reason for the hovering book was immediately known to the boys. Descending from its resting place on the high bookshelf, the blue book made its way steadily down toward Tori. The heavy silence grated on the already tense atmosphere.

Tori looked from one brother to the other to confirm that she hadn't lost her mind and everyone else saw the floating book. All of her thoughts on craziness and frantic search for an explanation ceased when her eyes landed on Reid. His eyes. His eyes were pure onyx and she could somehow feel tendrils of heat coming off his body. The others looked on not believing what he had done, yet shocked that he had been brave enough to take that last, ultimate step.

"Reid!"

Tori ignored Caleb's outburst while looking back and forth between Reid and the book. It spurred her into motion, making her approach him slowly. The book met his hand as Tori stopped just in front of him. Reid pressed the book against his chest while letting his eyes bleed back to their natural blue. Her fingertips came up and brushed his cheek with something like reverence. Reid on the other hand was becoming nervous that she would reject what they were; what he was. Closing his eyes, he couldn't face the face that she thought him a monster. That was put to rest when she whispered "Do it again".

Reid's eyes slowly opened to see her curious and lightly quirked face. He felt confident enough that she wouldn't be running from them causing him to give her a big smile. Suddenly his eyes were aflame, bleeding to black and steadily staring back at her. With it came the tantalizing heat, a hot feeling that started low in her body. The teasing warmth begun at her bare ankle swaying from taunting heat to light pressure. It slithered up her calf, curling and making a steady assent up her legs. With an amused smirk, Reid moved his tendril of power up her outer thigh and over her hip causing Tori to quirk an eyebrow at Reid. Finally, the heat made its way up her spine like a lovers last caress leaving her warm and slightly flustered. Tori laughed at his obvious enjoyment, while pulling back her hand.

"We need to talk".

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