OKAY NEXT CHAPTER! Shoutout to bjq who is the only person to review Believer so far, I hope you will all follow in their footsteps and give me your thoughts :) Hope you guys like this one, it's a long one and it should clear up some stuff. And make some things more confusing.
Chase watches the group stop at the Colony House from the woods, a smile gracing his lips. His hands twitch with the urge to Use as he watches them, the urge to blast them into nothing where they stand. But he can't, because Caleb has power that rivals his and Pogue's already ascended. His best bet is getting after Reid, the one already teetering on addiction, the one with the least to lose.
But Alice is a pleasant addition to this little group, one that might prove handy. He doesn't know why they're taking her to the colony house, and he doesn't care. Reid's birthday is in 2 weeks, that's what matters.
Chase Uses, barely, just enough to ebb his addiction, and Alice turns sharply, looking straight towards him without seeing him. She gives the trees around him a funny look before turning back and following the boys toward the Colony house.
Chase frowns, unpleasantly surprised. How would she have been able to tell he was using, much less where he was? That was unheard of and impossible considering the other boys couldn't tell when he was using.
He watches the group enter the colony house, and vanishes from the woods.
At the door, Alice turns around again with a sharp intake of breath, the unpleasant feeling tickling the back of her neck. Pogue gives her a strange look.
"You good Alice?" He asks as she crosses the threshold and follows the boys down to the basement, the stairway lit with candles which light as Caleb passes.
"I just felt like someone was watching us," Alice confesses. She doesn't want to divulge the feeling on her neck, not yet. Something in her tells her it's not the right time.
"No one knows we're here," Pogue assures her.
"And even if they did, no one can get into the Colony House, much less this part of it, without us wanting them too," Caleb adds from the front of the group.
The rest of the walk down the stairs is silent. When they hit the bottom, Alice feels something shock her system as the candles flare up in the basement revealing 5 stone chairs carved with family crests and symbols around a stone altar with a pentagram carved into it. Lining the walls are bookshelves filled with old volumes.
"What is this place?" Alice looks around, turning in a slow circle, trying to take in everything, "Did the founders build this?"
"The Danvers line has been the head of our Covenant for centuries," Caleb explains, walking over to a stone chair with his family crest carved into it, "The original Danvers had this built as the headquarters for the Covenant. Over the centuries, things have been added."
"The stone table and chairs are original." Pogue explains, moving to his own chair, "Built using the Power to withstand everything."
"There's 5 chairs and only 4 of you though?" Alice frowns as Reid and Tyler move to their own chairs. She looks at the 5th chair, "That's the crest of John Putnam. He was one of you?"
"He was never one of us," Reid says darkly, "The Putnam line was cast out because John wanted more power and wasn't afraid of doing whatever was necessary to get it."
"So the chair has been empty ever since?" Alice runs a hand down the side of it, feeling the cool stone."
"We don't sit in the chairs that aren't ours," Pogue takes a seat and a fire lights the stone table, pointing towards him. The others follow and the fire grows, encompassing almost everywhere around the table except for where the 5th chair is placed.
Caleb frowns at it, "That's odd," He says, glancing at his brothers.
"What?" Alice asks.
"Normally it covers the whole table, even with only 4 of us." Pogue looks from the table to Alice, "Take a seat in the 5th chair." He commands.
Alice gives him a look, "Really?"
"If she's not meant to sit there she'll get hurt," Reid protests.
"She's the only new factor," Pogue looks at him, "If she sits in the chair and the fire complete's itself then we know for sure she's somehow connected."
"Pogue makes a good point," Caleb looks between them, "But it's your decision, Alice."
Alice looks at all of them before sitting down on the stone chair. The light stone feels cool under her, which contrasts the heat as the fire completes itself in front of her. The other boys suck in a breath as a book lifts itself off a bookcase and floats to the center of the table.
"This is highly unusual," Tyler comments, "The book shouldn't react to her unless,"
"Unless she has Covenant blood," Caleb finishes for him, "But there's only one child born to each family every generation, that makes no sense."
"What about the Putnam line?" Alice asks, looking up, "Couldn't I be his descendant?"
"No," Pogue shakes his head, "We already found the descendant of John Putnam for our generation. He's dead."
"Well," Alice looks at all of them, before settling on the unusually quiet Reid, "Where do I fit in?" At her words, the book suspended in front of them opens, flipping through pages rapidly. It stops on a section outlined in gold ink.
"Second-born descendants," Caleb reads before the book rotates and floats toward Alice.
She reads the page aloud, "Second-born descendants are rare, but not impossible for members of the Covenant. They happen when the male heir impregnates a second female before the first male is born. They possess no power of their own but can feel the Power of the others and know when the members Ascend. Children of second-born descendants do not possess any sensitivity to the Power." The book snaps shut as Alice reads the last word.
"So you're a second-born descendant," Reid says softly, "But what line?"
"No clue," Alice leans forward, her head resting on her hands, "My biological dad was never in the picture. My step-dad and mom never talked about him or had any pictures whatsoever. I don't even know if he knew I existed."
"We could always ask Pogue's dad, or Tyler's?" Reid offers, "See if either of them know about one of the older generation impregnating two girls within the same 6-month span,"
"I don't want to bring them into this until we know for sure what we're dealing with," Caleb contradicts, "They're not going to take the news of a second-born descendant lightly."
"I think we're ignoring the obvious," Pogue says. They all look at him, "She's in Putnam's spot. The book only came out once she was sitting, the fire wouldn't light all the way without it, it makes the most sense for her to be a descendant of John Putnam." Alice looks back up at the crest, which suddenly feels like a weight looming over her.
Alice shakes her head, "This makes no sense. I was born before all of you, there's no way I'm a descendant of any of your lines."
"When did you turn 18?" Reid asks, leaning forward.
"Late June, the 26th," Alice frowns, "Which makes me older than all of you. How could I be a second-born and be older than you all?"
"Well, you're definitely connected to us." Caleb muses, "And the book opened for you. What did it say, specifically?"
The book opens again, to the same page as last time, and presents itself to Caleb as if it has a mind of its own.
"Second-born descendants happen when the male heir impregnates a second female before the first male is born," Caleb reads softly, "It only says impregnate, not that the second female has to give birth after the first."
"So, a premature second born is something that could happen?" Tyler asks slowly.
"It'd be a one in a million chance," Reid muses, looking at Alice, "But then again technically we're all a one in a million chance."
"We need more information," Caleb muses, looking at Alice, "Wild speculation isn't going to get us anywhere. But it's reasonable to assume that you were a premature baby, Alice. You're definitely a second-born descendant, you have the marks on your back to prove it."
"But the question is which son," Tyler looks at her, "And what else can she do besides sense when we're ascending."
"Anything else happen when we Use?" Pogue asks, "Anything at all?"
Alice thinks but shakes her head, "Nothing I can think of."
"We just need to figure out her lineage, then we work on the rest," Reid says.
The others all nod in agreement.
As always, please remember to R&R, you know I love you 3
-Margii