**Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant, I only own my own characters and storyline**
Hey Everyone,
I know that its been awhile since I last updated, but I have really been swamped with school work, so please forgive me! In the long break that it took me to update though, I was constantly thinking about this story, so don't think that I just up and forgot about it! Ha! On another note, I want t thank those of you who have been my loyal reviewers and welcome anyone new to this story! You guys are the ones that keep me motivated to continue, so kudos to you all! (: Without further ado, here is the latest edition to my story! Hope you all like it!
With Love xoxo,
Nova Milan
After a long day full of classes and a growing load of assignments, Lena was exhausted. All she could think about was getting through swim practice, doing homework, then finally being able to crash for the night. As Lena made her way to the girls locker room in a tired daze, she didn't even notice that someone had run up to walk by her side.
"Hey.," said a voice next to Lena. Lena merely glanced to her left side, seeing one of the boys she met the other day.
"Hey...what's up?," asked Lena, as she tried to make pleasant conversation with the baby faced Son.
"Nothing much, I just saw you and wanted to see how you were doing...," said Tyler as his voiced trailed off, no doubt out of shyness.
Lena smiled genuinely at the boy, which made him blush from her small gesture of kindness for his words. "I'm doing better than yesterday, that's for sure. I'm not quite back to normal, but I'm sure I'll get there. However, I do feel more tired than normal, which is weird since I was passed out pretty much all last night.," said Lena with a smile and a small laugh at the end.
Tyler nodded his head before saying, "Well I'm sure these next couple of days will be rough on you, but I know that you'll get back to normal."
"I really hope so. I can't afford to be held back in my swimming, especially with this meet coming up in another week. I really have so much to prove in the pool...can't go losing everything now when it counts most. Plus I'm already going to be missing this friday's practice because I have to visit my grammie in Salem.," said Lena with a meek smile and a frustrated sigh.
Tyler just nodded again, showing his willingness to just listen and sympathize with the girl. Compared to the other Sons, this one seemed to be so unlike the others. He had this quiet demeanor about him, and the most beautiful, gentle ocean blue eyes that seemed to depict his every emotion. Lena felt as if she could really allow Tyler in on her deepest secrets, and yet, he would not judge.
Looking at the youngest Son once more, Lena sighed before saying, "Well, I better get ready for practice. It was really nice talking to you Tyler, and thank you for taking the time to genuinely express your concern for my well-being."
With a shy smile, Tyler nodded at the smiling Lena before saying, "Its no problem. Good luck at practice, but take it easy as well."
After swim practice, Lena's body really just wanted her to give in to its desperate want for sleep. Lena, however, desperately tried to evade her body's wishes and decided to sit at her desk back in the dorm. Starting in on the large amount of homework she had been given, Lena felt as if she would be up all night trying to complete it.
Deeply sighing, Lena looked down at her worksheet and book before muttering under her breath, "This is just great..." With an agitated groan, Lena delved her hands frustratingly through her pink, straight locks of hair before hunching over and allowing her head to rest upon her desk.
"Rough night, Laney-bug?," asked Tana, surprising Lena as she finally walked into the room for the night.
"You have no idea.," said Lena with a huff.
With a giggle and a smile at Lena's flustered demeanor, Tana said, "Cheer up Laney-bug. I'm sure that things will get better."
"Tana...I'm so stressed out right now, and it doesn't help that I have all this homework that I need to get done, but my stupid body thinks it needs to sleep.," said Lena with a frustrated tone to her voice.
"How much homework do you have?," asked Tana, looking sympathetically at Lena.
" I have a two page essay due in AP English tomorrow, a worksheet due in AP History, two exercises to due in Spanish IV, a quiz to study for in AP Anatomy& Physiology, and twenty problems due for AP Calculus tomorrow. I just can't catch a break.," said Lena in one long winded sentence before letting out a frustrated groan and once again allowing her head to rest upon her AP History textbook.
"Relax. You can get all of it done and still be in bed by 11:00pm. Trust me.," said Tana reassuringly. "On a separate note, how are you feeling?," asked Tana as she gave Lena a look of concern.
"Seriously?," asked Lena looking up from her head's placement on her textbook.
"No, lie to me.," said Tana with an all knowing look on her face.
Groaning, Lena said, "Physically I feel exhausted. Today has just wore me out, and I feel like I'm going to get a headache pretty soon by the way my head is feeling."
Nodding and looking concerned Tana just turned from her spot by her bed and headed in the direction of the bathroom. Hearing the cabinet open and close, Lena knew that Tana was probably grabbing her a tylenol.
"Here.," said Tana as she came back into the room and walked up to Lena's desk. Handing Lena two pills, Tana looked expectantly at the girl, hoping that she would take them to ease her headache.
Taking the two pills from Tana's hand and placing them into her mouth, Lena grabbed her bottle of water and downed them. "Thanks.," said Lena as she looked appreciatively at her best friend.
Tana just smiled and breathed a small sigh before heading over to her desk to begin her night of homework.
After the two girls had been working diligently on their homework for the past hour and a half, Tana finally broke the calm silence that seemed to have filled the room.
"So what happened in the pool the other day?," asked Tana curiously.
Pausing for a bit, Lena didn't know how to answer the question. Taking a deep breath, Lena set her pencil down on top of her homework and looked at the girl before deciding how to answer.
"That day in the pool, my head wasn't feeling the best. I had an overwhelming feeling of light headedness and a slight headache. The next thing I knew, I completely blacked out and fell into the pool. I don't know how it happened. The doctor seemed to think that I'm just over stressed, but I just don't know.," said Lena as she lied to her best friend.
Tana just nodded at the girl with a sad look etched into her usually carefree and beautiful face.
After Tana didn't say anything for a while, Lena went back to doing her homework. However, now Lena was thinking more about that day and the shocking revelation in the aftermath.
"Tana, you know how our area is known for not only being one of the first colonized parts of the United States, but also part of the Salem Witch Trials?," asked Lena hesitantly.
"Yeah...," said Tana without even looking up from her book as she was taking notes.
"Well, I was wondering...was your family originally from Salem?," asked Lena, gaging Tana's response.
Looking up, Tana looked questioningly at Lena before responding. "When the colonies were first formed, my ancestors had a settlement house not too far outside of Salem. It wasn't until after the trials that my family moved to just outside Andover due to some bad blood between some of the families of Salem. It was all recorded in an old journal written by Solomon Parker, whose father was Nathaniel Parker, son of one of the women hung in the Salem Witch Trials.," said Tana.
Upon hearing Tana say Nathaniel Parker, a spark was lit inside Lena. She knew that her assumption was right. Tana's ancestor was Nathaniel Parker, the man she had seen in her flash back to the time of the trials.
"Tana, how long have we known each other?," asked Lena, gaging Tana's reaction.
Tana looked questioningly at Lena before replying. "What kind of question is that? We've known each other since we both were just starting to walk.," said Tana as she rolled her eyes.
"How long have our families known each other?," asked Lena.
"For a long time. I mean, both our Grandmother's are best friends. Always have been. Probably always will be until death's grip pries the two apart.," said Tana with a small smile and laugh after her last statement.
Lena couldn't help but laugh and smile at that last statement as well, since she knew it was true.
"Why weren't our dad's ever friends?," asked Lena questioningly.
"Well my dad says its because of something that happened in high school, but I never got the full details on what caused the rift between the two. Apparently, it was enough that it almost caused a rift in the friendship of our grandmothers.," said Tana with a shrug.
Lena merely nodded. Now she knew why her father had never gotten his powers. Unlike their grandmothers, their fathers never made amends with each other and consequently lost their powers in the process.
"Why are you asking so many questions tonight?," asked Tana suspiciously.
"No reason. I suppose I've always wondered why it is that our grammies and us get along so well, and yet, our fathers can barely stand to be in the same room as each other.," said Lena as she easily let the lie slip from her tongue.
Tana seemed to accept her response because she merely nodded before slowly turning to return to her homework.
Lena began to think about how this was probably a subject she was going to have to discuss with her grammie this coming weekend. If only she had a set of resources at her disposal already that could give her just a few more answers to the inheritance and loss of the family's powers.
After spending several hours working on her homework, Lena had finally finished what she needed to get complete for the next day's classes.
With a headache once again forming, Lena decided that it was time to crawl into bed and let sleep take her. After drifting off to sleep, Lena was met with an unusual scene before her. As Lena looked around, she was standing in the middle of an old dirt road in a forested area. Looking in each direction of the road, Lena finally decided to begin traveling north along the road. After walking down the road for what seemed like hours, she came upon an old settlement house. Outside a man was cutting wood and adding it to a pile along the side of the old house. Stopping from chopping the wood, the man set the ax down and wiped his forehead to be free of sweat. Looking around at the world around him, he didn't even seem to notice Lena as she was still nearing the home. As Lena got closer, she realized that she recognized the man. It was Nathaniel, although, he looked a little worse for wear than the last time she had seen him in her previous venture into the past. Glancing up from his work, Nathaniel seemed to notice someone or something coming toward his settlement home.
Looking behind her, Lena realized that there was a small group of people nearing Nathaniel and his family's home. In the group were a number of people that she recognized from the Council meeting that night of the hanging in Salem. Putting his ax down, Nathaniel slowly approached the group and greeted them.
"Ah Mister Eaton, its good to see you again. To what do I owe the pleasure of having you come all the way to my family's estate today?," asked Nathaniel with a trivial look upon his face.
"Mister Parker, we are here to discuss the terms of the Council's decision some months ago and to see what progress you have made with the Towne/Cloyse family.," said Mr. Eaton looking tentatively at Nathaniel for an answer.
"Well sir, I can't seem to get through to that woman. I've tried many a time to bring back that cohesiveness between the families, but it just seems to far out of reach.," said Nathaniel with exasperation laced into his voice.
"Mmmm Mmmhmm. Well Mr. Parker, be that as it may, the families want to retain that cohesiveness. For hundreds of years, the Council of Families of Power has only retained its strength because each of the ten families have supported and helped one another. When persecution comes knocking on our door, we hold fast to that bond that we each share. Now Mr. Parker, I suggest that you make amends with the Towne/Cloyse family quickly, or you will find that you may be subjected to severe consequences proclaimed by the Council. Choose wisely Mr. Parker.," said Mr. Eaton before giving Nathaniel one last look before he turned and walked down the path away from the house with the group he had come with.
Nathaniel's saddened sigh soon turned to one of anger. Why was he the one that was being blamed? What had he done that had provoked the Council so? Perhaps he should not have gotten back at Sarah like that, but what was he to do? When people are upset they tend to become rash in their actions, and this was one of those times that he had begun to realize that his actions may have cost him his family's favor with the Council.
"I really need to fix things.," thought Nathaniel. Frustrated, Nathaniel picked up his ax and quickly brought his ax down upon a block of wood.
As the ax easily broke the block in half, Lena's dream switched to her standing outside the old settlement house of Sarah's family. As Lena watched the house, she saw Prudence outside washing clothes on the side of the house, while Sarah was beating some of the house rugs. Stopping to look fondly at her only daughter, Sarah saw a figure walking up the path to their home. Putting her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun, Sarah tried to get a better look at the figure. As the figure neared, Sarah was able to make out that the person approaching her family's home was none other than Nathaniel Parker.
Pretending like she didn't see him walking up, Sarah resumed beating the rug. Walking up close to Sarah, Nathaniel decided to finally speak.
"Hello Sarah.," said Nathaniel, his voice laced with uncertainty.
"What do you want Nathaniel? Was it not enough for you that I lost the right to use my powers until after the trials ended? Or perhaps, you wanted to reopen the stitched up wound that now not only my daughter but my daughter's daughters after her will have to wait to receive their powers, if they get them at all because of your little stunt!," said Sarah scathingly.
"Look. Sarah, you and I both know that it wasn't my decision to bind our future female descendant's powers. That was the Council's decision, not mine. I will admit that initially, all I wanted was to have your powers bound, but I did not expect the Council to do what they did! I didn't ask for that Sarah! You have to believe me! Why would I want a curse like that to be put on our future descendant's!? Look, I'm sorry about what I had the Council do to you, but you have to know that I only asked them to do that out of the grief that I knew that you were feeling. You and I both know that when we mix emotions with our powers, it does not always lead to the best outcome.," said Nathaniel.
Shaking her head, Sarah launched back with, "If emotions really bring out the worst with our powers, then why didn't you ask to have your powers bound after you lost your mother? Why was I the only one that was punished Nathaniel!?"
"You think that I wasn't punished!? My future grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have to live with this curse that the Council has placed upon our families! Don't you get it Sarah! If we can't make amends, then the cycle will continue! The Council is punishing us by threatening the powers of our future lines! How about we end it here and now and be done with it? What say you Miss Cloyse?," said Nathaniel, out of breath from his rant.
Glaring up at the man before her, Sarah couldn't make her stubborn side stand down. "I cannot forgive you Nathaniel. I am sorry, but I am too bitter and angry to do so right now. Perhaps one day I will be able to.," said Sarah with finality, her voice having no malice nor emotion in it.
Nathaniel nodded at the woman before walking away from her and whispering, "So be it."
At Nathaniel's last words and his figure fading away into the forest covered path, Lena was jolted awake by the sound of her alarm. As she adjusted to the light filtering in to her and Tana's room, Lena recalled the dream and felt her heart beating fast from it as well as the feeling of a cold sweat that broke out all over her body. Sighing, Lena whispered, "What a dream.," before getting ready for that day's classes. Perhaps school would be one way to get herself away from these crazy dreams of traveling back in time.